We prove a result on the representation of squares by second degree polynomials in the field of $p$-adic meromorphic functions in order to solve positively B\"uchi's $n$ squares problem in this field (that is, the problem of the existence of a constant $M$ such that any sequence $(x_n^2)$ of $M$ - not all constant - squares whose second difference is the constant sequence $(2)$ satisfies $x_n^2=(x+n)^2$ for some $x$). We prove (based on works by Vojta) an analogous result for function fields of characteristic zero, and under a Conjecture by Bombieri, an analogous result for number fields. Using an argument by B\"uchi, we show how the obtained results improve some theorems about undecidability for the field of $p$-adic meromorphic functions and the ring of $p$-adic entire functions.


SummaryObjective: To obtain high resolution magnetic resonance (MR) images of the intramural and extramural extent of lesions visualized during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Subjects and methods: Eight patients, four male and four female aged 50 to 77 years (mean 65.6 years), were studied using an endoscope that was specially constructed for use in an MR scanner using non-ferromagnetic components. A 5cm long saddle geometry receiver coil mounted on a DelrinTM former and equal in diameter to the endoscope was reverse threaded through the biopsy channel. The coil and endoscope were then inserted under direct vision into the oesophagus. After routine visual inspection the coil was placed adjacent to the site of pathology. T1-weighted spin-echo images and radiofrequency spoiled gradient-echo images with a segmented k-space acquisition were obtained with ECG gating. Results: In one patient with an oesophageal tumour extensive mediastinal involvement was seen. One patient with reflux oesophagitis showed som...


Abstract : The convective motion in a horizontal fluid layer heated from below is investigated using Boussinesq's approximation. Applying the method of Schmidt-Lyapunov solutions with cellular structure are obtained as branching solutions of the nonlinear boundary-value problem. The number of branches and their behavior near the bifurcation point is determined for the following types of cellular flow: rolls, squares and hexagonals. (Author)


In the development of the study of German politics and the history of this Journal, Gordon Smith occupies a central place. The plans for the foundation of the Journal were discussed at a conference in Berlin in 1990 but it was Gordon's strong relationship with Frank Cass that transformed an aspiration to establish a leading academic journal to analyse the politics of post-wall Germany into reality with amazing speed. As the Editor of West European Politics, there was no doubt that Gordon was the senior editor and his experience and judgement saved his fellow editors Eva Kolinsky, Stephen Padgett and myself from many errors. Given his editorial role in the extremely successful West European Politics, it was generous of him to play a central part in the foundation of another journal which covered some of the same subject matter. It also reflected his core belief in the necessity for a balance between comparative/theoretical approaches and the close study of individual systems. Gordon was also instrumental in encouraging Steven Kennedy at Palgrave to extend the 'Developments Series' which initially dealt only with Britain to cover Germany and four volumes were subsequently produced on the Federal Republic. The first volume coincided rather awkwardly with German unity but the subsequent volumes presented reliable and high quality analyses of the politics of a unified Germany. As a member of an editorial team, initially Gordon, myself and Peter Merkl and then in later editions Gordon, myself and Stephen Padgett, Gordon not only insisted on high standards of production but was always full of ideas. Collaboration for Gordon involved friendly contestation so that the volumes always had a freshness alongside their sought-for reliability. When Geoffrey Roberts and I canvassed colleagues in early 1974 about founding the Association for the Study of German Politics, Gordon was one of the first to respond and he played a central role in the development of the Association where he took a great interest in younger colleagues and was a constant source of inspiration to them. Accompanied by his first wife Dorothea he participated in every conference of the fledgling association. Gordon's LSE location was a great help to the Association and Committee meetings were often held there. From 1986 to 1988 Gordon was Chair of the Association and in recognition of his huge contribution he was made an Honorary Vice President. Beyond the Association, Gordon did much to push the study of German politics in the European Consortium for Political Research and at the European University Institute. There is no doubt that Gordon's stellar reputation in comparative politics added weight to his advocacy of the study of German Politics in the wider political science community. Gordon was appointed to a Lectureship in German Politics at the London School of Economics in 1972 where he remained on the staff for the next two decades. In the intervening period he had progressed to Professor and Chair of the Government


Summary In this study we evaluated the success rate of double fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of clinically suspicious thyroid nodules in one session. Aim: The success rate of FNAB in clinical setting is quite low. There were several attempts made to improve the success rate of this method. It is anticipated that a double FNAB in one session would increase the success rate of FNAB. Patients, methods: 176 consecutive patients (130 women, 46 men; mean age 56 years ± 11) with at least one clinically suspicious nodule were included in this study. Each individual nodule was biopsied twice (20G- and 21G-needle). In 33 patients, two suspicious nodules were biopsied, accounting for a total of 209 biopsied thyroid nodules. To evaluate the success rate the number of cell formations and the total number of cells in each cell formation were counted. Results: The biopsy with the 20G needle provided in mean 40 cell cluster with a mean of 830 cells niedwhereas the 21G needle provided in mean 41 cell cluster with a mean of 1010 cells. With the 20G needle the success rate was 73%, with the 21G needle 78% and the combination of the both biopsies provided a success rate of 87% (p = 0.01). Based on the number of cell formations and the total number of cells, the difference between the two needle sizes was not significant (p = 0.5 for cell formations and p = 0.9 for the total number of cells, respectively). Conclusion: A double FNAB of suspicious thyroid nodules in one session provides a higher success rate, and a 21G needle is sufficient enough.


Vermicompost was an important organic amendment that regulated the functional properties of agricultural systems.However,there was little information on the effect of vermicompost co-applied with inorganic fertilizer on the ecological environment at rhizosphere soil and yield of watermelon.Considering the benefits of vermicompost,a field experiment was conducted to determine whether the vermicompost co-applied with inorganic fertilizer benefits the ecological environment of watermelon rhizosphere soil.There were four treatments in the field experiment,CK(neither urea nor vermicompost was applied),CF(100% of nitrogen was provided by urea),VC(100% of nitrogen was provided by vermicompost),and VC+CF(50% and 50% of nitrogen was provided by vermicompost and urea,respectively).The study was conducted to determine the effects of vermicompost co-applied with inorganic fertilizer on soil phy-chemical properties,enzyme activities at rhizosphere soil and yield as well as quality of watermelon.The results showed that compared to the CF treatment,the VC+CF treatment significantly decreased the pH value and apparently increased the contents of available N,available P and available K,as well as EC value in rhizosphere soil.At the same time,the activity of urease enzyme,catalase enzyme,polyphenol oxidase enzyme and invertase enzyme in VC+CF treatment was also improved,showing 51.13%,17.19% and 12.84% increases on urease enzyme activity than in CK,CF and VC treatments,respectively.Additionally,the VC+CF treatment also significantly improved the yield and quality of watermelon.In comparison with the VC+CF treatment,the VC treatment had less effect on soil biological characteristics and yield as well as quality of watermelon.As a result,vermicompost co-applied with inorganic fertilizer had better effect on watermelon,which was an ideal fertilization practices.


Various types of monitoring mechanism allow us to detect and monitor behavior of attackers in VoIP networks. Analysis of detected malicious traffic is crucial for further investigation and hardening the network. This analysis is typically based on statistical methods and the article brings a solution based on neural network. The proposed algorithm is used as a classifier of attacks in a distributed monitoring network of independent honeypot probes. Information about attacks on these honeypots is collected on a centralized server and then classified. This classification is based on different mechanisms. One of them is based on the multilayer perceptron neural network. The article describes inner structure of used neural network and also information about implementation of this network. The learning set for this neural network is based on real attack data collected from IP telephony honeypot called Dionaea. We prepare the learning set from real attack data after collecting, cleaning and aggregation of this information. After proper learning is the neural network capable to classify 6 types of most commonly used VoIP attacks. Using neural network classifier brings more accurate attack classification in a distributed system of honeypots. With this approach is possible to detect malicious behavior in a different part of networks, which are logically or geographically divided and use the information from one network to harden security in other networks. Centralized server for distributed set of nodes serves not only as a collector and classifier of attack data, but also as a mechanism for generating a precaution steps against attacks.


The purpose of this paper is to present an instrument that aims to measure organizational culture from perceived values. This research was based on the robust method for culture diagnosis, the Competing Values Framework (CVF). Both theoretical and empirical studies were developed to understand the connection between the values perceived in an organizational context and the type of culture it presents. The development of the instrument followed the main four steps: (1) collection of values from literature; (2) classification of the values regarding the types of culture of the CVF they fit through panel with experts; (3) two applications of this instrument were carried out as well as the application of the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) – also based on CVF; and (4) proposition of the final (current) version of the instrument. The proposed instrument is a qualitative method, and it is based on respondents' insights to assess the actual values of the organization. Thus, the results can be considered an approximation of the actual characteristics presented in this environment. By applying this instrument, we expect that a diagnosis of organizational culture can be more straightforward and less error-prone, compared to other instruments that have the same purpose.


Friction powder sintering (FPS) is a recently-developed technique to produce particulate metal matrix composites (PMMCs). In FPS, powders including metallic and ceramic particles are compacted by the pressure and frictional heat induced by a rotating tool. We have applied FPS to obtain Al-50 vol.% SiC PMMCs and evaluated the thermal conductivity of the composites. FPS has been performed under the tool rotating rate of 1500 rpm and tool pressure of 31 MPa. By extending the sintering time from 1 minute to 2 minute, the relative packing density has increased from 81 % to 91 %, and the thermal conductivity has been enhanced from 66 W/mK to 110 W/mK. It has been noted that the further densification of the composites is necessary to draw the potential thermal conductivity.


A successful root coverage procedure requires a clearly defined intention. This is illustrated by a control circuit. This means that a controlled variable (therapy) remains directionless as long as the objective (treatment outcome) is not defined. Even though the diagnosis 'recession' is of major importance, it does not solely determine the medical necessity for a surgical intervention. There must be additional findings to ethically justify the surgical procedure. Therapy based on clinical findings is only possible when all evidence-based methods are mastered. The following review focuses on information on objectives, indications and procedures currently present in the literature.


