One- () and two-phase () isochoric heat capacities, densities (), and phase-transition temperatures () one of the main component of biofuel (methyl octanoate) have been measured. Measurements were made in the immediate vicinity of the liquid-gas phase transition points in order to accurately determine of the phase transition properties (,,, and ). The measurements have been made over the temperature range from (298 to 460) K at pressures to 2 MPa for six quasi-isochores between (373.13 and 809.72) kg∙m-3. High-temperature, high-pressure, nearly constant-volume adiabatic piezo-calorimeter has been employed to the measurements. The combined expanded uncertainty of the density, temperature, and isochoric heat capacity, measurements at the 95 % confidence level with a coverage factor of k = 2 is estimated to be 0.15 %, 15 mK, and 3 %, respectively. The measured values of two-phase as a function of the specific volume along various isotherms were used to calculate the second temperature derivatives of vapor-pressure and chemical potential. The contributions of the vapor-pressure,  and the chemical potential,, to the measured total two-phase were estimated. The piezo-calorimeter was used to simultaneous measurements of thermal properties (PVT) and thermal pressure coefficient for the same biofuel sample.


The 'Black Sea security' as a concept must be judged, unfortunately, from the 'insecurity' point of view. Since 1991, there is more debate about Black Sea 'insecurity', rather than regional 'security'. The contextual problem is not only due to the fact that in this region there is a concentration of 'frozen' conflicts. The war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia in August 2008 actually reinforced the need for strengthening military security in this explosive region, and energy security in particular. The 'post‐Cold War' security situation in the Wider Black Sea region has been developing through constant geopolitical tensions on different systemic levels with the simultaneous involvement of a number of insiders and outsiders. The last decade has thus been marked by new challenges that have to be dealt with.


Rationale: Despite a lack of beneficial evidence in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) is currently prescribed for many patients with IPF. Little is known about clinical course of them. Aim: To clarify the overall survival and prognostic factors of IPF patients after prescription of LTOT. Method: A prospective cohort multicenter study, enrolling patients with IPF who started LTOT between December 1, 2012 and November 30, 2015 from 21 institutes in Japan. The decision for starting LTOT depended on each site. Clinical data at starting LTOT and three-year follow-up data including death and cause of death were studied. Results: 147 eligible patients were recruited. 117 were male and the mean (SD) age was 71.2 (8.1) years. The mean (SD) percentage predicted FVC was 61.7 (15.6)%. 111 (76%) died with a median follow-up of 479 days. Causes of death were chronic respiratory insufficiency in 52%, acute exacerbation in 27%, and lung cancer in 5%. The median survival from starting LTOT was 537 days. By COX univariate analysis, low FVC, high COPD assessment test (CAT) score, resting hypoxemia (SpO2 This study was partially supported by a grant to the Diffuse Lung Diseases Research Group from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan.


Considering the practical requirement in scientific research and adopting the tracing method for REE distribution patterns,the authors carried out a systematic research on the distribution patterns of REE in soils of alluvial plain.The results show that distribution patterns of REE in soil of alluvial plain are on the whole similar to each other,and that the basic characteristics of soil materials in alluvial plain are generally identical.Some insignificant differences in REE distribution patterns could be used to distinguish characteristics of soil materials.


The present invention relates to a method for producing a glyceryl ether, wherein: the water and the compound of formula (I) is fed to the reactor, the water in the subcritical state or supercritical state conditions, water was added to the compound decomposition reaction, (wherein, R represents a part or all of hydrogen atoms may be hydrocarbon carbon atoms optionally substituted with 1 to 20 fluorine, OA represents the same or different carbon atoms of oxyalkylene group having 2 to 4, p is expressed and then supplied to the reactor after the decomposition reaction of the water was added a mixture of recycled water, adjusting the pH of the water to 3.5 or more after the reactor; or step (: number of 0 to 20) the production method of the glyceryl ether comprising the steps of: (1) 2): the reaction mixture of water recovered from the decomposition reaction with water filtration treatment with a reverse osmosis membrane, and to the resulting treated water is supplied to the reactor as recycle water.


D.C. electrical conductivity and Seebeck voltage of the synthesized solid solution x FeTiO 3 ·(1- x )Fe 2 O 3 of ilmenite (FeTiO 3 ) and hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ) were measured for a composition range of 1≧ x ≧0.33. It was found that both conductivity and Seebeck voltage change continuously with the composition. At room temperature, the conduction is that of p type for x >0.73 and n type for x <0.73. Judging from these results, it was concluded that the valence state of Ti ions in the compound is tetravalent for the whole range of composition. Conductivity of all specimens obeys a simple Wilson's formula σ=σ 0 exp (- E /2 k T ) over a temperature range from 200°K to 970°K with two or three activation energies for each specimen. No anomalous change of conductivity could be observed at the ferrimagnetic or antiferromagnetic Curie point. It was, therefore, expected that the conduction electrons do not correlate with the magnetic spins in these compounds. Conductivity and Seebeck voltage of both ordered (ferrimagn...


On the basis of analysis of literature about tourism listed companies, the article redefines the concept and the number of tourism listed companies and analyzes their basic characteristics. We find that tourism listed companies have six basic characteristics of smaller number of companies, imbalanced geographical distribution, the poor operating performance, the good overall earnings quality with obvious individual differentiation, the lower total market value with obvious individual differentiation, and the small ages.


Personalized learning is an emerging school reform strategy that seeks to place the interests and abilities of learners at the center of their education experience. As a school-wide reform strategy, personalized learning invites educators to develop environments in which students and teachers together build plans for learners to achieve interestand standards-based goals. Personalized learning typically includes four key components:


Thomas Hardy writes many works on the basis of his philosophy that however hard human begins struggle to break out of a miserable situation by their will and efforts, they can't escape from their determined fate, because they are controlled by 'Immanent Will'. And he descibes the life and death struggle between human beings and 'Immanent Will' in The Mayor of Casterbridge or Tess of the d'Urbervilles. In 'On the Western Cicuit', however, Hardy suggests that people can control their fate by their will and efforts but that the problem is whether or not they can make a right choice by their will and value judgement, in making a choice in a situation of ambivalence. My aim in this essay is to focus on some of the factors involved in the choices that are doomed to catastrophe by analyzing the psychology and behavior of three characters, and to examine some of the elements in the construction of a successful tragicomedy.


N OWHERE IS THE STATUS of the text as an object for analysis at once more translucent and more opaque than in the realm of the cinematic, for there it enters a domain which is curiously parallel to the theory of psychoanalysis itself. If psychoanalytic theory itself originates from a strong desire to observe and represent sexual origins, moving in a kind of specular spectacle between analyst and analysand, so, it can be argued, is cinema born of a need to interpret the world from a voyeuristic position for a spectator who becomes mirrored in that world. Cinema and psychoanalysis would thus share a common ontology in " un désir de savoir sexuel et désir sexuel de savoir." 1 More over, psychoanalysis and cinema (co)operate in a kind of double articula tion of reality and fantasy: whereas the analysand realizes a discourse based on a representation of remembered and fantasized images, the cineaste represents in images a fantasy constructed as a photographic (i.e., real) discourse. Both discourses are troubled and doubled by illu sion and allusion. For the analysand, dreams and " screen memories" often simultaneously hide and reveal an absent presence at the nexus of a particularly tangled complex. In cinema, that absent presence is con stituted not only by the ontological nature of the medium, but is itself often doubled by allusions to the " other scene" of literature. Because of its inevitable functioning as absent presence in cinema, the literary inter text thus occupies a place analogous to that of the dream in psycho analysis, constituting a kind of " royal road" to understanding textuality. Indeed, if J. B. Pontalis is right in ascribing to dreaming an unconscious attempt to " figurer l'inaccessible et le maintenir tel," then screening a text would make it, likewise, " un type particulier d 'objet qui rend présent . . . certaine absence, et qui double tout visible d'invisible" (p. 76). Nor is the doubling that binds the dream (or intertext) to discourse (or filmic narrative) merely structural; Freud was categorical in his insis tence that the figures of the dream function as doubles not only of the dreamer but o f each other. It may be argued, by analogy, that when a text becomes a filmic intertext, it therefore undergoes an onirizing trans formation in structure and in content. It follows then that the figure of


Fungal endophytes are the critical organisms in the environment residing in the plant tissues without showing any harmful effects on its host life cycle. The finding of fungal endophytes in natural habitat has been insufficient due to some non-sporulating and non-culturable fungal endophytes by traditional method. Several investigations on fungal endophytes in plants have resulted in an excessive knowledge of the group. This review emphasis on the biology of fungal endophytes, their discovery, isolation, identification by morphological and molecular methods, production, purification and structure elucidation of the bioactive compounds.


Two young epileptic patients presenting in coma with focal neurological signs were found to be suffering from unsuspected acute barbiturate overdose. There had been strenuous denial of any possibility of psychiatric disturbance or of self-poisoning in the history obtained from their parents at the time of admission. The importance of excluding deliberate drug overdose in any young epileptic patient presenting with prolonged or atypical coma is re-emphasized.


The problem of embedding general algebras into modules is revisited. We provide a new method of embedding, based on Ježek's embedding into semimodules. We obtain several interesting consequences: a simpler syntactic characterization of quasi-affine algebras, a proof that quasi-affine algebras without nullary operations are actually quasi-linear, and several facts regarding the "abelian iff quasi-affine" problem.


Activation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors has been decribed in a human hepatoma cell line (Hep G2) exposed to the 7S globulin from soy (Lovati et al. J. Agric. Food Chem. 1998, 46, 2474−2480). This in vitro model supports a direct activity of soy protein component(s) in lowering LDL cholesterolemia. To ascertain whether α or α' subunits from 7S globulin, or both, are responsible for the biochemical effect, a mutant soy cultivar, devoid of the α' subunit (Keburi), was evaluated in the same model. A commercial isoflavone-poor, heat-hydrolyzed soy preparation found effective in human hypercholesterolemia (Croksoy) was also tested. While Croksoy proved to have a similar activity as the whole 7S globulin, the α'-free Keburi variant showed no effect on LDL receptor activation. These findings support the reliability of the human liver cell model in predicting a human hypocholesterolemic activity and suggest that specific peptide(s) may be responsible. Furthermore, they indicate that some soy cultivar...


