THE electrical crevasse detector, as mentioned by Mr. Ward in his review, was in service during the United States 1956-57 Antarctic operations. At 'that time it had its first Antarctic test and first operational use anywhere. Units built by Mr. Cook and his associates at Southwest Research Institute (Texas) were supplied to U.S. Navy and U.S. I.G.Y. parties for their oversnow traverse operations. Extensive field testing in Greenland during 1955 (described in Mr. Cook's article reviewed by Ward) led to the construction of a prototype model tested in Greenland in 1956. The prototype, although in theory similar to the detector of Mr. Cook's article, bore little structural resemblance to earlier models. All features of the structural design were perfected to the point that the detector's electrodes were easily maneuvered 10-13 m. in advance of and by the weasel. The electrical system included an audio-visual warning system containing a graph recorder, a buzzer, a flashing light, and headphones, All were actuated by the signal intensity fluctuations obtained over a crevasse. The 1956 detector was in actuality two detectors. One system, the "Long" system, extended fore and aft of the weasel. Its electrode spacing was 13-13-13 m. The second system was the "Wide" system that detected crevasses in a 10 meter wide area perpendicular to the path of and 10 m. ahead of the moving vehicle. Electrode spacing in the "Wide" system was 3-3-3 m. The 1956 tests of the prototype led to further changes which were incorporated in the detectors sent to the Antarctica. The first detector in use in Antarctica was employed by the Army-Navy Trail Party, an eleven man team whose mission was the establishment of a tractor route from Little America Station to lat. 80 0 S., long. 120 W. The latter point is the site of the U.S. I.G.Y. Byrd Station, by trail some 646 statute miles (1040 km.) from Little America. Snow density, wetness, and the thickness of a crevasse bridge were known to affect the intensity of the detector signal. Consequently, an initial period of testing and calibration on known crevasses near Little America was conducted. When the trail party moved inland the detector traveled ahead of the other reconnaissance vehicles and the party's two 37 ton D-8 tractors. Any questionable areas were detected and probed before the heavy equipment was endangered. Aerial reconnaissance revealed that all crevasse areas between the two stations could be avoided except a severely fissured belt at the junction of the Ross Ice Shelf and the Rockefeller J>lateau. The severity of this disturbed area prevented adoption of previously developed, perpendicular approach methods of crossing crevasses. Instead, a route 8 to 15 m. wide was selected for travel between two seven mile long crevasses 39 m. deep and 7 to 30 m. wide. Within this narrow lane thirty-six large cracks and crevasses hazardous to tractor travel were encountered. These were dynamited, filled in, and suitably bridged for tractor travel. It is in this crevassed area that the detector had its greatest test and proved its immense value in oversnow trail development.


Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man... Whate'er the passion, knowledge, fame, or pelf, Not one will change his neighbor with himself. The learn'd is happy Nature to explore, The fool is happy that he knows no more; The rich is happy in the plenty given, The poor contents him with the care of Heaven. See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing, The sot a hero, lunatic a king; The starving chemist in his golden views Supremely blest, the poet in his Muse... A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod; An honest man's the noblest work of God. From the 'Essay on Man' by Alexander Pope, 1688-1744


The electronic structure, magnetic states, chemical bonding, and thermodynamic properties of β-US2 are investigated by using first-principles calculation through the density functional theory (DFT) +U approach. The obtained band structure exhibits a direct band gap semiconductor at Γ point with a band gap of 0.9 eV for β-US2, which is in good agreement with the recent experimental data. The charge-density differences, the Bader charge analysis, and the Born effective charges suggest that the U–S bonds of the β-US2 have a mixture of covalent and ionic characters, but the ionic character is stronger than covalent character. The Raman-active, infrared-active, and silent modes at the Γ point are further assigned and discussed. The obtained optical-mode frequencies indicate that the three apparent LO–TO (longitudinal optical–transverse optical) splittings occur in B1u, B2u, and B3u modes, respectively. Furthermore, the Helmholtz free energy ΔF, the specific heat ΔE, vibrational entropy S, and constant volume CV are studied over a range from 0 K∼100 K. We expect that our work can provide some valuable information for further experimental investigation of the dielectric properties and the infrared reflectivity spectrum of uranium chalcogenide.


This paper set out to examine the possibilities for injury avoidance implications for older drivers in crashes, based on crash and injury patterns among older drivers and current trends in ageing in most western societies. A number of safety technologies were identified and discussed which have potential for improving vehicle, older driver crash avoidance and crashworthiness. While there were some promising estimates available of the likely benefits of this technology for improving safety, it is evident that they need to be confirmed for older drivers, given their age-related disabilities and sensory limitations. Further research is urgently required to ensure that these technologies yield safety benefits without any disbenefits for older drivers. (A) Paper to the 1st International ESAR Conference on 3rd/4th September 2004 at Hannover Medical School (Germany), Session: Accident Prevention and Causation - Part I. For the covering abstract see ITRD D355457.


As a result of the Kaapvaal Project we now have unprecedented coverage of the crustal thickness and details of the seismic velocity variations in the tectosphere beneath southern Africa. By using these data and reasonable density relationships we can calculate the contribution of each of these components to the overall gravity field of southern Africa. These gravity modeling results confirm the suggestion that the high seismic velocity keel beneath southern Africa has a lower density than surrounding mantle material and is consequently highly depleted; a result in agreement with the xenolith data obtained from kimberlites. We estimate that the 1% seismic velocity variation observed between on and off craton leads to a 1% variation in mantle density due to compositional variation. This low density keel is vital to counterbalance the effect of the thinner than average crust that is observed beneath the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons. Thus in regions where the Archaean craton boundaries may not be apparent from geological mapping, seismic studies and gravity modelling could assist with delineating potentially cratonic regions with diamond potential.


This guide is intended to assist students with their career research for Mr. Shuman's assignment (although it can certainly be used for career research in general). Check out these interesting articles about the latest outlooks for jobs...and more.


The increase of computing power and connectivity provide a favorable scenario to data collection never experienced before. The popularization of computing devices, specially portable and for personal use ones, and the large number of applications for these devices are factors that favor social interactions navigation, entertainment, and others. These applications occasionally evaluate the user context through sensors and their online activities, registering fragments of the user context recorded in semantically valuable datasets. In this study, we investigated the challenge of analysis of heterogeneous data from ubiquitous and pervasive applications using an approach based on layers of sensing. We evaluated the urban scenario considering the mobility of users and the weather. The results showed a phenomenon of behavior transition within a specific temperature range for a group of cities studied in this paper.


The invention provides a circuit system protection device, which mainly comprises a wound resistor, a fuse and a voltage limiter which are connected with each other. The circuit system protection device can be covered by a protection shell in which filling materials are filled. By using the resistor to bear input transient voltage and reduce surge current passing through the voltage limiter, the circuit system protection device can use a lighter and cheaper voltage limiter without changing the surge protection ability of the device. The voltage limiter clamps the transient input voltage to a specific level. When the wound resistor or the voltage limiter is overheated by rated surge current which is higher than the specification of the circuit system protection device, in order to avoid subsequent surges, the wound resistor is burned out or the fuse forms an open circuit to cut off alternating-current power. Therefore, the invention provides the device which is cheap, light and durable and can safely prevent surge voltage, surge current and sustained overvoltage.


Private colleges are part of the public welfare undertakings,and play an important role in promoting the reform and development of higher education in China. However,as individual investors of private colleges,they have limited funds and narrow financing channel,and this problem have hindered the further development of private education. Therefore,in order to promote sustained and healthy development of the private colleges,it is necessary to make scientific analysis on the factors affecting the financing of the private colleges,and then find out corresponding measures.


Ray Boston, Director of Journalism, University College, University of Wales, Cardiff and Edward Wilson Visiting Fellow at Deakin University this year writes about journalistic quackery and journalism's lost sense of 'honourable public service'.


Objective To study the surgical treatment of severe pancreatitis during the comparison and safety evaluation.Methods The operative time was divided into operation time 72h 10 cases and operation time 73~168h 12 cases,the operation time 168h 20 cases.Observe the surgery the cure rate in patients with severe pancreatitis,mortality,complication rate and compare.Results 73~168h group and 168h group observed the contents significant difference(P0.05).72h group and 73~168h group, 168h group observed the contents of significant difference(P0.01). Conclusions The operative time was an important factor affecting the surgical mortality rate,operation time early the more the worse the security,the operation time and the severity of the disease and the natural course of disease is closely related phases.Patients with severe pancreatitis should be actively corrected to improve the general condition,further surgical treatment can increase the clinical effect of surgery to improve surgical safety.


Convolutional neural networks (CNN) are capable of extracting features with high accuracy, which is dominant in visual-based classification. Previous researches demonstrate that CNN can extract essential features of the target in the plant feature extraction and classification. Hyperspectral LIDAR (HSL) is a novel active remote sensing technology that can simultaneously collect spectral and spatial information. This paper proposed a novel classification method named VI-CNN for hyperspectral LiDAR, which combines the spectral features with the vegetable index(VI). As far as we know, we are the first to apply CNN to HSL data classification. The VI -CNN is divided into two parts. Firstly, spectral CNN focuses on intra-spectral correlations; secondly, the vegetation indices supplement the biological parameters. The evaluation shows that the concatenation has stronger identification and robustness than standalone methods. The experimental results demonstrate that the VI-CNN significantly improves the classification accuracy against other traditional machine-learning methods.


