Background: Increasing breastfeeding duration and exclusivity rates in the United States are health priorities and objectives from Healthy People 2020. One way to provide breastfeeding support to families who do not have access to an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant is via videoconferencing. Objective: To explore the relationship between infant fathers'/maternal partners' demographic factors and their perception of their wives'/partners' acceptance of remote lactation consultation using videoconferencing. Methods: Eighty English-speaking infant fathers/maternal partners who were > 18 years of age, with an infant of < 4 months of age, and who reported their infant was breast-fed at least once 70 participated in an online survey. These participants were recruited from 22 randomly selected states from July 2014 to March 2015. Results: Infant fathers'/maternal partners' perception of their wives'/partners' acceptance was significantly related to 'perceived ease of use' (r=0.653, p<0.001), 'perceived usefulness/extrinsic motivation' (r=0.797, p<0.001), and 'intrinsic motivation' (r=0.756, p<0.001). Infant fathers'/maternal partners' demographic factors did not significantly differ by acceptance. Based on stepwise linear regression, 'perceived usefulness/extrinsic motivation' was the only independent variable that predicted acceptance (R 2 =0.635, p<0.001). Conclusion: This sample of infant fathers/maternal partners perceived that their wives/partners would be neutral in terms of their overall acceptance of using videoconferencing for lactation consultation. Those infant fathers/maternal partners who perceived videoconferencing would be useful to the mother perceived their wives/partners would have a higher level of acceptance.


In this paper, we address the conditioning of Gaussian random fields to time-dependent production data, e.g. pressure or production rate. The goal of obtaining a set of conditioned permeability fields is to make a prediction of the reservoir performance which includes a quantified uncertainty. Instead of the brute force approach of generating many permeability fields and keeping those that satisfy the production data within a give measure, we shall use a method that gradually modifies an initially generated permeability field towards a match with the production data, without destroying its local spatial structure.


The invention provides a low-speed constant-torque outer-cooling type permanent magnet synchronization explosion-proof motor. A stator core is pressed into a machine base to be closely attached to the machine base, a 48-pole winding is installed in the stator core, carrying bearings are installed at the two ends of a permanent magnet rotor, tile-type magnetic steel is pasted to the permanent magnet rotor, the outer surface is wound by two layers of tailless belts, a line outlet box and a centrifugal fan are installed on the machine base, a lower end cover is arranged on an installation platform, the permanent magnet rotor provided with the carrying bearings at the two ends and pasted with the tile-type magnetic steel is installed on the lower end cover, the carrying bearings at the upper end and the lower end are installed in a lower end cover bearing chamber, the machine base where the stator core is pressed and the 48-pole winding is installed is connected with the lower end cover, an upper end cover bearing chamber is arranged on the carrying bearing at the upper end of the permanent magnet rotor in a sleeved mode and connected with the machine base.


Manual medical palpation task performed by a human doctor is characterized by complexity of multiple source data fusion and decision subjectivity, which significantly depends on a doctor experience and sensitivity. Therefore automated robotized approach could provide more reliable and independent results relative to a manual palpation. This paper presents a model and the Gazebo simulation of an autonomous robotic system that performs palpation of an arbitrary soft surface. The system uses a modified KUKA IIWA LBR manipulator model, equipped with a spherical indenter and a new force sensor plugin. In order to perform a palpation procedure, the system gathers data from a virtual Kinect camera and computes points for palpation based on an acquired point cloud. We introduce an implementation of soft bodies features with variable stiffness to the Gazebo simulator based on DART physics engine capabilities. The developed system was tested in the Gazebo simulator by simulating palpation of abdomen soft model with variable stiffness over its surface. The system successfully performed the palpation and was able to detect an area of high stiffness.


Background. Determining the productive deposit thickness is of fundamental importance for assessing the reserves of oil and gas fields. 3D seismic data is used to assess the thickness of seams in the interwell space. However, owing to the limited vertical resolution of seismic data, estimating thicknesses of thin deposits (less than 20 m) is challenging.Aim. To evaluate different approaches to calculating the thickness of the productive deposits based on seismic data with the purpose of selecting the most optimal approach.Materials and methods. We compared the results obtained using different approaches to assessing the productive deposit thickness of the Tula-Bobrikovian age in the interwell space, including the convergence method (calculating the thickness for oilwells with no seismic data used), the use of seismic attributes to calculate the "seismic attribute — reservoir thickness" dependency (for attributes, dominant frequency and mono-frequency component at 60 Hz), estimation of the thickness from the seismic signal shape. Cokriging was used to calculate inferred power maps from seismic attribute data and to classify them by waveform. For each of the techniques, the crossvalidation method and calculating the root-mean-square deviation were used as quality criteria.Results. When assessing the accuracy of thickness map development, the root-mean-square deviation was 12.3 m according to convergence method, 10.2 m — to the dominant frequency attribute, 7.2 m — to the attribute of the monofrequency component at 60 Hz and 6.3 m — to the signal shape classification. The latter method yielded the best results, and the developed thickness map allowed paleo-cut to be traced.Conclusions. Applying the thickness estimation method based on the seismic signal shape allows the value of the root-mean-square deviation to be reduced by a factor of 2 compared to that of the widely adopted convergence method. This approach permits productive deposits thickness to be more accurately estimated and hydrocarbon reserves to be determined.


The self-driving cars identify appropriate navigation paths and obstacles to arrive at their destinations without human control. The autonomous cars are capable of sensing driving environments to improve driver and pedestrian safety by sharing with neighbor traffic infrastructure. In this paper, we have focused on pedestrian protection and have designed an improved localization algorithm to track mobile users on roads by interacting with smart traffic lights in vehicle environments. We developed smart traffic lights with the RSSI sensor and built the proposed method by improving the Kalman filter algorithm to localize mobile users accurately. We successfully evaluated the proposed algorithm to improve the mobile user localization with deployed five smart traffic lights


The utilization of Osmia cornifrons (RADOSZKOWSKI) as the pollinator of apples has been achieved successfully for the past 35 years in Aomori and Nagano Prefectures. At present this method is being applied in many Prefectures of Tohoku. On the other hand, in Kyushu the utilization of Osmia bees as pollinators has not been adopted. Attempts were made to utilize Osmia excavata ALFKEN which widely distributed over Fukuoka Prefecture for the pollinating of pears in the Kaho District. A one year experiment conducted in 1986 revealed that the utilization of the bee for such purpose was difficult. Suggestions on the utilization of Osmia excavata as pollinator of pears in Kaho are given in this paper.


Objective To investigate the distribution of infection of mycoplasma pneumoniae(MP),ureaplama urealyticum(Uu) and chlamydia trachomatis(CT) in children with respiratory tract infection.Methods MP,Uu and CT were measured simultaneously by fluorogenic quantitative PCR in 351 children with respiratory tract infection.Result Total infectious rate of MP,Uu and CT was 58.4%.Among them,MP was 29.9%,Uu was 21.3%,CT was 7.4%.The mixed infectious rate of MP and Uu was 3.2%,Uu and CT was 1.4%.The group whose age under twenty-eight days had a higher positive rates of Un and CT,and a lower positive rate of Mp.The infectious rates of MP were not significant difference in four seasons(P0.05),MP and Uu were higher in winter and spring,and CT was lower in spring.There were significant difference in MP and Uu between serum and sputum samples(P0.05).Conclusion Neonates had susceptibility to Uu and CT;infectious rate of MP were increased with age.Positive rate of sputum speciments were higher than those of serum.Fluorogenic quantitative PCR was sensitive,specific and rapid to increase the diagnosis of MP,Uu and CT infections.


Many Eastern European countries are on the edge of huge transitions in almost every sphere of life: political, economic, educational and religious. These changes have had an impact on the situation of women, many of whom entered into this time of transition believing that: (a) socialism had solved the issue of gender inequality; (b) what was obtained by socialism in the field of gender equality can be taken for granted; (c) democracy will automatically deliver additional rights for women. However, all implemented patterns of transition were hostile to gender equality. The consequences of soviet policy are still visible with respect to the environment and in attitudes towards ecology. The centralistic system of socialism was unable to tackle constructively the ecological crisis. The aim of this article is to indicate how ecofeminist theology can become a constructive framework for bringing women and men together, united by a common concern for the Earth, and a means of delivering alternative environmental policies for Eastern Europe. By acknowledging the connection between ecology and feminism, ecofeminist theology can become a transforming grace.


For a random variable $X$, we are interested in the blind extraction of its finest mutual independence pattern $\mu ( X )$. We introduce a specific kind of independence that we call dichotomic. If $\Delta ( X )$ stands for the set of all patterns of dichotomic independence that hold for $X$, we show that $\mu ( X )$ can be obtained as the intersection of all elements of $\Delta ( X )$. We then propose a method to estimate $\Delta ( X )$ when the data are independent and identically (i.i.d.) realizations of a multivariate normal distribution. If $\hat{\Delta} ( X )$ is the estimated set of valid patterns of dichotomic independence, we estimate $\mu ( X )$ as the intersection of all patterns of $\hat{\Delta} ( X )$. The method is tested on simulated data, showing its advantages and limits. We also consider an application to a toy example as well as to experimental data.


This paper based on the stable numerical value of oneleg θ-methods,further probes another tind of one-leg methods using mumerical value more extensively to solve the problem class D(α,β,γ)of nonliuear stiff integro-differeutial cquations.It is proved that any A-stable one-leg methods can inherit the stability of the underlying problem.


This article analyses issues related to the reading as a process of textual co-production. Thus it focuses on the reader's successes and drawbacks.


: According to the socalled Irish clause in Articles 24 and 42 TEU, the common security and defence policy of the Union (CSDP) shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States. Both the obligation of aid and assistance of Member States to another Member State, which is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, as well as the current efforts to enhance the CSDP in its actual stage of development do not yet cause problems to neutral states. But the situation will have to be reassessed once the Union will have achieved an actual "common defence".


