The common apolipoprotein E (apoE) gene (APOE) ϵ2/ϵ3/ϵ4 polymorphism explains part of serum lipid variation, and polymorphisms in the APOE promoter region have been proposed to participate in the regulation of serum lipid levels within the most common APOE ϵ3/ϵ3 genotype group. We determined APOE −219G/T and +113G/C promoter genotypes and estimated APOE haplotypes in 525 participants of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. We studied the associations of the APOE promoter polymorphisms and their haplotypes with cross-sectional and longitudinal serum lipid and apolipoprotein concentrations as well as with flow-mediated dilatation (FMD), carotid artery compliance (CAC), and intima-media thickness (IMT) within the APOE ϵ3/ϵ3 carriers. We found no significant association between the APOE promoter genotypes and serum lipids [low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), HDL-C, and triglycerides], apolipoproteins (apoA-I and apoB), or brachial artery FMD, CAC, or carotid IMT in either men or women. In longitudinal analyses in males, the carriers of heterozygous genotypes (−219G/T or +113G/C) and, furthermore, carriers of the −219T/+113C/ϵ3 haplotype had significantly higher LDL-C and total cholesterol concentrations throughout the 21 year follow-up period compared with homozygous G allele carriers or noncarriers of the −219T/+113C/ϵ3 haplotype. Such associations were not found in females. In summary, the APOE promoter polymorphisms −219G/T and +113G/C as well as their haplotype are associated with longitudinal changes in LDL-C and total cholesterol concentrations in young Finnish males but do not seem to be major determinants for FMD, CAC, or carotid IMT in males or females.


N-Hydroxymethylmorpholine, the product of the reaction of morpholine with formaldehyde, is an efficient H-donor molecule in the hydrodimerisation of butadiene catalysed by nickel(0) complex–phosphine systems; N-formylmorpholine is obtained as a byproduct.


Abstract How can learnings from innovative and sustainable operation and maintenance (O&M) of bridges contribute to improved planning for and design of bridges? The present article will highlight how important it is to consider O&M issues already in the planning and design phase. Durable solutions; easy access for inspection, repair and renewal projects; and consideration of necessary traffic regulating measures are vital to cost optimal operation. Likewise, asset management systems that are able to provide precise and current performance information are vital to cost optimal operation. Today's bridge owners demand solutions that maximise reliability and availability as well as minimise costs, environmental impacts and the probability of loss of life and limb. To accommodate this, it is important to consider both experience from O&M of existing bridges and the possibilities that come with application of new technologies.


With the aim of better understanding the tight gas reservoirs in Zizhou area, east Ordos Basin, 222 samples were collected from 50 wells for a series of experiments. In this study, the three pore-throat combination types in sandstones were revealed and confirmed to play the controlling role in the throat size distribution and the gas-water relative permeability characteristics. Type-I sandstones are dominated by intercrystalline micropores connected by cluster throats, of which the throat size distribution curves are narrow with high single kurtosis (>30%). The pores in type-II sandstones dominantly consist of secondary dissolution pores and intercrystalline micropores, and throats mainly occur as slice-shaped throats along cleavages between the rigid grain margins and cluster throats in clay cement. The throat size distribution curves of type-II sandstones show a bimodal distribution with a substantial low-value region between the peaks (<15%). Primary intergranular pores and secondary intergranular pores are mainly found in type-III samples, which were connected by various throats. The throat size distribution curves of type-III show a nearly normal distribution with low kurtosis (10%), and the micron-scale throat radii (>0.5 μm) constitute a large proportion. From type-I to type-III sandstones, the irreducible water saturation (Swo) decreased; furthermore, the slope of the curves of Krw/ Krg in the two-phase saturation zone decreased and the two-phase saturation zone increased, indicating that the gas relative flow ability increased. Variations in the permeability exist in sandstones with different pore-throat combination types, which indicate type-III sandstones are better reservoirs, followed by type-II sandstones and type-I sandstones. As an important factor affecting the reservoir quality, the pore-throat combination type in sandstones is the cumulative expression of lithology and diagenetic modifications with strong heterogeneity.


substitute the thyroid. The immigrating cells destroy also some of the colloid of the acini. In acini which are attacked by lymphocytes, mitoses occur. We find here typical homoio-reaction of connective tissue, vessels and lymphocytes, and yet hypertrophy has taken place.


It is unusual to find a giant invasive basal cell carcinoma in the occipital region of the head. We are presenting a case of basal cell carcinoma invading and eroding occipital bone, managed with an unusual scalp reconstruction method. A 69-year-old female presented with a 16x19 cm diameter tumour in the occipital region. Preoperative biopsy revealed a basal cell carcinoma. A complete surgical excision of the tumour was performed in one-step surgery and tissue defect was reconstructed by a pedicle latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous flap. Our case shows that this distant pedicle flap is safe and reliable, and should be revised as the option for the occipital region reconstruction.


Prototypes and models have been used to obtain information on detailed engineering parameters of design for quite some time. Prototypes reduce complexity in the design process by providing a platform for empirical testing of design assumptions. Unfortunately, the production of sufficiently complex prototypes for products such as hand-held mobile terminals, which incorporate both physical and data features, has been costly and time consuming. Thus it has been difficult to use them to generate up-front data such as details of customer needs. To address this problem, the notions of virtual prototypes, use of several successive prototype rounds, and partial prototypes have been put forth. The use of virtual prototypes has been useful, but the lack of a physical domain in them has been a limiting factor in product concept testing and user feedback studies. Resorting to several prototyping rounds has taken into account the need to take in customer feedback between design iterations and has allowed changes to be made, but has not addressed the cost and time consumption of these iterations. Partial prototypes and models of select product properties have been used to save on the cost and time it takes to produce a full prototype, but they have often lacked the depth needed. In this paper, the concept of product demonstrators is put forward to bridge the gap between the physical and virtual domains while retaining the flexibility and speed of the virtual prototypes. A modular demonstrator platform for performing fast demonstrations is presented as an implementation of the concept.


Introduction The Many Faces of Security in Sri Lanka Good Governance and the New Aid Regime Partnership in Development and NGOs: A Critique of Donor Conceptions Sovereignty and Humanitarian Relief Organizations Conclusion Index


In a prospective study of patients with serum hepatitis, 46 (74%) of 62 had Australia antigen in their serum. This high frequency of detectable antigen was probably due to sampling at weekly intervals during the acute phase of the disease. Antigen became detectable 35 to 120 days after exposure to contaminated blood products and persisted for one week to three months in 42 patients, and for more than ten months in 4 patients. Two of 128 healthy chimpanzees and one of 14 healthy gibbons also had the antigen. Antigens found in sera of patients with infectious or serum hepatitis and in ape sera were immunologically identical. Electron microscopy revealed morphologically similar virus-like particles both in sera from patients with hepatitis and from healthy apes. Australia antigen appears to be hepatitis virus itself, and a single virus group may be responsible for both infectious and serum hepatitis.


Predation rates for the anthocorid predator Lyctocoris campestris (F.) against varying densities of late-instar Plodia interpunctella (Hubner) were compared in whole corn, whole wheat, or rolled oa...


Sincerity is the traditional virtue of the Chinese nation,and a prerequisite of market economy.Through anatomy of the root of the lack of sincerity among college students,it is put forward that we should intensify the publicity power of sincerity education for the establishment of good social ethic practice,that we should reinforce the campus cultural construction and actively implement the practical activities of sincerity morality and practice,that we should establish and perfect the sincerity invigilation system for college students,that we should consolidate the supervision and control of network behavior and put an end to the occurrence of law violation and improper manners,and that the sincerity education for college students should be dependent on the force of the whole society with the trinity of educational system of school education as the principal part,the familial and social sincerity education as the secondary part.


This article introduces a group of articles on the history of paper and issues of scarcity in the history of newspapers and news media generally. The articles discussed share a concern with the parallels between paper scarcities in newspaper history and spectrum scarcities in broadcast history. This introductory essay comments on the similarities and differences between the two kinds of scarcity and comments more broadly on the rise and fall of bottlenecks in media systems, paying attention both to how scholars have discussed materialities of media communication and how legacy news media in the digital era have encountered a new competitive landscape.


The study concerns the planning system on the mineral planning based on government and market approach. The case studies are mining policy in the Netherlands and Indonesia. The locus of the study is to analyze the mineral planning system in both the Netherlands and Indonesia from government and market approaches' point of view. To analyze the mineral planning system, several criteria for optimal land use on the mineral planning are needed. Sustainability, justice, and efficiency criteria are used to elaborate the mineral planning system in this research.The Netherlands, based on its geology, has limited mineral resources and they are distributed unevenly. The richer area is located in the southern part of this country. Governmental involvement on minerals can be seen in shifting of mineral policy in the Netherlands. The shifting in mineral planning policy was based on the issue which faced on excavation activities in this country, interregional and European trans-boundary issue. The regional government functions as authorized institution for granting the excavation permit. The market-oriented approach has shaped the mineral policy in the Netherlands lately rather than governmentoriented approach.Indonesia seems to have no problems in fulfilling its mineral requirements even though not all regions are able to fulfill their material needs. Indonesian geological condition makes this country has variety and huge amounts of mineral resources. Some environmental and investment issues arise regarding mining activities in certain area. The issues are triggered by decentralized governmental systems in Indonesia is not followed by new mining regulation. Based on Indonesian regulation, the local government has authority in ranting permit issue in its local quarrying site. It will be task of provincial government if the mining location is trans-locals and central government will take the responsibility for trans-provincial location. The market approach still becomes orientation of mineral planning policy in Indonesia during the last 30 years.The sustainability, justice, and efficiency criteria are in analyzing the mineral planning system in the Netherlands and Indonesia. Since the Netherlands has adopted market-oriented in its mineral planning approach, there is declining in sustainability of minerals. The declining is seen from cancelling several parts of the National Structure Plan on Surface Raw Materials which related to attain sustainable minerals. From the beginning, sustainable mineral is not clearly stated in Indonesian policy. The right of landowners to refuse the research of potential minerals in Indonesia is stronger than the Netherlands. From the investment side, the unjust treatment between domestic and foreign company occur in Indonesia. Otherwise, the similar treatment of mining companies occurs in the Dutch mineral planning. Granting excavation permission in Indonesia is more efficient than the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, it may need more than 10 years to get excavation permission while it is only some month in Indonesia.Finally, there are some notes for getting optimal mineral planning system for the Netherlands and Indonesia. The study recommends that the Netherlands has to keep its sustainable mineral concept like its previous regulation. The Netherlands has to improve the efficiency in granting excavation permit. Sustainable mineral should state clearly in Indonesian mineral regulation which is never stated before. To encourage the foreign investment, the role of domestic and foreign mining company has to be similar in Indonesia mineral planning.


