What relationships exist between the sciences and the histories written about them? This book combines essays from the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities which attempt to legitimate the different scientific disciplines by establishing accounts of their histories and by "linking the sciences to their appropriate social, cultural, and political contexts." In his essay "Re-Reading of the Past from the End of Physics," Peter Galison [Stanford University) discusses the pedagogic, heuristic, and justificatory reinterpretations of past accomplishments in physics. He suggests that the historical accounts of physics "affect the advancement of the discipline itself." Rachel Laudan (VirginiaTech) looks at the various functions of geological history. The early history of Charles Lyell, for example, shows that previous geological methods prevented geology from being considered a respected science. In an essay in the social sciences section, Mitchell G. Ash [Mainz University) examines the role of pedagogical self-presentation-s-a legitimation strategy aimed at students of a particular discipline-in the history of American psychology. UIfried Geuter (Free University of Berlin) follows with an analysis of the history of German psychology, demonstrating how the emergence of the field, the role of psychology during the Nazi regime, and the "crisis of relevance" in the 1960s correspond with the changing functions of historical recourse and theoretical and methodological assumptions in psychology. And in an essay that identifies the interdependencies between the history of classical philology and the development of the field itself, Reinhart Herzog (University of Bielefeld) argues that "almost all paradigmatic shifts in classical philology have been connected with a rewriting and with a re-assessment of its disciplinary history ... classical philology seems to illustrate the functions of disciplinary history which are known from the natural and the social sciences." In his epilogue, Loren Graham [MIT) points to the legitimating role of the history of science. He identifies "good" legitimation as that which "benefits society and provides reliable knowledge." This collection offers some interesting discussions for academic ~istorians, sociologists, and others concerned WIth the structures of science.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a challenging disease with a high recurrence rate after surgery and there is an imminent need to identify new treatments. Currently, adjuvant therapy like chemotherapeutics arises to counteract the malignant trait escaping from apoptosis of tumors induced by overexpressed anti-apoptotic factors in HCC. Myeloid cell leukaemia-1 (Mcl-1) as an anti-apoptotic member of Bcl-2 is highly expressed in diverse human cancers, which contributes to cancer cell survival and the resistance to diverse chemotherapeutic agents. It is confirmed that Mcl-1 protein expression is quite enhanced in human HCC tissue compared to adjacent non-tumor tissue. Correspondingly, forced Mcl-1 down-regulation leads to prominent apoptosis of HCC cells and a sensitization towards chemotherapeutic drug-induced apoptosis, which indicates Mcl-1 is indeed a crucial regulatory factor of HCC. Hence, this review highlights the function of Mcl-1 on HCC progression, how it is regulated in HCC and the recent anti-hepatoma drug research and development down-regulation of Mcl-1 or targeting on Mcl-1. Meanwhile, the authors discuss Mcl-1 as an essential regulatory factor in HCC can be designed as target for drugs to improve the survival of HCC patients.


Abstract Climate changes in 21st century China are described based on the projections of 11 climate models under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios. The results show that warming is expected in all regions of China under the RCP scenarios, with the northern regions showing greater warming than the southern regions. The warming tendency from 2011 to 2100 is 0.06°C/10 a for RCP2.6, 0.24°C/10 a for RCP4.5, and 0.63°C/10 a for RCP8.5. The projected time series of annual temperature have similar variation tendencies as the new greenhouse gas (GHG) emission scenario pathways, and the warming under the lower emission scenarios is less than under the higher emission scenarios. The regional averaged precipitation will increase, and the increasing precipitation in the northern regions is significant and greater than in the southern regions in China. It is noted that precipitation will tend to decrease in the southern parts of China during the period of 2011–2040, especially under RCP8.5. Compared with the changes over the globe and some previous projections, the increased warming and precipitation over China is more remarkable under the higher emission scenarios. The uncertainties in the projection are unavoidable, and further analyses are necessary to develop a better understanding of the future changes over the region.


The research, evaluation of job satisfaction in the company Reyver S.A., aimed to diagnose the state of the organization in order to contribute to business performance, for which I pose as a premise, if the variables analyzed would generate reliable results; Regarding the applied procedure, it required an analytical-synthetic methodology, based on qualitative-quantitative results, a work scheme based on four phases was proposed; where the variables were determined in the first instances, by means of a group of experts that served as support for its validation, in this stage it was required to apply the Kendall bibliographic research and methodology; after that, the evaluation tool model validated by the work team was structured, in order to apply it together with an interview addressed to the manager; the data obtained were tabulated and presented by statistical tools; In Phase 3, the SPSS Software established a correlation between the variables, with the purpose of analyzing the internal consistency using the Cronbach's Alpha, in order to determine the company's situation and propose corrective actions through the matrix 5W + 1H. The results show that the instrument applied to the organization presents acceptable results in the variables investigated, however, the participation of the workers and the acknowledgments are signs that it is necessary to optimize certain areas, since the perception of Human Talent is not unanimous, leaving glimpsed personnel not satisfied with the current performance of the organization.


In this paper , a new simple control strategy for the output voltage of voltage-type pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter which can eliminate the steady-state control error completely is proposed. In the proposed control system, a resonant element implemented by a digital signal processor (DSP) is introduced as a feedback controller. The resonant element exhibits a function similar to an integrator for the fundamental frequency component. Thus, it can eliminate the steady-state control error completely. The principle of the proposed control method is discussed, and its effectiveness is shown theoretically. To confirm the effectiveness of the proposed control method, some simulation testing are shown.


In this paper two algorithms for adaptive equalization for digital communication channels are studied. In the first method, the equalizer is adjusted in a manner calculated to minimise the peak distortion at the output of the equalizer. The other algorithm minimises the mean square error.Simulation results are presented for both the algorithms. They are compared with the algorithms of their class and it is shown that they are superior.


The photoelectric measurement of the hexagon pattern in dielectric barrier discharge is performed. By measuring the current signals and the light signals of the hexagon pattern, it is found that there are three main pulses in both of the total current signal and the total light signal. The light signal of a fixed filament in hexagon pattern is also measured. It is found that the spatial location of the filament is unchanged, while its discharge moment is changed with the time, which is probably corresponding to the first pulse, the second pulse or the third pulse of the total light signal. However, no matter when it discharges, the light pulse width for one filament is almost 30 ns, and the ratio of the rising edge to the falling edge of the pulse is about 1:1.88. In addition, the properties of hexagon patterns with the increased gas pressure are investigated. The pattern bifurcation sequence is changed accordingly, and pulse widths of the light signals of the hexagon pattern rises with increasing the gas pressure, which changes from 30ns (at 0.3atm) to 107ns (at 1atm), and the ratio changes from 1:1.88 to 1:3.


Purpose – This paper aims to report on the views that tourists in China have about the country, its people, the country as a destination and the 2008 Olympic Games that were held there.Design/methodology/approach – The study utilizes a survey in which responses were gathered from 288 tourists in Beijing, China during the 2008 Olympic Summer Games. The study presents results for China's three images (country, destination, and mega‐event) using an attitudinal framework and explores the patterns of relationships using linear regression.Findings – Results of the study show that tourists perceive China positively in terms of the country and people competencies and the character of the people. China is less positively viewed in terms of country character. As a destination, China is seen positively for its built environment but less positively for its natural environment. Positive experiential and logistical beliefs characterize the Olympic Games, while beliefs about security are less positive. The data support ...


Gwynne. (Jesuit Studies, ; Jesuit Neo-Latin Library, .) Pp. xiv +  incl. frontispiece and  colour ills and  map. Leiden–Boston: Brill, . €.     ;   JEH () ; doi:./S This is the first volume of a projected Jesuit Neo-Latin Library, which promises to open up the vast range of such works to English readers. The present text, a sixbook Virgilian epic on the martyrdom of five Jesuits near Goa in , certainly deserves to be better known, both as a record of early Jesuit missionary endeavour and as a poem in its own right. The author, Francesco Benci, was professor of rhetoric at the Roman College (now the Gregorian), and clearly intended not only to celebrate the martyrs' heroic sacrifice but also to inspire current students to emulate them. We are invited to read his poem, first published in , as a counterpart to the martyr frescoes painted in the English College, Rome, in . Indeed, it refers at least three times to the martyrdom of the English Jesuit Edmund Campion on  December . The poem exhibits stylistic features associated with Jesuit art and architecture, such as the lavish descriptions of the funeral rites and entry into heaven. It tells how a group of five Jesuits, led by Rudolf Acquaviva, was ambushed on the way to evangelise the city of Cuncolim. The narrative of their deaths is suitably prolonged and embellished, with space for carefully composed prayers and intricate descriptions of injuries and death blows, presented in slow motion. A remarkable Virgilian element is Acquaviva's narration of his unsuccessful mission to the Mughal emperor Akbar, in which is embedded a lengthy exposition of the salvation story from Eden to the Ascension. This affords Benci the opportunity of rivalling other neo-Latin Christian epics such as Marco Girolamo Vida's Christiad (). The editor and translator, Paul Gwynne, has worked extensively in the field of neo-Latin poetry and devotes much of the introduction and commentary to Virgilian techniques and linguistic echoes. The somewhat literal prose translation has the merit of allowing the reader to turn to the Latin text with confidence and curiosity, to form an impression of the way a late sixteenth-century Jesuit professor commemorated a particularly violent and – to us –morally ambiguous clash of religious forces in early modern India. It is intriguing, from this point of view, to read of the imagined response of the Cuncolim elders, who saw the missionaries as wolves threatening their flock. Protestant divines and politicians in Elizabethan England felt much the same about Campion and his fellow Jesuit missionaries.


