More than 11 million US consumers have an Amazon Echo installed in their homes (Gonzales, 2017). While many consumers view the Amazon Echo as a useful helper in the home to provide information, play music, and order items online, consumers underestimate the device's security and privacy impacts. Additionally, law enforcement officials are beginning to see how consumer internet of things (IoT) devices can provide crucial evidence in cases. This paper presents security and privacy issues with the Amazon Echo and recent cases in which law enforcement officials have employed the Amazon Echo in an investigation. Due to the Amazon Echo's privacy issues and potential uses in court, this paper analyses the fourth amendment in regard to the Amazon Echo. This paper concludes with suggested recommendations that Amazon Echo owners should employ for greater security and privacy.


Abstract— Designing and fabricating an antenna with compact size, improved bandwidth, gain and directivity has been an important issue especially for the satellite based applications. In addition to this multipath interference has to be managed. To satisfy these criteria, microstrip fed broadband monopole antenna of different structures (U-Shaped slot monopole antenna, modified asymmetric hexagonal shaped monopole) having dual circularly polarization is designed in this paper for C-Band applications. Once CP is generated, then new challenge for generating wide impedance bandwidth, AR bandwidth, high gain and directivity should be handled. These antennas are designed and simulated using HFSS software of version 17. The designed antennas are compared based on its performance. The simulated results are verified with fabricated antennas and tested with Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) Agilent E5071C. Keyword Monopole, Dual Circularly Polarized, HFSS (High Frequency Structure Simulator), C-Band, Axial Ratio (AR) Bandwidth.


Tidal flood has been threatening Semarang for many years. It occurs periodically due to high tide. The flood has been raising many problems especially in Semarang coastal areas. The flood is worsened by sea level rise due to climate change and land subsidence caused by over exploitation of ground water and the load of constructions. Based on this condition, tidal flood in Semarang is predicted to broaden and inundate not only to the coastal areas, but also the outer coastal areas. This situation increases the risks of tidal flood. Adaptation is needed to respond and to reduce the vulnerabilities due to tidal flood. Moreover adaptation is also needed to react and to anticipate present and future effects of tidal flood. The study focused on two objectives : defining adaptation responses in order to deal with the negative effects of present tidal flood in Semarang and assessing the adaptive capacity in dealing with the increasing tidal flood. This is an exploratory case study based on primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected through observational study, questionnaire and semi structured interview. Literature review and contextual data from the Semarang city government were used to extract secondary data. A sample size of 110 was chosen with 60 questionnaires administered to the respondents of inhabitants in present inundated area, and 50 questionnaires administered to the respondents of inhabitants in predicted inundated area. The selection of respondents was based on purposive sampling methods. Semi structured interviews were conducted to Semarang Water Management Agency, Semarang Planning and Development Board, Semarang City Planning Agency, Head of District and Sub District Offices in present inundated areas. The findings of the study indicated that the tidal flood occurs periodically in 6 sub districts in Semarang and affects the social, economic and environmental problems of the inhabitants. The inhabitants have been suffering for more than 8 years. Usually the flood inundates 4 _ 9 times a month. Moreover whenever the flood occurs, it inundates within 24 hours with 0.5 meter height. The worst floods ever happen is when the flood occurs for 1 week and in 1 meter height. Together with the city government, the inhabitants in present inundated areas have been doing adaptation responses to deal with the effects of tidal flood. They develop some adjustments on their houses and on their neighbourhood areas. Meanwhile the city governments place the tidal flood management as a part of flood management in Semarang, which are also focused on dealing with river floods and local floods. The city governments develop planning, management, institutional and also physical measures to cope with the flood problems. Moreover the flood that is predicted will inundate broader areas of Semarang. The people in present and predicted inundated areas and the city government can prepare for the future tidal flood to cope with the expected effects. The ability of adaptation and coping with the future risk of tidal flood is assessed by their economic resources, information and skills, infrastructures, technology and access to resources. As being assessed, the people in present and predicted inundated areas and also the city government are prepared to respond to the future risks of tidal flood. However iii they still need to enhance their adaptive capacity especially in order to reduce the vulnerability of low income people. In summary, adaptation is needed to cope with the effects of tidal flood. The responses are reactive in responding to the present impacts. Meanwhile proactive and implementation of measures in advance to reduce future risks of tidal flood are needed. The ability of people and the city government in dealing with the increase tidal flood depends on their adaptive capacity. Consequently, vulnerability to tidal flood will be decreased by implementing adaptation responses to present impacts and enhancement of the adaptive capacity to react and to cope with future impact. This research leads to with recommendations to improve the adaptive capacity of the city government and the people to cope with the present and increasing tidal floods. The recommendations are developing Integrated Coastal Management with the aim to protect the coastal areas which in accordance with the Semarang spatial planning and the flood management. Furthermore building capacity for community and the city governments' staffs, initiating financial access for low income people to finance their adaptation responses, and develop financial scheme to fund the flood infrastructures. Keywords: Tidal flood, adaptation responses, adaptive capacity


Revealing evidences before opening a court session system is a basic system of criminal proceedings.It is a basic assurance of judicial justice and efficiency. This system contributes to protect the defendants' procedural rights,and is useful for the lawyers to defend,for the public procurator to institute legal proceedings against an offender,and then improves the quality of trial.Justice and efficiency,revealing according to the law,revealing each other,and public interests exempting are the principles of the system.


The ferroelectric electron cathode is a newly developed source of electrons. The mechanism of electron emission from the ferroelectric ceramic to the vacuum is different than that of the common thermionic cathode. As a result, its useful features enable new schemes of microwave tubes with considerable advantages such as a high current electron beam. What's more, the restrictions associated with its limitations may coincide with specific needs of various new microwave generators such as a disposal microwave tube.


This study aims to produce a Brand Loyalty Improvement Model Based on Brand Satisfaction and Self Congruity of Iphone Users in Medan City. The population in this study were iPhone users in Medan City. The sampling technique was non-probability sampling, while the sample was set at 125 people. Data collection techniques used were interviews (Interview) and a list of questions (Questionaire). The data analysis method used in this research is the Structural Equation Model method. The results showed that Actual Self affects Brand Satisfaction, Actual Self affects Brand Loyalty, Ideal Self affects Brand Satisfaction, Ideal Self affects Brand Loyalty, Brand Satisfaction affects Brand Loyalty. Brand Satisfaction can positively mediate the influence of Actual Self on Brand Loyalty and Brand Satisfaction can positively mediate the influence of Ideal Self on Brand Loyalty.


To assess the radiological impact of environmental radiation, a set of external dose conversion coefficients for 7 Korean reference aquatic and terrestrial animals (rat, roe-deer, frog, snake, Chinese minnow, bee and earthworm) are presented for 25 radionuclides (H, Be, C, K, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Co, Zn, Sr, Zr, Nb, Tc, Ru, I, I, Cs, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, U, Pu, and Pu). The external dose conversion coefficients have been calculated by the uniform isotropic model for aquatic animals, and by the Monte Carlo method, which can simulate a photon transport in environmental media with different densities, for terrestrial animals. In the modeling all the target animals are defined as a simple 3D elliptical shape. To specify the external radiation source it is assumed that aquatic animals are fully immersed in infinite and uniformly contaminated water, and the on-soil animals are living on the surface of a horizontally infinite contaminated soil, and the in-soil organisms are living at the center of a horizontally infinite and uniformly contaminated soil to a depth of 50cm.


The physical and developmental status of 3-6 yearold children in Cangzhou city is studied in the body shape,function and quality.Data analysis shows the specific laws of the physical development of early childhood which is different from adolescents and adults.Through quantitative assessment,some corresponding strategies have been made relating to children's health development and developmental law,which will play a positive role in increasing children's scientific physical constitution.


This paper considers the downlink heterogeneous cellular network, which contains multiple types of access nodes, such as macrocells and picocells. A novel utility function maximization technique is proposed based on the Sharpe ratio (introduced by the Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences William F. Sharpe in 1966) for the design of user association to the base stations, and the corresponding resource allocation, e.g. a base station allocates different number of subcarriers to different users associated to it. The proposed user association method evaluates all the users' achievable rates under certain association patterns, and chooses the pattern as the optimal one which maximizes the Sharpe ratio of the mean to the deviation of the achievable rates. Simulation results show that the Sharpe ratio obtained by the proposed method is more than twice as large as that of the previous user association schemes.


British retailers may be slightly envious to read that their American counter‐parts expect "a good but not spectacular year" in 1977, and that over the next ten years retail sales and profits will double. This at any rate is the view of Edward W. Carter, chairman of Carter Hawley Hale and a respected authority on the US retail scene. This is a summary of a talk he gave at the Association of Buying Offices luncheon in New York recently, timed to coincide with the National Retail Merchants' Association annual convention, which was also held in New York.


This collection of essays was drawn from a public seminar hosted by the Sea Power Centre Australia (SPCA) and the Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society (ACSACS) at the University of NSW (Canberra) in November 2014. The seminar presentations have been revised, enlarged and edited. An additional two papers, those by Dr Peter Overlack and Mr Michael Wynd, have been included to broaden and supplement the collection. The editor has also added an introduction covering a series of events between 1901 and 1914 that led to the establishment of the Royal Australia Navy and which gives the less informed reader a sense of the considerable challenges facing the new navy.


In today's world there is a great need for the design of low power and area efficient high performance DSP system.FIR filter is considered to be the fundamental device in the broad application of wireless as well as the video and image processing system. With the aim of getting the reliable operation, these filters are protected using the Error correction Code. The pipelined FIR filter design which reduces the critical path by interleaving the pipelined latches along the datapath, with the sense of increasing the number of latches and then the system latency. But the parallel processed FIR filter design increases the sample rate thereby replicating the hardware, so that the multiple number of inputs gets processed parallely and at the same time generating multiple number of outputs with the disadvantage of increased area in the design. To overcome this disadvantage and in the sense of retaining these such advantage of parallel processing,the hardware efficient filter structure is to be proposed, and these filter structure is to be recovered from error by the application of Error Correction Code.