Democratization, Vol.7, No.1 (Spring 2000), pp.1–00 PUBLISHED BY FRANK CASS, LONDON Less than a decade after the European Union started to extend its democracy promotion efforts to its southern neighbours, there are few if any signs of many tangible results. Without ostentatiously repudiating the European prodemocracy agenda, North African governments have contrived either to nullify its impact or to reorient it towards projects compatible with their own objectives. Of course, the fruits were never expected to appear in the short term, even by the most optimistic of democracy promoters. None the less, it is reasonable to enquire whether by this time the EU effort is starting to fuel processes likely to enhance the prospects of democracy in the long term. The contributions published in this collection raise serious doubts as to whether this really is the case. Given these doubts, this concluding assessment attempts to reassess the strategy upon which EU democracy promotion policies in North Africa have been based. Such a discouraging first term report has not led the contributors to these pages to conclude on a note of fatalism. Nobody has argued that the EU should abandon this line of policy or replace it with a more modest enterprise, such as focusing merely upon 'good governance'. The emergent consensus informing this collection has revolved around a number of commonly held propositions:


Rifting initiation and development in Western Sundaland is spectacularly synchronous and diffuse spatially, with only one exception, the Malay Peninsula that appears as a large crustal horst, weakly deformed and thus isolated from the presently offshore stretched crust. Cenozoic stratigraphic records are limited onshore, with only isolated conglomeratic series that are keys to integrating the Malay Peninsula in the regional chronology of events. This study focuses on the Lawin and Chenderoh conglomeratic series, located in the Perak Valley, Peninsular Malaysia, that were previously interpreted as Late Tertiary to Quaternary in age, albeit without proper basin analysis and/or geochronological data. Through a GIS‐based kinematic analysis, we investigate the deformation affecting the basement rocks, while a field‐based study and palynomorph analysis were used to constrain the tectonic framework at the time of deposition of each conglomeratic series. Our findings reveal that the Lawin alluvial fan was deposited during an episode of E–W extension controlled by a N–S normal fault. The fan evolved from debris flow to sheet flooding depositional stages. The palynomorph study suggests a burial from the Pliocene onwards (<5 Ma) but older series are suspected at depth. From the Oligocene Chenderoh shale unit, a Miocene age of the conglomeratic series is inferred. Chenderoh conglomerate is believed to have developed within pre‐existing isolated depressions formed during regional transtensional events. Our study reveals that the Malay Peninsula was indeed affected by extension in the Late Palaeogene‐Early Neogene, but with low rates of subsidence as compared to rapidly subsiding offshore basins.


ABSTRACT Flicker shift and flicker stability on advanced super dimension switch (ADS) mode liquid crystal display has been studied based on a 9-in. ADS mode screen which is oriented by rubbing. Firstly, the dependence of flicker shift on polyimide (PI) material was studied by testing four PI materials, including three PI materials of N company (N1, N2, N3) and one PI material of J company (J1). The results show that flicker value of N1 PI material changes most mildly with the continuous lighting time, that is, the N1 PI material performs best on flicker shift among the four PI materials. Secondly, the dependence of flicker stability on passivation layer (PVX) thickness, PI pre-cure temperature, PI main-cure temperature and post-anneal temperature were studied by conducting a four-factor and two-level 1/2 fractional factorial design of experiment (DOE) test. The results of the DOE test indicate that flicker stability could be improved by the increase of PI main cure temperature and the decrease of post-anneal temperature. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


INTRODUCTION
Subpubic cartilaginous cysts (SCCs) are rare.

AIM
This is the first reported case of a male patient presenting with neurological and sexual symptoms due to an SCC.

METHOD
We describe the clinical history of a patient who reported neuralgic pain, numbness in the groin and base of his penis, and loss of sexual function.

RESULTS
A magnetic resonance imaging revealed the presence of an SCC with associated mass effect. A conservative approach was adopted and within 12 months, the cyst had decreased in size and his symptoms had improved.

CONCLUSIONS
Men who present with erectile dysfunction and neurological symptoms merit a thorough assessment including appropriate investigation to exclude organic pathology.


Great Recession has brought the need to model and assess the financial markets with unconventional approaches. The nature of consumer behavior in financial markets has become crucial as real and financial sector comoving overtime was a dream of no rationality. The union of consumers looking for higher wealth and speculative stock market participants was not a sustainable case. But, what happened to the consumers/investors in emerging economies? This chapter assesses the behavior of emerging stock markets during the turmoil using weekly data for Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa and Turkey with US as the benchmark for January 2003–March 2014. Two unconventional methods are used for checking asymmetric contagion; the wavelet comovement and frequency domain causality. The findings show that markets with rather high concentration of foreign investors are highly affected but consumers were not due to smaller participation. The asymmetric contagion argument is verified for some emerging markets as consumers/investors suffered as much as any other market participant.


The growing utilisation of the slurry as a viable economic means of transporting large bulk quantities of solids such as coal, iron ore, wood (wood chips, etc.) reduced to suitably sized particles, has in recent years also led to the application of slurry technology to load and unload ships. These import and export functions when carried out with a standard bulk carrier and making use of Single Point Mooring terminals require two distinct facilities, thus requiring a distinction for an export SPM slurry terminal and an import SPM slurry terminal. The SPM slurry loading system in operation at Waipipi, New Zealand is briefly described. Two main concepts for Import slurry terminals utilising an SPM SYSTEM are the dedicated bulk carrier system and the SPM importing terminal with portable slurry generating equipment. The advantages and disadvantages of each system are discussed. Single point mooring systems are of two generic types, the most common designs of which are the Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring (CALM) and the Single Anchor Leg Mooring (SALM). A description is given of a typical CALM system emphasising the design features which are peculiar to slurry transport. The paper concludes with an outline of the design process for a CALM terminal. Order from BSRA as No. 54,807.


Effective in vitro maturation (IVM) is essential for successful in vitro embryo production. The morphology of the cumulus investment before and after IVM may be a useful noninvasive indicator of oocyte quality. In pigs, oocyte developmental competence is reduced during the summer months. The aim of this study was to determine whether the morphology of cumulus-oocyte complexes (COC) before and after IVM are associated with oocyte quality, using COC collected from small and large follicles in summer and winter as models of poor and good oocyte quality. Ovaries were collected from sows slaughtered 4 days after weaning. The COC recovered from small (3-4 mm) and large (5-8 mm) antral follicles were morphologically graded and parthenogenetically activated following IVM during winter (n = 1419; 10 replicates) and summer (n = 2803; 10 replicates). Grade 1 and 2 COC had >2 layers of compact cumulus cells and a homogenous cytoplasm. Grade 3 COC were either partially or fully denuded, had a heterogeneous cytoplasm, or were vacuolated or dark in color. Grade 4 COC had expanded cumulus cells. Cumulus expansion was also assessed subsequent to IVM. The COC recorded as having a cumulus expansion index (CEI) of 1 had the poorest expansion with no detectable response to IVM, whereas those with a CEI of 4 had the greatest amount of expansion, including that of the corona radiata. Data were analyzed using a generalized linear mixed model in GenStat® (release 10, VSN International, Hemel Hempstead, UK). There was an effect of follicle size for Grade 1 COC, with COC from large follicles in both seasons yielding better quality COC (P 0.05). The proportion of oocytes that developed to blastocysts was greater in winter than in summer (39.06% ± 5.67 v. 22.27% ± 4.01; P < 0.05). Oocytes derived from large follicles had a greater ability to form blastocysts compared with those from small follicles (37.13% ± 5.65 v. 23.32% ± 4.56; P < 0.06). Morphological assessment of cumulus cells before and after IVM may be a useful tool to evaluate the effects of follicle size on oocyte developmental competence. However, the results of the present study indicate that cumulus cell morphology is not a good indicator of the effect of season on oocyte developmental competence.


Snow avalanches are a significant natural hazard that impact roads, structures and threaten human lives in mountainous terrain. The extent of avalanches is usually evaluated using topographic or statistic models. These models are well capable to simulate contemporary events, but uncertainties increase as soon as longer return periods are investigated. Thus, there is a real need for validation of modelling procedures to corroborate model predictions. In the present work, dendrogeomorphology has been used as a validation tool. This approach is based on the fact that trees affected by mass movements record the evidence of geomorphic disturbance in their growth-ring series and thereby provide a precise geochronological tool for the reconstruction of past mass movement activity. This PhD thesis presents a new tree-ring-based semi-quantitative approach for the identification of avalanche events based on the analytical skills of the dendrogeomorphic expert and proposes an evaluation of the completeness of tree-ring records. Furthermore, this work proposes the first cross-validation of high return period avalanches derived from a locally calibrated statistical-dynamical model and the long-term, higher-return period information gathered from tree-ring records. Comparison of relations between runout distances and return periods between both approaches shows very good agreement for events with return periods of < 300 yr. Finally, a statistical analysis of avalanche-climate relations suggests that tree rings preferentially record events that occurred during cold winter storms with heavy precipitation.


