Patrascu (1988) observed nearly two decades ago that "contingency is probably the most misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misapplied word in project execution." Since that time there has been little empirical research into project people's understanding of the concept of project cost contingency. This paper reports the results of a survey of 78 project practitioners' comprehension of issues pertaining to project cost contingency. Whilst there is consensus that cost contingency is a reserve of money which should be used for scope changes, a key finding is that there is a lack of appreciation that project cost contingency is a risk management notion. Consequently, the majority of practitioners (77%) continue to use a deterministic percentage approach for estimating project cost contingency. Furthermore, 46% of respondents work in organisations that do not have a policy on contingency and 36% do not manage the use of contingency. Overall, this suggests there is significant room for improvement in the understanding, estimation and management of project cost contingency.


A recent literature considers the identification of heterogeneous demand and supply models via "quasi-experimental'' variation, as from instrumental variables. In this paper we establish nonparametric identification of differentiated products demand when one has "micro data'' linking characteristics of individual consumers to their choices. Micro data provide a panel structure allowing one to exploit variation across consumers within each market, where latent demand shocks are fixed. This facilitates richer demand specifications while substantially softening the reliance on instrumental variables, reducing both the number and types of instruments required. Our results require neither the structure of a "special regressor'' nor a "full support'' assumption on consumer-level observables.


We define the class of feebly J-clean unital rings and establish a characterization theorem giving up to an isomorphism their algebraic structure. Mathematics Subject Classification: 16D60; 16S34; 16U60


This article examines the use and misuse of alcohol across religious denominations. After controlling for standard sociodemographic variables, we find that the impact of religiosity on alcohol use is greatest among those denominations taking a strong stand against its consumption, mainly because religion constitutes a significant reference group for members. We also find that religiosity fails to influence misuse, and discuss the possible reasons for this result.


Grid computing facilitates the aggregation and coordination of resources that are distributed across multiple administrative domains for large‐scale and complex e‐Science experiments. Writing, deploying, and testing grid applications over highly heterogeneous and distributed resources are complex and challenging. The process requires grid‐enabled programming tools that can handle the complexity and scale of the infrastructure. However, while a large amount of research has been undertaken into grid middleware, little work has been directed specifically at the area of grid application development tools. This paper presents the design and implementation of ISENGARD, an infrastructure for supporting e‐Science and grid application development. ISENGARD provides services, tools, and APIs that simplify grid software development. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This paper proposes a fuzzy neural network (FNN) based approach to construct an individual-oriented car-following system. The feature of this system is firstly to incorporate a personal risk-taking factor in addition to other mechanical factors as the input parameters. Through the learning capability of artificial network, the complex membership functions between the input factors and the output (i.e., the appropriate car-following headway) can be efficiently established, and then the fuzzy logic rules can be properly constructed. The performance of the FNN system is finally assessed against the field data. The results are inspiring that the system is proven capable of providing highly accurate predictions of the required car-following headways from person to person at various speeds. The success of this study provides some clues of utilizing FNN techniques in exploring some individual-oriented machines.


This article is dedicated to the vocalism of the contemporary Żarnowiec dialect (spoken in Wierzchucino and Nadole). On the one hand, an acoustic and phonetic analysis has identified certain phonetic archaisms (like the central or frontal and central pronunciation of /u/) and has aided in-depth descriptions of sounds previously referred to in a very imprecise way (*/aː/ pronounced as a near-close rounded vowel, central, [ɵ] type). On the other hand, the analysis has provided grounds for acknowledging the important phonetic changes which have occurred in the Kashubian dialect in the past few decades; some of these consist in completing specific phenomena. These include the general dissemination of the diphthongal pronunciation of stressed /e, o, ɛ, ɔ/, the highly back and rounded pronunciation of /ɒ/, the front and open pronunciation of /ae/ in Nadole and the extended scope of the phonological and phonetic reduction of non-stressed vowels (the phonemes /ɘ, ɛ, ae/ are always, /ɵ, e/ nearly always and /i/ is relatively rarely pronounced in the same way when not stressed). The result of this reduction is a distinctly centralized vowel or a central vowel of the [ɜ] type. From the phonological point of view, attention should be paid primarily to the ultimate loss of nasal vowel phonemes. Contrary to existing descriptions, the vocal continuant */a/ has not been merged phonologically with /e/ but a new oral phoneme /ɘ/ has been established. It is worth emphasizing that a majority of the identified changes do not bring the dialect closer to the Polish language, rather, they take it further away from it.


Data for energy-transfer between diphenylmethylene (donor)–eosin (acceptor) and 9,10-dichloroanthracene (donor)–diphenylmethylene (acceptor) indicate that the coupling of S0↔S1 and T0↔T1 transition moments is well described by the inductive resonance theory.


Soil moisture is a critical control of evapotranspiration or latent heat flux (LE) in dryland areas which cover 40% of the Earth. However, these areas also undergo periods of radiation-controlled evapotranspiration which compromises some satellite approaches estimating LE with surface temperature. We tested the use of the Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index ( TVDI ) from Sandholt et al. (2002) to estimate the ratio of actual/potential LE using MODIS 8-day satellite data. We established the conditions for operational application in large regions with bioclimatic gradients and the accuracy of the method.


: Respiratory medicine is one of the important specialized courses in clinical medicine. Its main purpose is to improve students' mastery of TCM theoretical knowledge and medical practice skills, so as to lay a good foundation for doctors in the future. In the traditional teaching mode, the problems such as individual differences and physiological factors of patients are often ignored, resulting in low classroom efficiency and unable to effectively connect medical personnel with patients. In view of the above situation, this paper studies the application of clinical pathway teaching model in nursing teaching of respiratory department. Firstly, this paper introduces the basic concepts, characteristics and functions of nursing teaching in respiratory medicine, then studies the application of clinical pathway teaching mode, and uses the method of questionnaire survey to study its practical application. Finally, the survey results showed that both the control group and the experimental group had excellent scores in theory and operation examination, and the two groups were improved to a higher degree, including theoretical knowledge, skill proficiency and clinical practice experience, but the results of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group. The satisfaction of teachers and patients with nursing students in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group.


The recent work of \cite{CRT,DonohoPol} rigorously proved (in a large dimensional and statistical context) that if the number of equations (measurements in the compressed sensing terminology) in the system is proportional to the length of the unknown vector then there is a sparsity (number of non-zero elements of the unknown vector) also proportional to the length of the unknown vector such that $\ell_1$-optimization algorithm succeeds in solving the system. In more recent papers \cite{StojnicCSetamBlock09,StojnicICASSP09block,StojnicJSTSP09} we considered under-determined systems with the so-called \textbf{block}-sparse solutions. In a large dimensional and statistical context in \cite{StojnicCSetamBlock09} we determined lower bounds on the values of allowable sparsity for any given number (proportional to the length of the unknown vector) of equations such that an $\ell_2/\ell_1$-optimization algorithm succeeds in solving the system. These lower bounds happened to be in a solid numerical agreement with what one can observe through numerical experiments. Here we derive the corresponding upper bounds. Moreover, the upper bounds that we obtain in this paper match the lower bounds from \cite{StojnicCSetamBlock09} and ultimately make them optimal.


The Effects of Scene Category and Content on Boundary Extension Katie Gallagher (email@example.com) Benjamin Balas (firstname.lastname@example.com) Jenna Matheny (firstname.lastname@example.com) Pawan Sinha (email@example.com) Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA saccadic viewing of a scene (Intraub, Gottesman, Willey, & Zuk, 1996). In terms of developmental stability, boundary extension has been found across a range of age groups encompassing young children to older adults (Candel, Merckelbach, Houben, & Vandyck, 2004; Seamon, Schlegel, Hiester, Landau, & Blumenthal, 2002). Overall, the tendency to remember details beyond the boundaries of a scene is widespread and very reliable. In terms of its generality, recent results indicate that the effect is not restricted to the visual modality. Haptic exploration of tactile scenes by both blind and sighted individuals results in extension of non-visual boundaries (Intraub, 2004). The most prominent explanation for the boundary extension effect is the scene context hypothesis. This theory suggests that observers form expectations of scene content for regions beyond picture boundaries according to some perceptual schema (Intraub & Bodamer, 1993). It should be noted that this is not the same as suggesting that subjects default to a prototypic view of a scene. Experiments with close-up, prototypic, and wide-angle scenes have demonstrated that observers do not simply remember a scene prototype (Intraub & Berkowits, 1996). The observers' version of the remembered scene is augmented with new content generated by this schema, leading to an extension effect (Ohara & Kokubun, 2002). During picture viewing, observers continuously create a sketch of scene details beyond the boundaries and complete truncated surfaces. Though powerful, the scene context hypothesis does not address the question of how the visual content of an image affects the amount of boundary extension that observers experience. Previous studies have demonstrated that certain image conditions do not support the effect, but these conditions are related to the appearance of an image as a "scene" rather than a picture. For example, neither line- drawings of objects on blank backgrounds nor photographic objects placed on blank backgrounds elicited boundary extension (Gottesman & Intraub, 2002). Similarly, object boundaries (formed when one object circumscribes another in an image) do not give rise to extension (Gottesman & Intraub, 2003). In both cases, the lack of a perceived continuous world beyond the imposed boundary may be to blame. This explanation does not speak directly to visual processing, but rather to more abstract notions of how observers understand a picture as a depiction of some Abstract Boundary extension is a robust scene perception phenomenon in which observers erroneously remember seeing portions of a previously viewed scenes beyond the image boundaries. The effect is strong and reliable, and has been demonstrated for a wide variety of observers. Various studies have shown that boundary extension is distinct from amodal completion and subject to certain pictorial constraints that define an image as being a "scene." We examine here how scene content influences boundary extension. We demonstrate that the presence of foreground objects appears to enhance the extension effect, and that scene complexity also plays a role in determining the magnitude of the extension effect. These results are discussed with regard to the scene context hypothesis of boundary extension and recent results in scene perception. Introduction When asked to recall a picture of a scene, observers have a strong tendency to remember seeing a wider-angle view of that scene than they actually did. (Intraub & Richardson, 1989) This phenomenon is known as "boundary extension." (Figure 1). Figure 1: An example of the boundary extension effect. Subjects viewing the left image tend to remember seeing a scene more closely resembling the right image later. The extension effect is quite robust. Observers who are aware of the effect and told to guard against it persist in extending image boundaries (Intraub & Bodamer, 1993). Both short and long presentation times support the effect, including display conditions designed to approximate


By the end of last century,Wang Hui takes his leftist stance and conducts a detailed analysis of the modern Chinese thinking since the start of opening and reforms twenty years before.Out of miscellaneous topics concerned,this paper centers on the modern history of Chinese thinking of 1980-90s.


