demonstrated it by the experiments using radioactive substances. Under these circumstances, we 14) found by chance that elymoclavine could be converted to a substance showing the same paper chromatographic behavior as agroclavine by a strain of Corticium sasakii (Shirai) Matsumoto in shaking culture. Recently, we have found that the strains of Corticium praticola Kotila also gave a similar substance from elymoclavine rather markedly than in the case of C. sasakii strains and at the same time we have succeeded in confirming this substance to be agroclavine itself. Thereupon, we have carried out the conversion experiments with the strains of Aspergillus fumigatus Fres. 15, 16) which were productive of a small amount of clavine alkaloids both in surface and in submerged cultures. In this experiment, the conversion reaction has been allowed to proceed for convenience in earlier stage of the fungus growth in shaking culture. As a result, it has been found that all of the tested Aspergillus fumigatus strains converted elymoclavine not only to agroclavine but also to lysergol, lysergene and secaclavine (chanoclavine). Moreover, it has been found that the Aspergillus strains converted lysergol to lysergene, agroclavine and secaclavine, lysergene to agroclavine and secaclavine, and agroclavine to secaclavine, respectively, and that they could convert secaclavine itself to agroclavine. These findings led us to conduct similar conversion experiments with the ergot fungus


Abstract This paper studies free-riding incentives on common environmental resources in an incomplete information repeated game where abatements are perishable and perfect substitutes. Two contrasting types of perfect Bayesian equilibria emerge: For high discount factors, or low discount factors but "pessimistic" prior beliefs, the inclusion of incomplete information has no impact on the pattern of abatements. Otherwise the countries attempt to use their private information strategically and the game becomes a war of attrition. This generates an outcome where the "pessimistic" country unilaterally abates forever, and another which involves delay until the first abatement if both countries are "optimistic".


Modern GPUs are powerful enough to enable interactive display of high-quality volume data even despite the fact that many volume rendering methods do not present a natural fit for current GPU hardware. However, there still is a vast amount of computational power that remains unused due to the inefficient use of the available hardware. In this work, we demonstrate how advanced scheduling methods can be employed to implement volume rendering algorithms in a way that better utilizes the GPU by example of three different state-of-the-art volume rendering techniques.


A distributed, physical and GIS-based modeling approach is developed to estimate runoff, soil erosion by water and sediment transport within a watershed at a daily time step. The approach relies on the use of GIS data for deriving major model parameters that show distinct spatial variability over the catchment. Surface runoff is calculated by a modified rational method, which depends upon rainfall intensity, soil moisture status, slope, land-use, and soil characteristics. The erosion model simulates soil erosion by raindrop impact and shear erosion in overland and channel flow using equations with a physical basis. A diffusive approximation method is used for routing runoff and sediment transport to the basin outlet. The model uses as few parameters as possible while retaining its physical basics. The model was applied on the Latyan dam catchment in Alborz mountain range in the northern part of Iran. Simulated river discharge and sediment concentration are compared to daily measured data from September 2005 to September 2006. The results indicate that there is a good agreement between simulated and measured discharge and sediment concentration at the basin outlet, though more efforts regarding soil erosion and sediment transport need to be clarified by further research.


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Objective To investigate the serum levels of C-reactive protein( CRP),procalcitonin( PCT) and lactate levels in patients with severe pneumonia and evaluate their clinical value. Methods The clinical data of 89 cases of severe pneumonia in ICU from February 2011 to June 2014 were reviewed retrospectively,and divided into survived and non-survival group according to the outcome of patients. The serum levels of CRP,PCT and lactate on 1,4,7 days after admission,at discharge or prior to death were detected in both groups by immune turbidimetry( for CRP),electrochemical luminescence method( for PCT) or chemical analysis method( for lactate),respectively. The results were analyzed and compared.Results In the survival group,with the alleviation of the condition,the serum level of CRP,PCT and lactate on d 4 and d7 after the admission and at discharge decreased or recovered to the normal levels as compared with d 1,the difference was statistically significant( P 0. 01). In the non-survival group,with the development of the condition,the serum level of CRP,PCT and lactate on d 4 and d 7 after the admission and prior to death increased and maintained at a higher level as compared with the survival group,the difference was statistically significant( P 0. 01). Conclusion The serum level of CRP,PCT and lactate rise with the progression of severe pneumonia. The dynamic monitoring of the serum level of CRP,PCT and lactate should contribute to the judgment of the condition and prognosis of patients,the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy and the improvement of regimen timely,thus reduce mortality rate of patients with severe pneumonia.


The problem of quantum unique ergodicity (QUE) of weight 1/2 Eisenstein series for Γ0(4) leads to the study of certain double Dirichlet series involving GL2 automorphic forms and Dirichlet characters. We study the analytic properties of this family of double Dirichlet series (analytic continuation, convexity estimate) and prove that a subconvex estimate implies the QUE result.


This study examines the factors affecting the customer loyalty in commercial banks of Nepal. Customer loyalty is the dependent variable. Responsiveness, tangibility, empathy, assurance and reliability are the independent variables. The study is based on 200 respondents from 25 commercial banks of Nepal. To obtain the data, well-structured questionnaire is prepared. The regression models are estimated to test the significance and importance of customer satisfaction of Nepalese commercial banks. The study shows that the tangibility and assurance are positively correlated to customer loyalty. This indicates that increase in the level of tangibility and assurance leads to increase in customer loyalty. The result also shows that empathy, responsiveness and reliability are positively correlated to customer loyalty. This indicates that higher the level of empathy, higher would be the customer loyalty. Likewise, results show that responsiveness is positively related to the customer loyalty. This indicates that higher the level of responsiveness to the customers on their queries, higher would be the customer loyalty. Similarly, results show that more the banks provide reliable services, higher would be the customer loyalty. The regression results show that the beta coefficient for assurance, tangibility and responsiveness are positive with customer loyalty at 5 % level of significance.


ABSTRACT Near Abu Dhabi, Trucial Coast, diagenetic evaporite minerals are developed within an accumulation of detrital Pleistocene sands and Recent carbonate sediments which form a supratidal flat (sabkha) 8 miles wide. Field studies were carried out by the author and his co-workers of Imperial College in 1964. A further visit to the Trucial Coast was made by the author in 1967 under the auspices of the Dry Lands Research Institute, Riverside. A study of 260 interstitial brine samples showed that the distribution of the evaporite minerals, which include gypsum, anhydrite, dolomite, and balite, is largely controlled by the hydrology of the area. Interstitial brines within the sabkha sediments are replenished with sea water by abnormally high tides and storm surges. These surface waters, which soak down into the sediments, are concentrated both by solution of soluble salts and by evaporation. The subsequent equilibration between brines and host sediments leads to precipitation of aragonite, gypsum, and halite; alteration of gypsum to anhydrite, and dolomitization of carbonate sediment. A direct correlation exists between the frequency and extent of flooding, the mineral phases developed, and the chemical composition of interstitial brines. Flooding of a 2- to 3-mile wide belt roughly concentric to lagoon margins, occurs at monthly or longer intervals. In this belt, a surface gypsum crystal mush up to 12 inches thick is present which, landwards, is overlain and progressively replaced by anhydrite. Dolomitization is extensive toward the landward margin of this zone. From the lagoon laterally across the 2- to 3-mile wide belt to its landward margin, chlorinity increases from 44 to 155; sulfate concentration rises from 6 to 17 gm/kg and then falls to less than 3 gm/kg; the Mga2+/Ca2+ mole ratio increases from 5.3 to 35 and then decreases to about 4. Concentration of these components decreases with in reasing depth below the sediment surface. Gypsum is the stable calcium sulfate mineral in contact with brines of chlorinities less than 145 and anhydrite at chlorinities greater than 145. An additional 5-mile wide zone is flooded only at 4- to 5-year intervals. The original gypsum crystal mush in this zone is completely replaced by up to a 12-inch thick layer of chicken-wire mesh structure anhydrite, and the carbonates are highly dolomitized. Interstitial brines are Saturated with NaCl at chlorinity 160 and specific gravity 1.20. These brines contain less than 1 gm/kg sulfate and have Mg2+/Ca2+ mole ratios of about 4. In this zone, constant Mg2+/Ca2+ values with increasing magnesium concentration suggest that there has been an approach to mutual equilibrium between brines and evaporite-carbonate minerals. The remaining 1 to 2 miles at the landward margin of the sabkha are underlain by Pleistocene sands and are not flooded by marine waters. Ground waters in this zone are in part terrestrial in origin. Inland across this zone, chlorinity decreases from 160 to 107; the sulfate concentration is 2 gm/kg and the Mg2+/Ca2+ mole ratio averages 3.5. Locally, anhydrite is hydrated to gypsum where brine chlorinity is less than 145. Processes of gypsum precipitation and dolomitization are essentially restricted to the 2- to 3-mile wide belt close to the lagoon margin. In the mid-sabkha, equilibrium conditions probably prevail between brines, diagenetic minerals, and host sediments. Diagenesis at the landward margin of the sabkha is in part retrogressive. Both a progressive and a retrogressive diagenetic facies can be visualized as moving out with the progradation of the shore line. The similarity between the stratigraphy and mineralogy of some Ordovician, Silurian, Pennsylvanian, and Jurassic evaporite sequences and the sabkha on the Trucial Coast suggest that evaporites of supratidal origin may be more common in older evaporite rocks than previously realized.