As early as 1913, Arthur Waley (1889 -1966) , British translator and sinologist of the 20th century, made acquaintance with Ezra Pound and became a member of the Bluesberg cultural circles. Pound valued Waleys translation of Chinese poetry, and made every effort to ask him for contributions to his magazine. However, the two actually had rather different poetic views, and showed distinct purports and styles in their translation of Chinese poetry.


Abstract—Objects are usually horizontally sliced when printed by 3D printers. Therefore, if an object to be printed, such as a collection of fibers, originally has natural direction in shape, the printed direction contradicts with the natural direction. By using proper tools, such as field-oriented 3D paint software, field-oriented solid modelers, field-based tool-path generation software, and non-horizontal FDM 3D printers, the natural direction can be modeled and objects can be printed in a direction that is consistent with the natural direction. This consistence results in embodiment of momentum or force in expressions of the printed object. To achieve this goal, several design and manufacturing problems, but not all, have been solved. An application of this method is (Japanese) 3D calligraphy.


ABSTRACT Diabetic ulcers are chronic complications in diabetes mellitus so that the high risk of infection and diabetic amputasi can cause the client to feel hopeless and unable to accept circumstances that can affect self-concept but it also affects biological and social. The research objective was to determine the effect of cognitive therapy on body image clients diabetic ulcers. The research method uses a quantitative approach to design quasy Experimental Pre-Post with Control Group. Respondents number 62. Respondents were selected by purposive sampling. The collection of data through questionnaires on the client diabetic ulcers. The results showed that body image, self-esteem, ulcer conditions changed for the better as well as the ability to think positively and capability of treating clients be granted increased signifi kan.after nurses nursing actions, cognitive therapy and family psychoeducation on body image of diabetic ulcers clients to make more optimal, but it needs to be improved both in the clinic and at home community wounds.


The use of drugs to enhance performance has been a feature of athletic competition since ancient times. This review discusses the use of anabolic steroids and stimulants by athletes to improve performance during the later half of the nineteenth century and during most of the twentieth century. Included are discussions of the development and medical background of testosterone and anabolic steroids, how the use of steroids progressed from medical use to use in sport and, with the rapid expansion of testosterone and steroid use in sport during the 1960s and 1970s, the emergence of adverse health effects that lead to the initial banning of steroids in sports and the development of drug testing programmes. Links between stimulant use, war and sport during the 1930s and 1940s, the impact of stimulant use on post-war sport, and the prevalence of stimulant use in North American society and sport prior to 1970, including the deaths of several elite cyclists, are discussed in the second part of this review.


Development of a combustion system at the author's Company was carried out at atmospheric pressure to achieve successful operation of a 5500-hp (Type H) gas turbine on gaseous fuels covering a wide range of Wobbe Index (WI) values from 48.04 MJ/nm3 (1220 Btu/scf) for natural gas to 18.90 MJ/nm3 (480 Btu/scf) for natural gas and carbon dioxide mixtures. Mixtures with the latter composition have direct applications for gas turbine engines burning fuels derived from sanitary landfills and liquid sewage. Wide-range operational capability offers the flexibility to fire gas turbines with either pipeline quality natural gas or medium-heating-value fuel, depending on availability. For such applications, if a fuel injector is designed to operate satisfactorily on natural gas fuel, it will have unacceptably high pressure drops when operating on fuels with WI values towards the lower end of the range. On the other hand, if the fuel injector is designed to operate properly on fuels with WI values on the lower end of the range, it will have unacceptably low pressure drops when operating on fuels with WI values towards the higher end of the range, which causes combustion-driven pressure oscillation feedback into the fuel-injection system. This feedback usually increases the amplitude of combustion-driven pressure oscillation and can cause significant damage to the gas turbine in a relatively short time.This paper describes the design and development work carried out to resolve these problems.Copyright © 1988 by ASME


A catalyst derived from in situ complexation of N-heterocyclic carbenes to palladium bistrifluoroacetate promotes efficient intramolecular Wacker-type cyclisation reactions under aerobic conditions. A variety of 2-allylphenols undergo oxidative conversion to dihydrobenzofurans.


Two new species of nematodes from Canada are described. Females of Ektaphelenchus macrostylus n. sp. were collected from the Douglas-fir beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopk., and males from the ...


Dendranthema spp are distributed in various regions in Korea. This report is the quantitative results of phenolic compounds on the 5 resources collected from all over the country. It was known that it has phenolic compounds, as an anticoagulant activities and immunoadjuvant activity of contribute to...


Several technical issues and challenges are identified and investigated for the planar tunneling spectroscopy of the topological Kondo insulator SmB$_6$. Contrasting behaviors of the tunnel junctions prepared in two different ways are analyzed and explained in detail. The conventional approach based on an AlO$_\text{x}$ tunnel barrier results in unsatisfactory results due to the inter-diffusion between SmB$_6$ and deposited Al. On the contrary, plasma oxidation of SmB$_6$ crystals produces high-quality tunnel barriers on both (001) and (011) surfaces. Resultant conductance spectra are highly reproducible with clear signatures for the predicted surface Dirac fermions and the bulk hybridization gap as well. The surface states are identified to reside on two or one {\it distinguishable} Dirac cone(s) on the (001) and (011) surface, respectively, in good agreement with the recent literature. However, their topological protection is found to be limited within the low energy region due to their inevitable interaction with the bulk excitations, called spin excitons, consistent with a recent theoretical prediction. Implications of our findings on other physical properties in SmB$_6$ and also other correlated topological materials are remarked.


This paper reports analyses of a 5-degrees-of-freedom (5-DOF) carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) robot manipulator, which has been developed for farm applications. The manipulator was made of aluminum alloy (AA) and steel materials. However, to check the effectiveness of CFRP materials on the static and free-vibration performance of the manipulator, the AA parts were replaced with CFRP. For this purpose, the effects of various cross-sections and layups on three design criteria—deflection, load-carrying capacity, and natural frequency—were investigated. Two types of thin-walled laminated sections, specifically the I section and rectangular tubular sections, were used for the composite parts. These parts were made from three hollow square section ("SSS" section) beams and three I section ("III" section) beams. These multi-cell beams were modeled using the finite element (FE) method. Three configurations were selected for analysis based on the manipulator's most common operating conditions. The results indicated that the use of CFRP increased the manipulator's natural frequencies, increased the load-carrying capacity, and decreased the manipulator's tip deflection when compared with its AA counterpart. An analysis showed that using CFRP in the manipulator's structure could improve static and vibrational performances. It was observed that the "SSS" section beams were 1.17 times stiffer, could carry a 1.20 times higher load, and were 1.40 times heavier than the "III" section beams. Also, decreasing the fiber direction in angle-ply layups from 90° to 0° and adding 0° plies, while keeping the total number of layers constant, decreased the manipulator's tip deflection and increased its natural frequencies.


Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a general term used to describe obstructive atherosclerosis of the lower extremities. PAD occurs when cholesterol or plaque builds up in the arteries outside the heart—typically in the legs or pelvis—limiting normal blood flow and increasing the risk of heart attack or stroke. PAD is more com-mon in patients with chronic kidney disease than in the general population. Patients with impaired renal function have a greater than twofold risk of developing PAD, and in the dialysis population, the incidence of clinical PAD is 15%. We discuss the importance of early screening and diagnosis of this serious circulatory problem, and include a checklist that any member of the renal team can use to discuss symptoms with patients.


It is very necessary to make all measured results become applicable data through the treatment with a certain regulation, and the data recondition i s a very important link in the data treatment. Taking the measuring and certifyi ng work of electromechanical devices in Wangzhuang Coal Mine as the example, thi s paper describes that the data treatment for the measured and certified results must follow the principle of the recondition, and make the measuring work serve the production practically.


