The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a devastating impact on a global scale. Its impact has been not only on the health of citizens but also on different aspects of our living. In Hong Kong, we could see lessons were conducted over Zoom, New Year greetings were sent via WhatsApp and Wechat, and children had their lessons in one corner of the apartment while parents needed to work from home in another corner. In social work settings, these turbulences have affected our everyday lives, our service users, and our frontline practices. The Chinese word for "crisis" consists of two Chinese characters, one signifies "danger", and the other signifies "opportunity". In Chinese societies, we also have social work practitioners seeing this crisis as an opportunity for exploring new strategies and social changes. It cannot be denied that the pandemic has brought us disruption, uncertainty and hardships, especially impact on the marginalised groups. However, it has also generated our creativity, stimulated our imagination and enhanced our resilience. Social Work, as a helping profession in Western societies, has a long history of dealing with disaster and natural hazard. It has been well recorded that social work is effective in serving the vulnerable population in disaster-affected communities in terms of traumatic stress management, resources delivery, service planning, community rebuilding and policy advocacy (Galambos 2005; Mitchell 1983; van den Eynde and Veno 1999; Zakours 1996; Banerjee and Gillespie 1994; Dodds and Nuehring 1996; Pyles 2007). As Yanay and Benjamin (2005, 263 and 271) rightly concluded, responding to disasters is "part of social work practice and profession" and "social workers are the professionals best prepared to deal with complex situations resulting from an emergency". Even in the Chinese mainland, social work as a young profession has accumulated certain experience in disaster intervention and management since Wenchuan earthquake on 12 May 2008 (e.g. Sim 2009; Pei, Zhang, and Ku 2009; Ting and Chen 2012; Ku and Ma 2015; Ku and Dominelli 2018). When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out at the end of 2019, the social work profession in Chinese societies has been more ready for working with the pandemic-affected communities and population and has created different strategies to overcome the negative impact of the pandemic. This special issue is to document the works of social work teaching and practice in Chinese societies in responding to pandemic lockdown. This special issue begins with Ma's and Lyu's article that discusses the role of social work based on the China national report on the COVID-19 pandemic. They reviewed the overall situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mainland China, studied the measures and regulations implemented by the state and discussed the roles of social workers. The findings showed that innovative online services helped practitioners continue their services and helped educators continue their teaching. CHINA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK 2021, VOL. 14, NO. 2, 77–79 https://doi.org/10.1080/17525098.2021.1950756


We present a detailed study of the decays of the Higgs bosons H+, H0, and A0 within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model including SUSY–QCD corrections. We find that the supersymmetric modes tb (tt, and for large tan β bb) can dominate the H+ (H0, A0) decays in a wide range of the model parameters due to the large Yukawa couplings and mixings of t and b. Compared to the conventional modes H+→τ+ντ, tb, and H0, A0→tt,bb, the supersymmetric modes can have an important impact on the Higgs boson searches at future colliders.


It is known from the early work of May in 1964 that ideal Bose gas do not exhibit condensation phenomenon in two dimensions. On the other hand, it is also known that the thermostatistics arising from q-deformed oscillator algebra has no connection with the spatial dimensions of the system. Our recent work concerns the study of important thermodynamic functions such as the entropy, occupation number, internal energy and specific heat in ordinary three spatial dimensions, where we established that such thermostatistics is developed by consistently replacing the ordinary thermodynamic derivatives by the Jackson derivatives. The thermostatistics of q-deformed bosons and fermions in two spatial dimensions is an unresolved question that is the subject of this investigation. We study the principal thermodynamic functions of both bosons and fermions in the two-dimensional q-deformed formalism and we find that, different from the standard case, the specific heat of q-boson and q-fermion ideal gas, at fixed temperature and number of particles, are no longer identical.


The development of technologies that enable patients with speech disorders to communicate is critical. Understanding the neural processing of natural speech processing is an important first step for designing Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) based speech enhancement and speech recognition systems. This study explored the neurophysiological correlates of Mandarin pronunciation to develop a BCI-based system. Previous research has mainly focused on English articulation; however, Mandarin is the most widely spoken language worldwide and quite distinct from English. Tone has an essential part of Mandarin pronunciation. This study created a new BRCSpeech database, which uses "Focus Group Interview" approach to build the database designed by linguists (speech, multimedia signal, and biomedical signal processing experts) and neurologists. The database allows us to select frequently used vocabulary in our group discussions. Subjects were instructed to articulate these words/sentences while their Electroencephalography (EEG) was collected. EEG data were analyzed by short-time Fourier transform. This pilot study focuses on the differences in EEG activities between Mandarin spoken with and without tone. Specifically, this study applied Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and five-fold cross-validation to the EEG features to classify the speech with versus without tones. Study results showed that EEG Delta–Theta and Beta data could be used to distinguish "tone" and "no tone" sentences with good accuracy.


"Progressive deafness" has been quite generally thought of as synonymous with otosclerosis. In fact, all the deafness accompanying otosclerosis is commonly ascribed to bony ankylosis alone, ignoring the possibilities of other pathology in the neighboring parts. The mere fact that other lesions of the ear are not seen leads the examiner to suspect otosclerosis, and contrawise, if there has been a history of past otitis media or a definite present suppuration the examiner is prone to focus his attention upon and make his diagnoses by these lesions, consciously or subconsciously excluding the possibilities of a co-existing otosclerosis. It seemed worth while to question the accuracy of these habits of thought and to endeavor withal, by a coordinated clinical and laboratory study of all diseases of the ear, to obtain data for the study of otosclerosis itself. With these objects in view I have collected data for six years or more and now present an analysis of 126, cases diagnosed otosclerosis, all carefully studied with the aid of the latest developments in otology, including audiograms, roentgenograms and differential blood counts and chemical examinations.


Compatibilizer EPDM-g-MAH was prepared using the grafting method at a molten state.The effect of compatibilizer amount,mass ratio of PA6/PP and processing technology on morphology and mechanical properties of the systems was systematically investigated.Relations between the average particle diameter,surface-to-surface interparticle distance of the disperse and impact strength were studied.It is shown that EPDM-g-MAH can appreciably improve the compatibility of PA6/PP blends,and the impact strength of the blend remarkably increased.Meanwhile,the empirical equation between the impact strength and surface-to-surface interparticle distance of the disperse phase was proposed, and the calculated brittle-tough transition value of the blend is 0.20 μm.


European Union is totally new in a sense that it emerges and enlarges as a governance model which adapts the changing state of the globalization. Hence, only till now the term of "New Regionalism" appears. In other words, in the period of 1 950s to 1 970s there was no such thing as political integration which was the spill-over effect of the economic integration of European Community, a result of which New Functionalists had ever predicted. The reasons of retardation of the European Integration are many: the collapse of Bretton Woods System and the burst of two Oil Crises had made European countries protect their own economies and lower the will to integrate with each other. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) dominated by the U. S. has also replaced the possible defense project for the European countries. Besides, deciding to sustain their own sovereignties the European countries made "Luxembourg Comprise", which gave member states of EC the veto power to the subjects concerning to their vital national interests. This paper discusses why the European Union could be reunion when the Single European Act (SEA) had been approved in the end of 1980s after a long stagnation of regional integration since the middle of the 1 970s. This paper argues that the decline of the U. S. dollars and the decline of the Cold War provided the economic and political environment for European countries to integrate. For encouraging the economic incentives, major European countries' ruling parties ended the policies of Keynesian School and constructed a relative convergence for a European-wide laissez-faire economic policy. However, the most important impetus for the building of the European Union is the less strengthened role of the European region in the global competitiveness. For yielding part of their sovereignties, EU countries can enlarge their capacity, and survive much stronger in a global World.


Adaptive active diagnosis method is widely adopted for fault diagnosis in networks. In active diagnosis, appropriate probes are selected sequentially and fault diagnosis is made by inference from results of selected probes. It is very important to select active probes with low cost and less impact on network performance. However, the selection of the most informative set of probes with limited cost is an NP-hard problem. The computational complexities of existing probe selection algorithms are still too high for large scale networks. In this paper, a lemma about mutual information provided by probes is proved based on the property of conditional entropy. Then an approximate method derived from this lemma is introduced to compute mutual information of probe. With this approximate method an efficient probe selection algorithm for active diagnosis is proposed. At last, the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified through simulation.


Sequential Recommendation (SR) captures users' dynamic preferences by modeling how users transit among items. However, SR models that utilize only single type of behavior interaction data encounter performance degradation when the sequences are short. To tackle this problem, we focus on Multi-Behavior Sequential Recommendation (MBSR) in this paper, which aims to leverage time-evolving heterogeneous behavioral dependencies for better exploring users' potential intents on the target behavior. Solving MBSR is challenging. On the one hand, users exhibit diverse multi-behavior patterns due to personal characteristics. On the other hand, there exists comprehensive co-influence between behavior correlations and item collaborations, the intensity of which is deeply affected by temporal factors. To tackle these challenges, we propose a Personalized Behavior-Aware Transformer framework (PBAT) for MBSR problem, which models personalized patterns and multifaceted sequential collaborations in a novel way to boost recommendation performance. PBAT includes two main modules, i.e, personalized behavior pattern generator and behavior-aware collaboration extractor. First, PBAT develops a personalized behavior pattern generator in the representation layer, which extracts dynamic and discriminative behavior patterns for sequential learning. Second, PBAT reforms the self-attention layer with a behavior-aware collaboration extractor, which introduces a fused behavior-aware attention mechanism for incorporating both behavioral and temporal impacts into collaborative transitions. We conduct experiments on three benchmark datasets and the results demonstrate the effectiveness and interpretability of our framework.


