One of the most important problems of water quality in the world particularly in dams, is thermal stratification and consequently water qualitative problems of dam and its outlet. An important qualitative problem is reduction of oxygen level of the solution resulted from thermal stratification. In this study, CE-QUAL-W2 qualitative model was used to investigate thermal stratification conditions of the reservoir of Seymareh Dam and its qualitative status in Ilam province. In this regard, the used input data included geometric data (bathymetry), boundary conditions, hydraulic and kinetic parameters. Quantitative and qualitative calibration of the reservoir was carried out by entering the input and output data of the reservoir water. The amount of oxygen demand in the bottom of the tank was assessed in qualitative model as Sediment Oxygen Demand (SOD). Results of the first stage (April to November 2011) shows that, at the first stage of dewatering, thermal stratification begin since May and reaches its peak in June and July. In September, by decreasing water temperature, thermal stratification gradient gradually decrease and in the early November, when the reservoir temperature become the same at the depth, the reservoir is disturbed. In continue, in the months December to March, the reservoir reaches completely mixed state. Thermal stratification begins again since April 2012 and lasts until December 2012. With regard to the increase of the reservoir water depth at the second stage of dewatering, thermal stratification period in longer than the first stage; so that, Seymareh reservoir is also faced with thermal stratification in autumn. The results of this study showed that, low water volume and depth at dewatering time of Seymareh dam reservoir is considered as a factor affecting qualitative problem of this dam; since, with regard to the low water depth, anaerobic conditions is transferred to the upper layers of the water. Therefore, by increase of water volume and depth, the occurrence probability of this problem is decreased partly in the upper layers.


The elements of heterodyne laser spectrometer based on the optical comb and frequency stabilized referent lasers is presented. The optical comb is generated by radiation of Ti:Sa femtosecond laser spectrally enlarged by a photonic crystal fibre. Iodine stabilized He-Ne laser is used as reference and external cavity diode laser locked onto the iodine hyperfine transition is used as frequency marker. The application of spectrometer for precise measurement of molecular iodine lines wavelengths in red spectral region is considered.


Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Lane Centering Control (LCC) and Lane Keeping Support (LKS) are three advanced crash avoidance technologies intended to prevent vehicles from inadvertently running off the roadway or out of the lane of travel. All three systems utilize a camera based vision system to monitor the vehicle's forward position with respect to the roadway. Depending on the level of system authority, the technology is intended to warn the driver that they are leaving the travel lane, continuously maintain the lateral position of the vehicle within the lane of travel, or redirect the lateral path of the vehicle to stay in the lane. A real-world analysis of run-out-oflane crashes where at least one of the involved vehicles' occupants sustained fatal injuries was conducted. The study utilized the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS) to better understand why drivers depart the roadway and under what conditions and circumstances the crashes occur to begin to assess the potential effectiveness of these countermeasures. NMVCCS was a nationally representative survey conducted by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 2005-2007. Trained researchers conducted on-scene investigations of nearly 7,000 crashes during the project, focusing on the pre-crash phase. The ability to investigate the selected crashes on-scene, in most cases within minutes, allowed the researchers to make better assessments of the events that led up to the crash. To evaluate the potential effectiveness of a vision system that monitors the position of the vehicle on the roadway, it was important to use a dataset that assessed the environmental and roadway conditions as soon as possible after the crash occurred. For each crash identified, a review of the accompanying investigation was conducted. The intent was to identify any attributes or factors that were consistent among the cases and any environmental or roadway conditions that may impact the performance of a crash avoidance countermeasure, such as poor lane markings, sensor blindness attributable to darkness, or weather conditions. This broad study identified 72 NMVCCS cases where the subject vehicle left the travel lane and resulted in a crash where an occupant in an involved vehicle sustained fatal injuries. Specifically , 43 cases were identified where the subject vehicle drifted out of the lane, resulted in a crash, and was relevant to assessing the realworld applicability of LDW/LCC/LKS crash avoidance technologies. This study found that a robust LKS/LCC should make it more difficult for the driver to drift out of their lane. With sufficient lateral control authority, an LKS/LCC system could have effectively prevented many of the 43 cases reviewed in this study. In other words, unless there were other factors present which prevent the driver from reengaging in the driving task, a robust LKS/LCC would likely have prevented the driver from running out of the lane, which started the chain of events that led to the fatal crashes. LKS/LCC appears to have more potential in crash reduction than LDW since the system does not rely on alert modality effectiveness or the driver tak ing corrective action. Lastly, environmental and roadway conditions at the time of the crash would likely not have compromised the performance of the vision system to detect the roadway boundary at the moment the vehicle left the lane .


This study was carried out to investigate the influences of modified starches on suppression of retrogradation in Korean rice cake for their optimization, Garaeduk. Based upon studying Avrami equation, the Avrami exponent n value of all the experiment samples was found to be 1.03 1.37 in the influence of modified starches on retrogradation of the rice cake. This means that the retrogradation of the Korean rice cake occurred instantly after the crystallization of starch particles in the Korean rice cake formulated by modified starches. The highest Avrami exponent n value was indicated in the control sample. The rate constant k of retrogradation in the Korean rice cake formulated by modified starches showed comparatively low and appeared to be the lowest in the Korean rice cake formulated by SHPP. This tendency was shown well in the time constant(1/k) of retrogradation velocity. According to the DSC analysis, the onset temperature of gelatinization in thermal characteristics showed somewhat high in case of addition of modified starch into the Korean rice cake on storage time and the SHPP was slowly gone up. In peak temperature of gelatinization in thermal characteristics of the DSC analysis, SSOS and ASA were increased a little in comparison with the control. The control was comparatively high increase. Melting enthalphy of all samples added with modified starches (SSOS: 21.123.724.1, ASA: 21.124.825.4) appeared to be lower than that of the Korean rice cake without modified starches(126.96.36.199). The Korean rice cake added with SHPP was shown to be the lowest in the increasing rate of melting enthalpy(20.921.422.1). Heat spreadability of all the samples in Martin melting diameter was revealed to be good in order of control, ASA, SSOS, SHPP and especially the Korean rice cake added with SHPP was shown to be the best in heat spreadability. In color, sensory examination and textural characteristic of the Korean rice cake added with modified starches, the Lvalue was not changed practically with the storage time and seemed to be stable. The a value of the samples was followed by control(2.215.34: 141.6%), ASA (2.014.22: 110.0%), SSOS (2.784.87: 75.2%) and SHPP (2.123.40: 60.4%) in order of color change. Also the b value of the samples was followed by control(4.326.35: 47.0%), ASA (4.665.73: 23.0%), SSOS (4.905.89: 20.2%) and SHPP (4.895.12: 4.7%) and there was the least (or no) color change with the SHPP. Textural characteristics of samples was shown to be the highest in case of modified starch addition and especially SHPP appeared to be the best in texture.


The prolonged conflict in Afghanistan has significantly transformed the nature of economic and political relations in the Afghan society. The massive displacements and other experiences of conflict have caused fragmentation of a large number of communities and ended their traditional isolation. In the process, a large number of people have acquired new occupations, learned new entrepreneurial skills and have become exposed to new influences and situations, particularly at the places of their new settlement or work. Besides, new political elites have emerged with diverse support bases, which may not necessarily be grounded in traditional tribal identities or affiliations. This has, on the one hand, contributed to de-traditionalising of Afghan society and, on the other, to re-composing of traditional social relations; both often happening simultaneously. Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Impact on the Nature of Social and Political Relations among the Pashtun Population CPDI-Pakistan 1


The current method to solve those problems in market economy countries, such as the fund shortage and being difficult of the financing assurance in small and medium-sized enterprises, is to perfect the credit assurance system. This essay is based on Huzhou, Zhejiang, in which small and medium-sized enterprises are very active. It studies the current development of this credit assurance system of small and medium-sized enterprises and puts forward relevant countermeasures and suggestions.


The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze whether there is influence of Job Stress and Leadership Style on Job Satisfaction with mediation motivation. the Regional Secretariat Batang. Engineering test data used in this study include validity, reliability testing, regression analysis, Model Test (Test F and R2) and the mediation test to prove the research hypothesis. Data collected was tested for validity by factor analysis method and tested reliability with coefficient alpha (Cronbach alpha). The data is valid and reliability test results showed the number 0.928 to the variable Job Stress, 0,880 for Leadership Style variable, 0.916 to 0.931 for the variable Motivation and Job Satisfaction variable . The results of the analysis and discussion showed that the negative effect on Occupational Stress Motivation, Leadership Styles positive effect on motivation and motivation is not proven to mediate the effect of Job Stress and Leadership Style on Job Satisfaction. Keywords: Job Stress, Leadership Style, Motivation and Job Satisfaction .


In the study of conjecture on M-theory as a non-linear realization E 11 /K 11 we present arguments for the following: 1)roots of K 11 coincide with the roots of Kac-Moody algebra EE 11 with Dynkin diagram given in the paper, 2)one of the fundamental weights of EE 11 coincides with l 1 weight of E 11 , known to contain 11d supergravity brane charges.


Content adaptation is a way to solve the compatible problem of heterogeneous terminals in the convergence environment.When the limited terminals update the contents,existing adaptation strategies may cause information loss.This paper proposes a two-way content adaptation strategy supporting partial update which constructs a universal store model to store both the metadata and the adaptive result data based on the DOM tree.When the limited terminal updates the content,this strategy partly updates the content by comparing the nodes in the DOM trees.The experiment shows that the strategy proposed reduces the information loss by more than 60%.


