The current definition of the Stream Control Transmission Protocol
(SCTP) is missing a procedure for registering chunk flags for already
defined chunk types. This document defines this procedure. It does not
change SCTP in any other way.


Green Township Fire & EMS (GTFE) was one of the first communities in Greater Cincinnati to provide paramedic-level pre-hospital care to its citizens. In 2005, this service was expanded to include the response of a paramedic engine company to assist ambulance crews. The problem this research will address is that GTFE has vehicle operating expenses that are surpassing the allotted budget for fueling, maintenance, and repair. The purpose of this research is to determine a means of reducing GTFE's maintenance, fuel, and repair costs without a significant drop-off in service. Four research questions were posed as a basis for this project: 1. Is a fire apparatus necessary on emergency calls that are medical in nature? 2. How much does it cost for fire apparatus to respond to emergency calls compared to other vehicles? 3. What disadvantages exist in abandoning or reducing the practice of sending fire apparatus in tandem with ambulances on EMS calls? 4. What do trends suggest regarding usage, fuel price, and maintenance costs for fire apparatus? This research was evaluative and included a review of GTFE maintenance records, fuel logs, and emergency calls, as well as literature review to seek answers to the four research questions. The results indicate that realistic alternatives exist within GTFE without an increase in cost that would provide a similar service that currently exists.


Sustainable development of hotel industry is the mainstream of the future tourist industry. This paper first analyzes the current situations of the hotel industry in China, finds out some problems to be solved, and then advances the mainstream development tendency of future hotel industry.


With the possible future of a localized grid connected photovoltaic power system, the emphasis on the power quality at the distribution level has become much more of a priority. However, one of the major problems with self-generated power supply is the lack of power quality consistency due to the generation of harmonics via local non-linear loads. In an effort to overcome the aforementioned limitation, a custom grid-connected DSTASTCOM is proposed, which can theoretically reduce the generating harmonics to improve the overall power quality. The control strategy is based on the D-Q frame control theory and is theorized to provide a cost-effective alternative to the more conventional and expensive equipment.


A static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) integrated with an energy storage system (ESS) can provide superior performance in power flow control, transient stability improvement and power oscillation damping. This paper focuses on comparing the steady state characteristics of the SSSC with ESS and without ESS. The SSSC output voltage range, compensated output power, operating modes and its effects on transmission line power flow control are extensively discussed using characteristic curves. Based on these curves, a new generalized PQ decoupled control concept is proposed for an SSSC with a battery energy storage system (BESS). The experimental validation of the proposed control is carried out on a laboratory SSSC/BESS setup.


Objective: Non-pharmacological treatment such as a healthy diet, is important for hypertensive patients as it has a effect of lowering blood pressure (BP). We aimed to evaluate the effect of low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) on hypertensive patients with obesity. Design and method: Four electronic databases (KoreaMed, Embase, Medline, and the Cochrane Library) were searched from their inception to June 2021. Randomized clinical trials evaluating LCD (<130 g/day or <26% of the 2000 kcal/day diet) and very low-carbohydrate diet (VLCD) (<20-50 g/day or <10% of the 2000 kcal/day) for at least 8 weeks in adults with hypertension were eligible. Studies in which more than 50% of patients taking antihypertensive drugs, or systolic blood pressure (SBP) of 140 mmHg or more or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 90 mmHg or more were included. Primary outcomes were change of SBP and DBP. The comparative diets were diets with calorie restriction equivalent to those of the intervention diets, and most were included in a calorie-restricted diet and a low fat diet. Results: From 18, 151 studies identified in the initial search results, 6 randomized studies were included in the final analysis. Compared to the control diet, decreased SBP (mean difference: -3.25; 95% CI -7.28, 0.77) is observed in LCD for a period of six months or less, with no statistically significant difference in more than six months to one year or less and more than one year (36-52weeks: mean difference -1.30; 95% CI -76.04, 3.44, and > 1year: mean difference -4.51, 95% CI -15.38, 6.37) (Figure). LCD did not effect on DBP compared to control diet. VLCD marginally decreased SBP compared with the control diet, but not lead to a significant difference in DBP. Conclusions: For obese adults with hypertension, LCD had no additional benefit in reducing BP and weight compared to calorie-restricted or low fat diets when maintained for one year or longer. There is insufficient evidence to support the beneficial effect of a LCD in adults with hypertension, and further studies are needed to evaluate the effect of LCD in hypertensive patients.


Objectives : The object of this study was to observe anticancer and related immunomodulatory effects of Insamyangyoung-tang extracts (ISYYTe) on non-small cell lung carcinoma (squamous epithelial carcinoma), NCI-H520, xenograft Balb/c nu-nu nude mice.


Background. We describe the epidemiology of suicide pacts in England and Wales and assess the health, circumstances and motivation of those who died in pacts; the first such account for 35 years. Methods. We have analysed the death certificates, coroners' records and medical notes of all people who died in suicide pacts in England and Wales between 1 January 1988 and 31 December 1992. Results. The 124 suicides in 62 pacts accounted for 0·6% of all suicides giving a rate of 0·6 per million. The average age was 56 years. Poisoning by car exhaust or medicines caused 95% of deaths, both members of each pair using the same method. Forty-eight pacts were between married couples, five between blood relatives. Mental disorder was present in half and medical illness in one-third. Motives were avoiding loss of a partner from ill-health in 26 pacts, euthanasia in nine, thwarted love in four. Conclusions. The findings are similar to those of 35 years ago except the incidence of pacts is less. Improved management of illness might avoid some pacts especially when partners in an enduring, affectionate relationship, with few social ties, are both ill.


The heating of solar chromospheric internetwork regions by means of the absorption of electromagnetic (EM) waves that originate from the photospheric blackbody radiation is studied in the framework of a plasma slab model. The absorption is provided by the electron-neutral collisions in which electrons oscillate in the EM wave field and electron-neutral collisions damp the EM wave. Given the uncertain nature of the collision cross-section due to the plasma microturbulence, it is shown that for plausible physical parameters, the heating flux produced by the absorption of EM waves in the chromosphere is between 20% and 45% of the chromospheric radiative loss flux requirement. It is also established that there is an optimal value for the collision cross-section, 5×10-18 m2, which produces the maximal heating flux of 1990 W m−2.


A fully‐automatic image analysis method is described for the comprehensive and quantitative analysis of the morphology of filamentous mycelia grown in submerged cultures. The method not only allows rapid measurement of important morphological parameters on freely dispersed mycelia but also provides a novel characterization of the aggregated (clumped) form. The latter can constitute more than 90% of the biomass in some fermentations and might therefore be expected to have a major influence on broth rheology, fermenter mixing, mass transfer, and hence fermentation productivity. Clumps are characterized not only in terms of the percentage of mycelia in this form, as in earlier work, but also in terms of clump area, perimeter, compactness, and roughness. The method has been tested on laboratory‐scale Streptomyces clavuligerus and Penicillium chrysogenum fermentations. It is not only more comprehensive than previous methods but also faster and thus will permit more extensive physiological and engineering studies on mycelial fermentations than has previously been possible.


Previous studies have indicated that AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a key player in maintaining energy homeostasis in response to metabolic stress and activation of AMPK suppresses cell proliferation of non-malignant cells and tumor cells. Recent study showed that treatment of AMPK-activator such as AICAR or Metformin resulted in potent suppressive effects on renal cell carcinoma (RCC) growth. In the present study, we aimed to investigate effects of ENERGI-F706, an active compound isolated from Phyllostachys Edulis leaf extract, on human RCC cell line 786-O and human non-tumorigenic cell line HK-2. Cell viability assay revealed that ENERGI-F706 dose-dependently reduced viability of 786-O by using MTT assay. Comparing to 786-O cell, higher concentrations of ENERGI-F706 were needed to diminish viability of HK-2. Morphological analysis showed that cell morphology of 786-O cells treated with ENERGI-F706 for 36 hours (h) was significantly altered. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that ENERGI-F706 obviously elevated sub-G1 phase as well as contributed to accumulation of S phase. Further immunoblotting revealed that ENERGI-F706 treatments enhanced phosphorylation and acetylation of tumor suppressor p53. In addition, pro-apoptotic components including caspase-9, caspase-3, Bak and Bax were activated (cleaved) and increased, respectively. In contrast to pro-apoptotic components, level of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL were decreased in response to ENERGI-F706. Comparing to RCC, influences of ENERGI-F706 on normal human kidney cell HK-2 were also investigated. Cell viability analysis revealed that concentrations of ENERGI-F706 higher than 0.54 mg/mL reduced viability of HK-2 cells. Subsequent flow cytometric analysis showed that ENERGI-F706 contributed to significant accumulation at S phase but not sub-G1 phase in HK-2 cells. In conclusion, our findings indicate that ENERGI-F706 exerts stronger suppressive effect on viability of human RCC 786-O cell than on that of human normal kidney cell HK-2, which may attribute to differential apoptotic signaling and cell cycle arrest. It suggests that ENERGI-F706 could be beneficial to RCC not only due to its apoptosis-inducing ability, but also due to its differential effect on carcinoma cell and normal cell.


Thank you very much for reading human evolution an introduction to the new physical anthropology. As you may know, people have search hundreds times for their chosen readings like this human evolution an introduction to the new physical anthropology, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they cope with some malicious virus inside their computer.