Abstract In vitro studies were on inhibition of rennet-casein clotting by free fatty acids, chelating agents, and other substances as affected by pH and added calcium ++ . At .4% (volume/volume), pH 6.1, propionic, butyric, caproic, and heptanoic acids were relatively ineffective in inhibiting clotting of reconstituted skim milk powder (10%, weight/volume); caprylic, myrstic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids were highly inhibitory; and capric, lauric, and pelargonic acids completely prevented coagulation. Clotting at pH 6.1 also was prevented by 15mM citrate, 5mM phytic acid, 10mM ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, 100mM formaldehyde, and 5mM sodium lauryl sulfate. Lowering pH below 6.1 and adding 20mM calcium ++ restored clotting and curd firmness to varying degrees for all agents. In studies on the role of stomach clots on the performance of young calves involving use of clot-preventive agents in milk replacer, the free fatty acids and other agents used here likely would not be useful because even small reductions in pH below 6.1, as occur in the abomasum soon after feeding, markedly reduce their anticlotting activity.


Additive manufacturing (AM) is a new technology for fabricating products straight from a 3D digital model, which can lower costs, minimize waste, and increase building speed while maintaining acceptable quality. However, it still suffers from low dimensional accuracy and a lack of geometrical quality standards. Moreover, there is a need for a robust AM configuration to perform in-situ inspections during the fabrication. This work established a 3D printing-scanning setup to collect 3D point cloud data of printed parts and then compare them with nominal 3D point cloud data to quantify the deviation in all X, Y, and Z directions. Specifically, this work aims at predicting the anticipated deviation along the Z direction by applying a deep learning-based prediction model. An experiment with regard to a human "Knee" prototype fabricated by Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is conducted to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.


As typical P-type narrow-band semiconductors, tellurium nanostructures have received extensive attention in fabrication of modern microdevices. However, their synthesis generally requires the use of toxic reducing agents and difficult operating conditions. In this study, a green thermal
 solvothermal method was used to synthesize tellurium nanowires, whereby Polyvinylpyrrolidone was used as a soft template and ethylene glycol was used not only as a mild solvent but also as a reducing agent. We studied the optoelectronic properties of tellurium nanowire devices, the mobility
 of which was 200 cm2v−1s−1 at 7 K. We also measured the transient response under 650 nm laser irradiation, and spectral response of tellurium nanowire photodetectors degree was 1.02 WA−1. Photoelectric effect generation mechanism
 for tellurium nanowires was at the same time further studied. We believe that tellurium nanowires have great development prospects in the field of optoelectronic devices.


524 Background: We have previously reported that the presence of 5 or more circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in 7.5 mL of blood from women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is associated with poor survival (NEJM, 351:8, 781–791, 2004). We have updated this multi-institutional prospective clinical trial and included data of CTCs at different time points after initiation of therapy. Methods: CTCs/7.5mL whole blood were enumerated at baseline and at 3 or 4 week follow-up intervals for a period of six months in 177 patients with MBC about to start a new systemic therapy. CTCs were immunomagnetically separated and fluorescently labeled using the CellSearch Kit. Only nucleated (DAPI+) cells with the phenotype EpCAM+, Cytokeratin 8, 18 and/or 19+, and CD45- were counted using the CellSpotter Analyzer. Results: Median Progression Free Survival (PFS) and Overall Survival (OS) were determined for patients with <5 or ≥5 CTC /7.5mL at baseline and specified intervals. Significance between the two groups of patients (l...


Whether a country owns famous international science and technology publication is a reflection of the national scientific and technological strength and is a symbol of the core research capacity of a worldwide subject.Science-tech periodicals of our country have its own unique course of development and our famous international science and technology publication also has its salient features.By contrast,our science-tech periodicals have many problems such as a weak sense of participating in international competition;unreasonable operation and management;no emphasizing geographical characteristics,national characteristics and historical cultural of a subject;weak economic base;the lack of key editor,etc.If we want to launch famous international science and technology publication,we should take development as the top priority and carry out a series of reform and innovation.


The acoustic ray refraction on measuring temperature field of large-scale coal-fired power plant furnace is an important factor affects the accuracy of measuring the temperature field, If can simulate the propagation of the true path of the acoustic waves will further enhance the accuracy of the reconstruction of temperature field. This paper proposes a two-dimensional temperature field reconstruction algorithm simulates the sound propagation path based on the least-squares algorithm. This algorithm considers the bending effect of the sound propagation path, through the interpolation method to simulate the actual sound propagation path. The simulation result shows that the algorithm can corrected the curved sound path automatically and reconstructed the temperature field simultaneously. Compare with the least-squares algorithm, this algorithm can significantly improve measurement accuracy.


The primary objectives of the tracer infiltration test were to 1) determine whether field-scale hydraulic properties for the compacted roadbed materials and underlying Hanford fm. sediments comprising the zone of water table fluctuation beneath the site are consistent with estimates based laboratory-scale measurements on core samples and 2) characterize wetting front advancement and distribution of soil moisture achieved for the selected application rate. These primary objectives were met. The test successfully demonstrated that 1) the remaining 2 to 3 ft of compacted roadbed material below the infiltration gallery does not limit infiltration rates to levels that would be expected to eliminate near surface application as a viable amendment delivery approach and 2) the combined aqueous and geophysical monitoring approaches employed at this site, with some operational adjustments based on lessons learned, provides an effective means of assessing wetting front advancement and the distribution of soil moisture achieved for a given solution application. Reasonably good agreement between predicted and observed tracer and moisture front advancement rates was observed. During the first tracer infiltration test, which used a solution application rate of 0.7 cm/hr, tracer arrivals were observed at the water table (10 to 12 ft below the bottom of the infiltration gallery) after approximately 5 days, for an advancement rate of approximately 2 ft/day. This advancement rate is generally consistent with pre-test modeling results that predicted tracer arrival at the water table after approximately 5 days (see Figure 8, bottom left panel). This agreement indicates that hydraulic property values specified in the model for the compacted roadbed materials and underlying Hanford formation sediments, which were based on laboratory-scale measurements, are reasonable estimates of actual field-scale conditions. Additional work is needed to develop a working relationship between resistivity change and the associated change in moisture content so that 4D images of moisture content change can be generated. Results from this field test will be available for any future Ca-citrate-PO4 amendment infiltration tests, which would be designed to evaluate the efficacy of using near surface application of amendments to form apatite mineral phases in the upper portion of the zone of water table fluctuation.


This report is a part of the course Fire Safety Evaluation at LTH and written in educational purposes. The intent of the report is to evaluate the fire safety and assess the risks of Skarholmen Centrum, located at Skarholmen, Stockholm. The risk assessment focuses mainly on occupant safety and does not regard any other protection values connected to fire incidents. Skarholmen Centrum is a shopping mall with three floors. All entrances are located on the second floor along with most of the stores. Only a few stores have expanded operations on floors 1 and 3. The entire shopping mall is built in one fire compartment as all the stores are connected by walking paths that run through the mall. The fire protection at Skarholmen Centrum is generally good and has smoke ventilation in every walking path. Some of the walking paths, where a higher fire load occasionally occurs, and most of the stores are sprinkled. To assess the fire protection, many possible and representative scenarios were first roughly valuated and compared. Some of those scenarios, that were considered to have the highest risk were then analyzed more thoroughly and modelled in FDS, a computer fire simulation program. Skarholmen Centrum was then plotted in Pathfinder, an evacuation simulation program and the results were compared. The results confirmed that the fire protection system is sufficient in evacuation purposes and critical conditions were rarely registered. However, in some cases the results showed a minor impact on occupants and suggestions of measures to improve the organizational fire protection work was made. Not all the available evacuation width was used during simulations in Pathfinder, occupants have the choice of different exit routes. Therefore, suggestions of improvements are only recommended and not conclusive. (Less)


In view of the hard detection of hazardous locations in the network traffic,an analysis on the alarm messages from which the frequent close-up sequences can be excavated in the network environment,is proposed in this paper.As the number of the close-up frequent itemsets is far less than that of the frequent itemsets which can be obtained via the close-up frequent itemsets,a large number of alarm messages can be correlated by a correlation analysis on the frequent close-up sequences of the alarm messages.In this way,not only can the times of warning be reduced,but the efficiency of the system of the intrusion-detection and the response can be improved.


= Abstract = Most reports from Western countries are discouraging the establishment of direct donation programs since little evidence exists that this approach improves the safety of blood transfusion. However, the infectious disease marker frequencies vary from one region to another and not much is known about the figures in less individualized, and more culturally uniform societies. The authors compared the frequency of infectious disease markers among 14,253 directed and 1,228,132 volunteer blood donors in Korea. The frequency of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was higher in volunteer donors while the frequency of elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and VDRL was higher in directed donors(p(0.01). Our data suggest that even in a less individualized society where people are more open to exchange their medical and personal information, directed donation does not confer significant benefit in the prevention of transfusion-transmitted diseases.


