Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) serves oncology by imaging tumor blood supply to enable quantification of longitudinal vascular changes and monitoring of treatment responses. Unfortunately, the linear subtraction methods commonly used for preclinical imaging are susceptible to registration errors and motion artifacts that lead to reduced contrast-to-tissue ratios. In this presentation, an alternative approach is proposed to improve discrimination between the contrast and tissue signals by comparing the first-order speckle statistics of images acquired before and after injection of microbubbles. The microbubble signal component is modeled as a temporally varying random process superimposed on a Rayleigh-distributed speckle signal representing backscatter from tissue. Images were acquired at 18 MHz from a murine orthotopic (mammary fat pad) xenograft breast cancer model following a bolus injection of microbubbles. Images were processed using gold-standard pulse inversion (nonlinear CEUS), conventional l...


People, ideas, information, and resources for the study of communication in the 21st century A guide to e book resources in religion and culture studies


In this paper, the quadrotor ESC-motor-propeller subsystem identified and computer model design for the quadrotor fuzzy logic control system is developed. Two controllers based on Fuzzy logic and PID were presented and examined with respect to their best performance. The conducted analysis proved the ability of the designed fuzzy logic controller in controlling the orientation platform angles and providing the promising fundamentals for practical experiments. The presented solution can be applied in both an indoor and outdoor environment. Furthermore, expected challenges for the future are discussed.


In this paper we visualize "Comfortableness" in thermal environments by using PMV(predicted mean vote) and MRT(mean radiant temperature). Velocity and Thermal fields in thermal environments are simulated by using High-Speed GSMAC FEM method with improved k-e turbulence model. PMV and MRT are calculated from the results of the simulation.


Innovative marketing techniques are now essential for raising the value-added of products in the age of globalization and intensifying market competition, particularly in the forestry industry. This article examines numerous cutting-edge marketing techniques that can be used to raise the value-added of forestry products while taking into account sustainable business practices. This study uses a literature review methodology to look at contemporary writings on marketing tactics, the added value of forestry goods, and the idea of sustainable business. The study's findings suggest that integrating digital technology, in-depth market knowledge, and sustainable practices might lead to efficient marketing methods that enhance the value-added of forestry goods. Furthermore, including sustainable business practices into marketing plans can improve customer confidence in brands, the longevity of natural resources, and brand reputation. In order to create greater value-added and sustainable enterprises, this article offers strategic advice for forestry sector stakeholders to adapt and adopt innovation in their marketing strategies.


In this paper, the classical Lorenz model is under investigation, in which a periodic heating term replaces the constant one. Applying the variable heating term causes time-dependent behaviors in the Lorenz model. The time series produced by this model are chaotic; however, they have fixed point or periodic-like qualities in some time intervals. The energy dissipation and equilibrium points are examined comprehensively. This modified Lorenz system can demonstrate multiple kinds of coexisting attractors by changing its initial conditions and, thus, is a multi-stable system. Because of multi-stability, the bifurcation diagrams are plotted with three different methods, and the dynamical analysis is completed by studying the Lyapunov exponents and Kaplan-Yorke dimension diagrams. Also, the attraction basin of the modified system is investigated, which approves the appearance of coexisting attractors in this system.


For distribution network with a large number of distributed generation, the output fluctuation of distributed power sources and load variation will cause voltage over-limit. Aiming at AC voltage control of AC/DC hybrid distribution network, this paper proposes the hierarchical voltage control framework. Based on bus voltage level, we construct typical scenes while the voltage is normal, mild over-limit and severe over-limit. Under normal scene, the paper proposes to improve the dynamic reactive power reserve capacity of distribution network through global optimization. Under voltage mild over-limit scene, the coordinated strategy of centralized/local control is implemented to correct bus voltage which is slightly deviated. Under voltage severe over-limit scene, the paper proposed to reduce voltage over-limit level into normal state by rapid emergency support of reactive power of VSC (Voltage Source Converter). Finally, based on practical network the simulation is performed to validate the rationality and efficiency of the proposed strategy.


In the striatum, DARPP‐32 (dopamine‐ and cAMP‐regulated phosphoprotein of 32 kDa) is highly expressed by virtually all projection medium‐sized spiny neurons. cAMP‐dependent phosphorylation of DARPP‐32 is stimulated via activation of dopamine D1 receptors in striatonigral neurons, and via activation of adenosine A2A receptors in striatopallidal neurons. In this study, we have examined the contribution of μ‐, δ‐ and κ‐opioid receptors to the regulation of DARPP‐32 phosphorylation, in rat striatal slices. The results show that, at low concentrations (100 pm–1 nm), the μ‐opioid agonist, Tyr‐D‐Ala‐Gly‐N‐Me‐Phe‐glycinol (DAMGO), inhibits the increase in DARPP‐32 phosphorylation induced by activation of D1, but not by activation of A2A receptors. Conversely, the δ‐receptor agonist, Tyr‐D‐Pen‐Gly‐Phe‐D‐Pen (DPDPE), inhibits DARPP‐32 phosphorylation induced by activation of A2A, but not by activation of D1 receptors. The κ‐receptor agonist, U50488, does not affect DARPP‐32 phosphorylation induced by either D1 or A2A agonists. Thus, μ‐opioid receptors interact with dopamine D1 receptors on striatonigral neurons, whereas δ‐opioid receptors interact with adenosine A2A receptors on striatopallidal neurons. These results suggest that regulation of DARPP‐32 phosphorylation is involved in mediating some of the effects exerted by enkephalin on striatal medium‐sized spiny neurons.


ABSTRACT There is a burgeoning literature on how political engagement has changed as a result of social media. The research on interest groups and social media, however, has primarily focused on describing the extent to which traditional interest groups have joined popular social networking sites, with less focus on how this new media has led to the creation of new interest groups and influenced policy change. This essay reviews the literature on the relationship between interest groups and social media while proposing some ways to move the research agenda forward. There is a particular need for research that seeks to explain how interest groups use social media to influence policy and engage with stakeholders.


Local thermal equilibrium is an often-used hypothesis when studying heat transfer in porous media. Examination of non-equilibrium phenomena shows that this hypothesis is usually not valid during rapid heating or cooling. The results from this theoretical study con®rm that local thermal equilibrium in a  ̄uidized bed depends on the size of the layer, mean pore size, interstitial heat transfer coecient, and thermophysical properties. For a porous medium subject to rapid transient heating, the existence of the local thermal equilibrium depends on the magnitude of the Sparrow number and on the rate of change of the heat input. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


Today's librarians are expected to be aware of the needs of their patrons, not just at the reference desk, but also in terms of the collection. While there are several articles written about collection development and the many tools available, few address how to take advantage of local resources to develop a patron profile. The purpose of this article is to discuss local collection development tools available to librarians on their college or university campus.


History of Political Thought. By R. G. GETTELL. (New York: The Century Co. 1924. Pp. xi, 511.) American political scientists have had no satisfactory textbook on the history of political thought. Books we have had, many excellent ones indeed, on particular phases of the subject, but these could not meet the needs of the teacher who wished to introduce his pupils to the study of political thought by a general survey of its history. Dunning provided an illuminating commentary on the writings of the most eminent political thinkers, but that is not a history of political thought. Pollock and others have furnished suggestive interpretations of the salient political ideas of ancient and modern times, but their contributions do not constitute a history of political thought. It may well be suspected that no adequate history of political thought will ever be written in any one volume, for such a history would require meticulous research into the daily lives of peoples as well as the writings of scholars and the policies of ecclesiastics, statesmen, and princes. Professor Gettell has not attempted to do this. His book deals mainly with the literature which has been made by the successive generations of writers on politics. But he explains and interprets that literature in the light of the conditions under which it was written. It would not be possible in one volume to present both a guide to all the noteworthy literature and an account of the various environments which give the literature its significance. Professor Gettell has chosen, wisely as it seems to the reviewer, to expand his treatment of the literature at the cost of some neglect of important aspects of the environment. Since he must leave not a little to the teacher, he has left that which most needs the services of the teacher. The result is a text which will be gratefully received by the teachers of political theory in American colleges and universitites. In a work of this kind there is much room for differences of judgment on problems of organization and the classification of material. Should


FOR SOME TIME it has been clear that further reductions in operative risk and operative mortality no longer depend solely upon the development of new surgical techniques. The rapid advances in anxsthesia and in knowledge of the body's fluid requirements have already done much in this direction, and now increasing attention is being paid to nutrition in surgical patients. There are a number of reasons for this new interest. Many conditions with which surgeons have to deal, such as renal calculi, pathological conditions of the eye, and cholecystitis, etc., have, as their background, disturbances of metabolism; operation and trauma themselves produce profound metabolic changes which only proper feeding can correct and many post-operative complications are the direct results of these disturbances. Though the importance of nutrition has been realised throughout the ages, the scientific approach to the subject began less than 150 years ago. In the first quarter of the 19th Century foods were divided into albuminous, saccharin and oily. From then on quantitative studies of proteins, sugar and fats as regards their intake and metabolism proceeded. By the end of this century the work of Lunin and Hopkins opened a new era with knowledge of the vitamins. During the first half of the 20th Century there has been a rapid development in knowledge of these accessory food factors. Vitamins A, B, D, E, K and P have been studied, while a number of substances such as riboflavin, nicotinic acid and choline have been isolated and classified under this heading. It would be unwise to believe that we had yet reached the end of this list. During the same period the importance of certain amino acids which cannot be synthesized in the body was appreciated. Numerous investigations were also carried out into the intake and metabolism of certain elements such as calcium and iron and finally, during more recent years, certain trace elements, such as copper and cobalt, have been established as being important in human metabolism. The interaction of all these varying components is extremely complicated. Platt and Lu (12), for example, have shown that the clinical appearance of one vitamin deficiency state can mask and suppress others; the effects of thiamine lack appear to depend partly on carbohydrate intake and it seems probable that under certain circumstances, the body can synthesize substances hitherto regarded as vitamins. Inability to assimilate present knowledge, because of its complexity and incompleteness, has tended to dull our interest in nutrition. One thing


Conclusion The results strongly support the probability that changes in pH can determine the directional action of the reversible ferment, urease. Toward the alkaline side of the isoelectric range the tendency to convert urea into (NH4)2C03 predominates; toward the acid side the tendency to synthesize urea is more pronounced. In conclusion the writer wishes to express his gratitude to Dr. M. Garcia Banus for his advice and supervision of the work.


