Funding: STRADL is supported by the Wellcome Trust through a Strategic Award (reference 104036/Z/14/Z). The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Department (CZD/16/6) and the Scottish Funding Council (HR03006) provided core support for Generation Scotland. A.M.M. is supported by the Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation. D.J.M. is supported by an NRS Fellowship, funded by the CSO. J.S., J.M.W., K.L.E., D.J.P., I.J.D. and A.M.M. are members of the Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology which also supports I.J.D.; funding from the Medical Research Council and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council is gratefully acknowledged (MR/K026992/1). Acknowledgments: We would like to express gratitude to all individuals who have taken part in both GS:SFHS and STRADL, and the entire project team including academic researchers, administrative staff, research managers and statisticians. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicting interests.


Thin polyterthiophene films and oligothiophene-based self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on indium tin oxide (ITO) and gold electrodes have been coupled with different pyrrole- and thiophene-based monomers (heterocoupling). Since the corresponding homopolymers are soluble in the electrochemical medium, only the surface-coupled polymer remains on the electrode and is detected. The method when applied to monolayers allows the formation of nanometer-size layers of polyconjugated polymers with nominally normal orientation of the chain to the surface. Thin films and SAMs were characterized before and after coupling by cyclic voltammetry, UV−vis and IR reflection absorption spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Microcontact printing on gold and ITO surfaces resulted in patterns for which atomic force microscopy evidenced strong height enhancement after heterocoupling.


A linear electric circuit model for motions of the basilar membrane was modified by introducing nonlinear diode elements so as to represent mechanical displacements that occur more readily in one direction than in the other. The specific nonlinear site or structure in the cochlea is not necessarily represented by the model; it may be some part of the organ of Corti, it may result from rigidity of scalae walls, and/or it may arise from fluid streaming near the oval window. Patterns on linear and nonlinear ears are compared for two specific tone combinations, the simple difference tone f1 − f2, and the more complex 2f1 − f2 case. At least three explanations for perception of these difference tones, with and without presence of a third exploring tone, can be offered. Waveforms for clicks and voiced and unvoiced speech sounds are also presented, and similar phenomena are observed. In general, strongly augmented activity occurs in the apical part of the cochlea when nonlinearities exist, and for the 2f1 − f2 c...


We synthesized facile novel morphology of ZnO as nanobeads and hierarchical nanosheet ball by chemical bath deposition method. The ZnO nanobeads and hierarchical nanosheet ball exhibited band gap of 3.12 and 3.23 eV, respectively. The X-ray diffraction patterns indicated crystal structure of ZnO nanobeads and hierarchical nanosheet ball are same however, sintering induced slight compressive stress on ZnO leads to small shift in diffraction angles. Four fold increase in efficiency was obtained with ZnO hierarchical nanosheet ball as photoanode in DSSC in comparison to ZnO nanobeads.


Objective To investigate the clinical results of zirconia crown on the anterior tooth.Methods Choose between January 2010and January 2013,100cases of clinic patients,all indications as symbolic of adult anterior teeth,randomly divided into two groups.50cases with nickel chromium alloy PFM crown,50cases with zirconium all porcelain crown, respectively for clinical repair.Track 1year,To observe the restoration shape,color matching and edge of suitability, gums,transparent grey line,etc.Results Two groups,in the restoration shape and Edge of suitability no significant difference;In color matching and transparent grey line Extremely significant difference.Conclusion Porcelain veneered zirconia single crown contribute to the aesthetic effect of the anterior teeth.


Kagami‐Ogata syndrome (KOS14) is a rare disease characterized by omphalocele, polyhydramnios and a bell‐shaped thorax. Although the coat‐hanger appearance of the ribs on postnatal X‐rays is a key diagnostic finding of KOS14, its prenatal diagnosis remains challenging. We encountered a case of KOS14 diagnosed prenatally that showed omphalocele, polyhydramnios, and a bell‐shaped narrow thorax. The coat‐hanger angle (CHA) measured at the sixth thoracic vertebrae and the ribs using three‐dimensional (3D) ultrasonography was 39°, reflecting the coat‐hanger appearance of the ribs. Segmental uniparental disomy chromosome 14 (UPD(14)pat) was confirmed by a methylation analysis and microsatellite analysis after birth. The median CHA (minimum, maximum) in 25 normal fetuses was 19 (9, 26) degrees, and a sonographic CHA of 30° may be a border value for diagnosing KOS14. When the combination of omphalocele and polyhydramnios is found prenatally, 3D ultrasonography for CHA might aid in the differential diagnosis of KOS14.


Biometrie security systems are now highly explored by many researchers for their high accuracy levels. These systems were recorded to be more reliable than traditional security systems that use typed passwords. Some biometric prints have been explored to be used in security systems. These prints include face, iris, voice, palm, finger print, knuckles print, handwriting, speech and keystroke. In this paper, a recent review is performed on the recognition algorithms used with knuckle prints which are formed at the joints either on the finger back surface or on the finger inner surface. The algorithms are classified and a comparison is presented between the performances of different recognition methods. The comparison includes using these methods on a single print and on multiple prints fused together, and whether the prints have been acquired using a contact or contactless device. The paper also presents a list of available datasets that can be used for performance evaluation.


There are no studies on oxygen uptake of groups of physically active subjects aged over 70. This study describes the maximal oxygen uptake (F 0 2max) of 153 elderly people who completed the Nijmegen annual 4-day march (at least 30 km * day " 1) in 1993. A total of 97 men with a mean age of 76.7 (SD 4.6) and 56 women with a mean age of 72.8 (SD 3.6) years participated in the study. The ^O^ax was determined using incremen tal cycle ergometry; 91 men and 49 women completed a maximal exercise test. Criteria for maximal perfor mance were respiratory exchange ratio equal to or greater than 1.00, vertilatory equivalent for oxygen equal to or greater than 30.00 and maximal heart rate equal to or greater than (beats -min" 1) 210 minus age (years). Mean maximal power output was 148,2 (SD 27.2) W and 120.4 (SD 20.5) W, mean w body mass" 1 was 26.8 (SD 4.9)ml*kg~1*min_1 and 24.6 (SD 4.7)ml*kg~1 *m in~\ mean maximal heart rate was 152 (SD 18), and 157 (SD14) beats *min 1 in men and women respectively. The mean ^O^mx'body mass"1 was about 20% higher than reported in other studies on subjects over 70 years of age. Mean maximal heart rate was about 10 beats 'min"1 higher than pre dicted from the equation 220 age. The negative effect of chronic disease on ^ 0 2niax * body mass ~1 was smaller than in a sedentary reference population. The mean decline in V 0 2max ' body mass"1 with age was 0.46 and 0.38 m l-kg"1 -min" 1 per year in the men and women respectively, which is the same rate as found in younger subjects. It was concluded that regular exercise might G.M. deWild*B. Oeseburg (IS)-R.A. Binkhorst Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands W.H.L, Hoefnagels Department of Geriatric Medicine, Academic Hospital St Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands substantially increase aerobic power in the physically active elderly, even when they have chronic disease, and that it is unlikely that there is an accelerated loss of aerobic power in physically active elderly people aged over 70 year.


Coal mining face is the place where coal mine accidents occur frequently.In this paper, the security early warning expert system is buliled based on the analysis method of system engineering and the investigation of coal mining face in a large number of coal mines. The classification, acquisition mechanism and representation of knowledge are described, and the system structure, reasoning mechanism and the establishment of knowledge base are also introduced.


Through the security analysis of two forward secure proxy signature schemes based on bilinear pairings,it finds the schemes having security omission and no forward security.A new forward secure proxy signature scheme based on RSA signature scheme is proposed,and the security of the proposed scheme is analyzed and discussed in details.The scheme not only can effectively resist the forgery attacks and satisfy all security properties of proxy signature,but also has the proper-ties of forward security.Even if the current secret key of proxy signer has been leaked,the attacker can't forge the proxy signature of the past period time.


Traditional theory and judicial practices in China have commonly held that the causation of suicides in victim women in relation to rape classifies as ldquocausinghellip any other serious consequencerdquo as stipulated in rape-related provisions, and that as of such, the rapist should be held liable for the victimrsquos consequential suicide. This article, however, seeks to demonstrate through four aspects that only under the conditions that: in conformity with general perception, the victimrsquos act of suicide is generic and proportionate to circumstance, and also when the subsequent act of suicide is not non-normative, should the rapist be held accountable for its occurrence.


We are interested in the thermodynamics of the gas filling of clathrate hydrates. In order to determine the pressure-dependent filling of the cages, neutron powder diffraction experiments on N{sub 2} and CO{sub 2} clathrates were performed. Interaction potentials were refined by comparing the experimentally determined fillings with those generated by MC-sorption calculations. Unsatisfactory agreement between experiment and simulation is observed when using the widely employed SPC water-water interaction potential.


In situ observation of oxygen absorption and desorption during heating and cooling cycle with TG and DTA was done to determine the optimum preparation conditions of high Tc Y-Ba-Cu-O compounds. We suggest the best recipe in air is to fire the raw mixture of 1/2Y2O3, 2BaCO3 and 3CuO at 930°C for more than 10 h, followed by slow cooling in the furnace to take as much oxygen as possible within the specimen. With this method single phase material of an orthorhombic superconducting oxide YBa2Cu3O6.74 with Tc=91.3 K was synthesized, with orthorhombic unit cell dimensions of a=3.8180(6) Å, b=3.8888(7) Å, and c=11.668(2) Å.


