The three main authors are academics with chairs of physical medicine and rehabilitation within North America. Of a total of 214 contributors only three were from Europe. The aim of the book is to cover a variety of medical conditions any specialist or GP could encounter in his or her medical practice. There is an emphasis on chronic medical conditions requiring rehabilitation from the practitioners' perspectives in an ambulatory setting. The concept is to complement existing texts of rehabilitation medicine and provide an efficient and useful reference tool in the office setting. The 162 chapters are divided into three parts covering musculoskeletal, pain and rehabilitation of chronic medical conditions. Chapters are well organized to a set pattern including synonyms, ICD coding, definitions, symptoms, physical examination (findings), functional limitations, diagnostic studies, treatment (initial, rehabilitation, procedures including surgery), potential disease complications, potential treatment complications and references. Although standing alone each chapter follows in logical order with respect of anatomical or related conditions. The entire book is very readable and although orientated to world rather than purely UK medicine deals succinctly with most important issues. The text is scientifically correct and is superbly illustrated with extremely clear radiological images. The tables showing details of physical examination manoeuvres are particularly helpful. The book is comprehensive except for the provision of an index rather than just chapter headings in the hard copy version and details specifically about cognitive testing, cold injuries and skin conditions other than systemic lupus erythematosus. Some medical complications of physical medicine and rehabilitation are better dealt with by Cardenas and Hooton in their focused manual on the subject. This edition covers new topics such as labral tears (shoulder and hip) and conditions associated with cancer and its treatment. The book serves well as a useful and economic reference source for its wide intended audience. As an occupational physician, it represents at present a helpful source of specialized reference material. Unless rehab services in the UK become more accessible, the book is likely to become a standard aid in dealing with multidisciplinary teams treating severely injured employees.


Abstract In urban area surface soil the heavy metal concentrations followed the order: Pb (76.15 mg/kg) > Fe (12.96 mg/kg) > Cu (11.58 mg/kg) > Al (10.3 mg/kg) > Zn (6.42 mg/kg) > Co (0.21 mg/kg) > Cd (0.18 mg/kg) > Cr (0.07 mg/kg). For the industrial area surface soil, heavy metal concentrations followed the sequence: Pb (55.28 mg/kg) > Al (15.5 mg/kg) > Fe (14.73 mg/kg)> Cu (14.68 mg/kg) > Zn (4.48 mg/kg) > Co (0.26 mg/kg) > Cr (0.11 mg/kg) > Cd (0.11 mg/kg). PCA output showed that the first and second principal components are attributed due to the presence of "urban metals" in the urban areas while third principal component reflects the anthropogenic factor in the industrial areas. Total Cancer Risk values are more than the incremental lifetime (1.0E − 05), showing the likelihood of a cancer threat for adults and children. For non-carcinogenic risks, Hazard Index values <1 one indicating no potential risks.


Creating data-sharing policies and practices that respond to the needs, well-being, and wishes of research participants has never been easy, and is becoming more challenging as new kinds of data become available. Data sharing used to refer strictly to aggregate data. It also tended to refer to sharing data with other scientists. However, new sciences and new technologies are resulting in new kinds of sharing and new challenges connected with data sharing. Now that genetic data are being gathered, research participants tend to want to receive the knowledge the researcher gleaned from their individual genetic sample. Why? Many in the general populace espouse "genetic exceptionalism"—the belief that genetic information about oneself is somehow more central to one's core being than other types of data. In this issue, Ruiz-Canela, Valle-Mansilla, and Sulmasy show that research participants in Spain and the U.S. who consider genetic information qualitatively different from other clinical data are more prone to want their individual genetic results. But, to the researcher striving to do the right thing, this raises questions that most research participants do not consider. For example:


Objective:To evaluate the correlation between the new TNM staing of gastric cancer and the prognosis.Method:343 cases of resected gastric cancer were analyzed by using the international unifying new TNM classification.Results:The 5 year survival rates of Ⅰ 、Ⅰ 、Ⅱ、Ⅲ 、Ⅲ and Ⅳ were 100%、82.69%、70.37%、48.44%、25.00% and 7.69%,respectively;the 3 year and 5 year survival rates of the subgroups within the same stages were close.The analyses of corelation and regression between the new classification and the prognosis provided that correlation coefficient r=-0.996 (P0.001),and regression coefficient b=-0.188 (P0.001).Conclusion:There is identity between the new TNM staging of gastric cancer and the prognosis.


Combination of chemical fungicides (viz., Carbendazim 50 WP and Tebuconazole 250 EC) and biocontrol agents (viz., Pseudomonas fluorescens Psfl1, P. striata Pst1, Azotobacter chrococcum Azbc3, Bradyrhizobium japonicum Brj4, Trichoderma aureoviridae S12, T. harzianum JTV2, T. virens JPG1, Aspergillus niger AN15 strains respectively either singly or in consortium) were used to counteract Macrophomina phaseolina, the causal organism of stem and root rot of jute. In addition, suitable plant growth regulator viz., Indole-3-acetic acid (100-1.0 µg/ppm) and herbicide Quizalofop ethyl 5 % EC were used to augment the activity of Trichoderma. T. aureoviridae strain S12 was found to be the best among the eight isolates screened for tolerance against the two fungicides and herbicide at a concentration of 10000 - 500 µg respectively as well as against M. phaseolina (Inhibition=72.33 %) in-vitro. This strain showed best compatibility with other strains and highest tolerance to fungicide i.e., Carbendazim 50 % (up to 500 I¼g). Highest number (13.7A—106) of active spores was recorded at a concentration of 25 ppm of IAA under in-vitro condition. S12 recorded a biocontrol efficiency of 61.8 % against stem rot of jute along with significant plant growth promotion and fibre production. Plant biomass also increased up to 7.5-12.1 % and fibre production 37.0-39.9 % with fungal and bacterial consortium + carbendazim seed dressing and soil drenching. These biocontrol fungi and PGPR consortium with high tolerance to fungicide, weedicide and plant growth regulator up to certain extent may be potentially exploited in IDM which may be a low cost technology in jute and allied fibre crops.


Social networks consist of a set of participants and the pairwise relationships between them. There are several different types of networks, such as directed networks, networks with typed edges, dynamic networks and signed networks, as well as any composition of different types of networks. We develop a novel way to analyze such networks by considering the qualitatively different social roles that each individual can play in a network. For example, in a directed network, the participants have two social roles - an incoming edge role and an outgoing edge role which are associated with the popularity and activity of each individual. Each role or status and the corresponding connections define a subgraph. We model the subgraph as a layer, and show how to weight the edges connecting the layers to produce a consistent spectral embedding. This embedding can be used to compute social network properties of graphs of different types, to predict edges, edge types, and edge direction, as well as to track the change of role over time. We illustrate the approaches using synthetic and real-world datasets.


New lithium anthraquinoids 2b–d active in the synthesis of cyclic PLA and cyclic PCL have been synthesized and fully characterized.


The alkyl boronic acid moiety is incorporated into many biologically interesting structures. To provide parameters for molecular mechanics and dynamics studies of compounds containing this group, we performed ab initio calculations at the 6‐31G* level to obtain bond stretching, bending, and torsion constants. The hydrodynamic formulation of the time‐dependent density functional theory was used to calculate the attractive part of van der Waals (VDW) 6–12 potential. The geometry of boronic acid moiety of the 6‐31G* optimized methyl boronic acid was similar to that of the X‐ray crystal structure of phenyl boronic acid. To test the reliability of nonbonded parameters, Monte Carlo free energy perturbation simulations and the thermodynamic cycle approach were used to estimate the differences in solvation free energy between alkyl alcohol and alkyl boronic acid, both in water and in chloroform. These free energy differences were also obtained experimentally by measuring the vapor–water and water–chloroform partition coefficients. The close agreement between experimental values and the results of our simulations suggests the reliability of new molecular mechanics force‐field parameters for alkyl boronic acids. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Much research has been done in determining constitutive models for Nonlinear Transversely Isotropic Solids. The strain energy functions with different types of invariants were developed in the past to serve some purposes. In isotropic elasticity, phenomenological strain energy functions with principal stretches have certain attractive features from both the mathematical and physical viewpoints. These forms of strain energy have been widely and successfully used in predicting elastic deformations. In this paper, we extend these successful principal-stretches-isotropic models to characterise transversely isotropic solids based on previous work. We introduce five invariants that have immediate physical interpretation. Three of the invariants are the principal extension ratios and the other two are the cosines of the angles between the principal directions of the right stretch tensor and the material preferred direction. This model has an experimental advantage and the theory is compared well with experimental data.Copyright © 2015 Penerbit Akademia Baru - All rights reserved.


It is well known that mine tunneling method and new Austrian tunneling method (NATM) have great differences in design theory and construction method, and currently, China highway tunnel design and construction theories are dominated by the new Austrian tunneling method. However, highway tunnel engineering quality inspection and evaluation standard is being dominated by mine tunneling method that obviously exists limitation and obsolescence. This paper puts forward a series of rationalization suggestions concerning amending and consummating current quality inspection and evaluation standards for highway tunnel engineering in aspects of dividing items, inspecting contents and measuring items.


ABSTRACT : This article aims to discuss new technologies and their influence on family bonding process as well as the socialization process, considering that family is responsible for the support of the subjective processes and the education and socialization functions. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with three couples with children of 05-10 years. It was also developed an operating group working with women / mothers interviewed. It was observed that the socialization and education roles in the family group have been hampered daily, as well as the parental function that sustains due to new and adverse conditions that emerged with the social, cultural and technological today. These processes, their degree of acceleration, generate instability and insecurity in the family and, therefore, into their ties. In this context and in relation to the aforementioned functions, the mother / woman has a more participatory role with the children and support of their family bonds. It was recorded also an opening in interaction / communication between men and women (married relationship) and especially between parents and children and especially between parents and children, as well as the promotion of a permanent dialogue and negotiation those bonds. As a conclusion we point out the need to develop parental function to ensure the family the reproduction of belonging links and to overcome the everyday adversities.