Many designers bet on reducing time-to-market costs by integrating off-the-shelf (OTS) cores in their embedded solutions, while looking after maintaining the confidence placed by users in their products. Balancing these aspects is challenging and claims for suitable techniques to select, among eligible candidates, those exhibiting adequate levels of dependability. Thus, the early and efficient dependability assessment of embedded cores is nowadays a major and complex challenge. This paper focuses on the assessment and comparison of dependability attributes evinced by hardware OTS cores. It proposes the use of field programmable gate arrays to emulate the cores behaviour under different execution profiles (workloads and faultloads). Three cores devoted to signal filtering purposes are considered as a case study. Results show not only the feasibility of this approach but also the kind of selection process supported by the proposed technique.


The value composition of the convertible bond is discussed in a quantitative analysis in this paper. Under Vasicek interest rate, the pricing formulas of the convertible bond are obtained by means of Martingale approach (risk-neutral valuation).


The paper analyzes the factors that interfere the functions of the PLC control system, puts forward some measures to improve the ability of the system to resist interference in hardware.


One of the most difficult aspects of executing threat representative testing of missile defense systems is scenario limitations. In an attempt to overcome this problem, mobile launch platforms (for both air and ship-launch) have been the primary focus over the last ten years. Complexity, cost, and safety issues have severely hampered both air and ship-launch options. This paper outlines an on-going feasibility study program for a credible, re-usable, costeffective solution to this problem. The basic premise is the incorporation of a 25,000+ pound thrust military turbo-fan jet engine (such as the GE F110) that is no longer man-rated as the "first stage" for short to medium range targets. The jet engine, incorporated into an unmanned supersonic airframe acting as a delivery system, will provide flexible, fuelefficient thrust levels at low to medium altitudes in a regime where rocket engines cannot match its flexibility or efficiency. The MENACE will be capable of delivering various payload and rocket motor combinations to a wide range of mission scenarios. The MENACE feasibility study is being conducted for the Targets Management Initiative program and the Missile Defense Agency. An interesting initiative related to the modeling and simulation of electromagnetic signatures was also conducted with the MENACE configuration. It was postulated that the radar cross section and the IR radiance could be predicted utilizing specific steps with the advanced CAD solid modeling used to create the MENACE configuration. Success in proving a process for converting CAD files into radar model prediction format was accomplished. Also, innovations in modeling and simulation for axial drag corrections were utilized to yield a 6DOF model that otherwise would have been too expensive using traditional approaches.


A 58-year-old man presented to our hospital for surgical resection of a swelling of the upper back ([Figure 1][1]). The patient was a heavy drinker who had been given a diagnosis of alcoholic fatty liver at age 35 years. He had no history of glucocorticoid or antiretroviral drug use and no family


The significance of peer assessment is highlighted in different learning contexts and researches. However, studies on peer assessment are still limited in the Sri Lankan ESL context. The present study examines the correlation between the peer assessment and the development of the presentation skills of ESL adult learners. The sample of this study consists of 45 students studying in a higher educational institute. The students received peer feedback for the oral presentations they made. A pretest and a posttest were carried out before and after the oral presentation sessions. The marks of the pretest and posttest were analyzed using SPSS data analysis package. According to this study, there is a positive effect on the peer assessment in the development of the presentation skills of ESL adult learners. At the pedagogical level, the findings of the study are essential for the teaching and learning context of Sri Lanka.


Abstract : Media planning has heretofore been restricted, by and large, only to the consideration of average frequency. A recently developed mathematical model explicitly considers both cumulative duplicating audiences over a variety of time periods and the simultaneous selection and scheduling of media. This model thus required the development of methods for handling such nonlinear concave aspects of audience characteristics within a linear programming model and for generating distribution of frequency data within the computational processes of the model. This is done by means of logarithmic transformations and, for the discrete distributions of frequencies, by log-normal approximating devices. Each of these two techniques is important in its own right as a type of method which may be employed in a wide variety of modelling or computational situations. Thus, because neither of these techniques is restricted to the area of media planning per se it seemed worthwhile to present them on their own terms--as in the present paper--instead of treating them only as a detail in developing and interpreting the LPII model.


Abstract Name : Addina Student Number : 0906102020033 Study Program : English Education Thesis Titled :The Use of Video in Teaching Listening Keywords: Video, Teaching Listening The objective of this study is to look at some theories and research findings on the use of video in teaching listening. The discussion of this study is focused on the process and procedure of video technique and activities in teaching listening. The study found that video could help the students improve their listening comprehension skill by using video as a media which has many interesting techniques and activities. In addition, using this media also makes the learners interested in attending the learning process because this media provides sound and motional pictures. The method used in this study is a library research. The data is selected from various resources and it is then analyzed and classified in this study. Finally, this study is expected to be useful for English teachers and education practitioners.


In this article, I propose that the west/non-west dualism sets limits on our thinking about internationalisation of the curriculum. While this dualism and that of the west/the rest offer some heuristic capacity to surface issues of imperial power and hegemonic grip, I suggest that it has congealed into a grand narrative that inhibits our explorations of global divisions. I discuss the conceptually interdependent notions of orientalism and occidentalism and their view of the incommensurability of western and non-western cultures. I relate this discussion to conceptions of western and non-western pedagogies and associated concepts of knowledge generation. I point to the importance of a concept of the west and of pedagogic cultures that admits a history of complexity and connectivity.


The central inconvenient in Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is to choose correctly the number of principal components to be retained. This article presents an experimental analysis reviewing several techniques of automatic dimensionality selection for PCA based on two variations designated as Probabilistic Principal Component Analysis (PPCA) and Variational Principal Component Analysis (VPCA). The methods used in this work are based on bayesian model selection and information criteria. The obtained results showed that Laplace is better globally speaking and computationally faster.


Coupled-inductor voltage regulator (VR) topology is one candidate for high-efficiency VR applications with stringent steady-state and dynamic requirements. This paper presents a coupled inductor voltage regulator operating at a fixed switching frequency with improved light load efficiency. The proposed VR concept is discussed, analyzed and experimentally verified.


In some ways the National Players' production of The Taming of the Shrew might be seen as a safe choice, the more politically dangerous features of the play de-emphasized for the sake of its playful verbal and physical energy. (1) In his "Director's Notes," Clay Hopper seemed determined to steer this play away from political commentary, aiming instead at achieving the multiple pleasures provided by Shakespeare's twists on the play's commedia dell'arte and farcical structure: "Reading too much into the political implications of this play," Hopper put forth in his notes, "is a temptation for contemporary directors and audiences alike. However, it is the play's very structure, with characters developed at breakneck speed and the use of multiple disguises and plotlines whose complications arise and resolve seemingly instantly, that begs us to view the play as it is: a farce with a love story tucked neatly into Commedia Dell'arte structure." (2) Hopper did, indeed, find a balance here, something like commedia blended with American Burlesque with a touch of '50s and '60s television comedy, from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis to Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Hortensio, for instance, as Litio, the master of poetry, wearing black pants and a dickie, and sporting a goatee, resembled Dobie Gillis's Maynard G. Krebs, himself an imitation of a '50s Beat poet, while Lucentio, in a cardigan sweater with his high school letter--"P" for Pisa--sewn on the pocket, looked like the oft benighted Dobie Gillis himself. And Petruchio, the self-proclaimed tamer of women, with his slicked back hair, tight black pants, and white T-shirt, looked like the Fonz, formerly of Happy Days, but now cruising in a new-found fiction. The comic rhythms of the play, both verbal and physical, were scored by a series of percussion instruments onstage--a drum, a gong, and vibes--that preserved our comic distance. Every exchange of repartee and every sharply choreographed pratfall was followed by a percussive punctuation. And in a style that was both appreciative and parodic, every action Petruchio made was precisely imitated by his servant Grumio. Indeed, Grumio played a similar role when his master recounted the boisterous clamor of wars he had endured--their loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang. For each thunderous noise Petruchio cited, Grumio enthusiastically provided the sound effects. All these contextual references contributed to a spirit of escapism to be sure, like so many Laugh-In guest appearances. And the energetic pace of the pop culture allusions from the past did offer a range of nostalgic, treasure-hunt pleasures for audiences "of a certain age." Yet at the same time there was a hint of mockery in these allusive moments. Such parody became more prominent in this production as it began to expose the political and social mores of the 1950s, whose conservative values Baptista might welcome. In fact, this production took advantage of its 1950s setting, especially its implicit promise of happiness purchased by a submission to consumerism and material values. Such an ideology required of both men and women a strict adherence to the gender and social codes created by advertising. This Shrew, then, evoked a world in which advertisers, after years of wartime rationing and ascetic restraint, promised a nervous post-war audience, especially women, that happiness was theirs if only they purchased the right household appliance, or shampoo, or clothing, or detergent, personified in one ad as the Ajax White Knight in shining armor sweeping a housewife off her feet, as with his lance he transformed household grit into a gleaming kitchen paradise "stronger than dirt." Men, too, home from the war-or even those who'd never gone at all--were constantly reminded by Madison Avenue of the rugged, manly mirror they must resemble, a code reinforced by a lineage of Marlboro men and massive cars that raced through American landscapes like the stallions of courtly romance. …


The criteria by which liquid scintillators have been selected and developed for free neutrino detection experiments are described and a discussion is given of the preparation of the solutions. Triethylbenzene is a superior solvent and cadmium octoate is found to be the best cadmium compound known for these purposes.