A MERICA is confronted squarely with the problem of increasing her productivity per man power without, at least, increasing the cost of production per article. This in addition to any economies that may be effected through national obedience to the slogan "Produce more, save more and waste less." Such increased productivity per man power must come about through more efficient utilization of fuel, water power and machinery. I propose in this article to deal specifically with conservation of the two great articles of fuel-coal and petroleumand more particularly with coal, for scientists agree that the days of petroleum as a commercial factor are numbered. From The Energy Resources of the United States: A Field for Reconstruction, by Chester G. Gilbert and Joseph E. Pogue, volume 1, bulletin 102, of the Smithsonian Institution (United States National Museum), I quote as follows:


The free energy of mixing in the Ti(O,C) shows negative deviation from ideality. A recent paper in Journal of Materials Chemistry A erroneously shows a large positive deviation from ideality.


Traditional Mongolian Medicine has its own recognition about Diabetes. This article base on the basic theory of Mongolian Medicine introduced the therapeatical methods as well as experience of Treating Diabetes.


On the basis of the concept of business model innovation perceived by scholars with different disciplines,this paper makes a comparison among the concepts of business model innovation from the perspective of different disciplines and employs the method of formal logic concept definition to define the concept of business model innovation from the perspectives of the process and behavioral characteristics of business model innovation.Then it states the characteristics of business model innovation.At last,it conducts a brief outlook for future business model innovation research.


A fluorogenic perylenediimide-functionalized polyacrylate capable of generating color and fluorescence changes in the presence of triacetone triperoxide TATP), an improvised explosive used in terrorist attacks, under solvent-free, solid-state conditions has been developed. The material works by accumulating volatile TATP until it reaches a threshold; therefore, triggering colorimetric and fluorescent responses.


Dfects and deterioration structural problems thermal problems moisture problems noise problems wood problems masonry problems concrete problems coating problems foundation problems wall problems window problems roof problems floor problems combustion problems plumbing problems external problems health and safety problems.


Heritage and tourism projects converge on the idea of generating alternatives or opportunities for local community development where interdisciplinary planning and project management is necessary according to the needs of the population. The participation of the population as an active part of the process is fundamental.This article considers different types of heritage projects, according to the degree of response to economic, political, social and cultural interests, as well as evaluating the complementary tourist activities. It concludes with a methodological and ethical proposal for social commitment aimed at professionals and those responsible for cultural policies and management.


The paper makes a comparative study on two world famous food and drink chain businesses:the McDonald's and Starbucks.They share the similar brand and cocalization strategies while culturally differentiated from each other as one is "quick",the other is "slow".This comparason can offer some references fro the native enterprises in the food and drink industry as well as tertiary industry.


Polarity changes in converted-wave images constructed by elastic reverse-time migration causes destructive interference after stacking over the experiments of a seismic survey. We derive a simple imaging condition for converted waves imaging designed to correct the image polarity and reveal the conversion strength from one wave mode to another. Our imaging condition exploits pure Pand S-modes obtained by Helmholtz decomposition. Instead of correlating components of the vector S-mode with the scalar P-mode, we exploit the entire S wavefield at once to produce a unique image. We generate PS and SP image using geometrical relationships between the propagation directions for the P and S wavefields, the reflector orientation, and the S-mode polarization direction. Compared to alternative methods for correcting PS and SP images polarity reversal, our imaging condition is simple and robust and does not add significantly to the cost of elastic reverse-time migration.


Man is born free but everywhere he is in nuclear chains. Every man, every woman and every child in the world is targeted and hostaged. In this nuclear age, all live by chance alone. In fact, ever since the detonation of the first atomic bomb on 16 July 1945, at the Trinity test site near Almogordo, New Mexico, and particularly since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1 945, the humankind is condemned "to live with the prospect of its extinction as a species".1 Commenting on the lethality of the nuclear weapons, Arnold Toynbee once observed that "now we have something that could really extinguish life on our planet", and added: "Mankind has not found itself in a similar situation since the end of the Palaeolithic age .... In fact, the threat to mankind's survival has been much greater since 1945 than it was during the first million years of history".2 What is tragically paradoxical is the fact that these insecuritygenerating weapons were created in the name of security. Further, as Jonathan Schell remarks, these "bombs were built as 'weapons of war', but their significance greatly transcends war and all its causes and outcomes".


As one of the typical examples of Swarm Intelligence Algorithm, POS has been applied successfully in many fields. But it cannot guarantee a globally optimal solution. To improve that, researchers use related theories in quantum mechanics combined with the basic convergence of particle swarm and put forward a new model of PSO as Quantum-behaved PSO. The new algorithm is convenient for appliance and good at finding the globally optimal solution. It has been proved of good performance to solve optimizing problems through engineering application instances. The paper analyzes deeply the QPSO and thoroughly discusses the engineering application of QPSO and its improvement. It also has the prospect of the development tendency and extended applications of QPSO.


s: The objectives of this study are: to examine the extent of the satisfaction of the clients of National Health insurance Scheme in Usmanu Danfidiyo University Sokoto and to determine the factors that influence the client's satisfaction of the scheme. The study was a cross sectional survey. It uses questionnaire to generate required information from a sample of 535 respondents all drawn from the university's faculties. Chi Square and logit regression model were used to analyse the data generated therefrom. The study revealed low rate of satisfaction with the scheme among respondents. It also indicates that general knowledge of the scheme; educational level, knowledge of financial contribution, marital style and occupational level of the clients have positive and significant influence on client's satisfaction. It recommends that every provider should strive to provide the best of services to their clients with the view of having to meet their expectations and satisfaction. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 26-10-2017 Date of acceptance: 16-11-2017 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


In our study we present a microstructural investiga tion of fibrils from technical polyacrylonitrile fibers, obtained by fibril separation treatment in an ultrasonic bath. After coating the separated fib rils with platinum, the samples are analyzed by field em ission scanning electron microscopy to verify the successful separation and to evaluate the fibril di ameters. We find two different morphologies of the separated fibrils coexisting in the same fiber, cha racterized by two different average diameters. Atom ic force microscopy and transmission electron microsco py measurements of the PAN fibrils confirm the existence of the two types of fibrils and provide s tructural details. Fibrils with lower diameter show a smooth surface and a homogeneous bulk structure. In contrast, fibrils with larger diameter show a pronounced nanoscale lamellar structure, with the l ame lae oriented perpendicular to the fibril axis.


The junction temperature is vital for the reliability evaluation and health management in silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET applications. This article proposes a novel method to estimate the junction temperature under actual operating conditions, using the drain voltage falling edge time ( ${t_{f,\text {edge}}}$ ) as temperature-sensitive electrical parameters (TSEPs). Experimental results show that the proposed circuit can estimate the junction temperature with good linearity, high-temperature sensitivity, and load current independence. Furthermore, the proposed method is verified with the aged SiC MOSFET after the power cycling test. It shows a tiny impact of the bond wire degradation on the junction temperature estimation accuracy.


This paper presents a new approach to select a suitable wind turbine (WT) for a wind farm (WF) site. In this approach, economy, reliability, resilience, and environmental aspects have been taken into account, as all the four aspects have a great deal of impact on the selection of a WT for a given site. Six commercially available WTs have been considered for this study. The energy output from a WF is significantly affected by wake, hence, in the proposed approach, placement of WTs in a WF is optimized using particle swarm optimization to reduce wake effect while increasing the energy production. A new algorithm has been proposed to find the reliability indices of the WF considering forced outage of WTs. In this context, two important reliability indices, such as expected energy not supplied and availability have been adopted to study the reliable viability of the optimized WF with all the six types of WTs. Power system resilience study has been gaining great deal of importance in recent times, but individual WF resilience study has not been addressed till now. This paper incorporates resilience as one of the criteria to select a suitable WT for any site. A new approach has been described in this regard to quantify the WF operational resilience by proposing an ideal resilience pentagon. The impact of all the six WTs on environment in terms of reduction of greenhouse gas emission has also been considered. Two different shaped WFs (same area) with same wind profile have been considered to study the proposed approach. A priority table has been formulated according to the ranking of WTs for different indices. The results show that the choice of WTs for WFs of different geometrical shape, however, with the same wind profile and the area may be different and largely depend on the choice of decision maker.


SLAC is committed to developing an X-band source capable of producing 100 Megawatt, 1 microsecond pulses to power the next linear collider. The first experience encountered at SLAC in the X-Band Regime above a few Megawatts was in the relativistic klystron program in cooperation with LLNL and LBL. About 280 MW had been transmitted through a variety of waveguide components but at very short pulse widths ({approximately}40 nanseconds) and very low pulse repetition rates. The likelihood of high peak power rf breakdown in most X-band components and especially rf windows increases as the rf pulse length becomes longer. Testing components at peak power levels above that at which they are expected to reliably perform is essential in a development program.


Since the adoption of the Vaccine Management Law of the People's Republic of China in 2019, China has basically established a compensation system for abnormal vaccine reactions, which is mainly based on national compensation and supplemented by other compensation modes. How-ever, the existing compensation system in China is actually constructed by the single mode of "state compensation" because there are only some normative documents of initiative in the "other compensation mode". The vaccine compensation mode in Taiwan is the fund compensation mode. Based on the introduction of the compensation system in Taiwan, this paper tries to improve the system of compensation transformation extension, in order to improve the new vaccine coverage, eliminate inoculated the trouble back at home of the masses, realize "dynamic reset" epidemic prevention in our country and make the control policy more effective. To be specific: firstly, in re-sponse to a new round of nationwide infections caused by the Omicron strain, the system reform of "leniency and speed" should be carried out for the compensation and recognition of abnormal reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine. Secondly, we should critically absorb the experience from Taiwan, adjust and perfect the identification standard and time, identification institution and compensation fund source of an abnormal reaction.