At a time when sustainability performance does not seem to match the expectations raised by the sustainable development concept and, moreover, when the economic downturn and crisis could be further eroding social and environmental concerns and values, the notion of sustainability crisis provides an interesting starting point to reflect on the role of Social and Environmental Accounting Research. Lack of humanity and values, short term economic approach, institutional capture and misunderstanding and misuse of democracy, have all served as catalysts of sustainability downturn and crisis. Thus, this editorial attempts to advance public interest accounting by discussing the controversy around Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility, expecting that the constitutive effects of researchers' words in this special issue and in future research agendas, will result in more transformative power relations able to enhance a healthy democracy inspired by the capacity to do things and to transform individuals' attitudes and behaviours, as well as the institutional response to the sustainability crisis.


The enantiopure (1 S, 2 S )- cis -dihydrodiol metabolites 2B - 5B have been obtained in low yield from the corresponding monosubstituted halobenzene substrates 2A - 5A, using a wild-type strain of Pseudomonas putida (ML2) containing benzene dioxygenase (BDO). Benzene cis -dihydrodiol dehydrogenase (BCD) from P. putida ML2 and naphthalene cis -dihydrodiol dehydrogenase (NCD) from P. putida 8859 were purified and used in a comparative study of the stereoselective biotransformation of cis -dihydrodiol enantiomers 2B - 5B. The BCD and NCD enzymes were found to accept cis -dihydrodiol enantiomers of monosubstituted benzene cis -dihydrodiol substrates 2B - 5B of opposite absolute configuration. The acyclic alkene 1,2-diols 10 - 17 were also found to be acceptable substrates for BCD.


: Introduction: The brown adipose tissue was first evidenced in animals and later in humans being its main function the thermoregulation process. From this, possibilities of this auxiliary tissue in the control of body mass are investigated, in order to reach new perspectives in the treatment of obesity, a pandemic of today. Objective: To understand brown adipose tissue and address hypotheses that characterize its contribution to the treatment of obesity and its comorbidities. Materials and Methods: An integrative review was performed in which the tissue, uncoupling protein 1, UCP were used in the PubMed® and Google Scholar databases. In all, 19 articles and 4 books referring to the histology, cell biology and physiology sciences support the review. Discussion: Adipose tissue is present throughout the human body and causes significant effects on the body's physiology and pathophysiology. The adipocytes that compose it present histological, biocellular and distribution differences and are subdivided into unilocular and multilocular. Multilocular cells form brown fat that is able to regulate energy expenditure through adaptive thermogenesis via an uncoupling protein (UCP). With this knowledge, we look for relationships between adipose tissue composed of unilocular cells, which is responsible for the development of obesity, and brown adipose tissue. In this context, among the study possibilities there are the factors that influence the tissue expression of the uncoupling protein and increase the chemical thermogenesis, there is the control of the energy balance, also, the capacity of brown adipocytes to sequester the succinate (flavoprotein that has acute control over thermogenesis) of the circulation. Conclusion: It was possible to understand the multifunctionality and the physical and chemical characteristics of the brown adipose tissue, and this tissue was recognized as one of the potential study targets given the epidemiological singularity of obesity and its treatment history. UCP1 mini gene region adipocyte cells grown in of two types of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase genes under control of the UCP promoter defined the mini gene as an enhancer in an essential fragment for the specificity of BAT and the inducibility of Abstract This review addresses functional aspects of adipocytes, such as metabolism, participation in energy homeostasis, their endocrine ability and adipogenesis, understood as the capacity of pre-adipocytes to differentiate into new adipocytes and reconstitute tissue. In addition, studies on the relationship between adipose tissue and the pineal gland, a little-known but promising aspect of adipocyte physiology with possible favorable repercussions for the treatment of obesity Taken together, the data suggest that cold acclimation induces noradrenergic fiber branching in the adipose organ of adult mice, and that these changes may be a precondition for their plastic transformation into a brown phenotype. This review sought to describe the functioning of brown adipose tissue in normal individuals and the mechanisms by which its deficiency could contribute to the onset of obesity, as well as the possible mechanisms by which its activation could minimize it Work with the main objective of investigating the importance of the thermogenic activity of interscapular brown adipose tissue in the effects induced by the administration of C75 in rats with 24-hour food deprivation This review provides an overview of current knowledge on the regulation of brown adipose tissue function and discusses the possibility of stimulating it to treat obesity and other metabolic disorders. Assesses the potential role in stimulating energy expenditure of the activation of brown adipose tissue that has become a trending topic an anti-obesity The text summarizes the efficiency of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), the mitochondrial uncoupler of brown adipocytes. The research aimed to identify the mechanisms of heat production by brown adipocytes that occur in mammals at birth or during exposure to cold. the evidence for regulators of heat production in thermogenic adipocytes in the context of thermodynamic and kinetic principles therapeutic utility Identifies a mechanism by which succinate oxidation leads to thermogenic respiration, while succinate dehydrogenase It reviews the potential mechanisms by which glucose might be utilized by BAT in adult humans and the extent to which they are sensitive to temperature and diet. Including the proportion of glucose oxidation that may be independent of UCP1


Novel methods have been developed to measure the fractional deposition efficiency for nanoparticles of full-scale HVAC and HEPA filter cassettes down to a particle size of 3.5 nm. The methods use a flame spray nanoparticle generator to produce NaCl test aerosols with narrow size distributions and very high concentrations. While the efficiency curves of lower efficiency filters of classes F7 and E10 were still able to be determined by measuring the size distributions of the polydisperse test aerosols upstream and downstream of the filter, two new testing procedures were developed for high efficiency filters of class H13. One considers the narrow size distributions of the test aerosols as quasi-monodisperse and follows a similar approach like EN 1822 for flat sheet media. The second one evaluates mobility classified fractions of the quasi-monodisperse test aerosols. A dedicated multiple charge correction scheme was developed to account for the effect of multiply charged particles. While the latter procedure allows to extend the particle size range, the prior significantly reduces the measurement time. All tests delivered meaningful results, which were very comparable with the results from flat sheet media tests.


This article examines "courtroom paintings" in Latin American art, focusing on the works of Martín Tovar y Tovar, Juan Lovera, and especially Pedro Subercaseaux. Drawing from the philosophical work of Alain Badiou, the article offers a comparative reading of the theme of "anticipation" in several of their paintings, suggesting that this theme may point to an underlying democratic element in art about independence. The article ends by discussing Subercaseaux's work in the context of the Argentine centenary celebration of independence, exploring the ways in which its use of "anticipation," counterintuitively, might have made it easier for the regime to co-opt in its attempt to rewrite the moment of independence in 1910.


We consider new correlation filters for all levels of scene analysis such as clutter reduction and object detection, recognition, and identification. A hierarchical inference set of such filters allows scene analysis on a unified multifunctional correlator architecture. It has applications in robotics, computer vision, optical character recognition, reconnaissance, and target recognition. Present digital processors can now achieve correlations in real time and hence such filters are of importance.


The conversion of a palindromic sequence, GGTCTnnnAGACC, in the 5′‐flanking region of the murine c‐fos proto‐oncogene into a functional estrogen‐response element by a single base change into GGTCA/GnnnAGACC has previously been postulated [Nawaz et al., 1993] as a possible mechanism of the induction of tumors by estrogens. This attractive hypothesis has been investigated in estradiol‐induced Syrian hamster kidney tumors, in H‐301 kidney tumor cells (a cell line derived from the Syrian hamster tumor), and in normal kidney tissue. The c‐fos gene is differentially regulated by a classical estrogen receptor–mediated process in tumors, whereas in the acutely treated kidney, estradiol induces c‐fos expression independent of estrogen‐receptor function. In this study, we identified in the 5′‐flanking region of the hamster kidney c‐fos gene the sequence AGTCCnnnAGACC, which closely resembled but did not appear to function as an estrogen‐response element. No mutations were detected in this sequence or in the 5′‐flanking region of c‐fos genes from three different primary tumors and from H‐301 tumor cells. To rule out the possibility of a low copy number of mutant alleles in a tumor sample, polymerase chain reaction‐based single‐strand conformation polymorphism analysis was performed on 372 base pairs of the 5′‐flank of the c‐fos gene (−367 to +5 base pairs relative to the transcription start point). Nine different kidney tumor DNA samples and five normal kidney tissue samples (controls) produced an identical pattern of DNA bands, suggesting a lack of natural polymorphisms and mutations in this region of the c‐fos gene. Acute treatment of hamsters with 17β‐estradiol for 6 h significantly induced renal c‐fos mRNA expression, whereas control levels of c‐fos were restored by co‐treatment with estradiol and either N‐acetyl‐L‐cysteine or α‐naphthoflavone. We concluded that the previously observed change in regulatory control of c‐fos expression in kidney versus estradiol‐induced tumors does not involve the creation of a functional estrogen‐response element by single point mutation in the 5′‐flanking region of the gene. Additionally, c‐fos expression in estradiol‐treated hamster kidneys appears to be mediated by free radicals generated by the catechol metabolites of estradiol and not by the activation of any estrogen receptor. Mol. Carcinog. 24:255–262, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This article evaluates through a comparative process the mythologizing of Patmos, island of the Apocalypse, by Friedrich Holderlin, D. P. Papaditsas and Lorand Gaspar. This "recently created" myth is first examined through the scraps of narrative remaining in the different representations describing the initiation/visit of this space, a visit that assumes the characteristics of a fantasized journey inside mankind's religious history, or of a deathly peripeteia of the mind, or again of a frugal and elliptical deepening of the innermost self/ space / universe.  The antonymic features of this experiment and of its verbal expression are subsequently studied, leading to emergence of yet another founding myth to be added to the long list of myths about humankind's writing, a superior stage of this artistic practice through the elaboration of the condensed, syncretic, fragile and sporadic message of the insular space.


Prevalence of hepatitis C between different groups of population of Irkutsk is described and leading role (73.3%) of injection drug use as a risk factor has been shown. It has been established that persons with alcoholism and unemployed persons are additional groups of risk of HCV-infection.