The color reproduction of an image sensor is one of the important characteristics which determine the performance of the image sensor. Recently, the pixel size of image sensor has become smaller due to the demand of large pixel count. So, small F-number lens is needed to improve the sensitivity. However, the crosstalk component of spectral sensitivity characteristics increases due to using the small F-number lens, and the color reproduction of the image sensor becomes worse. Therefore, we propose a color difference standard based on human visual characteristics to solve this problem due to the lens with small F-number. If the color difference corresponds to these standards, the color reproduction will be satisfied even if the crosstalk component of spectral sensitivity characteristics ncreases. i


A new species of Tautocerus Anufriev,Tautocerus wangmoensis sp. nov. is described from China. This new species is similar to T. serristleus Zhang,Li et Qi,but can be distinguished by the following characteristics:1) vertex without black round spot; 2) a small cone-like protrusion of the pygofer side at near end margin; 3) shape of style is dissimilar. Holotype ♂,paratypes 12♂ ♂,15♀♀,Wangmo,Guizhou,2009-04-26~27,collect by ZHANG Zheng-guang,DAI Ren-huai and SONG Qiong-zhang. The type specimens are deposited in the Institute of Entomology,Guizhou University.


Under the reform of the power sales side, the competition in the power market is becoming increasingly fierce. Facing the new market environment and changing situation, the power sales enterprises must improve their own competitiveness to realize the long-term development of the enterprise. This paper first analyses the influencing factors of competitiveness, and then analyses the influence degree of each influencing factor on competitiveness by designing a questionnaire and establishing a structural equation model. The results show that providing more comprehensive and better value-added services will help improve the core competitiveness of power sales services.


Aluminum Indium Nitride (AlInN) alloys offer great potential for photovoltaic devices thanks to their wide direct bandgap energy that covers the solar spectrum from 0.7 eV (InN) to 6.2 eV (AlN), and their superior resistance to high temperatures and high-energy particles. In this paper, we report the design of AlInN on silicon heterojunctions, with the aim to explore their potential for solar cell devices through the analysis and optimization of the properties of the AlInN on Si heterojunction. In particular, we study the influence of the AlInN bandgap energy, AlInN thickness and carrier concentration, silicon surface recombination, interface defects and Si wafer quality on the photovoltaic properties (conversion efficiency and external quantum efficiency) of the AlInN on Si heterojunctions. The effect of introducing an anti-reflective coating is also studied. Optimized AlInN on Si heterostructure shows a conversion efficiency of 18% under 1-sun AM1.5G illumination for low-quality Si wafers, which increases to 23.6% for high-quality Si wafers and incorporating a properly designed anti-reflective layer. In comparison with standard Si solar cells without AlInN, the external quantum efficient of the devices increases for wavelengths below 500 nm, making them appealing for space applications. These results lead to the AlInN on Si heterojunction a promising future as a novel technology for solar cell devices.


The aim of this research is to explore the informal education process in cattle breeder families and to discover their point of view toward children education in Pojok Girang Kampong, Cikahuripan Village, the District of Lembang, the Regency of Bandung Barat. This qualitative descriptive research takes cattle breeder families as subjects taken by purposive sampling and snowball sampling techniques. Data is collected through observation, interview, and document study; and is analyzed through collection, presentation, reduction, and conclusion. The results show that: (1) the process of education in cattle breeder families mostly include parents educating and guiding their children especially regarding moral values, religion, economy, as well as the blessings of nature and personality development according to the children physical development stages, and (2) cattle breeder families view that education is of utmost important, yet a lot of factors influence in such a way they are constrained in their desire to provide their own kin education. Some others even described that education 'is not so important', merely limiting it to reading and writing.


Human esterase D (carboxylesterase; carboxylic-ester hydrolase, EC 22.214.171.124), a genetic marker of retinoblastoma, was purified to biochemical homogeneity from erythrocytes. The purification scheme including carboxymethylcellulose, phenyl-Sepharose, chromatofocusing, and hydroxylapatite chromatographies resulted in a 10,000-fold purification of the enzyme with 15% recovery of total activity. The Km of esterase D was estimated to be 10 x 10-6 M using 4-methylumbelliferyl acetate as substrate. The enzymatic activity was inhibited by p-chloromercuribenzoate and HgCI2, suggesting an important role of SH group(s) in enzyme function. Specific rabbit polyclonal and mouse monoclonal antibodies against esterase D were prepared and recognized either denatured or native human esterase D protein. Moreover, the polyconal antibodies immunoprecipitated a polypeptide with a molecular mass of about 33-34 kDa from various cell lines of different mammalian species, indicating that the esterase D protein is highly conserved. The highest levels of this enzyme were found in liver and kidney. Furthermore, the expression of esterase D was enhanced 3-fold in a promonocytic cell line treated with phenobarbital but not with phorbol myristate acetate, suggesting that esterase D may have a role in detoxification. The availability of the homogeneous protein and its specific antibodies allows for cloning of the esterase D gene and facilitates studies of retinoblastomas. Human esterase D (carboxylesterase; carboxylic-ester hydrolase, EC 220.127.116.11) is one member of the nonspecific esterase family defined by their reaction with synthetic o-acyl ester substrates (1, 2). This enzyme is distinguishable from other esterases by its electrophoretic mobility and its relative specificity for methylumbelliferyl esters as substrate (2). The dimeric enzyme displays several phenotypes as a result of the expression of codominant autosomal alleles, primarily ESDI and ESD2. This polymorphic nature of esterase D provides a valuable genetic marker for studies in population genetics (2, 3). Since the esterase D gene has been mapped to the chromosome 13q14.11 region where the putative retinoblastoma gene is also located (4-7), the polymorphic nature of the esterase D protein becomes a very useful genetic marker for the diagnosis ofhereditary retinoblastomas (8, 9). In addition, the defective gene of Wilson disease was found to be linked to the esterase D gene (10). Thus, it is important to investigate the nature of the esterase D protein and its gene so as to understand these inherited disorders. Esterase D has been found in most tissues, but not much is known about its structure and function. A protocol for partial purification of this enzyme has been described (11). However, it remains difficult to obtain a sufficient amount of the homogeneous enzyme and to generate specific antibodies. In this communication, we describe the purification and characterization of this enzyme as well as the preparation of esterase D-specific polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. Furthermore, we observed that this enzyme was mainly distributed in liver and kidney and could be induced by treatment with phenobarbital but not with phorbol ester. MATERIALS AND METHODS Esterase D Enzymatic Assays. (i) Quantitative assay. Esterase D activity was determined essentially as described (11). The reaction was started by adding the enzyme into 1 ml of reaction buffer containing 50 mM potassium phosphate, 1 mM EDTA (pH 6.0), with 0.1 mM 4-methylumbelliferyl acetate as substrate. The increase in absorbance at 340 nm was recorded. A unit of activity was defined as the amount of enzyme that hydrolyzed 1 /.kmol of substrate per min at 230C using 7.27 mM-1 cm-1 as the coefficient of absorption. (ii) Spot test. A rapid semiquantitative test was developed by us for assaying enzyme activity in column fractions. Briefly, 5 jul of 4-methylumbelliferyl acetate (20 Ag/ml) in sodium acetate (pH 5.2) was spotted onto a piece of SaranWrap over a UV transilluminator together with 5 A.l of enzyme samples from each column fraction. The intensity of fluorescence emitted corresponded with the enzyme activity. (iii) Qualitative assay. Electrophoresis in 1% agarose gels was performed as described (12) with slight modifications. The agarose gel buffer was a 1:5 dilution ofrunning buffer that contained 62mM Tris, 15.5 mM citric acid, 18 mM boric acid, and 1.65 mM lithium hydroxide (pH 7.5). Electrophoresis was performed at 40C for 90 min at 20 V/cm. The gel was stained in 50 ml of 50 mM sodium acetate (pH 5.2) containing 1.0 ml of 4-methylumbelliferyl acetate (1 mg/ml in acetone) for 5 min and then photographed under UV light. Purification ofHuman Esterase D. Step 1. Outdated human erythrocytes were washed once in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) with 1 mM EDTA. A precooled (-20°C) mixture of chloroform and butanol was added to the packed cells to concentrations of 6% and 15%, respectively (13). The lysed cells were centrifuged at 23,000 x g for 20 min and >95% of the hemoglobin was pelleted at this step. Buffers used in the subsequent steps all contained 1 mM EDTA, 0.1% 2mercaptoethanol, and 0.05 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PhMeSO2F). The supernatant was then dialyzed overnight against several changes of 10 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.5). Step 2. Carboxymethylcellulose C52 equilibrated with 10 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.5) was added to the Abbreviations: PhMeSO2F, phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride; PMA, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. tTo whom reprint requests should be addressed. 6790 The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83 (1986) 6791 dialyzate to absorb the residual hemoglobin. The whole mixture was filtered through a sintered glass funnel and the filtrate was concentrated by precipitation with 90% saturated ammonium sulfate. Step 3. The protein precipitate was collected by centrifugation at 10,000 x g for 10 min and resuspended in and dialyzed against cold distilled water until just clarified. The protein sample was loaded onto a phenyl-Sepharose CL-4B column (5 x 27.5 cm) equilibrated with 50 mM Tris HCl buffer (pH 8.0) and 1 M ammonium sulfate. The column was washed extensively with the same buffer and then eluted with a decreasing gradient of ammonium sulfate (1.0-0 M) in 50 mM Tris HCl buffer (pH 8.0). Step 4. The fractions with esterase activity from step 3 were concentrated by precipitation with 90o saturated ammonium sulfate, resuspended in 25 mM imidazole buffer (pH 7.4), and then dialyzed against the same buffer. The sample was loaded onto a chromatofocusing column (1.0 x 62 cm) of Pharmacia Polybuffer Exchanger 94 gel equilibrated with the same buffer and eluted with Polybuffer 74 (pH 4.0). Step 5. The fractions with esterase D activity from the chromatofocusing column were pooled, concentrated with ammonium sulfate, dialyzed against 10 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), and loaded onto a column of hydroxylapatite (1 x 9.5 cm) equilibrated with the same buffer. The enzyme was then eluted with a gradient ofammonium sulfate (0-0.4 M) in the same buffer. Purity of esterase D was monitored by NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis according to the procedures of Laemmli (14). Proteins were stained with either Coomassie brilliant blue or silver. Protein was quantitated by the method of Lowry et al. (15) with bovine serum albumin as the standard. Preparation of Antibodies Against Esterase D. (i) Polyclonal antibodies. New Zealand Red rabbits were injected with 10 jig of purified esterase D protein mixed with complete Freund's adjuvant and then given booster injections of 10 ,ug of esterase D protein in incomplete Freund's adjuvant until high titers of antibody were detected by immunoblotting analysis (16). (ii) Monoclonal antibodies. Antibody-producing hybridoma cell lines were generated as described (17). Two hybridoma clones, TD-1 and TD-2, were isolated, both of which secreted high titers of antibodies against esterase D. Immunoprecipitation. A standard protocol was followed as