1. Experimental Polycrystalline samples of FeTe1−xSx (x=0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2) were prepared using solid-state reaction technique [1, 2]. Part of each obtained sample was quickly sealed into quartz tubes, filled with oxygen gas of atmospheric pressure, and annealed at 200 C for 2 hours [1]. According to the extensive study of inluence of annealing conditions,[1] this heat-treatment procedure is sufficient for a uniform oxygen diffusion across the whole sample: If annealing above 200 C (or for more time than 2h), the surface appears rusty or nonuniform and the superconducting properties deteriorates. All samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction using Cu-Kα radiation and the diffractograms were analyzed with Rietveld method. Magnetization, measured on a PPMS setup, showed no extra magnetic contributions and that the onset of diamagnetic signal at T onset c,mag(x) is similar to the zero-resistivity transition point T zero c . The most important measuring technique, as far as the main objective of this study is concerned, is the four-terminals dc resistivity, ρ, which was measured on home-made setup within the range of 2< T <300K and with excitation current of few milliamperes.


Women constitute nearly 50 percent of world population. In traditional societies, they are confined to perform household activities and are generally called home makers. In modern society, they are taking part in all areas of life and seen in academic, teaching, politics, administration, software development, banking sector, hospitals and so on. Today, the entrepreneurial world is also open to women folk. It is estimated that women entrepreneurs comprises about 10 percent of the total entrepreneurs in India today. Government across the world and various development organizations are actively involved in the promotion of women entrepreneurs through various schemes, incentives and promotional measures. To understand the motivational factors influencing women to become entrepreneurs and various support systems to look at entrepreneurship is essential and is revealed that most of the women entrepreneurs lack proper awareness of such schemes.

Keywords: Motivational factors, Awareness, Financial aid, Women entrepreneurs, Kerala.


Background: The reflux of the aortic regurgitation (AR) causes an increased and more persistent diastolic reverse flow in the aorta and its branching vessels. As Doppler examinations are often restricted to the aorta where a high quality Doppler signal acquis- ition is usually challenge, a prospective study was designed to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of Doppler measurements in the left subclavian artery (LSA) for the quanti- fication of the AR in a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) validation study. Method: We evaluated the systolic and diastolic flow profiles of the LSA (subclavicular approach) by use of pulsed wave Doppler ultrasound (3.4 – 9MHz linear probe) in 32 patients (59 6 14years; 22 men) with a wide spectrum of AR of the native aortic valve. A comprehensive echocardiogram was performed in all patients. Using CMR phase-con-trast sequences performed in the aorta (1cm above the aortic valve plane) the AR was quantified and divided in to 3 groups: mild (n ¼ 15), moderate (n ¼ 6), and severe (n ¼ 11). We evaluated the pulsed Doppler derived regurgitant fraction (RF) as the ratio between diastolic and systolic velocity-time integrals (VTI) of the LSA. Results: High quality Doppler signal of the LSA could be obtained in all patients. A good correlation was found between echocardiographic Native T1 mapping provides a non-invasive estimation of diffuse myocardial fibrosis, one of the key mechanisms in the pathophysiology of AS. exer- cise T1 relaxation the interventricular septum using the modified Look-Locker Inversion recovery sequence a 3T contractile defined of GLS mag-nitude increase significantly lower mag- A of AS and limited contractile reserve (% GLS vs. p Native T1 relaxation time was significantly longer in patients with AS than in controls 6 59,8ms vs. 1196,8 6 44,8, 0,001). observed a significant correlation between the T1 relaxation time and the GLS both at rest (r ¼ 0,67, p < 0,001) and during exercise MF group had more symptomatic patients, higher incidence of?congestive heart failure, and higher level of serum creatinine compared to mil-d?and?moderate MF group. The severe MF group also showed lower e' and higher?E/e' in echocardiography, reflecting diastolic dysfunction. ECV (r ¼ 0.515, p < 0.001), GLS (r ¼ 0.393, p ¼ 0.001), and native T1 value (r ¼ 0.352, p ¼ 0.003) are significantly correlated with the degree of MF. However, only ECV ( b ¼ 0.433, p ¼ 0.005) and GLS ( b ¼ 0.481, p ¼ 0.019), not native T1 value ( b ¼ 0.017, p ¼ 0.93) are independently correlated with the degree of MF in multivariate linear regression analysis Conclusion: ECV in CMR and GLS in STE are could be non-invasively assessed surrogate parameters of MF in severe AS patients. We measures assessed by 3D-Transesophageal Echocardiography (3D-TEE) compared to Multislice Computed Tomography (CT) are limited and discordant. Aim: To com-pare AA measurements obtained by 3D-TEE, CT and with a dedicated automatic soft- ware, EchoPac (3Dsoftw). Methods: 87 TAVI patients (age 81.3 6 7.3 y, 50 women) underwent 3D-TEE and CT. 3D volume dataset was acquired containing LVOT, AA, aortic root. 3D-TEE recon-struction for AA measurement was performed with 3Dsoftw and manually, allowing mid-systole measurements of the AA. CT measurements were obtained in diastole and considered the gold standard. Results: There was an excellent correlation for minor (sagittal) diameter between 3D-TEE and CT (r ¼ 0.8, p < 0.0001), 3Dsoftw and CT (r ¼ 0.81, p < 0.0001), 3Dsoftw and 3D-TEE (r ¼ 0.90, p < 0.0001). Mean differences among the 3 analyses were minimal (3D-TEE vs CT bias ¼ 0.03 mm, 95% limits of agreement (loa): -3.18 to 3.24; 3Dsoftw vs. CT bias ¼ -0.02 mm, 95% loa: -3.17 to 3.12; 3Dsoftw vs 3Decho bias ¼ 0.088 mm, loa -2.03 to 2.21). For major (coronal) diameter there was an excellent correlation between 3Decho and CT (r ¼ 0.86, p < 0.0001), 3Dsoftw and CT (r ¼ 0.84, p < 0.0001), 3Dsoftw and 3D-TEE (r ¼ 0.87, p < 0.0001). Major diameter was underestimated by 3D-TEE and 3Dsoftw compared to CT (3Decho vs CT bias ¼ -2.97 mm, 95% loa: -5.83 to -0.09; 3Dsoftw vs CT bias ¼ -1.97 mm, 95% loa: -5.14 to 1.25). 3Dsoftw showed similar results to 3D-TEE Background. Few studied compared transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) with car- diac magnetic resonance imaging (c-MRI) for evaluating the alterations of LV mechanics occurring in chronic ischemic mitral regurgitation (CIMR). Purpose. We assess if there were a relationship between the size and the location of the post-MI fibrosis, investigated with c-MRI and the alterations of the LV mechanics, examined with speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE), and if this link may affect the severity of CIMR. Methods. 27 pts (mean age 61.4 6 14) with CIMR underwent TTE and c-MRI with delayed enhancement (DE) analysis in the same day between the 6th and the 7th week after the acute event. Results. We found a significant correlation between TTE and c-MRI regarding LV end-diastolic (R ¼ 0.75, p < 0.001), end-systolic volumes (R ¼ 0.90, P < 0.001) and ejection fraction (EF) (R ¼ 0.87, p < 0.001). Pts with anterior MI displayed a non-severe CIMR (EROA ¼ 0.18 6 0.01cm2), but a greater LV remodeling (p ¼ 0.006), lower EF (p ¼ 0.003) and lower global longitudinal strain (GLS) (p < 0.001) compared to pts with inferior and/or lateral MI. On the other hand, these latter pts had a severe CIMR


Caie,lived in yunnan province about two years,takes the initiative to reduce the official's salary for twice.the author of this thesis holds that those have fully proved the Caies noble mind in honest self-discipline through comparing the officials salary a month reduced by Caie with the official's salary a month of the administrative officlals,professors,officer of troops and workers at that time,it is worth using us for reference today.


At the Fermilab Tevatron with s = 900 and 1960 GeV, we have studied exclusive double pomeron exchange in the Collider Detector at Fermilab, CDF. With ∼300,000 events we present the mass spectrum of two hadrons, h+h−, assumed to be pions, with |η(π)| 4.6. The mass spectrum shows resonance structures, including f0(980), f2(1270), and f0(1370). The cross section ratio 1960 GeV/900 GeV and the mean pT (pair) show massdependent structures, even above M = 2 GeV where there are no established π+π− resonances. The data extend above M = 5 GeV. We place an upper limit on exclusive χc0 →π+π− and K+K−.


Words adoption is one of the ways to enrich the vocabulary in all languages of the world. Moreover, it is considered to be one of the core vocabulary parts of the languages. Collective nouns of Turkish and Mongolian languages possess a significant role in Tajik lexis. The current article discusses about adopted collective nouns from Turkish and Mongolian languages as well as its origin and usage in Tajik vocabulary. The author talks about adopted collective nouns of Turkish-Mongolian languages along with its usage in Tajik lingo based on contemporary prose reprints, also Tajik vocabulary. Additionally, the author states about the usage of adopted Turkish and Mongolian collective nouns and comparison with their Tajik synonyms.