Isothiocyanatesplant derived dietary compounds, are promising chemopreventive agents generally non-toxic substances that interfere with the process of cancer development. Several natural and synthetic isothiocyanates have demonstrated cancer-preventive properties in animals treated with chemical carcinogens, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon nitrosamines. Some of these compounds, the isothiocyanates – particularly allyl isothiocyanate and phenethyl isothiocyanate, have anticancer activity. Epidemiologic and clinical studies indicate a positive correlation between the general consumption of cruciferous vegetables and the decreased incidence of some cancers including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, liver, prostate, cervical, ovarian, lung, gastrointestinal tract. Natural isothiocyanates such as sulforaphane and phenethyl isothiocyanate possess strong antitumor activities both in vitro and in vivo. It exerts strong anticarcinogenic effects in a number of animal models of cancer, presumably by modulation of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes, such as by inhibition of cytochrome P450 and/or by induction of phase II detoxifying enzymes.


Offered by the colleges and universities,the College Chinese is a public course, which less interests the students. Different people have different opinions on its aim and orientation. The staff in the East China Normal University has set up "humanity spirit" as the essential attributes of the College Chinese. We have tried our best to establish the teaching model of one topic centered on the writers. Results show that it may arouse the students' interest and spread the humanity spirit.


The trend of decreasing the minimal structure sizes in microelectronics is still being continued. Therefore in its roadmap the Semiconductor Industries Association predicts a printed minimum MOS-transistor channel length of 10 nm for the year 2018. Although the resolution of optical lithography still dramatically increases, there are known and proved solutions for structure sizes significantly below 50 nm up to now. In this work a new method for the fabrication of extremely small MOS-transistors with a channel length and width below 50 nm with low demands to the used lithography will be exp lained. It's a further development of our deposition and etchback technique which was used in earlier research to produce transistors with very small channel lengths down to 30 nm, with a scaling of the transistor's width. The used technique is proved in a first charge of MOS-transistors with a channel area of W=200 nm and L=80 nm. The full CMOS compatible technique is easily transferable to almost any other technology line and results in an excellent homogeneity and reproducibility of the generated structure size. The electrical characteristics of such small transistor will be analyzed and the ultimate limits of the technique will be discussed.


In present study assessment of suitable drug delivery system for catechin using polymer of chitosan and its in vitro antioxidant were studied. Chitosan-tripolyphosphate forms ionic cross linkage. Particle size analysis revealed blank chitosan nanoparticle of size 392 nm and catechin loaded chitosan nanoparticle of size 324.4 nm. Encapsulation efficiency 69.17% and drug loading capacity 43.46% was recorded. In vitro release study revealed 9.74% release in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and 23.58% release of catechin in simulated intestinal fluid (SIF).


A high density design of Schottky-barrier diode array with self-aligned nickel-silicidation under 40nm technology node fabricated on epitaxial layer for low power phase-change memory application is proposed. According to N-type doping profile from simulation, large ON/OFF current ratio, the lower barrier height of ФB and series resistance RS are all determined by the dosage of buried N+ layer, epitaxial layer thickness. In addition, the temperature effect of the Schottky diode array is demonstrated by I-V electrical characteristics. From the optimal silicon-based results, a 9F2 16 × 16 diode array with the ideality factor of 1.21~1.40 shows a drive current density of ~14.9 mA/μm2, a Jon/Joff ratio of ~5.17×103, and crosstalk immunity. Furthermore, this calibrated physical model makes it possible to predict and improve the performance of accessing device array next generation for non-volatile memory application.


Road pricing is an urban traffic management mechanism to reduce traffic congestion. Currently, most of the road pricing systems based on predefined charging tolls fail to consider the dynamics of urban traffic flows and travelers' demands on the arrival time. In this paper, we propose a method to dynamically adjust online road toll based on traffic conditions and travelers' demands to resolve the above-mentioned problems. The method, based on deep reinforcement learning, automatically allocates the optimal toll for each road during peak hours and guides vehicles to roads with lower toll charges. Moreover, it further considers travelers' demands to ensure that more vehicles arrive at their destinations before their estimated arrival time. Our method can increase the traffic volume effectively, as compared to the existing static mechanisms.


Introduction: In studies on the prevalence of tooth wear, few publications related to young adults are found. Objectives: To explore the associations of behavioral, medical, and socio-demographic variables with prevalence and severity of tooth wear of the whole dentition, in a sample of young adults, using a modified version of the Tooth Wear Index (TWI). Methods: Sample consisted of 116 university dental students with an average age of 23 years, who answered a questionnaire related to sociodemographic variables, self-perception and health behaviors. In addition, individuals underwent a clinical evaluation of tooth wear by one trained examiner using the TWI modified by Smith and Knight. Logistic regression was carried out at individual level. Results: A total of 9,906 dental surfaces in 116 individuals were examined, 72.27 % dental surfaces had no tooth wear (grade 0), but all individuals had at least one worn surface. Among the individuals, 78,4 % had grade 1 (enamel) as the highest level and 21.6% grade 2 (dentin) as the highest level. The presence of grade 2 tooth wear was mainly prevalent in the following individuals: male; smoker; with bruxism, and among those who reported having undergone orthodontic treatment. Analyzing the relevant factors that affect tooth wear by multiple regression analysis, it was found that smoking (OR 6.67; IC 1.73- 25.76) and bruxism (grinding) (OR 4.05; IC 1.29- 12.7) had the greatest effect on tooth wear. Conclusions: Our results suggest that being male, being a current smoker, having grinding bruxism and having previous orthodontic treatment are associated with tooth wear.


Dioscin (DS) is a steroidal saponin present in a number of medicinal plants and has been shown to exert anticancer, antifungal and antiviral effects. The present study aimed to deternube the effects DS on the regulation of adipogenesis and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. In vitro experiments were performed using differentiating 3T3-L1 cells treated with various concentrations (0-4 µM) of DS for 6 days. A cell viability assay was performed on differentiating cells following exposure to DS. Oil Red O staining and triglyceride content assay were performed to evaluate the lipid accumulation in the cells. We also carried out the following experiments: i) flow cytometry for cell cycle analysis, ii) quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction for measuring adipogenesis-related gene expression, and iii) western blot analysis to measure the expression of adipogenesis transcription factors and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation. In vivo experiements were performed using mice with obesity induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) that were treated with or without DS for 7 weeks. DS suppressed lipid accumulation in the 3T3-L1 cells without affecting viability at a dose of up to 4 µM. It also delayed cell cycle progression 48 h after the initiation of adipogenesis. DS inhibited adipocyte differentiation by the downregulation of adipogenic transcription factors and attenuated the expression of adipogenesis-associated genes. In addition, it enhanced the phosphorylation of AMPK and its target molecule, ACC, during the differentiation of the cells. Moreover, the inhibition of adipogenesis by DS was mediated through the suppression of the phosphorylation of MAPKs, such as extracellular-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and p38, but not c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK). DS significantly reduced weight gain in the mice with HFD-induced obesity; this was evident by the suppression of fat accumulation in the abdomen. the present study reveals an anti-adipogenic effect of DS in vitro and in vivo and highlights AMPK/MAPK signaling as targets for DS during adipogenesis.


The integration of renewable energy sources (RES) such as wind power and photovoltaic have helped to alleviate the problems of energy shortage and environmental pollution. However, it has also presented new challenges to the frequency regulation of the power grid, raising higher requirements on the frequency regulation capability of existing thermal power plants (TPPs). To ensure that TPPs can better accomplish their mission of frequency regulation, this paper proposes a cooperative control method for integrated thermal power plants-energy storage system (TPP-ESS) based on combustion rate feedback. This method significantly improves the effect of TPPs when they participate in secondary frequency regulation by utilizing the rapid response capability of ESS. Furthermore, an active recovery strategy for the state of charge (SOC) is proposed to recover SOC of ESS when needed by using TPPs. Finally, simulations in MATLAB/Simulink are conducted to validate the proposed strategy's effectiveness.


As an applied technology in modern environmental science research,stable isotope technique has been extensively applied to many fields of environmental science.Nitrogen-15(15N),a unique tracer for nitrogen cycling process,plays an important role in research on environmental pollution problem induced by N cycling process.Wetland is increasingly used to lower the nitrogen load from industrial point sources and agricultural non-point sources to inland and coastal waters since removal of nitrogen in wetland occurs when runoff flows through wetland,which leads to water quality well in part.Based on the theory of 15N tracing and wetland nitrogen removal,the application of stable nitrogen isotope trace technique on distinguishing wetland nitrogen removal mechanisms,determining key limiting factors,estimating removal efficiency and establishing removal nitrogen model were described in this paper.Meanwhile drawbacks and possible application fields of 15N as a tracer in research on wetland nitrogen removal are indicated.


Evolutionary biologists have learned that people with greater "genetic fitness," as manifested by a high degree of left-right body symmetry, are not just considered better looking but also tend to be healthier, more intelligent, and more dominant than others. They're the classic alphas who rise to the top of rigidly hierarchical organizations such as the military. But our research shows that people with subtle asymmetries—for example, imbalances in ear or finger length—are often better "transformational" leaders, able to inspire followers to put self-interest aside for the good of the group. Furthermore, teams they lead outperform teams whose leaders have more-symmetrical bodies. These findings add a new twist to the debate about whether effective leaders are born or made. We believe it's not asymmetry per se that positions people to be good transformational leaders. Instead, we argue, these individuals' childhood responses to others' perceptions shape them for success.


