An understanding of N cycling in agricultural systems is necessary to optimize N-use efficiency and reduce N losses to the environment. The objectives of this research were to evaluate N cycling in a highly fertilized grassland in a humid temperate climate and to observe the effects of N surplus and deficit on NH3 absorption-desorption by the grass. Soil, plant, and weather measurements were taken concurrently and soil-plant-atmosphere N transport were determined. After N application, soil inorganic N decreased rapidly to background levels, due to possible microbial immobilization and plant N demand. Much of the immobilized N was remobilized during the growth period, but at insufficient rates to avoid N stress by the crop, as shown by absorption of NH3. During spring, 45% of the plant N was derived from applied fertilizer, with the balance obtained from mineralized organic N (49%) and absorption of NH3 (6%). During summer, fertilizer N accounted for 60% of accumulated grass N and NH3 absorption accounted for 11% of N not derived from fertilizer (4% of the total N), with the balance coming from mineralized organic N. Soil water content and wind speed were the dominant factors influencing the crop NH3 compensation point (CP). The daily NH3 CP was variable, but the average seasonal NH3 CP was about 14 μg m -3 .


To the Editor: Incoming residents are expected to be competent in managing transitions of care, but medical students report knowledge gaps related to the hospital discharge process. Although some schools offer curricula on discharge skills, education on this topic is not universal. The current study sought to determine the frequency of participation, learning, and independence in managing hospital discharge by thirdand fourth-year medical students.


Background: Despite the advancement of technology in information dissemination, patients and caregivers often cite difficulties in getting the right cancer information, care and psychosocial support. It is crucial to optimize the availability of cancer information to increase knowledge among the public and for better decision making by patients and their families. In line with these strategies, the National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM) established a toll-free, Cancer Information Service Helpline (CIS) in 2016 to act as a tool for provision of cancer-related information and psychosocial support. Aim: This study aimed to analyze caller characteristics and trends of calls received by the CIS between January 1 to December 31, 2017. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on the CIS call logs for the ascertained study period. Descriptive analysis was carried out to determine characteristics of callers including i) socio-demographics; ii) geographical location; iii) caller's cancer disease status or relationship with cancer patient and iv) reason(s) for calling the helpline. ANOVA was used to determine possible associations between the different variables and reasons for calling the helpline. Results: A total of 1613 calls were received during the study period. Majority of the callers were female (72%) and almost half of the callers were healthcare professionals (43%). 36% of the calls were inquiries on availability of screening services and this was significantly associated with calls from healthcare professionals ( P = 0.04). Callers of Malay ethnicity ( P = 0.03) and newly diagnosed cancer patients ( P = 0.001) were significantly associated with calling to seek for financial help. Conclusion: While being used as a source of some aspects of information pertaining to cancer, the CIS's capabilities in providing psychosocial support is not being maximized as yet. These results provide insight that targeted promotional efforts to raise awareness about CIS's psychosocial support capabilities is required to further maximize its potential among Malaysian patients, families and the public at large.


The time evolution of the interface between the cholesteric and the blue phase of the cholesteryl esters has been measured as a function-Cif supercooling. The results are interpreted as consistent with the physical picture of a shape-preserving interface profile propagating with a rate that is determined by the orientational relaxation of the molecules near the interface. This method of investigation provides a complementary tool to the more often pursued equilibrium and dynamic investigations for the further understanding of phase transformations in liquid crystals.


Fiscal decentralization, which aims to enhance local autonomy in terms of transferring rights, obligations and duties from a governmental to a municipal level, needs to ensure the efficient exploitation of public resources and the provision of high-quality public services at the optimum cost. Changes in local government which have been going on for two decades now raise the issue of the results which have been achieved in this respect so far. The objective of this paper is to study the degree of decentralization of the public sector in Bulgaria and to assess the financial independence, investment activity and efficiency of selected municipalities in Bulgaria.


The graft copolymerization was carried out by methyl methacrylate with starch in which azobisisobutyronitrile was used as an initiator. The grafting reactions were carried out within a 65–95°C temperature range, and the effect of the monomer, initiator concentrations, and the amount of starch on the graft yield were also investigated. The maximum graft yield was obtained at a azobisisobutyronitrile concentration of 2.0 × 10−3 mol/L. The overall rate activation energy of the reaction was found to be 89.42 kJ/mol. The grafted starches were characterized with infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and thermogravimetry. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 53–57, 2002


The invention discloses a method for preparing (3R, 5S)-3, 5-O-isopropylidene-3, 5, 6-trihydroxy caproic acid hexylic acid derivative, including the following steps: (1) L-malic acid protected hydroxy compound and carbonyl diimidazole (CD I) react in solvent to obtain (S)-2,2- dimethyl-5-oxo-1, 3-dioxa-4-acetyl imidazole; (2) the (S)-2,2- dimethyl-5-oxo-1, 3-dioxa-4-acetyl imidazole and Meldrum's acid react in the solvent under the existence of basic catalyst to prepare (S)-2-(4'-oxo-3', 4'-O-isopropylidene-3', 4'-dihydroxy-1'-hydroxy-alkene)-malonic acid cyclic isopropylidene ester; (3) the (S)-2-(4'-oxo-3',4'-O-isopropylidene-3',4'-dihydroxy-1'-hydroxy-alkene)-malonic acid cyclic isopropylidene ester reacts with methanol to prepare (S)-3, 6-dioxo-5, 6-isopropylidene-5, 6-dihydroxy tert-butyl ester hexanoate; and a target compound can be obtained after further reaction. The method has the advantages of easy acquisition of materials, moderate reaction condition, less material consumption, high product quality and yield and easy implementation of industrialization.


Executive Summary: • The study 'Public Interest and the Company in Germany and Britain' is principally concerned with public interest agendas in relation to the company and how far these differ in Germany and Britain. It is not concerned with the detail of external corporate regulation, but with how the internal structures of the company are constituted by particular political understandings of the public interest, which become embodied in formal and informal rules. • We examine factors which shape the politics of the public interest in relation to the company: firstly, the role of political ideas and interests in creating political coalitions which express a particular conception of the public interest; secondly, the extent to which rules and norms embodied in institutions and legal cases shape subsequent expectations of how the company is related to the public interest, and how it should behave; thirdly, how the constraints and opportunities of the global economy shape attitudes towards the boundaries of legitimate interference in company affairs; and fourthly, whether European integration substantially shapes company law in a way that can be distinguished from national legislation. • Historically, we show how the politics of the public interest in Britain and Germany has defined the public interest in relation to the company differently, and set different limits of legitimate state interference in the structure and behaviour of the company. We contrast the British model of the company as a private association with the German model of the company as a constitutional association, and review the evolution of public interest agendas in the two countries since the introduction of limited liability in Britain in the 1850s and the reform of German corporate law in the 1870s, and how they have shaped the development of company law and regulation in response to changing economic and political circumstances. • Company law in Britain has tended historically to favour a 'private association' model of the company. In the UK the public interest in relation to the company has historically been identified with the maximisation of profits, the protection of small private investors, and the reluctance of the state to specify particular forms of company structure. Hence, company law has been primarily concerned with issues such as the fiduciary duties of company directors and the obligation imposed on all companies to disclose financial information and hold shareholders' meetings. Corporate law leaves a large scope for shareholders and managers to …


........................................................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ xiv LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. xxii ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................................... xxviii CHAPTER ONE ..................................................................................................................................... 1 MOTIVATION AND THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ............................................................. 1 1.


Interior point methods for optimization have been around for more than 25 years now. Their presence has shaken up the field of optimization. Interior point methods for linear and (convex) quadratic programming display several features which make them particularly attractive for very large scale optimization. Among the most impressive of them are their low-degree polynomial worst-case complexity and an unrivalled ability to deliver optimal solutions in an almost constant number of iterations which depends very little, if at all, on the problem dimension. Interior point methods are competitive when dealing with small problems of dimensions below one million constraints and variables and are beyond competition when applied to large problems of dimensions going into millions of constraints and variables. In this survey we will discuss several issues related to interior point methods including the proof of the worst-case complexity result, the reasons for their amazingly fast practical convergence and the features responsible for their ability to solve very large problems. The ever-growing sizes of optimization problems impose new requirements on optimization methods and software. In the final part of this paper we will therefore address a redesign of interior point methods to allow them to work in a matrix-free regime and to make them well-suited to solving even larger problems.


The heat shock transcription factors (HSTFs) are gene regulatory proteins involved in heat stress response. Post-translational modifications have been essential in the functioning of HSTFs in eukaryotic organisms. Phosphorylation, methylation, acetylation, sumoylation, and ubiquitination are part of the regulatory processes of HSTF factors. In the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica, the causal agent of amoebiasis, little is known about post-translational modifications and the molecules involved in heat stress. Particularly, this parasite presents an HSTF that is overexpressed in trophozoites growth on heat shock stress or with emetine, an antiamebian drug. In this article, we identified and characterized by potential bioinformatics tools, the posttranslational modifications, such as phosphorylation, sumoylation, and acetylation sites in the HSTF factor of Entamoeba histolytica. The results showed the presence of fourteen potential phosphorylation sites, five sumoylation sites, and two acetylation sites in the HSTF. These results suggest that the functions of the HSTF maybe being regulated by these post-translational modifications when the amoeba is exposed or not in stressful situations.


