Abstract Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is the traditional staple food of Sidama people who live in Rift Valley lowlands to highlands in southwest Ethiopia. Enset is drought resistant, but it matures slowly, requires substantial manure inputs from cattle, and intensive processing. Maize, introduced to Sidamaland in the mid-twentieth century, is common in midlands and lowlands. Maize matures rapidly and provides more kcal/kg than enset, but it is prone to failure in dry years and requires chemical fertilizer, which is subject to global market price fluctuations. We compare cultural ecology, productivity, failure, and resilience of enset and maize in 410 farms across four Sidama ecological zones. The risks and benefits of enset and maize are complexly associated with variable local environments. Enset offers drought-resistant produce that, with sufficient manure inputs, is adequate for subsistence in the wet highlands, but its performance is more variable elsewhere. Fertilized, maize yields larger harvests than enset, but vulnerability to rainfall and global processes create special challenges. Maize and enset appear to be in different adaptive cycle phases: maize grows quickly and maize farms rebounded from crop loss within four years. Only half of enset farms recovered within six years after crop failure, complicating farming decisions in an environment with tremendous localized variation. In general, the Sidama zone shows a pattern of regional diversity with local specialization for maize only, enset only, or mixed maize and enset cultivation. In some areas maize has become a preferred crop and food for younger people.


Strains bearing the vph2 mutation are defective in vacuolar acidification. The VPH2 gene was isolated from a genomic DNA library by complementation of the zinc‐sensitive phenotype of the mutant. Deletion analysis localized the complementing activity to a 1·2 kb DNA fragment. Sequence analysis of this fragment revealed the presence of a single open reading frame that encoded a protein of 215 amino acids. Computer analysis indicated that the protein, which has a predicted molecular mass of 25 286 Daltons, has two distinct membrane‐spanning domains. Biochemical studies indicated that strains bearing the vph2 mutation have greatly reduced levels of vacuolar proton pumping and ATPase activity and that the nucleotide binding subunits of the multimeric vacuolar H+‐ATPase failed to be correctly targeted to the vacuolar membrane. The vph2 mutant fails to grow on YEP glycerol medium and on media containing 100 mM‐CaCl2 or 4 mM‐ZnCl2 or buffered to pH 7·5, a phenotype observed in strains carrying deletions in the genes encoding several vacuolar H+‐ATPase subunits. The VPH2 gene is identical to the VMA12 gene (T. Stevens and Y. Anraku, personal communication).


For Latin American countries, the tourism sector represents an opportunity for growth and economic and social development. However, in countries like Colombia, research and training of skilled personnel in this sector is still weak. The article identifies the academic programs focused on tourism offered in Colombia, and analyzes the statistical behavior of the graduates of these types of programs. The methodology for the study focuses on secondary sources such as general information system of higher education "SNIES" of the Ministry of National Education "men" Colombia and the website of the Colombian higher education institutions that offer tourism programs. Finally, the article shows that tourism programs in technology level are the most offered, followed by both professional technicians and professional. At postgraduate level there is a preference for specialized programs.


"Larger cities provide a buffer against depression"— this astounding statement is from a PNAS article by Stier et al. (1) on how depression rates scale with the population of metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). It is astounding as it runs contrary to a wealth of psychological and epidemiological research showing the complex nature of depression and the detrimental influence of cities (2–4). This conflict with prior research makes it paramount to study the quality of the evidence. In this letter we carry out this task by considering the robustness of the finding. Our analysis suggests that their data do not support their conclusion.


Vertisols present edaphic limiting factors primarily of a physical nature. The study of their hydropedology, supported by multivariate techniques, is of vital importance. The work was developed with the objective of determining, through multivariate analysis, the hydropedological behavior of a Chromic Vertisol under different plant covers. In areas under natural grass, sugarcane, and secondary forest, belonging to the Holguín Sugarcane Provincial Research Station, three random points were chosen in each. Soil penetration resistance, soil bulk density, gravimetric moisture, and volumetric moisture at depths of 0-10, 10-20 and 20-30cm were determined. A Principal Component Analysis and Canonical Correlations were performed using Statistica 7 and Statgraphics Plus XV.II. The first two components made the greatest contribution to the variance, with 83.09%. The greatest contributions (1 st component) were given by moisture at all depths and by soil compaction at a depth of 20-30cm. The 2 nd component was influenced by soil compaction in the 0-10 and 10-20cm layers. There was a contrast between the variables that characterize the solid phase with which they describe the liquid phase of the soil. There was a correlation between soil moisture and compaction. The first two pairs of canonical variables showed a strong linear correlation and regularly dispersed along the central values of the model, with a remarkable grouping by depths.


Political parties are in a unique situation, being able to change electoral rules and regulations to minimise any potential negative effects on their electoral prospects. Attempts to influence regulators, however, can be complex and include voicing concerns, public pressure and the regulatory capture of electoral regulators. Little is known about this relationship between parties and their regulators. This article focuses on this crucial electoral relationship through a study of political parties' relations with the UK Electoral Commission. The first section addresses the background to the legal regulation of political parties. The second section proposes a framework through which parties' reactions to regulation may be understood. The third part introduces the British case, providing evidence to demonstrate the broad utility of the framework. The final section analyses the issues that parties have raised with their regulators.


The new statistical thermodynamic approach based on free-volume theory is applied to binary nickel-bearing substitutional alloy systems. Analysis of experimental data on these systems shows very good correspondence with the computed values, based on the different expressions developed in this new approach and using infinite dilution parameters, over the entire range of composition of these systems. The assymetric behavior of some of these systems is also explained. (Received July 11, 1979)


To meet the requirement of improving students' learning ability of English online course, a set of video teaching scheme is constructed. The system is designed based on IP video processing technology and improved k-means clustering algorithm. Considering the relationship of video frame sequence and maintaining the acceptable retrieval speed, the system selects the campus network teaching content related to the college mining strategy for the target student group and perform the corresponding mining management. In this paper, the innovative ideas are further studied and confirmed. The database of the system is developed and designed, and the system is run and tested. The results show that this method is based on permutation and combination K-means clustering algorithm to deeply mine the inherent rules of the strategy, and it has a good implementation effect for better recognition of video content. The improvement scheme greatly improves the quality of English multimedia teaching and students' satisfaction is high.


The invention provides a movable gap covering device (7) convenient to operate, which is used for covering a movable gap between a first part (8) and a second part (9) which can be movably connected together. The covering device (7) comprises an elastic material main body (74) and a carrier block driving elastic assembly (71) capable of horizontally moving forward and backward in a cavity in the elastic material main body (74), wherein the carrier block driving elastic assembly (71) comprises a squeezing force elastically-transferring component (711), two wedge tooth parts (715 and 716) which are symmetrically and fixedly arranged at two sides of the squeezing force elastically-transferring component (711), and an internal thread sleeve (713) which is fixedly arranged at the central axis of the squeezing force elastically-transferring component (711) through peripheral fixing teeth; and articulated linkage plate parts (712 and 714) are symmetrically arranged at the front and back sides of the carrier block driving elastic assembly (71) respectively.