Ben Harrington, Betaville blogger and Business Journalist, joined the Tip TV Studio to offer key insights on the global Mergers & Acquisitions space, with inputs on the US market, Glaxo, BG-Shell deal, and Sainsbury's bid for Home Retail. Interviewed...


Institution of cardiac bypass has resulted in cardiac dysfunction in some studies of ECMO. We hypothesize that pre-bypass oxygenation level (and possibly antioxidants) determines cardiac effect.


This article presents the results of the research on the education conceptions of university professors. The aim was to understand and interpret the educational conceptions of university professors, and compare their pedagogic practices in the classroom versus distance programs. This works used a qualitative research methodology of descriptively interpretive nature. The techniques of information compilation used were the observation and the interview. The findings reveal that there is a gap between what the professors think and his pedagogic performances. The studies on professors conceptions receive special relevancy for his incidence in the processes education and learning, in relation with the student and finally, in the comprehension and explanation of the pedagogic speech that sustains and gives meaning to their practices.


This note deals with finding the value of the equivalent form factor by taking into account the shot-start pressure. The methods used are (i) Corner's method (ii) Clemmow's method and (iii) Least square method.


It is proposed a sealing lip for a motor vehicle that has no metal insert. It has a gripper part with a cross-sectionally U-shaped hook body 12 and a seal member 15 which is integrally formed with the outer surface of the gripping portion 11 on. The sealing lip is fixed to a flange 3 which is attached to a door opening, the trunk or the like., Attached. The gripper body 12 is not provided with a metal insert, at least the bottom wall 12a and the inner wall 12b of the gripper part are made of a highly hard rubber or synthetic resin having a hardness of more than Hs 90 degrees.


A team of contractors including ENVIRON International Corporation (ENVIRON) and E.H. Pechan & Associates, Inc. (Pechan) is developing a state-of-the-science ammonia emission inventory for the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) in California. This gridded ammonia inventory will be used for data analysis and grid-based aerosol modeling for the California Regional PM10/PM2.5 Air Quality Study (CRPAQS). The ammonia inventory will have 1-hour temporal resolution and 1-kilometer by 1-kilometer spatial resolution. The inventory will be developed using the best available ammonia emissions information for the study domain, including several ongoing studies in California. Through incorporation of information from these and other new studies, the project team anticipates that the best characterization to date of important ammonia source categories in the SJV will be accomplished. In particular, significant improvements will be made in temporal and spatial allocation of emissions for fertilizer application, livestock operations, biomass burning, and on-road mobile sources. A thorough assessment of natural soil/plant canopy systems will also be made to better characterize these emissions (i.e., whether they are sources or sinks for ammonia). The project team will adapt ENVIRON's Global Biosphere Emissions and Interactions System (GLOBEIS) model to handle ammonia emissions modeling.


Affective computing systems with situated or ambient intelligence could be extremely effective in various application scenarios. However, majority of the proposed systems have limited utility since either they are strictly context-sensitive or otherwise too general. In this paper, we report on building and evaluating a context-aware yet situation-adaptive Bayesian inference framework that predicts human mental states in varying contexts. We use real and synthetic data to validate our hypothesis by modeling a three-layered Bayesian network (BN). We test this BN with two, and three context scenario, incrementally. The network gives an accuracy of above 85%. Thus, the framework may be utilized for multiple contexts, in variety of affective computing application scenarios.


The paper discussed the influence of flyash and water reducing agent on the workability and strength of high performance concrete based on the experiment And the result showed that the high performance concrete may be compounded with the collapsing degree200mm, the extending degree600mm and the compressive strength of 85 6 MPa within 28 days by adding 33% of high quality flyash instead of partial cement


OBJECTIVE
Based in interpersonal theory, the present study tested associations of trait affiliation (i.e., warmth vs. hostility) and control (i.e., dominance vs. submissiveness) with ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and momentary affective experiences.

METHODS
Ninety-four married couples (mean age 29.6) completed trait affiliation and control measures, and a 1-day protocol with random interval-contingent measurements of ABP and affective experience.

RESULTS
Higher trait control (i.e., dominance) predicted higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP) in men, but not in women. For both men and women, high affiliation predicted lower SBP. These associations occurred within individuals (i.e., actor effects) but not between spouses (i.e., partner effects). Dominance and affiliation also predicted momentary affect.

CONCLUSIONS
Associations of dominance and affiliation with ABP may indicate a mechanism by which trait social behavior influences CVD risk. These findings also illustrate the interpersonal perspective as an integrative framework for research on psychosocial risk for CVD.


In this paper, a method is presented to estimate bitrate ladders on the basis of both content complexity and network traces. Unlike previous methods, the proposed algorithm is independent of the adaptive bitrate (ABR) control scheme used by the client. The proposed approach was evaluated in a simulation on the basis of real-life throughput measurements over a large period of time and across multiple ABR control schemes. Unlike in previous studies, perceptual quality metrics that account for the effect of both coding and stalling on video quality are used in the evaluations. Results show that the proposed method performs consistently over time and across ABR control schemes. Thus, this method will enable video streaming service providers to encode videos by using their knowledge of the network performance. This will ultimately enable network usage to be optimized and the quality of experience to be improved.


During a routine monitoring programme of Wadi Hanifah stream, some of the hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus x O. aureus) was found dead in the stream water. The occurrence of a disease in hybrid tilapia in Wadi Hanifah stream is described. Mortalities of tilapia are considered to have been caused by heavy infections of a monogenic trematode (Dactylogyrus sp.). Moribund fish were dark in color, weak, swimming alone and have taken shelter in the marginal areas and moved very slowly when disturbed. It was found that the parasites were localized in the gills only. No exotic parasites were observed in guppy (Poecilia reticulate) molly, (P. latipinna), platy (Xiphophorus maculates) and Pteroplichthys sp.


Academic representation refers to the process by which students within higher education can provide feedback to their institutions. Generally, a small number (or network) of elected academic representatives (reps) collect feedback from their respective cohorts via surveys and polls, the results of which are presented and discussed at regular meetings between the reps and faculty members. It is not surprising that academic representation networks are implemented in medical schools worldwide; robust networks for student feedback are an excellent way to hone curricula. Although academic representation networks are essential foundations for Students as Partners, they do not in themselves constitute student partnerships (Dunne et al., 2011). There are subtle yet key differences between simply listening to the "student voice" and directly involving students as pedagogical consultants and co-producers to drive change (Dunne et al., 2011; Healey et al., 2014). Having been an academic representative at the Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) for 2 years running, I would like to share my perspectives and reflections on how ICSM successfully bridged the gap between academic representation, that is, between the student voice and Students as Partners. At ICSM, the faculty effectively integrated my role as a rep with pedagogic consultancy; I was invited to participate directly in the redesign of learning environments, to be part of a COVID-19 timetabling working group, and to be a member of a communications working group. These invitations and experiences made me feel like a true partner; my role was not simply one where I gave feedback to faculty who would then make the key decisions, but that of an agent of change who could shape these decisions through active collaboration (Dunne et al., 2011; Healey et al., 2014). In this essay, I aim to explore these opportunities in detail, provide insights on how a true partnership was established, discuss potential barriers to partnership and how these may be overcome, and paint a picture of my thoughts and feelings throughout, to inspire and encourage similar experiences for reps in other institutions.


Abstract.  Sixty‐nine characters of larval structure of twenty‐eight genera of the supertribe Trechitae (Coleoptera: Carabidae) were analysed phylogenetically. The monophyly of Trechitae is strongly supported with five unique synapomorphies. The monophyly of Zolini + Bembidiini + Pogonini is supported with two synapomorphies. We propose that the tribe Trechini is a sister group to them and its monophyly is supported with two unique synapomorphies. The inferred branching pattern of Trechini genera is (Perileptus + Thalassophilus) + (Amblystogenium + (Trechimorphus + (Trechus + Epaphius + Aepopsis + Trechisibus))); Perileptus is a member of Trechodina rather than Trechina. The monophyly of Zolini is not supported. The monophyly of Pogonini is supported with two unique synapomorphies; its sister group relationships remain obscure; the branching pattern of pogonine genera is (((Pogonus + Pogonistes) + Cardiaderus) + Thalassotrechus). No evidence for monophyly of the tribe Bembidiini (s. lato; including subtribes Bembidiina, Tachyina, Xystosomina, and Anillina) was found. The relationships of Phrypeus are obscure; no evidence could be found linking it with Bembidiina. Without Phrypeus, Bembidiina might be a monophylum with a single synapomorphy. Sinechostictus branches basal of (Bembidion + Asaphidion) and therefore should be treated as a separate genus. Tachyina and Xystosomina form a monophylum based on two unique synapomorphies; a close relationship with a monophyletic Anillina is suggested. Reduction of the number of claws from two to one in Trechitae has taken place twice: within Trechina (Trechus, Epaphius, Aepopsis and Trechisibus) and in (Zolini + Bembidiini + Pogonini). The previously unknown larvae of the isolated genus Phrypeus are described and illustrated. A key to all twenty‐eight analysed Trechitae genera based on characters of larvae and a list of larval autapomorphies for each genus are provided.


3-(1-imidazolyl)-derivatives of 2,3-dihydro-4H-1-benzopyran, such as, for instance, the compound 3-(1-imidazolyl)-2,3-dihydro-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one, are disclosed, as well as method of making same, and pharmaceutical compositions containing same. Also disclosed is a method of using such compounds to inhibit blood platelet aggregation, to increase total serum HDL cholesterol, to increase the ratio between alpha -lipoprotein and beta -lipoprotein total cholesterol, and/or of reducing total serum cholesterol or serum triglycerides.