In their article, The Spatial Bias of Federal Housing Law and Policy: Concentrated Poverty in Urban America,1 Professors Michael Schill and Susan Wachter provide a careful, scholarly critique of palpable policy relevance. Their analysis reflects the consistent pattern that their past productive collaboration has established: a thoughtful amalgam of legal, historical, economic, and statistical expertise that yields provocative conclusions. It is thus my privilege to have the opportunity to comment upon it. The fundamental claim of Schill and Wachter's article is that past and current federal housing law and policy (especially as they relate to public housing and mortgage markets) intensify the concentration of low-income families in inner-city neighborhoods, either intentionally or unintentionally.2 Fortunately, they argue, many of these mistakes are capable of remediation through new federal initiatives. Much of the historical evidence Schill and Wachter offer to support their claim is compelling. Although this is familiar territory to scholars, as Schill and Wachter's footnotes show, the authors present the material succinctly and powerfully. To their credit, they bring to bear econometric methods to supplement the historical analysis, and find evidence related to the geography of public housing and the rejection patterns of mortgage lenders that they claim buttress their case. My response to Schill and Wachter's analysis essentially is that important aspects of their argument are either conceptually and/or empirically inconclusive. Furthermore, their discussion of "current" federal housing policy pays insufficient attention to recent initiatives of the Clinton Administration that go a long way in the directions advocated by the authors. I will first consider Schill and Wachter's arguments that relate to public housing, then those that relate to


In order to develop an efficient method of haploid production via interspecific cross between durum wheat and maize genotypes, the effect of different concentrations (0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150 and 175 mg/l) of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and nitrate silver (AgNO3) in sucrose solution and the combination of these two treatments (100 mg/l of 2,4-D and 75 mg/l of AgNO3) were tested. Four Tunisian durum wheat genotypes (female parent): two local cultivars ('Jenah khotifa' and 'Biskri') and two improved varieties ('Karim' and 'Razzek') were crossed with a maize genotype ('Pioneer 37Y15') (male parent). The best results of embryo formation and haploid plants were obtained when the concentration of 2,4-D was 100 mg/l in combination with 75 mg/l of AgNO3. Embryogenesis and the regeneration rates reached 26.01 and 22.22%, respectively. Significant differences in the frequencies of developed ovaries, embryos and haploid plant production were observed for all durum wheat genotypes used. The local genotypes 'Jenah khotifa' and 'Biskri' showed the highest frequency of developed ovaries, formed embryos and haploid plant. A total of 877 haploid plants were regenerated with the method outlined in the present study. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________


This study focused on developing and evaluating a novel form of pervious polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic composite. This novel composite, called as PPC, produced from plastic waste, soil and aggregates, will offer an effective technique for reducing storm water runoff and help divert a large amount of plastic from landfills and incinerators. PPC samples with different PET to soil/aggregate ratios were prepared and then tested for indirect tensile strength and permeability. Permeability was conducted in a unique manner by designing and fabricating a new testing equipment. Both indirect tensile strength and permeability were within the expected values found in the literature for porous pavements. Results showed that indirect tensile strength values increased with PET content. It was also found that using PET alone is not strong enough in binding aggregates and therefore, a soil/PET ratio of one was found optimum for providing maximum strength. Permeability values decreased with the decrease of A/P (aggregate/PET) ratio which in general indicates that lower PET and higher aggregate content is suitable for higher permeability. A soil/PET ratio of one was found to provide higher permeability but strength could compromise. Findings from this study indicated that developed PPC could be used for low-strength construction such as driveways, sidewalks and parking lots.


This study was designed to estimate the degree of genetic control of the response to sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3), alone and in combination, in trembling aspen (Populustremuloides Michx.). Rooted cuttings from 11 randomly selected trees in central Wisconsin were used in the study. Significant interclonal variation was found in the response of the 11 clones to 3-h exposures to 0.50 ppm SO2, 0.20 ppm O3, and 0.35 ppm SO, plus 0.05 ppm O3. Clonal repeatability estimates of 0.464 for SO2 plus O3, 0.620 for O3, and 0.642 for SO2 suggest that much of this variation between clones can be attributed to genetic differences in response to SO2 and O3.


In this study, thermochromic coatings were produced using thermochromic pigment and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). It is aimed to develop innovative materials that will reduce external dependence, increase international competitiveness and support energy efficiency. The particle size of the thermochromic pigments and TG/DTA analyzes were carried out. Particle size of thermochromic pigments that change color at 33°C green, black at 45°C, and blue at 65°C were measured as 2.483 μm, 6.227 μm and 3.671 μm, respectively, according to the particle size d (50) values. The color change of thermochromic pigments with increasing and decreasing temperature was examined by infrared thermometer. When the surface temperature was elevated above the transition temperature, the pigments' and coatings' color turned to white. When it was cooled, the product returned to its original color. Characterization studies were carried out by X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy analysis techniques. It has been determined that the resulting blackness of the thermochromic pigment is due to the presence of iron. Furthermore, color of green and blue pigment is originated from copper in the content. As a result of the EDX analyzes made in blue and black coatings, boron oxide (B2O3) was detected. Conclusions showed that thermochromic pigments can be used in the production of energy saving thermochromic coated smart glasses.


A novel method for immunoassay is reported. A competitive assay for dinitrophenylated bovine gamma globulin (DNP-GGB) was performed using anti-DNP serum and DNP-sheep red blood cells (DNP-SRBC). After complement-mediated hemolytic reaction, the chemiluminescent measurements were performed without any separation procedure. The sensitivity was 0.1 μg/ml of DNP-BGG.


A frequency-domain stability criterion is given for networks containing lumped linear time-invariant components, uniform LC transmission lines, and time-varying memoryless nonlinear components. When only one nonlinear component is present, the criterion becomes the familiar critical disk criterion.


The invention perfume with island thyme plant essential oil, and relates to a method of manufacturing the same, it has the useful pharmacological functions to the human body, from the flowers, leaves and stems of the island thyme component is contained to give off a good scent of natural plant essential oils (精油: Essential oil) for the extraction purification and then purified plant essential oils by producing a perfume as a main component so as to promote the utilization and to enable the cultivation of island thyme increase of farmers' income and financial independence of local authorities It is the one to contribute. Perfume Using island thyme essential oil plants according to the invention is pure distilled water, 80-85% island thyme essential oil plant 1 to 3% by weight on weight, 10 to 15% by weight of ethanol, 3-6% by weight of surface active agent, a moisturizing agent 4-5 It added% by weight, 0.0001% by weight of dye and preservative 0.1~0.3% by weight, and uniformly stirred and mixed at 40~45 ℃ following is obtained the precipitate was filtered and was aged for 55-65 days in a dark place. When applying the present invention, the natural plant essential oil (thymol) is produced this bar to obtain a fragrance to dissipate island thyme unique aroma as added flavor components, such as extracting perfume from the island thyme is from a natural state using the extracted plant essential oil, and may be safe to use, and not harmful to the human body due to the addition and mixing to remove an organic solvent, diethyl ether, and then completely different compounds. In addition, there is the cultivation of the Island Thyme natural monument is being activated as well, depending on the enhancement of value-added and income of the Island Thyme growers could be increased, if the development of specialty products to attract tourists and could seek stable funding for municipalities there are side effects.


The supervision service quality is divided into technology quality and functional quality. In this paper the technology quality is divided into enterprise's assurance work quality and project supervision work quality. The functional quality includes professional morality and responsibility, work style and coordination ability. The WBS (work breakdown structure) of the concrete supervision work is established with project structure breakdown method and the service quality evaluation system of supervision is established. The construction authority, the owner and the supervision enterprise can evaluate the service quality objectively with this system. It can promote the supervision task.


In the present work, phytochemical analysis of leaf extract of mangrove Derris trifoliata was carried out. Leaf material of the plant was successively extracted with methanol. For further characterization, the leaf extracts were subjected to thin layer chromatography and high performance thin layer chromatography. HPTLC is a high-throughput and the most sensitive method of detecting the fragments of the compound. Eventhough many ready-to-use commercial kits are available, the Rf values are identified accurately for individual peaks. This yields the complete phytochemical characterization of the methanol extracts of Derris trifoliata. Three different compounds were isolated from the methanol extracts of Derris trifoliata.


Did Viking Lander biology experiments detect life on Mars? The strongest evidence for biology resulted from the Labeled Release (LR) experiment1. A radiolabeled (14C) nutrient solution was added to a Martian soil sample and the subsequent evolution of radioactive gas was observed. Flight data showed an initial release of labeled gas followed by strong periodic fluctuations in amount of gas in the headspace above the soil, superimposed on a slow rise in release. Current analyses show, at steady state, these fluctuations exhibit a periodicity of 24.66+/- 0.27 hr, statistically indistinguishable from the Martian solar period. The gas fluctuation appears synchronized to a mean 2 degree(s)C periodic fluctuation in internal temperature in the experimental chamber, which in turn is synchronous with almost 50 degree(s)C daily fluctuations in ambient Mars surface temperature. Calculations based on LR data indicate that the daily gas fluctuation amplitude could be in part accounted for by change in temperature-dependent soil solubility of CO2, but total amount of gas accumulated cannot be accounted for in this way. Recent observations of circadian rhythmicity in microorganisms and entrainment of terrestrial circadian rhythms by low amplitude temperature cycles argue that a Martian circadian rhythm in the LR experiment may constitute a biosignature.


Over the past two decades, information, computer and communications have played an increasingly greater role in the Thai economy. The development of the telecommunications industry, particular the internet, broadband networks, mobile applications, IT services, software and hardware, has laid the solid foundations of an integrated platform to facilitate economic and social interactions in modern societies. In this regard, the Thai telecommunications industry has been undergoing significant economic growth, employment creation and research and development. Also, competitive performance and potential growth of this industry attracted heavy private investment of approximately two billion US dollars in 2014, and investment growth in this industry has substantially increased by 68.3 percent per annum between the years 2010 and 2014. However, if we consider the s labour market has experienced a structural transformation. The potential growth and job creation in the Thai telecommunications industry has been compressed by the tightness of the Thai labour market. Particularly, the relatively high level of unfilled vacancies, resulting from the shortages in ICT personnel, has been the most challenging issue in the Thai ICT labour market. A lag time in the adjustment of the Thai education system, and asymmetric information in the Thai external labour market have led the companies in this industry to overcome the problem of shortage of ICT personnel by themselves. Therefore, the aims of this study are to answer the three research questions as concerns the industrial organization, the shortage situation of ICT personnel in the external labour market and the human resource management as solution to the shortage problems, by using a case study of the Thai telecommunications industry. The main findings from this study are as follows: the Thai telecommunications industry exhibited a pyramid-shaped industrial organization and hierarchical governance structure, in which each tier industrial actors perform specific tasks and create specific value according to their functional specialization. Also, there have been shortages in ICT personnel in the Thai external labour market, especially in computer network and system professional, computer network technician and programmers. The shortage result from an insufficient supply of ICT graduates, a lag of adjustment of the Thai education system, and also an increase in demand for ICT personnel both ICT sector and non-ICT sector. Therefore, each tier companies of the case study have to develop corporate strategy in order to compete, and specifically they applied the three practices of human resource management, namely review recruitment practice, extend training strategies and broaden the typical pool of talent as the countermeasure to the shortage problem in their internal labour market. In short, there existed internal labour market in the Thai ICT and also telecommunications industries. And, the evidence to support this assertion is the three underlying factors: skill specificity, on the job training and also customary rule within each tier companies in this industry.