One ofthe largest health and safety concerns in underground coal mining is that ofpersonnel being injured, becoming permanently disabled, or killed by machinery and powered haulage. A total of 24 fatalities were associated with continuous mining machines during a six-year period. Experienced miners are well aware ofthe inherent dangers of the face area and moving machinery. However, their attention is divided between maintaining production goals, monitoring their own safety, and processing the visual, tactile, and auditory cues that enable them to make informed decisions. The operator may find himselfhurried, mentally overloaded, and unable to process necessary information to make these informed decisions. When these circumstances occur, the operator may be exposed to a potentially hazardous situation. A unique system, identified as HASARD (Hazardous Area Signaling and Range Device), was developed to warn miners when they are in close proximity to the machine. HASARD is composed of two main components: a wireless transmitter that is mounted on a mining machine and one receiver worn by the remote control operator working near the mining machine. The system includes a small antenna which acquires and measures the magnetic field being produced by loop antennas and compares this measurement against two preset levels, calibrated to identify levels ofdanger. A "WARNING" level indicates that the miner operator is approaching a danger zone. This cautionary zone is a point for the operator to decide to enter the danger zone or return to the safe zone. A "DANGER" level is triggered when the operator actually enters'the danger zone. The operator is alerted with a combination ofvisual (lights) and vibratory (pager-like device) warnings. Ifnecessary, the danger level can be progranuned to shut down one or more functions of the machine. These zone distances were varied by the researchers to determine what safe operating distances could be defined without degrading the operator's ability to operate safely and effectively. This system will be effective only ifproper usability tests are completed to ensure its compatibility, integrity, reliability and efficiency. Designers ofHASARD were faced with not only the technical equipment operation criteria but also with the integration ofhuman factors principles and current human factors research in this area. The results from research examining operator positioning around remote control mining sections, a review ofa competitor system, and data collected from several additional studies at the field test mine, were analyzed to determine the feasibility and reliability of HASARD. Also, the implications ofusing the HASARD system are investigated. We were able to study miner operators' habits before implementation, after implementation but without operators' knowledge of the system, and again after operators were told how the system works and were given warning signals. Observations, open-ended interviews with miner operators and management, and time-coded positioning data was collected. Operator opinions as to the use and appropriateness of this device is discussed. The results determine the system/equipment/personnel function ofHASARD, help determine what design inadequacies need rectified, and establish training and procedure change requirements.


Respiratory function has been studied in 32 consecutive patients having oesophageal resection to determine the overall pattern and to compare the effect on it of two standard surgical approaches. Eighteen patients had a left thoraco‐laparotomy and 14 a laparotomy and separate right thoracotomy.


Polymer thin films from electrical discharges of hydrocarbons show great technological interest due to their auspicious applications, notably in the mechanical, microelectronic industry, and preparation of biomaterials. In this work, it was studied the correlation of the plasma phase with the polymer phase, formed in benzene discharges excited by continuous voltage of 1,0 kV under pressures which varied from 0,2 to 1,0 mbar. In this pressure range, the electronic temperature varied from 1,5 to 4,3 eV. The polymer phase showed continuous fine film morphology or fine film form with powder, containing OH, CH3 e CH2 radicals, and the polymer growth rate was between 40 and 160 A/min. The thermal diffusivity of these materials was measured between 1,0 x 10-3 cm2/s and 2,7 x 10-3 cm2/s.


This work investigates balance of systems (BOS) connector reliability from the perspective of arc fault risk. Accelerated tests were performed on connectors for future development of a reliability model. Thousands of hours of damp heat and atmospheric corrosion tests found BOS connectors to be resilient to corrosion-related degradation. A procedure was also developed to evaluate new and aged connectors for arc fault risk. The measurements show that arc fault risk is dependent on a combination of materials composition as well as design geometry. Thermal measurements as well as optical emission spectroscopy were also performed to further characterize the arc plasma. Together, the degradation model, arc fault risk assessment technique, and characterization methods can provide operators of photovoltaic installations information necessary to develop a data-driven plan for BOS connector maintenance as well as identify opportunities for arc fault prognostics.


Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is an acquired autoimmune disease, primarily characterized by peripheral nerve demyelination. Patients present with sensory and motor deficits, including but not limited to symmetrical diffused muscle weakness. Studies to date have mainly focused on the neuropathic aspects of CIDP and its involvement in paresis. Impairments in skeletal muscle quality and quantity may be a consequence of motor nerve deficits, but these aspects have not been investigated comprehensively. Thus, the purpose of this study was to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to explore anatomical and functional differences in the triceps surae muscle complex in a group with CIDP with a healthy control group.


Methods: The plasma nitriding process on the surface of SS316L was performed at 350oC, 400oC, 450oC, 500oC, 550oC and 1.8 mbar nitrogen gas pressure for 3 hours. The surface Nitrogen concentration level distribution from the surface was examined using Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, the phases formed after nitriding process were determined using X-ray Diffraction. The corrosion resistance was investigated using three-electrode cell polarization method.


ABSTRACT SAND particle size and concentration were tested for their effects on screen filter performance. Six sand sizes were tested at two concentrations with different filter mesh sizes, and one sand size was further tested at eight different sand concentrations. Smaller ratios of filter pore size to sand particle size caused greater weights of sand to accumulate in the filter prior to reaching a predetermined head loss limit (44.1 kPa). Larger particles were observed to accumulate in the housing whereas smaller particles clogged the pores. Increasing influent sand concentration also caused greater weights of sand to accumulate. An equation characterizing screen filter plugging was developed and used with the data to construct a nomogram of value in predicting the filter's operation under various conditions.


In this paper, results are presented from the experiments H1 and ZEUS at HERA on diffractive reactions in photoproduction and in deep inelastic scattering. Data are shown for exclusive vector-meson production, inclusive diffractive scattering, and on deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS). The data are compared to Regge phenomenology and the Pomeron trajectories are extracted for the different reactions, except DVCS. Also fits and predictions of perturbative QCD models are compared to the experimental results. From the description of the data in these two approaches it is demonstrated that there is a transition from soft diffraction to hard diffraction when either the mass of the diffractively produced system gets high or the negative four-momentum transfer squared, Q 2 , from the electron/positron to the diffractively produced system or the absolute value of the four-momentum transfer squared,‖ t ‖, from the proton to the diffractively produced system become large.


AbstractFine powders of copper were produced in a pilot plant gas atomiser. Nitrogen gas at 1·85 MPa was used as the atomising agent in a 'con1ined design' nozzle which operated vertically upwards. A range of superheat in the liquid metal from 115 to 270°C was examined. The morphology, surface features, and inner structure of the powder particles were examined under SEM. The atomising jet was photographed during operation to record metal build-up at the tip of the nozzle. Dry and wet sieving and quantitative particle size measurement by SEM were used to size the powders. The powders became finer as the metal superheat was increased. Cylindrical and spheroidal particles as large as 600 μm with rough surfaces and no satellites were observed at low superheats, whereas dumb-bell shaped particles were seen during moderate superheat runs. High superheats yielded fine, spherical powder particles (with satellites) which exhibited a bimodal size distribution not observed at low superheats. This indicated that the ...


Determination of a true temperature and temperature gradient in the solid-state NMR sample is a serious problem in MAS and MAS NMR measurements which use a variable-temperature control unit (VT MAS NMR). In the presented article the method which takes advantage of a temperature dependence of 207Pb NMR chemical shift of Pb(NO3)2 is proposed for the solution of this problem. Dependences of the sample temperature on the MAS rate at room temperature are reported as well as the measured and processed dependences of the sample temperature in the centre and edges of the rotor on the temperature set in the variable-temperature control unit (VT) measured at characteristic (frequently used) MAS rates of 10 kHz and 6kHz, respectively. Analysis of the Pb(NO3)2 spectra provided a maximal temperature gradient in a cylindrical sample as well as the temperature gradient in a narrow region (3 mm) in the centre of the rotor. The results obtained can be used for calculation of the true sample temperature in specific VT MAS NMR experiments and contribute to understanding of principles of frictional heating at axial rotational motion of cylindrical objects in the gas atmosphere.


Significance
 Keita has secured a decisive second-round victory and will embark on his second term from a nominal position of strength. However, the result poses tough questions for his challenger, who must now prepare a campaign for the legislative polls due later this year.

 Impacts
 If Keita's victory is confirmed, his second term will start on September 4.
 Keita must decide whether to retain Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga; campaign manager Bokary Treta is a possible alternative.
 Mali's international partners were disappointed by Keita's first-term performance and will urge a more dynamic approach in his second.
 Keita will now have to refocus on the peace process, stabilising central Mali and operationalising the new G5 joint military force.


Manipulating the cross‐coupling of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to maximize the photothermal effect is a promising strategy for cancer therapy. Here, by taking advantage of the well‐known tetrazole/alkene photoclick chemistry, we have demonstrated for the first time that small AuNPs (23 nm) decorated with both 2,5‐diphenyltetrazole and methacrylic acid on their surfaces can form covalently crosslinked aggregates upon laser irradiation (λ=405 nm). In vitro studies indicated that the light‐triggered assembling shifted the surface plasmon resonance of AuNPs significantly to near‐infrared (NIR) regions, which as a consequence effectively enhanced the efficacy of photothermal therapy for 4T1 breast cancer cells. We thus believe that this new light‐triggered cross‐coupling approach might offer a valuable tool for cancer treatment.