A multiple-box model was designed to determine how anthropogenic, biological, and meteo rological processes combine to produce diel cycles of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations within the urban Salt Lake Valley (uSLV). The model was forced by an anthropogenic CO2 emissions inventory, observed winds, sounding-derived mixing depths, and net biological flux estimates based on temperature, solar radiation, day of year, and ecosystem type. The model was validated using hourly CO2 data from a network of sensors around the uSLV for years 2005-2009. The model accounted for 53% of the observations on an hourly basis and accounted for 90-94% of the mean diel cycle of the observations depending on the season. Salt Lake Valley suffers from prolonged temperature inversions during the winter that trap pollutants and gases at the surface. The CO2 network (co2.utah.edu) was compared with the CO2 multiple-box model to determine whether the model could capture the main drivers of CO2 vari ability during the Persistent Cold Air Pool Study (PCAPS). Time-height analyses were performed to facilitate investigation and explanation of CO2 variability during PCAPS intensive observation periods (IOPs). The analyzed data included atmospheric soundings, CO2 network data, quasivertical CO2 profiles collected ascending by foot or vehicle, and laser-ceiliometer data. To Mom, Dad, Zanny, Max, Ruth, Mort, Eve, Albert, and Kona for your eternal childlike excitement of scientific exploration. "I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in her laboratory is not only a technician: she is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress her like a fairy tale." Marie Curie


Classic studies in Melanesian and Amazonian ethnography attempted to link oppositions between men and women to the structural features of collective male bonding and to a psychology of male insecurity and resentment against women. This article juxtaposes such arguments with the contemporary relationship between gendered identity and appropriations of modernity in these world areas. Gendered identities nowadays engage with the importance of acquiring trade goods and money, with the altered significance of female sexual propriety and of restrictions on women's activities, and with the intrusion of national economic and political agendas. The intertwining of commodity aspirations and idioms of modernity is central to the contemporary construction of masculine prestige and feminine propriety in these regions. The major differences between Amazonian and Melanesian gender relations are connected to contrasts in customary marriage and residence patterns, and to differing histories of colonial domination, geographic intrusion and cultural influence. Over the last four decades, the ethnography of gender in Melanesia and in Amazonia has exhibited a number of common themes. As many scholars have noted, both of these world areas share significant features pertaining to rainforest ecology and adaptation, to acephalous sociopolitical organization and exchange and to elaborate spiritual beliefs, ritual cults, or initiations relating to cosmological life-force and fertility. Cultures in both regions have foregrounded gendered opposition - sometimes associated with male domination or antagonism against women - as a central dimension of social life and symbolic organization.1 In both Melanesia and the Amazon, a number of studies carried out between the 1950s and the 1980s attempted to link opposition between men and women with the structural stresses and effects of collective male bonding, on the one hand, and to a psychology of male insecurity and resentment against women, on the other. Several now-classic studies from both regions considered the relationship between sexual antagonism, social structure and psychology. This article critically juxtaposes the legacy of these arguments with changing patterns of gender and sexuality in Melanesia and Amazonia. Local notions of manhood and womanhood increasingly engage the tensions created by the growing dependence on trade goods, aspirations to economic development and the intrusion of nationalist economic and political agendas. The intertwining of commodity aspirations with ethnic, racial and national dimensions of


Throughout the world there are thousands of residential and public buildings that have been built during the reconstruction and rapid urbanization after the 2 world war, particularly Eastern and Central Europe as well as in China. These are the most efficient target for mass improvement of their energy use through the improvements of façade insulation and windows. Advanced information technology (IT) including building information modelling technology (BIM) is not used very often in these renovations. Our hypothesis is that the use of BIM could be more efficient if it would focus on the essential information needs of the actors involved. The key idea of BIM structured collaborative shared database of all required information should be preserved but the model should be parsimonious. The paper presents the ongoing research in the context of a bilateral Chinese-Slovenian project with the goal of designing parsimonious information management for the retrofitting of existing buildings. The broader goal of the work is to study information modelling supporting works where a complete information model may not be needed at all and where a detail process definition as outlined in BIM execution plan and related documents would lead to overspecification, constraining the workflow. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Budapest University of Technology and Economics & Diamond Congress Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Creative Construction Conference 2019.


Herein has the apparatus, and an associated method, that facilitates the simultaneous implementation of a number of packet data communication session than the one disclosed in the mobile node. G. A normal packet data communication session, and for example, an IOTA provisioning session is currently executing. The start of the second packet data session through generation of a registration request to initiate the communication session. The communication session is formed, communicator communicates in accordance with the communication session at the same time as the first packet data communication session. Because it can be done by a communication session are all at the same time, it is not the communication session with one of the communication session or other of the communication sessions of the Termination needs to be performed to cause the other of the communication sessions of the communication session.


Consider a completely bounded Fourier multiplierof a locally compact group G, and take 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞. One can associate toa Schur multiplier on the Schatten classes Sp(L 2 G), as well as a Fourier multiplier on L p (LG), the non-commutative L p -space of the group von Neumann algebra of G. We prove that the completely bounded norm of the Schur multiplier is not greater than the completely bounded norm of the L p -Fourier multiplier. When G is amenable we show that equality holds, extending a result by Neuwirth and Ricard to non-discrete groups. For a discrete group G and in the special case when p 6 2 is an even integer, we show the following. If there exists a map between L p (LG) and an ultraproduct of L p (M) ⊗ Sp(L 2 G) that intertwines the Fourier multiplier with the Schur multiplier, then G must be amenable. This is an obstruction to extend the Neuwirth-Ricard result to non-amenable groups.


The phospholipids may play an important role in keeping quality and flavor of meat, but relatively little attention has been given to the phospholipids in skeletal tissue and especially to that existing in muscle tissue of meat animals. Studies on composition and fatty acid composition of the phospholipids of muscle tissue of livestocks have recently been made by HORNSTEIN et al.10) on pork and beef, by KUCHMAK et al.11) on pork, by PENG et al.17) on chicken, and by HIDAKA et al.7) on beef of Japanese Black cattle. YOUNATHAN et al.20) showed that in cooked pork the bound lipids oxidized more rapidly than neutral fat, and ZIPSER et al.21) showed that the phospholipids in mullet were implicated in oxidative deteriorations. NAKANISHI and SUYAMA12, 13) determined the composition of the specific phospholipids and fatty acid composition of total phospholipids in three locations of muscle taken from lean and fattened cattle, and showed that the variations in the composition and component fatty acids of phospholipids occurred depending upon the location of muscle tissue and the degree of fatness. But no attention has been given to the phospholipid constituents and the fatty acid composition of phospholipids of calf muscle tissues, although a lot of veal have presumably been consumed, and veal has a mild flavor. This study aimed first at elucidation of the phospholipid content and composition of calf muscle tissue as influenced by carcass location and subsequently at elucidation of the fatty acid composition of total phospholipids and other principal lipids.


Cementless hip replacement surgery requires increased precision of the bone preparation and appropriate biomechanical feedback to avoid problems of implant instability and bone damage. This paper presents finite element simulations of both femoral and acetabular cementless components. The models focus on the simulation of consequences. Geometries of the femur and the acetabulum are idealized axisymmetric, but the model includes nonlinearities associated with material law and contact coupling. Results of our studies show that the assembly strains resulting from the press fit procedure must not be ignored.


Variance theories have dominated corporate political action (CPA) research because the pioneering works in the 1970s and 1980s. Process theories offer an entirely new perspective on CPA research, as they are able to explain processes across a number of levels of analysis and link actions to contexts. We add to the existing CPA literature by offering a process model that can be useful especially in historical and evolutionary analysis. Our model depicts CPA as a complex system in which a firm's actions are affected by various factors across organizational, industry, and institutional levels of analysis. As political actions also influence these factors, the process is in essence systemic and path dependent. Our model supplements existing research by offering the possibility to explain the long-term consequences of CPA vis-à-vis wider societal changes and by promoting longitudinal research strategies. In addition to the theoretical model, we provide a historical analysis of the evolution of the Finnish paper and pulp industry to illustrate the applicability of the framework.


Different N‐heteroaryl compounds bearing pyrimidine and benzimidazole moieties have been designed in silico using Discovery studio 2.5 software, synthesized and evaluated for their inhibitory activity as reverse transcriptase inhibitors against HIV‐1 replication using laboratory adapted strains HIV‐1IIIB (X4, subtype B) and HIV‐1Ada5 (R5, subtype B), and the primary isolates HIV‐1UG070 (X4, subtype D) and HIV‐1VB59 (R5, subtype C). Cell‐based assay showed that compounds were active at 1.394 μm concentrations (Selectivity Index: 1.29–38.39). The studies on structure–activity relationship clearly suggested anti‐HIV activity of pyrimidine and benzimidazole derivatives and these findings were consistent with the in vitro cell‐based experimental data. The results of molecular modeling and docking confirmed that all compounds assumed a butterfly‐like conformation and showed H‐bond, 'π–π' and 'π–+' and hydrophobic interactions within flexible non‐nucleoside inhibitor binding pocket of HIV‐1 reverse transcriptase, similar to known non‐nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, such as nevirapine. In view of the results obtained, it can be said that the chemical skeletons of N, N′‐bis‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐succinamide (14 and 15) and 1, 4‐bis‐benzoimidazol‐1‐yl‐butane‐1, 4‐dione (16 and 17) may be used for developing potent inhibitors of HIV‐1 replication, with suitable structure/pharmacophore modifications.