The skin friction for a turbulent boundary layer can be measured and calculated in several ways with varying degrees of accuracy. In particular, the methods of the velocity gradient at the wall, the integrated boundary layer equation and the momentum integral equation are evaluated for both smooth and rough surface boundary layers. These methods are compared to the oil film interferometry technique measurements for the case of smooth surface flows. The integrated boundary layer equation is found to be relatively reliable, and the values computed with this technique are used to investigate the effect of increasing external favorable pressure gradient for both smooth and rough surfaces, and increasing roughness parameter for the rough surfaces.Copyright © 2006 by ASME


This article uses the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in G.(J.) v. New Brunswick to frame a discussion of the historical and ideological character of Canadian child welfare regimes on the nature and experience of women's citizenship within the liberal political order and, in particular, within the current neo-liberal restructuring of welfare provision. The article also analyzes traditional understandings of the political character of child welfare in terms of state intervention and non-intervention, by placing the state ordering of parent-child relations in the context of larger issues of colonialism, gendered parenting discourses, and the linkage between child neglect and poverty. The article argues that this more complex account of state/family relations exposes the rhetorical slippage between a family privacy and family support interpretation of liberal respect for family autonomy in both judicial discourse and the broader political sphere.


This paper analyzes the impact of micro nance loans on productivity and growth of the clients' enterprises. The analysis is based on a unique client database from Caja Los Andes, one of the leading micro nance providers in Bolivia. The results show that the clients put the additional funds to good use: Clients with a higher number and a higher average size of prior loans are found to have higher growth rates than other clients. A cross-sectional analysis of sales revenues shows that clients with prior loans generate higher sales revenues than others for a given asset level. Surprisingly, clients with larger businesses have a higher increase in sales revenues than others.


The objective is to bring some reflections on the relations between the present and the past, memory and history, thinking about the paths of historiographical practice and the history teaching in the face of the recurring political uses of the past and the attacks and denialist demands in Brazilian contemporary. Opposing the multiple visible and in (visible) violence in society, we highlight the strength of literature and the ethical, sensitive, political and aesthetic dimension of historiography and the history teaching as possibilities for building a more human and ethical repertoire in a culture highligted by authoritarian traditions and by the violence, denial and erasure of the tracks of that same violence.


Many modern cars today have voice assistants. The problem is that current in car speech interfaces are mostly designed for certain commands in a very restricted form. In the future, these interfaces will have to deal with more complex user input like several intentions in one utterance or quick urgent insertions. Especially in rapidly changing situations like during a highly automated journey, it becomes relevant to detect urgent utterances and react accordingly. Collecting data by reproducing the conditions for the interaction in a real vehicle can by very difficult. Therefore we propose, to abstract the problem and use a gamification approach. We successfully simulated urgent situations and collected spoken utterances with the game "What is it?".


Rotating electrical machine stator comprising a connection terminal having a high productivity and seismic performance, to provide a rotary electric machine having the same. In the stator 20 of the rotary electric machine including the stator coil 60, with a connection terminal 42, the connection terminals, output coil conductors 42U of the stator coil, 42V, and the crimping portion 430 42W is connected to an external mechanism and a fastening portion 420 which is mechanically connected, be configured to melt member 550 is disposed on the fastening section. Output coil conductor, through a molten material provided crimping portion may be configured to be connected to the connection terminal.


Epitaxial growth using thermal annealing and a strained layer superlattice is studied to obtain high-quality GaAs device layers on Si substrates. Crystalline quality of GaAs-on-Si is found to improve with thermal cyclic annealing at temperatures higher than the growth temperature and cooling down to 300°C. It is also found that the optimum InGaAs/GaAs strained layer superlattice buffer structure is one whose total thickness is several times the calculated critical thickness for the average In-mole fraction of the SLS buffer. Configurations and structures of dislocation reductions are ex-amined by TEM observations. A GaAs solar cell is successfully constructed and is found to show total area efficiencies of 18.3% under AM 0 and 20.0% under AM 1.5 conditions.


Three types of prototypes of innovative and creative products have been made in Laboratory of Forest Products Technology, Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Sumatera Utara. According to the origin of raw material, the products are consisted of recycle paper, natural dye, and plastics waste. Production methods were as follows: recycle paper was produced using used paper with addition thermoplastic adhesive. Natural dyes derived from plants and they were applied mainly into fabrics using eco-print technique. Plastics waste originated from beverages bottles and packaging were mixed with wood and converted into eco-friendly souvenir. Results of this study: recycle paper can be used as book cover, campaign media, eco-print media and egg tray. Natural dyes in conjunction with eco-printing technique have been patterned not only on fabrics but also onto paper, wood, leather and ceramics become décor paper, stationary, women and seminar needs and mugs, respectively. Mixture of plastics waste and wood become eco-friendly souvenirs in various composition and shape. Limited and simply testing were carried out and discussed. Advance examination is still needed to assess the quality of the products. Determination of packaging, pricing and market sharing of these various innovative and creative products should be also studied further.


A deep belief network (DBN) is one of the most effective ways to realize a deep learning technique, and has been attracting more and more attentions in nonlinear system modeling. However, it can not provide satisfactory results in learning speed and modeling accuracy, which is mainly caused by gradient diffusion. To address these problems and promote its development in cross-models, we propose an efficient DBN with a fuzzy neural network (DBFNN) for nonlinear system modeling. In this novel framework, DBN is considered as a pre-training technique to realize fast weight-initialization and to obtain a feature-representation vector. An FNN-based learning framework is developed for supervised modeling so as to eliminate the gradient diffusion issue, where its input happens to be the feature-representation vector. As a novel cross-model, DBFNN combines the advantages of both pre-training technique of DBN and an FNN model to improve nonlinear system modeling capability. A classical benchmark problem is used to demonstrate its superiority over existing single-models in learning speed and modeling accuracy.


In this paper a theoretical and numerical analysis of the mechanical interaction between an anchored deformable facing structure and the underlying granular soil is presented. The reinforcement system is mainly composed of wire meshes, geosynthetics, bars/ties, and spike steel plates. This is usually employed for stabilising potentially unstable slopes. The punching process that can occur locally is described by considering the complex interaction mechanisms arising among the different system elements and the soil. For the sake of simplicity, the soil stratum and the anchor are assumed to be horizontal and vertical, respectively. A simplified displacement-based approach is introduced with the main goal of evaluating both the maximum force that can be applied on the anchor and the correlated penetration of the spike plate within the soil. The approach is validated by means of experimental laboratory test results already available in the literature. Finally, in order to stress the role of the spike plates' spacing and the soil stiffness in influencing the mechanical response of the system, the numerical results of parametric analyses are discussed.


This study examines the heat transfer enhancement achieved from a vertical rectangular fin embedded with circular perforations under natural convection as compared to an equivalent solid (non-perforated) fin. The effect of perforation profile, diameter of the perforation and its pitch on the temperature distribution are analysed by using finite element method. Establishing finite element procedure for heat transfer analysis of fins with perforations and comparing performance of perforated fin results verses non-perforated fins; it was observed that perforated fins show considerable reduction in temperature. The increase in perforation diameter resulted in reduced fin temperatures compared to all other variations and is suggested to be the best measure for enhancement of heat transfer. The finite element method results closely match with published experimental thermocouple results of previous investigators within ±10% deviation. The finite element analysis procedure developed can be used for heat transfer analysis of fins with different kinds of perforation.


In this study it is aimed to evaluate the relationship between the organizational commitment and organizational cynicism levels of the midwives and nurses working for a training and research hospital. The research was conducted on the midwives and nurses working for Samsun Training and Research Hospital from July to August 2015. A survey was used as the data collection tool. Organizational Commitment Scale developed by Allen and Meyer was used to determine the levels of the commitment of the midwives and nurses, and Organizational Cynicism Scale developed by Brandes was used to determine the levels of their organizational cynicism together with the questions aiming at the socio-demographic features. When the findings related to the organizational cynicism scale subscale scores are examined, it is determined that behavioral cynicism (3.2±0.8), cognitive cynicism (3.2±0.8) and affective cynicism (3.1±0.9) scores are at medium level. When the correlation between the organizational commitment and organizational cynicism subscale scores of the staff are examined, a negative significant relation at a medium level is determined between normative commitment subscale scores and behavioral, cognitive and affective cynicism subscale scores, and a weak negative relation between continuity commitment subscale scores and behavioral cynicism subscale scores. It is thought that the results of the research include significant findings reflecting a point of view related to the levels of the organizational commitment and organizational cynicism levels of the midwives and nurses who have an important role in the process of patient care and they will be useful for the arrangements planned to be made in this field.


Computers make incredible amounts of information available at our fingertips. As computers become integral parts of our lives, we spend more time staring at computer monitor than ever before, sometimes with negative effects. One major concern is the increasing number of people suffering from Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). CVS is caused by extensive use of computers, and its symptoms include eye fatigue, frequent headaches, dry eyes, and blurred vision. It is possible to partially alleviate CVS if we can remind users to blink more often. We present a prototype system that uses a camera to monitor a user's blink rate, and when the user has not blinked in a while, the system triggers a blink stimulus. We investigated four different types of eye-blink stimulus: screen blurring, screen flashing, border flashing, and pop-up notifications. Users also rated each stimulus type in terms of effectiveness, intrusiveness, and satisfaction. Results from our user studies show that our stimuli are effective in increasing user blink rate with screen blurring being the best.