In recent years scholarship has drawn attention to the role of large multi-issue interest groups in policy networks and in public policy diffusion. This paper develops this field of study by demonstrating empirically the leverage of the 'sustained organisational influence'
 theory of policy diffusion. Specifically, it focuses on the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in diffusing the Stand Your Ground policy across US state legislatures. By comparing ALEC's template policy to bills introduced and legislation subsequently enacted within
 state legislatures, we demonstrate that ALEC has positioned itself as a 'super interest group', exerting sustained organisational influence across an expanding number of states. In doing so, this paper moves theory beyond the typical advocacy coalition framework that implicitly
 assumes policymaking occurs discretely among specialists on an issue-by-issue basis. It also highlights the democratic implications of the role of super interest groups in shaping policy behind the scenes.


SummaryFor the first time, regenerated plantlets were obtained from immature zygotic embryos of mango (Mangifera indica L.) through direct somatic embryogenesis. Pro-embryogenic mass (PEM)-like structures, which are differentiated as clusters of globular structures, were easily induced directly from the abaxial side of cotyledons from immature fruits, 2.0–3.5 cm diameter by a 2-wk culture period on a modified Murashige and Skoog medium with 5 mgl−1 (25μM) indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). Conversion of somatic embryos into plantlets was achieved after 4 wk of culture on the conversion medium containing 5mgl−1 (23 μM) kinetin. Secondary somatic embryogenesis could also be obtained directly from the hypocotyls of mature primary somatic embryos cultured on the conversion medium. In our experimental system, only minor problems were noted with browning of cultures.


399–436), is an evergreenornamental shrub and has become increasingly popular in recent yearsas a palm-like specimen plant. This species is highly requested byinterior designers and architects due to this feature. This plant isusually propagated by stem cuttings.During the months of June and July 2006, several stem cuttingsfrom dracaena were received at the Laboratory of Plant Pathology of"Embrapa Florestas" in Colombo, Parana State (PR), Brazil, from a


There is the uncertainty of knowing with certainty the quality and appropriateness of the data obtained by a measurement; variation, bias, and calibration are some of the factors affecting the measurement systems, so the purpose of analyzing these systems is to ensure the validity of the results. This project involves measurement systems that have a need to get real results, i.e. that these systems try to determine the variation of the measurement, based on the equipment, piece, or the change of person and different measurements generated by the same person. The data are a representation of the process. The reliability of the collection of data must be ensured before doing any capability study, statistical process control (SPC). Without a validated measurement system, you can reach erroneous conclusions and act on the process the wrong way. It is therefore necessary to ensure that the variation is not of the measurement system used. Regarding the repeatability and reproducibility studies, one of the main actors is the automotive organization, AIAG (Automotive Industry Action Group), backed by their acceptance of the measurement system in a number of distinct categories. This is contradicted by Donald J. Wheeler who proposes a methodology using the intraclass correlation coefficient for correct measurement study. He references errors and inconsistencies in the AIAG method, with which measurement studies have been performed for many years. On this basis, the methods comparison study is performed. The Comparison of methods developed through simulations to study measurement from similar data, and using estimates, confidence intervals are created in order to compare the different results and determine if any of the methodologies are more likely to generate a correct measurement study.


A field experiment was conducted at Rajiv Gandhi South Campus, BHU, Barkachha Mirzapur to evaluate the effect of sources and levels of sulphur on growth and yield of black gram. Sulphur sources viz., gypsum, elemental sulphur and ammonium sulphate were used at different levels viz., 0, 20, 40 and 60 kg S ha in this study. The experiments consisted of 12 treatments and were laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications. Among the sources, gypsum registered its significant superiority over other sources. With respect of levels, application of 40 kg S ha recorded highest growth (plant height, leaf area index, dry matter production and number of branches plant) and also yield components (number of pods plant and number of seeds pod) and yield (grain and haulm) of black gram. This study showed that supplementation of sulphur as gypsum significantly increased the growth and yield of black gram. This is might be due presence of calcium in the increases growth and yield of black gram. It was followed by elemental sulphur and ammonium sulphate.


Citation Adamczyk, L. et al. " Measurements of D[superscript 0] and D[superscript *] production in p+p collisions at s=200GeV. " Physical Review D 86.7 (2012). Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.


Nonlinear dynamics of miscible viscous fingering is analyzed numerically for a reactive system when a solution containing a reactant A is displacing another miscible solution containing another reactant B. A simple A+B→C reaction takes place upon contact of the solutions. The viscosity of the fluid depends on the concentration of the various chemicals. The nonlinear fingering dynamics is studied numerically for an infinite Damkohler number Da, i.e., for an infinitely fast reaction as a function of the log-mobility ratios Rb and Rc quantifying the viscosity ratios of the solutions of B and C, respectively, versus that of the solution of A. If Rb>0, i.e., if the system is genuinely viscously unstable because the displacing solution of A is less viscous than the displaced solution of B, we analyze the changes to classical nonreactive viscous fingering induced by the reaction. If on the contrary Rb<0, which corresponds to a hydrodynamically stable case in absence of reactions, we study chemically driven visco...


Fireflies in the genus Photinus are well regarded for their luminescent nocturnal courtship displays. Here we report on a new firefly species, Photinus interdius, which is remarkable for its fully diurnal and luminescent courtship protocol. Males slowly flew near the ground searching for receptive females and emitted 800 ms, bright yellow light flashes at 3–4-s intervals. Male flights occurred as early as 13:10 and ceased before 18:00. We sequenced two mitochondrial loci and one genomic locus and combined these with those from 99 specimens representing 45 Photinus and 25 related firefly species. Bayesian inference resulted in a well-resolved phylogeny that placed this new species as the closest relative of, but basal to the Photinus clade. We propose that the adaptive significance of this extraordinary temporal shift in courtship niche is the outcome of a selective landscape that has optimized the trade-off between reduced predation risk and ease of mate-localization.


The cyber processing layer of smart systems based on a cognitive dynamic system (CDS) can be a good solution for better decision making and situation understanding in non-Gaussian and nonlinear environments (NGNLE). The NGNLE situation understanding means deciding between certain known situations in NGNLE to understand the current state condition. Here, we report on a cognitive decision-making (CDM) system inspired by the human brain decision-making. The simple low-complexity algorithmic design of the proposed CDM system can make it suitable for real-time applications. A case study of the implementation of the CDS on a long-haul fiber-optic orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) link was performed. An improvement in Q-factor of ~7 dB and an enhancement in data rate efficiency ~43% were achieved using the proposed algorithms. Furthermore, an extra 20% data rate enhancement was obtained by guaranteeing to keep the CDM error automatically under the system threshold. The proposed system can be extended as a general software-based platform for brain-inspired decision making in smart systems in the presence of nonlinearity and non-Gaussian characteristics. Therefore, it can easily upgrade the conventional systems to a smart one for autonomic CDM applications.


Data collected at the Topaz Relocation Center provide an excellent record of the development and subsequent disappearance of a cone of depression caused by pumping. This Center occupied temporarily an area of natural ground-water discharge on the floor of the Sevier Desert in west-central Utah. Water for a population of 6500 was pumped from artesian wells which tapped aquifers of sand. Overlying these sand beds are lake-bed sediments too impermeable to yield water to wells, but apparently permeable enough to permit slow upward movement of water from the artesian aquifers. The water table is near the surface, and there is natural discharge by evapotranspiration, accumulation of "alkali" in the soil, and a need for drainage of irrigated lands. The wells were abandoned when the Relocation Center was closed, apparently because these handicaps were so great that the ground water could not be used profitably for irrigation.


The article reveals constitutive characteristics of the Internet discourse in terms of its influence on the audience. The constitutive characteristics of the Web discourse under consideration include its cognitive potential, interactivity and variability. The author outlines the problem of influence of the Internet discourse on the processes of perception, interpretation of information and self-realization of the user on the Web. The article also studies the effect of such text categories as temporality, locative and problematic nature, authorship, target orientation and eventfulness which are specifically transformed in the Internet discourse under consideration. The Web discourse is portrayed as a global formation comprising subordinate sub-discourses. Sub-discourses, in their turn, display different composition and content configurations that influence the users' minds and emotions. Special attention is paid to the theory of discursive protection and tools ensuing that the user can surf the Web in a comfortable way, saving him/her from communication failures or superfluous actions and influencing the discursive content of the Web. The article highlights the issues of responsibility for the information provided on the Internet, falsification of Network data, data redundancy, dual capacity as an author and its target and transformation of text as an element of communication model. These constitutive characteristics of the Internet discourse are all interconnected and simultaneously influence the user.


The wax coating (6%), mustard oil emulsion (2%) and 50 & 100ppm Benzyl adenine were applied and the parameters studied for acceptable fruit quality with increase in storage time was evaluated by analysis of physico-chemical parameters viz. fruit length (cm), fruit breadth (cm), CPLW%, specific gravity, acidity, ascorbic acid and TSS. Awide variation was observed for different application materials. The main achievement of present finding is that quality grade guava fruits with nutritional and storage properties were obtained. 6% wax coating+1 00ppm BA was found to be good and statistically significant for length, width, CPLW%, TSS, acidity, and ascorbic acid. The 6% wax coating is useful for retaining specific gravity and this treatment was found to be good even aftr 8 days of storage at ambient temperature.