The construction of harmonious culture and society advanced by the 17th CPC Congress depends on the harmonious development of high quality college students equipped with both scientific and humane knowledge. The harmonious development of college students depends on the balanced development of professional education and general education. Due to the ideological and historical reasons , the curriculum of higher education in China have been putting stress on professional education instead of general education, thus leading to the imbalanced development of professional education and general education, and the narrow range of knowledge, weak comprehensive abilities and poor humane quality. The sustainable development of both individuals and country will be restricted by the poor humane quality. In addition, the curriculum's lack of global perspective cannot fully satisfy the needs demanded by the integration of China's economy into global economy. This paper aims at expressing my personal views on the problems existing in general education, the support system of the implementation of general education and the internationalization of the curriculum of general education, hoping that it would be helpful to the revolutionary advance in China's general education.


After stranding itself at Stockton Bight in 1974, wreckage of the 53,000 ton freighter, known as the Sygna, has become part of Newcastle's landscape. 40 years on, 1233 Newcastle Afternoons program is checking in on the remains and talking a closer look at the shipwreck filled waters around the Hunter.


Effective use of limited computational resources is a hallmark of intelligent systems. Here we explore how people make use of limited perceptual resources in a naturalistic visual search task. We hypothesize that people optimally trade off performance against the cost of sampling information. To formalize this hypothesis, we frame the problem of attention allocation in visual search as a meta-level Markov decision process (meta-MDP) and show that a classic Bayesian model of visual search can be interpreted as a heuristic policy for this meta-MDP. We test the heuristic policy against gaze data from 21 human participants in a virtual reality (VR) visual search study, finding that human gaze trajectories share qualitative structure with trajectories simulated from the model.


Aldehydes derived from biomass and terpene alcohols are abundant raw materials, of plant origin, and of interest for production of fine chemicals products, such as fragrances, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Recently, for economic and environmental reasons, catalytic processes have been developed to transform these renewable resources into chemical products with higher added value. In this work, heteropolyacids (HAPs) obtained from phosphomolybdic acid doped with 1, 2, and 3 mol of Niobium (i.e., H 4 PMo 11 Nb 1 O 40 , H 5 PMo 10 Nb 2 O 40 and H 6 PMo 9 Nb 3 O 40 ) were synthesized and evaluated as catalysts in oxidation and acetalization reactions of aldehydes present in the biomass. Niobium- doped HAPs were synthesized from different precursors: MoO 3 , Nb 2 O 5 , H 3 PO 4. Furthermore, HAPs obtained from the doping of phosphomolybdic acid with Vanadium were applied in oxidation reactions of terpene alcohols by hydrogen peroxide in acetonitrile solutions. The synthesis procedures used proved to be efficient, since the catalyst were obtained with satisfactory yields. All synthesized acids were characterized by infrared spectroscopy analysis, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, thermal analysis, surface area and porosimetry, X-ray diffraction, and potentiometric titration. The catalytic activity of HAPs was evaluated in different oxidation and acetalization reactions. The Nb-doped HAPs were evaluated in oxidative esterification reaction of furfural, chosen as a model substrate due to its reactivity and industrial interest. In addition, they were also evaluated in acetalization reaction. In this reaction, the amount of Nb does not seem to have produced a significant difference in terms of conversion and selectivity. Furthermore, most of the catalytic tests were performed with H 6 PMo 9 Nb 3 O 40 obtaining conversion of approximately 50% and 2-furfuraldehyde-methylacetal as the only product. The concentration of 0.0312 mol % of catalyst presents the best catalytic activity. Finally, the reaction was extended to benzaldehyde, obtaining similar results. Tests performed with Vanadium-doped catalysts showed that H 4 PMo 11 VO 40 was the most active and selective in the oxidation of geraniol (the substrate chosen as model terpene alcohol) toward geraldehyde, mono and diepoxide, with epoxide being the major product. Conversion greater than 94% was obtained with selectivity between 80 and 85% for epoxide geraniol. H 4 PMo 11 VO 40 has also been tested in the oxidation of other terpene alcohols, and has been shown to be active in the oxidation of nerol. Keywords: Furfural. Terpene alcohols. Keggin Heteropolyacids. Oxidative esterification


Among the new spartial design method, algorithmic thinking is receiving wide interest. By adapting algorithmic thinking to spatial design process, new and unique design elements were able to acquired. However, theoretical establishment hasn"t been completed. Therefore, algorithmic thinking-adpted design process has been used only by a number of pioneer architects and designers, regarded as an experimental process. This study attempts to investigate, an pioneer architect who adapts algorithmic thinking, Toyo Ito, his design process and his recent works to clarify his motive and goal to adapt algorithmic thinking, and to present possibility as a new creative process. In this study, six design projects of Toyo Ito after the year of 2001 were selected to be analyzed. The study was conducted through reviewing detailed design process provided in magazines and publications. Based on the result, despite the detailed design methods are different from each other, Toyo Ito adapts algorithmic thinking into his design process to acquire a new form and shape which never have existed before. Adapting algorithmic thinking could be a valid method as a new creative design method.


The use of screening tests as part of a diagnostic work-up is common in domestic canine practice, but understanding of the diagnostic test characteristics and factors affecting diagnostic accuracy is not clear among clinicians. This article was aimed to provide clinicians with a better understanding on the selection of test kits and with a proper interpretation of test results using an example from heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) studies. From the literatures, diagnostic accuracy varied depending on the kits: percent average sensitivity and specificity of ELISA antigen-detecting kits were DiroChek (Synbiotics, USA) 78.1 and 95.2, SNAP (IDEXX, USA) 66.3 and 98.1, and Solo Step (Heska, Switzerland) 69.5 and 97.5, respectively, while the values for three hematological methods (Modified Knott's, direct smear and capillary tube) ranged from 38.4 to 81.8% and from 96.9 to 100%, respectively. Furthermore, it was also reported that the prevalence of heartworm disease in domestic dog populations varied depending on the regions studied: 2.5-22.8% for microfilarial test and 2.2-66.3% by ELISA. The values of predictive values for positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) provide useful information to clinicians on the probability of heartworm infection, but the PPV and NPV are greatly dependent on the heartworm prevalence. This suggests that PPV or NPV values of a test should be interpreted carefully in different clinical settings. Practical methods on the interpretation taking into account heartworm prevalence were discussed.


Biotite and hornblende from gneiss samples from the basin granitoid in South-eastern Ghana were separated and analyzed for potassiumargon (K / Ar) ages. The results indicated that the gneisses have average biotite and hornblende ages of 1942 ± 11 Ma and 2044 ± 17 Ma, respectively. The highest single hornblende age of 2092 Ma was recorded for the amphibolite gneiss, which is a protolith of tholeiitic basalt. These ages fall within the main phase of the Eburnean thermo-tectonic event. The defined ages correspond to the metamorphic event, and are expectedly lower than the average ages of 2270 Ma (Pb/Pb), 2116 Ma (U/Pb), 2216 Ma (Rb/Sr, WR Isochron), and 2240-2290 Ma (Sm/Nd, Model) determined for the basin granitoid in other parts of Ghana and the reported Birimian age (2000- 2300 Ma). This confirms that the basin granitoid was derived from older basement rocks, and that its emplacement was contemporaneous with the activities that resulted in the emplacement of the Birimian volcanic rocks and sediments. A period of 70 to 250 Ma separates the period of emplacement of the basin granitoid and subsequent metamorphic activities. However, the period of metamorphism of the basin granitoid (1922-2045 Ma) was contemporaneous with the intrusion by the Nsawam microgranite (1996 ± 43 Ma), and that of the Tarkwaian sediments by the K-rich granitoid (1968 ± 49 Ma). Ghana Journal of Science Vol. 45, 2005: 27-33


Background: Transport is a sector of the economy that is subject to general economic laws, including with regard to issues related to investing in real assets, developing means of production, and ensuring expanded reproduction. Along with this, transport is a strategic sector at the state level, ensuring the functioning of the economy as a whole. In this regard, there are certain contradictions associated with the assessment of the effectiveness of investments in transport infrastructure. In most cases, investments in transport infrastructure are valued similarly to investments in a business project. After the issuance of Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1512 dated November 26, 2019, the approach to evaluating the effectiveness of investments with state participation has expanded, but it does not fully cover the issues of project effectiveness for the state. Along with this, the classical methods for evaluating the effectiveness of investment projects are subject to great subjectivity in relation to the calculation of social effects, as a result of which their applicability to projects at the national economic level is ineffective.
Aim: to consider the list of effects arising from the construction of transport infrastructure and determine the methodology for calculating the effects for the state.
Materials and methods: the research methodology is based on the analysis of methods for financial and economic evaluation of investment projects, as well as macroeconomic methods. The information base of the study is based on the official legal and methodological information of the authorities of the Russian Federation.
Results: as a result of the study, a list of effects for the state arising from the implementation of transport infrastructure development projects was determined, and the procedure for their calculation was substantiated.
Conclusion: the study confirms that the currently used methods for evaluating the effectiveness of investments in infrastructure projects for the state do not fully and objectively reflect economic realities. The proposed approach to the assessment will make it possible to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the socio-economic effects from the construction of cargo maglev transport lines and improve the quality of management decisions in the transport sector.


Between 1679 and 1681 Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna took the position of Viceroy of Aragon and moved to Spain for a few years. His time in Saragozza as a noble foreigner in a position of political power proved quite challenging and led him to spend most of his time in Madrid, so that he could also attend the celebrations for the wedding of King Charles II and try to negotiate some sort of deal with Maria, who lived in a convent in the city. The self-fashioning of a foreign diplomat in a new country also relied heavily on his ability to construct his identity through the objects, furniture, paraphernalia, and books that he took with him. This chapter considers Lorenzo Onofrio's Spanish years, with a particular emphasis on his self-fashioning through the books, scores, and librettos he brought with him on this very meaningful journey.