With the continuous development of technology and the continuous strengthening of safety performance requirements, mobile manipulators are used in more and more applications. For this reason mobile robotic arms need to improve openness and scalability to meet different production requirements, and the robotic arm control system is an important platform to achieve these requirements. In this paper, a mobile robotic arm control system is designed and developed to meet the realistic requirements of the Ackermann structured trolley equipped with a six-axis robotic arm configuration. The main contents include the kinematic analysis of the mobile robotic arm, the Cartesian spatial trajectory planning of the robotic arm and the design of the mobile robotic arm control system.


Coordination chemistry of benzimidazole and 2-substituted benzimidazole derivatives towards transition metal ions is reviewed. Benzimidazole complexes containing halides or carboxylates derivatives are discussed, as well as the coordination chemistry of 2-substituted benzimidazoles bearing additional nitrogen, oxygen or sulfur atoms as potential binding sites, which may form chelates. The latter ligands give place to a variety of metal-ligand coordination modes. In some cases, these bidentate ligands favour the formation of a six membered ring, by inclusion of a metal ion in a planar delocalized system. Some of the studied 2-substituded benzimidazoles include 2-uroyl, 2-carbamate, 2-benzothiazole, 2-(2-benzothiazolylamino)benzothiazole, 2-(2- aminobenzothiazolyl-amino) benzoxazole, 2-(4'-thiazolyl)benzimidazole, 2-((5-methylpyrazol-3- yl)methyl)benzimidazole, 2-guanidinobenzimidazole, 2-aminomethylbenzimidazole, 1- (benzimidazol-2-yl)phenolato, 2-(2-benzimidazol-2-yl)pyridine-N-oxide-N,O and N- (benzothiazol-2-yl)-dithiocarbamic methyl ester. It is important to mention that benzimidazole and its derivatives promote intra and inter-molecular interactions, such as hydrogen bonding and π- stacking, giving place to the formation of molecular aggregates.


Magnetic anisotropy (MA) is an important property of magnetic materials, which not only determines the orientation of the magnetic moment in the magnetic material but also influences the working frequency of magnetoelectric devices. Unrevealing the origin of MA has become an important topic and attracts lasting interest. Here, we report a quite significant magnetic field-induced uniaxial MA in amorphous CoFeB thin films containing double ferromagnetic atoms. The thickness independence of MA was obtained by observing a series of hysteresis loops and magnetic domains. The MA is proved subtly to be related to the variation of orbital magnetic moment acquired by ferromagnetic resonance. Furthermore, we found that atoms combine into clusters and incline to an order in amorphous CoFeB thin films with field-induced MA. Based on these experimental results, we proposed a direction-like order model to interpret the origin of magnetic field-induced MA in amorphous CoFeB thin films well.


The radicals O3PF– and O2PF2, both isoelectronic with PO42–, have been identified by their characteristic e.s.r. spectra. The former was prepared by γ-irradiation of KPO2F2 crystals containing PO3F2– impurity, and the latter by similar treatment of POF3 containing HPO2F2. Magnetic data for PO3F– were g∥= 2·0274, g⊥= 2·0085; A∥(31P)=ca. A⊥=ca. 39·1 G, A∥(19F)≈A⊥=ca. 8·0 G. The radical O2PF2, which was rotating relatively rapidly at 77°K, had gav= 2·0100, Aiso(31P)= 43·8 G, and Aiso(19F)= 52·5 G. The results are discussed in terms of structures in which the unpaired electron is confined to a molecular orbital on the three oxygen atoms of O3PF–, but delocalised on to both the oxygen and fluorine atoms in O2PF2. The steady increase in Aiso(31P) on going from PO42– to O2PF2 is explained in terms of a σ-bond spin-polarisation mechanism.


It is well known that the major noise source of Refrigerator is compressor, and due to the tendency of higher quality and more lighting of manufactured goods, the importance of prevention and reduction of a noise is increasing. In this paper, in order to prevent and reduce such a noise, sound pressure level and acoustic intensity are measured for compressor, and the result of these measurements, the noise radiation characteristics of compressor are reconized. And the experimental modal analysis is applied to the compressor to identify the noise sourcce. As the results of this study, we come to know that the spring, which is used to reduce vibration, does not reduce vibration efficiently, and compressor shell and its mounting system effect the noise radiation.


An exact formula for computing the conditional mean of a random variable is derived for discrete time observations. This formula is analogous to the well-known result of Fujisaki-Kallianpur-Kunita for continuous time observations, and it is similar to the discrete time formula recently derived by Takeuchi and Akashi. The derivation of the new formula is extremely elementary, and it is based on the judicious choice of a certain homotopy function.


People's attitude towards immunization reflects not only understanding of efficacy and safety of preventive vaccination, but also confidence to the health care system in general. Current decreasing of the confidence level to vaccination in the European region (in 2017 this index reached 83%) demands that specialists know how to improve and retain confidence to programs of immunization, and how to maintain accumulated experience of preventive vaccination. Aim To assess the specialists' attitude and knowledge about vaccination. Materials and Methods Sixty-two specialists, working at Irkutsk Perinatal Centre (III Level), participated in an anonymous questionnaire survey, conducted from November to December 2018. The original questionnaire contained 12 questions on demographic characteristics, attitude to vaccination (including personal confidence in vaccines), and sources specialists usually use to know about vaccination. The following specialists participated in the survey: neonatologists (n=35), intensivists (n=15), pediatricians (n=7), obstetricians (n=5). They belonged to following age groups: 21 to 30 years – 23 (37%), 31 to 40 years – 24 (38.7%), 41 to 50 years – 11 (17.7%), and older 51 years – 4 (6.6%). Results All respondents considered vaccination as a safe and reliable method against infections. The majority (n=44; 71%) believed it was necessary to recommend parents not only compulsory vaccination, included in the National Vaccination Schedule, but also immunization according epidemiological indications and vaccination against currently widespread infections. Many respondents (n=55; 88.7%) considered necessary to lawfully influence parents' decision not to vaccinate their children. More than half of specialists (n=37; 60%) vaccinated their children with both mandatory and recommended vaccines. Sixty six point one percent of respondents considered their knowledge about vaccination insufficient. At the same time, knowledge about vaccination was lower in age groups from 21 to 30 years and from 31 to 40 years (n=21; 91.3% and n=12; 50%, respectively). However the analysis of dependence between specialties and knowledge in all age groups did not reveal significant differences (p=0.6). Respondents received information about vaccination predominantly from reading specialized medical literature (n=50; 82.6%), during participation in conferences and workshops (n=39; 63%), and using specialized web resources (n=32; 51.6%). Conclusion Despite having confidence in vaccination, many specialists notice the need to study this issue more thoroughly. Monitoring of doctors' awareness on vaccination, creation of up-to-date specialized education media resources on immunoprophylaxis will not only enhance knowledge of specialists, but also maintain the confidence in vaccination in patients, and reduce the number of ungrounded refusals.


By considering adsorption processes of organic compounds as being determined by the electronic distribution in the "anchoring" group of an adsorbate, a correlation has been derived between adsorption measurements and Hammett‐like substituent constants through the use of Linear Free Energy Relations (LFER). The analysis is extended to corrosion inhibitors by assuming that the mechanism of inhibition by organic molecules is chemisorption and that the energetics of the corrosion process per se are unaffected by the addition of substituents on the parent compound.


The authors demonstrate the application of column chromatography on Sephadex G-10 and elution with water for the isolation of tritium labeled components of nucleic acids from reaction mixtures after catalytic dehalogenation or enzymic desoxyribosylation and simultaneous removal from inorganic salts. Distribution constants of 16 bases and nucleosides on elution with water were determined. Comparison of the sorbents with Sephadex G-20 disclosed the undoubted advantages of the latter in processes of desalting and separation of mixtures of bases and nucleosides.


The article describes factors of environmental change that cause the need to form new forms of interaction between economically active market subjects for sustainable development of territories. The authors of the article analyze franchising as one of the most flexible forms of interaction in small business. Modern trends in small business show a gradual merger of the production of goods and their trade with the provision of services. It leads to the necessity to create a fundamentally new mechanism that meets the needs of the modern market. The article proposes a new complex model of franchising which combines all the specified forms.


With each passing year, campus IT professionals are continually called upon to do more with less. The burning question at some point becomes, "Okay, but HOW?" The answer - one which many SIGUCCS old timers readily share - will be revealed in this interactive session which opens the floor for sharing proven success stories that demonstrate how well we work when we work well together. Come on in and collaborate!


"Uncertainty" indicated a critical post Keynesian argument against neoclassical monetarism, but was taken up by the European Central Bank (ECB) in order to emphasize the importance of the money supply indicator in its "two pillar" strategy. In a state of model uncertainty on behalf of market and policy agents, the quantity of money is meant to control long-term inflation expectations. However, the instability of money demand and the intention to reject the responsibility for the cycle leads the ECB to modify the quantity theory towards a credit theory of nominal income. The ECB decides on the validity of the money-inflation nexus in a discretionary way and thus undermines the credibility of the monetary pillar. Lack of information is also offered in order to defend the ECB's single price-stability target. Following only this target is suboptimal on welfare-theoretic grounds as the ECB indirectly accepts the non-neutrality of money.


Previous research has demonstrated the utility of acoustic energy density measurements as a means to gain a greater understanding of acoustic fields. Three energy density probes are under development. The first probe has three orthogonal pairs of microphones embedded on the surface of a sphere. The second design is a similarly sized sphere with four surface mounted microphones, equidistant from the center of the sphere. The four microphones are arranged to correspond with the origin and unit vectors of a Cartesian coordinate system, where the origin and the tips of the three unit vectors are on the surface of the sphere. As a result, all four microphones lie on the surface of the top hemisphere. The third design consists of a similarly sized sphere with four surface microphones arranged in a tetrahedron configuration. The author will discuss some of the errors and limitations associated with the four microphone designs as compared to the six microphone design. [Work supported by NASA.]


