Hydrogel adhesives are extensively employed in biological interfaces such as epidermal flexible electronics, tissue engineering, and implanted device. The development of functional hydrogel adhesives is a critical, yet challenging task since combining two or more attributes that seem incompatible into one adhesive hydrogel without sacrificing the hydrogel's pristine capabilities. In this Review, we highlight current developments in the fabrication of functional adhesive hydrogels, which are suitable for a variety of application scenarios, particularly those that occur underwater or on tissue/organ surface conditions. The design strategies for a multifunctional adhesive hydrogel with desirable properties including underwater adhesion, self‐healing, good biocompatibility, electrical conductivity, and anti‐swelling are discussed comprehensively. We then discuss the challenges faced by adhesive hydrogels, as well as their potential applications in biological interfaces. Adhesive hydrogels are the star building blocks of bio‐interface materials for individualized healthcare and other bioengineering areas.


An X‐ray microcalorimeter is a non‐dispersive spectrometer that measures the energy of an incident X‐ray photon as a temperature rise. Operated at <0.1 K, it achieves very high resolving power. We are developing X‐ray microcalorimeters for future γ‐ray burst observations, and are now setting up a compact adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) for X‐ray microcalorimeter operations. We fabricated a paramagnetic salt pill, and integrated it with a superconducting magnet and a heat‐switch in a dedicated He cryostat. By applying a magnetic field of 2.6 T at the bath temperature of 1.8 K, it achieved 0.1 K. The attainable temperature and the hold time were, however, limited due to unexpected heat load. We also successfully measured a resistance‐temperature characteristics of a superconducting transition edge.


Compounds have formula (I), in which R to R , A, X, E, U, p and n are defined as in the first claim. Also disclosed are a process for preparing the same and their use as pesticides such as insecticides, acaricides and even fungicides.


In a search for triangle-free graphs with arbitrarily large chromatic numbers, Mycielski developed a graph transformation that transforms a graph into a new graph which is called the Mycielskian of that graph. In this paper we provide some sharp bounds for the Randic index of the Mycielskian graphs. Also, we determine the degree distance index of the Mycielskian of each graph with diameter two.


In spite of an array of efforts and programs, low achievers in the primary grades almost invariably remain low achievers throughout their school careers. Rather than assuming that poverty and/or cultural differences are major impediments to literacy development, this paper recasts the problem as one of restricted access to the kinds of instruction that would develop self-improving, actively comprehending readers and accelerate achievement. This article reviews characteristics of low achieving readers' instructional experiences as participants in bottom-group classroom interactions and in remedial and special education programs to support this argument. Outdated beliefs about "slow learner" instruction drive current programs, policies, and regulations. To break the current gridlock of underachievement, we need to dramatically rethink our responses to children who find learning to read difficult.


Differential games of common resources that are governed by linear accumulation constraints have several applications. Examples include political rent-seeking groups expropriating public infrastructure, oligopolies expropriating common resources, industries using specific common infrastructure or equipment, capital flight problems, pollution, etc. Most of the theoretical literature employs specific parametric examples of utility functions. For symmetric differential games with linear constraints and a general time-separable utility function depending only on the player's control variable, we provide an exact formula for interior symmetric Markovian strategies. This exact solution (a) serves as a guide for obtaining some new closed-form solutions and for characterizing multiple equilibria and (b) implies that if the utility function is an analytic function, then the Markovian strategies are analytic functions, too. This analyticity property facilitates the numerical computation of interior solutions of such games using polynomial projection methods and gives potential for computing modified game versions with corner solutions by employing a homotopy approach.


This article explores the intellectual transformations that accompanied the rise of consumption in eighteenth-century France by examining a best-seller, L'Ami des hommes (1756), by the marquis de Mirabeau. The most popular work of political economy of its time, L'Ami des hommes made a particularly important intervention in the luxury debate. Straddling two seemingly contradictory strains of eighteenth-century political and social thought—a classical republicanism that looked backward to ancient civic virtue and an economic liberalism that looked forward to material progress—the book offered readers the best of both worlds: a moral economy of prosperity. This article analyzes Mirabeau's pathology of consumption and places his moral economy of prosperity in the broader context of Enlightenment thought.


The fuel pin bundles of Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors (SFR) undergo significant geometrical changes during their irradiation, which affect the coolant flow and temperature distributions in the fuel assemblies, the knowledge of which is essential for safety assessments. Moreover, as the mechanisms responsible for the deformation of the fuel bundles, namely the swelling and creep, strongly depend on the fuel cladding temperature, a coupling between the thermal-hydraulic and thermomechanical evolutions of the fuel assemblies exists. In the past, this coupling has been neglected, and a more conservative approach has been preferred. In this conservative approach, the thermal-hydraulic simulations are conducted without considering the geometrical deformation, and the resulting temperature distributions are used as input for the thermomechanical simulations. The objective of this thesis is to define a new methodology for the evaluation of the behavior of SFR fuel bundles under irradiation that considers the coupling between their thermal-hydraulic and thermomechanical evolutions.To this end, a new numerical coupling has been developed between the industrial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code STAR-CCM+ and DOMAJEUR2, a finite element code dedicated to the modeling of the thermomechanical behavior of SFR fuel assemblies under irradiation. The coupling has been implemented via the exchange of the cladding deformation, calculated by DOMAJEUR2, and its associated temperature field, obtained with a CFD model implemented in STAR-CCM+ that explicitly considers the geometrical deformation of the fuel pins. In addition, the thermal-hydraulic boundary conditions used in the CFD simulations, such as the sodium mass flow rate through the bundle, are also automatically adjusted to account for the deformation.Study cases consisting of bundles of 7 and 19 wire-wrapped fuel pins, with geometrical characteristics and boundary conditions representative of fourth generation SFRs, were analyzed in order to gain insight on the effects of the coupling. For highly irradiated fuel bundles, the coupled simulations were shown to lead to a significant reduction of the diametral strain of the fuel pins, with respect to non-coupled simulations, caused by the deformation-induced cladding temperature increase. Consequence of the lower deformation, the cladding maximal stress was also significantly reduced. Additionally, neutronic simulations were conducted in order to verify that, in nominal operational conditions, its coupling with thermal-hydraulics and thermomechanics is of minor importance. Finally, a contribution to the validation of the developed coupled simulation methodology was realized by performing a numerical benchmark against a preexisting coupled simulation tool, and by simulating the irradiation of an experimental fuel assembly. Unlike the novel approach developed in this work, the preexisting simulation tool employs a simplified thermal-hydraulic model and does not consider the impact of the deformation on the coolant mass flow rate, which was found to be of major importance. The simulation of the experimental irradiation yielded a maximal cladding deformation and deformation gradient that are in good agreement with the measured values, although limitations related to the empirical swelling laws employed in DOMAJEUR2 to compute the swelling were identified. The reformulation of these laws using the developed coupled simulation methodology constitutes a perspective of this work.


In recent times,as the art education continues to grow and develop,to encourage the integration of art education and humanistic education. Enhancing the humanistic qualities education is a pressing obligation of Art Department in College.This paper analysed the importance and the education condition on the humanistic qualities education,and proposed the countermeasure to improve the humanistic qualities cultivation of the art students.


We developed a compact sensor module for hydroponics that measures the nutrient concentration and water level using simple oscillator circuits. Oscillation frequencies are measured and are found to change in response to the resistance and capacitance between metal wires on a printed circuit board submerged in liquid fertilizer. A microprocessor is mounted on the sensor board for measurement and communication. Expressions relating the oscillating frequencies, liquid fertilizer concentration, water level and temperature were derived through experiments using the sensor module.


Adult learning principles, technology, and agile methods combined to create greater learner engagement in this Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt course redesign while demonstrating that these approaches can revolutionize the way organizations foster profession..


503 Background: Suppressing ovarian function of women with breast cancer may improve outcome by preventing estrogenic stimulation of any residual cancer, particularly for pre-menopausal women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive tumors. We report a collaborative meta-analysis of individual participant data from randomized trials of ovarian ablation or suppression. Methods: Data were sought from randomized trials that compared ovarian ablation or suppression versus not. Primary analyses included only premenopausal women age < 55 with ER-positive or unknown tumors, stratified into those who received no chemotherapy, or remained premenopausal following chemotherapy, and those whose menopausal status following chemotherapy was not ascertained. Standard log-rank methods estimated ER-weighted annual event rate ratios (RR). Results: Individual patient data were provided for 25 of 27 relevant trials, comprising 14,993 (98.7%) of 15,195 women randomized. Overall, fewer breast cancer recurrences were seen with ovarian ablation/suppression than control (RR = 0·82, 95%CI 0·77–0·88; p < 0·0001). Recurrence reductions were significantly (p = 0.0003) larger among women (n = 7,213) known to be premenopausal prior to ovarian suppression (RR = 0·70, 0·63–0·78; p = 0·0003) than among those (n = 7,786) whose menopausal status was uncertain after chemotherapy (RR = 0·91, 0·83–0·99; p = 0·03). For known premenopausal women, 15-year risk of recurrence was improved by 12·1% (28·9% vs 41·0%; p < 0·0001. 15-year breast cancer and all-cause mortality were improved by 8·0% (20·9% vs 28·9%; RR 0·69, 0·60–0·80; p < 0·0001) and 7.2% (26·0% vs 33·1%; RR = 0·73, 0·64–0·82; p < 0·0001), respectively, with no increase in deaths without recurrence (RR = 0·88, 0·67–1·14; p = 0·33). Recurrence reductions were significantly (p = 0·003) larger among premenopausal women aged under 45 (RR = 0·63, 0·55–0·72; p < 0·0001) than among those aged 45-54 (RR = 0·84, 0·70–1.00; p = 0·045), but did not differ significantly by other recorded patient or tumor characteristics. Conclusions: For pre-menopausal women aged under 45, ovarian ablation or suppression substantially reduces the 15-year risk of recurrence and death from breast cancer without increasing mortality from other causes.