This paper deals with the recognition of handwritten Malayalam characters using discrete features. The features are extracted from skeletonizsed images. But the presence of parasitic components in the image will degrade the performance of the pattern recognition system. So there arise needs for a pruning method to produce skeletons that are in accordance with human visual perception. The skeleton pruning by contour portioning with discrete curve evolution (DCE) showed that it never produce spurious branches. Moreover, this method doesn't displace skeleton points. Consequently, all skeleton points are centers of maximal disks. Even in the presence of significant noise and shape variations, this approach gave same topology as that of original skeletons. As a result, we have obtained excellent results in feature extraction which in turn gave a better recognition accuracy of 90.18 percent for 33 classes.


Radio spectrum is a scarce natural resource whose efficient management has been the source of contentious debate for over a century. The mobile communication ecosystem has created a tremendous business that is reliant on the availability of spectrum for wireless networks. The growth of mobile communications has increased the rivalry between the different wireless ecosystems that compete over gaining access rights to radio spectrum. Due to the scarcity of unallocated spectrum bands without incumbent users, sharing-based governance models for spectrum management have gained increasing attention in regulation, industry and academia. Spectrum sharing allows two or more wireless systems to operate in the same spectrum band. These systems often come from different wireless ecosystems that have conflicting goals. Spectrum sharing, and specifically the development of new sharing-based governance models for more efficient management of the scarce resource, is a strategic management topic that calls for the development of rules and conditions by regulators that are agreeable to all involved stakeholders. This thesis presents a novel framework for the development of upcoming sharing-based spectrum governance models that bring together stakeholders from different wireless business ecosystems with conflicting goals. The framework is built upon the theoretical basis of governance models, stakeholder analysis, and business ecosystems. Spectrum management is here seen as governance of common pool resources, and the tool of stakeholder analysis from strategic management is formally introduced into the development of new sharing-based spectrum governance models where different business ecosystems collide. The developed three-step stakeholder analysis is applied to two case studies for mobile communications including the future use of the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band, and the licensed shared access (LSA) concept. For the UHF band case study, the thesis identifies the stakeholders, analyses their relations and saliences to reach long-term compromises between broadcasting and mobile communication ecosystems. For the LSA case study, the thesis identifies the stakeholders and their relations, and develops management actions through a work flow for the main phases and stakeholders' tasks. It then presents the world's first live field trial with mobile communication systems, where the conflicting requirements of all stakeholders were considered. The developed stakeholder analysis model formally introduces the strategic management of stakeholders into the spectrum management domain, and it provides regulators, industry and academia a new tool for reaching long-term compromises in spectrum management through sharing.


The aim of this research is to analyze and evaluate the financial condition of PT. Telkom Indonesia Tbk. From a financial perspective, what are the conditions for the period 2017 to 2021. The descriptive method with a comparative approach is used in this research to obtain and obtain answers to the problems currently being researched by describing the company's financial performance. in the 2017 – 2021 reporting year using the Common Size technique. The results of the research show that financial performance according to the common size is quite good because the average composition of the amount of debt is a smaller percentage compared to capital in the company's operational fund allocation and in terms of PT's profit and loss. Telkom Indonesia Tbk. from 2017 to 2021 it continued to generate profits every year, the decline in 2018 was due to an increase in expenses.


Swedish industrialization at the turn of the century 1900 severely hit the trades, which were the traditional source of income for blind people. The public debate caused by the new conditions led to a political decision in 1934 that provided for state-financed compensation for blindness. This decision reveals that politicians, experts and blind people themselves agreed to view "the blind" as a group of disabled persons that was particularly dependent on public support. This article focuses on underlying norms and identities present in this debate. The instruments for the study are adapted from the historian Anders Berge and the sociologists Zygmunt Bauman and Richard Jenkins. Berge argues that social policy a century ago combined the ambition to create some security and to provide moral education. Bauman and Jenkins have developed theories concerning the process of identity creation based upon a "we-and-them" perspective.


Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) made using magnetite (Fe3O4) are among the various important nanosystems under active investigation for biological applications. Various characterization techniques are required to judge the quality and application worthiness of magnetic nanoparticles (NPs). Magnetite NPs were synthesized by thermal decomposition method using triethylene glycol and benzyl ether as solvents and oleic acid as surfactant with a narrow size distribution. Furthermore, magnesium oxide (MgO) is coated on these magnetite NPs to protect the magnetic nuclei from oxidation. Spherical shaped, uniformly sized, and well-dispersed NPs of ~8 ± 2 nm were studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Cation vacancies on the surface lead to the nonmagnetic Fe2O3 phase on the surface of Fe3O4 NPs. MgO coated Fe3O4 NPs prevented the oxidation on NP surface, which is shown through infrared, Raman and Mössbauer spectroscopy studies. Magnetization studies of oleic acid and MgO coated magnetite NPs are crucial to utilize them in biological applications. We have achieved a stable ferrofluid in nonpolar solvent using SPIONs with an average size of 8 nm for magnetic hyperthermia applications.


Dynamic performance of high speed dynamic balancing machine directly affects the accuracy and safety of dynamic balancing machine. ANSYS 12.0 was used to establish the frame structure model in this paper. The four models of dynamic balancing machine were calculated respectively. The calculation results show that additional stiffness can greatly improve the natural frequencies of dynamic balancing machine. In addition, as the base is large, we can ignore the influence on natural frequencies caused by the base.


Abstract: We study the n-job two-parallel machines scheduling problem with the aim of minimising the total flow-time. In this problem, instead of allowing both machines to be continuously available as it is often assumed in the literature, we consider that one of the machines is available for a specified period of time after which it can no longer process any job. On the basis of the modification of an exact algorithm execution, we establish the existence of a strongly Fully Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (FPTAS) for the above-mentioned problem.


The article explores a process of gradual consolidation of disparate set of Muslim economies into an increasingly influential, though internally contradictory center of geo-economic and geopolitical gravity in contemporary multipolar world. It uses a theory developed by the authors explaining the patterns of formation and succession of models of global economic development. The article builds upon this theory by testing quantitative and qualitative pa-rameters of the process on a specific geo-economic case. The contemporary developments within the economic basis of the Muslim pole and the practical requirements of economic analysis reveals the need for categorical correction and refinement of political economy. Two following terms «Muslim economy» and «Islamic economy» must be differentiated. «Muslim economy» is a civilizational form of national economies in Muslim countries and an integral part of the global economy, including both the economic life and welfare of the global Muslim population


Indications for surgical management of active right-sided endocarditis are under debate. In the presence of vegetation without valvular or surrounding tissue involvement, the mass may be removed with a suction device introduced via a transcatheter path. Herein, we report the successful removal of right-sided vegetation using the AngioVac Cannula, a percutaneous mechanical suction device, in three patients who presented with active endocarditis. The excellent midterm follow-up results highlight the effectiveness of such aspiration catheter systems.


Based on the symmetrical public transportation network data of Xi'an, China obtained by geographic information system (GIS) technology in 2019, three urban public transportation indexes of walking accessibility, bus accessibility, and metro accessibility were established, and a real estate price prediction model was built by using several machine learning algorithms to predict and analysis the housing price in Xi'an, China. Firstly, the symmetrical road network data and real estate property data of Xi'an were collected and preprocessed, secondly, the spatial syntax theory and distance calculation method were applied to establish three indexes of traffic accessibility; finally, taking the house property data and the calculated traffic accessibility indexes as the characteristic index, the real estate price prediction model of Xi'an was constructed by using the random forest algorithm (RF), lightweight gradient lift algorithm (LGBM), and gradient lifting regression tree algorithm (GBDT). The prediction accuracy of the final model is 89.2% and the root-mean-square error is 1761.84. The results show that the accessibility of bus and metro to some extent represent the convenience of public transportation in different areas of urban space. The higher the accessibility index is, the more convenient the traffic is. The real estate price model has high prediction accuracy and can reflect the real situation of urban real estate price. The importance of the three accessibility features to the real estate price prediction model are nearly more than 20%, which indicates that the accessibility of urban public transportation has an important impact on the change of urban real estate price, and the development of urban public transportation plays an important role in the real estate economy.


The Kelvin probe is a non‐contact, non‐destructive vibrating capacitor device that measures the work function difference between a conducting sample and a vibrating tip. This contribution focuses on inline monitoring of the surface (photo)voltage of deposited silicon layers. We apply a custom‐built in situ Kelvin probe, operated in a roll‐to‐roll PECVD system, located immediately after the plasma zones to enable direct feedback to the controlling system of the plasma deposition. The surface photovoltage of nip thin film Si solar cells increases with increasing Voc. The results imply that inline, contactless measurements of the open‐circuit voltage are possible and that thus monitoring the doped layer quality during roll‐to‐roll production is feasible.


The dynamic response of an elastic pile subjected to transient torsional and axial loading is considered. The pile is embedded in a multi-layered elastic soil. The stress field in a soil is simplified by following the existing solutions for a pile subjected to static torsional and axial loading. The dynamic equilibrium equation of soil is solved in the Laplace domain by using analytical techniques. The soil resistance is coupled into a one-dimensional governing equation of a pile segment and an analytical solution is presented. An impedance matrix can then be derived for a pile segment relating end stress resultants to the displacements. Non-homogeneous initial conditions of the pile are considered. The impedance matrices of pile segments are assembled by following the concepts of finite element method to analyse a pile embedded in a multi-layered soil. The treatment of soil base response is also discussed. Time domain solutions are obtained by using a numerical Laplace inversion procedure. The extension ...