A technique for smoothing the transition between structural components modelled with dissimilar finite element meshes is presented. The interface mismatch is assigned a potential of dislocation, which is minimized with respect to selected kinematic parametes of the mating surface. This leads to linear constraints between the caididate representations of the mating surface which essentially dictate a least-square error in dislocaiton. The constraints are enforced by the Lagrange multiplier or reduced stiffness technique. Numerical results indicate gradual transition in the predicted stresses neighbouring the interface. Existing computer codes which permit multipoint constraint specifications are readily available to implement the technique.


Clinical studies often face the difficult problem of how to account for participants who die without experiencing the study outcome of interest. In a geriatric population with considerable comorbidities, the competing risk of death is especially high. Traditional approaches to describe risk of disease include Kaplan‐Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression, but these methods can overestimate risk of disease by failing to account for the competing risk of death. This report discusses traditional survival analysis and competing risk analysis as used to estimate risk of disease in geriatric studies. Furthermore, it illustrates a competing risk approach to estimate risk of second hip fracture in the Framingham Osteoporosis Study and compares the results with traditional survival analysis. In this example, survival analysis overestimated the 5‐year risk of second hip fracture by 37% and the 10‐year risk by 75% compared with competing risk estimates. In studies of older individuals in which a substantial number of participants die during a long follow‐up, the cumulative incidence competing risk estimate and competing risk regression should be used to determine incidence and effect estimates. Use of a competing risk approach is critical to accurately determining disease risk for elderly individuals and therefore best inform clinical decision‐making.


Does public attention to political candidates impact fundraising margins in U.S. Senate elections? Applying a novel conceptualization of public attention, we examine all U.S. Senate elections from 2004 through 2010 and find that increases in relative public attention relate to increases in relative fundraising margins in open seat races. Incorporating a mixed methods approach, we take the question one step further to explore whether or not all attention to candidates is "good" attention, in terms of fundraising margins. Evidence from the Allen/Webb (VA) Senate contest of 2006 suggests that all attention is NOT "good" attention. It appears that candidates can supply attention grabbing action that increases relative public attention while stimulating exceptional losses in relative fundraising margins. Further research must clearly theorize conditions under which supplying public attention grabbing behavior could ultimately damage political campaigns.


This guide will cover: formatting your paper, use of numbers, the reference list, and in-text citations. Describes the correct way write numbers in an APA paper.


The Industry 4.0 initiative has been showing the way for industrial production to optimize operations based on collecting, processing, and sharing data. There are new requirements on the production floor: flexible but ultra-reliable, low latency wireless communications through interoperable systems can share data. Further challenges of data sharing and storage arise when diverse systems come into play at the Manufacturing Operations Management and Business Planning & Logistics levels. The emerging complex cyber-physical systems of systems need to be engineered with care. Regarding industrial requirements, the telecommunication industry has many similarities to production—including ultra-reliability, high complexity, and having humans "in-the-loop". The current paper aims to provide an overview of converging telco-grade solutions that can be successfully applied in the wide sense of industrial production. These toolsets range from model-driven engineering through system interoperability frameworks, 5G- and 6G-supported manufacturing, and the telco-cloud to speech recognition in noisy environments.


Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a rare but disabling pain condition. Accurate and timely education about CRPS is key to promote optimal clinical outcomes, but it is unclear what the content of that education should be. We aimed to determine the content that both people with CRPS and expert health care professionals (HCPs) reported as important.


Objective To observe the effect of composite bone morphogenetic protein(BMP)-2 nano artificial bone combined with locking plate on the unstable distal radial fractures(AO-C style).Methods All patients in this study underwent anteroposterior and lateral radiography in order to accurately find the bone collapse and the flipping direction of the fracture fragments.According to AO fracture classification criteria,C-style fractures were taken as the indication of the surgical treatment.Results X-ray showed that all fractures got anatomical reposition or close to anatomical reposition.According to the Gartland and Werley scores,the clinical outcome was "good" in 14 cases and "fair" in 4.The success rate was 100%.The average scores of upper limb function were(6±1) points(ranging 0 to 30 points).All the patients were followed up for 6 months to 2 years with an average time of(12±6) months.X-ray showed that all the patients achieved bone union 8 to 18 weeks postoperatively with an average healing time of(12±3) weeks.The grafts were completely absorbed and replaced by new bones.Bone defects were perfectly repaired.The artificial bone had good contact with the surrounding bone tissue.There were no osteolysis,delayed healing,disunion,immunological rejection or allergic reaction(such as high fever and rash) in the patients.And all incisions healed.There were no red swelling of the skin,effusion and abnormal changes of electrocardiogram or biochemical index.Conclusion The application of composite BMP-2 nano artificial bone combined with locking plate can effectively avoid further loss of reposition and improve the long-term efficacy in the patients with unstable fractures of distal radius.Nano artificial bone will have extensive clinical application as a substitute material of bone graft.


Aiming at actual working status of the stuff in the Shanxi Regional Seismic Precursory Network,intelligent monitoring analysis software for the Shanxi seismic precursory data is developed.This software is of functions of simulation data downloading,checking and uploading,analysis,curve inquiring,log browsing,downloading of monitoring daily and working log analysis etc.,which could increase working efficiency and decreases faults caused by manual operation.The development circumstance,designing thinking,functions and application of the software are introduced.


Possibility of applying Actio pauliana to the division of a capital company – selected issues
The topic of this article is the possibility of applying Actio pauliana to the division of a company with particular emphasis on the division by separation in the context of the findings of the judgment of the European Court of Justice of January 30, 2020, case file no. C-394/18. Per that judgement, the remedies provided in the sixth directive constitute only the required minimal level of protection that should be provided to the creditors of a divided company. However, that protection does not preclude the existence of a more extensive protection under national law, such as the rules concerning Actio pauliana. The article provides an answer to the question whether the Polish law regulations allow for granting this form of legal protection to the creditors of a divided company, and if it does, then in what way the claim should be formulated and which particular legal actions should be contested.


We apply in this paper a model related to the ''infinite order sudden approximation'' to treat the vibrational predissociation of the HeI2 van der Waals molecule. For each configuration, the stretching motions within the complex are exactly solved in the close‐coupling formalism. The bending motion is then considered in an approximate way and averaged predissociation rates are obtained. Our results are compared with the experiment and also with previous models.


Basically, Thematic learning material must be related to the environment around students of SD Negeri 14 Balikpapan Utara. But, this has not been done in the learning activity in grade IV. So, it needs the textbook development which uses the local wisdom of Balikpapan to help the students in knowing, understanding, and concluding the learning material. This study uses ADDIE's model development; those are Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.
The methods which are used to collect the data are observation, interview, documentation, expert validation questionnare, students' respon questionnare. Validation test is conducted by the teaching material experts, linguists, material experts, and learning experts. After the textbook has validated, the next stage is conducted two trials to the students, those are small gorup trials and large group trials. The types of data obtained are qualitative data and quantitative data.
The result of the percentage values obtained from the study of teaching material validator was 88.6% with a very decent category, the evaluation of the material validator was 91.6% with a very decent category, the assessment of the language validator was 96.8% with a very decent category, and assessment from the learning validator at 95.8% with a very decent category. Small-scale trials involving 4 students resulted in an assessment of 94.6% with a very decent category, while a large-scale trial involving 36 students which resulted in an assessment of 92% with a very decent category. Therefore, thematic learning textbooks based on the local wisdom of Balikpapan city theme 8 "Regions Where I stay" Sub-theme 2 "The Uniqueness of the Regions I Live" For Class IV Elementary Schools can be used as teaching materials in learning activities.


A general AC permanent magnet (PM) motor control system consists of a motion controller, a current tracking amplifier, a feedback encoder and the motor itself. The motion controller generates two analog commands to the current tracking amplifier and the three phase currents are reproduced at the motor terminals. However, DC offsets are always present at the motor terminals due to the digital to analog converter offsets of the motion controller and the current sensor offsets of the current tracking amplifier. These current offsets generate sinusoidal torque disturbance and hence produce velocity ripples. Such a disturbance cannot be rejected by using a simple PI control. Furthermore, the current offsets drift with time and temperature so that an off-line compensation does not work satisfactorily. In this paper, a robust 2-DOF regulator containing the internal model of the sinusoidal disturbance is proposed to accomplish disturbance rejection and constant speed tracking.


The CKCC project was a NWO project aimed at developing an infrastructure for researchers. The main goal of this project was to gain an insight into the Dutch share in the circulation of knowledge in the ' Republic of letters ' by means of analysis and visualization tools. A database of 20,000 letters in TEI-format offers the possibility to falsify hypotheses that were often based on extrapolations of limited amounts of letters. The complexity of this data collection - multilingual letters, often with several languages within a letter; extensive spelling variation; early modern language variants – was a challenge for the researchers and IT specialists. With the support of CLARIN-NL and EU, however, we were able to surmount the linguistic problems.


ABSTRACT Deliberative democracy in the form of community participation is considered a 'key priority' in New South Wales (NSW) environmental planning. Community participation plays an increasingly central role in state significant developments, which are often sites of contestation. Community participation processes draw upon particular factors of place-based identity, which engage with notions of procedural legitimacy in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. This paper uses a legal geography analysis to explore this link between place-based identity and the experience of procedural legitimacy. We highlight a case study in which a contested coal mining development near Lithgow, NSW was approved by the NSW Planning Assessment Commission (PAC). This analysis examines how 'local' justice was constructed and mobilised in specific ways by proponents and opponents alike. Spatial factors of identity manifested in distinct ways in participation processes, particularly with respect to (i) claims to legitimacy and (ii) the lived experiences of engagement in a public forum. This case study demonstrates the way in which dualistic spatial terms such as 'outsider' opposition and 'local' support can render multiple interests of both human and non-human communities invisible. In so doing we are engaging with current work on environmental justice that examines the intersection of scale, efficacy and equity in processes of environmental governance.