During field surveys in Brahmakarmali (North Goa, India) we collected Semecarpus kathalekanensis Dasappa & Swaminath (2000: 78). In order to confirm the identity of the specimens, we examined the protologue and realized that the name Semecarpus kathalekanensis was not validly published, because the authors failed to indicate the herbarium in which the type is conserved (art. 40.7 of the ICN, McNeill et al ., 2012). The authors, however, provided a Latin description and indicated a single gathering " 10 Jan. 1998 , Dasappa 758 - WGP " as the holotype. They also cited " Dasappa 1865 - WGP " and " Dasappa 1890 - WGP " as paratypes. We traced the original material at the Herbarium of Karnataka Forest Department's Research and Utilization Division, Doresanipalya, Bangalore (Office of the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Karnataka). So, the name Semecarpus kathalekanensis is validated here by reference to the previously published description by Dasappa & Swaminath (2000) and by indicating the herbarium in which the holotype is conserved.


Summary form only given. Commercial satellite communications began in 1965 with the launch of Intelsat I (Early Bird), which was a geostationary satellite operating at 4 and 6 GHz. C-band satellite communications (satcom) continues today. As higher frequency bands were explored to expand capacity, problems were encountered with weather effects on the earth-space links, mainly rain attenuation. Many years of research was required to understand the influence of weather on signals above 10 GHz and to develop techniques to mitigate the effects. X-band, Ku-band, and Ka-band satcom links are in wide use today.


Die is in the jekting apparatus, the apparatus of this jekting unit, wherein the jekting unit to raise selectively pushed upward one of the die to the jekting of the die from a plurality of the dicing tape are attached to the die and a driving part for moving in the vertical direction internal body, wherein the receiving the jekting unit wherein the jekting unit extends downward from the top panel and the upper panel having at least one through-hole of the so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and the and including a housing having a lower opening and an upper portion of the main body to be inserted into the holder, wherein the moves to the pick-up holder the jekting unit accommodated in order to replace the jekting unit and the holder for holding the outer surface of the holder the holders for moving the gripper and the holder grip portion in the horizontal and vertical directions It includes a transfer unit including a holder. Thus, the easy replacement of the jekting unit and the holder and can be significantly shorter time required to this.


The experimental assessment of hepatoprotective miliacin action in conditions of hepatotoxity induced by methotrexate was performed. The dynamics of the pathological process in the liver was characterized by an increase of hepatocyte damage within 2 weeks after methotrexate injection and by incomplete reparative regeneration by the end of 3 week'' s observation. The dynamics was studied on base of morphometrical and morphological findings. Miliacin showed a protective effect, reduced the severity of cell damage evidence and ensured the complete restoration of the liver structure by the end of observation.


The article proposes a fully printed microelectrode array (MEA) as a proof of concept for the feasibility of a customized and low-cost bioelectronic device. The target application is to promote the maturation of the cell culture by providing biophysical stimuli and evaluating the functionality of the bioengineered products, monitoring in real-time the electrogenic cell action potential. The MEA is entirely printed with aerosol jet printing (AJP) with a multilayer structure composed of an array of 16 electrodes. AJP fabrication was exploited as low-cost technique and easy and reliable possibility to print both insulated material and conductive polymer. Furthermore, the technique allows the realization of a customized electrode design according to specific neuronal network architecture. The chosen inks achieve the requirements for the intended use, in terms of high conductivity for electrodes, low conductivity for passivation layers, and biocompatibility for cell culture. Results from geometrical characterization showed an agreement with the design requirements. In particular, the first prototypes showed a thickness of the passivation layer of (33.4 ± 1.4) <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and the silver conductive tracks with a thickness of (5.5 ± 0.6) <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and a width of (68 ± 1.4) <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy established an impedance magnitude value significantly below compared with commercial MEA and inkjet printing MEA. The reusability and the stability of the sensor are demonstrated within two weeks. Overall, the results suggest the possibility to exploit the potential to print MEA onto platform, for in vitro cell culture and to integrate other types of biosensors.


At the turn of the century, e-commerce education in China has changed rapidly from a course education to a major education, and has formed management-oriented and technology-oriented education patterns. This article analyses and summarizes the meaning, character and practical bases of the two patterns. It also believes that, based on the development of this subject and social demands, the current patterns must be broken to combine various subjects to run this course with a compound pattern.


Background: Abnormal placental invasion in pregnancy is one of the most important dilemmas in gynecology and obstetrics medicine and because of the high potential risk of life-threatening massive bleeding, it has been considered as one of the most important causes of maternal morbidity and even mortality. According to the fact that previous cesarean section is the most highlighted and well-known risk factors for developing these types of abnormal placental invasion, and despite comprehensive recommendations for decreeing of this kind of surgery, the rate of caesarian delivery is raising worldwide, detecting the safer methods of management for optimizing the outcome is mandatory. Case Presentation: In this report, we are discussing a patient in Firoozgar Hospital, Tehran, Iran, with twin pregnancy accompanying with placenta previa with abnormal invasion, which has got the best possible outcome after performing a multidisciplinary approach without any need to blood transfusion or general anesthesia during cesarean hysterectomy as the standard management of placenta increate. In this case, we have performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before surgery. We found out that we can use the exact site of placental margin and the distance between placental margin and uterovesical junction. So we have done the uterine incision horizontally without damaging to the placenta. Generally, Doppler ultrasonography has enough accuracy for detecting all kinds of placenta creates. Conclusion: By selecting a safe uterine incision, we can prevent such a sudden and massive bleeding during the operation and also avoid occurring end-organ damage due to hemorrhage for instance, acute tubular necrosis, disseminated intravascular coagulation resulted in maternal morbidity and mortality. In this report, we also discuss the points needed for management and treatment of abnormal placental invasion by reviewing the recent literatures. Abstract


The chosen topic of my thesis is "Preventive safety programs in the Internet network." This issue is currently associated with the rapid development of information technology. The communication in the online environment has been accompanied by hazardous socio-pathological phenomena. They threaten us, our immediate and surrounding area. Effective protection of private persons is associated with the need for self-education through or under the guidance of experts. The theoretical part is devoted to the history of the Internet, explains the concepts of social networks, and risk communication programs. The essence is to map the existence of websites that are devoted to the issue at the level of information or education. In the practical part, using quantitative methods of data collection, namely a standardized questionnaire, we try to find out whether the parents have knowledge about the potential risks of Internet communication and where they can get the information about safety prevention. In analyzing the data we found, parents are informed, but do not know where they can continue to educate. The results are not generalizable to the entire population.


The effects of UV-light on biochemical parameters of posterior silk gland of mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori L. were investigated in two popular bivoltine hybrids, Jufang (Chinese) × Chenxin (Japanese) and Chenxin × Jufang fed an artificial diet. Larvae of the first day of fifth instar were used for the present investigation. The larvae were irradiated with 20 W of UV-light at the intensity of 40 cm above the larvae for one of three exposure times (30, 60 or 120 min) just before feeding. UV treatment produced no significant effects at 30 min. However, at 60 or 120 min there was a significant decrease in silk gland weight and the levels of total protein, free amino acids, RNA and carbohydrates. UV-light thus affects the biosynthetic activities of silk glands.


This article presents a rigorous synthesis method for input-reflectionless dual-passband filters. As this work provides closed-form formulas for the normalized coupling values of both the filtering and matching sections for producing zero reflection at all frequencies, they can be obtained instantly without using time-consuming trial-and-error methods. As the formulas are generalized for a case with arbitrary cutoff frequencies in the normalized frequency domain, an input-reflectionless filter with two passbands separated arbitrarily can readily be synthesized and designed. For demonstration, the normalized coupling values obtained by using the proposed synthesis method have been applied to the design of a $Ka$ -band waveguide input-reflectionless dual-passband filter. The measurement shows a reflectionless feature over the entire WR-42 band which verifies our synthesis and design approaches.


.............................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................... iv DEDICATION ........................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS......................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................. viii LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................... x 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................... 4 2.1 CLASSIFICATION OF GREEN MANURE CROPS .................................................................................4 2.2 BENEFITS OF GREEN MANURE CROPS ............................................................................................5 2.2.1 Nutrient management...........................................................................................................5 2.2.2 Soil improvement...............................................................................................................11 2.2.3 Weed control......................................................................................................................13 2.3 PROBLEMS WITH GREEN MANURE CROPS ....................................................................................14 2.3.1 Excessive water use ...........................................................................................................15 2.3.2 Poor competition with weeds .............................................................................................17 2.4 GREEN MANURE MANAGEMENT..................................................................................................17 2.4.1 Time of termination ...........................................................................................................17 2.4.2 Termination method...........................................................................................................18 2.4.3 Annual green manure plant population densities ...............................................................19 2.5 DETERMINING RECOMMENDED PLANT POPULATION DENSITIES ..................................................21 2.5.1 Maximizing biological output ............................................................................................21 2.5.2 Optimizing economic output..............................................................................................24 2.6 RELEVANCE OF GREEN MANURE RESEARCH TO ORGANIC CROPPING SYSTEMS............................25 3.0 THE YIELD-DENSITY RELATIONSHIP OF CROP BIOMASS FOR THREE ANNUAL LEGUME GREEN MANURE CROPS UNDER WEEDY AND WEED-FREE CONDITIONS ...................................................................... 27 3.