In order to analyze the gene flow between the allotetraploid cultivated cotton (Gossypium hirsutum, AADD, 2n=52) and the wild diploid (G. herbaceum, AA, 2n=26), the possibility of natural hybridization between these two cotton species has been investigated. In fact, in South Africa and particularly in the KwaZulu Natal Province, where commercialisation of transgenic Bt cotton began in 1998, a wild species (G. herbaceum) is neighbouring from the cultivated cotton fields. From reciprocal crosses performed without emasculation between G herbaceum used as female or male and G hirsutum, 148 and 335 plants respectively, have been analyzed. Neither examination of the morphological characteristics nor the flow cytometry analysis of the 335 plants resulting from the cross G hirsutum x G herbaceum, have shown any to be hybrid plants. For the cross G herbaceum x G hirsutum, three plants have shown a hybrid phenotype. Analysis of DNA content by flow cytometry and morphological traits, have clearly shown that two of them were triploid (AAD). The third one exhibited a value in flow cytometry slightly higher than G hirsutum. In addition some morphological characteristics (plant morphology, presence and size of petal spots, leaf shape...) have led us to conclude that this plant is AAAD and was the result of a fecundation with unreduced gamete AA from the female G herbaceum parent. Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH), and meiotic behaviour have confirmed this hypothesis. This is, to our knowledge, the first description of the occurrence of a non-reductional meiosis in the species G. herbaceum. This plant material could provide a useful tool for the study of the expression of genes duplicated in the A and D cotton genome. The possibility of obtaining an interspecific hybrid between cultivated and diploid wild cotton through fertilization with an unreduced gamete raises the question of its evolution in natural populations. (Texte integral)


An experiment was conducted at Tambul Research Station, Western Highlands Province, PNG, to determine the response of highlands half-bred ewes to the steroid hormone Androject, injected eight and four weeks before the onset of mating. The aim was to determine the potential use of this method for increasing lamb production in the national and provincial sheep farms producing lambs for distribution to farmers. Ewes that received Androject showed a fecundity of 1.42 per ewe compared to 1.18 per ewe for the control group. The number of lambs weaned per 100 ewes in the treated and the untreated groups were 119 and 97 respectively. It appears that under the prevailing feeding and management conditions at Tambul Research Station, the use of a steroid immunising vaccine such as Androject may result in a significant increase in the fecundity of ewes.


For many years, researchers have been developing theoretical methods of estimating reaction rates and energetics when experimental measurements are not available. Recent advances have led to composite energy methods with near chemical accuracy. The performance of these new methods for predicting activation energies and rate constants have not been evaluated for large hydrocarbon cracking reactions. In this work, ab initio methods are used to study the transition state structures and activation energies of ethane cracking, hydrogen exchange and dehydrogenation reactions catalyzed by zeolites. The reactant and transition state structures are optimized by HF and MP2 methods and the final energies are calculated using a Complete Basis Set composite energy method. The computed activation barriers are 71.39 kcal/mol for cracking, 31.39 kcal/mol for hydrogen exchange and 75.95 kcal/mol for dehydrogenation using geometries optimized with the MP2 method. The cluster effect and acidity effect on the reaction barriers are also investigated. The relationship between activation barriers and zeolite deprotonation energies for each reaction are proposed so that accurate activation energies can be obtained when using different zeolites as catalysts.


'Fullerenocalixarenes' in which [60]fullerene is covalently linked through two ionophoric chains to a cone-calix[4]arene 1 or to a 1,3-alternate calix[4]arene 2 have been synthesized for the first time: although the absorption spectrum of 2 is scarcely changed upon addition of metal cations, that of 1 is affected by added Li+, Na+ and Ag+, indicating the formation of exohedral [60]fullerene–metal complexes.


Event-based social networks (EBSNs), such as Meetup and Plancast, which offer platforms for users to plan, arrange, and publish events, have gained increasing popularity and rapid growth. EBSNs capture not only the online social relationship, but also the offline interactions from offline events. They contain rich heterogeneous information, including multiple types of entities, such as users, events, groups and tags, and their interaction relations. Three recommendation tasks, namely recommending groups to users, recommending tags to groups, and recommending events to users, have been explored in three separate studies. However, none of the proposed methods can handle all the three recommendation tasks. In this paper, we propose a general graph-based model, called HeteRS, to solve the three recommendation problems on EBSNs in one framework. Our method models the rich information with a heterogeneous graph and considers the recommendation problem as a query-dependent node proximity problem. To address the challenging issue of weighting the influences between different types of entities, we propose a learning scheme to set the influence weights between different types of entities. Experimental results on two real-world datasets demonstrate that our proposed method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods for all the three recommendation tasks, and the learned influence weights help understanding user behaviors.


The requirements for materials used in the machine parts production, especially their functional characteristics and service life are currently increasing. The need strength, ductility and toughness on the one hand and low weight, corrosion and wear resistance on the other hand, are often contradictory and with standard materials hardly realizable. One suitable solution of this formidable situation appears to be a surface treatment, which can create a coating with special properties mentioned above. The example is a die, which keeps the basic material's characteristics and, thanks to the coating, the functional properties of its surface are improved. In this case, there is a problem of cracking of the coating when overloaded. Very hard and abrasion-resistant coating is applied on the softer base material. The substrate is able to deform in an elastic or plastic manner under the load, but the brittle coating cracks. That leads to an intensive wear of the coating and subsequently of the die, too. The strengthening of substrate surface layers, e.g. by plasma nitriding, appears to be a suitable solution of the low strength of the substrate. On the nitrided surface a suitable PVD coating with required properties is deposited.


1. History of Atrial Fibrillation 2. Epidemiology of Atrial Fibrillation 3. Clinical Implications and Importance 4. Common Causes of Atrial Fibrillation 5. Atrial Fibrillation and Surgery 6. Lone Atrial Fibrillation 7. Pathophysiology of Atrial Fibrillation: haemodynamics, thromboembolic risk, hypercoagulability 8. Electrophysiology 9. Clinical Features, Presenting Features and Complications of Atrial Fibrillation 10. Basic Investigations and Initial Assessment 11. Non-Pharmacological Strategies For Atrial Fibrillation 12. Management Strategies For Atrial Fibrillation 13. Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation 14. Persistent Atrial Fibrillation and Cardioversion 15. Permanent Atrial Fibrillation and Heart Rate Control 16. Antithrombotic Therapy in Atrial Fibrillation


The scientific association is an organization of students working in a higher education institution, whose purpose is the scientific and self-education of its members. Scientific circles can function as informal groups and as registered structures. The official condition of the existence of a circle at many universities is its enrollment in the special register of student organizations. Some circles gain a lot of independence by registering in court but then they should be treated as non-governmental organizations. At the Poznan University of Technology there are currently 87 officially registered scientific circles, of which 7 are in the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering. One of the circles that focuses on innovative technologies in building management is the Construction Innovations academic association. The paper presents a brief description and main interests of the ConInno scientific group, including the most important from the perspective of construction technology and the management of undertaken activities aimed at broadening the knowledge of students enrolled in the circle. In addition, the article explores interest in participating in the research circle by analyzing historical data on the number of people enrolled in the scientific field, including students of the third degree studies, to draw conclusions about future interest in participating in the mentioned student organization. Association activity has a very positive impact on raising the awareness and knowledge of members of the organization in the field of construction technology and management not only related to Polish local technological and technical solutions, but also to the world because of the number of foreigners who are in the circle. What is more, there is a positive impact on the promotional work of students from the ConInno circle, which is a direct result of the close cooperation and a good atmosphere in the organization between students and tutors. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +48616652190; fax: +48616652190. E-mail address: firstname.lastname@example.com Available online at www.sciencedirect.com


Of late, regional anesthesia has enjoyed unprecedented popularity; this increase in cases has brought a higher frequency of instances of neurological deficit and arachnoiditis that may appear as transient nerve root irritation, cauda equina, and conus medullaris syndromes, and later as radiculitis, clumped nerve roots, fibrosis, scarring dural sac deformities, pachymeningitis, pseudomeningocele, and syringomyelia, etc., all associated with arachnoiditis. Arachnoiditis may be caused by infections, myelograms (mostly from oil‐based dyes), blood in the intrathecal space, neuroirritant, neurotoxic and/or neurolytic substances, surgical interventions in the spine, intrathecal corticosteroids, and trauma.