The article introduces the present situation of personalized information service in domestic and foreign,and analyzes and research the personalized search engine and related technology and pointed out the importance of personalized information retrieval and post-processing technology, a kind of post-processing techniques based on clustering algorithm named STCA is proposed. the experiment proved that the STCA algorithms in clustering can "purification" effectively to documents retrieved that can be used to push service in personalized information retrieval.


Effects of sea level rise and future recharge changes on the coastal aquifer of the western Belgian coastal plain are evaluated with a 3D density dependent groundwater flow model. The area is characterised by a wide dune belt. Sea level rise results in a landward enlargement of the fresh water lens under the dunes and an increase of flow towards the dune-polder transition's drainage system. Recharge increase results also in an enlargement of the dune's fresh water lens and an increase of the amount of water which must be evacuated by the polder's drainage system. Recharge decrease has the reverse effect.


Many young people are beginning to feel isolated because of their mental and emotional decline. Perceptions of mental health can encapsulate a person's ability to enjoy life and find a balance between health activities and efforts to achieve mental resilience. Mental health is a symptom of emotions and shows effective adaptation to a host of needs. From this perspective, this study was conducted to find ways and means of maintaining mental health among urban youth. The major objectives to conduct this study were to identify the means through which urban adolescents achieve their good mental health and to identify the impact of adolescent's mental health on quality of life and school performance. Students of 11, 12 and first year bachelors' were taken as sample. Descriptive method was conducted to find out the results and SPSS technique was used to analyze data. It was seen that many adolescents show common traits os stress and apply common means and strategies to cope their anxiety.


The paper follows up the spatial impact of the global evolution process from the epoch of "Classical Europe" until today with the help of a theoreticohistorical methodology elaborated by the author.

It demonstrates the role of the structural elements in influencing the relation ship between towns and their rural areas in both the motion and the evolution of the process: the inner regularity that motivated the behavior of natural, social, economic and physical structural elements between each other and towards the processes: the characteristics of the natural course of the process and its main stages: and the factors which played the decisive role in changing its direction, the driving force of development and its supporting elements.

The paper addresses the question concerning which factors determine perspectively the future of regional development in Europe and what kind of new spatial structures could be outlined on this basis?

The strategies, which vary depending upon space, time, technological development level, sociopolitical superstructure and development conceptions, require a new kind of approach on behalf of regional scientists.

In developing the structure analysis the author starts from classical spatial theories, underlining the classical roots of surviving theories, since there is also a need to continue their history of evolution. At the same time the analysis shows that there is a certain divergence with regard to the main elements of spatial processes, the difficulties of its recognition and the dangers this might involve.


Author proposed several major issues of the design principles and solutions on the highway reconstruction project design, and illustrated them with the participation of provincial highway S209 design respectively, which show a certain theoretical and practical value.


Fluorescence has long been recognized as an important toolfor probing biological structure and function. Development ofoptically active structures that can enhance fluorescenceintensity has gained much attention as a means for detectingfluorescent-tagged analytes at low concentrations for applica-tions in DNA expression analysis and protein diagnosticassays. The majority of structures developed to date for thispurpose utilize plasmon resonances of metals to increase theexcitationoffluorophoresthroughenhancednearfields,


Shapiro and Wilk (1972) developed a test for exponentiality with origin and scale unknown. The procedure consists of comparing the generalized least squares estimate of scale with the estimate of scale given by the sample variance. However the test statistic is inconsistent ; that is, the power of the test will not approach 1 as the sample size increases. Hence we give a test based on the ratio of two asymptotically efficient estimates of scale. We also have conducted a power study to compare the test procedures, using Monte Carlo samples from a wide range of alternatives. It is found that the suggested statistics have higher power for the alternatives with the coefficient of variation greater that or equal to 1.


Unit partition wall (1) comprising: a main body wall (11) formed in a quadrilateral structure, having a first connecting plate (111) with a thickness which is half the thickness of said wall body main ( 11) extending from its front end linearly along two adjacent sides and which is connected to a second connecting plate (112) with a thickness which is half the thickness of said main body wall (11) extending from its front end linearly along other two adjacent sides, the first and second connection plate (111, 112) being arranged in an offset configuration so that the main body wall (11) defines at its side edges two steps connecting L-shaped, that is a first step extending along two adjacent side edges and a second step extending along the remaining two lateral edges; several horizontal ducts (113) and several vertical ducts (114) in communication with one another provided in said main body wall (11); two layers of wire mesh (12) embedded in said main body wall (11) and arranged in a plane parallel to the major faces thereof with said horizontal duct (113) and said vertical ducts (114) positioned therebetween; and a plurality of support frames (13) disposed longitudinally and transversely within said main body wall (11) in a plane parallel to the major surfaces thereof on the outer side of said two layers of metal mesh (12) plane.


Observation of 400 x irradiated rabbits (in doses of juries of soft tissues of the jaw demonstrated these irradiation doses to cause radiation sickness (mild, moderate, or severe). In acute radiation sickness the presence of the above wound aggravates the course of the disease. Healing of the wounds depends on the acuteness of the radiation injury. Experiments demonstrated the treatment of jaw wounds to be possible by various surgical methods (plastic surgery by means of the local tissues, free skin graft with formation of Filatov's tubed pedicle), if they are associated with the injury caused by ionizing radiation. (auth)


where Ri is the rank corresponding to the ith observation of the first variable, X, and Qi is the rank corresponding to the ith observation of the second variable, Y . A deeper study of this coefficient was presented in Pinto da Costa & Soares (2005), where the sampling distribution was analysed; in particular, some simulation results suggest that the sampling distribution of rW seems to converge to the Gaussian as the sample size increases. Subsequently the formal proof of this convergence has been concluded for both dependent and independent data, using a different strategy from Genest & Plante (2003). Our strategy consists of extending the work of Ruymgaart, Shorack & Van Zwet (1972) to the case of bivariate score functions (Pinto da Costa & Roque, 2006). Genest & Plante (2003) presented a symmetrized version of Blest's coefficient, ν(X, Y ), whose expression (ν(X, Y ) + ν(Y , X))/2 is equal to


In this paper, condensation heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) of R-417A in horizontal smooth and micro-fin tubes under different parameters such as refrigerant saturated vapor temperatures (dew point) (4060°C), cooling water inlet temperature (15 30°C), cooling water velocity (0.65 0.85ms) have been investigated. Predicted HTCs in smooth tube are within ± 20% as compared with literature correlations for R-22 and R417A respectively. Condensation HTCs decreased by 58% as the condensation temperature increased from 40 to 60°C at constant water temperature of 25°C. Cooling water inlet temperature has the most significant impact on condensation HTCs where condensation HTCs increased from 1.6 to 5.6 (kWmK) as the cooling water inlet temperature changed from 15 to 30°C at refrigerant saturated vapor temperature of 40°C. It should be pointed out, condensation HTCs decreased by 32.3% and 15.3% using R-417A as compared with R-22 at saturation temperatures of 40°C and 60°C at cooling water inlet temperature of 15°C.


In the context of contemporary improved international cooperation in earth observation,this paper assesses the potential contributions from China to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems(GEOSS).Based on an analysis of existing barriers to Chinese contributions to GEOSS,this paper makes recommendations for the development of international cooperation in earth observation area by China leading to the mutual benefits for China and the international community through Chinese involvement in GEOSS.


Earlier experiments indicate that the phenomenon of "categorical perception" is present in the perception of musical intervals. The present experiment was undertaken to determine whether musicians from musical systems having more categories in their musical pitch scales would exhibit finer discrimination in categorical perception experiments. The subjects were 13 musicians trained in Hindusthani (North Indian classical) music, a system which theoretically has 22 degrees per octave in its musical pitch scale. However, these subjects were not able to identify musical intervals with any more precision than the Western musicians in our previous experiment. That is, they were not able to do more than identify the interval as one of the notes of the 12‐note chromatic scale and were unable to consistently identify the "shrutis" or microtonal variations. In addition, they had much greater difficulty adapting to the moving reference pitch in the experiment. In fact, only one of the 13 was able to decide with any a...


Abstract : We are reporting the rare presentation of unicortical abscess in two patients.Two patients with insidious onset of swelling in the leg with minimal pain were evaluated with blood investigations, radiographs, CT scan and MR Imaging. Excision biopsy was done.The specimen was sent for Histopathological examination. The Histopathological examination showed evidence of necrotic bone with inflammatory cells. The patients showed symptomatic relief and the follow up period is uneventful.Unicortical abscess is a rare presentation and the diagnosis have to be made, keeping in mind all the differential diagnosis and ruling out them.


With a population of more than 800 000 inhabitants gathered on a 2500km wide territory, urban areas at la Reunion have been growing continuously in the last 20 years, putting pressure on agricultural and natural areas. Urban growth is particularly important in the coastal areas, where land planning and ground occupation are strongly constrained and influenced by climate change. Being a threat to protected areas of La Réunion, urban growth has to be monitored. The DEAL (Direction de l'Environnement, de l'Aménagement et du Logement) and its partners follow the evolution of urban growth at La Réunion since 1997. Thanks to the very high spatial resolution (20cm) of aerial photographies provided by the IGN (Institut Géographique National), maps of urban areas are realized and updated every 4 or 5 years. However, these updates are not frequent enough to carry out a precise study of the very fast evolution of urban growth at La Reunion. As a consequence, it has been decided to use Pléiades images to monitor urban growth on the island. Scenes covering the main cities of La Reunion were in the context of the Pléiades Users Thematic Commissioning. Thanks to collaboration between the IRD (SEAS-OI) and the DEAL Reunion, this study introduces the preliminary results of this urban monitoring over the city of Saint-Denis. We used Pléiades satellite images for the 2012-2013 period. First results show that not only the very high spatial resolution but also the repetitivity of the acquisitions in time allow yearly updates of urban growth maps at La Réunion and long-term modelling of urban growth evolution in the next few years.