Fabrication of composite membranes from a highly porous substrate and a thin polymeric permselective layer allows achieving both high flux and selectivity in a single structure. In practice, formation of such composites is difficult due to the presence of large pores on the surface of highly perineable substrates. A novel approach to the formation of composite membranes was examined in this work to avoid this difficulty with large, hard-to-coat pores. Anopore microporous aluminum oxide membranes with 2000 A pores were used as model systems and were treated with 100 A spherical colloidal silica particles to reduce their pore diameter while maintaining low flow resistance through them. The silica-treated ceramics were then used as substrates for formation of thin defect-free polymer-ceramic composite membranes by a solution-coating method (...)


Mask data preparation (MDP) systems are becoming more and more complicated due to increasing demand for higher resolution, and more commonly adopted technique of optical proximity correction (OPC). Conventionally, as a standard format to describe mask patterns, GDSII has been widely used in the EDA field as well as in the mask production field. These days, however, GDSII is revealing its disadvantage in terms of efficiency in data compaction. On the other hand, mask pattern data in a variety of formats, including GDSII, are flowing into mask manufacturers, and this is making their process extremely complicated. In this paper, we propose a unified format, tentatively named "GDSII-NEO." GDSII-NEO is designed to retain GDSII upper compatibility in consideration of the utilization of existing GDSII data and to have several times higher compression rate than GDSII. GDSII-NEO can be seen as a multi-purpose format used widely in the EDA and mask field. An intended use, among others, of this format is to describe the pattern data fed into Electron Beam (EB) mask writers.


The problem of judging direction of the road is a tough problem in navigation system. This paper presents a image-based approach to address the direction problem in the road using Support Vector Machine(SVM) and Bayesian rules. Established localization or orientation algorithm is infeasible in the direction problem due to its time and space complexity. SVM is employed as an effective model for classification and Bayesian rule can improve the accuracy integrating more than one images. Experimental result shows that the proposed system reaches high accuracy in the direction problem.


This chapter provides a summary of standards activities related to cognitive radio systems (CRS) and dynamic spectrum access (DSA) systems. Because of the vast amount of standardization activity in this arena, this chapter can provide only a high-level snapshot of current CRS/DSA standardization activities and a projection of activities expected in the near future. Sufficient references including URL references are included so that the interested reader can review in as much detail as desired the standards that have and are being developed by numerous international standards development organizations (SDOs). These standards will be evolving in time as will be described later in this chapter in the descriptions of the various SDOs. It is expected that standardization in this arena will continue by these SDOs for at least the next decade.


BosonSampling, which we proposed three years ago, is a scheme for using linear-optical networks to solve sampling problems that appear to be intractable for a classical computer. In a recent manuscript, Gogolin et al. claimed that even an ideal BosonSampling device's output would be "operationally indistinguishable" from a uniform random outcome, at least "without detailed a priori knowledge"; or at any rate, that telling the two apart might itself be a hard problem. We first answer these claims—explaining why the first is based on a definition of "a priori knowledge" so strange that, were it adopted, almost no quantum algorithm could be distinguished from a pure random-number source; while the second is neither new nor a practical obstacle to interesting BosonSampling experiments. However, we then go further, and address some interesting research questions inspired by Gogolin et al.'s mistaken arguments. We prove that, with high probability over a Haar-random matrix A, the BosonSampling distribution induced by A is far from the uniform distribution in total variation distance. More surprisingly, and directly counter to Gogolin et al., we give an efficient algorithm that distinguishes these two distributions with constant bias. Finally, we offer three "bonus" results about BosonSampling. First, we report an observation of Fernando Brandao: that one can efficiently sample a distribution that has large entropy and that's indistinguishable from a BosonSampling distribution by any circuit of fixed polynomial size. Second, we show that BosonSampling distributions can be efficiently distinguished from uniform even with photon losses and for general initial states. Third, we offer the simplest known proof that FermionSampling is solvable in classical polynomial time, and we reuse techniques from our BosonSampling analysis to characterize random FermionSampling distributions. 1 Background BosonSampling [1] can be defined as the following computational problem. We are given as input an m × n complex matrix A ∈ Cm×n (m ≥ n), whose n columns are orthonormal vectors in Cm. Let Φm,n be the set of all lists S = (s1, . . . , sm) of m nonnegative integers summing to n (we call these lists "experimental outcomes"); note that |Φm,n| = (m+n−1 n ) . For each outcome S ∈ Φm,n, let AS ∈ Cn×n be the n× n matrix that consists of s1 copies of A's first row, s2 copies of A's second row, and so on. Then let DA be the following probability distribution over Φm,n: Pr DA [S] = |Per (AS)| s1! · · · sm! , (1) MIT. Email: email@example.com. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0844626, an Alan T. Waterman Award, a Sloan Fellowship, a TIBCO Chair, and an NSF STC on Science of Information. MIT. Email: email@example.com. Supported by an NSF Graduate Fellowship.


Data and knowledge Engineering is one of the area under data mining. Which can extract important knowledge from large database, but sometimes these database are divided among various parties. This paper addresses a fast distributed mining of association rules over horizontally distributed data. This paper presents different methods for secure mining of association rules in horizontally distributed databases. The main aim of this paper is protocol for secure mining of association rules in horizontally distributed databases. The current main protocol is that of Kantarcioglu and Clifton. This protocol, like theirs, is based on the Fast Distributed Mining (FDM) algorithm of Cheung et al., which is an unsecured distributed version of the Apriori algorithm. The main components in this protocol are two novel secure multi-party algorithms — one that computes the union of private subsets that each of the interacting players hold, and another that tests the inclusion of an element held by one player in a subset held by another. This protocol offers improved privacy with respect to the protocol in. In addition, it is simpler and is significantly more efficient in terms of communication rounds, communication cost and computational cost. Keywords— Privacy Preserving Data Mining; Distributed Computation; Frequent Item sets; Association Rules. __________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________


The American Astronomical Society has recently developed an ambitious set of goals for introductory astronomy courses. How well does an introductory astronomy course based firmly on these goals actually do? In this article, an education student enrolled in such a class and the professor who taught it present an unvarnished analysis of one course designed to meet precisely these goals. How do the students judge the goals? Can a one-semester course actually meet these goals realistically? In addition to examining these questions, we include data on student course evaluations and student performance as measured by the Astronomy Diagnostic Test. 1. GENESIS OF THIS PAPER As each semester begins, professors enter their classrooms with goals in mind for their courses. How well do we meet those goals? Are we moderately successful, or do we fall woefully short? There is an instructive Far Side cartoon (which unfortunately we were not given permission to reproduce here) with two panels. The upper panel shows a man issuing firm, clear instructions to his dog, Ginger. The lower panel shows what the dog hears: "Blah, blah, Ginger, blah, blah..." Can we be sure that we are not replicating that hapless man's experience? Typical course evaluations tell us less about our success in meeting goals than about how students liked our course. Tests, including the Astronomy Diagnostic Test (see Zeilik 2002; Hufnagel 2002; Deming 2002), can measure student mastery of some material in "Astro 101," but we often have goals that extend beyond the knowledge of astronomy. Here, we explore a different way of assessing how others hear us in the classroom. The professor in Haverford College's introductory astronomy course, Bruce Partridge (second author of this article), learned early on this past fall semester that an enrolled student, Nathaniel Lippert (first author), had a deep interest in pedagogy and a background in educational psychology. The two of us agreed that an unvarnished critique of the course made by the student after completing the course would provide a useful gauge of how well the course had met its goals (see Tobias 1990). Moreover, because the goals adopted for this course were exactly those advocated for Astro 101 in national meetings of astronomy department leaders and educators (Partridge & Greenstein 2003), we believe that the student's reaction will be of interest to the wider astronomical community. This article lists the goals, assesses student interest in each of them, provides a student evaluation of the success in meeting the goals, and finally presents an analysis by the student of the goals and the course structure. The article is offered as an opportunity for professors to "hear ourselves as others hear us." Although both professor and student read and approved all sections, those marked (BP) were written primarily by the professor, and those marked (NL) primarily by the student. No attempt was made to mute or modify the student's opinions; instead, the professor was asked to write a brief coda (section 7). 2. THE PROFESSOR'S GOALS FOR ASTRO 101 (BP) 2.1 The Nature of Haverford's "Astro 101" Astronomy 101 is taught at Haverford College as a one-semester survey specifically intended for non–science majors. It has been taught by BP for more than 30 years with little structural change, save updating of course content. The course description (from the Hav rford College Catalog) is: Astro 101: Astronomical Ideas Fundamental concepts and observations of modern astronomy, such as the motions and surface properties of the planets, the birth and death of stars, and the properties and evolution of the Universe. Not intended for students majoring in the physical ciences. (The full syllabus is at http://www.haverford.edu/physicsastro/course_materials/astr101a/astr101a.html ) As the course description indicates, course content is clustered around several major astronomical ideas, starting with a historical focus on how we came to understand the large-scale properties of the Solar System, and ending with cosmology. The material on stars is consciously abbreviated and focuses mainly on stellar evolution. Like most science courses at Haverford, the course is taught in three weekly lecture sessions. Over the past six years, BP has consciously introduced in-class exercises modeled on the techniques developed by Mazur (1997). Starting some 15 years ago, BP added weekly small class sections of approximately 15 students each. These small group meetings led by the course instructor allow time either to conduct or set up laboratory exercises, discuss astronomical topics of social significance, such as uncertainty in science or NASA's newest programs, and answer student questions about homework and/or tests (and coincidentally, to work on math skills). A graded semester-long exercise asked students to make weekly records of the time and position of sunset, and brief sketches of the phase of the Moon every clear night. From these observations, the students were asked to estimate the lunar synodic period, then to project forward to find the phase of the Moon and the time and position of sunset on their graduation day. Because of the weight placed on this observing exercise, relatively little class time was spent on the detailed exploration of the daily and yearly motions of the Sun and Moon (see section 4.2). 2.2 Overt Introduction of Goals for Astro 101 In the spring and summer of 2001, the American Astronomical Society sponsored a pair of national meetings on the goals of courses like Astronomy 101 (see Partridge & Greenstein 2003). The 13 goals are listed in abbreviated form in Table 1 (see http://www.haverford.edu/physics-astro/course_materials/astr101a/astr101a.html for the detailed list of goals and arguments for them). In the fall of 2003, BP decided to adopt these 13 goals in their entirety and without change for Haverford's Astronomy 101 course. Early in the course, the students were informed of these goals, and an abbreviated copy of the AAS-sponsored report was distributed to them. The format and approach of the course were adjusted slightly to bring them into better agreement with the goals. The course content, however, was not substantially altered. Thus, the course description remained the same, and the course continued to focus on the same set of overarching astronomical ideas. Table 1. Goals adopted by AAS-sponsored national workshops and adopted verbatim for Haverford's Astro 101.