Considerable progress has been made in reducing the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of several cancers across the United States in recent decades. Nevertheless, the progress has been uneven with many areas of persistent disparities based on racial/ethnic, rural/urban, and geographical factors. In many cases, these determinants of disparities intersect to increase the overall burden of cancer on affected populations. The intersectionality of these determinants ‐ race, class, and gender – interact and overlap with genomic factors. Thus dedicated resources and funding are required to dissect the roles of these factors and the genomic inheritance.


The ren in-angio tens in sys tem (RAS) i s an important part icipant in both shortand longte rm regula t ion of a r te r ia l b lood pressure (1). It acts synergistically with the sympathet ic nervous sys tem and s t imulates aldosterone secretion; it plays a central role in the control of sodium excretion and fluid volume as well as of vascular tone (2). Thus, abnormal i t i es o f the RAS are apparen t in severa l fo rms of human hyper tens ion , edematous s ta tes such as conges t ive hear t fa i lure and renal fa i lure (3) .


This guide is intended for every programmer, engineer, technical writer and manager working in the software development field. It provides a step-by-step methodology for rigorously documenting a project from inception through analysis, design, programming, testing and implementation. This structured approach prescribes standards for preparing useful documents during each phase of the software development cycle. The book addresses both traditionally developed systems as well as those being built using the latest CASE technologies.


In this paper, the wavelet threshold denoising method was used into the filtered back-projection algorithm of imaging reconstruction. To overcome the drawbacks of the traditional soft- and hard-threshold functions, a modified wavelet threshold function was proposed. The modified wavelet threshold function has two threshold values and two variants. To verify the feasibility of the modified wavelet threshold function, the standard test experiments were performed by using the software platform of MATLAB. Experimental results show that the filtered back-projection reconstruction algorithm based on the modified wavelet threshold function has better reconstruction effect because of more flexible advantage.


AbstractIt has been an engineering practice that highway agencies collect traffic data using highway traffic monitoring techniques such as permanent traffic counts (PTCs) and weigh in motion (WIM)....


The cuprate high temperature superconductors develop spontaneous charge density wave(CDW) order below a temperature TCDW and over a wide range of hole doping (p). [...]


James Campbell High School (JCHS) is an urban/suburban high school located in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. In the 2005-2006 school year, JCHS served 2200 students from Ewa/ Ewa Beach along the west shore of Pearl Harbor. Thirty-five per cent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The student population is remarkably diverse, with 44 per cent Filipino, 15 per cent part-Hawaiian, seven per cent Caucasian, five per cent Samoan, three per cent each of African American, Hawaiian, Hispanic, and Japanese, with Korean, Portuguese, Chinese, Native American, Indo-Chinese and others making up the remaining 17 per cent. Ten per cent of students are non-native English speakers.


The study examined factors affecting the academic performance of female students in
Mekelle University, Ethiopia. A total of 392 regular undergraduate students were sampled
using (i) stratified random sampling-since students stratified into heterogeneous colleges
and departments, (ii) proportional sampling method since the number of students differ in all
departments, and (iii) simple random sampling to select respondents. Students were
ranked from 1-4, whereas: 4= CGPA>=3.75, 3 = CGPA =3.5, 2=CPA<3.5
and CGPA>=3.25, 1 = CGPA<3.25. An ordered logit model was used to analyze data.
Results indicated that academic background of students such as National examination
results of grade 10 and grade 12, study strategy, choice of department, and involvement in
network studying system were significant determinants of academic performance. Socioeconomic
characteristics of parents and tutorial class did not have a significant impact on
academic performance. Strategies should be developed to allow weak students to learn and
take up study and time management strategies employed by high academic performers.


We develop a novel framework to construct and analyze finite valued mechanisms using tropical convex geometry. Our main results geometrically characterize all possible incentive compatible mechanisms together with their payments on arbitrary type spaces. We obtain a geometric interpretation of revenue equivalence which allows for a more refined analysis than previous results. A distinct feature of our theory is that it is constructive.


This chapter outlines some of the research and practice which underlies the system development and experiments described in later chapters. For good and largely non-overlapping reviews of research in the area three useful references are Bookstein on probability and fuzzy set applications to information retrieval [B00K85], Belkin and Croft on retrieval techniques CBELK87a] and Efthimiadis and Robertson on feedback and interaction [EFTH89]. The central problem in information retrieval is matching, or helping the user to match, the user's terminology to the terminology used in describing (indexing) the records which are relevant to the query. There is an ideal, and unattainable, search on a perfect system which finds all the items which are about the user's topic, and no other items. In practice things are very different. Relevant documents may be described in many different ways. Different searchers express the same search differently. Documents may be inadequately, inconsistently or incorrectly indexed. It is clearly impossible in general to achieve an ideal search. In any case many users do not want an exhaustive search. For our present purposes there are just two categories of document retrieval techniques. The first is typified by conventional reference retrieval systems, DIRLOG for example, which usually require boolean search statements in the form of words separated by RND, OR, NOT, and other, stronger, RND-like connectives Like WITH and RDJ. These will be referred to as boolean systems and they use what Belkin and Croft call exact match retrieval techniques. Most of the more recent online catalogues fall into this category, although. — i are not in most cases expected to be able to construct boolean searches. Some onLine catalogues only allow searching on one "feature" at a time, where a feature might be a subject heading or a single title or subject word. Others assume an RND between the words of the user's search. The distinguishing characteristic of boolean systems is that a search either "succeeds" or fails. Every search results in a set of records Can empty set in the case of failure) which exactly match the search. The records in the retrieved set are unordered in the sense that they alL match the request to the same degree, although they may be ordered in some other way-alphabetically, or by date or accession number. CNote that this category includes systems where the search key is chosen by the user from a displayed list. It includes systems …


This paper presented the allocation of available local distributed energy resources with the aim of maximizing the use of renewable energy resources for Khun Pae Village in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which is considered a microgrid. As a reference, a microgrid simulation was done by HOMER Pro with black box code utilization. This method integrates a new optimal microgrid controller dispatching design using a Modified Heuristic into the existing HOMER scheme to find the minimized Net Present Cost (NPC) and Cost of Energy (COE). The results showed that the NPC and COE based on the Modified Heuristic technique provided lower costs than those obtained from HOMER Pro Load Following. It was also shown that the proposed optimization technique provides smoother and lower operating costs as well as annual throughput to extend battery lifetime.


An attempt is made to provide an overview of the total-quality-management (TQM) process. TQM advocates continuous process improvement through worker involvement in manpower, methods, machine, and material improvements. In a TQM, environment standards are continually challenged and improved, and new standards are established only to be challenged and improved again. This loop never ceases; thus, improvement is created. TQM is now receiving serious consideration as a solution to the competitiveness issue as other countries utilizing it have undermined US leadership in world markets.<<ETX>>


Using the models of elastic and dielectric continuum, the system of differential equations is obtained, the exact analytical solutions of which describe the elastic displacement of the medium for nitride-based semiconductor nanostructure and the piezoelectric effect, which is caused by shear acoustic phonons. The theory of the shear acoustic phonons spectrum caused by the piezoelectric potential was developed. It is shown that shear acoustic phonons do not interact with electrons due to the deformation potential, but such interaction can occur due to the piezoelectric potential. Using the method of temperature Green's functions and Dyson equation, expressions that describe the temperature dependences of the electronic level shifts and their decay rates are obtained. Calculations of the spectra of electrons, acoustic phonons, and characteristics that determine their interaction at different temperatures were carried out using the example of physical and geometric parameters of typical AlN/GaN nanostructure, which can function as an element of a separate cascade of a quantum cascade laser or detector.


Extreme ultraviolet (EUV; 13.6 eV <hν ≲ 100 eV) and X-rays in the 0.1–2 keV band can heat the surfaces of disks around young, low-mass stars to thousands of degrees and ionize species with ionization potentials greater than 13.6 eV. Shocks generated by protostellar winds can also heat and ionize the same species close to the star/disk system. These processes produce diagnostic lines (e.g., [Ne ii] 12.8 μm and [O i] 6300 Å) that we model as functions of key parameters such as EUV luminosity and spectral shape, X-ray luminosity and spectral shape, and wind mass loss rate and shock speed. Comparing our models with observations, we conclude that either internal shocks in the winds or X-rays incident on the disk surfaces often produce the observed [Ne ii] line, although there are cases where EUV may dominate. Shocks created by the oblique interaction of winds with disks are unlikely [Ne ii] sources because these shocks are too weak to ionize Ne. Even if [Ne ii] is mainly produced by X-rays or internal wind shocks, the neon observations typically place upper limits of ≲1042 s−1 on the EUV photon luminosity of these young low-mass stars. The observed [O i] 6300 Å line has both a low velocity component (LVC) and a high velocity component. The latter likely arises in internal wind shocks. For the former we find that X-rays likely produce more [O i] luminosity than either the EUV layer, the transition layer between the EUV and X-ray layer, or the shear layer where the protostellar wind shocks and entrains disk material in a radial flow across the surface of the disk. Our soft X-ray models produce [O i] LVCs with luminosities up to 10−4 L☉, but may not be able to explain the most luminous LVCs.