This paper focused on several methods of effectiveness evaluation, introduced the current commonly used effectiveness evaluation methods, arranged and summarized the advantages and disadvantages of each method at the same time, analyzed the common problems of commonly used effectiveness evaluation methods, and finally summarized the evolution and optimization direction of future effectiveness evaluation methods from three aspects. The conclusion can be used for reference to evaluate the effectiveness of a system.


The defining,classification and development of selective protection,the characteristic and applica-tion of THW1 series intelligent type air circuit breaker in selective protection were introduced.


The APS Grant for Intercultural and/or International Projects of up to $10,000 supports innovative projects that have an intercultural and/or international focus, particularly in countries where psychology is an emerging discipline. InPsych interviewed Professor Margot Prior who was the first recipient of the Grant in 2003 and Dr Jan Cregan who was awarded the Grant in 2007. Both of their projects involved an action component that exemplified the social justice underpinnings of the Grant - and both recipients emphasise the importance of careful, respectful relationship-building to a successful project partnership.


3 superharmonic resonance of wire subjected to harmonic excitation in temperature field is studied.The nonlinear vibration equation of wire subjected to harmonic excitation in temperature field is established by means of dynamics theory.According to the method of multiple scales for nonlinear vibration analysis,the approximation solution of 3 superharmonic resonance of the system is obtained.Numerical analysis on the influence of temperature,excitation,detuning,and damping on the system is carried out.Critical broken temperature value is acqired.It is pointed out that the system exists jump phenomena.


&dquo;The basic objective will be to improve patient care by concentrating many specialized medical skills on a single patient rather than fragmenting those skills, Dr. Middleton said. In addition, the VA hospital system is also incorporating many features of progressive patient care, adjusting the services to the special requirements of each patient. &dquo;VA now has 41 neuropsychiatric hospitals, nine tuberculosis hospitals, and 120 general medicine and surgery hospitals. However, only 70 of the 123 medical-surgical hospitals have beds for mental patients and others have no facilities for care of tuberculosis


Objective:To investigate the normal range of ocular biological structure parameter of patients with senile cataract in Dali. Methods: The ocular biological structure parameter of 120 cases (162 eyes) of senile cataract were measured by A/ B ultrasonic diagnostic system made in Deiss Company in Germany specially for eyes. Results: With the increase of age, the length of optic axis was unchanged, and the thickness of lens was increased, and the depth of anterior chambers became shallower, and the length of vitreous was stable. Conclusions: The ultrasonic parameters of ocular biological structure of patients with senile cataract are significantly important for clinical guide.In addition,they are also as the normal range of ocular biological structure parameters of patients with senile cataract in Dali.


Proving a touch panel having a superior transparent visibility, easy to manufacture and of low cost, to be used for various electronic devices. In manufacturing, forming a notch with an adhesive layer formed on an undersurface of an under substrate, under a connecting portion of the under substrate with a wiring substrate. After applying rollers for short a period of time for almost completely removing bubbles between the under substrate and the adhesive layer, adhering such under substrate to an upper substrate. Finally heating and pressing the connecting portion, connecting the wiring substrate to the substrates, obtaining the touch panel having a superior transparent visibility, easy to manufacture and of low cost.


Abstract The three new tetraalkylammonium tetrathiotungstates ((Me)4N)2[WS4] (1), ((Et)4N)2[WS4] (2) and ((nPr)4N)2[WS4] (3) were prepared via a direct salt substitution using (NH4)2[WS4] as starting material. Compound 1 crystallises in the chiral orthorhombic space group P212121 with a = 8.9433(4), b = 15.5658(9) and c = 37.279(2) Å . Compound 2 crystallises in space group P21/n with lattice parameters a = 16.6695(12), b = 9.3415(6), c = 16.9965(13) Å and β = 117.185(15)°. The third compound 3 crystallises in space group C2/c with the lattice parameters a = 32.440(2), b = 13.8453(6), c = 15.0563(10) Å and β = 109.19(7)°. The structures of all compounds consist of slightly distorted [WS4]2− tetrahedra and tetraalkylammonium cations which are packed in different ways. One interesting observation is that the disorder of parts of the alkyl groups decreases with increasing chain length. The IR and Raman spectra show the vibrations of the [WS4]2− tetrahedron with a slight shift with increasing alkyl chain length. The most prominent IR-band of the [WS4]2− tetrahedra is broad but not split, indicating that the distortion of the tetrahedra is small.


Abstract ICT have currently spread almost into all areas of human interests. These technologies accompany us during our rest and entertainment and enable fast and easy communication across vast distances. Moreover, they are used in education and science and control systems around us allowing easier design and construction of these systems. However, they cannot be taken as the only one perfect and best technology. Our research and experience in education of technical subjects shows that they cannot replace the work with real systems and models. In fact, no simulation or animation, even the most perfect one, can fully replace reality. Nevertheless, reality properly completed with animations or simulations offers many possibilities that were previously unthinkable. It is very important in education to show proper interdisciplinary relationships which are the true image of the real world. Also, it is essential for pupils and students to acquaint themselves with the practical problems from their practice. They have accustomed to computer design and project and assembly documentation and they understand technical documentation. Further, they have realized that these are direct images of real systems and they have learned to create and use them. At our department, we have focused on those issues. Students profit from acquired knowledge and skills in one subject that can be used in other subjects. This contribution aims to summarize up to now experience and show some practical results of research that have been conducted.


The mesoscale structure of a mature polar low was studied on the basis of high‐resolution airborne measurements and numerical modelling. A polar low was measured by light detection and ranging (lidar) and dropsonde observations over the Norwegian Sea on 3 and 4 March 2008. Lidar observations provided cross‐sections of water‐vapour mixing ratio, backscatter ratio and horizontal wind speed around the polar low and through its centre. Mesoscale structures, such as shallow convection in a cold‐air outbreak, a dry intrusion in the eye‐like centre of the cyclone and deep convection surrounding it could be identified. Numerical simulations were performed with the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Integrated Forecast System (IFS) and a high‐resolution, polar version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. WRF simulations reproduced these structures and showed that the polar low had a warm, upper‐level core with descending motions. The eye‐like centre had a diameter of about 100–150 km and was characterized by rather stable stratification, horizontally constant potential temperatures and calm winds. Beyond the centre, wind speeds increased rapidly. The observed radial wind and temperature profiles support previous idealized simulations. Several WRF sensitivity tests showed the influence of the initialization time and sensible and latent heat fluxes from the surface on the simulated polar‐low development. The polar‐low simulations were more accurate in runs starting at the mature stage. Heat fluxes from the surface were important for the polar‐low energetics, especially at the final stages. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society


On 30 September 2009, the Commission announced that it had re-adopted a decision fining eight companies over € 83 million for their participation in a cartel in the Italian concrete reinforcing…


The virtual ego is one of the two characteristics of ego,and it is the most important feature of the person.Because the virtual ego can't live in the virtual space forever,it has to return to or go back to reality society for his secular life.We research this problem not only to reveal the humanity but also to find a way going home for virtual ego.The ultimate end of the virtual ego exist in reality society and the methods achieving harmony consist of the four ways.