This study deals with the definition and measurement of the dispersive properties of a stratified aquifer based on the single-well tracer test. Knowledge of such dispersive properties are of fundamental importance to the evaluation, analysis, and simulation of contaminant migration in groundwater, a subject of great interest in recent years. In the single-well test, tracer is pumped into the formation for a period of time and then pumped out. Concentration data are obtained from the injection-withdrawal well and from one or more sampling-observation wells which may be multilevel. Our analysis of such a test is based on a Lagrangian-Eulerian numerical model which considers the depth-dependent advection in the radial direction and local hydrodynamic dispersion in the vertical and radial directions. Results show that the movement of an injected tracer in a stratified aquifer may be accurately simulated without resorting to the use of a scale-dependent, full aquifer dispersivity if the flow field is known in sufficient detail. When the advection process is simulated accurately, the values of local dispersivity will be small, constant, and on the order of those measured in the field or laboratory at individual levels in the aquifer. The full-aquifer breakthrough curves measured in observation wells in a single-well test in a stratified aquifer are determined by the hydraulic conductivity profile in the region between the injection-withdrawal well and the observation well if the travel distance between these wells is typical of most test geometries. However, the relative concentration versus time data recorded at the injection-withdrawal well during the withdrawal phase is primarily a measure of mixing in the aquifer due to local dispersion which has taken place during the experiment. The amount of mixing will depend on both the hydraulic conductivity distribution in the aquifer and the size of the experiment. As the experiment scale increases, the effects of local vertical dispersion will become larger compared to the effects of local radial dispersion. Local vertical dispersion will cause a solute traveling in a high-conductivity layer in an aquifer to migrate into adjacent low-conductivity layers where its movement will be relatively slow in comparison. In the initial design of a tracer test it is important to have some idea of the type of nonhomogeneity with which one is dealing. More information of a broad nature concerning the types or classifications of nonhomogeneities that exist in natural aquifers would be very useful. Future research in this area is needed.


Background: Thalassemia is an inherited genetic hemoglobin disorder wherein, afflicted child is born when both parents are carriers for defective alpha or beta hemoglobin gene. The thalassemias are the most common genetic disorder on a worldwide basis. The requirement of frequent blood transfusions in these patients pose a substantial burden on the health care system. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted across 6 months (July 2018-December 2018) in a tertiary care hospital, Pune. The present study included 30 registered patient & their past 6 months record of blood transfusion (esp frequency), previous hemoglobin levels, height & weight. All these parameters were compared 6 months after supplementation with Omega 3 fatty Acids & proteins. Results: Total 16 of 28 patient showed that the average durations between two blood transfusions was increased by minimum 01 day to a maximum of 5 days. The average number of blood bag required was less than required blood bags in the period of pre supplementation. 20 of 28 patients showed a rise in hemoglobin level from a range of 0.5 to 1.2 gm/dl. Conclusions: In a country like India, with the high frequency of hemoglobinopathies, causing increased burden on the society, it is necessary to control the incidence by effective steps. Low cost and easily administered supplementation by omega 3 fatty acid and proteins may reduce the requirement of repeated blood transfusion along with increase in hemoglobin level. Implementation of carrier screening program offering genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis followed by selective termination of affected cases would help in preventing the disease.


Poly(1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′-ylene vinylene-alt-2,5-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] [poly(BPV-alt-BEHPV)] as a polymeric dopant, was synthesized by Honer-Emmons condensation from corresponding dialdehyde and diphosphonate monomers. Synthesized alternating polymer was used to fabricate single layer (ITO/Host:Dopant/Al) PLEDs with poly(vinyl carbazole) (PVK) as a host. Conjugated poly(BPV-alt-BEHPV) showed green emission from single layer ITO/poly(BPV-alt-BEHPV)/Al device. Emission colors from doped PLEDs were changed by energy transfer from blue originated from PVK to green with increasing the content of poly(BPV-alt-BEHPV).


Background: Infections acquired in utero or during the birth process are a significant cause of fetal and neonatal mortality and an important contributor to early and later childhood morbidity. Careful hygiene is the best prevention tool against these infections. Intrauterine transmission from transplacental or ascending infection may occur as evidenced by the presence of early neonatal infection despite delivery by cesarean means before labor and rupture of fetal membranes. Objective: To sero-screen for Toxoplasma, Rubella, Herpes simplex, and Cytomegalovirus (TORCH) infections in Sudanese pregnant women. Materials and methods: The study analyzed qualitatively the frequency rate of TORCH infections among 71 pregnant women attending the Maternity Department at Khartoum North Teaching Hospital, during the period from February to June, 2012. Serum samples were collected and investigated for the presence of TORCH IgM antibodies using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results: Five patients (7.0%) were found TORCH positive, and 14 patients (19.7%) had a history of contact with animal pets. Also 39 patients (54.9%) had a past history of abortion; and 26 patients (36.6%) were in the first trimester of pregnancy. Conclusion: The frequency rate of TORCH antibodies was higher among aborting pregnant women due not only to their contact with animal pets but also due to their contact with fertile soil especially in rural areas.


Cycle and gestation lengths, menstruation patterns, female genital swelling characteristics, and male‐female consortship durations are reported in a semifree‐ranging group of Tonkean macaques (Macaca tonkeana) studied over a 12 year period. In addition, profiles of urinary estrone conjugates (E1C) and immunoreactive pregnanediol glucuronide (PdG) throughout four complete menstrual cycles in two females and three full‐term pregnancies are presented. Based on intermenstrual intervals, a mean cycle length of 37–41 days (n = 55 cycles in 10 females) was found. Gestation length averaged 173 days (n = 27 pregnancies in eight females). Measurement of PdG immunoreactivity in urine revealed a cyclic pattern with a 5–15‐fold increase between follicular and luteal phase concentrations, suggesting that PdG is a reliable indicator of ovarian cyclicity and luteal function. In contrast to PdG, E1C excretion showed no clear pattern throughout the cycle; however, highest values of E1C were usually found shortly before the onset of the luteal phase PdG rise at the presumed time of ovulation. Levels of both hormones were elevated during the first half of gestation and showed a marked increase throughout the second half, with maximum E1C concentrations being up to 100‐fold higher than nonpregnant levels. Consortships by the male and occurrence of female genital swelling were long lasting (on average 5–10 days and 13 days, respectively) and were restricted to the follicular phase of the cycle. The day of maximal swelling and day of detumescence as well as the end of male consortship were closely associated with the periovulatory period. Swellings and consortships were longer following lactational ammenorhea than for subsequent cycles. The evolutionary significance of the cyclical changes undergone by females upon their relations with males is discussed. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Longitudinal research on the development of gifted and talented youth suggests that they profit from accelerated, fast paced, and challenging instruction. The research also shows that educational services focused on their special talents may be more effective than general enrichment programs. Ideally instruction and educational programs should be designed to help precocious youth achieve at very high creative levels or to attain high level and creative expertise.


Knowledge-based systems support the decision-making process with the help of domain specific knowledge bases. The knowledge bases almost always have uncertainty associated with them. A variety of approaches have been proposed in the artificial intelligence (AI) literature for the construction of and reasoning with uncertain knowledge bases. Building on this stream of research, we focus on how stochastic simulation can be used to construct and reason with knowledge bases that have uncertainties. An advantage of the simulation methodology is that it may not have to make many of the assumptions made by other approaches. It also allows the designer of the knowledge-based system to control the methodology based on accuracy and time requirements. The simulation approach to knowledge base construction is a modified version of the concept induction procedure used in AI. However, it incorporates, as does simulation modeling, statistical tests to identify the best rule that describes the relationship among the variables. We show that when simulation is used to reason with uncertain knowledge bases, under certain conditions, the number of simulation trials needed to achieve a given level of accuracy is independent of the characteristics, such as the size, of the knowledge base. Empirical results obtained from an experiment confirm our theoretical results and provide evidence that simulation methodology is practical for real life knowledge-based systems.


Objective
To evaluate the clinical efficacy and side effects of cyberknife therapy in the treatment of retroperitoneal lymph node metastatic tumor.

Methods
Among the 81 patients presenting with postoperative retroperitoneal lymph node metastases, 33 cases suffered from abdominal pain or low back pain, 7 had unilateral hydronephrosis and ureteral dilatation, and 8 developed unilateral or bilateral lower limb swelling. Using stereotactic radiotherapy with a cyberknife, DT was delivered at 33-45 Gy/3-6 F. The improvement of symptoms, objective tumor response rate, and irradiation-induced side effects were observed.

Results
At 4 weeks after treatment, pain and swelling of the lower extremities were completely mitigated, and hydronephrosis was fully healed in all patients. Enhanced CT or MRI was performed every 2 to 3 months. After 6-month follow-up, the complete response (CR) rate was calculated as 77%(62/81), 21%(17/81) for the partial response (PR) rate, 3%(2/81) for the stable disease (SD) rate and the effective rate (CR+ PR) was 98%.No case progressed. The main side effect was intestinal injury, including grade 1 in 16%(13/81), grade 2 in 9%(7/81). Multivariate analysis demonstrated the CR rate was not correlated with the type of the primary tumor or the size of the tumor (P>0.05), but was significantly associated with the distance of>0.5 cm between the tumor and intestine and the BED (α/β=10)>70 Gy of the tumor irradiation (P 5 cm and the distance of<0.5 cm between the tumor and intestine (P<0.01).

Conclusion
Cyberknife is an efficacious and safe approach in the treatment of retroperitoneal lymph node metastatic tumors.

Key words:
Retroperitoneal lymph node metastatic neoplasms/stereotactic radiotherapy; Radiotherapy, cyber knife


This chapter is an exposition on the Institutional Repositories as impetus to curbing plagiarism in Nigerian universities. The chapter analyses the nature of academic plagiarism and its prevalence in institutions of higher learning in Nigeria especially among students and faculty members. The chapter also proffers strategies which universities can employ to minimise and or eventually curb plagiarism.


This study explored the effects of a middle school physical activity intervention for adolescent girls on the executive functioning involved in science learning. The girls, ages 11 to 14, were at risk for low self-esteem, sedentary lifestyle, and poor health outcomes. Executive function stems from interdependent cognitive control processes that influence goal setting and information processing, which complement higher order thinking required for acquiring scientific process skills. A 20-week informal triathlon training program served as the intervention for the treatment girls (n = 29). The comparison group of girls (n = 30) was randomly drawn from a matched sample of students of a similar demographic. Mean comparisons, ANCOVA, and Roy-Bargmann stepdown analysis were used to measure outcomes. The intervention contributed to significant improvement in several executive functions and science achievement. These results suggest that an afterschool program with a physical fitness component may improve the executive functions involved in science learning.