In 1998 Juncus capitatus was found on three new localities in the province of Noord-Brabant. All three localities were former arable fields, where the eutrophicated top soil layer has been removed and pools have been dug out. The fast growth of perennials, tree-saplings and mosses on these spots forms a threat for the long-term establishment of the tiny pioneer species of the Nanocyperion communities. Active management will be necessary to preserve this species.


Performance evaluation is an important stage during the development of network protocols.Algorithms and Protocols are usually tested in experimental network or simulation environments.Simulation level of abstraction may be too high to capture low-level effects.Experimental networks are neither controllable nor repeatable.Emulation provides a third point for protocol testing and evaluation;it is expected to be a low-cost,controllable and repeatable testing platform with high degree of realism.In this paper,we make a survey on network emulation systems,including their concepts,classification,focus on design methodology of the Virtual Machines and the Resource Mapping emulation system,the developing trends and main challenges are also summarized.


Metalloscope and energy spectrometer were adopted to study microstructure evolution and mechanism of spherical grain formation of Al-6Si-2Mg alloy during vibrating wavelike sloping plate process.The results show that the coactions of two mechanisms cause non-dendrite microstructure formation.The first mechanism is eruptive nucleation and globular growth:sloping plate can provide enough undercooling degree and substratum for the heterogeneous nucleation,so the melt can eruptive nucleate on the surface of the sloping plate.The distributions of composition and temperature fields homogeneous in the melt lead grain to grow with a globular pattern.The second mechanism is dendrite arm necking and breaking and grain grinding and growing:flowing and vibrating in the melt leads to neck and break at the positions enrich compositions of low melting point.Broken grains gradually grow to spherical grains under grinding.


1Department of Tuberculosis Control and Prevention, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China; 2School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo, People's Republic of China; 3Department of Tuberculosis Control and Prevention, Xiaoshan District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China; 4Key Laboratory of Vaccine, Prevention and Control of Infectious Disease of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China


In early 2011, students at a Christian liberal arts university won a nearly two-year battle for the official university recognition of a faith-based student organization centered on fostering a spiritual dialogue regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) identity and student sexuality. This article utilizes in-depth personal stories of the founding group members to examine current gaps in the identity-based social movement literature. The author argues that individual and group identities are formed reflexively through interaction and self- and group-reflection. Additionally, the author examines respondent stories to shed light on the various collective action frames made possible through discursive opportunity structures. Unforeseen openings within repressive environments may ultimately open the door to social change formerly thought unattainable. Possible implications for future research, specifically that pertaining to LGBT populations and movements, are also discussed.


An important objective of structural health monitoring (SHM) for civil infrastructure is to identify the state of the structure and to detect these changes when it occurred. The changes of features in a structural system may due to the nonlinear inelastic response of structure or due to the structural damage subjected to severe external loading. Therefore, damage detection in large structural system, such as buildings and bridges, can improve safety and reduce maintenance costs and the design of damage detection system is one of the goals of SHM. The objective of this paper is to develop an on-line and almost real-time system parameter estimation and damage detection technique from the response measurements through using the Recursive Subspace identification (RSI) or Recursive Stochastic Subspace Identification (RSSI) approaches. Verification of the proposed method by using data from both numerical simulation and the shaking table test of a steel structure with abrupt change of inter-story stiffness are discussed. With the implementation of forgetting factor in RSSI/RSI methods the ability of on-line damage detection of structural system can be enhanced.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


Aims: Laparoscopy has become the most common procedure in recent set-ups. It is now a major diagnostic as well as therapeutic modality for infertility, endometriosis, extrauterine pregnancy and benign ovarian tumors. The aim of the study was to share the experience of gynecological laparoscopic surgeries performed at Kathmandu Model Hospital.  Methods: A descriptive study was carried out at Kathmandu Model Hospital from 1st January 2011 to 1st May 2017. All the patients who underwent gynecological laparoscopic surgeries were analyzed for the indication, type of procedure and its complications.  Results: Out of 217, majority 24.4 %(n=53) patients were in age group 26-30 years. There were 51.1% (111) cases of ovarian cyst, 12.44%(27) cases of ectopic pregnancy. Eight cases were done with surgeons for cholecystectomy and ovarian cystectomy or hysterectomy. There were 15% (n=32) cases of diagnostic laparoscopy. Total laparoscopic hysterectomy was done in 16% (n=33) cases. Conversion to laparotomy was done in 3%(8) cases. There was one case of vascular injury. Most common immediate post-operative complaint was variable degree of pain, managed with parenteral and oral analgesics. Oral diet started at 4-6th hour post-operatively, and mobilization started after 24 hours. 75% (164) cases had a hospital stay of 2 days and 25%(53) cases stayed for 3 days.  Conclusions: Laparoscopic surgery at our hospital has been well demonstrated in terms of reducing postoperative pain and decreasing postoperative morbidity, short hospital stay, and less postoperative recovery time. However, adequate advanced training and devices are needed to perform skillful laparoscopic surgeries.


Diagram showing the details of the staircase framework for the Taylor County Jail in Abilene, Texas. The drawing shows the section of the stairs from top to bottom, the top being on the left, with measurements and specifications noted within.


Lodging is one of the important factors causing the decrease of rice yield and quality. For obtaining the lodging area of rice accurately, evaluating the disaster situation correctly, and providing technical support for agricultural insurance and production decision-making, this paper used the consumption-grade unmanned aerial vehicle DJI Phantom 4 Advanced to acquire high-resolution visible images at 100 m flight altitude, to study the extraction of rice lodging features and area based on machine vision technology. Firstly, through calculating four texture features such as the correlation, energy, contrast and homogeneity, it was found that the difference between lodging and normal rice was the most obvious by the texture image of homogeneity. Furthermore, on the basis of homogeneity texture, the YCBCR transform was applied to enhance texture image, namely as the R1G1B1 image. We found that the separability of samples was as high as 1.9 for G1 Band from the R1G1B1 image. The G1 Band was chosen as the most effective feature to distinguish lodging area from rice field. On this basis, the texture feature T of G1 band was obtained by choosing the texture of the deficit moment and setting the size of the sub-window to 29 ×29_. Finally, the color feature, color feature plus texture feature T were used to classify by support vector machine (SVM), and the classification accuracy were 87.33% and 92.96%, respectively. The corresponding Kappa coefficients were respectively 0.658 and 0.817. The results showed that the combination of texture features can improve the recognition accuracy of visible image for lodging rice. Meanwhile, compared with the traditional K-means and maximum likelihood method, the SVM-based classification was the best. The above results provide valuable reference for the extraction of other crops' lodging area based on optical sensor.


A mild and efficient synthesis of highly substituted pyrroles using the reaction of triphenylphosphine, α-diketone, ammonium acetate, and dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates is described.


Image smoothing is a fundamental task in signal processing. For such task, box filter is well-known. However, box filter can not keep some features of the signal, such as edges, corners and the jump in the step function. In this paper, we present a one-sided box filter that can smooth the signal but keep the discontinuous features in the signal. More specifically, we perform box filter on eight one-sided windows, leading to a one-sided box filter that can preserve corners and edges. Our filter inherits the constant $O(1)$ computational complexity of the original box filter with respect to the window size and also the linear $O(N)$ computational complexity with respect to the total number of samples. We performance several experiments to show the efficiency and effectiveness of this filter. We further compare our filter with other the-state-of-the-art edge preserving methods. Our filter can be deployed in a large range of applications where the classical box filter is adopted.


During the gold cyanidation leaching process (GCLP), due to the change of raw material properties and longterm use of equipment, production characteristics will undergo change in working conditions or slow time-varying, which will lead to degradation in model prediction accuracy and track performance. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a type process state recognition approach and an adaptive model correction strategy. Firstly,in this paper, the model residual and the rate of residual change as monitoring indicators of soft sensor model, which effectively distinguishes the process state of the leaching process from four circumstances that steady-state, working conditions, slow time-varying and outliers. Then the local moving window PLS method (L-WMPLS) and the recursive Just in Time Learning (RJITL) method were applied accordingly to correct the soft sensor model when GCLP occur slow time-varying and working conditions. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by simulation.


RFID multi-tag identification process of the conflict on the basis of summing up the ALOHA class algorithm put forward an improved dynamic framed slotted ALOHA algorithm. Firstly, this paper uses the improved tag estimation algorithm to estimate the number of tags. Secondly, tag number is determined according to the length of the frame. Finally, tags are divided into several groups when the number of tags greater than the maximum frame length. The simulation results show that the efficiency of the algorithm has been improved obviously.