A theory of (2 + 1)-dimensional gravity is developed on the basis of the Weitzenbock space-time characterized by the metricity condition and by the vanishing curvature tensor. The fundamental gravitational field variables are dreibein fields and the gravity is attributed to the torsion. The most general gravitational Lagrangian density quadratic in the torsion tensor is given by L G = αt fm + βυ k υ k + γa klm a klm . Here, t klm , υ k , and a klm are irreducible components of the torsion tensor, and α, β, and γ are real parameters. A condition is imposed on α and β by the requirement that the theory has a correct Newtonian limit. A static circularly symmetric exact solution of the gravitational field equation in the vacuum is given


Service companies earn their profit mainly due to their employees' intellectual skills, therefore, increasing profit per employee is one opportunity to increase profit and thereby also the company's market value. In this article the number of employees, the value of owners' equity and loan capital, operating expenses, net sales and profit before income tax have been used to analyse the change in profit per employee of the Estonian software small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector in total, and for small and medium-sized companies separately in the years 2009–2013. Furthermore, this article demonstrates that the efficiency matrix methodology and its developments that were refined in Estonia and Russia from the 1960s to the 1990s can be deployed nowadays as well. Of all the components, profit margin and owners' equity per employee showed the most rapid growth during the analysed period. Profit per employee was higher in the small enterprises segment and lowest among medium-sized enterprises, where owners' equity per employee, net sales to operating expenses, and profit margin were lower than in small enterprises over the whole period analysed.


December 18, 2018,marked the fortieth anniversary of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), at which Deng Xiaoping launched China on its remarkable recent trajectory of economic growth. By giving greater play over time to market forces, Deng's reform and opening initiative spurred rapid income convergence. But it did so while preserving the CCP's political monopoly. As figure 1 shows, China's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth (insofar as the official data are accurate) has been high on average although anything but smooth. Moreover, it has declined markedly since the last year of double-digit growth in 2010 and even more so since the heady precrisis peak. China's politics have not evolved monotonically either. The year 2019 marked the thirtieth anniversary of the Tiananmen protests, sparked by the (vain) hope that China's economic evolution would encourage a commensurate political evolution. Chinese politics—and, I argue, economics— have only regressed under the more authoritarian rule of President Xiaoping Xi. In this paper, Chong-en Bai, Chang-Tai Hsieh, and Zheng Song likewise link China's falling growth rate over the past decade to political factors, but I emphasize a set of factors different from the one that they highlight. What mechanism linking politics to growth do the authors emphasize? In his speech commemorating the fortieth anniversary of Deng's reforms, President Xi stated that "we will resolutely reform what should and can be reformed, and make no change where there should not and cannot be any reform." An alternative title for this paper could have been "Chinese Cronyism: Can It Be Changed? Should It Be Changed?" The authors'mainmessage is that cronyism is deeply ingrained inChina'smode


SUMMARY INTRODUCTION
Poor oral hygiene, measles and malnutrition have been implicated as predisposing factors to Acute Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis (ANUG) and cancrum oris, common oral diseases prevalent among children ages 3-6 years in rural communities.

OBJECTIVE
The study was aimed at reviewing the oral hygiene, nutritional and immunization status of children 13-84 months of age in a rural community.

DESIGN
A cross sectional study.

METHODS
Two hundred and thirty seven (237), 168 and 321 children and their parents from Illela, Gada and Gwadabawa respectively were interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire to record the biodata and social status of the mother and measles immunization status of the children. The oral hygiene status of the children was determined using the plaque/debris index score. Their anthropometric measurements were also recorded.

RESULTS
A total of 636 children aged 1-7years were examined. Of these, 8.3% had plaque/debris index of zero. About twenty four percent (23.9%) had plaque/debris index of 1, while 55.2% had plaque/debris index of 2 and 12.6% had plaque/debris index of 3. There was no statistical difference between the females and the males (p=0.333), but a significant difference existed between the age groups (p=0.001). Of the study group, 84.3% were malnourished and only 11.3% were immunized against measles.

CONCLUSION
Poor oral hygiene, malnutrition and low measles immunization were common in the community. These conditions predispose to noma. Prompt and adequate intervention programmes such as systematic oral health, immunization and nutrition promotion programmes are urgently needed in these communities.


Pleural effusion is an excessive accumulation of fluid in the pleural cavity, which is categorized as transudate or exudate. Transudates occur due to increased hydrostatic pressure and reduced capillary oncotic pressure. While exudates happen due to the inflammatory process with increased capillary permeability. Protein is one of the parameters in the examination of pleural fluid and serum because circumstance will result in more levels of protein entering the pleural cavity that causes pathology. This research was aimed to determine the correlation of serum total protein (TP) levels with TP levels of pleural fluid in patients with pleural effusion. This research used an observational research design with a cross-sectional approach, using secondary data with several samples of 90 data on pleural effusion patients, carried out in March - April 2019 at Dr. Moewardi Hospital Surakarta. Statistical analysis using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test and Pearson correlation test which produces (p<0.05). The results of this research pointed a mean of serum TP level of 5.4 g / dL and a mean TP of 1.7 g / dL. Pearson correlation test results obtained a probability value of 0.164, so it can be concluded that there is no significant correlation between serum TP levels and pleural fluid TP in patients with pleural effusion.

Keywords : Pleural effusion, total protein serum, total protein fluid


Token represents the right to do some operations in software. In blockchain, there are two types of tokens: utility token and security token. They endow the items of token more value in blockchain world. In order to achieve asset tokenization, we propose a new kind of token in this paper, the asset-backed token, which is used for the proposed blockchain based Open Asset Protocol (OAP). Using OAP, we show to how to convert both of the real and virtual objects to asset-backed tokens on blockchain. Then we discussed a new method for data utilization and privacy-preserving based on OAP and compare with our previous scheme, the Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC). Additionally, we introduce the Policy-Backed Token(PBT), which is an instance implementing OAP in insurance industry. We have applied PBT in the airline travel insurance product E-life of an insurance company.


The relationship between female employment and contraceptive practices in 4 barrios in Caracas Venezuela was investigated on the assumption that female employment stimulates contraceptive use. A total of 620 women were interviewed. A household chart questionnaire and on evaluation form were utilized in the survey. Multiple regression analysis was employed to measure the combined and individual importance of independent variables (e.g. subfecundity problems education type of interspouse relations total number of children). Analysis of the survey data did not support the link between female employment and contraceptive practice. No statistically significant data were observed between working and nonworking women when contraceptive use age education attitudes toward family planning and desire for children were controlled. Significant associations were observed in 2 variables: among childless married women a significant number of working women used contraceptives compared with nonworking women who were also childless. For women with more than 8 children 75% of working women and 28% of nonworking women were birth control users. A significant number of contraceptive users were also found among working women whose interspouse relations were somewhere between joint (couples who share responsibilities and other aspects of their lives together) and segregated (couples who share responsibilities to a limited extent) compared with nonworking women in the same category. It was concluded that female employment does not affect barrio womens contraceptive use as they do not view their work as a career but as an economic necessity. Family planning services should be promoted in barrios.


and other molecular electronicand photonic devices, because of their attractive electronicand redox properties and with the ease of modification bythe development of various synthetic routes. The fact thatthere are many sites on the porphyrin at which to attachelectron-releasing or electron-withdrawing groups suggeststhat tremendous electronic modulation of the porphyrinshould be possible.


Combinatorial New-Facing Targets Sputtering (combi-NFTS) is one of the co-sputtering method applied to the combinatorial method. Combi-NFTS could easily control the composition range by changing the distance from substrate to targets. Furthermore composition gradient is relatively linear comparing to other thin film deposition method. In this paper, the influence of the distance between target and target gives for the composition distribution is investigated. As a result, it was elucidated that composition distribution and gradient increase as the TT distance increase. This is caused by the peak position of amount of deposited sputtering atom on the substrate change by the TT distance.


The authors comparise the toxicity of a photopolymerizing (Silux 3M) and a chemical polymerizing (Silar 3M) composite by unspecific application on an in vitro cell culture of a permanent HEp-2-line. It was observed that a greater and more extensive injury was caused by the photopolymerizing material.


At a prominent university clinic that has treated sex offenders for 15 years, an offender and his wife appeared for therapy and faked engagement in treatment for two years. Details given in this case study serve as an extreme example of the manipulation, collusion, and deception that often occurs in sex offender treatment programs. This case study gives cause to reflect on the individual's denial system, society's criminal justice system, and the difficulty for therapists in ascertaining the truth. The purpose of this paper is to report our experience with a patient who may have simulated pedophilic symptoms.


The waste fermented liquid from glutamic acid production contains great amount of thallus, intermediate fermenting products and trace elements. The present invention provides the technological process of producing fermented fertilizer as one kind of organic-inorganic composite fertilizer with the waste fermented liquid from glutamic acid production. The technological process includes the steps of evaporating concentration, extracting ammonium sulfate, stirring mixing, drum pelletizing and stoving. The present invention has high economic benefit and environment benefit.


We propose and experimentally demonstrate a wavelength-division-multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON) employing low-density parity-check (LDPC) coded probabilistic shaping 8-level pulse amplitude modulation (PS-PAM8). In such a splitter-based WDM-PON system with direct detection, a novel probabilistic shaping (PS) method based on a bit-weighted distribution matching (BWDM) for near-Gaussian distribution (NGD) is proposed for the first time. For typical PS schemes based on typical arithmetic distribution matching (ADM) and constant composition distribution matching (CCDM), refining intervals continuously is needed to find the target symbol probability, which will necessarily introduce a plenty of additional redundant bits in the process of the target symbol probability distribution (SPD) emulation from data source. Different from ADM and CCDM, the PS scheme based on BWDM is realized by a simple bit-weight intervention algorithm with low hardware and calculation complexity, which only includes weight-marking bit insertion and bit inversion processes for adjustable SPD kurtosis. The experimental results show that by employing the proposed PS-PAM8, the receiver power sensitivity and system fiber nonlinear effect tolerance can be dramatically improved compared with the unshaped signal. Thus, the WDM-PON employing PS-PAM8 is of cost-effective advantage, which can serve more available optical network units due to the enlarged system loss budget for the optical distribution network.