The smartphone is widely used in college campus at present, almost every college student like to use their smartphone to access the popular mobile social network APP such as WeChat, mobile QQ. The notion of O2O was proposed by Alex Rampel in 2010, it gets much attention of education circles immediately after it was proposed, there are many researchers study the O2O model, and want to use this model into the existing teaching methods. To take the advantages of the existing O2O teaching model in some researches, we propose a novel O2O teaching model based on a mobile social network APP, and apply this model into the "Android APP Development" course in our university. The application of this O2O teaching model show it can enhance their learning interest of students considerably, make students to use their spare time effectively, and increasing their friendship strongly.


SAFEPASS is a password manager implemented as a self-contained application, developed with principles and ideas based on industry best practices and analysis of existing popular password managers. All password managers try to solve the same problem of avoiding bad passwords and poor user habits when managing passwords. Security measures are from a high-level perspective similar across competing products, however, each of them have some deficiencies, although typically not the same. SAFEPASS aims at being an all-around good password manager for all purposes that avoid these deficiencies. It is based on modern technologies from the JavaScript and .NET ecosystem including React, Xamarin, and ASP.NET Core. By using the Flux architecture, SAFEPASS gives the average user ability to tweak most of its core functionality while staying within recommended security margins. Advanced users are also given room for customization through more technical security options. SAFEPASS does, in particular, have a focus on security, portability, convenience


Archaeomagnetic measurements on a kiln thought to be operating at the time of the Pompeii disaster, 24th August 79 A. D., indicates a normal field direction with an archaeointensity value of 61 microtesla. The low error and precise date makes this an important reference point to which other less accurately dated results can be compared.


Background: Cast immobilized (Imb) mammalian skeletal muscles exhibits reduced tension generation ability with morphometric changes and atrophy. However, controversies still exist with respect to changes in muscle mechanics in different positions of immobilization (IMB). In addition, reptilian muscles have been ignored generally, and for the effects of IMB, specially. This study was carried out to observe the effects of different positions of IMB on contraction parameters of Uromastix skeletal muscles. Methods: Left hind limb was Imb in stretched knee and flexed ankle position for 20 days, right being the control (Cont). After 20 days Sartorius (Sar), Gastrocnemius (Gas), Peroneus Longus (PL) and Peroneus Brevis (PB) muscles were isolated to record the isometric twitch and tetani for the measurements of tension, rate of rise of tension (dp/dt) and duration of active state (DAS). Results: After IMB, morphometric parameter does not change significantly in any muscle except the stretched and flexed lengths in Gas. The tensions however, reduced significantly in Imb Sar and Gas which were non-significantly greater in the Imb PL and PB. The dp/dt parameters and DAS reduced in Imb Sar, Gas and PL. It was however, significantly higher in Imb PB. Conclusion: Skeletal muscle mechanics differ for different positions of IMB in reptilian muscle model as well. The earlier reported controversies probably indicate differences in IMB induced stretch, dimensions and anatomy of individual muscle of different animal models.


The ascent of biofinancialisation since the 1980s brought with it a culture of valuation that spread well beyond financial markets and came to pervade everyday life, subjectivity, ecology and materiality. At the same time, and as a response to the social conflicts of the previous decades, value production shifts to incorporate the extended lifeworld of working people, their networks of sociality and the commons. The article examines the conflicts that emerge from the friction of the prevalent cultures of valuation and the extensive embodiment of value production and argues that biofinancialisation alters the very material infrastructure of bodies and forms of life. What is the autonomy of politics when biofinance becomes molecularised in code and in matter?


A novel active-clamping circuit used for boost converter is proposed. A resonant inductor in series with main switch and boost diode is added to the boost converter. An active-clamping branch composed of an auxiliary switch and a clamping capacitor is added in parallel with the resonant inductor. The new topology can reduce the reverse-recovery loss of boost diode. Both the main switch and the auxiliary switch have zero-voltage-switching characteristics. The parasitic oscillation caused by the parasitic capacitance of boost diode is eliminated. Thus the efficiency of the converter is improved. A prototype of boost converter rated at 1kW has been built to test the theory.


Through analysis and simulation, the short-circuit and open-circuit fault diagnosis of transistors in the widely used asymmetric bridge converter were studied. Based on the voltage pulse width modulation (PWM) control strategy with single transistor chopped, the behavior patterns of chopping current and freewheeling current were analyzed under the single phase faults of power converter. An on-line fault diagnosis method using the digitalized DC bus current and freewheeling bus current was proposed by changing the current sensors' positions. The validity and practicability of the method was verified by simulated fault experiments. Comparing with traditional current detecting scheme, the proposed method could locate the fault easily and has the advantages of quick response and high reliability with less sensors.


In deep-submicron (DSM) technology, minimizing the propagation delay and power consumption on buses are two of the most important design objectives in system-on-chip (SoC) design. In particular, coupling effects between wires on the bus cause serious problems such as crosstalk delay, noise, and power consumption. Most of the previous works on bus encoding are targeted either (1) to minimize the power consumption on the bus or (2) to minimize the crosstalk delay, but not both. In this paper, we propose a new bus encoding algorithm which not only minimizes the dynamic power consumption on the bus but also eliminates the crosstalk delay. We achieve the combined objective of (1) and (2) by analyzing, formulating and solving the problem of minimizing a weighted sum of the self transition and cross-coupled transition activities on bus in the context of the concept of self-shield encoding (whose fundamental theory is well studied recently by B. Victor and K. Keutzer (Proc. ICCAD, 2001)). From experiments using a set of benchmark designs, it is shown that the proposed encoding technique consumes 15.4%-47.4% less power over the existing techniques, while totally eliminating the crosstalk delays.


Objectives: Dental implants have revolutionized the dentistry since its inception. Implant supported prostheses provide an effective and durable replacement for missing natural teeth. Dental implant treatment is regarded as the predictable procedure .There is no published data available regarding the implant practice profile of the dental practitioners in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. The main aim of this study was to describe the dental implant practice profile of this region Methods: The target study population was the dental practitioners practicing in Vidarbha region. The sampling was done with the help of the list of registered dentists published on the website of the Dental Council of India on March 2010. A self administered questionnaire was designed and was validated. The questionnaire was sent to the practitioners in the region. The data was obtained and analysis was performed using the Statistical package for the Social Sciences (Windows version 12.0; SPSS Inc.) Results: Out of the 315 questionnaires, 260 were received. Thus the response rate was 82.54%. 250 completed questionnaires were finally selected for the analysis. The male dental practitioners were 120 (48%) and 130 female (52 %).Insufficient knowledge and lack of training at the undergraduate level was the main factor (90.47%) for not practicing the implantology Conclusion: This study revealed that more than half of the general dental practitioners (68.2%) are practicing implant dentistry. Most of the dental professionals are not practicing implant dentistry because of insufficient knowledge and lack of proper training. Clinical significance: Such type of information will be useful for preparing the baseline data for future planning of continuing dental education for the dental practitioners.


This study focuses on the characteristics of flow past three side-by-side rectangular cylinders under the effect of aspect ratios (AR) and Reynolds numbers (Re) at two different gap ratios ([Formula: see text]) using the lattice Boltzmann method. For this purpose, AR is varied in the range of 0.25–4, the Re values are 100, 140 and 180 and the two different values of [Formula: see text] taken into account are [Formula: see text] and 3. The results are presented in the form of vorticity contours, temporal histories of drag and lift coefficients and power spectrum of lift coefficients. Also, the variation of physical parameters like mean drag coefficient, Strouhal number and the root-mean-square values of drag and lift coefficients with Re and AR is presented for [Formula: see text] and 3. The current numerical computations yield that for both gap ratios and all Re, there exist four different flow regimes depending on AR: (a) steady flow, (b) modulated flow, (c) symmetric flow and (d) periodic flow. At narrow gap ratios, the jet flow emerging within the gaps of cylinders altered the flow structures and fluid forces abruptly. The aspect ratio is found to have more influence on the flow characteristics of cylinders as compared to the Reynolds numbers at large gap ratios.


The present invention relates to a vinegar-pickled bean product. Said invented product is a solid-liquid mixture composed of vinegar as extracting liquor, honey, refined salt and black soyabean. Saidinvented product can be used as a health-care food suitable for middle-aged and old people, specially for person with angiocardiopathy or cerebrovascular disease to eat for a long period.


The development of microfluidic systems is often constrained both by difficulties associated with the chip interconnection to other instruments, and by mechanisms that can enable fluid movement and processing. Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices have previously shown promise in allowing samples to be manipulated, although designing complex fluid manipulations involves the generation of mixed signals at multiple electrode transducers. We now demonstrate a new and simple interface between a piezoelectric SAW device and a disposable microfluidic chip, involving the use of phononic structures, to shape the acoustic field. Such phononic structures can be designed in such a way that the interaction of the fluid within the chip structure is dependent upon the acoustic frequency, providing a new method to programme complex fluidic functions into a microchip. We demonstrate applications in biological sensing involving enrichment enrichment of cells, lysis, PCR and sensing, exploring the application of this chip ba...


Jatropha curcas crop is raising attention as an alternative crop for oil and biodiesel production. Despite the mineral fertilization is an important factor for increasing Jatropha curcas yield, few research has been made on this issue, mainly on the use de zinc and copper. In order to evaluate the effects of these elements on Jatropha curcas plant growth two experiments were carried out in a greenhouse, in Campina Grande, Paraiba State, Brazil, from July to December 2007. The substrate for the pot plants was a 5 mm-sieved surface soil (Neossolo Quartzarenico). The experimental design was a completely randomized with three replications. The treatments of first and second experiment were composed of five levels of Zn (0; 2; 4; 6 and 8 mg dm) and five levels of Cu (0; 1; 2; 3; and 4 mg dm) which were applied at the time of planting. One plant of Jatropha curcas was grown per pot after thinning and was irrigated whenever necessary. Data on plant height, number and length of leaves and stem diameter were measured at 40; 60; 80; 100 and 160 days after planting. Under conditions that the experiments were carried out the Zn and Cu levels used did not affect the Jatropha curcas plants growth.