The occurrence of natural disasters has prompted good research. The authors of three of the articles published in this special issue presented their findings at the annual conference of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) in 2009 in a symposium entitled, "Disaster Experiences of Older Adults Within the Cultural Context". Utilizing a life course perspective, the authors considered the experiences and coping strategies of older adults who had survived an earthquake in Peru in 2007, or hurricanes in the United States in 2005. For Health Care for Women International, the authors are presenting their findings to underscore the impact of natural disasters on women within the cultural context. Unfortunately, in recent months international reports of natural disasters and how communities responded to them have been plentiful. This year populations experienced earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and most recently, New Zealand. There have also been mudslides in eastern Uganda and the Gannan region of northwest of China, volcanic eruptions in Iceland, and catastrophic flooding in Pakistan. All of these resulted in multitudes of fatalities and related losses. These events have lead community leaders to develop or revisit emergency readiness plans to address the needs of their more vulnerable members, including older adults. The fifth article in this issue is about an approach adopted by a county in the eastern United States to meet the special needs of older adults in long term care communities during a disaster. After studying older adult survivors of the 2007 Peruvian earthquake, Dena Shenk, Joan Mahon, Karel J. Kalaw, Blanco Ramos and Ismail Tufan wrote about surviving within the cultural context of gender roles and family relationships. That survival occurs in such a context is a framework that readers can apply to the other studies in this issue. Karen A. Roberto and her co-authors note that when displaced elderly women attempt to rebuild their lives following a disastrous hurricane, they do so in relation to roles they held before the disaster. It is not surprising that these women create new homes, as they are family caregivers. All this caregiving comes at a cost though, note Jennifer Silva Brown, Katie E. Cherry, Loren D. Marks, Erin M. Jackson, Julia Volaufova, Christina Lefante, and S. Michal Jazwinski. Examining statistical data on survivors of


Over the past few years, aviation security has turned into a vital domain as foreign object debris (FOD) on the airport paved path possesses an enormous possible threat to airplanes at the time of takeoff and landing. Hence, FOD's precise identification remains significant for assuring airplane flight security. The material features of FOD remain the very critical criteria for comprehending the destruction rate endured by an airplane. Nevertheless, the most frequent identification systems miss an efficient methodology for automated material identification. This study proffers a new FOD technique centered on transfer learning and also a mainstream deep convolutional neural network. For object detection (OD), this embraces the spatial pyramid pooling network with ResNet101 (SPPN-RN101), which assists in concatenating the local features upon disparate scales within a similar convolution layer with fewer position errors while identifying little objects. Additionally, Softmax with Adam Optimizer in CNN enhances the training speed with greater identification accuracy. This study presents FOD's image dataset called FOD in Airports (FODA). In addition to the bounding boxes' principal annotations for OD, FODA gives labeled environmental scenarios. Consequently, every annotation instance has been additionally classified into three light-level classes (bright, dim, and dark) and two weather classes (dry and wet). The proffered SPPN-ResNet101 paradigm is correlated to the former methodologies, and the simulation outcomes exhibit that the proffered study executes an AP medium of 0.55 for the COCO metric, 0.97 AP for the pascal metric, and 0.83 MAP of pascal metric.


This paper presents the architecture, network configuration, protocol, and design of a Wired "Follow Me" Telephony Service (WFMTS). WFMTS provides personalized mobile telephony services using only the wired network. It allows the users to have their calls follow them wherever they are as long as there is a telephone where they are. This is provided without having to use either the satellite network or the cellular telephony network. This is provided, due to the advanced technology used, without any significant increase in the network load (e.g., in terms of traffic or processing requirements). Nevertheless, the user's calls can be directed to the users even when the users are out of town or even out of the country.


The paper presents a way of language materializing within the theory of speech production and perception. For this the author extrapolates data from neurology to linguistics. Thus, the eight fundamental propositions about neuron functioning make the basis for hypothetic theoretical generalizations how the dichotomy neuron versus speech could work.


The transient current behavior of M/aSi/p−Si diodes was examined. The aSi layer was rf sputter−deposited and was approximately 1000−A thick. It was established that properly annealed Sb/aSi contacts are both good electron injectors and good hole injectors. Thus, the reverse bias characteristics of Sb/aSi/p−Si diodes are controlled entirely by the aSi/p−Si junction. The transient current recovery time of these diodes was found to be too fast to measure (<10 nsec). Finally, the trap release rate in aSi was found to be on the order of microseconds for both electrons and holes.


Taking into account the experience of scientific-research work arrangement the author of the article raises the most actual problems of scientific schools formation and proves the necessity and fruitfulness of modern high school culturology profile chairs combined scientific and educational activities.


Background: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) were frequently prescribed in the case of chronic kidney disease (CKD) to reduce proteinuria and, if any, to retard the deterioration of renal function. It remains to be determined whether ACEI plus ARB provide more additional effects than either ACEI or ARD monotherapy in Chinese population with CKD. Methods: We observed the effects of combination therapy of ACEI plus ARB with either ACEI or ARB alone in 19 CKD patients. CKD was defined as serum Cr≥1.5 mg/dl or Upro≥150 mg/day in non-DM group or urine protein a 300 mg/day in DM group. All 19 patients were given one kind of ARE (Irbesartan 150 mg, Telmisartan 40 mg, Valsartan 80 mg, Losartan 50 mg, Cardesartan 8 mg) or ACEI (Ramipril 10 mg, Quinapril 10 mg, Cilazapril 2.5 mg) for at least 3 months and one kind of ACEI or ARE was added for combination therapy. We focused on the effect of combination therapy after first 3 and 6 months. Nineteen CKD patients were divided into two groups, that is, 11 in the diabetes mellitus (DM) group (age: 69.4 ± 10, 46-85) and 8 in the non-DM group (age: 47.8 ± 12, 29-67). Blood pressure, urine protein/ urine creatinine (Upro/Ucr) were recorded at each visit. Results: There were no significant changes in the renal function and electrolytes during this period. As shown in table] and figure 2, in the DM group, Upro/Ucr (mg/mg) showed 4.4 ±2.3, 3.1±2.9 ((↓28.85%, p<0.05), and 2.4 ± 2.6((↓39.89%, p < 0.01) in 0,3, and 6 months, respectively. In the non-DM group, Upro/Ucr showed 2.6 ± 1.8, 2.0± 1.2 (4,22.87%, p<0.05), and 1.3 ± 0.7(4.40.46%, p<0.05) in 0,3, and 6 months, respectively. Totally, Upro/ tier showed 3.6 ± 2.3, 2.6 ± 2.6((↓26.24%, p<0.05), and 1.9 ± 1.9 (↓30.13%, p<0.001) in 0,3, and 6 months, respectively. The lowering of blood pressure was not statistically significant among all patients. Conclusions: ACEI/ARB combination therapy provides additional beneficial effect on reducing proteinuria beyond controlling the blood pressure and its anti -proteinuric effects were sign1 cant in both DM and non-DM CKD patients.


The present invention relates to a process for producing expanded polyethylene-based resin beads by expanding polyethylene-based resin particles that comprise a polyethylene-based resin as the base resin, characterized in that the polyethylene-based resin particles have a melting point of 105-125°C and, when examined for viscoelasticity at a temperature of 130°C and a frequency of 1.67 Hz, have a tanδ of 0.3-0.7 and a complex viscosity of 5,000-20,000 Pa·s. The process is further characterized by including a one-stage expansion step in which the polyethylene-based resin particles are dispersed in an aqueous dispersion medium inside a closed vessel, a blowing agent comprising carbon dioxide is added thereto, and the mixture is heated and pressurized and then discharged into a region having a pressure lower than the internal pressure of the closed vessel, the expansion ratio in the one-stage expansion step being 10-18.


One may be interested in a pure multipole magnetic field (i.e., proportional to sin(n{theta}) or cos(n{theta}) whose strength varies purely as a Fourier sinusoidal series of the longitudinal coordinate z (say proportional to cos{sub L}/{sup (2m-1){pi}z}), where L denotes the half-period of the wiggler and m=1,2,3{hor_ellipsis}). Associated with such a z variation, there necessarily will be presented a z component of magnetic field which in the source-free region, in fact, will give rise to both normal and skew transverse fields associated with the functions A{sub n}(z) and {Angstrom}{sub n}(z) as expressed in Reference{sup bc}. In this note the field components and expression for the scalar potential both inside and outside a thin pure winding surface are included with additional contributions from a possible high permeable shield. It is also shown that for a pure dipole case of n=1 and pure axial variation of m=1 the transverse field can be derived from a simple two dimensional field.


Alda Björk Valdimarsdóttir's book of poetry, We Who Are Blind and Nameless, was published in 2015. The first part of the book, titled "The course of signs", lays the groundwork for the conceptual basis of the work through five poems. These five
poems will be examined through close reading and scholarly materials from various sources, such as cognitive literary studies, philosophy, psychology, social studies and neurological research. There is particular focus on how the poems stimulate the imagination of readers and ruffle their feelings; there is a discussion on (conceptual) metaphors, irony, humor, paradox, geometrical shapes, enumeration, anaphora and, not least, silence which is a common theme in Alda's poetry and also defines the structure of her poems in various ways. This analysis shows how Alda convinces readers to think about the "course of signs" in both a narrow and wider context. She not only causes readers to think about the paradoxical interplay of silence and signs – and thus man's ingrained need to both speak and be silent – but also woman's position within her family/world history and the encroachment of man upon his own environment. Through clever humour and irony, Alda Björk shows how apathetic people often are when faced with signs; how without thinking they give themselves over to them, even though they have other options; how people contribute for the signs to be isolating instead of connecting us with each other – and how they misuse silence or are not able to make use of it.