This study aims at exploring forms of mediation occurring when social mediators (SM) offer assistance to migrants and help them access social, legal and healthcare services. One recurrent activity in this context is the understanding/explanation of procedures (for carrying out an administrative procedure, obtaining civil or legal rights, etc.). This type of activities may encompass several forms of mediation. First, the delivery of information regarding the type of documents or procedures required accessing a required official service. Second, the reading and oral reformulation of written documents the migrants hold. Third, the oral translation of talk, provided by a lay interpreter when participants do not speak a common language. Participants are thus called to construct an understanding of the required service, and of the procedure needed. These are built by putting together the information offered by the layperson, the information found in the documents, and the SM and interpreter's own knowledge and experience in dealing with a procedure or issue. The analysis will specifically focus on the organization of participation and on the use of the users' documents, which become the object of a close inquiry. It will show in detail that the understanding of the documents' content and of the procedure, and their explanation to the user is not a one-way process but rather a complex and multidirectional enterprise. In this sense, the interpreter's activity is oriented to co-occurring activities. We use conversation analysis and multimodal interaction analysis as methodological framework to analyse our data, drawn from a corpus of video-recorded encounters at a French social center.


The Red Planet's surface has been visited by eight NASA spacecraft. The ninth will be the first that includes gathering Mars samples for future return to Earth.


Pterygium is an ocular surface disorder associated with fibrovascular growth and elastotic degeneration of the collagen in conjunctiva and cornea. It has high incidence in tropical countries like India especially in males because of abundance of UV light exposure. It does not hamper vision until in later stages when visual axis is involved. But the burden of disease has increased due to recurrence rates post surgery which is considered to be mainstay of pterygium treatments. Recently there have been advances regarding understanding of pathophysiology and management of pterygium. This article aims to review the recent developments in pathophysiology including genetics, various treatment modalities available beside surgery e.g. adjunctive therapies and management of recurrence pterygium.


The Pulled-Macro-Dataflow Model: An Execution Model for Multicore Shared-Memory Computers Daniel J. Richins Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, BYU Master of Science The macro-dataflow model of execution has been used in scheduling heuristics for directed acyclic graphs. Since this model was developed for the scheduling of parallel applications on distributed computing systems, it is inadequate when applied to the multicore shared-memory computers prevalent in the market today. The pulled-macro-dataflow model is put forth as an alternative to the macro-dataflow model, having been designed specifically to accurately describe the memory bandwidth limitations and request-driven nature of communications characteristic of today's machines. The performance of the common scheduling heuristics DSC and CASS-II are evaluated under the pulled-macrodataflow model and it is shown that their poor performance motivates the development of a new scheduling heuristic. The Concurrent Tournament Reducer (ConTouR) is developed as a scheduling heuristic which operates well with the pulled-macro-dataflow model. ConTouR is compared to the existing heuristics Load Balancing and Communication Minimization in scheduling two programs. For both programs, the other reducers are shown to outperform ConTouR.


The computer software package CDS/ISIS is suitable for the storage and retrieval of structured, text‐oriented information, such as bibliographic descriptions. Versions exist for various hardware including IBM microcomputers and compatibles. The software is very attractive, mainly because it is powerful and because the producer, Unesco, normally fulfils requests to use it for free. Micro CDS/ISIS is reviewed in this paper which includes recent experience with Version 2.3.


A direct numerical simulation is applied to investigate three-dimensional unsteady flow characteristics around a finite wall-mounted square cylinder with an aspect ratio of 7 at a Reynolds number (Re) of 40-250. Determination of Re for the onset of vortex shedding and Re influence on the wake structure and integral parameters are the major objectives of the current research. The results show that the vortex shedding inception occurs within the range of 75 200.


One aspect that cannot be separated in research efforts is the determination of the methodology used during research, this is very important because it is related to measuring instruments, data collection tools, to data analysis used in a study. One of the many research methods that has developed over time is classroom action research. This article seeks to explore in-depth matters related to classroom action research or PTK. The research design used in the study of this article is to use a qualitative approach with a literature study method of literature relevant to the topic of study then descriptive data analysis. The results of the study reveal that classroom action research is a practical effort from teachers, practitioners, and other researchers to improve, improve quality, and evaluate learning in the classroom. The principles of PTK are carried out in a natural environment, self-awareness for performance improvement, the use of SWOT analysis can be done as a basis for action, and following the SMART principle in planning. The steps of PTK include the planning stage (including problem identification, problem cause analysis, problem formulation, and solution), implementation stage, observation stage, and reflection stage.


A proposal to raise the profile of a National Staff Student partnership project as well as share knowledge and good practice of the positive impact staff/students partnership can have on the Further Education and Training sector workforce development.


Based on an independent-particle-approximation (i.e. the multiplescattering self-consistent-field theory), we studied the electronic structures of Rydberg states of the small diatomic molecules H2, He2 and the He2+ molecular ion. The principal quantum number of the first state of the Rydberg series is determined from a convention of the limit of the molecular electronic configuration. The dynamics of the excited molecules and molecular ion has been elucidated. Our theoretical results are in fair agreement with the existing experimental measurements, thus they can serve as a reliable basis for future refined treatment such as the configuration interaction calculation.


Penicillin acylases (E.C. 22.214.171.124) are pharmaceutically important enzymes that cleave the acyl side chains of beta-lactam antibiotics. They are widely used in the industrial production of the intermediate 6-amino penicillanic acid (6-APA), which can then be converted to a range of semi-synthetic antibiotics. Penicillin acylases are classified based on their substrate preference for benzyl penicillin (Pen G; PGA) or phenoxymethyl penicillin (Pen V; PVA).
Penicillin acylases are members of the protein superfamily of (Ntn) hydrolases, which contain an N-terminal nucleophile residue critical for catalysis housed in a common abba structural fold. PGAs and PVAs share critical catalytic residues, although they exhibit low sequence homology and different subunit constitutions. PGAs are heterodimers with serine as the N-terminal catalytic nucleophile, while PVAs are homotetramers with cysteine as the nucleophile. PVAs are also evolutionarily related to and occasionally show substrate cross-reactivity with BSH, which are involved in the deconjugation of bile salts in gut microbiota. The biophysical and structural analysis of choloylglycine hydrolases has so far been restricted to a few species of Gram-positive bacteria. It is imperative to study such enzymes from Gram-negative bacteria, which might show unique biochemical and structural characteristics. Further, the PGA enzyme from E. coli is the mostly preferred for industrial use for 6-APA production, though some reports have mentioned the advantages of a pen V–PVA system like stability at low pH and better conversion at higher substrate concentrations. In this regard, there is an unmet need for the development of highly active PVA preparations for industrial applications.
Although they enjoy immense industrial importance, the in vivo role of penicillin acylases is not known to date. Some hypotheses have been made regarding their possible role in scavenging for alternative carbon sources, while other reports indicate the possible involvement of penicillin acylases and homologous enzymes in bacterial cell signalling and pathogenesis networks. Exploration of activity of these enzymes on related natural substrates could enhance our understanding of the importance of enzymes in microbial physiology.
The work described in the thesis lays emphasis on the structural and biochemical characterization of penicillin V acylases from Gram-negative bacteria. The characteristics of PVAs from two plant pathogens, Pectobacterium atrosepticum and Agrobacterium tumefaciens, have been detailed. The unique structural characteristics, substrate specificity and highly active nature of the PVAs from Gram-negative bacteria hold great potential for future studies as well as industrial applications.
The thesis is organized into six chapters:

The first chapter serves as a general introduction to the thesis and it gives a brief review on literature on penicillin acylases and penicillin acylase producing microorganisms. Characteristics of penicillin V acylases produced by various microorganisms and their application in industries are described. The chapter also deals with the Ntn hydrolase super family members, their structural similarities, catalysis behaviour and mechanism. Evolutionary relatedness of penicillin acylases with enzymes involved in other metabolic pathways is discussed in an effort to understand their probable roles in microbial physiology.

The second chapter deals with the cloning of penicillin V acylase genes from the Gram-negative plant pathogen P. atrosepticum (PaPVA). Expression of the enzyme in E. coli, purification and biochemical characterization has been discussed. The activity and stability of the enzyme under different conditions of pH, temperature, guanidine hydrochloride and organic solvents are elaborated. PaPVA was identified as a highly active enzyme that exhibits unique kinetic behaviour, with cooperative nature and substrate inhibition.

The third chapter deals with the crystallization of PaPVA enzyme and elucidation of its structural characteristics. The methodology used for crystallization and X-ray diffraction, and refinement of the structural parameters has been discussed. The structure of PaPVA was compared with different penicillin acylases, bile salt hydrolases and other Ntn hydrolase enzymes to study the differences in oligomeric interactions and active site organization.

Using the structural information for PaPVA enzyme elucidated in Chapter 3, efforts were made to understand the unique biochemical characteristics of the enzyme. The fourth chapter deals with the study of substrate binding to the PaPVA enzyme through different computational techniques and site-directed mutagenesis. The binding modes of Pen V and bile salt glycodeoxy cholic acid (GDCA) to the enzyme active site were studied by ligand docking analysis. The importance of two tryptophan residues for enhanced PVA activity has been established through mutation of active site residues. Molecular dynamics simulation of substrate binding to the native and mutant forms of the enzyme was explored to study the aromatic stacking and other interactions involved that contribute to favourable Pen V binding.

The fifth chapter describes the cloning and characterization of penicillin V acylase from another Gram-negative pathogen A. tumefaciens (AtPVA), which exhibits sequence homology with PaPVA. The biochemical and structural characteristics of AtPVA and PaPVA have been compared. The ability of PVAs to hydrolyze long chain acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) involved in bacterial quorum sensing, and its significance in microbial physiology has also been explored.