This article examines the innovativeness of third age entrepreneurs compared to other categories of entrepreneurs. The empirical study was conducted on a database of 69054 entrepreneurs in 64 countries over the period 2001-2008, drawn from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey. The results show that older entrepreneurs are less innovative than younger entrepreneurs, both in terms of product innovation and process innovation.


Cinematography has evolved as a set of guidelines for filming motion pictures that ensures a standard is adhered to and the events are presented in a coherent manner. Principles of cinematography can be employed such that supplementary information is communicated when necessary and the viewer does not become disoriented due to the camera work. We propose that these and other principles of cinematography can be applied to virtual environments, in particular 3D computer games where disorientation of the user is often an issue. This paper looks at what has already been implemented in the domain of camera control through cinematography for virtual environments and outlines our future work.


An optical fiber composite overhead ground wire (OPGW) distributed ice-coating monitoring scheme based on Brillouin optical time domain reflectometer (BOTDR) temperature measurement is proposed and demonstrated. The thermodynamic factors affecting the temperature of the OPGW cable are analyzed, and the temperature variation characteristics of the icing and non-icing sections of the OPGW cable with different icing thicknesses are analyzed via finite-element analysis. The results of an OPGW icing experiment indicate that when the ambient temperature changes, there is an obvious hysteresis characteristic between the temperature changes of the icing and non-icing sections of the OPGW cable, which is related to the thickness of the ice. Thus, we propose a distributed OPGW cable icing monitoring system based on BOTDR temperature monitoring.


Two whitefly species, Bemisia afer (Priesner & Hosny) and B. tabaci (Gennadius) were used in transmission experiments with Cassava brown streak virus (CBSV) (Ipomovirus; Potyviridae). Adults of whiteflies were given access to CBSV by containing them in clip cages on CBSV-infected cassava plants. Whiteflies were then transferred, together or separately, to CBSD-susceptible cassava plants of var. 'Albert' in a controlled environment. In glasshouse experiments, whiteflies were caged with CBSV-infected and virus-free cassava plants. Transmission of CBSV was sporadic and occurred in three of seven experiments when inoculated by B. afer and B. tabaci or B. tabaci alone, but not by B. afer alone. However, rate of transmission was low (maximum 22%) even when using high whitefly numbers of up to 120 per target plant. Successful transmission was confirmed by the detection of CBSV by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Spread of cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) in the field in Tanzania coincided with increases in whitefly numbers; further supporting the evidence that B. tabaci is a vector of CBSV. The results of this study establish for the first time that B. tabaci is the vector of CBSV, similar to other ipomoviruses.


In Japan, severe weather phenomena such as heavy rains and tornados sometimes cause meteorological disasters. In many cases, these are micro scale phenomena in the sense of spatial and temporal resolutions, which make it difficult to detect them with conventional meteorological radars due to their insufficient spatial and temporal resolutions. Therefore, we have been developing meteorological radars with high resolution and accuracy such as phased array radar PAR and Ku-band broad band radar BBR, and radar network systems consisting of multiple PARs and BBRs to realize further enhancement of the radar performance in terms of efficiency and accuracy. These high-resolution radars, however, definitely produce large-volume data, which is unacceptable in a current backbone information network. In order to solve this problem, in this paper, we tackle the compression of the large-volume radar data by using Compressed sensing CS, which can realize highly efficient data compression for sparse signals. When using CS, the radar data are compressed by projecting it onto a randomly generated subspace, and the compressed data are reconstructed by solving a simple i¾?1 optimization problem. We apply the CS-based data compression scheme to measured radar reflectivity factor, and evaluate the relation between compression ratio and reconstruction accuracy. For the compression ratio of 0.3, rainfall rate calculated from the reconstructed radar reflectivity factor has a mean error of -0.89 mm/h with more than 30 dBZ precipitation.


Mobile communication plays a vital role in disaster recovery management during emergency situations. It is helpful in situations where the system has less robust and less flexible infrastructure. Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET) are wireless networks comprise of a collection of mobile nodes with no fixed infrastructure. Due to their decentralized, self-configuring and dynamic nature, MANETs offer several advantages and are easy to install. However, the rapid growth in number and multiplicity of real-time network applications has made it imperative to consider the impact of end-to-end delay requirements of traffic on network. The research papers are published to increase the network performance on the network layer. In this paper, we propose a Reliable and Efficient Load balancing Technique based on AODV Protocol in Mobile Ad hoc Networks. In this protocol, a weight function based on route length, traffic load, energy level and freshness of each route is calculated and stored in the route cache. We propose a congestion aware multi-path routing protocol for load balancing in MANET. When the source node wants to forward the data packet to the destination, it uses the reactive route discovery technique where the multiple paths are well-known using multi-path Dijkstra algorithm. In this paper, by merging a multipath routing protocol with load balancing concept .One present a new protocol called CAAODV. We use NS-2.34 to simulate the scenario. The simulation's result shows the significant performance enhancement of the network for the multipath routing protocol with load balancing. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed load balanced routing protocol improves packet delivery ratio and reduces the delay.


Electrically heated seats may soon become heated and cooled seats. The design called the CCS module exploits the heat-pump capability of a class of semiconductor thermoelectric devices (TEDs) known as Peltier Junction. Every CCS module contain two TEDs. Heating and cooling occurs through convection and conduction. The heart of the system is the thermoelectric heat pump. This is originally conceived as the sole heating/cooling options for a prototype electric vehicle.


Everyone surely needing exercise, because sport is indeed very useful for maintaining the health of the body.In Indonesia, who does not know sports badminton and Futsal, even almost all Indonesia certainly know sports. Due to the increasingly busy activities, people want a sports game that is practical, namely badminton and Futsal. Badminton and Futsal is one of the sports that are popular with many more. Fans of sports badminton and Futsal quite a lot, especially the youth. During this time, the availability of Badminton and Futsal eld is already quite a lot, but it appears that still haven't been able to meet the needs of consumers, often the hose for one week before, Badminton and Futsal eld already depleted or- dered by users. Meanwhile, the other user anyway waiting for the scheduled use of Badminton and Futsal eld empty or vying to order place. On the location of the settlement is also a growing number of children and adolescents in need of children means exercise and Badminton and Futsal arena play. In the area of oce space is also a potential for badminton and Futsal. This fact shows that it is still revealing the business opportunity for all those who want to try business open badminton and Futsal with relatively price competitive and aordable for consumers. This illustrates how scienti c writing website creation infor- mation and booking eld badminton and Futsal Fantastic Sport using Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 and works under windows operating system. Hopefully this website can help someone who wants to know of information oered on this website.


List of birds and locations contributed by James J. Dinsmore with observers Stephen J. Dinsmore, W. Ross Silcock, Hank Zaletel and Bery Engebretsen. This item was used as supporting documentation for the Iowa Ornithologists' Union Quarterly field report of fall 1995.


We study a model for the ``GSI anomaly'' in which we obtain the time evolution of the population of parent and daughter particles directly in real time, considering explicitly the quantum entanglement between the daughter particle and neutrino mass eigenstates in the two-body decay. We confirm that the decay rate of the parent particle and the growth rate of the daughter particle do not feature a time modulation from interference of neutrino mass eigenstates. The lack of interference is a consequence of the orthogonality of the mass eigenstates. This result also follows from the density matrix obtained by tracing out the unobserved neutrino states. We confirm this result by providing a complementary explanation based on Cutkosky rules applied to the Feynman diagram that describes the self energy of the parent particle.


This study reviews and analyzes the literature on human resource management in entrepreneurial firms; and identifies the theoretical gaps requiring further work. It will contribute by providing an ...


* Corresponding Author: Tourandokht Baluchnejadmojarad, PhD. Address: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Tel: +98 (21) 88058709 E-mail: email@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com Introduction: Synaptic plasticity is inappropriately affected by neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer Disease (AD). In this study, we examined the effect of intrahippocampal amyloid-beta (Aβ1-40) on dentate gyrus Long-term Potentiation (LTP) and presynaptic shortterm plasticity in a rat model of AD.


By using 1% sample data from 1990's census in Beijing and applying multi\|linear regression model,the paper analyses the determinants of age difference between spouses.Moreover,life table technology is also put into use to forecast the possible duration of being widowed.


Frequent and periodic surveys for the collection and study of the leaf spot microfungi infecting variety of the angiosperms from Sagar University campus has resulted into abundant gathering of fungal specimens. The detailed mycotaxonomic study exhibited two undescribed taxa viz., Chaetodiplodia citri sp.nov. and Sporidesmium botanicae sp.nov., collected on Citrus aurantifolia L. (Rutaceae) and Hemidesmus indicus Shultes (Asclepiadaceae) respectively. These are described, illustrated and compared with allied taxa.