The invention relates to a multiple-purpose multifunctional comprehensive intelligent block collecting box which comprises a square box, a box cover, an elastic pad, at least five equation boards and at least eight checkerboards. The elastic pad is arranged on the inner side of the bottom of the square box, and the equation boards and the checkerboards are arranged between the box cover and intelligent blocks. The intelligent blocks are flatly laid on the elastic pad, include Chinese phonetic alphabet intelligent blocks, Arabic alphabet intelligent blocks, Chinese figure intelligent blocks, arithmetic operative symbol intelligent blocks, dice intelligent blocks, playing card and mahjong blended intelligent blocks, Chinese chess and international chess blended intelligent blocks and army flag intelligent blocks and are small cubes, six planes of each cube are provided with inscribed circles, different bottom colors are printed on the six inscribed circles, and the inscribed circles marked with characters on the intelligent blocks are identical in bottom color. The multiple-purpose multifunctional comprehensive intelligent block collecting box is simple in structure, ingenious in concept and wide in application and enables teachers to conveniently train curiosity and perseverance, exercise the hands and brains, practice problem solving, difficulty overcoming and frustration enduring tenacity and guide and cultivate the thinking and spirit for invention and innovation consciousness methods.


Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) acoustic scattering data from a variety of underwater munitions was collected in the Target and Reverberation Experiment 2013 (TREX13), Bay Experiment 2014 (BayEX14) and from the Acoustic Test Facility at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division. One data product from these tests is two dimensional templates of back scattered acoustic intensity as a function of aspect angle and frequency. A common method of target classification utilizes normalized template cross-correlations as the input into classification algorithms. This is typically done in a manner agnostic to observable physics-based scattering phenomena derived from the physical size, material composition, and geometry of the targets that might help improve classification performance. This presentation discusses methods explored to process the available data to make target elastic phenomena easier to recognize so that associated information can be extracted and used as target classifier input. The methods ex...


good fusion has been obtained under all conditions of illumination and contrast, the range of fusion is increased by slowly moving the tubes through smaller or greater angles, until the limit has been reached at which the picture still continues to be seen as a whole. When a good range, or amplitude, of fusion is present, it is usually possible for the patient to have a' sense of perspective, and this is trained and developed by pictures of the third group.


A series of studies characterize the wide array of materials that NAP-XPS can analyze that were previously unable to be studied by traditional high-vacuum methods.A series of studies characterize the wide array of materials that NAP-XPS can analyze that were previously unable to be studied by traditional high-vacuum methods.


We report the cloning and characterization of the first cell surface casein kinase (CK) II substrate (Tc‐1) of Trypanosoma cruzi. The gene has a 1653 base pair ORF coding for 550 amino acid residues, a 4.5 kb transcript that is expressed in invasive trypomastigotes but not in non‐invasive epimastigote forms of T. cruzi, and is a single‐copy gene. The coded protein has a putative transmembrane domain with multiple cytoplasmic and extracellular CKII phosphosites. Human exogenous CKII phosphorylates serine residues on both recombinant Tc‐1 and Tc‐1 of trypomastigotes. This phosphorylation was inhibited by the CKII inhibitors. Tc‐1 is only expressed in infective trypomastigotes. Immunoprecipitation of labeled surface proteins of trypomastigotes indicates that the 62‐kDa protein is a surface protein. Antibodies to Tc‐1 effectively blocked trypomastigote invasion of host cells and consequently reduced parasite load. Pre‐incubation of either trypomastigotes or myoblasts with CKII Inhibitors blocked T. cruzi infection. Thus, we describe for the first time a cell surface CKII substrate of a protozoan parasite that is phosphorylated by human CKII and is involved in early cellular infection.


Abstract : In 2010, the United States Navy allowed the first women to serve on submarines. Since then, officer and enlisted female Sailors have slowly been integrated into the submarine fleet under the watchful eye of Navy leadership. While success and failure have characterized the last six years of their advancement, important lessons can be learned from U.S. Navy history, recent U.S. Army integration techniques, and other nation's integration of women into traditional all-male submarine forces. The inclusion of women throughout U.S. Naval history has seen challenge but never failure, and the same will apply as the Silent Service adapts to include women in all submariner roles.


As a prevalent paradigm for flexible, scalable and on-demand provisions of computing services, Cloud Computing can be an alternative platform for scientific computing. In this paper, we propose an efficient resource management system for on-line virtual clusters provision, aiming to provide immediately-available virtual clusters for academic users. Particularly, we investigated two crucial problems: efficient VM image management and intelligent resource mapping, either of them has remarkable impact on the performance of the system. VM image management includes image preparation and local image management on physical resources. A resource mapping refers to a mapping from user's resource constraints to specific physical resources. We explore how to simplify VM image management and reduce image preparation overhead by the multicast file transferring and image caching/reusing. Additionally, the Load-Aware Mapping, a novel resource mapping strategy, is proposed in order to further reduce deploying overhead and make efficient use of resources. The strategy takes account of both image cache and VM load distribution information. System evaluation is conducted through various real stress workloads, and results show that our approaches are effective comparing to other common solutions.


Our society depends on fossil-based resources for energy needs and feedstocks to make many synthetic organic materials, i.e., polymers. Synthetic polymers from fossil resources amount to over 440 million metric tons annually, and are expected to reach 700 million metric tons by 2030. About 20% of discarded synthetic polymers are recycled globally, about 25% are incinerated, and the balance are added to landfill. While some energy is recuperated through incineration, the overall impact of today's linear economy principles of "make, use and mostly discard" approach impacts both local and global environment negatively. An alternative to this is a circular economy principle which aims at restructuring the way we think of design, manufacturing, consumption, and waste. By employing circular economy principles, the feedstock for new synthesis will originate from discarded and recycled polymers after their useful life.


Existing literature has paid considerable attention to the effects of supporting programmes on the survival and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but it lacks a deep understanding of the benefits of the use of such assistance and the factors influencing the evaluation of such services from the perspective of SMEs. We examine the factors affecting the propensity to use assistance when SMEs make financial decisions and the usefulness perceived by the users. We examine 2500 UK SMEs and find that the use of assistance and the usefulness of such services, as perceived by SMEs, are much related to: the characteristics of the entrepreneur, the nature of the business, and the financial products used by the business. These empirical results imply that support and advice on financial decision making, available for SMEs, are important for them to better manage and to access finance. Assistance and advice are also very valuable for SMEs and entrepreneurs to compensate for their lack of human capital and thus facilitate overcoming possible problems in managing their businesses.


In this work, a novel method for the analysis of the dispersion properties of a cascade of planar periodic surfaces is presented. The proposed approach can be employed for the characterization of the important class of metamaterials consisting of stacks of planar periodic surfaces. The analysis procedure is new and systematic, and it provides a complete description of the dispersion properties of the metamaterial in the whole irreducible Brillouin zone.


The aim of the thesis is to assess response to modulations of the choline pathway in the context of the cholinic tumor phenotype. Conventional measurements like anatomically based endpoints may be inadequate to monitor the tumor response to targeted agents that usually do not result in tumor shrinkage while used in monotherapy. Therefore, the identification of more sensitively, non-invasive biomarkers are needed to optimize the schedule and dosage of novels therapeutics. The results illustrate that the assessment of total choline with 1H-MRS is able to confirm the inhibition of the target but is not sufficient to predict tumor response to the targeted treatment. Adding DW-MRI as a marker of tumor response to choline inhibition improves specificity of the monitoring. In addition, 13C-magnetic resonance spectroscopy and the detection of hyperpolarized 13C-fumarate to 13C-malate conversion has been suggested as a marker of cell death and treatment response in tumors. We showed here that hyperpolarized 13C-fumarate, detected by 13C-MRS, could constitute a new early in vivo marker of response to Sorafenib (MAPK inhibitor). The Sorafenib treatment targets a lot of kinases and its multi kinase action is closer to a non specific chemotherapeutic agent than to a very specific targeted treatment. It would be interesting to monitor the use of a more specific ChK inhibitor as MN-58b using 13C fumarate. However, using Sorafenib treatment, the level of tumor cell necrosis after treatment has been described as a good prognostic indicator for treatment outcome in the absence of any change in tumor size. Our results show that the net change in 13C-fumarate conversion into malate marker was even more sensitive than DW-MRI. In conclusion, our studies illustrate that: (i) the total choline 1H-MRS marker can constitute a pharmacodynamic marker of choline targeted therapies, but does not presume the actual response to therapy, (ii) the combination of diffusion MRI and choline spectroscopy can be considered as a marker of response to choline targeted therapies, and (iii) the follow up of the metabolic ratio of 13C-fumurate into 13C-malate can be considered as an emerging marker of response to targeted therapies, with an improved sensitivity while compared with Diffusion-MRI.


In the last few years, inorganic nanosystems, or nanometals, were of great interest to conventional therapy. In this study, Copper Chitosan Nanocomposite (CuCNP) was monitored for its antiviral, immune-stimulant, and lowering agent of Cu residue roles by using Chicken Anemia Virus (CAV) as a model. CuCNP is a metallic oxide nanocomposite with specific properties, such as sphere shape, no aggregation, and narrow size distribution 24.71±1.68 nm PdI: 0.691±0.02. We grouped 100 broiler chicks into four groups. Group 1 served as a regular negative control group. In drinking water, G2 was treated with CuCNP 1 mg/ml for five days. The G3 was infected with 0.2 ml I/M of CAV strain (MN339532) at one day old with CuCNP 1 mg/ml in drinking water for five days. G4 virus-positive control group with viral 3.987×10 6 virus copies/ml. Different serum and organ tissue homogenate samples were collected at different time intervals to measure residues, CAV viral concentration in organs, and serum to monitor cellular and humoral immunity. The excellent results of CuCNP are improving the innate immune response phagocytic activity, lysozyme, and NO, also cytokine levels mRNA of IFN-γ, IL-6, and IL-10 in G2 and G3 and elevating CAV antibody titers with decreases the CAV viral load in organs with a noticeable decrease of its residues in G2 and G3. The current study provides evidence of the immunostimulatory effect of CuCNP on CAV infection. It clarifies a constant reduction of CuCNP residues in broilers muscle and liver tissues, keeping its levels below Cu maximum residual limits (MRLs). study is to investigate copper chitosan nanocomposites' role as antiviral (decrease the CAV viral load) and immunomodulatory impact (like phagocytic activity, IFN- γ, IL-6, and IL-10 and CAV serum antibodies level) on challenged chickens with CAV and following up on its residues in different organs.