The current study aimed to to evaluate the current situation of maize production and consumption, with an indication of the most important factors affecting production and how to achieve productivity and economic efficiency of crop producers through a sample of the crop cultivator's specification, different methods are used to irrigate maize. The study depended on published and unpublished data from government agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture, in addition to preliminary data from a survey sample consisting of 100 products of maize crop, The statistical treatment of the data included descriptive and quantitative analysis to analyze data and achieve the goals of the study as well as using the method of simple regression analysis and stepwise regression in logarithmic double function. The results showed that the production functions of flood, lined and sprinkler irrigation methods indicated that the nitrogenous and phosphates' fertilizers are the most important factors then followed by the amount of irrigation water, the amount of seeds and manure fertilizer, so these factors must be taken care, despite the producers working in a non-economic stage but they have an opportunity to increase their production. It was clear from the results that efficiency of the productive factors affecting the production of maize, the inefficiency of the seed component, manure fertilizer, nitrogen fertilizer and phosphate fertilizer in case of different irrigation systems.


In this paper,the mathematical model for load-sensing hydraulic steering system is established based on the structural characteristics and working principle.This system simulation curve is obtained through MATLAB simulation software,and compared with the corresponding curve of drawing by the trial testing data.The results show that two kinds of curve is very similar,which validated the correctness and reliability of the mathematical model,provide a theoretical basis for further study in the load-sensing hydraulic steering system.


We present high cadence detections of two superflares from a bright G8 star (V = 11.56) with the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). We improve upon previous superflare detections by resolving the flare rise and peak, allowing us to fit a solar flare inspired model without the need for arbitrary break points between rise and decay. Our data also enables us to identify substructure in the flares. From changing starspot modulation in the NGTS data we detect a stellar rotation period of 59 hours, along with evidence for differential rotation. We combine this rotation period with the observed ROSAT X-ray flux to determine that the star's X-ray activity is saturated. We calculate the flare bolometric energies as 5.4+0.8 −0.7 × 10 34and 2.6+0.4 −0.3 × 10 34erg and compare our detections with G star superflares detected in the Kepler survey. We find our main flare to be one of the largest amplitude superflares detected from a bright G star. With energies more than 100 times greater than the Carrington event, our flare detections demonstrate the role that ground-based instruments such as NGTS can have in assessing the habitability of Earth-like exoplanets, particularly in the era of PLATO.


According to the state of the art post-processing of through-holes is often necessary by hand. With the inventive method it is possible to chemically or electrochemically reworking of through holes (10) by a material-removing means (13, 16, 33) to reach, by the outer surface (45) to an outlet opening (51) of the through hole (10) corresponding to before the attack of the agent to be removed (13, 16, 33) is protected.


This paper presents Synergetic Control Theory (SCT) and discusses how it can be used for solving systems of nonlinear equations. SCT is a new methodology for solving systems of nonlinear equations. The main advantage of SCT is that it maps the original system of equations to a dynamical system such that (1) any trajectory in the state space of the system ends in an attracting point; (2) the attracting point is located at the solution of the original system and (3) the rate at which the dynamical system moves towards the attracting point is controllable. An algorithm based on SCT is discussed. The algorithm has the following advantages: (1) If solutions exist, the algorithm finds one at a controllable rate, independently of initial guesses, (2) If no solutions exist, the algorithm makes such determination quickly, using stability analysis.


The use of sonography‐based Automated Volume Count (SonoAVC; GE Healthcare, Kretz, Zipf, Austria) leads to substantially lower intraobserver and interobserver variability with a considerable advantage in time gain for both the physician and patient. It offers the possibility of continuous training and standardization of follicular monitoring. Manual and automated follicular measurements during in vitro fertilization (IVF) are reported to be comparable during gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist treatment. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of follicle tracking with 3‐dimensional (3D) SonoAVC on treatment outcomes in GnRH antagonist IVF cycles.


In this paper we give Lefschetz type theorems for Picard groups of quasiprojective varieties. In particular we prove a generalization of the Kodaira vanishing theorem that we understand as a Lefschetz theorem for the structural sheaf.


INTRODUCTION :
Early mobilization is one of feature of stroke unit care. One study
demonstrated substantially better outcomes for patients managed in stroke units
that incorporated early mobilization as compared to those patients who received
general medical ward care and not mobilized early in intensive care unit.
AIM :
To study the effect of early mobilization training on gross motor function
and functional outcome in hemiparetic stroke patients.
OBJECTIVES :
1. To evaluate the effect of early mobilization training started within 24- 48
hours following stroke in hemiparetic stroke subjects.
2. To compare the effect of early mobilization training started with in 24- 48
hours on gross motor function, and functional outcome in hemiparetic stroke
patients.
3. To implement the technique into clinical practice.
Design : Pre and post test
experimental study. Sample size: Twenty hemiparetic stroke subjects within onset
24-48 hours allocated ten in each group. Age between 40-60 years. Motor arm and
leg-2 (NIHSS), Dynamic balance sitting score-poor (Functional balance grade
scale). Intervention: Both groups were treated with conventional therapy on
second day of stroke, with experimental group received early mobilization training
which was started with in 24-48hours of stroke onset and the control group were
mobilized after one week of stroke onset. Outcome measure: Motor assessment
scale for gross motor function, Barthel index for functional outcome. RESULTS :
Statistical analysis was done by using 't' test, which shows there was a significant
improvement in gross motor function with early mobilization training group than
conventional group. CONCLUSION : Early mobilization training is feasible and
effective in improving gross motor function in hemiparetic stroke subjects.


The present invention relates to a cold flame retardant PVC cable, comprising the following components in parts by weight: PVC resin: 100 parts, DOP: 33-40 parts, DOTP: 12-8 parts of epoxidized soybean oil: 3-5 parts , vinyl acetate: 1-30 parts inorganic filler: 30-50 parts antimony trioxide: 4-6 parts of polyethylene wax: 0.1-0.2 parts stearic acid: 0.1-0.2 parts of Ca-Zn composite stabilizer : 2-5 parts. Cold flame retardant PVC cable according to the present invention has better flame retardant properties, so that the cable be fire to avoid a fire source diffusion; product excellent cold resistance, so that the cable can withstand colder environment; cold plasticizer used and flame retardants significantly reduce the number of copies, cost control is more reasonable formula.


In this work, a coupled electromagnetic and thermal physical model has been implemented in order to analyse the thermal runaway development during the application of microwave energy. Both static and mode-stirred microwave ovens have been analysed and its influence on the electric field and temperature patterns compared. Additionally, the continuous and pulsed uses of the microwave power source are also compared. Results indicate that temperature permittivity dependence, thermal conductivity and the electric field deposition are mainly responsible for thermal avalanche and 'hot spot' development.


Abstract Paul Marshall takes extrovertive mystical experience seriously by providing a metaphysical framework inspired by Plotinus and Leibniz that aims to interpret it non-reductively and to explain it persuasively. However praiseworthy Marshall's intentions, his account fails for a variety of reasons, among them an inability to establish convincingly why natural objects appear as transfigured and alive, characteristics frequently encountered in the reports of nature mystics. An alternative approach, rooted in contemporary pan-experientialist philosophy of mind, is able to take extrovertive mysticism equally seriously while accounting more successfully for its pre-eminent features at a less extravagant metaphysical cost.


We study series of stationary solutions with asymptotic flatness properties in the Einstein-Maxwell-free scalar system because they are locally equivalent to the exterior solutions in some class of scalar-tensor theories of gravity. First, we classify spherical exterior solutions into two types of solutions, an apparently black hole type solution and an apparently worm hole type solution. The solutions contain three parameters, and we clarify their physical significance. Second, we reduce the field equations for the axisymmetric exterior solutions. We find that the reduced equations are partially the same as the Ernst equations. As simple examples, we derive new series of static, axisymmetric exterior solutions, which correspond to Voorhees's solutions. We then establish a non-trivial relation between the spherical exterior solutions and our new solutions. Finally, since null geodesics have conformally invariant properties, we study the local geometry of the exterior solutions by using the optical scalar equations and find some anomalous behavior of the null geodesics.


Comparing the hot words in interpretation teaching research from 2000 to 2009 and that from 2010 to the first half of the year 2011 by using word frequency analysis method,this paper explores the research focus and trend in mainland China.


In this paper the extension of Wang-Said type generalized curves is provided by introducing some shape parameters.The blending functions of these new curves are showed explicitly,therefore they are easy to be integrated and find their derivative.By changing the values of those shape parameters,the shape of these new curves can be adjusted locally or entirely,and Said-Ball curves with multiple shape parameters are provided in the paper.


Biodegradable nanoparticles, as drug delivery paradigms, have been extensively used for delivery of a wide range of small molecules as well as macromolecules, such as peptides, proteins, and genes. The morphological modification may improve the physicochemical characteristics of the biodegradable polymers. In the current investigation, the synthesis and characterization of linear, poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-PLGA), star-branched β-cyclodextrin-PLGA (β-CD-PLGA), and glucose-PLGA (Glu-PLGA) copolymers containing insulin as a model peptide drug have been reported. Linear and star-branched copolymers of PLGA were synthesized by bulk melt polymerization of the lactones (lactide and glycolide) in the presence of PEG, glucose, or β-CD using Sn-octoate as catalyst. Nanoparticles were prepared by a modified (w1/o/w 2) double emulsion method. Bovine insulin was successfully encapsulated into the linear and star-branched PLGA nanoparticles with retention of insulin stability and the nanoparticles preparation process was optimized to reduce the burst effect and provide in vitro sustained release. The average particle size of samples was 120—355 nm. The cumulative amount of 65—84% insulin was released from the samples after 24 days. The yield of encapsulation of insulin was superior to 95%. Based on these findings, it is suggested that the novel PLGA nanoparticles can be used as a carrier for prolonged delivery of protein—peptide drugs.