High level ab initio calculations have been performed to investigate the mechanism of the ion–molecule reaction NH3+C2H2+. Three channels, covalent complex formation (CC), proton transfer (PT), and charge transfer (CT) have been studied. Among the two pathways found for the PT channel, one leads the reactants NH3+C2H2+ to NH4++C2H(2Π) through a moderately bound complex without any barrier, and the other leads NH3++C2H2 to the H-atom transferred products NH4++C2H(2Σ+) with a modest barrier. These findings support the fast "stripping" mechanism proposed by Anderson et al. As to the CC channel, several isomers of C2H5N+ and the isomerization transition states have been located. No significant barrier relative to the reactants has been found on either the ground or the 2A″ excited state. To rationalize the experimental fact that no CC channel products have been observed, it is argued that the reactants NH3+C2H2+ correlate adiabatically to excited states of covalent C2H5N+ species, whose formation requires sig...


ABSTRACT. Given the aging of the world population, it is essential to investigate which methods are most effective for treating the diseases that manifest with age. This study addresses Parkinson's disease (PD), for which Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) has been increasingly used to treat the disease. Objective: To investigate Executive Functions (EF) in patients with and without DBS. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) criteria. Scientific papers published on the Scopus, Web of Science and PsycInfo databases were selected. Results: 13 articles were selected. Results showed no standardization of instruments used to evaluate EF and that, in most studies, lack of a control group may have affected results. Conclusion: Decline in EF was observed in terms of verbal fluency and processing speed in patients with DBS.


For the correct interpretation of a number of pathological conditions that caused the death of the fetus and newborn, understanding the pathogenesis of birth injuries of the central nervous system, it is important to study the state of the vasculature of the spinal cord and, first of all, the vertebral arteries.


That terrorists hijacked the airplanes and crashed the World Trade Center is disaster to civilization. To avoid the happening of hijack is critical to homeland security. To report the hijacking in time, limit the terrorist to operate the plane if happened and land the plane to the nearest airport could be an efficient way to avoid the misery. Image processing technique in human face recognition or identification could be used for this task. Before the plane take off, the face images of pilots are input into a face identification system installed in the airplane. The camera in front of pilot seat keeps taking the pilot face image during the flight and comparing it with pre-input pilot face images. If a different face is detected, a warning signal is sent to ground automatically. At the same time, the automatic cruise system is started or the plane is controlled by the ground. The terrorists will have no control over the plane. The plane will be landed to a nearest or appropriate airport under the control of the ground or cruise system. This technique could also be used in automobile industry as an image key to avoid car stealth.


Let $M$ be a path-connected closed oriented $d$-dimensional smooth manifold and let ${\Bbbk}$ be a principal ideal domain. By Chas and Sullivan, the shifted free loop space homology of $M$, $H_{*+d}(LM)$ is a Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra. Let $G$ be a topological group such that $M$ is a classifying space of $G$. Denote by $S_*(G)$ the (normalized) singular chains on $G$. Suppose that $G$ is discrete or path-connected. We show that there is a Van Den Bergh type isomorphism $$ HH^{-p}(S_*(G),S_*(G))\cong HH_{p+d}(S_*(G),S_*(G)). $$ Therefore, the Gerstenhaber algebra $HH^{*}(S_*(G),S_*(G))$ is a Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra and we have a linear isomorphism $$HH^{*}(S_*(G),S_*(G))\cong H_{*+d}(LM).$$ This linear isomorphism is expected to be an isomorphism of Batalin-Vilkovisky algebras. We also give a new characterization of Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra in term of derived bracket.


Abstract : The report presents the requirements for integration tests which are a part of the design qualification testing of the Test Instrumentation Subsystem (TIS). The tests are termed, 'integration tests', since they will be performed as the individually qualified subcontractor and Boeing manufactured units are integrated in stages to the subsystem. These requirements will also apply to integration tests performed during acceptance tests of operational subsystems. The measure of performance in the majority of tests will be data accuracy and acceptable performance will be based on the accuracies specified in the measurement list. Total subsystem accuracies will be determined by modifying the accuracies obtained in test in such a way as to include transducer and signal source accuracies.


A BiCMOS family of ASICs with 290 ps delay, 0.55 mu m L/sub eff/ N (channel), complexity of 120000 to 200000 equivalent used gates, TTL/CMOS/ECL interface, up to 72 mA output drive capability, and multiport RAMs and ROMs is described. The trade-offs between CMOS and BiCMOS are discussed. The three different methodologies, cell-based, array-based, and embedded array, are compared. The features for these technologies are highlighted. Using this technology a user can build high-performance systems on a chip.<<ETX>>


This paper reviewed the history,quality characteristics and processing of white leaf tea in China. The development history and present status in various producing areas of white leaf tea were summarized. Chemical composition of white leaf tea materials changed with producing season. Shoots grown in spring season were suitable for processing green tea,and those grown in summer and autumn seasons were suitable for processing quality black tea.


The interaction between planar quasiparticles in a dx2−y2 superconductor and quantized vortices associated with a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane is shown to induce a pair potential with dxy symmetry, out of phase with dx2−y2 order. A microscopic calculation of a process involving quasiparticle scattering by the supercurrent around a vortex and Andreev reflection from its core is presented. Other processes also leading to an idxy pair potential are discussed. It is argued that such a fully gapped state may be the high field low temperature phase observed by Krishana, Ong et al in magnetothermal conductivity measurements of superconducting single crystal Bi− 2212.


The temperature resistance and voltage level of the wall bushing are the key factors restricting the increase of the heat storage capacity of the solid electrical heat storage device. Therefore, by studying the electrical insulation and heat insulation principles of the wall bushing of the solid electrical heat storage device, a new type of capacitive solid electric heat storage device wall bushing suitable for 66∼500 kV high voltage and 800 °C high temperature was designed, and its internal insulation parameter calculation method considering the influence of high temperature was proposed. The analysis of the bushing through the multi-physics coupling field of temperature field, force field and electric field shows that high temperature deformation does not affect the electrical insulation of the capacitor core. However, in order to reduce the pressure of the outer insulation layer of the bushing, a deformation margin of 3% of the radius of the ground electrode plate still needs to be left. The change of relative dielectric constant will enhance the field strength at the edge of the capacitor core plate and deteriorate the electric field distribution of the bushing. Therefore, when calculating the internal insulation, it is necessary to set a partial discharge calculation margin of 1.4 times and the ratio of the length of the internal and external steps of the capacitor core furnace to 86%. As the voltage level increases, the effect of high temperature on the electric field distribution of the bushing becomes weaker.


An experimental method to estimate the relative swimming capacity of pelagic crus- taceans is proposed. Swimming capacity measured as propulsive force can be estimated by attaching the animal to a virtually friction free rotational displacement transducer with an arm allowing only forward and backward movements. The method also allows determination of beat rates of the pleo- pod cycle. Results from the use of the method on different sizes, sexes and moult stages of Northern krill Meganyctiphanes norvegica indicate that the swimming capacity of krill increases with the size of the animal, although pleopod beat frequency decreases with increasing size of the animal. We found no difference in swimming capacity between females and males, but female krill had a higher pleopod beat frequency than males. The moult stage of the animal affects the swimming capacity, with newly moulted krill being weaker swimmers. It also affects pleopod beat frequency, with newly moulted krill having the lowest frequency. We argue that results of this kind may be useful in attempts to interpret observed demographic distribution patterns in migration studies as well as in studies of krill population dynamics.


Determination of the pattern of purchasing goods and layout of goods based on the tendency of consumers to buy goods canbe one solution for the Bogor Sangkuriang Lapis Shop in developing marketing strategies so as to increase sales of Lapis Bogor Sangkuriang products. The algorithm that can be used to determine the pattern of purchasing goods and this layout is the Apriori Algorithm which is one of the data mining algorithms in the formation of rule mining associations. With frequent items in a priori algorithm by producing a small frequent, without doing candidate generation and minimizing the completion stages starting at k-1 items or the first stage in the a priori algorithm then used with the FP-Growth method where this method is very significant with the a priori algorithm , efficient in terms of time, the completion stage is faster, produces less frequent items and is more detailed in describing frequent item results because frequent results with a value <1 are still shown, not deleted. This research produced the most sold products for layer cakes are Original Cheese, Cheese Brownies, Full Talas. Based on the rules of the final association, it is known that if you buy the Bogor Sangkuriang Lapis Original Cheese cake layer, you will buy the Lapis Bogor Sangkuriang Brownies Cheese and Full Talas Cheese with a support value of 30% and a confidence value of 70%. Based on these results the company can make the decision to develop a strategy that is done next


Uncontrolled population growth with limited land can affect a residential area's environmental quality. The emergence of slums (uninhabitable) with various fundamental problems such as building irregularities, building density, uninhabitable buildings, environmental road damage, and poor sanitation can complexly damage the surrounding environment. Based on the Decree of the Mayor of Lhokseumawe, Pusong Lama fishermen's settlement is one of the slum areas in Lhokseumawe City. This study aims to measure the level of environmental quality of fishermen's settlements so that a strategy/ handling plan can be identified to improve the quality of the settlement environment. This research was conducted using descriptive qualitative research methods. Determination of variables based on three aspects, namely aspects of residential buildings, aspects of environmental accessibility, and aspects of settlement utilities. Determination of the assessment weight in this study refers to the Regulation of Peraturan Menteri PUPR Number 14/PRT/M/2018. The results showed that the Dusun Pasi fishermen's settlement had a wastewater management system and a waste management system in the medium to poor category. While the aspect of residential buildings and aspects of environmental accessibility is in the moderate category. Strategies/Plans in efforts to deal with the quality of the settlement environment are based on the RP2KPKP Guidebook.