Neuroblastoma (NB) is a heterogeneous disease with respect to genomic abnormalities and clinical behaviors. Despite recent advances in our understanding of the association between the genetic aberrations and clinical features, it remains one of the major challenges to predict prognosis and stratify patients for determining personalized therapy in this disease. The aim of this study was to develop an effective prognosis prediction model for NB patients.


Although Quocirca has taken what steps it can to ensure that the information provided in this report is true and reflects real market conditions, Quocirca cannot take any responsibility for the ultimate reliability of the details presented. Therefore, Quocirca expressly disclaims all warranties and claims as to the validity of the data presented here, including any and all consequential losses incurred by any organisation or individual taking any action based on such data.


Before January 1st, 2003, the item and fee rates of the motor vehicle insurance were established by the government in our country, each insurance enterprise strict performance, the way of doing this kind of strict control brought many irregularities.Actually, car insurance the fee rate market turns and can change the strict control bring various shortage of place, can promote diversified development of the insurance product and contribute to the insurance market contain preface, healthy development.But, through the investigation that circulates the condition to the insurance market, can see a car insurance fee rate market turn and can't attain one step to.Therefore, our country insurance market is still not mature currently, still not have all condition that market of fee rate turn.


Northeastern China is one of the areas mostly influenced by global change and has particular climate characteristics. According to the data from 1949, climate changes, including climate jumps and climatic warming-drying trend, during the last 44 years were analyzed with the methods of Yamamoto check and climate trend coefficient. Possible effects of this change on eco-environment were discussed. The results showed that the climate in the area trended to become warming-drying, with seasonal and regional differences. It was more obvious in summer and autumn and in sensitive areas such as Sanjiang Plain and Horqin sandy land. Eco-environment problems resulted from the climate change should be recognized.


This paper introduces the scheduling method for thermal and energy storage system (ESS) unit commitment. The ESS is incorporated to achieve peak load shaving and to reduce the total cost. The thermal scheduling is implemented by the extended priority list (EPL) method. The EPL method consists of two steps, in the first step we get rapidly some initial unit commitment schedules by priority list (PL) method. In this step, operational constraints are disregarded. In the second step, unit schedules are modified using the problem specific heuristics to fulfill operational constraints and to reduce the total cost. To calculate efficiently, some heuristics are only applied to solutions which can expect improvement. The ramp constraint for thermal unit is considered at last of EPL method. The ESS scheduling is carried out based on the thermal unit schedule obtained by EPL method. Several numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


We used climatological composite analysis to investigate El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) signals in long‐term shallow ground water level observations from four wells in the lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia. Significance of differences between warm‐phase, cold‐phase, and neutral climate states was assessed with a Monte Carlo bootstrap technique. We also considered time series of local precipitation and streamflow for comparison. Composite annual hyetographs suggest that ENSO precipitation impacts are largely limited to winter and spring, with higher and lower rainfall occurring, respectively, under cold‐phase and warm‐phase episodes. This is consistent with prior work in the region and is found to be directly reflected in both streamflow and ground water level data. The mean magnitude of ENSO terrestrial hydrologic anomalies can be up to ∼50% of the average seasonal cycle amplitude. ENSO does not appear to systematically affect annual hydrometeorological cycle timing in this study area. However, relative to the surface hydrologic systems considered, aquifers are observed to retain a stronger memory of seasonal ENSO‐related precipitation anomalies, with changes potentially extending through the following summer, presumably reflecting storage effects. Most responses appear to be somewhat nonlinear.


This thesis presents a collection of different researches on non-standard optics in view of enhancing the performances of the Advanced Gravitational waves interferometric detectors, where the thermal noise of the test masses is expected to be a limiting factor for their sensitivity.
We provide a quantitative analysis of the impact of non-Gaussian beams on different kinds of thermal noises. We developed the theory of mesa beam, in view of a future implementation in advanced GW interferometers of the mesa beam idea, focusing on the analytical derivation of the quantities (i.e. beam width, divergence, propagation factor), which are chosen as ISO standard reference parameters for the characterization of an optical beam. We also analytically proved a new duality relation between optical cavities with non-spherical mirrors. The interest of the GW community in this new beam technology led us to the construction and testing of a prototype mesa beam Fabry-Perot cavity with Mexican-hat mirror. Part of the work of this thesis was devoted to the development of new simulation programs of optical systems. These programs provided the theoretical expected behaviour of our experiment, in particular cavity modes structure and misalignments sensitivity to be confronted with the experimental results. We also explored another complementary way of reducing the mirror thermal noise, beside the beam shaping, that is the multi-layered coating thickness optimization. We show it to be effective in reducing the coating noise and explore the possible implications for GW interferometers in terms of sensitivity. During this analysis we developed an independent model for the coating effective elastic parameters, which is based on the well understood subject of homogenization theory.


Secretory carcinoma of salivary gland origin is a recently described tumor that harbors a characteristic ETV6-NTRK3 translocation that is identical to...


Here you can find tips about organizing your lab notebook, how to effectively create graphs and table for lab reports, places to locate protocols and property information, and how to properly cite resources. Tips on how best to use/organize your lab notebook


Cryopreservation of engineered tissue equivalents (TE) has achieved limited success. Successful preservation of a functional TE or tissue could provide prolonged transplantation time windows or off-the-shelf availability of engineered tissues. A quantitative understanding of the freezing-induced cell-fluid-matrix mechanical interaction is critical towards successful preservation of functional tissue. Using quantum dot-mediated cell image deformetry, Teo et al have experimentally mapped the instantaneous deformation of a TE during freezing process and showed its resulting volume change after thawing due to fluid loss [1]. To further our understanding of the freezing-induced fluid-matrix interaction, we have developed a biphasic model that simulates the transient of thermal load, its resulting TE elastic deformation, the corresponding pressure redistribution within, and the fluid movement in the TE.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


Temperature sensitive resistance to stripe rust in selected Australian wheat cultivars was found to be most strongly expressed at a constant post-inoculation temperature of l9¦C and at high light intensities. At 25¦C the infection type on the susceptible host was reduced, indicating incompatability, while at the lower temperature of 13¦C all cultivars were susceptible to the rust. At low light intensities there was a movement towards low infection types in cultivars possessing this resistance even at low temperatures. This made it essential to use high light intensities to differentiate this resistance to stripe rust. The host-pathogen interaction leading to the low infection types became irreversible after 6 to 7 days' exposure to the higher temperatures. As well as affecting disease progress towards the end of the growing season in the warmer areas of the wheat belt, this resistance could have a marked effect on the ability of Puccinia striiformis fsp. tritici to oversummer in the Australian wheat growing areas.


AIMS
The prenatal ethanol exposure induced neuroapoptosis and neuron loss in visual cortex would be investigated in mice at P0, P7 and P14.

METHODS
Intubating pregnant mice ethanol daily began on E5 and continued through the pup's birth. The neuroapoptosis in visual cortex was visualized by the caspase 3 immunocytochemistry, and the neuron loss was observed with Nissl method as well.

RESULTS
With prenatal ethanol exposure, the dose-dependent neuroapoptosis and neuron loss in visual cortex could be found at P0 and even at P7 and P14 as well.

CONCLUSIONS
The prenatal ethanol exposure induced neuroapoptosis and neuron loss will persist into postnatal stage, and the long-term effect of neuroapoptosis might be one of the causes of postnatal neurobehavioural disturbances associated with fetal alcohol syndrome.


We report a challenging case of chimeric anterolateralthigh flap reconstruction to cover peroneus longus andcalcaneal tendons exposure as a consequence of a donorsite compartment syndrome after fibula flap harvesting.A 61-year-old patient was referred to the Maxillo-Fa-cial Unit for a squamous cell carcinoma (T4-N3-M0) ofthe buccal mucosa involving the inferior premolar alveo-lar ridge. The patient underwent right emi-mandibulec-tomy, tumor en-bloc excision, and bilateral radical neckdissection. An immediate reconstruction was performedwith a free osteocutaneous fibula flap with two differentskin paddles. The first one was used to reconstruct theskin defect and the second one to reconstruct the mucosaldefect. The donor site was closed by direct suture undertension. A suction drain was positioned.The initial postoperative period was uneventful. Onthe fifth postoperative day, the negative-pressure drainagewas pulled out. A week after surgery, the donor site wasedematous and dark brown fluid flowed from the wound.Only mild pain occurred with active or passive movementof the toes. During the second week after surgery, theswelling and dark fluid secretion from the donor sitebecame more obvious. A necrotic area appeared in thecontext of donor site closure; this area rapidly increasedits dimensions in a few days. The only clinical symptomstill was a mild pain. Two weeks from surgery, the clini-cal diagnosis was compartment syndrome, due to exces-sive tension.This compartment syndrome led to a large loss ofskin and muscles of the lateral compartment of the legwith peroneus longus tendon and part of calcaneal tendonexposure (Fig. 1), then the patient was referred to ourPlastic Surgery Unit in order to plan a repair.After a surgical debridement, a two week of VacuumAssisted Closure


ABSTRACT:This essay focuses on views of Britain and America that were expressed by the German librarian, publisher, and publicist Ernst Schultze. Although he criticized both countries, his orientation was in no way conservatively anti-Western. He not only advocated but also applauded progressive reform, holding up British and American examples for Germans to consider and in some cases to emulate. In so doing, he exemplified both movement away from laissez-faire and a spirit of internationalism that was widespread before the First World War among reformist intellectuals. His writings serve as a window through which one can glimpse a wide range of interests and attitudes with regard to two countries to Germany's west.