The Journal of Mental Health has had an interest in how the internet and digital technology can support (or not) mental health treatments and services over many years (Andersson et al., 2013; Bauer & Moessner, 2012; Bell, 2007; De Wattignar & Read, 2009). Now the neologisms e-health and m-health have entered the vocabulary of health service providers, clinical professionals and research funders. In the USA, the "stimulus package", known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, incentivised providers to adopt electronic health records and use them in a meaningful way. In the UK, general practitioners are mandated to adopt interactive electronic health records by April 2018. These moves have been mirrored across the world with similar governmental pressures to adopt e-health systems. These systems and interventions supposedly herald a new era in health care by providing more options for treatment provision, plugging gaps in current services, reducing waiting lists, reducing medical errors, standardising information exchange and improving care links between different parts of the health care services (Rodrigues, 2008). These are all important areas for improvement but we feel the main reason for the recent stimulus to action has been the promise that the implementation of e-health services will reduce escalating healthcare costs. This is an issue highlighted in this journal three years ago (Schmidt & Wykes, 2012). We want to voice our concerns about these promises as increasingly the over-selling of the potential economic benefits, particularly in mental health services, may divert attention from the potential of e-mental health to improve the lives of people with mental health problems. Mental health involvement in the e-health revolution has come later than in other conditions and as Ennis et al. (2011) pointed out mental health was generally used as an exclusion criterion in most e-health research studies. We think that overcoming implementation problems will be costly, and not just initially, and that there are other potential problems to overcome that affect mental health service users disproportionately which need more attention if e-health benefits are to be realised. We describe just a few briefly in this editorial. Although, we mention electronic patient records, most of our examples relate to e-therapy.


The aim of the study was to determine which of somatic indices of highly-qualified modern pentathlon representatives (men and women) correlate at the highest level of connections with the level of sports mastery and training experience and to settle the question whether these connections are of a dimorphic character. The study involved Polish national modern pentathlon team. The male athletes age oscillated between 18-23 (20,4±1,5), and the training experience 6-13 years (10,4±2,1). The female age, on the other hand, between 18-35 (23,4±5,2), and the training experience 6-20 years (12,4±4,4). 20 basic somatic features were measured. It was found that the connection of the studied somatic features with the level of sports mastery and the training experience of Polish modern pentathlon representatives are of heterogeneous and dimorphic character.


Joints of galvanized steel were obtained by friction stir spot welding (FSSW) with lap configuration using CPS design tool. No mechanically mixed layer was formed between the top and bottom plates at the weld nugget due to the limited tool penetration and the lower pin height of the welding tool than the steel plate thickness. A deformed region, in which ZnO particles were detected, was observed in the joint. The formation of this deformed region was attributed to the explosion of the Zn coating layer due to friction heating and tool compression. With increasing tool penetration depth, the tensile shear strength of the joint increased to a maximum value of 3.07 kN at a tool penetration depth of 0.52 mm. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.M2009337]


During disasters, every second can be decisive. In Japan, after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and tsunami in 2011, survival was largely determined by timely evacuation. Evacuation procedures are highly developed in Japan and people are drilled in evacuation from childhood. Evacuation behaviour is complex. Seemingly illogical behaviour often obeys a hidden rational. This paper reviews the state of current knowledge and summarises the factors that researchers have found correlate with the decision to evacuate. The paper then reports recent research at Kyoto University to document evacuation after the 2011 event and to understand evacuation behaviour and their level of preparedness. One of the aspects studied is the difference between what people say they will do in a disaster and what they actually do in a real event. For example, in Japan many respondents said that they would run to a safe place, but in fact many people went home, often into danger, to seek and care for family members. (Murakami and Umezu. 2011) This paper examines people's attitudes to risk and how people imagine they will behave in the abstract while no danger threatens them and they have to imagine themselves in a crisis situation


A fundamental challenge in neuroengineering is determining a proper input to a sensory system that yields the desired functional output. In neuroprosthetics, this process is known as sensory encoding, and it holds a crucial role in prosthetic devices restoring sensory perception in individuals with disabilities. For example, in visual prostheses, one key aspect of image encoding is to down-sample the images captured by a camera to a size matching the number of inputs and resolution of the prosthesis. Here, we show that down-sampling an image using the inherent computation of the retinal network yields better performance compared to a learning-free down-sampling encoding. We validated a learning-based approach (actor-model framework) that exploits the signal transformation from photoreceptors to retinal ganglion cells measured in explanted retinas. The actor-model framework generates down-sampled images eliciting a neuronal response in-silico and ex-vivo with higher neuronal reliability to the one produced by original images compared to a learning-free approach (i.e. pixel averaging). In addition, the actor-model learned that contrast is a crucial feature for effective down-sampling. This methodological approach could serve as a template for future image encoding strategies. Ultimately, it can be exploited to improve encoding strategies in visual prostheses or other sensory prostheses such as cochlear or limb.


Background: The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), had spread all of China and many other countries. The COVID-19 patients exhibit typical clinical symptoms, and most cases could be diagnosed by nucleic acid testing and imaging. Recent studies have reported that serum antibody testing can be used for diagnostic screening of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the rules and standards of antibody production in serum of discharged COVID-19 patients remain ambiguous.
Methods: We examined both nucleic acid and antibody detection of 139 non-severe (mild and common) patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19.
Results: Although the nucleic acid of the discharged patient has turned to negative, some patients have not detected antibodies, including IgG (n=11) and IgM (n=27) .19.4% (27/139) discharged patients' IgM detection was negative. In the IgM positive discharged patients, 72.8% (83/114) have an onset time over 30 days. And, there was no statistically significant difference in IgM concentration of discharged patients from 4 to 9 weeks after the onset of disease. In addition, we also detected IgM and IgG in nucleic acid test positive patients (n=12) within two weeks after the onset of disease. The concentration of IgM was peaked about on the sixth day and then decreased, while the IgG concentration was continuously increasing.
Conclusions: Our study demonstrated the rules and standards of antibody production in serum of discharged COVID-19 patients which will provide more ideas for COVID-19 research.


This is a review of the current availability and quality of data and research on immigration in France. The need for improvement in information concerning immigration is stressed, as is the need to distribute such information to the relevant authorities. The recommendations include the creation of both a national institute with responsibility for immigration information and a foundation to undertake work on immigration falling outside governmental responsibility.


Quantum State Tomography (QST) is a fundamental tool for quantum signal processing. However, in real noisy quantum devices construction of the state's density matrix via QST can utilize a large amount of resources. Here, we discuss some signal processing techniques that are currently applied to this resource issue, and implement on current quantum chips a modification that can assist in reducing resources. An application of QST to quantum entanglement distillation is provided for further insight.


During the die-attach process, residual stresses are developed in components of the die-attach assembly due to the mismatch of coefficients of thermal expansion of different materials. To properly assess the service life of the assembly, those stresses must be taken into account. Several test dies, with and without chip's protective coating, were prepared, and two different bonding materials, "low-stress" and "high-stress", were used for analysis of the die-attachment induced stresses. An experimental technique, the digital image analysis enhanced moire interferometry (DIAEMI), was utilized to observe the initial and final (after die-attach) surface contour patterns of dies. This information was used to obtain the in-situ out-of-plane displacements of the die due to the die-attach process, and the induced stresses were calculated by a hybrid finite element method. The results show that stresses in die induced by high-stress bonding materials are on average five times higher than the stresses induced by low-stress materials; during the process some of the residual stresses induced by the chip's coating were released. By comparing the results with the straightforward finite element method prediction, it is shown that the induced stresses are much lower than those stresses predicted by the straightforward finite element calculation. >


A mechanical draft direct/indirect cooling tower is provided to prevent airborne debris from entering water contained in a collection sump by forming an inclined wall at an inner side of the sump. A mechanical draft direct/indirect cooling tower comprises at least one direct section(90) having a plurality of filling sheets(93) and a fan(24). Fluid is distributed over the filling sheet. The fan draws air into the cooling tower across the filling sheet. The fluid distributed over the filling sheet falls into a collection sump(30). The collection sump has a rectangular shape having two parallel end walls including a front wall(14) and a rear wall(16). The collection sump is provided with two parallel side walls(20,22), at least two sloped bottoms(12,18) and a drain. The sloped bottom has a compound slope on at least one of the side walls, and a first part located above an operating sump water level.