Female Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis) produce the largest eggs, relative to body size, of all waterfowl (Lack 1968). Energy in one of their eggs is equivalent to 322% of daily basal metabolic rate (Alisauskas and Ankney 1992), the highest of all Anatidae. Furthermore, Ruddy Ducks lay one egg per day (Siegfried 1976). Female Ruddy Ducks rely on both endogenous and exogenous nutrients for egg production. On average, 49% of the lipid, 41% of the protein, and 16% of the minerals required for egg production are supplied by stored reserves in Ruddy Ducks (Alisauskas and Ankney 1994). These authors also reported that the size of lipid, mineral, and protein reserves was positively related to body size in their sample of breeding females. Thus, we predicted that larger female Ruddy Ducks would lay larger clutches. Also, because birds in good condition (i.e. with larger reserves) may initiate nesting earlier than those in poorer condition (Reynolds 1972, Scott and Birkhead 1983), we also predicted that larger females are able to attain good condition and would initiate nesting earlier than would smaller females. Within species, variation in egg mass among females is high in waterfowl (Ankney and Alisauskas 1992), but few studies have attempted to determine the source of this variation. In Lesser Snow Geese (Chen c. caerulescens), about 60% of among-female variation in egg mass is heritable (Lessells et al. 1989). Such an estimate may be inflated if larger females lay larger eggs and if body size also is heritable (see Alisauskas and Ankney 1992). Indeed, egg mass is positively related to body size in Lesser Snow Geese (Newell 1988) and Northern Pintails (Anas acuta; Flint and Grand 1996). Thus, we also investigated whether egg size of female Ruddy Ducks was related to body size. Methods.-This study was conducted in 1994 in southwestern Manitoba near Minnedosa (50011'N, 90?42'W). The rolling knob-and-kettle landscape is scattered with wetlands ranging in size from 10 m2 to 4 ha (Evans et al. 1952, Dzubin 1961). Emergent vegetation in the region includes cattail (Typha spp.),


Introduction: Stress-induced hyperglycemia is associated with insulin resistance in critically ill patients. In order to overcome insulin resistance, clinicians increase insulin dose that could result in hypoglycemia, hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, and other complications. Material and methods: This randomized clinical study was conducted among thirty- three traumatized adult patients who were admitted to medical-surgical ICU of a reference University hospital. Patients were randomly assigned to receive one of three protocols including intensive insulin monotherapy (A), metformin monotherapy (B), and intensive insulin therapy in combination with metformin (C) to maintain blood glucose level between 80-120 mg/dl. For pharmacokinetic study of metformin a validated ion pair HPLC method was also applied. Results: Three protocols A, B, and C successfully reduced admission blood glucose levels from 191±28, 189±35, and 192±28 mg/dl to 122±9, 131±17, and 121±7 mg/dl (mean ± SD), as mean weekly values, respectively. These reductions were significant in protocols A (P=0.02) and B (P=0.003). Protocol C showed 34% reduction in mean weekly insulin requirements as compared with protocol A. Although patients in protocols B and C had some fluctuations in their blood lactate levels, lactic acidosis did not occur in any patient. Pharmacokinetic data showed a deficit in oral absorption of metformin in critically ill patients. No direct relationship was observed between pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of metformin during the course of critical illness. Conclusions: It is concluded that metformin reduces insulin requirements in glycemic management of critically ill patients independent of its plasma concentration. Metformin seems to be effective to reverses insulin resistance without induction of lactic acidosis.


The purpose of the article is to give an overview of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's ―Letters of the East‖ published only after her death in 1763 which have given her a place high among the great letter-writers of the world. Ключевые слова: леди Мэри Уортли Монтэгю, восточные письма,


National textbook narratives are written from particular national perspectivesand goals. Thus, "the same is never (or at least not always) the same" and whatwe learn depends on the context of when and where we are learning it. When itcomes to major conflicts between nations or states, how one handles the telling ofthe same conflict event can be especially poignant. Starting from the writing ofnational events, this text looks back to another large-scale (inter-)national conflict,the Prussian Wars (1864-1871), to discuss how the four different developing nationstatesof Germany (via Prussia), Denmark, Austria, and France elaborated uniquehistorical narrative trajectories (from the 1860s to 1910s) for their own nationalcurricula and future citizens. From the findings, which discuss the ways thesedeveloping nation-states represented their national ideals, identity, and goals intheir national Prussian War narratives in textbooks, we then come back to thepresent with a better understanding of how to approach current internationalevents and nation-building processes.Keywords: historiography; national identity; national narratives; nation-building;Prussian Wars; textbooks.


Because the leak of vacuum system is so frequent in a power plant, it is necessary to find a simple, quick and accurate method to detect the leak, ie. detection by ultrasonic technique. Application results show clearly that this method is feasible and that the principle of leak detection by ultrasonic technique is effective to vacuum systems.


Leukemias with chromosomal translocation or partial tandem duplications involving the MLL (mixed lineage leukemia) gene have exceptionally poor prognosis (referred to as 11q23-leukemias). At the molecular level, 11q23-leukemias are characterized by increased expression of a set of homeodomain transcription factors in CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and differentiating CD34- myeloid progenitor cells. This transcription factor set includes HoxB3, B4, A7-11 and Meis1. Although many elegant studies have identified the precise molecular mechanisms by which MLL-fusion proteins increase HOX gene transcription, less is known about the downstream effects of increased Hox expression and potential implications for leukemogenesis. In prior studies, we determined that the gene encoding fibroblast growth factor 2 (Fgf2 or basic Fgf) is a HoxA10 target gene, and production of Fgf2 is increased in HoxA10 overexpressing primary bone marrow cells. In the current studies, we determine that FGF2 is also activated by HoxA9; identifying the only common target gene for HoxA9 and HoxA10 where both proteins activate transcription. We also find Mll-Ell (an MLL-fusion protein) increases FGF2 transcription and Fgf2 expression in a HoxA9 and HoxA10 dependent manner. Importantly, autocrine production of Fgf2 by Mll-Ell expressing HSC and myeloid progenitor cells increases cytokine-induced proliferation and enhances cell survival. In additional studies, we determine that these effects of Fgf2 are mediated by phospho inositol 3 kinase (PI3K) dependent stabilization of beta catenin. We find that autocrine production of Fgf2 results in increased expression of key beta catenin target genes in Mll-Ell expressing cells, including c-myc, survivin and cyclinD1. Beta catenin target genes also include the genes encoding CDX4 and HOXA10. Additionally, Cdx4 activates transcription of the HOXA9 and HOXA10 genes, and HoxA10 activates the CDX4 gene. Therefore, increased Fgf2 also establishes a positive feedback loop that enhances transcriptional activation of HOXA9 and HOXA10 by MLL-fusion proteins. 11q23-AML is generally refractory, but the molecular mechanisms for this are unknown. Our studies suggest that increased Fgf2 expression in 11q23-AML contributes to cytokine hypersensitivity and sustained survival of leukemia stem cells. Targeting the effects of Fgf2 might increase chemotherapy sensitivity in this form of leukemia. Small molecule inhibitors of Fgf-receptors are available, but have not yet been tested in this form of AML. We suggest that this would be a rational therapeutic approach to this disease.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


e12031 Background: Few data are available about the use of erlotinib in the real life in France for patients with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The objective of this epidemiological study was to describe the use of erlotinib out of clinical trials. Methods: An epidemiological multicenter observational study was conducted in 35 french centers. The study was retrospective (starting from September 2006 to September 2008), with a follow-up period of one year. The main objective was to describe the progression free survival (PFS), according to the indication and to patients' subgroups. Results: 497 patients have been included in the study, 30 (6%) in first-line treatment, 177 (36%) in second line, 239 (48%) in third line, 43 (9%) in other and 8 (2%) in maintenance indication. The histological types were as follows: 304 (62%) adenocarcinoma, 99 (20%) squamous cell carcinoma, 60 (12%) large cell carcinoma and 30 (6%) others. Erlotinib was given to 311 (63%) male and 186 (37%) female. The indications were a...


It has been almost a decade since the first experimental proof that electron beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) can be produced in an electron microscope [1]. Since then, there has been considerable interest, reflected both in the number of publications and the funding of research programs, to utilize sub-nanometer and atomic-size electron beams with OAM for practical imaging and spectroscopy measurements. Yet, so far most of the research in this area has been restricted to describing the possible applications of what could be achieved with electron beams with OAM (also known as vortex beams) rather than performing the actual experiments.


The Ming Dynasty,had been replaced by Qing Dynasty,some Ming officials chose to cooperate with the government of Qing Dynasty,become so-called Er chen.They had different level alien mentality to Qing Dynasty form three reasons: one is due to the high pressure of Qing Dynasty's national policy;two is the great influence of the traditional Confucian culture;three is their political fortune.


The objective of resource leveling in project management is to guarantee stable resource usages by minimizing deviations in resource requirements. Resource leveling functions in well-known project management software include analysis of resource requirements and profile, adjustment of resource capacity, and resource-constrained project scheduling. However, the performance of resource leveling functions in Primavera P6, which has the largest users among commercial project management software, is not satisfactory in providing appropriate schedules in view of multi-objective optimizations. Considering the trade-off between the objectives of resource leveling and resource-constrained project scheduling, schedules belong to Pareto optimal need to be provided. Aiming at generating such schedules, this work exploits a Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) algorithm to solve resource-constrained project scheduling problems. By reducing capacity of resource with the largest usage variation step by step, a number of schedules close to Pareto optimal is generated. In a case study, the performances of VNS and procedure of repetitive reduction of resource capacity are evaluated and compared with resource leveling functions in Primavera.


The bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) it is a promising method for assessing body components because it safety and easy handling and can be used both in clinical practice and epidemiological studies. However, it is necessary to evaluate the performance of these analyzers to different population groups, since they use equations that were developed for specific groups. The aim of the present study was to compare the body composition values obtained by four BIA analyzers (Tanita TBF-305, Tanita BC-418, Omron BF-300 and Omron BF-500) and the anthropometric formula of Durnin & Womersley, 1974 (ANTRO) with the Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA) in adults living in Rio de Janeiro. Assessments were made at the Laboratorio de Avaliacao Nutricional e Funcional da Universidade Federal Fluminense (LANUFF). A descriptive analysis was used for the continuous variables. Bland & Altman plots (1986) were used to assess agreement between methods, along with the information of the correlation coefficient (r). The paired t test were used to compare the mean values of percentage body fat (%BF), fat free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) obtained by BIA, ANTRO and DXA, as well as the error of estimate (SEE) to evaluate the performance of the tested methods. In women (n = 36) there was no statistical difference for FM and FFM by anthropometry and Omron BF-500, whose EPE ranged from excellent to ideal in relation to DXA (1.53 kg and 1.93 kg, respectively), besides with smaller biases and limits agreement for all parameters. In men, only Omron BF-500 showed satisfactory results for all parameters. The present study suggests cautious in the use of BIA analyzers due to the wide variety of results between them, being necessary the validation of these devices in different populations.