T cell malignancies represent a class of devastating hematologic cancers with high rates of relapse and mortality in both children and adults for which there are currently no effective or targeted therapies. Despite intensive multi-agent chemotherapy regimens, fewer than 50% of adults and 75% of children with T-ALL survive beyond five years. For those who relapse after initial therapy, salvage chemotherapy regimens induce remissions in 20-40% of cases. Allogeneic stem cell transplant, with its associated risks and toxicities, is the only curative therapy. T cells engineered to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) are a promising cancer immunotherapy. Such targeted therapies have shown great potential for inducing both remissions and even long-term relapse-free survival in patients with B cell leukemia and lymphoma7-9. Thus, a targeted therapy against T cell malignancies represents a significant unmet medical need. However, several challenges have limited the clinical development of CAR-T cells against T cell malignancies. First, the shared expression of target antigens between T effector cells and T cell malignancies results in fratricide, or self-killing, of CAR-T cells. Second, harvesting adequate numbers of autologous T cells, without contamination by malignant cells is, at best, technically challenging and prohibitively expensive. Third, the use of genetically modified CAR-T cells from allogeneic donors may result in life-threatening graft-vs.-host disease (GvHD) when infused into immune-compromised HLA-matched or mismatched recipients. We hypothesized that deletion of CD7 and the T cell receptor alpha chain (TRAC) using CRISPR/Cas9 in CAR-T targeting CD7 (UCART7) would result in the efficient targeting and killing of malignant T cells without significant effector T cell fratricide or induction of GvHD. To generate the CD7 CAR, the anti-CD7 single chain variable fragment (scFv) was created using commercial gene synthesis and cloned into the backbone of a 3rd generation CAR with CD28 and 4-1BB internal signaling domains. The construct was modified to express CD34 via a P2A peptide to enable detection of CAR following viral transduction. Human primary T cells were activated using anti-CD3/CD28 beads for 48 hours prior to bead removal and electroporation with CD7 gRNA, TRAC gRNA, and Cas9 mRNA. On day three, T cells were transduced with lentivirus particles encoding either CD7 CAR or CAR CD19 control and allowed to expand for a further 6 days. Transduction efficiency and ablation of CD7 and TRAC were confirmed by flow cytometry. Multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing resulted in the simultaneous bi-allelic deletion of both CD7 and TRAC in 72.8%±1.92 of cells, as determined by both non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and FACS analyses. To prevent alloreactivity, CD3+ CAR-T were removed from the product by magnetic depletion. Of particular importance is that by using two distinct methods for assessing "off-target" nuclease activity across the entire human T cell genome (Guide-seq and probe capture), we could only detect one gene, an intronic modification of RMB33, that was inappropriately targeted using this approach. No obvious genomic rearrangements were detected by these analyses. UCART7 effectively expanded and killed T-ALL cell lines (CCRF-CEM, MOLT3, and HSB2) and human primary T-ALL blasts in vitro. Next, we tested the capacity of UCART7 to kill primary T-ALL in vivo without xenogeneic GvHD. Considerable expansion of alloreactive T cells, severe GvHD (mean clinical GvHD score = 5.66), and a robust graft vs. leukemia effect were observed in recipients of WT T cells. In contrast, GvHD was completely absent, T cells were undetectable, and considerable tumor burden was observed in mice receiving TRACΔ T cells. Mice receiving UCART7, however, had no GvHD and, unlike UCART19 controls, effectively cleared primary human T-ALL in NSG mice. Fratricide-resistant and allo-tolerant 9off-the-shelf9 UCART7 signifies a novel strategy for treatment of relapsed and refractory T-ALL and non-Hodgkin9s T cell lymphomas without a requirement for autologous T cells and represents the first clinically feasible adoptive T cell therapy for T cell malignancies. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Consideration of the reliability of products can be frequently described by gamma distribution. The Johnson estimation method for any data and simplified maximum likelihood estimation method for complete samples can be used to assess the parameters of this distribution. Describes the application of IBM PC programs to determine the parameters of gamma distribution according to this method.


The phylogeny of manufacturing technology and the background of advanced manufacturing technology which was put forward are reviewed in this paper.The development trends of advanced manufacturing technology are discussed.The stratagem choice of developing advanced manufacturing technology of our nation is expound finally.


The aim of the study was to correlate the effects of supplementation with a polyphenolic pine bark extract (PBE) in diets with different forage to concentrate (F:C) ratio on methane (CH4), ammonia nitrogen (NH3–N) production and ruminal fermentation parameters using the Rumen Simulation Technique (RUSITEC). The experimental diets were F:C 70:30 (HF) or F:C 30:70 (HC) with or without 2% PBE on a DM basis. The four diets were isoproteic (15% CP), with similar OM (HF 94% and HC 96%), but different NDF (HF 40% and HC 25%). The treatments, in duplicate, were assigned in an 8 fermenter RUSITEC apparatus. Incubations were run twice, with 5 days of sampling after 10 days adaptation. The experimental design was a 2x2 factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block with repeated measures. Pearson correlation and principal component analysis (PCA) were conducted to elucidate relationships among PBE total polyphenols (TP) and the variables evaluated. The TP was highly correlated with NH3–N (r = –0.98; P < 0.001) and butyrate (r = –0.85; P < 0.001), and had a high correlation with propionate (r = 0.75; P < 0.001) and acetate (r = 0.68; P = 0.001). Correlation with total VFA was moderate (r = –0.59; P = 0.006), and CH4 yield and IVDMD there were not correlated (r ≤ –0.07; P ≥ 0.188). The PCA (KMO = 0.655; BTS < 0.001) shows that 75.2% of the total variation is explained by the first two principal components (PC1 = 46.5% and PC2 = 28.7%). In the score plot, PC1 discriminated between diets with and without PBE, while the PC2 separated based on NDF. The loading plot showed that TP and propionate were clustered, and had inverse directions to NH3–N. In conclusion, the PBE supplementation reduces NH3–N production in a RUSITEC system without decreasing CH4 yield or negatively affecting ruminal fermentation parameters.


Family businesses have become an indispensable player of economic activities in today's world. Successful family businesses are especially linked with entrepreneurship and start to institutionalize by developing. Besides, advanced approaches are needed for these businesses' success and especially financial development, and therefore, innovative approaches become important. On the other hand generally, it is witnessed that these businesses' life spans shorten by succession. Second and third generation management is generally dominant within family businesses in Turkey and the number of female managers has started to increase. Businesses need to think strategically and innovatively for their adaptations and targets regarding competitiveness and growth. In regards, high levels of managers' entrepreneurship capabilities provide significant contributions to business sustainability and besides financial performance via affecting innovativeness tendency in a positive way. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of entrepreneurship personality characteristics of women managers on financial performance in family companies where there are few women managers. Based on the first 500 and second 500 lists of Istanbul Chamber of Industry, it was determined that the entrepreneurship tendency affects financial performance by 79.2% positively for 114 family companies with female managers. As the level of entrepreneurship tendency increases, financial performance level also increases.


Disclosed is a reflective sheet made of a self-supporting porous sheet which is composed of inert particles and a polyolefin and has a porosity of 30-95% and a reflectance at a wavelength of 550 nm of 60-120%. This reflective sheet is reduced in thickness and weight, while maintaining sufficient reflective characteristics.


This study examined some of the social and spatial factors th a t influence access to services for displaced workers in Windsor and Essex County. Published literature points out th a t decision rule factors; the client's knowledge about services; and spatial, personal and demographic characteristics all influence accessibility of social services. The study is based on a combined social geographic conceptual framework, and a recursive model of access and explanatory geographic, individual and organizational factors. The procedure used to evaluate the above issues has two dimensions. The first dimension used descriptive analysis and cross tabulation to present the relationship between general access to Canada Employment Centre services (including Unemployment Insurance) and personal, organizational and spatial variables. The i second dimension used logistic regression analysis to identify the most significant \ determ inants of access to optional employment and labour adjustm ent services. The study was based on a sample of 118 respondents. Most of the laid off workers in Windsor and Essex county are blue collar workers employed in capital intensive industrial plants. However, the study was prim arily concerned w ith organizational, individual and spatial factors associated w ith accessibility of existing federal funded social services. The study found th a t earned services, specifically Unemployment Insurance benefits, are accessed by twice as m any displaced workers as optional employment and adjustm ent services such as job training, job creation and others. Results from the logistic regression model indicated th a t education, client knowledge of CEC services interacting w ith age, encounter w ith bureaucracy and area of residence produced significant outcomes in explaining access of employment and adjustm ent services. This study recommends improved outreach to inform displaced workers of services available and also the use of a supportive and participatory approach to help workers cope w ith displacement. Because the study used a non-random sample of inform ants, the results should be treated as issues for fu rther research.


Although the family Hydrophyllaceae is largely herbaceous, woody species and genera present a series of interesting problems which invite study by means of wood anatomy. One concern of this paper and its antecedent (Cariquist, Eckhart and Michener 1983) is whether Hydrophyllaceae is ba sically an herbaceous or woody family. The potential parallel between the distinctive habits of particular genera and species and their wood anatomy provides other questions. For example, is raylessness in some Hydrophyl laceae the result of secondary woodiness, as appears to be the case in other families? Does the wood of Wigandia, the most arborescent genus in the family, approach an herbaceous or a woody mode of wood structure more closely?


The liquid fraction obtained from the alkaline fractionation of apple tree pruning was treated in a laboratory scale ultrafiltration plant with different cut-off membranes. The obtained fractions were analyzed and the lignin content was chemically characterized to evaluate the purity of the samples. Furthermore, the system pressure drops were measured (valve, membranes and pipes pressure drops) in order to simulate the system using Aspen Plus ® software and determine the energy consumption. For the estimation of the process economic viability, the system was scaled up and the ultrafiltration cost was evaluated. As a conclusion, it could be stated that the UF process allowed the efficient concentration of the liquid fraction and its fractionation for the lignin separation. The chemical composition of the fractionated lignin samples, especially the lowest molecular size fraction, revealed very little contamination indicating the lignin suitability for higher added value applications, which could support the slightly higher price of the obtained lignin in comparison to the commercial lignin one.