The LIFE SNEAK project, started in September 2021, aims at the reduction of noise from road traffic that mainly affects densely populated urban areas where the noise and vibrations produced by the tram overlap with noise produced by road traffic. Applicative measures will be designed
 and tested in a pilot case of the city of Florence, such as low-noise and vibration surfaces, with life cycle costs comparable to those of traditional surfaces, and measures to reduce tram noise aiming to obtain substantial reductions in noise and annoyance. Referring to tram noise, in the
 first phase of the project, specific attention has been dedicated to the state-of-the-art analysis concerning possible measures to perform noise reduction with specific attention to noise due to wheel-rail contact and "squeal noise" phenomena that mainly occur in urban environments
 close to curves with small radius. In this paper, the results of the state-of-the-art analysis are presented with particular attention to the use of sound-absorbing panels to be applied on the tram (bogie skirts).


Neoplastic transformation of rabbit cells by Kirsten murine sarcoma virus (Ki‐MSV), the Ki‐MSV pseudotype of baboon endogenous virus (Ki‐MSV[BaEV]) and the Moloney‐MSV pseudotype of feline leukemia virus (M‐MSV[FeLV]) is reported. Rabbit cells can be readily transformed by Ki‐MSV, Ki‐MSV(BaEV) and M‐MSV(FeLV). Rabbit cells transformed by Ki‐MSV and M‐MSV(FeLV) were found to be virus producers, whereas those transformed by Ki‐MSV(BaEV) were nonproducers (NP). The NP cells were obtained by simply infection rabbit cells with Ki‐MSV(BaEV) and subculturing the infected cells. Although the morphologically altered NP cells did not produce infectious virus or murine leukemia virus antigen, they did contain a rescuable MSV genome. All of the transformed cells formed colonies in soft agar, grew to high saturation densities and produced tumors when transplanted into nude mice. The Ki‐MSV and M‐MSV(FeLV)‐transformed cells produced tumors in newborn WH/J rabbits, thus providing an important tool for studying tumor immunity in the rabbit.


The dispersion of nanomaterials such as graphene has a major influence on the electrical conductivity in nanocomposites with a polymer matrix. For the description of this effect a continuum model is presented. Within this model, the percolation threshold is determined. Moreover, a distributional analysis is used for the purpose of taking electron hopping between graphene into account. Hence, interfacial conductivity enhanced by tunneling is also included in this study. Recent measurements of nanocomposites that are used for aerospace applications are compared with the results of the presented model and show good agreement between model and experiment.


The chemical composition of Melanthera scandens (MS) methanol (MeOH) extract is yet to be fully comprehended. Chemical composition of a plant extract is closely related to the biological activity of the plant material, in phytomedicine. In this study, chemical analyses of MS extracts were carried out with the aim of identifying the organic chemical constituents.


Abstract : In democracies the formulation of foreign policy, or any policy, is complicated by the need for elected officials to consider the impact of public opinion on their political futures, rather than simply the impact of the policy on relevant conditions and events. Elected officials, and their political appointees, are exquisitely exposed to the pressures the public can bring to bear, as well as to the press and the media which can rouse that opinion. Democracy demands not that our leaders make the right decisions, but that they be perceived by the public to be right. Obviously even the most successful foreign policy maker needs to be aware of his real constituency. There is little doubt who would have won the recent contest for U.S. presidency, for example, had the electoral college been filled with other world leaders. This is a tricky business, (as the French government has just discovered) but one managed differently here than in Europe, where party platforms and party discipline offer more protection to the career of the individual politician, but can turn out a government almost overnight. Now, with the advent of the new American administration, one of the issues under consideration in both Europe and the United States concerns the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. All of the members are democracies, which means that the future of the alliance depends not only on the policies proposed by the leaders of these countries, but on the opinions held by the voting publics. In much of Europe, where loss of a vote of confidence in parliament can change national leadership immediately, as well as in the United States, where congressmen need to run for reelection twice as often as presidents, the volatility of public opinion is most immediately felt in the legislative branch. These things are generally understood by politicians who endorse, if not always by strategists who devise, public policy.


CONCERN FOR THE TECHNOLOGY OF PROFILE MEASUREMENTS MAY HAVE LED TO A LACK OF CONCERN FOR THE BASIC ISSUE, WHICH IS DETERMINATION OF AN OBJECTIVE MEASURE OF HOW WELL A PAVEMENT SERVES TRAFFIC. TO THIS END THERE ARE AT LEAST FOUR FUNDAMENTAL USES OF PAVEMENT SURFACE PROFILE MEASUREMENTS. FIRST, THEY CAN BE USED AS A QUALITY-CONTROL TOOL. SECOND, THEY CAN LOCATE ABNORMALITIES ALONG THE HIGHWAY. THIRD, THEY CAN ESTABLISH A SYSTEMATIC STATEWIDE BASIS FOR ALLOCATION OF PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE RESOURCES. FOURTH AND MOST IMPORTANT, THEY PROVIDE AN OBJECTIVE MEASURE FOR DETERMINING RELATIONS BETWEEN PAVEMENT PERFORMANCE AND PAVEMENT DESIGN FACTORS, INCLUDING MATERIALS, CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES, CONDITIONS OF TRAFFIC LOADING, AND CLIMATE. THIS WAS THE BASIS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAVEMENT SERVICEABILITY AND PERFORMANCE CONCEPTS DEVELOPED AT THE AASHO ROAD TEST, PRIOR TO WHICH THERE WAS NO DEFINITION OF PAVEMENT PERFORMANCE THAT COULD BE USED FOR PAVEMENT DESIGN. DURING THE TEST IT WAS DETERMINED THAT DRIVER RATINGS OF PAVEMENTS EXHIBITED EXCELLENT CONSISTENCY AND THAT SOME MEASURE OF LONGITUDINAL PROFILE WOULD PROVIDE THE STRONGEST SIMPLE PREDICTOR OF THE USERS' RATINGS OF SERVICEABILITY. COMPARISON OF PAVEMENT RATINGS OVER THE YEARS, GIVEN THE SAME OR DIFFERENT DESIGNS, TRAFFIC DENSITIES, CLIMATES, AND SOILS, PROVIDES THE NECESSARY ELEMENTS FOR A PAVEMENT STRUCTURAL DESIGN MECHANISM.


With the broadening scale of colleges and universities as well as the soaring number of students enrollment,accidental injury and death occur frequently.This paper,based on analysing its definition,charateristics,commom classification and main causes,proposes some countermeasures to tackle the above-mentioned issue,which are critical prevention,available scientific rescue,and to disposal in accordance to the law and regulations.


We present twelve propositions constituting a contribution to a contingency view of time in organizations and synthesize apparently opposite perspectives of time. To articulate them, we relate the planning, action and improvisation strategic orientations to the dependent, independent and interdependent perspectives of the environment. Then, we relate these strategic orientations related to approaches to the problems of scheduling, synchronization and time allocation. Action strategies rely on event time to handle scheduling, use entrainment to synchronize with their environment and view time as linear. Planning strategies use even time to handle scheduling, impose their internal pacing upon the environment and view time as cyclic. Improvisation strategies use even-event time to handle scheduling, synchronize via internal-external pacing and hold a spiral view of time. Our argument strengthens the case for a more deliberate approach to time in organizations and favors a dialectical view of organizational phenomena.


Nowadays Information Technology (IT) and the appropriate application of its means play a key role in the managing of modification, analyzing of processing, and actually in the whole process of changing. In former years, everyone was convinced that work performance would be boosted up by the appearance of Personal Computer (PC) and the power of Distributed Database. Nevertheless, belief in computers has not fulfilled the expectations. Knowing such antecedents how could executive and operative staff now believe that IT is able to change and ease their lives? There was a substratum of truth in all the predictions about computers, only their implementation lingers. There is a delay between theory and the application of results. One reason of the delay is the time that is needed for the supposed users to understand, what is available. The same could be observed like at the debut o f intemal-combustion engine, telephone, radio, and airplane. IT also followed the traditional way. As primitive cars or railway vehicles were designed like chaises, similarly first computers were copies of the original typewriters. In the '80s, the purposeful usage of computer technique was not typical; mostly it was used for data storage and for heavy computing. The '90s were a real breakthrough in the usage of informatics. There came the time when these customs were ceased, and IT started its own technological innovation. Business life was able to understand, that these systems were not only suitable for complex computing, but also for communication and for the managing of information flow. Every similar organization is based on linked task-execution and communication. Advanced technology makes total reengineering, redesign, and reshape possible in this way. At the same time the role of IT professionals is altering and expanding.


During the twentieth century, indigenous peoples have often embraced the category of indigenous while also having to face the ambiguities and limitations of this concept. Indigeneity, whether represented by indigenous people themselves or others, tends to face a "double bind", as defined by Gregory Bateson, in which "no matter what a person does, he can't win." One exit strategy suggested by Bateson is meta-communication—communication about communication—in which new solutions emerge from a questioning of system-internal assumptions. We offer case studies from Ecuador, Peru and Alaska that chart some recent indigenous experiences and strategies for such scenarios.