The sixth chapter deals with the development of PVA enzyme preparations for probable industrial applications. Recombinant E. coli cells producing PaPVA were permeabilized using detergents to improve cell-bound activity, and were encapsulated in calcium alginate beads. Optimization of process parameters was carried out to ensure maximum conversion of pen V to 6-APA and enhance the stability and recyclability of the immobilized system. A brief summary of the thesis work and scope for possible further research in these areas is presented at the end of the thesis.


To investigate the treatment of hebetic menoxenia by Chinese medicine,62 cases were differentially randomized into kidney-asthenia and interior-heat syndrome and spleen-kidney Qi-deficiency syndrome, and then treated by modified"Yougui Yin"for 3 months.During treatment,the basic temperature was measured and B-ultrasonic examination was performed.Results showed cure in 37 cases,improvement in 18 cases and failure in 7 cases,and the total effective rate was 88 7%.


Coronavirus is spreading globally and to measure the final size of COVID-19 it requires accurate forecasting of spread based on confirmed cases. The objective approach of this paper is to forecast the number of cases in the coming days in Pakistan. The paper used the logistic model for the estimation of final size, peak time, and doubling days of coronavirus. The estimated number of cases, peak time and doubling days are 51408, 8th May 2020, and 8.3 days respectively. The paper describes a timeline for planning and decision making for the confirmed cases of COVID-19.


The condition of postpartum perineal wounds is always moist by lokea, and its cause bacteria to thrive so that infection is prone. Currently antiseptic on perineal wounds using 10% povidone iodine has an allergic effect, so it is necessary to do research on herbal alternatives for perineal wound, one of them is with Miana leaf extract. This study aims to prove the effectiveness of 80% Miana leaf extract on perineal rupture wound healing compared with 10% povidone iodine in wound healing process and decrease in the amount of coccus bacteria. This study was anquasi experimental with pre test and post test group design.The results showed 80% miana leaf extract proved effective in wound healing process based on REEDA scale indicators and decrease the amount of bacteria compare to povidone iodine 10%.


A method to reduce the dead time of multichannel analyzers which uses multiple sample-and-hold circuits in the input circuitry of the analyzer's analog-digital converter is proposed. Due to the exponential distribution of time intervals between successive pulses, the dead time is greatly reduced with even a small number of sample-and-hold circuits. The effects of the method are analyzed and discussed by means of Monte Carlo simulations.


PURPOSE: Laser-tissue welding is an important tool that can simultaneously coagulate and cauterize to achieve tight wound closure. This method is superior to standard suture based wound edge approximation, with its fast wound closure and no risk of foreign body reaction profile. There is no laserbased method to successfully create potent closure without significant thermal injury. We aim to investigate different laser modes to achieve better closure with minimal injury.


Parents are the first educators in the family environment, because the family environment is a place to lay the foundation for the child's personality and character. Anti-corruption education from an early age instilled by parents. The purpose of this study was to analyze the level of understanding of parents about anti-corruption education. This type of research is quantitative through interviews with descriptive statistical analysis methods. The results of the study on the parental behavior category, there was a ratio of anti-corruption education behavior in the bad category, namely only 1 parent out of 100 parents of students who studied and in the moderate category there were only 2 parents of students. The results of the analysis of teacher behavior contained in the ratio of anti-corruption education behavior showed that none was in the bad category of anti-corruption education and there were 2 teachers who were in the sufficient category. The books used were books for grade 1 to grade 6 with various themes in accordance with the 2013 curriculum. Only 2 categories of elementary books were obtained, namely insufficient and sufficient


The macroeconomic determinants of growth in island countries of the South Pacific region is examined using cross-country data for the 1980-92 period. Capital, labour, inflation, money and exports are found to be significant positive contributors to economic growth while budget deficit is found to exert a significant negative effect on economic growth.


Private equity funds enjoy a number of advantages: they avoid the informational requirements (and liabilities) that antifraud laws place on other funds, limited partners are less able to liquidate their shares, and the general partner has more autonomy. The benefit of these features is that they prevent the unwinding of optimal risk allocation between general and limited partners. This article argues that any new financial regulation should not disrupt this risk allocation but should instead expand investors' opportunity to allocate risk, which would reduce the agency cost (and high fund manager compensation) that private equity funds now experience.


In order to explore the psychological stress among the college staffs in Sichuan province,through a clustered random sampling method,682 teachers from 7 universities were investigated by a questionnaire.The investigation results are as follows.First,1.75.9% college staffs have felt severe psychological pressure,63.7% college staffs feel the psychological stress have already influenced their daily lives,and only 35.3% college staffs feel their pressure coping styles are useful.Second,working problems contribute to the main psychological stressors on college staffs.The psychological stressors influence more on medium qualification group and groups with special difficulties such as divorce or remarry.Third,some college staffs hold incorrect pressure cognitive and the majority college staffs' stress coping styles are still not perfect.Universities can ease the college staffs' psychological stress by improving the corresponding policies,popularizing psychological stress knowledge,and constructing organizational cultures.


George N. Papanicolaou (1883–1962) The Pap Test

George Nicholas Papanicolaou was born in the seaport town of Kymi, on the eastern slopes of the Greek island of Euboea, on May 13, 1883. George was the third of four children to Maria and Nicholas Papanicolaou.

In 1898, he entered the University of Athens and pursued the study of medicine to please his father, a physician and a politician as well. Dr. Nicholas Papanicolaou was a general practitioner, one-time Greek senator, and mayor of Kymi. George graduated from medical school in 1904.

On October 3, 1904, Dr. George Papanicolaou was called to military service in the third regiment of infantry. In January 1906, he was promoted to assistant surgeon and remained in the military until his obligation was over on August 15, 1906. After his military service, Dr. Papanicolaou returned to Kymi and reluctantly practiced medicine with his father. He was not interested in medicine, but yearned for a career of scientific research.

In the spring of 1907, Dr. Papanicolaou left for Jena, Germany, to begin his postgraduate studies under Professor Ernst Haeckel, one of Europe's greatest early proponents of Darwinism. However, after one semester, he moved to Freiburg under the tutelage of August Weismann, a brilliant early geneticist. Again, after one semester of further disappointing mental stimulation, he moved to Munich to work at the Zoological Institute. This was considered to be the greatest zoological research center in the world at the time. Dr. Papanicolaou earned his PhD in Zoology in 1910.

While returning home from Athens, he unexpectedly traveled in the company of the Mavroyeni family who spent their summer vacations in Kymi. During this trip, he was reacquainted with their daughter, Mary. They soon married on September 25, 1910.

Dr. Papanicolaou was employed briefly at the Museum of Monaco …


A recent report by the U. S. Conference of Mayors noted that "Homelessness is the greatest single problem facing poor children in New York City" (Daily News, Oct. 28, 1988). As more about the report was made public, it became evident that the poor face problems other than homelessness. These involve problems with child care, drugs, school dropout, jobs, and teenage pregnancy. But these same problems are experienced by many people with shelter, and this makes homelessness only one part of a much larger social problem. This essay will focus on the "almost homeless," low-income and working class neighborhoods of New York City. People living in such neighborhoods are related to the homeless in several ways. Some of the residents of such areas stand the risk of becoming homeless themselves, and the residents of these areas often object strongly to any proposed housing project that would benefit the homeless. Any solution to the problem of homelessness must confront and improve the living conditions in these ma...


This thesis investigates sensory processing in autism spectrum conditions (ASC), specifically focusing on low-level visual perception. Previous literature indicates that sensory problems are prevalent in ASC, and affect individuals across a range of modalities and in a variety of ways.

Study one of this thesis examines a low-level visual process, orientation discrimination, in neurotypical individuals (n=94) and demonstrates that orientation discrimination thresholds are lower (enhanced) in those with higher levels of autistic traits compared to those with lower levels of autistic traits. Study two (n=96) confirms that enhanced orientation discrimination is also present in individuals with an autism spectrum diagnosis, as individuals with an ASC show significantly lower orientation discrimination thresholds than matched control participants.

As orientation discrimination is closely linked to neural inhibition, the possibility that disruption in the balance of neural excitation and inhibition (E/I) may be present in those with enhanced orientation discrimination was investigated in studies three and four. Peak gamma frequency, a metric said to capture the balance of neural E/I, was measured in both individuals with higher levels of autistic traits and those with a clinical ASC diagnosis. The results of study three (n=33) and study four (n=80) show that visually-induced peak gamma frequency is higher in individuals with higher levels of autistic traits, and those with an ASC diagnosis.

This thesis employs both a psychophysical measure and a neural measure which tap into neural inhibition. In the context of previous literature (e.g. Muthukumaswaramy et al., 2009) the results of the research presented in this thesis suggests, in direct contrast to the increased excitation model of ASC (Rubenstein & Merzenich, 2003), that neural inhibition levels may actually be increased in at least some individuals with ASC.


Objective To explore the status quo of learning motivation of students from level-B undergraduate universities.Method From seven undergraduate universities in southwestern China,2 500 college students were chosen randomly to be investigated with the learning motivation scale of the study process questionnaire(SPQ) designed by english psychologist biggs.Results Scores of learning motivation in college students were 2.41 on average;scores of surface motivation,deep motivation and achievement motivation suggested statistically significant differences(P0.01);scores of gender and grade had no statistically significant differences,but female students had a higher score in deep motivation than male students;differences in scores of achievement motivation of every grade were statistically significant(P0.05 or P0.01);differences in scores of different disciplines were statistically significant(P0.05).Conclusion Learning motivation of college students is not strong enough,and different dimensions and disciplines have differences.Universities should enhance guidance and education on learning motivation so as to strengthen learning motivation of students.