Rev Esp Cardiol 2002;55(8):789-90 789 Infectious endocarditis continues to be a disease with a somber prognosis. In recent years, despite evident advances in surgical and diagnostic techniques, it has not been possible to substantially reduce mortality.1 This is probably due to changes in the clinical spectrum of the disease: at present, it is rare to diagnose endocarditis due to S. pneumoniae in a young patient with rheumatic cardiac valve disease, which has a relatively benign prognosis. Nowadays the diagnosis is usually made in patients of advanced age, with multiple pathologies and difficult microorganisms. This makes medical and surgical treatment especially complex and is responsible for significant morbidity and mortality rates. A second factor in the lack of improvement in survival figures could be that treatment is not carried out adequately. If this were to be the case, there would be some room for hope to achieve better clinical outcomes by optimizing the treatment of patients. Clinical guidelines for the prevention and treatment of infectious endocarditis exist in various countries, as well as Spain. 2,3 Nevertheless, little information is available on compliance with guidelines. The literature contains only one study, which has demonstrated that the degree of compliance with guidelines in France is poor and a cause for concern. 4 This is why the paper by Mercedes González de Molina et al 5 is so extraordinarily interesting. The study by these authors indicates that in Spain there are also discrepancies between the recommendations of the clinical guidelines and actual daily practice, and suggests that deviation from the norms can lead to an unfavorable outcome. The pre-hospital phase of the disease is of special concern in view of the indiscriminate use of antibiotics without performing cultures, which occurred in 19 of the 34 patients analyzed. This indicates, on the one hand, that the slipshod medical practice of administering antibiotics for fever of any origin is highly generalized. On the other hand is the absence of diagnostic suspicion, which may be understandable and not very likely to improve due to the rarity of endocarditis and its varied forms of presentation. Once the patient has been admitted to the hospital, the diagnostic stage proceeds more correctly in my view. From the findings reported it can be deduced that it may be necessary to insist more on performing transesophageal echocardiography whenever reasonable diagnostic doubts arise and in all patients at risk of endocarditis. Treatment, whether medical or surgical, does not seem to be seriously off course. Most entry foci were treated and errors in the administration of antibiotics were due mainly to excess treatment and, probably, insufficient monitoring of toxicity. The surgical indications were also correct, since the only case in which surgery was judged to be incorrect is probably debatable (a patient with a severe brain injury). 6


The Marxist concept of class is necessary in order to combat neo-liberal and neoconservative initiatives that work systematically to reduce education to an adjunct serving the interests of the capitalist class in extracting ever more profit for itself. The Marxist concept of class, because it connects inequitable social relations and explains them as both connected and rooted in the social relations of production, enables class consciousness and the knowledges necessary to replace capitalism with socialism. The Marxist concept of class, however, has been emptied of its explanatory power by theorists in the field of education as elsewhere who have converted it into a term that simply describes, and cannot explain the root causes of, strata of the population and the inequities among them. This essay critiques sample theorists in the field of education who have participated in the conversion of the Marxist concept of class to a descriptive term by culturalizing it - pluralizing it and cutting its connection to the social relations of exploitation that are central to capitalism. Such knowledge workers serve the interests of the capitalist class. The essay argues for the necessity of the Marxist concept of class, as well as of class consciousness, in combating and transforming capitalism into socialism.


This paper presents a simple ultraviolet (UV) chemical sealant aided packaging technique for a tunable liquid iris actuated by electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) principle. To evaluate the proposed UV chemical sealant aided packaging technique, a large number of tunable liquid iris samples (9×9×2 mm3) are prepared by standard MEMS fabrication processes. The optical functionality of the microfabricated tunable iris is firstly tested. When an electrical voltage is sequentially applied to patterned ITO electrodes inside the tunable iris, opaque liquid initially covering only in the rim of the iris shifts to the center of the iris, resulting that the aperture diameter of the iris is modified from 4.2 mm to 0.85 mm. To improve the packaging of the iris the optimum chemical sealant (TB3124M UV sealant, ThreeBond Inc.) is selected through heavy field tests of various chemical sealants. To verify the proposed packaging technique, the high thermal test of the iris with the UV chemical sealant aided packaging is conducted using a temperature chamber. The result shows that the iris with the UV chemical sealant aided packaging shows no liquid leakage and remains as it was, while the iris only with a mechanical packaging shows severe liquid leakage through the joint area of the iris. The proposed packaging is easy to use but provides reliable liquid packaging, which can be applied to various microfluidic devices without additional complicated microfabrication processes.


A novel system for using a single-point Laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) to measure surface normal velocity components of non-planar targets has been developed. A description of this measurement system is presented, along with a discussion of results and relative merits compared with conventional scanning LDV systems. Data from sample measurements taken on an anti-tank landmine buried in sand are presented. It is shown that measurements of the same surface wave using this system and a conventional system can differ by as much as 75%.


Quantum inspired Evolutionary Algorithm (QEA) which uses qubits has been the basis for the development of many Quantum Inspired algorithms. Di- verging from this, a new Quantum Inspired Competitive Co-evolution algorithm (QCCEA) has been proposed by quantifying Competitive Co-evolution Algorithm (CCEA) using a new method of representation. In the literature, the performance of QCCEA against CCEA was evaluated for numerical optimization problems. In this paper we have further analysed the performance of QCCEA using Maze problem which server as the primary investigation for combinatorial optimization problems. In the process of evaluating the performance of QCCEA against CCEA, we have performed three different experiments on the Maze problem. The results show that QCCEA has produced more diversified solutions compared to CCEA at the expense of time variable.


This paper presents an analytical solution to the model. By solving the system of nonlinear reaction-diffusion equations using Akbari–Ganji's method (AGM), we can derive the semi-analytical expressions for substrate and oxidized and reduced mediator concentrations. These models provide information about enzyme electrode mechanisms and their kinetics. These modeling results can be helpful for sensor design, optimization, and determining how the electrode will react. Further, we studied the effects of many physical and biological parameters on model prediction. The mathematical equations, which are nonlinear partial differential equations, are solved using AGM. Also, we derived the semi-analytical results for concentrations for saturated and unsaturated kinetics. It is verified that the proposed solution is validated by comparing it with numerical solutions.


Amorphous carbon nanotubes-polyaniline composite have been synthesized by simple chemical procedure. It has been found from the field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy that amorphous carbon nanotubes are coated with the polyaniline. As synthesized polyaniline coated amorphous carbon nanotubes showed improve field emission property with a turn-on field as low 2.77 V/ μm.


The load distribution and deformation of pile-bent structures are investigated using a numerical study. A numerical analysis that takes into account the effects of varying cross-sectional area was performed for different pier diameters, loading steps, and soil conditions. Through the comparison study, it is shown that the location of maximum bending moment is almost the same per each loading step, regardless of varying cross-sections. However, the member force (i.e., stress of pile material) has the largest value at the ground surface when the cross-section is changed. Based on the results obtained, it is found that the location of maximum member force influences highly the behavior of pile-bent structure with varying cross-sections for repair works.


The article discusses the synonymous lines of the Ukrainian terms on the material of Dictionary of Musical Terms (Project) published in 1930. Scientists fix musical vocabulary in the monuments of the Old East Slavic language. But the formation of the actual Ukrainian scientific musical terminology is associated with the 16th – 18th centuries. Dictionary of Musical Terms (Project) published in 1930 is the first collection of the Ukrainian musical terms. The dictionary contains terms on the theory and history of music, harmony, instrumentation, musical pedagogy, old church music.
The Dictionary body consists of four sections. In the Russian-Ukrainian section of the dictionary, the Ukrainian equivalents are most fully represented. Foreign terms and national terms may correspond to one Russian heading term. Both single-word equivalents and term combinations can correspond to the dictionary heading single-word term. In the article, groups of synonymous lines were selected, which consist of national terms or combination of national and foreign terms.
If to consider their structure, synonymous lines are formed by single-word terms, term combinations, single-word terms and term combinations. The Ukrainian terms are extracted from 43 sources: dictionaries, magazines, works of composers, musicologists and folklorists. Many terms are characterized by reduction of source. Of particular interest are the neoplasms represented in the dictionary. The neoplasms are marked by letter N.


A greater understanding of the mechanistic associations among subclinical cardiac dysfunction, metabolism, and physical activity may facilitate the early identification and treatment of premature cardiovascular disease originating during late adolescence, thereby preventing the progression of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. The present set of studies involved the implementation of novel cardiac Phosphorus Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in adolescents and young adults at The Hospital for Sick Children. These pilot studies are the first to characterize cardiac energy metabolism in both healthy and overweight cohorts during adolescence and early adulthood, as well as the first to explore the relationships among physical activity, cardiac and skeletal muscle energy metabolism, and cardiac function. Notably, reproducibility of primary study measures, including cardiac (i.e., PCr/ATPβ) and skeletal muscle energy metabolism (i.e., PCr recovery half-time), was explored (Study A). A positive association was demonstrated between cardiac energy metabolism and skeletal muscle energy metabolism, independent of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels and peak exercise performance (Study B). A positive association was also observed between novel measures of cardiac energy metabolism (resting cardiac


Given the recent expansion of real estate securities in the Brazilian market, the present study examines Brazilian REIT (FII) returns' exposure to underlying market returns (real estate, stock and bond markets) in order to assess evidence of diversification power provided by this investment type in light of Modern Portfolio Theory. The research considers a sample of REITs listed on the Stock Exchange of São Paulo, during the period of 2008-2014 applying methodology developed by Clayton and Mackinnon (2003), where the econometric model explaining REIT returns is decomposed into three market factors: real estate, stock market and bonds. Correlation matrix, regression analysis and variance decomposition indicate that although Brazilian REIT returns, in a way, reflects their hybrid nature, the three factor model is not sufficient to explain their total returns, suggesting that Brazilian REIT performance is not primarily driven by any of these underlying markets. More importantly, results suggest that FII consists of a unique asset class and as such may provide diversification benefits in a mixed portfolio by broadening the efficient frontier. Analysis of subsamples by property type also indicate that the diversification role of real estate securities is tied to property type, since the explanatory factors and their impact on returns differ from one type of REIT to another. Present findings shed light on Brazilian REITs nature and have important implications for the selection criteria to be adopted by investors and also real estate fund managers regarding product formatting and management.