Background: The association of immune checkpoints inhibitors (ICI) and dose dense chemotherapy is a promising combination in a neoadjuvant setting for triple negative breast cancers (TNBC). However, response rates vary from one study to another and timing, best chemotherapy partner and efficacy in breast cancer subtypes considered as less immunogenic, like luminal B tumors, should be further investigated. The B-immune study evaluates a neoadjuvant treatment with paclitaxel followed by a short combination of an anti-PD-L1 antibody with anthracyclines for TNBC and luminal B breast cancers (BC). Method: B-immune (NCT03356860), a multicentric phase Ib/II prospective trial, includes patients with stage I to III luminal B or TNBC treated with paclitaxel 80mg/m2 weekly from week 1 to 12 followed by 4 cycles of epirubicine 90mg/m2 and cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 (EC) Q2W in a neoadjuvant setting. The phase Ib evaluated a single infusion of durvalumab (anti-PD-L1) combined with the 3rd cycle of EC. The phase II, in progress, evaluates 2 infusions of durvalumab with the 1st and 3rd cycle of EC respectively. Surgery is planned 3 weeks after the last preoperative treatment. Primary objectives are safety and efficacy based on pathological complete response (pCR) rate. Considering a 2-stage Simon design, 22 TNBC patients are needed in the phase II to detect a pCR rate increase from 30% to 60% and 24 luminal B BC patients are needed to detect a pCR rate increase from 15% to 40% (α = 0.1 and β = 0.1). At least 3 pCRs must be observed among 8 TNBC patients and 2 among 10 Luminal B patients treated in the 1st stage to move to the 2nd stage. Results: This analysis concerns 3 treated patients from phase Ib and 18 from phase II who received the experimental treatment (median age 55 y-old, 10 TNBC, 11 Luminal B, 14% stage I, 67% stage II, 19% stage III). Overall, 169 AEs were reported and 22 (13%) were graded > 2 on 10/21 patients, including 27% of neutropenia (6/22), 22% of anemia (5/22), 13% of severe asthenia (3/22) and 9% of diarrhea (2/22). Four patients (19%) developed thyroid immune endocrine disorders. Efficacy was evaluated on 18 patients included in the 1st stage of phase II (8 TNBC and 10 luminal B). Five among 8 TNBC patients (62%) and 2 among 10 luminal B patients (20%) had a pCR. Conclusions: The B-immune interim analysis reveals an acceptable global safety profile. Reported immune related adverse events were limited to thyroid endocrine disorders. Observed pCR rate after neoadjuvant paclitaxel followed by 2 durvalumab infusions combined to EC chemotherapy warrants pursuing the trial for the TNBC and luminal B cohorts.
 Citation Format: Javier Carrasco, Claire Quaghebeur, Stephanie Henry, Christine Galant, Mieke Van Bockstal, Paul Delrée, Brigitte Honhon, Dominique Korman, Vincent Verschaeve, Christophe Lonchay, Sarah Levefre, Lionel D'hondt, Martine Berliere, Sophie Delmarcelle, Jean-Michel Mine, Timour Willems, Gebhard Müller, Nathalie Myant, Isabelle Bar, Manuel Constant, Sandy Haussy, Alix Devaux, Pierre Coulie, Jean-Luc Canon, François Duhoux. B-immune interim analysis: A phase Ib/II study of durvalumab combined with dose-dense EC in a neoadjuvant setting for patients with locally advanced luminal B HER2(-) or triple negative breast cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-14-12.


Evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD) using coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) has seen a paradigm shift in the last decade. Evidence increasingly supports the clinical utility of CCTA across various stages of CAD, from detection of early subclinical disease to the detection, and further guide therapy. This review provides an update on the evidence, clinical applications, and emerging technologies surrounding CCTA as highlighted at the 2019 National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute CCTA Summit. Condensed Abstract Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) can be utilized across various stages of coronary artery disease (CAD), from detection of early subclinical disease to the assessment of acute chest pain. The ability to identify high-risk plaque and quantify plaque burden positions CCTA as a unique tool for non-invasive risk stratification and treatment planning. Emerging applications of CCTA based on hemodynamic indices and plaque characterization may provide personalized risk assessment in order to further guide treatment. With more widespread availability, utilization, and further studies, CCTA may improve patient outcomes as well as our understanding of atherosclerosis and its progression. Central Illustration. Utility of coronary computed tomography angiography in coronary artery disease.


. Let X be a smooth simply connected closed 4-manifold with definite intersection form. We show that any automorphism of the intersection form of X is realized by a diffeomorphism of X # S 2 ˆ S 2 . This extends and completes Wall's foundational result from 1964.


This paper proposes an efficient multiuser relay scheme in OFDMA systems. In the proposed scheme, multiple terminals transmit their data packets simultaneously in the same subband and multiple relay stations retransmit their received signals in different subbands after subband conversion. A base station (BS) extracts individual packets from received signals in the different subbands. In advance of data transmission, the BS selects appropriate terminals so that the BS can extract individual data packets successfully. Numerical results show that the proposed relay scheme achieves higher system throughput than the conventional relay scheme when scheduling is applied to a larger number of terminals than the number of relay stations.


Over the years, researchers have recognized the importance of studying the moors and their conservation, both for their impact on the provision of water for cities, as well as their tourism potential and biodiversity. The objective of the present investigation is to conduct an analysis of patterns present in the characteristics of the different species of the Andean region of the Chimborazo and Sangay National Park reserves. For the analysis, 67 samples of different species were collected in both reserves, of which measurements of leaves, plants and flowers were made, subsequently, non-supervised machine learning algorithms called k-means clustering were applied using Python as the programming language . At the end of the species grouping process, it resulted in obtaining three categories according to the relationship between the characteristics of each species, two components being the most important for categorization, these were the height of the plant as well as The height of the leaf.


In this paper we present a system that is able to perform cooperative information-seeking dialogues for the interrogation of a text knowledge base. In our system each event (utterance) is represented by logic programming facts which are used to dynamically update the previous user model. Using this approach it is possible to represent new events as update logic programs and to obtain the new "mental" states. Moreover it is possible to reason about past events and to represent non-monotonic behavior rules. The system has to represent four levels of knowledge using dynamic logic programming. The knowledge levels are: Interaction, Domain, Information Retrieval and Text. The interaction level is responsible for the dialogue management. This includes the abilit y of the system to infer user intentions and attitudes and the abilit y to represent the dialogue sentences in a dialogue structure in order to obtain the semantic representation of the dialogue. The domain level includes knowledge about the text domain and it has rules encoding that knowledge. For instance, in the law field it is necessary to represent under which conditions a pension for relevant services may be given to someone; those pensions are usually attributed to milit aries or to civili ans such as firemen, doctors, and nurses. The Information Retrieval Level includes knowledge about what we should expect to find in texts about a subject, for instance that in texts about pensions for relevant services, the pension may be attributed or refused. The Text Level has knowledge about the words and sequence of words that are in each text of the knowledge base. A detailed example of a cooperative dialogue in the law field will be shown. Introduction In this paper we use dynamic logic programming to integrate four sources of knowledge in order to implement a cooperative dialogue system for a web based information retrieval text database with juridical texts. Our dialogue system achieves cooperation with the user by using knowledge: about the database texts (Information Retrieval level); about the domain, in our case some juridical rules (Domain level); about the words and expressions that occur in each text of the text base (Text level). There is another knowledge level that our system has to represent which is the Interaction. This level includes the representation of the user and system utterances and the intentions associated to each utterance, as well as knowledge that enables the system to infer the user intentions. These four levels of knowledge are represented using dynamic logic programming. Dynamic logic programming (Alferes et al. 1998) defines how a logic program can be updated by other logic programs. In our approach, each event is represented by a logic program (composed only by facts) which is used to update the previous program and to obtain a new one. In fact, events are represented by an update situation and there is no need to explicitly represent time points. Inertia rules are also guaranteed by the dynamic logic programming semantics. The information retrieval system is based on SINO, a text search engine from the AustLII I nstitute (Greenleaf, Mowbray and King 1997). The Interaction Level represents the speech acts using a dialogue structure that groups the utterances of the dialogue in a way that at any point of the dialogue it is possible to obtain its semantic content. This is obtained with a precise definition of the dialogue segments that include inheritance rules for the dialogue attributes. The following dialogue is an example of a user session in our system (this example will be fully explained in the example section). Dialogue 1: User Q1: Documents about pensions for relevant services? System Q2: Pensions that were given or refused? User Q3: Both. System Q4: Pensions for milit aries or civili ans? User Q5: Civili ans System Q6: There are 129 documents, listed in the right frame. User Q7: where there was a drowning? System Q8: Since there are 45 documents of the 129 above that match the concept, I've listed them in the usual frame. User Q9: No, I mean to look for all documents that match the concept. System Q10: There are 347 documents listed in the right frame. User Q7': Documents about drugs? System Q8': I assume that you want a new query about drugs since there are no documents with the concept drugs and pensions for relevant services for civili ans. Do you want to see documents about the use of drugs while driving? User: Q9' yes. ... Given a user utterance, such as Q1, the system is able to cooperatively interact with user in order to refine its query. The system reply to Q1 will be Q2, this reply is achieved by recognizing that this query can be refined since the texts that mention pensions can divided into two disjoint sets, one where pensions were given and another one were pension were refused. This kind of knowledge is encoded in what we have called the Information Retrieval level. This sort of knowledge can be obtained with a preprocessing of the texts in the text base and we have rules encoding it. After the user answer (that could be: given, rejected or both), by using knowledge of the Domain level the system will generate question Q4. This is achieved by knowing that pensions by relevant service have different conditions when there is a milit ary or a civili an. This is juridical knowledge independent of the texts present in the text base. Our system is also able to decide if the user intends to continue its previous query (its utterance is to be interpreted in the context of the previous dialogue) or to open a new query (a new interrogation context). If, after Q1 the user asks Q7, the system will be able to decide that the user intends to look for text where there are a pension and a drowning. But if the user utters Q11 instead of Q7 the system will conclude that the user intends to open a new interrogation context. User Q11: Documents where there are drugs? This is achieved by using the Textual level that encodes knowledge about the texts words and expressions (concepts). Using our retrieval information system SINO, it is possible to see that are some texts where the concepts pension and drowning appears but no texts where the concepts pension and drugs appears. This is what the user expects the system behave in most cases. When this is not the case the user may clarify its query in order oblige the system to behave differently. For instance after Q7 the system will reply Q8 and the user may reply Q7' . Q9 will be understood by the system as a user clarification and it will forget the semantic content of sentences Q1-Q8 by opening a new context with Q9. In order to interpret the sentence Q9 in particular to solve the nominal anaphora the concept, the dialogue structure of sentences Q1-Q8 will be used. Dynamic logic Programming framework Dynamic logic programming (Alferes et al. 1998) defines how a logic program can be updated by other logic programs. In fact it defines a semantic for a sequence of logic program updates P1,...,Pn. In the update process, each state (P1,...,Pn) may represent a different situation, or even a different time point. This feature allows us to model dialogue events by logic programs (composed only by facts) and to use them to update the previous programs. Inertia rules are also guaranteed by the dynamic logic programming semantics. Alferes et al. propose in their paper a declarative and a procedural semantics for dynamic logic programming. In order to describe rules in DLP it is possible to use the keywords before and now to represent the previous and the actual state. For instance, the speech act inform may be described by "bel(H,P)<-inform(S,H,P)/before", meaning that after an inform speech act, the hearer starts to believe in the informed proposition (we have assumed cooperative and sincere users). Suppose we have: P0 = { int(s,X) <bel(s,int(u,X)), bel(H,P)<-inform(S,H,P)/before} , meaning that the system intends to do an action X if he believes the user intends to do that action; P1 = { inform(u,s,int(u,search_documents))} Then, in state P2 we' ll have: { int(s,search_documents} Moreover, it is possible to use explicit negation and abduction over the DLP framework allowing the representation on non-monotonic characteristics. Knowledge Representation Levels In this section we describe the four knowledge representation levels and we describe how they are integrated in the dynamic logic programming framework. Our four representation levels are: 1 Textual Level 2 Domain Level 3 Information Retrieval Level 4 Interaction (dialogue level) The Text Level has knowledge about the words and sequence of words that are in each text of the knowledge base. The Domain level includes knowledge about the text domain such as juridical knowledge (for instance, under which conditions a pension for relevant services may be given to someone). It has rules that encoded the domain knowledge, such as: normally those pensions are attributed to milit aries or to civili ans (firemen, doctors, nurses, etc.) and the conditions to be fulfill ed by them are different. The Information Retrieval Level includes knowledge about what we should expect to find in texts about a subject, for instance that in texts about pensions for relevant services, the pension may be attributed or refused. The Interaction level is responsible for the dialogue management. This includes the abilit y of the system to infer user intentions and attitudes and to build the representation of the dialogue sentences in a dialogue structure in order to obtain the semantic representation of the dialogue whenever it is necessary.


