We propose a multistream discrete hidden Markov model (DHMM) framework and apply it to the problem of land-mine detection using ground-penetrating radar (GPR). We hypothesize that each signature (mine or nonmine) can be characterized better by multiple synchronous sequences representing features that capture different environments and different radar characteristics. This paper is motivated by the fact that mines and clutter objects can have different characteristics depending on the mine type, soil and weather conditions, and burial depth. Thus, ideally different sets of specialized feature extraction mechanisms may be needed to achieve high detection and low false alarm rates. In order to fuse the different modalities, a multistream DHMM that includes a stream relevance weighting component is developed. The relevance weight of each stream depends on the symbols and the states. We reformulate the Baum-Welch and the minimum classification error/gradient probabilistic descent learning algorithms to include stream relevance weights and partial state probabilities. We generalize their objective functions and derive the necessary conditions to update all model parameters simultaneously. The results on a synthetic data set and a collection of GPR signatures show that the proposed multistream DHMM framework outperforms the basic single-stream DHMM where all the streams are treated equally important.


Introduction Surgical training is a challenge. Over recent years there have been several well-documented factors that have reduced operating exposure. As we look to other methods of training to compensate for this, Virtual reality (VR) is increasing in popularity. Much of the previous research with VR in Orthopaedics has centred on arthroscopy and fracture fixation. Through our research, we aim to show that the benefit of VR simulation is not limited to these procedures alone but also applies to more specialist procedures. We assessed the construct validity of a VR simulator for the percutaneous insertion of a pedicle screw guidewire in the lumber spine. Methods Twenty-four participants were recruited into this study. They consisted of medical students, postgraduate doctors and specialty doctors. They were equally divided into three groups based on previous surgical experience; novice, intermediate or expert. The simulator provided six performance metrics that were recorded for each participant. These included total score, time, fluoroscopy use, zone of wire placement, wall violation and final wire depth. Each participant performed the procedure in a set order through both left and right pedicles of lumbar vertebrae, resulting in four sets of data per person. The data was then analysed for statistical significance. Results The results for time revealed a statistically significant difference between the three groups (p<0.001), with the novice group taking the longest time (Median 190 seconds) to complete the procedure. There was also a significant difference in fluoroscopy use between the groups, with the novice group showing the greatest use and the experienced group the lowest values at all attempts (p<0.001). Almost all participants achieved a total score of fifty, so no significant difference was seen here or with the other outcomes. Discussion and conclusion As pedicle screw fixation is a specialised procedure, experts would most likely have had the most frequent exposure to this procedure as well as the highest exposure historically. This study therefore demonstrates the construct validity of the VR simulator for percutaneous pedicle screw fixation. VR simulation can be considered a valuable method of augmenting surgical training for more specialised procedures where exposure is already limited. This would be especially useful for trainees moving into a subspecialty field for the first time, where a procedure can be attempted with no risks to patients. The simulator can also be considered as a valid assessment tool of technical skill of a surgeon in this field.


Summary A mathematical theory of the separating flow past a cascade of aerofoils is developed. The flow is assumed to be inviscid, incompressible and twodimensional. The wakes are represented by regions of stationary fluid, which could, in the general case, maintain a pressure gradient, although much of the theory is developed for the case of constant wake pressure.


This study was conducted to determine whether overcrowding in the emergency department (ED) affects the occurrence of a return visit (RV) within 72 hours. The crowding indicator of index visit was the average number of total patients, patients under observation, and boarding patients during the first 1 and 4 hours from ED arrival time and the last 1 hour before ED departure. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine whether each indicator affects the occurrence of RV and post-RV admission. Of the 87,360 discharged patients, 3,743 (4.3%) returned to the ED within 72 hours. Of the crowding indicators pertaining to total patients, the last 1 hour significantly affected decrease in RV (p=0.0046). Boarding patients were found to increase RV occurrence during the first 1 hour (p=0.0146) and 4 hours (p=0.0326). Crowding indicators that increased the likelihood of admission post-RV were total number of patients during the first 1 hour (p=0.0166) and 4 hours (p=0.0335) and evaluationg patients during the first 1 hour (p=0.0059). Overcrowding in the ED increased the incidence of RV and likelihood of post-RV admission. However, overcrowding at the time of ED departure was related to reduced RV.


For determination of mechanical properties and hardness of coatings and in small materials volumina the depth sensing indentation method is used in microscale down to nanoscale range. The decisive factor for the reliability of the test results is the calibration of load and displacement measurement as well as the knowledge about the compliance of the instrument and the true geometry of the indenter. This paper discusses the features of this test method and reports about a European research project carried out under the coordination of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in UK. The works included the development and test of calibration methods, preparation of reference samples and round-robins in different laboratories with determination of hardness and Young's modulus.


Fatty acid influx in adipocytes is mediated, in part, via the concerted actions of CD36 and FATP1 found within caveolin‐1 rich microdomains of the plasma membrane. The influx reaction is stimulated ∼ 2‐fold by insulin and involves the translocation of FATP1 from intracellular sites to the plasma membrane analogous to GLUT4 translocation. FATP1 is an acyl CoA synthetase that facilitates the insulin‐stimulated component of long and very long chain FFA influx. Concomitant with uptake at the plasma membrane is the acyl CoA dependent esterification of fatty acids in a process termed vectoral acylation. ATP provides the energy for vectoral acylation and in a FATP1‐dependent process produces AMP as a product. AMP in turn activates the AMP‐dependent protein kinase (AMPK) and leads to the phosphorylation/inactivation of acetyl CoA carboxylase providing regulatory control of triglyceride synthesis from either nutritionally derived fatty acids or from de novo lipogenesis. Importantly, FATP4 and ACSL1, two other acyl CoA synthetases in adipocytes also regulate AMPK via their activities that function in fatty acid re‐esterification as part of the triglyceride‐diglyceride cycle in fat cells. Supported by ADA‐RA‐12


This smart and readable monograph reveals the significance of Egyptian avant-garde performance to the formation of new "repertoires of citizenship" (5)—the myriad ways of performing nation and national resistance that emerged in state-financed and independent theatre venues before and after the January 25th revolution of 2011. Through the lens of theatre practice, Theaters of Citizenship explores Egyptian responses to a range of modern phenomena, from the rise of neoliberal politics with its doctrine of self-help to trends in Arab feminism and the rethinking of Arab masculinities. Theaters of Citizenship is an important contribution to an emerging literature on Egyptian identity formation and political action in the cultural spheres—a literature also represented in Jessica Winegar's Creative Reckonings: The Politics of Art and Culture in Contemporary Egypt (2006) and Marwan Kraidy's The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World (2016), to cite two examples. These works and others present citizenship as a daily practice, and Pahwa's book expands this conversation by illustrating how performance acts as a particularly charged practice of national reimagining.


Identifying new stable dynamical systems, such as generic stable mechanical or electrical control systems, requires questing for the desired systems parameters that introduce such systems. In this paper, a systematic approach to construct generic stable dynamical systems is proposed. In fact, our approach is based on a simple identification method in which we intervene directly with the dynamics of our system by considering a continuous \begin{document}$1$\end{document} -parameter family of system parameters, being parametrized by a positive real variable \begin{document}$\ell$\end{document} , and then identify the desired parameters that introduce a generic stable dynamical system by analyzing the solutions of a special system of nonlinear functional-differential equations associated with the \begin{document}$\ell$\end{document} -varying parameters. We have also investigated the reliability and capability of our proposed approach. To illustrate the utility of our result and as some applications of the nonlinear differential approach proposed in this paper, we conclude with considering a class of coupled spring-mass-dashpot systems, as well as the compartmental systems - the latter of which provide a mathematical model for many complex biological and physical processes having several distinct but interacting phases.


A study was conducted to document sero prevalence level of leptospiral serovars in small ruminants in Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu by subjecting the serum samples to MAT. The results indicated that sero positivity rate in sheep and goat was 18.35 per cent and 12.87 per cent respectively. The predominant leptospiral serovar pomona and grippotyphosa was found in sheep and canicola in goats.


THE PROCESS BY WHICH cells correct the damage done to DNA by reactive oxygen species just got a little clearer, thanks to a new structure of the repair enzyme Mut Y bound to its damaged substrate. Produced by everything from smoking to normal metabolic activity, reactive oxygen species are constantly damaging the nucleotide bases that make up genomic DNA. One of the most common types of damage is the conversion of guanine to 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG). If allowed to persist, 8-oxoG lesions will pair with adenine—not cytosine, guanine's normal partner—during DNA replication. 8-OxoGAmispairs eventually give rise to dangerous genetic mutations, so cells have devised away to repair both bases to restore the originalDNAsequence. MutYcarries out the first step of this process: finding 8-oxoG : Amispairs and removing the adenine. "How MutY distinguishes A residues paired abnormally with 8-oxoG amidst the vast excess of Aresidues paired normally withT {thymine} has been a long-standing question in the field," ...


The paper by Nester and Panitz describes the application of the adjoint of a regionalscale chemistry transport model to identify possible reasons for the underestimation of ozone mixing ratios downwind of the city of Berlin for one particular day. It is well known that air pollution models, both on the global and local scale, still have deficiencies and do in some cases fail to reproduce observations. The search for reasons of these deficiencies is an ongoing task. Adjoint models are a particular useful tool to compute sensitivities of model results with respect to input parameters and may therefore give hints on possible reasons for differences between models and observations. I think the subject of this study is well adapted to ACP, and the study itself is suffi-


Objective to study the enzyme kinetics of paeonol in homogenized liver of rats, and to evaluate the effect of the CYP450 enzyme on the metabolism of paeonol. The metabolites of paeonol were also identified. Methods hplc method was established for quantitative analysis of remaining concentration of paeonol in liver homogenate, and enzyme kinetic parameters were calculated. The metabolites of paeonol in liver homogenate were identified with HPLC/MS/MS. Results The metabolism of paeonol was significantly promoted by the enzymes subtypes of CYP450(CYP4503A) which was induced by dexamethasone, and there was no change in the metabolism of paeonol in liver homogenate pretreated by the enzymes subtypes of CYP450 (CYP4502B) which was induced by phenobarbital. The metabolites of paeonol in liver homogenate were 4- methoxyacetophenone-2-O-glucuronide and 2,4-dihydroxyacetophenone-5-O-sulphate. Conclusion CYP3A may be mainly involved in the metabolism of paeonol, and then to provide scientific evidence for rational administration and metabolic mechanism.