Curiosity for The Fianc e Letters was piqued decades ago by Ernest Jones in his biography of Freud and by Freud's son, Ernst. The first volume of the complete set of five (1882–1886) has just now been published in German. It was presented at the opening of the 47th International Psychoanalytic Association Congress in Mexico City, in honour of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the IPA, by one of the editors: psychoanalyst and Freud researcher, Ilse Grubrich-Simitis. It is her view that The Fianc e Letters describe the progress of a man who initially presented himself in the role of a radical paternal authority, but who then learned that his fianc e would accept this stance only on the condition that he accepted her as his peer. This hypothesis may provide some understanding of why Martha, even as his beloved, repeatedly referred to him by his doctor title, as if in jest. In actuality, this was not an act of submission! By addressing him in this manner, she was meeting the autonomy afforded him by his high academic standing with the equality of her own femininity. By doing so, she was unaware that she was also setting forth a basic tenet of later psychoanalysis. It was precisely in this way that psychoanalysis differentiated itself from the other treatment methods of the day. This principle of equality which Martha Bernays implicitly introduced quite simply conveyed the understanding that an authentic human relationship can only come into being if the more powerful figure forgoes some of the use of his power. Sigmund Freud developed this principle further by explicitly introducing the rule of abstinence: every encounter is set up from the start for him to remain himself. Even in the process of analysis when everything imaginable might develop in his internal life, for example, demands, compulsions, even maturity. One can observe the various psychic states in the quotes that preface each volume. There is something monistic, single-minded in Freud's demand: ''Be mine, as I imagine you''; perhaps a triangulated aspect in Freud's declaration: ''To have you just as you are'' (p. 37). As he gradually let this necessary duality deepen within him, Freud was, ''after struggle and agitation'' (p. 37) in a position to accept Martha Bernays's autonomy. Excited by an endearing letter from her, he wrote back on 4 July 1883: ''I am happy that you can write like this after I offended you so ... I was very worried, anticipating your reply'' (p. 496). He now entered the 'depressive position', later discovered and coined as a psychoanalytic term by Melanie Klein. Martha Bernays claimed her equality a year earlier on 12 July 1882 with the words: ''I assure you of my full, exclusive, intimate love, but also wish that you not disturb my affectionate, friendly sentiments for my old friend'' (p. 183). Even in this early interaction, it was always Martha who came to the rescue of the situation without, however, relinquishing her own autonomy.


AbstractThis paper describes user interface tools for the management of complex info-seeking tasks in the legal and medical domains. We provide evidence that search histories can support the planning, management, and execution of complex knowledge-intensive tasks of information seekers. In prior research (Komlodi, 2002; 2004), both user reports and researcher observations revealed that searchers need this type of historical information in managing complex, knowledge-intensive information-seeking tasks, but find it hard to remember all historical information that is necessary. To complement their memory, information seekers often create external search history representations. We carried out an evaluation of the utility of two search history tools in planning, managing, and executing complex information retrieval (IR) tasks. In this paper we present evidence that search history tools are useful for search task management. We further present certain differences between usefulness and usability of the two tools that help us identify features that are important for task management.


Multimedia data has be en playing an important role in comprehending meaningful information to make it more entertaining and interactive. Most of the video contents may contain sarcastic, ironic or metaphorical conversation. To detect the presence of sarcastic words, words in subtitles of the video are being used to infer the information that is being conveyed. However, downloading subtitles of any video containing sarcasm and the η understanding it becomes a monotonous process. Many times, words in subtitles may not be sarcastic but are spoken sarcastically by changing the tone, pitch etc which is difficult to access by linguistic analysis alone. In this paper, we resolve the this issue of deleting sarcastic speech using a combination of audio mining technique and spectral features. The proposed work has two distinct modules. The first one is Audio Extraction which converts an input audio file of any format to .wav format, followed by second module Sarcastic Speech Recognition of the extracted .wav file using pitch as a major parameter. Our proposed approach has reported accuracy of 70%.


The invention discloses a vehicle-mounted intelligent parking guidance system which consists of a vehicle-mounted navigation unit and several wireless devices for transmitting the information of parking lots, wherein first wireless communication modules transmit the coordinates of the parking lots and the numbers of vacant parking spaces through 2.4G common communication channels, a GPS (Global Positioning System) module obtains the coordinate of the vehicle and then transmits the coordinate to a second microprocessor, a second wireless communication module receives the coordinates of the parking lots and the numbers of the vacant parking spaces transmitted by the first wireless communication modules, the second microprocessor compares the coordinate of the vehicle with the coordinates ofthe parking lots to calculate the distance from the vehicle to each of the parking lots, and the second microprocessor optimizes the distance to each parking lot and the vacant parking spaces, and predicts and dynamically optimizes the relative bearing of the parking lot. The vehicle-mounted intelligent parking guidance system is capable of conveniently, rapidly and flexibly guiding a driver to search a parking lot so as to conveniently and rapidly park the vehicle in an unfamiliar road network.


When sunlight illuminates a body, a tiny pressure is exerted upon its surface due to the photons impacting on it. Such a principle forms the basis of solar sailing, in which the solar radiation pressure is used to accelerate highly reflective lightweight structures called solar sails. Similarly, a laser-enhanced solar sail is a solar sail in which also an external laser beam pointed towards the sail is exploited to generate thrust. In this way an additional laser radiation pressure is exerted onto the sail, hence conferring higher propulsive and steering capabilities, and leading to an increased maneuverability of the sailcraft. The main purpose of this thesis project is to provide a model of the laser-enhanced solar sail dynamics and to establish the advantages of laser-enhanced solar sailing as compared to "traditional" solar sailing. The analysis has been pursued focusing on interplanetary missions and considering ideal sails, i.e. sails able to perfectly reflect the impinging radiation. Normally, for low-thrust interplanetary missions the propellant consumption and time of flight required for the transfers to take place play a crucial role. However, since solar sails do not exploit any propellant, the traditional and laser-enhanced sailcraft performances have been compared by analyzing their flight-time optimal trajectories, focusing on three different mission scenarios: a Mercury orbit rendezvous, Mars orbit rendezvous and Neptune flyby. These trajectories have been computed by taking advantage of an evolutionary neurocontrol optimizer, in which newly added functionalities have been implemented with the purpose of optimizing laser-enhanced solar sail trajectories. The trajectory analysis results have shown that, if laser-enhanced sailcraft are used instead of traditional sailcraft, flight time gains in the order of 8-11% can be achieved for the missions to Mercury and Mars orbits, while a smaller 2.5% gain is achieved for the flyby mission to Neptune.


On the basis of the single configurational coordinate(SCC) model, using the wave functions obtained from diagonalizing the d 3 energy matrix at normal and various pressures, taking into account both the electron-phonon coupling and spin-orbit interaction of 2E, 2T 1 and 4T 2, and considering the effects of all electronical states of 4T 2 and 2T 1 on R line as well as the difference between the local compressibility around Cr 3+ and the bulk one of the host crystal, spectroscopic features and pressure-induced shifts of R 1 line and 4T 2 broadband of GSGG∶Cr 3+ at low temperature have been microscopically studied. The calculated results are in very good agreement with experimental data. R-line energy at ambient pressure and its splitting, pressure-induced shifts of R 1 line and 4T 2 broadband, as well as the anticrossing behavior of pressure-induced shifts of R 1 line, have been reasonably explained.


Collocations are words that often arbitrarily cluster in a particular language context (e.g., make progress). Native Arabic learners of English often find difficulty using English collocations in their English discourse. This is probably because such expressions, though occurring in Arabic, are not as frequently used as they are in English. Contrastive studies shedding light on the status of English and Arabic collocations often list collocational expressions in English and provide corresponding equivalent collocations in Arabic. Unlike such studies, the present research does not simply concern itself with whether collocations exist in Arabic as they occur in English. It goes beyond this to compare the rate of frequency and rigidity of English collocations with that of Arabic collocations in reading texts, then relates the results to native Arabic learners' failure to appreciate the use of collocations in English. My research raises two questions. The first is: do collocations in Arabic occur in ordinary discourse as frequently as they do in equivalent English linguistic contexts? The second is: do Arabic collocations consist of words combined as rigidly as those constituting English collocations? The findings have implications for ESL practitioners, syllabus designers, and reading specialists.


tory power is quite unconvincing. Similarly, his attempts to redefine or replace the other explanatory concepts appear to involve further uses of straw men. His arguments are further handicapped by a tendency toward non sequiturs and the awkward development of topics. When van den Berg states that the phenomenological method "does not offer a fine theory but, rather, gives a plausible insight," he touches on his most valuable contribution. Although he seems not to recognize that his own method does indeed imply a theory, and that he himself speaks from a particular theoretical position, this statement is a clue to what is helpful in his book. The ways in which he describes the albeit mythical patient's view of his own world are often illuminating. His insights are good, better than his theoretical exposition. He delineates the patient's world in such a way that the artificial categories of analysis recede, and the ties among the different perceptions then become clear. No part of the individual's world is entirely separated from the rest. Pulling at one loose filament eventually unravels the whole fabric, 'and the common thread which van den Berg finds is loneliness. The insight is not new, but it does emerge in a convincing way as one person's methods of denial and inauthenticity are described. Thus, psychopathology can be described as the science "of loneliness and isolation." These terms have theological import. Though perhaps oversimplified, his basic point rings true to what I know of myself and much of what I observe around me. Both existential and neurotic loneliness infiltrate our lives with leukemic implacability. Other pastors, students, clients, and friends have often shared with me their own experiences of alienation and isolation. The way in which van den Berg "feels into" his patient's world and what he finds there provide a potential guide for thOle attempting to transcend such separation.