There is tight relation between innovation and quality competitiveness which is discussed in this paper. Nowadays we attach importance to improving product quality under the international economic integration situation. In this paper we present and discuss the innovation how to enhance quality competiveness of new products. Then it is analyzed how innovation has effect on product quality competitiveness and how the contribution rate is calculated making use of mathematical tools. At the same time, the necessity and feasibility of sifting innovation is also explained according to the product-forming process. To sum up according to the study on product quality competitiveness based on innovation, it should be greatly practical, strategic and economic significance for enterprises to set up a system of product innovation management oriented quality.


The title complex, K[V(C8H3NO6)O2]·H2O, was synthesized by reacting 4-carboxypyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid (contaminated as a potassium salt) with NH4VO3 in aqueous solution. The title complex, with a vanadium(V) metal center, is a distorted square-based pyramid. Its structure consists of chains of the anionic complexes in the direction of the b axis connected by potassium–oxygen interactions which range from 2.5981 (18) to 3.0909 (18) A. These chains are linked to each other by hydrogen bonding between the O atoms of the complex and the water molecules.


An ideal dynamical system should not generate any vibrations, because vibrations mean a loss of energy. Vibration in planetary precessional gear box occurs at bearings, gear wheels, misaligned shafts, imbalance rotating parts, couplings. If damage occurs, not only the dynamic processes change, but also the forces that act on system components. Regarding this aspects, sound level was measured by using Brüel & Kjær Sound Level Meter Type 2250 Light that has everything needed to perform high-precision, Class 1 measurement tasks in environmental, occupational and industrial application areas. Obtained and measured results were presented in diagrams and tables to be compared with German standard VDI-2058 Limit value for vibration severity and noise level.


Air raid medical administration in England is merely one part of the general ARP services, Air Raid Precautions services, under the Ministry of Home Security or the Home Office; but the medical services are split between two ministries, the other half being the Emergency Medical Services which are under the Ministry of Health at Whitehall, just next door to the Home Office. The three major subdivisions of blitz medical administration are the first aid services, the ambulance services and the hospital services. I would have you picture these as integrated most closely in the field or at the site of what the British call the "incident." This is a carefully selected word because of its minimum of panic producing power. At the site of a bombing the medical services are closely tied with all the other civil defense services: those of the air raid wardens, fire and police workers and


A door locking system of motor vehicle comprises the following components: a door latch device which includes the elements of: a striker which is fixed to a vehicle body, a latch part which is used for latching the door to a closed position when jointed with the striker, a locking/unlocking part which can be switched between an unlocking position for unlocking the latch part and the striker and alocking position for locking the latch part and the striker, and an inside lever which can move to a locking position for locking the unlocking/unlocking part and an unlocking position for unlocking the locking/unlocking part, wherein the inside lever can move from the unlocking position in a door opening direction for releasing the jointing between the latch part and the striker; and an inside handle assembly which is equipped to the inside part of the vehicle, and the inside handle assembly comprises the following components: an inside handle which can move from a stationary position in thedoor locking direction, a locking knob which can move between the locking position and the unlocking position, and an operation force transfer mechanism. The inside handle assembly is used together with the door latch device.


Purification of linoleic acid from grape seed oil by urea adduction fractionation was investigated.The effects of adduction temperature,adduction time,mass ratio of methanol to urea,mass ratio of mixed fatty acids to urea on the yield and purity of linoleic acid were analyzed.The purification conditions were optimized by orthogonal experiment on the basis of single factor experiment.The results showed that the optimal purification conditions were as follows: adduction time 12 h,adduction temperature-4 ℃,mass ratio of methanol to urea 5∶ 1,mass ratio of mixed fatty acids to urea 1∶ 1.Under these conditions,the purity of linoleic acid was 89.9%.


One year on - from the weather and the sea you would never guess that anything had happened'. Such was Christopher Bellamy's recent observation from aboard HMS Sheffield for The Independent about the ecological condition of the waters of the Persian Gulf a year after Operation Desert Storm1 • Considering the high media profile afforded to oil-smeared cormorants on glooming Saudi beaches, to blazing Kuwaiti oil-wells and to what was portrayed at the time as an ecological disaster of almost apocalyptic proportions, such an observation merely highlights the degree to which television audiences worldwide were bombarded with propaganda during the GulfWarof 1991.


A 60 days feeding experiment was carried out on jewel cichlid (Hemichromis bimaculatus) to investigate the effects of carrot (Daucus carota) and red pepper (Capsicum annuum) as natural pigment material on coloration of jewel cichlid.180 fish were divided into 3 groups with triplication each. Three types of experimental feed were prepared; the first group was added carrot, the second,two redpepper to provide 60 mg of total pigments kg in diets and control feed do not have any pigment material. Fish were fed by 2% of their 1 live weight. Total carotenoid content of the fish was determined spectrophotometrically at the end of the experiment. Carotenoid amount in the fish samples fed with red pepper and carrot diets were 0.450±0.43and 0.488±0.60 mg g , respectively. Consequently a significant difference was found between individuals fed by 1 natural pigment material and those by unpigmented feeds (p 0.05). It was demonstrated that natural pigment substance have an impact on coloration of jewel cichlid and the groups did not exhibit any distinctions in growth.


Stirling-type pulse tube cryocoolers are promising candidates for space application and for cooling HTS devices. Nevertheless, most single-stage Stirling-type pulse tube cryocoolers (SSPTCs) are unable to reach a cooling temperature below 25 K. In this article, an in-line type SSPTC driven by a linear compressor was designed, fabricated and experimentally investigated. By optimizing the operating conditions, the cryocooler has reached a no-load refrigeration temperature below 34.2 K at 35.2 Hz without the double-inlet phase shifter. However with an optimum double-inlet opening, the cryocooler has reached a no-load refrigeration temperature of 24.7 K and can provide a cooling power of 1.3 W at 30 K when the electric input power to the compressor is 205 W. INTRODUCTION Stirling-type pulse tube cryocoolers have the advantages of high efficiency, high reliability and compactness. To date, most applications of Stirling type pulse tube cryocoolers have focused on the temperature region from 40-90 K. The application field could be further extended if a high thermal efficiency at a much lower temperature could be achieved. In order to obtain a non-zerocooling power below 30 K with reasonable efficiency and reach a much lower temperature, multistage configuration is generally needed.1-4 Several single stage Stirlingtype pulse tube cryocoolers (SSPTCs) for operating temperatures below 30 Khave also been successfully developed. TRW has reported a SSPTC with frequency above 30 Hz, that is able to reach a no-load refrigeration temperature of 29K, and provide a cooling power of 1 W at 35 K with 200 W of electric input power.5 TIPC has fabricated a single-stage high frequency coaxial pulse tube cryocooler working at 45 Hz that achieves the lowest temperature of about 27 K with a double-inlet valve and cooling powers of 0.2 W/30 K, 0.5W/35 K while consuming 200 W of electrical power.6 This article introduces our recent work on an in-line type SSPTC which is running at 35.2 Hz. The cooler can provide a cooling power of over 1.3 W at 30 K when the input electric power is around 200 W. The following will give the details of the configuration and experimental results. CRYOCOOLER CONFIGURATION Figure 1 shows the system setup. Optimization of the SSPTC configuration is done through our simulation software7 based on thermoacoustic theory.8,9 The design parameters of the SSPTC


Objective To study the clinical features, evaluate the prognosis and analysis the related factors of poor outcome of patients with severe stenosis or occllusion of basilar arteries. Methods 168 patients with vertebrobasilar infarction admitted in 2003, were enrolled in this study. Severe stenosis or occlusion of basilar arteries of 29 patients were confirmed by DSA and they are followed-up for one year after the onset to assess the clinical and vascular features that might be related to poor outcomes. Results Twenty-one patients had vertigo attacks before cerebral infarction, the most frequent lesions were located at the middle 1/3 of the basilar artery. The mortality rate was 44.4% and the rate of major disability was 13.8% one year after onset, and patients with NIHSS≥14 were more likely to have a poor outcome. Conclusions Patients with cerebral infarction in basilar arteries with severe damages have poor outcome. Vertigo occures frequently, the status of consciousness at the initial stage predicts for the outcome. Evaluation of NIHSS can be used to evaluate the prognosis.