Sante d'Apollonio del Celandro and Pinturicchio in the workshop of Bartolomeo Caporali. The historico-artistic situation in Perugia in the later decades of the 15th century has been in part clarified by studies carried out during recent exhibitions dedicated to leading figures of the Renaissance in the region of Umbria. Yet the overall scenario continues to remain somewhat hazy and still strewn with unanswered questions. At the beginning of the 1470s, with the return of Perugino to Perugia, local artists quickly assimilated the most cultured and modern Tuscan innovations. This change, which can be perceived in Perugia products executed after 1470, has contributed to uncertainty over the attribution of certain works which, in alternating periods, have appeared in the catalogues of the most wellknown artists. It is in this context that Fiorenzo di Lorenzo and later Bartolomeo Caporali have been seen as the artists of numerous paintings, including the triptych of Justice and the 'Nativity' from the church of Santa Maria di Monteluce, now in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, which have been the object of debate for almost twenty years. It seemed that the documentary discoveries made by Michael Bury and Pietro Scarpellini in the 1990s had once and for all clarified the origin of the two works, which emerged from the workshop of Bartolomeo Caporali in the space of a few years. Yet both works would deserve a more thorough analysis than that which emerged from a reading of the documents.


Absorption efficiency (α) is defined as the ratio of actual injection rate (Qt) to theoretical injection rate (Qf) based on the reservoir damage characteristics of the injectors in Lunnan Oilfield, Tarim Basin. The damage degree can be classified according to the change of α with time (t): non-damage, minor damage, normal damage and severe damage. The curve (α-t) can reflect the reservoir damage of injectors at different time, and thus can be used to realize the change of injection water quality. The chart (Qt-Qf) can directly reflect the general damage of an injector in a long time. Compared with the normally used evaluation method, i. e, damage factor S which shows only the damage of an injector at some time and is very costly to gather related data to evaluate, the new methods of α-t and Qt-Qf are better as the reguired data can be gained easily, the analysis is efficient and the result can be easily understood, which are very convenient to monitor the damage of injectors and the injection water quality.


Road traffic accidents are among the top leading causes of deaths and injuries of various levels in South Africa. With the wealth and huge amount of data generated from road traffic accidents, the issue of traffic accident prediction has become a central challenge in the field of transportation data analysis. This has led to the application of many well-established supervised learning algorithms in an attempt to provide more accurate and injury severity accident class (fatal/serious/slight/property damage with no injury) prediction. Virtually all research on SL addresses the task of learning to classify complete domain instances. However, in some research situations we often have to classify incomplete vectors, which can affect the predictive accuracy of learned classifiers. The task of learning an accurate incomplete data classifier from instances raises a number of new issues some of which have not been properly addressed by transportation research. Thus, an effective missing value estimation method is required for improving predictive accuracy. The essence of the approach is the proposal that prediction using supervised learning can be improved by 'doing more' with the missing data rather than discarding it, i.e. adding missingness as a further category (for categorical attributes) and incorporating missingness directly in decision tree splits (for continuous attributes). The approach can be expected to be particularly useful when missingness is not random but informative. We evaluate our approach with other supervised learning techniques including C4.5, Classification and Regression Trees (CART), k-Nearest neighbour (k-NN), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), naive Bayes Classifier (NBC), Repeated Incremental Pruning to Produce Error Reduction (RIPPER) and Support Vector Machines (SVMs), from the point of view of their effect or tolerance of incomplete test data. Simulated traffic accidents datasets are utilized for this task. Experimental results are provided to illustrate the efficiency and the robustness of the proposed algorithm.


The piece wise linear approximation is a kind of useful method in studying nonlinear circuit, in which, nonlinear solving process is divided into several linear sections, and linear circuit's calculating method used in each section. Tunnel diode is a nonlinear element. Circuit composed of tunnel diode is a nonlinear circuit. It is simple and efficient to analyze and calculate tunnel diode circuit by using the piece wise linear approximation method. In this paper, the steps of piece wise linear approximation are set forth in detail. At first, nonlinear element's volt-ampere characteristic is divided into three sections with linear method in each section. Then, the piece line is decomposed into three volt-ampere characteristic lines and each line slope is solved respectively. At last, in each section, the nonlinear solving question is transferred into solving two linear equations and solving operating point. A case is given to verify the practicability of the method.


We propose the novel technique to analyze the leak current of the product chip accurately. Comparison of calculated and measured leak current proves the validity of this technique. The small variation causation of the product's leak current is able to be analyzed. Moreover, leak current reduction guide is obtained with the detail component factor analysis. Applying to the in-line monitor, all wafers could be an analytical object.


The continuous technology scaling process has pushed the performance bottleneck from the active devices to the interconnect delay. With the more aggressive reduction in lateral dimension compared with vertical dimension, intra-layer metal-to-metal capacitances contribute significantly to the circuit delay. To address the issues, we have investigated two different technology for reducing the intra-layer capacitance. The first one is using dielectrics with structured voids to achieve low-k value. Compared with traditional porous material, the structuring of the voids gives larger porosity while maintaining the mechanical strength sufficient to withstand the CMP process. Ultimately, intra-layer metal-to-metal capacitance can be minimized by using air-gap structure. Existing air-gap technology can only cover small opening and difficult to be extensively used across a wafer. A new process utilizing an insulating 2-D material, in particular hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN), has been developed and shown to be effective to form generic air-gap over a wide area. The physical strength over different air-gap sizes has been studied and shown to be effective over different dimensions in the micron range. The application of air-gaps for high-frequency passive components in RF ICs is discussed. A design strategy to embed air-gaps in RF components such as planar inductors is also given to improve the operating frequency and quality factor by reducing the parasitic capacitances.


This paper seeks to determine, for children under the age of five living in selected SubSaharan African countries, the elasticity of demand for the malaria-preventive behaviors of sleeping under a mosquito net, an insecticide-treated net and when infected, the use of artemisinin-combination therapy as treatment, with respect to the local malaria prevalence. Using individual behavior and demographic information from recent Demographic and Health Surveys as well as the Malaria Atlas Project's spatial distribution of the Plasmodium falciparum Parasite Rate, our logistic analysis indicates the existence of prevalence elasticity, which is to say that as malaria prevalence increases, the demand for these preventive behaviors in this vulnerable subgroup of the population increases more than proportionally. In contrast to the epidemiological theory which ignores the incentivized preventive response that individuals may take when faced with an increased risk, these findings, along with evidence supporting the controlling effect that these preventive behaviors have on the prevailing prevalence of malaria as well as the current status of decline of this disease in many areas, suggest that it may be imperative for the preventive behavior response to be maintained at levels at least as high as the prevailing parasite rate to ensure a resurgence does not occur in the absence of adequate prevention. Corresponding author: Gabriel Picone, Department of Economics, University of S. Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., BSN 3403, Tampa, FL 33620, 813‐974‐6537, email@example.com. The authors thank the support of Grant Number R03TW009108 from Fogarty International Center. The content is solely responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Fogarty International Center or the National Institute of Health. Introduction During the last five years there has been significant progress in the fight to prevent avoidable deaths due to malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership estimates that 1.1 million malaria related deaths were averted during the last 10 years due to these efforts (RBM 2011). Much of the progress in reducing the malaria burden was accomplished with funding from international donors that increased from $100 million in 2000 to $1.5 billion in 2010 (RBM 2011). Two of the most important interventions to prevent and treat malaria for the most vulnerable population, children under five, are sleeping under an insecticide treated mosquito net (ITN) and prompt treatment of malaria using artemisinincombination-therapy (ACT) (RBM 2011, WHO 2011). RBM considers ITN ownership and ACT availability to be public goods and recommends ITNs to be distributed free of charge to achieve full coverage by the end of 2010 (RBM 2011). Free access to ACT in health care facilities for those diagnosed with malaria is also recommended (WHO 2011). However, each country is responsible for designing and implementing the distribution of the resources provided to them by the international community. There is a great variation across countries on the "scaling up" of their programs to achieve universal coverage. One of the main contributions of economics to epidemiology was to recognize the importance of changes in preventive behaviors in response to a change in the infectious disease rate. Few studies have analyzed the importance of malaria prevalence on malaria preventive behaviors taken by individuals such as sleeping under an ITN (Pattanayak et al. 2006 and 2009). If individuals' preventive behaviors are highly responsive to changes in the prevalence rate, then improvement in malaria conditions may be limited since individuals will be less likely to continue using malaria preventive interventions (should we add something here about how this is what we mean when we say it will become "increasingly expensive to control malaria"?). This is particularly of concern if funding for malaria prevention and control subsidies decline in future years as discussed in the 2011 World Malaria Report. This paper utilizes a spatial model of malaria endemicity to determine whether the prevalence of malaria appears to affect the odds of the specific malaria-preventive behaviors of sleeping under a mosquito net or an ITN and usage of ACT by children under the age of five. We find that malaria prevalence is highly positively correlated with usage of mosquito nets, ITNs and ACT. The size of the effects suggest that the elasticity of malaria prevalence is slightly larger than one, implying that efforts to achieve continuous gains in controlling malaria will become progressively more expensive since widespread adoption of ITNs and ACT will reduce the number of vectors (mosquitoes) and infected individuals, causing a reduction of malaria cases. However, in future periods, malaria prevalence will affect the decision of sleeping under an ITN or ACT treatment. Methods The behavioral and demographic data for this analysis come from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Malaria Indicator Surveys (MIS) and AIDS Indicator Surveys (AIS) for 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2008 and 2011. The Demographic and Health Survey's goal is to monitor the population and health situations of the target countries and it is part of the Monitoring and Evaluation to Assess and Use Results Demographic and Health Surveys (MEASURE DHS) project. DHS data contain detailed information on health and preventive health behaviors for children, women and men. Starting in 2000, DHS began collecting information on the ownership and use of mosquito nets, including whether the net owned and used is an ITN, and ACT treatment of fever for children. The Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) and AIDS Indicator Survey (AIS) are also part of the MEASURE DHS project. Fortunately, DHS, AIS and MIS pose the same basic malaria questions, making comparisons between and within countries using the various surveys straightforward. DHS/MIS/AIS samples are nationally representative of the population, but they are drawn from geographical clusters. Clusters vary in size and population but typically contain around 500 individuals. In rural areas a cluster is usually a village or group of villages and in urban areas it is approximately a city block. For many surveys DHS includes the latitude and longitude of the centroid of the cluster. Using this latitude and longitude we were able to "geocode" the DHS/MIS/AIS clusters into the Geographic Information Systems (GIS, ESRI's ArcMap) mapping software. We then merged this information with the 2010 Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) Plasmodium falciparum Parasite Rate (PfPR) database (Hay et al., 2009). The PfPR is an age-standardized measure of the proportion of people sampled (children between the ages of 2 and 10) showing detectable parasites in the peripheral blood. This is an objective and common index of malaria transmission intensity and will be our main explanatory variable, the measure of the malaria prevalence in the cluster where the individual lives. See Hay et al. for a description of the calculation of this index. Our sample consists of all children less than 5 years of age for which we have information on malaria preventive behaviors from the DHS/MIS/AIS surveys. We restrict the analysis sample to post-2008 years and surveys that we were able to merge with MAP leaving us with 12 surveys in 11 countries which are described in Table 1. There is great variation in the mean of our measure of malaria intensity (PfPR) across countries where average malaria prevalence ranges from 0.096 to 0.473. Only post-2008 survey years were included to reduce the probability that widespread ITN usage for a long period of time reduced the PfPR measure in 2010 (elaborate? Is this the first time we address the relationship going the other direction (i.e. preventionmalaria prevalence)? Saying that the 2010 PfPR might be representative of preventive behaviors of the past (i.e. pre-2008) so only more recent past (i.e. post-2008 years) to reduce the likelihood of reverse causality?). However, an analysis including pre-2008 surveys does not change the reported conclusions (true, right?). Our dependent variables are binaries indicating: 1) whether the child slept under a mosquito net the previous night, 2) whether the child slept under an insecticide-treated mosquito net the previous night and 3) whether a child who had a fever during the previous 2 weeks before the survey received ACT treatment. We estimate logit models and report the odds ratio. Sleeping under an ITN is the most cost-effective intervention to prevent malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa and in 2008 World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that all children under the age of five should sleep under an ITN (Roll Back Malaria 2008). Prompt treatment of fever for children under 5 with malaria using ACT is also one of the main policy recommendations of WHO. The main explanatory variable in our analysis is the PfPR for the cluster where the child lives. This is our measure of malaria prevalence and, in agreement with the epidemiological economic theory, we expect this variable to have a positive effect on all of our dependent variables which represent demand for prevention. Other explanatory variables include whether their mother has obtained at least secondary education, mother's age, age of child, gender, whether the child is the child of the head of the household, household size, whether the house has piped water, household wealth in quintiles, whether the individual has a car or truck and whether the house is located in an urban environment. If better-educated mothers are more likely to be informed of and value the benefits of these interventions, mother education should be positively correlated with each of our dependent variables.. We expect the child's age to have a negative sign since the risk of dying for malaria decreases with the age of the child. Household size should prox