An overview of two R&D projects provides summarised case studies of the ongoing development of two distinct performance improvement systems that can help empower different segments of the industry. The first project focuses on a Management Support System (MSS) for large clients (LCs); while the second aims at Information and Knowledge Management Systems (IKMSs) for Small & Medium Contractors (SMCs). Finally, the paper points to the potential for an integrated system that can provide useful linkages across these extremities of the construction supply chain by proposing a LC based Project Information & Knowledge Management Platform (PIKMAP). The latter could serve specific projects by providing useful seamless interfaces with all stakeholders, including the LC, its consultants, contractors and suppliers, as well as SMCs involved. Certain issues will of course need to be carefully addressed e.g. in terms of confidentiality, security levels and legal liabilities in respect of each stakeholder.


We present a detailed study of the fields and propagation characteristics around the focus of ultrashort radially-polarized laser beams (RPLBs) having low-order spatio-temporal couplings (STCs). The three STCs considered are the focusing of the different frequencies to different positions along the longitudinal coordinate, the focusing of the frequencies to different positions along one transverse coordinate, and the beam waist or Rayleigh range having a power-law frequency dependence. The STCs considered are deemed low-order because they are generally linear in frequency. The combination of a low-order vector beam, ultrashort pulse duration, and the three different STCs shows promise for exotic applications in dielectric or charged particle manipulation and potentially other strong-field phenomena. The STCs presented are all developed in a standard frequency-domain model where each case involves a different chromatic term. We present the results unique to the vector nature of the RPLBs and compare them to the linearly polarized cases, opening up opportunities for control of the electric field around the focus with the additional element of polarization.


North Yellow Sea Basin is a typical Meso-Cenozoic superimposed fault basin,which has undergone few exploration and research in the offshore of China.The sandstone reservoirs of Lower Crataceous are the main exploration targets,but reservoirs tightness is the"bottleneck"which restricts the exploration activity in North Yellow Sea Basin.By core observation,thin section analysis,scanning scanning electron microscope observation,mercury penetration analysis,porosity and permeability statistics,the reservoirs characteristics of Lower Crataceous in eastern depression in North Yellow Sea Basin were researched in this paper.According to deposition,diagenesis,burial history,and so on,the origin mechanism of tightness of the reservoirs was analyzed.The results show that the sedimentary facies type of reservoirs is mainly fan delta.Reservoir physical properties are poor,belonging to extra-low porosity and extra-low permeability tight sandstone reservoirs.Main reservoir spaces are corrosion pores between grains or in grains and a few micro-fractures.The reservoir belongs to dual porosity reservoirs with pores and fractures,and the pore structure is complex.The reservoirs characteristics are controlled by sedimentary facies zone,diagenesis and burial history.The reservoir lithology is mainly feldspathic lithic sandstone and lithic feldspathic sandstone,which have medium textural maturity and compositional maturity,resulting in poor initial reservoir quality.The high content of plastic debris is not conducive to the preservation of primary porosity.The grain size of sediment affects the development of micro-fractures.The diagenesis predominates in the reservoirs tightness.The diagenetic process is decided by the burial history,which includes early deep burial,middle uplift denudation,and later deep burial.The reservoirs tightness ismainly caused by intense compaction in early phase and cementation in later phase,such as quartz increase,calcite cementation,and spontaneous mineral crystal.Feldspar corrosion and inverting kaolinite facilitate the formation of secondary porosity.The late of hydrocarbon injection causes the weak acid fluid activity,which inhibits dissolution.Fractures without displacement in later phase improve partly the reservoir property.


SBA-15-Fe(terpy)(2+) complex efficiently catalyzed oxidative C-C cross-coupling reactions of tertiary amines with carbon nucleophiles in high product yields. The supported terpyridine ligand can be recycled by filtration.


Three-dimensional networks-on-chip are beneficial for performance improvement, but suffer from severe thermal issues. Dynamic thermal management (DTM) schemes have been proposed to keep the temperature below the thermal limit while improve the system performance. However, existing fully-throttling DTM schemes degrade the network availability and thus decrease the system performance. In this study, a novel collaborative fuzzy-based partially-throttling DTM (CFP-DTM) scheme is developed. Two main components are involved in the CFP-DTM: (i) a fuzzy-based clock gating scheme dynamically adjusting the throttling ratio and throttled nodes (ii) a highly adaptive throttling-aware routing scheme for packets to detour the easily congested channels. Experiments show that, compared with the fully-throttling based vertical throttling scheme, the proposed CFP-DTM can improve the throughput by 27.5% and reduce the thermal control oscillation by 3°C under the maximum system workload.


On May 8, 1986, the House of Lords denied the Coca-Cola Company (Coke) trademark protection for the shape and design of the bottle Coke had been using in England for almost eighty years.' The House of Lords denied protection despite: (1) convincing evidence that the public associated the shape of the bottle with Coke's beverage,2 (2) a finding that the bottle had a distinctive shape,' and (3) the fact that the bottle was "used . . .in relation to goods for the purpose of indicating * . .a connection . . . between the goods and some person having the right . . . to use the mark," as required by the British trademark statute. Denying protection to Coke's "container" 5 has at least three negative implications. First, it will encourage others to enter the soft-drink market and profit from Coke's acceptance and good-will. Second, it will


The response of tidewater glaciers to ocean warming remains a key uncertainty in sea level rise predictions. Here we use a 3‐D numerical model to examine the response of an idealized tidewater glacier to spatial variations in submarine melt rate. While melting toward the center of the terminus causes only a localized increase in mass loss, melting near the lateral margins triggers increased calving across the width of the glacier, causing the terminus to retreat at several times the width‐averaged melt rate. This occurs because melting near the margins has a greater disruptive impact on the compressive stress arch that transfers resistance from the side walls to the body of the glacier. We suggest that the rate of terminus advance or retreat may thus be governed by the difference between ice velocity and submarine melting in the slow‐flowing zones away from the glacier center.


We adapt the method of solution regions to prove new existence and localization results for systems of discontinuous differential equations. Some assumptions concerning the definition of a solution region are relaxed and thus our results enlarge the applicability of this method even in the case of Carath\'eodory nonlinearities. Several examples are provided to illustrate the theory.


The unified parametrization of the dry boundary layer and stratocumulus in the ECMWF model is described using the eddy diffusivity mass‐flux framework. Model simulations are compared to observations at a few selected research field experiments, to ISCCP cloud cover, to LIDAR from space cloud observations, to SYNOP observations over Europe and to the climatology. It is shown that the new stratocumulus formulation improved the quality of the stratocumulus simulations rather dramatically. The key ingredients are: (i) mixing in moist conserved variables, (ii) diffusion related to cloud‐top cooling, (iii) an additional mass‐flux term, (iv) an entrainment parametrization and (v) a switching between shallow cumulus and stratocumulus based on lower tropospheric stability. To illustrate the relevance of various aspects, the sensitivity to different parameters is also presented. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society


ANY mutant stocks of Drosophila mass cultured in the laboratory for generaM tions become phenotypically almost indistinguishable from wild type. Upon outcrossing, the mutant reappears in the FZ with its pristine strength of expression. Presumably, genes reducing the degree of expression, or expressivity, of the major character of the mutant stock had appeared and accumulated through natural selection during its maintenance in the laboratory. These modifying genes are probably disadvantageous to their possessors in a culture of wild type flies. MARSHALL and MULLER (1917) found more extreme phenotypes in homozygous recessive mutants obtained from stocks maintained in a heterozygous condition for many generations, than in parallel stocks maintained as homozygotes. Does lower expressivity reduce the rate of selection against a deleterious gene when compared with its wild type allele? If so, is the relation demonstrable within a phenotypically variable isogenic stock or must genetic modifiers exist? The rate of selection is determined by the viability and productivity of flies of the relevant genotypes. The first of these parameters can be measured in crosses giving equal numbers of mutant and wild type zygotes whereas the latter parameter can be estimated from experiments in which mutant and wild type males compete in mating, or from experiments in which mutant and wild type females compete in oviposition. The effect of the degree of expression of the mutant on viability and productivityand thus on selection-can be studied in crosses involving mutant parents with different grades of expression. The next question is whether any correlation observed between expressivity and selection is to be attributed to the accumulation of modifiers. If the degree of expression is influenced by modifiers, there should be a positive correlation between the expression of the mutant character in parent and offspring. Furthermore, if the character is bilateral, the grades on the two sides are correlated to a greater extent within the progeny of a group of parents heterozygous for modifiers than of homozygous parents. The reason for this is that with heterozygous parents both local environment and genetic segregation affect the individual offspring whereas with homozygous parents only the local environment determines differences in expression. The results to be reported demonstrate that modifiers soon disrupted the initial isogenicity of the mutant stock, enhancing its viability and productivity and decreasing its expressivity, so long as the mutant stock was maintained separately from the wild type stock. Once mutant and wild type parents were taken from segregating cultures, the accumulation of modifiers was greatly retarded. Neverthe-


Once completed, the Marikina Bikeways Network will be the first 50 km of bicycle paths in the Manila (Philippines) metropolitan area. The Network is a part of the City of Marikina's campaign to 'increase livability.' In a broader context, the network is a pilot project within the national government's Metro Manila Urban Transport Integration Project. This article discusses the extent to which the Network is meeting its stated environmental and social objectives, and how these efforts are impacting on the perceived efficacy of bike projects in general.