1. Mikhael H, Vadivelu N, Braveman F. Safety of spinal anesthesia in a patient with achondroplasia for cesarean section. Curr Drug Saf. 2011;6:130‐1. 2. İnan G, Yayla E, Taş Ü, Arık E, Günaydın Bs. Single Shot Spinal Anaesthesia for Caesarean Delivery of Two Achondroplasic Parturients. Turkish Journal of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation 2015:43.(4): 285‐7. 3. Samra T, Sharma S. Estimation of the dose of hyperbaric bupivacaine for spinal anaesthesia for emergency caesarean section in an achondroplastic dwarf. Indian J Anaesth 2010;54:481‐2. Access this article online


The article introduces the concept and related measures about traffic flow in con-struction area on the Urban Road.It uses modified LOGIT multi-route probability model to determine the efficient trip route and appropriate traffic flow distribution.Taking the con-struction in Huangpu Ave in Guangzhou as an example,the article uses the model to analyze the surrounding network fraffic flow share,and the analysis result thus can reflect the traffic condition pretty well,the calculation is rational.


The meat palatability, water-holding capacity, colour and shear force values of 32 Boer goat (BG) kids and 32 South African Mutton Merino (MM) lambs were investigated. Two pelleted diets (offered to 16 animals per species) with either a low (LE, 9.9 MJ/kg dry matter (DM)) or a high (HE, 12.1 MJ/kg DM) metabolizable energy level were given to the animals for either 28 or 56 days. Thereafter the animals were slaughtered, the meat cooked and presented to a trained sensory panel. Organoleptically, a difference between goat and lamb was noted. Each one had a specific species flavour, which was not influenced by energy level of the diet. BG meat was perceived to be stringier than that of the MM, but there was no significant difference in Warner-Bratzler shear force values. Tenderness declined with age in both species and there was also a tendency for goat meat to be less juicy than lamb. Chevon had a more pronounced after-taste than lamb. No objective difference could be distinguished between the colour of the cooked goat and lamb, but there was a tendency for fresh lamb to have a higher a*-value (redness) than goat. Although diet did not influence drip loss, drip loss increased with an increase in slaughter age. Only after 56 days did the m. semimembranosus of MM have a significantly higher drip loss than that of BG (LE:4.84 v. 3.43%; HE:4.72 v. 3.23%). In the m. semimembranosus of both species cooking loss increased with an increase in slaughter age. It can be concluded that goat meat compares favourably with lamb in terms of water-holding capacity, colour and shear force values. If goats are finished in the feedlot, it can be done on a LE diet, since diet does not influences any of the mentioned characteristics. This may render a direct economic advantage for BG feedlot finishing.


Extraction times for selected metal cations (Mg, Al, Zn, Cd, Cu, Ni, Co, Mn, Fe and Fe) have been measured using cation-exchanging extractants Versatic 10 (neodecanoic acid), DEHPA (bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid) and Cyanex 272 (bis(2,4,4-trimetylpentyl)phosphinic acid). Data was collected directly by measuring and recording pH of the two phase reaction mixture with maintaining continuity of the aqueous phase. Similarly, the stripping rate of selected cations (Mg, Al, Zn, Cu, Ni, Co) in a sulphuric acid solution was measured. Viscosities of organic phases, saturated with cations, were measured before their stripping. Additionally, the extraction dependence of Mg, Al, Fe and Fe on pH was measured using Versatic 10 at various concentrations (7.5, 15 and 30 %).


Citizenship is a core concept in public administration research. Thirty-five research articles published in Public Administration Review since 2009 refer to the concept in their title and abstract. But the concept is rarely defined in these articles. There is also a common practice within these articles of misclassifying non-citizens as citizens. There is good reason to believe that citizenship status has an influence on behavior and attitudes toward government. Therefore, misclassification may affect the reliability and generalizability of research findings. Researchers should define the concept when they use it, define it in a less idiosyncratic way, and be more attentive to the ways in which citizenship status may affect behavior and attitudes.


Carcinoid of the gall- bladder and bile duct is a rare tumor. Primary gall bladder and biliary tract carcinoids constitute less than 1% of all carcinoids that may arise in different parts of our body, and usually occurs after sixth decade. We describe a case of carcinoid tumor of the gall-bladder with liver bed metastasis in a 35 year old woman who clinically presented with gall-bladder dyspepsia. The rarity of this entity particularly in this young age prompted us to present our patient as a case report which has been confirmed by immunochemistry demonstration of chromogranin A positivity. The patient is still surviving with appropriate management.


This volume contains the proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth ACM SIGMOD-SIGACT-SIGART Symposium on Principles of Database Systems (PODS 2010), held in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, on June 7-9, 2010, in conjunction with the 2010 ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data.

The proceedings include one paper based on the keynote address by Joe Hellerstein, two papers based on the invited tutorials, the first by Gerhard Weikum and Martin Theobald, and the second by T. S. Jayram, and 27 contributed papers that were selected by the Program Committee from 113 submissions. Most of these papers are preliminary reports on work in progress. While they have been read by program committee members, they have not been formally refereed. Many of them will probably appear in more polished and detailed form in scientific journals.

The program committee selected the paper "An Optimal Algorithm for the Distinct Elements Problem" by Daniel M. Kane, Jelani Nelson, and David P. Woodruff for the PODS 2010 Best Paper Award. In addition, the announcement of the 2010 ACM PODS Alberto O. Mendelzon Test-of-Time Award also appears in the proceedings. This year, two papers were given this award: "Typechecking for XML Transformers" by Tova Milo, Dan Suciu, and Victor Vianu, and "Integrity Constraints for XML" by Wenfei Fan and Jerome Simeon. Warmest congratulations to the authors of these papers.

I thank all authors who submitted papers to the symposium, and the members of the program committee for the enormous amount of work they have done. The program committee did not meet in person, but carried out extensive discussions during the electronic PC meeting.


The purpose of this empirical analysis is to investigate, based on gravity model, FDI flow from China to Kazakhstan during 2008-2016 year and NLS model. The estimation is controlled for the importance of gravity variables (GDP, per capita GDP, Distance, Common border and Common organization the latest variables are dummy). The results suggest that gross products of host regions and source countries and dummy variables as common border and being the members of the same organization are positively related to the number of joint ventures in a particular Kazakhstan's region.


Based on the data from related references,the definition of brackish water,distribution and damage were reviewed in this paper,and simply analyzes the causes,as well as outline the popular desalination technology,including the distillation,electrodialysis and reverse osmosis process.


The calculation of exact positions of stars, the Sun and the celestial bodies of the solar system is a prerequisite of successful practical work in astronomy. This text gives the necessary background of spherical astronomy and celestial mechanics from the practitioner's point of view, and collates all the formulae and numerical values needed to calculate precise ephemerides. The clear structure of the book allows easy use of the material in computer programs. Students, lecturers and amateurs in astronomy will find the book an invaluable reference in their daily work, lectures or lab courses.


Summary A new simple and effective shear wave static method is introduced, which is based on the time difference between the X component and Z component first break at same receiver. This time difference approximately is the time difference between P-wave and S-wave traveled in the weathering, and in combination with P-wave near surface model it can be used to remove the effect of weathering. Theoretical analysis has proved this method is feasible. Field data processing has given a perfect result.


Although drought and aridity are two subtly different natural phenomena, they are not unrelated, and when they happen simultaneously, the implications can be disastrous. Partly because of the natural climatic march, and partly as a consequence of the human activities, the deserts are increasing and droughts are becoming more persistent and recurrent. The variability and environmental changes are factors that trigger the combination desertification-drought as a vicious circle that leads to potential crisis conditions because of the severe impact on society and its activities. Given the complexity of both phenomena, and their great coverage and slow but relentless development, it is very difficult to confront them with success, and then neither to avoid them, but we must make, as society members, our best efforts to formulate strategies and improve planning in order to confront its occurrence and to mitigate its impacts. Nevertheless, the structural (engineering) aspect is decisive for this goal, the non-structural phase is probably of greater importance, and it is directly related with the social participation as a group, beyond the official institutions and government dependences; after all, we are all water users, and then we are all indebted to contribute and to participate in the actions that allow us to overcome these risk conditions in order to avoid expensive crises and catastrophes which injure the humankind.


An eminent clinician, teacher and scientist, Jan Brod (1912–1985) was among the founders of academic nephrology in post-war Europe. In particular, he pioneered the pathophysiological approach to kidney disease and hypertension. Today, Brod is nearly unknown to the younger generation of nephrologists, not least because few publications have dealt with his remarkable life. His journey through nephrology provides an opportunity to encounter some of the 'giants' in 20th century medicine, while his personal odyssey is a lively reflection of European history.


Glutathione S‐transferases (GSTs) play critical roles in providing protection against electrophiles and products of oxidative stress, by catalysing the formation of glutathione conjugates and by eliminating peroxides. Most extensively studied are four main families of human cytosolic GST: GSTAlpha(A), GSTMu(M), GSTPi(P) and GSTTheta(T). Absence of GSTM1 or GSTT1 can be attributed to absence of the GSTM1 or GSTT1 gene products (null genotype) in approximately 50% and 20% of the Caucasian population, respectively. We investigated whether polymorphisms in the GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1 genes modified the risk for chronic pancreatitis (CP). DNA samples were obtained from 142 adult CP patients with alcoholic (n = 79), hereditary (n = 21) or idiopathic (n = 42) origin. DNA from 204 healthy controls and from 57 alcoholic controls was analysed for comparison. Patients and controls were all of Caucasian origin. Genetic polymorphisms in GSTs were determined by PCR, eventually followed by restriction‐fragment‐length‐polymorphism analyses in all subjects. The rates of GSTT1 and GSTP1 genotypes did not differ between CP patients and healthy controls. However, GSTM1 null genotypes were significantly less common in alcoholic CP patients (OR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.33–0.95) as compared to healthy controls and to alcoholic controls (OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.26–1.04). Age‐ and sex‐adjustment bolstered our finding (adjusted OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.26–0.89). The frequency of the GSTM1 null genotype is significantly lower in alcoholic CP patients, especially young female. This suggests that GSTM1 null alcohol users, particularly young female, are less susceptible to CP. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This paper introduces a content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) based on evolutionary algorithm. Initially, the shape, color and texture feature is extracted for the given query image and also for the of the database images in a similar manner. Subsequently, similar images are retrieved utilizing an evolutionary algorithm based similarity. Thus, by means of the evolutionary algorithm, the required relevant images are retrieved from a large database based on the given query. The proposed CBIR system is evaluated by querying different images and the efficiency of the proposed system is evaluated by means of the precision-recall value of the retrieved results.