We examined the temporal variation in the relationships between the number of invertebrate species, and of total individuals inhabiting clumps of the intertidal mussel Brachidontes rostratus and the area of the clumps We collected clumps in four seasons - autumn, winter, spring and summer - from a rocky shore in south-eastern Australia Positive curvilinear relationships between species number and area were recorded for all seasons but fewer species for a given area were found in autumn and summer compared with winter and spring These species-area relationships were different from those predicted from a passive sampling model (Random Placement Model) Positive relationships between number of individuals and area were also recorded but these did not vary between seasons There was no short-term difference (i e between phases of tide and day) in species or individual number in clumps Seasonal variation, and small-scale spatial unpredictability in recruitment patterns are potentially important determinants of species numbers in this system The seasonal differences we have recorded for mussel clumps suggest that future studies on island systems particularly in marine habitats should consider temporal variation in species-area relationships and that conclusions from previous comparisons of species-area curves based on one-off sampling must only be tentative


Few sectors testify to the benefits of innovation as much as healthcare. Today, people in developed economies live long and have a high quality of life. "Life is better now than at almost any time in history", suggests Nobel laureate Angus Deaton.1 In the 1960s and 1970s these societies had left the age of child mortality and infectious diseases. In the following decades, there has been great improvements to attack what he called "the monsters" of "chronic diseases that killed people in middle age: heart disease, stroke and cancer".2


This study assessed the feasibility and economic viability of renewable energy resources for power generation at rural communities of six sites in North-West Nigeria. A specific electric load profile was developed to suite the rural communities made up of 200 homes, a school and health centre. The required load was analysed as 358 kWh per day, with 46 kW primary peak load and 20 kW deferrable peak load. The employed data obtained from the Nigeria Meteorological Department, were those of daily mean wind speeds, daily global solar radiation, sunshine hours, minimum and maximum air temperature, and minimum and maximum relative humidity for 24 years spanning 1987-2010. The assessment of the design that will optimally meet the daily load demand with LOLP of 0.01 was carried out by considering 3 standalone applications of PV, Wind and Diesel, and a hybrid design of Wind-PV. The outcome showed that the most economically viable alternative for power generation at the different locations in Gusau, Kaduna and Yelwa was the hybrid system while wind standalone suffices for the other sites. The values of LCOE for the both the hybrid and standalone wind system are competitive with grid electricity


Current imaging practices are based on exploiting metamerism to record and reproduce images. As a result, the data obtained in these images are dependent on the viewing conditions and the observer. While these methods produce acceptable results for day to day use, they often do not exhibit the type of accuracy and control required for scientific purposes such as art conservation. As a solution, many research institutions are now advocating the use of multispectral imaging to record the objects fundamental spectral properties to remove the data's dependency on the observer and viewing environment. The research described in this thesis involved determining if a trichromatic camera and readily available filters can be used for spectral estimation purposes. The Pixel Physics TerraPix camera system was characterized, its response to a target and 105 Kodak Wratten Filters under tungsten illumination was simulated, and spectral reflectance estimations were generated. The top filter candidates were chosen based on their simulated performance. These filters were then used in an imaging experiment designed to approximate conditions that would be found in an art gallery or other place where copy work is performed. The results of the imaging experiment were compared with the simulation, and shortcomings of the model were identified. The results of the experiment show that a camera model can be used as a guiding tool to make filter selections for spectral estimation.


In this article, the writer's own opinion of using Turbo C is elaborated from four aspect. First, the input of two dimension float type array. Secondly, the function's declaration, Thirdly, the array name regarded as function parameter. Fourthly, the pointer of the multiple-dimension array.


Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by fatty change of liver without inflammation. The aim of this study was to evaluate presence of clinical and metabolic components in non-diabetic patients with NAFLD and to assess the relationship between insulin resistance and these factors. Materials andMethods: In this study, a group of 50 sonographically confirmed patients with NAFLD was studied. Following an overnight fasting, blood samples were obtained to measure serum levels of Triglyceride, Cholesterol, Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL-C), High Density Lipoprotein (HDL-C), SGOT and SGPT, haemoglobin A1C, Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) and peripheral blood insulin level. Based on homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) score, patients were divided into four quartiles. Other variables including BMI, waist and hip circumference were also measured. Results: The mean age was 42 ± 10.3 years (range, 22-65), 33 cases (66%) were men, and 17 cases (34%) were women. Mean insulin level was higher in females (female=15.3 ± 6.7, males=12.9 ± 5.7). Variables including waist (P=0.38) and LDL-C (P =0.49) were significantly different among defined study groups. The higher the HOMA index, the lower the HDL-C level (P ‹0.05). Conclusion: Patients with insulin resistance showed significant higher values of LDL and Waist circumference. Values of HDL were significantly lower in these patients. Body mass index, Weight, Triglyceride, Cholesterol, AST and ALT values showed no relation with insulin resistance. Â


Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease, which affects large number of population all over the world. Diabetes is associated with many complications as dyslipidemia, coronary heart diseases and non alcoholic fatty liver diseases. More than 400 traditional medicinal plants have been recorded for helping in controlling such disease. This review discusses the effects of most common plants (Foenugreek, Nigella and Termis) used in Saudi Arabia and some other Arab countries as antidiabetic agents. The usage of the mixture or each plant alone corrected the blood glucose level and increase insulin secretion with definite increase in the number and diameter of beta pancreatic cells in the diabetic rats. Also, improve the associated dyslipidemia, and ameliorated most of all damage effects of Alloxan on hematological parameters present in diabetic rats. So, it can control most of the metabolic risk factors of coronary artery disease (CAD) in diabetic. Finally, it appeared to be a useful agent in improving fatty changes in the liver texture associated with DM. It can be concluded that, water extract of the mixture of Foenugreek, Nigella and Termis is the most powerful in amelioration hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia and most of all damage effects of Alloxan on the liver and hematological parameters.


Transition metal-embedded heteroatom carbon composites are regarded as an important branch of bifunctional catalysts for rechargeable Zn-air batteries. The inevitable transition metal particles on the carbon skeleton may affect the availability of the metal-heteroatom-carbon catalytic site. Herein, we propose an acid treatment strategy to remove the bare transition metal particles, thus regulating the electrochemical surface area. The OER activities are highly related to the electrochemical surface area for the catalysts with different acid treatment times. In addition, there exists an optimal acid treatment time to achieve the highest ORR and OER activities with the ΔE value of 0.70 V. Given the superior bifunctional activities after acid treatment, we further assemble the rechargeable Zn-air batteries with the optimal catalyst, which achieves a peak power density of 364 mW cm-2 and long cycling life of 500 h at 10 mA cm-2. This work affords an efficient strategy to enhance the ORR/OER activities and may guide the design of transition metal/heteroatom carbon composites.