This paper presents the process by means of which the Secretariat of Finance of the State Minas Gerais intends to get an ISO 27001 certification of the Electronic Invoice authorization. In 2007, the Secretariat of Finance of Minas Gerais started the project of Electronic Invoice - NF-e, which involves replacing the conventional invoice, on paper, by a document issued and stored electronically that exists only digitally. The purpose of the Electronic Invoice is documenting the movement of goods occurring between the seller and the buyer, which is subject to State taxes. The legal validity of the Electronic Invoice is guaranteed by the issuer's digital signature and by the reception of the data by Secretariat of Finance of Minas Gerais before of the movement of the goods . The information technology architecture of the Electronic Invoice authorization process of the Secretariat of Finance of the State of Minas Gerais is intended to ensure three basic objectives: 1) availability; 2) scalability and 3) elimination of single point of failure. So, the Secretariat of Finance of the State Minas Gerais concluded that the ISO 27001 certification of the information technology production environment, undergoing evaluation by external entities, namely, certification bodies, would demonstrate explicitly the commitment of the State of Minas Gerais with the general public and entrepreneurs who are based in the Minas Gerais and with those who intend establish themselves in the State of Minas Gerais in near future. This work presents some of the difficulties faced by the Secretariat of Finance of the State Minas Gerais during the preparation for the ISO 27001 certification, which is a major step to ensure the security requirements of information assets that are critical to the business. To the best of our knowledge this is the first ISO 27001 certification process of the Electronic Invoice authorization in Brazil, and the first ISO 27001 certification process in the executive branch of the direct administration in Brazil, in all three levels of government.


We consider an illiquid financial market where a risk averse investor has to liquidate a portfolio within a finite time horizon [0, T] and can trade continuously at a traditional exchange (the "primary venue") and in a dark pool. At the primary venue, trading yields a linear price impact. In the dark pool, no price impact costs arise but order execution is uncertain, modeled by a multidimensional Poisson process. We characterize the costs of trading by a linear‐quadratic functional which incorporates both the price impact costs of trading at the primary exchange and the market risk of the position. The solution of the cost minimization problem is characterized by a matrix differential equation with singular boundary condition; by means of stochastic control theory, we provide a verification argument. If a single‐asset position is to be liquidated, the investor slowly trades out of her position at the primary venue, with the remainder being placed in the dark pool at any point in time. For multi‐asset liquidations this is generally not the case; for example, it can be optimal to oversize orders in the dark pool in order to turn a poorly balanced portfolio into a portfolio bearing less risk.


Based on the single-phase sinusoidal pulse width modulation inverter,the mathematical model of the inverter was built.Using MATLAB to simulate the system with voltage and current double loop control,and used DSP(TMS320LF2407A) as the control chips to verify the simulation.The results showed that the off-grid inverter works well with double-loop PI control,meets the AC load requirements.


Meiosis is a specialized type of cell division in which one round of DNA replication is followed by 2 consecutive rounds of chromosome segregation. It occurs in eukaryotes during the generation of ...


In order to galvanize consumer trust and diminish the fear associated with risk, large U.S. banks have routinely exploited the connection between their massive size and the good feeling people get when they stand to make a profit. Therefore, most big bank customers whose trust ought to have been shaken beyond recovery after the 2008 crash have remained convinced that when it comes to banking, bigger is better. Yet smaller local institutions have rarely had a better opportunity to turn the bigger is better principle upside down. What has shaped up is a classic contest of brains vs. hormones.


This thesis investigates a new protocol, IFLAME, designed to provide highly scalable, distributed, real-time communication systems for the Internet. Scalability is achieved by using a client-oriented model rather than a more traditional server-centric one. The protocol specifies that servers maintain the locations of clients, but transactions are committed in a client-to-client fashion. IFLAME is unique because it requires each client to be responsible for handling the load associated with the transactions it initiates. The claims of the protocol are demonstrated in an implementation called the iFlame Message System which combines the ability to send audio, video, text, and other MIME-encapulated data with dynamic client configuration via the Tcl/Tk scripting language. The system achieved several goals: scalability, efficiency, portability, and concurrency. Thesis Supervisor: Walter Bender Title: Principal Research Scientist


This paper describes an innovative high frequency rectifier showing unique characteristics. The rectifier uses the patented double full-bridge topology. Each converter is based on a ZVS (zero voltage switching) full-bridge topology and the phase shift modulation. This quasi-resonant mode combines the advantages of the resonant topologies and the PWM converters. The circuit operates at 200 kHz and the efficiency exceeds 90 %. The product is very compact. The compliance with the safety standards and the EMI regulations are also demonstrated. Some applications are also described.


Geochemistry and materials studies are being performed in support of the Magma Energy Extraction Program. The scope of the studies is dictated by the sites under consideration and the designs of the drilling and energy extraction systems. The work has been largely restricted to characterizing magmatic environments at sites of interest and testing engineering materials in laboratory simulated rhyolite magmatic environments. The behavior of 17 commercially available materials has been examined at magmatic conditions. Analysis of reaction products reveal that oxidation, and not sulfidation, is the main corrosion problem for most alloys in rhyolite, and that reaction with other magmatic components is limited. Considerations of corrosion resistance, high-temperature strength, and cost indicate nickel-base superalloys offer the most promise as candidates for use in rhyolitic magma.


The use of high frequency differential interferometry makes it possible to extract very weak signals from a large unmodulated background, as was first shown in transmission studies of circular vibrational dichroism. We have combined this technique with a liquid nitrogen cooled interferometer (modified Digilab Model 14B) and a liquid helium cooled Ge:Cu detector to detect the weak luminescence (≤10-9 watt) between 1700-2000 cm-1 emitted during bombardment by low energy electrons (0.8 mA @ 100 to 500 eV, frequency 10 KHz) of a single crystal of n-doped InSb (⪅ 1014-carriers/cm3) at 80K. For an absolute signal of 10-10 watt, our signal-to-noise ratio for 100 scans is (≈1O-50 for respective resolutions of 2-16 cm-1 while the overall background above 1000 cm-1 is ≈105 times larger. Without modulation the signal-to-noise ratio is one to two orders of magnitude lower. From our results it is clear that a substantial improvement in signal-to-noise ratio can be obtained in emission studies where the mechanism is fast enough to respond to high chopping frequencies such as electron or photon stimulated luminescence, field modulated emission and fast chemiluminescence.


Purpose
The purpose of this study is to model the electric field distribution in 3D in the vicinity of 400 kV power line to determine the field impact on the environment and on the human body depending on the person location and presence of other objects.

Design/methodology/approach
The real 3D geometry of the three-phase line because of the line sag presence and existence of additional objects in its vicinity is considered. The time-harmonic electric field has been modeled, taking into account 1,200 phase shifting between the three-phase, 50 Hz currents. The study has been carried out using the finite element method (FEM) and COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2 software package. Special attention was paid to the field at a height of 2 m from the ground, to estimate the field influence on the located human body in the studied area (in relation to the limits for permissible electric field values).

Findings
3D map of electric field in the line vicinity and the electric field strength distribution along the observation surface (2 m from the ground) are determined for several region configurations: without additional objects, human presence just under the line, human at a certain distance from the line and presence of human and a tree. The simulation model was validated on the basis of comparison with computed and experimental data presented in the literature.

Originality/value
3D FEM modeling makes it possible to consider the real environment configuration, presence of line sag and additional objects with different material properties and obtaining of field quantities at any point of observation.


According to Amartya Sen the objective of development is not to produce more "stuff,
goods and services, but rather to increase the capabilities of people to lead full, productive and
satisfying lives by realising their full potential.
United Nations - UNDP, in the context of United Nations Development Programme - has
played the lead role in shaping the future of human development. According to UNDP "people
are the real wealth of a nation. The basic objective of development is to create an enabling environment
for people to live long, healthy and creative lives" (HDRO 1990). The United Nations'
Human Development Index (HDI) "captures as many aspects of human development as possible
in one simple, composite index" (UNDP).
In UNDP reports on human development HDI is estimated at national level. This study
sets considerable emphasis on disaggregated level. The primary objective of the study is to
measure and describe the state of human development in Greek regions. The UNDP methodology
provided a useful model for constructing disaggregated HDI for these regions. The major
purpose of this study, using the United Nations Human Development reports as a model, is
to investigate the human development differences and disparities between Greek regions and
to present a first step in developing a way of assessing human development at a regional level
in Greece


An object of the present invention is to optimize the performance of the logical disk. According to one embodiment, the storage controller of the tiered storage system and a deduplication controller of layered control unit. The duplication control unit eliminates the duplication of data physical chunk units. The hierarchical control unit on the basis of the input and output statistics of the plurality of logical chunks, acquires the physical chunk respective output statistics or is assigned the plurality of logical chunks. Furthermore the hierarchical control unit, operation for rearranging the data of the physical chunk in the first storage device to said first physical chunk in the second storage device access speed is lower than the storage device, and at least one of operation to relocate the data of the physical chunk in the second storage device to the physical chunk in the first storage device and executes on the basis of the output statistical values of the physical chunk. .The


The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation represents the strongest mechanism for oceanic northward heat transport. This is accomplished by moving warm water northward in the upper ocean compensated by a deep return flow of cold and dense North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Labrador Sea Water (LSW) constitutes the shallowest component of NADW. Since LSW is also supposed to be the most sensitive NADW component to climate change it is of particular interest. LSW is formed by deep convection not only in the centre of the Labrador Sea but also near its western boundary. Recent studies have suggested that LSW formed in the boundary region enters its export route from the Labrador Sea, the Deep Western Boundary Current, faster than LSW originating from the central Labrador Sea. In this study the spatial and temporal evolution of the export of newly formed LSW is investigated. For this purpose hydrographic mooring data from an array located at the western bounndary at 53°N starting in the late 1990s until 2014 and data from the Argo float network is used. The averaged seasonal salinity cycle at the array, particularly at the moorings further onshore, shows a pronounced freshwater signal in May indicating the arrival of newly formed LSW in the boundary current. In order to learn more about its preceding pathway and the corresponding export timescale the mooring data is complemented by data from Argo floats. Besides the annual cycles of LSW formation and export, their interannual variations are important aspects affecting the large-scale circulation. For instance, in years of relatively strong convection, as in 2008 and 2012, LSW is observed to pass the boundary current array at 53°N earlier, i.e. in February and March, respectively, than in years with weak convection, as in 2007 or 2010. Besides seasonal variations in the boundary current, a possible explanation for the earlier freshwater signal in years of enhanced convection might be a shift in convection sites southwards and/ or towards the boundary.