The Castle Peak power plant, Hong Kong, was designed to accommodate a variety of overseas coals. In the case of typhoons, however, shipping and handling of coal becomes treacherous, so oil is burned. Gas recirculation is provided to equalize performance.


The structure,operating principle and performance characteristics of the combined adsorptive desiccant air conditioning system were introduced in detail.The matching principle and methods of every parts of the system used in the soft capsule dried and emulsion explosive production technics also were introduced.The operating parameters validated the rationality and validity of the design method of the system.The problem of shortened lifespan of fixed frequency compressor can be solved by using inverter compressor.


SUMMARYI ntroductIon : Infection with Mycobacterium Tuberculosis is a worldwide disease whose main clinical mani -festation is pulmonary, meningeal tuberculosis is the second most common extra-pulmonary presentation after pleural represents a high morbidity and mortality, early diagnosis and treatment reduces these outcomes. o bjectIve : The aim of the study was to establish the clinical characteristics of patients with meningeal tuber -culosis in our institutions and evaluation of the results obtained with the diagnostic methods available. Recibido: 15/12/14. Aceptado: 23/03/15. Correspondencia: Viviana Lopez: firstname.lastname@example.com (1) Neurologa Clinica. Departamento Neurologia, Hospital Universitario La Samaritana.(2) Medico Internista. Departamento de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario La Samaritana.(3) Residente de Medicina Interna. Fundacion Universitaria Juan N. Corpas. Hospital Universitario Clinica San Rafael.(4) Medico General. Fundacion Universitaria Juan N. Corpas.


In order to improve the coating properties of polysulfonamide(PSA)/cotton blend fabric,additives such as carboxymethyl cellulose(CMC) and sodium alginate(ALG) were added into waterborne polyurethane.By comparing the coating properties like moisture permeability,rain drop repellency and bending length,the results showed that CMC was superior to ALG.Addition of polyethylene glycol(PEG) into the CMC-containing waterborne polyurethane could significantly improve the moisture permeability and hand feeling of the coated fabric.It was found that under the conditions of coating agent with CMC 0.25% and PEG 10%,moisture permeability of the coated fabric was up to 6 721.5 g/(m2·24 h),and bending length of the fabric was 5.51 cm,with rain drop repellency rating of 5,indicating it had better waterproof,permeability and hand feeling.


ABSTRACT Movement datasets are often complex and require sophisticated processing and analysis. A thorough understanding of the dataset is needed to choose the right methods and to interpret their results. Misunderstandings and violations of assumptions about dataset characteristics can lead to flawed analysis results and wrong conclusions. To address this challenge, we propose a novel protocol for the systematic exploration of movement datasets. The individual protocol steps address the different types of movement data problems. The exploration tools recommended at each step are specifically tailored to identifying potential problems and avoiding common pitfalls when working with global navigation satellite system (GNSS) tracking data, commonly referred to as GPS tracks. However, the general steps should be transferable to continuous movement datasets with different characteristics, such as video trajectories. Furthermore, we provide an open-source implementation of our protocol in the form of a Jupyter notebook accompanying this paper.


Background:  The end‐target of the management of thoracic empyema is to obtain early rehabilitation by re‐expansion of the trapped lung resulting from intrapleural infected material. Our aim was to shorten the hospitalization time and to prevent a possible thoracotomy by using video‐assisted thoracoscopy initially.


Biomass yield information by forest type is presented for lesser vegetation in northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota based on data from recent field inventories.


l-P-Z)-Arabinofuranosylcytosine-5'-stearylphosphate (fosteabine) was administered orally to patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB), RAEB in trans


We developed a tool to simulate the orbital motion of
the BepiColombo spacecraft, scheduled for arrival at
Mercury in 2022. The mission will consist of two
spacecraft, the MPO (Mercury Planetary Orbiter, ESA)
and the MMO (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter,
JAXA). We simulate the orbital evolutions of the
considering perturbing forces for a time of 2 years from
arrival. This study was undertaken for mission planning
purposes and estimates of surface coverage for the onboard
mapping instruments.
The knowledge of the evolution of the two orbits for
the BepiColombo Mission is important to know,
because there will be no active attitude corrections for
both spacecraft after orbit insertion.


Peer to peer systems have been widely used in the internet. However, most of the peer to peer information systems are still missing some of the important features, for example cross-language IR (Information Retrieval) and collection selection / fusion features. Cross-language IR is the state-of-art research area in IR research community. It has not been used in any real world IR systems yet. Cross-language IR has the ability to issue a query in one language and receive documents in other languages. In typical peer to peer environment, users are from multiple countries. Their collections are definitely in multiple languages. Cross-language IR can help users to find documents more easily. E.g. many Chinese researchers will search research papers in both Chinese and English. With Cross-language IR, they can do one query in Chinese and get documents in two languages. The Out Of Vocabulary (OOV) problem is one of the key research areas in crosslanguage information retrieval. In recent years, web mining was shown to be one of the effective approaches to solving this problem. However, how to extract Multiword Lexical Units (MLUs) from the web content and how to select the correct translations from the extracted candidate MLUs are still two difficult problems in web mining based automated translation approaches. Discovering resource descriptions and merging results obtained from remote search engines are two key issues in distributed information retrieval studies. In uncooperative environments, query-based sampling and normalized-score based merging strategies are well-known approaches to solve such problems. However, such approaches only consider the content of the remote database but do not consider the retrieval performance of the remote search engine. This thesis presents research on building a peer to peer IR system with crosslanguage IR and advance collection profiling technique for fusion features. Particularly, this thesis first presents a new Chinese term measurement and new Chinese MLU extraction process that works well on small corpora. An approach to selection of MLUs in a more accurate manner is also presented. After that, this thesis proposes a collection profiling strategy which can discover not only collection content but also retrieval performance of the remote search engine. Based on collection profiling, a web-based query classification method and two collection fusion approaches are developed and presented in this thesis. Our experiments show that the proposed strategies are effective in merging results in uncooperative peer to peer environments. Here, an uncooperative environment is defined as each peer in the system is autonomous. Peer like to share documents but they do not share collection statistics. This environment is a typical peer to peer IR environment. Finally, all those approaches are grouped together to build up a secure peer to peer multilingual IR system that cooperates through X.509 and email system.


ABSTRACT This paper explores the contribution to geography teaching which can be made by serious games. We describe the ways in which gaming has progressed from "dissected maps" and jigsaws through board games, to the range of online games which are available today. We describe the development, in conjunction with European partner institutions, of a new game, entitled RU EU?, intended to raise student awareness of European issues, notably the question of European identity; this seems to be both important and topical at the time of Brexit. We describe the development and the nature of the game and its launch, and the feedback which we have received from students who have played it, and suggest that, while it is not necessarily a substitute for traditional lecture-style teaching, games such as this can provide an additional tool in the geography lecturer's armoury.


Email: firstname.lastname@example.com This volume brings together a rich and varied collection of essays by Gilles Quispel (19162006), Professor of the History of the Early Church at Utrecht University from 1951 until his retirement in 1983. During his illustrious career, Professor Quispel was also visiting Professor at Harvard University in 1964/65, and visiting Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven from 1969 until 1974. The fifty essays collected in this volume testify to most of the prominent themes from Professor Quispel's scholarly career: the writings of the Nag Hammadi library in general and the Gospel of Thomas in particular; Tatian's Diatessaron and its influences; the Hermetica; Mani and Manichaeism; the Jewish origins of Gnosticism; and Gnosis and the future of Christianity. This volume also makes a number of his less known earlier publications (mainly presented under the heading 'Catholica') available to the international community. Until shortly before he died, Professor Quispel remained active in his study of the Gospel of Thomas. He had been one of the first to acquire the Coptic text of the Gospel of Thomas, of which he published the first translation in 1959 and his final translation in 2005. He was also active in researching the Diatessaron, and Valentinus 'the Gnostic'. One of his most recent essays – published for the first time in this volume – is on 'the Muslim Jesus.'


The paper analyzes the size, growth and productivity performance of the unorganized manufacturing sector in India during the 1978–1979 to 2000–2001 period. The study shows evidence of an increase in the size of the sector with a slowdown in the reforms period. Evidence indicates that the rate of growth varies widely across the two-digit industries but the variation in growth rate is smaller during the 1990s. Textiles and machinery goods were the fastest growing segments of India's unorganized manufacturing sector in the reforms period. The partial factor productivity approach shows that labor productivity has improved in 2000–2001 over 1978–1979 while capital productivity reported a decline in the same period. The sector, on the other hand, registered a fall in total factor productivity (TFP) during the reforms period. It is found that technological progress has been the main contributor to the growth in TFP in the prereforms period while technical regress contributed to the decline in TFP in the reforms period. A completely different picture is noticed since the mid-1990s when the sector made significant progress in TFP primarily attributed to technological progress which outweighed the decline in technical efficiency. It is also found that capital intensity is an essential factor augmenting labor productivity levels in the sector, which is important for improving the wages paid to the workers in the sector.