The fluorescence quenching behavior of thin films of poly[1-(trimethylsilyl)phenyl-2-phenylacetylene] (PTMSDPA) was investigated for the purpose of application of this polymer to mono- and multicolor FL imaging. When the film was exposed to 365-nm UV light with a power of 18.6 mW/cm2 in air at room temperature, the fluorescence band with a maximum at 530 nm rapidly decreased, and then finely resolved fluorescent images were easily obtained using photomasks. After a prolonged irradiation time of 30 min, the PTMSDPA film exhibited an IR absorption peak at 1650 cm-1 due to the carbonyl group. On this basis, we presumed that the fluorescence quenching reaction was due to a small amount of diradical formed initially upon UV irradiation. The fluorescence of the PTMSDPA film was little quenched under an irradiance less than 1.15 mW/cm2 even for tens of minutes, whereas the fluorescence of a highly photosensitive dye, such as Nile red, was readily quenched because of the high polarity in the excited state. As a r...


Abstract The sorption of uranyl (UO22+) cations to hydroxyapatite was studied as a function of the amount of sorbent, ionic strength, U(VI) concentration, pH and temperature. The rate of uranyl sorption on hydroxyapatite decreased with increased uranyl concentrations. The amount sorbed decreased with increased ionic strength and increased with pH to a maximum at 7–8. The sorption data for UO22+ were fitted well by the Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) isotherms. The anions Cl−, NO3−, SO42- and CH3COO− decreased the sorption of uranium on hydroxyapatite while S2O32- slightly increased it. The sorbed uranium was desorbed by 0.10 M and 1.00 M solutions of HCl and HNO3. The thermodynamic parameters for the sorption of UO22+ were measured at temperatures of 298, 313, 323 and 333 K. The temperature dependence confirmed an endothermic heat of sorption. The activation energy for the sorption process was calculated to be +2.75±0.02 kJ/mol.


In the preface to his study of The Visual Grammar of Pablo Picasso, Dr. Enrique Mallen quotes the following remark by the Spanish painter: 'Mathematics, trigonometry, chemistry, psychoanalysis, music and whatnot, have been related to cubism to give it an easier interpretation. All this has been pure literature, not to say nonsense, which brought bad results, blinding people with theories.' To this Dr. Mallen adds: 'I can only hope that Picasso's opinion would be somewhat altered after reading this book' (xiii). The scientific method that might shed light on Picasso's work that Dr. Mallen has in mind is cognitive psychology, more precisely, recent cognitive studies of perception. The central thesis of his book, if I may try to put it succinctly, is that one may draw a parallelism between the various stages of Picasso's artistic creation leading to Synthetic Cubism and the four stages of visual perception as shown by studies in cognitive research. These stages are the following: (1) image-based (retinal), (2) surface-based (depth), (3) object-based (analytic description of three dimensional objects) and, (4) category-based (synthetic identification of objects as known types). Mallen equates these stages with three wellestablished periods in Picasso's work: the first two with the so called Cézannian Cubism, the third with Analytic, and the fourth with Synthetic Cubism. Many books have been printed on the work of Pablo Picasso, arguably the most important artist of the twentieth century. Indeed, Picasso is as new and relevant today as he has been for over a century. His relevance and impact are most noticeable these days in Spain where some of the largest museums in Madrid, Barcelona, and Málaga celebrate, along


Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of acupoint injection in treating diabetic nephropathy. Method Fifty-six patients with diabetic nephropathy were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 28 each. The treatment group was intervened by acupoint injection plus medication, while the control group was by medication only. The 24 h urine total protein(UTP), serum creatinine(Scr), and urinary albumin excretion rate(uAER) were observed 24 h before and after the treatment, and the clinical efficacies were compared. Result The total effective rate was 92.9% in the treatment group versus 75.0% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant(P0.05). After treatment, the 24 h UTP, Scr, and uAER were changed significantly in both groups(P0.01,P0.05). The treatment group was markedly different from the control group in comparing the 24 h UTP, Scr, and uAER after treatment(P0.05). Conclusion Acupoint injection is an effective approach in treating diabetic nephropathy.


In this work, we put forward a theoretical explanation of a peculiar effect found very recently (A. Gonzalez Urena et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 341 (2001) 495). They have observed the deflection of a beam of molecules posessing a permanent electric dipole moment by a homogeneous electric field when a resonant oscillating field is superposed transverse to the static one.


Distributed object management is important in implementing distributed object interoperability.This paper presents an expanded and improved basic trading model of ODP to implement the local management of object services.Based on the new trading model,it proposes a federated trading model in large-scale distributed object interoperability environments,which provides new concepts of trading space and confidence.It describes the rigorous federated search procedure and search rules and the algorithm for the best federated search route,and also provides the structure model of federated trading and the federated consultation protocol to establish federated trading.


This paper is devoted to a survey of methods for converting the analog speech signal into a digital data stream. The most commonly known technique is that of pulse code modulation (PCM), wherein speech sampled at a Nyquist rate of 8000 samples/second is coded in binary form. PCM is currently used in commercial and military communications systems for speech transmission at bit rates from 32 to 64 kbits/second. Such processing is influenced by a number of variables, such as the type of code employed, the number of bits per sample, and the companding law used, and the influence of these will be considered.


Aims  Ecosystems dominated by herbaceous plant communities are amongst the most diversified landscape units in the Guayana (Guiana) Shield region. This paper aims to present a synthetic overview of the wide array of herbaceous ecosystems found in the region in an attempt to furnish a more concrete baseline for a better understanding of the pattern of variation, and to clarify some of the differences that occur in the vegetation of the area.


(57) Abstract: electrode includes a non-conductive substrate, and a conductive layer comprising in the matrix bound graphite particles and carbon particles coated with a noble metal, and the graphite particles size the highest 20μm, with a surface area of 1~50m The electrode is low level analytes, for example, when combined with the layer containing glucose oxidase, capable of measuring the glucose in sweat.


HIV-1 predominantly infects and depletes CD4 T cell populations. Multiple subsets of CD4 T cells exist, one of which is the follicular helper T (Tfh) subset. This subset is primarily present in lymphoid tissues, such as tonsil tissue, where it is specialized in helping B cells form germinal centers (GCs) for generation of high-affinity class-switched antibodies. Tfh cells in HIV-1 patients are expanded and become a major active and latent HIV-1 reservoir. To explore whether Tfh cells have a unique metabolic program that is responsible for Tfh cell expansion and survival under HIV-1 infection, we used flow cytometric analysis to sort GC Tfh (CD3+CD4+PD-1highCXCR5high) versus non-Tfh (CD3+CD4+PD-1−CXCR5−) cells from tonsil mononuclear cells for RNA sequencing (RNAseq). We found that Tfh cells express significantly lower levels of glycolytic genes, but higher levels of gluconeogenic and fatty acid oxidation genes. Inhibition of glycolysis via a lack of glucose in culture medium aided in the differentiation of Tfh cells from naive CD4 T cells and promoted Tfh cell survival against HIV-1 infection. Furthermore, use of chemical inhibition of alternative metabolic pathways effected the response of T cell subsets to HIV-1 infection. Our studies into metabolism in Tfh cells suggest a relationship between their unique metabolic phenotype and HIV-1 infection, replication and latency.


Proteins are often called the building blocks of life, however they are much more than that. Whole function of life as we know it hinges on proper protein behaviour. Still, there remain many unknowns about the specifics of how the genomic sequence enforces folding to a particular structure, why is this shape necessary to properly fulfil a given function. In particular, one of the most mysterious elements in the process outlined above is structural kink that has been found in approximately 2% of known proteins structures (as indicated by KnotProt (Jamroz et al., 2014) and LinkProt (Dabrowski-Tumanski et al., 2016) databases) – a non-trivial topology of the backbone of the protein chain. This non-triviality is meant in a quasi-mathematical sense – that is, it relates to knots and links described by knot theory, with some provisions made due to the open nature of protein chains, which we explore further in the thesis. This dissertation describes various algorithms and methods useful for study of proteins at different levels of organisation (Fig. 1) – from an algorithm for detecting a non-trivial fold in a structure (presented in Chapter 2), through algorithms for multiple alignment of sequences and methods for relating sequence variance with its corresponding structure (Chapter 3), up to tools and databases for knots and links in multiple chains (presented in Chapter 4).


To study the antioxidant capacity of Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) with different molecular weights, we used hydrogen peroxide to degrade original Astragalus polysaccharide (APS0) with an initial molecular weight of 11.03 kDa and obtained three degraded polysaccharides with molecular weights of 8.38 (APS1), 4.72 (APS2), and 2.60 kDa (APS3). The structures of these polysaccharides were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR, and GC/MS. The degradation process did not cause significant changes in the main chain structure of APS. The monosaccharide component of APS before and after degradation was slightly changed. The antioxidant ability in vitro (removing hydroxyl and ABTS radicals and reducing ability) and in cells (superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde generation) of these polysaccharides is closely related to their molecular weight. If the molecular weight of APS is very high or low, it is not conducive to their activity. Only APS2 with moderate molecular weight showed the greatest antioxidant activity and ability to repair human kidney epithelial (HK-2) cells. Therefore, APS2 can be used as a potential antistone polysaccharide drug.


Although plant tolerance and resistance to pathogens are genetically controlled, they are significantly influenced by environmental nutrition factors. Mineral nutrients can increase or decrease resistance or tolerance to pathogens and pests. Plants receiving ample nutrition have higher resistance to diseases and higher tolerance. This is based on the fact that more vigorous plants have greater capacity to offset a loss of photosynthates, for instance, or reduction in root and leaf surface area caused by infection by pathogens or poor nutrition. In this context, plant mineral nutrition can be considered an environmental nutrition factor that can be manipulated relatively easily, and is an important component in disease control, as well as a tool for managing phytonematodes, reported to be causing losses in countless important agricultural crops. Thus, the aim of this review was to discuss the importance of plant mineral nutrition in the control of phytoparasitic nematodes.