Introduction Constitutive expression of interferons (IFNs) and their downstream signalling pathways play a critical role in host responses to cell transformation in the tumour microenvironment. Induction of IFNs initiates the transcription of a variety of genes, so called IFN- stimulated genes (ISGs). Although expression of ISGs is classically associated with tumour suppression, a subset defined as the IRDS (Interferon - Related DNA- Damage Resistance Signature), is elevated in response to endogenous IFN, self-DNA and RNA exposure in the tumour microenvironment acquiring radiation and chemotherapy resistance. INF induced transmembrane receptor (IFITM1) is thought to participate in proliferating signalling and oncogenesis. Three out of five IFITM genes (IFITM1,2,3) share high amino-acid homology, however, IFITM1 has a unique C-terminal domain, a 13 amino-acid extension, and a shorter N-terminal amino-acid sequence. Material and methods To analyse the impact of IFITM1 loss, or mutation, on signalling and phenotypic events such as growth, viability and drug resistance, knock – out, knock – in and domain mutants were generated using Crispr/Cas9 mediated gene – editing. To identify the effects of radiation in the growth of wild type and mutant IFITM1 cells, proliferation assays were conducted while immunoassays were used to check for activation of the IRDS pathway. The gene edited cell lines were used in Mass Spectrometry proteomic approaches to discover IFITM1 interacting proteins under normal growth conditions as well as in INF treated and/or radiated cells. Results and discussions Irradiation of glioma stem cells, results in a substantial increase in the expression of IFITM1 and an activation of the IRDS pathway which suggests a potential mechanism by which cancer stem cells escape chemotherapy. Deletion of IFITM1 in SiHa cells results in sensitivity to chemo- and radiation therapy, while loss of both IFITM1 and IFITM3 function generates chemoresistant cancer cells suggesting a potential interaction between IFITM1 and IFITM3.Structure-function analysis has shown that the C-terminal regulatory domain of IFITM1 is required for its ability to promote cell growth and to localise to the membrane. Conclusion We have identified IFITM1 as an upstream regulator of the IRDS which promotes cancer cell survival and mediates chemoresistance. The C-terminal domain of IFITM1 is important for its proliferative activity in cancer and lay the foundation for future research aiming to determine IFITM1's potential as a therapeutic target in cancer.


In health professionals' education, senior learners play a key role in the teaching of junior colleagues.We describe an online discussion about residents as teachers to highlight the topic and the online journal club medium.In January 2015, the Journal of Graduate Medical Education (JGME) and the Academic Life in Emergency Medicine blog facilitated an open-access, online, weeklong journal club on the JGME article "What Makes a Great Resident Teacher? A Multicenter Survey of Medical Students Attending an Internal Medicine Conference." Social media platforms used to promote asynchronous discussions included a blog, a video discussion via Google Hangouts on Air, and Twitter. We performed a thematic analysis of the discussion. Web analytics


. This study aimed to determine the vegetative features and total yields of tubed saplings obtained in viticulture application and greenhouse areas that belong to the Faculty of Agriculture, Dicle University, Turkey. Omega grafting technique was used to graft scion obtained table grape varieties (Razaki, Yalova Incisi, Hamburg Misketi, Italia


Elevated irradiation temperature studies with NaYF4 samples reveal that the intensity of the two glow peaks observed around 120 and 180°C enhances. The effect of temperature of irradiation (Tirr) on the sensitisation of the both peaks are studied. The half lives of these glow peaks were calculated and concluded that the half lives of these peaks decreases with the increase in irradiation temperatures.


Two cases of persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous have been managed by the vitreous cutter Sukon "Alternating" with a pars-plana approach.


This chapter begins and ends with Aphrahat the Persian Sage, a fourthcentury Syriac-speaking Christian author from Persian Mesopotamia. In his eighteenth Demonstration, entitled, "On Virginity and Qaddishuta," he makes the claim that qaddishuta, or "holiness," manifests itself best through celibacy. The chapter presents a precis of that journey backwards and forwards-an attempt to trace several hermeneutics of holiness and sexuality from the biblical literature forward into the fourth century. Moreover, biblically ascribed and immovable hierarchies become more porous and achievement-based. In answer to his interlocutor, cited at the beginning of this paper, Aphrahat might have replied, "I beg to differ, but we are qaddishin, we who understand God's call to sexual restraint as the highest level of fulfillment of divine law". Ironically, some contemporaneous Babylonian rabbis might have agreed with him, conceptually if not in practice. Keywords:Aphrahat; God; hermeneutics; holy community; persian; rabbinic constructs; sexuality; syriac-christian


Background KATP channels, assembled from pore‐forming (Kir6.1 or Kir6.2) and regulatory (SUR1 or SUR2) subunits, link metabolism to excitability. Loss of Kir6.2 results in hypoglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, whereas loss of Kir6.1 causes Prinzmetal angina–like symptoms in mice. Conversely, overactivity of Kir6.2 induces neonatal diabetes in mice and humans, but consequences of Kir6.1 overactivity are unknown. Methods and Results We generated transgenic mice expressing wild‐type (WT), ATP‐insensitive Kir6.1 [Gly343Asp] (GD), and ATP‐insensitive Kir6.1 [Gly343Asp,Gln53Arg] (GD‐QR) subunits, under Cre‐recombinase control. Expression was induced in smooth muscle cells by crossing with smooth muscle myosin heavy chain promoter–driven tamoxifen‐inducible Cre‐recombinase (SMMHC‐Cre‐ER) mice. Three weeks after tamoxifen induction, we assessed blood pressure in anesthetized and conscious animals, as well as contractility of mesenteric artery smooth muscle and KATP currents in isolated mesenteric artery myocytes. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressures were significantly reduced in GD and GD‐QR mice but normal in mice expressing the WT transgene and elevated in Kir6.1 knockout mice as well as in mice expressing dominant‐negative Kir6.1 [AAA] in smooth muscle. Contractile response of isolated GD‐QR mesenteric arteries was blunted relative to WT controls, but nitroprusside relaxation was unaffected. Basal KATP conductance and pinacidil‐activated conductance were elevated in GD but not in WT myocytes. Conclusions KATP overactivity in vascular muscle can lead directly to reduced vascular contractility and lower blood pressure. We predict that gain of vascular KATP function in humans would lead to a chronic vasodilatory phenotype, as indeed has recently been demonstrated in Cantu syndrome.


This case report details an outbreak of neonatal lamb deaths, in which 84 of the 1203 potential lambs (from scanning) died and 70 developed septic polyarthritis. Investigation of the Scottish lowland flock of 650 breeding ewes revealed good lambing-time hygiene; poor ewe nutrition was suspected to have led to poor colostrum quality or quantity, resulting in failure of passive transfer of immunity in lambs. Ewe body condition at lambing was poor, with low blood urea nitrogen and albumin levels in pre-lambing ewe metabolic blood profiles.