In preparation for privatization of the KESC (Karachi Electricity Supply Company), a state–owned vertically integrated electricity utility in Pakistan, the company requested that the regulatory body NEPRA (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority) grant a MYT (multi–year tariff). The new regulatory framework was proposed to assure the prospective investor would be allowed a reasonable period to recover the losses of the initial years of privatization before the base tariff is adjusted through a review. Thus permitting a much smaller initial price increase than would have been necessary if an MYT framework were not established.


Abstract On-site interviews and a mail questionnaire survey of 377 anglers on two Virginia rivers were used to evaluate the concept of recreational specialization for differentiating angler subgroups. Specialization was defined for four dimensions of angler behavior: (1) fishery resource use, (2) experience, (3) investment, and (4) centrality of angling to lifestyle. Six types of anglers, representing low to high levels of specialization, were identified by cluster analysis. The experience dimension was the most important contributor to the framework, accounting for 24% of the variance in the data. A combination of the resource, investment, and centrality dimensions explained 48% of the variance. Highly specialized anglers were likely to cite resource-related motives (e.g., trophy fish), to rely on skill to catch fish, to prefer to catch and release larger fish, and to favor restrictive harvest regulations. Less specialized anglers cited escape and family-oriented recreation as motivations for fishing, pl...


The research reported in this thesis focuses on studying the effects of naturally occurring mycorrhiza and the role of forest floor in the cycling of P in fast growing forest plantations. In order to study the effects of mycorrhizae on forest soils fertility and the subsequent seedling growth response, radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) seedlings were grown in pots using the soil collected from a mature (23 year old) radiata pine plantation. The experiment was arranged in a two factor design. The treatments comprised of sterilized and unsterilized soil, either fertilized with superphosphate (100 KgP/ha) or remained non-fertilized. In an attempt to explore nutrient uptake mechanisms under contrasted soil fertility and under mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal conditions, Barber-Cushman nutrient uptake model was used to simulate nutrient uptake in these treatments. Mycorrhiza suppressed treatments showed low mineral NO3-N concentration and high autoclave N in soil. NH,-N concentration was not affected by any treatment. Water and bicarbonate soluble reactive P (SRP) and soluble non-reactive P (NRP) were not changed by mycorrhiza. Phosphatase activity greatly decreased in mycorrhiza suppressed treatments. Despite superphosphate addition increased all forms of P, acid phosphatase activity did not change by this factor. Mycorrhiza suppression decreased seedling growth but not root length or surface. Non-mycorrhizal seedlings showed a much large proportion of roots thinner than 0.5 mm diameter. While in 7 month old seedling needle development was delayed in nonmycorrhizal pots, 4 months later all needles had the same size. At this stage of growth, plant adapted to nutritional shortages by loosing needles. Except in non-mycorrhizal-unfertilized seedlings, where growth was limited by P, in the other treatments growth was N and Mg limited. Mycorrhizal associations increased the specific uptake rate (mmol cm(-1) root) for N, P, K, S, Mg, Ca and Al. While under natural P availability conditions, P uptake was largely reduced after mycorrhiza suppression, under high P availability it was hardly increased by mycorrhiza. Barber-Cushman model was able to predict the relative variations in P and Mg uptake only in non-mycorrhizal treatments. While P uptake appeared to be controlled by root surface, Mg uptake was mostly regulated by root length. To study the role of the forest floor in the cycling of nutrients, nutrient leaching through litter layers was monitored in a mature radiata pine plantation (18 year old) using 20 zerotension lysimeters installed underneath the Oa horizon. Both P and N concentrations in the litter leachates showed large seasonal changes. Organic P compounds were more readily retained at the forest floor than organic N compounds. A large proportion of nutrients leached throughout the year (51% and 61% of total P and N exported respectively) took place during short periods of time. Most N transferred from the forest floor to the mineral soil was in organic form. In contrast, P was mostly transferred as inorganic P (SRP). The total amount of nutrient exported to the mineral soil were of the same order of magnitude than the yearly nutrient increases in aboveground biomass. There were evidences suggesting that a major content part of this nutrient flow originated in the forest canopy. Using a new proposed anion resin fractionation technique, P forms in litter leachates and soil solution were compared. This technique showed that Murphy and Riley method to determine P concentration in solution was not able to distinguish clearly between inorganic and organic P in solution. One limitation of the fractionation technique was that it was not a clean separation of organic and inorganic P forms. However, it does appear to be useful for documenting relative changes in P forms when samples are contrasted. In a mixed Eucalyptus forest in SE Australia, the effect of slash burning on surface soil P forms and on sorption and desortption of P were studied. According to fire intensity, three different microsites were selected: unburnt , burnt and intensely burnt. The effects of fire on soil P were greatest in the surface soil horizons and depended upon fire intensity. After fire labile inorganic P (Bray I) increased from


On 28 November 2005, the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) published new guidelines for the resuscitation of adults and children [The full guidelines and the consensus document can be downloaded from the European Resuscitation Council website (www.erc.edu)], replacing those from the year 2000. These new guidelines were developed following a 2-year review of published evidence by experts worldwide culminating in a Consensus on Science meeting in January 2005. The consensus statements were published in November 2005. This article aims to summarize the main changes contained within the new adult resuscitation guidelines and to discuss the rationale behind them. It follows the structure of the ERC-published summary of changes. Levels of evidence (LOE), where mentioned, are those used by the ERC and have been detailed in Table 1.


Objective :To understand the status of the public health emergency management in Chaoyang District of Beijing. Methods :A questionnaire survey was carried out in 23 departments of government,43 subdistrict(area) offices,42 community health centers and other 11 health service institutions. Results :Public health emergency management personnel had a high sense of crisis,and the organizational system was basically sound. Most departments had clearly defined functions and had established smooth communication and coordination with other units. Risk assessment demonstrated that drinking water contamination incidents,major infectious diseases,food poisoning incidents were main public health emergency that posed the greatest threat to Chaoyang District. The views of experts or scholars would be reference for most decision-making,or the interior collective decision. Publicity and public education took many forms in a wide range. The first three constraints needed to be solved urgently were imperfect legal system,inadequate human resources and limited financial input. Conclusion :It is a long-term task to improve the capacity of public health emergency management,which involves multiple departments and systems. It is necessary to further establish and improve mechanism for ex-post evaluation and pay more attention to the role of research institutions and experts in emergency management. It is also suggested to improve the public health emergency management mechanism in Chaoyang District.


The article is devoted to the analysis of such urgent problem as the in-clusive education in the institutions of secondary education in Cherniv-tsi region. The importance of inclusion for Ukraine and of the participa-tion of the state in solving organizational issues of inclusive education is determined. Statistical data for the period of 2011–2019 provided by in-clusive educational institutions for pupils and children of preschool age is analyzed. The importance of establishing "fundamental" secondary schools is substantiated, the dynamics of this process in Ukraine is pre-sented. The organizational principles of inclusive resource centers' func-tioning as important institutions, which ensure the right for education to children aged 2 to 18 years are analyzed. The dynamics of involvement of teacher's assistants, psychologists, speech therapists, social workers, oligophrenopedagogist, defectologist is presented. In the course of sur-vey conducted within the framework of Chernivtsi City educational seminar "Special child in regular school. Inclusive education" was de-termined that the attitude practitioners working in educational institu-tions is ambiguous and depends on their level of psycholo-gical and pro-fessional readiness. The main strategies of the effectiveness of inclusive education in Ukraine are determined.


INTRODUCTION The revitalization of downtown Richmond, Virginia, in the 21st century has been a slow process, beginning in the financial center near the State Capitol Building and migrating slowly westward along Broad Street, the traditional retail avenue of the City. One by one over the course of the past several years, large, iconic buildings have been rehabilitated for new and exciting uses. These buildings have long been associated with the history of the City itself: the Miller & Rhoads Department Store, the John Marshall Hotel, the First National Bank Building, and the Hotel Richmond among others. The Central National Bank (CNB) Building was built at the dawn of the Great Depression and eventually became one of the last Art Deco style skyscrapers remaining in downtown Richmond. Its location in the neglected western fringe area of Broad Street made it the next logical target for rehabilitation. When Douglas Development purchased the vacant building in 2005, they were buying the crowning piece of archi...


This project was conducted at Grupo Mancheno Cia. Ltda, a bussines that revolves around the production and commercialization of insurance packages. It has 10 years working in the field and currently employs 55 collaborators nationwide. Within its organizational structure, its Human Talent Management Departmnt was lacking proper processes and tools and was conducting its activities empirically and inefficiently; this in turn constantly endangered the company´s development and genereted dangerous sources of psychosocial unrest that effected the mental health of its collaborators.
This systematization describes the results obtained by designingand implementing a functions manual and selection process based on competences. Then, through the analysis of the different methodological tools that were used in the project´s permanent and continuous management stages, we were able to verify if said tools manage to present options that generate growth and influence the business organization of Grupo Mancheno Cia. Ltda. The proposed methodology is mixed, since it uses both quantitative techniques and procedures. As a result, we notice a positive change reflected in the satisfaction of collaborators and management, thus showing that the project managed to achieve its objective and positively contribute to the psychosocial well-being of the company´collaborators while at the same time promoting their mental well- being.