1984. Effects of irrigation. pulp rnill sludge, and repeated coppicing on growth and Q) yield of black cottonwood and red alder. Can. J. For. Res. 14: 844--849 . I-Growth and yield black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa Torr. and Gray) and red alder (Alnus mbra Bong.) were measured at four successive 2-ycar coppice harvests. Three levels of Jmendcd pulp mill sludge (450, 225, and 0 t·ha-1) were applied before planting, and one-half of the plots were irrigated during tht• 2-year establishnu:.nt period prior to the first coppice cycle. Yields of black cottonwood were generally much higher th;m yields of red alder; moxnnum ovendry yields obtained were 13.8 t • ha -I· year .. 1 for black cottonwood and 7. I t · ha 1 ·year -I for red alder. The species differed in their responses to treatment. Growth and yield of black cottonwood was increased by the initial sludge applications, but the reverse was true for red alder. The initial irrigation treatment had carryover effects on the yields of st(cid:429)bsequcnt growth cycles for both species. For all treatments, the greatest yields were usually obtained at the first or second coppice harvc:.t. On the average, red alder yields declined substantially between the third and fotu1h harvests; black cottonwood yields were generally more consistent between these two harvests. Both species sprouted after all four harvests; however, rootstock mortality generally increased with each harvest. Mortality was mu<:h higher for red alder than for black cottonwood; after four coppice harvests. mort11lity on red alder treatments averaged 55-79%. Average mortality on black cottonwood treatments ranged from 12 to 38%. The management implications of the results are discussed.


Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is considered as a biomarker of thrombotic events in patients receiving a left ventricular assist device (LVAD).

 This study aimed to investigate the evolution of LDH levels over time between patients supported with a HeartMate II (HMII), HeartMate 3 (HM3) or HeartWare (HVAD) LVAD during their first-year post implantation.

 We analyzed in this multi-center retrospective study, all patients with HMII, HM3 and HVAD LVAD implanted between December 2006 and April 2017. Patients were classified into three groups based on their device type. Loess splines over time were used to depict the repeated measurements of LDH.

 In total, 134 patients received an LVAD (77% male, mean age 55 [46–61]), of whom 64 (48%) were HMII, 22 (16%) HM3 and 48 (36%) were HVAD. Loess splines over time indicate that there could be a considerable difference between evolution of LDH (Figure). During the first-year follow-up, 3 (5%) patients had a confirmed and 10 (16%) patients had a suspected pump thrombosis in the HMII group. For the HVAD, there were 6 (13%) patients with confirmed thrombosis and 1 (2%) case of suspected thrombosis, whereas none of the patients in the HM3 group experienced a suspected or confirmed pump thrombosis (p=0.01). The 1-year overall survival rate for HM II, HM3 and HVAD was 84%, 86% and 72% respectively (p=0.311). The overall stroke-free rate at one year was: 89%, 77% and 91% for HMII, HVAD and HM3 respectively (p=0.15).
 Means of observed LDH values over time

 During the first-year post LVAD implantation, there appear to be different evolutions of LDH levels over time in HMII device patients compared to HVAD or HM3 device patients. Given differences in baseline hemolysis levels between devices, currently used LDH thresholds for detection of impending pump thrombosis may be less sensitive and thus thresholds may be device specific.


We investigate the role of the choice of the upper phase space limit Q in the Curci-Furmanski-Petronzio (CFP) factorization scheme, which exploits dimensional regularization MS scheme. We examine how the choice of Q influences the evaluation of the standard DGLAP (inclusive) evolution kernels, gaining experience needed in the construction of the exclusive Monte Carlo modelling of the NLO DGLAP evolution. In particular, we uncover three types of mechanisms which assure the independence on Q of the inclusive DGLAP kernels calculated in the CFP scheme. We use the examples of three types of the Feynman diagrams to illustrate our analysis.


Surface nano-structure and roughness play a vital role in controlling the wettability and bouncing of water drops on wings of butterfly/moth species. A detailed experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of nano-structure on static and dynamic contact angle measurements and coefficient of restitution of four different butterfly wing surfaces. Surface characterization at different length scales was performed using atomic force microscopy (AFM), optical profilometry and scanning electron microscopy. The water drop bouncing experiments were conducted on the surface of butterfly wings to investigate the coefficient of restitution. Contact angle measurements reveal that the wings which had high roughness factors resulted high static and dynamic (advancing and receding) contact angles with the exception of Antheraea Polyphemus. The wings that had a combination of scales and hair like microtrichia structure showed increased roughness and hydrophobicity compared to wings that had only either one of them.


We review some of the most striking properties of the phase diagrams of higher dimensional black holes in pure gravity. We focus on static black hole solutions with Kaluza-Klein asymptotics and stationary black hole solutions in flat Minkowski space. Both cases exhibit a rich pattern of interconnected phases and merger points with topology changing transitions. In the first case, the phase diagram includes uniform and non-uniform black strings, localized black holes and sequences of Kaluza-Klein bubbles. In the latter case, it includes Myers-Perry black holes, black rings, black saturns and pinched black holes.


Vacuum switchgear that uses compressed air as an insulating medium has been developed. This new type of switchgear uses vacuum for an interrupting device and uses compressed air as an insulating medium instead of SF/sub 6/. Because of its extraordinary insulating characteristics, SF/sub 6/ is widely used in gas-insulated equipment, despite the fact that it is also known to be a significant greenhouse gas and there are many restrictions on its use and handling. Thus there has been a search for a gas to use in place of SF/sub 6/. We intend to establish an SF/sub 6/-free technology, instead of merely minimizing SF/sub 6/ use. To realize an SF/sub 6/-free device, we developed two main technologies. One is the combination of molded rubber and compressed air for insulation, and the other is a vacuum interrupter that operates under high-pressure conditions. Combining the insulation abilities of molded rubber and compressed air and a vacuum interrupter that is operational under high-pressure conditions enabled us to create SF/sub 6/-free high-voltage switchgear.


Objective To investigate the harms of syphilis in perinatal fetus and pregnant women throuth clinical comparative analysis of pregnancy outcome between pregnant women infected by syphilis and normal pregnant women.Methods A comparative analysis on the relative data of delivery pregnancy week,postpartum haemorrhage,newborn birthweith,cesarean section rate,newborn asphyxia rate,amniotic fluid staining rate and perinatal mortality was carried out betwenn study group of 53 pregnant women infected by syphilis and control group of 106 normal pregnant women in the same period.Results Delivery pregnancy week in study group was lower than that in control group(P0.05).There were remarkable differences between two groups in postpartum heamorrhage and newborn birthweight(P0.01).There was no difference between two groups in cesarean section rate.Amniotic fluid staining rate and newborn asphyxia rate in study group were higher than those in control group(P0.05).All of 6 perinatal mortality occurred in study group.Conclusion Syphilis in pregnancy is a serious harm to the fetus.Screening of syphilis in pregnatal and treetment of syphilis in pregnancy have very important significance.


Abstract In the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency PREMIUM [Post-BEMUSE (Best-Estimate Methods Uncertainty and Sensitivity Evaluation) REflood Model Input Uncertainty Methods] benchmark (2012–2015), Tractebel has contributed to the development and the proof-of-concept application of a sampling-based inverse uncertainty quantification (IUQ) approach with the DAKOTA statistical uncertainty and sensitivity analysis tool. This IUQ approach has been applied to quantify the RELAP5/MOD3.3 reflood-related model input uncertainties, based on selected reflood tests [FEBA (Flooding Experiments with Blocked Arrays) and PERICLES]. This paper presents the Tractebel IUQ approach as well as the results of applications to the PREMIUM benchmark. Lessons learned and perspectives for future development are also discussed.


Education Management or commonly called Administration is one of the supporting work units in the organization and has a strategic position in achieving organizational goals. With the duties and functions of the Education Management System as a supporting unit that makes this unit as important as other units within the organization. Because of that, the logical consequence of the importance of administrative services from governance is as the main management wheel of the institution's important internal files. If there is a small amount of distribution and management, it will be fatal in the next process, namely the implementation of overall organizational activities. Even in the ongoing education process. The reality in the field that we often encounter, especially in private education institutions is that there are many administrative staff who are also teaching assignments or vice versa. With the pretext of funding efficiency and optimizing the potential of HR. This is what makes Trueble Maker, the dualism of different work practices carried out simultaneously in the same institution.The practice of HR management that is chaotic above is fatal to the management of the internal files of the institution. So that the management (management) of HR in the field of management is guaranteed to be a safe and neat file validity in order to continue the process of better organizational wheel organization.