In order to solve the problem of poor hydrophobicity of anthocyanins, in this paper, the blueberry anthocyanin was acylated with ferulic acid and caffeic acid, and the structure, hydrophobicity and antioxidant activity of related products were analysed. The FTIR and UV-Vis analysis indicated that ferulic acid and caffeic acid were grafted on the -OH of the glycosyl of the blueberry anthocyanins through acylation reaction, and the acylation degree of the anthocyanins acylated with ferulic acid (Fe-An) and caffeic acid (Ca-An) was 3.65% and 3.71%, respectively. Meanwhile, the total anthocyanidin content was decreased from 370.2 mg/g (Na-An) to 219.2 mg/g (Fe-An) and 222.18 mg/g (Ca-An), respectively. In addition, the hydrophobicity and antioxidant activity of blueberry anthocyanins were significantly improved after acylation with the two phenolic acids. The octanol-water partition coefficient (KOW) was increased from −0.20 (Na-An) to 0.66 (Fe-An) and 0.78 (Ca-An), DPPH clearance increased from 66.3% (Na-An) to 68.4% (Fe-An) and 74.7% (Ca-An), and inhibition ratio of β-carotene bleaching increased from 63.1% (Na - An) to 85.5% (Fe-An) and 90.3% (Ca-An). The results show that the introduction of ferulic acid and caffeic acid significantly improve the hydrophobicity and antioxidant activity of blueberry anthocyanins, which will greatly expand the application of anthocyanins in high-fat foods.


The extended Kalman filter, which is essentially a method of sequential least-squares estimation, has been applied not only for dynamic parameter identification but also for static or dynamic system identification problems. In order to obtain the stable and convergent estimation in dynamic or static parameter identification problems, an extended Kalman filter-weighted local iteration procedure with an objective function (EK-WLI procedure) is previously proposed by writers. This paper investigates the procedure in geotechnical engineering problems, where the EK-WLI procedure is incorporated with the finite element method in order to identify unknown parameters. For the effectiveness of this proposed procedure, parameter identification problems are numerically analyzed for an elastic plain strain field represented by finite element models under several conditions. And numerical examples show the usefulness of this method in parameter identification of a plain strain field.


Background/Aim: The common cardiac toxicities of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin (AZ) are not well defined in COVID-19 patients. Index of cardiac electrophysiological balance (iCEB) is used as a novel risk marker for drug-induced arrhythmias. The purpose of this study was to evaluate ventricular repolarization using iCEB and other conventional ECG parameters such as the end of electrocardiographic T wave (Tp-e) interval, Tp-e/QT ratio, and Tp-e/ heart rate-corrected QT (QTc) ratio in COVID-19 patients treated with HCQ and AZ. Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 164 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia in the Emergency Department (ED) and then transferred to the ward or the intensive care unit in April 2020. Results: A total of 164 patients with a mean age of 47 (18) years (range: 18-97 years) included 83 (50.6%) females. There were 38 and 126 patients in Groups HTQ and HTQ+AZ, respectively. On the 5th day of hospitalization, all patients' heart rates were significantly lower (P<0.001), while QTc, QT max (V5-V6), QTmin, Tp-e (V5-V6), and iCEB values were significantly higher (P=0.01 and P<0.001 for the rest, respectively) compared to the basal values measured in the ED (P<0.001). iCEB values of the HTZ+AZ group were significantly higher than those of the HTQ group (P=0.03). iCEBc strongly positively correlated with Tp-e/QT (V5), and strongly negatively correlated with Tp-e (V5). Conclusion: The iCEB values were increased after HTQ and AZ treatment among COVID-19 patients, and strongly correlated with Tp-e and Tp-e/QT. iCEB is a simple, non-invasive method that can be a useful marker to evaluate ventricular repolarization in COVID-19 patients.


We compare sustainably managed with unmanaged forests in terms of their contribution to climate change mitigation based on published data. For sustainably managed forests, accounting of carbon (C) storage based on ecosystem biomass and products as required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is not sufficient to quantify their contribution to climate change mitigation. The ultimate value of biomass is its use for biomaterials and bioenergy. Taking Germany as an example, we show that the average removals of wood from managed forests are higher than stated by official reports, ranging between 56 and 86 mill. m3 year−1 due to the unrecorded harvest of firewood. We find that removals from one hectare can substitute 0.87 m3 ha−1 year−1 of diesel, or 7.4 MWh ha−1 year−1, taking into account the unrecorded firewood, the use of fuel for harvesting and processing, and the efficiency of energy conversion. Energy substitution ranges between 1.9 and 2.2 t CO2 equiv. ha−1 year−1 depending on the type of fossil fuel production. Including bioenergy and carbon storage, the total mitigation effect of managed forest ranges between 3.2 and 3.5 t CO2 equiv. ha−1 year−1. This is more than previously reported because of the full accounting of bioenergy. Unmanaged nature conservation forests contribute via C storage only about 0.37 t CO2 equiv. ha−1 year−1 to climate change mitigation. There is no fossil fuel substitution. Therefore, taking forests out of management reduces climate change mitigation benefits substantially. There should be a mitigation cost for taking forest out of management in Central Europe. Since the energy sector is rewarded for the climate benefits of bioenergy, and not the forest sector, we propose that a CO2 tax is used to award the contribution of forest management to fossil fuel substitution and climate change mitigation. This would stimulate the production of wood for products and energy substitution.


Herbal medicines have been used in the health sector for the treatment of human disorders from the ancient time to till the modern age. Plant based herbal products have an important place in the medicine due to their health beneficial potential and pharmacological activities. Traditional medicines have been used in developing country such as India to the developed countries such as the USA and Europe. Traditional medicines have been used in the health sectors for the treatment of numerous types of human disorders. Phytoconstituents play an important role in the growth, reproduction and development of the human being. Plant products have been used for the treatment of skin disorders, wounds, and various forms of inflammatory diseases. Flavonoids are a colorful component of fruits, seeds, vegetables, nuts and plants. Flavonoids have been used for the treatment of human disorders due to their vast pharmacological activities.

Scientific information of eupatorin has been collected from different literature sources and analyzed in order to know the health benefit of eupatorin in the medicine. All the scientific information presented here is collected from various databases such as Google, Pubmed, and Science direct etc. Pharmacological activity data of eupatorin have been collected from various literature databases and analyzed here to know the health beneficial potential of eupatorin in the medicine. However important analytical tools for the separation, isolation and identification of eupatorin have been also discussed in the present paper.

Eupatorin (39,5-dihydroxy-49,6,7-trimethoxyflavone) is a flavone class flavonoidal compound found to be present in the Orthosiphon stamineus, Salvia mirzayanii, Lantana montevidensis, Lantana montevidensis and Tanacetum vulgare. Eupatorin have been used against bronchitis, stomach disorders and various forms of cancer. Eupatorin have a potential role in various cancerous disorders such as human uterus carcinoma, human gastric adenocarcinoma, breast carcinoma, melanoma and colon carcinoma. Pharmacological data analysis revealed the effectiveness of eupatorin in human cancer and various types of inflammatory disorders. However, effectiveness of eupatorin against microorganism and enzymes were also presented in the present work with their herbicidal and vasorelaxation potential in the medicine. Eupatorin has a valuable role in the development of adjuvant chemotherapeutic agent.

Present review will be beneficial to the researcher to understand the physiological importance of eupatorin in the medicine for the development of newer and effective medicine.


Sediments of Coeur d'Alene Lake in northern Idaho are contaminated with heavy metals as a result of mining in the Coeur d'Alene River basin. Dredging and disposal operations have been suggested as a possible means of environmental remediation; thus, detailed knowledge is required as to how sediment oxygenation can result in the redistribution of trace elements. To simulate changing physicochemical soil conditions, stirred batch experiments were conducted using fresh sediment core material retrieved from the lake. Fifty grams of sediment were added to 750 mL of double deionized water and mixed while being oxygenated for 260 h. The following parameters were monitored as a function of time: pH and E h , contaminant trace-element release into the aqueous phase, and metal abundance within operationally defined fractions of the solid phase: magnesium chloride (exchangeable), sodium hypochlorite (organic), sodium acetate-acetic acid (carbonate), ammonium oxalate in the dark (non-crystalline), hydroxylamine hydrochloride (crystalline), and potassium perchlorate-hydrochloric-nitric acid (sulfidic) extractable sediment fractions. In all trials, levels of aqueous-phase Zn remained high throughout the simulations (6.60 mg L -1 ) and were highly correlated (sigma value = 0.95) with Mn. Oxygenation and disturbance resulted in a shift in trace element partitioning from the sodium hypochlorite (organic) and potassium perchlorate-hydrochloric-nitric acid extractable (sulfidic) fractions into the ammonium oxalate in the dark (non-crystalline) extractable fraction. Overall, these results indicate that oxygenation and agitation of anaerobic sediment results in Zn release into solution with concomitant redistribution of trace elements in the solid-phase.