In this paper,we firstly analyzed the deviation of basic educational resources distribution caused by the urbanization in China: education resources are wasted in rural primary schools,education resources can't meet the demand of school-age children in urban primary schools,the improvement of the proportion of students entering schools of a higher grade is restricted by teaching resource insufficient more and more.Then we studied the problem of rational distribution of basic education resources in urban and rural areas under the fast urbanization background in China.As for rational distribution of basic education resources in rural areas,we proposed countermeasure and suggestion as follows: vitalize stock resources effectively,dispose increment resource rationally,strengthen basic education,develop vocational and technical education,launch agricultural technical training,and strengthen the thought quality-oriented education of the people in the countryside.As for rational distribution of basic education resources in urban areas,we put forward countermeasures and suggestions as follows: expanding the scale of famous school,increasing the investment to ordinary school,making market play role in educational resource distribution.


With fresh seeds of Liquidambar styraciflua as materials,the germination experiment was conducted with different pregermination methods.The results showed that:the seeds soaking for 24 h could effectively enhance the germination rate,whatever germination rate,the germination peak of all pregermination methods was relatively concentrated,was 6 days.The best method was matrix culture method in illuminating incubator,the highest germination rate increased by 18.8%,the difference of index of the illuminating incubator treatment and normal temperature treatment was extremely significant with the control.Test operation was convenient,germination rate was high,which could greatly improve popularize strength of Liquidambar styraciflua.


PROBLEM: Placental transport of various proteins present in human serum, such as immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA), specific anti‐tetanus IgG (anti‐TT‐IgG), and tetanus toxoid‐antigen (TT‐AG), was investigated. In addition, the transport of IgG modified with biotin (IgG‐BT) and 14C‐bovine serum albumin (14C‐BSA, a permeability marker for macromolecules), was assessed.


Despite recent interest in the interplay between institutions and growth, country studies in developing countries particularly relating to planning has not been given considerable attention. This forms the main motivation for this study, which evaluates the economic planning in Nigeria and discusses how institutions play influential roles on the kind of economic outcomes emanating from planning. It draws comparative evidences from Botswana and South Korea based on the fact that Nigeria had similar planning trajectory with them as they all had regular fixed-term development plans in the 1960s and 1970s. Nigeria had her five-year development plans the same time with South Korea starting with the 1st phase (1962-1966). Whereas South Korea's five-year plans continued that of Nigeria was truncated in 1985 with the advent of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). Institutions in Botswana and South Korea have also been noted as key for their economic development. The study underscores the need for Nigeria to pursue the improvement her institutions that will provide supportive role to planning as any planning void of adequate institutional 'pillars' will not deliver the expected development outcomes irrespective of the coverage and how well nuanced. Thus, it is not that Nigeria planned to fail nor failed to plan but the critical factor associated with the planning models is weak institutions, among others.


Contemporary achievements of pedagogical science and the advancement of information communication technology (ICT), enable new organizational solutions to be applied in teaching, which makes the teaching process more interesting, dynamic and efficient. Modern society and education require an individual teacher who is able to follow changes in society and science. The main goal of this paper is to consider one of the primary question: What teacher competencies are needed and at at what level of application should they be for the modernization of teaching? The empirical part of the paper represents which didactic multimedia teachers use the most in teaching, and what teachers attitudes are towards ability to use educational software in teaching. This study used a descriptive method, and scaling technique with a Likert type assessment scale instrument. The survey involved 209 elementary and secondary school teachers in the region of Nis. In concluding observations, it is noted that classic classrooms are slowly turning towards the use of multimedia, but the current application of educational software is still not satisfactory. Also, the authors draw attention to the need for a wider and more intensive range of professional teacher training courses, primarily in the didactic-methodology field, as well as the field of modern education technology, because this is certainly one of the best ways to meet the necessity of reform of our education and the ever-increasing challenges of modern education for the 21st century.


This research emphasizes on elaborating the feasibility of the media of the bandwagon educational game on the creativity of children aged 5-6 years. To obtain the research objectives, this researcher conducted research and development using the 4D model developed by Thiagarajan, namely define, design, develop and disseminate. The subjects in this research trial were five children aged 5-6 years and 30 ECE teachers. The data collection instrument used a structured interview technique and an online questionnaire through a google form accompanied by a video of the implementation of the bandwagon educational game. The data analysis technique used quantitative and qualitative descriptive analysis. From this research, it shows that the development of the bandwagon educational game tool that has been tested on a small scale is valid and feasible. This shows that this bandwagon game is effective and can be applied and has an appeal for early childhood in learning.


The purpose of the present invention is to provide a photovoltaic power element with high photoelectric conversion efficiency. Provided are an electron-donating organic material that comprises a structural unit represented by general formula (1) and a photovoltaic power element using the material. [Chemical formula 1] (In general formula (1), R 1 represents a substitutable aryl group or a substitutable heteroaryl group.)


The purpose of this study was to investigate if the ELISA method used to determine the Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) by Laboratory Quintanilla S.R.L. satisfies the validation criteria. In order to this, the following parameters were evaluated: linearity, precision (repeatability and intermediate precision), accuracy, detection limit and quantification limit; these were determined according to the establishments of the FDA, ICH, IUPAC, Eurachem, y AEFI additionally, the procedures described in the reactive kit provided by DIAGNOSTIC AUTOMATION INC. were also followed. The results of this study show us that calibration curve was lineal with a correlation coefficient equal to 0.994; the statistic test of the pending confirmed the linearity. The variation coefficient in the repeatability of method study was equal to 5.73% and of system was equal to 0.69%. In the case of intermediate precision was 7.08. The accuracy of the method was demonstrated after applying the t-student test with a 95% of reliability and 8 degrees of freedom and obtaining an experimental t (1845) lower than that of the t tables (2.306). The detection and quantification limits were 1.688 mIU/mL and 5.376 mIU/mL correspondingly.
This way, it was proved that the method satisfies the validation criteria


SUMMARY Measurement of groundwater physical properties of porosity and hydraulic conductivity in porous or fractured rock environments, and assessing water quality generally requires drilling a borehole. Boreholes provide accurate information at a point source, and a combination of boreholes can be used to infer regionalscale (i.e. 2 to1500 km) characteristics. However, is there a better way to fill in the gaps? Electrical and electromagnetic geophysical techniques are sensitive to electrical properties of the subsurface. Movement of electrical charges (usually in the form of charged chloride and sodium ions) can provide an analogue for amount of water contained in pores, and to a lesser extent, to the movement of water through the environment. In addition, the interaction of electrical charges with porous sediment grains and within fractures can be used to determine fluid flow without ever drilling a hole. APPROACH The primary challenge for geophysicists is to link observations of electrical properties uniquely with hydraulic properties. Such geophysical methods must be fast, repeatable, and cover large spatial areas to make them a practical alternative to traditional hydrogeological approaches. The Hydrogeophysics Group at the University of Adelaide are developing the following approaches, tools and techniques to do this in a number of ways:


Checklist with fixed check items and contents is mostly used in coalmines. In order to raise the efficiency and accuracy of hazard identification and lower the occurrence of the accident in coalmine, how to identify the hazards is probed into from the point of view of occupational safety and health management system. The identification system based on safety information management system in coalmine is designed. The workplace on-site situation is simulated, relevant information in database is screened from hazard management mode in occupation safety and health management system to form appropriate checklist dynamically. The structure, function and process of identification of safety information management in coalmine are analyzed.


Abstract The cytokine hormone erythropoietin (EPO) and the chemokine CCL3 are known to be produced in the brain under various pathological conditions. In this study, we investigated whether EPO and CCL3 influence on each other during neuroinflammation. We showed that EPO could reduce lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced CCL3 mRNA expression in rat cerebellar neuron-enriched preparations (real-time RT–PCR). Whereas administration of EPO or CCL3 respectively mediated neuroprotective properties after LPS treatment, the combinations of both molecules resulted in increased caspase 3/7 activity. Thus, it seems that – probably depending on particular conditions – EPO and CCL3 may cancel each other's functional properties.