The results of measurements of the axial distributions of the Cd 479.9 nm, Cd+ 441.6 nm, and He 447.2 nm line intensities as a result of cataphoresis in a He‐Cd capillary positive column (3 mm diam) between the Cd source, placed at the cathode side, and the anode are presented. The measurements were carried out using optical scanning along the positive column. The measuring procedure also allowed the Cd atom density distributions along the positive column to be determined. It is found that the He‐Cd positive column divides into three regions: the seemingly uniform, blue‐colored cadmiumlike discharge region, the whitish transition region, and the orange heliumlike discharge region. The Cd atom density decreases linearly from the Cd source towards the anode in the cadmiumlike discharge region of the positive column. In the transition region the Cd atom density decreases quasiexponentially, extending its tail into the heliumlike discharge region. The very tail of the Cd atom density distribution found in the...


The photoelectrochemical oxidation and dissolution of silicon has been investigated in the absence of water and oxygen. The etch rate and photocurrent for n-Si in an anhydrous, HF-acetonitrile solution were directly proportional to light intensity. Four electrons were transferred per silicon oxidized, with a quantum yield greater than 3.3 due to electron injection. The anodic dissolution of p-Si, as Si(IV) without H 2 gas at up to 1.4 A/cm 2 , yielded a novel porous structure which exhibited electroluminescence and photoluminescence


The concept of "general adaptation syndrome" is based on Selye's observations on the patients suffering from mild medical conditions, that manifested many symptoms similar to those of the subjects who had been subjected to the effort to respond to various stressors. The "burnout" syndrome is an advanced stage of stress at the workplace and may cause the total and/ or permanent failure of returning to work. The abnormal structure of the working program and of the working tasks at the workplace, with a negative climate may cause depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, sleep changes, frustrations, the development of pessimistic attitudes and, in extreme cases, it can even lead to panic attacks (Singh, 2000).


When the fiber is subjected to acoustic wave, the local refractive index will be modulated as function of time, which can be detected in time domain or frequency domain reflectometry in the fiber as acoustic sensor


Rock typing is one of the most important steps in reservoir modeling, and it's the main task in reservoir characterization. In carbonate, the rock typing work that's been performed during the last two decades had a little progress in term of providing reliable estimation of reservoir behavior. However, the development of Conjunction Rock Properties Convergence, CROPC, a carbonate rock typing concept that provided an important and easy solution to the carbonate rock typing gaps, has a major breakthrough, even though, CROPC methodology was developed to capture the single pore network through the conjunction of Lithology, permeability, capillary pressure and water saturation. Therefore, the need to identify more complex carbonate pore network had led to the initiation of developing the Carbonate Rock Type Matrix RocMat, which will be detailed in this paper, as part of a Master of Science research project. In this novel concept the carbonate rocks were classified into homogeneous, single pore network, and heterogeneous rocks, dual and triple pore network with the utilization of the effective petrophysical properties of permeability, capillary pressure, saturation, porosity and height above free water level, all were classified in a conjunction matrix that honors these properties and at the same time enables generating sub groups as down scaling and estimation for unseen groups with infinite rock complexity capturing, at the same time it enables the ease to lump the groups and generates upscale-groups that make it easier for utilization by the geologist and reservoir engineers to achieve the objective of better reservoir performance prediction, the work was performed and then tested in two carbonate offshore fields data. This RocMat was structured to be the ultimate catalog for carbonate rock types.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Star trackers are opto-electronic sensors used onboard of satellites for the autonomous inertial attitude determination. During the last years, star trackers became more and more important in the field of the attitude and orbit control system (AOCS) sensors. High performance star trackers are based up today on charge coupled device (CCD) optical camera heads. The Jena-Optronik GmbH is active in the field of opto-electronic sensors like star trackers since the early 80-ties. Today, with the product family ASTRO5, ASTRO10 and ASTRO15, all marked segments like earth observation, scientific applications and geo-telecom are supplied to European and Overseas customers. A new generation of star trackers can be designed based on the APS detector technical features. The measurement performance of the current CCD based star trackers can be maintained, the star tracker functionality, reliability and robustness can be increased while the unit costs are saved.


Estimating an accurate spatial distribution of precipitation with high resolution is necessary for hydrological and ecological applications, especially in data‐scarce and terrain‐complicated river basins. Satellite‐based precipitation data have been widely used to measure the spatial patterns of precipitation, but an improvement in accuracy and resolution is needed. In this article, a new statistical downscaling method is proposed to generate improved monthly precipitation fields at a higher spatial resolution of 1 km in Heihe River basin (HRB), China. The presented methods employed the geographical weighted regression (GWR) method to explore the non‐stationarity between precipitation and its factors, and used the high‐accuracy surface modelling method (HASM) to compensate for the errors produced in the GWR downscaling process. The GWR model was first established under five different spatial scales, and the optimal relation between precipitation derived from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and its influencing factors was found for each month. The errors caused during the scale change were modified by performing HASM as a data merging framework, which considered both the local climate characteristics and meteorological observations. Results showed that the GWR downscaling method could not generate spatial patterns of precipitation similar to those of the original TRMM products. Although the performance of the GWR method after residual interpolations using Kriging, IDW, and tension Spline was improved, there existed significant variations in some regions, and the accuracy of those methods was still not satisfactory. In comparison with the other four models, GWR‐HASM showed better performance in reproducing the precipitation field at a high spatial resolution. Results indicate that the proposed downscaling method appears feasible for precipitation estimation in data‐scarce river basins.


The evidence in favour of active immunization against tetanus under military conditions is overwhelming. A highly conservative estimate of the serum antibody level necessary to give protection against tetanus may be taken as 0·1 to 0·2 unit per millilitre. Such a level has been found in the blood of subjects up to at least nine years after an adequate initial immunization which includes a "routine stimulating" injection of toxoid after twelve months. On the evidence considered in this paper, the following principles should form the basis of a sound procedure regarding active immunization in civilian practice:


Suppose G is a limited group and H is a subgroup of G,subgroup H of G is called PCSM-Subgroups in G if there exists at least one G-conjugate of each maximal subgroup M of any Sylow subgroup of G,such that HMx=MxH for some xG.In this paper,a sufficient or necessary condition of a finite group G which is P-supersolvable is obtained by using the PCSM-Subgroups of G.


Purpose: Precise knowledge of the level of the vocal fold as projected on the external thyroid cartilage is of critical importance for the performance of many surgical approaches. This study aims to identify the level of the anterior commissure, as well as the lengths of the vocal muscle and arytenoid cartilage in Turkish population. Materials and Method: Specimens were collected after autopsy from the Council of Forensic Medicine. One hundred human larynges (52 men, 48 women; age range: 25-80 years) were dissected under a stereomicroscope. Projection of the vocal fold was analyzed in relation to the superior thyroid (A) and the inferior border of the thyroid cartilage (B). Then, the larynx was dissected parallel to the level of the vocal fold to measure the length of the vocal muscle (C) and the length of the interarytenoid space (D). Results: The mean value of the "a" was 9.15 ± 1.99 mm in male and 9.38 ± 3.43 mm in female. Mean value of the "b" was 10.54 ± 1.73 mm and 8.88 ± 1.81 mm in male and female, respectively. The mean value of the parameter corresponding the length of vocal muscle which was "c" was found 15.00 ± 3.18 mm in male and 12.88 ± 4.12 mm in female. The mean value of the interarytenoid space "d" was 8.31 ± 1.76 mm in male and 8.13 ± 1.90 mm in female. Comparing between genders, no statistical differences were observed in parameters of a, c, d, a + b, a + b/2 (P > .05). However, the difference with female and male for the parameters of b and c + d was statistically significant (P < .05). Conclusion: Our results indicate that the anterior commissure projects slightly above the midline height for male and at the level to slightly below in female subjects in Turkish population.


Approved: ___________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ___________________________________ Title and Department ___________________________________ Date ___________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ___________________________________ Title and Department ___________________________________ Date 3 STATISTICAL METHODS FOR DEEP SEQUENCING DATA


An examination of load deflection (bulge) testing of coated and uncoated membranes by analytical and finite element methods was undertaken. The key parameters in the loaddeflection behavior of a membrane were non-dimensionalized and examined to illustrate how to design test structures for materials systems of interest. Experimental and modelling procedures were examined to improve measurement of membrane response. An approach to test membranes with compressive residual stresses was proposed and used for determining the stress state for a p++Si/SiNx system with and without a deposited coating. Thesis Supervisor: Stuart B. Brown Title: Richard P. Simmons Associate Professor of Materials Manufacturing


In recent years, nucleophilic substitution of alcohols leading to the formation of the C-C and C-heteroatom bonds has become an attractive process used in the synthesis of organic compounds, offering a potential impact on the environment, since water is the only by-product of the reaction. A comprehensive compilation of methods for the activation and displacement of a hydroxyl group covering the last seventeen years is the objective of the present review.