The developing process of machine olfaction is reviewed.The signal model of sensor arrays associated with specific odor classes is presented based on human chemosensory perception principle of olfaction cells.The multivariate pattern analysis techniques applied to machine olfaction system are introduced.The statistical pattern analysis(linear and nonlinear)and intelligent pattern analysis(artificial neural networks and others)are described.It is constructive for machine olfaction system to put into practice.


The major challenge of recommendation system (RS) based on implict feedback is to accurately model users' preferences from their historical feedback. Nowadays, researchers has tried to apply adversarial technique in RS, which had presented successful results in various domains. To a certain extent, the use of adversarial technique improves the modeling of users' preferences. Nonetheless, there are still many problems to be solved, such as insufficient representation and low-level interaction. In this paper, we propose a recommendation algorithm NCGAN which combines neural collaborative filtering and generative adversarial network (GAN). We use the neural networks to extract users' non-linear characteristics. At the same time, we integrate the GAN framework to guide the recommendation model training. Among them, the generator aims to make user recommendations and the discriminator is equivalent to a measurement tool which could measure the distance between the generated distribution and users' ground distribution. Through comparison with other existing recommendation algorithms, our algorithm show better experimental performance in all indicators.


As the features in Computational Grids such as heterogeneous and dynamic, grid task scheduling is an NP-complete problem. For existing energy consumption in CGs ,and based on the study of scheduling algorithms and energy, this thesis selects four kinds of intelligent algorithms GA, DE, HC and SA to analysis and implementation, and relatively researchs their makespan and energy consumption for energy-aware scheduling.


Neo-conservatism is the name of a robust strain in American intellectual life and American politics, a strain with a very rich history. But although some of its leading figures over the years have pronounced the end of neo-conservatism usually on grounds of its merger with (or perhaps take over by) the conservative mainstream, the term remains very much alive. This is especially true when it is used to describe a certain group of people who have sought to influence American public policy, most notably foreign policy in the post-Cold War era, and who, in the administration of George W. Bush, obtained that influence. One needs to explore the future of neo-conservatism—specifically, the ways in which it has evolved according to its own premises in the direction of current and future politics dedicated to the preservation and extension of liberal order, need to be properly understood. To get to neo-conservatism's liberal legacy, however, it is necessary to begin with liberalism's origins in the nature of politics itself.


We study the spin-noise spectrum (SNS) of unpolarized Rb vapor in an evacuated anti-relaxation-coated cell using parametric Faraday rotation of a flat-top probe beam with variable diameter. We identify a distinct structure in the spectrum, called the Ramsey peak. We find that the power of the Ramsey peak is inversely proportional to the total number of atoms in the cell, and the power of the total spin noise is inversely proportional to the number of atoms within the probe beam. We further present a full theoretical analysis of the SNS by comparing three models of spin diffusion: Fickian diffusion, the ballistic flight, and Langevin's diffusion. We find that Fickian diffusion fails, while the ballistic flight is acceptable. However, Langevin's diffusion yields a remarkable agreement with the experimental spectrum.


Additive manufacturing is an advanced manufacturing process of making three dimensional solid object from a digital file.3D printing is one of the process in Additive manufacturing. The creation of a 3D printed objects is achieved using additive processes. In fused deposition modeling a filament in the form of wire will be extruded through the nozzle with the help of hot end. External force is provided to wire by rollers and bearings. In wire extrusion process back pressure is created and this will make wire to reduce its movement. With that external force the filament is extruded .The usual problem facing in 3D printing (Fused Deposition Modeling) is clogging of nozzle. Whenever the nozzle is clogged it has to be cleaned and then had to restart the print from beginning. There are some situations where the print is about to end but it will stop due to blocking of nozzle. If we observe that mainly blocking occurs due to not having enough and un-uniform pressure to push the filament into the extruder. By changing the feeding system that means instead of using wire extrusion here there is the use of granules and hopper. Based upon the principle of feed system of injection molding machine this feed system is designed. This is the basic info regarding the changing of feed system.


In order to investigate the structural stress dependence on the load conditions and material parameters, reduce and optimize the design variables, an orthogonal numerical test method is presented. First of all, the oxygen decompressor stress sensitivities to pressure, inertia force, elastic modulus and Poisson's Ratio are analyzed based on the method. The results show that besides the effects of the pressure and the inertial force controlled by environmental load conditions, the effect of the elastic modulus on the stress is greatest; Then, the elastic modulus of the spring cavity, shell and screw are optimized by the optimization, and the optimal combination of elastic modulus for minimum stress is obtained. The conclusion shows that: the method used in this paper has a small amount of calculation, and can meet the requirement of the engineering design.


Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) contribute to neovascularization and vascular repair, and may exert a beneficial effect on the clinical outcome of sepsis. Osteoblasts act as a component of "niche" in bone marrow, which provides a nest for stem/progenitor cells and are involved in the formation and maintenance of stem/progenitor cells. Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) can regulate osteoblast activity and influence bone mass. So we explored the role of FGFR1 in EPC mobilization. Male mice with osteoblast-specific knockout of Fgfr1 (Fgfr1fl/fl;OC-Cre) and its wild-type littermates (Fgfr1fl/fl) were used in this study. Mice intraperitoneally injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were used to measure the number of circulating EPCs in peripheral blood and serum stromal cell-derived factor 1α (SDF-1α). The circulating EPC number and the serum level of SDF-1α were significantly higher in Fgfr1fl/fl;OC-Cre mice than those in Fgfr1fl/fl mice after LPS injection. In cell culture system, SDF-1α level was also significantly higher in Fgfr1fl/fl;OC-Cre osteoblasts compared with that in Fgfr1fl/fl osteoblasts after LPS treatment. TRAP staining showed that there was no significant difference between the osteoclast activity of septic Fgfr1fl/fland Fgfr1fl/fl;OC-Cre mice. This study suggests that targeted deletion of Fgfr1 in osteoblasts enhances mobilization of EPCs into peripheral blood through up-regulating SDF-1α secretion from osteoblasts.


In the performance test of mesh network routing protocol, it is found that BATMAN. Adv routing protocol has better performance than the existing multi-hop routing protocol, but it also has the defects of poor routing convergence and slow response to network topology changes. Based on the detailed analysis of BATMAN. Adv routing protocol, this paper proposes an improved method. First, the statistical method of OGM package was redesigned, the cumulative sliding window method is used to improve the influence of the latest serial number of OGM, and the calculation method of TQ value is changed from average accumulation to weighted accumulation to further improve the influence of the latest TQ value. At the same time, an improved mechanism is proposed in order to solve the problem of link blocking caused by sudden node failure. Finally, through simulation experiments, the performance of the packet delivery rate and end-to-end delay of the three routing protocols in two different scenarios is compared. It shows that the improved protocol can effectively improve the packet delivery rate, reduce the average end-to-end delay, and improve the network performance.


Isomorphous crystals of Mn(V)(O) and Cr(V)(O) corrolazines were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Reactivity studies with H atom donors and separated PCET reagents show a dramatic difference in H atom abstracting abilities for these two complexes. The implied large difference in driving force is opposite the trend in redox potentials, indicating that basicity is a key factor in determining the striking difference in reactivity for two metal-oxo species in identical ligand environments.


The interaction between the atmosphere, specifically the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the North Atlantic ocean circulation on sub‐decadal timescale is analyzed in a subset of models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5). From preindustrial control runs of at least 500 years length, we derive anomaly patterns in the atmospheric and ocean circulation and of air‐sea heat exchange. All models simulate a distinct dipolar oceanic overturning anomaly at the sub‐decadal timescale, with centers at 30° N and 55° N. The dipolar overturning anomaly goes along with marked anomalies in the North Atlantic sea surface temperature and gyre circulation. Lag‐regression analyses demonstrate, with relatively small ensemble spread, how the atmosphere and the ocean circulation interact. The dipolar anomalies in the overturning are forced by NAO‐related wind stress curl anomalies. Anomalous surface heat fluxes in concert with anomalous vertical motions drive a meridional dipolar heat content anomaly in the upper ocean, and it is this dipolar heat content anomaly which carries the coupled system from one phase of the sub‐decadal cycle to the other by reversing the tendencies in the overturning circulation. The coupled sub‐decadal variability derived from the CMIP5 models is characterized by three elements: a wind‐driven part steering the dipolar overturning anomaly, surface heat flux anomalies that support a heat build‐up in the subpolar gyre region, and the heat storage memory which is instrumental in the phase reversal of the NAO.


Corrosion behavior of thermal sprayed carbide cermet coating in an alkaline aqueous solution that was exposed to air and aerated was examined by electrochemical processes. In this study, the galvanic corrosion due to contact with under-coating or substrate was considered. The results obtained are following:(1) Anodic polarization of thermal sprayed Cr3C2/NiCr coating indicates active dissolution. The NiCr matrix may have major influence on it.(2) The corrosion rate of thermal sprayed NiP under-coating tends to be faster than that of carbon steel.(3) Chloride ions in 1M·NaOH solution may have minor influence on the corrosion behavior of thermal sprayed Cr3C2/NiCr and NiP coatings and carbon steel.


The Loess Plateau exemplifies the type of ecologically fragile region that faces severe poverty challenges in China. Orchards have expanded rapidly over the past few decades and now constitute a considerable part of local economy. Not only do the characteristics of orchard expansion affect local economic development, but also exert additional pressure on the ecological environment. Therefore, it is essential for sustainable development on the Loess Plateau to investigate the characteristics and driving forces of orchard expansion. The Fuxian, Luochuan, Huangling, three typical orchard planting counties were chosen as the study area. Firstly, the orchard was extracted from the land use/cover classification from 1990–2020. It broadens the research approach to the identification of expansion cash crops by using the combination of linear spectral mixture analysis (LSMA) and decision tree. Secondly, the spatiotemporal dynamics of orchard expansion were quantitatively investigated based on spatial geometry center shift, physical geographical features, landscape pattern and orchard planting suitability. Then, we constructed an evaluation indicators system to detect the feature importance and partial dependence of different factors by random forest regression. It is more innovative to employ the machine learning method to investigate driving forces. Finally, the linkages between planting suitability and orchard expansion were further discussed, and subsequent policies were proposed. Findings demonstrated the orchard had continuously expanded over the past 30 years, with the fastest expansion rate during 1990–2005. Increased cohesion was accompanied by a shift in the orchard's spatial distribution to the north central region and highly suitable planting regions. Slope turned out to be the primary factor affecting the orchard expansion. In the future, regions with aging orchard but high planting suitability should be the preferred choice for orchard expansion. Additionally, the transportation connectivity and governmental assistance are crucial considerations for the future planning of the orchard.