A poly(arylene ether) copolymer is the product of oxidative copolymerization of monomers including a monohydric phenol and a dihydric phenol. It has an intrinsic viscosity of about 0.04 to about 0.15 deciliter per gram and, on average, about 1.8 to about 2 hydroxyl groups per molecule. The poly(arylene ether) copolymer is enriched in low molecular weight copolymer chains and copolymer chains that include a terminal unit derived from the dihydric phenol.


In this paper we present a computational approach to the integration of mass customization into the design of novel solutions. We propose the use of entropy as a function of the diversity of solutions that can be generated within a design space. This work demonstrates that the potential of design systems to generate novel solutions can be estimated using complexity measures. This principle is implemented in an evolutionary system for the design of automotive instrument panels that display situation-relevant information in configurations that adapt to traffic conditions and driving actions. This sample application shows that the application of complexity maximization as a selection criterion in evolutionary design systems yields a large variety of solutions of high fitness. We also present guidelines for future developments.


More than ten kinds of drinking water samples were determined with the concentration level of harmful volatile organic pollutants by Purge - trap GC - MS technique. Chloroform, bromdichloromethane and dibromchloromethane were found in more than 50% drinking water samples, the concentration level was 2-30μg/L, it is under the drinking water quality standard and safe for drinking.


The article describes the somatic dysfunction as a unity of structure and function, which can have reversible or irreversible alterations. The possible mechanisms of development of somatic dysfunctions on the local and regional levels are considered. The pathogenesis of somatic dysfunctions is presented as chain of adaptive, compensatory and decompensatory responses.


AbstractDosage forms containing a self-emulsifying system have shown significant promise in improving the in vitro dissolution rate and oral absorption of lipophilic drugs. In such a system, a surfactant, or a surfactant plus medium chain monoglyceride (co-emulsifier), is added to a lipophilic vehicle (oil) containing dissolved drug. In the present study, surfactants with different hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB), fatty acid glycerides (co-emulsifiers) with varying fatty acid (C8-C18) chain length, and lipophilic vehicles (oils) containing different fatty acid (C8-C18) compositions were evaluated for their effectiveness in producing self-emulsifying systems. nis investigation showed that the HLB of the surfactant, as well as the fatty acid chain length of the monoglyceride have a significant effect on the performance of the self-emulsifying system; a surfactant with an HLB in the range of 10–15 and a monoglyceride of medium chain fatty acid (C8-C10) were most effective. Also, there are certain critical...


Rail corrugation often occurs on the high-speed railway, which will affect ride comfort and even the train operation safety in severe condition. Detection of rail corrugation wavelength and depth is absolutely essential for maintenance and safety. A novel method using wheel vibration acceleration is proposed in this paper, in which ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) is employed to estimate the wavelength, and bispectrum features are extracted to recognize the depth with support vector machine (SVM). Firstly, a vehicle-track coupling model considering the rail corrugation of high-speed railway is established to calculate the wheel vibration acceleration. Secondly, the estimation algorithm of wavelength is studied by analyzing the main frequency with EEMD. The optimal parameters of EEMD are selected according to the orthogonal coefficient of decomposition results and the distribution of the extreme points of signal. The depth detection is transformed to a classification problem with SVM. Bispectrum features, which are extracted from the reconstructed signal using the high-frequency components of wheel vibration acceleration, combining with train speed and corrugation wavelength are input into SVM to recognize the rail corrugation depth. Finally, numerical simulation is carried out to verify the accuracy of the proposed estimation method. The simulation results show that the proposed detection algorithm can accurately identify rail corrugation, the estimation error of rail corrugation wavelength is less than 0.25%, and the classification accuracy of rail corrugation depth is more than 99%.


Combustion instability is a major issue facing lean, premixed combustion approaches in modern gas turbine applications. This paper specifically focuses on instabilities that excite transverse acoustic modes of the combustion chamber. Recent simulation and experimental studies have shown that much of the flame response during transverse instabilities is due to the longitudinal fluid motions induced by the fluctuating pressure field above a nozzle. In this study, we analyze the multi-dimensional acoustic field excited by transverse acoustic disturbances interacting with an annular side branch, emulating a fuel/air mixing nozzle. Key findings of this work show that the resultant velocity fields are critically dependent upon the structure of the transverse acoustic field and the nozzle impedance. Significantly, we also show that certain cases can be understood from relatively simple quasi one-dimensional considerations, but that other cases are intrinsically three-dimensional.


Abstract Empathy is simply explained as a social/communication skill of paying attention on other peoples' needs by understanding their feelings. It is well argued that staffs' empathy represents one of the five main dimensions of service quality. Results of the literature review have shown that empathy is more or less underestimated in the services research and in some service areas it is regarded as the least important component among tangibles, reliability, assurance and responsibility. This paper discusses the role of empathic behavior as requirement in sport tourism services, i.e. serving top athletes or teams or dealing with recreational sports tourists. Researchers have developed several methods for training towards a more empathic behavior. Therefore, managers of sport tourism organizations, centers and hotels offering sports may focus on staffs' empathy in order to achieve advanced quality and retain customers.


Over the past several years, extracellular androgen binding macromolecules have been identified that are distinct from the intracellular androgen recep tors. The best characterized of these proteins are testosterone-estradiol binding globulin (TeBG) from serum and "androgen binding protein" (ABP) from testis. In addition, androgen binding proteins have been tenta tively identified in a number of other organs.


The petroleum substances have been used a lot of centuries ago: bitumen has been used in Neolithic Period to fix head's hammer of stone and to set beads. The authors of this paper want to show the knowledge of bitumen and asphalt in South America until the 19t h century through documents of Spaniards conquerors. Besides, we have done a comparative study between different words to design these petroleum products


In an important sense, George W. Cable's The Grandissimes (1880) may be said to be the first "modern" Southern novel. For if the modern Southern novel has been characterized by its uncompromising attempt to deal honestly with the complexity of Southern racial experience, then The Grandissimes was the first important work of fiction written by a Southerner in which that intention is manifested. In this respect, Cable opened up the path along which Ellen Glasgow, William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty, William Styron and others would follow. In unmistakable and uncompromising terms, he dealt with that most pervasive of all Southern social issues, the race question and the role of the Negro in society. If the loss of the Civil War had at last freed the Southern writer from the need to defend Southern racial attitudes, it was Cable who first took advantage of the new freedom. In its own day The Grandissimes was highly praised, and its author compared, and not unfavorably, to Nathaniel Hawthorne himself. Along with Old Creole Days, the volume of short stories that was his first published book, the novel seemed to augur a brilliant career for the young ex-Confederate cavalryman and cotton house clerk now come into national literary prominence. Unfortunately, that promise was never borne out. Cable went on to write seven more novels and numerous short stories before his death in 1925, but nothing that he did was ever to surpass, or even to equal, the literary achievement of his first two books. To explain why Gable failed to develop beyond his first work is more than can be attempted in the confines of a single essay. It involves complex questions of time and place, his relationship to the South and to the Genteel Tradition that dominated American letters during the latter years of the nineteenth century, and, most importantly of all, his own complicated and sometimes even contradictory personality. All the same, if we look carefully at The Grandissimes, both in terms of its successes and its shortcomings, we may discover some clues to the answer. "I meant," Cable wrote later in his life, "to make The Grandissimes as truly a political work as it ever has been called.... I was still very slowly and painfully guessing out the riddle of our Southern question." And again, "I wrote as near to truth and justice as I knew how, upon questions that I saw must be settled by calm debate and cannot be settled by force or silence; questions that will have to be settled thus by the Southern white man in his own conscience before even the North and South can finally settle it between them. This was part of my politics and as a citizen I wrote." But Cable's novel was more than a disquisition on race; it was also the picture of a society in transition, very much a Kulturroman as his friend the novelist H. H. Boyesen had predicted. And although set in New Orleans in 1803, just after the Louisiana Territory had been purchased by the United States from France, its implications were very much for post-Civil War Louisiana. What seems most striking about The Grandissimes today is its rich social texture. Though the story had its romantic elements, in particular the conventional love story plot of the day, more than almost any other Southern novel of its time it was, to use the distinction set forth by Hawthorne in his Preface to The House of the Seven Gables, a Novel, as opposed to a Romance, in that it presumed to deal with the "probable and ordinary course of man's experience" rather than the fanciful, the Marvellous. Not of course that it is a work of Howellsian realism, and still less does it resemble the kind of faithfulness to everyday life of a Sinclair Lewis or a Sherwood Anderson. But its essential fidelity is to the here and now. The dynamics of the story arise from the problems of caste and class, the human beings are portrayed to a remarkable degree as they exist in everyday life. …


Abstract : A new approach to atomic clock classification has been enabled by the application of long-memory, or fractionally integrated, noise constructs. While the spectral properties of the long-memory noises are consistent with the historical 1.f(alpha) approach, they also allow a range of estimation strategies, in both spectral and time domains, for the classification of atomic clock behavior. These fractionally integrated noises are analyzed and applied to atomic timescales in this research, with particular emphasis on a prewhitening technique using fractional differencing which allows the separation of clock noise autocorrelation from clock rate and drift. Results from simulation studies show the utility of the fractional differencing approach both for simple fractionally integrated processes, and more complex processes which are more characteristic of atomic clock noise.


The hybrid material of a copper-based metal-organic framework (MOF-199) and cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) was explored in this research. A highly porous MOF-199 was synthesized from the reaction of copper nitratetrihydrate and 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid by solvothermal method, and CNC was produced by combination method of chemical hydrolysis and mechanical treatment to reach high purity CNC with uniform shape. Physical characterizations of the MOF-199, CNC and MOF-199/CNC were achieved by using avariety of different techniques, including scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), BET surface area. Based on the results by coating CNC on the surface of MOF-199, the porosity of the product increases significantly.