We have observed the minority‐charge signal transferred by surface acoustic waves (SAW) on a monolithic MIS structure. In the Al/ZnO/SiO2/p‐Si system, we have made new improvements on the configuration of input and output gates and the channel‐stop bias ring along the transfer path, and on the method to prepare the deep‐depletion mode by applying the pulse bias at the transfer channel. This type of charge‐transfer device by SAW (monolithic SAW‐CTD) seems to have some advantages compared with the separated‐medium type so far examined.


In recent years the number of diamond finds from kimberlitic rocks (senso lato) (Nielsen and Sand, in press) in West Greenland has increased, resulting in a greater interest for the diamond potential of the region. Commercial size diamonds have so far only been found within ~20 km of the undeformed Archean craton boundary as defined by crustal exposures and geophysics (Van Gool et al. 2002). Detailed studies of the mantle beneath this region have been lacking. Here we assess the diamond potential of the southern West Greenland lithospheric mantle using geothermobarometry applied to 4-phase mantle peridotitic xenoliths (garnet, olivine, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene) from ~600 Ma kimberlitic (senso lato) dikes and sills (Secher et al. 2008). The xenolithbearing occurrences (Fig. 1) are located in three different settings relative to the margin of the undeformed North Atlantic Archean Craton. The Kangerlussuaq area is within the Nagssugtoqian Mobile belt, the Sarfartoq area just outside the deformation zone and the Maniitsoq area is entirely within the craton. The aim of this investigation was to estimate the depth of lithosphere, as sampled by mantle xenoliths and hence the diamond potential of West Greenland and to identify any variations in diamond potential between the three sub areas. A complementary study (Wittig et al. 2008), focused on evaluating the age of the lithospheric mantle beneath the region studied here.


This paper demonstrates that two‐dimensional boundary element methods are fast and efficient techniques for predicting the scattering from reflectors and diffusers. Of particular interest in this study were diffusers used in auditoria. The scattered pressure distributions were closely predicted by the boundary element methods, which is often sufficient for acousticians. The absolute scattering magnitude was not always well predicted. Consequently, two different techniques have been developed which compensate for predicting the inherently three‐dimensional problems using two‐dimensional methods. The compensations work very well for mid to high frequencies. They also work better for scattering near the geometric scattering angle.


Lexical cultural overlapping refers to a word sharing the same connotation in two cultures.The lexical overlapping between English and Chinese may stem from the sameness or similarities of life experience,labor experience or the lexical borrowing of the two peoples.


The pore structure of hard carbon samples made from two kinds of phenolic resins by heating between 1073 and 1473 K was investigated by 129Xe NMR. The difference of porous structure of hard carbon ...


ABSTRACT Although windstorms are not as spectacular as large, fluvial floods, they cause significant losses every year. Due to the difficulties in measuring this damage, the literature on the impact of climate change on it is relatively scarce. The aim of this paper is to estimate the impact of climate change on losses caused by windstorms in Poland over the twenty-first century. To do that, damage over threshold methodology is applied, in which losses depend on how much a given threshold is exceeded. In line with existing literature, the 98th percentile threshold and cubic damage function are applied to the data on the wind speed of gust from EURO-CORDEX simulations. As a result, it turns out that the losses caused by windstorms in Poland will increase in relative terms until 2100 by 29% in the RCP4.5 scenario and 32% in the RCP8.5 scenario. By 2050, these changes will be less significant, but still increases by 6% in RCP4.5 and 16% in RCP8.5 can be expected.


Bacteria possess a diverse range of mechanisms for inhibiting competitors, including bacteriocins, tailocins, the type VI secretion system, and contact-dependent inhibition. Why bacteria have evolved such a wide array of weapon systems remains a mystery. Here we develop an agent-based model to compare short-range weapons that require cell-cell contact, with long-range weapons that rely on diffusion. Our models predict that contact weapons are useful when an attacking strain is outnumbered, facilitating invasion and establishment. By contrast, ranged weapons tend to only be effective when attackers are abundant. We test our predictions with the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which naturally carries multiple weapons, including contact-dependent inhibition (CDI) and diffusing tailocins. As predicted, short-range CDI functions better at low frequency, while long-range tailocins require high frequency and cell density to function effectively. Head-to-head competitions between the two weapon types further support our predictions: a tailocin attacker only defeats CDI when it is numerically dominant, but then we find it can be devastating. Finally, we show that the two weapons work well together when one strain employs both. We conclude that short and long-range weapons serve different functions and allow bacteria to fight both as individuals and as a group.


Large biases can occur in parameter estimates for stock–recruitment models because the stock sizes are not chosen independently, being correlated with variability in recruitment. We examine the importance of this "time series bias" by a comprehensive analysis of available stock–recruitment data and the use of simulations. For semelparous species, i.e., species that reproduce only once, time series bias is important for all populations for which we had data. For iteroparous species, i.e., species that reproduce more than once, large biases occur if the populations are exploited at close to the maximum that is biologically possible. Notably, when there is autocorrelation in natural mortality, for univoltine species, the direction of bias is reversed due to model misspecification. Given moderate sample sizes and moderate levels of exploitation, time series bias is small for species such as Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), for which α, the slope of the relationship between recruitment and number of spawners as th...


In Wenchuan earthquake and Tangshan earthquake the local lifeline systems were almost totally damaged.To evaluate the "stability" of the local lifeline systems under the condition of near field earthquake,the evaluation parameters of the two road nets are calculated and analyzed based on the theory of earthquake disaster comparatology.Those parameters are Topological Index(TI(G)),Topological Inverse Index(TII(G)) and Node Solitude Index(NSI) etc.The result shows that the "Stabilities" from low to high are Tangshan Before-earthquake(1975),Wenchuan Before-earthquake(2007),Tangshan After-earthquake(2008).It is concluded that five additional roads,Beichuan to Anxian and so on,should be built in case of rehabilitation the existing roads before Wenchuan earthquake with the optimization theory from a purely mathematical point of view,in which the local road nets would be the highest regional dispersion,the smallest node isolation index,and would be most stability.


The 800 MHz radio data transmission system of Daqin Railway heavy haul combined train has 2 sets of radio data transmission equipments in each locomotive,adopting 800 MHz working frequency band and radio data transmission techniques.The key techniques of this system include the following aspects.Through theoretical calculation and many practical tests of the propagation characteristics in plain and open areas,long straight tunnel and in curve tunnel,800 MHz is determined as the working frequency band of system.The comprehensive application of temporal,spatial,frequency diversity,mixed error correction mode of forward error correction and retransmission,interleaved coded,and also the measures to reduce nearby block of signal have effectively improved the success rate of radio data communication.The combination of broadcasting and relay transmission has ensured the reliability and real-time quality of the system.Results during test run period indicate that the BER(bit error rate) of 800 MHz increases along with the reduction of the received signal level,and the minimum received signal level of system is 0 dBμV(95% time and land probability).These practical application results prove that this system can well meet the radio data communication requirements of heavy haul combined train in Daqin Railway.


This paper examines the use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) games in formal educational settings. A survey method was employed to determine which COTS video games are appropriated for formal educational settings, and the benefits and barriers to integration in formal educational settings. Ninety-nine members of the Special Interest Group of Games and Simulations (SIGGS) in the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) responded to the survey. The results suggest that greatest benefits to integrating COTS videos games include developing cognitive skills, teaching complex problem-solving, accepting and learning from mistakes, and learning by doing. The greatest barriers include teachers' background in games and technology, perception of games, lack of financial resources, alignment with the curriculum, lack of evidence to support their use, and lack of time to integrate into the classroom. Conclusions are provided.


Abstract Gravity heavily influences living organisms on earth including their circadian rhythm, which is fundamentally important for coordinately physiology in organisms as diverse as cyanobacteria, fungus and humans. Numerous researches have revealed that microgravity in outer space can affect circadian rhythm of astronauts and rodent animals, but the mechanism remains unknown. Using rotary cell culture system to simulate microgravity environment, we investigated the role of simulated microgravity in regulating the circadian rhythm of NIH3T3 cells. Our experiments found that simulated microgravity can not only influence the mRNA level of some core circadian genes, but also modify the circadian rhythm of Per1 and Per2 synchronized after phorbol myristate acetate treatment. Remarkably, MEK/ERK pathway was transiently activated after a 2-h simulated microgravity treatment, with a significant upregulation of Kras, Raf1 and p-ERK1/ERK2. Moreover, U0126, a selective inhibitor of MEK/ERK pathway, could disrupt the circadian rhythm of Per1 and Per2 synchronized after simulated microgravity treatment. Together, our results unveil that simulated microgravity could act like a zeitgeber to influence the circadian rhythm of NIH3T3 by acting on MEK/ERK pathway, indicating that MEK/ERK pathway may act as a bridge which connects cells mechanotransduction pathway and circadian rhythm regulation.


Objectives : Chungsimyeonja-eum (CSYJE; Qingxinlianzi-yin in Chinese; Seishinrenshi-in in Japanese), a traditional herbal medicine, has been used for treating mouth dryness, hyperuresis. This study was designed to determine preservation period of CSYJE. We investigated the stability and biological a...