In
 an
 age
 where
 training
 and
 knowledge
 are
 easily
 accessible
 online,
 textbooks,
 lecture slides
 and
 other
 class
 materials
 have
 migrated
 to
 online
 programs.
 Online
 programs
 are becoming
 easier
 to
 maintain
 for
 professors
 and
 administrators
 and
 offer
 some
 convenience and
 efficiency
 that
 traditional
 classroom
 lectures
 do
 not.
 It
 is
 widely
 assumed
 that
 students who
 have
 grown
 up
 with
 cell
 phones,
 email
 accounts,
 social
 media,
 iPods,
 Google
 and laptops
 easily
 identify
 with
 internet
 based
 applications.
 This
 research
 studies
 a
 group
 of over
 30
 university
 students
 seeking
 to
 develop
 skill-‐sets
 to
 prepare
 them
 for
 entering
 the workforce
 through
 participation
 in
 an
 online
 and
 traditional
 classroom
 experience.
 This research
 can
 be
 used
 by
 professors
 seeking
 to
 develop
 presentation
 mediums
 that
 will most
 effectively
 teach
 students
 in
 skill-‐based
 curriculums. Evaluating Student Perceptions of Value and Preferences for Online Programs 4 Acknowledgments Abraham
 Lincoln,
 the
 16th
 president
 of
 the
 United
 States,
 once
 said,
 "I
 am
 a
 success
 today because
 I
 had
 a
 friend
 who
 believed
 in
 me
 and
 I
 didn't
 have
 the
 heart
 to
 let
 him
 down." This
 quote
 expresses
 perfectly
 my
 sentiments
 towards
 any
 success
 I've
 attained throughout
 my
 life.
 I
 owe
 so
 many
 individuals
 credit
 and
 thanks
 for
 influencing
 the completion
 of
 this
 research. Dr.
 Stacey
 Hills,
 Jon
 M.
 Huntsman
 School
 of
 Business:
 I
 cannot
 say
 enough
 thanks
 to
 this incredible
 woman
 for
 the
 support
 she
 has
 given
 me
 throughout
 my
 education.
 It
 was
 a great
 privilege
 to
 work
 with
 Dr.
 Hills
 on
 the
 research
 aspect
 of
 the
 Great
 Work,
 Great Career
 project.
 I
 am
 so
 grateful
 for
 her
 wisdom
 and
 expertise,
 but
 also
 for
 her
 example
 as
 a professional,
 an
 academic,
 a
 strong
 and
 confident
 woman,
 that
 has
 truly
 impacted
 my
 life. Dr.
 Fox
 and
 Amber
 Summers-Graham,
 Utah
 State
 University
 Honors
 Program:
 Dr.
 Fox constantly
 encouraged
 me
 to
 never
 give
 up
 and
 push
 through
 the
 difficult
 things.
 Her
 belief in
 me
 transcended
 my
 own
 and
 I
 would
 not
 have
 completed
 this
 research
 project
 without her
 encouragement
 and
 support.
 Amber
 Summers-‐Graham
 is
 the
 most
 patient,
 kind
 and helpful
 advisor
 and
 I
 will
 never
 forget
 her
 enthusiasm
 and
 kindness
 in
 helping
 to
 plan
 my Honors
 track. Dr.
 Christopher
 Fawson,
 Jon
 M.
 Huntsman
 School
 of
 Business:
 I
 met
 Dr.
 Fawson
 when
 I entered
 the
 business
 school
 as
 a
 sophomore.
 From
 that
 moment,
 he
 helped
 me
 see
 more
 in myself
 and
 in
 the
 possibilities
 of
 my
 future
 and
 empowered
 me
 to
 take
 charge
 of
 my education
 and
 my
 career
 path.
 Dr.
 Fawson
 was
 not
 only
 my
 Departmental
 Honors
 Advisor, but
 my
 professor,
 a
 faculty
 member
 on
 my
 South
 America
 study
 abroad
 and
 within
 Koch Scholars,
 a
 tremendous
 mentor,
 and
 a
 friend.
 No
 one
 has
 challenged
 my
 thinking
 or broadened
 my
 perspective
 as
 much
 as
 he
 and
 I
 will
 be
 eternally
 thankful
 for
 his
 influence
 in my
 life. Boyd
 Craig,
 Michael
 Ockey,
 and
 Janita
 Andersen
 of
 Franklin
 Covey:
 During
 April-‐August 2010,
 it
 was
 my
 great
 privilege
 and
 pleasure
 to
 work
 on
 the
 Great
 Work,
 Great
 Career project
 as
 an
 intern
 for
 the
 Office
 of
 Dr.
 Covey.
 These
 three
 executives
 graciously
 opened the
 opportunity
 and
 mentored
 me
 through
 the
 internship
 experience.
 These
 professionals are
 some
 of
 the
 most
 genuine
 people
 I
 know
 and
 I
 am
 thankful
 for
 their
 trust
 in
 me
 in working
 on
 the
 project.
 This
 research
 is
 taken
 directly
 from
 results
 of
 the
 Great
 Work, Great
 Career
 project. Dr.
 Daniel
 Holland
 and
 Dr.
 Ronda
 Callister,
 Jon
 M.
 Huntsman
 School
 of
 Business:
 Through different
 semesters
 and
 projects,
 both
 these
 professors
 exposed
 me
 to
 the
 world
 of research
 and
 taught
 me
 how
 to
 explore
 and
 question
 and
 take
 learning
 into
 my
 own
 hands. They
 shaped
 my
 perspective
 toward
 research
 and
 learning,
 and
 I
 am
 grateful
 for
 their mentoring
 influence! Dennis
 and
 Dianna
 Stewart:
 The
 most
 supportive
 individuals
 ever.
 Thank
 you! Evaluating Student Perceptions of Value and Preferences for Online Programs 5


THERE is no doubt that removal of the stapes and its replacement by a polythene tube or by the stapes itself with the interposition of an organic graft (vein, fat or perichondrium) has definitely replaced direct or indirect mobilization of the stapes or fenestration of the external semicircular canal, which are attended by such uncertain results. Stapedectomy is, therefore, the best surgical technique for the treatment of conductive deafness due to otosclerosis. How far, however, can stapedectomy accompanied by a graft be considered the perfect technique? We are all aware that all cases of otosclerosis do not respond to surgical treatment, even though the operation has been carried out with all possible skill and that no logical explanation can be given for the occurrence of these failures. Excluding destruction of the labyrinth which fortunately is not a common complication, there may be other rare causes as yet unknown. The object of this paper is to explain some biological and mechanical causes why these failures may occur and at the same time introduce a new technique which I call graftless stapedectomy. Recently I published a case in which there had been involvement of the facial nerve and in which I had performed a fenestration of the promontory fixing in a polythene,tube of the Shea modified type without the use of any graft. The result was amazing. The patient did not suffer any vertigo and there was permanent improvement in the hearing. This was my first case of graftless stapedectomy which opened up a new approach to stapedectomy technique and has resolved many of the problems caused by the use of grafts. In animal experiments it has been possible to establish the behaviour of grafts applied to the oval window after the removal of the stapes. Today we know vein-grafts encourage fibrosis in the middle ear, and however the vein graft is applied it soon disappears in a mass of fibrous tissue, and the fibrosis may not affect the middle ear alone but may also invade the cochlea destroying the sensory nerve endings to a greater or less extent. The same objection applies to the use ot gel-foam though to a less degree. Perichondrium, though more manageable at the time of operation and so easier to use reacts in the same way as vein grafts. Recently six cases of granulomata following the use of fat-grafts with stapedectomy have been reported.


A perusal of his writings impresses one with certain characteristics which are typical of the man as we knew him: First, his painstaking, accurate and long-continued observation of the clinical symptoms of his patients and their behavior under various methods of treatment, and his careful checking of these before publication. His own accuracy of observation may, at times, have led him to accept as authentic the reports of others who were less exacting in their methods. Second, the constant study of his numerous specimens in an effort to establish a solid anatomic foundation for his clinical findings, eight of these papers being essentially anatomic contributions. And, third, his many conferences with otolaryngologists, ophthalmologists, neurologists, physiologists and pathologists, in an effort to evolve a rational explanation for the various phenomena he observed.


Inthis paperwepresent amethodforfinding the mainpathways represented inasetofgenes(say obtained from a microarray experiment). Themethodisbasedona fuzzy mappingbetween genesrepresented assetsofGeneOntology termsandKEGG pathways using a newtypeoffuzzy rule systemcalled ontological fuzzyrulesystem(OFRS).As opposed toacrisp mapping, thefuzzy mapping produces anon- zerovalueevenifthegenenameisnotexplicitly listed ina givenKEGG pathway.An OFRS isa fuzzyrulesystemin whichtherulememberships areobtained usingsimilarity measuresbetweenobjects computedbasedon theGene Ontology (GO)annotations. To testour approach, we randomly selected without replacement 10setsofArabidopsis thaliana genesfromKEGG (each sethad15genesfrom3 different pathways) andtried topredict thepathways they were selected from.Ourmethodwasabletofind, 90%oftheright pathways witha65%false alarmrateatap-value of0.01. The highfalse alarmrateisdueinparttotheexperimental setting. In a pilot dataset of526Arabidopsis thaliana geneswe identified 8clusters whichprovedtobelinked toimportant pathways suchasATPsynthesis andtranscription factor.