In this research study, a novel ORC cycle is proposed to improve the efficiency and power generation of the basic ORC cycle. In this proposed new cycle, an ejector, a second stage evaporator and a regenerator are integrated in the basic ORC cycle. Steam from the second stage evaporator enters to the ejector as the primary fluid, after decrease in mixture pressure, it tends to increase the suction of the secondary fluid from the turbine outlet (steam from the turbine). Also steam enters to the regenerator, before the ejector, and by this way supplies a part of required energy for the first stage evaporator and increases the efficiency as well. For thermodynamic modeling a code was developed in the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software. In addition, different working fluids (R600, R245fa, R236fa, Cis-2-Butene) were examined to evaluate the thermodynamic performance of the basic ORC cycle and new proposed cycle. The results show efficiency increase of the new cycle compared with that of the basic ORC cycle, the value of which depends on the working fluid, as the maximum efficiency increase of 17.5% is noticed.


Malignant melanoma is considered a difficult diagnosis both clinically and histologically. Therefore, it is reasonable to presume that both overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis occur to a certain extent. In our article, 1 we omitted this subject because we are not pathologists and all the patients with melanoma registered in the Swedish Cancer Registry have been treated as patients with melanoma; thus, the lesions were removed with proper margins. Furthermore, the patients are informed that they have malignant melanoma. With reference to the letter by Rosdahl and coworkers, we would like to point out that it is, of course, much easier to label the diagnosis as other than melanoma in a secondary situation when one has a long observation period behind and when the lesion is primarily removed. The pathologists in the primary situation have a much more difficult situation, and overdiagnosis can occur and might even be desirable to a certain


The seeds of Betula luminifera were implanted to different doses at the energy of 30 keV N+ ion beam.The fluence ranged from 1×1016 ions·cm-2 to 10×1016 ions·cm-2.Malondiadehyde(MDA) content superoxide dismutase activity(SOD),peroxidase activity(POD) and catalase activity(CAT) were analyzed.The results indicated: the activity of peroxidase(POD),catalase(CAT) reached the peak at 7×1016 ions·cm-2,and the malondiadehyde(MDA) content reached the lowest.It suggested that optimum dosage of N+ ion beam implantation could increase the activities of protective enzymes and decrease the effect of lipid perxidation.


Agile analytics can help organizations to gain and sustain a competitive advantage by making timely decisions. Approximate query processing (AQP) is one of the useful approaches in agile analytics, which facilitates fast queries on big data by leveraging a pre-computed sample. One problem such a sample faces is that when new data is being imported, re-sampling is most likely needed to keep the sample fresh and AQP results accurate enough. Re-sampling from scratch for every batch of new data, called the full re-sampling method and adopted by many existing AQP works, is obviously a very costly process, and a much quicker incremental sampling process, such as reservoir sampling, may be used to cover the newly arrived data. However, incremental update methods suffer from the fact that the sample size cannot be increased, which is a problem when the underlying data distribution dramatically changes and the sample needs to be enlarged to maintain the AQP accuracy. This paper proposes an adaptive sample update (ASU) approach that avoids re-sampling from scratch as much as possible by monitoring the data distribution, and uses instead an incremental update method before a re-sampling becomes necessary. The paper also proposes an enhanced approach (T-ASU), which tries to enlarge the sample size without re-sampling from scratch when a bit of query inaccuracy is tolerable to further reduce the sample update cost. These two approaches are integrated into a state-of-the-art AQP engine for an extensive experimental study. Experimental results on both real-world and synthetic datasets show that the two approaches are faster than the full re-sampling method while achieving almost the same AQP accuracy when the underlying data distribution continuously changes.


There is an increasing tendency to perform regression analyses using survey data. Often such data is the product of a complex sample design reflecting the need to collect data as efficiently as possible within cost constraints. In social surveys it is comparatively unusual to find surveys which cover an area of any appreciable size which do not use cluster or multistage sampling. The observed effect when estimating population means and totals is that such clusters exhibit a positive intracluster correlation (units within a cluster are more alike) and the overall effect is to increase the variance of the estimator compared to the variance that would have been aclhieved under simple random sampling. Kish and Frankel (1974) extend empirical results of this kind to the estimation of more complex statistics such as differences between domain means, correlation coefficients and regression coefficients. This paper is concerned with regression analysis.


The objective of this article is to estimate whether the maternal serum levels of A disintegrin and metalloprotease domain 12 (ADAM12‐s), pregnancy‐associated plasma protein‐A (PAPP‐A), and free beta human chorionic gonadotrophin (fβ‐hCG) are altered in assisted reproduction techniques (ART) pregnancies.


Abstract "Fixed expressions" in Hittite, in particular the subset containing terms of body parts, still continue to pose problems. Starting from the examples attested in rituals and prayers, this paper is aimed at elucidating the use of predicative constructions made up of the verbs lagand nai- 'to turn' or par¯a epp- 'to proffer' with the nouns iˇstaman(a)- 'ear' or ˇsakui- 'eye' as direct object. It will be suggested that in the interaction between gods and humans these redundant constructions have an emphatic purpose, and that their use is consistent with the some morpho-syntactic reasons which determine the distribution of verbal stems in -ˇske-, Xark- constructions, and adverbs.


Objective To understand the status of risk behaviors among middle-aged and eldly people in Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture,Hubei province.Methods A cross-sectional study using questionnaire on status of health behavior was conducted among 1 249 local residents aged 35 and above.Results Comprehensive analysis showed that 5 types of health-related behaviors occurred only in 1.4% of the residents.More than 3 types of behaviors occurred in 55.9% of the residents.Conclusions The status among health behaviors of middle-aged and eldly people in Enshi Tujia autonomous prefecture were not very well.


The authors analyze initial value problems for a hyperbolic system of equations that is a simplification of models of dynamic longitudinal elastoplastic deformations in a rod with hardening. The simplified system has a positive characteristic speed associated with stress waves, and a zero speed associated with the time independence of hardening during elastic deformation. The equations are piecewise linear in stress derivatives, and thus fully nonlinear. The main result is that for bounded uniformly continuous initial data, the Cauchy problem has a unique continuous solution that can be approximated by piecewise linear solutions of the equations.


This paper examines three borrowed pragmatic markers from Nigerian Pidgin into Nigerian English, abeg,
 sef and na, with a view to exploring their meanings, frequencies, spelling adaptability, syntactic
 positions, collocational patterns and discourse-pragmatic functions in Nigerian English. The data which were extracted from the
 International Corpus of English-Nigeria and the Nigerian component of the corpus of Global Web-based English were analysed
 quantitatively and qualitatively, using the theory of pragmatic borrowing. The results indicate that the three pragmatic markers
 differ distinctly in their frequency across text types, syntactic position, the range of pragmatic meanings, the number of
 spelling variants and their collocations: abeg is used as a mitigation marker which can also function as an
 emphasis marker, sef is an emphasis marker but has additive and dismissive functions, while na
 is used purely as an emphasis pragmatic marker. The study shows the influence of Nigerian Pidgin on Nigerian English.


A 6-month course of post-irradiation androgen deprivation therapy failed to demonstrate non-inferior survival compared to 3 years of adjuvant androgen deprivation in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer.


This multi-day lesson introduces preservice teachers to copyright laws and how they influence resource use. The lesson also introduces fair use principles and components of a fair use claim before describing the limitations of fair use for practicing teachers. Creative Commons licenses are then introduced and explained as a better approach for resource use. Creative Commons resources are still protected by copyright law. However, the authors/owners of these works automatically grant some use rights under specified conditions. This granting of rights leads to a discussion about open education resources (OER). After this discussion, learners discover how to locate Creative Commons resources, cite them, and use them appropriately.
Time: Two, 50-minute classes


Paper, or a pulp fiber sheet, is biodegradable and it can be a promising alternative to plastics, thus avoiding a serious form of marine pollution. However, its degradability in marine environments has not been well studied. This study investigated how a network of pulp fibers disintegrates in seawater compared with soil. Samples of pulp fiber sheets were exposed to seawater and soil for 4 months under stationary conditions at 25 °C. Digital photo images and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were used for morphological and color change investigations, while Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis was used to compare the chemical components of the samples before and after degradation. The area of the sample decreased by 22.3% in the seawater. The degradation rate in seawater was much lower than in the soil. The degradation mechanism in seawater was different from that in the soil because of the different microorganisms in each environment.


Abstract When Bertrand Tavernier discussed his project to make a film adaptation of Madame de Lafayette's novel La Princesse de Montpensier, he explained the contradictory nature of his project. On the one hand, he wanted to attempt a true account of both the events and the exotic nature of France in the 1550s, but on the other hand, he then added a potentially contradictory challenge to his project, proposing that his camera become 'contemporary' to the historical events and feelings depicted while at the same time convincing us that these historical events could be taking place in today's Paris, and seem completely modern. This 'chronological contradiction' between what can be termed the exotic flavour of the Renaissance versus an injection of a flavour of contemporaneity – the endotic – will be examined in the way Tavernier develops the portrayal of the spirit of the Renaissance in language that is particularly resonant with the very terms that both Du Bellay and Ronsard employed to capture the epistemology of their times. This exotic level of the film will then be contrasted with the way Tavernier manages to give us an endotic representation of the Paris of the twenty-first century.