The numerical simulation of the forming process is a consolidated technique to verify, a priori, the effectiveness of the designed "method" to realize components obtained by sheet metal forming. As it is used in the industrial field at present, the limit of the forming simulation is that simulation results are based on an initial hypothesis that isn't really true, that is on the hypothesis that the forming process is deterministic. Facts prove such affirmation is wrong considering that each input variable/datum of the simulation is non-deterministic by definition [1]. Therefore, a more realistic approach that uses the process simulation should consider this uncertainty by treating the process parameters as uncertain in an admissible domain. The authors are, at the moment, engaged in the development of an on line control and test system based on acquisition modules composed by a laser and two CCD video cameras. Its aim is to allow the statistical monitoring of the forming process through the investigation of the produced parts, and to point out, with a sufficient confidence level, situations of incipient process drift. The sampling frequency is 1, 2 parts per minute depending on the part main dimensions, therefore an express loading system of the part has been designed without clamps adoption [2]. The support provided by the non-deterministic simulation to the on line control system is very important. In fact, in the first phase of the production screening, for each produced part it allows to verify the areas that have a higher "risk" of defect on the basis of the simulation results. Moreover, as well as the simulation supplies useful suggestions on the areas of each piece at top priority where the quality control is executed, the quality control system can also provide interesting information for the non-deterministic process simulation system, thanks to the data and the measurements carried out on line, in order to increase the numerical-experimental correlation of the designed control system.© 2008 ASME


This study selected the study subjects of 480 university students who are taking physical education course as cultural subject in the universities in Seoul, ChoongcheongProvince, and Daegu area. To verify the effect of their leisure function on communication ability and self-expression behavior, this study conducted multiple linear regressions using SPSS 15.0. The study result is as follow, First, following to based on gender the verification of recreational features, communication skills, self-expression validation results, from all the elements, men benefit more than women. The women`s ability to communicate impressions is much higher than men, but strictly speaking, there is 110 different with acting self-expression. In addition, the controlling of recreational features are showed that 2, 3 and 4 grade have benefit significantly more than first grade, but communications of self-expression ability had no significant difference in behavior, Second, leisure confidence among leisure functions appears to affect careful listening skill in communication ability, self-exposure, and relationship formation. Leisure control ability has significant effect on self-exposure, relationship formation, and empathy formation. In addition, leisure admiration has significant effect on self-exposure. Third, the effect of leisure function on self-expression behavior shows that leisure confidence and leisure admiration have significant effect self-expression behavior. In addition, leisure control ability and leisure admiration have significant effect on passive self-expression behavior.


Objective:To study the prognostic value of basal hormone levels on ovarian reserve during ovulation induction.Methods:On the 3rd day serum follicle stimulating hormone(FSH),luteinzing hormone(LH) of 110 ovulation induction cycles(60 infertile patients) were measured by radioimmunoassay.The relationship between basal hormone levels and numbers of dominant follicles and pregnancy rates were analysed.Results:The 3rd serum FSH≥10IU/L predicted a poor response to ovarian stimulation,with fewer dominant follicles and lower pregnancy rate.The 3rd day serum LH level was unrelated to pregnancy rate.Conclusion: The 3rd day FSH is useful in prognostic assessment of ovarian reserve.


Objective To evaluate the clinical outcome of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide(IVTA) combined with laser photocoagulation for diffuse diabetic macular edema(DME).Methods Thirty eyes of 24 patients with macular edema were randomly divided into two groups: the simple laser photocoagulation group(n=15) and the laser combination with IVTA-photocoagulation group(n=15).Eyes in the combination group were subjected to laser photocoagulation one week after 4 mg IVTA.The best-corrected visual acuity,foveal thickness(FT)(by optical coherence tomography) and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups.Results Baseline VA and FT was respectively 0.10±0.09 and 518.1±117.5 μm in the photocoagulation group and 0.11±0.120 and 524.9±147.4 μm in the combination group,which was not statistically significant between the two groups.Visual acuity was improved and FT was reduced in the two groups.BCVA was 0.19±0.16 and 0.23±0.18 at 3 months and 0.17±0.13 and 0.28±0.15 at 6 months after treatments,FT was 324.1±115.2 μm and 279.4±98.8 μm at 3 months and 354.1±121.2 μm and 248.4±102.6 μm at 6 months after treatments,for the laser photocoagulation group and combined group,respectively(P0.001).2 cases had an increased transitory intraocular pressure and were controlled by drugs,and 1 case had cataract progression in the combination group.Conclusion IVTA combined with laser photocoagulation is superior to simple laser photocoagulation in improving VA and reducing FT.


What social-psychological processes characterize the relation between practitioners and clients from an ethnic minority in a context of a social or educational intervention? The author underlines the heuristic and pragmatic relevance of recognizing the cultural shocks and the psychosocial processes of minority/majority influences which take place in these situations. After the gap between clients' and practitioners' representations of social and educational services is illustrated, the asymmetry of the relationship between social actors is stressed. In this regard, Moscovici's theory (Moscovici, 1985) on social influence brings in an essential contribution to the practice of interethnic counseling.


Introduction: India contributes to one 􀃶fth of global live birth and more than a quarter of neonatal deaths. There is huge disparity in Neonatal Mortality rate between and even the states. This disparity include rural –urban, poor rich and gender differentials. The 􀃶rst step in improving neonatal survival is to document the number and rate of deaths and identify their common causes. Aims: This study was undertaken to study the disease pattern and outcome of neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a rural tertiary care centre located in BPS government medical college for women, khanpur kalan Sonipat ,Haryana. Inclusion criteria: All neonate admitted in NICU during one year study period(Jan to Dec 2017) Exclusion criteria Newborn admitted after surgical intervention and referred due to non availability of beds were excluded. Conclusion: More emphasis should we given to increase awareness to antenatal visits in rural areas ,maternal education ,increasing maternal age at 􀃶rst pregnancy, prolongation of deliveries till term and timely referral with adequate numbers of health care staff may improve neonatal outcome in rural India.


The aim of the study is to determine the adjustment range of combined heat and power (CHP) plants working in cogeneration mode with the use of pressurized heat accumulators. Computational studies of CHP plants with T-110/120-130 turbine units were carried out with the use of atmospheric and pressurized heat accumulators and without an accumulation system. The accumulation system allows expanding adjustment range limits of the turbine unit. During the minimum load hours, the power decreases by 20 – 25%, during the peak load hours, the power increases by 2 – 11 %. Pressurized accumulators provide an increase in thermal capacity, electricity generation, and the overall efficiency of the power plant and allow a reduction in the use of peak water boilers. The assessment of the economic effect is given taking into account the duration of outdoor temperatures during the year. Such systems can be used at all stations operating in cogeneration mode.


Spatial resampling is a wideband direction of arrival(DOA)estimation method with no need to pre-estimate the angle of incidence.It uses phase focusing to uniformize the subspaces of wideband signal's sub-bands.The spatial resampling method based on FFT uses the Fourier transform to adjust the spatial resampling rate.Yet,the performance of the spatial resampling method based on FFT largely depends on such factors as the amount of array elements,choice of the reference frequency,etc.A detailed performance analysis of the spatial resampling method based on FFT is given.This analysis is given from multiple aspect,e.g.number of array elements,reference frequency,sub-band division,angles of incidence,signal bandwidth,etc,which makes it a valuable reference for follow-up study and engineering implementation.


Virtual instruments is a program that implements functions of an instrument by software which could replace the work of real instruments to save resources. The functions of these sensor-based systems are limited and they commonly cannot manage related information, such as sensors and monitoring objects, due to special requirements. The procedure of development and integration often suffers from low efficiency because of non-standard technologies. To solve the aforementioned problems, an integrated system architecture based on complex virtual instruments (CVI) is proposed, which could not only extend the function of virtual instruments but also ease the development procedure of the system. By analyzing the characters of existing virtual instruments systems, this paper presents the data interaction standard, which has been applied by two IEEE standards, and the architecture, which consists of configuration subsystem, data collection simulation subsystem, Web service registration center, and so on. We also offer a light universal client which could dynamically load the DynamicLinkLibrary of different CVIs, in order to replace the complex integration procedure by scheduling different components. To valid the architecture, three existing systems are reconstructed by the proposed prototype subsystems. The result shows that the proposed architecture is efficient and feasible.


The partitioning coefficient of a surfactant between oil and water is related to the free energy of transfer from one phase to the other. The influence of temperature on the partition coefficient of octylphenol ethoxylate oligomers between oil and water is reported. The variation of the partition coefficient with formulation variables can be used as a yardstick for the concept of generalized formulation expression.


ABSTRACT With the design freedoms afforded by additive manufacturing (AM) processes, an increasing interest in shape synthesis methods has led to a variety of advances in topology optimisation methods and associated synthesis technologies. In this paper, we identify research issues related to the application of AM to shape synthesis methods, review recent advances in topology optimisation, and outline a vision for future synthesis capabilities.


Tracks of three types of fishing gear in bottom sediments were obser-ved from a submersible in Chaleur Bay (Gulf of St. Lawrence). Tracks left by past otter trawling activities covered atleast 316 of the bottom by area and were considered to have been made by trawl doors. Shallow tracks made by inshore and offshore scallop dredges during the course of the study could be distinguished from each other and from trawl tracks. Scallop dredging lifts fine sediments into suspension, buries gravel below the sand surface, and overturns large rocks embedded in the sediment, appreciably roughening the bottom. The inshore Alberton dredge is inefficient, dumping its contents back onto bottom at intervals during the tow. Dredging causes appreciable lethal and sublethal damage to scallops left in the track, this damage being greatest on rough bottom. Incidental mortalities to scallops with an offshore dredge of at least 13-17Vo per tow are of the same order of magnitude as estimates of harvesting efficiency made in earlier studies. Predatory fish and crabs were attracted to the dredge tracks within t hr of fishing and were observed in the tracks at densities 3-30 times those observed outside the tracks.


HISTORY AND CLINICAL FINDINGS
A 72-year-old woman was referred because of progressive skin discoloration with venectasia and swelling in the left lower leg, the possible diagnosis being atypical varicose veins. 20 years before she had a right nephrectomy for "clear-cell" renal adenocarcinoma with subsequent tele-cobalt radiotherapy. On examination a pulsating swelling was palpated over the hyperpigmented area of the skin with venectasia.

INVESTIGATIONS
She had hypercholesterolaemia (254 mg/dl) and hyperuricaemia (uric acid 6.2 mg/dl). Duplex sonography, angiography and computed tomography of the lower leg revealed a vascular tumour with infiltration of the right head of the gastrocnemius.

DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND COURSE
Because an arteriovenous fistula within a vascular soft-tissue tumour of unknown histology was suspected, a wide resection was performed. Histopathological examination revealed a metastasis of a clear-cell adenocarcinoma. Postoperative diagnostic tests discovered no other findings suspicious of malignancy. It is therefore to be assumed that the resected tumour was a solitary metastasis of the renal adenocarcinoma removed 20 years previously.

CONCLUSION
Even rare causes should be considered in the differential diagnosis of vascular tumour, as this case of a solitary metastasis after a latency of 20 years demonstrates.


The invention provides a scalable virtual machine, which is applied to bottom embedded equipment of the Internet of things. The scalable virtual machine comprises an internal memory management module, an instantaneous compiling module, an interpreter module, a thread management module, a local interface module, a runtime data area and a portable layer module, wherein the portable layer module comprises an internal memory module, a network module, a thread module, a file module, an input/output (I/O) module and the like; and dynamic system configuration is performed through a network, so that cross-platform is realized by the virtual machine. The scalable virtual machine is suitable for the requirements of different levels of embedded equipment at the bottom of the Internet of things, has the characteristics of wide application range, small size, low energy consumption, strong function and flexible configuration, can be widely applied to various embedded equipment at the bottom of the Internet of things, such as machine vision, and has wide coverage field.


Poster presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Madrid, Spain, 26-30 September 2014 w Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is a molecular chaperone that is exploited by cancer cells for at least two purposes: v To activate and stabilize labile forms of oncoproteins, including many kinases and transcription factors, that have undergone biochemical transformations (mutation, translocation, amplification, overexpression); and v To act as a buffer against the cellular stresses essential for cancer cell survival. w Hsp90 inhibition has shown clinical activity in cancers addicted to particular driver oncogenes, such as HER2, EML4-ALK, and mutant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). w SNX-5422 is an orally bioavailable prodrug of SNX-2112, which is a highly potent, non-geldanamycin analog Hsp90 inhibitor. SNX-5422 has extended tumor residence time and has demonstrated significant antitumor activity in multiple mouse xenograft models of human tumors. w Erlotinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor used in the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). w In cellular models of mutant EGFR (L858R and T790M mutations), SNX-2112 alone and in combination with erlotinib inhibited EGFR activation of pAKT and pSTAT3. In NCI-H1975 xenograft models, SNX-5422 showed activity as a single agent (Figure 1) and in combination with erlotinib (Figure 2).


Mixtures of a polystyrene-block-polybutadiene-block-polystyrene copolymer (Kraton 1102) and a low molecular weight homopolymer (polystyrene or poly(α-methylstyrene) with MW ranging from 1200 to 9900) were studied. Dynamic viscoelastic measurements showed that the solubility limits of pαMS in the block copolymer are greater than those of PS. Phase diagrams were constructed experimentally for Kraton 1102/PαMS, which allowed to determine the boundary between the mesophase and the homogeneous phase. Cloud point curves for liquid-liquid phase separation were determined. The results were compared with predictions made by the theory of Noolandi and coworkers


Physical inactivity is considered an independent risk factor for chronic diseases, and time spent in front of the TV is one of the most widespread sedentary activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between time spent in front of the TV and energy expenditure among adolescents with different percents of body fat (%BF). The study included 40 White male adolescents aged 14 to 16 years, of high socioeconomic status (classes A and B). Anthropometric (body mass, stature, skin folds) and level of physical activity (Tritac accelerometer TR3) data were obtained. The adolescents were divided by %BF: below of 11% or above of 20%.The results demonstrated that adolescents with %BF above the ideal range spent more time in front of the TV and had lower energy expenditure than adolescents with %BF below the ideal range (p < 0.05). A negative association was observed between time in front of the TV and energy expenditure (on weekdays: r = - 0.426; on weekends: r = - 0.579) and there was a positive correlation with body fat (on weekdays: r = 0.518; on weekends: r = 0.514) (p < 0.05). According to the evidence, it was concluded that the greater the amount of time spent in front of the TV, the greater the prevalence of inactivity and the greater the amount of body fat.


Abstract The high degree of flexibiliy required in FMS demands greater complexity in the system and consequently incurs a higher probability of a functional failure which necessitates some form of manual restoration. Unless appropriate measures are taken, frequent failures will not only interrupt the operations of the system, but also expose operating personnel to greater risks. Incorporating an appropriate contingency management capability in FMS will enable the system to automatically recover from a failure and continue operating. Greater attention is now given to improving the reliability of FMS using contingency management techniques. A majority of reported contingency strategies for FMS concern means for automatic recovery of robot-based systems. From a general review of known contingency strategies, four basic stages in the development of a contingency management system for FMS are identified and outlined. The framework for a contingency strategy employed in an assembly FMS is also introduced. The c...


Many organisms are capable of synthesizing organic/inorganic composites for protective or support purposes, such as bones, shells, and teeth. They exert a remarkable level of molecular control on particle size, structure, morphology, aggregation, and crystallographic orientation of these organic/inorganic structured materials. These materials often hierarchically arrange from nanoscale to macroscale (Feldheim and Eaton 2007; Dujardin and Mann 2002; Mann et al. 1993; Palmer et al. 2008; Estroff and Hamilton 2001; Aizenberg et al. 2005). For example, mollusks produce shells or nacres that contain a single distinct calcium carbonate crystalline phase, such as aragonite or calcite (Addadi et al. 2006). Magnetotactic bacteria produce Fe3O4 or Fe3S4 nanoparticles with well-defined sizes and shapes to recognize magnetic fields for alignment and migration (Dennis A. Bazylinski and Frankel 2004; Komeili 2007). Marine sponges produce silica spicules that have been demonstrated to possess light-guiding characteristics and may reach lengths of up to 3 m (Aizenberg et al. 2004; Sundar et al. 2003; Cattaneo-Vietti et al. 1996). In each of the examples listed above, and in many more examples in nature (Fig.1), specialized biomolecules, such as proteins, peptides, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA), and polysaccharides, have been found or are thought to play a critical role in directing the formation of these hierarchically assembled inorganic structures (Sollner et al. 2003; Muller et al. 2007). The participation of biomolecules in the nucleation and growth of crystals has attracted much research attention. Most notably, the proteins involved in directing the shape of these biomaterials have often evolved to recognize and bind selectively to one or more faces of the growing crystal. For instance, important matrix proteins involved in bone growth contain different function domains that orient the protein on hydroxyapatite nanocrystals and interact with target cell receptors (Gilbert et al. 2003). Nature has always been a source of inspiration for technical developments. Materials scientists consider the hierarchical structure of natural materials as a model for the development of new types of high-performance engineered materials (George and Ravindran 2010). The biomimetic approach could lead to the development of the controlled synthesis of inorganic nanophases, the crystal engineering of bulk solids, and the assembly of organized composite and ceramic materials (Mann et al. 1993).


SCOTT STERN, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University The Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) has long been a globally recognized ranking of country competitiveness and a tool for benchmarking country strengths and weaknesses. In an effort to continually introduce the best available methodology in preparing the rankings, there has been a series of improvements in the methodology over the years.An important milestone was reached in 2000, when Professor Jeffrey Sachs introduced the Growth Competitiveness Index, based on a stronger academic foundation in economic growth theory. Professor Michael Porter joined the effort in 2000, introducing a companion Business Competitiveness Index (BCI) focused on the microeconomic drivers of prosperity. In 2004, Professor Xavier Sala-i-Martin created a Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which included both macroeconomic and microeconomic factors of competitiveness. Since 2004, the GCI has been published in the GCR alongside the BCI. This year, the World Economic Forum and Professor Porter have embarked on another important stage in the development of the GCR. Under Professor Porter's leadership, the aim is another step-change improvement in both the Index methodology and the quality of the Executive Opinion Survey (the Survey), which provides many proprietary data used in preparing the Report. This chapter previews the upcoming changes in the Index, while Chapter 2.1 discusses the considerable improvements that have already been implemented in the Survey process. The aim of the New Global Competitiveness Index (New GCI) is to create a single, fully integrated index to replace the two indexes published in recent years.The New GCI will be based on a single model that is firmly grounded in the latest academic research while designed to extend research and yield practical insights for policymakers.The New GCI will also create a stable methodological platform for the years to come. The New GCI will concentrate on the determinants of the productivity level that a national economy can sustain, which is the ultimate driver of national prosperity. Data will continue to be drawn from a mix of public sources and the unique and proprietary annual Survey of many thousands of business executives from around the world.The majority of the individual indicators used in the previous indexes will be incorporated into the new index. While many of the elements stay the same, the New GCI incorporates them in a new and more robust conceptual structure. It will also employ a new and more rigorous statistical methodology. To develop the new index, Professor Porter assembled a team of scholars including Professor Scott Stern 43 1. 2: M ov in g to a N ew G lo ba l C om pe tit iv en es s In de x


The MPI reduction operation such as MPI_Reduce and MPI_Allreduce are frequently used and time-consuming operations. The performance enhancement of these operations can substantially speed up large-scale parallel applications. In this paper, a greedy based MPI_Reduce algorithm called Greedy Shortest Binomial Tree (GSBT) is proposed. This proposed algorithm leverages SDN technology and OpenFlow network to speed up MPI reduction operations. This is accomplished using network topology information from the OpenFlow controller to reduce overall hops in message transmission. The implementation of the proposed algorithm by modifying MPI library and OpenFlow controller is presented. The proposed GSBT algorithm has been evaluated in a real test-bed to compare with the traditional approaches used in both MPICH and Open MPI. The result shows that GSBT algorithm is faster than standard algorithms 30.48-66.35% for Open MPI and faster 50.77-82.89% for MPICH when message size between 2 KB - 24 KB.