Submitted for the MAR05 Meeting of The American Physical Society Behaviour of spin glasses in a magnetic field MATTEO PALASSINI, LPTMS, Université Paris-Sud — The low-temperature phase structure of spin glasses is still not understood beyond the mean-field level. In particular, it has not been possible to establish whether the ordered spin-glass phase is stable or unstable against the application of a weak external magnetic field. An answer to this question would allow to discriminate among widely discussed competing theories of spin glass ordering. In this talk, I will present recent numerical investigations of this issue for short-range spin glasses in three, four, and five dimensions, as well as dilute spin glasses, and discuss the results in the light of the various alternative theories. Matteo Palassini LPTMS, Université Paris-Sud Date submitted: 07 Dec 2004 Electronic form version 1.4


Notes on Borrow(ing) Pit.- The Metaterm 'Cause'.- Assessing the Perception of Speech.- The Pronunciation Judgment Test, 1939-1978.- Surprise.- Stuttering as an Expression of Inefficient Language Development.- Transformations-Meaning-Preserving or Text-Destroying?.- A Method for Eliciting Verbal Graffiti.- Quo Vadunt Studia Classica?.- On Consonants and Syllable Boundaries.- The Continuing Education of the Professional.- Some Data on Second Language Acquisition and Retention by Older Children.- Generative Generative Phonology.- A Note on Replies.- The Phoneme.- Recipe for Relevance.- The Speech of New York City.- Language and Psychoanalysis.- Continuities and Discontinuities in Language Development over the First Two Years.- On the Counterverbality of 'Nonverbal' as a Verbal Term.- Why Do Children Talk?.- The Role of Formant Transitions in the Perception of Stress in Disyllables.- Aspects of Deixis in the Language of Children with Autism and Related Childhood Psychoses.- Jonathan Boucher's Farewell Sermon.


Traumatic bone cyst(TBC) is rare cyst .it is also known as FALSE CYST because it does not have epithelial lining. Causes of TBC is unknown , but number of patients have history of prior trauma. It is more common in mandible with slight predilection to male.TBS of the jaws are often polymorphic, show scalloped borders when located between the teeth roots, are devoid of an epithelial lining, and are usually empty or contain blood or a straw-coloured fluid. The numerous synonyms referring to these lesions reflect their uncertain nature (eg , solitary bone cyst, simple bone cyst). Histology usually shows fibrous connective tissue or only bone. [Chadotra M et al NJIRM 2013; 4(1) : 159-161]


The traditional grey prediction model got good results for a stable medium and long sequence, but not good for a variable medium and long sequence, such as severe drought occurrence. The center approach grey GM(1,1)model was established for prediction of severe drought occurrence. Prediction results showed that this model was valid for prediction of the severe drought occurrence in Zhejiang Province.


Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and X-ray and UV photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, UPS) were employed to study the electrochemical deposition and dissolution of nickel on a polycrystalline gold electrode, in a 0.1 M NiSO4 electrolyte. The modification of the Ni/Au interface upon thermal treatment in ultrahigh vacuum was also investigated. Depending on the applied potential, two distinct Ni chemical states were observed. At −0.5 V versus SCE an oxidized Ni phase, mainly Ni(OH)2, was formed, whereas at potentials lower than −0.8 V nucleation of reduced Ni species surrounded by hydroxidized nickel occurred. The systematic investigation of the adsorbate species binding energies as a function of the applied potential revealed that hydroxidized nickel precipitates on the gold electrode, while reduced nickel species directly deposit on the electrode surface via the reduction of Ni2+ ions. Heating the Ni/Au interface to 650 K decomposes the adsorbed nickel film forming a new compound containing a Au−Ni intermetallic compo...


Drozdowski Rafa !, "Si a s abych wi !zi", czyli (jeszcze raz) o maskuj "cym j !zyku socjologii ("The strength of weak ties", which is (again) a masking language of sociology) edited by M. Kra- jewski - "Cz !owiek i Spo !ecze "stwo", vol. XXXIII, Pozna " 2012, pp. 11-20. Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISBN 978-83-232-2484-6. ISSN 0239-3271. The article concerns on the Mark Granovetter's concept of the strength of weak ties. The main ques- tion is about how it is used in theoretical and ideological disputes of latemodern society today. For some, a society based on weak ties is equivalent of increasing autonomy and individuality, but this is also the relaxation of the most repressive forms of social control. For others, weak social relation- ships are the evidence of a deep crisis of contemporary societies. The problem is that both, the first and the others speakers are using the term "strength of weak ties" mask the true picture of social reality. The first are blind on the process of society disintegration. Others - ignore the growing importance of social networks and do not appreciate the causal force of "minimal engagement". The new technologies are able to aggregate these "minimal engagements" into a new powerful instrument of political, social and cultural impact.


Abstract We report the growth of Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition. For high quality ZnO films on glass substrates, we proposed a low-temperature ZnO buffer layer (LT-ZnO). The ZnO films were grown on LT-ZnO buffer layers, the ZnO/LT-ZnO/glass films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscope, photoluminescence (PL) and Hall measurements. Highly c-axis oriented reflections corresponding to the wurtzite-phase were observed. From the PL spectra, a dominant emission peak was observed at 3.35eV. The decrease of the full width at half maximum in the emission peak is presumably a result of introducing of LT-ZnO buffer. The crystallization of ZnO films were improved by introducing LT-ZnO buffer, these results indicate the LT-ZnO buffer layer is effective for ZnO transparent devices on glass substrates.


The lecture is devoted to the study of the role of gravitational scattering in the evolution of planetary systems. This mechanism explains the origin of the Oort cloud and free asteroids, comets, and planets (ACPs) from the parent star.


Nowadays, common systems in the area of high performance computing exhibit highly hierarchical architectures. As a result, achieving satisfactory application performance demands an adaptation of the respective parallel algorithm to such systems. This, in turn, requires knowledge about the actual hardware structure even at the application level. However, the prevalent Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard (at least in its current version 2.1) intentionally hides heterogeneity from the application programmer in order to assure portability. In this paper, we introduce the MPIXternal library which tries to circumvent this obvious semantic gap within the currentMPI standard. For this purpose, the library offers the programmer additional features that should help to adapt applications to today's hierarchical systems in a convenient and portable way.


The concepts of causality, linearity, time symmetry, unitarity, and crossing symmetry and their relation to dispersion relations are discussed. Dispersion relations are applied to some simple electrical circuits in order to illustrate some of their properties and then a simple example is given of the use of dispersion relations for the analysis of the forward angle scattering of pions on protons.


Low-noise biopotential readout circuit for CMOS front-end micro system is presented using correlated double sampling (CDS) technology. CDS technology provides an excellent method for the reduction of KTC noise and 1/f noise in low-frequency signal processing, and because of its simple circuit structure it can be a widespread application for neural signal recording. The proposed readout circuit consists of close-loop bioamplifier with active DC-offset suppression and output stage of standard switched-capacitors (SC) circuit. As demonstrated by the simulation results, the readout circuit with CDS significantly suppresses low-frequency noise which focuses in the biopotential signal range from 10Hz to 10 KHz. The power spectrum is plotted in the low frequency range.


SummaryThe effects of 600, 1000, 2000 and 4000 rads of whole-body X-irradiation on protein biosynthesis in X/Gf mouse livers have been studied at 10 min after each dose, at which time 14C-leucine was injected i.p. No effect on protein biosynthesis was observed below 600 rads. Above 600 rads, protein biosynthesis increased with increasing dose. With 4000 rads protein biosynthesis reached 70–75 per cent above the control level.Time-course effects of irradiation on protein biosynthesis were studied at 10, 30, 60, 120, 240 and 480 min after 2000 rads. Protein biosynthesis reached 50–55 per cent above control 10 min after 2000 rads and gradually levelled off within 4 hours, reaching control level.Incorporation of 14C-leucine into liver proteins at 1 hour after 2000 rads reached 30 per cent above control at 20 min after the injection of precursor, whereas labelling of ribosomal protein reached 45 per cent above control at 3 min after injection of the label.Enhanced protein biosynthesis after X-irradiation is ex...


Three-week-old rats were fed with Beta-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) with a normal or hyperlipidic diet. After a few weeks BAPN induced aortic elastic fibres disruption which as not worsened when the treatment was continued up the seven months. Adding a hyperlipidic diet produced atherosclerotic-like lesions. Pretreatment with Pyridinol Carbamate (PDC) whichever the diet used did not modify serum of aortic cholesterol levels. It decreased the severity of aortic lesions and delayed the onset of less severe atheromatous lesions. It seems that PDC increased the free/esterified aortic cholesterol ratio resulting in a better elimination of the aortic cholesterol.


The present study was aimed to find out the professional commitment and job satisfaction of secondary school teachers. Survey method was conducted on a stratified random sample of 150 teachers in Thanjavur district. Data was analyzed by t-test. Results found that there is significant difference in professional commitment between male and female secondary school teachers and there is no significant difference in professional commitment between rural and urban secondary school teachers. Findings also indicated that there is no significant difference in job satisfaction of secondary school teachers with regard to gender and locality.