The projection of methodological approaches within the limits of institutional paradigms on research of high school as economic institute in view of modern lines is made.


With aging, several physiological changes occur in the elderly, including a decrease in muscle mass, bone density, and balance, which increase the risk of falls. As the elderly population continues to grow, the role of the physiotherapist becomes indispensable in promoting the autonomy and independence of these individuals. This study presents a narrative review on the physiotherapist's role in preventing immobility syndrome in the elderly. Immobility syndrome primarily affects the musculoskeletal system, leading to functional limitations that impact posture transfer and bed-to-chair mobility, hindering daily activities, altering gait patterns, and reducing the activity of certain systems. The implementation of early rehabilitation protocols within the first 48 hours of intervention can be applied to improve mobilization and prevent the onset of immobility syndrome. As the elderly population expands, the proactive involvement of physiotherapists in preventing and managing immobility-related issues becomes crucial. This not only enhances the quality of life for older individuals but also reduces the burden on healthcare systems. Overall, physiotherapy plays a vital role in mitigating the negative effects of immobility in the elderly, promoting their well-being, and maintaining their functional independence.


Chair's Introduction (V. Ling). The problem of the drug-resistant epilepsies (J. W. Sander). Drug resistance molecules: lessons from oncology (George L. Scheffer and Rik J. Scheper). Drug resistance in epilepsy: the role of the blood-brain barrier (N. Joan Abbott, et al.). P glycoprotein and the mechanism of multidrug resistance (A. Varadi, et al). Drug resistance caused by multidrug resistance-associated proteins (J. Wijnholds). Reversal of multidrug resistance: lessons from clinical oncology (S. E. Bates, et al.). Clinical development of P glycoprotein modulators in oncology (A. Oza). Gene expression profiling of epothilone A-resistant cells (P. Atadja, et al.). Imaging of P glycoprotein function in vivo with PET (N. H. Hendrikse and W. Vaalburg). Animal models of drug-resistant epilepsy (W. Loscher). Drug resistance in epilepsy: human epilepsy (S. M. Sisodiya, et al). Cellular mechanisms of pharmacoresistance in slices from epilepsy surgery (R. A. Deisz). Functional polymorphisms of the human multidrug resistance (MDR1) gene: correlation with P glycoprotein expression and activity in vivo (U. Brinkmann). OC144-093, a novel P glycoprotein inhibitor for the enhancement of anti-epileptic therapy (M. J. Newman, et al.). Closing remarks (V. Ling). Index of contributors. Subject Index.


In 2001 a survey was conducted on the level of lead and cadmium content in chocolate and chocolate products sold at retail outlets in Western Australia to assess compliance with the requirements of the Australia New Zealand Food Standard Code and public health implications. Both lead and cadmium are known to cause degenerative health conditions in humans, particularly in young children where developmental processes may be hindered or interrupted by high levels of these metals in body systems. The survey focused on chocolates or chocolate products marketed to children. The maximum permitted level of cadmium is 0.5mg/kg, while the calculated maximum level of lead was determined to be 0.12mg/kg. The survey revealed that no chocolate products sampled were in excess of the statutory level for cadmium or the lead level calculated for chocolate. The survey data indicated 85% of product sampled was below 0.05mg/kg lead and 93% of product sampled was below 0.05mg/kg cadmium. A slight trend indicating higher concentrations of both contaminants in darker chocolate products was noted, however, this may not be an identifiable trend if more dark chocolate samples had been taken. These results provide evidence that although low levels of lead and cadmium are present in chocolate and chocolate products, the public health implications from lead or cadmium have been found to be low, even for vulnerable populations such as children.


Editor—Thompson et al's article on adherence to advance directives is a telling exploration of an increasingly relevant issue.1 The vignette they constructed was comprehensive and robust, leaving no reasonable person in any doubt about the nature and severity of conditions for which the patient would refuse intervention.

The arguments for treating the patient in the face of such a clear instruction seem to amount to no more than seeking loopholes, or high handedly insisting that doctors know best. Both sit uneasily in an era when doctors call for patients to take more responsibility for their illnesses.

Some of the variation in adherence to patients' wishes which they identify may be because, until recently, there was a perceived lack of explicit guidance on what doctors are to do when faced with what, in the United Kingdom, is a contemporary development.

The General Medical Council has recently produced thorough guidelines that intensivists have found useful.2,3 These say that any valid advance refusal is legally binding and must be respected when it is applicable to the patient's present circumstances and when there is no reason to believe that the patient has changed his or her mind.

In contrast, doctors may be lulled into a false sense of security if they take at face value the conclusion of Thompson et al that successful prosecution is unlikely if an advance directive is ignored. The guidelines remove much room for manoeuvre clinicians once thought they had when following patients' instructions. The GMC has produced a compelling advance directive itself, which is to be commended to all those involved in making such decisions.


Balanced scorecard (BSC) is one of the performance appraisal and strategic management tools and has become a popular performance measurement instrument. Apart from being a tool for performance appraisal, the BSC can also be used for strategic management. The use of BSC and KPI (Key Performance Indicators) for strategic management purposes makes it possible to gain competitive advantage. The aims of this research is to develop strategic performance indicators for clinics in the Surakarta area based on 4 balanced scorecard perspectives. This type of research is a qualitative case study with data collection method using FGD (Focus Group Discussion). The sample is 7 clinic employees and 2 clinic owner representatives. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis techniques. The FGD results obtained 19 strategic plans and 8 strategic performance indicators based on 4 balanced scorecard perspectives. These indicators consist of 1 financial indicator, 2 customer indicators, 3 internal business indicators and 2 growth and learning indicators. This study develops 8 performance indicators or KPIs based on 4 balanced scorecard perspectives that can be used to assess the organizational performance of health facilities, especially clinics and as strategic management of the organization.


Perfect competition market can result in Pareto optimization of water resource allocation by adjusting the function of water price.However,this so-called optimal state cannot solve the problem of balance between equity and efficiency,which will result in the impartiality.To realize the balance,it is necessary for government to intervene the water resources allocation.


The present work is a continuation of the previous one which was published under the title " On some Chaetoceras of Japan. I.", in this magazine, Vol. XL, No. 478, 1926. The species here treated are those which are either imperfectly known to Japan or are new to science. The number of species of this genus which I have examined from Japanese waters now amounts to no less than forty, and I expect to write another paper dealing with the same genus shortly. Chaetoceras danicum CLEVE. (Fig. 1, a-c .) Ch. Wighami, VAN HEURCK Synopsis, Pl. LXXXII, Fig. 1. -Ch , boreale SCHUTT : 1893. p. 19, Fig. 5.-Do : 1896. p. 87, Fig. 144A.-CLEVE: 1897. p. 12.-MANGIN: 1912. p. 44, Fig. 30.-HUSTEDT: 1921. in SCHMIDT'S Atlas, Taf. 342, Fig. 9.AKATSUKA 1914. p. 46, Pl. 9, Fig. 7.-PAVILLARD: 1925, p. 42, Fig. 65 (after SCHUTT).


We present a dielectric continuum model that, at a semiquantitative level, explains why ion pair formation in water is favored by like-sized ions over unlike-sized pairs. Using both classical and ab initio continuum approaches, we show that the now well-established empirical rule, the so-called "law of matching water affinities", can be rationalized in terms of ion solvation. Namely, pairing of differently sized ions is weakened due to a shadowing effect where the larger ion shields the smaller ion from the solvent. It is shown that this empirical law ceases to be valid for less polar solvents where strong ion−ion coulomb interactions dominate the pairing free energy. The presented model demonstrates that certain ion-specific effects, such as those connected with the Hofmeister series, can be qualitatively captured by classical continuum electrostatics, although a fully quantitative description would require explicit molecular treatment of the solvent.


By combining optical frequency combs and microwave photonic methods, attosecond timing is possible in both photonic and electronic domains. New applications based on attosecond-precision timing, such as ultrafast and ultraprecise time-of-flight detection, are presented. © 2020 The Author(s)


This article attends to the film's re-reading of Melville in terms of a presentation of an a-religious religion. The film's display of beauty and its engagement with both the sufficiency and vulnerability of this beauty is seen to partake of a philosophical and cinematic questioning of an aesthetic of auto-sacralization and the chances of an atheist art.


The knowledge of the topological structure and the automatic fare collection systems in urban public transport produce many data that need to be adequately analyzed, processed and presented. These data provide a powerful tool to improve the quality of transport services and plan ahead. This paper aims at studying, from a mathematical and statistical point of view, the Barcelona metro network; specifically: (1) the structural and robustness characteristics of the transportation network are computed and analyzed considering the complex network analysis; and (2) the common characteristics of the different subway stations of Barcelona, based on the passenger hourly entries, are identified through hierarchical clustering analysis. These results will be of great help in planning and restructuring transport to cope with the new social conditions, after the pandemic.


Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) signaling systems have been reliably and safely carrying passengers in revenue service for over a quarter-century. Once a futuristic, technological novelty, CBTC is now established as the latest generation of mainstream transit system control. Today's progressive railroads find themselves compelled to consider a CBTC upgrade because of its promises of increased safety, reliability, availability and associated reduction of maintenance costs; increased system capacity using the same civil infrastructure and its ability to reduce downtime during an upgrade. But there are costs to consider. Should the full fleet be equipped or only part of it? The full railroad, including yards and depots, only the mainline or only a portion of the mainline? Is a secondary train control system needed, or is CBTC alone adequate? This paper will consider such questions. Whatever the motivation, once a decision is made to upgrade to CBTC, and the scope of the upgrade is defined, the implementation needs to be planned carefully and executed flawlessly to manage the impact on ongoing operations, and to ensure safety throughout the upgrade process. Should a "big-bang" implementation be planned or a staged transition from old to new? If staged, should a fleet-first or an infrastructure-first approach be adopted? How can opportunities for "shadow-mode" testing be exploited to minimize system downtime and risk during cutovers? How and when should operations and maintenance staff be trained? Answering these important questions will ensure a successful "brown-field" CBTC system upgrade. ASSUMPTIONS AND DEFINITIONS


In previous work the authors (Phys. Rev. Let., vol.65, p.945-8, 1990) proposed the concept of deterministic annealing for the problem of clustering and vector quantization. This approach is summarized. The authors extend the clustering method to the constraint clustering method. Adding constraints to the deterministic annealing mechanism expands the variety of optimization problems which can be solved by this method. A brief presentation of the clustering approach is given. Two examples to which the constraint clustering approach can be applied are included.<<ETX>>


Up to now, only chemical mechanical polishing is the new technical solution toachieve global surface planarization in wafer production. However, this latest technology is stilllimited to the integration problem in production system. The most obviously of all, it needs oneefficient endpoint detection system to monitor CMP operation to avoid polishing over or not polish-ing completely. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the principle and application of the newwafer planarization technology. In addition, we try to analyze the necessity and characteristic ofthose endpoint-detection metrologies.


HIV-related pulmonary arterial hypertension (HIV-PAH) is a deadly complication of HIV infection affecting approximately 0.5% of HIV patients. Recently, circulating microRNA have been implicated as biomarkers and putative long-distance signaling factors in human health and disease, and several miRNA serve established roles in PAH and HIV pathobiology. Here, we seek to identify circulating miRNA that may serve as markers in diagnosis and progression of HIV-PAH, and whose modulation in this devastating disease may result in better clinical outcomes. Using a previously validated network-biology based approach, we will identify miRNA likely involved in this disease. We will go on to test these hypotheses using a nested case-control study of 15 HIVinfected individuals with PAH and 15 HIV-infected individuals without PAH previously recruited in San Francisco between 2008 and 2012. Based on right heart catheter diagnosis of PAH, these patients will be compared with respect to their circulating miRNA expression profiles. MiRNA expression will also be correlated to clinical outcomes including 6 minute walk distance, nef-genotype and CD4 cell count. Lastly the molecular role of these miRNA will be explored by correlation with circulating levels of endothelin-1, a potent vasoconstrictor and regulatory of PAH pathology. Central Hypothesis and Specific Aims The expression of specific circulating miRNA can predict the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension in HIV infection.


The limitations of different E-field antenna coupler or preamplifier circuits are presented. All circuits were evaluated using actual Loran or Omega signals. Electric field whip or wire antennas are the simplest types which can be used for reception of VLF signals in the 10 to 100 kHz range. JFET or MOSFET transistors provide impedance transformation and some voltage gain in simple circuits where the power for operating the preamplifier uses the same coaxial cable that feeds the signal back to the receiver. The circuit techniques provide useful alternative methods for Loran-Omega receiver system designers.


Objective: Loneliness is a state that most people will experience during their lifetime. In order to raise awareness of loneliness and its complexity, we attempted to measure the span of loneliness among the surgical patients hospitalized in the Department of Surgery in the 4th Military Teaching Hospital in Wroclaw.
The aim of this study was to establish correlations between loneliness, measured using and four other variables: age, gender, nutritional state and quality of life of surveyed patients.
Material and methods: A total of 100 patients in the Surgery Department in the 4 th Military Teaching Hospital in Wroclaw, Poland, were enrolled.  The Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire was used to assess their nutritional status; the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHO-QoL-BREF) was used to assess their quality of life; the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) and Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (R-UCLA) were used to assess their loneliness level.
Results:The WHO-QoL-BREF showed that patients' quality of life (QoL) self-perception was between average and good, health self-perception was average as well. Lowest score of QoL was found in the physical domain whereas the highest was found in the social domain. The MNA showed that 8% of the study group was malnourished, 49% at risk of malnutrition
and 43% displayed a normal nutritional status. 49% of the study group experience loneliness during study by DJGLS. A significant positive correlation between loneliness status and QoL was observed in physical health self-perception (r=0,226, p=0,024). Negative correlation was found between loneliness and QoL in psychological, social and environmental domains (p<0,001).

Conclusions: Loneliness has a significant negative impact on the quality of life.Sex, age and nutritional status can not be predictors of patient's loneliness.
More than half of patients were in a disturbing nutrition state.


The parameter identification model is proposed for determining the linear adsorption isotherms and the solid diffusion coefficients by using adsorption chromatorgaphy.Axial dispersion coefficients is firstly determined by pulse-respond experiment technique with an inert substance as tracer,then the elution curves of chromatography separating the isomer mannitol and sorbitol are determined by the chromatographic measuring technique,and pinally the adsorption isotherms and the solid diffusion coefficients of mannitol and sorbitol on Ca^2+ resins are estimated by using this model.The results show that the axial dispersion coefficients increase with fluid velocity increasing,The adsorption equilibrium constants decrease with temperature rising;and the solid diffusion coefficients increase with temperature rising.The theoretical elution curves are good agreement with the experimental elution curves of the liquid adsorption chromatography separating the mannitol and the sorbitol.The model provides a simple and reliable procedure to estimate the kinetic and thermodynamic parmeters of the adsorption.


A novel three-dimensional human head modeling method on laser technology, using the CCD camera to receive the scanning information, based on the theory of aerial photography surveying, is reported here. We introduce the mode integration of human head, its mathematical model and the principle of human head feature identifying. The laser scanning human head three-dimensional modeling system is established.


Application of cartographical methods for display on the information of Solar system bodies has got a long history. First of the Moon maps which had reached us was dated about 1603. Later with the help of telescopic supervision tens maps of the visible part of the Moon have been made, attempts to present on maps the surface of Mercury, Venus, Mars were done too. This was promoted, in particular, by application of a photo and development of ground telescopic mapping. Last decades of the last century the planetary cartography has received a powerful source of the information due to flights of space vehicles and spacecrafts.


It is generally accepted that there are three major categories of phonological elements in the signs of sign language: (i) the shape of the hand, (ii) the location of the hand on or near the body and (iii) the movement of the hand – either (a) movement of the fingers or palm at a single location or (b) movement of the whole hand along a path from one location to another. It has further been argued that each of these categories consists of hierarchically organised classes of features (Sandler 1987b, 1989a).


1 Maniccia D, Rutledge B, Rea M, Morrow W. Occupant use of manual lighting controls in private offices. J. Illum. Eng. Soc . 1999; 28: 42 /56. 2 Escuyer S, Fontoynont M. Lighting controls: a field study of office workers' reactions. Lighting Res. Technol . 2001; 33: 77 /96. 3 Moore TA, Carter DJ, Slater AI. Long-term patterns of use of occupant controlled office lighting. Lighting Res. Technol . 2003; 35: 43 /59. 4 Love JA. Manual switching patterns in private offices. Lighting Res. Technol . 1998; 30: 45 /50. 5 Boyce PR. Observations of the manual switching of lighting. Lighting Res. Technol . 1980; 12: 195 /205. 6 Jennings JD, Rubinstein FM, DiBartolomea D, Blanc SL. Comparison of control options in private offices in advanced lighting controls testbed. J. Illum. Eng. Soc . 2000; 29: 39 /60. 7 Begemann SHA, van den Beld GJ, Tenner AD. Daylight, artificial light and people in an office environment, overview of visual and biological responses. Int. J. Ind. Ergonomics 1997; 20: 231 /39. 8 Monk TH, Leng VC, Folkhard S, Witzman ED. Circadian rhythms in subjective alertness and core body temperature. Chronobiologia 1983; 10: 49 /55. 9 Monk TH. Temporal effects on visual search. In Clare JN, Sinclair MA, editors. Search and the human observer. London: Taylor & Francis, 1979: 30 /39. 10 Leproult R, Colecchia E, L'Hermite-Balériaux M, van Cauter E. Transition from dim to bright light in the morning induces an immediate elevation of cortisol levels. J. Clin. Endocrin. Metabolism 2001; 86: 151 /57. 11 Scheer FAJL, Buijs RM. Light affects morning salivary cortisol in humans. J. Clin. Endocrin. Metabolism 1999; 84: 3395 /98. 12 Daurat A, Aguirre A, Foret J, Gonnet P, Keromes A, Benoit O. Bright light affects alertness and performance rhythms during a 24 h constant routine. Physiol. Behaviour 1993; 53: 929 /36. 13 Küller Rand Wetterberg L. Melatonin, cortisol, EEG, ECG and subjective comfort in healthy humans: impact of two fluorescent lamp types at two light intensities. Lighting Res. Technol . 1993; 25: 71 /81. 14 Partonen T, Lönngvist J. Bright light improves vitality and alleviates distress in healthy people. J. Affective Disorders 2000; 57: 55 /61. 15 Mersch PPA, Middendorp HM, Bouhuys AL, Beersma DGM, van den Hoofdakker RH. The prevalence of seasonal affective disorder in The Netherlands: a prospective study of seasonal mood variation in the general population. Biol. Psychiat . 1999; 45: 1013 /22. 16 McCloughan CLB, Aspinell PA, Webb RS. The impact of lighting on mood. Lighting Res. Technol. 1999; 31: 81 /88.


[...] Studying axon guidance by diffusible or substrate bound gradients is challenging with current techniques. In this study, we present two microfluidic devices to study axon guidance. [... click on "Download fulltext" for full abstract]


A novel red phosphor Ca2GeO4:Eu3+ was prepared by the traditional solid state reaction. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis suggested that there was no impurity phase. The study on the diffusion reflection spectra of the undoped and Eu3+ doped Ca2GeO4 phosphors revealed an absorption band superposed of that of the host material and the Eu3+ ions. And the excitation spectrum presented a dominating broad band at 250–300 nm which was attributed to both the host material absorption and the charge transfer b...