Author(s): Gantz, Valentino M. | Abstract: While there has been a great deal of research trying to understand the link between DNA information the regulatory level in the final morphological outcome of an organism, a deep understanding of this relationship remains elusive. Here I attempted a new integrated approach to problem by : 1) comparing DNA sequences taken from different animals that have been diversified during evolution to generate altered function. 2) exploring a novel approach to dissecting cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) using in locus Cas9 genome editing; and 3) developing the mutagenic chain reaction, a novel active genetic element that can be use to easily perform cis-regulatory analysis in organisms with no existing genetic tools


This paper argues that macroeconomic policies for open economies differ, in fundamentally important ways, from the corresponding policies for closed economies.The openness of the economy imposes constraints on the effectiveness and proper conduct of macroeconomic policies and it also provides policy makers with infor-mation which may be usefully exploited in the design of policy. The discussion in this paper focuses on the dependence of monetary policy on the constraints and the information that are provided by the external sector. Section I summarizes briefly the characteristics of the international constraints on monetary policy.Section II deals with intervention in the foreign-exchange market and its relation to monetary policy. In this context the distinction between sterilized and non-sterilized interventions is drawn and the implications of the various forms of intarventions for the effectiveness of monetary policy are examined. Finally,Section III addresses the question of the role that exchange rates should play in the design of monetary policy. It is argued that data from the market for foreign exchange in combination with data on interest rates can provide the monetary authorities with useful information on money market conditions and thereby can contribute to the improved conduct of monetary policy.


What is our insomnia but the mad obstinacy of our mind in manufacturing thoughts and trains of reasoning, syllogisms and definitions of its own, refusing to abdicate in favor of that divine stupidity of closed eyes, or wise folly of dreams? The man who cannot sleep ... refuses more or less consciously to entrust himself to the flow of things (Yourcenar, 1954). Marguerite Yourcenar s poetic description of insomnia in Memoirs of Hadrian (Yourcenar, 1954) could be an excellent introduction to Schmidt et al. s (2010) paper Linking impulsivity to dysfunction thought control and insomnia: a structural equation model in this issue of Journal of Sleep Research, or even to the entire issue, which includes seven papers on insomnia and disrupted sleep. Schmidt et al. investigated how strategies of thought control at bedtime are associated with insomnia. Investigating 391 students who completed questionnaires on impulsivity, use of thought-control strategies at bedtime and on the severity of insomnia, they reported that specific personality traits may incline individuals with dysfunctional thought-control strategies to unwanted mental activity at night. Using structural equation-modelling analyses, they reported that two facets of impulsivity, urgency and lack of perseverance, were associated with more frequent use of aggressive suppression and worry at bedtime, and that this association was related to the severity of insomnia. Although the correlational nature of the study does not allow conclusions about causality and as much as impulsivity may affect sleep, the reverse is also possible by which insomnia may affect impulsivity; these results add more insight to the phenomenon by which the mad obstinacy of our mind in manufacturing thoughts at bedtime competes with sleep. Harrow and Espie (2010), however, reported that increased cognitive arousal at bedtime does not alter time perception in insomniacs. Thus, time estimation, at bedtime and during the day, of 26 participants meeting the criteria of primary insomnia was similar to that of 26 good sleepers, despite evidence supporting increased cognitive arousal at bedtime in insomnia. A different question that is rarely considered in the insomnia literature was addressed in a pilot study by Perlis et al. (2010), who investigated the temporal patterning of the night-to-night variability in the severity of insomnia. They reported that the severity of insomnia in 10 participants with untreated primary insomnia varies in such a manner that insomniacs experienced good sleep during 29–55% of the nights, and that nearly 90%of the instances of better than average sleep tend to occur following 1–3 nights of poor sleep. If replicated in a larger study, these findingsmay have important clinical implications. Notwithstanding, in two of the above studies, participants were recruited from student populations using a variety of selfadministered questionnaires to assess insomnia. Insomniarelated questionnaires are the subject of two papers in this issue (Ellis et al., 2010; Yen et al., 2010). The eight-item Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS-8) was developed to assess the severity of insomnia in adults based on the International Classification of Diseases – version 10 diagnostic criteria. Yen et al. s (2010) study examined the factor structure of the AIS-8 in adolescents. Analysing data obtained from 8319 adolescents, they found that insomnia is a prevalent problem among the adolescent population and that the AIS-8 is composed of two factors: insomnia symptoms and subjective sleep and daytime distress . Interestingly, they found gender differences only in insomnia symptoms, whereas the severity of depression was associated with both factors. Ellis et al. (2010) raised a word of caution about the manner in which questionnaires are used in studies involving insomniacs. Investigating 118 psychology students, they demonstrated that, in poor sleepers, presentation of the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep Scale and the Insomnia Severity Index before the presentation of the Insomnia AmbiguityTask influenced the results significantly by increasing the number of insomnia congruent responses, in comparison with the reverse order of presentations. Investigators should be mindful of these findings when designing questionnaire-based studies to investigate insomnia, as the order in which questionnaires are presented may confound the results. The present issue also includes two epidemiological studies. Boyle et al. (2010) reported one of the few population-based studies that examined the prevalence of insomnia in adults with intellectual disabilities. They reported that the 4-week period prevalence of insomnia in 1032 adults with intellectual disabilities was 9.2%. Mental ill-health, use of psychotropic medications and problem behaviours were associated closely with insomnia. The second paper describes the experience of general practitioners with the assessment and treatment of insomnia based on a national survey of general practitioners in Norway (Silvertsen et al., 2010). The authors report that the prevalence of insomnia among patients in general practice was 11.2%, almost two-thirds of which were believed to be caused by a medical condition. Disappointingly, general practitioners rarely referred patients to polysomnographic recordings and only 8% relied on sleep diaries or questionnaires for the assessment of insomnia. Most general practitioners relied on anamnestic information (91%) and blood tests (40%). Although the collection of papers in the present issue confirms whathasbeenknownformanyyears, that insomnia isaprevalent sleep disorder affecting people of different ages, their results also showthat thereare stillmanyquestionsabout insomnia thatneed answers before effective assessment procedures and treatment interventions can be implemented successfully.


Eucalyptus gomphocephala is a mediterranean forest canopy species endemic to a narrow (5-10 km wide) coastal strip approximately 300 km in length in south-west Western Australia. E. gomphocephala is undergoing a significant decline that was first identified as a spot decline in 1994 and now occurs throughout large sections of its remnant distribution within Yalgorup National Park, in some areas resulting in 100% mortality. The reduction of this keystone species represents a significant modification to the associated ecosystem. Modifications to hydrology, fire regimes, entomological pressures, and fungal and Pythiaceous soil pathogens have been identified as possibly contributing to the decline syndrome. The potential of phosphite (phosphonate), nutrient and insecticide treatments to reverse the decline in tree health was assessed as (a) a method for controlling the decline and (b) a method for diagnosing possible causal agents. Phosphite has been successfully used to control Phytophthora and Pythiaceous soil pathogens by inducing a host defence response within the plant. Stem injection of declining E. gomphocephala in the present study has resulted in improved canopy health and vigor, indicating that Phytophthora and/or other Pythiaceous microorganisms may be playing a role in the decline. The impact of phosphite application on nutrient uptake and fine feeder root concentration was also assessed.


Driving behavior has a large impact on vehicle fuel consumption. Dedicated study on the relationship between the driving behavior and fuel consumption can contribute to decreasing the energy cost of transportation and the development of the behavior assessment technology for the ADAS system. Therefore, it is vital to evaluate this relationship in order to develop more ecological driving assistance systems and improve the vehicle fuel economy. However, modeling driving behavior under the dynamic driving conditions is complex, making a quantitative analysis of the relationship between the driving behavior and the fuel consumption difficult. In this paper, we introduce two kinds of machine learning methods for evaluating the fuel efficiency of driving behavior using the naturalistic driving data. In the first stage, we use an unsupervised spectral clustering algorithm to study the macroscopic relationship between driving behavior and fuel consumption, using the data collected during the natural driving process. In the second stage, the dynamic information from the driving environment and natural driving data is integrated to generate a model of the relationship between various driving behaviors and the corresponding fuel consumption features. The dynamic environment factors are coded into a processable, digital form using a deep learning-based object detection method so that the environmental data can be linked with the vehicle's operating signal data to provide the training data for the deep learning network. The training data are labeled according to its fuel consumption feature distribution, which is obtained from the road segment data and historical driving data. This deep learning-based model can then be used as a predictor of the fuel consumption associated with different driving behaviors. Our results show that the proposed method can effectively identify the relationship between the driving behavior and the fuel consumption on both macro and micro levels, allowing for end-to-end fuel consumption feature prediction, which can then be applied in the advanced driving assistance systems.


Purpose To explore the different expression pattern of survivin in colon carcinomas and its relationship with clinicopathologic features and prognosis.Methods Immunohistochemical study was performed to detect the expression of survivin in 80 cases of colon carcinoma.Results Survivin was detected in 65(81.25%) cases,including 35 cases with nuclear expression and 43 with cytoplasmic expression.The nuclear positive staining of survivin in colon carcinoma was negatively related to lymph node metastasis and histological grade (P0.05).The cytoplasmic expression of survivin in colon carcinoma with stagesⅠand Ⅱ was higher than that in stages Ⅲ and Ⅳ (P0.05).Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed the survival times of colon carcinoma with nuclear expression of survivin was longer than that without nuclear expression of surviving (P0.05).There was no difference between the cytoplasmic positive and negative group (P0.05).Conclusions Survivin expression pattern in colon carcinoma shows different prognostic value,and especially nuclear expression of survivin can be a favorable prognostic marker for colon carcinoma.


Objective:  To determine the perinatal mortality at Vila Central Hospital (VCH) and thereby make an estimate of Vanuatu's perinatal mortality.