The thermal and chemical stability of alumina suppo rted catalysts (Rh/Al 2O3, LaCoO3/Al 2O3, Rh-LaCoO3/Al 2O3) have been investigated by performing cycles of tar conversion at 700°C followed by regeneration of the catalyst by oxidation of coke deposited on the surface up to 800°C. Structur al and chemical modifications undergone by the catalysts upon conversion/regenera tion cycles have been studied by BET and TPR/TPO analyses. The catalysts containi g rhodium are highly stable maintaining the original performance and chemical p roperties of the fresh sample also after several cycles, dispersion of rhodium on Al2O3 surface being sufficiently preserved also at 800°C. The presence of LaCoO 3 layer further prevents rhodium aggregation. On the contrary, LaCoO 3/Al 2O3 catalyst undergoes a partial deactivation after the first cycles related to the irr versible migration of cobalt into the alumina lattice . Introduction In the last decade the depletion of fossil fuels sh ifted the attention of the scientific community towards renewable sources. Biomass repres nts one of the most available renewable fuels which can be converted in to bio-oil or syngas [1,2]. A clean syngas can be produced by biomass gasificatio n for energy purpose or production of fine chemicals provided that a suitab le conditioning is operated. Indeed, the biomass gasification at 700-900°C produ ces, in addition to a gas containing H2, CO, CO2 and light hydrocarbons, a solid residue (char) and mixture of condensable hydrocarbons, mostly aromati cs, called tar [1,2]. Condensation of tar in downstream pipes and filters r present a severe drawback and must be necessarily avoided. The more common methods for removing tars include p hysical methods, such as filtration, or chemical processes, such as thermal cracking or catalytic conversion. Filtration generally requires multiple expensive do wnstream unit operations, while thermal cracking must be carried out at very high t emperatures. Catalytic conversion of tars can be operated at significantly lower temperatures (650-850°C) and, at the present, is the best technology to remo v tar. XXXVI Meeting of the Italian Section of the Combust ion Institute A large variety of catalysts have been proposed ran ging from natural materials as dolomite or olivine to synthetic catalysts [2-4]. More recently, Rh-bas ed catalysts have been proposed as highly performing catalysts f or tar conversion [5,6] inhibiting coke formation and showing a very good r esistance to poisoning by sulfur compounds, often present in the biomass [7]. Nevertheless, the activity is not the only paramete r to be considered, the catalyst life-time being important as well. Indeed, during i ts use the catalyst undergoes several redox and thermal cycles and, consequently, permanent or reversible deactivation can occur. In order to investigate the thermal and chemical st bili y of the alumina supported rhodium-based catalysts cycles of tar conversion fo llowed by regeneration of the temporarily deactivated catalyst due to coke deposi tion have been carried out. The possible modifications of the structural and redox properties of both LaCoO 3 and Rh upon repeated cycles have been also studied by B ET and TPR/TPO techniques and related to the performance after each cycle. Experimental Catalysts preparation Stoichiometric amounts of La(NO 3)3·xH2O (Aldrich, >99.9%) and Co(NO 3)2·6H2O (Fluka, ≥99%) to obtain 20 wt% LaCoO 3 were dissolved in a water solution containing the alumina support (La-stabilized γ–Al2O3 Puralox SCF140-L3, SASOL). The solution was completely evaporated and then the powder sample dried for 2 h at 120°C and calcined in flowing air fo 3 h at 800°C. A fraction of calcined LaCoO3/Al 2O3 powder was impregnated with a Rh(NO 3)3·xH2O (Riedelde-Haën) solution using an amount of rhodium corres ponding to 1%wt, then drying and calcination were repeated. A 1 wt% Rh/Al 2O3 was prepared impregnating the alumina support using the same rhodium precursor. Catalyst characterization Rhodium and cobalt contents were quantitatively det ermined using an ICP-MS Agilent 7500 instrument. Catalyst surface area meas urements were carried out according to BET method by N 2 adsorption at 77K with a Quantachrome Autosorb 1-C analyzer. H2 TPR and TPO experiments were carried out with a Mi cromeritics Autochem II TPD/TPR analyzer. Approximately 100 mg of catalyst was reduced with a 2% H2/Ar mixture (50 Ncm 3 ·min) at 10°C·min up to 800°C after a 1 h in-situ pretreatment in air at 800°C. After the first TPR expe riment the sample was reoxidized under 0.5% O 2/He mixture heating at 10°C ·min -1 up to 800°C. The TPR/TPO cycle was repeated according to this proced ure until TPR profiles were superimposable. Catalytic tests The experimental set-up consisted of two fixed bed quartz reactors heated independently. The biomass sample (0.5 g of maple w ood chips with the following proximate composition: 8.9%wt moisture, 74.6%wt vol atiles, 15.9%wt fixed XXXVI Meeting of the Italian Section of the Combust ion Institute carbon, 0.6%wt ash, and the following chemical comp sition estimated on dry basis: 46.28%wt C, 5.56%wt H, 47.52%wt O, 0%wt N) w as heated up in the first furnace under pure N 2 (12 Nl·h ). The gaseous and condensable products formed during biomass pyrolysis in the first reactor passe d through the second reactor containing the catalyst (0.50 g) at 700°C and then t rough a two stage-condenser to collect heavier tars at room temperature and light er ones at -20°C, following the CEN/TS 15439 (2006) procedure. The permanent gases were sent to a micro-gaschromatograph (Agilent 3000A), equipped with four d ifferent independent channels and a TCD. The lines between the first and second reactor as well as between the second reactor and the tars condensatio train were heated (300400°C) to avoid the condensation of tarry compounds . The sampling train was weighed before and after eac h experiment for the quantitative evaluation of the tars yield. At the end of each experiment the amount of coke de posited on the catalyst was determined by oxidation of the material at 800°C. T he amount of released CO 2 provided the stoichiometric amount of coke formed d uring the previous catalytic tar conversion experiment and the regeneration of t he catalyst surface as well. Catalytic activity was thus estimated as the differ ence between the yields and type of gas, liquid and solid products obtained with the different catalysts. For all experiments the mass balance was closed with a maxi mum error of ±10%wt. Results and discussion The actual metals content are close to the nominal o e. The deposition of rhodium results in a slight reduction of the surface area o f the alumina support whereas the deposition of LaCoO3 causes a larger decrease. No significant effect on BET surface areas of either conversion/regeneration or TPR/TPO cycles were observed for all samples thus showing a good structural stab ility. TPR/TPO cycles were performed in order to reproduce the redox cycles the catalyst undergoes. Indeed, the catalyst is exposed to a reducing atmosphere under the tar conversion reaction (the oxygen is just tha t of the biomass pyrolysis products in addition to that of the supported metal oxide) and to an oxidizing atmosphere under regeneration conditions when oxyge n oxidizes coke on the surface and, in case, re-oxidize the alumina-disper sed metal. In Figures 1-2 TPR profiles of LaCoO 3/Al 2O3, Rh/Al2O3 and Rh-LaCoO3/Al 2O3 are reported. In each figure the TPR analysis carried o ut on the fresh sample (1 st TPR) is compared with the following ones (2 nd and 3 TPR) carried out after a TPO to re-oxidize the sample. The first TPR profile of LaC oO3/Al 2O3 (Fig. 1) has the typical features of perovskite-like oxide dispersed on alumina [5], showing the two peaks associable to the reduction of cobalt from +3 to +2 and +2 to 0 respectively. The H2 uptake, below the theoretical value for reduction of all Co 3+ to metallic cobalt, suggests that a significant fraction of the transition metal is not available for the catalytic reaction [6]. The second TPR performe d after a TPO up to 800°C shows a reduction of these two peaks balanced by th e appearance of a new peak at XXXVI Meeting of the Italian Section of the Combust ion Institute higher temperature typical of cobalt diffused in th e alumina matrix forming aluminate (CoAl 2O4) [5]. The further TPO/TPR cycle does not significa ntly modifies the profile suggesting that the cobalt mig ration basically takes place in the first cycle. Time, min 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 T C D s ig na l, a. u . T em pe ra tu re , ° C 0 200 400 600 80


In this paper, the modified simplest equation method as one of the computational schemes is applied to a nonlinear fractional emerging telecommunication model with higher-orderer dispersive cubic quintic for constructing the exact traveling and solitary wave solutions. This model is also known with higher order dispersive cubic quintic nonlinear complex fractional Schrödinger (NLCFS) equation. Moreover, it is used to explain the physical nature of the waves spread, especially in the dispersive medium. The disadvantages of the B spline schemes are investigated based on the obtained analytical solutions. Some obtained computational solutions are sketched to more illustration of the wave dynamics in the dispersive medium.


Simple Summary Metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has a dismal prognosis, and to date no curative treatment options exist. The image guided tumor ablation technique irreversible electroporation (IRE) employs high-voltage electrical pulses through the application of several needle electrodes in and around the tumor in order to induce cell death. IRE ablation of the primary tumor has the ability to reduce pancreatic tumor induced immune suppression while allowing the expansion of tumor specific effector T cells, hereby possibly shifting the pancreatic tumor microenvironment into a more immune permissive state. The addition of immune enhancing therapies to IRE might work synergistically and could potentially induce a clinically significant treatment effect. This study protocol describes the rationale and design of the PANFIRE-III trial that aims to assess the safety of the combination of IRE with IMO-2125 (toll-like receptor 9 ligand) and/or nivolumab in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Abstract Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a novel image-guided tumor ablation technique with the ability to generate a window for the establishment of systemic antitumor immunity. IRE transiently alters the tumor's immunosuppressive microenvironment while simultaneously generating antigen release, thereby instigating an adaptive immune response. Combining IRE with immunotherapeutic drugs, i.e., electroimmunotherapy, has synergistic potential and might induce a durable antitumor response. The primary objective of this study is to assess the safety of the combination of IRE with IMO-2125 (a toll-like receptor 9 ligand) and/or nivolumab in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC). In this randomized controlled phase I clinical trial, 18 patients with mPDAC pretreated with chemotherapy will be enrolled in one of three study arms: A (control): nivolumab monotherapy; B: percutaneous IRE of the primary tumor followed by nivolumab; or C: intratumoral injection of IMO-2125 followed by percutaneous IRE of the primary tumor and nivolumab. Assessments include contrast enhanced computed tomography (ceCT), 18F-FDG and 18F-BMS-986192 (PD-L1) positron emission tomography (PET)-CT, biopsies of the primary tumor and metastases, peripheral blood samples, and quality of life and pain questionnaires. There is no curative treatment option for patients with mPDAC, and palliative chemotherapy regimens only moderately improve survival. Consequently, there is an urgent need for innovative and radically different treatment approaches. Should electroimmunotherapy establish an effective and durable anti-tumor response, it may ultimately improve PDAC's dismal prognosis.