When an image is acquired by a camera or other imaging system, often the vision system for which it is intended is unable to use it directly. The image may be corrupted by random variations in intensity, variations in illumination, or poor contrast that must be dealt with in the early stages of vision processing. This chapter discusses methods for image enhancement aimed at eliminating these undesirable characteristics. The chapter begins with histogram modification, followed by a brief review of discrete linear systems and frequency analysis, and then coverage of various filtering techniques. The Gaus-sian smoothing filter is covered in depth. Many images contain unevenly distributed gray values. It is common to find images in which all intensity values lie within a small range, such as the image with poor contrast shown in Figure 4.1. Histogram equalization is a method for stretching the contrast of such images by uniformly redistributing the gray values. This step may make threshold selection approaches more effective. In general, histogram modification enhances the subjective quality of an image and is useful when the image is intended for viewing by a human observer. A simple example of histogram modification is image scaling: the pixels in the range [a,b] are expanded to fill the range [ZbZk]. The formula for 112


Objective:To evaluate the effect of congenital clubfoot(CCF)with varies soft tissue releasing Method:Forty patients with CCF were treated with three methods of soft tissue releasing,and the results were followed up Result:In a mean follow up period of 3 9 years,the curative rate of simple tendon calcaneus lengthening was 25%,70 6% occurred in posterior and medial soft tissue releasing combined with tendon calcaneus lengthening,and all patients in transfer of the anterior tibial tendon combined with tendon calcaneus lengthening were cured The total cureative rate was 79% Conclusion:Three methods of soft tissue releasing for CCF were discussed in detail in this paper The author emphasized rebuilding muscle balance on the basis of completely releasing soft tissue deformity


The aim of this research was to study the feasibility of the defatted wheat germ
 flour (DWGF) alone or in combination with xanthan gum (XG) as egg yolk
 substitutes in mayonnaise formulation. In this research, DWGF was used at
 different levels (0, 25, 75 and 100%) alone or in combination with the XG
 (0.2%) as egg substitutes. The effects of these substitutions on the
 stability, textural and rheological characteristics of mayonnaise were
 investigated. According to the results, DWGF can be used as an egg yolk
 substitute in mayonnaise. Combining DWGF and XG as egg yolk substitute, improved
 the stability, textural and rheological properties. Mayonnaise with 100%
 egg yolk replacement showed the hardest structure, while the lowest firmness
 value was obtained in the control containing 100% egg yolk. Also, the
 highest adhesiveness value occurred in the sample with 100% DWGF. The
 thixotropic behavior was observed for all investigated mayonnaise samples over
 the all ranges of the studied shear rate (0.05-450/sec). Furthermore, the
 highest content of consistency coefficient value was observed in the sample with
 100% DWGF and 0.2% XG. Therefore, it can be concluded that
 low-cholesterol mayonnaise with proper stability, textural and rheological
 characteristics are achievable by applying of the desirable combination of DWGF
 and XG.


The overhead traveling crane is applied to the metallurgical trade Ex tensively,analyes its common trouble and reason,fix abveakdom through maintainin g,thus guarantee the intact,safe operation of the overhead traveling crance equi pment.


Identifying genotypes with a greater ability to absorb nitrogen (N) may be important to reducing N loss in the environment and improving the sustainability of agricultural systems. This study extends the knowledge of variability among wheat genotypes in terms of morphological or physiological root traits, N uptake under conditions of low soil N availability, and in the amount and rapidity of the use of N supplied with fertilizer. Nine genotypes of durum wheat were chosen for their different morpho-phenological characteristics and year of their release. The isotopic tracer 15N was used to measure the fertilizer N uptake efficiency. The results show that durum wheat breeding did not have univocal effects on the characteristics of the root system (weight, length, specific root length, etc.) or N uptake capacity. The differences in N uptake among the studied genotypes when grown in conditions of low N availability appear to be related more to differences in uptake efficiency per unit of weight and length of the root system than to differences in the morphological root traits. The differences among the genotypes in the speed and the ability to take advantage of the greater N availability, determined by N fertilization, appear to a certain extent to be related to the development of the root system and the photosynthesizing area. This study highlights some variability within the species in terms of the development, distribution, and efficiency of the root system, which suggests that there may be sufficient grounds for improving these traits with positive effects in terms of adaptability to difficult environments and resilience to climate change.


Composition and the role of root flavonoids in the regulation of mycorrhizal symbiosis are still poorly understood. Several flavonoids stimulate spore germination, mycelia growth and root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and both root colonization and flavonoid composition are affected by plant nutritional status. Effects of AMF on the occurrence and content of aromatic secondary metabolites in the roots of passion fruit seedlings grown under two levels of phosphorus (P) fertilization (10 and 50 mg kg-1 of phosphorus) was studied. Seedlings were inoculated with Glomus clarum and a population of native fungi from a passion fruit plantation. Methanolic extracts of passion fruit seedlings roots were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). It was recorded the occurrence of several compounds, possibly flavonoids, with seven major peaks. The root contents of the compound with a retention time of 4.5 minutes, varied in response to the root colonization by different mycorrhizal fungi, and the contents of two compounds with retention times of 3.4 and 18.9 minutes varied due to the poor plant growth and nutritional status. Passion fruit seedlings have several aromatic compounds, and their contents were correlated with root colonization by different mycorrhizal fungi, the reduced seedling growth due to nutritional stress, and/or the plant defense responses to the fungi.


Recently several papers were published in highly ranked journals on the presence of Cr(VI) in tea infusions, bread samples and plants. These statements were made on the basis of determination of total Cr concentrations in alkaline and aqueous sample extracts by ETAAS, without applying any speciation analysis. If Cr(VI) really exists in bread samples and tea infusions, consumption of bread and tea would represent long-term chronic exposure to Cr(VI) and a health threat for the majority of the human population. It is well accepted that due to the presence of organic matter foodstuffs of plant and animal origin cannot contain Cr(VI). Therefore, to show that the reported data on the presence of Cr(VI) in foodstuffs are an artefact of inappropriately applied analytical methodology, investigation of speciation was carried out by high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS). 50Cr(VI) and 53Cr(III) stable isotopes were used to follow species interconversions during the extraction procedures. Separated Cr species eluted from the column were followed at m/z 50, 52 and 53. The high sensitivity of the HPLC-ICP-MS method (LOD for m/z 52, 0.03 μg Cr(VI) L−1) enabled reliable determination of Cr(VI) at concentration levels that were much lower than the total Cr content present in sample extracts. The speciation analysis data demonstrated that in all samples analysed Cr(VI) concentrations were below the LOD. In tea infusions 50Cr(VI) was almost completely reduced due to the presence of antioxidants, while the high content of organic matter in bread appreciably reduced 50Cr(VI) even in highly alkaline (pH 12) bread extracts. The data confirmed that Cr(VI) does not exist in foodstuffs of plant origin and provided some conclusive evidence that the same can be expected for foods of animal origin.


This paper presents the prediction of microstructure of Inconel 718 disk forgings. The experiments are carried out to examine the recrystallization ratio and grain growth in the forgings. In the experiments, cylindrical billets are forged by two operations with variations of forging temperature and ...


AIM:To validate a multimodal[structural and functional magnetic resonance(MR)]approach as coincidence brain clusters are hypothesized to correlate with clinical severity of auditory hallucinations.METHODS:Twenty-two patients meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(fourth edition,DSM-Ⅳ)criteria for schizophrenia and experiencing persistent hallucinations together with 28 healthy controls were evaluated with structural and functional MR imaging with an auditory paradigm designed to replicate those emotions related to the patients'hallucinatory experiences.Coincidence maps were obtained by combining structural maps of gray matter reduction with emotional functional increased activation.Abnormal areas were correlated with the brief psychiatric rating scale(BPRS)and the psychotic symptom rating scale(PSYRATS)scales.RESULTS:The coincidence analysis showed areas with coexistence gray matter reductions and emotional activation in bilateral middle temporal and superior temporal gyri.Significant negative correlations between BPRS and PSYRATS scales were observed.BPRS scores were negatively correlated in the middle temporal gyrus(right)(t=6.86,P=0.001),while negative PSYRATS correlation affected regions in both the superior temporal gyrus(left)(t=7.85,P=0.001)and middle temporal gyrus(left)(t=4.97,P=0.002).CONCLUSION:Our data identify left superior and middle temporal gyri as relevant areas for the understanding of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia.The use of multimodal approaches,sharing structural and functional information,may demonstrate areas specifically linked to the severity of auditory hallucinations.


In this paper, we comment on a recent article where mercury speciation reaction kinetics were reported. We examine certain difficulties and flaws in the theoretical treatment given in the recent article. In addition, we provide accurate geometries and heats of reaction results to validate a different quantum mechanical method and basis set combination which we encourage for use in theoretically calculating rate constants for mercury oxidation reactions involving chlorine. q 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


This report represents the results of the first eighteen months of our experience in the clinical use of a bismuth preparation for oral administration (sobisminol mass), 1 which has been made available through the cooperation of Professor Hanzlik of Stanford University. 2 It was supplied in capsules containing the reaction product of sodium bismuthate 0.2 Gm., triisopropanolamine 0.4 Gm., propylene glycol 0.1 Gm. and ethyl alcohol 0.1 Gm. This represents approximately 150 mg. of elemental bismuth. We now report clinical results in ninety cases, including cases of seropositive primary, secondary, late benign (bone, skin, mucous membrane), central nervous system (tabetic, meningovascular) and congenital syphilis. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS IN ORAL VERSUS INTRAMUSCULAR THERAPY There are many obvious facts which make oral administration preferable to any other type as a therapeutic procedure, but with diseases such as syphilis, because of the nature of the drugs which must be used,


Students who have learning difficulties are different from children who have learning problems. learning difficulties in this study focused on impaired children's ability to distinguish letters and write numbers. One of the learning difficulties experienced by students is dyslexia. The purpose of this study was to determine student learning difficulties (dyslexia) of elementary school students in Segedong District. The method used in this research is descriptive method. The stages of the method in this study were in the form of instrument design, interview data collection, observation and data analysis. Based on the results of the study there were 10 students who had symptoms of dyslexia out of a total of 133 students or 7.5% of students who had dyslexia. Most symptoms


Abstract As part of the digital transformation towards Industry 4.0, the tasks of staff on the shop floor are changing. Despite increasing automation, complex assembly steps still have to be carried out by humans, especially when it comes to complex products rich in variants, whose assembly cannpt be fully automated for various reasons. Due to increasing individualization and the steadily growing complexity of products, providing the right information at the right time and in the right place is becoming more important. In this context, the visualization of information via novel technologies such as augmented reality plays a crucial role towards an efficient and error-free production process. This paper compiles existing challenges when using augmented reality as a visualization form for an assistance system. On the one hand, the challenges found originate from a systematic literature review and are organized according to predefined categories. On the other hand, these challenges are complemented and compared through findings gained from expert interviews, which are conducted with employees of two European commercial vehicle manufacturers in the field of production. The analysis of the two methods highlights the need for further research.