This doctoral project explores the narrative representations of transforming subjectivity in modernist and post-modernist texts that deploy the trope of metamorphosis. Subjectivity is explored within a psychoanalytic framework and from a comparative lens, through the juxtaposition of selected short stories and novels of metamorphosis from different literatures, produced in different languages and under different geocultural and historico-political conditions from 1915 to 1996. Chapter One explores subjectivity as sacrificial and in conflict with a symbolic father-authority, through a close reading of insect metamorphosis in Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" (1915) and Vladimir Nabokov's "The Aurelian" (1931). Chapter Two addresses the postcolonial dimension of subjectivity and its collective construction in terms of the loss of home in Alejo Carpentier's The Kingdom of This World (1949) and Vassilis Vassilikos's …and dreams are dreams (1988). Chapter Three pairs two feminist writers and their stories of metamorphoses, Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography (1928) and Darrieussecq's Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation (1996), to explore subjectivity as hybrid: androgynous and human-animal like. Metamorphosis, as this project suggests, allows us to explore an array of subjectivities, both individual and collective: it points to the issues of death, rebirth, sacrifice, the subject's position within a nation and the processes of nation-formation, and creative writing as negotiating loss, while it also challenges the established boundaries of gender and animal representation. This thesis argues that the twentieth-century stories of metamorphosis which are being examined here articulate a certain metamorphosis in our very conception of subjectivity, namely, the reconceptualization of subjectivity as hybrid, metamorphic, and bound to individual and collective transformations.


In 30 survivors of childhood cancer, long‐term psychological coping with experience of disease and treatment was studied in relation to factors associated with illness, treatment and demographic background. Coping was assessed in a prior study, in which three groups of varying levels of coping where delineated (good, 40%; intermediate, 33%; poor, 27%, coping). The present study showed that poor individual coping was related to diagnosis, a shorter time of continuous complete remission, more severe illness and treatment impairments, and lower scores on a test of intellectual abilities. In addition, a longer time of treatment tended to be followed by poorer coping. However, no association was found for gender, parents' occupational level, age at illness onset, neuro‐cranial irradiation, irradiation dose (total) or age at investigation. A tentative path‐analysis was executed, displaying a model for the relationships between medical and demographic background variables, and for their influence on coping. It was concluded that a complex of factors‐associated particularly with severity of disease and treatment‐appears to be related to, and affects, coping with the illness experience. Patients' long‐term coping with their illness trauma is most likely determined by multiple factors. Intellectual capabilities are related to coping.


you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms Reactivating the extracellular matrix synthesis of sulfated glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans to improve the human skin aspect and its mechanical properties Background: The aim of this study was to demonstrate that a defined cosmetic composition is able to induce an increase in the production of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs) and/or proteoglycans and finally to demonstrate that the composition, through its combined action of enzyme production and synthesis of macromolecules, modulates organization and skin surface aspect with a benefit in antiaging applications. Materials and methods: Gene expression was studied by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction using normal human dermal fibroblasts isolated from a 45-year-old donor skin dermis. De novo synthesis of sGAGs and proteoglycans was determined using Blyscan™ assay and/or immunohistochemical techniques. These studies were performed on normal human dermal fibroblasts (41-and 62-year-old donors) and on human skin explants. Dermis organization was studied either ex vivo on skin explants using bi-photon microscopy and transmission electron microscopy or directly in vivo on human volunteers by ultrasound technique. Skin surface modification was investigated in vivo using silicone replicas coupled with macrophotography, and the mechanical properties of the skin were studied using Cutometer. Results: It was first shown that mRNA expression of several genes involved in the synthesis pathway of sGAG was stimulated. An increase in the de novo synthesis of sGAGs was shown at the cellular level despite the age of cells, and this phenomenon was clearly related to the previously observed stimulation of mRNA expression of genes. An increase in the expression of the corresponding core protein of decorin, perlecan, and versican and a stimulation of their respective sGAGs, such as chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate, were found on skin explants. The biosynthesis of macromolecules seems to be correlated at the microscopic level to a better organization and quality of the dermis, with collagen fibrils having homogenous diameters. The dermis seems to be compacted as observed on images obtained by two-photon microscopy and ultrasound imaging. At the macroscopic level, this dermis organization shows a smoothed profile similar to a younger skin, with improved mechanical properties such as firmess. Conclusion: The obtained results demonstrate that the defined cosmetic composition induces …


If the cost of measurement is high, it is often expedient to composite several samples before taking measurements. Optimal designs for estimating (individually and jointly) the mean and variance components in two-stage nested designs are discussed, using the so-called analysis of variance estimation procedure. This traditional procedure is then compared numerically with two other unbiased estimation procedures; specific conditions are given whereby a particular procedure is superior to the other procedures.


Rintamaki, E. and Aro, E.-M. 1985. Photosynthetic and photorespiratory enzymes in widely divergent plant species with special reference to the moss Ceratodon purpureus: Properties of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and glycolate oxidase.—J. exp. Bot. 36: 1677-1684. Km(C02) values and maximal velocities of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (E.C. 184.108.40.206) were determined for six plant species growing in the wild, consisting of a moss, a fern and four angiosperms. The maximum velocities of the RuBP carboxylases varied from 013 to 0-62 /anol C02 fixed min"1 mg~1 soluble protein and the Km(C02) values from 15 to 22mmol m~3C02. The highest Km(C02) values found were for the moss, Ceratodon purpureus, and the grass, Deschampsia flexuosa. These plants also had the highest ratios of the activities of RuBP carboxylase to RuBP oxygenase. Glycolate oxidase (E.C. 188.8.131.52) activities were slightly lower in D. flexuosa, but not in C. purpureus, than for typical C3 species. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (E.C. 184.108.40.206) was not involved in the photosynthetic carboxylation by these two plants. However, another grass, Phragmites australis, was intermediate in PEP carboxylase activity between C3 and C4 plants. The properties of RuBP carboxylase/oxygenase are discussed in relation to the activities of PEP carboxylase and glycolate oxidase and to the internal C02 concentration. Key words—RuBP carboxylase/oxygenase, Km(C02), moss. Correspondence to: Department of Biology, University of Turku, SF-20500 Turku, Finland.


In this paper, we present two practical modifications of the original Murty algorithm. First, the algorithm is modified to handle rectangular association matrix. The original Murty algorithm was developed for a square matrix. It is found that the expanding rules should be changed so that the cross-over pair within an assignment can be extended to the last column and can be repeated for the last column upon certain conditions. The second modification is the allowance of an "infeasible" assignment, where some tracks are not assigned with any measurements, therefore, good "infeasible" hypotheses are maintained and clutter seduced hypotheses are suppressed when the information evidence becomes stronger. Examples are used to demonstrate the modifications of the existing Murty algorithm for a practical implementation of an N-best Multiple Hypothesis Tracker.


GEOMETRY OF THE HOLOCHROIC EYE OF TRILOBITE AND THE PROBLEM OF UNIFORMITARISM IN GEOLOGY

Summary

The Geikie's phrase "the present is the key to the past" presents in the most popular form the basic assumption of geological sciences - the principle of uniformitarianism. Although uniformitarianism means different things to different scientists it is widely accepted the laws that describe nature's behavior today also described it in the past, i.e. the natural laws are invariant in time and space. This paper concerns with holochroal trilobite eyes and their geometrical properties in relation to natural laws. The holochroal trilobite eyes are a fossil analog of a compound eyes of crustaceans. They comprise a nearly spherical aggregate of identical structural units called ommatidia. Visual mechanism of trilobites obeyed mosaic-vision theory. According to the theory entire image formed in compound eyes is composed of a mosaic of reports from the indivdual ommatidia. Each ommatidium is sensitive to light entering at a small angle to its axis only. In the simplest form the quality of vision is a function of ommatidium lens dimension (D), ommatidia angular separation Φ, and eye surface curvature (R). The task of an eye is to give the best possible vision image. So the real size of lenses is a compromise between two contradictory factors: small lens diameter gives good vision quality (small interommatidial angle) and poor vision acquity (large diffraction), while large lens diameter acts contrarily. In optimal case, values of ommatidia angular separation and diffraction angle should be proportional. Coefficient of linear proportionality depends on light intensity. All calculations are based on diffraction theory using wavelength of sun light. According to black body radiation laws (valid also for the Sun!) a wavelength of a maximum radiation energy depends on the temperature of the body only. Value of D2/R, so called "eye parameter", is characterstic for given eye. Among recent deep sea crustaceans the value of ("eye parameter") is greater than 3. Similar value is expected for holochroal eyes of trilobites. Calculated "eye parameter" values for early Phanerozoic trilobites are in fair conformity with predicted ones. It suggests that wavelength, and consequently Sun surface temperature in early Phanerozoicum were the same as present ones. It is in agreement with astronomical hypothesis. Moreover, it gives rise to an assumption that the diffraction and black body radiation laws in palaeozoicum were as valid as they are nowadays. It attests not only a qualitatively but also quantitatively the uniformitarianism hypothesis in geology.


Using a differential staining technique, total and differential cell counts were carried out on over 5000 milk samples. It was found that the cells in both normal and abnormal milk fell into three groups: (1) Granular leucocytes, including polymorphs, eosinophils and probably basophils. (2) Lymphocytes. (3) Epithelial cells (vacuolated and non-vacuolated). The findings of some earlier workers are discussed.


The Linqing Sub‐basin is situated in the south‐west of the Bohai Bay Basin (BBB), which is the centre of lithospheric destruction and thinning of the eastern North China Craton (NCC). It is also one of China's premier hydrocarbon‐bearing basins. To better understand the Mesozoic–Cenozoic thermal history of the Linqing Sub‐basin, 178 vitrinite reflectance (Ro) data from nine wells and six apatite fission track (AFT) ages have been used. The effective AFT ages range from 53.5 to 107.7 Ma, with mean track lengths of 10.6 μm, recording the tectonic–thermal events from the Early Cretaceous to the Palaeogene. The thermal modelling results of AFT show that the Linqing Sub‐basin experienced two rapid cooling events during the Late Cretaceous (100–70 Ma) and Middle Eocene–Miocene (40–20 Ma), respectively, which are closely related to the subduction and rollback of the Pacific Plate. The thermal modelling results of Ro indicate that the Linqing Sub‐basin has experienced two heat flow peaks during the Early Cretaceous and the Palaeocene–Late Eocene, with the heat flow values of 80 and 86 mW/m2, respectively. These heat flow values were consistent with the destruction peak of the North China Craton and the extension peak of the Bohai Bay Basin. The Carboniferous source rocks experienced a large‐scale hydrocarbon generation stage from the early Mesozoic to the Late Cretaceous and the Shahejie 3 Formation source rocks from the Middle Eocene to the Late Oligocene. Our study provides new geothermal evidence for the process of the destruction of the North China Craton.