In order to know the infection and drug resistance of Bordetella bronchiseptica from rabbit in Zhejiang province in recent years and guide the rational use of drugs,resistance genes were detected to study the possible mechanism of drug resistance.The bacteria were identified via the test of mophology,culture distinguishing and biochemical test combined with PCR method;K-B's paper method was used to detect the drug resistance rate for 18 kinds of common antibiotics;Specific primers were also designed to detect through PCR method.Twenty-two Bordetella bronchiseptica strains were isolated and identified during 2012-2014.Drug susceptibility results showed that bacteria were highly resistant to penicillin G,cefradine,streptomycin,lincomycin,clindamycin and sulfamnomethoxine,and sensitive to polymyxin,levofloxacin,doxycycline and tetracycline,etc;blaTEM gene from the bacteria was detected positive which were resistant to beta-lactams.Rabbit respiratory disease was mainly caused by Bordetella bronchiseptica,the isolated bacteria were multi-drug resistance,drug resistance rate was high,the resistant genes were consistant with drug-resistant phenotype.


KYLM (Yelimao in Chinese) is a new type of multifunction instrument used in oil well to anchor tubing. It consists of anchorage system, anchoring mechanism, unanchored system and oilventing system. It can not only anchor the tubing in well to prevent creeping or curling, but release the petroleum in the tube to avoid pollution. The system of the instrument is reasonable and convenient. It has been successfully applied in more than 100 oil wells.


ABSTRACT: Background: Hypertension is the most important modifiable cause of stroke. The Canadian Hypertension Educational Program, representing Canada's experts in the field of hypertension, publishes annual evidence-based recommendations on the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension. Methods: We present the 2005 Canadian Hypertension Educational Program guidelines regarding the management of hypertension in patients with stroke. Results: The diagnosis of hypertension should be expedited and can be made as early as the second visit in patients with stroke. Unless contraindicated, a combination of angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and diuretics is the preferred therapy in these patients. A target blood pressure below 140/90mmHg for non-diabetic patients, below 130mmHg/80mmHg for diabetic patients and below 125mmHg/75mmHg for those with renal disease and proteinuria (³ 1 gram per day) should be reached. Lifestyle interventions may be as effective as medication and should be used in conjunction with medical management. Waist circumference should be less than 102cm for men and 88cm for women. There remains uncertainty about the management of high blood pressure in the context of acute stroke. Conclusions: A combination of ACE-inhibitors and diuretics is recommended in hypertensive stroke patients. Blood pressure should be maintained below 140/90 mmHg.


In the central-southern part of the Daxinganling region,the redefined Laolongtou Formation is characterized by red-variegated sedimentary rocks,with or without the intercalations of acid-intermediate volcanic rocks,containing the Early Triassic Calamospora-Lundbladispora-Alisporites and Verrucosisporites-Lundbladispora-Chordasporites spore-pollen assemblages,Huanghestheria-Cornia-Palaeolimnadia conchostracan assemblage and Darwinula triassiana-D.rotundata ostracod assemblage.While in the central-northern part,the Hadataolegai Formation is dominated by andesite,which conformably overlies the Laolongtou Formation.Therefore,the Lower Triassic in the region may be arranged(in ascending order) as the Laolongtou Formation and Hadataolegai Formation.The Lower Jurassic or Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic Donggong Formation in the region was previously divided into the first and second members.Based on the mean isotopic age(208.79 Ma) of the first member and the parallel unconformity with the second member,the authors redefine the Donggong Formation,including only the original first member,assigned to Late Triassic in age.


Assets invested in passively managed equity mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) have grown steadily in recent years, reaching more than one trillion dollars at the end of 2010. We establish that the rise in popularity of index investing contributes to higher systematic market risk. More indexed equity assets corresponds to increased cross-sectional trading commonality, in turn precipitating higher return correlations among stocks. Consistent with the accelerating growth of passive investing, we discover that equity betas have not only risen but converged in recent years.


Motivated by searches for 0 νββ decay in nuclear experiments and collider probes of lepton number violation at dimension d ≥ 7 , we investigate the sensitivity to the d ¼ 5 Weinberg operator using the nonresonant signature pp → l (cid:2) l 0(cid:2) jj at the LHC. We develop a prescription for the operator that is applicable in collisions and decays, and focus on the ll 0 ¼ μμ channel, which is beyond the reach of nuclear decays. For a Wilson coefficient C μμ 5 ¼ 1 , scales as heavy as Λ ∼ 8 . 3 ð 11 Þ TeV can be probed with L ¼ 300 fb − 1 ð 3 ab − 1 Þ . This translates to an effective μμ Majorana mass of j m μμ j ∼ 7 . 3 ð 5 . 4 Þ GeV and establishes a road map for testing the Weinberg operator at accelerators. DOI:


Abstract Young children are typically overconfident regarding both cognitive abilities. This overconfidence may be due to development underpinnings. Previous research has demonstrated that children exhibit robust and persistent overconfidence in a simple memory-recall task. Two experiments investigated this overconfidence in 1st–4th and 4th–6th grade students. In the first experiment, we explored both the development of accurate predictions of recall and young students' confidence in their memory performance predictions. It was found that not until 4th grade did students' overconfidence begin to wane. In the second experiment, we investigated a condition under which 4th–6th graders might make more accurate predictions of their ability to recall simple stimuli, specifically, when the items to be remembered were unfamiliar to the students. The results confirmed our overconfidence in familiarity hypothesis. We discuss these findings in the context of metacognition.


Sound pay management plays an important role in guiding corporate governance and risk management of commercial banks,which is also one of the most important means in promoting business development and improving operating performance of commercial banks.The pay management of China's commercial banks mainly contain three aspects,remuneration management system,remuneration structure system and performance appraisal management.In recent years,the commercial banks of china have earnestly strengthened the remuneration management and the function of incentive and restraint mechanisms have been exerted effectively.However,it still exists some misunderstanding on the reform of remuneration system in some banks.Therefore,some measures should be taken in order to achieve the sustainable development of commercial banks,such as further improving the incentive and restraint mechanisms,strengthening the compensation allocation,promoting the reform of post value-based compensation system,improving the performance appraisal standards and assessment methods,setting performance assessment indicators scientifically.


Ponzi scheme, multi-level marketing (MLM) programs or pyramid schemes disguised as direct selling companies are India's nightmare. The problem is huge. In fact, it's so good that the massive redemptions ordered by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in the case of Sahara group companies (Rs 25,000 crore plus interest) or PACL (Rs 49,100 crore) don't even start the surface of money stolen from ordinary savers. The Indian Legislature has sadly been extremely slow on the uptake and as a result many well-known ponzi schemes have been able to thrive undetected. This paper will tend to discuss the laws pertaining to the ban of Ponzi like schemes in India.


Objective In order to establish the normal value of radiographic cephalometry of Tianjin and to reveal the regular pattern and the characteristics concerning the growth of craniofacial morpholopy.Methods 70 students with early permanent dentition were selected as the samples.The cephalometric analysis methods of Downs?Tweed and Steiner were used in this study.Results The normal value of radiographic cephalometry for early permanent dentition on normal occlusal children of Tianjin were established and compared with Beijing?Xian?Harbin?Shanghai.Conclusion The results suggest that the cephalometric mearsuement values are various in different regional population.


Differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs) into neurons and incorporation into neuronal circuitry is crucial for success of stem cell therapy in the CNS. MicroRNAs are endogenous small non‐coding regulatory RNA molecules that are involved in regulation of stem cell function. To identify microRNAs involved in NS/PCs differentiation, we performed miRNA profiling in normal human neural progenitors (NHNPs) before and after differentiation in vitro. We observed a widespread upregulation of miRNAs following differentiation of NHNPs. MicroRNAs associated with neuronal differentiation such as miR‐124, 132, 134, and miR‐200 were upregulated. The fact that many miRNAs did not change and fewer miRNAs were downregulated suggests that the effects observed are specific to the miRNAs assayed rather than a global effect. We identified multiple miRNAs that are not known to be associated with neural differentiation including miR‐223. To investigate its effect on NS/PCs differentiation, we used recombinant viral vectors to overexpress or inhibit miR‐223. Inhibition of miR‐223 in the adult mouse dentate gyrus NS/PCs led to a significant increase in immature neurons dendritic tree total length, branch number per neuron and complexity as determined by Sholl analysis. Moreover, MiR‐223 overexpression inhibited and its knockdown enhanced NMDA induced calcium influx in human neurons differentiated from NHNPs. Taken together, our results suggest that miR‐223 regulates the NS/PCs derived neurons integration into neuronal circuitry. This work was supported by NIH 2P50DA000266. MMH was supported by MSCRF PDF # 104278.