With increasing penetration of wind turbines in the utility grid new regulation codes have been issued that require them to have low voltage ride-through capability. In this paper, a passive resistive network, consisting of shunt and series elements are applied at the stator side of DFIG wind turbine is presented. The network is inactive during steady state operation and enabled for short intervals of time during the initiation of voltage sag and recovery events. Computer simulation and experimental results confirming the operation during balanced and unbalanced voltage sags are shown in the paper.


ABSTRACT Urban ecological risk is one of the important factors that may restrict the social and economic development. Therefore, it is of great significance to carry out a comprehensive assessment of ecological risks so that an ecological risk prevention and control plan can be scientifically formulated. In this paper, a comprehensive ecological risk assessment indicator system of Xiamen was established based on local ecological properties and socioeconomic status. This indicator system covers seven indicators including air pollution, soil pollution, water pollution, fresh water consumption, change in land use, occupation of key zones with ecological functions, and road network expansion. Based on this indicator system and in conjunction with the single factor assessment of ecological risks, this study constructed a model of comprehensive ecological risk assessment and forecasted the comprehensive ecological risk of Xiamen in 2020. The results showed that the comprehensive ecological risk level of Xiamen in 2020 is medium and the main stressors are the discharge of air and water pollutants. From the perspective of risk receptors, i.e. the ecosystem services, the risk posed to the ecosystem services associated to the maintenance of air quality and water purification is the highest. Therefore, this study proposed the recommendations on ecological risk prevention and regulation in Xiamen based on the comprehensive assessment of ecological risks, in the hope to provide scientific support for local ecological protection and sustainable development.


The timing of the M-phase entry and its progression are precisely controlled by a CDC6-dependent mechanism that inhibits the major mitotic kinase CDK1, and, thus, regulates the dynamic of CDK1 during the M-phase. In this paper, we describe the differential regulation of the mitotic CDK1 dynamics by exogenous cyclin A or a non-degradable cyclin B added to the Xenopus laevis embryo cycling extracts. We showed that the variations in the level of cyclin B modify both CDK1 activity and the timing of the M-phase progression, while the cyclin A levels modify only CDK1 activity without changing the timing of the M-phase events. In consequence, CDC6 regulates the M-phase through endogenous cyclin B, but not cyclin A, which we demonstrated directly by the depletion of cyclin A, and the addition of CDC6 to the cycling extracts. Further, we showed, by p9 precipitation (p9 protein associates with Cyclin-Dependent Kinases, CDK), followed by the Western blotting that CDC6, and the bona fide CDK1 inhibitor Xic1, associate with CDK1 and/or another CDK present in Xenopus embryos, the CDK2. Finally, we demonstrated that the Xic1 temoprarily separates from the mitotic CDK complexes during the peak of CDK1 activity. These data show the differential coordination of the M-phase progression by CDK1/cyclin A and CDK1/cyclin B, confirm the critical role of the CDC6-dependent CDK1 inhibition in this process and show that CDC6 acts through the cyclin B- and not cyclin A/CDK complexes. This CDC6- and cyclin B-dependent mechanism may also depend on the precisely regulated association of Xic1 with the CDK complexes. We postulate that the dissociation of Xic1 from the CDK complexes allows the maximal activation of CDK1 during the M-phase.


Objective: A molecular-genetic study of early onset colorectal cancer (CRC) patients in Kazakhstan.
Methods: The direct sequencing of crucial regions of key CRC genes (APC codons between nucleotides 967-1386 and 1286–1513; exons 8 and 16 of MLH1 and exon 7 of MSH2; exons 5-9 of TP53) was performed for early cancer-onset and suspected familial cases.
Results: Blood was collected from 249 patients diagnosed with rectal or colon cancer. There were 32 patients with early onset CRC (28-50 yrs), including 10 patients with a family history of cancer. Two types of nucleotide replacements were detected in intron 4 (c.376-19C>T) and intron 9 (c.993+12T>C) of TP53, both in the heterozygous state. Another nucleotide substitution was present in 15 patients in intron 15 of MLH1 (c.1732-90C>A) while known coding polymorphisms were observed in exon 8 of MLH1 (rs1799977-A655G/Ile219Val), in exon 7 of MSH2 (rs5028341-C1168T/Leu390Phe), in exon 15 of APC (rs1801166-G3949C/p.Glu1317Gln and rs41115–4479G>A). The single deletion, c.3613delA (p.Ser1205fs), located in exon 15 of APC gene, was found in the heterozygous state in two patients with a family history of adenomatous polyposis.
Conclusion: We suggest a possible role of MLH1 655A>G, MSH2 1168C>T, APC 4479G>A, and APC 3949G>C polymorphisms in the susceptibility to early onset of CRC. A single base pair deletion at codon 1205 (c.3613delA) of APC gene seems to be differentially associated with early-onset cases depending on having a family history of CRC.


FIELD: personal use articles. SUBSTANCE: vacuum cleaner device is used with interchangeable cleaning nozzle for cleaning surfaces of different types. The vacuum cleaner device contains a vacuum cleaner body including the suction source, front and rear wheels for rolling the body on the floor, a nozzle unit attached to the body and supported by it and a disposable pad. The nozzle unit has the suction inlet located forward of the front wheels, and the surface pressing the pad. The disposable pad is designed to attach with the possibility of removal to the nozzle unit, so that while rolling the body on the floor the surface presses the pad to the floor for removing particulate contaminants from the floor and under the suction force dirt particles are absorbed from the floor into the suction inlet and through it. The nozzle may have a brush roller passing through the suction inlet and which is made with the possibility of rotation on the floor for removing particulate contaminants from the floor. The bracket is attached to the nozzle with the possibility to remove which has a surface compressing the pad, part of which is located directly below the brush roller. In the version of the vacuum cleaner device the nozzle node is connected to the suction source and has front and rear suction inlets, between which there is the surface pressing the pad. The front and rear surfaces compressing the pad are possibly located in the nozzle node, and the hole for the air inlet located between them. The vacuum cleaner device may contain a scraper made with the ability to maintain the nozzle node in the position of cleaning above the floor surface, and a rectangular pad for installation on the nozzle node in the set position. The pad has a longitudinal axis, the front part with a number of holes placed along longitudinal direction for air inlet towards the axis, rare part with a number of holes passed in the longitudinal direction for air intake on the back axle and the central part passing along the axis between the rows of holes for air inlet and made for overlapping scraper mesh when the pad is in the installed position. EFFECT: ensuring effective cleaning surfaces. 22 cl, 14 dwg


Abstract Two perfluorinated palladium(II) pre-catalysts of the type (ArF3P)2PdCl2 (ArF = m-C8F17-C2H4- C6H4 - and p-C7F15-CH2-O-C6H4-) could be highly activated with the co-catalyst B(C6F5)3/AlEt3 or methylalumoxane (MAO) for the vinyl/addition polymerization of norbornene. Their recycling was studied by using the FBS concept (Fluorous Biphasic System).


Since May 2010, I have been conducting interviews with faculty members affiliated with the Divinity School and the Graduate Department of Religion at Vanderbilt University. Those interviews have centered on recent publications – mostly books – by those faculty; they last anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half, and all are freely available from the library Web site and the university's institutional repository. In May 2016 I started a second series of interviews, this one focusing on open access publications (so far, journal articles). These interviews tend to be shorter; all of them are also available online, along with copies of the publications discussed. Topics for both series of interviews are wide-ranging but tend to be religious/theological or philosophical in nature and have included discussions of books concerned with various aspects of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. In this presentation, I will talk about why and how I do the interviews, difficulties encountered during the interview process, feedback received (including impressions from interviewees), benefits of the interviews, and future directions.


The discovery of pyramidal inversion has continued to impact modern organic and organometallic chemistry. Sequential alkylation reactions of an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligated dicarbondiphosphide 1 with RI (R = Me, Et, or iBu) and ZnMe2 give rise to the highly stereoselective synthesis of cis-1,3-diphosphetanes 3. cis-3 is conformationally favorable at room temperature, whereas inversion to trans-3 is observed at 110 °C. One-electron oxidation of cis-3 with Fc+(BArF) (Fc = [Fe(C5H5)2]; BArF = [B(3,5-(CF3)2C6H3)4)]-) leads to the stereoselective formation of trans-1,3-diphosphetane radical cation salts 3•+(BArF), which can be reversibly transformed to cis-3 upon one-electron reduction. Salts 3•+(BArF) represent the first examples of 1,3-diphosphetane radical cations. These results provide a potential application of planar four-membered heterocycle-based building blocks for electrically fueled molecular switches.


FIELD: radio engineering, communication. SUBSTANCE: method of communicating performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system supporting multiple access network comprises receiving from the first list, the access network PLMN networks, as well as a list of information including a plurality of entries, each entry is information relevant to the traffic regulation by PLMN. Many entries are included in the list of the information listed in the same order as the PLMN in the PLMN list. EFFECT: simplification of the access terminal to the appropriate network access through the use of the relationship between the order of PLMN in the PLMN list and the order of records in the data list. 12 cl, 15 dwg, 1 tbl


Medan is one of the historical towns in Indonesia, where the plantation industry triggered its growth. Until today, most of the heritage buildings remain, but many of them tend to damaging and distinction, including the Warenhuis. The Warenhuis in which has a very high architectural significance is located in the historic district of Kesawan which as the historical core of the Medan city. Therefore, this study aims to explore the adaptive re-use strategy for the Warenhuis through the historic urban landscape approach by completing the literature review, field survey, and questionnaire. Based on the analysis, it was highlighted that one of the best strategies is the mix-use concept by utilizing the vacant lot next to the building and the Deli River as a center for art and culture which can accommodate art activities and culture of the town. Medan City has a diverse culture and society. Many arts and cultural activities need the right place to be an alternative attraction in the city of Medan. Therefore, it can attract more tourist coming to this area by implementing this strategy. Besides the revitalization of Warenhuis area can accommodate the problem of parking within this historic area, which often causes traffic congestion.