The article substantiates the essence and content of future teacher's readiness for innovative activity in higher pedagogical school. Contemporary requirements for the professional training of future teachers are presented in the context of the future tea


Resistive random-access memory (RRAM) has shown great potential for computing in memory (CIM) to support the requirements of high memory bandwidth and low power in neuromorphic computing systems. However, the accuracy of RRAM-based neural network (NN) accelerators can degrade significantly due to the intrinsic statistical variations of the resistance of RRAM cells, as well as the negative effects of high temperatures. In this paper, we propose a subarray-based thermal-aware weight remapping and processing framework (WRAP) to map the weights of a neural network model into RRAM subarrays. Instead of dealing with each weight individually, this framework maps weights into subarrays and performs subarray-based algorithms to reduce computational complexity while maintaining accuracy under thermal impact. Experimental results demonstrate that using our framework, inference accuracy losses of four DNN models are less than 2% compared to the ideal results and 1% with compensation applied even when the surrounding temperature is around 360K.


Human natural killer (NK) cells are CD56+CD3- large granular lymphocytes that represent the body's first line of defense against virally infected and malignantly transformed cells. In order to distinguish harmful cells from healthy cells, the NK cell integrates signaling input from a variety of activating and inhibitory receptors expressed along its surface. How these signals ultimately regulate NK cell function, however, is not well defined. Here we present a novel role for the tumor suppressor phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) in the negative regulation of NK cell activity. Primary NK cells isolated from transgenic mice overexpressing PTEN (Super-PTEN) displayed decreased cytotoxic activity against leukemic target cells in culture. Additionally, Super-PTEN NK cells exhibited reduced interferon-gamma (IFN- γ ) production upon IL-12 and IL-18 co-stimulation. These effects on the regulation of NK cell activity seem to be mediated at least in part by PTEN's direct effects upon PI3K signaling as suggested by AKT and ERK activation levels. Super-PTEN NK cells showed no difference in NK receptor expression nor any changes in NK cell development as evidenced by CD27 and CD11b expression. In addition, lentiviral overexpression of PTEN in human NK cells recapitulated the effects of murine NK cell overexpression. Collectively, these results suggest that PTEN negatively regulates NK cell function via its direct effects upon PI3K signaling, but does not affect the development of mature NK cells. These findings may have clinical relevance for targeting PTEN in the treatment of cancer and other proliferative diseases.


By utilizing compost bioreactors with dairy manure and mushroom residues as feedstocks under controlled aerobic conditions,nitrogen and sulfur transformation,compost temperature and nitrogen conservation were studied over a 21 day composting process by adding sulfur.In this experiment,sulfur was added at rates of: 0(non-amended control,CK),0.5%(T1,on weight basis),1.0%(T2) with three replicates.Compared to the CK,the addition of sulfur at a rate of 0.5%(T1) has no significant effects on compost temperature,and the thermophilic period(temperatures greater than 50℃) is about 5.5 days,while,compost temperature is increased under the addition of sulfur at a rate of 1.0%,and thermophilic period is about 4.6 days.pH of compost is significantly decreased under the additions of sulfur,while ammonium nitrogen(NH+4-N) content is significant increased.For example,at the end of this experiment,NH+4-N contents of T1 and T2 are 15 and 24 times more than that of the CK,respectively.The extractable sulfur content is also significantly increased,and at the end of the experiment,extractable sulfur contents of T1 and T2 are increased by 35.7% and 77.1% compared to their initial values at the beginning of the composting.Slowly increased trend in total nitrogen content is observed during this comcomposting process.The total nitrogen contents are16.5 g/kg for T1,16.9 g/kg for T2 and 15.8 g/kg for CK,with increases by 4.4% for T1 and 7.0% for T2.These results suggest that the additions of sulfur(0.5% or 1%) to the compost can significantly increase NH+4-N and extractable sulfur contents,and enhance nitrogen conservation,thus improving the quality of compost.Compare with the addition of sulfur(0.5%),effect of the addition(1%) is better,however,the thermophilic period is shorter and germination index is reduced,which are disadvantages for the harmless process of composting.


AbstractBackground: Several methods have been used to improvesurgical field clarity and decrease blood loss intraoperative;one of them is the usage of hypotensive anesthesia. Spinesurgery is one of the surgeries that need a clear field and adecreased amount of intraoperative bleeding which can impact on the ability of surgeons.Aim of Study: Current study was designed to evaluate theeffect of propofol versus isoflurane with nitroglycerine onblood loss, operative field clarity, extubation time and effectof both on tissue perfusion.Settings and Design: This study design was a prospectiverandomized controlled double blinded clinical study.Patients and Methods: 80 ASA or II patients undergoingelective spine surgery were randomly assigned to group P (n=40) that received propofol for induction and maintenancewhile group I (n=40) received thiopental for induction andisoflurane for maintenance with nitroglycerine. Heart rate,mean arterial pressure were recorded every 10min, amountof blood loss, grade of operative field clarity, extubation timeand effect of both on liver and kidney function were recorded.Results: Propofol group showed significant decrease inblood loss (p=0.01), better surgical field clarity (p=0.002)and shorter extubation time (p=0.001) than isoflurane groupbut there were no significant changes between the two groupsregarding their effect on tissue perfusion (liver and kidney).Conclusion: Propofol for elective spine surgery improvedsurgical condition and provided faster recovery compared toisoflurane even when we added an antihypertensive drug asnitroglycerine to isoflurane. Both of them had a comparableminor effect on liver and kidney functions.


The effects of m = 0 modes on equilibrium Z-pinch plasmas are studied in this paper using a drift-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. The model equations are an extension of ideal MHD to include finite-ion-inertial-length/cyclotron-frequency (Ωi) effects in Ohm's law and in the electron and ion heat transport equations. The linear modes contained in this model include the ideal interchange (sausage) mode and in the magnetized limit, Ωiτi≫1 with τi the ion collision time, nonideal entropy modes. It is well known that these two modes are decoupled in the kρs≪1 limit, where k is the axial mode number and ρs=cs/Ωi is the gyro-Bohm scale with cs the sound speed [B. Kadomtsev, Sov. Phys. JETP-USSR 10, 780 (1960)]. For Bennett equilibrium profiles, it is shown that the regions of stability for both modes are completely governed by the adiabatic coefficient γ in these limits. Equilibria with Bennett profiles are stable to entropy modes for γ 2. However, these modes are no longer decoupled when kρs≳1. The simulation results of the fully nonlinear set of equations in the magnetized limit show that seeded modes with kρs≳1 and γ = 5/3 display the characteristics of both ideal and entropy modes. The general heat flux for both ions and electrons as a function of the species magnetization is retained in the model. Both the linear and nonlinear behaviors of seeded modes for kρs≳1 display a strong dependence on the magnetization of the ions. The growth rate increases linearly with k at large kρs when the ions are magnetized but decreases with increasing k when Ωiτi≲1.The effects of m = 0 modes on equilibrium Z-pinch plasmas are studied in this paper using a drift-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. The model equations are an extension of ideal MHD to include finite-ion-inertial-length/cyclotron-frequency (Ωi) effects in Ohm's law and in the electron and ion heat transport equations. The linear modes contained in this model include the ideal interchange (sausage) mode and in the magnetized limit, Ωiτi≫1 with τi the ion collision time, nonideal entropy modes. It is well known that these two modes are decoupled in the kρs≪1 limit, where k is the axial mode number and ρs=cs/Ωi is the gyro-Bohm scale with cs the sound speed [B. Kadomtsev, Sov. Phys. JETP-USSR 10, 780 (1960)]. For Bennett equilibrium profiles, it is shown that the regions of stability for both modes are completely governed by the adiabatic coefficient γ in these limits. Equilibria with Bennett profiles are stable to entropy modes for γ 2. However,...


We are developing metrology for rapid, quantitative assessment of elastic properties with nanoscale spatial resolution. Atomic force acoustic microscopy (AFAM) methods enable measurements of modulus at either a single point or as a map of local property variations. The information obtained furthers our understanding of nanopatterned surfaces, thin films, and nanoscale structures.


This paper presents an analysis of the performance of BPSK/QPSK modulation in a flat Rayleigh fading channel subject to flat Rayleigh fading noise, and an analytical expression for bit error probability is also provided. Based on this result, we first model the UWB interference as faded white noise and then derived an analytical model to quantify the potential interference imposed on narrowband systems that may co-locate within the spectrum of the MB-OFDM UWB system in a flat fading environment. This analysis can be extended to derive the BER for generic narrowband systems interfered with by other UWB techniques such as direct sequence (DS-UWB).


The present apparatus is basically of the treatment target from the part of the hair strand selection comb for sorting, and bleaching or dyeing least one liquid or pasty agents at least one capable of accommodating therein and a container provided with a partition. The comb, be partially introduced into the container is movable inside the same container in the longitudinal direction, by the comb is coupled to the container, the movement of the comb occur at the operating position of the apparatus it is, at the same time a longer portion of the tufts that have been selected by the comb is introduced gradually vessel through portion and connecting the tufts inside the compartment is introduced gradually open the container, said portion It is exposed to a liquid or pasty agents.


Traditional liquid electrolytes are volatile, flammable and easy to leak, which makes the energy storage device easy to burn and explode in the case of overcharge and short circuit. Here, by utilizing the active P-H bond of flame retardant (DOPO) to graft onto the polymer chain, the flame-retardant organic gel electrolytes are fabricated to address these issues. The gel electrolyte has good ionic conductivity of 4 mS cm -1 at 20 o C and good flame retardant ability. By changing the molar ratio of the monomers and the salt concentrations, the mechanical strength of the gel electrolyte can be adjusted (maximum stress: ~28KPa and the maximum strain: ~305%). The transport mechanism of lithium ions in the gel polymer electrolyte is proposed. The gel electrolyte-assembled supercapacitor (SC) possesses better electrochemical properties than that of SC assembled by liquid electrolyte. Importantly, the gel-based SC remains basically unchanged under the multiple bending cycles. More importantly, the gel electrolyte has good low temperature tolerance (0.1 mS cm -1 at -40 °C). The gel electrolyte-assembled SC can work normally in the temperature range of -20 o C ~ 60 o C. The multiple advantages of gel electrolyte expand the applications in ionic conductor and energy storage devices.