PURPOSE: A system for informing health information in real time and a method thereof are provided to practice health care, health maintenance, and diet by supplying health recommendation contents adapted to a user. CONSTITUTION: If a user inputs one's ID and password, a health check unit(10) classifies an identity of the user, checks health information of the user, and transmits the health information to a health server(30). The health server(30) stores physical constitution information and health information of the user in a personal database(33) through a communication network(20) from the health check unit(10). The health server(30) includes a control unit(32) for comparing the physical constitution information and health information with a standard health state and health management standard of the user stored in a standard database(35) and a web server(31). Also, the health server(30) supplies analyzed personal health related recommendation contents and a maintenance method in real time. A user terminal(40) displays the personal health related recommendation contents and the maintenance method in real time.


Cold rolling precision forming process of spline is one of the high-efficiency,precision and non-chip advanced manufacturing technologies.It has the characteristics such as high forming efficiency,energy-saving,low material consumption and better forming properties of components.The process and principle of involute spline is analyzed,the unit average pressure contacting area,rolling billet diameter,rolling force and moment are solved.Experiments of the cold rolling precision forming on involute spline are carried out.Experimental results show that dramatic plastic deformation takes place on the upper surface of the workpiece during the cold rolling process of spline,while the influence on the inner materials are very small.The grains are distributed as a flow line pattern along the tooth profile,and the grains in the plastic deformation zone present a fine and long fibrous state.The hardness on the section of the tooth outline is regularly distributed.Compared with the spline components obtained from conventional cutting method,the hardness of the spline is greatly increased,therefore,comprehensive mechanical property such as wear resistance and impact resistance are greatly improved.It can be shown from the precision measuring and hardness testing of the tooth outline section that the components obtained by the experiments are free of defects,and the application requirement can be satisfied.


Abstract In this study, changes in the timing of puberty physicality and mentality and beauty characteristics of high school students were characterized for high school students and the general high school population in order to distinguish between interest and beauty and beauty products and beauty behavior for comparative analysis. First, for beauty characteristics of high school students and the general high school population, differences in beauty action and beauty characteristics of high school students were higher than this beauty behavior. Secondly, for the high school students and high school beauty characteristics of general high school population for beauty and beauty products, the difference between interest and multi-functional beauty products that characterize high school students has beauty and beauty products with multi-functional beauty products interest being high. Third, high school students and high school beauty characterize the general high school population of beauty is different from behaviors on its factors with common factors including the psychological gratification 'for reasons of appearance management looks for reasons that do not' have time to manage the response. Two groups of factors that characterize the differences in appearance and beauty as areason to manage high school students interested in the 'style' order, high school students do not manage


Objective) This paper aims to identify the potential factors leading to a preference for online social interaction to offline interaction. (Methods) Based on an online survey (N=233) and a SEM analysis, (Results) findings show that: 1) compared to those who were good at face-to- face communication, individuals who were not might prefer online social interaction much more; 2) the higher the popularity level of preference for online social interaction among the crowd around an individual, the more he was likely to show similar preference; 3) compared to those with a limited level of involvement in online social interaction, individuals with a higher level would develop a stronger preference for online social interaction; 4) compared to those with a higher level of satisfaction with their current offline contacts, individuals with a lower level of satisfaction were more likely to prefer online social interaction. (Conclusion) The findings will give some help for users and designers of social networking sites.


One-sided fastening systems using plastic buckling of the thin-walled pipes with flange are studied in this paper. Plastic buckling occurs in the thin-walled pipe area of the blind nut with flange, when an axial compressive load is applied to the blind nut. As one-sided fastening is applied for the case such as the inner hollow part, estimations of buckling load and the proper displacement are important. The buckling deformation is studied by the nonlinear finite element analysis, and the numerical results are in good agreement with experimental observations for the buckling load and displacement. Effects of geometrical parameters of the thin pipe area are investigated for the buckling load and displacement by FEM. In order to evaluate the tensile strength of the fastening systems, unloading and reloading is carried out consistently by analyses. Effects of the tensile strength with the length and thickness of the thin-walled pipe area of the blind nut are also investigated


This study intended to change the environment of a classroom in the existing child care center by applying the home environmental characteristics. The progress of environmental improvement for this study was conducted throughout the three stages. First, analyze the problems of existing child care center, which reflect the environmental characteristics and user opinions of the environment. Second, based on the analysis of the problems of the existing classroom, the classroom is improved by applying the environmental characteristics of the home. Third, compare the effect of improving the environmental characteristics of the home. The results of the study are as follows. First, the classroom was surveyed with a long rectangular space structure and was examined as a wide area when compared with the legal standards of 4.32 ㎡ per child. Second, the emphasis is to complement the defects of the spatial structure and seek changes to the comfort environment, such as the proper stimuli and alterations to the atmosphere. Third, the effectiveness of the environmental improvement was assessed by comparing the results before and after the improvement of the environment. In terms of child environmental demands, movement and movement have increased. integrated configurations of the activity areas showed increased functionality, and overall, it was evaluated as a whole in terms of the atmosphere and the placeness.


Following a very brief description of the theoretical developments which motivated the search for proton decay, I shall describe one of these experiments (the IMB experiment) in some detail. Then I shall compare recent results from that experiment with those from other detectors.


The major photosystem II light-harvesting antenna (LHCII) is the most abundant membrane protein in nature and plays an indispensable role in light harvesting and photoprotection in the plant thylakoid. Here, we show that "pseudothylakoid characteristics" can be observed in artificial LHCII membranes. In our proteoliposomal system, at high LHCII densities, the liposomes become stacked, mimicking the in vivo thylakoid grana membranes. Furthermore, an unexpected, unstructured emission peak at ∼730 nm appears, similar in appearance to photosystem I emission, but with a clear excimeric character that has never been previously reported. These states correlate with the increasing density of LHCII in the membrane and a decrease in its average fluorescence lifetime. The appearance of these low-energy states can also occur in natural plant membrane structures, which has unique consequences for the interpretation of the spectroscopic and physiological properties of the photosynthetic membrane.


The entropy of activation for the hydrolysis of pentaphenoxyphosphorane in 25% aqueous dioxane is −188 J/mol deg. The enthalpy of activation is 22.5 kJ/mol, which is small for the relatively slow reaction. This suggests that the reaction is a multistep process having a preliminary equilibrium with a negative heat of reaction. This conclusion is supported by the results obtained for the hydrolysis of C6H5

[OCH(CF3)2]2. A kinetic isotope effect kH2O/kD2O of 3.46 was found for the latter reaction. Orders in water were obtained, and a mechanism of hydrolysis is proposed.