The steroid hormone progesterone (P4) plays a key role in the reproductive events associated with the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Elevated concentrations of circulating P4 in the immediate post-conception period have been associated with advanced conceptus elongation, increased interferon-tau production, and greater pregnancy rates in cattle. Several strategies have been employed to supplement the endogenous P4 supplied by the corpus luteum (CL). One such strategy is the administration of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) during the early luteal phase (typically Day 5) that induces ovulation of the first wave dominant follicle and formation of a functional accessory CL, in turn leading to increased circulating concentrations of P4. In addition to this effect, hCG also stimulates hypertrophy of the original CL, leading to a significant deviation in P4 concentrations 2 days after administration. The aim of this study was to examine whether administration of hCG earlier during the metoestrus period would lead to an earlier rise in P4 by stimulation of the developing endogenous CL. The oestrous cycles of cross-bred beef heifers (n = 50) were synchronised and those recorded in standing oestrus (Day 0) were assigned randomly to one of 5 treatments and administered a single IM injection of saline on Day 1 after oestrus (Control) or 3000 IU hCG on Day 1, 2, 3, or 4 after oestrus. Daily blood samples were collected from Day 0 to 14 by coccygeal venipuncture to measure serum P4 concentration. The dimensions of the original CL and induced CL, when present, were measured by daily ultrasound scanning beginning on Day 3 after oestrus until Day 14. Data were analysed using the PROC MIXED procedure of SAS (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). In terms of effects on the CL, administration of hCG on Day 1 had no effect on CL area. Administration on Day 2 increased CL area from Day 6 to 12 (P ≤ 0.05). hCG on Day 3 increased CL area from Day 9 to 11, while administration on Day 4 increased CL size on Day 9 and 10 (P ≤ 0.05). Administration of hCG on Day 4 induced the formation of an accessory CL in 89% of heifers, resulting in a significant increase in total luteal tissue area on the ovaries compared to all other groups. Consistent with the effects on the CL, hCG on Day 1 did not affect P4 concentrations. Administration on Day 2 significantly increased P4 compared to the control from Day 6 to 11 (P ≤ 0.05). Administration on Day 3 resulted in a nonsignificant increase in P4, while hCG on Day 4 increased P4 from Day 8 to 13 compared to the control (P ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, administration of hCG as early as Day 2 post oestrus results in increased P4 in circulation from Day 6 which should have beneficial downstream effects in terms of uterine receptivity and conceptus elongation. Funded by Science Foundation Ireland (07/SRC/B1156) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation AGL2009-11810.


From the 2nd century onwards, the first of the canonical gospels was attributed to the apostle Matthew. In the early Christian tradition, the evangelist was equated with the apostle, and this identification has never changed thereafter. This chapter deals with the liturgical texts composed for the apostles feast-day. It shows that Matthews role as an evangelist became very important to the liturgical veneration of this apostle. The fortunes of Matthews bodily relics in the West give an interesting view on the importance of this apostles cult to various regions of medieval western Europe in different epochs. The Passion of Matthew is remarkable because of its lengthy renditions of Matthews preaching. The apostles teaching concerns the main themes of biblical history and Christian doctrine. In the office liturgy for Matthew, the vision of the four living creatures is particularly dominant in the night office.Keywords: apostle Matthew; Christian doctrine; evangelist; Passion of Matthew


Amidst society's segregation of the people among minorities on the basis of gender, race, caste and creed, it is difficult to locate the position of another extreme social minority, i.e. persons with disabilities. But the turn of the century has validated some art and activism performed by persons with disabilities due to which the disabled have marked their position in literature, film and media to some extent, yet they have not secured a position of dignity in the mainstream. To make disabled people visible, Syed Sallauddin Pasha (the father of Indian dance therapy for persons with disabilities) initiates his own Natya Shastra i.e. Classical Wheelchair Dances for differently-abled artists. Drawing upon Syed Sallauddin Pasha's therapeutic dance choreography, the present paper studies performance arts in the context of differently-abled people, and for this, the paper explores the intersection of Performance Studies and Disability Studies. In performing arts (or dance in particular), the body is the medium of representation, likewise, the body defines the identity in the context of disabled people. Therefore, the paper by studying the intersection of Disability Studies and Performance Studies, explores the stereotypes related to the body by scrutinising the disabled dance bodies on the stage. The paper further attempts to explore the idea of accessibility for persons with disabilities by taking into account the assistive devices and accessible architecture. The study then goes into an analysis of spectators' response, stare and gaze towards disability dance performances. In a broader context, the paper offers to scrutinise the negative stereotypes attached to disability and disabled dancing bodies on stage by exploring the nuances in Syed Sallauddin Pasha's choreography.


The nitrogen-protecting system of the material tank farm for hydrogen-cracking-unit in one of Nanjing branch of Sinopec was unsatisfied in the protecting effect and more nitrogen-consuming.The author calculated and analyzed the system in order to explore the reasons that caused these problems.In the design of the nitrogen-protecting system of the material tank farm for the hydrogenated-diesel-unit,the author introduced an improved work-flow for it,which had been proved very effective over ten years.In the last part,this paper gave a further optimized scheme.


Kassim and Simoneit: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: PRINCIPLES, METHODOLOGY AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK.- Kassim, Simoneit and Williamson: RECYCLABILITY OF SOLID WASTES AS ROAD CONSRUCTION MATERIALS: AN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH.- Gu: Beneficial Reuses of Scrap Tires in Hydraulic Engineering.- Bhandari and Xia: Hazardous Organic Chemicals in Biosolids Recycled as Soil Amendments.- Apul, Gardner and Eighmy: A Review of Roadway Water Movement for Beneficial Use of Recycled Materials.- Nelson, Thayumanavan, Azizian and Williamson: Evaluation Methodology for Environmental Impact Assessment of Industrial Wastes Used as Highway Materials: An Overview With Respect to U.S. EPA's Environmental Risk Assessment Framework.- Bendz, Flyhammar, Hartlen and Elert: LEACHING FROM RESIDUES USED IN ROAD CONSTRUCTIONS - A SYSTEM ANALYSIS.- Kassim, Simoneit and Williamson: FORENSIC INVESTIGATION OF LEACHATES FROM RECYCLED SOLID WASTES: AN ENVIRONEMNTAL ANALYSIS APPROACH.- Rasmussen, Winther-Nielsen, Graham and Halling-Sorensen: USING LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS AND COMPUTER MODELS FOR ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL RISK OF RECYCLED WASTE MATERIALS - CASE STUDIES.- Azizian, Nelson, Thayumanavan and Williamson: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF LEACHATE FROM PORTLAND CEMENT CONCRETE (PCC) WITH AND WITHOUT PLASTICIZER IN HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION.- Polic, Ilic and Popovic: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF LIGNITE FLY ASH AND ITS UTILIZATION PRODUCTS AS RECYCLED HAZARDOUS WASTES ON SURFACE AND GROUND WATER QUALITY.- Thayumanavan and Nelson: Application of Whole Effluent Toxicity Test Procedures to Ecotoxicological Assessment of Industrial Wastes Used as Highway Materials.- Rodriguez and Grant: Toxicity Evaluation and Human Health Risk Assessment of Surface and Ground Water Contaminated by Recycled Hazardous Waste Materials.- Kassim and Simoneit: CHEMODYNAMICS AND MULTICOMPONENT TOXIC/GENOTOXIC EFFECT MODELING OF ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS FROM RECYCLED SOLID WASTES.- Werth: EQUILIBRIUM PARTITIONING AND MASS TRANSFER OF ORGANIC CHEMICALS LEACHED FROM RECYCLED HAZARDOUS WASTE MATERIALS.- Goltz, Park, Feng and Young: ORGANIC CHEMICALS IN GROUNDWATER: MODELING FATE AND TRANSPORT.- Bagtzoglou and Atmadja: Mathematical Methods for Hydrologic Inversion: The Case Of Pollution Source Identification.- Chrysikopoulos: Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid Pool Dissolution in Subsurface Formations.- Kommalapati, Constant and Valsaraj: A Case Study in the Application of Environmental Chemodynamic Principles for the Selection of a Remediation Scheme at a Louisiana Superfund Site.- Ilic and Polic: SOLIDIFICATION/STABILIZATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE PREVENTION OF SURFACE AND GROUND WATER POLLUTION FROM HAZARDOUS WASTES.- Kassim: Waste Minimization and Environmental Nanotechnology: Toward Total Environmental Sustainability.


Cybersecurity is an established business sector with numerous global public companies employing hundreds of thousands of professionals. Although the range of services offered continues to change and expand, experienced security executives understand the types of technologies they will need to develop and retain. In contrast, the privacy technology sector is still maturing. While many privacy tools and services are well developed and numerous businesses have gained traction by solving privacy problems, companies' needs for privacy technology to help manage and utilize data continue to evolve rapidly. Based on a report by the Future of Privacy Forum and the Privacy Tech Alliance, this article reviews developments in the privacy technology sector and charts the services provided as companies mature. The report draws on dozens of hours of interviews with buyers and sellers as well as conversations with leading privacy tech experts and a survey sent to privacy technology companies.


OBJECTIVES
This study investigated the efficacy of a social-influences tobacco prevention program conducted with adolescents living in a high tobacco production area.

METHODS
Students in 10 experimental schools completed the tobacco prevention program and a booster intervention. Control students received health education as usual.