Cognitive radio networks are a new type of multi-channel wireless network in which different nodes can have access to different sets of channels. By providing multiple channels, they improve the efficiency and reliability of wireless communication. However, the heterogeneous nature of cognitive radio networks also brings new challenges to the design and analysis of distributed algorithms. In this paper, we focus on two fundamental problems in cognitive radio networks: neighbor discovery, and global broadcast. We consider a network containing n nodes, each of which has access to c channels. We assume the network has diameter D, and each pair of neighbors have at least k≥1, and at most kmax≤c, shared channels. We also assume each node has at most Δ neighbors. For the neighbor discovery problem, we design a randomized algorithm CSeek which has time complexity Õ( (c2/k) + (kmax/k)*Δ ). CSeek is flexible and robust, which allows us to use it as a generic "filter" to find "well-connected" neighbors with an even shorter running time. We then move on to the global broadcast problem, and propose CGCast, a randomized algorithm which takes Õ( (c2/k) + (kmax/k)*Δ + D*Δ) time. CGCast uses CSeek to achieve communication among neighbors, and uses edge coloring to establish an efficient schedule for fast message dissemination. Towards the end of the paper, we give lower bounds for solving the two problems. These lower bounds demonstrate that in many situations, CSeek and CGCast are near optimal.


This is a note to define topics to be studied in more depth for the Luminosity monitoring for Spin Asymmetries. My numerical examples here are to stimulate discussion and should be taken with a grain of salt. The RHIC Spin experiments will require a very high degree of coordination between the experiments and the accelerator. For example see AGS/RHIC/SN 035. In this note we list some of the issues to be considered in monitoring the relative luminosity between various beam-beam spin combinations and beam-gas combinations. We give simplified numerical examples of the problems encountered in doing the luminosity monitoring to the 10{sup {minus}4} level. It is hoped that this will provide a framework for serious study of these problems with simulations and other means. Many of the issues may also be relevant to pA and AA running where there may be sizable beam-gas backgrounds.


Objective:To study the role of color Doppler ultrasonography(CDUS) in the clinical diagnosis of appendicitis.Methods:The CDUS features of 200 patients with appendicitis acquired by routine examination were retrospectively analyzed and correlated with surgery and pathology findings.Results:Of the 200 patients,there were acute simple appendicitis(81 cases,40.5%),acute suppurative appendicitis(72 cases,36%),acute perforated appendicitis complicated with gangrene(41 cases,20.5%) and chronic appendicitis,(6 cases,3%).Of which,27 patients had complicated peri-appendiceal abscess,5 patients combined with right ovarian and fallopian tube empyema,3 patients had acute attack of chronic appendicitis,3 patients had appendicitis after gall bladder surgery,35 patients had appendiceal intra-luminal fecalith.The CDUS features of acute appendicitis were as follows:marked enlargement of appendix,edema,peri-appendiceal exudate showing hypo-echogenicity around the appendix,hypo-or hetero-echoic mass while complicated with abscess,intra-luminal appendiceal fecalith showing hyper-echoic mass associated with strong posterior shadowing.Curling/ folding of appendix,uneven lumen caliber,narrowing / obliteration of appendiceal lumen or obstruction of appendix by fecalith were the CDUS features of chronic appendicitis.Conclusion:CDUS is a simple,fast,acceptable and repeatable modality for the diagnosis of appendicitis,which is useful in the clinical practice of surgery.


It is known that polymeric materials are easily to get on fire due to their chemical structures. Thus the flame retardant material such as aluminium hydroxide (ATH) is used to improve the flame retardancy property of polymers. Polypropylene (PP) with various amount of nanosized ATH particles of (5, 10, 20, 30, 40 wt%) were compounded with an extruder machine. The effects of two different type of coupling agent (3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) and Maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP)) on the flame retardant properties were compared. All samples were characterized with two flame tests; the limiting oxygen index (LOI) and UL94 horizontal burning test (UL94 HB). It is found that both tests showed improvement on the flame resistance properties of the nanocomposites, mainly at high ATH loadings. Type of coupling agents affects the flame retardancy properties of PP/ATH nanocomposites.


Christians feel that they should not be indifferent to war, and that it is their duty to react to harm, particularly done to civilians. Catholics expect their greatest authority, the Pope, to have a firm say about war and peace. May people, however, have had the impression that Pope Francis is erratic and assesses the situation in a wrong way. Although he follows the beaten track paved by the Church's social science and Vatican diplomacy, some of his statements (and things left unsaid) caused and still are causing controversy. The article attempts at understanding the position of Pope Francis. It analyses his utterances regarding war, taken from sources such as the book titled Against War, speeches and social media (Twitter).


Vagueness is a natural characteristic of language. It exists in concept and meaning originally.In English,vagueness has its positive rhetorical effects.In our daily life and social communication, we should use it appropriately for a certain purpose to avoid the harm to the language.


A unique method for the simultaneous determination of lead and cadmium in airborne dust samples is described. Samples are collected by drawing air through porous cup graphite electrodes and analysed by excitation in a demountable hollow cathode lamp (H.C.L.) coupled to a vidicon detector. Detection limits for lead and cadmium are determined. Some analytical results for field collected samples are communicated.


Abstract Previous research has shown that racial or ethnic prejudice is one of the most influential antecedents of opposition to more expansive immigration policies. In this paper, we explore whether a theoretical perspective derived from the group position model might represent an additional and complementary explanation for immigration attitudes. We also compare how well the prejudice and group position models explain immigration attitudes among both White and Black Americans. Most of the previous work in this literature focuses solely on Whites' attitudes, and it remains unclear how well models designed with this group in mind might also apply to African Americans. We rely upon the 2004–2005 National Politics Study to explore the power of these models. In general, we find that measures derived from the group position model account for immigration attitudes even after controlling for various forms of out-group prejudice. The pattern of results also differs considerably across the two racial groups in our study.


3) See Abraham Moles, Micropsychologie de la Vie Quotidienne (Paris: Denoel Gonthier, 1976) Primacy of everyday life What is everyday life? It is what remains when society has institutionalized everything, it is the web of days, it is the interstitial tissue of agendas. In a social system completely standardized by its institutions, then, everyday life would no longer be the residue, but the main part; because it is what fills life, it is the field of the person's autonomy, where he or she places a personal project, McClelland's need for achievement: Paying attention to the character of daily life and to its environmental framework will be the essential of social determination.1 It is a fact that the web of days plays a greater part in the quality of life.2 We expect the framework to be:


This paper presents a step-down converter with Resonant Switched Capacitor (RSC) that supplies high power light emitting diodes (LEDs), designed for DC nanogrids applications. The proposed converter differs from traditional RSC converters by ZVS (Zero Voltage Switching) turn-off and the stabilization of power delivered to the LEDs. A laboratory prototype of 10 W presented a maximum efficiency of 92.25%, with input voltage of 24 V, output voltage of 10.83 V and output current of 907 mA.


Learning to write needs to be mastered by students as early as possible, especially in the text-based 2013 curriculum. One of the materials related to the exposition text is found in the syllabus of the Indonesian language subject for class VIII, in learning media is needed that is able to arouse students' enthusiasm. The problem studied in this study is how the influence of youtube media in learning to write student exposition texts. This study aims to determine the effect of youtube media in learning to write exposition texts for seventh grade students of SMP Negeri 2 Pematangsiantar. The use of youtube media is expected to make it easier for students to understand the material and be able to write exposition texts. This research is a quantitative experiment. With one group pre-test and post-test design. The researcher used random sampling technique in determining the sample so that class VIII-10 students became the sample in this study. This research was conducted at SMP Negeri 2 Pematangsiantar. The technique of collecting data in this study used an exposition text writing test. Data on students' exposition text writing activities in the study were obtained through pre-test and post-test. Based on the results of data analysis, it can be seen that the average score of students before using the youtube learning media (pre-test) is categorized with a value of 41.1 and the average value after using the youtube learning model (post-test) is categorized as good with a value of 73,06, then the results of the average value of the pre-test and post-test can be seen that there is a difference in the average value before (pre-test) and after using youtube learning media on the ability to write exposition texts for class VIII students of SMP Negeri 2 Pematangsiantar. Based on the results of the pre-test and post-test data analysis, it was obtained tcount (16,732) , then compared tcount with ttable with degrees of freedom N-1 = 29 with the number of N=30 and the significant level = 0.05, it was obtained ttablel  =1, 699. So, tcount (16,732) > ttable (1, 699) which means that there is a difference in the average value before using youtube learning media and after using youtube learning media. Thus Ho is rejected. With the rejection of Ho then Ha is accepted, meaning that there is a significant difference in the skills of writing exposition texts for class VIII SMP Negeri 2 Pematangsiantar students using youtube learning media.


The article presents the rationale for the possible use of microprocessor-based programmable devices of the AVR series in order to develop the nomenclature of meters-indicators for improving the diagnostic methods, including resource-based, of energy-saturated tractors.


Microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) are proteins that physically bind to microtubules in eukaryotes. MAPs play important roles in regulating the polymerization and organization of microtubules and in using the ensuing microtubule arrays to carry out a variety of cellular functions. In plants, MAPs manage the construction, repositioning, and dismantling of four distinct microtubule arrays throughout the cell cycle. Three of these arrays, the cortical array, the preprophase band, and the phragmoplast, are prominent to plants and are responsible for facilitating cell wall deposition and modification, transducing signals, demarcating the plane of cell division, and forming the new cell plate during cytokinesis. This review highlights important aspects of how MAPs in plants establish and maintain microtubule arrays as well as regulate cell growth, cell division, and cellular responses to the environment.