Abstract A large undercooling (250 K) was achieved in eutectic Ni78.6Si21.4 melt by the combination of molten-glass denucleation and cyclic superheating. The metastable phase formation process in the bulk undercooled eutectic Ni78.6Si21.4 melts was investigated. With the increase of undercooling, different metastable phases form in eutectic Ni78.6Si21.4 melts and part of these metastable phases can be kept at room temperature through slow post-solidification. Under large undercooling, the metastable phases b2-Ni3Si, Ni31Si12 and Ni3Si2 were identified. Especially, the Ni3Si2 phase was obtained in eutectic Ni78.6Si21.4 alloy for the first time. Based on the principle of free energy minimum and transient uncleation theory, the solidification behavior of melts was analyzed with regard to the metastable phase formation when the melts were in highly undercooled state. * Supported by National Science Foundation of China (Grant No.50395103) and the Doctorate Foundation of Northwestern Polytechnical University


Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) routing is basic and route selection ought to be made faster before the node leaves the system. MANET routing Methods are intended to work in a friendly and satisfying condition which makes them helpless against different attacks. MANET is one of the most encouraging fields for innovative work of remote system. MANET has now turned out to be one of the most lively and dynamic field of communication among systems. A MANET is a self-sufficient gathering of mobile nodes that speak with one another over remote connections and coordinate in an appropriated way so as to give the fundamental system convenience without a fixed framework. MANET has transfer speed limitations yet it permits self-ruling communication of versatile clients over it. Because of regular node mobility, and along these lines change in route topology, the architecture of the system goes unpredicted after some time. In such a decentralized situation, secured route identification is a key task for communication among nodes. Trust calculation among nodes is done for involving trusted nodes in route discovery process. In this manuscript, a novel secure routing method is proposed which identifies route among trusted nodes and update the routing table info frequently because of dynamic topology of the network. The outcomes demonstrate that the proposed method takes better routing technique when compared with existing methods.


Aims 1.To study the incidence of fungal infection in sinonasal polyposis. 2.To correlate clinical, microbiological and histopathological characteristics of nasal polyps. Material and Methods Prospective non-randomized cohort study was conducted in 60 patients with nasal polyps [unilateral or bilateral] and nasal debris along with tissues were examined for the presence of fungus. Conclusion Incidence of fungal rhinosinusitis is on the rise in this era of antibiotics and diagnostic facilities. As the incidence is rising, more and more researches are taking place in this field and debates linger over its classification, diagnosis and management. Nasal polyps are associated with fungal sinusitis. In our study, the incidence of fungal infection in patients with sinonasal polyposis was 63%.


DISCOVERED A composition Synergetics FOR depigmentation SKIN IRRITATION REDUCED, WHICH MUST NOT CONTAIN a corticosteroid containing 4-hydroxyanisole and a retinoid, such as any trans-retinoic acid, 11-cis, 13-cis-12-hydroxymethyl retinoic delta-lactone or (N-ACETYL-4-aminophenyl) retinoate, in a vehicle TOPICAL pharmaceutically acceptable.


This paper presents multiagent architecture which detects faults in process automation and allocates intelligent algorithms in field device function blocks to solve these faults. This architecture is a FIPA-standard based agent platform and was developed using JADE and foundation fieldbus technology. The main objective is to enable problem detection activities independent of userpsilas intervention. The use of artificial neural network (ANN) based algorithms, enables the agents to find out about problem patterns and to make decisions about which algorithm can be used in which situations. With this we intend to reduce the supervisor intervention to select and implement an appropriate structure of function blocks algorithms. Furthermore these algorithms, when implemented in device function blocks, provide a solution at fieldbus level, reducing data traffic between gateway and device, and speeding up the process of dealing with the problem. An example is demonstrated with a laboratory test process where fault scenarios have been imitated.


Alpha-amylase (AMY) and cathepsin-L (CTSL) were selected as candidate genes for SNP discovery for growth traits of P. monodon. Six SNPs were found in AMY and three in CTSL in P. monodon. Association analyses for the candidate SNPs with important economic traits were performed in populations. That allele A at CTLS-213 SNP, AA, and GA, tended to be associated with increased body weight. Shrimps with genotype GG had significantly smaller CL, CW, and CH values than those with GT and TT genotypes (P < 0.05). While CTLS-820 SNP was found to be significantly associated with CH and FSL (P <0.05). These SNPs will be valid for marker-assisted selection breeding programs in P. monodon.


A new atomic layer deposition (ALD) tool has been designed, constructed, and tested to apply uniform protective coatings over a substrate 36" in diameter. The new tool, named the meter-scale ALD system (MSAS), employs a novel chamber design which utilizes a large substrate to be coated as a wall of the chamber. Conceptual design and implementation of this new tool are discussed with potential applications to large astronomical telescope optics, specifically protective coatings for silver mirrors, and other future large structures. In this work, aluminum oxide was deposited by thermal ALD using trimethylaluminum and water at a low reaction temperature of 60°C. Thickness uniformity across a 36" substrate is within 2.5% of the average film thickness. MSAS aluminum oxide deposition process parameters are compared with those of a conventional 4" wafer-scale ALD tool. The results show promising application of transparent robust dielectric films as uniform barriers across large optical components as well as multiple wafer assemblies encountered in semiconductor processing.


This discussion of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in less developed countries covers incidence/prevalence, antimicrobial resistance, sequelae, future trends, and new opportunities for STD control -- technological changes, health service changes, and social and political changes. For most countries, current, population-based information on STD is lacking, yet STDs appear to be common problems in nearly all countries. The prevalence of gonococcal infection in non-STD clinic populations has been as high as 5-20%, and incidence estimates made in a few settings have ranged from 3-10% per annum. These observations may overrepresent the STD problem, yet they have been identified in countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The prevalence of reactive serological tests for syphilis among antenatal clinic attendees has been as high as 10-15% in some countries of Africa and the Western Pacific. Chancroid infection is extremely common in many of the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Penicillinase-producing "N. gonorrhoeae" (PPNG) infections are a dramatic example of the emergence and worldwide dissemination of resistant gonococci since 1976. At this time PPNG isolates constitute over 10% of all gonococcal infections in nearly all southeast Asian and Africa settings where this problem has been explored. PPNG cause more than 50% of gonococcal infections in some settings. As a result of increasing PPNG prevalence, penicillin, previously the standard therapy for gonorrhea, has been replaced by alternative agents in many settings. A variety of antimicrobial agents are effective for PPNG infections, but these are too expensive or unavailable in many developing countries. Sequelae of STD produce enormous direct and indirect costs. Acute pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) caused by gonorrhea, chlamydia, and other STD agents is common throughout the world. In developing countries ectopic pregnancy is a common surgical emergency. Improved diagnostic tests, new approaches to treatment of STD, and development of vaccines provide opportunities for better STD control, as have changes in health care delivery. The promotion of the primary health care concept, a shift in emphasis of the international family planning programs, as well as a focus on support systems of health programs all are crucial to STD efforts, and their improvement enhances STD control possibilities. Also, greater discussion of the STD health problems has led to more serious consideration of these diseases and their control.


Traditionally, conservation has been mainly addressed in relation to large pristine ecosystems such as forests that deliver a wide variety of ecosystem services. This perception of large green patches providing more services seems to be strongly entrenched in the minds of people. So much so, that even though cities comprise mainly of several small neighbourhood parks and a few large heritage parks, the large parks seem to attract the attention and support of naturalists, ecologists, and citizens. The large parks, undoubtedly, provide a wider range of services as compared to small ones. However, small parks also provide services that benefi t the neighbourhood society, which cannot be undervalued. Apart from recreational services, our field surveys show that these small parks are important pockets for migratory birds and other local biodiversity. This study, through social surveys with park users across the city of Bengaluru, attempts to understand people's perception towards a gradient of green spaces—'forests, heritage parks, and neighbourhood parks'.


The utility model provides a magnetic resonance receiving coil combining structure which is formed by the interconnection of at least one rigid component and at least one soft component, wherein the rigid component and the soft component all comprises internal conductor layers. The internal conductor layer of the rigid component is electrically conducted with the internal conductor layer of the soft component. The utility model uses the reasonable assembly of the rigid component and the soft component, thus a magnetic resonance receiving coil not only can realize complex shapes for satisfying the detection requirements of a patient's different parts, but also can provide favorable comfortable feeling and tolerance.


Objectives There has been limited research on the acceptability of breast reconstruction (BR) to breast cancer patients. We performed interviews to explore breast cancer patients' acceptability of BR. Design Qualitative study. Setting Recruitment from six Ontario hospitals across the province (Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Thunder Bay and Windsor) as well as key breast cancer organisations between November 2017 and June 2018. Participants Women of any age with a diagnosis of breast cancer planning to undergo or having undergone a mastectomy with or without BR. Intervention Sixty-minute semi-structured interviews were analysed using qualitative descriptive methodology that draws on inductive thematic analysis. Outcome In the telephone interviews, participants discussed their experience with breast cancer and accessing BR, focusing on the acceptability of BR as a surgical option post-mastectomy. Results Of the 28 participants, 11 had undergone BR at the time of the interview, 5 at the time of mastectomy and 6 at a later date. Four inter-related themes were identified that reflected women's evolving ideas about BR as they progressed through different stages of their disease and treatment. The themes we developed were: (1) cancer survival before BR, (2) the influence of physicians on BR acceptability, (3) patient's shift to BR acceptance and (4) women's need to justify BR. For many women, access to BR surgery became more salient over time, thus adding a temporal element to the existing access framework. Conclusion In our study, women's access to BR was negatively influenced by the poor acceptability of this surgical procedure. The acceptability of BR was a complex process taking place over time, from the moment of breast cancer diagnosis to BR consideration. BR access may be improved through enhancing patient acceptability of BR. We suggest adapting the current access to care frameworks by further developing the concept of acceptability.