The regular grid elevations database that the Institut Cartografic de Catalunya has since 1987 is insufficient for certain applications. For this reason, we started the development of a new database. It is our aim to build a one piece TIN model with precision enough to generate cartographic quality contours at 1:5000 scale and smaller for the whole country (32000 sq. km). We plan to load approximately 300 million points. The model must be dynamic because it has to support insertion and deletion, the surface model should be refinable, algorithms have to be robust and data integrity must be preserved. The chosen triangulation is constrained Delaunay triangulation (CDT) and we employ the incremental construction algo- rithm. Its performance is good when the input data are well distributed and is fully dynamic. The main difficulty is how to deal with a triangulation in external memory. Common triangulation programs hold all the information in core memory and cannot triangulate very large data sets (some million vertices) because the system degrades very fast due to the page faults. We use a bucket point region quadtree to help point location and to reduce page faults by bucketting. The surface model is a polyhedral TIN terrain by default but it can be extended in different ways. The use of object- oriented technology means that these extensions can be programmed easily and gives the design great flexibility.


To achieve equality and justice is the main objective of China's judicial reform.However,due to the scarcity of judicial resources in China,the cost of achieving equality and justice must be considered when designing the judicial system.Thus,how to balance equality,justice and judicial costs has become one of the most complicated questions.Analysis of the legal fee system provides a unique perspective for this question.In this paper,we use the method of law and economics to analyze this question.Through setting up a dynamic game model for litigation,we compare the effects of different legal fee systems on equality,justice and the social cost.Through data simulation,our theoretical findings are interpreted intuitively.The paper also scrutinizes institutional factors in system designing,which provides useful implications for the judicial reform.In addition,our research findings have amended the inconsistence of results between theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence.


In the article, comparison of the hyaluronic acid (HA) and autologous fat is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and safety in correction of the nasolabial folds (NLFs).


Mathematic models have suggested that the accumulation of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere has caused a de- creased in oceanic pH, and that the decrease should continue for years to come. A lower pH should affect the photosynthesis of primary producers in the sea, including seaweeds. Carbon stable isotope fractionation in photosynthesis should provide infor- mation regarding this possible influence of pH on photosynthesis. Here we show that lower pH may lead to enhanced isotopic fractionation in carbon assimilation in photosynthesis by a brown alga Undaria pinnatifida. This may reflect a shift to CO2 absorp- tion instead of HCO3 � absorption, which is consistent with a higher proportion of CO2 relative to HCO3 � at lower pH. Since in photosynthesis CO2 should be absorbed with less energy costs than HCO3 � , ocean acidification may be favorable to U. pinnatifida and species with similar photosynthetic mechanisms. However, other aspects of the phenomenon must be considered before predictions are made concerning the ecology of these organisms.


Anxiety is one of the most common disorders among the adolescent. Because in this period they have to make many new adjustments such as establishing the sense of identity, thinking about the choice of their career and decide which one matches with their abilities and also makes some social adjustments. In this study 793 highschool students (boys and girls) took the Spiel Berger anxiety tests which measure the overt and covert anxiety. They also completed a structured questionnaire containing questions about the independent variables. Findings of this study indicate that 15% of the highschool students had severe overt anxiety disorder and 20.1% had severe covert anxiety disorder. A statistically significant relation has been found between the covert anxiety and father's education (P=0.006), mother's death (P=0.01), the student's disability (P=0.04), religious believes (P=0.006), illness of family members (P=0.05), educational achievement (P=0.01), mother's occupation (P=0.02). Also a significant relation has been found between the covert anxiety and sex (P=0.01), student's occupation after school hours (P=0.002), religious belief (P=0.01), father's education (P=0.01), illeness of family members (P=0.004).


The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was recently awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian "for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch." It is now well established that touch receptors provide sensory inputs to inform the brain about objects in our environment. Touch sensation is vital for survival and, without it, even simple activities such as feeding, dressing, or standing would be exceedingly difficult to accomplish. Like hearing, balance, and proprioception, touch is initiated by mechanosensory receptor cells. These cells contain mechanotransduction channels (such as PIEZO), which convert physical stimuli into membrane potential changes, called receptor potentials, that trigger neuronal action potentials. These action potentials are transmitted by sensory afferents to the brain, where sensory percepts are formed. However, exactly how the transient ion transport activity of touch receptors can stimulate the firing of action potentials seems still not entirely clear. In this presentation, we will employ the latest transmembrane-electrostatic proton localization theory with a newly formulated membrane potential equation to better understand neural resting and action potential as the voltage contributed by the transmembrane-electrostatically localized protons/cations charges (TELC) at a neural liquid-membrane interface. Accordingly, the neural stimulation by touch can now be better elucidated through analysis of PIEZO conduction and TELC activity with the newly formulated membrane potential equation. This research was supported in part by a Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research Seed Funding Grant from the Graduate School, the College of Sciences, and the Center for Bioelectrics at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.


ABSTRACT Recent work in on-line hydrological forecasting has utilized the Kalman-Bucy filter for state (discharge) forecasting. One drawback of using these algorithms has been restrictions related to the size of the state vector due to computation and computer limitations; resulting in limiting hydrological applications to small headwater catchments. Forecasts of headwater catchments are of limited use to agencies such as the US National Weather Service which routinely have catchments with between 10 and 100 forecast points. This paper sets forth the methodology that allows forecasting of large systems by partitioning the system into subsystems where the filtering of subsystems is performed in parallel. The interactions between the partitioned subsystems are accounted for by supplementing the noise processes. An added institutional advantage to the partitioning approach is the ability for forecasting agencies to set up local forecast centres that are coordinated through a regional centre. This is especial...


Two methods used for sampling water and sediment in interstitial habitats, the Bou-Rouch pumping method and the coring method, were compared in three contrasting stations and checked by directly shovelling the sediment in order to estimate their relative efficiency. The three sampling stations were an abandoned gravel pit fed by groundwater with coarse bottom sediments, an abandoned channel of the Rhone River fed by groundwater with fine bottom sediment rich in organic matter, and an infiltration basin fed by the rainwater collected from an industrial area, with a partially clogged bottom sediment composed of coarse particles mixed with sand and clay. Both techniques gave similar results for chemical (Dissolved Organic Carbon, nitrate and sulfate contents) and biological (total bacterial and ETS-active bacterial abundances) characteristics. Bou-Rouch pumping did not induce any important erosion of biofilms, and differences between stations and between sampling dates were similarly recorded by both methods. Whatever method used, fine (<1mm) sediment contents were similar but pumping did not collect sand particles larger than 1 mm.


Background The long-term results of uncemented total hip arthroplasties vary widely due to differences in design, metal alloy, coating, surface structure, and porosity. Patients and methods We retrospectively studied 75 cementless Zweymüller SL stems in combination with Endler titanium-backed threaded cups (Z-E) in 70 patients. 35 patients were women, and the mean age at surgery was 52 (24–68) years. 16 patients died and 1 emigrated, 7 patients (of which 1 later died) subsequently underwent revision, and the remaining 47 patients with 50 original arthroplasties were followed up after a median of 16 (15–18) years. Results Revision of 8 hips resulted in an 18-year Kaplan-Meier estimated overall survival rate of 88% (CI: 79–96). 6 of 7 cup revisions were due to liner wear and osteolysis, and 1 was due to aseptic loosening. 2 of 3 stem revisions were due to femoral loosening and 1 was due to fracture of the neck of the stem. The clinical results were good, with a mean Harris hip score of 89 (54–100). Half of 70 hips in 65 patients had ectopic bone formation. All unrevised implants were radiographically stable, with a mean liner wear of 0.07 mm/year. Interpretation These long-term results demonstrate that the combination of a Zweymüller SL stem and an Endler titanium-backed screw cup is a good hip arthroplasty in young and active patients. A prefixed polyethylene liner is a drawback, necessitating exchange of the whole cup in cases with polyethylene wear.


Indicates the deviations in design practices between metals and plastics. Discusses the ways of circumventing ill effects on plastics as well as the corrective measures that can be taken. Covers choice of product material from the perspective of: favorable circumstances for application, design characteristics of each material, prediction of expected life, comparison, and relative costs. Includes detailed practical design problems.


We present a slot antenna with the footprint size of 4 × 4 cm2 (0.12λ × 0.12λ at 915 MHz) for wearable passive UHF RFID tags. In addition to the main radiating slot, cuts made into the surrounding conductor increase the antenna radiation efficiency and help to self-match the antenna impedance with the RFID microchip in the body-worn configuration. Antenna structure is uniplanar and optimised for a low-permittivity textile substrate. The measured attainable read range of the tag is 2.5 metres when affixed to the upper back of a test subject.


. Despite recent decentralisation moves, Belgium continues to face a constitutional crisis involving problems of identity and legitimation amongst the Flemish and Walloon communities. These problems not only involved habitual difficulties of language, but also the effects of industrial decay in traditional primary economic sectors and a concern with the legitimacy of central government power. These difficulties are reflected in the complex constitutional and administrative arrangements designed to increase the autonomy of sub-national levels, in which dominant regional parties have seen power shift to regional levels at the expense of municipalities. This development of the regional level has produced pressures which encourage the emergence of a federal state, whilst pressures from the municipalities support the continuance of a unitary state. In the absence of any clear solution, the small Belgian state remains in crisis.