Julia Kristeva is a well-known contemporary French literary theorist and critic after Roland Barthes. She has done a great contribution in the academic fields of post-structuralism, feminism, psychoanalysis and deconstruction since she became one of the leading figures in the movement of semiotics in the 1 960s. Besides, being a lover and worshipper of Chinese culture, she once studied Chinese characters, visited China and published the influential book Des Chinoises ( 197 4). Kristeva is little known in China although she has established her fame as one of the leading literary figures in the western academic world. Thus, the study of Julia Kristeva in China is a vacancy urgently needed to be filled up. The dissertation, setting the contemporary French /Western mult-cultural trends as the background, starting from the angle of the systematic and overall studies, adopting the approaches of closereading texts, micro-analysis and cross-culture and being based on the wide-reading of the first-hand French and English materials, gives a detailed expounding about Kristeva's academic background, 215


In this paper, we explore ways in which CTEIP's integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) program can benefit from the hardware descriptions supported by the Instrumentation Hardware Abstraction Language (IHAL). We describe how IHAL can be used at the end of the current iNET instrumentation configuration use-case to "fine tune" the instrumentation configuration. Additionally, we describe how IHAL can be used at the beginning of the current instrumentation configuration use-case to enable cross-vendor reasoning and automated construction of multi-vendor instrumentation configurations. Finally, we investigate how IHAL can be used within the iNET system manager to enhance capabilities such as instrumentation discovery.


Soy isoflavones and their metabolites can mimic estrogen and thus, may carry health benefits for postmenopausal women as alternatives to hormone replacement therapy. Equol, a metabolite of daidzein, is suggested to be more beneficial, but to date, the bacteria responsible for this conversion have not been identified conclusively. This research was aimed at characterizing changes in the gastrointestinal microflora of post‐menopausal women with the addition of a soy bar to their diet and therein to identify organisms that might be responsible for equol production. Bacterial DNA was extracted from fecal samples collected from 6 women for 14 consecutive days, with women consuming one soy bar/d (160 mg of isoflavones) from day 8–11. Fingerprints of 16S rRNA of the microbial community for the 14‐day study period were generated using PCR‐DGGE. Results indicated that all subjects had stable microbial fingerprint profiles and there appeared to be no clear effect of soy. In contrast, analyses based on bifidobacterial‐specific primers indicated an increase in Bifidobacteria as a function of soy, in most subjects. Also, equol producers had a more diverse bifidobacterial community, even in the absence of soy. Future work will focus on characterizing members of the bifidiobacterial community qualitatively and quantitatively, and determine for the presence of organisms that have been associated with equol production.


Using two-photon lithography, we fabricate an ultra-compact atomic force microscope engine on the facet of a multi-core fiber. The AFM is optically actuated and read out, and it offers atomic step-height resolution in difficult-to-access areas.


This article is relevant due to the current trend of interdisciplinary research in the sphere of socio-humanistic studies. In this case, it is the study of the dynamic cultural landscape developed by cultural (humanitarian) geography, ethnobotany, ethnology, folkloristics and cultural science. An important role in the formation and development of the cultural landscape of Russian rural settlements was played by traditional culture (primarily, wedding and calendar rites). They functioned in typical natural locations: forests, rivers, meadows, fields, etc., while such natural objects as freestanding trees, wild and cultivated plants, fruits, etc. were included in the ritual process and acquired a new semiotic status. In addition to the symbolic aspect, the interaction of traditional culture and nature had a dynamic character caused by the mutual influence of traditional culture and natural landscape on each other. The article presents the results of the study on the dynamics of the cultural landscape as exemplified by the functioning of conifers in wedding rites of the Ulyanovsk Region. The authors have established that their peculiar functioning is associated with landscape characteristics of certain areas and settlements of Ulyanovsk Povolzhye (the Ulyanovsk Volga region), as well as changes caused by deforestation, the emergence of new forest types and the cultivation of more forests. As a result, the plant used in wedding rites was replaced with a new one, or other types of wedding trees were introduced in the existing traditions depending on the season or regardless of it. Conifers were often used the day before a wedding when the bride's female friends or relatives visited the groom's house, and less often on the wedding day during the dower ceremony. The authors of the article have revealed that conifers are one of the variants of a wedding tree, therefore, their pragmatics are determined by the pragmatics and semantics of the wedding ceremony itself. The main functions of a coniferous tree in weddings were informational (to spread the information about a wedding or a certain wedding rite), symbolic (to designate marriage, marriage partners, loss of the bride's virginity, coitus), aesthetic and festive (to decorate a plant with ribbons, beads and colorful rags to make it colorful and turn it into a symbol of the holiday, while wedding songs performed by girls strengthened this effect).


+Wagner, D W; Lindsey, D P; Beaupre, G S Bone & Joint Center of Excellence, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA 94304 firstname.lastname@example.com INTRODUCTION: The degree of mineralization of bone (DMB) is a metric that has been used to non-destructively quantify the distribution of mineral density using micro-computed tomography (microCT). Small increases in the average DMB value have been shown to correlate with substantial increases in experimentally derived bone fracture strength [1]. However, the role of mineral heterogeneity remains ambiguous as both increases and decreases in heterogeneity have been associated with reduced fracture strength [1]. One potential reason may be attributed to a lack of understanding related to the customary mineral heterogeneity of typical cortical and trabecular bone tissue. Although the peripheral radius site has received increased attention with the introduction of micro-level imaging technology for clinical use, the DMB has not been well studied for the distal radius. The purpose of this study is to quantify the DMB distributions of the distal radius and identify trends related to proximal/distal location and trabecular/cortical bone sub-regions.


Article presents method and mathematical model used in researching dynamics of coupling between cutting operation and thermal processes. In the model of activity of electrical analogy method is used which permits to show dynamic processes of different physical types


With the decreasing availability of fossil carbon sources new synthesis routes for pharmaceuticals and finechemicals find growing interest. Higher oligosaccharide laminaribiose can be produced by enzymatic synthesis from inexpensive sucrose. For an economic process an in-situ product removal by adsorption is investigated. BEA 50 zeolite shows high potential for application due to its good adsorption properties. Isotherms show Langmuir behavior and adequate loadings of nearly 100 mg ⋅ g−1 can be reached. Other intermediates formed during the process do not adsorb on this zeolite or show weaker adsorption. Further thermal desorption can be used to regain laminaribiose. However the use of BEA 50 zeolite needs a sophisticated desorption process because of the zeolites' high acidity which catalyzes the degradation of laminaribiose. Hence lower temperatures have to be used or combined with displacement desorption.


This study evaluated parental variables involved in the outpatient treatment of overweight/obese children, in variables included food control, stressors and coping, as well as family psychosocial risk. Nineteen caregivers filled out instruments such as Participant Characterization, Parental Coping Interview, Psychosocial Assessment Tool 2.0 (PAT 2.0) and Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ). Most families showed medium-high psychosocial risk (Targeted = 52.6%, Clinical = 21.1%) and the most common parental practice of food control was to Encourage Balance and Variety, and the Restriction of food. Food control is the major stressor for caregivers, who react with anger and sadness, despite having a more adaptive coping. The results indicate the need for specific interventions for this population at risk.


Laboratory and field experiments were conducted in a petroleum-contaminated aquifer located at the Arvida site in Pender County, North Carolina. Experiments were designed to examine the anaerobic biodegradation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers (BTEX) under ambient conditions. Destructive microcosm experiments were conducted by following the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) protocol for estimation of anaerobic microbiological transformation rate data (Fed. Reg. Vol. 53, No. 115). Aquifer material was collected from source, mid-plume, and end-plume locations; incubated under ambient conditions; and monitored for disappearance of the test compounds. All BTEX components biodegraded under ambient, anaerobic conditions. In the mid-plume microcosms, m-xylene biodegraded first followed by toluene, o-xylene, and benzene under ironreducing conditions. None of the compounds biodegraded in the source area microcosms. In the end-plume microcosms, biodegradation was erratic with extensive biodegradation in some microcosms and little or no biodegradation in others. In all microcosm sets where biodegradation was measured, the problem compound degraded to a low but detectable level (5 to 30 pgll), after which biodegradation slowed or stopped. Biodegradation rates for m-xylene and benzene in the in situ columns from the mid-plume location were similar to microcosm rates. Anaerobic biodegradation of individual BTEX components often consisted of three distinct phases: (1) a lag period with little or no biodegradation, (2) a rapid degradation period, and (3) an asymptotic period where contaminant concentrations remained essentially constant. This pattern of biodegradation cannot be accurately described with a simple first-order decay function. In contrast to the individual compounds, biodegradation of total BTEX appears to more closely approximate a first-order decay function. Characterization of the microbial ecology of the mid-plume sediment showed that there was little variation in closely spaced (2 to 3 cm) sediment samples, but there was substantial variation in sediment samples that were 0.3 m apart. Anaerobic protozoa were detected in the contaminated zone, and data suggest that protozoan grazing could be regulating the size of the bacterial population. The variation in contaminant concentration and microbial populations at 0.3-m intervals suggest that there may be zones of high and low biodegradation activity in the plume. key words: groundwater, petroleum, biodegradation, underground storage tanks


Background. To ensure the integrity, stability of operation and security of the unified telecommunication network of the Russian Federation, as well as to solve the issues of electromagnetic compatibility of radio-relay communication facilities, it is required to use antennas that satisfy both mandatory requirements fixed at the legislative level and requirements of a recommendatory nature of international and regional levels. Aim. To establish compliance of the most frequently used zigzag antennas in radio-relay communication facilities with the requirements of the current legislation and international standards on the basis of numerical and experimental evaluation of their characteristics. Methods. On the basis of numerical methods the characteristics of the considered antennas were calculated, and also measurements of these characteristics were carried out in an anechoic shielded chamber. Results. The results of numerical and experimental estimation of gain, voltage standing wave ratio, antenna patterns, crosspolarization decoupling and complex impedance of the double zigzag antenna with UHF reflector of the radio-relay communication range are presented. It is shown that this antenna provides operation in a wide frequency band, and in the considered section of the range does not fully meet the requirements for antennas of radio-relay communications. Conclusion. On the basis of the analysis of the requirements of the current legislation and international requirements for the antennas of radio-relay communication facilities and the results of numerical and experimental evaluation of the characteristics of the antennas under consideration, it was established that they comply with the requirements of ITU Recommendations ITU-R F.699 in terms of the envelope level of antenna patterns, side and back radiation, except for the beginning of the range section, where there is some excess of the envelope level. The requirements of GOST R 50867-96 for the level of crosspolarization maxima (or the level of crosspolarization radiation in a given spatial sector of angles near the main radiation direction) are not met.