Optical and magneto-optical properties of single crystals of Cr<inf>2</inf>Te<inf>3</inf> and Cr<inf>3</inf>Te<inf>4</inf>, grown by the chemical vapor transport technique, were studied. The reflectivity spectra at normal incidence of both samples were measured at room temperature, and the magneto-optical spectra of the Cr<inf>3</inf>Te<inf>4</inf> were also measured. Spectra of the diagonal and off-diagonal elements of the conductivity tensor were obtained from the measured spectra. These were compared with estimations based on density of state curves calculated by Dijkstra, and showed reasonably good agreement. From these results it is concluded that transitions from Cr<inf>3d</inf> to the Conduction Band for majority spins and Te<inf>5p</inf> to Cr<inf>3d</inf> for minority spins, are responsible for the observed optical absorption and magneto-optical effects.


The aim of this work is to define the relationship of 13 socioeconomic aspects on the entrepreneurial intention of university students in the Department of Quindio (Colombia) who are enrolled in the last term of their degree. A data collection instrument was applied to a sample of 297 students. A total of 254 responses were received through the web page www.encuestafacil.com and 43 responses in physical format. Data were analyzed by means of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Logistic Regression, using spad 5.6 and Statgraphics Centurion 16.1.15 data analysis software. It was found that "the type of university institution" and "having an entrepreneur friend" are the most influential aspects in university students' entrepreneurial intention. In addition, several associations are recognized between the types of qualitative variables; especially those related to a greater business intention among older students of private institutions who count with working experience, belong to the highest socioeconomic strata, who are married and have entrepreneurs as members of their family. No gender influence was observed in the entrepreneurial intention of university students.


In the new historical period,our party has put forward the humanistic governing concept centering around people and the target of construction socialist political civilization, which are the guidance in the administrative refonn of the countryside and the main new task in the political civilization construction of the countryside Party branch.


Fisheries are integral to the subsistence of many states, but particularly to those of small islands such as those in the South Pacific. The international community has recognized the need for management of the ocean's resources and has implemented legal conventions such as the Law of the Sea. Unfortunately, many South Pacific nations are unable to take advantage of this convention due to a lack of personnel trained in ocean law. While financial resources rule out training facilities in each country, a regional training center could be the answer. The rules of international law governing the exploitation of marine resources have been significantly altered since the third Law of the Sea Conference. Among other things, the Law of the Sea Convention approved the creation of a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and recognized the sovereign rights of coastal states over the living and non-living resources within this zone. Fisheries are currently among the most economically significant living resources in the EEZ. Nearly all the member states of the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) (1) have claimed EEZs. A few of them, such as Papua New Guinea, have not yet formally declared EEZs. However, they have claimed fisheries zones of 200 nautical miles with fisheries rights that are zones almost identical to those authorized under the EEZ. In any case, the FFA states that have not yet claimed EEZs are in the process of doing so as part of their overall Law of the Sea Convention implementation programs. One of the major problems facing countries (especially developing ones) that have claimed extended fisheries jurisdiction relates to the shortage of trained legal personnel. This is part of a wider problem. "Experience has shown that the problems of developing nations are both complex and varied, but they tend to revolve around one vital weakness: the shortage, and sometimes the complete lack of trained and experienced personnel" (2). The shortage of experts in fisheries is also due to the relative newness of the field. Further, most of the member states of the FFA may be classified as developing. Their weak economies make it difficult to fund training of nationals or recruiting of foreign expertise. Shepard and Clark (3) identified a number of additional constraints that contribute to the lack of qualified persons in the fisheries industry in the South Pacific region. These constraints, which apply equally to the legal aspects of fisheries, include: the lack of incentives to enter the public service; staff ceilings imposed by governments; and the inadequacy of training facilities. The long-term solution to this problem is for the South Pacific countries to pool their resources together to establish their own training facilities. Already this need has been acknowledged. In 1984, the Commonwealth Secretariat urged the Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting (CHOGRM) (4) members to give high priority to training in all aspects of marine science. "The new oceans regime has endowed coastal states with extensive sovereign rights to explore, exploit, conserve and manage natural resources in the continental shelves and exclusive economic zones. They also obtained the right to exercise jurisdiction with respect to marine scientific research and the protection and preservation of the marine environment. In order to effectively undertake these tasks the coastal states must have sufficient capability. It is therefore essential that each such state begin building an adequate national oceanographic infrastructure composed of trained marine scientists, technicians and adequate research and training facilities" (2). The need to offer training in the legal aspects of fisheries has also been recognized by the South Pacific countries (5). It is essential that the South


Human Gesture Recognition (HGR) has become an increasingly important research area in recent years, driven by the need for more natural and intuitive ways of interacting with machines. Wearable smart devices, such as smartwatches, smart wristbands, and other wrist-worn devices have the potential to enable accurate and efficient gesture recognition in real-world settings. However, equivalent problems, such as object detection in computer vision and audio identification in audio analysis, have obtained enormous advantages from comprehensive datasets over the last years, for instance, ImageNet and AudioSet, accordingly. This paper proposes the structure and the creation of a preliminary version of GestureSet, an HGR large-scale multitask dataset, which includes manually annotated data of gesture events that were collected from wrist-worn devices. In particular, it proposes a hierarchy abstraction schema for the proper dataset structure and instantiates the basis of the dataset through the first HGR task that is related to the collection and annotation of gestures related to allergic rhinitis identification. Thus, through this preliminary version, we describe how the proper dataset structure is divided into different groups, each one including sessions, individual gestures, and pilot data that could be used for evaluating the learning algorithms' performance in real-world scenarios. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt that envisions a unified dataset for various HGR tasks that can find applications in different domains. Our vision, specifically, is for this work to set the basis for the dataset enrichment in a wide range of various tasks, and its data to be used in multiple learning and identification settings, providing circularity in different domains, and enabling reproducibility of the dataset's gestures events.


We would like to acknowledge and thank our participants from Argentina, Egypt, Fiji, Iraq, India, Italy, Kenya, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uruguay and Zimbabwe; as well as our speakers: Sachini Perera (Sri Lanka), Françoise Kpeglo Moudouthe (Cameroon), Dandan Zhang (Taiwan), Yiping Cai (China), Florencia Partenio (Argentina); and moderator María Graciela Cuervo (Dominican Republic).


By heating a simple system only composed of zinc acetate, hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) and water at 50 °C, layered basic zinc salt (LBZS) nanobelts were fabricated. The nanobelts could form a self-standing film by vacuum filtration, and then the film was transformed into a porous ZnO self-standing film by calcining at 200 °C. If the LBZS precursor was heated at 90 °C or 500 °C directly, ZnO microtubes or bottle like microstructures were obtained, respectively. By taking advantage of formaldehyde and ammonium, two products of HMT hydrolysis, Ag nanoparticles were deposited on the nanobelts to form an LBZS/Ag composite film. In the following calcination at 200 °C, a ZnO/Ag nanocomposite self-standing film was produced. The ZnO/Ag nanocomposite film exhibited a much higher photocatalytical ability than the pure ZnO film and other ZnO microstructures.


Starting from the botanical crazes inspired by Linnaeus in the eighteenth century, and exploring the variations it spawned - natural history, landscape architecture, polemical battles over botany's prurience - this study offers a fresh, detailed reading of the courtship novel from Jane Austen to George Eliot and Henry James. By reanimating a cultural understanding of botany and sexuality that we have lost, it provides an entirely new and powerful account of the novel's role in scripting sexualized courtship, and illuminates how the novel and popular science together created a cultural figure, the blooming girl, that stood at the center of both fictional and scientific worlds.


Abstract To determine the validity of the postexercise heart rate as a means of estimating the rate during work, heart rate was recorded at various intervals during recovery from light, moderate, and strenuous work. The error in estimating the exercise heart rate from readings taken during the 10 seconds immediately following strenuous work (180 beats/min.) averaged 2.7%. This increased to 7.6% during the first 10 seconds of recovery from exercise rates of approximately 140 beats / min. If one allowed approximately 4 seconds to locate the pulse and then counted during a 10-second interval, the average underestimation of the exercise heart rate increased to 5.7% in strenuous work and 13.5% in recovery from more moderate exercise. The rate of recovery is not similar for all individuals. This variability may introduce serious errors when the postexercise heart rate is used to infer the heart rate during exercise.


The development of information technology today is very fast, especially with the internet. Whatever we need can be obtained on the Internet. Using the internet as easy as turning the palm of the hand, just by typing the desired web address in a web browser. With the internet all the things to be ecient. We can open a window to the world via the Internet.The purpose of making a web site to facilitate the tourists in terms of access / search for information about tourist attractions in Sukabumi also make a website attractive, dynamic and interactive. Menus are created on this webs ite the Home Page / Index, Port Queen, Situ Mount, Cangkuang, Mountain Mist, Sukabumi Map, Guest Book, Gallery, Transportation, Resto, Hotel. Navigation structure used is a composite structure consisting of navigation non-linear navigation and navigation hierarchy. Software used is PHP, MySQL, Apache, Macromedia MX 2004 Dreamwever. This web address is HTTP: / / dennys.acidblog.net / Rendi The basic concept of scienti c writing is to explain how to create a webs ite an attractive, dynamic and inetraktif for the user. Hopefully with this website can facilitate people in nding information on tours sukabumi.