Abstract An implanted microelectrode is the first piece of hardware in the extracellular neural signal‐recording pathway. This work presents a simple, flexible and economical microwire array electrode for extracellular cortical recordings. The materials include Teflon insulated tungsten microwires, a printed circuit board pattern, a flexible flat cable and connector and viscose epoxy A+B. The proposed procedure is relatively simple, even for a novice worker to implement in‐house. These main steps include design and sculpting a printed circuit board, straightening microwires, connecting printed circuit board patterns, arraying and soldering microwires and packaging the microelectrode. In this study, we apply electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to measure the impedance and the phase between the electrode and the electrolyte, and then to obtain an equivalent circuit. The presented microwire array electrode is successfully adopted to record an extracellular cortical signal. The proposed microwire array electrode can be designed and revised for multi‐site, multiple single‐unit or particular recording experiments.


Analysis of humoral and cellular immunity in the patients suffering from different forms of autoimmune polyneuropathies was carried out. Twenty two patients with AIDP, 7 patients with axonal forms of Guillain-Barre syndrome, and 12 patients with typical and atypical forms of CIDP were included in research. AIDP was characterized by the signs of immunodeficiency with decreasing of CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ indices. Axonal forms of Guillain-Barre syndrome were characterized by higher quantity of Т-NK cells and higher levels of IgG and IgA (in comparison with AIDP). It can be caused by additional "latent" antigens involved in autoimmune process. The immunological status of CIDP patients has features of both autoimmune process and immunodeficiency combined. The data obtained allows observing some sides of acute and chronic autoimmune polyneuropathies pathogenesis more clearly, and in the long term to use them for carrying out specific therapy.


By the means of cross-breeding,had bred the Longdong cashmere goats total 37.6 thousands by the end of 2006 in the east area of Gansu Province.All body's hair of the new species goat is white,it's primary product is cashmere,and it is a cashmere-meat dual-purpose goats.The average cashmere yield of adult male and female goats of first order and over are 578g and 451g;body weight of male and female goats are 33.7kg and 23.3kg;cashmere diameter and down thick are 14.85um and 5.3cm;slaughter rate is 47.08%;birth rate of multiparous ewes is 103%.


The objective of this work was to compare the flame retardancy of intumescent flame retardant ethylene–vinyl acetate (EVA/IFR) composites containing different metal oxides including lanthanide oxide, iron oxide, the mixture of iron oxide and lanthanide oxide, and lanthanum ferrite nanocrystalline (LaFeO3). A novel compound containing iron and lanthanum, LaFeO3 was successfully prepared. The EVA/IFR composites with these different coadditives were then fabricated through a melt blending process. Thermogravimetric analysis data showed that these different coadditives could increase the char residue formation. Cone calorimeter results revealed that these different coadditives and IFR could clearly change the decomposition behavior of EVA and form a char layer on the surface of the composites, consequently resulting in efficient reduction of the flammability parameters, such as heat release rate, total heat release, average mass loss rate, average smoke extinction area, and so on. Moreover, significant improv...


Approaches to understanding the essence of actual and potential in political formation of young citizens with taking into account the changing historical realias are presented, dialectics of transitions from actual states to potential ones in political socialization, their interdependence and controversial unity is shown.


David I. Smith and Susan M. Felch remind their readers that they are offering "not a 'how-to' manual or collection of tips" but "lenses . . . opening possibilities" for effective "learning and teaching" (2). Teaching is not a transaction to dispense knowledge but a multivalent art that should not be reduced to gimmicks. As Smith and Felch conceive of it, teaching is a living process shaped by the imagination of both teacher and student – an experience directed by "visions, not just beliefs and techniques" (1). It is an organic life shaped by theological journeying, farming, and building metaphors. To bolster their argument, Smith and Felch carry their readers through a three-dimensional rubric that reimagines teaching as a biblical hermeneutic – a teaching life that undulates between "journeys and pilgrimages," "gardens and wildernesses," and "buildings and walls." Reading this book as a teacher, I was drawn into the teaching world the authors invite all instructors to enter – it is a world where one hears, sees, thinks, and reimagines inexhaustible possibilities of shaping minds.


Abstract Background: In our hospital, we perform segmental adrenal venous samplings (S-AVS) to detect the exact locations of causative lesions of primary aldosteronism (PA), and adrenalectomy for localized lesion. In this study, we investigated the influence of laboratory values in the tributary veins of unresected adrenal glands to surgical outcomes. Methods: A total of 102 PA patients who underwent S-AVS (collected blood samples from 3 or more tributary veins in each adrenal gland) and unilateral adrenalectomy were analyzed. All patients were assessed on the biochemical success of Primary Aldosteronism Surgical Outcomes (PASO) one year after adrenalectomy, by performing saline infusion tests. We divided the patients into two groups; complete success (Com) and incomplete (partial and absent) success (Inc), and compared maximum aldosterone values (Ald max) and Ald max to cortisol ratio (Ald max/Cort ratio) in tributary veins of unresected side, and Ald and Ald/Cort ratio in the central veins of unresected side. Results: Eighty-seven patients had complete biochemical success and fifteen had incomplete success. Inc group had higher Ald max (11000 [7950-22300] pg/mL vs 7030 [4260-11900] pg/mL, p < 0.05) and Ald max/Cort ratio (18.05 [12.77-34.15] vs 9.13 [6.27-14.25], p < 0.05) in the tributary veins, and Ald (9260 [5480-15100] pg/mL vs 5800 [3410-8060] pg/mL, p < 0.05) and Ald/Cort (13.67 [9.51-21.87] vs 8.08 [5.88-10.96], p < 0.05) in the central veins of unresected side, compared to Com group. In logistic analyses for PASO results as an objective variable, Ald max/Cort ratio in the tributary veins had the highest AUC (0.780) as a subjective variable. When the cutoff values were set as 20.92 or 12.77, their sensitivities / specificities were 47% / 85% and 80% / 70%, respectively. On the other hand, lateralized ratio had no significant differences between Com and Inc groups. Conclusion: Biochemical PASO results are influenced by aldosterone values in tributary veins or central veins of unresected side, but not lateralized ratio.


Can Phileas Fogg travel round the world in eighty days? He bets all his money that he can, but he doesn't know that someone wants to stop him. Will he make it back to London in time?


the model of the development of the students' preparation for the use of health-saving technology in their professional activity is presented; the term "preparation" is reviewed; the structure and components of preparation are revealed


In recent years, various business models have been implemented in e-grocery retailing, however, in most cases, without success. The biggest stumbling block has been logistics, and some inefficient operation has frequently led to capital being used up on operating expenses. Therefore, improving overall logistical efficiency can be seen as one of the most important steps towards profitability. This dissertation aims at understanding different e- grocery logistics system implementation alternatives. The main objective is to study how best to implement an e-grocery business from the logistical point of view so as to ensure profitability. The second objective is to identify, model, and evaluate different logistical solutions that can be used in e-grocery retailing. Solutions for achieving greater picking efficiency are presented and modelled. Special attention is paid to investments in the automation of picking. Different unattended reception solutions and revenue models are identified and examined. The potential of the revenue models is evaluated with modelling and concrete examples. The last objective is to find and evaluate cost-effective combinations of logistical solutions in different market situations so as to enable the successful implementation of an e-grocery business.
According to the results, the general rule that cost savings in picking cannot be realised with automation if demand and capacity utilisation varies significantly applies also to the e-grocery business. Therefore, the focus should be more on creating a flexible distribution centre with manual solutions. Another result suggests that shared reception boxes with an open system have the potential to be profitable as a part of the e-grocery logistics system. However, customer demand is currently uncertain and therefore capacity utilisation is crucial. Finally, the way in which the order of implementing logistical solutions affects e- grocery business investment is presented. The flexibility of individual solutions and solutions' inter-dependencies when choosing an investment strategy are discussed.


Given the increasingly prominent role NLP models (will) play in our lives, it is important for human expectations of model behavior to align with actual model behavior. Using Natural Language Inference (NLI) as a case study, we investigate the extent to which human-generated explanations of models' inference decisions align with how models actually make these decisions. More specifically, we define three alignment metrics that quantify how well natural language explanations align with model sensitivity to input words, as measured by integrated gradients. Then, we evaluate eight different models (the base and large versions of BERT,RoBERTa and ELECTRA, as well as anRNN and bag-of-words model), and find that the BERT-base model has the highest alignment with human-generated explanations, for all alignment metrics. Focusing in on transformers, we find that the base versions tend to have higher alignment with human-generated explanations than their larger counterparts, suggesting that increasing the number of model parameters leads, in some cases, to worse alignment with human explanations. Finally, we find that a model's alignment with human explanations is not predicted by the model's accuracy, suggesting that accuracy and alignment are complementary ways to evaluate models.