Let R be a commutative ring with identity and √ I be the radical of an ideal I of R. We introduce the radical-depended graph GI(R) whose vertex set is {x ∈ R \ √ I | xy ∈ I for some y ∈ R \ √ I} and distinct vertices x and y are adjacent if and only if xy ∈ I. In this paper, several properties of GI(R) are investigated and some results on the parameters of this graph are given. It follows that if I is a quasi primary ideal, then GI(R) = ∅. It is shown that if I is a 2-absorbing ideal of R which is not quasi primary, then GI(R) is the complete bipartite graph K1,1 or Km,n for some m,n ≥ 2. Moreover, it is proved that GI(R) is a connected graph with diameter at most 3, and if it has a cycle, then its girth is at most 4. Also, it is shown that if R is a Noetherian ring, then the clique number of GI(R) is equal to |Min(R/I)| for every ideal I of R. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 05C25; Secondary 13A15.


THIS paper gives a brief survey of the organization and nature of the work of the Eye Department in one of the hospitals-serving the Eighth Armyfrom the-autumn of 1940 to the conclusion of the North African campaign in May, 1943. The casualty statistics 'given below are those beginning with General Cunningham's offensive in the Western Desert in October, 1941, and end in May, 1943. These cover the period of fluctuating fortunes-of the-Eighth Army in its advance to the relief of Tobruk (1941 anid early 1942) and on to Benghazi, then the loss of Benghazi; the German-Italian offensive in May, 1942, the loss of Tobruk and' the retreat to Alamein. The majority of cases were the result of the triumphant British attack at Alamein in October, 1942.


A brief overview is provided of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) program of the National Center for Education Statistics, and areas of research or survey evaluation in which work is ongoing or planned are described. The SASS is an integrated system of surveys of public and private schools, schooi districts, school principals and administrators, and teachers. The program provides information on teacher supply and demand, the workforce, characteristics of teachers and other school personnel, and data on school conditions and programs. The following issues are discussed: (1) frame and coverage; (2) questionnaire design; (3) data collection; (4) estimation and non-response; (5) measurement; and (6) evaluation of survey data. Research commitments in these areas will help provide a deeper understanding of SASS data. (Contains 10


The structure of anhydrous nickel chloride in the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium chloride and aluminum chloride has been investigated with extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) in both Lewis acid and Lewis base solutions. The EXAFS data of NiCl{sub 2} {center_dot} 6H{sub 2}O crystals were also recorded and analyzed to demonstrate the difference file technique. The difference file technique is used to obtain the structural information for the very closely spaced coordination shells of chloride and oxygen in NiCl{sub 2} {center_dot} 6H{sub 2}O and they are found to agree very closely with the X-ray diffraction data. The difference file technique is then used to analyze the nickel chloride in the ionic liquid solutions. Even though anhydrous NiCl{sub 2} is more soluble in the basic solution than in the acidic solution, the EXAFS data show a single coordination of four chlorides in a tetrahedron around the nickel atom in the basic solution. In a weak acid solution, there are six chlorides in a single octahedral coordination shell around the nickel. However, in a strong acid solution, in addition to the octahedral chloride-coordination shell, there is a second coordination shell of eight aluminum atoms in the form of a simple cube.


In this paper, we describe a study of the electromagnetic absorption in the human body for some antennas used for mobile telephones and communication antennas using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) electromagnetic simulation approach. We have also have a finite-element (FE) based commercial electromagnetic solver (HFSS) was used for the most part of the study. Various antennas used for cellular phones such as the monopole and dipole antennas have been considered in the investigation. We have also studied the effect of using the widely disparate tissue properties reported in the literature and of using homogeneous and heterogeneous models on the specific absorption rate (SAR) distributions for 1 W of power radiated


Intrinsic Josephson junctions on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ single crystals are successfully fabricated using photolithography and Ar jon milling .Here we discuss the properties of the surface CuO2/metal bilayers and surface junctions prepared with different crystal cleavage conditions and metal film deposition techniques.We show that,by cleaving the crystal at liquid nitrogen temperature in vacuum,the contents of the (interstitial) oxygen in the Bi-O layers become stable upon cleavage,leading to a CuO2/metal bilayer and to surface junctions with reproducible properites,These results can be useful for practical device fabrications as well as for the studies of the contact properties between high Tc superconductors and normal metals.


Objectives . The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of high pressure balloons (17 to 20 atria, Blue Max, Meditech) to dilate branch pulmonary artery stenosis . Background. The low success rote (50% to 60%) for angioplns-,fy of branch pulmonary artery stenosis using low pressure , balloons is due primarily to the inability to eliminate the balloon waist . Hence, higher hdinflon pressures may improve results . Mellow& flemodynande and anglographic data from 52 patients (0.3 to 34 .8 years old) who underwent high pressure balloon dilation of branch pulmonary artery stenosis between October 1990 and February 1992 were reviewed retrospectively, as were data from previous low pressure dilations in these patients . Common diagnoses included tetralogy of Fallot (a = 9), tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia (n = 23), single ventricle (n = 8) and isolateOd congenital pulmonary stenosis (n = 7) . The 52 patients had 72 vessels dilated . Criteria for success were a X50%


Sustainable composites based on blends from polypropylene (PP) and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (RPET) and wood flour (WF) were prepared under industry‐relevant conditions by melt extrusion, followed by continuous drawing through spinnerets. Maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (PP‐g‐MA) was employed to improve the compatibility between matrix and WF. The effects of incorporation of WF and RPET microstructure on the morphological features, rheological measurements, and mechanical properties were investigated. The drawing process converted elliptical RPET phase into highly oriented microfibrillar structure, as characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The highly oriented blend (HOB) represented nonterminal behavior due to the presence of physical networks and enhanced surface area of microfibers for chemical interactions. The tensile strength of neat PP increased by the addition of WF and the existence of microfibrillar RPET phase, whereas the microstructure of RPET had more pronounce effect. The tensile strength and elastic modulus of PP reinforced by WF and oriented RPET improved by 65% and 92%, respectively, demonstrating the high potential of this environmental‐friendly reinforcement method to intensify the mechanical properties of PP.


In a randomised crossover trial, 26 babies, treated with Hudson prong continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) from a bubbling bottle, received vigorous, high amplitude, or slow bubbling for 30 minutes. Pulse oximetry, transcutaneous carbon dioxide, and respiratory rate were recorded. The bubbling rates had no effect on carbon dioxide, oxygenation, or respiratory rate.


Research relating sleep impairment and cardiometabolic disease supports exercise and diet in improving both conditions. The role of self- and other-informed knowledge on self-care behaviors is unknown. This study investigated how proactive health behaviors, physician support, and familial disease awareness are related in this comorbid population.

 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 2015-2016 was used. For this study, U.S. adults (N=9,971;49.3% female) with dietary, sleep, cardiometabolic disease risk, proactive health behavior, physician-informed, and familial knowledge of cardiometabolic disease data were selected. Self-reported sleep difficulty was defined as ever telling a doctor/health professional of trouble sleeping. Kendall's tau-b correlations and multinomial regression were performed. Covariates included race, gender, weight control, dietary efforts, and exercise.

 Statistically significant associations between comorbid cardiometabolic disease/sleep difficulty (CMD/SD) and efforts to control/lose weight(X2(6)=63.956,p>0.0001), reduce dietary salt(X2(6)=69.702,p>0.0001), and reduce dietary fat(X2(6)=70.666,p>0.0001) were found. Despite having comorbid CMD/SD, most participants (51%) reported no history of receiving physician-informed health improvement methods. However, statistically significant associations between comorbid CMD/SD and physician-informed methods and weight loss efforts(X2(4)=76.873,p>0.0001), increased exercise(X2(4)=72.713,p>0.0001), reduced dietary salt(X2(4)=96.892,p>0.0001), and reduced dietary fat(X2(4)=104.231,p>0.0001) were found. Statistically significant associations between comorbid CMD/SD and knowledge of close relative with heart attack(X2(9)=23.905,p=0.004) or diabetes(X2(9)=129.705,p>0.0001) were found. Participants with comorbid CMD/SD were more likely to reduce dietary fat(X2(1)=4.575,p< 0.032) than participants with comorbid sleep difficulty/cardiovascular disease or comorbid sleep difficulty/metabolic disease. Although no association between age of cardiometabolic diagnosis onset and proactive health behaviors was found, the regression model showed that male gender(p=0.008) and reducing dietary fat was predictive of comorbid CMD/SD(p=0.032).

 Participants with comorbid CMD/SD directed proactive health efforts towards eating behavior (less food/decreasing salt and fat). With physician-informed support, participants additionally increased exercise level. Further exploring the role of familial disease knowledge, gender-specific support, and innovative efforts by health professionals in treating/preventing comorbid CMD/SD is warranted.