Biogenic opal concentrations were measured on bulk sediments recovered at Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1123, 1124, and 1125 off North Island of New Zealand in the southwest Pacific. Site 1124 showed opal contents ranging from approximately 2 to 8 wt%, which is relatively high compared to other sites. The subbottom maximum in biogenic opal content located between 1.0 and 1.5 m composite depth can be recognized at each site. Patterns of biogenic opal content in the uppermost parts of the cores appear to reflect the surface ocean settings relating to the migration of the Subtropical Convergence Zone.


The grating coupled GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) are integrated onto Si substrates using metal wafer bonding and epitaxial lift-off process. The 1 μm depth of hexagonal hole structure of grating was formed. The energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy results confirmed that the grating coupled QWIP is successfully mounted on an Si substrate. By evaluating the Raman spectra, PL, and surface roughness of bonded QWIP samples, the authors found that the grating does not induce any change in the optical or structural characteristics of actual QWIP layers. The dark current–voltage characteristics show a nearly identical dark current level between grating coupled QWIP and nongrating QWIP. The photocurrent spectrum shows that the peak photocurrent intensity of grating coupled QWIP is about 16 times higher than that of nongrating QWIP. This indicates that the grating effectively contributes to an increase in the light absorption of QWIP, showing large room for improvement of QWIP performance by further optimization of a grating structure.The grating coupled GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) are integrated onto Si substrates using metal wafer bonding and epitaxial lift-off process. The 1 μm depth of hexagonal hole structure of grating was formed. The energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy results confirmed that the grating coupled QWIP is successfully mounted on an Si substrate. By evaluating the Raman spectra, PL, and surface roughness of bonded QWIP samples, the authors found that the grating does not induce any change in the optical or structural characteristics of actual QWIP layers. The dark current–voltage characteristics show a nearly identical dark current level between grating coupled QWIP and nongrating QWIP. The photocurrent spectrum shows that the peak photocurrent intensity of grating coupled QWIP is about 16 times higher than that of nongrating QWIP. This indicates that the grating effectively contributes to an increase in the light absorption of QWIP, showing large room for improvement of QWIP performanc...


The chapter takes an interactional "small story" approach to the patterns of interaction in Beckett's Endgame narratives. The aim is to examine the way in which particular storytelling episodes in Endgame are locally managed from an interactional point of view.


During the long-standing field studies, the influence of fertilizing with manure and nitrogen on the content of the soluble forms (in 1 M HCl dm) of heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Ni, Cr) in soil was assessed. Fertilizing with increasing doses of manure (0-80 t ha) caused significant but irregular changes in the content of Pb, Cd and Ni. Fertilizing with nitrogen (0-120 kg N ha) did not cause significant changes in the content of the assayed forms of metals, especially of Pb, Ni and Cr. In the vast majority of cases, no important relationships were observed between the assayed physical and chemical properties of soil and the content of soluble forms of Pb, Cd, Ni and Cr. The content of the soluble forms of trace elements in soil depends on an array of natural [3, 4, 7] and anthropogenic [1, 2, 5] factors; one of these factors is organic and mineral manures. Apart from macroand microelements, they may sometimes contain a certain amount of other elements, including heavy metals. The content of other elements may be differentiated by the introduction of various amounts of organic or mineral fertilizers into the soil or by increased sorption in the soil fertilized with manure. The influence of these factors is higher when large doses of fertilizers are used for many years. Therefore, it is better to examine the influence of organic and mineral fertilizers on the presence of heavy metals in soil in long-term studies [1, 8]. However, it has to be highlighted that the content of these elements in manure or ammonium nitrate used in our country is very low and does not cause extensive contamination of soil with these metals [6]. The aim of the studies was to determine the influence of the long-standing fertilizing with manure and nitrogen (ammonium nitrate) on the content of the soluble forms of certain heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Ni, Cr) in soil. P O L I S H J O U R N A L O F S O I L S C I E N C E VOL. XLI/2 2008 PL ISSN 0079-2985


In this article, we study the traveling wave solutions of nonlinear Jaulent-Miodek equations.By using the method of exponential function in rational form, a series new complex solitary wave solutions including a combination of triangular periodic function and rational function are obtained.


+ The everyday expression, 'herding cats' comes to mind when attempting to communicate the meaning of design in terms of 'value', 'values' and 'valuing'. And yet, making use of an idiom to introduce the theme of this issue is not to infer engagement in a futile act or a facetious remark towards an important component, rather it is to acknowledge, with immediacy, the difficulty posed when engaging in discourse about the closely related words in design practice and concepts in design theory. Also, it is to infuse a little humour, an innate aspect of designerly thinking in support of strengthening an open, creative dialogue around what can often be contentious issues. In this closing issue of 2019, the papers which have been reviewed and selected bring us another opportunity to grow; to learn, reflect, and perhaps challenge the questions raised, Th e D es ig n Jo ur na l D O I: 10 .1 08 0/ 14 60 69 25 .2 01 9. 16 62 67 9


This paper describes an approach to modeling and analysis of complex time-dependent systems specified by modular time Petri nets (TPNs). The approach is supported by a Java tool TPN Designer - which permits visual modeling, debugging and discrete-event simulation. The tool is characterized by its modularity and hierarchical constructs, a scripting language for controlling model configuration and scalability, and a monitoring and watching sub system for collecting simulation output. TPN Designer permits also to split a model into LP/subnets for distributed simulation. The tool is able to translate a flattened TPN model into UPPAAL/timed automata for model checking. The paper demonstrates the practical use of the approach through modeling and validation of a system based on the alternating bit protocol.


Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) are becoming more and more complex than before. Previous hardware accelerator designs neglect the layer diversity in terms of computation and communication behavior. On-chip memory resources are underutilized for the memory bounded layers, leading to suboptimal performance. In addition, the increasing complexity of DNN structures makes it difficult to do on-chip memory allocation. To address these issues, we propose a layer conscious memory management framework for FPGA-based DNN hardware accelerators. Our framework exploits the layer diversity and the disjoint lifespan information of memory buffers to efficiently utilize the on-chip memory to improve the performance of the layers bounded by memory and thus the entire performance of DNNs. It consists of four key techniques working coordinately with each other. We first devise a memory allocation algorithm to allocate on-chip buffers for the memory bound layers. In addition, buffer sharing between different layers is applied to improve on-chip memory utilization. Finally, buffer prefetching and splitting are used to further reduce latency. Experiments show that our techniques can achieve 1.36X performance improvement compared with previous designs.


In Operation Research, many scientific researchers place great importance on the people's satisfactions, needs and the improvement of the living conditions. They shed light on Home (Health)-Care services aspects related to the vehicle routing problems (VRP). Very large number of VRP variants are with many similarities, but differ in structure. In this paper, a new variant of vehicle routing problems with new type of temporal constraints is presented, a new set of instances is generated and the numerical results are obtained with Cplex.


This cross-sectional study aimed to compare the horizontal and vertical force-velocity profile between female sprinters and hurdlers. Twelve high-level athletes (6 sprinters and 6 hurdlers) participated in this investigation. The testing procedures consisted of two maximal 40-m sprints and five to six vertical jumps with additional loads. For the sprint-acceleration performance, the velocity-time data, recorded by a high-speed camera, was used to calculate the variables of the horizontal F-V profile (theoretical maximal values of force [HZT-F0], velocity [HZT-V0], power [HZT-Pmax], the proportion of the theoretical maximal effectiveness of force application in the antero-posterior direction [RFmax], and the rate of decrease in the ratio of horizontal force [DRF]). The best trial of each vertical jumping condition, obtained by an optical measurement system, was used to determine the components of the vertical F-V profile (theoretical maximal values of force [VTC-F0], velocity [VTC-V0], and power [VTC-Pmax]). The female sprinters showed higher statistical differences for HZT-Pmax (2.46 ± 0.67, d = 2.1, p = 0.004), HZT-V0 (0.45 ± 0.18, d = 1.4, p = 0.03), and RFmax% (2.9 ± 0.9%, d = 1.8, p = 0.01) than female hurdlers. No statistical differences were observed for HZT-F0 (0.69 ± 0.3, d = 1.15, p = 0.07), DRF% (−0.24 ± 0.4%, d = 0.3, p = 0.62), VTC-F0 (−2.1 ± 3.8, d = 0.3, p = 0.59), VTC-V0 (0.25 ± 0.31, d = 0.5, p = 0.45), and VTC-Pmax (1.75 ± 2.5, d = 0.4, p = 0.5). Female sprinters are able to apply higher horizontally-oriented forces onto the ground during the acceleration phase than female hurdlers.


Incomplete instances with various missing attributes in many real-world applications have brought challenges to the classification tasks. Missing values imputation methods are often employed to replace the missing values with substitute values. However, this process often separates the imputation and classification, which may lead to inferior performance since label information are often ignored during imputation. Moreover, traditional methods may rely on improper assumptions to initialize the missing values, whereas the unreliability of such initialization might lead to inferior performance. To address these problems, a novel semi-supervised conditional normalizing flow (SSCFlow) is proposed in this paper. SSCFlow explicitly utilizes the label information to facilitate the imputation and classification simultaneously by estimating the conditional distribution of incomplete instances with a novel semi-supervised normalizing flow. Moreover, SSCFlow treats the initialized missing values as corrupted initial imputation and iteratively reconstructs their latent representations with an overcomplete denoising autoencoder to approximate their true conditional distribution. Experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.


A corporation acquires the assets and liabilities of a securities brokerage firm for a price in excess of net book value. A Markov analysis is used in conjunction with human resource accounting to value a pool of account executives employed by the brokerage firm. The tax implications of imputing a portion of the purchase price premium to the pool of human assets as opposed to goodwill are discussed.