Before 1982, Daphnia retrocurva and Daphnia galeata mendotae were the dominant species of Daphnia in Lake Michigan. Between 1972 and 198 1, Daphnia community structure in the offshore region shifted toward greater dominance of the larger D. galeata mendotae, with Daphniapulicaria, another large species, dominating by 1982. This continued through summer 1984. Shifts in offshore Daphnia community structure appear to be related to a reduction in predation pressure by declining alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) populations and a hypothesized increase in relative predation pressure by lMysis relicta. From 1972 to 1984, Daphnia community structure changed only slightly in the inshore region; D. retrocurva generally remained the summer and autumn dominant. However, summer Daphnia abundances decreased after 1980 as yellow perch (Perca jlavescens) and bloater (Coregonus hoyi) increased. From an examination of historic data we conclude that inshore region Daphnia populations probably have changed little since the late 1880s. The 1982-1984 offshore Daphnia complex, however, differed markedly from the earliest (mid1950s) record of zooplankton community structure in this region of southeastern Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan, like the other Laurentian Great Lakes, has been exposed to various disturbances over the last several decades (Beeton 1969), including eutrophication, habitat alteration, sea lamprey predation (Petromyzon marinus), and invasion of exotics such as the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) (Damann 1960; Wells and McLain 1972; Christie 1974). With no significant predation by the reduced lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) populations, and with reduced competition from lowered populations of endemic planktivores, the planktivorous alewife rapidly dominated the Lake Michigan fish community (Christie 1974). Furthermore, zooplankton community structure apparently was altered as a consequence of eutrophication and the alewife population explosion (Brooks 1969; Wells 1970; McNaught 1975). During the late 1960s and 197Os, programs were instituted to slow eutrophication, utilize alewife populations, and restore the commercial fisheries. As part of the fisheries management program, the lakes were stocked with lake trout and other salmonids, species which thrive in clean, oligo1 Indiana & Michigan Electric Company and Michigan Sea Grant provided support for the study. 2 Great Lakes Research Division, University of Michigan, contribution 423. trophic waters (Smith 1972). Stocking has been highly successful; an economically valuable salmonid fishery has been produced and alewife populations have been more efficiently managed. Stewart et al. (198 1) suggested that if salmonids and lake trout became too abundant, they would begin to deplete their alewife forage base. This in turn might affect the zooplankton community. Recently, Daphnia populations in southeastern Lake Michigan have changed dramatically in different ways in the inshore and offshore regions, while alewife abundances declined in both regions. Concurrently, abundances of bloaters (Coregonus hoyi), primarily an open-lake, deep-water species, and yellow perch (PercaJZavescens), an inshore species, increased (Jude and Tesar 1985; Wells and Hatch unpubl.). Here we report changes in the Daphnia community between 1972 and 1984 and examine the long term relationship among Daphnia species assemblages and alewife, bloater, and yellow perch populations. We then re-examine the current understanding of long term (1887 to the late 1960s) changes in Lake Michigan zooplankton community structure. The NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, provided ship time in 1982. Internal reviewers were


And temperature guarantees higher value first heating component, a heat dissipation device temperature guarantee value is brought into contact with a lower second heating component, the heat dissipation device comprises a metal member formed with slits. Metal member is divided by a slit, having two radiating area of the first heat radiation region and a second heat radiating area thermal conduction is loosely coupled to each other. First heat-producing component is in contact with the first heat radiating area, a second heating component is arranged so as to be in contact with the second heat radiation region.


This case describes an infiltrating breast tumour with thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) positive staining and ductal differentiation in a 72-year-old woman. The presence of ductal carcinoma in situ with positive TTF-1 is a strong indication that this is a primary tumour and not a metastasis from lung. On PET scan and CT follow up there were no other tumours found in this patient. We are not aware of any previously reported TTF-1 positive primary breast carcinoma with ductal differentiation. Background TTF-1 is a tissue-specific transcription factor expressed in epithelial cells of the lung and the thyroid, including Ccells as well as certain areas of the brain. TTF-1 is expressed in approximately 72% of pulmonary adenocarcinomas[1], and may be a valuable marker for identifying the lung as the site of origin of a metastatic adenocarcinoma. Case Presentation A 72-year-old gravida 1/para 1 woman presented with a palpable mass in the left breast. Her sister died of breast cancer some years earlier. There was a past history of operated parathyroid adenoma some years ago but no previous history of any malignancy. The patient was a nonsmoker and had never used hormonal drugs. Clinical examination demonstrated a palpable tumour in her left breast in the upper inner quadrant, no fixation to skin or underlying fascia. Mammography from upper inner quadrant of the left breast showed a dense, relatively well defined, oval shaped mass lesion with a microlobulated margin measuring 51 × 33 × 35 mm with coarse calcifications centrally in the mass and in addition finer micro calcifications antero lateral to the main tumour, malignant in appearance. The total maximal diameter including the calcifications was approximately 6 cm. Ultrasound left breast showed an irregular solid malignant appearing tumour, corresponding to the mammographic lesion, measuring approximately 38 mm maximal diameter. No enlarged lymph nodes in the left axillae. PET scan and CT scan showed no other malignancy other than known breast tumour. As no other origin for the tumour was found, the patient was treated with left mastectomy and sentinel lymph node mapping. The sentinel node was normal. The patient had an uncomplicated recovery and was discharged the next day following the operation. Materials and methods We performed immunohistochemical investigation using the indirect streptavidin-biotin method on 3-5 μm slices. Regarding TTF-1 staining we used same methods at two different laboratories for verification of the findings. Further staining for CK5/6, CK 7, CK20, CK 18, mammaglobin, GCDFP-15, ER, PGR, chromgranin, synaptophysin, CD 56, HER 2/neu, Ki67, p 63 and MA was performed (table 1). Results Macroscopic investigation showed a mastectomy specimen measuring 21 × 18 × 3 cm, weighing 1042 gram. In the upper inner quadrant there was a round, well-circumscribed tumour with largest diameter 3,8 cm laying 0,6 * Correspondence: email@example.com 1 Department of Pathology, Vestfold County Hospital, Halfdan Wilhelmsens Alle' 17, N-3116 Tønsberg, Norway Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2010 Klingen et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Klingen et al. Diagnostic Pathology 2010, 5:37 http://www.diagnosticpathology.org/content/5/1/37 Page 2 of 5 cm from the chest wall. The tumour was white with pale yellow necrotic areas (Figure 1). Microscopic investigation showed a sharp demarcation of the tumour to the surrounding breast tissue. There was some necrosis centrally, with more preserved structure peripherally in the tumour. The tumour tissue grew as trabeculae and confluent nests with scanty glandular tissue. The tumour cells were large with moderate amount of cytoplasm. The nuclei were variable in appearance being round, oval or spindle shaped. The chromatin was coarsely granulated and vesicular. There were numerous mitoses and apoptotic bodies (Figure 2). The nuclei in the invasive tumour cells showed diffuse and strong positive immunoreactivity to TTF-1 marker (Figure 3). The neuroendocrine marker CD56 was slightly positive (Figure 4), whilst chromogranin and synaptophysin were negative. CK 5/6 was demonstrated in isolated cells within the tumour (Figure 5). Ki67 was positive in over 50% of the tumour cells. The tumour was positive for CK7 and CK18 but negative for ER, mammaglobin, GCDPF-15 and CK20. HER2/neu showed heterogeneous C-erb-2 protein score 2+/3+, but silver in situ hybridization (SISH) without gene amplification. There was a weak positive reaction to PGR in the biopsy material, but not in the mastectomy tissue. An in situ component was seen in the vicinity of the tumour. The myoepithelial layer of the carcinoma in situ was verified immunohistochemically with p63 and MA. The in situ tumour cells had the same morphological appearance as in the invasive tumour (Figure 6). The in Table 1: Immunohistochemistry Antibody Clone Dillution Company TTF-I SPT24 1:100 Novocastra CK5/6 D5/16B4 1:800 Chemicon CK7 OV-TL-12/30 1:100 DAKO CK20 Ks20.8 Ready to use Roche


We carry out a randomized controlled experiment in West Bengal India to test three separate performance pay treatments in the public health sector. Performance is judged on improvements in child malnutrition. First, we exogenously change wages of government employed child care workers through a basic level of absolute incentives. The second treatment introduces high absolute incentives. Finally, we also test for the impact of basic relative incentives on child health. All treatments include supplying mothers with recipe books. The main results suggest that high absolute incentives reduce severe malnutrition by about 6.3 percentage points over three months. There are no signi?cant e¤ects on health outcomes of basic absolute or basic relative incentives. Results are robust to controlling for prior trends, propensity score matching, and reversion-to-the-mean. This result is consistent with a reported increase in protein-rich diet at home in the high absolute treatment.


Rare-earth compounds with cobalt are strongly magnetic. For the heavier rare earths, the gross magnetic moment appears to arise from opposed alignment of the rare earth and the cobalt atoms. If the rare earths are assumed to have characteristic localized magnetic moments Jg, the moments on the cobalt atoms are about 1.7 mu s in the Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er compounds, a little less in the Gd compound, and zero in the Pr, Nd, and Sm compounds. The basic coupling mechanism is that of indirect exchange through the conduction electrons between rare-earth spins. (auth)


ABSTRACT For decades, museums have been seeking diversity in their audiences, for reasons including equity, vitality, community relations, and audience development. The initial emphasis on diversity was about race, and although museum initiatives and programming forged ahead with evolving definitions of diversity, the visitor studies field has a mixed record of participating in that evolution. The usefulness of visitor demographics in representing diversity has been debated and, although the field has exploded simple conceptions such as "the typical visitor," visitor research professionals have not thoroughly applied our skills to help museums understand how to define, encourage, and monitor diversity, or to document its benefits. This article suggests that more thoughtful measures of audience diversity can be created by expanding demographics with characteristics of personal identity. Pragmatic examples of such measures in visitor research are presented.


Narrowing of the stimulated emission spectrum was studied using a neodymium-doped niobium-phosphate glass element. Under free-oscillation conditions the linewidth could be reduced to 1.7 cm–1 when the threshold was exceeded sixfold; this could be done without a significant reduction in the efficiency. The narrowest emission line obtained was 0.15–0.2 cm–1 wide. This result was achieved by the use of new niobium-phosphate laser glass elements in selective resonators.