The purpose of the study was to develop a computer access assessment system for improving computer access of individuals with physical disabilities for the first time in Korea. Korea-Computer Access Assessment System (K-CAAS) presented in this article tests five user skills of aim, drag, menu, scan, and switch. Skill levels of the five test areas could be set as low, middle, and high according to individuals` characteristics. All tests have their default set in each level, and skill levels can be selected and controlled by the abilities and goals of a user. Tests could be selected for users` training and their results could be traced and shown. Therefore, the K-CAAS is a training program to improve computer access skills as well as an assessing program. It would help users with physical disabilities operate a computer by themselves as improving their computer access skills.


Most of the existing monitoring systems are based on the characteristics of monitoring equipments and the needs of users to develop software,which cannot flexibly achieve dynamic integration.In order to solve these problems,the ontology technology is used to the design of intelligent monitoring software.Moreover,the OWL is adopted to describe and express the ontology formulations of equipments,which can solve the problems caused by sharing and reusing equipments.A monitoring system based on ontology is designed.The system possesses reusability and maintainability.The example shows that the monitoring process which is described by ontology is feasible.


Two different charges of Composition B, i.e, cast charge and pressed charge, were tested by using the large drop hammer loading device to simulate the main loading stress of gunshot. The result shows that the precssed charge of Composition B is relatively insensitive and its launch safety is better than the cast charrge's.


We present, for the first time, an evaluation of treatment outcomes in a cohort at a TB referral centre in the Central Region of Ghana. Of the 213 clients placed on DOTS, 59.2% (126/213) were sputum smear-positive. An overall cure rate of 90.2% (51.6% cured + 37.6% completed) and a death rate of 8.5% (18/213) were estimated. Of the number of clients who died, 5.7% (12/213) were males (χ 2 = 2.891, p = 0.699; LR = 3.004, p = 0.699). Deaths were only recorded among clients who were > 19 years old (χ 2 = 40.319, p = 0.099; LR = 41.244, p = 0.083). Also, 0.9% (2/213) was lost to follow-up, while 1.4% (3/213) had treatment failure. In total, 13.6% (7.0%, 15/213 males, and 6.6%, 14/213 females) of clients who were placed on DOTS were HIV seropositive. Ages of 40–49 years had the highest number, 13/213 (6.1%), infected with HIV, though the difference among the remaining age groups was not statistically significant (χ 2 = 9.621, p = 0.142). Furthermore, 7.0% (15/213) had TB/HIV coinfection. Out of them, 9 were cured and 5 died at home, while 1 had treatment failure. Tuberculosis/HIV infection prevention advocacy and interventions that address sociodemographic determinants of unfavourable treatment outcomes are urgently required to augment national efforts towards control.


This editorial refers to 'The effect of intravenous ferriccarboxymaltoseonredcelldistributionwidth:asubanalysisof the FAIR-HF study,' by E.M. Van Craenenbroeck et al.,published in this issue on pages 756–762.Iron deficiency has recently been identified as an important patho-genic factor affecting the severity and progression of chronic heartfailure(CHF).


Taking college students that living in the Shanghai 985 Universities as research subject,selecting the four "985" 4 urban university campus and four suburban campuses,using the questionnaires,this paper investigates the current situation of students' life and movements in urban and rural areas.Conclusions: 1) 1-2 curriculum greatly impact breakfast of university students;Lack of awareness and learning objectives is reason nearly half of the students wasting of time by sleeping;students sleep time is generally late because of part-time activities,particularly urban students.2) Urban Campus students pay more attention to training and improving communication skills,suburban campus students pay more attention to the accumulation of professional knowledge and professional capabilities.3) Urban Campus students as living environment and transport factors,the choice of sports is relatively large.4) Urban campus students participate in sports focused on interpersonal relationships,and the suburban campus student focuses on learning and training skills.


In this work, a memristor-based spiking neural network with a many-to-one feed-forward topology is designed for spatio-temporal pattern learning (25-pixel character 'B'). A TiO2 non-linear drift behavioral memristor model is used for simulation of a neuromorphic circuit with 25 pre- and 1 post-synaptic neuron. The memristor model mimics synaptic behavior and is modified to include effects of radiation interactions on memristor. Simulated irradiation of the memristors during the learning process alters their state, and the effect on circuit learning behavior is observed. The network uses spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) learning implemented using biphasic neuron action potentials. It is found that although radiation changes the synaptic weights, the network is able to recover and relearn the pattern after radiation ceases. Recovery time is proportional to flux, intensity, and duration of the radiation. If the network is exposed to radiation events of low intensity and flux even for an indefinite period (as observed in space), it may be able to retain its pattern recognition capabilities.


A cyanic acid ester compound which has a structure represented by general formula (1).
(In the formula, n represents an integer of 1 or more.)


Three new hybrid open-framework indiumphosphate-oxalates, Ⅰ, Na[InPO4(C2O4)0.5]·H2O Ⅱ,[C2N2-H10]0.5[InPO4(C2O4)0.5] Ⅲ, [C3N2H12]0.5[In2(PO4)(HPO4)(C2-O4)]·H2O have been hydrothermally synthesized by using organic amines such as ethylamine, 1,3-diaminopropane and alkali metal ions such as Na+ as structure-directing agents (SDA). The structures of these compounds were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure of Ⅰ consists of InO6 octahedra that are linked by phosphate and oxalate groups to generate a three-dimensional framework with intersecting 8-membered ring (MR) channels parallel to the [100] and [010] directions. The structure of Ⅱ is similar to that of I except that its guest species are protonated ethylamines. Ⅲ is built from indiumphosphate double-six-rings second building units linked by oxalate units, resulting in large circular 16 MR channels. Single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements show that the SDA of Ⅰ--Ⅲ are located in their channels. Crystal data for these three indium phosphate-oxalates are as follows: Ⅰ, triclinic, space group: P-1(No. 2), a=5.5662(17)A, b=6.454(2)A,c=8.966(3)A, α= 102.609(4)°, β= 107.319(3)°, γ = 94.426(4)°,V = 296.56(16)A^3, Z = 2, M = 294.81, Pcalu = 3.301 g/cm^3, R1 =0.0275, wR2 = 0.0731. Ⅱ, triclinic, space group: P-1 (No. 2),a = 5.653(4)A, b=6.627(4)A, c = 9.391(8)A, α = 70.788(8)°,β= 75.836(12)°, γ= 89.681(9)°, V = 321.1(4)A^3, Z = 2, M =283.85, ρcaku=2.936 g/cm^3, RI= 0.0664, wR2 = 0.1572. Ⅲ,orthorhombic, space group: Pccm (No.49), a=10.350(2)A,b=12.190(2)A, c=13.000(3)A, V= 1640.2(6)A^3, Z=4, M=272.32, ρcalcu=2.206 g/cm^3, R1=0.0691, wR2=0.1831.


BY A. W. LINDSEY Department of Zoology, Denison University, Granville, Ohio U N NTIL the appearance of Darwin's Origin of Species in I859, the idea of organic evolution was by no means an established factor in biological thought. The instability of species had been suggested more than once and definite systems of evolution had been formulated by some writers, but it remained for the tremendous weight of evidence presented by Darwin to make a permanent impression on the scientific world. There is a valuable lesson in this fact. In the modern scientific world we are prone to be impressed by bulk, especially when it is the bulk of extensive experimental evidence. Just as definitely are we prone to discount a purely logical analysis of any topic. The weakness of the position should be evident, but unfortunately it seems often not to be, for masterly summaries of experimental data continue to arouse admiration and we continue to follow the trails that they blaze even when logical analysis points elsewhere. Darwin's own contribution and the corollaries added by Weismann and others have themselves demonstrated this weakness, for through able support Darwin gained for the partly fallacious theory of natural selection a degree of acceptance that has since proved wholly unjustified, and any corollary that could be seized upon for the support of this position has been used, whether logical or illogical, established by experiment or wholly without such evidence. Our reasoning in evolution has very definitely shown the frailties of human prejudice, as well as the beauty of precise scientific thought. It seems wholly beyond question that the attention of biologists to evolution should now be concentrated on the cold logic of the problems involved, in the expectation that the remaining gaps in our evidence might thus be made clear and subjected to sound experimental investigation. Instead the principal trend seems to be a rhetorical denial of the views that have been either neglected or difficult o investigate, and a positive argument for the views that have found favor, even to the extent of maintaining that the vital gaps in the supporting evidence are not insurmountable, since there is still possibility of their being filled! To argue that possibilities on one side of a question are not to be considered because experimental proof is lacking, and that possibilities on the other side are to be accepted in spite of lack of evidence because they are logical possibilities involves a naivete that one would scarcely expect in scientific writing. The writer's attention has been drawn again to this question primarily by Dobzhansky's Genetics and the Origin of Species, a magnificent contribution to the literature of evolution, even though, unfortunately, it is guilty of the faults just mentioned. As a discussion of the subject indicated in the title, it is certainly the finest yet produced, but its very fineness endangers the general consideration of evolutionary processes by minimizing all factors that cannot be encompassed by such a title.


This paper focuses on domain specific use of MT with a special focus on SMT in the workflow of a Language Service Provider (LSP). We report on the feedback of post-editors using fluency/adequacy evaluation and the evaluation metric 'Usability', understood in this context as where users on a three point scale evaluate the sentence from the point of view of the post-editor. The post-editor profile defined by the LSP is based on the experiences of introducing MT in the LSP workflow. The relation between the Translation Edit Rate (TER) scores and 'Usability' scores is tested. We find TER a candidate for an automatic metric simulating the post-editors' usability judgements. LSP tests show 67% saved time in post-editing for the tested domain. Finally, the use of weighted sub-domain phrase tables in a SMT system is shown to improve translation quality.