Aluminum phosphide is a fumigant pesticide produced in tablet form. Aluminum phosphide releases phosphine (ph3) gas, which primarily affects cellular respiration by blocking cytochrome oxidation in the mitochondria. In a two-month case series collected in 2016 (April and May), seven patients with a complaint of aluminum Phosphide poisoning were evaluated at the Addis Ababa Burn Emergency and Trauma Hospital. Four of the patients were female. The ages of the patients ranged from 16 to 33 with an average age of 25. The patients presented to the hospital no earlier than four hours post exposure. Five of the seven patients were farmers. Though the patients were in shock, they were able to provide a history supplemented by the people that brought them to the Emergency Room (ER). They had non-specific manifestations of poisoning including nausea, vomiting, and epigastric and retrosternal pain. In addition, six of the seven patients were in shock. Supportive management with crystalloid resuscitation, ionotropic support, magnesium sulphate, calcium gluconate, hydrocortisone and mechanical ventilation were administered as needed. Five of the seven patients (71%) died in the hospital within 24 hours of ingestion. Because of its lethality; control of the distribution of Aluminum Phosphide in conjunction with the training of health care professionals on early supportive management are essential and may decrease mortality from ingestion of this substance. Key words: Aluminum Phosphide, pesticide, case fatality, suicide, Ethiopia


Objective To investigate the application status of antiplatelet agents in Chinese patients with ischemic stroke(IS) and related factors of influence the drug use.Methods The basic data and application status of antiplatelet agents in IS patients with course3 months in the north,central and eastern of our country 14 cities were investigated and analyzed.Results There were 6422 IS patients were involved,and all of them had the indication of using antiplatelet agents,but only 72.4% patients(4652 cases) were using antiplatelet agents.Among those IS patients using antiplatelet agents,98.7% was using Aspirin.The taking rate of antiplatelet agents in patients with course≥3 years(64.0%) was significant lower than shose course1 year(72.0%)(P0.001).The proportion of using antiplatelet agents in IS patients combined with coronary heart disease or hypertension were significantly higher than IS patients without those complications(allP0.001).Conclusion There is a gap between the application status of antiplatelet agents in Chinese IS patients and the secondary prevention guidelines recommending that require all of the IS patients should use antiplatelet agents,sepecialy in IS patients with longer course.


Objective: At the age of 45 years, more than 50% of the population suffers from hypertension. It is in most cases essential. However, in some situations, a secondary origin must be sought. Primary hyperaldosteronism is the most frequent cause after nephropathy. Design and method: Our study is retrospective on a year (March 2015-March 2016), including hypertensive patients who received a renal aldosterone (R/A) assay in the presence of secondary hypertension after eliminating unilateral or bilateral parenchymal nephropathy. Results: We collected sixteen patients with an average age 46 years. The average seniority of the high blood pressure was 3 years. primary hyper aldosternism was suspected face to a hypertension associated wih hypokalaemia in 10 cases, in front of a resistant hypertension in 4 cases and before the fortuitous discovery of an adrenal nodule in 2 patients. The results of the assays were in favor of a primary hyper aldosternism on average in 8 patients A/R ratio up to 28 according to the usual values of the laboratory). An adrenal nodule was found in 6 of these patients. Therapeutic management was adrenalectomy in 2 of these patients, and spironolacton treatment for the others. Conclusions: Primary hyperaldosteronism is probably under-diagnosed and affects about 10% of hypertensive patients. The earlier diagnosis, the more likely avoiding cardiovascular and renal complications.


The invention relates to an LED tunnel illuminating lamp relating to the technical field of light-emitting diodes. The LED tunnel floodlight comprises an LED lamp, an LED base plate, a united radiating type pulsation heat pipe radiator and a lamp shade, wherein one side of the LED base plate is fixedly arranged at the rear part of the LED lamp, and the other side of the same is fixedly connected with the united radiating type pulsation heat pipe radiator; and the lamp shade is fixedly arranged at the front part of the LED lamp. The invention greatly reduces metal consumption and has very simple machining process; in addition, the LED tunnel floodlight is a novel high-power LED wall lamp which has the advantages of high radiating property, good starting property and temperature uniformity, compact structure and convenient manufacturing and machining and can be used for roadside walls and tunnel illumination.


The paper summarise the overall Webots simulator capabilities applicable for ground-based air defence (GBAD) systems. It includes the possibility of modelling and simulation (M&S) of different types of entities such as radars, opto-electronic detectors and sensors, and guided missiles with various kinds of guidance principles. Paper describes the philosophy, attitude and M&S process within the Webots simulator environment. The implementation of selected entities (radar/missile) is closely analysed and verified. The paper results present the advantages and disadvantages of the Webots robot simulator as a simulator for GBAD systems.


In this research a bilateral control method is proposed to find the estimation force of master-slave at the end effector of hydraulic servo system using sliding mode control with sliding perturbation observer (SMCSPO). The sliding perturbation observer (SPO) estimates the reaction force at the end effector of master and slave without using any sensor. Sliding mode control (SMC) is used as bilateral controller for the robust position tracking and control of slave device. A bilateral control strategy in hydraulic servo system provides robust position and force tracking between master and slave. This research experimentally verifies that the slave device can follow the trajectory of the master device using the proposed bilateral control strategy and reaction force estimation method.


2)"Introduction, Line 15: Suggest to use Neo et al., 2017 a review of species status, instead of Neo et al., 2015 that looks at ecological roles. Reference citation: Neo ML, CCC Wabnitz, RD Braley, GA Heslinga, C Fauvelot, S Van Wynsberge, S Andréfouët, C Waters, AS-H Tan, ED Gomez, MJ Costello & PA Todd (2017) Chapter 4. Giant clams (Bivalvia: Cardiidae: Tridacninae): A comprehensive update of species and their distribution, current threats and conservation status. In: Hawkins SJ, Evans AJ, Dale AC, Firth LB, Hughes DJ, Smith IP (eds.), Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review, Volume 55. Pp. 87–388. CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL."


Background. In many countries frontline emergency workers of different specialties face the need to inform people of their relatives' death and to support them during the acute period following the message. The need for psychological training in this area is evident. However, the research in this area is not only complicated in terms of logistics, but also hindered by a number of ethical difficulties. The analysis presented in this paper has significant practical value and draws on the unique professional perspective of the EMERCOM emergency psychologists who provide psychological support to people experiencing loss in an acute period — relatives and loved ones of those who died in emergencies. Objective. To give an outline of approaches to psychological support in cases of loss, of the factors influencing adaptation to a loss, and of the opportunities for early psychological interventions. Design. The theoretical overview presents the analysis of foreign experience and main approaches to announcing the death of a relative. The following section describes and analyses the main approaches and practical experience of the EMERCOM psychologists. The conclusion outlines the possibilities of a systematic approach to providing emergency psychological aid in cases of loss. Results. The study presents a list of characteristics of support providers, recipients and situations that need to be taken into account when choosing a strategy of work with people experiencing a recent loss. Conclusion. The study allows to single out three main thematic blocks, the consideration of which is necessary when choosing a strategy for dealing with loss in an acute period. First, features of the situation; second, characteristics of the person experiencing loss; third, the characteristic of the support provider. The process of psychological support, as described in the paper, includes assessment and consideration of the objective characteristics of the situation, the recipient's characteristics and response, and the characteristics of the specialist himself. The interpretation of relationship between these factors and their influence on the condition of the person who experiences a loss allows the psychologist to choose the most effective strategy for providing psychological support.


The MINICO method of ranging to four ground targets in rapid succession has been adopted as a nearly daily routine at Stromlo. In essence, it calibrates the range used for regular preand post-pass system delay calibrations. It also provides interesting information on the stability of the calibration pillars and of the telescope pier. There is a clear annual cycle of amplitude 1 mm in the results. The routine biennial precision ground survey was performed in August 2006. Its agreement, or otherwise, with the MINICO determinations of pier ranges will be presented.


Various different procedures have been advocated in literature to correct dental anomalies specially in the aesthetic region such as discolouration of tooth due to fluorosis or spacing in dentition due to change in shape of tooth like peg laterals. One of the most common treatment modalities to treat such cases are using VENEERS. This case report presents conservative and aesthetic procedure in the management of closing the space occurred due to peg laterals using E max lithium disilicate laminate veneers.


This article describes the yearlong process of systematically developing an MPA Major Field Test with a team of five schools in various regions of the United States. Each school professor on the test team interviewed numerous practitioners to determine current issues in the profession. The practitioner information was filtered through at least one academic team member who used the information to create exam questions and submitted them for peer review. The test is based on NASPAA's five competencies for the MPA degree. Four schools list the data gleaned from the test results and its impact on their MPA program. Though the data set is currently not large enough to determine validity or reliability, the article describes the process and the utility of the test to offer the first collaborative measurement for schools to determine the strength of their MPA program.


In this work we have presented a genetic algorithm approach for classifying normal connections and intrusions. We have created a serial combination of two light-weight genetic algorithm-based intrusion detection systems where each of the systems exhibits certain deficiency. In this way we have managed to mitigate the deficiencies of both of them. The model was verified on KDD99 intrusion detection dataset, generating a solution competitive with the solutions reported by the state-ofthe- art, while using small subset of features from the original set that contains forty one features. The most significant features were identified by deploying principal component analysis and multi expression programming. Furthermore, our system is adaptable since it permits retraining by using new data.


The article presents a case of a very rare disorder – generalized eruptive keratoacanthoma of Grzybowski in a woman aged 82 years old. The disease is characterized by sudden emergence of hundreds or thousands of neoplasms (2–5 cm in diameters) rapidly spreading throughout the body skin. It is frequently associated with internistic cancer. In this case, generalized eruptive keratoacanthoma of Grzybowski was diagnosed 4 years after the disease onset. The authors emphasize the role of proper diagnosis and treatment of this pathology. Aromatic retinoids were highly effective in the therapy of generalized eruptive keratoacanthoma of Grzybowski.