In this paper a control problem for a linear stochastic system with a fractional Brownian motion and a cost functional that is quadratic in the state and the control is solved. An optimal control is given explicitly using fractional calculus and the control is shown to depend on a prediction of the future fractional Brownian motion and the well known linear feedback control for the deterministic linear-quadratic control problem. It is noted that the methods to obtain an optimal control extend to other noise processes with continuous sample paths.


continuity of the production process in a company will be influenced by various factors, including: capital, technology, supplies of raw materials, finished goods and labor supply. Inventory as elements of working capital is an asset that is always in a state of spinning. Supplies are also elements of seamless assets that are always considered liquid compared with other asset elements such as cash, Receivables, and marketable securities. Adequate supply of raw materials can accelerate the production process. So that the resulting finished goods can assure the effectiveness of marketing activities. PT. Mamuang Pasangkayu (North Mamuju Regency) as one of palm oil plantation management under the PT Astra Indonesia. Oil Palm Factory owned by PT Mamuang is one unit where MCC Mamuang currently acquires supplies from its core gardens and plasma gardens. PT Mamuang Pasangkayu was established in June 2006 and produced CPO/crude palm oil and PK/palm kernel. At the beginning of the factory, raw materials were obtained from several CV and Pasangkayu PTP Garden. Pt. Mamuang Pasangkayu still has constraints in its business that the production of a garden they have not enough to fulfill the needs of the factory while the supply from other gardens is not much because of the new rejuvenation process. In addition to the supply of FFB (fresh fruit bunch) acquired, since September 2007 is no longer brought to the furnace RIMDU because of consideration of large transportation costs. Moreover, changes in the CPO price in the world market also affect the number of demand and supply. Fluctuations in CPO prices affect the manufacturing process. This will also affect the amount of production produced. Price increases and price declines require rapid anticipation so that the company can adapt to the changes that occur.


I analyze the e⁄ects of a (cid:133)scal stimulus (cid:133)nanced through money creation. I study the e⁄ects of both a tax cut and an increase in government purchases, and compare them with those resulting from a conventional debt-(cid:133)nanced stimulus, with and without a binding zero lower bound (ZLB) on the nominal interest rate. When the ZLB is not binding, a money-(cid:133)nanced (cid:133)scal stimulus is shown to have much larger multipliers than a debt-(cid:133)nanced (cid:133)scal stimulus. That di⁄erence in e⁄ectiveness persists, but is much smaller, under a binding ZLB. The analysis points to the key role of nominal rigidities in shaping those e⁄ects


Abstract Presence of natal or neonatal teeth in a newborn is rare, that is, 1 in 3,000 cases. Various etiological factors have been put forth explaining the presence of natal teeth but they are not very clear. Although some authors have suggested that these teeth may represent predeciduous supernumerary teeth, most of these teeth represent prematurely erupted portions of the deciduous dentition, not supernumerary teeth. They can be left untreated in some cases if they do not cause any difficulty to the mother while feeding or do not pose a risk of swallowing in the newborn. One such case of natal tooth with histological variation is presented here.


The cloning of the RHD gene has made it possible to determine the RhD status of fetuses at risk for haemolytic disease due to RhD iso‐immunization using amniotic fluid or chorionic villi‐derived DNA and the polymerase chain reaction. However, some Rh haplotypes are associated with false‐positive or negative DNA‐based results with the potential for an adverse outcome.


Although technology acceptance or rejection is dependent on a combination of several factors, it is not possible to accurately weigh these factors to determine the highest predictor for acceptance or rejection of an assistive technology (AT) device. Optimal use of AT devices depends on a combination of variables, including personal and environmental factors, the device in itself, the service delivery factor, and the social factor. Usability of the devices also depends on the training that the user receives. Inadequacy in training may lead to unfamiliarity with the use of the device, which in turn may result in restricted use or nonuse of the device. Three types of acceptances related to AT can be described as reluctant acceptance, grateful acceptance, and internal acceptance. Reluctant acceptance occurs when the individual is accepting the device only as a "necessity" or a medium for completing activities of daily living (ADL). In grateful acceptance, the device is viewed as a part of life and considered as one of the "assets." With this type of acceptance, AT is a medium for overcoming functional deficits occurring as a result of the disability. Internal acceptance is the highest category among the levels of acceptance of AT devices, where individuals view the devices as a part of themselves. The AT device in this case is considered by users as a medium for overcoming their physical impairments and a replacement for the impaired part of their bodies [1]. The acceptance or rejection of AT devices in turn is affected by several factors. These factors have a strong common component, namely, the temporal effect. The temporal component influences the usability of a device. The usability, nonusability, or both, of a device, is determined by a dynamic relationship between several variables including


Customer satisfaction is the function of expectation and performance. Performance is the perception of customer to what has been accepted after a product has been consumed. Expectation is customer desire that is related to what will be accepted when a product is consumed. Customer feels satisfy when the offered product fulfills the need and the desire or the taste of the customer. This research is meant to find out that product, price and service quality have influence to the customer satisfaction. The independent variables i.e. product, price, and service quality have influence to the customer satisfaction as the dependent variables. The data of this research has been obtained by issuing questionnaires which have been filled in by the respondents and 100 customers who have ever purchased the product of Kentucky Fried Chicken A. Yani Surabaya. The data analysis technique has been carried out by using multiple linear. The result of the t-test shows that product and price variables have significant influence to the customer satisfaction. It is suggested that the management department should increase their service quality so that the customers of Kentucky Fried Chicken satisfy with the service which has been given by the company. When the customer feels satisfied after eating, it will increase the level of sales. Keywords: product, price, service quality, customer satisfaction.


Mitigating the non-technical electrical energy losses is an important goal to systems operators, governments and society. To achieve this goal, a number of different techniques has been proposed, and an important one is the use of smart meters. Smart meters are able to trigger an alarm whenever a monitored variable gets out from normal range. These alarms are used as guide to the selection of facilities to be inspected. One of those monitored variable is the active power: an alarm is triggered whenever the active power of a given facility is flowing from load to source. However, field inspections from these alarms have presented a big rate of false positives due to reverse active power flow caused by normal load conditions. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of those irregularity false positives by presenting a study of the complex power locus due to regular and irregular load operations.


This paper introduces an upgraded version of MSVARlib, a Gauss and Ox- Gauss compliant library, focusing on Multivariate Markov Switching Regressions in their most general specification. This new set of procedures allows to estimate, through classical optimization methods, models belonging to the MSI(M)(AH)-VARX ``intercept regime dependent'' family. This research enhances the first package MSVARlib 1.1, which has been deeply inspired by the works of Hamilton and Krolzig. Not to mention the extension to a generalized multivariate regression framework, it notably augments the range of models with a possibly unlimited finite number of Markov states, offers automatic or manual intialization procedures and adds new statistical tests. The first part of this article provides the basic theoretical grounds of the related Markov-switching models. Following sections give some illustrations of the programs through univariate and multivariate examples. One is based on a non-linear reading of the american unemployment rate. A second study is focused on coincident stochastic models of US recessions and slowdowns. The paper concludes on possible extensions and new applications. Detailed guidelines in appendices and tutorial programs are provided to help the reader handling the Gauss package and the joined replication files.


The utility model relates to a bamboo carbon health care pillow which comprises a pillow case and a pillow inner container, wherein the pillow inner container comprises an outer layer and an inner layer, the outer layer of the pillow inner container is made of an upper layer of cotton cloth and a lower layer of cotton cloth, and the inner layer of the pillow inner container is made by sewing three layers of non-woven cloth up and down; the pillow inner container is shaped like a Chinese character hui, the sealed space at the middle of the hui shape is filled with cotton, the inner layer lining inside the outer annular space is between the three layers of non-woven cloth, bamboo carbon is filled between the first layer and the second layer, and cotton is filled between the second layer and the third layer. The utility model has the function of strongly adsorbing the sweat and the moisture on human body, keeps the head and the neck dry and comfortable, relieves the pain on the cervical vertebra, improve the blood circulation on the neck, adjusts and corrects the physical curvature of the cervical vertebra, ensures that the cervical vertebra of human body recovers to be the S shape, and is good for the healing of the cervical vertebra.


This article made analysis about current situation and more than ten years dynamic ratio of land utilization and land desertification grounded on interpreting and contrasting satellite images about the end of the 1980s and 2003,arrived that the problem of land desertification has been serious in Damao County,then,made analysis about driving power of land desertification,concluded that it was resulted from the long-term interaction between nature and human activities in order that it can provide basis for reallocation of land and exploitation of land resource reasonably and make policy for area of sustainable development stratagem.


In hash algorithm, the bucket and flow-bucket are linked by the pointers. It is very much inefficient to search a value corresponding to a flow-bucket. In this paper, we present a novel compound index structure which includes a balanced binary tree. The experiment indicates that its performance is better than other indexing algorithm such as ordered indices and hash indices.


IN 1932 Temple Fay1 introduced the term "carotidynia" to describe unilateral facial and head pain associated with aggravation of symptoms by carotid manipulation. He reported satisfactory remission of symptoms following carotid sheath resection and cervical sympathectomy. Studies by others24 have vaned in results. In 1947 the opinion was expressed by Olivercrona" that "operations upon the cervical sympathetics and the carotid sheath have fallen into disrepute." A case with the syndrome of carotidynia with satisfactory response to resection of the trigger zone in the carotid sheath is presented here. In addition a lesion was found a t operation to explain the carotid sheath irritability.


The article deals with the controllability results for fractional dynamical systems with prescribed controls represented by the fractional integrodifferential equation in finite dimensional spaces. Sufficient conditions for the controllability results of nonlinear fractional dynamical systems are obtained using the contraction mapping principle. Examples are included to illustrate the theory.