This article presents the unit vector method for the full shaking force balancing of multi-loop spatial linkages. The method based on the vector algebra does not use the coordinate transformation matrix. Firstly, the three mutually perpendicular unit vectors at links are selected. Secondly, using the unit vectors, the equations of the linkage mass center and the loop equations are derived. Finally, the balancing conditions are given. Using the method, we can simplify the process of deriving the balancing conditions, and obtain the least number of the balancing equations with the scalar form. Several examples are included.


We should change our ideas on financial management, perfect financial management regulations, strengthen inner control and optimize financial work environment to strengthen the work of finanagement in university.


With regard to the properties of the A -center of additively colored KBr crystals, it is described how they are modified when the crystals contain divalent cations as impurities, besides a foreign alkali impurity associated with the A -center, Na + or Li + ion. Divalent impurities such as Ca ++ or Sr ++ enhance the growth of the A -center but deteriorate the thermal stability of this center. On the other hand, the existence of these divalent cations does not affect A '-band. The activation energies for the formation and thermal destruction of the A -center are measured as being 0.26 eV and 1.0 eV, respectively, independent of the existence of divalent ions. The ionic conductivity is increased by 50∼70 times in the vicinity of room temperature by additively coloring a sample containing Ca ++ or Sr ++ , and is less increased in case of Ba ++ or Cd ++ .


The aim of this paper was to analyze the long term impact of the 2007-2009 global financial crisis on the banking sectors of CEE countries, in particular in analyzing the consequences of the crisis on bank stability, efficiency and lending policies. Analyzing bank performance and stability, the paper suggests adding a new analytical tool in analyzing risk-adjusted performance: the Multi Level Performance (MLP) Score. The 2008 crisis has illustrated how devastating for the economy the credit crunch could be and how important anti-cyclical lending is for both consumers and businesses. Consequently, in the empirical section the paper analyzes whether the overall performance of the CEE banking sectors, measured, among others, by the MLP Score, was important for loan growth. For the empirical analysis, the paper uses an adjusted dataset on eleven Central and East European Countries (CEE), members of the EU, based on the Bankscope database, employing panel data models for unconsolidated banking data for the 2004-2014 period.


The spring bamboo shoot emergence on an early day and high yield cultivation are promoted with Acidosasa edulis bamboo shoot producing forest intensive management.Flooding on bamboo forest lands is adopted and fertilizers for gestating bamboo shoots are applied to promote gestation of spring bamboo shoots in Autumn and Winter (A.edulis bamboo shoot gestation period),meanwhile,covering forest lands with haulms,etc.for increasing and keeping temperature is conducted to impel forest lands to keep stable ground temperature and over 14℃ contiously,which may make A.edulis spring bamboo shoots emerge 20~45 days earlier,the economic benefit is very evident.Applying fertilizers for making rhizomes vigorous may rejuvenate bamboo forests with deeply tilling and subsoil application (deepness under the topsoil ≥30cm),the objective of A.edulis forest high yield culture in May and June next year is obtained.


Application of organic wastes to cultivated lands can replace mineral fertilizers but may also alter soil physical properties and enhance pollution potential. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of biosolids [composted manure (MC) and activated sludge (AS)] and specific biosolid component [orthophosphate (OP), phytic acid (PA) and humic acid (HA)] application on soils differing in texture [loamy‐sand (Ramat‐HaKovesh, RH), loam (Gilat, GL) and clay (Bet‐Dagan, BD)], infiltration rate, runoff volume and soil sediment loss. The soils were packed in erosion boxes (400 × 200 × 40 mm) and subjected to six consecutive simulated rainstorms, each of 186 mm deionized water. The results showed that runoff volume and sediment loss from untreated soils increased with increasing clay contents. In treated soils, the response to AS application differed from the response to other amendments; in the BD clay and GL loam, it was the only amendment that caused a decrease in sediment removed by runoff. In the RH loamy‐sand, all amendments reduced the final infiltration rate, but only AS and HA increased the measured runoff. It is proposed that the difference in the response of the soils to the amendments is associated with the soil's ability to attenuate changes in the negative charge on the clay edges following the increase in the specific adsorption of charged anions, thus controlling clay swelling and maintaining aggregate integrity. The effects of amending soils with a source of organic matter in order to control runoff and soil erosion are not straight forward and depend on soil and amendment properties. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) consumption is limited due to its strong muddy odour and the difficulty of processing. In addition, consumption of tilapia is minimal in urban areas because of the low availability. There are no processed market products of tilapia available in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this study was designed to develop a new marinade for tilapia and to evaluate the shelf life of the product. Twelve different treatments of varying amounts of vinegar, salt, chili powder, white pepper and garlic powder were applied to filleted tilapia, and three best treatment combinations were selected using a sensory evaluation test. Processed tilapia was stored in the freezer at -4°C. Treated samples were subjected to evaluation of sensory profile: taste, odour, colour, texture and overall acceptability. Analysis of the shelf life was carried out by using the total plate count, faecal coliform test, acidity and pH at weekly intervals. Results revealed that the third treatment (vinegar 75 ml, salt 5 g, chili powder 5 g, white pepper 5 g and garlic powder 5 g) was best in terms of colour, texture, odour, taste and the overall acceptability according to the estimated medians (6, 6, 6 and 6.33 respectively). There was no significant difference between the first and the third treatment in terms of odour and overall acceptability. There was no significant difference between the three vacuum packed treatments for acidity and pH. Acidity and pH of the three treatments were at an acceptable level, which was below pH 5.3 and above 1.95% acidity. Average bacterial count was 10 colonies and 1.33x10 super(6) colonies respectively in vacuum packed treatments and bottled samples after one week. The acceptable level of bacterial colonies is 1.00x10 super(5). Vacuum packed treatments showed a one month shelf life. In conclusion, marinades can be developed from tilapia with a pleasant taste and acceptable texture.


This article discusses changes in classroom instruction that would be needed to make the Regular Education Initiative a reality. The article proposes a focus on prevention programs, such as preschool, extended-day kindergarten, and first-grade tutoring; classroom programs that accommodate the needs of diverse classes, such as continuous programs and cooperative learning models; and supplementary models such as peer tutoring and computer-assisted instruction. The article also describes Success for All, a comprehensive approach to school organization and instruction designed to bring all students to grade level in basic skills by the third grade without use of special or compensatory pull-outs.


Passively mode-locked fiber lasers are capable of generating a variety of optical pulses, depending of the pump power and cavity adjustments, which makes them attractive for research in multidisciplinary fields. In this paper, we analyze the experimental results of a fiber laser operating in passively mode-locked regime. The figure-eight laser cavity configuration uses 4 m of a co-doped Er/Yb double clad fiber, as a gain medium, pumped by a 976 nm diode laser. The cavity is completed by an isolator for ensure unidirectional propagation, two quarter-wave retarders (QWR), and a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) with 120 m of twisted standard single-mode fiber in the loop acting as saturable absorber. We used a couple of quarter-wave retarders (QWR) QWR1 at the NOLM input and QWR2 into the NOLM loop. By carefully adjusting of the QWRs the laser generates noise-like square pulses at the 1.54 μm range. With the increase of the pump power, the laser generates harmonics of the mode-locking fundamental mode with repetition frequency of 1.38 MHz, from which we can obtain the second, third and fourth harmonic in a controlled mode.


This study explores the linkages among job standard tightness, type of compensation scheme, and performance. It postulates that job standard tightness and type of compensation scheme affect not only workers' effort, but also their self-selection among employment contracts, and through these, job performance. A laboratory experlment yielded the following results: among subjects with assigned treatments, job standard tightness and type of compensation scheme had significant independent, but insignificant interactive effects on performance. Subjects who were permitted to choose their own compensation schemes (given an assigned job standard) self-selected among these by skill. There was also some indication that being able to select one's own compensation scheme, per se, enhanced performance. If supported by future studies, these results suggest that job standards and compensation schemes may affect performance not just by motivating a given set of employees, but also by affecting the type of employees an organization attracts from the labor market.


Indiax2019;s first parallel computer, Flosolver Mark1 (Mk1), was developed by Flosolver Unit, National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) in 1986[1]. Since then seven versions of parallel computers have been developed using the state-of-the-art processors and presently engaged in building the eighth version, a Tera flop parallel machine. In parallel machines connectivity plays a major role. In the year 2000 a communication device, FloSwitch, was indigenously designed, developed and used in the fifth version, Flosolver Mk5[2]. All the later developed machines are also based on this device or its updated versions. FloSwitch has its unique features like parallel read/write, broadcast write and it supports both message passing and message processing mechanism. In this paper it is about one of the possible connectivity, routing. The interconnectivity was proposed with respect to the indigenously developed FloSwitch and optical Module[2]. Flosolver uses the cluster-based architecture, Fig.1, where each cluster contains 4 nodes, each with dual processors and a PCI-DPM card[3] and these nodes are connected to the FloSwitch. FloSwitch handles the communication within the clusters and across the clusters communication will be through optical module.


The present invention is related to daylighting device. Condensing the daylight collector (3) is daylight (4), the daylight is guided to the illumination location to be illuminated along the optical path by the light guide (5), wherein the daylight is It is absorbed by the light guide. Photoluminescent material (6, 8) is disposed in the optical path, it emits photoluminescence light to compensate for the absorption of the daylight by the light guide. Accordingly, the absorption loss of daylight can be effectively compensated, for instance does not necessarily require active compensation light source. This provides a compensation daylighting technically relatively simple way.