In the present chinese teaching in primary and middle schools, the mode and ways of eluciding text is old and humdrum.It usually emphasizes the text's thought from the point of view of sociology and so the understanding of the text is exparte and superficial. Generally, the creation of literature is closely associated with culture, so it is one of the ways to avoid the defect by understanding and analysing the text from the cultral view. The text can be elucidated the text from the view of traditional culture, regional culture and folk culture.


This essay traces the development of Otto Neurath's ideas that led to the publication of one of the first series of children's books produced by the Isotype Institute in the late 1940s, the Visual History of Mankind. Described in its publicity material as 'new in content' and 'new in method', it embodied much of Otto Neurath's thinking about visual education, and also coincided with other educational ideas in the UK in the 1930s and 1940s. It exemplified the Isotype Institute's approach: teamwork, thinking about the needs of younger readers, clear explanation, and accessible content. Further, drawing on correspondence, notes and drawings from the Otto and Marie Neurath Isotype Collection at the University of Reading, the essay presents insights to the making of the books and the people involved, the costs of production and the influence of this on design decisions, and how the books were received by teachers and children.


The classical micellization behavior of polymers in selective solvent is briefly described and a variety of new approaches to polymer micellization caused by specific interactions(hydrogen bonding,ionic interaction,polymer-metal ion coordination interaction),and chemical reactions are discussed in this paper.Besides,the approaches of double hydrophilic copolymers micellization were reviewed.


This presentation will provide an overview of the fundamentals of images and how to efficiently and faithfully deal with them. What can and should be done with these images? What shouldn't be done? How are complex image sets best visualized? How can quantitative values be extracted from images? These topics will be covered with some real-world examples providing background understanding and practical tips for establishing a work-flow to allow you to get the most from your data.


This paper presents an implementation of a new time synchronization scheme for energy efficient Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). This scheme, called Sliding Clock Synchronization (SCS) is able to compensate for static and dynamic drifts in the frequencies of crystals used in the WSN nodes. As power is a very scarce and critical resource in most WSN, a tight synchronization scheme can drastically reduce power consumption thereby increasing the life of a WSN. Moreover, an accurate and reliable synchronization scheme enables the WSN to be used in applications that require tight synchronization for precise event and data correlation. While the SCS scheme can be used under any conditions, special attention in this paper is given to the performance of the SCS when employed in WSN operating in an environment with extreme environmental variations.


Aims: Sulfur mustard (SM) is a chemical warfare agent causing erythema and painful blisters on exposed skin areas characterized by complicated healing processes. SM still represents a serious threat for civilians and military personnel especially in terroristic scenarios and by accidental exposure while weapons destruction. Bioanalytical procedures for verification of exposure are thus an inevitable demand according to the international and criminal law. As SM alkylates diverse endogenous proteins to hydroxyethylthioethyl (HETE)-adducts, these molecules are targets of modern instrumental analysis. Methods: The human albumin adduct (alkylation of cysteine residue, C34) was isolated from plasma by affinity extraction and proteolytically cleaved by pronase to detect the HETE-CP dipeptide by narrowbore (150 x 2.1 mm I.D.) as well as microbore (150 x 1.0 mm I.D.) LC-ESI MS/MS monitoring product ions at m/z 105 (quantifier) and m/z 137 (qualifier). Results and Discussion: Kinetic studies on proteolysis revealed that current lots of commercially available pronase produced HETE-CP instead of the well known HETE-CPF tripeptide. HETE-CP eluted as a very broad peak in conventional RP chromatography less appropriate for sensitive detection. As characterized by different chromatographic temperatures this phenomenon was due to a dynamic on-column equilibrium of cisand transconfiguration at the imide bond between cysteine and its C-terminally bound proline in HETE-CP. Chromatography at 50°C revealed one narrow peak ideal for sensitive detection. Microbore analysis revealed a cycle time of 60 min at 18% ion suppression, whereas the narrowbore method was 4-times faster (cycle time 16 min) and exhibited a higher ion suppression of 32%. The amount of HETE-CP was directly proportional to the concentration of SM added to plasma yielding a sufficient LOD (50 nM and 100 nM SM) for microand narrowbore analysis. Conclusion: Both methods are reliable for detection of plasma albumin-derived adducts of SM to prove exposure of SM concentrations as low as 50 nM. Even though the methods were optimized for analysis of the dipeptide adduct simultaneous detection of the formerly established markers HETE-CPF and Q(HETE)-CPF are also possible.


K18 [MnIII2MnII4 (μ3-O)2(H2O)4 (SiW8O31)(SiW9O34 )(SiW10O36)]·40H2O is synthesized from an aqueous solution of K8[γ-SiW10O36], MnCl2, and K2CO3 (pH 8.40—8.50, precise pH control by dropwise addition of K2CO3 over 40 min, 40 °C, 4 h; 35% yield).


We study with the variational method the ground state of bosons interacting with Yukawa potentials in the fluid phase near solidification. We show that the serious discrepancy in the short-range order which was found by Ceperley et al. between Jastrow variational and exact results is due to the presence in the Jastrow function of intermediate-distance correlations. These are density dependent, and we relate them to the zero-point motion of rotonlike excitations on the basis of analogy with hard-core systems. A simple one-parameter expression of these correlations is proposed for any Bose system in the fluid phase. A Jastrow wave function which includes such correlations is as good as a Hartree-Jastrow wave function for the solid phase, so that the variational method can now be used to determine reliably the solidification line.


Forests play an important role in the global carbon cycle, and subsequently global climate change. Synthetic Aperture Radar Tomography (TomoSAR) can achieve three-dimensional forest structures relying on the multibaseline image acquisition. At present, plenty of TomoSAR approaches are based on fully polarimetric TomoSAR datasets which require costly data acquisition. The aim of this paper is to exploit the potential of deep learning for retrieving forest height by using single polarimetric data, going beyond the limitation of the requirement for full polarization. We design a fully connected network handling the forest height reconstruction problem from a classification task perspective. The network is trained using the covariance matrix elements of single polarimetric images acquired by ONERA over Paracou region as input, while LiDAR data acts as reference. Experimental results generally show good performance for forest height and underlying topography reconstruction and, a good robustness if compared with the results driven by fully polarimetric images.


Objective:Currently, the standard to clear the cervical spine in obtunded blunt trauma patients is computed tomography in combination with plain films, dynamic fluoroscopy, or magnetic resonance imaging. The objective of this study was to answer the question "Can computed tomography alone provide adequate clinical information to clear the cervical spine in the obtunded patient?" Methods:The author performed a search of the literature for studies that compared computed tomography (CT) with other radiologic modalities utilized to clear the cervical spine in obtunded patients. PubMed, TRIPdatabase, SUMsearch, Cochrane library, and Google Scholar were the databases applied. Additional sources included bibliographies of selected articles. Studies that integrated CT scan with at least 1 other diagnostic examination were included. Results:A review of 11 studies and 1 meta-analysis encompassing 2458 and 14327 patients, respectively, met inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis generated a negative predictor value for CT scan of 100% without evidence of acute injury with an overall sensitivity and specificity of 99.9% each. Conclusion:The results suggest that CT alone is a reliable clinical indicator to clear the cervical spine in obtunded patients.


Noncentrosymmetric structures are considered in terms of a generalized substructure formulation. Inclusion of dispersion, bonding and anharmonicity leads to generalized expressions for Bijvoet ratios. Methods of numerically estimating the effects due to bonding and anharmonicity upon the Bijvoet ratios are suggested. Allowance for bonding and anharmonicity is shown to have wide implications for the breakdown of Friedel's law. Subsets of reflections that obey Friedel's law in the conventional approximation are now shown to violate it. These violations are of considerable importance for measuring antisymmetric contributions due to bonding and anharmonic thermal vibrations. The possibility that bonding effects will result in the appearance of Bijvoet differences in noncentrosymmetric structures of elements is explored.


In the present study on Hungarian legislation, I examine the role of centralized executive power in the field of "negative" or discriminatory legislation between 1938 and 1944. The present study is divided into two major sections. In the first part, I examine the role of government decrees in discriminatory legislation, with special regard to the conditions of equality, and the situation of Hungarian citizens abroad, and in the second part, I examine the role of Regent Miklós Horthy in discriminatory legislation. The analysis finds that the role of the centralized executive power was controversial in this period and cannot be characterized only with discrimination, because several cases/processes documents that they tried to save the Jewish citizens as Hungarian citizen from the discrimination of foreign states and reserves the right to discriminate the own citizens as privilege.


In data mining and knowledge discovery, similarity between objects is one of the central concepts. A measure of similarity can be user-deened, but an important problem is deening similarity on the basis of data. In this thesis we consider two kinds of similarity notions: similarity between binary valued attributes and between event sequences. Traditional approaches for deening similarity between two attributes typically consider only the values of those two attributes, not the values of any other attributes in the relation. Such similarity measures are often useful, but unfortunately , they cannot reeect certain kinds of similarity. Therefore, we introduce a new attribute similarity measure that takes into account the values of the other attributes. The behavior of the diierent measures of attribute similarity is demonstrated by giving empirical results on two real-life data sets. We also present a simple model for deening similarity between event sequences. The model is based on the idea that a similarity notion should somehow reeect how much work is needed in transforming an event sequence to another. We formalize this notion as edit distance between sequences. We show how the resulting measure of distance can be eeciently computed using a form of dynamic programming, and we also give some experimental results on two real-life data sets. As one possibility of using the similarity notions discussed, we present how attributes and event sequences can be clustered to hierarchies. We describe three standard agglomerative hierarchical clustering methods, and give a set of clustering measures needed in nding the best clustering in the hierarchy of clusterings. The results of our experiments show that with these methods we can produce natural clusterings of attributes and event sequences.