Omission error defined as, failure to administer an ordered dose to a patientaccording to the American Society of HealthSystem Pharmacists.1 Medication errors (prescribing, transcribing, dispensing and administration errors) are an important cause of patient morbidity and mortality.2 Medication administration errors are a common sub-type of medication errors and accounted for 34% of errors in one large USA study conducted in medical and surgical units A recent report of the Institute of Medicine suggests that at least 44,000 and perhaps as many as 98,000 Americans die each year in hospitals as a result of medical errors.3 Over half of these errors were medication errors, defined as any preventable event that may cause, or lead to, inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional or patient.4 Observational studies in general hospitals have yielded error rates varying between 3.5 and 27% of doses.5–8 Direct observation detects medication administration errors at a much higher rate than chart review or incident report review.8 The observational method has been demonstrated to be valid and reliable.9 A review of drug administration errors detected by the observation technique10 revealed methodological limitations in studies evaluating the administration process: no standardized definition of error types and error rate, lack of information about the selection method of nurses observed and number of nurses observed, the level of experience of nurses, the number of patients or information on the observation technique.5,8,11–23 Nurses may spend up to one third Pepper24 of their time on medicationrelated activities, and because of the relative lack of safeguards to prevent MEs, both nurses and patients are placed at high risk during this stage of the medication use process (Elliott and Liu 2010).25 The observation technique has been described as one of the better methods for the detection of MAEs.26,27 In March 2017, we published the first observation, pre and post intervention based study of medication administration errors carried out in a pediatric ward.28 It is the first study in Pakistan which conducted in the pediatric inpatients by the way of assessment of omission errors. The objective of this study was to evaluate the omission errors in pediatric medicine ward.


Under daily testing of aging rats of both sexes in the open field a slow lowering of motion activity is observed: by the 6th day of the experiment the passed distance of male rats reduces by 41% (р≤0.01), and of female rats – by 46% (р≤0.05) in comparison to the background values. The blockade of monoamine oxidase-B (МАО-В) by selegiline (intraperitoneal Introduction of 5 mg/kg one hour before testing) does not significantly change the orientation and intensity of this process, but probably contribute to the formation of a more comfortable psycho-emotional state of the animals. Consequently, the central dopamine cannot prevent from the motion activity lowering process of aging rats under daily testing, at least, in the frames of the experiment method used in this research. We obtained the evidence in favor of the fact that the suppression of the motion activity under daily testing is rather connected with the animals' loss of motivation for research than with the growing anxiety.


The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) administrative reforms offer results-oriented cleanup guidance that emphasizes flexibility and practical approaches. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Abstract A typical example of cyclogenesis in the western tropical Pacific Ocean is investigated. In the low troposphere, data do not support the concept of an equatorial front extending across the entire Pacific Ocean. They indicate the presence of several large clockwise-rotating eddies in the equatorial trough. Typhoon development begins in consequence of instability of the northern-hemisphere trades, not as a result of interaction between currents from northern and southern hemispheres. No evidence can be adduced in the low troposphere that suggests a reason for this instability. Large vortices are found at 200 mb instead of the easterlies characteristic of low levels. Their spacing and speed are studied, and it is found that they are systems of the order of magnitude of long waves in the westerlies. After computations on the structure of the basic zonal current in the trade-wind belt, relations between high-tropospheric vortices and waves in the easterlies are discussed. These two types of perturbati...


We discuss application of the physical QCD effective charge $\alpha_V$, defined via the heavy-quark potential, in perturbative calculations at next-to-leading order. When coupled with the Brodsky-Lepage-Mackenzie prescription for fixing the renormalization scales, the resulting series are automatically and naturally scale and scheme independent, and represent unambiguous predictions of perturbative QCD. We consider in detail such commensurate scale relations for the $e^+e^-$ annihilation ratio $R_{e^+e^-}$ and the Bjorken sum rule. In both cases the improved predictions are in excellent agreement with experiment.


The concept of along-isopycnal (along-neutral-surface) mixing has been one of the foundations of the classical large-scale oceanic circulation framework. Neutral surface has been defined a surface that a water parcel move a small distance along such a surface does not require work against buoyancy. A close examination reveals two important issues. First, due to mass continuity it is meaningless to discuss the consequence of moving a single water parcel. Instead, we have to deal with at least two parcels in discussing the movement of water masses and energy change of the system. Second, movement along the so-called neutral surface or isopycnal surface in most cases is associated with changes in the total gravitational potential energy of the ocean. In light of this discovery, neutral surface may be treated as a preferred surface for the lateral mixing in the ocean. However, there is no neutral surface even at the infinitesimal sense. Thus, although approximate neutral surfaces can be defined for the global oceans and used in analysis of global thermohaline circulation, they are not the surface along which water parcels actually travel. In this sense, thus, any approximate neutral surface can be used, and their function is virtually the same. Since the structure of the global thermohaline circulation change with time, the most suitable option of quasi-neutral surface is the one which is most flexible and easy to be implemented in numerical models.


Two new species and a new combination are required for the treatment of Epidendrum for the Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana. The new species are Epidendrum caurense and Epidendrum nuriense. Neolehmannia pabstii is transferred to Epidendrum, with the new name Epidendrum dichaeoides. All three species are illustrated with previously unpublished plates by the late G. C. K. Dunsterville. Comments on affinities and geography are provided for all species. Although several authors (Barros, 1982; Dunsterville & Garay, 1976; Garay, 1977; Pabst, 1978) assign subtribal rank to some groups of the subtribe Laeliinae (members of former subtribes Epidanthinae L. O. Williams, and Stenoglossinae Benth.) that display well-developed viscidia, most modern orchidologists (e.g., Dressier, 1984; Hagsater, 1985) agree that most members of Epidendrum sensu lato display variously developed viscidia and that the difference between the proposed subtribes Epidanthinae and Stenoglossinae, and the Laeliinae is one of degree. There is a consensus in including most members of the Epidanthinae and Stenoglossinae, genera such as Epidanthus L. O. Williams, Amblostoma Scheidw., Nanodes Lindley, Neolehmannia Kranzlin, Stenoglossum Kunth, and Kalopternix Garay & Dunsterv., in the genus Epidendrum itself. Each of these segregate genera is apparently closer to a different group within the genus Epidendrum, and not to the other members of the Epidanthinae or Stenoglossinae, rendering Dunsterville & Garay's (1976) circumscription of these subtribes artificial. Another genus included in the Stenoglossinae, Cladobium Lindley, containing the sole species C. violaceum Lindley, clearly belongs in the genus Scaphyglottis Poeppig & Endl. because of its vegetative and floral morphology. Scaphyglottis, although a member of the Laeliinae, is only distantly related to NOVON 2: 312-318. 1992. Epidendrum and the other former members of the Stenoglossinae. The broad circumscription of the genus Epidendrum followed in the Orchidaceae treatment for the Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana requires the inclusion of the new species Epidendrum caurense (belonging to the Amblostoma group) and the transfer of Neolehmannia pabstii P. Braga to Epidendrum. Epidendrum caurense Carnevali & G. Romero, sp. nov. TYPE: Venezuela. Bolivar: Rio Caura, in rainforest close to Las Pavas Falls, where Upper Rio Caura separates from the Lower, ca. 300 m, May 1976, collected originally by F. B. Stevens, Dunsterville & Dunsterville 1354 (holotype, AMES). Figure 1. Species haec Epidendro lanipes Lindley similis sed ramas inflorescentia laxioribus, pubescentia rachidis laxioribus, floribus minoribus pallide flavo-viridis, lobo centrali oblongo non pandurato vel cuneato, carina centrali brevioris discrepat. Epiphytic herb; rhizome shortly repent, with the pseudobulbs ? aggregate. Pseudobulbs 30-50 cm long, erect, homoblastic, slenderly fusiform, 3-8leaved in the upper half. Leaves 15-25 x 1.5-2 cm, linear-elliptic, acute, subtended by a tubular sheath, midnerve finely sulcate and sharply carinate, blades generally ascending when young, tending to droop when fully grown. Inflorescence terminal, 2530 cm long, an arcuate panicle with slender, somewhat divaricate, subdensely many-flowered branches; peduncle remotely sheathed, terete, glabrous; rachis with scattered, irregular, moniliform hairs; floral bract ca. 3 x 2 mm, glabrous, ovate, obtuse. Pedicellate ovary 7.5-8 mm long, densely covered with moniliform hairs. Flowers resupinate or not, light yellowish green, with widely spreading perianth This content downloaded from 18.104.22.168 on Mon, 20 Jun 2016 05:54:51 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Volume 2, Number 4 1992 Carnevali & Romero Epidendrum from the Venezuelan Guayana Figure 1. Epidendrum caurense Carnevali & G. Romero. -A. Habit. -B. Upper portion of the inflorescence. -C. Flower, lateral view. -D. Floral segments, spread. -E. Floral bract. -F. Anther and pollinia. segments; sepals ca. 7 mm long, 3-nerved, apex sharply mucronate, dorsal ca. 1.9 mm wide, narrowly elliptic, acute, acuminate, laterals ca. 2.3 mm wide, obliquely elliptic-oblanceolate, acute; petals slightly shorter than the sepals, ca. 0.6 mm wide, linear-oblanceolate, obtuse, 1-nerved, set at variable angles to the column. Labellum fused to column throughout the length of the latter, the free portion ca. 4.5 x 5 mm, sharply 3-lobed; lateral lobes obliquely ovate, ca. 2.5 x ca. 2 mm; central lobe 313 This content downloaded from 188.8.131.52 on Mon, 20 Jun 2016 05:54:51 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms


Throughout his professional career, he did his utmost to ensure that his patients and their owners received the very best care.