RESULTS
After 2 years of treatment, smoking rates in the treatment group (vs the control group) were lower for 30-day, 7-day, and 24-hour smoking. The intervention had more of an impact on those who were involved in raising tobacco than it did on those not involved in raising tobacco.

CONCLUSIONS
Although modest, effects were achieved with minimal intervention time in a high-risk group, indicating that social-influences prevention programs may be effective in such groups.


Background: The basis of induction therapy for psoriasis in Germany is the S3‐guideline which for moderate to severe psoriasis recommends the systemic agents fumaric acid esters, methotrexate, cyclosporine and the biologicals infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab and ustekinumab. Systemic glucocorticos‐teroids (GCS) are not proposed.


We propose a method for fluidic thrust vectoring by studying the effect of excited secondary Coanda flow on the direction of jets. The primary flow is the steady continuous jet, while the the secondary flow is synthetic jet or continuous flow. In this experiment, speaker is used to adjusted the frequency and velocity amplitude of synthetic jets, while a blower is used to adjust the continuous jet and suction flow.We visualize and compare the primary flow under the influence of various secondary flows. Additionally, computational fluid dynamics is used to investigate the flow characteristics, including the deflection angle. The main results of this study is that both synthetic jets and continuous suction flow are capable of deflection.


This paper deals with the quantitative thinning model constructed on the basis of a regression equation developed between bole diameter and crown diameter of Sal ( Shorea robusta ). Strong positive correlation between bole diameter and crown diameter has been observed, the correlation co-efficient being 0.873. The scope and the method of applying quantitative thinning grades have been discussed.


Purpose: This study is designed to determine the impact of longitudinal micro‐CT imaging on tumor growth in mice. Method and Materials: C57BL/6 mice were divided into four groups, a control group and 3 imaging groups. The control group received no imaging while each remaining group underwent a different imaging protocol. Each mouse received an inoculation of 2×105 B16F1 cells (murine melanoma), subcutaneously in the right hind flank. All imaging was performed on a fast volumetric micro‐CT scanner(GE LocusUltra, London, Canada). The three imaging protocols were as follows: 1. 'Low dose' ‐ An 8 second scan with tube settings of 80 kVp and 70 mA (∼ 7 cGy entrance dose per scan), 2. 'Medium dose' — 30 second scan at 80 kVp and 50 mA (∼ 17 cGy entrance dose per scan) and 3. 'High dose' ‐ 50 second scan at 80 kVp and 50 mA (∼27 cGy entrance dose per scan). The imaging was performed four times: once every four days, starting on the fourth day post inoculation. After the final imaging session each tumor was excised, weighed and imaged (to obtain the final tumor volume) and then processed for histology. Final tumor mass and volume are used to evaluated the impact of longitudinal micro‐CT imaging on the tumor growth. Results: Preliminary results have been obtained for n=8 mice per group. An ANOVA test indicates a significant difference in mean final tumor mass (p = 0.049), with the 'Low dose' tumors being largest on average. Conclusion: These preliminary results indicate the 'Low dose' tumors have a faster growth rate than the tumors in the other groups, however the power of this test is low (β = 0.49). We are currently working to increase the sample size to n = 16, which should yield acceptable power (β ≈ 0.1).


Multiple scattering of a wave in a system of scatterers with random, uncorrelated positions is studied with path integrals. The Edwards–Gulyaev expression for the position averaged Green's function is used to find the density expansion of the complex optical potential. The expansion is in terms of exact medium propagators and scattering matrices in the medium. The first term is the coherent potential approximation. A source dependent generalization of the path integral is used to derive a functional equation for the optical potential. This leads to a hierarchy for correlation functions that involves exact medium propagators and scattering matrices. The simplest truncations yield new integral equations that are generalizations of the coherent potential approximation and are compatible with the density expansion.


Free-standing flexible composite films of nanocrystalline cadmium sulfide-impregnated poly(vinylidene fluoride) (nano-CdS/PVDF) were prepared using a sol–gel technique. The effect of CdS loading, in the PVDF host matrix, on the dielectric properties was studied. An increase in dielectric constant (more than 10 times) was observed in the films when poled under an electric field. The composite films were also characterized using microstructural, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry


ABSTRACT Based on data from a nationwide Annual Social Survey, the current study investigated the correlation between digital variables and perceived employability among the Jewish majority and Arab minority in Israel.In line with the human capital theory, Internet use for study and digital skills was positively correlated with perceived employability for the Jewish majority. Our findings among Arab participants only partially support our hypotheses. The positive correlation between digital skills and perceived employability corresponds to human capital theory. In contrast, our findings show negative effects for obtaining online services from government offices and e-mail use on perceived employability. These findings should be taken into consideration by e-government media authorities and policymakers, as e-government media have a strong influence on public opinion.


Diarrhea is one of the most common side effects of chemotherapy, estimated to occur in up to 40% of all patients undergoing cancer therapy. Non-complicated chemotherapy-induced diarrhea (CID) can be managed with loperamide, whereas complicated CID should be treated with continuous infusion of octreotide. Octreotide is usually effective within 48hs of administration. Options for patients that do not respond to loperamide or octreotide include atropine, oral budesonide and cholestyramine.

 To describe the case of an 18 yo girl with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who developed severe secretory diarrhea during her treatment course.

 Retrospective case report.

 The patient was initially treated with Cytarabine, Daunorubicin and Etoposide, and on her third cycle, Gemtuzumab was added. Four weeks later she presented with watery diarrhea up to 6 L/day. She continued with high output despite no oral intake, which was consistent with secretory diarrhea. Infectious workup was negative, and she received Loperamide. Her output decreased to 1 L for 2 days but then increased again to 6 L. She deteriorated and loperamide was switched to octreotide 0.8mcg/Kg/h. The dose was increased to 1.2mcg/Kg/h and she presented blood in the stools. Her stool output was still 4 L/day and octreotide was stopped after one week. Flex sigmoidoscopy showed proctocolitis with friability. Biopsy showed architectural distortion with loss of the superficial epithelium. She was emotionally distressed due to many days of no oral intake, hence Pediasure peptide was introduced, with no changes in the output. Rice was introduced but her diarrhea worsened, and oral intake was stopped again. Four weeks after the onset of diarrhea, her stool output was still above 2 L/day, and cholestyramine 4g once daily was started. Four days later her output decreased and diet was slowly introduced. Two weeks later she had a normal stool output. Cholestyramine was stopped and she was discharged home.
 Finding the culprit for this case is a challenge, but important to avoid this drug in the future as prior history of CID is a risk factor for a new-onset. Gemtuzumab is a relatively new anti-CD33 antibody used in AML, and results from a meta-analysis showed that adding it to induction chemotherapy may increase the incidence of diarrhea. Her diarrhea started four weeks after the dose of Gemtuzumab, and we believe this new agent might have played an important role in her case. To our knowledge, there are no cases in the literature associating Gemtzumab with such prolonged and severe diarrhea.

 This was a challenging case of CID that did not respond to Loperamide or octreotide and caused a lot of emotional distress for the patient and her providers. Since she responded well to cholestyramine, we recommend its use when the loperamide and octreotide have failed, or in addition to octreotide in severe cases.

 None


It is practicable to extract immunologically high-risk cases, which may be at risk of rejection or infection with uniform immunosuppressive therapy, on the basis of genomic information of immune function molecules, and to apply focused personalized immunosuppressive therapy by immune-monitoring. Therefore, we comprehensively analyzed the candidate gene polymorphisms of immune-related molecules associated with organ transplantation outcomes. Among them, we found that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of FcγR genes FCGR2A (rs 1801274) [131 H/R] and FCGR3A (rs396991) [158 F/V] were significantly associated with the onset and causative organisms of sepsis in liver transplant recipients and urinary tract infection in kidney transplant recipients, and that SNP of FOXP 3 promoter region (rs3761547) [33499 A/G] was associated with sensitivity of liver transplant recipients to pulsed steroid therapy, which is used to treat acute rejection. We performed a mixed lymphocyte reaction assay using carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) cytoplasmic staining and multiparameter flow cytometry to minimize immunosuppressive therapy in the recipients with risk factors to optimize the dosage of immunosuppressive drugs by fine tuning based on immune-monitoring.


The a-SiOx thin films with silicon nanoclusters are currently being actively studied by various laboratories due to the possibility of efficient control of their optical properties, both at the stage of formation and using technological treatments. The presence of excess silicon in such films leads to the growth of nanocrystals during high-temperature annealing, which affects the optical properties of SiOx films, including photoluminescence. Therefore, in this work, we studied the formation of silicon nanocrystals in a-SiOx films during Pulse Photon Annealing (PPA). X-ray diffraction studies of SiOx films with different silicon contents have shown that, upon PPA annealing, arrays of silicon nanocrystals of significantly different average sizes are formed. Moreover, according to the Raman spectroscopy data, PPA does not lead to complete ordering of the structural network of silicon atoms, and some of the atoms, apparently located in small clusters of ~1 nm, retain deviations from interatomic distances and bond angles.


![][1]

Many Internet sites promote the use of high doses of vitamin B3 to clear drugs out of the system before a drug test.

♦ Mittal MK, et al. Ann Emerg Med. [www.annemergmed.com/webfiles/images/journals/ymem/mittal.pdf][2] .