Self-rewetting fluids (SRWFs) are non-azeotropic solutions enjoy a particular surface tension behavior — an increase in the surface tension with increasing temperature. Due to the unique property, the SRWF can spontaneously wet hotter region and enhance heat transfer. The interesting behavior makes the SRWF become the research hotspot in phase change heat transfer research field. To clarify the heat transfer characteristics of SRWF, a series of boiling experiments have been carried out by employing dilute heptanol aqueous solution as SRWF. It is found out that, the bubble size of the SRWF is much smaller than that of pure water, and the critical heat flux of SRWF is much higher than that of water, which is beneficial for application in heat pipes. To find out the heat transfer performance of SRWF in heat pipes, experimental studies are performed on oscillating heat pipe (OHP) consisting of 4 meandering turns, with heat transfer length (L) of 150 mm and inner diameter (Di) of 1.3 mm. Compared with the water, the SRWF exhibits much better thermal performance, which indicates that SRWF is a promising and useful working liquid for the application in high efficient cooling devices with micro structure.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Abstract AVO analysis is based on the anomalous increase in signal amplitude with increasing offset from reflector which contains gas. This anomaly looks strange, but it is correct for a receiver located at the subsurface reflector point and seen by plotting the reflection coefficient to the angle of incident. For estimation of reservoir boundary the AVO anomalies should be determined for all selected CDP points of the seismic lines across the reservoir. The reservoir boundary is estimated and mapped by change of amplitude between CDP with AVO anomaly and CDP without AVO anomaly. This process is applied to the gas sand reservoir of Baong Formation in the Alpha Structure, North Sumatra Basin. The result shows a mappable of reservoir boundary in this gas field. Conclusion from this study is that the lateral disappearance of AVO anomaly in gas reservoir could be used as an indication for reservoir boundary.


We examined urine and blood DNA obtained from bladder cancer patients with commercially available STR kits such as those for TH01, TPOX and CSF1PO loci. These loci were amplified by PCR, and polymorphic alleles were visualized as bands on gels. The results were compared with each paired DNA. Microsatellite alternation was observed in 5 out of 52 (9.6%) urine DNAs from the patients with bladder cancer. These loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability (MSI) were observed such as the combination of an intense and a faint band. Complete LOH causing incorrect typing results was not observed. We were able to avoid incorrect typing results when using urine DNA under careful observation. D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Geopolymer concrete (GPC) are representing the most promising green and eco-friendly alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). Geopolymer Concrete possesses relatively good mechanical properties and desirable thermal stability but they exhibit failure behaviour similar to brittle solids. This limitation may be remedied by fibre reinforcement to improve their flexural strength. This paper presents results of an experimental program on the mechanical properties of Fibre Reinforced Geopolymer Concrete (FRGPC) such as compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, and flexural behaviour of FRGPC beams. FRGPC contains flyash, alkaline liquids, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and glass fibre. Alkaline liquid to fly ash ratio was fixed as 0.45 with 100% replacement of OPC. For alkaline liquid combination, ratio of sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide solution was fixed as 2.5. Glass fibre was added to the mix in volume fractions of 0.01%, 0.02%, 0.03% and 0.04% by volume of concrete. Specimens were subjected to 24 hours of Heat curing at 70°C in heat curing chamber. The effect of fibre content on the mechanical properties and flexural behaviour of FRGPC was studied and compared it with ordinary Geopolymer Concrete (GPC)


Superior vena cava occlusion (SVCO) induced by tunneled central venous catheter (tCVC) is an uncommon but challenging complication of hemodialysis patients. The aim of this study was to access the efficacy, safety, and patency of stents in tCVC‐related SVCO via through‐and‐through technique.


Thank you for downloading grieg and delius a chronicle of their friendship in letters. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their favorite readings like this grieg and delius a chronicle of their friendship in letters, but end up in harmful downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some harmful bugs inside their computer.


In this article, a closed-form matrix rational approximation (MRA) model is presented for the reliability assessment of copper–graphene hybrid on-chip interconnect networks. The key feature of this MRA model is its capacity to predict how the different values of temperature and dielectric roughness affect the signal integrity performance of the hybrid interconnect networks. As a result, the proposed MRA model is well suited for very fast parametric sweeps and worst case analysis of the hybrid interconnect networks, which has not been possible using existing closed-form models or even SPICE simulations. Numerical examples show that the proposed model is significantly more efficient than conventional models while exhibiting error less than 5%.


Thank you for downloading soil science an introduction to the properties and management of new zealand soils. As you may know, people have look hundreds times for their favorite books like this soil science an introduction to the properties and management of new zealand soils, but end up in harmful downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they cope with some malicious bugs inside their computer.


Hydrogen peroxide is an important oxidizing agent that plays an important role in green chemistry, with water being the only byproduct. H2O2 has an increasing utilization as pulp bleach in the pulp and paper industry, as an oxidant in wastewater treatment, and as a source of oxygen for epoxidation reactions. H2O2 is also an effective reagent in the removal of residual aromatic sulfur compounds from fuels. Currently, the commercial production of H2O2 is a circuitous process that involves the catalytic hydrogenation of an anthroquinone and by treatment of hydroquinone with O2 to produce H2O2. Despite its production on a multimillion-tonne scale, there are drawbacks to the commercial process, such as the cost of the quinone component and loss of this compound by oxidation. This process, based on the anthraquinone/anthrahydroquinone redox pair, produces significant amounts of organic waste due to the overreduction of anthraquinone, requires several separation and concentration steps, and is economically feasible only in large-scale plants. As a potentially less expensive and environmentally friendly route to H2O2, its direct formation from H2 and O2 has been actively investigated over the past 2 decades. The direct oxidation of hydrogen normally is carried out in a 3-phase system that includes a solid catalyst, a liquid phase, and reagent gases. Studies have focused on the catalyst type and the role of the liquid, which may include a solvent, an acid, and a halide.


This is the resource of choice for discriminating researchers and scholars, and for the librarians who assist them. Using Government Information Sources covers the many changes in accessing and using this material, including information sources available on the Internet, online databases, electronic bulletin boards, CD-ROM products and diskettes, and telephone hotline numbers. Chapters covering astronomy and space, state and local government statistics, transportation statistics, and judicial reports are also included.


This paper presents a new kind of concentration measurement instrunmnt of carbon dioxide using light-emitting diode and PbSe detector.The instrument consists of detector system,signal ampi;rying and controlling system and display system.In detail,detector system is mainly composed of light-emitting diode InAsSbP,infrared window,gas path,sanpling pump,spherical reflector,bandpass flter and PbSe detector.Signal amplifying and controlling system is mainly composed of voltage amplifier,sampling hold circuit,multi-channel simulatingswitch,A/D converter and 8031 chip microconlputer.And the display system is mainly composed printer and acoustic warning apparatus.The principle,the structure and the main specifications of the instrument are introduced.The key technologies and corresponding methods are discussed.


It explores data on poverty prevalence and trends in relation to Egypt's 'lower poverty line', where average value in 2012/13 was LE 3,920 per person per year (LE 10.7 per day) – the threshold for extreme poverty, which reflects extremely low levels of consumption. The brief also makes reference to the 'upper poverty line' of LE 5,066 per person per year (LE 13.9 per day) – a threshold that leaves households vulnerable to extreme poverty.


The vegetation coverage of water conservation forest in Qilian Mountains is decreasing due to the special physical geography and influence of human activities in Shiyanghe river basin.Because the function of forest conserving water and the shortage of surface water resources,the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources becomes more and more noticeably.Groundwater overdraft has resulted in the environmental deterioration seriously,and it threatened the subsistence and society sustainable development of human being in Shiyanghe river basin.After investigating the present situation of water resources use and its the eco-environmental effects,the authors gave a brief discussion on the problem of water resources and eco-environmental improvement,expecting to seek a possible approach for water resources optimal distribution and solving ecological crisis in the Shiyanghe river basin.