158 susceptible children were vaccinated with Hang M_(13) attenuated measles vaccine and the serum antibody was annually determined by the HAl test in a so-called"measles closed district" with a yearly inccidence of 5.3/100 000 population.The results showed that all the vaccinated children became seropositive to HAl antibody with a GMT ratio of 1:251 one month after immunization.However the HAI titers decreased gradually during the first 3 years and the seronegative rate went up to 10.7% by the 13th year.The present study indicates that about 90% of the vaccinated children still have immunity of variable degrees aganist measles viral infection and thus the reimmunization of measles vaccine does not seem necessary within 13 years after vaccination. Revaccination of measles vaccine as well as methods for HLI, HAl detection,and neutralization of antibodies to measles virus were also discussed


– Groups of white albino rats were used in this study. Serial sections were prepared of the hard and soft palate, tongue, cheek, gingiva, cornea and ear, and were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Mitotic counts in tongue epithelium of nine groups of rats which received various colchicine dosages (0 to 3 mg/kg body weight) and were sacrificed 3½ h later showed that 1 mg colchicine per kg body weight is the optimal dosage for studying the mitotic activity in rat oral epithelium. Mitotic counts in six other groups of rats sacrificed at different times (0 to 50 min) after the administration of colchicine indicated that the colchicine takes effect 25–30 min after the injection. The pattern of diurnal variation in mitotic activity was determined in the ear and various oral epithelia using eight groups of colchicinized rats. A fairly high correlation was found between the daily mitotic rates and the mitotic rates obtained during the maximum mitotic activity. There was a low correlation between the daily mitotic rates and turnover times indicating that calculations of turnover time may fail to express the mitotic activity of the epithelium. Mitotic counts for various sites of the hard palate, tongue and cheek in seven rats indicated that the mitotic activity may vary from one region to another within the individual tissue.


To the casual observer it might look like Ron's entire body is being supported by the SoundWorkshop mixing board. Much of his body weight leans into the console, which is coupled to his body through his right arm. Head faced down, he concentrates deeply on the funk/jazz/dub mix in progress. Earlier in the session hours had been spent in aligning and biasing the Otari MTR90 24 track tape machine; in selecting and tweaking the outboard EQs, compressors, and reverbs; in getting the mix "in the ballpark." However, "in the ballpark" won't do. Ron's concentrating on the bass. In particular, he's concentrating on his right arm, for Ron knows his control room, he knows his monitors, he knows that the bass is "in the pocket" when it feels a certain way in his right forearm. The feeling is inaudible, or at least is subtle enough that ears alone can not be trusted to perceive it.


The comparative analysis of the heat transfer performances for various commonly used fin geometries is investigated in this work. Design geometries are optimized for minimizing thermal resistance at moderate laminar air velocities. The basis of comparison was chosen to be a circular array of 1mm diameter pin-fins with a 2mm pitch. The pitch-to-width ratio of the other geometries was chosen to provide equal ratios of fin area to base area. Computational fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulation is carried out on a two-dimensional computational domain bounded by planes of symmetry parallel to the flow. The air velocity was in the range of 0.5 to 5m/s. A comparison of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop is presented. The results showed that the staggered geometries perform better than inline. At lower values of pressure drop and pumping power, elliptical fins work best. At higher values of pressure drop and pumping power, circular pin-fins offer highest performance.


ObjectiveTo develop an HPLC method to determine the content of 4 alkaloids in Sophora flavescens Ait.MethodsHypersil BDS(150 mm×4.6 mm,5 um)phase column was used with mobile phase methanol-0.1% ammonia water gradient elution,the wavelength of determination was 210 nm.ResultsThe linear concentration range of matrine 、sophoridine、oxymatrine and oxysophocarpine were 0.25~2.00μg(r=0.999 7),0.28~2.24μg(r=0.999 5),0.244~1.953μg(r=0.999 1),0.262~2.096μg(r=0.999 2),regression equation.were:y=2 602.6x-72.031,y=1 558.8x+17.381,y=1 755.8x+162.59,y=2219.55x-21.119,average recovery were 99.24%,98.31%,101.28%,100.59%,RSD were 1.248%,1.517%,1.412%,1.638%,respectively.ConclusionThis method is simple,rapid,sensitive,specific,and can be used for determination of the content of alkaloids in Sophora flavescens Ait


This article attempts to answer the questions: does the artistic creation of heroines "Ballades and Romances" by Adam Mickiewicz bear the hallmarks of stereotypical patriarchal optics or does it go beyond the limits of male worldview and a man in general? To what extent, how, and if actually indeed the author of "Sir Thaddeus" contained in his poetic cycle signs of emancipation sensibility? Are the heroines of ballades women liberated from sex constraints imposed by culture? The purpose of this contribution is also an attempt to make an "updating reading" of a significant nineteenth century text; showing it in contemporary perspective, but particularly emphasizing the core of romantic anthropology which was "inner man" with the mystical dialectic of what was external and what was internal.


This study investigates the physicochemical and storage characteristics of Tteokgalbi treated with various concentrations of Boesenbergia pandurata (Roxb.) powder (BP). BP is constituted mainly of carbohydrates (77.9%), possesses free-radical scavenging activity due to the presence of polyphenol and flavonoids, and is slightly acidic (pH 5.99). Five Tteokgalbi samples were treated with 0 (CON), 0.5% (B1), 1.0% (B2), or 2.0% (B3) of BP or 0.05% of ascorbic acid (REF). Compared to CON, BP-treated Tteokgalbi demonstrated significantly higher carbohydrate content and water-holding capacity and decreased cooking loss (%). BP-treated Tteokgalbi had significantly altered Hunter color properties, with decreased L* and increased b* values. Additionally, BP treatment significantly changed the textural properties by increasing the hardness (B3) and chewiness (B2 and B3) and decreasing the springiness (B3) of Tteokgalbi. Owing to the increased total polyphenol and flavonoid content, BP addition significantly enhanced the DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities of Tteokgalbi during vacuum-packed cold storage (0–14 days) at 5 °C. BP-treated Tteokgalbi maintained a higher pH compared to CON, and BP-treatment significantly suppressed 2-thiobarbituric acid, volatile basic nitrogen, and total microbial count during the cold storage period (7 and 14 days). Therefore, BP is a natural, edible antioxidant that may be applied to Tteokgalbi.


Sensor Design Guidelines.- Transduction Principles.- Growth and Synthesis of Nanostructured Thin Films.- Integrated Micromachining Technologies for Transducer Fabrication.- Applications of Functional Thin Films and Nanostructures in Gas Sensing.- Chemical Sensors: New Ideas for the Mature Field.- Applications of Functional Thin Films for Mechanical Sensing.- Sensing Infrared and Terahertz Regions by Functional Films.


Taiyuan Iron Steel Co. changed coal-fired boiler into a blast furnace gas-fired boiler. Possible failures were analyzed under the condition that a gas protector was not cut off quickly. The transformation was successful at last.


Immunocompromised patients, those with cancer or haematological malignancies and allogeneic bone marrow/haematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients carry a high risk of invasive fungal infection (IFI), which is frequently life threatening. The most common causes of IFIs are Aspergillus and Candida species. Patients who receive long-term corticosteroids or broadspectrum antimicrobial treatment or total parenteral nutrition; patients with central venous catheters, neutropenia, malignancies, or burns and low-weight premature infants are at highest risk of IFI. Early start of antifungal therapy is mandatory, but clinical findings often do not provide clear evidence of IFI. Antifungal agents preferentially used for systemic therapy of IFIs are amphotericin B preparations, fluconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, caspofungin, anidulafungin, micafungin, and isavuconazole. Local epidemiological data, current resistance profile against antifungal agents, and their pharmacological and economic aspects together with clinical experience must be considered for clinical management of patients with IFI. Klimik Dergisi 2019; 32(Suppl. 2): 168-73.


In May 1997 I was in Nicaragua researching a dance ritual known as May Pole. The act of dancing itself became a method of inquiry in my research process. This article concentrates on the interaction of two dancing women, Evelyn and me. My dance experience has acquired different interpretations in relation to time and context as I have reflected on it. I also enrich this experience with other dance experiences to explore my dancing body in its different forms. This hermeneutical starting point creates the conditions for trusting my instrument, my body, as a source of bodily knowledge.


This work proposes an operation strategy for a four-legs neutral point clamped converter (NPC) to be used in future bipolar dc distribution networks. The operation of the fourth leg with a three-level modulation is proposed to reduce the required inductance and switching losses. In addition, a proper control scheme based on a state space averaged model for the fourth NPC leg is introduced. This provides ripple free and balanced NPC partial dc-link voltages. The system is able to provide increased redundancy and improved dc voltage quality. Simulation and experimental results are presented to illustrate the operation of the 4-legs NPC with the proposed control and modulation scheme.


Working Capital is the capital required for by a firm to sustain its day to day activities. Different firms have different approaches to finance their working capital needs. After receiving proposals for working capital loans, as a precaution banks need to assess the amount of working capital loan which can be granted and also to determine the interest rate at which the loan can be provided. The RBI and its committees have introduced new methods for the calculation of credit eligibility for the working capital financing of firms. The newer methods are firmer on risk management front and also the stability of economy in case of any excessive default rate. This research paper empirically analyses these methods like turnover method, inventory method, operating cycle method, cash budget method used for SME Working Capital financing, primarily from Indian Government Banks' point of view.


High spin states in /sup 99/Rh and /sup 101/Rh have been populated via the /sup 96,98/Mo(/sup 6/Li 3n) reaction. Two cascades based on the (1/2)/sup -/ ground state and the (9/2)/sup +/ isomeric state are attributed to each nucleus on the basis of ..gamma..-..gamma.. coincidence measurements. Excitation functions and angular distribution measurements were used to assign spin values and determine some multipole mixing ratios.