Oxy-anions in complex nuclear process-waste materials are being determined by laser Raman spectrometry (LRS). The double internal-standard technique developed by Marston is applied to the simultaneous determination of up to x anions in alkaline solutions. The method of Marston has been extended to solutions prepared from the solids formed in nuclear waste storage tanks. As many as six anions, aluminate, chromate, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and sulfate, are simultaneously determined in about one hour. Carbonate may also be determined, but in the presence of the prevalent nitrate, a chemical separation is required. Individual methods have been relegated to a secondary status due to the many advantages of LRS. Advantages such as small sample size, speed of analysis, accuracy, and specificity will be discussed. The typical precision obtained for analyses in high concentration is around five percent relative standard deviation.


The paper specifies detailed programme of teaching the Russian language in Italian high schools, lyceums and colleges. This programme, named "Russian Language Syllabus", was elaborated under the guidance of Italy's Ministry of Education. The objective of the Syllabus is to equip teachers with different sort of pedagogical materials and practical examples that can be used during language lessons. Special attention has been given to the development of communicative competence and other factors that help increase student motivation.


Local anesthesia in the skin occurs approximately 1 h after application of a commercial topical formulation of lidocaine and prilocaine prepared as a eutectic mixture. A number of lidocaine salts was screened and lidocaine-ibuprofen was found to form a room-temperature ionic liquid. When applied to the skin of rats, local anesthesia of skin was achieved within 10–20 min in the rats' paws and tails with no apparent adverse effects to the skin as determined by histological analysis. We believe that the lidocaine-ibuprofen ionic liquid increased lidocaine absorption into the skin due to the high lidocaine concentration in the ionic liquid and due to possible interactions between the ionic liquid and the skin to increase skin permeability. These findings suggest that lidocaine-ibuprofen ionic liquid may provide a more rapid method of drug delivery to the skin for local anesthesia. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 2732–2738, 2015


In this paper, a new algorithm of approximating rational triangular B-B surfaces using polynomial triangular B-B surfaces is presented. This algorithm has a simple expression and insured convergence. The core idea of the algorithm is to yield a polynomial triangular B-B surface, which has the same degree and new control vertices of the degree-elevated rational triangular B-B surface, to approximate the original rational triangular B-B surface. Then arbitrary given order of the polynomial triangular B-B surface's hodograph surface necessarily converges uniformly to that of the original rational triangular B-B surface.


Purpose

The latest developments in Data Science and in advanced Scientometrics set a very challenging context for the analysis and the understanding of human behavior toward the design of value adding library services and sophisticated information systems. The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative research that integrates the creation and the consumption of scientific knowledge across regions. From a human behavior point of view, this is significant since it provides an advanced decision-making layer for bringing together researchers from all over the world.

Design/methodology/approach

More specific in this paper, the authors analyze the production and consumption of scientific knowledge across the regions in an important field of sustainable and renewable energy – using publications and citations data indexed in Scopus. As a case study, the authors select the USA a major producer of scientific publications in the field. At first, the authors identify the topics produced by the USA. Further topics produced by the scientific communities outside the USA that consume the knowledge produced by the USA are identified. The authors generate topics by employing the proposed topic model with distance matrix – an extension of classic latent Dirichlet allocation model.

Findings

The results show that research topics produced by the USA are consumed in different international contexts, interestingly. Consuming the knowledge produced by the USA, Chinese scientific community heavily produces topics related to biomass – to produce renewable energy. In contrast, Japanese scientific community produces topics related to fuel cell – used for the production of hybrid and electronic vehicles. Whereas the Taiwanese scientific community shows remarkable competency in solar cells. Among the European nations, while the German scientific community produces topics related to photovoltaic, the French scientific community covers topics related to Energy Storage and Green Chemistry. The authors believe that such analyses may be helpful in establishing more effective multi-national research collaborations by understating the actual consumption of produced knowledge.

Practical implications

Overall, the study provides a new dimension to comprehensively understand production and consumption of knowledge using scientific literature. From a human behavior analysis view in the context of sophisticated library systems, this is a significant contribution.

Originality/value

The use of advanced Data Mining and computing methods for deriving critical insights for the use of scientific knowledge is a bold action toward the global knowledge society vision.


International Law remains as a currently fast growing branch of law science. Some,however, feel doubt with its existence as an obviously intact law. An ontologicalreview really assists the author to get some evidences about International Law,especially related to the fast development of International Law, its compliance rate,and the demand of International Law subjects.Key words: hukum internasional (internasional law), kajian ontologis (ontological review), eksistensi(existency), ada (being).


Online Material: Computer code (.exe) for processing seismic records; example seismograms.

Using sonification for data analysis is an intensively developing area for scientists working in various fields from astronomy and seismology to psychology (Zwicker and Fastl, 1999; Rubinstein et al. , 2007; Last and Gorelik, 2008; Hermann, 2009; Feder, 2012; www.sonification.de; last accessed May 2014). According to popular definition, "Sonification is the use of non‐speech audio to convey information or perceptualize data. Auditory perception has advantages in temporal, amplitude, and frequency resolution that open possibilities as an alternative or complement to visualization techniques" (Wikipedia). The sonification approach is promising in filtering large amounts of data, monitoring data streams, and communication (Feder, 2012). Our ears can serve as the processor of time series not only in popularization applications, but also as a serious scientific tool, because it allows detecting small changes in dynamical patterns of signal.

The simplest way to listen to seismic records is to compress record time by changing the sampling rate. Examples of this technique were presented in the 2012 issues of Seismological Research Letters (Kilb et al. , 2012; Peng et al. , 2012); authors suggested an automated method that allows effective communication with audiences having different backgrounds. In this paper, we present a different nonautomated approach using the popular Sony SoundForge package that employs more advanced features, such as iteratively applying different filters, speed‐up factors, selecting some parts of a record or gluing different records before sonification as well as to analyze long data files. ![Graphic][1] This new tool, which we call SEISMOTOOL (available in the electronic supplement to this paper), can be used for both data analysis and data sonification and is a convenient way to watch, listen, process, and even analyze seismic records in an easy way.

The advantage of the …

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OBJECTIVES: To assess the relative effect of different types of stimuli on agitated behaviors of nursing home residents with dementia.


Coherence measurements between fluctuating pressure in the combustor of a YF-102 turbofan engine and far-field acoustic pressure were made. The results indicated that a coherent relationship between the combustor pressure and far-field existed only at frequencies below 250 Hz, with the peak occurring near 125 Hz. The coherence functions and the far-field spectra were used to compute the combustor-associated far-field noise in terms of spectra, directivity, and acoustic power, over a range of engine operating conditions. The acoustic results so measured were compared with results obtained by conventional methods, as well as with various semiempirical predictions schemes. Examination of the directivity patterns indicated a peak in the combustion noise near 120 deg (relative to the inlet axis).


BACKGROUND: Although synaptic impairment is prerequisite to cognitive deficiencies in Alzheimer's disease (AD), mechanisms underlying the dysregulation of essential synaptic scaffolding components and their integrity remain elusive. RPS23RG1 is a newly identified protein implicated in AD. However, the physiological function of RPS23RG1 has yet to be determined. METHODS: We investigated the role of RPS23RG1 in maintaining synaptic structure and function in cell cultures and in Rps23rg1 knockout mice, and determined whether targeting RPS23RG1-mediated pathway has therapeutic potential in APP/PS1 AD model mice. RESULTS: Deletion of the Rps23rg1 gene resulted in severe memory deficits and impairment of post-synaptic structure and function, with marked reductions in PSD-93 and PSD-95 levels. RPS23RG1 interacted with PSD-93/PSD-95 through its intracellular domain, consequently sequestering PSD-93/PSD-95 from MDM2-mediated ubiquitination and degradation, thereby maintaining synaptic function. Restoration of PSD-93/PSD95 levels reversed synaptic and memory deficits in Rps23rg1 KO mice. We further observed attenuated RPS23RG1 expression in human AD, which positively correlated with PSD-93/PSD-95 levels. Importantly, an RPS23RG1-derived peptide comprising a unique PSD-93/PSD-95 interaction motif rescued synaptic and cognitive defects in Rps23rg1 KO and AD mouse models. CONCLUSIONS: Our results reveal a role for RPS23RG1 in maintaining synaptic integrity and function and provide a new mechanism for synaptic dysfunction in AD pathogenesis. This demonstrates that RPS23RG1-mediated pathways show good therapeutic potential in AD intervention.


SIR: I have the greatest sympathy with many of the problems raised in Dr. Short's letter (THE MEDICAL JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIA, February 18, 1950, page 249). I have seen too many victims whose chest X-ray has been queried in mass surveys, both army and civil personnel-victims who have apparently been in the best of health, for example. a champion runner, a professional footballer, and many others. I realize to the full the implications and personal hardships which are entailed' as outlined so well in his letter. In a recent letter to the American Review of ,Tuberculosis Albrecht (1949) has written in similar strain supporting some of Dr. Brailsford's comments. But there is danger in some of Dr. Short's remarks which call for comment. He says: "A mass survey, which it is anticipated will reveal that as many as one in 250 of the population are suffering from active pulmonary tuberculosis, will cause such chaos and alarm that no good purpose will be served." This surely is a defeatist policy. If this were followed in medicine generally then no disease would be diagnosed and there would be no hope of ever attempting a cure. For some years I have been worried about indiscriminate mass radiography revealing shadows suspicious of tuberculosis and for that matter many other diseases of the thorax without adequate immediate provision for full investigation. The mental anguish and distress caused to the individual whose rays show an abnormal shadow must be minimized as rapidly as possible, particularly in cases where the shadow is indicative perhaps of some past malady. It must be admitted that there are some doubtful lesions -perhaps an old arrested tuberculous focus which, in view of the mental turmoil caused, might be better not found. But, if tuberculosis is to be eradicated from this and other lands, as it surely will, perhaps within two generations, the open infectious case must be found. And routine radiography is the main weapon for starting the campaign.