Trade unionism and politics are closely related in many developing countries, but they appear to be especially intimate in those countries which have recently gained their political independence from colonial rule. In such countries, nationalist movements were often built on a trade union base during the recent colonial period and continued to share common leadership and constituencies after independence. Consequently, in the former colonial countries there is fruitful ground for the extension of the East-West ideological struggle to the labor movement. This article describes in some detail Communist labor strategy in a variety of former colonial countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, since the death of Stalin in 1953. The transformation of the World Federation of Trade Unions from a propaganda arm to an active instrument of policy and the subordination of local or national Communist groups to the international political interests of the Soviet Union are marked features of the events described by the author. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)


The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the LMO2 protein expression can predict the clinical outcome in plasma cell myeloma (PCM) patients. LMO2 has been defined as an oncogene associated with carcinogenesis and LMO2 had better prognosis in several malignant tumors. Forty-one patients with PCM, 21 were male and 20 were female. The mean age was 62±11(min-max: 39-81). Thirty patients had LMO2 protein expression in bone marrow samples whereas in eleven patients LMO2 protein expression was not detected. The risk of death was increased in the patients with LMO2 protein expression compared with patients who had no LMO2 protein expression. While overall survival was %100 in the patients with no LMO2 protein expression, it was 76,7% in the patients with LMO2 protein expression (p=0.04). The risk of death was increased in the patients with LMO2 protein expression compared to the PCM patients who had no LMO2 protein expression.


PURPOSE: A thin film battery package is provided to fundamentally protect main elements of the thin film battery from external environment and to prevent electrical short phenomenon during packaging of the thin film batteries. CONSTITUTION: A thin film battery package comprises a case(10) which has an internal space and penetration-couples with first and second electrodes, battery blocks(20) which are formed by laminating a plurality of unit batteries(30) and include first terminals(32) and second terminals(35), and a cover(40) which is sealed and coupled on upper side of the case. The first terminals electrify with the first electrodes and the second terminals electrify with the second electrodes.


Aim:To know the burnout status of college teachers and its influence factors in Hainan province.Methods:A total of 330 teachers from three colleges in Hainan were selected for the section-cross study.All subjects were assessed by Teacher Burnout Inventory(TBI) and a self-administered questionnaire for general information.Results:The mean score of TBI was(33.15±5.53).The prevalence of burnout was 28.8%.No significant difference was found in gender,academic title,or college(P0.05),but the score of receded personal achievability between Associate degree and Master degree was different(F=3.358,P=0.036).Multiple linear regression results suggested that,the influence factors of emotional prostration were self-induction health and frequently without breakfast;those of receded personal achievability were self-induction health,irregularly diet,exercise more than 2 times per week,total class number per week and degree;the influence factors of deindividuation were frequently without breakfast,night-working more than 2 times per week and teaching-years.Conclusion:Burnout exists in college teachers of Hainan province,and the teachers should choose a more reasonable way of life and diet,and strengthen physical exercise,and adjust psychological status.


The problems of psycho-pedagogical support of education in the secondary school №1 the introduction of the GEF in the main school. Given psychological recommendations for the development of universal educational actions (ACU) students.


Earth‐abundant, low‐cost, and highly active bifunctional electrocatalysts are of significant importance to the large‐scale production of hydrogen from water electrolysis. Herein, it is reported that novel FeNi3/NiFeOx nanohybrids display high electrocatalytic activities in both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). These FeNi3/NiFeOx nanohybrids are obtained with the unique hydrogenation treatment of NiFeOx nanosheets. Small onset potentials of ≈20 and 240 mV are obtained for HER and OER, respectively, benefited from the synergistic effect of FeNi3 and NiFeOx. Only a small voltage of 1.55 V is needed to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2 for the overall water splitting in an alkaline electrolyzer when using FeNi3/NiFeOx as both cathode and anode catalysts. This is one of the best performance of electrocatalysts for HER and OER, shining the bright future for earth‐abundant, low‐cost bifunctional electrocatalysts for large‐scale production of hydrogen from water electrolysis.


Container design is an integral part of developing and enhancing brand image, and the most innovative designs can create brands that endure in the minds of consumers.


The present study aimed to investigate the properties of some selected wheat flour mill stream blends milled on a full industrial scale and their effects on the pan bread quality. The five stream blended variants (A, B, C, D and E) were produced by blending twelve wheat flour streams by the normal milling process of two wheat types (Australian and Russian) . No significant ( P ≤ 0.05) dif - ferences could be found in ash content among different stream blends of Australian wheat flour. Meanwhile, significant ( P ≤ 0.05) differences were found in ash content among those of Russian wheat flour. The stream blends B and A had the significantly ( P ≤ 0.05) highest wet gluten propor - tions (32.56%) and (27.81%) for Australian and Russian wheat types, respectively. Significantly ( P ≤ 0.05) higher α-amylase activity and the damaged starch contents were obtained for all differ - ent stream blends for both wheat types. The different stream blends gave a wide range of rheological properties. The longer dough stability times (20 min) and (9min) were observed for flour stream blends B and A for Australian and Russian wheat types, respectively. All pan bread made from the different flour stream blends possessed a highly significant ( P ≤ 0.05) increase in the volume than did the control (a blend of all flour streams produced from all break, divider and reduction stages). Flour stream blend B for Australian wheat and stream blend A for Russian wheat had superior parameters for the pan bread than the other flour stream blends as well as the control. It can be concluded that the monitoring of blending some flour mill streams can be used to obtain certain end-use flour quality that meets specific customer demands.


The present paper examines the Brazilian experience from the 'Economic Miracle' to the 'Lost Decade'. Its aim is to advance an alternative measurement of the flows of extraordinary wealth (i.e. ground-rent and net external credit) available for appropriation in the Brazilian economy and to asses their relevance in sustaining the process of accumulation of industrial capital. That is done in order to provide further and more accurate evidence to the claim that the evolution of the Brazilian process of capital accumulation has been extremely dependent on the evolution of those masses of extraordinary wealth.


Objective To improve physicians' understanding?diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary embolism(PE)in general hospitals.Methods Review analysis the clinical data including clinical manifestation and laboratory findings of 16 patients with PE during the past 3 years.Results PE have high rate of misdiagnosis in the first visit for it's varied clinical manifestations.Conclusion Physicians in general hospitals should pay more attention to PE in order to improve the rate of early diagnosis and improve the patients' prognosis.


The present issue of the journal is based on the materials of the 7th International Congress on Energy Fluxes and Radiation Effects 2020 (EFRE 2020) that was held on September 14 to 26, 2020. The event was held online, but all organizers are located in Tomsk, because Tomsk is a city having strong scientific and educational network including outstanding physical and technological schools. Most of the scientific topics of


Objective To observe the effect of telephone visit for discharged patients with peritoneal dialysis catheter after surgery .Methods Sixty-seven patients with peritoneal dialysis catheter after surgery were chosen and were divided into the intervention group ( n=34 ) and the control group ( n=33 ) according to the random table .The control group received the routine health education at discharge , and the intervention group received the telephone visit ( 5 times ) after discharge .The effect of telephone visit was evaluated by the peritoneal dialysis knowledge assessment questionnaire , Nottingham health questionnarres and patient satisfaction questionnaire.Results The percent of the excellent, good, bad degrees of mastering the knowledge were respectively 52.9%, 38.2%, 8.8% in the intervention group, and were 24.2%, 30.3%, 45.5% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (Z=-3.252,P=0.001).The scores of sleep, physical activity, energy, pain, emotional reactions, social loneliness were respectively (10.6 ±6.3), (8.9 ±5.2), (22.3 ±0.5), (18.6 ±7.3), (13.6 ±9.3), (15.7 ±7.6) in the intervention group, and were lower than those in the control group , and the differences were statistically significant ( t =5.436,6.532,7.674, 8.213,6.567,7.324, respectively; P〈0.01).The patient satisfaction in the intervention group was higher than that of the control group , and the satisfaction of director of department , the chief nurse , the attending doctor and the ordinary nurses were increased (P〈0.05).Conclusions The telephone visit and guide for discharged patients with peritoneal dialysis catheter after surgery can increase their related knowledge and skill of peritoneal dialysis , and play a positive role in the life quality of patient and satisfaction with doctors and nurses .

Key words:
Peritoneal dialysis; Quality of life; Patient satisfaction; Telephone visit


The influence of added dyes of the naphthaquinone series on the morphology of liquid crystal composite droplets has been experimentally studied. It is shown that the size distribution of dye-free composite droplets is readily described by the gamma-distribution. An addition of dyes to these materials stipulates deviations from this distribution.


This study is designed as a case study and concerned on qualitative data, which reflected what actually happened in the area of case study. The Principal, the English Teachers and Students placed as the key informants. The data gained from the informants by applying in depth interview, questionnaire, documentation and observation. The data are analyzed by employing two methods, those are: descriptive qualitative and descriptive quantitative. There are two problems in this study that can be seen from two perspectives; syllabus designing and students' needs analysis. From the perspectives of syllabus designing, the problem arise on defining a syllabus typically as the content standart which is commonly and formally provided by the higher authority (i.e. Ministry of National Education). In evidence, the existence of UN (Ujian Nasional/National Examination) makes teachers come into problems. Moreover, from learners' needs analysis perspective, teachers define Target Situation Analysis (TSA) mainly as the content of students' subject matters of their majors rather than students' linguistic performance after finishing the course. Furthermore, the teachers define the Present Situation Analysis (PSA) mainly as students' strengths/weaknesses in following the English course.