Objective: To develop a method for detecting the O-mannosylation of glycoproteins using lectin concanavalin A(ConA),and for screening O-mannosylation modification of glycoproteins expressed in many organisms including yeast.Methods: PNGase F was used to remove N-glycans of the glycoprotein.Q colomn and ConA Sepharose 4B colomn were used to purify bovine serum albumin(BSA).The O-mannosylation of anti-Her-2 monoclonal antibody expressed in Pichia pastoris mutant GJK01-HL(Δoch1) with high-mannosylation was detected by HRP-ConA.Results: The anti-Her-2 monoclonal antibody was modified with O-mannosylation while expressed in P.pastoris.Conclusion: The Western blotting combined with lectin ConA is a better method to detect the O-mannosylation modification of glycoproteins.It can be used in screening O-mannosylation of glycoproreins which they are expressed in many organisms including yeast.


The problem of mining enterprises wastewater treatment has not lost its relevance over the past decades. The paper presents the results of laboratory studies on the nitrogen group compounds removal from the wastewater of an Arctic iron ore enterprise using various sorbents: zeolite, sishtof, thermovermiculite. The prospects of using geochemical barriers made of zeolite and vermiculite for the enterprise wastewater treatment are shown. The possibility of using spent vermiculite enriched with nitrogen as a prolonged action fertilizer as part of remediation measures was proposed.


Governance can help in regulating the environmental quality of any economy. Hence, the present study explores the effects of rule of law and regulatory quality on the CO2 emissions in four South Asian economies from 1996-2019, controlling renewable energy and income level in the model. The results corroborate the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in the long-run analysis of four South Asian economies but renewable energy could not affect the CO2 emissions. Moreover, regulatory quality helps reduce CO2 emissions and shows the technique and/or composition effects in these economies. However, the rule of law has a pre-dominant scale effect in these economies and increases CO2 emissions. Based on the results, we recommend South Asian countries to strengthen the regulatory quality to support a clean environment. Moreover, rule of law needs attention and modifications to have pleasant environmental effects.


Cement mixing pile composite foundation is applied in expressway soft foundation treatment for its advantages of short construction period,low cost,small settlement after construction.This paper analyzes basic principle,construction technology and quality control measures of cement mixing pile by taking expressway from Xinhua to Xupu as an example,which can provide reference for similar project.


We developed the DAMA (Distribution of Alien MAmmals) database, a comprehensive source reporting the global distribution of the 230 species of mammals that have established, self-sustaining and free-ranging populations outside their native range due to direct or indirect human action. Every alien range is accompanied by information on its invasion stage, pathway, method of introduction and date of introduction. We collected information from 827 different sources (scientific literature, books, risk assessments, reports, online biodiversity databases and websites), and used it to draw alien range maps for these species following the IUCN mapping framework. DAMA comprises 2726 range polygons, covering 199 Countries, 2190 level 1 administrative areas and 11 zoogeographic realms for the period 21500 BC-AD 2017. The most represented orders among introduced mammal species are Rodentia (n=58, 25.22%), Cetartiodactyla (n=49 species, 21.30%), Carnivora (n=30 species, 13.04%), Diprotodontia (n=28, 12.17%) and Primates (n=26, 11.30%). Mammal species have been frequently introduced for hunting (n=100), pet trade (n=57), conservation (n=51) and fauna improvement (n=42). The majority of range polygons are placed on islands (n=2196, 80.56%), encompass populations that have moved beyond establishment and into the invasion stage (n=1655, 60.71%), and originated from 1500 AD to the present (n=1496, 54.88%). Despite inheriting literature biases towards more studied regions (e.g., developed Countries), DAMA is the most up-to-date picture of alien mammal global distribution and can be used to investigate their invasion ecology across different biogeographical regions. There are no copyright or proprietary restrictions; IUCN range maps were modified into a derivative work according to the IUCN's terms of service.


This work, developed inside the international project "The transatlantic circulation of printed matter: the globalization of the culture in the 19 th Century", wants to identify and analyze the advertisements of novels in the Parisian newspaper La Presse between 1836 and 1849. So it will be possible to recognize the most advertised novels and authors of the period and also the editor's choices based in their public's supposed tastes and interests.


According to several presenters at the recent America's Health Insurance Plans Institute, coordination, communication and challenges are now the industry's driving forces.


Hot water springs are unique areas populated by mesophiles, thermotolerant and hyperthermophiles. They are the source of diversity of thermophiles, mainly belonging to archaea and bacteria domains. The diversity of thermophiles gives an outline of the huge biological potential that can be exploited for industrial applications.To this end, this study was aimed to isolate and characterise the unexplored thermophilic microorganisms from hot water spring in Tatapani, Tehsil & District Kotli AJK, Pakistan. Around 10 bacterial isolates were identified using morphological, biochemical, physiological and molecular attributes. Sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene of the isolates followed by BLAST search revealed that the strain MBT008 has 100% similarity with Anoxybacillus kamchatkensis. MBT012 showed 99.57% similarity with A. mongoliensis, MBT014 was affiliated with A. tengchongensis with 99.43% similarity, MBT009 showed 99.83% homology with A. gonensis and MBT018, 98.70% similarity with A. karvacharensis. The presence of all this microbial diversity in one common source is of immense importance related to envioronmental and industrial aspects in general and extraction of thermostable enzymes from these thermophiles specifically opens new horizons in the field of industrial biotechnology. These thermophiles are revealing new capabilities and are being manipulated by biotechnologists in utilizing them in different unique ways.


Several research have shown that both children and adults benefit substantially from access to a means of independent mobility. While the needs of many individuals with disabilities can be satisfied with traditional manual wheelchairs, a segment of the disabled community finds it difficult or impossible to use wheelchairs independently. To accommodate this population, researchers have used technologies originally developed for mobile robots to create "smart wheelchairs." Smart wheelchairs have been the subject of research since the early 1980s. Our goal in this project is to develop a smart wheelchair with a human friendly interface for high-level controlThere are two main capability that we embedded in this wheelchairs (1) Obstacle avoidance and (2) Door passing. From the experiment result,those capability seems to be work, but there must be enchanment due to  wheelchairs comportability. Keywords  : Kursi Roda Cerdas, Arsitektur Subsumption, Joystick, Sensor Ultrasonik Permalink:  http://ejournal.undip.ac.id/index.php/transmisi/article/view/1603


Background: Genetic testing allows for enhanced prognostication and early intervention in patients with high risk of developing cancer. Genetic testing often reveals variants of uncertain significance (VUS), for which association with disease risk is unclear. The ambiguity of this finding creates a dilemma for patients and providers and has been associated with significant communication error and distress. In this retrospective observational study, we seek to characterize the indications, outcomes, and trends in patients undergoing genetic testing in a community hospital in Cambridge, MA. As our study spanned the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also assessed its impact on care accessibility. Methods: We included patients undergoing genetic testing at our hospital between December 2019 and October 2020 (n=371). Medical charts were abstracted to identify patient characteristics, family history, indication for genetic testing, genetic findings, and subsequent management. Results: Our population had a mean age of 48 years (SD=15), was predominantly female (88.1%), and had a high proportion of Ashkenazi Jewish descent (15.3%). The vast majority (351, 94.6%) had a family history of cancer, while 123 (33.2%) had a personal history of cancer, most commonly breast (n=89). The most common indications for genetic testing were Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC in 280, 75%), Lynch Syndrome (LS in 22, 5.9%), and Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP in 7, 2%). Of patients who met HBOC, LS, or FAP criteria for genetic testing, pathogenic mutations were identified in 9.5% and VUS in 28.6%. Out of total 35 (9.4%) pathogenic mutations found in our entire study population, the most common were in BRCA (9, 25.7%), MUTYH (5, 14.2%), and Lynch genes (3, 8.6%). Out of 103 patients with VUS (27.8%), the most common sites were APC (14) and MSH3 (9). We found no significant trend in genetic counseling consultations over our 11 months study period despite the COVID-19 pandemic (R = 0.006). Conclusions: Among patients who met criteria for genetic cancer screening at a community hospital, 9.5% were found to have a pathogenic mutation while 28.6% were found to have VUS. These numbers are comparable to previously published estimates. Despite advances in our understanding of genetic colon and gynecological cancers, the majority of patients presenting for genetic cancer counseling continue to do so due to breast cancer concerns. Lastly, we noted high efficacy in our conversion of in-person genetics consultations to telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting telemedicine is a robust format for genetic counselling. Mutations (N): BRCA1 (3), BRCA2 (6);MUTHY (5);MSH2 (2), MSH6 (1);ATM (2), and one each in PALB2, RAD50, RAD51C, RAD51D, Tp53, CDKN2A, APC, F2, SDHA, SDHB, VHL. FANCL, NTHL1.


A report is presented on the development of CIBELE, a knowledge-based system (KBS) for the resolution of scheduling problems. Scheduling is an area in which traditional systems have often achieved poor results, mainly because of the large amount of knowledge that has to be taken into account and of the lack of a clearly understood resolution strategy. KBS technology, suggesting methodologies and techniques for heterogeneous knowledge integration and principles for building flexible problem solving architectures, lends itself as a promising tool for improving scheduling system performance. In particular, CIBELE is concerned with the examination of a scarcely investigated technique for schedule building, based on 'debugging', i.e. on the stepwise treatment of the problem constraints. This approach is evaluated and contrasted with other approaches.<<ETX>>


This research considers the sun's motion and terrain in navigational planning. Robotic exploration of remote areas depends heavily on efficient use of power resources. An orbital ephemeris and terrain data are incorporated into a robotic planner to predict shadowing and solar power generation. The simulation and evaluation of coverage patterns are described, as well as searches for continually sunlit paths or for nearby locations suitable for recharging or communicating with Earth. Aspects of the research were implemented as part of the Robotic Antarctic Meteorite Search project, for which simulations and field test results are given.