Historically aircraft noise is one of the principal environmental issues for aviation. Within this context, the Silent Aircraft Initiative was launched with the objective to achieve a step-change in noise reduction compared to current practice. One of the most critical tasks in noise reduction is to develop technologies to increase drag in quiet ways. The work presented in this thesis focuses primarily on aeroacoustic tests and analysis of perforated drag plates. The idea behind a quiet spoiler or drag rudder is to alter the noise production mechanism by perforating the drag plates. The hypothesis is that the large length scales responsible for the noise radiated by unsteady vortical structures can be changed to small length scales driving jet noise at frequencies which are perceived unannoying by the human ear. The aeroacoustic characteristics of laboratory-scale perforated spoilers were measured in an acoustic chamber at MIT. Based on the experimental data a noise prediction model was developed for the bluff-body and turbulent mixing noise generated by a perforated drag rudder. Acoustic phased array measurements of seven perforated plates in four different installation configurations were conducted in the Markham wind tunnel at Cambridge University to further investigate the noise mechanisms. The analysis of the test results showed that there are two identifiable peak frequencies which scale with free stream velocity. Different candidate length scales were investigated with the goal to collapse the data on a Strouhal number basis. However, a universal length scale was not found. It was hypothesized that the noise is mainly due to the isotropic turbulence generated behind such perforated plate. Due to the high background noise levels in the experiments the impact of the perforations on the low frequency noise signature could not be assessed. A perforated plate of 28.19% porosity with a hole diameter to plate length ratio d/L of 0.013 and a nondimensional hole separation s/L of 0.0217 was identified to be the most beneficial plate in terms of noise reduction. The experiments showed that a spoiler mounted on the suction surface of the wing is the quietest configuration. In order to scale the results to full size, the observed peak magnitudes are suggested to scale with the 4th power of the free stream velocity. In addition, the overall sound pressure levels were found to scale with plate size such that an increase in source area causes an equivalent increase in the acoustic power. The developed models were used to predict the noise signature of a full sized drag rudder which enabled a 6◦ glide slope angle resulting in a 4 dBA reduction in cumulative sound pressure level of the candidate SAX10 Silent Aircraft design. Thesis Supervisor: Zoltan Spakovszky Title: Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics


Objective: PID controllers are widely used to operate AC motors due to their simplicity and easy implementation. However, adjusting its parameters in search of an optimal scheme can be complex because it requires manual tuning by trial and error. This research aims to implement an optimized tuning scheme through a search based on the idealized behavior of a community of bacteria and its Quorum Sensing (QS). Methodology: A closed-loop system model with PID control considering disturbances is proposed in order to tune a disturbance-resistant controller. The response of the model is calculated using


Let A be a hyperplane arrangement, and k a field of arbitrary characteristic. We show that the projective degree-one resonance variety R 1 (A, k) of A over k is ruled by lines, and identify the underlying algebraic line complex L(A, k) in the Grassmannian G(2, k n ), n = |A|. L(A, k) is a union of linear line complexes corresponding to the neighborly partitions of subarrangements of A. Each linear line complex is the intersection of a family of special Schubert varieties corresponding to a subspace arrangement determined by the partition. In case k has characteristic zero, the resulting ruled varieties are linear and pairwise disjoint, by results of A. Libgober and S. Yuzvinsky. We give examples to show that each of these properties fails in positive characteristic. The (4,3)-net structure on the Hessian arrangement gives rise to a nonlinear component in R 1 (A, Z3), a cubic hypersurface in P 4 with interesting line structure. This provides a negative answer to a question of A. Suciu. The deleted B3 arrangement has linear resonance components over Z2 that intersect nontrivially.


Presently, the development of technology and social media, people's opinions and news about a particular product or currency is significantly increased. In addition to increasing volumes of text data, the unstructured characteristics of them make the analysis of these types of data with the important challenges. In this work, the propose method use different Training Set Selection (TSS) techniques like: ModelCS, ENN, MultiEdit, AllKNN, POP and MENN. Additionally, the target's features will be selected to improve the prediction of currency market (dollars, Euros) based on news headlines related to market. The evaluation of the propose method will be done by 3-layered algorithm and the experimental results will show the propose method will achieved more robust accuracies than the others.


When using statistical models (such as a classifier) in a streaming environment, there is often a need to detect and adapt to concept drifts to mitigate any deterioration in the model's predictive performance over time. Unfortunately, the ability of popular concept drift approaches in detecting these drifts in the relationship of the response and predictor variable is often dependent on the distribution characteristics of the data streams, as well as its sensitivity on parameter tuning. This paper presents Hierarchical Linear Four Rates (HLFR), a framework that detects concept drifts for different data stream distributions (including imbalanced data) by leveraging a hierarchical set of hypothesis tests in an online setting. The performance of HLFR is compared to benchmark approaches using both simulated and real-world datasets spanning the breadth of concept drift types. HLFR significantly outperforms benchmark approaches in terms of accuracy, G-mean, recall, delay in detection and adaptability across the various datasets.


Silicon (Si) is an important plant-derived metabolite that is significantly involved in maintaining the stability of a plant's metabiological, structural and physiological characteristics under the abiotic stressed environment. We conducted the present study using maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars (Sadaf and EV-20) grown in sand artificially contaminated with cadmium (500 µM) in Hoagland's nutrient solution to investigate its efficiency. Results from the present study evidenced that the toxic concentration of Cd in sand significantly reduced shoot length, root length, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight and root dry weight by 88, 94, 89, 86 99 and 99%, respectively, in Sadaf while decreasing by 98, 97, 93, 99, 84 and 91%, respectively, in EV-20. Similarly, Cd toxicity decreased total chlorophyll and carotenoid content in both varieties of Z. mays. Moreover, the activities of various antioxidants (superoxidase dismutase, peroxidase and catalase) increased under the toxic concentration of Cd in sand which was manifested by the presence of membrane permeability, malondialdehyde (MDA), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Results additionally showed that the toxic effect of Cd was more severe in EV-20 compared with Sadaf under the same conditions of environmental stresses. In addition, the increased concentration of Cd in sand induced a significantly increased Cd accumulation in the roots (141 and 169 mg kg−1 in Sadaf and EV-20, respectively), and shoots (101 and 141 mg kg−1 in Sadaf and EV-20, respectively), while; EV-20 accumulated higher amounts of Cd than Sadaf, with the values for both bioaccumulation factor (BAF) and translocation factor (TF) among all treatments being less than 1. The subsequent negative results of Cd injury can be overcome by the foliar application of Si which not only increased plant growth and biomass, but also decreased oxidative damage induced by the higher concentrations of MDA and H2O2 under a Cd-stressed environment. Moreover, external application of Si decreased the concentration of Cd in the roots and shoots of plants, therefore suggesting that the application of Si can ameliorate Cd toxicity in Z. mays cultivars and results in improved plant growth and composition under Cd stress by minimizing oxidative damage to membrane-bound organelles.


Components of a naval ship should be designed and developed in a ship system environment. However, due to the requirement for developing subsystem components well before an actual ship design project is begun, and because of the sheer size and complexity of the Navy's technical community, components of ship subsystems are often designed in isolation from the design of the overall ship. Design tools are currently available to enable the Ship Design Community to work with ship subsystem engineers in establishing realistic physical constraints and for determining the impact of design alternatives. The paper describes the ship synthesis models used by the Navy during the conceptual phase of the ship design process and explains how they relate to the task of designing ship subsystems. Several case histories are described with illustrate the pitfalls which occur when there is insufficient communication between the Subsystem Design and Ship Design Communitites and how easy it is to establish physical constraints and to determine the overall ship impact of alternative subsystem configurations. The principal conclusion of the paper is that hte Navy should establish a recognized policy that all ship component development be carried out with the objective of optimizing the ship system. One means of implementing such a policy is to form a team of ship designers that would provide the information which every ship subsystem engineer should hnow about ship design but does not ask.


Algogenic organic matters (AOM) generate from two parts, that are extracellular organic matters (EOM) and intracellular organic matters (IOM). This paper compared the structural characteristics of IOM and EOM originated from Microcystis aeruginosa using techniques including ultra violet-visible spectrum (UV-VIS), Fourier infrared spectrum (FT-IR) and three-dimensional excitation emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that concentrations of the organic matter in EOM were less than that in IOM. EOM has less characteristic absorption peaks. There were more aromatic ring compounds, more protein and amino acids in IOM than EOM.


Proliferation of power electronics and distributed energy resources (DERs) into the electrical power system (EPS) enables improvements to the network's resilience against sudden-inception short circuit electrical faults through redundant electrical pathways in meshed configurations and multiple possible distributed generation locations. However, successful operation of fault detection, isolation, and recovery in islanded mode is challenging as protection coordination must include not only the distribution equipment, but also the DERs. Assessment of resilience for candidate EPS architectures against short circuit faults must be performed to understand the trade-offs between network resilience and complexity. This paper proposes a design process, which can be used towards assessing microgrid resilience, by coordinating protection and ride-through settings to maximize the recoverability of a meshed islanded AC microgrid. The design process is demonstrated through a case-study.