This work discusses the evolution of W-LANs from their current status of wireless termination of LAN services to a possible global infrastructure where the access networks become open to multiple operators and a vehicle of a win-win scenario, where both users and operators benefit from the new network architecture. The idea of Open Access Networks (OANs) can go beyond wireless HotSpots and be generalized to a generic shared access infrastructure that fosters service operators competition and drastically reduces the cost of last mile coverage. 6 7 8 9 10 The general concept of Open Access Networks is detailed, highlighting its difference with the more traditional model of vertical integration of the access network into the global service. About the OANs development, it is shown how to support the quick and smooth evolution of the infrastructure toward a widespread and reliable communication support. 11 12 13 Business models are discussed by mentioning the different actors, the market organization and the different organization forms. 14 The final part of the paper is devoted to technical challenges such as access control, security, privacy, roaming, resource exploitation and service differentiation. As an example of how to tackle these problems, we discuss a pricing technique devoted to resource management and billing support. 15 16 17 In addition we present a simulation on how the OAN concept can speed-up the deployment of broadband access in a real case. 20 The telecommunication market has suffered in the past from 21 a syndrome we can epitomize as " the network is the ser-22 vice, " deriving from the monolithic structure of the early tele-23 phone networks. Conceptual efforts to overcome this syn-24 drome date back to the '70s, with the development of the 25 ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) paradigm that in-26 troduced the idea of value added services, i.e., services built 27 on top of another, more basilar service, generally a transport 28 service. 29 Thirty years have passed, Mobile Telephony (especially 30 GSM) and the Internet have shaken the foundations of 31 telecommunications, but still revenues derive almost entirely 32 from connectivity and traffic volume. Most existing networks 33 are owned by operators that compete with each other at all lev-34 els and do not offer local roaming to end-users (e.g., no GSM 35 operator allows its customers to use alternative operators in 36 their home area and most wired broadband providers make 37 it as …


Traditionally, transmission error (TE) has been used to asses the noise propertiesof gears. Measurements of gear noise for a complete truck gearbox have been used tocorrelate noise from a gear pair ...


Many isocitrate dehydrogenases (IDHs) are dimeric enzymes whose catalytic sites are located at the intersubunit interface, whereas monomeric IDHs form catalytic sites with single polypeptide chains. It was proposed that monomeric IDHs were evolved from dimeric ones by partial gene duplication and fusion, but the evolutionary process had not been reproduced in laboratory. To construct a chimeric monomeric IDH from homo‐dimeric one, it is necessary to reconstitute an active center by a duplicated region; to properly link the duplicated region to the rest part; and to optimize the newly formed protein surface. In this study, a chimeric monomeric IDH was successfully constructed by using homo‐dimeric Escherichia coli IDH as a start point by rational design and site‐saturation mutagenesis. The ~67 kDa chimeric enzyme behaved as a monomer in solution, with a Km of 61 μM and a kcat of 15 s−1 for isocitrate in the presence of NADP+ and Mn2+. Our result demonstrated that dimeric IDHs have a potential to evolve monomeric ones. The evolution of the IDH family was also discussed.


To the Editor: I read with interest the recent publication of Garcovich et al (1) reporting an interesting case of vulvar pyoderma gangrenosum. Indeed, vulvar pyoderma gangreosum is an uncommon cause of spontaneous vulvar ulceration (2). However, it is important to keep in mind that this finding can be associated with gastrointestinal disease, particularly Crohn disease (3), and is sometimes the presenting manifestation of Crohn disease. In cases of vulvar PG, a complete investigation to look for Crohn disease should be performed.


Ian McEwan, one of the foremost contemporary novelists in Britain, insists that empathy is at the core of humanity and is the beginning of morality. McEwan's concern for empathy and morality finds its expression in his novels. In The Child in Time, one of Ian McEwan's representative novels, the protagonist Stephen Lewis suffers the trauma of losing his three-year-old daughter. This paper argues how Stephen under the influence of empathic care received from Thelma and his mother, gradually steps out of his narcissistic concern with searching for his lost daughter to heal his personal trauma and finally reconciles with his estranged wife Julie to begin a new life through practicing ethics of empathic care in his life. Stephen emotionally connects with his parents and his wife through rendering his empathic understanding and empathic care for them. Stephen's empathic understanding for his friend Darke's tragic death due to his failure to develop an authentic and balanced self that combines the inner child qualities with adult qualities makes Stephen have deep reflection about the relationship between childhood and adulthood and modestly learn from his lost child Kate to enrich his human nature, which prepares him to further reconcile with Julie with empathy. In their empathic communication and care, the estrangement between Stephen and Julie since Kate's loss finally melts away. Fully recovered from the trauma of loss of their child, Stephen and Julie will continue to practice ethics of empathic care to heal everyone and everything, starting from themselves. What Ian McEwan promotes in The Child in Time is to practice ethics of empathic care in relationships, with hope of healing not only individuals but also communities, from families to the Government, the country and the planet.


Global water crisis. Water as the basis of life. Water ethics. Water: a public or private good? Democracy and sustainability.


This study determined whether supplementing the diet of laying hens in the final third of laying with vitamin D improves bird health and egg performance and quality. The hens were separated into four groups with six repetitions each and five animals per repetition to test three doses of vitamin D supplementation (50, 100, and 150 mg/kg). The vitamin D supplementation had no effect on the hens performance; however, when we individually evaluated each repetition, we found that the birds of T100 and T150 showed significant increases (P<0.001) in the percentage of the laying rate. Regarding egg quality, the T150 group presented a better result of shell resistance, and the T150 I had a better range of colors and color "a". The yolk percentage was higher in the supplemented groups than the control (T0). On day 21, serum cholesterol levels were lower in supplemented birds groups than in control. At 42 days, the highest vitamin D supplementation for T150 birds resulted in a higher serum albumin concentration, whereas birds in the T100 group had a higher protein concentration. The supplementation had positive and timely effects on the birds' metabolism, reflected in the higher laying rate and the better egg quality.


Suppose there is a simple, and finite graph G = (V, E). The coloring of vertices c is denoted by c: E(G) → {1,2, ..., k} with k is the number of rainbow colors on graph G. A graph is said to be rainbow connected if every pair of points x and y has a rainbow path. A path is said to be a rainbow if there are not two edges that have the same color in one path. The rainbow connected number of graph G denoted by rc(G) is the smallest positive integer-k which makes graph G has rainbow coloring. Furthermore, a graph is said to be connected to rainbow vertex if at each pair of vertices x and y there are not two vertices that have the same color in one path. The rainbow vertex connected to the number of graph G is denoted by rvc(G) is the smallest positive integer-k which makes graph G has rainbow coloring. This paper discusses rainbow vertex-connected numbers in the amalgamation of a diamond graph. A diamond graph with 2n points is denoted by an amalgamation of a diamond graph by adding the multiplication of the graph t at point v is denoted by Amal (Brn,v,t).


An account of the development of an intellectual discipline, tracing the interplay between received ideas, experiment and creative thinking, and between intellectual currents and the practical development of technology in the outside world.


In the present paper, we describe the results of electrical characterization of AZUR SPACE triple-junction solar cells at a sun light intensity of 3.7% AM0 and temperatures down to −150°C. At these conditions, which are relevant for the anticipated ESA JUICE mission, the cell efficiency reaches 33.5 % at BOL. Special attention has been paid to the establishing of an in-situ characterization procedure for defining EOL cell characteristics after electron and proton irradiation at low temperature low intensity condition. It was shown that solar cells irradiated at low temperature exhibit a strong recovery effect within short time after stopping the irradiation whereas the absolute value of the recovery depends on the irradiation fluence and particle type. Further on, it was demonstrated that the degradation of the maximum power, Pmp, is much stronger than the degradation of Isc and Voc values. Experimentally defined remaining factors for electron and proton irradiation and the quantification of the observed recovery effects allow a realistic prediction of the solar cell performance at JUICE mission conditions and are essential for the planned solar cell qualification activities.


Recent changes in family law have mandated equal treatment in child custody cases. Sweys of 4,579 attorneys and judges from four states, deemed to be nationally representative, were used to discover whether attorneys or judges perceive any favoritism toward mothers' or fathers' claims in the awarding of custody of children. Whereas attorneys, particularly males, perceive that mothers continue to be favored over fathers in custody cases, judges do not share this opinion. Within the past 15 years, "forty-two of the fifty states . . . have established some form of task force or committee to study gender issues" (Wilker, 1989, p. 14). Many of these studies have included surveys of judges and attorneys regarding their attitudes toward the existence of gender bias in the handling of child custody cases in their court systems. "These task forces have turned out to be more than a collection of stare specijic data [italics added] on gender issues in the courts. Rather they have reinforced the idea that needed reforms will be the result of self-scrutiny from within the court system" (Wilker, 1989, p. 14). The aim of this study is to analyze the results of several of the existing state task force reports to provide a national perspective regarding attitudes toward gender bias in child custody cases. It concludes with some general policy recommendations to state court systems that might help to eliminate perceptions of gender bias that may continue to exist. Initially, we reviewed all the publicly available state bar association studies of gender bias to determine if the same, or similar, questions and response categories were used by several states. We prepared a spreadsheet and examined the information to determine if state-specific analyses could be expanded to provide a national perspective on the issues. We did not intend to alter the content or meaning of any question or response category, we did not preselect any questions, nor did we desire to alter any state-specific analysis. Rather, our intent was to broaden the scope of each individual state's examination to draw conclusions across states. The spreadsheet identified those questions and response categories for items that were identical, or very similar, in surveys from the states of Maryland, Missouri, Texas, and Washington. These items are included in this article. The similarity in questions and


A 84 day feeding trial was conducted to assess the effect of replacing fish meal with graded levels of shrimp head silage meal on the growth of African catfish Clarias gariepinus. Shrimp heads were chemically preserved for 14 days at a pH range of 3.6-4.7; and used to replace fish meal at 0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% (diets 1-6) in 40% crude protein diets. The diets were fed to triplicate groups of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings (12.2±0.05 g) in indoor glass tanks at 4% body weight per day. Results indicated that values of feed digestibility, mean weight gain, feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio, and specific growth rate from the fishes fed diets 1-4 were significantly (p 0.05) in fishes fed all the diets. Summary of the findings highlights that fish meal can be replaced with up to 20% of chemically ensiled shrimp head meal in the diets of African catfish.