Using all-electron density functional theory with gradient correction, we have investigated the stability of quasi-one-dimensional tubular nanostructures by stacking the pentagonal FeSi10 prism and hexagonal FeSi12 prism along their axes. The local magnetic moments on Fe atoms in finite hexagonal nanotubes increase linearly with tube length, whereas the magnetism in most finite pentagonal nanotubes are quenched owing to the charge transfer and strong hybridization between 4s and 3d states of Fe and 3s and 3p states of Si. The infinite hexagonal nanotube with stoichiometry of FeSi6 is found to be ferromagnetic with magnetic moment per Fe atom comparable to the bulk value. Both pentagonal and hexagonal nanotubes exhibit metallic behaviour in the case of finite and infinite structures. These theoretical results provide useful information for application of spintronics and other nanodevices.


Objective:To study the foot shape and foot growth of Hui nationality juveniles.Methods:According to Shao Xiangqing standard anthropometric method,the length and width of foot were measured and then were subtyped by the ratio of foot width to length in 1 658 Hui nationality juveniles aged 7~17 years in Ningxia Guyuan district.The comparison were made between in Hui and She nationality,Hui and Kazak nationality,Hui and Han nationality.Results:The foot lengtgh and width grew with the increase of age in all juveniles.There was a positive proportion between the length and width. The middle-typed shape foot was the most common one in Hui nationality juveniles.Conclusion:There are differences of foot shape between Hui nationality and other nationality juveniles.the growth and development increases with age.


In 2007, a bulb rot of Allium victorialis var. platyphyllum Makino caused by Sclerotium rolfsii occurred sporadically in a herb farm at Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. The symptom initiated with water-soaking lesion and progressed into bulb rot and wilt of a whole plant. Severely infected plants were blighted and killed eventually. White mycelial mats appeared on the lesion at early stage and a number of sclerotia were formed on the bulb. The sclerotia were spherical, and white to brown. The optimum temperature for the growth and sclerotia formation was on PDA. The hyphal width was measured . The typical clamp connections were observed on PDA. Based on the symptom, mycological characteristics and pathogenicity to the host plant, this fungus was identified as Sclerotium rolfsii Saccardo. This is the first report on the bulb rot of A. victorialis var. platyphyllum caused by S. rolfsii in Korea.


ABSTRACT Laboratory tests involving a one-fourth scale bridge abutment, approach pavement, four different backfill materials, horizontal layers of geotextile reinforcement, and vertical geocomposite drainage systems were performed to experimentally evaluate approach backfill and subdrain performance of bridges in Iowa. The results from these tests included measurements of void development from collapse-induced volume change in the backfill, approach pavement settlement, and drainage capacity. Based on 14 different tests, it was determined that horizontal layers of geotextile reinforcement in the backfill or the use of open-graded clean gravel backfill can reduce void development under the approach pavements. From a subsurface drainage capacity standpoint, the incorporation of vertical geocomposite drainage products can increase the drainage capacity by over 10 times compared with sandy backfill materials. The findings in the paper suggest relatively low-cost changes that could improve field performance of...


Palm diaspores are reported to have various kinds of dormancy. However, (1) the embryo is under-developed; (2) the endocarp is water permeable; and (3) the diaspores take a long time to germinate. Thus, we conclude that the diaspores of the majority of palm species have morphophysiological dormancy (MPD). The ones that do not have MPD are morphologically dormant.


Avoidance of towed nets by the common oceanic euphausiid crustacean Nemaloscel;s lIlegalops was studied by comparing aspects of its sampling distribution as revealed by day and night catches of two nets of different size. one with a 1 m" mouth opening and one with a 10 m" opening. Both nets yield essentially the same pattern in vertical distribution. Paired tows yield a highly significant agreement in nighttime abundance estimates, but do not give comparabledaytime estimates. Night catches, especially with the smaller net. exceed day catches, an effect which is interpreted as result ing from greater avoidance during the day. Comparisons between nets show that neither size net has a superior catch rate, day or night. No particular size grOllp of the species is caught with greatereffi ciency by either net. When N. me[}alops'center of ctistribution is shallower, differences between day and night catches can be substantially enhanced. Application of Barkley's avoidance theory indicates that the potential advantage of greater mouth area of the larger net is effectively cancelled by individuals reacting to the approach of the net at a greater distance. Other theoretical predictions which depend upon the assumption of increasing escape velocities as a function of body size are not corroborated by the field data. Thus, field popula tion size-frequency distributions are probably not materially affected by avoidance. The evidence suggests that N. lIlegalops uses vision to detect the net approach. Net contrast with the background due to down-welling light during the day and bioluminescence produced in and around the net both day and night appear to be the most likely stimuli. Future efforts to reduce net avoidance by species like N. lIlegalops must focus on reduction of these signals.


Simple Summary A centralized distribution of specialized oncologic facilities is a widely repeated situation in many latitudes around the globe, limiting the patient's access options to specialized treatments. Strategies to alleviate the overpassed attention capacities in low- and middle-income countries, such as Peru, have driven the attention of practitioners towards hypofractionated treatments. In order to shorten treatment times and hospital visits, treating ocular conjunctival carcinoma with a single-fraction electronic brachytherapy approach arises as a novel option, which further increases the current therapeutic arsenal against this entity. We aim to report the clinical findings of this treatment modality, in terms of feasibility, oncological outcomes and toxicity profile, while opening a new possibility of diminishing patient- and health care-related financial impact. Abstract A retrospective study was performed to assess the outcomes of a single-fraction adjuvant electronic brachytherapy (e-BT) approach for patients with squamous cell conjunctival carcinoma (SCCC). Forty-seven patients with T1–T3 SCCC were included. All patients underwent surgery followed by a single-fraction adjuvant e-BT with a porTable 50-kV device. Depending on margins, e-BT doses ranged between 18 to 22 Gy prescribed at 2 mm depth, resembling equivalent doses in 2 Gy (EQD2) per fraction of 46–66 Gy (α/β ratio of 8–10 Gy and a relative biological effect (RBE) of 1.3). The median age was 69 (29–87) years. Most tumors were T1 (40.4%) or T2 (57.5%) with a median size of 7 mm (1.5–20). Margins were positive in 40.4% of cases. The median time from surgery to e-BT was nine weeks (0–37). After a median follow-up of 24 (17–40) months, recurrence occurred in only two patients (6 and 7 months after e-BT), yielding a median disease-free survival (DFS) of 24 (6–40) months and DFS at two years of 95.7%. Acute grade 2 conjunctivitis occurred in 25.5%. E-BT is a safe and effective for SCCC treatment, with clinical and logistic advantages compared to classical methods. Longer follow-up and prospective assessment are warranted.


During the 1990s, India saw tremendous changes in the economy and many Indian firms enjoyed the benefits of the Government's open policy. On-going process of relaxation in trade barriers and tariffs and the phasing-out of Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) are and will create many opportunities for growth. Changes in the external environment will impose challenges as well as create many opportunities for Indian firms. The focus of this paper is to identify the challenges and propose strategies for Indian multinationals. This would enable them to counter the challenges, leverage the opportunities and extend their product and service offering beyond the shores of the country. This paper analyses the pre-2010 period on the rationale that the strategies adopted by a firm during the years leading to 2010 will play an important role in judging how competitive it will be in the future. We have developed an Evolution Map and propose the use of a Competitive Map for an analysis of the Firm and its Product and Service offering. These tools will help companies identify and locate their relative position in their industries, assess their resources and capabilities, and help devise a future course of action. Following a methodical approach, we have analysed the market characteristics, and identified the Internal and External challenges that firms will face beyond 2010. We have developed a model to identify the strategies that firms need to implement to counter these challenges and stay competitive. Our strategy model and the Key Action Points provide a roadmap for firms who wish to carry their industry leadership to foreign lands. We give a thorough treatment of the key elements of each core strategy and finally analyse the key sectors of the Indian industry and identify some potential Indian multinationals of 2010.


Resistance exercise stimulates mTOR signaling and muscle protein synthesis (MPS) during post‐exercise recovery in humans. Rapamycin is a specific inhibitor of mTOR and is often used to inhibit protein synthesis in cell models and rodent skeletal muscle in vivo. We hypothesized that the administration of rapamycin to human subjects prior to a bout of resistance exercise would prevent the increase in MPS during early post‐exercise recovery. We studied young men that ingested rapamycin (12mg) 2 hr prior to exercise (Rapamycin; N=7) and a Control group that did not receive rapamycin (N=8). Rapamycin and Control subjects performed a bout of heavy resistance exercise and muscle biopsies were obtained at 1 and 2 hours post‐exercise. Stable isotope and immunoblotting techniques were used to determine MPS and phosphorylation of proteins involved in the regulation of MPS. We found that MPS increased during post‐exercise recovery in the Control group (P<0.05) but was unchanged in the Rapamycin group (P>0.05). In addition, phosphorylation of mTOR (Ser2448), S6K1 (Thr389) and S6 (Ser240/244 and 235/236) were partially inhibited and S6K1 (Thr421/Ser424), eEF2 (Thr56) and ERK1/2 (Thr202/Tyr204) and MNK1 (Thr197/202) were completely blocked during post‐exercise recovery in the Rapamycin group. Raptor association with mTORC1 also tended to be higher in the Control group (as compared to the Rapamycin group) at 2 hours post‐exercise (P=0.06). We conclude that the increase in MPS following an acute bout of resistance exercise appears to be rapamycin dependent indicating that mTOR signaling is playing an important role in regulating the post‐exercise protein anabolic response.