The paper investigates the possibility of employing non-dedicated short range, energy-efficient communications, such as ZigBee, for additional safety applications in a subway environment. Early driver warning on entering railway station in case of an obstacle on the rails, safety warning on passengers' safety and security etc. are applications that aren't usually implemented in the normal signaling processes on subway line. Field experiments on ZigBee performed in real tunnel environment demonstrate the usability of this communication technology for additional applications, with the advantage of relieving the native subway signaling system from dedicated appliance installation and interfering.


Internet addiction (IA), as a new and often unrecognized psychosocial disorder, endangers people's health and their lives. However, the common biometric analysis based on the combination of EEG signals and results of questionnaires is not quantitative, and thus difficult to ensure a specific biomarker. This work aims to develop a deep learning algorithm (no need to identify biomarkers) used for diagnosing IA and evaluating therapy efficacy. Herein, a five-layer CNN model combined with a fast Fourier transform is proposed to diagnose IA quantitatively. This algorithm is validated in the Lemon dataset by using it to process raw data, full spectral power, and alpha-beta-gamma spectral power (related to IA). In contrast to alpha-beta-gamma spectral power, the results based on full spectral power show better performance (87.59% accuracy, 88.80% sensitivity, and 86.41% specificity), which confirms that the proposed algorithm can diagnose IA without biomarkers. In addition, this proposed CNN model presents obvious advantages in processing raw data, achieving 81.1% accuracy. Such results verify that this method can contribute to the reduction of diagnosis time and be potentially used in real-time health monitoring systems. This work provides a quantitative approach to diagnose IA and evaluate therapy efficacy, as a general strategy, and can be widely used in other disorder diagnoses that affect EEG signals, such as psychiatric disorders, substance dependence, and depression.


This study investigates entrepreneurial orientation (EO), resource-based view (RVB), and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Iran. Specifically, this study examines the relationship between EO and financial performance among SMEs in Iran. Using an original dataset of 150 SMEs in the manufacturing industry, a positive relationship was found between EO dimensions (i.e., innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking) and SME financial performance dimension (i.e., growth-profitability). These findings contribute to the importance of RBV as an underpinning theory that stresses a firm's unique proprietary assets, particularly intangible assets such as EO.


A method of three-phase probabilistic power flow for distribution systems with single-phase and three-phase grid-connected photovoltaic(PV) systems is introduced using sequential Monte Carlo techniques.The hourly output power of PV system is simulated considering solar irradiance,random change of weather,efficiency and effective sunlight area of PV arrays,efficiency of maximum power point tracking(MPPT) and inverter,and the reliability of overall PV system.The time-varying load model with randomness is incorporated in the probabilistic power flow and a program is developed.Case studies verify the feasibility and applicability of the method.


The 25 of October marked the 25th anniversary of the referendum on the Basque Country's Statute of Autonomy. On 15 October, a vote was called for in the Basque Parliament on two proposals from the Popular Party (PP) and the Socialist Party calling for an institutional commemoration of the event. These proposals were defeated by the joint votes of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Eusko Alkartasuna, Izquierda Unida-Ezker Batua and Sozialistak Abertzaleak (i.e. Batasuna). The Basque Government, which attended the debate on previous points on the day's agenda, entirely absented itself from this vote.


I am in the process of trying to organize an ethics committee at a large community mental health center in Central Massachusetts and am seeking advice from anyone with experience in this or a similar milieu. The agency is a large (almost 700 employees), nonprofit, community-based program that operates under the auspices of a broad, academically affiliated, behavioral health system. An independent board of trustees, responsible to the parent organization governs the agency. The agency primarily provides outpatient care and treatment to adults and children with mental health, substance abuse, developmental disabilities, and homelessness issues. It does not provide any psychiatric emergency or acute in-patient mental health services but does operate an inpatient detoxification unit for substance abuse treatment and "first offender" DUI program. Additionally, the agency has a vast network of residential programs and transitional facilities for individuals with a history of chronic mental illness and substance abuse problems. Outpatient medical care is also provided to homeless clients who reside in area shelters (including a "wet" shelter for men and women) and a large number of clients who have HIV/AIDS and/or who have been dually diagnosed (substance abuse and mental illness), and are part of a scattered-site supportive housing program.


[Objective]To study the prevalence of diarrhea among children in Rizhao city,and explore the relation between diarrhea and rotavirus infection.[Methods]Analysis was made on data of pathogenic detection among 997 cases of outpatient infant cases with infectious diarrhea under 5 in hospitals above county level in Rizhao city from 2007 to 2009.[Results]In stools from 997 infant cases,rotavirus antigen was positive in 353 cases,the positive rate was 35.41%.Rotavirus antigen positive rate,males,35.27%,females 35.61%(P0.05);6 months was 20.69%,6 months to 2 years,48.11%,2-year-old was 10.16%(P0.01);in 2007,36.71%,in 2008 to 34.31%,in 2009 to 35.05%(P0.05);epidemic peak,53.10%,sporadic,13.81%(P0.01);with immunizing history of oral rotavirus fluid,8.89%,with no history,28.98%(P0.01);dehydration,35.76%,no dehydration,33.87%(P0.05);71.74%,watery stool,egg stool pattern,76.24%,49.24%,thin paste stool,with a little mucus in stool,14.81%(P0.01);fever,37.85%,normal body temperature,30.00%(P0.01).[Conclusion]Rotavirus is a major pathogen for diarrhea in children under 5 in Rizhao city.


Randomcopolymers are heterogeneous with respect to molar mass and chemical composi tion. The chemical composi tion distribution (CCD) is a result of thedifferent reactivities of the monomersin the polymerization process, the different sequence of incorporation into the polymer chain, and the different chain termination reactions.TheCCD canbedeterminedefficiently by gradient high-performanceliquid chromatography(HPLC). In a fundamental paper Teramachi et al. separ atedcopolymers of styrene and methyl acrylate according to chemical composi tion using an adsorpt ion-desor ption mechanism andthe gradientelution technique. Sincethen, gradient elution hasbeenappliedto several typesof copolymers; anexhaustive overview on differentapplicationshasbeen given by Glöckner several years ago. It hasbeenfound that in many cases the molar masseffect is negligible when an adsorption mechanism is responsi ble for the separation. Quantitative information on thechemicalheterogeneity is obtained by calibrating the chromatographic system with chemicall y narrow-distributedlow-conversioncopolymers. By determining the retention time at the peak maximum for differentsamples of known composition, a calibration curveof retention time versuscomposit ion is constructed.This calibration curveis usedfor calculating the CCD. Therefore,the determination of the CCD of a particular sample necessit ates the synthesis of a set of calibration samples which makes the whole procedure rathertime consumingandlaborious. A much more feasible procedure would be the direct monitoring of the chemical composi tion across the elution curve. This is possi ble when the liquid chromatographicseparation is directly coupledto a spectroscop ic detectiontechnique, preferably H NMR. The combination of liquid chromatography with NMR has been attempted numeroustimes. Early experiments of coupled SEC/H NMR were conducted in a stop-flow mode or with very low flow rates. This wasnecessar y to accumulatea sufficient numberof spectrapersample volume in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. For example, Hatadaet al. describedtheanalysisof isotacticpolymethyl methacr ylate by on-line LC/NMR using a flow rateof 0.2mL/min. Problemsassociat edwith theimplementationof on-lineHPLC/NMR haveincluded theneed for deuteratedsolvents,inadequate solvent suppressio n techniquesandlow sensitivity. However, recent rapid advancesin HPLC/NMR provide evidencethat manyof the major technicalobstacles havebeenovercome. [7, 8] With the developmentof more powerful NMR spectrometerscombined with new NMR techniquesfor solventsuppressio n it became much easier to obtain well resolvedspectrain the on-flow mode.In particular, the solvent suppressiontechnique developed by Smallcombeet al. significantly improvesthespect ra during the HPLC/NMR run. This experimentwhich is basedont theWET solventsuppressiontechniqueof Ogg et al. combinesshapedrf pulses, pulsed-fiel d gradients (PFG),andselectiveC decoupli ng,andallowsto aquire high-qual ity spectraat on-flow conditions as has been Full Paper: Randompoly[(styrene)co-(ethyl acrylate)]s can effectively be analysedwith respectto the chemical composition distribution by on-line coupled HPLC/ H NMR. The separationof the copolymersis conducted on a reversed-phase columnusingacetonitrile/tetrahydrofuran as the eluent mixture. Via on-line coupling, the chromatographicpeaksare directly transferredinto the NMR spectrometerandanalysedon-flow. Informationon the chemicalcompositionandthe chemicalheterogeneity of copolymers with high conversion is obtained. The experimentshave been carried out using conventional HPLC-gradesolventsandno deuteriumlock. The results of the on-line HPLC/H NMR investigation have been correlatedwith a HPLC procedurebasedon calibration with narrow-distributedcopolymerstandards.


The paper considers the use of decision support systems in leasing. The impact of the introduction of decision support systems, in particular, scoring systems, on the business processes of companies and their organizational structure is described. The issues of digital transformation of two key business processes «Providing a car for leasing» and «Interaction with customers regarding payment delays» of the scoring system of a company that provides cars for leasing are considered. For this, a process approach and EPC and BPMN 2.0 notations were used. Business processes AS IS and TO BE are described. Based on the AS IS business process, the main problems are formulated, and how they could be solved in the TO BE business process is described. The digital transformation of business processes made it possible to increase the speed and accuracy of managerial decision-making, reduce the risks of non-return of payments, and thereby increase the company's competitiveness in the car leasing market. The analysis of the results of modeling the business processes of the scoring system made it possible to formulate proposals for its further development.