The article discusses what′s the opening problem,and how to training student's inovation consciousness from opening problem in her teaching practice .


After surgical treatment of cancer of the oral cavity patients often suffer from functional restrictions such as speech disorders. In this paper we present a novel approach to assess the outcome of the treatment w.r.t. the intelligibility of the patient using the result of an automatic speech recognition system. The word recognition rate was taken as intelligibility score. Compared to four speech experts this method yields results that are as good as the best speech expert compared to the other experts. The correlation between our system and the mean opinion of the experts is .92. Furthermore we show that our system has better performance than the average expert and is more reliable. Index Terms: Speech intelligibility, Speech processing, Biomedical acoustics, Acoustic applications


Abstract The article explores and questions the dynamics which daily play out between the donor community and aid recipients. It interrogates the assumption that these relations are cooperative and balanced. Instead, the authors argue that the contestation of power defines the impulse for development. This contest is played out within the complex communicative exchanges between the two sides. Although based on a single case study, the purpose of this discussion is to provoke debates around the intricacies of donor/receiver relations, so as to further deepen an understanding of the changes taking place in southern Africa, more especially since the end of the Cold War in 1989.


In January 1957 the mean 50 mb flow pattern was persistently E'ly over large areas near the Equator and this is compared with the flow pattern of January 1958 which was predominantly W'ly over much the same area. The mean vector winds for Canton Island for six Januarys show a remarkable 2-yr periodicity and suggest that either an E'ly or W'ly flow is equally likely to occur.


The purpose of this study was to determine consumer behavior based on factors that influence consumers to make decisions in purchasing Compass Shoes. Data collection techniques through observation, interviews, and documentation. This study used a sample of informants in Gresik who met the criteria, namely having Compass shoes and getting them through their own efforts. The theoretical basis used in this research is the Consumer Decision Making Behavior Model and the Influencing Factors ranging from environmental factors, individual differences, psychological processes to decision making processes. The results of this study indicate that consumers of Compass shoes are willing to queue to fulfill their desires and have products that are experiencing an increase in value.


An iterative method is proposed for the analysis of the steady-state weight fluctuations in an LMS-type adaptive FIR filter. Without the widely used independence assumption, a power series of the weight error correlation matrix is derived in terms of the stepsize. Some new effects are observed, e.g., a decrease of the weight fluctuations along the tapped-delay line.


Semiconductor supply chain is increasingly getting exposed to variety of security attacks such as Trojan insertion, cloning, counterfeiting, reverse engineering (RE), piracy of Intellectual Property (IP) or Integrated Circuit (IC) and side-channel analysis due to involvement of untrusted parties. In this paper, we propose threshold voltage-defined switches that will camouflage the logic gate both logically and physically to resist RE and IP piracy. The proposed gate can function as NAND, AND, NOR, OR, XOR, and XNOR robustly using threshold defined switches. We also propose a flavor of camouflaged gate that represents reduced functionality (NAND, NOR and NOT) at much lower overhead. The camouflaged design operates at nominal voltage and obeys conventional reliability limits. A small fraction of gates can be camouflaged to increase the RE effort extremely high. Simulation results indicate 46-53% area, 59-68% delay and 52-76% power overhead when 5-15% gates are identified and camouflaged using the proposed gate. A significant higher RE effort is achieved when the proposed gate is employed in the netlist using controllability, observability and hamming distance sensitivity based gate selection metrics.


The specimens of single-crystal aluminum were irradiated with high current pulsed electron beam (HCPEB). The vacancy cluster defect microstructure has been investigated by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that three types of vacancy clusters including dislocation loop, void and even stacking fault tetrahedron (SFT), which are not normally formed in metals with high SFT formation energy, can be formed in single-crystal aluminum specimens irradiated with HCPEB. The nucleation process of three types of vacancy clusters do not appear at the same time. There is a close relationship between the three types of vacancy clusters. Based on the experimental results, a possible mechanism of SFT formation and evolution was presented.


The polyfluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP)/polypropylene (PP) blend was compounded at melt state in a twin-screw extruder. The melt dynamic viscoelasticity of FEP/PP blends was measured using a Bohlin rheometer with the extended temperature option under experimental conditions with temperature scope from 270°C to 280°C and shear frequency (ω) varying from 10−2 to 101 s−1. The results showed that the shear storage modulus (G′) and shear loss modulus (G″) increased nonlinearly, while the dynamic complex viscosity (η*) decreased slightly with increasing ω. The G′ and G″ were an exponential function of ω. The G′, G″, and η* of the blend melts decreased with an addition of the PP weight fraction ( φ PP ) , and the relationship between them might be expressed by a multinomial third-order equation. This phenomenon might be attributed to the difference in viscoelasticity between the FEP melt and PP melt. The value of tan δ of the blend melts achieved the maximum at about 100 s−1.


This paper studies the performance of cognitive single-source and multi-relay cooperative communication, considering the two phases of cooperative spectrum sensing and cooperative communication, investigates the system's reliability. In the phase of spectrum sensing, the cognitive secondary user's (SU's) source and relays sense the licensed primary user's (PU's) spectrum by the energy detection algorithm respectively, and get the final result by OR rule. Only when the final result of spectrum sensing indicates the presence of a spectrum hole, the cognitive SU can access the licensed frequency band. In the phase of cooperative communicating, for the two cases: (1) the cognitive SU detects the spectrum hole and the PU doesn't access the frequency band; (2) the cognitive SU senses a spectrum hole but the licensed PU is using the frequency band, the relay selection strategy based on signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) is proposed respectively. In addition, this paper also investigates the system's reliability with the SU destination adopting maximum ratio combining (MRC) and selection combining (SC), and analyze the performance with the number of relays in the system. It is shown that the increase of the cognitive SU relays can not only improve the performance of the spectrum sensing but also enhance the reliability of the cognitive network.


Watermarking has been invoked as a tool for the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of multimedia contents. Because of their digital nature, multimedia documents can be duplicated, modified, transformed, and diffused very easily. This paper deals in developing the watermarking schemes for digital images stored in both, spatial and transformed domain. In this paper we mainly focus on the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) based development.Toincrease the un-detectability and to increase the claim multiple watermarks are embedded in a single image so that security is increased. For this every watermark is given a unique identification, same as the principle of Code Division Multiple Accessing (CDMA) technique. All presented watermarking schemes are robust against common image manipulations and attacks.


In adequately trained hands, transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a valuable instrument for intraoperative heart monitoring and diagnosis. In coronary artery, valvular and congenital heart surgery, it provides the anesthesiologist with on-line information about ventricular function and its determinants, and to the surgeon the advantages of immediate assessment of operative results and prediction of outcome.


Based on the GIS/RS techniques and the methods of landscape ecology and Logistic regression,this paper analyzed the landscape change and its driving forces in Hun-Tai river basin from 1988 to 2004. The main landscape types in the river basin were forestland,shrub land,dry land,and rice field,but the landscape pattern changed greatly during the study period. The dry land and rice field decreased,forestland,water area,and rural and urban areas increased,while shrub land changed slightly. At landscape level,the landscape heterogeneity and fragmentation increased,while the patch spatial connectedness and landscape dominance decreased. The driving forces of the landscape change varied widely,among which,socio-economic forces played an important role,but the effect of natural forces could not be ignored.


We propose a suitable generalization of the notion of Galois connection whose components are fuzzy relations. We prove that the construction embeds Yao's notion of fuzzy Galois connection as a particular case. Although the natural framework for the proposed notion is that of fuzzy preposets, we also prove that it behaves properly with respect to the formation of quotient with respect to the fuzzy symmetric kernel relation.


The HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States is alive and well. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015, 40,040 individuals were newly diagnosed with HIV. In the United States over 1.2 million people are living with HIV. 13% of people with HIV are unaware of their diagnosis. The HIV infection rate is particularly high in the minority populations. Unless a comprehensive plan is initiated that includes more education and new prevention initiatives, the infection rate will continue to rise among the vulnerable populations and more people will die unnecessarily. The Play Sure Kit is a new prevention tool initiated in New York City and to date it is having excellent results.


This paper proposes the design and gate level implementation of a low power and area efficient 8-bit Wallace tree multiplier design using Full Swing Gate Diffusion Input Logic technique. The proposed design, developed using 45nm process technology was compared with its equivalent design, developed using conventional CMOS technology. The proposed multiplier presented significant advantages in terms of power, delay and area. Power and delay analysis of the proposed multiplier was performed for varied gate oxide thickness and three process technologies 130 nm, 70nm and 45 nm. The design was subjected to parametric variations, such as gate oxide thickness and channel length. The results conclude to two major inferences. Firstly, in applications that demand low power, the proposed Full Swing Gate Diffusion Input Logic Wallace tree multiplier will be an ideal replacement for conventional CMOS multiplier, owing to reduced power and area. The proposed multiplier offers 26.21% reduction in power, 12 % reduction in delay and 36% reduction in area when compared to its equivalent CMOS version. Secondly, as transistor dimensions reduce, parametric variations become more significant. This analysis will aid in drastic reduction of parametric yield loss.