--The world is being modernized and industrialized day by day. As a result vehicles and engines are increasing. But energy sources used in these engines are limited and decreasing gradually. The rapidly depleting conventional petroleum resources have promoted research for alternative fuels for diesel engines. There is an urgent need for suitable alternative fuels for use in diesel engines. Vegetable oil is a promising alternative because it has several advantages; it is renewable, environmentally friendly. But major disadvantage of vegetable oil is its viscosity, which is higher than that of mineral diesel. Hence neat vegetable oil does not give better performance. In the present paper transesterified jatropha oil and its blend with diesel has been introduced as an alternative fuel to overcome the above problems. The literature results suggest that transesterified jatropha oil can be used as a substitute for diesel fuel without any significant modification in engine.


This study investigated the factors that influence the business performance of micro-enterprises in Northern Mindanao. Specifically, it examined the profile, marketing practices, entrepreneurial orientation, access to finance, and business performance of these enterprises. The study used responses from 417 micro-enterprises selected through stratified random sampling from the provinces of Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental. A descriptivecorrelational research design was employed to attain the objectives of the study. More than half of micro-enterprises employed 1-4 employees and undertook their business for not more than five years. Marketing practices are implemented most of the time. Their entrepreneurial orientation was high, access to finance was moderate to great, and their business performance for the last three years was average to good. The aggregate multinomial logistic regression analysis reveals that among the variables used in the study, business age, marketing practices, entrepreneurial orientation, and access to finance significantly influence the business performance of micro-enterprises. The multinomial logistic regression per industry analysis yields a different result. In merchandising industry sector, marketing practices, business age, and access to finance influence substantially business performance. In the service industry sector, entrepreneurial orientation, business age, and access to finance significantly influence business performance.


Aim To explore the relationship between calcium and arrhythmia resulted from cerebral-cardiac syndrome (CCS) by studying the change and its source of the myocardium Intracellular free calcium concentra-tion. Methods The CCS model was produced by occluding right middle cerebral artery with nylon thread. The ECG were monitored. Cadiocyte were then isolated enzyme. The changes and pathway of the ventricular myocytes [Ca2+]i were observed with Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope. Results QT intervals in CCS group were remarkably longer than that in sham group and normal group(P0.01). [Ca2+]i increasing induced by KCl in CCS group was significantly higher than that in sham group in Tyrode's solution(P0.05); [Ca2+]i increasing induced by KCl was obviously inhibited by 10 μmol·L-1verapamil(P0.01)after preincubation with verapamil (1 μmol·L-1and 10 μmol·L-1) in CCS group in tyrode's solution. [Ca2+]i increasing induced by caffeine in CCS group was significantly higher than that in sham group in calcium free tyrode's solution(P0.01). Conclusion Abnormal [Ca2+]i increasing mediated by L-calcium channel and ryanodine receptor in sarcoplasmic reticulum may be one of the reasons of arrhythmia resulted from CCS.


Questionnaires are by far the most common tool for measuring noncognitive constructs in psychology and educational sciences. Response bias may pose an additional source of variation between respondents that threatens validity of conclusions drawn from questionnaire data. We present a mixture modeling approach that leverages response time data from computer-administered questionnaires for the joint identification and modeling of two commonly encountered response bias that, so far, have only been modeled separately—careless and insufficient effort responding and response styles (RS) in attentive answering. Using empirical data from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2015 background questionnaire and the case of extreme RS as an example, we illustrate how the proposed approach supports gaining a more nuanced understanding of response behavior as well as how neglecting either type of response bias may impact conclusions on respondents' content trait levels as well as on their displayed response behavior. We further contrast the proposed approach against a more heuristic two-step procedure that first eliminates presumed careless respondents from the data and subsequently applies model-based approaches accommodating RS. To investigate the trustworthiness of results obtained in the empirical application, we conduct a parameter recovery study.


The article examines the role and importance of organizational-economic mechanism of the regional innovation activities in the socio-economic development of the Federation, disclosed its basic elements, principles of innovation development of the region, determined the place of organizational structures in the innovation policy in the region.


The gases comprising the atmosphere are in dynamic balance both with the oceans and the dry land of the continents. The mechanisms which operate to keep the atmospheric content of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and sulphur constant are now well defined. The capacity of the system to absorb excess gaseous impurities is adequate on a global basis with the exception of carbon dioxide. Air pollution is thus a local problem resulting from the overloading of a particular air space with contaminants. The greater part of air pollution is due to the combustion of fossil fuels. Ease of control and virtual freedom from sulphur give natural gas an advantage over liquid and solid fuels as far as air pollution control is concerned. Oxides of nitrogen are produced when natural gas is burned but in smaller quantities than in the combustion of other fuels. In high capacity industrial gas burners where oxides of nitrogen may be generated in large quantities control is easier and can achieve a lower level of oxides of nitrogen than is the case with other fuels. The large scale use of natural gas to solve the air pollution problems of Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and many other cities is proof of the usefulness of gas in this respect. Specialised applications include use in incinerators and industrial after burners. Advances in removal of impurities from fuels and of air pollutants from products of combustion combined with rising gas prices will in time displace gas from its preeminent position in air pollution control. It is, however, likely to retain its advantage in small installations and in dense urban areas. In public and private transport its use will probably remain limited. While technological developments in the distant future may eventually displace fossil fuels, gas will have a large share of the fuel market until that day comes and will contribute effectively to the control of air pollution.


The efficient extraction method of genome DNA from walnut was studied, and quality analysis of DNA extracted was preliminarily done.The results showed that the method could effectively eliminate interferer with extracting DNA by the secondary materials,and it can be suitable for RAPD analysis and other genetic analysis.


We investigate the resonance fluorescence spectrum of a three-level atom driven by two coherent laser fields in a V-type three levels with emphasis on the detuning effect. In the presence of the detuning of the first laser from exact resonance, there emerge some new structures in the resonance fluorescence spectrum. By applying the dressed-atom theory, we give an explanation for these interesting phenomena.


The invention discloses a method for establishing fingerprint of Deng's herbal tea granules and standard fingerprint thereof, and relates to a method for controlling quality of Chinese medicine preparation, in particular to a method for establishing HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) standard fingerprint to detect quality of the Deng's herbal tea granules. The method comprises the following steps: (1) preparation of reference substance solution; (2) preparation of test substance solution; (3) chromatographic conditions: the chromatographic column takes octadecylsilane chemically bonded silica as filler; gradient elution is adopted, wherein the mobile phase of gradient eluent is 0.1-3%, and the gradient eluent consists of phosphoric acid and acetonitrile; the column temperature is 20-50 DEG C; the wavelength for ultraviolet detection is 240-262 nm; the flow velocity is 0.3-1.0 mL/min; and the time is 20-60 minutes; and (4) measurement: the fingerprint is obtained by HPLC. The method disclosed by the invention effectively represents the quality of Deng's herbal tea granules, is favorable for the monitoring of product quality, has the advantages of simplicity, stability, high precision and good reproducibility, and can quickly and accurately identify the true and false as well as the quality of the product.


A rotting apple seldom causes trouble, Yet when I saw this one in my path, Beside the stream that runs through my father's orchard, I stopped, and listened-Though I don't know why...


The beam properties of low-energy neutrino beams that would be possible at an upgraded 2 MW Fermilab 8 GeV Proton Source are described. In particular three options are considered; (i) a MiniBooNE-like beam using a conventional neutrino horn, (ii) a decay at rest neutrino source, and (iii) a neutrino beam downstream of a solenoid decay channel. In all three cases the fluxes are sufficiently large to provide an interesting physics program. Some physics examples are considered.


Abstract : This study traces the historical origins, evolution, and continuing influence of liberal and conservative political ideology on American Defense policy. The study concentrates on a comparison of the periods 1783-1800, the military debates of the early republic; and 1989-1994, the current debates on the structure of the post-Cold War American Military. The central thesis is that the parallels between the public debates on the proposed downsizing of the United States' Armed Forces in the 1990s and the debates on the creation of a permanent American military establishment in the 1780s and 1790s reflect the continuing influence of fundamental republican/liberal and federalist/ conservative political ideologies. During this process, the nation solidified into coherent political movements which continue to dominate public debate. The study concludes that an understanding of the origin and nature of these pro and anti-military political prejudices is essential if military leaders are going to design future forces that will accommodate the concerns of all parties. Specifically, these force structures must allow for the complex and unique relationship between American society, the professional military, and the citizen soldier.


This paper discusses the present state of the art of parallel optical links for Inter Rack interconnections systems such as computer clusters and Telecom Terabit switching systems. The dramatic growth of bandwidth demand in interconnection systems drives the throughput of parallel optical links of beyond 30 Gbit/s per optical module.


The bachelor work describes actual state of operations control in the passanger traffic part of railway station Nymburk hl. n. (main station) and analyses interlocking service prosedure, especially their time necessity. It searchs eliminable weak point of operation technology and yard structure. The work suggests the solution in the form of change interlocking and set up yard.


As environmental regulations and car safety regulations have been strengthened globally, automobile industry have tried to overcome these regulations. One of solutions is to apply various High Strength Steel (HSS) to car body, which reduce the weight of car bodies and increases its strength. However, the combination of lecture type and thickness are very various and it will take a lot of time to conduct welding evaluation through experiments. In order to solve these problems, evaluation of resistance spot welding is being performed using simulation. In this study, resistance spot welding was simulated to produce nugget diameter of 1500 MPa steel. As a result, a lobe curve can be obtained and a two regression model is proposed as a model that can predict the nugget diameter of the welded part. We also proposed a two regression model with minimized input arguments. The performance of these models was evaluated in terms of the coefficient of determinant and average error rate.