The distribution of rhenium in the profile of an ore-controlling zonation in complex exogenic, uranium-coal deposits is described. It is established that the earlier suggested distinct association between rhenium and molybdenum is lacking in the ores. The possibility of rhenium mineralization in the deposit is noted.


Abstract: Children are mostly considered to be vulnerable and passive victims in situations of armed conflict. The field of study of children and armed conflict has hitherto been dominated by the psycho- medical approach. Interventions in the field are also highly influenced by psychiatric and psychological research and therapeutic work. However, this approach has been critiqued for omitting the societal, environmental and relational dimensions of a child's life that play an influential role during such adversities. One argues in favour of newer approaches like the social constructivist and everyday life sociology to study this phenomenon. These approaches look at children as social actors and active agents in their own rights during situation of armed conflict. Children's agency and their response to adversities cannot be ignored. In order to get a holistic understanding of children in situations of armed conflict, one needs to look beyond the hitherto established frameworks and explore the everyday lives of children.


ABSTRACT While studies on online learning have been extensive, it remains unclear, however, how educators engage themselves in the sudden shift to online/remote learning or distance education because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, there is a lacuna in the literature concerning English language teachers' perceptions of the shift from the classroom to online teaching. To date, in the Philippines, no single study exists, which has examined the same or related focus. Thus, through a survey and focus group discussions among 38 Filipino university teachers of English, this study explores how English language teachers view the problems, advantages and disadvantages, and points for improvement in flexible learning (FL) amidst the pandemic. Findings indicated that most of the problems were minor. However, the most crucial concerns include comprehension of learning content, student engagement, and internet connectivity, which were likewise claimed by the participants as disadvantages of FL. The analysis also revealed two benefits: convenience, and enhancement of teaching and learning. Further, the participants emphasized the following suggestions to improve FL: planning, implementation, and monitoring of school administration; provision of adequate internet and technological resources; and capacity-building and trainings.


In many digital communication applications, the transmitted signals (sources) must be recovered from the signals received at several antennas through radio channels that suffer multipath propagation. This problem can be solved in the frequency domain by using well-known BSS (blind source separation) algorithms for separating different instantaneous mixtures in all frequencies. Unfortunately, frequency-domain approaches suffer from the permutation/amplitude indeterminacies because the frequency domain sources can be extracted in a different order and with different amplitudes in some frequencies. We will show that there exits a statistically dependence between the sources in different frequencies. This dependence allows to solve the permutation/amplitude indeterminacies by adapting the coefficients of a MIMO (multiple input-multi output) system at each frequency bin in order to minimize the MSB (mean square error) between its outputs and the frequency-domain sources recovered at other frequencies. Using this idea, we will propose and compare two architectures for the frequency-domain separating system.


The estimation of the state of dynamic systems using measurements is a frequently arising challenge. State estimation is used in applications like robotics, industrial manufacturing, weather forecasting, target tracking, etc. The hidden state in the dynamic systems can be estimated using the recursive Bayesian filters. These filters estimate the state by tracking the posterior distribution. These filters include two steps, prediction based on solving the equation modeling the state evolution and update of the state using the measurements. Most real-world systems have non-linear dynamic and measurement models. Additionally, both models can be affected by arbitrary noise sources, which have either Gaussian or nonGaussian characteristics. For state estimation in linear Gaussian models, Kalman filters are employed. Extended Kalman filters (EKF) are utilized for state estimation in non-linear Gaussian models. For state estimation in non-linear non-Gaussian models, particle filters are generally employed. Particle filters, however, are ineffective in high-dimensional non-linear non-Gaussian models because they experience weight degeneracy. In this thesis, we propose incorporating the invertible particle flow methods in the Gaussian particle filter (GPF) framework to generate a proposal distribution. These methods are derived under Gaussian assumptions for the flow equation. The resulting particle flow Gaussian particle filter (PFGPF) method preserves the asymptotic characteristics of Gaussian particle filters and has the potential to perform better at state estimation in high-dimensional spaces. Secondly, we construct a particle flow Gaussian sum particle filter (PFGSPF), which roughly approximates the predictive and posterior as Gaussian mixture models, using a bank of PFGPF filters. In complicated estimating issues where a simple Gaussian approximation is insufficient, this approximation is helpful. We compare the performance of the proposed filters with the existing particle flow filters and particle flow particle filters (PFPF) in high dimensional complex numerical simulations.


Based on the test, the one-dimensional road roughness was expanded to two-dimensional. After programmed in the software of MATLAB, three-dimensional virtual road was reconstructed and verified. Both the road unevenness and road shape were included. Using the three-dimensional road data, it is easier to build road model in the software of vehicle dynamics analysis, and this provides a basis for the further vehicle dynamics, such as durability, ride comfort, handling stability, and so on.


A backlight structure comprises a back plate. Luminous bodies are arranged on the back plate, protruding structures are arranged on the back plate, and the luminous bodies are arranged on the protruding structures correspondingly. The protruding structures can be either strip protrusions or multiple concentric ring tables arranged concentrically. The invention further provides a liquid crystal display screen comprising the backlight structure. By the backlight structure, the luminous bodies are fixed on the back plate with a curved surface, so that parameters of light-emitting angle of lamp beads, light source density and the like are changed, light source uniformity is benefited, light blending efficiency is improved, and direct type backlight thickness is reduced.


AIM:To study effect of biological effection on radiation by Andi Injection which consists of mainly \%Venenum Bufonis \%and \%Panax Ginseng\%. METHOD:Human esophageal carcinoma cell line (ECA 109) was treated with culture medium (group C), Andi(group A), radiation(group R) and Andi combined with radiation(group AR) respectively in both air and 99.99% nitrogen. Cells' morphological variation was observed from optic microscopy. The cell double time (T_ D ) and survival rate (SR) were gained from cell survival curve examined by MTT assay. And the survival fraction (SF) of Hyperoxic cell and hypoxic cell was observed respectively from clone counting test.RESULTS:Under optic microscopy, cells with denaturalization, necrosis or apoptosis were observed in group A and R, and these changes were obviously increased in group AR on both amount and degree. The T_ D and SR of hypoxic cells were 46.12, 118.72, 62.81, 171.02 h and 100%, 42%, 86%, 30% in group C, A, R and AR respectively. The T_ D and SR were markedly different ( P 0.05) in both group C vs group A and group R vs group AR. Analysis of variance showed that with oxygen cells only radiation (F=90.19, P =0.0001)was significant influencing factor for SF and there was not synergism between Andi and radiation; With hypoxic cells both Andi (F=29.04, P =0.0007) and radiation (F=37.09, P =0.0003) were significant influencing factors for SF and Andi possessed synergetic effect (F=11.37, P =0.0098)with radiation. Fitting Equation with single-target multi-hit model, the sensitization enhancement ratio (SER) was 1.5 and the relatively sensitive effect (RSE) was 55%. CONCLUSION:Andi is able to inhibit growth of hypoxic ECA 109 cells and bear radiosensitizing effect on hypoxic cells.


Currently, 1.06 billion people still do not have access to electricity, with the majority living in rural areas around the world[...]


Objective
To investigate the effect of high mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB1) on the permeability of human umbilical vein endothelial cells, and the protective effect of unfractionated heparin on HMGB1-mediated, endothelial cell tightly junction-related protein Claudin-5.

Methods
The human umbilical vein endothelial cells after trypsin digestion were subcultured in culture flasks and divided into 4 groups: blank control group (addition of PBS equivalent), rhHMGB1 treatment group (100 ng/mL), unfractionated heparin control group (UFH, 10 U/mL) and rhHMGB1+ unfractionated heparin-treated group (100 ng/mL rhHMGB1 + UFH 10 U/mL). After human umbilical vein endothelial cells were cultured: the viability of endothelial cells was determined by MTT assay; transwell method was used to measure the permeability of endothelial cells; the expression and distribution of Claudin-5 were determined by immunofluorescence; and Claudin-5 protein expression was detected by Western blotting.

Results
After treated with rhHMGB1 (100 ng/mL), the viability of endothelial cells was not significantly different from that of the blank control group (P> 0.05). After treated with rhHMGB1 (100 ng/mL) for 3 and 6 h respectively, the permeability of endothelial cells was not significantly different from that of the blank control group (P> 0.05). After 12 h and 24 h treatment of rhHMGB1, the permeability of endothelial cells was significantly increased compared with the blank control group (P< 0.05). However, after endothelial cells were incubated with unfractionated heparin and rhHMGB1 for 12 and 24 h, the permeability of endothelial cell was lower than that of rhHMGB1 treatment group (P< 0.05). Immunofluorescence and Western-blot showed that after treatment of rhHMGB1 for 24 h, the distribution and expression of claudin-5, a tightly junction-associated protein, was decreased. After incubation with unfractionated heparin and rhHMGB1, the expression of tightly junction-associated protein Claudin-5 was increased, as well as the fluorescence intensity of Claudin-5.

Conclusions
HMGB1 can increase the permeability of endothelial cells by mediating the abnormal distribution and decreased expression of Claudin-5. Unfractionated heparin can improve the expression and distribution of Claudin-5, improving the permeability of endothelial cells.

Key words:
Unfractionated heparin; High mobility group box1; Tight junction; Claudin-5; Permeability of the endothelial


Central chemoreception, the detection of CO2/H within the brain and the resultant effect on ventilation, was initially localized at two areas on the ventrolateral medulla, one rostral (rVLM-Mitchell's) the other caudal (cVLM-Loeschcke's), by surface application of acidic solutions in anesthetized animals. Focal dialysis of a high CO2/H artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) that produced a milder local pH change in


The dynamics between places and innovation ecosystems and the role that cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) can play in regenerating places and in revitalizing innovation ecosystems remain poorly theorized. In this study we use two cases – Humber (UK) and Southwest Finland – to develop a conceptual model that demonstrates the vicious and virtuous dynamics between places and innovation ecosystems. We show that CSPs can act as herding spaces – arenas where actors from different organizations get together to address a common purpose and connect with the institutional context – and alter these vicious and virtuous dynamics. Specifically, our findings shed light on four mechanisms that enable CSPs to act as herding spaces and so to help break away from the vicious (vitalizing role) and reinforce the virtuous (nurturing role) dynamics between places and innovation ecosystems: recognition of place-based challenges, improvement or utilization of place attachment, development of purpose ecosystems, and direct engagement in place regeneration activities.