Questionnaire survey, such as Manchester Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) and in-vehicle trajectory data are both valid resources to identify risky drivers. Investigating the relationships between self-reported driving behavior and psychology and observed risky driving behavior from in-vehicle trajectory data can provide better understanding of personal factors contributing to risky driving, allowing the more effective development of safety education and road management countermeasures and interventions. This paper analyzed GPS trajectory obtained from 723 professional online car-hailing drivers. Through road type matching, risky driving feature extraction and clustering analysis, each driver was given a risky driving level. The level was then compared with their self-reported driving behavior, psychology statues such as anxiety and driving anger, as well as social factors including safety culture, occupation health, and number of complaints. Results show that social factors are more relative to driver's risk driving level than other self-reported factors. This suggest improving safety culture of company and enhance occupation health of drivers will be effective to reduce risky driving of online car-hailing drivers.


Although hundreds of millions receivers are used worldwide, the performance of location-based services provided by Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is still compromised by interference which can range from intentional distortion due to multipath propagation to intentionally menacing signals. Hence, the requirement for proper mitigation techniques becomes a must in GNSS receivers for robust, accurate and reliable positioning. Recently, interference mitigation techniques utilizing antenna arrays have gained significant attention in GNSS communities. Rapid advances in electronic systems and antenna design technology make previously hardware and software challenging problems easier to solve. Furthermore, due to the significant effort devoted to miniaturization of RF front-ends and antennas, the size of antenna array based receivers will no longer be an issue. Given the above, this paper investigates the use of antenna arrays in GNSS interference mitigation applications. The multipath detection method proposed in this paper, targeted at multiple antenna GNSS receivers, is based on the relation between the arithmetic and the geometric means of the covariance matrix Eigen values. This relation is used to build a metric, whose theoretical distribution is known in the absence of multipath. Comparison between the empirical and theoretical distributions is done by the kolmogorov-smirnov test, which is the basis of the proposed algorithm. It operates directly on the digitized signal in parallel to tracking loops and has no need of inferring the number of multipath components or computing their delays. The new spatial processing technique is capable of mitigating both high power interference and coherent and correlated GNSS multipath signals.


This paper proposes an image detection method which is applied to obstacle-detecting and path-planning system of a wheeled mobile robot. The positions of obstacles can be recognized by using medium filter, morphologic processing, canny edge detection, and connected component labeling. And this paper utilizes Parallel Lines Distance Measurement (PLDM) to detect the real world coordinates of obstacles. Because it only needs a single webcam and several laser points for the setting of PLDM, it is easier to set up the experimental environment and the cost for setting is relatively cheaper. At last, we combine image detection method with PLDM to complete the path-planning system of a wheeled mobile robot. Then the path-planning can be shown on the two-dimensional map immediately. Our simulation results, presented at the end of this paper, show that the proposed image detection method is effective in the path-planning system of a wheeled mobile robot.


The overall aim of my work is to contribute to a future theory of epistemic violence – thereby enabling us to gain a better understanding of the various forms of direct, physical violence which are usually analysed within peace studies, IR, political theory and related fields. My perspective starts from transdisciplinary peace studies, is concerned with the sociology of knowledge, and informed by post- and de-colonial theory as well as by feminist critique and political theory...


Fever is a leading reason for people to seek healthcare in the tropics.1 Given the non-specific clinical presentation of many infections causing fever and the limited clinical microbiology services available in many low-resource areas, few patients receive an accurate and specific diagnosis and the relative importance of the various causes of fever remains unknown at the community level. Nonetheless, patients admitted to hospital with fever that is not due to malaria experience case fatality ratios at least as high as those with malaria.2 However, unlike diarrhea and lower respiratory infection, a syndrome-wide approach has not been taken to understanding fever. Instead, researchers studying individual pathogens or groups of pathogens causing fever have tended to work independently. Appropriately, for many decades malaria has dominated discourse on the syndrome of fever in the tropics. Apparent declines in malaria worldwide since 2004 mean that a growing proportion of patients presenting with fever do not have malaria.3 Furthermore, wide use of malaria diagnostic tests prior to malaria treatment unmasked a sobering level of malaria over-diagnosis in many areas.2

Given the morbidity and mortality associated with infectious causes of fever, why has the global health community tended not to approach fever in a comprehensive way? The organizational structures of global, national and academic institutions of public health rarely include cross-cutting groups approaching fever across the range of responsible pathogens. Scientific meetings are often focused on individual febrile diseases as diverse as leptospirosis, invasive salmonelloses, dengue and Q fever, taking place independently or in parallel sessions at the same conference with little collaboration. Global burden of disease reports are structured to take a syndrome-based approach to diarrhea and lower respiratory infections, making syndrome-wide estimates of illness and death for each before assigning fractions to specific pathogens.4,5 However, the conditions causing fever are scattered across a range of disorders and diseases, and many remain hidden in 'other' disease categories.4,5 Responding to burden data, global health research funders support integrated work on diarrhea and lower respiratory infections, but tend to take a pathogen-specific approach to the causes of fever. Consequently, studies of fever often examine just one pathogen (e.g., malaria, dengue, typhoid) or use just one diagnostic test (e.g., blood culture) resulting in lost opportunities for synergy and producing an incomplete epidemiological picture.

Tackling fever in the tropics will require a robust understanding of the etiology of febrile illness and death. Dichotomizing febrile illness into malaria and 'non-malaria fever' belies that non-malaria fever includes a very broad range of bacterial, parasitic, fungal and viral infections. Among the causes of fever other than malaria lies hidden the rank list diseases that need to be understood together to improve approaches to the management of the febrile patient and to inform control efforts. Integrated etiology research on diarrhea6 and lower respiratory tract infection7 in low and middle-income countries is proving invaluable for framing a rational approach to averting childhood illness and death associated with those major syndromes. While individual fever etiology studies that take a broad look at potential pathogens are emerging from Africa8 and Asia,9 no standardized international multicenter study has been done to underpin the global fever research agenda.

What should a multicenter fever etiology study look like? A focus on severe febrile illness, such as among hospitalized patients, would most efficiently shed light on illnesses often associated with febrile deaths. It would also avoid the low diagnostic yield for some conditions and the prevalence of self-limited disease found in outpatient settings. At the same time, it is essential that research inform patient management at the community and primary healthcare level where most people with fever seek care. Close attention to conditions with high case fatality ratios (e.g., bacteremia); pathogens with distinct patient management strategies (e.g., Q fever, rickettsioses, brucellosis); and infections with vaccine and non-vaccine population control strategies (e.g., dengue, influenza) would facilitate the translation of findings into practice. Standardized case definitions and laboratory methods are necessary to ensure that results are comparable across participating study sites. The use of reference laboratory methods would allow the creation of a library of well-characterized nominal samples for evaluation of novel point of care diagnostic tests. The inclusion of a healthy community control group would allow calculation of pathogen-specific attributable fraction by accounting for the prevalence of background positive diagnostic test results,6 as may occur for malaria and some serologic assays. Healthcare utilization surveys conducted in the catchment areas of study healthcare facilities would provide a means to estimate disease incidence10 for responsible infections, many of which currently lack disease burden estimates. Since causes of fever are thought to vary considerably in place and time, wide geographic representation and study periods of at least 1 year are needed to understand spatial and temporal heterogeneity. Finally, consideration should be given to severe forms of some diseases such as sepsis presenting without fever; the etiologic overlap between the syndromes of diarrhea, lower respiratory infection and fever; and the possibility that some causes of fever remain to be discovered.

Research on the etiology of fever faces a number of challenges. The complexity of some conventional diagnostic methods has meant that they remain largely the province of reference laboratories. Reference diagnostic methods for several key infections require the collection of convalescent serum to demonstrate a fourfold greater rise in antibody titer. In such circumstances, a patient who dies during the acute phase of their illness cannot become a confirmed case, posing a challenge for estimating the case fatality ratio. Conversely, acute phase diagnostics for some causes of fever have shortcomings of practicality, sensitivity, specificity or combinations of these. For example, autopsy is likely to be a valuable arbiter of causes of febrile deaths, but is currently not widely used in low-resource areas for cultural, technical and human capacity reasons.11 Compared with bone marrow culture, blood culture has a sensitivity of approximately 50% for the diagnosis of typhoid fever yet bone marrow culture remains too cumbersome for routine use. Similarly, nucleic acid amplification tests for leptospirosis using peripheral blood have the best sensitivity during the bacteremic phase of the illness. However, many patients with leptospirosis present during the immune phase. Other tests, such as those for malaria, do not clearly distinguish colonization, infection and disease.

Many advances are needed to avert illness and death due to fever in the tropics. However, little progress is likely without a robust and representative epidemiologic understanding of the major causes of severe febrile illness. Achieving this will require standardized, international, multicenter research. Much closer collaboration is needed across the scientific community to address tropical medicine's most fundamental yet fragmented condition.

Competing interests: None.