F gardeners, early spring means that the cruel months are over. We had our snuggle with seed catalogs while the vegetative gods slumbered, and now we're ready to dig. On mild days and raw, we steal hours to undress the flower beds, to dethatch the turf, to snip off branches and canes weakened by pitiless winter. In the evenings, many of us satisfy our garden lust with heavy volumes filled with titillating photos of landscapes at the peak of perfection. Some readers, however, sated with the glossies, look to their gardening forebears for inspiration. Earlier writers, prominent among them Gertrude Jekyll and William Robinson, seasoned their gardening instruction with moral philosophy and aesthetics; they rendered judgments on all manner of plant life with the placid certitude of a bygone age. A writer less familiar, the American Rose Standish Nichols, has recently joined the conversation, having been brought back into print with her English Pleasure Gardens, first published in 1902. Nichols sets a formidable task for herself: to offer the reader English garden history (and commentary thereon) from the Roman period to the present, with digressions into Greece, Italy, France, the Far East, and the Americas. She certainly has the wherewithal to guide us through this thicket of information. Born in Boston in 1872, she was encouraged (according to the introduction by Judith B. Tankard) by her wealthy and artistic family to pursue her interest in landscape architecture; she studied horticulture at Harvard and MIT and with prominent English garden designers during her many trips abroad. Few of her designs are extant, though she was apparently much in demand, creating landscapes "loosely based on Elizabethan gardens" for the eastern elite. This volume testifies to her formidable scholarship and bold confidence in her powers of discrimination, and it belongs on the shelf with her English contemporaries. Nichols assumes a more limited audience than most garden writers do now. She punctuates her historical descriptions with references in French and Middle English and feels no need to translate. She illustrates past civilizations' agricultural practices with literary passages, taking for granted her readers' familiarity with canonical works such as Le Roman de la rose. And in discussing "modern" (early 20thcentury) gardens, she might surprise us when she says without irony:


The convergence of optical and wireless networks, and the marginalization of centralized data centers are required for next-generation telecommunications. According to the operators' concern of cost-efficient deployment combined with latency-sensitive requirements, network planning will lay a foundation for the development of next-generation networks. In particular, the network planning of mobile edge computing (MEC)-enabled cloud radio access networks (C-RAN) in a cost-effective and low-latency manner becomes exceedingly challenging. However, most research studies focus on the cost-effective deployment of C-RAN without considering the optimal placement of MEC servers simultaneously. Moreover, deployment costs and access latency will be directly affected by the optimal deployment of both the MEC servers and access networks. Therefore, we investigate how to coordinate the optimal deployment of MEC servers and C-RAN for latency-sensitive services. In detail, a MILP model is proposed to minimize the joint cost of latency and network deployment of time division multiplexing-passive optical network (TDM-PON) based MEC-enabled C-RAN. Given the model's complexity, a heuristic algorithm is also proposed to solve the mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model. Simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance comparisons of different approaches under different network scenarios. The impacts of some key parameters on comparisons of different approaches are also analyzed.


Risks for methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among those with HIV infection have been found to vary, and the epidemiology of USA‐300 community‐acquired (CA) MRSA has not been adequately described.


This article provides an innovative defence of co-determination by way of exploring two of the most significant theorised objections to it from neo-liberal and libertarian perspectives, namely, the defence of the right to manage as freely chosen by employees and employers alike, and the right to manage being the most efficient, lowest transaction cost mode of employee governance. Instead, we focus upon management preference emanating from the endowment effect, and manifested in management style and ideology, as a more credible explanation for management's support for its prerogative to manage. The endowment effect prompts both strong employer and manager objections to co-determination and weak employee willingness to seek it because humans place more value upon items currently in their possession than upon those they do not possess. We explore this argument by examining the experience of co-determination in Germany. The significance of our argument lies in identifying managerial preference as the key variable to be challenged and changed in order to pacify management opposition to co-determination through political, ideological and institutional means.


The world's leading fruit crop grown between the latitudes 40° N and 40° S, citrus fruits were domesticated in Asia. Ancient texts refer to sour citrus fruits in India from 800 BC onwards, and mandarins, oranges and grapefruit in China at the time of Confucius. Trade and military conquests contributed strongly to the spread of citrus. This was first overland via Asia Minor and the Middle East as Roman and Greek influence spread (citron fruit, bitter orange) and then through Islam and the Crusades (sour citrus). The citron fruit was the first species grown in the Mediterranean several centuries before our era. New citrus fruits such as sweet oranges were introduced around the Mediterranean basin in the sixteenth century thanks to Portuguese navigators and the possibility of direct maritime trade with the Far East and China. These species were then disseminated in Africa and America. The first mandarins were introduced in the Mediterranean region much later. The fruit is mentioned at the beginning of the nineteenth century in Italy and not until 1850 in North Africa. However, the Mediterranean has been an important diversification zone for the three most important economic species-orange, mandarin and lemon. The grapefruit, C. paradisi, a natural hybrid of shaddock, is one of the rare commercial citrus fruits to have originated in the Caribbean. (Resume d'auteur)


Abstract : A small, low-power Object-Oriented Programmable integrated circuit microcontroller, was integrated and tested with the architecture for an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV). Sensors with the OOPic, and the XBee Wireless Suite were included in the integration. Tests were conducted, including range and time operation analysis for wireless communications for comparison with the legacy BL2000 microcontroller. Results demonstrated long battery life for the electronics of the robot, as well as communication ranges exceeding high power modems. The OOPic was limited by processing power and an ability to interpret some incoming form data. Consequently its use as a one for one replacement for the BL2000 is limited. However combined use with the BL2000 shows promise as a replacement for sensor monitoring and a hardware substitute for the


Written by some of the world's foremost authorities on the physiology of water and electrolyte metabolism, this volume thoroughly explains the pathophysiology and clinical consequences of disturbances in water balance. The book first provides essential background information on the physiological regulation of normal water distribution and excretion - the compartments of the body fluids, the responses of cells to changes in extracellular tonicity, and the systemic and renal mechanisms responsible for osmotic homeostasis. The second section of the book, on clinical abnormalities in water balance, includes detailed analyses of the pathogenes of hyponatremic, hypernatremic, and polyuric stages; the clinical expressions of hypo- and hypernatremia and hyperglycemia; and the physiological and clinical responses to correction of these abnormalities. The final chapter examines the integrated renal response to abnormalities in tonicity.


We compared copepod abundance, biomass and community structure in the Atlantic sector (Fram Strait) and Pacific sector (Canada Basin) of the Arctic Ocean by using vertical stratified zooplankton samples collected from 0-1,000 m or 0-1,500 m during daytime in summer. Abundance and biomass were high at the surface layer and decreased with increasing depth in both regions. Abundance and biomass in the surface layer in the Fram Strait were 6-18 times higher than those in the Canada Basin. According to cluster analysis, the copepod communities were separated into three groups that varied vertically and included both locations. Regional differences were marked for Calanus finmarchicus, which was distributed only in the Fram Strait. In the Canada Basin, Spinocalanidae composed 56.1% of calanoid copepod abundance for the bathypelagic groups and also contributed 7.5% of abundance throughout the water column. The dominance of Spinocalanidae may reflect the oligotrophic environment in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean.