Onion (Allium cepa L.) is the most important commercial vegetable and spice crop grown in India. It is popularly known as "Queen of kitchen" due to its various benefits. In India, it is grown over an area of 1.09 million hectares with an annual production of 17.51 million tons and productivity of 14.35 t ha -1 (Anon., 2016). India ranks second in the world after China by contributing 12.30 per cent to the world onion production. Karnataka is one of International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 2 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com


The utility model relates to a machining jig and an electrode, in particular to a jig for spot welding. The jig for spot welding is characterized by comprising a clutch, the electrode, a bracket, a first cylinder, a first guide rail, a second cylinder, a second guide rail, a first push plate and a second push plate. The clutch is connected with the bracket which is connected with a workbench in a movable mode, the electrode, the first cylinder, the first guide rail, and the second cylinder and the second guide rail are arranged on the periphery of the bracket. The first push plate is fixedly connected with the first cylinder, the second push plate is fixedly connected with the second cylinder, a slide groove of the first guide rail is provided with a hexagon nut, and a slide groove of the second guide rail is provided with a spherical cap. The electrode can be adapted to the size of the cap-shaped nut automatically, open and close of fingers of the jig for spot welding are flexible, stable and even gripping force is produced, and meanwhile the demand for a control system is lowered.


Caenorhabditis elegans is an instructive and suitable model for studying pathogenesis of almost all human pathogens. Salmonella Typhi is gram-negative facultative intracellular anaerobe that causes several pathetic infections. Necessary enriched nutrient ingestion during pathological conditions may reduce the harshness of the infection. We investigated the impact of folate and food supplementation during S. Typhi infection on the model system, C. elegans. Our data indicated that folate supplementation (10 μg) increases the lifespan of S. Typhi infected C. elegans up to 20%. In combination with laboratory food source E. coli OP50, folate increases the infected the worm's lifespan to 40%. The wild type C. elegans infected by S. Typhi died with the LT50 of 60 ± 12 h. The LT50 of S. Typhi infected folt-1 mutant strain VC959 was 96 ± 6 h. However, the folate supplemented mutant worms exhibited an extended life with LT50 of 120 ± 6 h. The short time exposure and pharyngeal pumping studies confirmed that folt-1 mutant worm exhibited increased survival rate during pathogenic course at significant level when compared to wild-type. Our data revealed that folt-1 plays a significant role in host defense system against S. Typhi infection and the folate supplementation in combination with food increases the host survival during S. Typhi infection.


Aim at the problem of the communication signal blind source separation,a novel blind separation algorithm based on step size adaptation(EASIBSA) to increase the convergence rate of the separation algorithm was present by using the idea of parameter adaptation optimization,which was based on Equivariant Adaptive Separation via Independent(EASI)algorithm.This algorithm related the learning rate with the object function and adapted it by using the stochastic gradient method,which avoided the selection of optimum learning rate and speed up the convergence rate.Simulation results showed that improved algorithm could increase the convergence rate of separation algorithm by two times without affecting the separation capability.


Aimed at fuzzy and uncertainty of fault responded by single sensor information, and low accuracy of engine fault diagnosis, MSF fault diagnosis method of engine fuel injector was proposed based on fuzzy logic. A type of engine fuel injector of 12-cylinder was set up to form five kinds of fault,they are nozzle blockage,needle valve clip,spring break,very low and very high pressure of needle valve open.Eight feature parameters were combined with diagnosis system of fuzzy logic inference, and membership degree functions of eight feature parameters and output membership degree functions of six states were set up respectively. This new method can improve fault diagnosis accuracy of engine effectively.


Cite this article: Stewart, M. et al 2020. A taxonomic and taphonomic study of Pleistocene fossil deposits from the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia – Addendum. Quaternary Research 98, 102. https://doi.org/ 10.1017/qua.2020.45 Quaternary Research Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2020. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. doi:10.1017/qua.2020.45


Web page operation enhanced: for (WPBE web page behavior enhancement) control elements that allow the user to perform an action for at least a portion of the web page content, such as personalized content, editing, sharing, analysis, export, and / or commentary It is provided on the rendered Web page. The processing content may be obtained for may be present in the local version is saved as, or subsequent to use of the Web page the original web page, wherein, there are any changes to the original web page content can be traced, and Users can be notified about the changes. WPBE control element (s) may be embedded in web application performance, browser capabilities, user preferences, usage patterns, and based on such factors as the source Web application or Web browser to a local page.


All procedures of assisted fertilization are dependent on a multifollicular recruitment and growth in response to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH). An acceptable pregnancy rate can only be obtained by transferring numerous embryos or oocytes. However, a poor response to COH, defined as few maturing follicles and low estradiol levels, is regularly observed, especially in patients in their late thirties, in ovarian endometriosis, and when there are extensive pelvic adhesions. On the other hand, in patients with the polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), COH often leads to excessive stimulation, with an increased risk of developing the ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). Retrieval of oocytes was previously performed by laparoscopy, but is now mostly performed by transvaginal ultrasound technique. In cases of tubal infertility, in vitro fertilization and transfer to the uterine cavity (IVF) have to be performed. However, when the Fallopian tubes are patent, several options exist, e.g. IVF, gamete intra-Fallopian transfer (GIFT), and tubal embryo stage transfer (TEST). The purposes of the present study were:


Magic was a pervading issue in the Greco-Roman world at the time of Philo. Reading Philo's works, one realizes that he too was familiar with various practices of magic in his social world of Alexandria. Scholarly studies concerning the phenomenon of magic and magical practices as reflected in the works of Philo are, however, very rare. Furthermore, among the many studies published on magic in ancient Roman Egypt, very little is to be found on Philo's views and attitudes. This chapter tries to remedy some of this lack of research by focusing on some aspects of magic, and especially on the exposition of the Balaam episode in the works of Philo. It reviews of some issues discussed in recent studies on ancient magic; then investigates Philo's vocabulary of magic, and his exposition of the Balaam figure. Keywords: Balaam; Greco-Roman; magic; Philo


Optical spectra of jet-cooled diatomic YF have been recorded using resonant two-photon ionization spectroscopy. A vibrational progression corresponding to the cΣ1+3←XΣ+1 system has been identified. The vibrational frequency ωe′ and anharmonicity ωe′xe′ of the cΣ+3 state are 546.70 and 2.45cm−1, respectively. The 0-0, 1-0, and 2-0 bands of the cΣ1+3←XΣ+1 system were rotationally resolved and analyzed, allowing the v′=0, 1, and 2 levels of the cΣ1+3 substate to be characterized. From these studies, Be′=0.26981(3)cm−1, αe′=0.00172(3)cm−1, and re′=1.9979(1)A were obtained (1σ error limits). For these levels the spin-spin coupling constant λv is identical within experimental error, as λ=−22.5cm−1. The spin-forbidden cΣ1+3←XΣ+1 transition is made allowed by spin-orbit interaction between the cΣ1+3 and the BΠ1 states. Excited state lifetimes of the cΣ1+3 and the BΠ1 states have been measured as 7.11(41) and 0.133(15)μs, respectively. A spin-orbit analysis shows that the cΣ1+3 state is contaminated with 2% BΠ1 ch...


Israel's recent massive military incursion into Lebanon raises some important questions in United States law as well as in international law. Article 6 of the United States Constitution declares that "all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land." Israeli actions, which have been condoned by the present United States government, violate a number of treaties to which the United States is a state-party.


The article is devoted to the issues of retrospective analysis of the influence of religious and philosophical currents on the development of state administration systems in order to form an understanding of their interrelationships and interdependence, which is highly relevant. The state develops under the influence of social, economic, technological, socio-political, religious and other factors. In turn, the development of these factors has a direct dependence on the formation of epistemological approaches to the understanding and acceptance by society of new ideas, philosophical currents, which allow forming a new or changing the old value system of a person as an individual and society as a collection of these individuals, taking into account the subjective needs, as well as social (joint) requirements for the state administration system. Considering the active period of social transformations caused by geopolitical, economic, social, environmental and other problems of the development of state administration systems, it is advisable to pay attention to the retrospective analysis of philosophical and religious currents on the development of society in order to form an idea of their influence on the processes taking place in society. The article analyzes the philosophical thoughts of Oleksandr Shmeman, which has an important historical significance for the transformational development of the state. The peculiarities of the development of theological concepts are determined, taking into account the approaches of epistemology, which influenced the formation and development of the processes of state formation. Thanks to the research, the essence of the processes of criticism of religion and cult was revealed. The article examines the concept of scholastic dualism, reflects the differences between the sacred and the profane (secular), explores the transformations of the concepts of symbolism and rationalism. As a result of the analysis and the accumulation of theological experience, the ways of interaction between religious and philosophical currents and the development of the state were determined. Philosophical methods of cognition, epistemological methods, methods of analysis and comparison, methods of synthesis and others are used among the main research methods. So, as a result of the analysis, the influence of philosophical and religious currents on the formation of the foundations of the development of the city and the movement of social processes was determined. The duality of this interaction is noted, the connection between society and philosophy and religion is dual and inevitable. One current causes the transformation of state processes, some social processes cause the transformation of philosophical and religious currents.


The objective of this research was to analyze (or characterize) what motivational factors are involved in the continuity of the academic development of students in the Graduate School of Jojutla. The study is quantitative, descriptive, and transversal. The population is composed of 346 students who entered college in 2014. A sample of 52 students out of this population was selected, from the majors of Business Management, Accounting, Law, Environmental Sciences, Psychology, and Computer Science. The data collection instrument was developed by Esquivel and Arjona (2003), which measured the dimensions of security, affiliation or affection, self-fulfillment, achievement, power, recognition, and knowledge. The results showed that 72.7% of new students place a very high value on the knowledge dimension: learning new things, improve study skills, do research, better overall job training, and interest in learning. However, in other dimensions, such as affiliation or affection, the percentage given by students is 9.1%. While the study consists of a small sample, the results provide important information on motivation as a factor that must be considered and evaluated throughout the academic record of the student in order to prevent dropouts and increase terminal efficiency.