Deep-azimuthal resistivity images are widely used to place wells accurately inside of a target reservoir structure. However, the resistivity measurement does not provide much sensitivity to the reservoir quality, particularly in carbonates, where large pore-size variations are often encountered. For optimized well placement, combining the deep-resistivity images with logging-while-drilling (LWD) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements establishes the link between reservoir structure and rock types while drilling.
 Factor analysis is the technique used to reduce the large NMR data set to a smaller number of underlying, porofluid components. These components are clustered into groups called porofluid facies, which reflect the most common combinations of pore volume and fluid NMR properties. Based on the NMR data, four petrophysical rock types are generated while drilling: RT-1 has good porosity and long T2 components, indicating large pores; RT-2 also has good porosity but medium T2 components, indicating smaller pores; RT-3 has medium porosity and long T2 components, while RT-4 has medium or low porosity and medium or short T2 components, indicating the poorest facies.20
 The NMR-based rock typing technique and ultra-deep resistivity images were combined in three laterals drilled back-to-back in a thin-carbonate reservoir where pore size variations were expected. In the first lateral, targeting layer 10, fair (RT-2) rock type was present over the first half of the lateral. Only a small part of the drilled footage encountered the best rock type RT-1. The decision was then made to explore layer 11 under layer 10. The NMR showed that layer 11 was mostly of the poorest quality (RT-4). Based on the first lateral results, the second lateral targeted layer 10. Layer 10 was found to be of excellent quality in which most of the rock was RT-1 type, with some sections of RT-2; hence, no change of layer was required in this lateral. The third lateral explored layer 5. The first half of the section encountered RT-2 and RT-4 types. After having observed that a resistivity increase corresponded to a poorer rock type, the second part of the lateral was completed in one layer that intersected RT-1 and RT-2.
 Combining NMR rock typing with reservoir delineation by means of deep-azimuthal resistivity images while drilling is a new methodology that combines the strengths of both techniques to optimize well placement and reservoir understanding. One example is a well that has three laterals, which illustrates this technique; each lateral was placed not only in the best rock type, but also in the target structural location.


In this study, the sublimation love in the comprative literature of Nizar Gabbani and Hossein Monzavi has been discussed. These two great poets, who one composed poetry in Arabic and the othe in Persian, and have used romantic themes in most of their letters. Despite the geographical dimensions, have a lot in common with each other. The similarities were sometimes to the extend that the same concepts are repeated in poetry of both poets. So that it seems love had created a common world, and also Gabbani and Monzavi had experienced a common source of inspiration which brought them the same achievements. But despite this, there are also obvious differences in the literathures of these two that make them far apart, The two poets with different historical and cultutral and social background that have a uniqe point of view followed them for their compassions. An important part of these differences is native orientations of Monzavi and Gabbani. It can be argued that two poets are literally good representative of their country in social, political, and cultural fields and so on.

Keywords:
Comparative literature, Sublimative love, Nizar Gabbani, Hossein Monzavi


Populations of beetles were measured at weekly intervals on plants of Los Bānos Bush Sitao, a dwarf cultivar of vegetable of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.). Observations were made on crops grown in the dry and rainy seasons of Trinidad. Four chrysomelid vectors of cowpea severe mosaic virus (CPSMV) were observed, namely Cerotoma arcuata (Oliv.), C. ruficornis (Oliv.), Gynandrobrotica equestris (Fab.) and Systena s-littera (L.). (…)


For a given disputed digital image, template watermark searching is first implemented to determine the geometrical transformation an image goes through, and then extract the robust watermark. A regional watermarking embedding technique is also proposed to further improve the extracting precision. Experiments demonstrate that the technique can well withstand such geometrical attacks as rotation, scaling, shearing and translation, and JPEG lossy compression.


Predicting vehicle carbon emissions on vertical curve sections can provide guidance for low-carbon vertical profile designs. Given that the influence of vertical curve design indicators on the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of vehicles are underexplored, this study filled this research gap by establishing a theoretical carbon emission model of vehicles on vertical curve sections. The carbon emission model was established based on Xu's vehicle energy conversion model, the conversion model of energy, fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions. The accuracy of the theoretical carbon emission model and the CO2 emission rules on vertical curve sections were verified by field test results. Field tests were carried out on flat sections, longitudinal slope sections, and various types of vertical curve sections, with five common types of vehicles maintaining cruising speed. The carbon emission rate effects on the vertical curve are closely related to the gradient and irrelevant of the radius. On the vertical profile composed with downhill/asymmetric/symmetrical vertical curve with a gradient greater than the balance gradient, the carbon emission rate is determined by the gradient and radius. The influence of the gradient on carbon emissions of vehicle on these vertical profiles was more significant than the radius. The radius is irrelevant to the carbon emission rate on the other forms of vertical profile. These results may benefit highway designers and engineers by providing guidelines regarding the environmental effects of highway vertical curve indexes.


The main aim of this study is to investigate the Manavgat River Basin and the adjacent basins from the view point of karst hydrogeology and also to contribute further information to the previous studies. The investigation area is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea in the south and by the Bey§ehir and Sugla Lakes in the north. Two thirds of the inflow to Manavgat River comes from the karstic springs. At the Oymapinar reservoir area the Dumanli underground river supplies one third of the inflow to Manavgat River. Within the scope of this study the probable interbasinal hydrogeological relationship were considered. Evidence obtained by this study showes that the discharge of Manavgat River is equal to 3-4 times the average annual precipitation incident to it's drainage basin. The study has shown that there is specific relationships between Manavgat River and other basins in the area. Application of groundwater tracing techniques showed an interconnection between Manavgat River and Gembos, Eynif, Sobuca Poljes and Degirmenlik Area. The relationships between the Manavgat River and Beyçehir Lake needs more extensive detailed study.


If you have ever wondered why most companies fail to embrace user-centered design, you must read this book. In The Support Economy, Zuboff and Maxmin deliver a brilliant treatise on the inherent defects and imminent demise of the reigning corporate paradigm of managerial capitalism, and then daringly propose a new enterprise logic that combines an economy based on relationships and the ubiquitous Internet to provide advocacy and deep support for individuals.


A variety of organocatalysts for the asymmetric direct aldol reactions of ketones with α-keto acids were designed on the basis of molecular recognition and prepared from proline and aminopyridines. The organic molecule 8e, derived from proline and 6-methyl-2-amino pyridine, was the best catalyst, affording excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98% ee) for the direct aldol reactions of acetone or 2-butanone with a wide range of α-keto acids and for the reactions of various acyclic aliphatic ketones with 3-(2-nitrophenyl)-2-oxopropanoic acid. The aldol adducts could be converted to 2-hydroxy-γ-butyrolactones by reaction sequences of diastereoselective reduction and lactonization. Experimental and theoretical studies on the transition states revealed that the amide N−H and the pyridine N of the organocatalyst selectively form hydrogen bonds with the keto oxygen and the carboxylic acid hydroxy of the α-keto acid, respectively. These two hydrogen-bonding interactions are important for the reactivity and enanti...


PURPOSE: A test apparatus for the contraction ratio of a sheath tube of a nuclear fuel aggregate is provided to prevent shaking in case of a line drawing work in a test sample of a sheath tube. CONSTITUTION: A test sample support unit(100) includes a pair of support blocks and a handle. The support blocks support both ends of a test sample. The handle is coupled with one of the support blocks to rotate the test sample. A line drawing unit(200) includes a pair of fixing blocks, a moving block, a guide bar, and a line drawing block. The fixing blocks are arranged in the rear part of the support block. A pair of moving blocks are coupled with the fixing blocks. A guide bar is horizontally coupled with the moving blocks. A line drawing block is horizontally coupled with the guide bar and includes a divider which draws a line on the test sample.


In order to solve the problem of low localization accuracy and detection accuracy of traditional coverage vulnerability boundary detection algorithm, a new coverage vulnerability boundary detection method based on improved Dv-Hop algorithm is proposed in this paper. In order to improve the positioning accuracy of beacon nodes in wireless network, the traditional Dv-Hop algorithm is improved. Based on the improved Dv-Hop algorithm, the nodes covering the vulnerability boundary are located, the boundary range of the coverage vulnerability is determined, and the coverage vulnerability boundary detection is completed. Therefore, compared with the traditional detection method, the proposed method has higher accuracy than the traditional method.


Objective To investigate the effects of telmisartan on blood pressure,glycometabolism and lipid metabolism indexes,adiponectin and high sensitivity C-reactive protein in obese patients with essential hypertension and its mechanism.Methods Twenty-three obese patients with essential hypertension were treated with telmisartan 80 mg/d once a day after two-week treating with 40 mg/d once a day.The waist circumference,waist-to-hip ratio,body mass index,blood pressure,fasting plasma glucose and insulin,lipid,adiponectin and high sensitivity C-reactive protein were measured before and after the treatment.Insulin resistance index was estimated with homeostasis model assessment.Results Compared with the baseline levels,the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the levels of insulin resistance index decreased significantly,the adiponectin level increased(P0.05) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein level decreased(P0.05).Conclusion Telmisartan can improve insulin sensitivity,increase the adiponectin level and decrease high sensitivity C-reactive protein level.


WSN (wireless sensor network) is one of the main technologies in IoT (Internet of Things) applications or services. To date, several schemes have been proposed to establish a pair-wise key between two nodes in WSN, and most of them are designed to establish long-term keys used throughout the network lifetime. However, in the near future, if WSN will be used for information infrastructures in various fields such as manufacturing, distribution, or public facilities management and its life cycle can be as long as that of other common networks, it will definitely be advantageous in terms of security to encrypt messages using session keys instead of long-term keys. In this paper, we propose a session key establishment scheme for clustered sensor networks that is based on elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) key exchange and hash chain. The proposed scheme eliminates vulnerabilities of existing schemes for WSN and has improved security. The proposed scheme is efficient in terms of energy costs compared to related schemes.