Recently, electrical sensing methods for tiny objects, such as microparticles, cells, viruses, and allergen particles, have attracted much attention. However, the details of microfluidic devices ha...


assess To find the association between Quality of and To find the association between To find the association between various domains of Quality of Life and among CKD the correlation between domains of quality of and Biochemical and


IMPORTANCE
Free-tissue transfer for head and neck reconstruction has evolved since the mid-1950s. A variety of different recipient arteries and veins have been described for use in head and neck reconstruction. In our experience, the internal mammary artery (IMA) and internal mammary vein (IMV) have become increasingly important for achieving successful microvascular reconstruction.

OBJECTIVE
To illustrate the efficacy of the IMA and IMV recipient vessels in head and neck reconstruction, highlighting the different techniques used to harvest these vessels and outline decision making when approaching a neck where commonly used vessels are unavailable.

DESIGN
Retrospective medical record review.

SETTING
Outpatient clinic setting.

PARTICIPANTS
All free-tissue transfers performed between 2005 and 2011. All patients in whom the IMA or IMV recipient vessels were used were included.

INTERVENTIONS
Twelve cases were performed with IMA and IMV harvest.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Donor site, flap used, recipient artery and vein, success of transfer, flap survival, and presence of donor site complications.

RESULTS
The IMA and IMV were harvested in 12 patients, with 11 successful free-tissue transfers. In 1 patient, the vessels were unusable, and a regional tissue transfer was performed.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
The IMA and IMV are excellent recipient vessels for use in head and neck reconstruction and should be considered for use in challenging reconstructive cases.


We propose a novel methodology for improving the rate and consistency of reinforcement learning in partially observable (foggy) environments, under the broader umbrella of robust latent representations. The present work addresses partially observable environments, which violate the canonical Markov assumptions. We propose adaptations for any on-policy model-free deep reinforcement learning algorithm, in order to improve training in partially observable situations: (i) recurrent layers for including information from previous observations, (ii) predicting the step reward and the next latent representation as auxiliary outputs from the same latent space as used for inferring the action, and (iii) modification of the loss function to penalise errors in the two auxiliary outputs, in addition to the reward-based gradients used for policy training. We show that the proposed changes substantially improve learning in several environments over vanilla Proximal Policy Optimisation (PPO) and other baselines in literature, especially in known challenging environments with hard exploration.


BLOOD BANKING FOR THE HOSPITAL LABORATORY : state of the art discussions from the technical improvement service , BLOOD BANKING FOR THE HOSPITAL LABORATORY : state of the art discussions from the technical improvem... , کتابخانه مرکزی دانشگاه علوم پزشکی ایران


Tuberculosis has been declared as a "global emergency" by WHO. Various conventional diagnostic techniques used for the successful isolation of mycobacteria are time consuming and Low in sensitivity. Many attempts have been made to develop rapid sero-diagnostic techniques with the production of commercial kits to be used in the clinical laboratories. This study investigates the efficacy of such a test based on the antibody levels to Ac,o antigen of the mycobacterium for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. The test kit is a manufactured product supplied by Anda Biologicals, France. The study was pe1formed on 80 subjects including 20 controls. Taking AFB smear I culture as 'gold standard' test sensitivity and specificity of the kit was calculated. Of the 30 AFB and culture positive, 24 cases were found positive with Anda giving sensitivity of 80% while out of 20 control cases which had no clinical signs I symptom or history of TB disease or exposure. 3 were positive giving a false positive percentage of 15%. Specificity was calculated as 85%. Of the JO patients treated for TB and at the time of testing negative for AFB and culture, 90% sensitivity was reported. BCG vaccinated positive pulmonary TB cases gave 83.33% sensitivity, while BCG negative TB positive cases showed 82.3% sensitivity. BCG negatii·e and TB negative cases gave 15. 78% positive Anda test result. Male and female results did not show significant variation. Since all organisms isolated were mycobacteriwn tuberculosis interspecificity could not be determined with this trial


Precise timing is an extremely important part in the cache timing attack. We usually use the time stamp counter (TSC) to timing the cache access on the x86 platform. To overcome the differences between the ARM platform and x86 platform, we show in this paper about how to implement precise cache timing on Android devices by using the cycle counter register (CCNT register), which is a part of the performance-monitor register (PMR). To show the timing result directly on the device screen, wemade an android application.


Objective To approach the clinical efficacy of the treatment of humeral shaft fracture by interlocking intramedullary nail.Method The experiences in the treatment of 21 cases of humeral shaft fracture by interlocking intramedullary nail in our hospital were summarized and retrospective analysis of prognosis was made.The effects of surgery,such as the operation time,the healing rate,the healing time,radial nerve injury,bone non-union,and shoulder elbow dysfunction were evaluated.Results Intramedullary nail with enough strong fixation could load early and with good recovery function.There was no delayed union,nonunion and malunion or infection in all the cases.Shoulder function was assessed by Neer′s score,13 cases showed excellent results(61.9%),7 showed good(33.3%),1 showed fair(4.8%),none showed poor results.The activities of elbow joint was normal without adverse effects.Conclusion Interlocking intramedullary nail is a reliable method for humeral shaft fracture.The methods have fewer complications,higher bone healing rate and better functional recovery.


Emulating the global transitions of synchronous cellular automata (CAs), like the well-known Game of Life (GL), is a conventional scheme for computing on asynchronous cellular automata (ACAs). Especially, the GL can be completely simulated by an ACA with Moore neighborhood (Lee et al., 2004), which requires 8 states per cell and hundreds of transition rules. The simulation can be made much more efficient if we employ a continuous block of cells in an ACA to emulate each cell in the GL, by laying out a logic circuit on every block to accomplish the functionality of a GL's cell. Based on an efficient circuit scheme (Lee et al., 2014), we show that the GL can be embedded into a simpler ACA with von Neumann neighborhood that takes 5 cell states and tens of transition rules.


In order to measure the link's interference in static heterogeneous wireless networks, we need to know its context information, but the context information can not be informed before the link allocates the time slot. Because of the highly inadequate collection and the use of traditional scheduling algorithms for link interference information, which severely limits their performance, this paper proposes the context-aware greedy scheduling algorithm. This paper analyses the cumulative effect of interference and the sequence detection feature of the serial interference cancellation (SIC, successive interference cancellation). The algorithm researches the strategy of choosing time slot, defines tolerance to measure the saturation of the link set and gives two kinds of new heuristic time slot selection mechanism. Finally, network simulator (NS 2) conducts simulation experiments which adopt performance evaluation as throughput to assess the performance of scheduling algorithm of this paper in the case of a single multi-hop. The experiments show that: the scheduling performance of context-aware greedy scheduling algorithm in heterogeneous static wireless network has been improved.


It is with great pleasure that we introduce this Special Issue on "Homeostasis: Metals and Cellular Redox and Immunity Status" [...].


This article argues that the study of popular culture should move beyond purely representational and semiotic analysis, and acknowledge the 'social' elements that have accrued to popular culture in a world of much increased mobility. As such, the author argues that tourism and popular culture are increasingly overlapping and influencing each other, and that scholars need to acknowledge this and adjust their strategies of engagement accordingly. Such engagement should extend to how soft power drives tourism and culture, and how the overlaps between tourism and culture create channels of influence in both directions. Examples are provided from Japan that illustrate the fusing of tourism and popular culture, including Anime Pilgrimages in which domestic and international fans travel to real settings and locations of anime features and series, virtual pop concerts, and outdoor Projection Mapping light shows.


Economic development and fiscal structural reform has spawned fiscal expenditure competition between local governments of our country. Based on the theoretical analysis,this paper builds a β-convergence measurement model to inspect whether there exist fiscal expenditure competition between local governments. And using balanced panel data including 58 counties of Zhejiang Province from 2003 to 2012,we conduct an empirical research. Results suggest that there has obvious expenditure competition between county governments of Zhejiang province. And the growth of per capita fiscal expenditure is converging at the rate of 1.8%. The growth of per capita fiscal expenditure between county governments within the west and north regions of Zhejiang province are converging at the rate of 3.3% and 2.9%.However,the growth of per capita fiscal expenditure between county governments within the east and south regions of Zhejiang province are showing divergent trends. In consideration of the factors of economic,society and politics,the county itself also exist convergence of fiscal expenditure. The Medical standards,trade openness,per capita revenue and other influence factors have significant impact on the growth of per capita fiscal expenditure of county governments.


The present invention relates to an yttrium-aluminum modified chromium carbonitride / nitride composite coating deposition process and nano aims through silicon nitride and aluminum chromium carbon nano composite design, carbonitride forming nanocrystalline Cr-Al composite structure of amorphous silicon nitride nano implant to improve hardness of the coating while taking into account the toughness and the bonding strength of the coating and the substrate, while introducing the rare earth element Y to further improve the mechanical properties and resistance to high temperature coatings oxidation, to obtain a strong adhesion, high hardness, good toughness, low coefficient of friction, the thermal stability of high-speed steel protrusion, carbide cutting tools, dies nano composite coating. Chromium aluminum yttrium coatings comprising bonding layer, yttrium aluminum chromium nitride buffer layer and the nano-composite layer; the obtained coating film / substrate binding strength of 40-90N, 10g load surface hardness of the composite 40-65GPa, and GCr15 friction coefficient of distribution of 0.2 to 0.5.


The controlled preparation of the excited state in a quantum emitter is a prerequisite for its usage as single-photon sources - a key building block for quantum technologies. In this paper we propose a coherent excitation scheme using off-resonant pulses. In the usual Rabi scheme, these pulses would not lead to a significant occupation. This is overcome by using a frequency modulated pulse to swing up the excited state population. The same effect can be obtained using two pulses with different strong detunings of the same sign. We theoretically analyze the applicability of the scheme to a semiconductor quantum dot. In this case the excitation is several meV below the band gap, i.e., far away from the detection frequency allowing for easy spectral filtering, and does not rely on any auxiliary particles such as phonons. Our scheme has the potential to lead to the generation of close-to-ideal photons.