A new distributed on-line monitoring system of stray current is put forward with its construction.Comparing with the current subway distributed stray current monitoring system,the new one,with a better cost performance,is promising in popularization and application.


We investigate the time dynamics of light-induced desorption of Rb atoms in hollow-core photonic-band-gap fibers and demonstrate all-optical generation of precisely controlled Rb-vapor densities. We also compare the performance of the desorption process in an unmodified fiber with one with an organosilane-coated core, and based on the vapor depletion and recovery behavior, we propose a mechanism to describe the desorption processes. We further demonstrate that high densities of Rb vapor can be generated after the desorption beam is switched off and use it to realize -scheme electromagnetically induced transparency at control powers as low as 80 nW.


Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) are propagating excitations that arise from the coupling of light with collective oscillations of electrons on the metal surface. This paper describes a new approach for increasing the SPP excitation efficiency. Using a computational electromagnetics approach, potential techniques for reducing incident power reflectivity were investigated using the Kretschmann configuration. The effects of different parameters such as incident angle, metal thickness, and dielectric permittivity were tested and optimized to improve the efficiency of SPPs by minimizing reflectivity. An 30% increase in efficiency was obtained. In addition, the optical response of a thin metal film on a glass substrate was numerically examined in terms of SPP excitation. The dependency of the response on the incident angle, materials, and dimensions were demonstrated. This paper describes how an improvement in efficiency can improve the effectiveness of bio-sensing applications through the proper choice of layer dimensions and material permittivity of different layers. The relationship between incident angle and reflectivity for different permittivities can be used for bio-sensing applications such as blood glucose biosensors, etc.


Current NLP models heavily rely on effective representation learning algorithms. Contrastive learning is one such technique to learn an embedding space such that similar data sample pairs have close representations while dissimilar samples stay far apart from each other. It can be used in supervised or unsupervised settings using different loss functions to produce task-specific or general-purpose representations. While it has originally enabled the success for vision tasks, recent years have seen a growing number of publications in contrastive NLP. This first line of works not only delivers promising performance improvements in various NLP tasks, but also provides desired characteristics such as task-agnostic sentence representation, faithful text generation, data-efficient learning in zero-shot and few-shot settings, interpretability and explainability. In this tutorial, we aim to provide a gentle introduction to the fundamentals of contrastive learning approaches and the theory behind them. We then survey the benefits and the best practices of contrastive learning for various downstream NLP applications including Text Classification, Question Answering, Summarization, Text Generation, Interpretability and Explainability, Commonsense Knowledge and Reasoning, Vision-and-Language.This tutorial intends to help researchers in the NLP and computational linguistics community to understand this emerging topic and promote future research directions of using contrastive learning for NLP applications.


The goal of the submitted thesis: "Internet and its importance for financial institutions and their clients is to analyze communication between a bank and its clients, with focus on communication through internet banking systems. The first part is dedicated to electronic banking products from the most banal payment card up to the newest smartbanking, predicted further progress in the area and also recommended security measures for safe Internet and online banking usage. The second part brings an analysis of services, clarity and user friendliness of the internet banking systems of selected banks. The last part analyzes results of the questionnaire focused on how clients use internet banking and smartbanking.


The etiology of IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is not yet clear, but environmental and genetic factors are thought to be involved. Little is known about the genes that confer susceptibility to this disease, which is why various loci related to inflammation or autoimmunity have begun to be studied. Such studies are limited to Asian and European cohorts. To date, no study has searched susceptibility genes for the development of IgG4-RD in the Mexican Mestizo population.To determine whether three single nucleotide variants (SNVs) located in classic genes associated with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis, namely, TNFAIP3 (rs2330926T/G), STAT4 (rs7574865G/T), and PTPN22 (rs2476601C/T), confer susceptibility for the development of IgG4-RD in the Mexican Mestizo population.Patients who met the 2019 ACR/EULAR classification criteria for IgG4-RD were included. For each patient, two healthy controls were matched by sex who had no history of chronic, inflammatory, or autoimmune diseases. Both patients and controls were unrelated and self-reported with Mexican Mestizo ancestry by linage (at least three generations including their own). Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood cells. SNVs were genotyped using TaqMan probes and the 5' exonuclease assay. The Chi-square test was used to determine odds ratios.We included 124 controls and 60 patients with IgG4-RD (31 (51.6%) female and 29 (48.4%) male). Patients with IgG4-RD had a mean age of 52.1 ±15 years. Ten (16.6%) had single organ involvement, 10 (16.7%) had two involved organs, and 40 (66.6%) had ≥ 3 involved organs. Thirteen (21.7%) belonged to the pancreato-hepato-biliary, 5 (8.3%) to the retroperitoneal/aortic, 19 (31.7%) to the head/neck-limited, 18 (30%) to the Mikulicz/systemic, and 5 (8.3) to the undetermined phenotype, while 43 (71.7%) belonged to the proliferative and 17 (28.3%) to the fibrotic phenotypes.The allelic and genotypic frequencies of the SNV rs7574865G/T of STAT4 did not show statistically significant differences between cases and controls (p>0.05); while the PTPN22 variant rs2476601C/T showed association with IgG4-RD: allele C vs T, OR 10.6, CI 95% 1.22 - 91.37, p=0.02 and CC vs CT, OR 11.0, CI 95% 1.25 - 96.2, p=0.008; and the SNV rs2230296T/G of TNFAIP3 showed the following association: T vs G, OR 2.8, 1.03 - 7.87, p=0.04 and TT vs TG, OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.07 -8.60, p=0.03.This is the first study to suggest that the STAT4 variant rs7574865G/G is not a risk factor for the development of IgG4-RD, while the variants rs2476601C/T of PTPN22 and rs2230936T/G of TNFAIP3 confer susceptibility to the development of this disease in the Mexican Mestizo population. Our study provides new information on the genetic basis of IgG4-RD.[1]Buechter M, Manka P, Heinemann FM et al. Outcome and Genetic Factors in IgG4-Associated Autoimmune Pancreatitis and Cholangitis: A Single Center Experience. Gastroenterol Res Pract. 2017;2017:6126707.[2]Terao C, Ota M, Iwasaki T, et al. IgG4-related disease in the Japanese population: a genome-wide association study. Lancet Rheumatol 2019;1:e14-22. doi:10.1016/S2665-9913(19)30006-2None declared


We propose a modular pipeline for the single-channel separation, recognition, and diarization of meeting-style recordings and evaluate it on the Libri-CSS dataset. Using a Continuous Speech Separation (CSS) system with a TF-GridNet separation architecture, followed by a speaker-agnostic speech recognizer, we achieve state-of-the-art recognition performance in terms of Optimal Reference Combination Word Error Rate (ORC WER). Then, a d-vector-based diarization module is employed to extract speaker embeddings from the enhanced signals and to assign the CSS outputs to the correct speaker. Here, we propose a syntactically informed diarization using sentence- and word-level boundaries of the ASR module to support speaker turn detection. This results in a state-of-the-art Concatenated minimum-Permutation Word Error Rate (cpWER) for the full meeting recognition pipeline.


Multisignature threshold schemes combine the properties of threshold group-oriented signature schemes and Multisignature schemes to yield a signature scheme that allows more group members to collaboratively sign an


In an n-person game, players are assumed to have finite sequences of theories which they consider to be increasingly less likely. The sequences of theories are consistent if player i's sequence of theories begins with the set of cautious best replies to the sequence of theories about his opponents, for all i. General properties of consistent theories are investigated and a general existence result is established.


In the developing world electrical grids are still unavailable in many areas, and when they are available their reliability is sometime a major concern for telecom operators who have wireless sites. The choice of a reliable method of generating the power for those sites is of course vital for the operation of the Base Transceiver Station, but this choice can also have significant impact on the site operating costs. The selection of the energy source can also impact the site's environmental footprint at a time when the wireless industry is striving to reduce CO2 emissions to limit climate change. In Sub-Saharan Africa for example, off-grid sites are usually powered by two diesel generators operating alternately to ensure a reliable power source. Such a solution, greedy in fuel, results in high operating costs and, for the more remote sites, the refueling and periodic maintenance of the generators creates logistical problems and results in significant additional expenditure. Hybrid systems, with a diesel generator combined with a dedicated cycling battery operating alternately can reduce operating costs for fuel and maintenance by up to 66%, while also cutting CO2 emissions in the same range. A complete hybrid system of this type will be packed in an "energy container" to offer a turnkey solution for easy and quick installation in more remote locations. To ensure the lowest Total Cost of Ownership of the hybrid solution, the different sub-systems such as genset, rectifier, controller and battery must be carefully selected and sized to permit the highest system efficiency. The use of a battery technology with a proven high level of reliability will allow a single diesel generator to be used. This will maintain system reliability while reducing capital expenditure, with part of the cost of the battery being covered by the elimination of the second generator. The addition of solar panels or possibly a wind turbine enable an increase in cycling time and will consequently extend the calendar life of the battery and generator while also increasing the environmental benefits. This paper discusses technical aspects such as application needs, complete system design and optimization, and advanced battery, rectifier and controller choices. It also covers laboratory testing to optimize the operating profile and field trials for validation. Results of the different tests are also analyzed and discussed. The paper also includes a Total Cost of Ownership analysis of the hybrid system proposed in comparison to existing systems with two diesel generators.