Acoustic Emission signals (AE), generated by the formation and growth of micro-cracks in metal components, have the potential for use in mechanical fault detection in monitoring complex- shaped components in machinery including helicopters and aircraft. A major challenge for an AE-based fault detection algorithm is to distinguish crack-related AE signals from other interfering transient signals, such as fretting-related AE signals and electromagnetic transients. Although under a controlled laboratory environment we have fewer interference sources, there are other undesired sources which have to be considered. In this paper, we present some methods, which make their decision based on the features extracted from time-delay and joint time-frequency components by means of a Self- Organizing Map (SOM) neural network using experimental data collected in a laboratory by colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology.


The quality ascension of nursing service and the rapid development of nursing career need the improvement of nursing staff efficiency.This paper tries to introduce modern management methods of the key performance indicators(KPI),which was aimed at the establishment balanced development of new performance appraisal system between nursing management quality and benefit,in order to reach directly control and measure effects of the focus and the core of the medical health service campaign,and then realize the sustainable development of the hospitals and the staff.


We present a network processor architecture which is based on asynchronous microcoded controller hardware (a.k.a asynchronous microengine). The focus of this work is not on the processor architecture, but rather on the asynchronous microcoded style used to build such an architecture. This circuit style tries to fill the performance gap between a specialized ASIC and a more general network processor implementation. It does this by providing a microcoded framework which is close in performance to ASICs and is also programmable at the finer granularity of microcode. Our approach exploits the inherent advantages of asynchronous design techniques to exhibit modularity, lower power consumption and low EMI. We have evaluated our circuit style by demonstrating fast-path IP routing as the packet processing application. For shorter design cycle time, we have implemented our design using Xilinx SpartanII FPGA board. However, we are extrapolating our results for a best-guess ASIC implementation.


This paper addressed the problem of robust H_∞ filter design for linear discrete systems with state delay and parameter uncertainty. The parameter uncertainties are described by a real time-varying norm-bounded form. Firstly, the lemma of robust stability for delay system with H_∞ perturbation attenuation is given, and then the sufficient condition of the existence of the robust filter is derived by the modified Riccati inequalities, such that the filtering process remains robustly stable and the transfer function from the disturbance inputs to error state outputs meets the prespecified H_∞-norm upper-bound constraints. The simulation example shows the validity and the applicability of the proposed approach.


Elevated ambient noise levels have been shown to affect marine fauna communication. The effects due to increased noise levels from the multipath propagation and reverberation of airgun pulses over large distances is a relatively new area of interest. This research examines a distant seismic survey opportunistically recorded at two locations during a long-term monitoring program in the Timor Sea, Australia. During the analyzed period, the survey was between 168 and 235 km from the Autonomous Multichannel Acoustic Recorders (AMAR). The noise levels between airgun pulses were examined using an incremental computation method based on calculating the root-mean-square sound pressure level in 125 ms sub-intervals. These were compared to ambient noise levels from the month prior to commencement of the seismic survey and during line turns. The received pulse levels and length differences, and therefore inter-pulse noise field, between the recorders were greater than expected given the proportional distance to sour...


Internet is a vast network (computer network) which connects computers from every corner of the world so that they can communicate and share information. Thus, its structure is globalised lacking the acknowledgement of a certain form or limit and also lacking a centre with free and direct interconnected networks. It is not lead or regulated by anyone, therefore it is autonomous with its own politics, although quite a lot of organizations, including tourism, voluntarily contribute with services and systems that help maintain and strengthen its architecture. The origins of internet go back to the communication system known as Arpanet which was developed in 1960. The computers' mainframes were connected to make it easier for information go along, but the connections were done so that the distribution of information be safe if a part of the network was destroyed. Therefore the information could get to destination through another route.


OBJECTIVE
International reports on school-to-work transition make it clear that worldwide youth are at-risk for educational disengagement and are three times as likely to be unemployed as their adult counterparts. Work-based education (WBE) is one of the most frequently recommended solutions for youth disengagement which suggests that WBE serves as a protective factor and encourages resilience in at-risk youth. The objective of this study was to describe and compare the experiences of two at-risk youth enrolled in WBE.

PARTICIPANTS
Two 18-year old at-risk youth enrolled in WBE were chosen for study because they were learning in workplaces judged likely to promote resilience. Both had been disengaged from school prior to enrolling in WBE.

METHOD
Each multiple-perspective case study includes the perspective of the youth, the workplace employer, and the work-based educator. Data consisted of ethnographic observations and interviews conducted at the workplace, and with the teacher in the school.

RESULTS
Each case study highlights how supportive adults and an at-risk youth engage in interactions that facilitate the emergence of resilience in the workplace.

CONCLUSIONS
In these two cases, risk and resilience are context specific, suggesting that at-risk youth may require tailored workplace programs to meet their career development needs.


We discuss the question of model identi ability within the context of nonlinear mixed e ects models. Although there has been extensive research in the area of xed e ects models, much less attention has been paid to random effects models. In this context we distinguish between theoretical identi ability, in which di erent parameter values lead to non-identical probability distributions, structural identi ability which concerns the algebraic properties of the structural model, and practical identi ability, whereby the model may be theoretically identi able but the design of the experiment may make parameter estimation di cult and imprecise. We explore a number of pharmacokinetic models which are known to be non-identi able at an individual level but can become identi able at the population level if a number of speci c assumptions on the probabilistic model hold. Essentially if the probabilistic models are different, even though the structural models are non-identi able, then they will lead to di erent likelihoods. The ndings are supported through simulations.


Aim To investigate the dynamic changes of adrenomedullin and its specific receptors sys tem-calcitonin receptor like receptor (CRLR) mRNA expression in the stress-induced-hypertensive rats. Methods Distribute 48 rats to control group with 18 of them and stress group with 30 of the total randomly. Inflict noise or noise with eletric foot shock upon the stress group. Excute all the rats and then separate their hypothalamus to isolate the total RNA indiridually at stress 1,5, 10 and 15 days and poststress 5 and 10 days. Determine the changes of adrenomedullin and calcitonin receptor-like receptor mRNA expression by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) . Results Compared with control group at the same time point, ADM and CRLR mRNA expression in the hypothalamus upregulated within foot-shock and sound stress 10 days (stress 5 days: ADM mRNA expression 0.92 ± 0.04 vs 0.99 ± 0.05, P 0.05; stress 10 days: 1.26 ± 0.04 vs 0.92 ± 0.04, P 0. 01, and then downregulated, but still kept at a high level at stress 15 days (1.00 ± 0.04 vs 0.92 ± 0.04, P 0.05) and posts tress 5 days ( P .05) . Conclusion According to the results described above, at the gene level, the expression of ADM and its specific receptor components CRLR mRNA had changed to some degree in the process of chronic stress-induced-hyperten sion, indicating that ADM and its specific receptor maybe involve in the stress-induced-hypertension.


is proposed, inter alia, a pedal lever (3) of a foot pedal (2), especially a brake, clutch or accelerator pedal of a vehicle (1) by shaping a sheet metal blank to at least a open sections in the cross-sectional profile (7), with a first and a second profile flange (7b, 7c) is deformed, wherein the pedal lever (3) for the pivotable mounting of the same in a bearing block, a bearing point (4) in the formed profile (7) and at least one stiffening element has, which in turn (with the profile flanges 7b, 7c ) of the profile (7) formed is firmly connected. the at least one stiffening element is formed by a first tubular section (8) there is advantageously formed, the ends of two mutually coaxially arranged first holes (9a, 9b) of the two profile flanges (7b, 7c) and treated with the profile flanges (7b, 7c) rigidly connected are.


The influence of the structure of organic compounds, as well as the presence of double and triple bonds on the process of brilliant electrochemical nickel plating is considered. It is shown that triple-bonded compounds are effective additives for the electrochemical production of shiny nickel coatings


The invention discloses a device for separating hermetiaillucenslarvas. The device comprises a separation frame, wherein the bottom surface of the separation frame is provided with a conveying belt which can seal the bottom surface of the separation frame; the side wall of the separation frame along the output direction of the conveying belt is provided with a door which can be opened and closed; the lower part of the peripheral wall of the separation frame is provided with a heating plate; the heating plate is electrically connected with a temperature control device; and the upper part of the separation frame is also provided with a plurality of larva outlet holes. According to the device, the hermetiaillucenslarvas and residual wastes can be effectively separated, so that conditions are created for industrial breeding of the hermetiaillucens.


In the teoretical part of this thesis there is an elaborated research on topics related to aqueous dispersions prepared via emulsion polymerization, microgel particles, processes of coatings preparation and flame retardants with the focus on phosphazenes. The experimental part of the thesis describes the preparation of aqueous dispersions of microgels particles containing phosphazenes in their structure, which has the purpose of a crosslinking agent and flame retardant. It also discusses the selection of an optimal ratio of cosolvent, the suitable curing temperature and optimal ratio of latex vs. melamine-formaldehyde resin. The final part of the thesis is devoted to an evaluation of the properties of cured coatings based on various types of latexes and melamine-formaldehyde resin according to the identified conditions.


A flip-flop using a combination of thin and thick gate transistors combines high performance and low standby power. Setup and hold times are controlled by the master latch implemented in high performance transistors, while a thick gate slave latch provides state retention at low standby power when the high performance circuit power supply is gated off. The design has reduced circuit and power-down control complexity compared to previously described circuits using thick gate shadow latches for low standby power state storage. Measured test chip results on a foundry 130 nm process prove the viability of the design. The thick gate shadow latches are shown to have good retention capability at low supply voltages, suggesting that reduced shadow latch supply voltage during standby will be effective at mitigating the drain to bulk leakage components that are increasingly limiting for low power standby modes.