The invention provides a shoe with machine-embroidered patterns. The shoe comprises a shoe sole and a vamp part. The shoe sole comprises a top face. The vamp part is arranged on the top face of the shoe sole, and a wear space is defined by the vamp part and the shoe sole jointly. The vamp part comprises at least one machine-embroidered face part, each machine-embroidered face part is provided with at least one mesh layer, at least one reinforcing lining with the area smaller than that of the mesh layer, and at least one machine-embroidered pattern for embroidering the reinforcing lining on the mesh layer. The shoe has the advantages that in the machine-embroidering process, the reinforcing linings enable embroidery threads for knit stitch to be accurately positioned and fixed, the machine-embroidered patterns machine-embroidered on the mesh layers are delicate and attractive, the machine-embroidered patterns can better show the stereoscopic sense when the reinforcing linings serve as substrates, and then the attractiveness and delicacy of the overall appearance of the shoe are improved.


In this survey, we review part of the theory of superisolated surface singularities (SIS) and its applications including some new and recent developments. The class of SIS singularities is, in some sense, the simplest class of germs of normal surface singularities. Namely, their tangent cones are reduced curves and the geometry and topology of the SIS singularities can be deduced from them. Thus this class contains, in a canonical way, all the complex projective plane curve theory, which gives a series of nice examples and counterexamples. They were introduced by I. Luengo to show the non-smoothness of the μ-constant stratum and have been used to answer negatively some other interesting open questions. We review them and the new results on normal surface singularities whose link are rational homology spheres. We also discuss some positive results which have been proved for SIS singularities


On 24 February 2020, Iraq declared the first confirmed case of COVID-19. This happened to coincide with my attendance at the CardioEgypt 2020 scientific meeting, where, for the first time in my career, I was invited as a faculty member, providing multiple contributions and showcasing my work. To say Iwas elated would be an understatement. I had just completed my interventional cardiology training programme and the road ahead was full of exciting opportunities. Little did I know the strain and humanitarian tragedy that would lie ahead for my country and our healthcare system. This was a system which was already fragile and somewhat broken, with no contingency for crisis management such as what was to come with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were not prepared. As physicians, we felt privileged to be entrusted with the care of patients during this difficult time, and given the many cardiac sequelae associated with the virus, cardiologists were relied upon to keep up to date with an evolving landscape of knowledge about the virus and its cardiovascular effects, contribute to research relating to links between COVID-19 and cardiovascular conditions and provide the best possible care despite the immense pressure on the healthcare system and on clinicians.


Carbonate rocks of late Neoproterozoic-early Cambrian (?) age occur in two extremities of the Nagaur-Ganganagar basin in western India: in east as part of Bilara hills (type locality) and in west as part of Baghewala oil field. These rocks have close stratigraphic correlation with the Ara Formation (Huqf Group, south Oman salt basin) which transgresses the late Neoproterozoic-early Cambrian boundary. Sedimentological and stable isotopic studies of these rocks show prevalence of arid and evaporitic conditions during their depostion. Close resemblance of C-isotopic profiles of Hanseran evaporites and Bilara carbonates allows intra-basinal correlation and suggests that they are coeval facies variants. There are several characteristic carbon isotopic excursions one of which can be tentatively correlated with the globally recorded excursion close to the late Neoproterozoic-early Cambrian boundary. In contrast other peaks are possibly of regional significance and can be attributed to fluctuations in bioproductivity, correlatable with variation in nutrient supply on a basinal scale. Highly depleted carbon isotopic composition of the organic matter in subsurface organic-rich carbonates (Upper carbonate Formation, Baghewala-II core) has been ascribed to incorporation of biomass synthesized by chemoautotrophic bacteria under anoxic or eutrophic basinal condition caused by salinity stratification.


The paper presents a prefiltering technique for antialiasing two dimensional continuous curves which enables the correct handling of the geometry (self-intersections, small loops, cusps, curves with high and small radius of curvature, etc.) using a generic class of filters. Moreover, the technique allows for rendering curves of arbitrary thickness and can be optimally tuned to the bits used for image quantisation.


Extrapolation of the experimental vapor–pressure curves of the [60], [70], [76] and [84] fullerenes gives normal, estimated boiling or sublimation temperatures such that half of the boiling points predicted by an earlier semi-empirical theory, based primarily on the total molar refraction for all exposed atoms, of essentially all vaporizable non-metals, organic and inorganic, having limited polarities, differ from these estimated values by less than the calculated uncertainties. These data suggest that the theory is applicable up to ca. 1900 K, even though the original proposal made verified claims up to less than 900 K. This leads to: Tb,est([n]fullerene) ≈ Tb,pred([n]fullerene), supporting the claim that we can predict many boiling points over a wide range of temperatures. Here we also extend the predictions to include endohedral fullerenes.


The process of extracting useful information from noisy sensor data is an important part of applications such as environmental analysis and military surveillance. Difficulties arise with analyzing the accuracy of the reports and in processing the total number of reports. Automated methods capable of handling noisy information from multiple sensors must be employed to assist the human analyst. This report investigates scalable database support for such systems. Region estimation and range retrieval techniques are employed to dramatically reduce retrieval and overall execution times.


The CEEI 2019 gathered around 340 participants from 30 countries to review three decades of political and economic transformation in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) and explore the challenges lying ahead. In his opening remarks, OeNB Governor Holzmann mixed praise for the CESEE countries' truly impressive transition and integration achievements with concern. After all, unfulfilled promises and unrealistic expectations about the speed and ease of trans formation have led to a social, economic and political backlash. To reach out to those who feel "lost in transition" it will be necessary to keep fostering convergence by spurring inclusive economic growth. Other challenges to be met include adverse demographic developments, the further integration and deepening of capital markets both within European monetary union (EMU) and in CESEE, remaining adjust ment needs and new kinds of transition in the face of climate change. The surest path for CESEE's success story of the past decades to continue, as summed up by Governor Holzman, will be continued cooperation in the spirit of the European Union's official motto, "United in diversity."


Spotted and banded cucumber beetles, Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi Barber and D. balteata LeConte, cold-acclimated and nonacclimated, shared a common range of supercooling points (−12 to −14°C); however, LD50 values showed that cold-temperature survival of the spotted cucumber beetle was higher relative to the banded cucumber beetle as the exposure temperature approached O°C. A considerable portion (41.5%) of spotted cucumber beetle adults survived ambient conditions during the winter of 1988 at Charleston, S. C, whereas all adults of the banded cucumber beetle died. Reproductive diapause did not contribute to cold hardiness in the spotted cucumber beetle, but cold acclimation increased survival to exposures of −10°C in both species.


Objective: To study the effects of Banxiaxiexie Decoction( BXXXT) on haemorheology and neurotransmitters in the experimental migraine rats. Methods: Sixty healthy SD rats were randomly divided into six groups: blank group( Group A),model group( Group B),positive group( Group C),high dose of BXXXT group( Group D),moderate dose of BXXXT group( Group E),and low dose of BXXXT group( Group F). In Group A and B,NS( 1 m L/100g) was administered intragastrically for7 days,and in Groups C,D,E,and F,BXXXT were administered intragastrically for 7 days. Experimental migraine rat model was established by injecting nitroglycerin( NTG 10 mg / kg) subcutaneously after 1h in the last administration except Group A. The model rats' behaviors were observed after injecting nitroglycerin, and the haemorheplogy, NO, and NOS level were detected in the plasma. Results: BXXXT can reduced the crawling and crapping times of model rats. Compared with model group,blood viscosity was reduced significantly( P 0. 05) in Group D,E,and F. High dose of BXXXT( 10 mg / kg) reduced the erythrocyte aggregation index,and moderate dose( 5 mg / kg) reduced the plasma viscosity. In addition,BXXXT significantly decreased the prothrombin time( PT),activated partial thromboplastin time( APTT),NO and NOS level in plasma. Conclusion: BXXXT can improve the behavior of experimental migraine model rats,and decrease the haemorheologicalindex and monoamine neurotransmitter such as NO and NOS level in plasma.


Electroshock Weapons (ESWs) are a commonly used tool in the escalation of force arsenal for law enforcement and the military around the world. The ESWs provides a high-voltage low- current electrical shock (a pulse burst) that can temporarily incapacitate its target (typically a human). This shock is usually of sufficient energy to cause the individual to become temporarily incapacitated for up to a few seconds after the discharge is completed. It is important to accurately know the output of the ESW because of the serious safety ramifications if the ESW fails to operate properly. However, these transient ESW pulse outputs may have frequency content exceeding 100 MHz while simultaneously have durations greater than 10 s, and the impedance of the target may vary amongst targets and may vary between pulses of a given pulse burst for a given target. These facts greatly increase the challenges in performing high-fidelity reproducible measurements of the ESW transient signals. To ensure that the ESW operates properly requires special measurement instruments because of the bandwidth, duration, and amplitude of the output signals. Moreover, accurate measurement capability supports modelling and subsequent understanding of the physiological effects of ESW exposure.


High-voltage lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have attracted great attention due to their promising high energy density. However, severe capacity degradation is witnessed, which originated from the incompatible and unstable electrolyte-electrode interphase at high voltage. Herein, a robust additive-induced sulfur-rich interphase is constructed by introducing an ultrahigh S-content of 34.04% additive (methylene methyl disulfonate, MMDS) in 4.6 V LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (NCM523)||graphite pouch cell. The MMDS does not directly participate the inner Li+ sheath, but the strong interactions between MMDS and PF6- anions promote the preferential decomposition of MMDS and broaden the oxidation stability, and facilitate the formation of an ultrathin but robust sulfur-rich interfacial layer. The electrolyte consumption, gas production, phase transformation and dissolution of transition metal ions were effectively inhibited. As expected, the 4.6 V NCM523||graphite pouch cell delivers a high capacity retention of 87.99% even after 800 cycles. This work shares new insight into the sulfur-rich additive-induced electrolyte-electrode interphase for stable high-voltage LIBs.