Urban spatial expansion is an inevitable result of regional development.It is important to find out the expansion mechanism so that we can control the region in harmony.Based on the land use data of Shiyang River Basin,combined with a variety of models including lacunarity index,fractal correlation coefficient,expansion intensity index,spatial association measurements and semivarigram,the investigation of the process and pattern of urban spatial expansion from space and time scales was analyzed in the paper.The results showed a urban spatial expansion in Shiyang River Basin in 20 years.And it concentrated along the Shiyang River,Danla Highway 045 and State Road NO.312.There is a little change of township land.It expanded with "point-axis" mode significantly.That becomes the unique expansion of inland cities.And a reference about Shiyang River Basin of various regional planning was provided in the article.


Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen with increasing relevance in a variety of nosocomial infections. To date, the organism shows a formidable capacity to develop multi-drug resistance, which has become a significant challenge to modern healthcare systems. In this article, we review the current control and treatment options for Acinetobacter baumannii infections.


Currently, the one-to-many teaching method is still adopted among most of the teaching classroom in modern universities. Limited by the resources of teachers, the number of students in some basic courses could be well into the hundreds. In this teaching situation, it is difficult for teachers to notice learning feedback from all student immediately. This paper proposed a real-time feedback system based on the array camera to obtain facial expressions of all students and judge the teaching effect of the knowledge points. This system can help the teacher handle the learning state of the students dynamically, so that the teaching methods or progress can be adjusted to achieve better teaching effect. Introduction Cognitive psychology shows that cognitive processing and emotion processing are integrated at multiple levels in brain [1]. For example, some cortical structures (i.e. orbitofrontal cortex) integrate cognitive and emotion information in learning progress by interacting with neural structures of emotional processing (i.e. amygdala) [2].Drugs can reduce or increase the destructive effect of anxiety on learning[3]. Animal experiment have shown that the learning of the mouse will be affected if the amygdala processing the original neutral sensory signal into an obvious emotional signal with disgusting information [4]. The important role of emotional experience in learning enlightens us that: students can learn and understand more effectively with a classroom atmosphere which can induce positive emotions. To better induce students' positive emotions, teachers might have to grasp the students' learning states accurately. However, in modern classroom, especially the basic courses, students are often overcrowded, that make it difficult for teachers to monitor students' emotion in learning comprehensively. Nevertheless, with the development of computer vision in recent years, the accuracy of facial expression based on face detection has been continuously improved. Thus, it provides a powerful guarantee for us to build a real-time feedback system of students' classroom learning emotion. Based on the emotional classify of learning emotions, this paper uses camera array to construct image acquisition system; dynamic recognize face information in real time; uses feature extraction and emotion classifier to recognize emotion; summarize identification information to give statistical result and present to teacher in real time. Emotion and Classify A general definition of emotion is: emotion is a complex state of feeling that results in physical and psychological and influence mind and body. These changes can also affect thought and behaviors. There are also various types of emotions. Paul Ekman firstly divided emotions into six main categories: Anger, Disgust, Fear, Happy, Sadness, Surprise [5]. He also expanded other emotions such as Shy, Satisfied, Pride, Pleasure, etc. [6] Robert Plutchik [7] summarized eight different emotions and their relationship through wheel of emotion. He Wei [8] established a learner emotion model based on three-dimensional emotion model, and quantified the six explicit expressions. Nowadays, the mainstream expression recognition method is still based on 6+1 classification mode to give comparison result. But for the students' learning statue in classroom situation, to study whether 2019 9th International Conference on Education and Social Science (ICESS 2019) Copyright © (2019) Francis Academic Press, UK DOI: 10.25236/icess.2019.179 940 these six emotions can help study is still necessary. Base on whether it is conductive to learning, we set up three categories of emotional states, including positive effects on learning, negative effects, and insignificant effects. Camera Installation To dynamically identify each student's emotional state, it is required to detect each students' head portrait information in real time. Based on the selected cameras' visual angle, resolution, size of different classroom, student number, the optimal camera installation location can be plan out. If the classroom is too large, an array of cameras can be set. Fig.1 shows the installation layout of two cameras. figure 1. Camera Installation Layout Facial Expression Recognition Normally, facial expression recognition is consisted of three basic steps. First: face preprocessing; Second: facial emotion feature extraction; Third: emotion classify by classifier. Three steps are shown in Fig 2. Face detection is a computer technology which provides the location and size information of faces in images. According to the information provided by face rectangle figure 2. Facial Expression Recognition In face detection, facial feature points can be precisely located. After that face normalization, expression analysis can be applied. Face normalization aligns the face to a predefined template according to the feature points' position. The emotion feature extraction process extracts robust face features from normalized face images. Finally, comparing the extracted features with known emotion features, the emotion can be classified.


An attempt is made to establish the validity of the TD-FD (time-domain-finite-difference) method in modeling circuit components for MMIC-CAD (monolithic microwave integrated circuit/computer-aided design) method applications. Numerical results are presented for a microstrip open end on an alumina substrate ( epsilon /sub r/=9.6). It is shown that the TD-FD approach is capable of calculating the microstrip end effect over a large frequency range. This method, with minor modifications, can also be used to model other microstrip discontinuities.<<ETX>>


Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of hyperglycemia and identify factors associated with hyperglycemia among Myanmar migrant workers, aged over 18 years, in Mueang district, Chiang Rai province, Thailand.Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 402 Myanmar migrant workers aged over 18 years in Mueang District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. A questionnaire was used to collect research data, and blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, and fasting blood glucose levels were measured. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the association between variables at a significance level of a=0.05.Results: Among all the participants, 42.0% were male and 58.0% were female, with a mean age of 38.9 years (standard deviation=10.4). The prevalence of hyperglycemia was 13.4%. Six factors were found to be significantly associated with hyperglycemia in multivariate analysis; including: ethnicity (adjusted odd ratio (AOR)=4.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) =1.25-18.14), high blood pressure (AOR=3.83, 95% CI=1.82–8.03), overweight (AOR=5.19, 95% CI=2.28-11.81), obese (AOR=3.87, 95% CI=1.17–12.79), parent's history of diabetes mellitus (DM) (AOR=6.86, 95% CI=1.45–32.46), smoking (AOR=6.24, 95% CI=2.08–18.69), and depression (AOR=4.21, 95% CI=2.00–8.89).Conclusion: The prevalence of hyperglycemia among Myanmar migrant workers was 13.4%. Ethnicity, high blood pressure, body mass index, parental history of DM, smoking and depression were significantly associated with hyperglycemia. The findings of this study are useful for the development of policies and measures for preventing and controling hyperglycemia and DM among Myanmar migrant workers.


In the area of numerical simulation of building fires, the computational domain is directly related to the accuracy of the simulation results. This article would be focused on small compartment fires with a single vent opening where heat release rate lied into the transitional region, which is a transformation of the Fuel Controlled Fires into the Ventilation Controlled Fires. The effects of computational domain on simulation results under different room aspect ratios were quantitatively analyzed by correlation analysis. The necessary extension of computational domain beyond physical boundaries of building enclosures was presented in dimensionless form. It provided a theoretical and data reference for the further simulation research in the transitional region.


An ever increasing need exists for thick resist layers in the processing of MEMS and for advanced packaging. Applications in the MEMS field include bulk micromachining, surface micromachining, and the actual creating of active device structures. For advanced packaging, the applications are in redistribution and passivation layers, and micromolds for metal bumps. The various applications can require resist layer thicknesses up to and exceeding 1000 micrometers . In order to properly achieve these thicknesses, appropriate coating materials were developed by manufacturers. These materials include AZ P4620, Shipley SPR220, AZ PLP100XT, JSR THB 611P, and SU-8. Finally, equipment was developed to handle these materials, in the form of specialized coating equipment and contact/proximity aligners.


Tunnel construction in complex geological environments such as fault zones and discontinuities are some problems in tunnel stability. This research focused on rock mass characterization and 3D numerical modelling of the finite element method to evaluate the diversion tunnel stability at the Bener Dam in Purworejo Regency. Rock deformation and stress distribution around the tunnel was the main discussions in this study to comprehend the design of a support system that could overcome these geological conditions. The diversion tunnel was located on the right side of the dam, where the fault was found and extended in the area around the intake, passing through the tunnel path. Geological surveys, point load tests, and rock engineering properties tests were then carried out, showing the rock in the location was dominated by andesite breccias with GSI values 30-68 and moderate to high weathering levels. The fault plane obtained in the study area had an N305°E/87° orientation. The simulation result showed a redistribution of displacement within the fault zone. Displacement and maximum stress occurred in the tunnel that intersected the fault zone, resulting in a decrease in the stability of rock around the fault. Therefore, an adjustment of the support system is required.


Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) mutation leads to increased WNT signaling and stem cell overpopulation, which drives development of colorectal cancer (CRC). APC mutations often encode a truncated protein that has loss of APC's domains that mediate APC interaction with AXIN2. A substantial body of scientific evidence indicates that truncated APC is essential for CRC cell proliferation by maintaining beta-catenin levels and WNT signaling at the "just right" level (known as the "Just Right" Hypothesis). Thus, AXIN2 is of particular interest because both wild-type APC and AXIN2 are part of the beta-catenin destruction complex, which is essential for tumor-suppressing ability.
 Hypothesis: the degree of AXIN2 expression, in the context of truncated APC, is critical to maintain WNT-signaling activity at the "just right" level which is optimal for CRC cell proliferation. Accordingly, we evaluated the effect of AXIN2 levels in CRC cells that contain APC protein-truncating mutations on WNT signaling (Top Flash assay), expression of WNT-targeted genes, and CRC cell proliferation and differentiation. We found that modulating AXIN2 expression altered WNT signaling, expression of WNT-targeted genes, and CRC cell proliferation in CRC cell lines with different APC-truncation causing mutations. Indeed, western blot results showed that knock down of AXIN2 gene expression increased truncated-APC and AXIN1 protein expression, and decreased expression of several WNT-target genes (e.g. LGR5, CD44, c-Jun, c-Myc, Cyclin D1), particularly genes that have reported roles in cell cycle regulation. These findings were consistent with our independent bioinformatics analyses of NCI TCGA RNA-seq data on CRC patients. Overall, our study suggests that i) The beta-catenin destruction complex is still functional at a certain level despite APC-truncating mutations; ii) Perturbing AXIN2 expression leads to changes in WNT-signaling activity that deviate from a level that is "just right" for malignant cell proliferation, likely by affecting the function of the destruction complex; iii) Deviation from "just right" WNT signaling levels alters WNT-target gene expression and diminishes the ability of APC-mutant CRC cells to maintain uncontrolled proliferation.
 Citation Format: Chi Zhang, Caroline O. Facey, Katherine Funk, Lynn M. Opdenaker, Bruce M. Boman. Truncated APC & AXIN2 expression contribute to maintaining β-catenin/WNT signaling at the "Just Right" level for CRC cell proliferation [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 5843.


Very low energy (6 keV) BF+2 ion implantation has been used to form very shallow (≤1000 A) junctions in crystalline and Ge+ preamorphized Si. Low‐temperature furnace annealing was used to regrow the crystal, and rapid thermal annealing was used for dopant activation and radiation damage removal. In preamorphized samples, Ge+ implantation parameters were found to have an influence on B diffusion. Our results show that for temperatures higher than 950 °C, B diffusion, rather than B channeling, becomes the dominant mechanism in determining the junction depth. Computer simulations of the profiles show regions of retarded and enhanced B diffusion, which depend on surface and end‐of‐range damage, respectively.


The invention belongs to the technical field of a sewage treating agent and especially relates to a treating agent applied to papermaking sewage. The treating agent applied to the papermaking sewage comprises the following components by weight part: 40-55 parts of flocculating agents, 15-25 parts of chelating agents, 10-15 parts of adsorbents and 5-35 parts of PH(Potential of Hydrogen) regulators. The treating agent can enable the physicochemical indexes of the papermaking sewage to meet the GB18918-2002 standard, the contents of COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand), SS (Suspended Solids) and metal ions are effectively reduced and the PH is approximately neutral and meets a emission standard.


The article considers the results of the study of platelet aggregation and functional changes
in microcirculation parameters in groups tested. Researches have determined that the most
significant changes in the state of aggregation and blood indicators of microcirculation were
in patients with coronary artery disease, stable angina functional class II, first stage of heart
failure, functional class I-II (NYHA), combined with duodenal ulcer in remission.


During casing installation, especially when running in long horizontal wells, it is common to reach situations in which it is necessary to apply axial and torsional loads simultaneously to move a string that has become stuck. After these complex combined loading modes like pulling out, pushing downwards and twisting, it is possible to find casing internal diameter restrictions, which generate further problems during operations such as the impassability of certain tools. These situations then have to be solved by applying costly remediation strategies.
 API TR 5C3 provides guidance on how to combine these as mentioned loads for the pipe body; however, no guidance or standard exists to set limits to this type of load combinations in premium connections in order to avoid unintended structural damage to connections. The objective of this work is to provide guidance on the structural behavior of premium connections when subjected to combined axial and torsional loads.
 The authors developed a specific numerical methodology to evaluate a connection's behavior under combined axial and torsional loads. This methodology is based on validated models used to numerically estimate torques on various premium connections during the design stage and is centered on contact pressure calculations during make up and its variations with axial loading. By using this methodology, variations on connection torsional capacity can be studied in terms of applied axial loads. Additionally, different application load paths were simulated to establish worst-case scenarios for each type of connection. The behavior of connections under combined loading was then studied.
 After completing numerical evaluations, the authors designed a dedicated full scale testing protocol to validate numerical findings and to check the actual behavior of connections under severe combinations of torsional and axial loads.
 A specific state of the art testing setup was used to apply simultaneously torsional and axial loads on an instrumented premium connection test article in a laboratory environment. The test article connections were subjected to various load points and load paths for evaluation.
 Based on finite element models and full scale test result analysis, the response of premium connections to the simultaneous application of axial loads and torsional loads was better understood and characterized technically supporting the development of a criteria to define a safe working envelope for premium connections when operations combining axial and torsional loads are performed. A main observation is that all of the tested specimens successfully completed this very demanding sequence of combined torsional and axial loading, without showing significant structural damage.
 Novel/Additive Information: By means of this methodology and outputs of this work, operators, manufacturers and laboratories alike, can gain a better understanding of how to try to ensure structural performance and reliability of premium connections, as well as work towards defining limits to safely apply axial and torsional loads minimizing the risk of compromising structural integrity.


While various approaches to mitigating the bullwhip effect have been proposed, the composition of the underlying supply chain is often taken for granted. This article develops a set of simulation models to investigate changes to the supply chain itself and their impact on the bullwhip effect, on-hand inventory, and stockouts. It is shown that particular supply chain networks have an impact on the bullwhip effect. Furthermore, the impact of supply chain networks on the bullwhip effect is moderated by the demand forecasting technique used. Finally, supply chain networks, forecasting techniques, and their interactions are found to influence on-hand inventory levels and stockout rates for firms within the supply chain. Results also suggest that no one particular type of supply chain network dominates in terms of dampening the bullwhip effect, lowering on-hand inventory levels, or reducing stockout rates. The optimal network depends on the forecasting technique used and other supply chain factors.


The article traces the development of the Mennonites' ethnoconfessional music education by means of sacred music. Collections of hymns and classification of spiritual songs have been characterized. The author reflects different views on the use of instrumental music while performing spiritual songs. The lack of instrumental accompaniment of the Mennonites' hymns and spiritual songs has been noted. There is analyzed the attitude of modern pupils and students of etnoconfession colleges to choral sacred music, participation in music festivals and the impact of social changes on the performance of sacred music.


THERE is little evidence to show that ethnic differences in Africa result in problems of lesser magnitude at the present day than in the past. In recent years the problems of' minorities' have had to be considered in Nigeria, while in the Republic of Congo (Leopoldville) ethnic conflicts and the reappearance of past tribal enmities have produced numerous tragic situations during the last twelve months. The frontiers of Africa were delimited by the European powers half a century or more ago and their absurdity in relation to ethnic groups has been demonstrated recently in papers by Barbour and Prescott.' They were drawn in ignorance of the different groups of people through which they passed and have now been inherited by independent African governments who will have to face the problems which have been created. To solve them these African governments will need to know more of ethnic groups and their distributions than did their European predecessors and the need for more adequate ethnographic maps is likely to increase rather than diminish. With important exceptions there has been a dearth of satisfactory ethnographic mapping in Africa. The Ethnographic Survey of the International African Institute is among these exceptions and the maps accompanying its monographs have aimed at showing the actual areas occupied by various ethnic groups with some degree of precision. This contrasts with earlier maps on which only the names of tribes were written across areas which were undefined. The method was symbolic of the state of knowledge of ethnic distributions in Africa which has remained vague until very recent times. Its value was virtually nil and its only virtue was that it allowed the compiler of the map to remain uncommitted. It has not been discarded entirely but its use at the present day should not be permitted. For the distribution of ethnic groups can now be mapped with much greater precision. For East Africa a map in the Atlas of Kenya combines the distribution of tribal areas with the main ethnographic groupings that can be recognized in the country and the boundaries of tribal areas are also delimited on maps published recently for Uganda, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar.2 For West Africa the Cartes ethno-demographiques will be well known to many readers of Africa. This series was planned by the Institut Fran9ais d'Afrique Noire more than ten years ago as a contribution to an international West African atlas. Maps showing population density and ethnic distributions on separate sheets have been published for two areas and the preparation of sheets for a third area is far advanced.3 The ethnic maps show the distribution of tribes by a series


X-Ray structural studies on the redox pair trans-[Mn(CN)(CO)(dppm)2](dppm = Ph2PCH2PPh2) and trans-[Mn(CN)(CO)(dppm)2][PF6]·CH2Cl2 showed that one-electron oxidation results in changes consistent with depopulation of an orbital involved in Mn–P π-back bonding. The ESR spectra of trans-[Mn(CN)(CO)(dppm)2]+, [Mn(CO)(CNCH2CHCH2)(dppm)2]2+, trans-[Mn(CN)(CO)2(PEt3)(dppe)]+(dppe = Ph2CH2CH2PPh2) and trans-[MnBr(CO)2(PEt3)(dppe)]+ in frozen dichloromethane–dichloroethane (1:1) solutions at 90 K, and extended-Huckel molecular-orbital calculations on the model compounds [Mn(CN)(CO)(H2PCH2PH2)2]+, [Mn(CO)(CNMe)(H2PCH2PH2)2]2+, cis- and trans-[Mn(CN)(CO)2(PH3)3]+ and trans-[MnBr(CO)2(PH3)3]+, showed that the semi-occupied molecular orbital of these low-spin octahedral cyanomanganese(II) carbonyls is always primarily manganese dπ in character and in the plane of the phosphorus ligands, either aligned along the Mn(CN) axis as in trans-[Mn(CO)2(PEt3)(dppe)]+ or perpendicular to this axis as in trans-[Mn(CN)(CO)(dppm)2]. The relative arrangement of the cyanide and carbonyl ligands is shown to control the extent of spin delocalisation onto the cyanide ligand.