Considering the significance of social adjustment and quality of life in the deaf and the need for intervention to improve such variables, the objective of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of emotion regulation training on quality of life and social adjustment in the deaf. Firstly, by informing all the deaf who had registered in Mashhad Center of the Deaf, 39 subjects agreed to participate in the study. Then 24 volunteers who had diploma and higher education and were suitable for getting emotion regulation training were selected. These deaf people were randomly divided into control (12) and test groups (12). The test group received emotion training and the control group did not receive any treatment. The questionnaire of quality of life and social adjustment were completed as pre-test and post-test in both the test and control groups. Finally, for analyzing the data, covariance analysis and SPSS 18 software were also used. The present study indicated that emotion regulation training significantly increased the quality of life and social adjustment of the deaf. In other words, the quality of life and social adjustment of the deaf who were in the test group increased significantly compared to the deaf who were in the control group.


Copyright: © 2017 Cemin R, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Integrated Echocardiographic Imaging of Giant Atrial Myxoma Roberto Cemin1*, Renato Di Gaetano1, Giovanni Battista Luciani2 and Andrea Erlicher1 1Department of Cardiology, Bolzano General Hospital, Bolzano, Italy 2Division of Cardiac Surgery, University of Verona, Verona, Italy


Enhancing university teaching has become a focus of higher education reform policies on the Chinese mainland. Facilitating teacher collaboration within teacher communities is perceived to be an effective way of enhancing teaching quality. Using qualitative methods, we conducted in-depth interviews at a sample university (H) which is a regional university operated and financially supported by the regional government. Twenty academics in four separate departments (Management, Information Technology, Education, and Physics) were interviewed. First, we found that University H had arranged joint enterprises, that a standardized repertoire was used, and that detailed controls were exercised over teaching performance. Second, we also found that the rationale of patriarchal governance was hindering the development of a community of practice. Third, young teachers were employing a strategy of passive resistance to the arranged collaboration.


For power quality issues like reducing harmonic pollution, reactive power and load unbalance, the estimation of the fundamental frequency of a power lines in a fast and precise way is essential. This paper introduces a new state-space model to be used with an extended Kalman filter (EKF) for estimating the frequency of distorted power system signals in real-time. The proposed model takes into account all the characteristics of a general three-phase power system and mainly the unbalance. Therefore, the symmetrical components of the power system, i.e., their amplitude and phase angle values, can also be deduced at each iteration from the proposed state-space model. The effectiveness of the method has been evaluated. Results and comparisons of online frequency estimation and symmetrical components identification show the efficiency of the proposed method for disturbed and time-varying signals.


ZrO 2 is a ceramic material suitable for high-temperature coatings, fuel cells as a solid proton-conducting electrolyte, and metal-oxide-semiconductor devices due to its recently explored promising dielectric properties. In this work, anodic nanostructured ZrO 2 -Al 2 O 3 mixed films were synthesized on substrates via anodizing/re-anodizing of a thin Zr layer through a porous anodic alumina (PAA) film at 40/240 V in 0.6 M (COOH) 2 and characterized by scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) including the measurements under various bias potentials. The films are composed of ZrO 2 nanofingers penetrating the alumina pores, partially mixing with Al 2 O 3 . Nanofingers are anchored to a ZrO 2 bottom-oxide nanofilm that forms under the PAA during anodization. The EIS reveals a nearly ideal dielectric behavior of the ZrO 2 -Al 2 O 3 mixed-oxide nanostructured films. After dissolution of the PAA layer, the dielectric properties of the remaining zirconium oxide film become slightly worse, due to the specific structure and deviation from perfect stoichiometry. The ZrO 2 -Al 2 O 3 mixed-oxide nanostructured film permittivity is calculated to be 11, which is higher than that of alumina (9.8) due to the contribution of ZrO 2 nanofingers grown in the alumina nanopores. After the PAA dissolution, the film permittivity increases substantially, up to 46, which is twice the permittivity of ZrO 2 (22) grown anodically on zirconium metal in a classical way. The ZrO 2 -Al 2 O 3 mixed-oxide nanostructured films prepared via the PAA-assisted anodization are of high interest for potential application to various types of capacitors due to their near-ideal dielectric properties. The unique dielectric behavior of the PAA-dissolved ZrO 2 film deserves detailed investigation in a future work. Here we report on the formation of nanostructured ZrO 2 -Al 2 O 3 mixed films via PAA-assisted anodization of Al/Zr bilayers sputter-deposited on Si wafers. The films were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrically characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), followed by the measurements under various bias potentials, before and after selectively dissolving the PAA overlayer. The results obtained provide insights into the electrical and electronic properties of the ZrO 2 -Al 2 O 3 mixed films, assessing their applicability as dielectrics for electrolytic and thin-film capacitors.


Every hurricane season, roughly 50-60 tropical low-pressure disturbances exit the West Africa coast and traverse westward across the Atlantic. Approximately one-fifth of these disturbances become tropical depressions, tropical storms, or hurricanes. One of the most difficult challenges facing tropical forecasters is how to differentiate which tropical disturbances will develop beyond an African Easterly Wave (AEW). Part of the answer to this question lies in the West African Monsoon, a seasonal reversal of wind that provides beneficial rainfall to the Sahel, a region bounded by the Sahara Desert to the north and a rainy belt to the south. This region includes Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Sudan. Most the time, dry winds blow out of the Sahara from the east or northeast. However, from June through September, southwesterly monsoon winds transport moist air from the tropical Atlantic over the Sahel causing heavy rains to fall closer to the southern edge of the region. During the monsoon, the contrast between the hot Saharan air and the cooler air to the south gives rise to the African easterly jet stream (AEJ), which blows from east to west. When this jet forms, disturbances associated with the jet move rapidly into the Atlantic. Approximately half of the major hurricanes that hit the United States have their origin in these disturbances. Commonly known as AEWs, these disturbances form in Africa and are carried into the eastern Atlantic by the AEJ.


The controversy over the statutory policy limits of savings bank life insurance in the State of Connecticut predates even the enactment of the 1941 statute which authorized the establishment of savings bank life insurance in that State. In the legislative committee hearings which preceded the 1941 legislation, four proposals were considered with a range of individual policy amount limitations from $1,000 to $5,000, and the proposal which ultimately became law placed the limit at $3,000. In 1957, the limitation was increased to $5,000. In subsequent sessions, bills have been introduced for further increases. Efforts to increase coverage limits have been strongly contested before the General Assembly by the insurance industry and particularly by the underwriters through their state organization. In the current session of the Connecticut General Assembly, a proposal to increase the limits for individual policies from $5,000 to $15,000 (Senate Bill 472) has once again drawn concentrated criticism from the underwriters. The Joint Banking Committee of the General Assembly held a public hearing on the bill on April 13,


This research addresses a specific issue in the field of operation scheduling. Even though there are lots of researches on the field of planning and scheduling, a specific scheduling problem is introduced here. We focus on the operation scheduling requirements that the Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought currently. From the point of view of open innovation, operation scheduling is known as the one that is using the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and Mobile technology. To build proper operation systems under the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is very essential to devise effective and efficient scheduling methodology to improve product quality, customer delivery, manufacturing flexibility, cost saving, and market competence. A scheduling problem on designated parallel equipments, where some equipments are grouped according to the recipe of lots, is considered. This implies that a lot associated with a specific recipe is preferred to be processed on an equipment among predetermined (designated) ones regardless of parallel ones. A setup operation occurs between different recipes of lots. In order to minimize completion time of the last lot, a scheduling algorithm is proposed. We conducted a simulation study with randomly generated problems, and the proposed algorithm has shown desirable and better performance that can be applied in real-time scheduling.


Taking a through continuous truss composite bridge for example,several problems,including mechanical behavior of floor system,the influence of deck's thickness and longitudinal beam's tension/bending stiffness on load bearing in middle support region,were studied with the finite element method. And the methods were used to reduce the stress of floor system in the region. The results show that in the two panels near the middle support,increasing speed of longitudinal beam's axial force turns slow and less than that of tension stiffness with the growth of tension stiffness. Longitudinal beam's bending moment gets large with the increase of bending stiffness,and transversal beam at middle support bears more load with the increase of longitudinal beam's tension/bending stiffness and deck's thickness. So it is ineffectual to reduce the stress of longitudinal/transversal beam in the middle support region by increasing deck's thickness and longitudinal beam's height. On the contrary,the methods,such as choosing appropriate height of longitudinal beam or adopting four longitudinal beams can reduce the stress of longitudinal/transversal beam in the region. And adding transversal beam within the two panels near the middle support region,the stress can reduce further.


This study aimed to analyze the wrist movements during regular activities performed by ultrasonographers. An electrogoniometry was used to analyze the movements of wrist and forearm of two ultrasonographers, during either the most :frequent exam performed or the one that caused more d.iscomfort. Flexion, extension, ulnar and radial deviation, pronation and supination were the movements registered. Data were analyzed descriptively in terms of amplitudes, repetitiveness and percentage of the time spent in ranges of movement. Results showed that extension, ulnar deviation and pronation were the most prevalent movements. Highly repeti tive movements were recorded. These results corroborate the hypothesis that ultrasonographers' tasks are risky to the musculoskeletal system.