 None


This paper describes the CFD analysis of single rectangular microchannel for hydraulic diameter 319 μm. While CFD analysis the Nusselt number observed is 4 to 5 with different Reynolds Number variation for flow rate of 0.001 kg/sec to 0.012 kg/sec. The current work describes CFD analysis of single microchannels for length of 50 mm with water as a fluid medium with laminar flow. Computational Fluid dynamics analysis of Single rectangular microchannel Single rectangular microchannel of 319 μm hydraulic diameter is analyzed to study the flow characteristics in the inlet, microchannel test section and outlet test section with ANSYS CFX-11 for pressure drop, temperature drop, velocity counter of single micro-channel. For analyzing the weather the turbulence is created at inlet part of the microchannel a pressure drop analysis is carried for flow rate of 0.012 kg/sec with heat input 5.33 watt/cm2 under laminar flow consideration. For analyzing the temperature profile across microchannel a for flow rate of 0.012 kg/sec with heat input 5.33 watt/cm2 under laminar flow is considered.. For single microchannel the temperature rise of water is in range of 1 °K to 2 °K at center plane of microchannel. It is found that at leading edges or leaving edge the temperature rise in water is higher as compare to entering edge of microchannel. It is due to while entering to leaving of water particles in microchannel it collapse each other and try to increasing friction along each other so at outlet or leading edge the temperature rise is seen higher as compare to in let portion of single microchannel.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


The reliability of water and power supply from dams is highly dependent on reservoir storage, which will take on increasing importance in the future as climate change sets in. Climate change will result in increased hydrologic variability, resulting in not only larger floods but longer and more severe droughts. Enabling reliable supply of both power and water during such long droughts, which can span over multiple years, requires large reservoir storage spaces. Globally, reservoir storage is experiencing a net decrease, the result of a reduced rate of dam construction since the 1980's and storage loss due to reservoir sedimentation. The joint reduction in reservoir storage loss and increased hydrologic variability due to climate change will lead to greater reduction in the reliability of water and power supply than previously estimated. The realization that reservoir storage has a dual nature, i.e. that it can be either renewable or exhaustible depending on design and operating decisions, demands establishment of a new tradition in dam building and operation. Successful implementation of reservoir sedimentation management technology is necessary to ensure that reservoir storage can be managed as a renewable resource, which is necessary to secure the future of humanity. This is particularly true in the case of sustainable development of water supply sources, of which dams and their reservoirs have the greatest potential for sustainable development. The development of intergenerational equity through designing dams and reservoirs that can be used in perpetuity should be the fundamental principal of dam design and operating philosophy. Developing such a new tradition requires a radical change in our approach to water resource development. In addition to executing research with the mental discipline necessary to develop new and practical sediment management technologies, as exemplified by this workshop, it is also our duty as engineers and developers of natural resources to act in an ethical manner and with the wisdom necessary to fulfill our role in society to enhance life quality. Just like the discipline of Zen sought to understand the essence of Buddhist philosophy, and defined it, we should strive to understand the essential nature of our role in society


In Reliability analysis, there are four main steps to perform. These steps are selection of the mathematical model that represents system states, selection of the mathematical representation that represents the operation of the system, quantitative and qualitative reliability analysis and to conclude the obtained results. In Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, there is a course called Reliability engineering in which reliability analysis is taught. During the course, the students are taught about the basic of the reliability engineering and reliability analysis. During this process, there are various topics that can be more challenging for a student, such as computation of the Importance measures. Thanks to this, we developed a software tool for such computation and this tool is also usable for the research activities in our faculty. By implementing this software tool in the teaching process in subject of the reliability engineering the students can better understand, how these measures can be computed and how can they be used for localizing weak spots in the system. Results from this tool can be then used in term projects and assignments by students of in research activities that uses these measures in reliability analysis.


For uncertain continuous system and uncertain discrete-time system with input contraints,the optimization problem with given expectation value of performance index is discussed,which can be transformed into the problem of matrix approximation with matrix inequalities contraints. Moreover,such problem can be solved by coverting into the generalized eigenvalue problem with matrix inequalities contraints.Examples are given to illustrate that the optimization solution can be obtained by solver in LMI Toolbox.


Jan Janowicz was born in 1893 in Giełuta. After arriving in Olsztyn in 1945, he began the process of establishing a surgical department in Olsztyn. In a short time, he set up hospital wards and outpatient clinics, which provided surgical care to the inhabitants of Olsztyn and Olsztyn voivodeship. Due to the lack of specialist staff, he was simultaneously the head of department at three hospitals in Olsztyn. On his initiative and under his supervision, independent departments of orthopedics, pediatric surgery, urology, and thoracic surgery were established. Jan Janowicz, as a pioneer in Olsztyn's surgery and the founder of new departments, became the most important and most distinguished surgeon in the post-war history of medicine of Warmia and Mazury.The aim of the study is to present the biography of Jan Janowicz, the pioneer and most distinguished surgeon of Olsztyn and the Warmian-Masurian voivodeship.The study is based on the available literature as well as the authors' own research.We present a biography of Jan Janowicz, a pioneer of Olsztyn's medicine.Doctor Janowicz, who came to Olsztyn in 1945, was a pioneer and the first person to organize surgical care in what is now the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. His activities led to the establishment of independent departments of pediatric surgery, orthopedics, urology, and thoracic surgery.


The objective of this research was to investigate the three up levels of cognitive domain of revised Bloom's Taxonomy used in the textbook entitled Bahasa Inggris SMA/MA/SMK/MAK grade 11 th semester 1, namely analyzing level (C4), evaluating level (C5), and creating level (C6). Using the descriptive qualitative method and content analysis, this study examined the questions in the reading comprehension tasks only to determine to what extent the reading comprehension questions emphasize on Higher Order Thinking. This research focused on analyzing the Bahasa Inggris SMA/MA/SMK/MAK textbook grade 11 th semester 1 published by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The researcher collected and listed the questions in the reading comprehension tasks and then calculated the percentage and frequencies of each level of cognition in each separate book chapter and in all five combined book chapters. The results showed that the most dominant level in the textbook was higher order thinking skills HOTS). It was 66.8 % of 100 % while it was 33.4 % for lower order thinking skills LOTS). It indicated that this textbook concentrated more on higher –level thinking questions than lower lever thinking.


This paper was focused on aspects of sorrow which run through Yun Dong ju's poetry. First the aspect of sorrow is passive in that it is based on loss of idealized childhood. In same time it has active aspect in that the sadness work as drive of construct by self-reflective ego. It have a present subject separate from the past ego and negative reality. Second the sorrow is based on universal humanism that is comprised in sympathy and pity and it is originated from nationalistic christianity. Yun Dong ju's diaspora fate through Manchuria, Pyongyang and Japanese planted inevitably loneliness and estrangement in poet's consciousness. This nomad sense and pain went toward a longing for Utopia. The Utopia in Yun Dong ju's poetry means not only his hometown but also liberated state, poetry. This is represented as 'Sky, Wind, Star and poetry' in which natural order dominate. But this astronomical beauty isn't transcendency. Yun Dong ju introduced idea of time and naming in relation to poem in this absolute space so that changed to space consisted of human being's labor and fate.


The article is devoted to the study of the origins and conditions of emergence of the phenomenon of Maslenitsa. The paper examines the ontological causes of this holiday. The author relies on the methodology of the philosophy of «imiaslavie» (name worship), the symbolic concept of speech and language, which is designated in the philosophy of A.F. Losev and P.F. Florensky, and the concept of ontological mutual reversibility of the phenomena of language and time described in the works of V.A. Friauf and V.V. Kanafieva.


A capacitor touch pad and a contact detection method thereof are suitable to detect a plurality of contacts on the capacitor touch pad. The capacitor touch pad comprises a plurality of first dimension sense wires and second dimension sense wires which are arranged in an array manner; and when a first contact point and a second contact point are found to be positioned on the capacitor touch pad simultaneously by scanning the capacitor touch pad, the positions of the first contact point and second contact point can be judged according to the detected current of the first dimension sense wires and the second dimension sense wires. The capacitance of each first dimension sense wire decreases gradually along a first direction and the capacitance of each second dimension sense wire decreases gradually along a second direction.


Providing an imaging illumination structure for optical encoder. When the head using telecentric imaging optics in the encoder is read, the illumination configuration generates dial uniform luminance and two images of the structure. In one embodiment a uniform irradiance embodiment, is formed in the desired field of view by using a collimated or quasi-collimated beam illumination profile, but to ensure that sufficient illumination is irrelevant, thereby suppressing a cycle of the dial potential structure due to self-imaging. In one embodiment, the ratio of the focal length of the collimator lens the effective emitter size falls within a range of options, so as to ensure a relatively uniform illumination within the field of view and still provide sufficiently incoherent illumination. In another embodiment, the scattering body disposed above the collimator lens, which contributes even when the illumination direction due to misalignment between the read head and the disk surface caused by the scale dial with respect to the change is to produce uniform illumination.


IPL is a declarative distributed language designed to support application level programming in the InterBase project. This paper presents the IPL language and shows how it support flexible transactions, mixed transactions, time-constrained transactions and other features. Besides its transaction-oriented features, IPL can be used as a general purpose distributed programming language.<<ETX>>


The father has always occupied a central position in the Francophone North African novel. As Mohammed Zahiri explains, there is an obsession with the father figure in the novels of Moroccan writers such as Tahar Ben Jelloun, Driss Chraibi and Mohammed Choukri. The father is not merely the undisputed head of his household. He is "le seigneur" of Chraibi's Le Passe simple, the malevolent tyrant whose baleful influence is offset by that of the tender, often victimized, mother. In this guise, he generally represents the oppression inherent in the dominant political, social and cultural order. However, in Ben Jelloun's two most recent novels, Jour de silence a Tanger (1989) and Les Yeux baisses (1991), this dominant negative image of the father is moderated and softened. Tahar Ben Jelloun, one of the most celebrated contemporary Francophone North African writers, has treated the theme of fatherhood in its many dimensions in much of his work. His oeuvre includes not only his widely-read novels (one of which, La Nuit sacre rather, he exploits the pathos of the moral and social dilemmas of his characters to force the reader to confront these issues on his or her own. Besides La Nuit sacr&e, this device is used with particular effectiveness in Harrouda, Moha le fou Moha le sage and La reclusion solitaire. La Nuit sacre&e marks the culmination of the generally negative image of the father developed in Ben Jelloun's early works. The deathbed confession of the father who forced his seventh daughter Zohra to become Ahmed, the son he could not have, has more the ring of guilty selfjustification than of a real attempt at mutual communication. He declares:


This is the first book to explore the different relationships between active citizenship and civil society, particularly the third sector within civil society. In what ways can the third sector nurture active citizenship? How have the third sector and active citizenship been constructed and reconstructed both locally and internationally, over recent years? To what extent have new kinds of social connectedness, changing forms of political engagement and increasingly complex social and environmental problems influenced civil society action? Written by experts in the field, this important book draws on a range of theory and empirical studies to explore these questions in different socio-political contexts and will be a useful resource for academics and students as well as practitioners.


from the digital artery of a finger is picked up, can be kept in position for four hours or longer without cyanosis or oedema developing. Pressure is recorded on a dial in the front panel, on a mercury sphygmomanometer if required, and on a heat-sensitive chart. A warning light is switched on automatically when the pressure becomes dangerously high or low. The equipment can also be used to control the infusion of hypoz


Order picking is defined as the process of clustering and scheduling orders, assigning stock on location to order lines, releasing orders to the floor, picking the articles from storage locations and the disposal of the picked articles (De Koster et al. 2007). Picking is the most labourintensive operation in warehouses with manual systems and a very capital-intensive operation in warehouses with automated systems (Tompkins et al. 2010) so it is therefore a key process in warehouse design as it has a significant impact on capital and operating costs. Coyle et al. (2003) state that this activity's contribution could arise a 65% of total operating costs of a common warehouse.