Real-time systems (RTS) were typically considered to be invulnerable to external attacks, mainly due to their use of proprietary hardware and protocols, as well as physical isolation. As a result, RTS and security have traditionally been separate domains. These assumptions are being challenged by a series of recent events that highlight the vulnerabilities in RTS. In this paper we focus on integrating security as a first class principle in the design of RTS: we show that certain security requirements can be specified as real-time scheduling constraints. Using information leakage as a motivating problem, we illustrate our techniques with fixed-priority (FP) real-time schedulers. We evaluate our approach and discuss tradeoffs. Our evaluation shows that many real-time task sets can be scheduled under the proposed constraints without significant performance impact.


The building engineering system comprises heat storage (302); refrigeration equipment (212) having carbon dioxide as refrigerant and comprising an evaporator part (208), expansion valve part (206), compressor part (210) and condenser part (104); a pipe system (108) for circulating the refrigerant in said refrigeration equipment (212); a heat exchanger (202) connected in connection with the condenser part (104) to transfer heat off the refrigeration equipment (212) to the heat storage (302); a supercooler part (200) connected to the pipe system (108) between the condenser part (104) and the expansion valve part (206); an additional heat exchanger part (300) connected to the pipe system (108) in parallel with said evaporator part (208) and expansion valve part (206) to allow heat to be transferred from the additional heat exchanger part (300) to the refrigerant of the pipe system (108) and further to the heat exchanger (202); and a heat transfer pipe system (450) arranged to connect the supercooler part (200), the additional heat exchanger part (300) and at least one other part (204) of the building engineering system to allow heat to be transferred from the supercooler part (200) to the additional heat exchanger part (300) and/or at least one other part (204) of the building engineering system by means of heat carrier in the heat transfer pipe system (450).


Undertaking any presentation on the Nigerian musicologist Meki Nzewi, no matter how short, is a daunting task. Surely volumes are required to adequately present the life and works of Nzewi, yet so far there has been no major work dedicated to him. Kofi Agawu's article (2008) in celebration of Nzewi's 70th birthday briefly summarises his scholarly and creative output, conceptual definitions, arguments and viewpoints. In this tribute Nzewi's background and musical activities are also discussed just briefly. This is followed by an interview1 with the scholar on various aspects of his career that reflect some of his celebrated views on African musicology.


Silicon shows great promise as a high‐capacity anode material for lithium‐ion batteries. Nanostructuring silicon minimizes the impact of fracturing during charging and discharging. However, synthesizing nanostructured silicon typically requires complicated procedures with high manufacturing costs. Additionally, these complicated procedures typically have poor secondary particle formation, a requirement to achieve a high tap density. Here, a cost‐effective synthesis procedure which generates nearly ideal secondary particle clusters of nanostructured silicon is developed. The cost‐effectiveness is a result of the in operando generation of silicon iodide from iodine gas and low‐grade silicon microparticle. Decomposition of silicon iodide into crystalline silicon and iodine gas enables recycling of the iodine gas, allowing for near full reutilization of iodine in the following cycles. The optimal nanostructures and microstructures of silicon synthesized by the recyclable iodide decomposition reaction enables 83.6% capacity retention over 1000 cycles. The good performance is a result of well‐maintained morphology during cycling, enabling reutilization of the solid electrolyte interphase.


Using Liaoyou 5218,a japonica hybrid rice variety,and Liaoxing 1,a japonica inbred rice variety,as the materials,the effects of nitrogen rate(N) and transplanting density(D) were studied on grain quality of japonica rice.The results showed that the chalky rice percentage(CP) and chalkiness degree(CD) of Liaoyou 5218 were significantly higher than those of Liaoxing 1.There were no significant effects of N and D on CP,CD and the length-width ratio of milled rice(L/W) in both varieties.Increasing N or decreasing D raised the level of protein content(PC) but lowered the taste value(TV) of the grains of both varieties.However,the effects of N and D on the amylose content(AC) varied with the variety(V).It is found that lower N and higher D would improve the nutritive and eating quality of both japonica hybrid and inbred rice varieties,but the higher CP and CD of japonica hybrid rice could only be improved through breeding methods since cultivation practices have not a remarkable effect on them.


In this note,we prove that the Bear and Levitzki radicals of ring are invariant under iso-morphism of multiplicative semigroup of rings.


Recent studies have demonstrated the stimulatory effects of HMG‐CoA reductase inhibitors, statins, on IL‐1β secretion in monocytes and suggest a crucial role for isoprenoids in the inhibition of caspase‐1 activity. In this study, we further elucidated the molecular mechanisms underlying the stimulatory effects of statins on caspase‐1. Three commonly recognized mechanistic models for NLRP3 inflammasome activation (i.e., ATP/P2X7/K+ efflux, ROS production, and lysosomal rupture) were investigated in statin‐stimulated human THP‐1 monocytes. We found that fluvastatin and lovastatin can synergize with LPS to trigger inflammasome activation. Moreover, statin‐induced caspase‐1 activation and IL‐1β production in LPS‐primed THP‐1 cells are dependent on GGPP deficiency and P2X7 activation. In particular, increased ATP release accounts for the action of statins in P2X7 activation. We also provide evidence that statin‐induced moderate ROS elevation is involved in this event. Moreover, the cathepsin B inhibitor was shown to reduce statin‐induced IL‐1β secretion. Consistently statins can induce cathepsin B activation and lysosomal rupture, as evidenced by LysoTracker staining. Statins also increase intracellular ATP secretion and IL‐1β release in primary human monocytes and murine macrophages. Notably, exogenous ATP‐elicited P2X7 activation and consequent IL‐1β release, an index of direct NLRP3 inflammasome activation, were not altered by statins. Taken together, statin‐induced enhancement of inflammasome activation in monocytes and macrophages covers multiple mechanisms, including increases in ATP release, ROS production, and lysosomal rupture. These data not only shed new insight into isoprenylation‐dependent regulation of caspase‐1 but also unmask mechanisms for statin‐elicited inflammasome activation.


Introduction Beginning in 2016, Trinidad and Tobago experienced increasing flows of migrants and refugees from Venezuela. Through a Government Registration Exercise in 2019, followed by a Re-registration Exercise in 2020, migrants and refugees benefitted from access to publicly available primary care and emergency medical services. By applying Andersen's Behavioral Model for Health Service Use, our study examined the non-communicable disease care needs of migrants, and factors influencing their decision to seek public and private health services. Method Between September and December 2020, a health questionnaire was administered via telephone to n = 250 migrants from Venezuela. Descriptive statistics summarized the constructs of Andersen's Behavioral Model. The model comprised of predisposing factors including migrants' social characteristics; enabling factors namely monthly earnings, education level and most trusted source of information on medical needs; need for care factors such as migrants self-reported health status, presence of non-communicable health conditions and having visited a doctor in the past 12 months; and the outcome variables which were migrants' decisions to seek public and private health services. Pearson χ2 tests, odds ratios and multivariable logistic regression with backward elimination examined the factors influencing a migrant's decision to seek health services. Results Overall, 66.8% of migrants reported they would seek public health services, while 22.4% indicated they would seek private health services. Predisposing factors namely length of time residing in Trinidad and Tobago (p = 0.031) and living with family/friends (p = 0.049); the enabling factor of receiving information from publicly available sources (p = 0.037); and the need for care factor of visiting a doctor for a physical health problem (p = 0.010) were significant correlates of their decision to seek care in the public sector. Predisposing factors namely living with family/friends (p = 0.020) and the enabling factor of having difficulty accessing healthcare services (p = 0.045) were significant correlates of their decision to seek care from private providers. Discussion Our findings demonstrated the positive association between social networks and a migrant's decision to use public and private health services, thus underscoring the importance of family and friends in facilitating health service use, promoting proper health practices and preventing diseases. Overall, the use of Andersen's Behavioral Model aided in identifying the factors associated with the use of health services by Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad and Tobago. However, further studies are needed to better understand their need for ongoing care, to inform policy, and to plan targeted health interventions for addressing the gaps in health service access, barriers and use.


Cutting content seems to be the prevalent way of meeting deadlines in projects that are running late. But why waste effort and time working on things that most likely, are going to go at the first sign of trouble? Why don't make the decisions about what is important and what is not up-front, and only start work on the latter if we have the necessary time to do it? By combining critical chain (CC) and Incremental Development (ID), two well known techniques, we can create a new approach to plan and execute projects, which guaranties, with a set probability, the delivery of an agreed subset of the total functionality by a preset date.


The issues of using, and in recent time misusing of unmanned aerial vehicles is becoming the hot & topical problem. This paper deals with possible ways their detection, especially within the radar frequency spectrum.


Abstract: This study invеstigatе whеthеr еducatеd Dominicans utilizе morе banking sеrvicеs (N=104,439). Our rеsults suggеst that morе еducatеd Dominican arе morе likеly to utilizе banking sеrvicеs. Quantitativеly, an additional yеar of еducation in Dominican Rеpublic lеads to a 2.0 pеrcеntagе points risе in thе probability of Dominican using banking sеrvicеs, complеting primary schooling incrеasеs thе probability of Dominican using banking sеrvicеs by 11.3 pеrcеntagе points, and complеting sеcondary schooling incrеasеs thе probability of Dominican using banking sеrvicеs by 16.3 pеrcеntagе points.