Potential mechanism linking dysregulated in fl ammation and coagulation with thrombosis. SARS-CoV-2 infects respiratory epithelial cells by binding to the angiotensin- converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptor. Shed virus elicits an in fl ammatory response, which can be maladaptive in some cases leading to a cytokine storm mediated by proin fl ammatory cytokines such as interleukin 1 b (IL-1 b ), IL-2, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Proin- fl ammatory cytokines and SARS-CoV-2 infection of the endothelium contribute to hypercoagulability by upregulation of procoagulants such as tissue factor (TF), P-selectin, factor VIII (FVIII), fi brinogen, and von Willebrand factor (vWF); downregulation of anticoagulants such as thrombomodulin (TM) and endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR); and modulation of fi brinolysis by increased expression of type 1 plasminogen activator inhibitor, and leukocyte recruitment. Finally, the hypoxia and immobility in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 are potent triggers of thrombosis. Illustration created with BioRender.com.


Once-famous Ling-shu Temple in northern Guangdong had been sinking into oblivion in modern times.On site investigations,the authors identified the site of the Ling-shu Temple by making great efforts to study.


ABSTRACT The fructan inulin-type oligosaccharides favor the multiplication of some bacterial genera in the intestine, promoting a prebiotic effect. This study evaluated the effect of inulin extracted from yacon roots (Smallanthus sonchifolius) on intestinal colonization of broilers experimentally infected with Salmonella Enteritidis. Sixty-one day old chicks were grouped into three treatments, with two replicates, and reared until 21 days. Birds in the yacon group received 100mg of inulin/day orally for three consecutive days. On the seventh day of life the treated birds and the positive control were challenged orally with a culture of S . Enteritidis . There were no differences between groups in live performance. The infectivity index of the chicks supplemented with yacon was lower until the sixth day after the challenge, but at the end of the experiment it was higher than the positive control. Data from this study show that the use of inulin during the first 3 days of life caused a reduction of intestinal colonization of chickens by


Primarily cultivated for sugar cane juice and brown sugar production only, the sugar cane earned significant contribution to Brazilian economy formation. It was introduced in the country in the fourteenth century, being still cultivated nowadays. Today it gained a highlight position in the agricultural scenario of the country, being cultivated on large scales, mainly for ethanol production in a response to international demands for expansion of the bio fuels. The expansion of the sector in the country, especially in the state of Goias, has contributed to the intensification of social economic problems and environmental consequences as well. Among the environmental problems there is the conflict over water use. The sugar cane culture requires a high water demand for irrigation. On the other side, the water availability for human supply, already suffering the consequences of inappropriate use of water resources (sedimentation, effluent discharges, etc.), has become even more incipient, since irrigation water systems seems to be an advisory type of use, not returning the resource to water reserves. In Goias, the most affected one is River Meia Ponte's watershed, standing 50% of the state's population and 50% of the agroindustrial production. The proposed solution is the management of River Meia Ponte's watershed as a whole, considering its carrying capacity and also some synergism efforts of new business projects alongside with the existing ones.


The classical methods for dyeing of elastica in the light microscopy understand the differentiation of the stain from tissue without accomplishing the selective removing of the stain from the elastic tissue surrounding. By our modification or Verhoeff's method in which the concentration of iron (III) chloride combined with 1% water solution of iodine in potassium-iodide (1:1) is lessened, the successful dyeing of elastica is accomplished. The differentiation of the sedimentous excess of Fe-hematein by iron (III) chloride usually used is successfully replaced by 0,5 % water solution of Bismark Brown Y diazo dye in acetate buffer (2:1). The suggested diazo dye in acid solution shows a great affinity to environment and amli to elastic tissue differentiating indirectly the exessive Fe-hematein from the surrounding of elastic tissues. The time of contrasting is not strictly determined because there is no danger of rinsing the stain out of the elastic tissues and lamellas. The elastica dyed by our modified method shows a greater number of tissues and lamellas, it is more noticeable and its appearance reflects their real width, length and net.


Possible modes of action of the anti‐inflammatory drug, benoxaprofen, have been explored. The drug caused inhibition of leucocyte migration, principally of mononuclear cells into the pleural cavity of rats undergoing carrageenan‐induced pleurisy. Evidence was obtained from in vitro leucocyte migration and chemotaxis models that the drug acted directly on the mononuclear cells rather than by inhibition of chemotactic factors.


ODE solvers consists in the use of parallel computers or distributed systems. Unfortunately, there are only a small number of software packages available for these machines which are dedicated to ODES. Therefore, the design of a new ODE solving environment for stiff or large ODE systems must take into account some facilities for parallel or distributed computation. We describe briefly a prototype of a solving environ- ment for IVPs of the following form: y'(t) = f(t, y(t)), y(to) = ~0, where f : [to, to + T] x


Gallium nitride was epitaxially grown on {0001} and {11̄02} sapphire by the vapor phase reaction of Ga-HCl-NH3-Ar system. The growth rate on {11̄02} sapphire is ∼12 µm/hr, which is higher than that on {0001} sapphire by a factor of ∼1.5. The crystal on {1102} sapphire has a lower carrier concentration than that of the same thickness on {0001} sapphire by a factor of ∼0.5. The lowest carrier concentration and the highest electron mobility of undoped GaN obtained in this study were 1.6×1019 cm-3 and 78 cm2/V·s, respectively, at 300 K. When heavily doped with Mg, the crystal grown changes markedly in growth morphology. The orientation relationships developed in an undoped or lightly Mg-doped state are {0001}GaN//{0001}sapphire and {112̄0}GaN//{11̄02}sapphire, and in a heavily doped state {112̄4}GaN//{0001}sapphire and {112̄0}GaN//{11̄02}sapphire.


On page 1824, C. A. Nijhuis and co-workers report the mechanism of long-range (ca. 12 nm) electron transport in ferritin-based tunnel junctions. The mechanism of charge transport switches between coherent tunneling, sequential tunneling, and hopping by iron content inside the ferritin core. This study helps to improve our understanding electron transport in biological systems. Image credit: Harshini V. Annadata.


The invention discloses a control circuit for a switch power supply. The control circuit comprises an output circuit, a voltage comparison circuit and a control module, wherein the output circuit is used for supplying power to a load; the voltage comparison circuit is connected with the output circuit and used for generating a wake-up signal when the collected output voltage of the output circuit is less than a first reference voltage; and the control module is connected with the voltage comparison circuit and the switch power supply separately and used for controlling the switch power supply to run at a high frequency according to the wake-up signal. According to the control circuit for the switch power supply, the technical problem that the operating frequency of the switch power supply cannot be switched in time caused by a sudden higher load existing in the related technology is solved.


The term Coptic describes both a written and a spoken stage of the Egyptian language. This was the final written stage of the ancient Egyptian language, when the traditional Egyptian writing system, based on predominantly phonographic and logographic signs, was replaced by an alphabetic script. The article delineates the emergence of Coptic in the Roman period, and its subsequent development over several centuries and through various religious contexts, beginning with indigenous Egyptian religion and ending with Christianity and other religions contemporary with it. It also discusses the increasing use of Coptic texts for the study of such general topics as law and social and economic history.


This study aimed at investigating the relationship between Willingness to Communicate and EFL learners' Communication Apprehension, Self-perceived Communicative Competence, Self-regulation, Need for Closure, Tolerance of Ambiguity as well as Aggression. The participants of this study were 300 (197 female and 103 male) Iranian EFL learners of English language institutes in Isfahan. To fulfill the purpose of the study, participants were asked to answer seven questionnaires on Willingness to Communicate (WTC), Communication Apprehension (CA), Self-perceived Communicative Competence (SPCC), Self-regulation (SR), Need for Closure (NFC), Tolerance of Ambiguity (TA) and Aggression (Agg). The results of Structural Equation Modeling confirmed previous studies on the relationship between EFL learners' WTC and SPCC as well as CA asserting that WTC was positively correlated with SPCC and negatively with CA. It was also found that WTC positively correlated with TA. However, the findings revealed no relationship between WTC and SR, NFC and Agg. This study had implications for EFL learners and teachers regarding the factors influencing WTC in language classrooms.


The accuracy of doubly-labeled water measurements of CO/sub 2/ production in lizards of the genus Sceloporus was assessed by comparison of CO/sub 2/ production rates determined simultaneously by labeled water and gas chromatography. Five lizards were weighed and given intraperitoneal injections of 55 ..mu..l of water containing 10 microcuries of tritium as HTO and 50 atom % oxygen-18 as H/sub 2/ /sup 18/O. Initial blood samples were taken from the infraorbital sinus ten hours later, and the lizards were placed in sealed metabolism chambers kept at 28 C. After 179 h the lizards were weighed and blood samples taken. Blood samples were microdistilled, assayed for tritium activity and for oxygen-18 content. Isotope measurements were used to calculate rates of CO/sub 2/ production. Gas samples were withdrawn from each chamber after 18, 63, 109, and 179 h and measured against 0.5 and 1.0% CO/sub 2/ standards with a Beckman GC-55 gas chromatograph fitted with silica gel 42-60 mesh column. These results were used to calculate rates of CO/sub 2/ production. Results supported the conclusion that the doubly-labeled water method accurately measured rates of CO/sub 2/ production in Sceloporus lizards, and could therefore be a valuable technique in field studies of lizardmore » energetics.« less


Estimation of the background is an essential step in automated extraction of faint, extended objects from large-scale, optical surveys in astronomy. In this paper we present an improvement on the background estimation method of a commonly used tool in this field: Source Extractor (SEx-tractor). We show that the original method suffers from bias caused by presence of extended sources, and present an alternative which greatly reduces this effect, leading to much better preservation of faint extended structures.


Abstract The purpose of this article is to identify issues affecting the clinical supervision of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental healthcare workforce, and propose alternative supervision models. Participatory Action Research (PAR) was the primary methodology used to elicit and analyze the reflections of five Aboriginal counselors. The data highlighted a number of inadequacies with current practices that typically lead to high levels of stress and burnout. We recommend the implementation of alternative supervision models including the use of cultural supervisors, and dual supervisors; and accessibility to consultation, supervision, and communities of practice for remote workers through modern technologies.