Taking large amounts of niacin to interfere with


In Robinson v. United States , 928 A.2d 717 (D.C. 2007), the District of Columbia Court of Appeals considered the appeal of Steven Robinson, who challenged his conviction for second-degree murder on the grounds that his videotaped confession was not made in a knowing or voluntary fashion and should


Explanation............................................................................... 461 Biological data .......................................................................... 461 Biochemical aspects .......................................................... 461 Absorption and excretion of iron from ferrous glycinate ................................................................ 464 Bioavailability of iron from ferrous glycinate................ 465 Biotransformation......................................................... 471 Influence of ferrous glycinate on the chemistry of nutrients............................................................. 472 Toxicological studies .......................................................... 472 Acute toxicity................................................................ 472 Short-term toxicity........................................................ 472 Long-term studies of toxicityand carcinogenicity......... 474 Genotoxicity ................................................................. 474 Reproductive toxicity.................................................... 474 Observations in humans.............................................. 474 Ferrous glycinate supplementation ....................... 474 Ferrous glycinate-fortified foods............................ 478 Comments ............................................................................... 482 Evaluation ............................................................................... 482 References ............................................................................... 483


international labour rights, I have been struck by the lack of accessible and complete information about the international labour movement. When I arrived at ICTUR in the 1990s, there was a small library and a few dozen magazine subscriptions. Probably the best of these was the American grassroots union magazine LaborNotes. It at least had a bit of wit and character, contrasting sharply with the dull and dreary copies of the WFTU's World Trade Union Movement and its mirror image, the ICFTU's glossy Trade Union World. The Christian WCL's publication World of Labor was the least inspiring. These magazines set out positions and arguments on then current affairs in various parts of the world, and contained quotes from union leaders allied to "their" political cause. An independent effort, International Labour Reports, had to close following a defamation row, but there were a number of others that arrived regularly from every corner of the earth, most notable were probably the China Labour Bulletin, the South African Labour Bulletin, and India's LabourFile, though among many others GAWU's militant Combat newsletter from Guyana was – and still is – worth reading. What none of them did very well – or even at all – was to try and coherently map the trade union landscape around the world, and for a while I struggled amidst a sea of confusing acronyms, with little real sense of who these organisations were. At the ICTUR office, what passed for a "guide" to the global labour movement was an old Czech photo album stuffed with trade unionists' business cards, which was no help at all. When I acquired an old copy of Trade Unions of the World (at the time essentially a commercial publication that drew heavily on the CIA's World Fact Book), it was a revelation. That this should be the main guide for an organisation founded in opposition to Western imperialism was somewhat ironic, but apparently, it was ever thus, as Peter Waterman recalled of his time working at the WFTU, thirty years earlier:


Background . It is presently known that several subsets of T-regulatory (Treg) cells, both natural and inducible maintain tolerance to environmental allergens. But the relative importance of distinct phenotypically defined Treg subsets for the clinical manifestations of IgE-mediated allergy has not been elucidated yet. The aim of the study was to investigate the phenotype and number of different Treg subpopulations from patients with IgE-mediated allergy compared with healthy non-allergic individuals. Materials and methods . A group of 20 patients with clinically manifested IgE allergy and a group of 10 healthy no allergic controls were included in the study. Peripheral blood samples were taken after informed consent. Percentage and absolute count (AC) of the following regulatory subsets: naive (CD45RO-FoxP3 lo ), memory (RO + FoxP3 + ), effector (Treg eff, RO + FoxP3 hi ), induced (CD39 + CD134 + ), Thl7/Treg (CD196 + FoxP3 + CD4Treg); Tr1 (IL-10 + FoxP3 - ), were determined using standard 8-parameter flow cytometry (BD FACSCanto II). Results and discussion. The share and AC of FoxP3 + CD4 Treg was significantly decreased in sensitized patients as compared to controls (mean 0,6% vs. 3,3%, p<0.05 and 8,7 vs. 55 cells/μl p<0.001). In addition, a significantly decreased level of Tr1 cells was observed in the patients with allergy, 0,4% vs. 2,1 % in healthy controls (p<0,05) as well for subset of Thl7/Treg (mean 7,7% vs. 28,4% in healthy persons, p<0.01). Conclusion. The significantly decreased number of FoxP3+CD4 Treg as well as periphery induced Tr1 and Thl7/Treg cells in patients with respiratory allergy lead to dysregulation and loss of peripheral immune tolerance, which is the pathophysiological basis for development of widely spread allergic diseases like allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma.


Simplified mooring analysis methods don't model the true stiffness characteristics of mooring lines, don't model the effects of mooring line tails, and/or don't model the on-deck length of mooring lines. Such simplified analysis methods might either overestimate or underestimate mooring line loads and vessel excursions. In this paper, comparisons are made between static mooring analyses using correct nonlinear mooring line stiffness and linear approximations of that stiffness. Comparisons are made between analyses representing the entire mooring line length and representing only the outboard length. Comparisons are made between analyses using only wire lines and using wire lines with tails. The purpose of tails is to decrease mooring line stiffness and thus reduce peak wave-induced mooring loads. But this effect is not evident in ordinary static mooring analysis. Comparisons are made between mooring lines with and without tails, using a kinematic mooring analysis technique to represent fairlead motions caused by wave-induced vessel motions.


The extensive literature survey of CFD simulation of drying shows that there is a lack of CFD established procedure for combined, slow heat and mass transfer analysis in the applications of leaf drying. Physical experimentation can be reduced if the CFD simulation tool is developed. In the present study, a CFD simulation model has been developed based on the experimental investigation of the drying of Amaranth leaves in the optimized drying chamber of a heat pump dryer. The obtained experimental results are validated by transient simulation for the entire leaf drying process. The flow field distribution and the effect of different conditions on the heat and mass transfer are studied. An external model is created for the source term of moisture generation in moisture transport equation and energy equation in "C" language and hooked into the model using User Defined Function (UDF) in the FLUENT CFD software to solve the mass transfer equation. The calculated and measured drying temperature and moisture fraction are presented as a function of drying time. The results of the CFD simulation are in accordance with the experimental results as per the physics of the problem. The maximum deviation between the experimental and CFD moisture-time plot is observed to be less than 8%. The difference between CFD and experimental results is attributed to temperature assumption, heat losses and air leakage. The new CFD methodology developed in this study can be used as a generalized procedure for testing the performance of a heat pump dryer for drying different kinds of leaves.


Here, we present a brief historical background and address the importance of the use of metformin in the treatment of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, based in the european and canadian experience. We recommended a dose of 500 mg, because there has been showed that the incidence of lactic acidosis is very low, a good dose completion is reached, and it can be combined with other oral antidiabetic drugs.


Multimodal Emotion Recognition in Conversation (ERC) has garnered growing attention from research communities in various fields. In this paper, we propose a cross-modal fusion network with emotion-shift awareness (CFN-ESA) for ERC. Extant approaches employ each modality equally without distinguishing the amount of emotional information, rendering it hard to adequately extract complementary and associative information from multimodal data. To cope with this problem, in CFN-ESA, textual modalities are treated as the primary source of emotional information, while visual and acoustic modalities are taken as the secondary sources. Besides, most multimodal ERC models ignore emotion-shift information and overfocus on contextual information, leading to the failure of emotion recognition under emotion-shift scenario. We elaborate an emotion-shift module to address this challenge. CFN-ESA mainly consists of the unimodal encoder (RUME), cross-modal encoder (ACME), and emotion-shift module (LESM). RUME is applied to extract conversation-level contextual emotional cues while pulling together the data distributions between modalities; ACME is utilized to perform multimodal interaction centered on textual modality; LESM is used to model emotion shift and capture related information, thereby guide the learning of the main task. Experimental results demonstrate that CFN-ESA can effectively promote performance for ERC and remarkably outperform the state-of-the-art models.


This essey is about drug free units in prisons. At first is shown drug problem in czech and abroad prisons in general, than concrete role of drug free units in support of prisoners who made decision to abstinance.


Triple modular redundant system was implemented on Intel Galileo generation 1 as satellite on-board computer development hardware. This system implemented as hardware fault tolerant system for satellite on-board computer. Redundancy implemented in on-board computer using bash shell script. Simulation is carried out by testing various possible scenario. By using this redundant system, system reliability level is improved in terms of fault tolerance of on-board computer hardware. Each on-board computer operate simultaneously and supporting each other when failure happened.


A brief introduction is made on the concept,principal and use of virtual work.The problems coming out in application of virtual work are presented.Corresponding solution is also put forward based on an analysis and research.


A high frame rate image acquisition system for dynamic centrifuge tests developed at Public Works Research Institute is described. The image acquisition and processing technique provide not only re...


This research aims at analysing the meaning of articles of PenalCode Book. The research findings state that some of the articles of Penal Code Book are re quired to be interpreted in order to gain the clear meaning.


The first phase of an investigation of the vertical forces developed on a structure by a floating ice cover frozen to it is described. It is the objective of this work to develop the theoretical, e...


This research is designed with a basic qualitative research design in which the pedagogical content knowledge of the primary teachers is examined in terms of curricular knowledge, knowledge of instructional strategies, knowledge of the students and knowledge of assessment & evaluation information. The study group was determined by convenience sampling method. In this respect, there are 6 primary teachers in the study group; 2 primary teacher having professional experience between 0-10 years, 2 primary teacher having professional experience between 10-20 years and 2 primary teacher having professional experience 20 years and over. In this study, semi-structured interview form developed by researchers was used as data collection instrument. The data obtained from the research were analysed by content analysis method. When the results obtained from the study were evaluated and the primary teachers' curricular knowledge is examined; it is concluded that the primary teachers examined the primary school curriculum, used the teaching materials, developed teaching materials in order to enrich the content, and integrated technology into teaching. When primary teachers' instructional strategies knowledge is examined; it is seen that the classroom teachers placed drama, brainstorming, question-answer, project-based learning methods in their lessons, placed especially "the principle of relativity to students" from principles of teaching often included in teaching. When primary teachers' student characteristics knowledge is examined; it is concluded that the primary teachers paid attention to developmental characteristics of their students, teach lessons base on their students' prior knowledge, use their students' oriented attitudes and motivations of the students to the lesson, paid attention to individual differences in their classes, they provided teacher-student and student-student interaction effectively. When primary teachers' assessment and evaluation knowledge is examined; it is concluded that the primary teachers chose oral examinations, written exams and multiple choice tests according to levels of the students and they made generally assessment and evaluation activities end of the lessons.