A METHOD OF ANALYSIS FOR THE COMBINED EFFECTS OF BENDING AND SHEAR DEFORMATIONS IS PRESENTED. ALTHOUGH THE METHOD IS PRIMARILY DESIGNED FOR THE ANALYSIS OF BEAMS, IT CAN BE APPLIED TO OTHER STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS. THE METHOD IS APPLICABLE TO BEAMS THAT HAVE ABRUPT, OR POINT-BY-POINT, VARIATIONS IN THEIR STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES. ALSO, THE BEAM MAY BE SUBJECTED TO ANY CONFIGURATION OF TRANSVERSE OR LONGITUDINAL LOADS, AND IT MAY BE SUPPORTED IN ANY REASONABLE MANNER. THERE ARE THREE IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE METHOD PRESENTED. FIRST, A DISCRETE-ELEMENT MODEL IS SUBSTITUTED FOR THE REAL STRUCTURE. SECOND, A SYSTEM OF ALGEBRAIC EQUATIONS WHICH DESCRIBE THE LOAD-DEFLECTION BEHAVIOR OF THE MODEL IS WRITTEN. FINALLY, THESE EQUATIONS ARE SOLVED FOR THE UNKNOWN DEFLECTIONS BY A MODIFIED FORM OF GAUSSIAN ELIMINATION. A COMPUTER PROGRAM, SHRBM 1, WHICH UTILIZES THE METHOD OF ANALYSIS PRESENTED HEREIN PROVIDES AN EFFICIENT MEANS OF SOLVING PRACTICAL PROBLEMS. THE CORRECT USAGE OF THE PROGRAM AND THE GENERALITY OF THE METHOD ARE DEMONSTRATED BY A SERIES OF EXAMPLE PROBLEMS. /AUTHOR/


some of the fundamental theories regarding why the Earth shakes and why volcanoes explode. Schick starts at the very beginning. Whereas volcanism is synonymous with heat, the debt owed by earthquakes to thermal energy is less obvious. The author presents a summary of the role heat plays in provoking crustal movements, drawing useful parallels with Mars, Venus and our own Moon to impress on the reader how the Earth contains lots of heat (and therefore experiences earthquakes and volcanoes) while they do not. An admirably concise history of the development of the theory of plate tectonics follows in which all the major players (Wegener, Vine, Matthews, McKenzie, Morgan) are identified, although references to the relevant publications are not. From here the book is divided into two chapters, one concerning earthquakes, the other volcanoes. Each begins with an interesting precis of some of the myth, legend and hokum that has been invoked to explain these phenomena through history, before moving on to describe how more recent scientific advances have refined our understanding of the fundamental processes involved. Earthquakes are introduced in terms of the transfer of kinetic and potential energy that continuous movement and deformation of the crust entail, followed by a discussion of how seismic data can be used to constrain the nature of the earthquake source. The chapter becomes slightly bogged down in a discussion of stresses, strains and hydrostatic pressures, discussion which I imagine would require slightly more than a layperson's background to fully digest. However, this section gets back on track with a few interesting case studies that impress upon the reader how earthquake magnitude alone is an imprecise indicator of the effects a given earthquake may have. The chapter finishes with a section on earthquake prediction, which includes a discussion of the role that empiricism and probability play in forecasting earthquake occurrence. The chapter on volcanoes begins by placing the generation of melts within a plate-tectonic context, and goes on to cover topics including the climatic effects of large eruptions, intra-plate hot spots and extraterrestrial volcanism. Rather than revisit the analogy of volcanic eruptions as bottles of champagne, Schick instead describes the trigger for eruption onset and fluctuations in eruption intensity in terms of the instability in magma flow that can result from non-linear effects induced by the presence of a variable number of bubbles. Non-linearity is undoubtedly an important and relatively new sphere of volcanonological research, and, while the intricacy of non-linear dynamics and feedback in natural systems may be beyond some of the book's intended audience, this discussion will at least serve to impress on the readership just how complex volcanic systems are. In both chapters emphasis is placed on how earthquakes and volcanic eruptions can be described in terms of a balance of forces and transfer of energy. Attention is given to the role that geophysical modelling of source dynamics from indirect surface observations plays in helping us understand subsurface processes that we cannot actually observe. This, combined with the aforementioned discussion of non-linearity and probability, should serve to equip the reader with an appreciation of the fact that, while current approaches to understanding eruptions and earthquakes are highly scientific, prediction of their occurrence is not an exact science. In his preamble to A brief history of time, Stephen Hawking wrote how he was forewarned that every equation he included would reduce his readership by half. Schick includes ten, although this should not have such a ruinous effect on sales. The little book of earthquakes and volcanoes is a very entertaining read, which provides the layperson (or at most the educated non-specialist), with an accessible introduction to some of the ideas that are shaping our understanding of these devastating and exciting natural phenomena.


The increasing needs of mobile internet application services running on smartphone is driving the evolution of wireless communication networks, due to the diversity of traffic characteristics in addition to the rapid growth of data volumes. Differently from typical internet services like web browsing and FTP, the pervasive usage of always-on applications can lead to frequent User Equipment (UE) transitions between Radio Resource Control (RRC) states, and result in excessive signaling traffic that need to be accounted in network capacity planning. In this paper, we propose a novel traffic generation framework to obtain the traffic flows generated by a smartphone which is running heterogeneous applications including both typical applications which are selected on the basis of a proposed application level traffic growth forecast, and keep-alive messages from always-on applications. Using such a framework, the radio resource consumed by different types of application can be evaluated. We exemplify the use of the proposed traffic modeling with a case study of a year-by-year radio resource consumption of voice traffic and keep-alive messages in a realistic LTE (Long Term Evolution) network scenario.


Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) studies have been used for many years to identify potential problems with process designs. The procedure employs a multi-disciplinary team that discusses the design in a series of meetings. Analysis Design Installation and Testing of Basic Surface Safety Systems for Offshore Production Platforms was released. This paper addresses HAZOPS as they apply that reports' review of the portion of the design normally shown on process and instrument diagrams (P and IDs). Only the type of facilities normally encountered in the Gulf of Mexico (i.e. open and not enclosed modules, zero to 50 persons onboard, no gas liquids extraction, limited size) will be considered.


The study of the resin used as the polymer matrix for composite materials is important because the matrix exerts great influence in the final properties of the composite. The aim of this study is to develop a polymer matrix using a vinyl ester resin produced by the filament winding technique. Therefore, vinyl ester resin systems have been developed from Derakane 411-350 resin. These systems were produced by varying the percentage of cure agent and accelerator. The system which presented the best behavior in tension (Yong's modulus = 2,42 GPa,tensile strength = 47,67 MPa, elongation = 7,31 % and fracture toughness 2,67 J), adequate gel time and exothermic peak for the manufacture process was submitted to hygrothermal aging by immersion in water at 60°C for a maximum period of 64 days. Additionally, different polymeric system with the Derakane 8084 vinyl ester resin was developed, which was submitted to immersion in water at 60°C and room temperature, for 36 days. The mechanical properties were evaluated before (Yong's modulus = 2,55 GPa, tensile strength = 56,06 MPa, elongation = 5,37 % and fracture toughness 2,32 J) and after aging (at room temperature, Yong's modulus = 2,50 GPa, tensile strength = 56,79 MPa, elongation = 5,08 % and fracture toughness 2,51 J and at 60oC, Yong's modulus = 2,15 GPa, tensile strength = 40,58 MPa, elongation = 2,00 % and fracture toughness 0,47 J). Calorimetric and micro structural analyses were done in order to characterize the samples.


A composition for feed additives comprising Bacillus subtilis BC1212 is provided to produce antibiotic with antibacterial activity in order to improve feed efficiency and weight increase. A composition for feed additives contains Bacillus subtilis BC1212(KACC 91141). The strain produces surfactin C. The composition for feed additives comprises 2.8wt% of wheat bran, 4.9wt% of rice bran, 5.1wt% of soybean cake, 0.02wt% of FeSO4, 0.5wt% of MnSO4 and 87.13wt% of water. The composition for feed additives additionally contains one or more enzyme products. The enzyme products are selected from the group consisting of lipase, phytase, amylase, phosphatase, carboxymethylcellulas, xylanase, maltase and converting enzyme. The composition for feed additives additionally contains non-pathogenic microorganisms. The non-pathogenic microorganisms are selected from the group consisting of microorganisms belonging to Lactobacillus, Aspergillus oryzae and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.


Until now, different molecular tests can be used to assign novel X. fastidiosa isolates to subspecies clusters, among which MLST/MLSA represents the most common method. X. fastidiosa outbreaks in EU motivated the search for accurate and faster approaches to differentiate the X. fastidiosa isolates. Because MLST/MLSA requires PCR reactions and sequencing analyses, 2 independent approaches were recently developed and implemented for rapid taxonomic assignment of uncharacterized isolates: (1) single-nucleotide primer extension (SNuPE) method that allows to differentiate all subspecies and three genotypes within X. fastidiosa subsp. pauca including the typeisolate infecting olive in Italy and (2) high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis of the amplicon recovered from the gene encoding the conserved HL protein. Both assays were validated on a larger panel of isolates and proved to clearly differentiate X. fastidiosa isolates currently known to occur in the Italian, France and Spain outbreaks. These rapid approaches could represent a useful tool for prescreening of infected samples to be further analyzed by MLST or whole genome sequencing. In addition alternative genomic regions of X. fastidiosa are going to be analyzed to implement approaches aimed to assign genotypes to a subspecies cluster, with the purpose to support a rapid identification of genotypes/subspecies at interception places or when new findings occur in a pest free area


Data collected by Hall and Aadlers (1963) on the white-fruited trait were used to determine whether Vaccinium angustifolium is an allopolyploid displaying disomic inheritance or an autopolyploid with tetrasomic inheritance. Chi square tests for goodness-of-fit were non-significant for both models in all crosses, but the probabilities were higher in two of them for tetrasomic inheritance. Key words: Tetrasomic inheritance, disomic inheritance, allopolyploidy