Mr. D, age 42, has a history of schizoaffective disorder, which was stabilized with medication. He later presents with acute mood, cognitive, and behavioral changes. What could be the cause? CASE Disoriented and confused Mr. D, age 42, presents to our emergency department (ED) accompanied by his family with recent onset of disorientation, confusion, depressive mood with labile affect, sleep disturbances, purposeless movements, and grossly reduced kinetics/verbal output. He has a history of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, and recurrent admissions for psychotic mood instability. A few months earlier, Mr. D was treated at our facility for acute exacerbation of his schizoaffective disorder. He was stabilized and discharged with aripiprazole, 30 mg/d, and mirtazapine, 15 mg/d--he had been taking both medications for some time--and newly started extended-release divalproex, 500 mg in the morning/1000 mg nightly (13.2 mg/kg). His trough valproic acid serum level was 70 [micro]g/mL at discharge. He continued on this medication regimen until he returns to our ED with his family. Mr. D has several medical problems, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension, for which he has been receiving metformin, 1,000 mg/d, lisinopril, 10 mg/d, and simvastatin, 20 mg/d. He has no history of alcohol or substance abuse and does not smoke. Serum and urine analyses are unremarkable and include finger-stick blood glucose, complete blood count, urinalysis, urine drug screen, comprehensive metabolic panel, mag nesium, yglutamyl transpeptidase (GGTP), amylase, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and blood alcohol level. Random valproic acid serum level taken in the ED is 64 [micro]g/mL. Noncontrast head CT is interpreted as non-acute. There are no documented abnormal findings during the physical exam. What could be causing Mr. D's altered mental status? a) symptoms of a medical illness b) medication, undetected substance intoxication, or withdrawal-related symptoms c) acute exacerbation of schizoaffective disorder d) delirium e) catatonia of undetected and/or multiple causes The authors' observations The differential diagnosis was broad at the time of Mr. D's presentation to the ED because his symptoms overlapped across clinical considerations. The initial medical evaluation was negative, which suggested an active primary mental illness. However, Mr. D's presenting symptoms warranted continued vigilance for concurrent or emergent delirium or catatonia, especially because of the potential morbidity if these conditions are not detected and managed. EVALUATION Fluctuating status Mr. D is admitted to the mental health unit for treatment of presumptive bipolar depression with catatonic features. The initial admitting team continues aripiprazole, increased divalproex extended release to 1,000 mg in the morning/1,500 mg at night, held mirtazapine, and started lorazepam, 2 mg, 3 times daily, for catatonia. Metformin, lisinopril, and simvastatin are continued. Mr. D's mental status and behavior fluctuates over the next 48 hours prompting the treatment team to consider an emergent delirious process. On day 3, the primary team assumes care and observes fluctuations in level of arousal with disorientation, inattention, labile affect, disorganized speech and behavior, and responsiveness to internal (visual) stimuli. Finger-stick blood glucose level remains sta ble. Review of physical symptoms is notable for nausea and examination reveals unsteady gait and asterixis. His family denies that Mr. D used alcohol or drugs before admission. Collateral information from the family and review of Mr. D's outpatient records is consistent with an acutely fluctuating confusional state that began 10 days before admission. At this point, what is your differential diagnosis for Mr. D's altered mental status? …


With the advent of digital histopathology imaging and automatic image analysis, colour constancy across multiple microscope slides has become an impor tant issue. Colour variation due to chemical, user or protocol inconsistency is widespread. This paper presents an approach for computationally efficient context aware colo ur c assification. A 'context vector' derived from the colour distribution of the complete ima ge is combined with the per-pixel information to improve pixel classification perform ance. The context vector implicitly encodes global image information such as whether the slide is under/over stained, or cut thinly, or thickly. The method is evaluated for s egmentation accuracy on two data sets with different stains, and as a pre-processin g method for a cell nuclei detection algorithm.


SUMMARY:

 V. Dolgov's article explores perceptions of Byzantine imperial ideologies and symbols in ancient Rus in the 10th to 13th centuries. Dolgov analyzes interpretations of the policies of Rus' princes as either demonstrative rejection or acceptance of Byzantine ideologies. The author opts for the hypothesis according to which the Rus' princes' use of Byzantine symbols and ideas signifies their attempt to follow their own state-building strategies and to seek prestige for their realm. Correspondingly, the Rus' princes appropriated "imperial" forms from Byzantium and used them to enhance their realm's symbolic status without reflecting upon the essence of these notions. The fact that educated bookmen in Kievan Rus' did not pay much attention to the essence of the imperial notion reinforces such a conception. By the 11th century the Byzantine imperial legacy in Kievan Rus' was partly processed by the "barbarians" and partly forgotten.

 To further understand Byzantine legacies in Kievan Rus', the author suggests analyzing the problem of the crown as a symbol of princely authority. Despite the scarcity of written sources, the author reviews contemporary iconography and imagery and comes to the conclusion that in the semiotics of princely power, the round hat with fur coating signified princely authority without functioning as a crown. On later coins, princes are depicted in Byzantine style crowns or in traditional princely hats with fur coating. The ceremony of crowning is conspicuously absent from the sources.

 The author concludes that although initially the princes of Rus' attempted to copy Byzantine symbols, the relative insignificance of Rus for Byzantium prevented full acceptance of Byzantine imperial regalia and symbols.


The embodiment of the present invention discloses a storage battery electric quantity information obtaining method and system. When the verification information inputted by mobile clients matches the preset verification information, and when the mobile clients and the wearing devices appointed by the mobile clients both generate the same action events within a preset duration, an internet of things cloud management server pushes the storage battery electric quantity information of a communication cabinet in a communication machine room that required by the mobile clients to the mobile clients, so that the mobile clients can obtain the storage battery electric quantity information of the communication cabinets in different communication machine rooms conveniently and reliably according to demands.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the positive rates of IGRA and TST in detection of LTBI.

METHODS
We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library on March 12, 2022. A random-effects model was used to calculate pooled results.

RESULTS
We included 458 head-to-head studies. Compared with immunocompetent controls, TST positive rate in immunosuppressed population decreased more than IGRA positive rate (OR 0.36 [95% CI: 0.31 to 0.41] versus 0.53 [0.46 to 0.61]). In immunocompetent BCG-vaccinated individuals, IGRA positive rate in low-TB burden areas was significantly lower than TST positive rate, but the difference was decreased in high-TB burden areas (OR 0.75 [0.60 to 0.94]). Additionally, IGRA positive rate was equal to that of TST in the elderly (OR 0.98 [0.66 to 1.46]).

CONCLUSION
TST is more susceptible to immunosuppression than IGRA. The effect of BCG on TST might be weakened in high-TB burden areas, and TST response waned in the elderly.

REVIEW REGISTRATION
PROSPERO CRD42020180163.


Rules of liability to give evidence in Chinese criminal action law are simple,concerned standards in judicable practice are obscure and desultory.Based on legislation and judicial interpretation,combining foreign legislation and basic distribution principles of liability to give evidence,Chinese specific distribution formulae in public indictment cases are explored in this article,which is expected to offer some practical consultation.


The objective of this work was to verify whether the addition of biochar to the soil affects the degradation of litter and of soil organic matter (SOM). In order to investigate the effect of biochar on the mineralization of barley straw, soil was incubated with 14 C-labelled barley straw with or without unlabelled biochar. To investigate the effect of straw on the mineralization of biochar, soil was incubated with 14 C-labelled biochar with or without straw. In addition, to investigate the effect of biochar on old SOM, a soil labelled by applying labelled straw 40 years ago was incubated with different levels of biochar. All experiments had a control treatment, without any soil amendment. The effect of biochar on the straw mineralization was small and nonsignificant. Without biochar, 48±0.2% of the straw carbon was mineralized within the 451 days of the experiment. In comparison, 45±1.6% of C was mineralized after biochar addition of 1.5 g kg -1 . In the SOM‑labelled soil, the organic matter mineralized more slowly with the increasing doses of biochar. Biochar addition at 7.7 g kg -1 reduced SOM mineralization from 6.6 to 6.3%, during the experimental period. The addition of 15.5 g kg -1 of biochar reduced the mineralized SOM to 5.7%. There is no evidence of increased degradation of either litter or SOM due to biochar addition; consequently, there is no evidence of decreased stability of SOM.


Aims: To identify the key reasons why few pharmacy students opt for a career in the pharmaceutical industry. Methods: A 17 item questionnaire was developed and distributed to final year undergraduates in UK schools of pharmacy. Respondents gave views on possible career choices using structured and open questions and a five point Likert scale. Results: Questionnaires were returned from 219 final year pharmacy undergraduates. Seventy-one students expressed an interest in industrial pharmacy. Key attractions of the industry included a wide range of job opportunities and a research environment; key detractors included lack of patient contact and a perception that work would be dull, difficult and laboratory based. Conclusion: Undergraduates do not have enough information concerning industrial pharmacy to be able to make informed judgements concerning opportunities in this sector.


To realize automatic test of the shell movement parameters in the artillery experiment,using digital high-speed camera to gather the shell movement images,applying digital image processing technique to study the general extraction algorithm of these kinds of images,the characteristic images of shell were extracted accurately.Combined with the measuring principle of the shell movement parameters,the image test system had been designed and automatic test of the shell movement parameters had been realized.The test result for shell movement images obtained indicate that,the image extraction algorithm is easy to use and universal,the precision of data measurement is increased.At present,the image test system has been applied in the data analysis in the artillery experiment and the effect is satisfying.


A terminal (or UE) and multiple base stations (or Node Bs) to mitigate the effects of link imbalance in the uplink between technology is provided. Nominal uplink transmission rate that has been adjusted, the first power control commands coming from the serving mode set and, to noise and interference ratio (SNR) for the highest power control commands coming from the uplink mode with a transmission signal based on the difference value between the two sets of power control commands consisting of the second set, the uplink transmission rate is selected.