The professionalization of football has led to the adoption of corporate and strategic management. In this sense, attention to the hiring of trained professionals is increasingly high, both in terms of experience, training, skills and their motivations. In addition to skills, it is also considered their Career Anchors, which are a combination of motivations, preferences, interests, aspirations and values that represent the essence of the worker. This study aimed to analyze the Career Anchors of soccer executives and managers. As specific objectives, the ordering and classification of Career Anchors in the sample, verifying similarities between the results obtained with the skills defined for professional practice. This quantitative, cross-sectional and descriptive research sampled 26 soccer executives or managers who worked in clubs of the 2019 Brazilian Soccer Championship, from a population of 70 professionals affiliated with the Brazilian Association of Soccer Executives. The instrument used for data collection was the Career Anchors inventory elaborated by Schein and Maanen (1993), extracted from the book Carrer Anchors by Dutra and Albuquerque (2008), which classify them into eight different categories: Technical Competence, Management Competence General, Independence, Security, Entrepreneurship, Dedication to a Cause, Pure Challenge and Lifestyle. Descriptive analyzes were performed, considering the mean and standard deviation to describe the variables and, to test the significant difference between the means of the anchors, a one-way ANOVA and multiple comparisons with Bonferroni post-hoc adjustment were used. The results found indicate that the anchor that obtained the highest value was Pure Challenge, with an average value of 5.1, followed by the Technical Competence anchor, with 4.8, and Dedication to a cause, with 4.6. It is possible to see that Entrepreneurship had the lowest average and had little variability: 2.7 with a standard deviation of 1.0. The Pure Challenge and Dedication to a cause anchor predominate, both with 30.8% of the total, followed by Technical/Functional Competence with 23.1%. Entrepreneurship was the only anchor that was not the greatest in any case. These findings may contribute to the understanding of the motivations and preferences of football executives and managers in clubs, in addition to subsidizing the analysis of adherence of profiles to positions and functions assumed for professional management.


Chickpea (Cicer arietinum Linn.) is most important pulse crop in Madhya Pradesh. Front line demonstration were conducted during the post rainy season at 48 farmers fields, to demonstrate production potential and economic benefit of improved technologies consisting suitable varieties (cvs 'JG -322', 'JG-11'), integrated nutrient management (20:60:20:30 NPKS kg/ha + Rhizobium + PSB @ 20 g/kg seed), integrated pest management (deep ploughing + seed treatment with Tricoderma viride @ 5 g/kg seed + Fermone trap @ 10/ha + Bird perchers @ 50/ha + quanalphos @ 1.2 l with 600 l of water) at Tikamgarh district of Bundelkhand Agro-climate zone during Rabi season 2004-05 to 2008-09. The improved technologies recorded mean yield of 19.65 q/ha which was 71.88 per cent higher than that obtained with farmers practices of 11.44 q/ha. Improved technologies gave higher mean net return of 24611/ha with a benefit cost ratio 2.99 as compared to local practice ( 11820/ha, benefit cost ratio 2.58).


The genus Armillaria belongs to basidiomycetes and has been known to induce root rot disease and to cause extensive economic losses to a forest crop. We analysed about 40 isolates of Armillaria collected in Czech Republic by PCR and restriction analysis using gel electrophoresis and ion-exchange HPLC. Restrictase Hinf I was able to discriminate all investigated Armillaria species. The sensitivity and resolution of HPLC method was better than that performed by gel electrophoresis. HPLC was able to detect some heterozygous. The results prove the similarity of the species A. borealis, A. cepistipes, A. gallica, A. ostoyae in difference of A. mellea and A. tabescens.


In this survey paper, we assess existing approaches to security metric definition. We classify proposed definitions and discuss their advantages and problems. We argue that without a more restrictive definition, the apparently common term degenerates to a mere buzzword, which can be dangerous in terms of suggested comparability. We conclude with some guidelines on IS metric definition and sketch an alternative concept for the operational IS security evaluation.


The much anticipated productivity and better performance of any industry counts on the proper utilization of human resources. Any agricultural industry involves different types of employees in field and factory. Moreover the overall management is monitored by administrative staffs. In this paper a model is developed so that payroll cost per month is minimized and at the same time the production target is also achieved. The study is based on the information from an agrobased industry. The developed model is given in the Appendix.


This paper presented a novel modular recognition method, which was the Fuzzy Neural Network Inference Recognition (FNNIR) method based on the total matching degree computing of multi-features. The Modular Recognition Functional Component (MRFC) was composed of three software modules, which were feature extraction module, off-line learning module and on-line fuzzy inference module. A zero-order Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Neural Network was constructed to obtain non-linear mapping between multi-features and actual classification. The bell-shaped membership function was proposed to describe the distribution of feature values. The parameters of the membership function for each feature can be determined by off-line learning of FNN. The matching degree of each feature and the total matching degree can be calculated by the membership functions, and the recognition result can be determined by the total matching degree. The experiment results show that the average test error of FNN is only 0.005443, with high modeling accuracy, thus making it suitable for on-line applications with high recognition accuracy.


The vehicle information management system based on radio frequency identification is developed with the technology of radio frequency identification (RFID). The system consists of radio frequency-card, data reading and collecting, system analysis and management parts. The state of vehicle going out or coming in is determined by the reading card according to the order of radio frequency-card installed vehicle passing through the induction loop. The information is stored in the database by data collecting service program, so that managers could refer and analyze the current information of vehicles. The system affords convenience to vehicle management, improves the efficiency of vehicle safe-running. The system is of efficient practicability, better stability and provides scientific method of management.


In the article "image of other" in perception of the Russian officers - participants of the Russian-Turkish war 1828-1829 are analysed. Basic informative constituents are selected in their flashbacks. A conclusion is done, that perception of population of osman domains and his way of life depended on cultural stereotypes and terms of service of memorialists.


The multiple longitudinal mode output of high‐power diode‐laser arrays is converted into single mode with 97% efficiency by optical feedback from a thin (<200 μm thick) etalon external to the laser. The coupled cavities formed by addition of the etalon favor a single longitudinal mode. Single‐mode operation is retained at 0.1 MHz pulsed rates. Both the near‐field and the far‐field patterns of the laser array remain nearly unchanged while the array operates in a single longitudinal mode.


It is now long since philologists and commentators on the ancient authors have sought to establish that the descriptions which these authors give of their perception of colour, agree only imperfectly with our present knowledge, and with the sensations which coloured objects produce 011 our eyes. To cite only one example, I will mention the article by Mr Gladstone, published in 1858, and entitled, Studies of Homer and the Homeric Age. In studying the various occupations of the different expressions that we usually translate by the names of colours, Mr Gladstone arrives at the following conclusions:? 1st, " That Homer, more than any other poet, has made use of all the expressions which describe luminous effects in all their modifications, and in all their degrees of intensity; but that his descriptions and his appellations of the different colours are not only very imperfect, but also very indefinite. That Homer had, therefore, a very defective and indefinite perception of the prismatic colours, which are produced by the refraction of light, as for ex-


Studies of nanoparticle monolayer formation have been motivated by potential applications of the films in magnetic storage, surface-enhanced Raman scattering coatings, ceramic joining, and biosensors, among others. Potential applications of nanoparticle monolayers rely on fabrication techniques that are facile, rapid, and site selective. Three of the most common techniques used to create monolayer films are Langmuir-Blodgett, ligandmediated self-assembly, and evaporative self-assembly. Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of nanoparticles s from colloidal suspensions stands as an equally powerful and versatile liquid-phase process to fabricate inexpensively films and coatings of materials. A wide assortment of materials, from macroscopic crystals to nanoparticles and including luminescent, magnetic, and ceramics materials, can be cast by EPD onto field-emanating conducting, semiconducting, and insulating substrates. Many potential commercial and industrial applications of nanoparticle ensembles rely on fabrication techniques that are facile, rapid, and site-selective which create homogenous, densely packed, defect-free thin films. EPD is a technique that meets all of these criteria.


The Lebesgue outer measure is a notion for the size of a set in Rn. Dimension is a more generalized notion of size which includes non-integer values and helps differentiate between certain sets which outer measure cannot. In this paper, three notions of dimension are introduced and several facts about them are proven. In the last section, we discuss how dimension can be applied to asset prices.


Proceedings of the ASCE Water Resources Planning and Management Division Specialty Conference, held in the University of Houston Hilton Hotel Center, February 25-8, 1979. Sponsored by the Water Resources Planning and Management Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Water Systems '79 contains dozens of papers covering a broad range of issues in water systems engineering. Topics include national water policy issues, riverine water quality systems, mathematical modeling for water resource systems, planning and management of irrigation systems, and the impacts of energy development on water resources. These proceedings will be of interest to both practitioners and researchers in the field of water systems engineering.


Abstract For supplying information not obtainable by the usual methods, the microscope is useful and often essential; not only will it disclose details which would otherwise be unseen, but by its unique methods of examination measurements of certain properties of materials can be readily secured which are not otherwise obtainable. When one considers the value of the microscope to the rubber industry specifically, the study of the size of particles is usually the first and frequently the only application which comes to mind, although other uses have been suggested and described. The present paper not only describes the importance of the microscope in determining particle size and shape, but also covers its applications in the solution of other problems which ordinarily are not considered to lie in the field of microscopy. [Chamot describes many interesting applications in different industries which indicate the unusual capabilities of microscopic methods.] In a well-organized industrial laboratory, the mic...