Daniel Lecoanet1,2†, Michael Le Bars3,4, Keaton J. Burns5,2, Geoffrey M. Vasil6, Benjamin P. Brown7,2, Eliot Quataert1 and Jeffrey S. Oishi8,9,2 Department of Astrophysics and Theoretical Astrophysics Center, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA CNRS, Aix-Marseille Universite, Ecole Centrale Marseille, IRPHE, Marseille, 13013, France Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA School of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Sydney NSW 2006, Australia Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and Department of Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 Department of Physics, Farmingdale State College, Farmingdale, NY 11735 Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024


Here we report direct observation of DC Kerr electro-optic modulation using silicon nanocrystals. The enhanced DC Kerr effect could enable ultrafast CMOS compatible electro-optic modulators.


Background and aims: Type 2 diabetes mellitus results from complex interplay between genetic predisposition and environmental factors that together promote impairment of insulin-producing β-cells. ...


Reference images with their depth maps are often used as materials for free viewpoint images. However, occlusion can degrade the quality of the output images. To solve this problem, we developed an effective synthesizing method using multi-layered background buffers that increases the quality of free viewpoint images. Since the buffers are created and updated dynamically without additional information such as separate background images, the method is applicable to conventional materials. The effectiveness of the proposed method was shown by several simulation experiments.


Shroud film cooling above the blade row in a low-speed rotating turbine facility is investigated with coolant injected through an upstream slot in combination with injection through angled discrete holes on the shroud. Measurements of the film-cooling effectiveness are performed with coolant injection from the slot alone, from discrete-shroud holes alone, and from combined slot and discrete-shroud holes. Blowing ratios for the discrete holes are in the range of 1.0 to 3.0, whereas those from the slot are in the range of 0.5 to 2.0. The tests are performed at a scaled-down design rotation speed of 550 rpm using liquid crystal thermography. The results for the slot-only cooling tests show increasing cooling effectiveness up to a blowing ratio of 1.25, followed by decreasing effectiveness due to jet liftoff at the higher blowing ratios. When compared on the basis of blowing ratios, slot cooling provides a higher area-averaged film-cooling effectiveness up to a blowing ratio of 2.4, after which the shroud hol...


S tructures smaller than amicrometer can become, paradoxically, quite strong. New experiments suggest that a previously overlookedmaterial feature known as a surface triple junction (STJ) may be an important factor in nanomaterial strength [1]. An STJ is a line on a surface where the crystalline grains of a material meet, analogous to the boundaries between planks in a hardwood floor. STJs are common inmaterials, such as thin film semiconductors, so their strength characteristics could become an important consideration in the design of nanoscale devices. However, some experts have raised questions about the results, suggesting that the STJ effect is not the only possible interpretation of the data.


Introduction: Every health organization aims to provide high-quality service and promote patient safety. However, achieving these goals can be challenging in many healthcare systems around the world. In dentistry, dentists can face medicolegal issues, which can be overcome by exploring the reasons for dental malpractice litigation. In this study, we aim to identify the most common causes and outcomes of dental malpractice litigation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a retrospective study. We reviewed all closed cases in dentistry as decided by the Medico-Legal Committee of Saudi Arabia in the Riyadh region over a period of 5 years and 3 months, from January 1, 2014, to March 31, 2019. Descriptive analysis was used to examine the phenomenon of dental malpractice claims. Results: In total, 151 claims were analyzed. As per our findings, it was determined that the number of closed claims had increased, with the highest number of claims (35%) related to the prosthodontics specialty, followed by endodontics specialty (31%). The most common causes of litigation were failure to conduct the procedure properly (31.5%) and poor documentation (19.7%). With respect to litigation outcomes, 54% ended up with verdict in favor of the plaintiff. Conclusions: It was determined that there is a rising trend of malpractice litigation in the dentistry field; thus, measures should be taken to address these concerns.


An "internal stress state diagram" for describing the dependence of internal stress state (tensile or compressive) in polycrystalline diamond thin films upon the methane concentration and substrate temperature is proposed, from which the optimal technological condition for preparing the diamond films with zero or minimal internal stress could be predicted. The preliminary experimental results are in good agreement with the prediction.


A Neolithic agricultural soil, a Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age soil and a range of middendeposits were analysed from the multi-period settlement sites of Tofts Ness, Sanday, Orkney and OldScatness, Shetland. The analysis was undertaken in order to compare the midden material whichhad accumulated within the settlement to the cultural material in the arable fields. The comparisonwas undertaken in order to determine whether manuring was practised in the Neolithic and, if so,to identify which materials were selected as fertilizers. Thin section micromorphology, phosphateanalysis, particle size distribution and loss on ignition were used to identify and characterize thematerials which were added to the soil. The results indicate that in the Neolithic period at Tofts Nessthe middens themselves were cultivated, although midden material was also added as fertilizer tothe fields around the site. The cultivation of midden heaps in the Neolithic may have been a commonpractice and is evidence for intensive arable agriculture on a small scale. The cultivation of a LateBronze Age to Early Iron Age midden at Old Scatness, Shetland suggests continuity of the practice.Parallels are drawn with other Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age sites.


Drawing on available theory and evidence, this paper attempts to identify some key factors contributing to international financial instability to develop ataxonomy of policy instruments to enhance financial stability and debt management in emerging market economies. The purpose is to relate each instrument to particular aspects of the broader policy challenge,thus clarifying differences and/or similarities among instruments and proposals. The analysissuggests instruments that could help increase the efficiency of risk management strategies(such as growth- or GDP-indexed bonds) and enhance the effectiveness of debt management,growth and development policies (such as a stability and social investment facility).


Crystalline organization of a methano-fullerene, [6,6]-phenyl C-61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), as achieved in various thin-film deposition techniques, is reported. Mechanically stable, and thus self-supporting, thin films obtained via fast solvent evaporation techniques are found to be composed of densely and homogeneously distributed PCBM nanocrystals with various crystallographic orientations, as shown schematically in the Figure.


Varying degrees of sex reversal of gonads and secondary sex organs occur when sex hormones are administered to developing vertebrate embryos of opposite sex types. The study of these effects has been extended to certain species of nearly every group of vertebrates, except for certain of the Reptilia. Forbes ('38 a, b, '39) has observed the effects of testosterone propionate and oestrone on the reproductive systems of i*eccntly hatched and immature alligators of both sexes. Dantschakoff ( '38 b) obtained sex reversals from male to female as a result of iiijections of oestrone and oestradiol in early lizard embryos. In a preliminary abstract (Risley, '37) it was indicated that some experiments with testosterone propionate resulted in a response of the medullary sex cords of the gonads of turtle embryos. It is the purpose of this report to present the details of this experiment, since it becomes apparent that there is a marked trend toward reversal of the gonads from the female to the male sex type.


Using Wigner distribution functions, the time-frequency evolving mechanism of few-optical-cycle pulses nonlinearly propagated in microstructured fibers and their phase compensation by a 4-f phase compensator was analyzed. Evaluated negative dispersion of tapered-fiber-waist agreed with calculation


The casting processing of composite metal rolls with electromagnetic heating has been studied using self-made device.The wear resistance of high chromium cast iron shell and bonding of the shell and core metal were analyzed.The results show: on proper condition,high quality rolls can be produced.For the rolls,the bounding of the shell and core metal is strong,microstructure is excellent,and hardness of the roll body is homogeneous.A new method has been developed for making composite metal rolls.


Hepatocellular carcinoma is the fifth most common cancer in the world. Its incidence is increasing worldwide ranging between 3 and 9% annually. The aim of this study was to see the pattern of clinical presentation, identify the possible risk factors and the clinical outcome among HCC patients presenting at our health facility. The case records of all patients with histopathological diagnosis of HCC within the study period June 2003-May 2008 were scrutinized. Demographic, clinical presentation, investigations, risk factors and outcome data were extracted. Data analysis was done using the SPSS computer soft ware. Logistic regression model was fitted to identify the impact of the various risk factors on HCC. A total number of 53 patients with histopathological diagnosis of HCC were registered. Their ages ranged from 35 to 73 and mean age of 50±21.8 years. Thirty seven (69.8%) were males while sixteen (30.2%) were females giving M: F ratio of 2.31:1. The left lobe was affected in 15.1% (8), right lobe in 22.6% (12) and both lobes in 62.3% (33). 54.7% tested positive for HBsAg, 3.8% were HCV-Ab positive. All the patients in this study presented at an advanced stage of the disease. Aflatoxin exposure, though not proven, because no test was done to incriminate it, was highly suspected and could be a major risk factor in this study; hence efforts need to be doubled up as regards effective awareness campaigns, general health /social education and food perseveration methods.


A c anc er diagnosis no longer nec essarily ends a w oman's life.A lthough there is still no "c ure" for many c anc ers, steady imp rov ements in early detec tion and treatment hav e greatly inc reased sur v iv al after a c anc er diagnosis.Ev en v ic tims of adv anc ed ov arian c anc er c an now ex p ec t to sur v iv e an av erage of 5 y ears.Imp rov ed c anc er treatment and the soc ial p henomenon of later c hildbearing p resent us w ith an env iable p roblem.M ore and more w omen w ith c anc er are now c onsidering fer tility p reser v ation as p ar t of their treatment p lanning. Premature ov arian failure may oc c ur in w omen w ith genetic diseases (suc h as Turner's sy ndrome),after c hemotherap y or radiotherap y for malignant disease,in sev ere or rec urrent ov arian disease (suc h as c y sts,benign tumors or endometriomas),or after remov al of the ov aries to treat endometriosis,ov arian p ain or genital c anc er.F or w omen at risk of p remature ov arian failure,there are now three p ossibilities for p reser v ing their fer tility : c r y op reser v ation of their ooc y tes,embr y os,and,most rec ently,ov arian tissue.This ar tic le p rov ides an ov er v iew of these p roc edures,highlighting the rec ent dev elop ments in ov arian tissue c r y op reser v ation.