This work was supported by FCT Funded Project "Chimera" (PTDC/EBB-EBI/109093/2008),
by FCT/MEC through Portuguese funds (PIDDAC) – PEst-OE/BIA/UI4050/2014, by the
strategic programme UID/BIA/04050/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007569) funded by
national funds through the FCT I.P. and by the ERDF through COMPETE2020 - Programa
Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI). TC is thankful to the FCT for its
support through Investigador FCT 2015. ARibeiro thanks FCT for the SFRH/BPD/98388/2013
grant. RMachado and AdaCosta acknowledge FCT for SFRH-BPD/86470/2012 and
SFRH/BD/75882/2011 grants, respectively.


In this paper, modeling of contours by a time-varying autoregressive (TVAR) model is considered. In general, a contour function is not a stationary process, and stationary models are often unsatisfactory in representing local features. Recently, there have been advances in time-series modeling of nonstationary processes. In a typical TVAR modeling approach, autoregressive coefficients are expanded as a linear combination of deterministic functions. In this paper, a low-order discrete Fourier transform (DFT) is used to expand autoregressive coefficients. It is based on the fact that a contour is represented by a complex function, and the model coefficients need to be expanded by a set of complex functions. The parameter estimation and order selection in TVAR models are also considered. A least squares estimator of the TVAR model parameters is presented, and the maximum likelihood approach for determining the model order is also presented. The efficacy of the TVAR modeling approach in modeling a closed contour is demonstrated by estimating the time-varying spectrum of a synthetic contour by different approaches, and is tested by detecting curvature extrema points of synthesized contours. For the classification of contours of planar shapes, the estimated TVAR model parameters are used as features. A neural network is used to classify TVAR features extracted from complex contour functions. In the classification experiment with contours of various planar shapes, about 97% of samples are correctly classified.


Some current methodologies stress the importance of continuously assessing the students to check their progress, instead of having an only final examination. To do so, several learning resources are presented to the students, so they can complete different actions over those resources at certain particular dates. This scenario presents a good chance for research since it might be useful to analyze the point up to which students complete in time the tasks they are supposed to do. In this paper, we present a method that takes raw log Moodle data and generates new features that represent the degree of anticipation/delay of students when completing the tasks suggested by their tutor. We have developed a system that implements this method obtaining some minable sights that preliminarily seem to be useful to predict phenomena such as academic dropout. Obviously, future deep experiments must be conducted to demonstrate the validity of those new features.


A field experiment was conducted at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences Farm, at El Selaim, University of Dongola, Sudan during 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons, to determine the magnitude of yield losses in common bean due to weed competition, and to evaluate the effects of two pre-emergence herbicides oxyfluorofen and pendimethalin. The results showed that unrestricted weed growth reduced common bean yield by 47.01 – 54.44%. All herbicides, irrespective of the rate used, had significantly reduced weed biomass compared to the weedy check. The herbicides were more effective in controlling grassy weeds. Pedimethalin effected 77.3 - 98.2% and 80.4 - 94.9% control of grassy weeds in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 respectively. Oxyfluorofen control of grasses, on other hand, effected 68.9 to 96.5% and 74.9 to 96.4 in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 respectively. Pedimethalin at 0.5 kg a.i /fed produced the minimum weed index of 0.8 and 18.91 and attained crop yield (997.32 and 1140.37 kg/fed) comparable to the weed free treatment.


High rate Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) processed time series capture a broad spectrum of earthquake strong motion signals, but experience regular sporadic noise that can be difficult to distinguish from true seismic signals. The range of possible seismic signal frequencies amidst a high, location‐varying noise floor makes filtering difficult to generalize. Existing methods for automatic detection rely on external inputs to mitigate false alerts, which limit their usefulness. For these reasons, geodetic seismic signal detection makes for a compelling candidate for data‐driven machine learning classification. In this study we generated high rate GNSS time differenced carrier phase (TDCP) velocity time series concurrent in space and time with expected signals from 77 earthquakes occurring over nearly 20 years. TDCP velocity processing has increased sensitivity relative to traditional geodetic displacement processing without requiring sophisticated corrections. We trained, validated and tested a random forest classifier to differentiate seismic events from noise. We find our supervised random forest classifier outperforms the existing detection methods in stand‐alone mode by combining frequency and time domain features into decision criteria. The classifier achieves a 90% true positive rate of seismic event detection within the data set of events ranging from MW4.8–8.2, with typical detection latencies seconds behind S‐wave arrivals. We conclude the performance of this model provides sufficient confidence to enable these valuable ground motion measurements to run in stand‐alone mode for development of edge processing, geodetic infrastructure monitoring and inclusion in operational ground motion observations and models.


In the week following Donald Trump's shock election as president of the United States John Oliver, the comedian and presenter of the satirical HBO program Last Week Tonight, encouraged Americans to keep reminding themselves that 'this isn't normal'. In the months since last November the continued controversies that have followed the new administration, such as claiming that the Obama administration used UK intelligence at GCHQ to tap his phone(!)1, have relegated incidents that would merit intense and prolonged coverage in 'normal times' to mere footnotes between the seemingly endless Trump administration crises and continual blunders - not to mention Trump's twitter account.


The last half of this century has seen a demographic revolution in low-income countries. Urbanization brought on by migration and natural increase has become a dominant factor in all regions. Unlike urbanization in the higher-income countries of the world, which is associated with major advances in science, technology, and social organization as well as absorption of large populations, urbanization in low-income countries has not been accompanied by the same level of "economic and cultural progress. . . [and] has become a source of major concern" [1]. The accelerated growth of urban populations in low-income countries has tremendous social, economic, nutritional, health, and environmental consequences, as increasing numbers of urban poor live in crowded slums and squatter settlements with limited access to the basic resources necessary for a healthy and productive existence. The goals of this article are to describe the demographic, economic, and environmental dimensions of urban growth in low-income countries and to develop an understanding of the implications of rapid urban growth for the design of food and nutritional policies and programmes. To accomplish this, we examine the question, Are there unique urban policy and programme needs? This question has three components: (1) Are there unique nutritional needs? (2) Are unique factors associated with these nutritional needs and with the use and success of programmes and policies designed to address them? (3) Are there unique policy and programme issues and options to consider? Most significant of reasons for this focus is the lack of attention paid to urban nutrition needs. Most of the research on nutrition in low-income countries as well as most of our programme design, implementation, and evaluation are based on rural populations and needs [2]. For instance, of the 1,324 English-language citations in publications from INCAP (the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama) from 1949 to 1985, only 2.6% relate to urban communities and only 0.2% focus exclusively on city-based populations [3]. Demographic, economic, and environmental dimensions of urbanization


Italian Framework Law n. 447/1995 on noise pollution, in order to contain annoyance deriving from conspicuous and sudden variations in sound levels produced during television advertisements, specifies that "it is prohibited to either public or private radio and TV networks, to transmit advertising messages whose sound power level exceeds the ordinary level of the programmes". Government Standard n. 157/06/CSP, introduced by the Communications Regulatory Authority to implement Law n. 447, requires the assessment of sound levels by monitoring 30 paired sequences. Each pair includes 30 seconds taken from the television programme and 30 seconds from an advertisement. According to the Government Standard, advertisements should not exceed the sound level of television programmes by more than 15%; to be considered significant this limit should be exceeded by more than 30% of the paired sequences analysed. This papaer presents the results of the assessment carried out by means of phonometric measurements, performed by setting frequency weighting "A" and time weighting "fast". The proposed methodology discusses technical feasibility and inherent problems, in order to identify improved solutions.


To the Editor: Patel et al. report an increased risk of intussusception after rotavirus vaccination.1 We conducted a case-series analysis2 of 151 spontaneous reports of intussusception worldwide after administration of the rotavirus vaccine RV1 (Rotarix, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals). On the basis of a report citing the incidence of intussusception after administration of the rotavirus vaccine RotaShield (Wyeth Laboratories),3 we tested for an increased risk of intussusception 3 to 7 days after administration of the first dose. Incidence ratios were calculated for the periods 0 through 2 days (with 0 indicating the day of vaccination), 3 through 7 days, and 8 through . . .


The stoichiometry model tool of Van Milgen (2002) was adapted to study the metabolism of the ruminant mammary gland. It was used to study the uptake of nutrients in several metabolic reactions using two studies of mammary gland net balance (net nutrient uptake and milk yield and composition) in dairy cows receiving casein infusions in the duodenum. The rules applied to find the partitioning were based on the hypotheses that there is no accumulation of intermediary metabolites in the mammary gland (rule 1) and that there is no deficiency of ATP or cofactors (rule 2). The system was solved manually using a spreadsheet, while respecting the 2 rules. A new automatic tool using Flux Balance Analysis theory was developed. The stoichiometry of the model appeared to be appropriate since the predicted CO2 production was close to the measured CO2 production. The nutrient partitioning obtained by manual solving corresponded to one solution among possibly infinite number of solutions. The manual solving of the equations typically corresponded to the maximisation of ATP production while respecting nutrient output for milk synthesis. This maximization of ATP production is a third, explicit rule required to obtain the same partitioning with the automatic tool based on Flux Balance Analysis theory.


Objective To investigate the expression of caspase-activated DNase(CAD) gene and protein in ischemic penumbra after rat focal ischemic middle cerebral artery reperfusion and the possible mechanisms of Caspase-3 inhibitor against neuronal injury.Methods The middle cerebral artery of rats was occluded for 2 h by an intraluminal filament,and reperfusion was carried out for 6 h,12 h,24 h,48 h and 72 h.The expression of CAD gene and protein in different time was detected by RT-PCT and Western blot.Results CAD mRNA and CAD protein increased after ischemic-reperfusion and Caspase-3 inhibitor decreased the expression of CAD mRNA and CAD protein.Conclusion Caspase-3 inhibitor could protect neurons against injury about reperfusion of cerebral ischemia by reducing the expression of CAD gene and protein.