OF THESIS DEFYING THE MODERNIST CANON: MIKHAIL LARIONOV'S ARTISTIC EXPERIENCE BEYOND THE CANVAS In the contemporary art-historical vision, Mikhail Larionov is renowned as the author and the main figure in the polemical discourse of Neoprimitivism and the inventor of the Rayonism style. These aspects, although crucial to his career, are far from exhausting the artist's legacy. During his most industrious period, from 1910 to 1915, he was equally, if not more, engaged in the development of new forms of art than in the practice of painting; in fact, the conventional cornerstone of the high art in the era of Modernism – a painting – lost its central position and receded to the status of the peripheral phenomenon in his artistic practice. When considering his position as a central figure in the events of the 1910-1915 in Russia, Larionov's ambivalence as an artist implies hesitation about the picture of gestalt homogeneity of Modernist discourse (with a painting as the hierarchical apex of high art in the Modernist era) in Russia of the early decades of the twentieth century. While historical evaluation privileges the painting over the non-painting practice of the artist, there is sufficient evidence testifying to the need to consider them as equal and synergetic.


In this paper, to study fixed-point of compact metric space, and obtain one pair fixed-point theorems of expansion Mapping and compression Mapping. The results are improved in the papers[1],[2].


We report a heterocyclic merging approach to construct novel indazolo-piperazines and indazolo-morpholines. Starting from chiral diamines and amino alcohols, novel regiochemically (1,3 and 1,4) and stereochemically diverse (relative and absolute) cohorts of indazolo-piperazines and indazolo-morpholines were obtained within 6-7 steps. The key transformations involved are a Smiles rearrangement to generate the indazole core structure and a late stage Michael addition to build the piperazine and morpholine heterocycles. We further explored additional vector diversity by incorporating substitutions on the indazole aromatic ring, generating a total of 20 unique enantiomerically pure heterocyclic scaffolds.


In this article, I investigate Ricœur's definition of philosophy by addressing two of its most fundamental conditions: meaning, which somehow constitutes its inner material, and reflexivity, which is the principle of its dynamic articulation. I proceed in two steps. First, I distinguish five different levels of discourse, underlining the originality of each of them: descriptive, transphrastic, self-comprehensive, anthropological, metaphysical. Then I explain the role played by reflexivity, both in its intra- and inter-semiotic dimension, in delimitating these various levels and helping the transition from one to another. In conclusion, I show that the whole of Ricœur's philosophy can be characterized by a confidence in language, in its both obstinate and cautious effort to "enlighten existence" by pushing the limits of its fontiers.


Abstract A newly discovered partial cranium, comprising 14 cranial fragments of a male of Dryopithecus laietanus from the Vallesian (upper Miocene) locality of Can Llobateres (Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain) is described. The fragments belong to the facial area, with the exception of a fragment of the temporal bone with the petrosal. Once reconstructed, we observe a moderately long face without alveolar prognatism, with rather upright nasals, high zygomatic root, very robust zygomatic with several foramina situated above the inferior rim of the orbits, orbits as high as they are wide, very broad interorbital pillar, slightly thickened supraorbital rim which does not continue across the depressed glabella, large glenoid fossa which is in a low position with regards to the external auditory meatus and a petrosal missing its subarcuate fossa. The analysis of the phylogenetic relationships makes us think that Dryopithecus belongs to the clade of the extant great apes and is a primitive member of the Pongo clade. This hypothesis suggests that some of the dental and postcranial characters shared by Pongo and the African great apes are homoplasies and that the definition of great apes based exclusively on the extant forms is perhaps not appropriate for the discussion of the phylogenetic relationships of a fossil form.


Freeman criticizes the economics profession on the ground that it has improperly accepted the philosophy of laissez‐faire capitalism in five different realms: economic development, unionism and minimum wage laws, socialist central planning versus decentralized markets, military dictatorships and income inequality, and the benefits of economic progress. Attempts to defend the view that the free enterprise analysis in these five different areas can withstand Freeman's criticisms.


We present time series observations of intermediate mass PMS stars belonging to the young star cluster IC 348. The new data reveal that a young member of the cluster, H254, undergoes periodic light variations with Scuti-like characteristics. This occurrence provides an unambiguous evidence confirming the prediction that intermediate-mass pre-main sequence (PMS) stars should experience this transient instability during their approach to the main-sequence. On the basis of the measured frequency f = 7:406 d 1 , we are able to constrain the intrinsic stellar parameters of H254 by means of linear, non adiabatic, radial pulsation models. The range of the resulting luminosity and eective temperature permitted by the models is narrower than the observational values. In particular, the pulsation analysis allows to derive an independent estimate of the distance to IC 348 of about 320 pc. Further observations could either confirm the monoperiodic nature of H254 or reveal the presence of other frequencies.


A variety of fungi are known to cause important plant diseases, resulting in a significant lost in agricultural crops. The plant diseases need to be controlled to maintain the level of yield both quantitatively and qualitatively. Farmers often rely heavily on the use of synthetic fungicides to control the plant diseases. However, the environmental problems caused by excessive use and misuse of synthetic fungicide have led to considerable changes in people's attitudes towards the use of synthetic pesticides in agriculture. Today, there is an increase in the awareness of the the healthy food and healthy environment. In response to this need, some researchers have focused their effort to develop alternative measures to synthetic chemicals for controlling plant diseases. Among these, is that people about referred to as biological control using microbial antagonists. Many microbial antagonists have been reported to posses antagonistic activities against plant fungal pathogens, such as Pseudomonas fluorescens, Agrobacterium radiobacter, Bacillussubtilis,B.cereus,B. amyloliquefaciens, Trichoderma virens, Burkholderia cepacia, Saccharomyces spp., Gliocadium spp. Antagonistic bacteria commonly inhabit soil which can be used as biological control agent for the management of soil borne diseases of various crops. In this study a total of three (03) composite soil samples were collected from the agro-based areas at the bank of Arpa river of Bilaspur city and 15 isolates of bacteria were isolated using Nutrient agar medium. The morphological characterstics and bio-chemical characterstics of all bacterial isolates were documented. The objective of this study is to isolate indigenous bacteria from agricultural soils and screen them for their growth inhibition of phyto-pathogenic fungus isolated from infected plants and seeds.


The University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) has continually upgraded research facilities and programs at the MU research reactor (MURR) throughout its 26-yr history. The Nuclear Analysis Program (NAP) area has participated in these upgrades over the years. As one of the largest activation analysis laboratories on a university campus, the activities of the NAP are broadly representative of the diversity of applications for activation analysis and related nuclear science. This paper describes the MURR's NAP and several of the research, education, and service projects in which the laboratory is currently engaged.


Laser-ablated template and fluoroalkyl silane modified composite coatings are used to prepare a micro- and nano-structure on silicone rubber surfaces. By testing the surface potential accumulation and dissipation process, we assess the suppression of surface charge on superhydrophobic silicone rubber. The surface physicochemical properties and resistivity are examined. The electron and hole trap distribution are analysed using isothermal current decay theory. Peak density of traps associated with the superhydrophobic surfaces are found to be promoted to lower energy levels relative to unmodified silicone. Surface micro-structure increases trap density and reduce trap depth; nano coatings are shown to further reduce surface trap depth. The improvements shown to suppress surface charge accumulation is beneficial to a range of electrical industries and helps mitigate surface flashover on insulation.


The complexity and quality needs of PLC-based control system software have largely increased. Formal specification methods can help to cope with these needs. Besides formal verification, another benefit of a formal specification language is the possibility to provide automatic generation of the final source code. This paper overviews PLCspecif, our formal specification language for PLC programs and presents a code generation method for the language. The result of the code generator is a Structured Text (ST) code that not only corresponds to the formal semantics of the specification, but is also configurable, readable, understandable, and follows development conventions and standards. The code generation method shows that PLC-specif is applicable and well-adapted to the PLC domain.


Introduction :  Haemophilia is a genetic disease. Bleeding, pain, temporary or long-term lack of physical activity, and even the risk of disability could have a negative impact on the quality of life. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the quality of life of patients with haemophilia, and to provide answers to the following questions :  1. What is the quality of life of patients with haemophilia? 2. Which sphere of life is given the highest and which is given the lowest score? 3. Is there a connection between the sociodemographic data, the health situation and the quality of life? Materials and methods :  In total 163 adults diagnosed with haemophilia who are mainly treated at home and living in different parts of Poland were included in the survey. All sociodemographic data were collected using an author-designed questionnaire. The quality of life was measured using the WHOQOL-100 questionnaire proposed by World Health Organization. Results :  All surveyed patients were males diagnosed with haemophilia A, which is consistent with the epidemiology of the disease and the fact that haemophilia A is more frequent in Poland than haemophilia B. Most of the males (144) were diagnosed with severe haemophilia, 18 with moderate and only 6 with mild haemophilia. What is more, 126 (75%) respondents had type C hepatitis. Conclusions :  In the field of 6 life spheres measured with the use of the WHOQOL-100 questionnaire the highest score – 14.66 – was gained in the sphere of spirituality, religion and personal beliefs. The lowest score – 12.99 – was gained in the physical sphere, mostly concerning pain and feelings of discomfort. The outcome of 12.89 was gained in the environmental sphere. After detailed analysis of the researched material there was a conclusion made: 1. A group of men with inborn haemophilia demonstrate an average quality of life, comparable to the level of life of sick people living in other European countries. 2. The researched group give the highest estimate to the spiritual sphere of life, religion and personal beliefs, while the physical and environmental spheres were given the lowest estimate. 3. The degree of seriousness of haemophilia is of core importance when it comes to the level of life. Type C hepatitis and the status of pensioner is also a serious matter.