We are constantly surrounded by light in our daily lives, there's natural and artificial light. During cloudy days there is light and it's presence is always there even if it's not the clearest. In this bachelor thesis we examine the light from different angles, but above all how Rembrandt and the impressionists in their artwork used the light. To get a broader view of our process, we use the two terms "fluid" and "fire" from actor-network theory (ANT).Based on the theoretical part of our work, we created digital illustrations with the message "Dare to be yourself". This is done in the form of various portraits, where the light is in focus not only in the lighting but also as a whole. With the help of the theoretical and practical part of the bachelor thesis we are shown that the question "How can one with the illusion of light create a portrait with digital media?" can be answered in different ways, as we illustrate light with different expressions and visual languages.


In taking up the preliminary work on what I term the subfamily Lachninae it is very hard to ascertain the correct standing of several of the genera in the tribe Lachnini both from a standpoint of literature and classification.

Beginning with the original description of the genus Lachnus the author will discuss the later genera as erected and invites further discussion in order that the correct generic names may be used in the future.


There is the culture in the library,and there is the power in the culture. The aim of building up excellent library culture is to mould the persons with different characters and features into the group conforming the rules and values of the library,i.e. to educate and manage the people by culture,and to promote the sustainable development of the library,making the information service capacity of the library meet the demands of a new age.


In this paper,through comparing the soft magnetic properties of Fe-based amorphous alloy with that of several common magnetic core materials,the advantages of Fe-based amorphous alloy applied in motor iron core are proposed for improving the motor efficiency,saving energy and protecting environmental.The research status and development prospects of the amorphous metal motor are briefly summarized.


The article focuses on different approaches in foreign and domestic literature to understanding "health" and those processes that take place in the state for its preservation and strengthening.


Research  background  and  hypothesis.  Proprioception  is  important  in  the  prevention  of  injuries  as  reduced proprioception  is  one  of  the  factors  contributing  to  injury  in  the  knee  joint,  particularly  the  ACL.  Therefore, proprioception appears not only important for the prevention of ACL injuries, but also for regaining full function after ACL reconstruction.Research aim. The aim of this study was to understand how proprioception is recovered four and five months after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.Research methods. The study included 15 male subjects (age – 33.7 ± 2.49 years) who had undergone unilateral ACL reconstruction with a semitendinosus/gracilis (STG) graft in Kaunas Clinical Hospital. For proprioceptive assessment, joint position sense (JPS) was measured on both legs using an isokinetic dynamometer (Biodex), at knee flexion of 60° and 70°, and at different knee angular velocities of 2°/s and 10°/s. The patients were assessed preoperatively and after 4 and 5 months, postoperatively.Research results. Our study has shown that the JPS's (joint position sense) error scores  to a controlled active movement is significantly higher in injured ACL-deficient knee than in the contralateral knee (normal knee) before surgery and after four and five months of rehabilitation.  After 4 and 5 months of rehabilitation we found significantly lower values in injured knees compared to the preoperative data. Our study has shown that in injured knee active angle reproduction errors after 4 and 5 months of rehabilitation were higher compared with the ones of the uninjured knee. Proprioceptive ability on the both legs was  independent of all differences angles for target and starting position for movement. The knee joint position sense on both legs depends upon the rate of two different angular velocities and the mean active angle reproduction errors at the test of angular velocity slow speed was the highest compared with the fast angular velocity. Discussion and conclusions. In conclusion, our study shows that there was improvement in mean JPS 4 and 5 months after ACL reconstruction, but it did not return to normal indices.Keywords: knee joint, joint position sense, angular velocity, starting position for movement.


According to some researchers, dyscalculia is at least as prevalent as dyslexia. Somewhere between 3.6-6 % of all pupils have specific mathematics difficulties named dyslexia. If this be true, it s ...


There are conflicting reports on the association of coffee consumption with cardiovascular (CV) health. The UK Biobank is a prospective cohort study including data for half a million middle-aged individuals.

 We studied the association of daily coffee consumption with all-cause and CV mortality, and incidence of the major CV diseases in the UK Biobank. In a subgroup of participants who underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), we evaluated the association between regular coffee intake and cardiac structure and function parameters.

 UK Biobank cohort of participants without clinically manifested heart disease at the time of recruitment were included. Regular coffee intake was categorized into 3 groups: zero, light-to-moderate (0.5–3 cups/day) and high (>3 cups/day) coffee drinkers. We estimated association of daily coffee consumption with incident outcomes using multivariable Cox-regression models (median follow-up of 11 years) and, in the subset with CMR data, with left and right ventricular (LV, RV) end-systolic and end-diastolic volumes, LV mass, and LV/RV stroke volume using multivariable linear regression. Models were adjusted for potential confounders and mediators, including: age, sex, non-European ethnicities, body mass index, smoking, physical activity, Townsend deprivation index, alcohol, meat, fruit and vegetable intake, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cholesterol level.

 We included 468,629 individuals (mean age 56.2±8.1 years, 44.2% male). Among them, 22.1% did not consume coffee on a regular basis, 58.4% had 0.5–3 cups per day and 19.5% had >3 cups per day. After adjustment for potential confounders and mediators, compared to non-coffee drinkers, light-to-moderate coffee drinking was associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR=0.88, p<0.001), CV mortality (HR=0.83, p=0.006), and incident stroke (HR=0.79; p=0.037). CMR data were available in 30,650 participants. In multivariable analysis, compared to non-coffee drinkers, both the light-to-moderate and high coffee consuming categories, were associated with significantly increased LV and RV ventricular end-systolic (β=0.91 and 1.64 for LV and 1.10 and 1.72 for RV), end-diastolic (β=2.21 and 3.28 for LV and 2.24 and 3.35 for RV) and stroke volumes (β=1.31 and 1.64 for LV and 1.15 and 1.63 for RV), as well as greater LV mass (β=0.78 and 1.64; all p<0.001).

 In this large study of the UK Biobank population, regular coffee consumption of up to 3 cups per day was associated with favorable cardiovascular outcomes, in particular, decreased all-cause and CV mortality and stroke incidence. Regular coffee consumption was also associated with a pattern of CMR metrics in keeping with the reverse of age-related cardiac alterations.

 Type of funding sources: None.


It is well recognized that increased white adipose tissue impairs exercise performance. However, little is known about regulation of exercise performance by brown adipose tissue (BAT). The Regulator of G Protein Signaling 14 (RGS 14) knockout (KO) mouse is a model of enhanced longevity and improved metabolism through a novel BAT mechanism. The RGS14 KO mice also exhibit enhanced exercise performance. Accordingly, the goal of this investigation was to determine if BAT from RGS14 KO mice transplanted into their wild type littermates (WTL) recapitulated the enhanced exercise performance of the RGS14 KO mice. To accomplish this, BAT was extracted from the RGS14 KO mice and transplanted into their WTL and exercise was performed 3 days later. When BAT was transplanted from the RGS14 KO mice to WTL, a reversal of phenotype was observed, i.e., WTL with the transplanted BAT ran for a longer distance (565 ± 18m vs. 386 ± 17m) and performed 52% more work to exhaustion, p<0.05, and showed significant increases in maximum VO
 2
 (21%), VCO
 2
 (27%), and energy expenditure (23%), and hind limb blood flow (62%), measured ultrasonically with the Vevo 3100, than was observed in the RGS14 KO BAT donor mice. Interestingly, BAT transplanted from WTL to other WTL also recapitulated the enhanced exercise performance, but not at 3 days after transplantation, but rather after 8 weeks of transplantation. Since mitochondrial numbers and cross sectional area were enhanced both in RGS14 KO and BAT recipients, we examined whether blocking Sirtuin-3 (SIRT3), a master regulator of mitochondria, would eliminate the improved exercise performance in the mice with BAT transplants. To accomplish this, we crossed the mice with BAT transplants from RGS14 KO mice with SIRT3 KO mice, which abolished the enhanced exercise capacity in mice with BAT transplants. In conclusion, in contrast to increased white adipose tissue, which impairs exercise performance, brown adipose tissue enhances exercise performance, through a SIRT3 mechanism, suggesting that brown adipose tissue could be a potential mechanism for improving exercise capacity in patients with exercise intolerance.


With French Revolution as the background,A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens revealed the darkness and class contradictions in the decadent society.The plot was developed around the description of three groups of characters — the oppressors who exploited the poor,the revolutionaries who fought violently with violence,and benevolent people who were greatly hurt.In his novel,Dickens vigorously promoted his humanitarianism-benevolent spirit which is exactly the essence of this masterpiece.


The present paper contains a significant amount of data concerning the geology, genesis and physical and chemical features of lignite in the Oaş Depression (North-western Transylvania, Romania). The present-day circular Oaş Depression is bordered by Neogene eruptive complexes; however, it is most likely that initially it functioned as a gulf of Lake Pannon. It was open to the west, north-west and most probably to the east as well. The age of the lignite-bearing unit is Late Miocene. Due to climate changes and lake level fluctuations during the Late Miocene, the sedimentary basin was occupied repeatedly by mires of forest swamp. Genetically, coal accumulated from the swampy forest vegetation which developed in certain areas. The presence of the swampy forest is proved by Glyptostrobus europaeus, Byttneriophyllum tiliifolium, and Alnus cecropiaefolia. In the Oaş Depression the lignite has excellent quality . The physical and chemical characteristics show an average caloric value of 22,100 kJ/kg.


This paper presents a new methodology for meta-evaluation that makes use of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic concepts. It comprehends a data collection instrument and a hierarchical fuzzy inference system. The advantages of the proposed system are: (i) the instrument, which allows intermediate answers; (ii) the inference process ability to adapt to specific needs; (ii) transparency, through the use of linguistic rules that helps both the understanding and the discussion of the whole process. The rules are based on guidelines established by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation and also represent the view of experts. The system can provide support to evaluators that may lack experience in meta-evaluation, which is the case in some developing countries. A case study is presented as a validation of the proposed methodology.