Spontaneous K-complexes during stage 2 sleep were scored on nine subjects to study 1) rate of occurrence and 2) autonomic correlates, specifically the heart rate response, number of finger vasoconstrictions, number of galvanic skin responses, and number of skin potential responses. Records for two nights of sleep were available for five subjects.

Spontaneous K-complexes occur with considerable regularity at a rate of 1.21 per minute with a range over subjects from. 75 to 1.93 per minute. There was no significant change in this rate over six hours of sleep nor was there a significant difference over two nights of sleep.

When compared with control portions of the record, spontaneous K-complexes were significantly associated on both nights one and two with an increase in heart rate, increased frequency of vasoconstrictions, an increase in number of GSRs, and an increase in number of skin potential responses. There were no autonomic changes associated with isolated sleep spindles.


Summary form only given. Poly(arylazophosphonate)s are photolabile polymers with sufficient absorption at 308 nm to be patterned by XeCl laser ablation. Photoinduced fragmentation is accompanied by generation of molecular nitrogen supporting the ablation process. Practically no debris is found on the ablation site or on the surrounding area. Irradiating the polymer films through a phase mask in a proximity configuration, large area relief gratings with a period in the sub-/spl mu/m range are formed.


In this paper we present a procedure for obtaining upper bounds on a linear function by means of certain families of packings, coverings and special ordered sets. We also present a new method for detecting redundant constraints in 0-1 linear programming problems based on these bounds that allows consideration of several constraints jointly. Furthermore, we show a redundancy situation which is detected by this new method, but not by the traditional methods, which consider the constraints individually. Keywords: Redundant constraints, packings, coverings, special ordered sets, admissible families


This report presents some findings on the evaluation of bond financing for use in highway finance in Texas. It provides information that can be used by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and others in deciding whether or not to include the issuance of bonds in the mix of funding that is available for highway investment. Use of bond financing is not, ultimately, a way of financing expenditures. It is merely a way of changing the timing of expenditures or reallocating the use of revenues over time. Eventually, the bonds plus interest and other charges associated with the bond issue must be repaid with revenues from either existing taxes or, possibly, new revenue sources. Because bond financing is an expenditure strategy as opposed to being a basic revenue source, the criteria for evaluating bonds are somewhat different from those typically used for evaluating alternative revenue sources. This report presents two main findings on the use of bonds. First, new analyses of the impact of bonds on the highway system and motorists are made using the Highway Performance Monitoring System investment analysis. These findings indicate that use of bonds will lead to deterioration of the highway system over time if available revenues remain at current levels, in real dollars. The negative impact is forecasted to increase dramatically at higher levels of bond use. Second, a public opinion survey of Texas residents was conducted to determine public attitudes toward bond financing and other means of highway finance. This survey indicates that the public supports the use of bonds by the State to finance highways in Texas. There is some indication that they are less favorably inclined toward bonds when they realize that use of bonds reduces future funding by about twice the level of the bond issue because of interest and other bond costs. There also is some indication that the public may support bonds more for specific facilities, as opposed to facilities in general. Research findings suggest that the TxDOT should be very cautious in using bonds to finance transportation, unless new basic revenue sources are available to pay for the bonds.


We present a Mean Field Theory method for locating two-dimensional objects that have undergone rigid transformations. The resulting algorithm is a form of coarse-to-fine correlation matching. We first consider problems of matching synthetic point data, and derive a point matching objective function. A tractable line segment matching objective function is derived by considering each line segment as a dense collection of points, and approximating it by a sum of Gaussians. The algorithm is tested on real images from which line segments are extracted and matched.


In this work, the absorption and fluorescence spectra of dibenzoyl methane have been studied. The structure of dibenzoly. methane is different from o-hydroxybenzophenones and o-hydroxyphenylbenzotriazoles. It has two absorption peaks at 252 nm and 340 nm as well as o-hydroxy-p-octyloxy benzophenone. The absorption at 340 nm is concerned with the formation of . intramolecular hydrogen bond. It has been found that an uncommonly large Stoke's shifts of fluorescence can be observed. The photostabilizing effect of dibenzoyl methane and o-hydroxy-p-octyloxy benzophenone on the photodegradation of cis-1,4-polybutadiene has been investigated for comparison. Its photostabilizing effect is similar to o-hydroxy-p-octyloxy benzophenone. Possible mechanism was discussed.


We said 'for minor elective surgery the insulin can be withheld on the day of the operation until the patient can eat'. This is true for a short minor operation performed early in the morning, but, as a correspondent has pointed out, a patient without endogenous insulin or with only brittle control whose operation happens to get delayed could quietly slip into ketoacidosis. If such a delay is likely the patient should be given an intravenous infusion of insulin and glucose as outlined for major surgery. A common regimen is to add 8 – 16 units of soluble insulin to one litre of 5% dextrose to be infused over 8 hours.


TAIWAN RED PINE3 (Pinus taiwanensis Hayata) is endemic to the island of Taiwan, or Formosa (Li, 1963). It is one of the so-called uninodal pines that is, its winter bud elongates to form an unbranched axis bearing lateral long shoot buds only near the distal end. However, it is remarkably prone to lammas growth or summer shoots (premature elongation of a newly formed dormant bud) and to several other anomalous forms of behavior . Some of these strongly affect tree form; others are economically unimportant but serve to illustrate further the morphological plasticity within the genus Pinus . The observations reported here were made in early March 1969, in natural stands, plantations, nurseries, and a seed orchard.


BACKGROUND
One of the major concerns of governments of developing and developed countries is to have a check on their population increase. Realising the importance of avoiding the harmful effects of synthetic compounds, scientists and researchers throughout the world are cooperating in efforts to design new and effective contraceptives from compounds of plant origin.

METHODS
In this paper, we compared 11 plant species by analysing compounds showing antifertility properties with respect to the metabolic pathways involved. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome pathway database was the source of metabolic pathway information. Protein sequences and classification numbers of unique enzymes exclusively present in certain species were identified using the Expert Protein Analysis System.

RESULTS
Two enzymes, namely, L-aspartate dehydrogenase (EC no. 22.214.171.124) and trans-hexaprenyltranstransferase (EC no. 18.104.22.168), were identified as novel drug targets from the metabolic pathway analysis. Validation of the essential proteins identified through metabolic pathway comparison was done based on the literature information.

CONCLUSION
The in silico analysis resulted in identification of 2 enzymes that are predicted to be the targets for putative antifertility drug. These enzymes can further be modelled to obtain their 3-dimensional structures with the help of various protein structure modelling softwares.


Only the use of thermographic methods reveal insights of the underlying transport processes of heat exchange in boundary layer physics. This is obviously the case at the sea surface, where the thermal boundary layer extends less than one millimeter beneath the surface, while the predominant wave motion will commonly range from scales of centimeters to meters. At the same time the temperature difference across the thermal boundary layer is only in the order of a few tenths of a degree. A mid-wave low-noise infrared camera images the temperature distribution directly at the sea surface. By means of digital image processing and an appropriate statistical analysis, the temperature of the water bulk is estimated. By computing the optical flow and material derivative simultaneously, the net heat flux density between ocean and atmosphere, a driving force of atmospheric phenomena, is estimated. Given the net heat flux density at the water surface and the temperature difference across the thermal boundary layer, the heat transfer velocity is derived. From this heat transfer velocity the transfer velocity of greenhouse gases such as CO2 can be estimated, allowing the use of heat as a proxy tracer for mass transfer. Compared to state of the art measurement techniques for transfer velocities of both heat and mass, it is possible to accurately measure these velocities to a high temporal and spatial resolution for the first time by applying thermographic techniques.


As the key strategic materials for national security, carbon fibers (CF) and CF reinforced composites must be independently guaranteed. Among them, the amount of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite material accounts for more than 70% of carbon fiber composites. Resin matrix (content over 35 wt%) is one of the two basic materials of CF reinforced polymer composites, which directly determine the service performance and processing of the composites. The Advanced Composites Center (ACC) in Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) has carried out a series of fundamental and engineering research solve problems about how to prepare domestic high-performance resin matrix for carbon fiber with the aim of meeting the national strategic needs. ACC research team has made great progress in promoting domestic carbon fiber application and the innovation of high-performance domestic CF reinforced polymer composites. Since 2005, ACC research team have developed the resin matrix system and composites which are compatible with Toray T700/T800/T1000 carbon fibers and M40J, M55J high-modulus carbon fibers, and suitable for forming process with wide viscosity range. A series works have been conquered to promote the development of domestic carbon fibers from "usable" to "easy-to-use". Research results have significantly improved the performance of domestic carbon fiber reinforced composites, optimized the preparation technology, and guaranteed the design and supporting capability of advanced weapons. In this paper, the research achievements and technical breakthroughs on CF reinforced polymer-based composites done by ACC research team in recent 10 years are summarized. The details include: (1) The cross-linking structure simulation of resin molecules used for CF. (2) Prediction of the relationship between molecular structure and properties of resins through molecule simulation method. (3) The new mechanism of "double interface/double interphase" and modulus transition layer for carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites. (4) The multiscale toughening and reinforcing methodologies of interfacial phases of carbon fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites. (5) In situ characterization of interface between carbon fiber and resin matrix composites through fluorescence matter. (6) Innovation of methodology for multi-stage/multi-scale toughening and strengthening of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites. (7) Innovation in preparation technology of high performance resin materials used for carbon fiber. (8) Processing technology innovation and the related product engineering of CF reinforced polymer composites. The above-mentioned research works of BUCT have been supported by more than 30 projects, such as the National Military and Civilian Population Matching Project, the National Natural Fund Key Project and the National High Technology Research and Development Program (863) of China. And research results have been used in many key defense models of national defense industries, such as aerospace, weapons, nuclear industry, and aviation and so on. It has achieved considerable economic and social benefits and promoted the nationalization process of carbon fiber resin in the field of national defense. In the end, the development trend on high-performance CF reinforced polymer composites is generally prospected. And ACC research team will also tireless promote the whole life cycle usage of CFRP materials and contribute to the healthy and sustainable development of CFRP industry.