We succeeded in detecting 10 cm LEO objects at 1000 km altitude with a CMOS sensor installed to the 18cm telescope by using fast frame rate of the CMOS sensor and FPGA-based image-processing technique. The LEO survey system using numerous sets of the CMOS sensor will contribute the monitoring LEO environments which is currently done with the space surveillance network of the United States and solving the space debris problem in the future.


The present report is on Psoroptic mange infestation in rabbits. Out of 126 rabbits in a farm 34 were infested. Observed clinical signs were alopecia, crusts formation, superficial and deep skin fissures and itching. Distribution of lesions was noticed around the base of ears, margins of the ears and face. Skin scrapings from infested rabbits were examined and eggs, larvae, nymphs and adult mites were recovered. The infected rabbits were treated with ivermectin @ 200µg/kg body weight first day subcutaneously followed by orally once in 48 hours along with antibiotic and supportive therapy. Improvement in the condition was noticed after 4 th day of therapy.


ynthetic peptides are of fundamental importance for pharmaceutical, diagnostic, nutrition and cosmetic industries. Their key properties, including potency, stability and bioavailability, are strongly influenced by functionalization at the peptide terminus. Moreover, protection/deprotection strategies at the peptide termini play a central role in peptide synthesis strategies. Peptide amidase from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Pam, is capable of deamidation/amidation reactions selectively at the C-terminus of a peptide chain. However, modest stability of the enzyme hampers its wide scale applicability in chemo-enzymatic protein synthesis strategies where most reactions are performed in organic solvents devoid of water. We used computational protein engineering supported by energy calculations and molecular dynamics studies to discover a number of stabilizing mutations. We combined twelve mutations to develop a robust peptide amidase that showed high solvent-compatibility and thermostability (∆Tm = 23oC). Protein crystallography and molecular dynamics simulations revealed the biophysical effects of mutations contributing to the enhanced robustness. The resulting enzyme catalyzed the selective C-terminal modification of synthetic peptides with nucleophiles such as ammonia and methylamine in various organic (co-)solvents. The use of non-aqueous environment allowed modification of peptide free acids with >85% product yield under thermodynamic control.


In this paper, a new design of wideband filtering balanced-to-unbalanced (BTU) in-phase power divider (PD) is proposed based on two different three-line coupling structures and a pair of stub-loaded resonators. Herein, the balanced signal with high common-mode suppression is generated by two half-wavelength microstrip lines symmetrically coupled with a central quarter-wavelength conductor, where the differential ports are set at the opposite terminals of two side lines. To obtain a pair of in-phase signals, the output section is constructed by a symmetrical three-line coupled structure. Then, two open circuited stub resonators are adopted to broaden the passband and improve filtering selectivity. Good in-band isolation is realized with a lumped resistor bridged between two output lines. By theoretical calculations, relevant parameters of the filtering PD can be predicted with given specifications. For demonstration, one prototype is designed and simulated. Results indicate that the proposed filtering BTU PD operates at the center frequency of 2.4 GHz with a fractional bandwidth of 30.7%. On the other hand, common-mode signals input from the balanced ports can be suppressed up to 30 dB over a wide frequency band and the in-band isolation is better than 20 dB.


The paper presents the problem of optimizing investments in rail-highway crossings. The optimization
problem is to allocate limited available funds to minimize the expected number of traffic accidents. This problem is
treated as an optimal resource allocation problem and is solved by the Dynamic Programming method. The method is
used to solve a real problem of investment optimization in the Yugoslav railway system.


FAT file system is the most primitive, compatible and simple file system which still sustains in this era on digital devices, such as mini MP3 players, smart phones, and digital cameras. This file system is supported by almost all operating systems because of its simplicity and legacy. This paper presents review of the basic design technique, constraints and formulas of the most important and building block data structure of FAT32 file system; the FAT data structure.


1. 1. Please provide, in table format, a current list of Commission members, the authority for their appointment, and the expiration date for their term. In addition, include a list of any vacancies and the appointment authority for that vacancy. 2. DC Sentencing and Criminal Code Revision Commission Membership Member Term Expiration Date Authority for Appointment Hon. Frederick H. Weisberg No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(A) Donald Braman, Esq. 7/2/2011 DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(J) DC Council Hon. Harold L. Cushenberry No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(A) Ronald Gainer, Esq. 7/2/2011 DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(J) DC Council Laura E. Hankins, Esq. No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(D) Adele Harrell, Ph. D. 7/2/2011 DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(J) DC Council Cedric Hendricks No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(F) Hon. Ramsey Johnson No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(A) Chief Judge Patricia Riley, Esq. No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(C) Michele Roberts, Esq. 12/31/2013 DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(G) Chief Judge David Rosenthal, Esq. No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(E) Julie Samuels 12/31/2013 DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(H) Chief Judge Jennifer Seltzer Stitt 7/2/2011 DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(I) DC Council Anne Seymour 4/13/ 2011 DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(I) Mayor Earl J. Silbert, Esq. 12/31/2013 DC Code §3‐102 (a)(1)(G) Chief Judge Maria Amato, Esq.* No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(2)(A) Michael Anzallo* No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(2)(B) Stephen P. Husk* No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(2)(D) Thomas R. Kane, Ph.D.* No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(2)(C) Hon. Phil Mendelson * No Term Limit DC Code §3‐102 (a)(2)(E) *Non-voting Members Hon. Frederick H. Weisberg, Chairperson


Objects thrown from buildings is an old and special kind of infringement act. Article 87 of the Tort Law recently implemented has established the general applicable rules of tort liability caused by objects thrown from buildings. On the premise of precise comprehension of the article, the judicial application needs to be made clear as follows: tort liability caused by objects thrown from buildings is the behavior presumption, not the fault presumption; it is necessary to bring the criminal investigation procedure to the foreground in such cases; the liability undertaken by the presupposed actor is fair liability, compensation responsibility, and shared responsibility. Of course, the function and task assumed by the Tort Law should be restricted. With the improvement of the state social security system and the commercial insurance system, this regulation should be deleted.


A novel artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) surface is designed for radar cross section (RCS) reduction in ultra-wide band. The proposed AMC structure is composed of two different double-layer AMC units, resulting in destructive reflection phase difference (180°±37°) in the band from 5.8 to 16.35 GHz (95.26%). Each AMC unit cell is combined by a metal patch etched on a substrate and a PEC layer, in between of which is a 2-mm-thick air gap. One of the metal patches is composed of an octagonal ring and a Union Jack cross, and the other is a circle patch. With chessboard arrangement by the two units, the RCS of the proposed surface can achieve an 91.7% (6.2-16.7 GHz) 10 dB RCS reduction bandwidth for x polarization and an 93% (6.1-16.7 GHz) bandwidth for y polarization, which demonstrates that the presented AMC surface may be found potential applications on low-RCS platforms in an ultra-wide band.


This paper treats the theory of identification presented in Haavelmo's classic work, The Probability Approach in Econometrics. This was the first identification theory for stochastic models to be developed in econometrics. The paper presents a detailed commentary on Haavelmo's analysis. It also examines the development of Haavelmo's theory from Frisch's analysis of multicollinearity and also the relationship between Haavelmo's analysis and later work on identification.


The technological development that the world witnessed in the first century of the third millennium has positively affected many areas of our life, including the health field. Especially for those people who spend their time in loneliness without having anyone with them to care about them. The simplest example of this is the elderly and people with disabilities. Especially if we know that, the elderly makes up a fraction of 2-28% of countries population. Here comes the role of health institutions in providing remote health care needed by those segments of people with medical information programs and systems that use Internet and technology to achieve the desired goal, which is to monitoring the person's vital signs and send his medical data continuously and almost in real time to those directly responsible for his health. That is including doctors, nurses, and others. Other aspects of remote patient surveillance include identifying substance intoxication in patients hospitalized with heart conditions with digitalis medication and diagnosing serious illnesses until they get too difficult. In that paper, we make a review of most medical uses for IoT to help elderly and disabled patients, also we will compare between them in order to have a fear judgment on these uses.


The Notch receptor is part of a highly conserved signaling pathway shared in Drosophila, C. elegans and mammals. Extensive studies of Notch signaling have revealed its participation in the development of diverse organ systems including brain, blood cells, blood vessels, gut, and skin. Many genetic modifiers of the Notch signaling pathway have been identified, including some which act at the membrane and others in the nucleus. One such member is Deltex, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, which was originally identified as a modifier of Notch in a Drosophila genetic screen. In early lymphoid development, Deltex has been demonstrated functionally to antagonize Notch signaling but the precise molecular mechanism for this functional antagonism between Notch and Deltex is not understood. However, in Drosophila, recent data supports the formation of a trimeric complex between Deltex, Kurtz and Notch that promotes Notch ubiquitin-mediated proteosomal degradation. Beta-arrestinl is one of the closest mammalian homologues of Kurtz and functions as an adaptor protein in a variety of cellular processes such as endocytosis, ubiquitination and nuclear shuttling. We hypothesize that a similar interaction occurs in mammalian cells between Notch, betaarrestinl and Deltex to negatively modulate the Notch signaling pathway. Our data reveal a physical interaction between beta-arrestinl and the Notch receptor. We could not, however, detect an interaction between Deltex and beta-arrestinl by coimmunoprecipitation. We also demonstrate that Notch and beta-arrestin I physically associate with both a membrane-bound form of activated Notch, as well as the intracellular form of Notch after membrane cleavage. Using RNA interference, as well as overexpression of beta-arrestinl, we demonstrate that beta-arrestinl negatively regulates a Notch/CSL dependant reporter assay. We also show that the presence of Deltex enhances the negative modulation of the Notch signaling pathway mediated by beta-arrestinl. Therefore, we reveal a new Notch interacting protein and a novel role for beta-arrestinl in the Notch signaling pathway.