Beamtrawl samples were taken monthly between January 1988 and December 1989 in 14 subtidal stations along the longitudinal axis of the Westerschelde Estuary. The estuary harboured high densities of epibenthic species (total average of 2250 ind 1000 m−2). Only 37 fish species were recorded and three mobile macroinvertebrate species were quantified. Seventeen epibenthic species were common, only eight of which were very abundant. An overall dominance of the brown shrimp Crangon crangon was noted. The near absence of anadromous and freshwater species was correlated with the low oxygen concentrations upstream the Dutch–Belgian border. The epibenthic species could be divided into a polyhaline and a mesohaline community along the main salinity–oxygen–turbidity gradients of the estuary. The mesohaline zone was characterized by higher densities and biomasses for shrimps, gobies and flatfish. The spatial structure in the epibenthic community of the polyhaline zone was more influenced by the watermasses from the sea and inflowing channels, and was correlated with the degree of exposure (current velocities and tides). A classification is proposed, based on the season in which the epibenthic species occur in the estuary, and on their life stages and abundances during that period. The monthly data demonstrate that while the eight abundant epibenthic species were generally present throughout the year (summer or winter resident), the majority tended to appear in the Westerschelde at varying times (summer, winter or bimodal) and often remained in large numbers (nine common species) for only a short time. The fact that mainly juveniles were recorded in the higher density-classes, suggests that the Westerschelde Estuary still acts as a nursery area for many epibenthic species.


The Tibetan Plateau, with an average elevation of over 4000 m above sea level, is the highest and most extensive highland in the world. Between 1980 and 2005, the annual mean tempera- ture has warmed at the rate of 0.38°C decade -1 . However, little attention has been paid to the variation of wind speed, the most important factor controlling evapotranspiration in the Tibetan Plateau. Here we used monthly mean wind speed from the Chinese Meteorological Administration data set to exa- mine the spatial and temporal variability of wind speed at 71 stations (with elevations above 2000 m above sea level) in the eastern and central Tibetan Plateau during 1980-2005, and compared wind speed climatology and their trends with NCEP and ERA-40 reanalyses in the same domain. Compared with surface stations, NCEP overestimates wind speed and ERA-40 underestimates it, with mean annual biases of 0.93 m s -1 for NCEP and -0.75 m s -1 for ERA-40. Both surface stations and NCEP reanalysis show significant decreasing trends, at rates of -0.24 and -0.13 m s -1 decade -1 , respectively, mainly evident in spring and summer. ERA-40 fails to capture any decrease. The above results indicate that NCEP captures wind speed better than ERA-40. We speculate that the most likely cause of dimin- ishing wind speed are the asymmetrically decreasing latitudinal surface temperature and pressure gradients over the Tibetan Plateau, which may be part of a large-scale atmospheric circulation shift.


Background
Neonatal herpes is a rare, devastating consequence of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) or 2 (HSV-2) infection during pregnancy. The risk of neonatal infection is higher among pregnant women seronegative for HSV-1 or HSV-2 who acquire their first HSV infection near delivery.

Methods
We estimated HSV-1 and HSV-2 seroprevalence among pregnant women aged 20-39 years in 1999-2014, assessed HSV seroprevalence changes between 1999-2006 and 2007-2014, and compared HSV seroprevalence between pregnant women and sexually active, nonpregnant women aged 20-39 years in 2007-2014 using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data.

Results
Among pregnant women in 1999-2014, HSV-1 seroprevalence was 59.3%, HSV-2 seroprevalence was 21.1%, and HSV seronegativity was 30.6%. Between 1999-2006 and 2007-2014, HSV-1 and HSV-2 seroprevalence among pregnant women remained stable. However, among pregnant women with ≤3 sex partners (approximately 40% of all pregnant women), seronegativity for both HSV-1 and HSV-2 increased from 35.6% to 51.4% (P < .05). In 2007-2014, nonpregnant women who were (1) unmarried, (2) living below poverty level, or (3) had ≥4 sex partners were more likely than pregnant women to be seronegative for both HSV-1 and HSV-2 (P < .05).

Conclusions
HSV-1 and HSV-2 seroprevalence among US pregnant women remained stable between 1999 and 2014. However, pregnant women with fewer sex partners were increasingly seronegative for both HSV-1 and HSV-2, indicating an increasing proportion of pregnant women who are vulnerable to primary HSV acquisition in pregnancy, which confers an increased risk of transmitting HSV to their neonates.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide.1 Inducing tumour cells apoptosis by chemotherapy is a common treatment modality for inoperable tumour.2 Some studies have shown that amyloid protein precursor (APP), which plays an important role in neuronal cells owing to their linkage with Alzheimer's disease,3 aberrantly altered in many types of cancers. However, the regulation of APP in tumour cells and its role in tumour cells remains unknown.‐Epigallocatechin‐3‐gallate (EGCG) has been shown to possess a wide range of pharmacological properties, including anti‐inflammatory and neuroprotective effects, which have been linked to the antioxidant/pro‐oxidant properties of its polyphenol constituents.4 Some studies have shown that EGCG inhibited hepatocellular carcinoma growth and induced apoptosis.5 We previously also found that EGCG induced neuroblastoma apoptosis via inhibition of amyloid precursor protein.6 However, little is known about the mechanism of EGCG on APP regulation in tumour.

The RNA‐binding proteins (RBPs) interact with other proteins and RNAs to form different ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes, which participate in the post‐transcriptional regulation of RNAs and which orchestrate the fate of those RNAs.7 Human antigen R (HuR, also known as ELAVL1) is an important RNA‐binding protein. Some studies reported that HuR correlated with patient outcome in liver cancer and interacted with lncRNA‐{"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"AK058003","term_id":"16554001"}}AK058003 to regulate proliferation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma.7 Furthermore, in neurons, studies showed that HuD interacted with the 3' UTRs of APP mRNA (encoding amyloid precursor protein) and BACE1 mRNA (encoding β‐site APP‐cleaving enzyme 1) and increased the half‐lives of these mRNAs.8 However, the role of HuR in APP expression and EGCG‐regulated APP expression in tumour is not clear.

In this study, we first indicate that the role of EGCG in APP and ADAM10 regulation is mediated by HuR, result in tumour cells apoptosis via HuR‐Erk1/2‐APP/ADAM10 pathway, adding a new dimension to EGCG‐mediated regulation of APP and ADAM10 in cancer cell apoptosis.


Geographic information systems, the integration technique of multi-criteria assessment, together with the analysis hierarchy process, are recognized in decision support to describe and predict locations for implementation of different projects. In Brazil, shrimp farming has been consolidated for more than 30 years in the Northeast and North regions and is emerging in the Southeast. The purposes of this study were to analyze, classify and quantify through spatial planning for the establishment of shrimp farming in the North Fluminense region of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The composition of the final model was structured into hierarchical categories with two models, factors, and constraints. The model of factors was subdivided into five sub-models: water abstraction, environmental, transport, public, and economic infrastructure. In turn, restrictions were composed of urbanized areas, environmental reserves. The best areas were identified as those that were flat, close to rivers, related to theenvironmental sub-model criteria (21%); followed by the sub-models of public, economic, and water abstraction infrastructure (20%), and transport with the lowest weight attributed (17%). The analyses indicated a great potential for the implementation of shrimp farming in the region, estimated in a total area of 628,088 ha, classified as adequate or very adequate (> 0.6).


Diese Dissertation ist auf den Internetseiten der Hochschulbibliothek online verfügbar. Sieh es mir nach, wenn ich weine. Acknowledgements I would like to express my deep gratitude towards Professor Hermann Ney, who granted me the possibility to, in his own words, build machines instead of pressing knobs and turning wheels. His proficiency in matters of science , his relentless search for the next step and his professionality in human interaction has been and will continue to be most inspiring. I would also like to sincerely thank co-supervisor Professor Andy Way for his kind hosting and general guidance during my stay in Dublin, as well as for his extensive feedback. I admit that he caught me a bit by surprise when he found my work truly interesting. Many thanks to Prof. Jarke, Prof. Lakemeyer and PD Unger, who in one way or the other were always there during my whole academic career and did not hesitate to support me for the viva. With profound admiration I would like to thank Davi(i)d " m-hm " Vilar for being the best Yoda I have ever had. His contribution to my structural thinking, scientific understanding and general way of programming is impossible to overestimate. Ralf Schlüter, for sharing the student's panopticon and for opening up the path to signal processing via brute-force: thank you Ralf, I owe you. Special thanks to Gregor " Aaaaah, why? " Leusch and Arne " Makakosch " Mauser for occasionaly allowing a short glimpse into their brain. A huge thank-you to Christoph " Schmitz " Schmidt for redirecting my foot steps towards a brighter future, Matthias " I lost my contact lense " Huck for helping me out in the educational stuff n' more, and to Jan " history lessons " Bungeroth for saving me from those other guys. I would also like to thank Yannick " ouuh " Gweth, Christian " nach dem Motto " Plahl and David " un-dergrads always get this wrong " Rybach for their kind administration issue solving, and of course Kai " Protoss " Frantzen and Stefan " aumix " Kolter-mann. Thanks to Evgeny " mustache " Matusov for curing me of simply v running scripts, and thanks to Richard " " Zens for his inspiring code art. Thanks to Oliver " Hast Du keine Eval? " Bender, Arnaud " looks good " Dagnelies, Thomas " Exploitation " Deselaers, Philippe " DJ " Dreuw, …


Recent experimental data for the 187Re(γ ,n) 186Re reaction are reviewed, and the contribution of the (8 +) isomer in 186Re is discussed. Statistical model calculations are used to derive the 186Re(n,γ)187Re capture cross section from the photodisintegration data, and σMACS = 1070±370mb is obtained at κT = 30 keV. The s-process branching at 186Re remains small. © Copyright owned by the author(s).