The title compound was synthesized by a one-pot Mannich condensation reaction. In the crystal, centrosymmetric dimers are linked into layers parallel to (011) by N—H⋯Cl and C—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds. A Hirshfeld surface analysis indicates that O—H (20.5%) interactions make the largest contribution to the crystal packing.


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This research has made a goal to know the interaction between growing media and Trichoderma sp. and their impact for the growth and production of Javanese Ginseng (Talinum paniculatum Geartn.) This research was carried out in February-May 2022 on the land of Boro Village, Tanggulangin using polybags. The study employs Randomized Block Design with two trial factors. The 1st factor is growing media. Top Soil 100%; Top Soil 50% + Sand 50%; Top Soil 50% Sand 25% + Charcoal Chaff 25%; Top Soil 50% + Sand 25% + Cocopeat 25%. For the 2 nd Factor is Trichoderma sp. Without Trichoderma sp. and with 20ml Trichoderma sp. These 8 combinations of treatment, repeated 3 times. The observed variable is the height of the plant, the number of the leaves, diameter of the stem, the number of the shoots, the weight of the leaf and length of the plant roots. The results showed that between the treatment of growing media composition and Trichoderma sp. there is no real impact on all observation variables. The treatment of growing media composition has a noticeable effect on the height, number of leaves and number of shoots of the Javanese Ginseng plant. The treatment of composition between soil and sand produces the highest plants with the heaviest leaves. While the treatment of giving Trichoderma sp. has an unreal effect on all variables


"Ralstonia pickettii" is a waterborne bacterium that can survive at high temperatures and can pass through the filter. This bacterium has caused contamination of solutions in many countries, and also results in nosocomial infections or outbreaks. Clinical manifestations associated with "R. pickettii" range from minor infections to more severe invasive infections, the latter of which occur more prevalently in immunosuppressed or weakened patients. In order to ensure early identification of problems, prompt intervention, and effective infection control, it is necessary to monitor pharmaceutical quality and post-marketing surveillance, as well as standard hospital procedures.


Electrostatic-self-assembly technique was used to prepare Au-nanoparticle/polyelectrolyte multilayers. The microstructures of the films were characterized by X-ray reflectivity and the atomic force microscopy. It is found that when the polyelectrolyte layers under the Au nanoparticles were thin, there were no clear interfaces in the films; when the polyelectrolyte layers got thick, the interfaces become clear. Therefore, it needs to increase properly the thickness of the polyelectrolyte layers in order to get the metal nanoparticle/polyelectrolyte multilayers with clear interfaces.


OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a well-known international collaborative project that provides free geographic data from and to citizens. The available data are so detailed and complete in some regions that its use has already been tested for creating land use and land cover maps. In this project, the data available in OSM are used to extract information about the Local Climate Zones (LCZs) proposed by Stewart and Oke (2012), in order to assist in the creation of LCZ maps. A methodology was developed that was applied to the region of Coimbra city (Portugal). First results indicate that valuable information can be obtained, particularly for the natural LCZ classes. However, the data available in OSM is shown to have less potential in differentiating between the urban LCZ classes. Future work will concentrate on the development of OSM data conversion into the urban LCZ classes and on the development of rules to combine the data extracted from OSM with the data obtained from remote sensing images.


We studied, by micromagnetic simulations, the characteristic propagation behaviors of specific spin-wave modes along narrow domain walls in a specially designed thin-film-nanostrip cross-structure waveguide as well as their novel interaction behaviors with a single magnetic vortex placed at the cross-point. Only certain specific modes of spin waves well propagate along the given domain walls and then interact with the magnetic vortex. Through this robust interaction, vortex-gyration motions are also stimulated, which exhibit circular- and/or elliptical-shape core trajectories at the same frequencies as those of the pumping spin waves. The elliptical core trajectories of the stimulated vortex gyrations can be interpreted by the superposition of different amplitudes and phases of the clockwise and counterclockwise circular eigenmodes. According to the action–reaction effect, the phase and the amplitude of the propagating spin waves that pass through the vortex structure are modified differently into different arms of the nanostrip cross-structure. Thereby, the propagating spin waves are allowed to be transmitted and scattered with contrasting phases and amplitudes in different branch arms. This work provides a fundamental understanding of the interaction of spin waves propagating along domain walls with a magnetic soliton and also suggests potential applications to magnonic information processing devices.


While dispensing the cryogenic fluid such as liquefied natural gas held in a tank on the used device, a cryogenic fluid delivery system and method for achieving the lowest reasonable vapor pressure are described herein. Such a system and method delivers the LNG to a holding tank on the used device using a combination of both liquid nitrogen component and liquefied engine, the very low temperature of liquefied natural gas and liquefied engine, or a very low temperature of the liquefied natural gas and the liquid nitrogen component.


Gender is an organising social category and notions of femininity, as well as masculinity, are fundamental to possibilities and/or impossibilities inherent in the social world. In Nigeria, television is a major tool for (re-)enforcing social codes that perpetuate gender stereotypes which undermine the evolving dynamics of the Nigerian woman.This book does not only aim to uncover how television commercials perpetuate these sex-role stereotypes of 'traditional' and 'modern' Nigerian women but also challenge the advertising industry in Nigeria for a radical rethink of the feminine construction.


Objective:To optimize the water extraction conditions for solid-fermented Angelica sinensis.Method: Orthogonal design was used in optimizing the extraction conditions while ferulic acid and extract dry weight were adopted as markers.Result: Optimum extraction technology was as follows: the medicinal materials were soaked in water for 0.75 hour,and extracted 2 times with one hour for each time by 12-fold and 8-fold volume of water.Conclusion: Extraction technology established in this experiment is stable and feasible and can be used to extract solid-fermented Angelica sinensis.


This article identifies the domains of applicability of action learning within courses of Higher Education and explores factors affecting the spread of this approach to learning across subjects in a university. Action learning was developed as a method for management learning and development. It had made slow progress in universities, even within the business schools and departments of management. At one university, however, action learning is being used on 27 courses across all six faculties of the university. Our purpose in this article is to explore the phenomenon of the singular receptivity of the university to action learning and to reflect on the conditions that have encouraged its widespread use at this institution. The main conclusion is that the adoption of this innovation within the university can be explained more convincingly in experiential than cognitive terms, which has implications for the adoption of other innovations in learning and teaching.


Objective To study the Src-activating and signaling molecule (Srcasm) expression regulated by Notchl in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) TE1 cell line.Methods We transfected pcDNA3.1-Srcasm plasmid DNA (2 μg),pcDNA3.1-Srcasm plasmid NDA (2 μg),double (pcDNA3.1-Notch1 plasmid DNA 1 μg and pcDNA3.1-Srcasm plasmid DNA 1 μg) and mock (2 μg) into TE1 cells and examined Notch1/Srcasm expression by using Western blotting.Results Notch1 increased the Srcasm protein expression in TE1 cells.Conclusion Notch1 may act as a positive regulator of Fyn in human ESCC,and play an important role in human ESCC progress.

Key words:
Esophageal neoplasms ;  Carcinoma, squamous cell;  Notch1 ;  Src-activating and signaling molecule


Recently we demonstrated that activated mast cells (MCs) are enriched in Kaposi sarcoma (KS) tumors and contribute to the inflammatory microenvironment. Mechanisms driving MC activation, however, are incompletely understood. We sought to understand whether Immunoglobulin E (IgE), a potent activator of MCs, was associated with KS incidence and severity. In a cross-sectional study of untreated HIV-infected adults with and without KS in Uganda, we found subjects with KS had higher plasma IgE levels than those without KS. After adjusting for age, sex, CD4+ T cell count, and HIV RNA levels, there was a dose-response relationship between plasma IgE levels and the presence and severity of KS. Higher eosinophil counts were also associated with IgE levels and plasma IL-33 concentrations were higher in individuals with KS. These findings suggest that IgE-driven atopic inflammation may contribute the pathogenesis of KS. Therapies targeting IgE-mediated MC activation thus might represent a novel approach for treatment or prevention of KS.


The various state-of-the-art diffraction, spectroscopy and imaging techniques available to researchers at the Australian Synchrotron user research facility in Melbourne are described. Operational since 2007, the Synchrotron is set to develop its next set of beam lines as a community effort by consulting with users on their requirements for research work. Australia's brightest new user research facility, the Australian Synchrotron, offers a diverse array of cutting-edge diffraction, spectroscopy and imaging techniques. Get up to speed with the latest developments.


Reduction in biological diversity is an inevitable outcome of economic pressures and technological innovations in the initial stages of agricultural development. However, some research shows that economic incentives steer agricultural development to areas where the impact on biological diversity is minimized. As agriculture has developed in California its effect on biological diversity has increased and the value of biological diversity is increasingly recognized. The effect of several economic and technical trends on California agriculture suggest that incentives can be modified to reconcile continued profitability of the agricultural industry with sustaining the current biological diversity.