The retrieval process in case based reasoning systems (CBR) is a two-step process. It starts with a problem description and ends when a best matching previous case(s) has/have been retrieved. To optimize the retrieval process, enhancement of both processes is required. This research work explores the use of XML (Extensible Markup Language) as a case descriptive language. An additional goal is to identify factors which play a major role in the optimization process. This work also presents an experimental investigation concerning the use of artificial neural networks in the adaptation process of CBR systems. A backpropagation feedforward neural network in different configurations, has been employed to carry out empirical analysis of using this technique for case based adaptation.


Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how block trading and asymmetric information contribute to the firm-specific information measured by the stock return synchronicity. Based on China stock market which is dominated by individual investors, this study focus on whether traders of block trading, which are usually institutional investors, are "information trader." Design/methodology/approach - – Based on the high frequency data, the paper constructs two measures of information asymmetry, intraday measure and inter-day measure. Then the paper constructs a multiple regression model and examine how block trading and information asymmetry contribute to the firm-specific information measured by the stock return synchronicity. Findings - – The results show that: on the one hand, block trading transmits more firm-specific information, and can reduce the synchronicity; on the other hand, when the degree of information asymmetry is higher, block trading contains more firm-specific information and has a stronger effect on synchronicity. The effect of information asymmetry specifically displays as: block trading during the first half-hour of the trading day has a stronger effect on synchronicity; and block trading occurred in the days with publicly announced trading information has greater impact on synchronicity. Practical implications - – The conclusions have important practical implications: for market regulators, monitoring for block trading can improve the recognition and prevention of insider trading; for individual investors, especially the risk aversion investors, recognition of intraday and inter-day information asymmetry is beneficial for them to avoid the risk of asymmetric information. Originality/value - – First, the domestic and foreign research mostly concentrated impact of block trading on stock prices. However, reasons of stock price changes include the information effect and non-information effect, this paper selects stock return synchronicity as firm-specific information measure, and mainly focus on the information effect of block trading. Second, based on the high frequency data, the paper constructs two measures of information asymmetry, intraday measure and inter-day measure. Compared with general measure of information asymmetry, such as firm size, earnings quality, the two measures based on high frequency data are more precisely.


An approach for photonic generation dual-chirp microwave waveform (DCMW) with frequency and bandwidth multiplication without filtering is proposed and demonstrated. A continuous-wave (CW) optical signal is sent to a polarization division multiplexing modulator. In the modulator, one part of the CW optical signal is modulated by the radio-frequency (RF) driving signals to generate ±2 nd-order single-frequency sidebands, while another one is modulated by the baseband chirped signals to generate ±2 nd-order chirped sidebands. After that, a frequency-doubled and bandwidth-quadrupled DCMW can be generated by photoelectric balanced detection. In the simulation experiments, by using a RF driving signal at 5GHz and a baseband single-chirp signal with bandwidth of 0.5GHz as the input electrical signals, a DCMW with central frequency of 10GHz and bandwidth of 2GHz is generated.


Abstract Let X be a smooth projective curve of genus g , L  ∈ Pic d ( X ), V  ⊆  H 0 ( X ,  L ), V spanning L . For every integer t with 1 ≤  t  ≤  n  − 2 ≔ dim( V ) − 3, let P t ( L ) be the principal bundle of order t of L and G t ( L ) ⊆  P t ( L ) the image of the Taylor expansion map V  ⊗  O X  →  P t ( L ), i.e., Piene's osculating bundle of order t of L . If rank( G t ( L )) =  t  + 1, c  ≔ deg( G t ( L )) − deg( P t ( L )) is the degree of the cuspidal locus of order ≤  t of the linear system | V |. Here we study G t ( L ) as an abstract bundle on X using elementary transformations. For every g  ≥ 2 we obtain conditions on g , d , n , t , and c such that for all X and all L  ∈ Pic d ( X ), there is V  ⊆  H 0 ( X ,  L ) such that the associated osculating bundle G t ( L ) is a general stable bundle of rank t  + 1 and degree ( t  + 1) t ( g  − 1) + ( t  + 1) d  −  c .


An intelligent management system for relay protection optical fiber channel is developed by B/S (Browser/Server, browser / server mode) structure and the system structure diagram is given. The design of the system function modules and database system client are described. The operation results show that the system has the advantages of simple operation and friendly interface. This system can satisfy four aspects about the system administrator, operator, tourists and user agent personnel to add, delete, modify, query and other job requirements.


Purpose. The importance of optimal balance and stability for athletes is essential for performance and injury prevention. Instability devices are common in fitness facilities as a means of training. There is an abundance of training methodologies and exercises implementing various instabilities-training devices. The popular media and practitioners endorse and sell these products, promoting unstable training as a means of improving sport performance, force production, and core strength. This study aims to identify the effect of the suggested training program using a Bosu ball on each of the following: The specific physical elements of the handball skills on topics as (legs and arms muscular power, motor speed, agility, balance, flexibility, accuracy and coordination). Performing the basic skills on topics (dribbling, passing accuracy, passing speed, shooting accuracy, jumping distance at shooting, and speed of shooting with running). Methods. (31) Female students with the percentage of 30% subjected to a purposeful selection as the sample of the research and divided into two groups officially registered in the theme of handball (1). And after eliminating the failed female students according to their results – only one female student, the actual sample became (30) female students with the percentage of 28% of the research community. The sample was divided into two equal groups as (15) female student each, as follows: The first group: experimental group subjected to the suggested training program using the Bosu ball. The second group: Control group underwent to the traditional method followed in applying the theme of the department. Results. Statistically significant differences between the average of the pre and post measurements of the experimental group in the physical and skill variables in favour of the post measurement. The researcher returns that to using the Bosu ball as an updated tool in the specific physical preparation part, because the exercises of this group were directed to develop the handball specific physical fitness elements. Moreover, the female students accepted practices with the Bosu ball and positively used it, in addition to its effect on some physical fitness elements which in turn positively affected the handball basic skills. Conclusions. According to the data and information reached out by the researcher, in the limits of the research sample, the nature of the aim, in the light of statistical data processing and through discussing the results, the following conclusions were reached: The suggested educational program using the Bosu ball positively affects the physical and skill level in the handball (1) theme. The traditional teaching method positively affects the physical and skill level in the handball (1) theme. The suggested educational program using the Bosu ball surpasses the traditional teaching method in the physical level and learning the basic handball skills on the handball (1) theme. It is obvious that balance which is the primary objective of the tool used in the research, where most researches and references did not indicate its importance in handball, scored good and effective improvement rates in the experimental program.


Chlorophyll and water obscure the absorption features of all other leaf constituents in the spectra of green leaves. The predominant near-IR and thermal IR spectral features of dry plant materials originate from lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose. These compounds account for 80 to 98 percent of the dry weight in most plant materials.


The folk customs of Suzhou in "San Yan"include three aspects: life style,rituals and season change. The main spiritual characteristics of Wu culture are reflected,such as rational discipline,practicality,concerning individual,valuing self,learning and studying,wisdom,simple and elegant,and aesthetic taste of simplicity. The significance of this study is to concern regional culture study in China,highlight folk custom protection,and trans-disciplinary perspective upon ancient novel research.


In search for the cheapest but still reliable numerical simulation, a systematic study on the effect of the computational domain ("box") size on direct numerical simulations of Taylor-Couette flow was performed. Four boxes, with varying azimuthal and axial extents were used. The radius ratio between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder was fixed to $\eta=r_i/r_o=0.909$, and the outer was kept stationary, while the inner rotated at a Reynolds number $Re_i=10^5$. Profiles of mean and fluctuation velocities are compared, as well as autocorrelations and velocity spectra. The smallest box is found to accurately reproduce the torque and mean azimuthal velocity profiles of larger boxes, while having smaller values of the fluctuations than the larger boxes. The axial extent of the box directly reflects on the Taylor-rolls and plays a crucial role on the correlations and spectra. The azimuthal extent is also found to play a significant role, as larger boxes allow for azimuthal wave-like patterns in the Taylor rolls to develop, which affects the statistics in the bulk region. For all boxes studied, the spectra does not reach a box independent maximum.


A critical role of government is to provide assistance to households a ff ected by negative shocks, such as natural disasters. This paper studies such government intervention in the form of o ffi cial drought declarations in three Indian states. First, I demonstrate that while states' targeting of drought relief partly aligns with environmental criteria, it does not strictly adhere to national guidelines. Instead, I find that allocations are disrupted by political motivations: the likelihood of receiving a declaration increases in an area's electoral competitiveness while areas aligned with the state ruling party are less likely to receive a declaration. I develop a dynamic probabilistic voting model, driven by the state ruling party's reelection motives, that explains these results. The model also highlights potential endogeneity concerns in empirical specifications connecting political conditions to drought declarations. To causally identify the relationship between electoral incentives and declarations, I thus construct instruments for electoral competition and incumbency utilizing the interaction of a party's vote share in a prior period with a state-level, leave-one out change in support. I confirm that the associations I report reflect a causal relationship. Finally, I o ff er suggestive evidence that the mistargeting of declarations, relative to national guidelines, results in a misallocation of public resources. We show a causal impact of immigration on innovation and dynamism in US counties. To identify the causal impact of immigration, we use 130 years of detailed data on migrations from foreign countries to US counties to isolate quasi-random variation in the ancestry composition of US counties that results purely from the interaction of two historical forces: (i) changes over time in the relative attractiveness of di ff erent destinations within the US to the average migrant arriving at the time and (ii) the staggered timing of the arrival of migrants from di ff erent origin countries. We then use this plausibly exogenous variation in ancestry composition to predict the total number of migrants flowing into each US county in recent decades. We show four main results. First, immigration has a positive impact