The wet treatment process was used for the dechlorination of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) landfill waste plastic, and the process has shown dependence on concentration of alkali. The process of dechlorination of PVC has shown dependence on the concentration of the alkaline solution and the type of organic solvent used in the preparation of the alkaline solution. Ethylene glycol (EG), diethylene glycol (DEG), and tetraethylene glycol (TEG) are the diols that have been investigated. Moreover, the temperature of the PVC dechlorination process and the time of the PVC solution reflux showed effects on the final degree of the dechlorination (DD%). These were calculated using the Mohr method, where the chloride ions were titrated with a standard solution of silver nitrate in the presence of chromate ions. The study shows that 1 M NaOH/TEG alkaline solution was the best to dechlorinate PVC waste with the wet treatment process at 160 ̊c and for 3 h reflux and the process reclaimed poly(vinyl alcohol) PVA as the main product according to the hydroxyl group substitution mechanism (SN2), besides a few units according to the hydrogen chloride elimination mechanism (E2) with a few remaining chlorinated chains after analysis.


Labour leader Ed Miliband has said that increasing redistribution isn't viable at present. He argues we need a capitalism that levels things pre-distribution. But will his policies have the ambition to make this approach work? And is more post-‐hoc redistribution out of the question?


Abstract The one- plus four-dimensional variational data assimilation ("1D+4DVAR") method currently run in operations at ECMWF with rain-affected radiances from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager is used to study the potential impact of assimilating NCEP stage-IV analyses of hourly accumulated surface precipitation over the U.S. mainland. These data are a combination of rain gauge measurements and observations from the high-resolution Doppler Next-Generation Weather Radars. Several 1D+4DVAR experiments have been run over a month in spring 2005. First, the quality of the precipitation forecasts in the control experiment is assessed. Then, it is shown that the impact of the assimilation of the additional rain observations on global scores of dynamical fields and temperature is rather neutral, while precipitation scores are improved for forecast ranges up to 12 h. Additional 1D+4DVAR experiments in which all moisture-affected observations are removed over the United States demonstrate that the NCEP stage-IV...


Caspase family are investigated to play a crucial role in cell apoptosis in rent years,more deep studies are helpful to elucidate the mechanisms of cell apoptosis and different diseases.Current research proceedings are summarized in this recapitulation.


ABSTRACT Aims: To pilot test a motivational intervention to improve rehabilitation outcomes for very old adults. Methods: Fifty-three adults (80+ years) were recruited from four Geriatric Day Hospitals for a two-phase pilot study to evaluate the efficacy of an "attributional retraining" (AR) intervention encouraging personally controllable attributions for loss of function (e.g., effort invested in exercise protocols) and discouraging maladaptive attributions (e.g., "old age"). Results: Significant treatment effects controlling for age, gender, baseline levels, and functional status showed AR participants to report more personally controllable attributions for exercise performance and greater perceived control over their future functional ability. Intervention participants further reported higher levels of exercise motivation, life satisfaction, as well as functional status relative to controls. Conclusions: This study provides encouraging preliminary findings in support of single-administration motivational interventions for very old adults to improve rehabilitation-related cognitions, exercise motivation, and functional ability in later life.


Let R be a finite ring with 1 and let R* denote the group of units of R. Let p be a prime number. In this paper we consider the question of whether there exist a, b in R* such that a and b are non- p -th powers whose sum is 1. If such units a, b existing, we say that R is an N (p)-ring. Of course if p does not divide |R*|, the order of R*, then every element in R* is a pth power.


This essay explores the basic communication research course for undergraduates. Discussed are several key notions for making this course valuable to the undergraduate: the attitude of the instructor, the attitude of the students, course requirements and activities, and evaluation techniques.


In this paper we present an inter-slice coding scheme for magnetic resonance (MR) image sequences which is based on a triangular matching technique. This scheme provides a powerful tool for MR image sequence compression since there exists a great deal of deformation between contiguous slices of 3D MR data. The proposed inter-slice coding scheme takes advantage of triangular deformation to remove redundancies in the third dimension. A residual image is formed by estimating and compensating for the triangular deformation in the previous slice, and subtracting this from the original slice. The DCT is used to de-correlate the residue signal. DC components are encoded losslessly using DPCM and Huffman codes. Different banks of entropy-constraint scalar quantizers are designed for the AC components. Each AC coefficient is encoded using an appropriate scalar codebook subject to a bit-allocation procedure. The new inter-slice coding scheme is tested on an MR heart sequence. It shows superior results over intra-slice and other inter-slice schemes. The compressed images displayed on the monitor are imperceptible from the original at our lowest bit-rates.


Phonon-assisted anti-Stokes fluorescence has been observed in GaN film grown on Si (111) substrate. The donor-acceptor pairs and bound excitons have played primary roles in the generation of anti-Stokes fluorescence.


Foetal MRI has become an established image modality in the prenatal diagnosis of CNS anomalies, but image quality can be severely affected by foetal movements. The objective was to overcome these inherent motion problems by applying interactive real‐time MRI and to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of the applied real‐time MRI sequence in relation to standard protocols.


An e-Learning platform has been designed and implemented. The platform has built in capabilities of monitoring and recording user's actions. For a user, all executed actions on the platform represent his activity. The activity of all users makes up platform's activity. Based on platform's activity data, we introduce an attribute for our e-Learning platform called Quality of Service (QoS). Two parameters define the QoS: learning proficiency of students and classification capability of the platform. Machine learning and modeling techniques evaluate the parameters for our platform or any other e-Learning system.


The present invention concerns a method of decontaminating, by fertilizer under specific conditions, soil and / or sediment that have some POLLUTANTS IN THE FORM OF TOXIC ORGANIC COMPOUNDS CYCLIC. THAT TRANSFORM procedure is NOT HARMFUL POLLUTANTS IN THESE MATERIALS.


The rabbit lumbar spine is a commonly utilized model for studying intervertebral disc degeneration and for the pre‐clinical evaluation of regenerative therapies. Histopathology is the foundation for which alterations to disc morphology and cellularity with degeneration, or following repair or treatment are assessed. Despite this, no standardized histology grading scale has yet been established for the spine field for any of the frequently utilized animal models.


Background: Humerus fractures (HFs) are one of osteoporotic fragility fractures. This study aimed to determine the following unexplored areas: the predictors of HF by measuring BMD at different sites using a case-control approach; and the predictors of an isolated HF compared with multiple fractures. Methods: A cohort of patients with humerus fractures attending for DXA between 2004 and 2011 were identified. The cohort was divided into two groups: patients with isolated HF vs patients with multiple fractures. Additionally, a control group which had no indication for scanning was age and sex matched with the HF cases. Patients' characteristics including age at scan, height, weight, body fat, index of multiple deprivation (IMD) scores, BMD scores of the lumbar vertebrae (L1–L4) and the femoral neck were compared between patients with isolated HF vs multiple fractures and between cases and controls. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were applied to identify variables predictive of HF in the case-control group and variables predictive of isolated HF vs multiple fractures. Analyses were adjusted for possible confounders. Results: A total of 1566 patients were included in the study: 783 cases and 783 controls, inclusive of 684 (87%) females in each group. Cases included 447 patients with isolated HF (86% female) and 336 patients with multiple fractures (89% female). Results of univariate regression analyses are shown in Table 1. In the case–control group, multivariate analysis adjusted for height, weight, body fat and deprivation score, revealed a significant association between having HF and lower BMD in the lumbar spine odd ratio (OR) 0.03 (95% CI 0.01, 0.09) and the femoral neck OR 0.01 (95% CI 0.002, 0.06). In the isolated vs multiple fractures, multivariate-adjusted analysis showed a significant association between age at scan and sustaining an isolated humerus fracture: lumbar spine OR 4.64 (95% CI 2.08, 10.36) and femoral neck OR 11.48 (95% CI 2.47, 53.34).


Two experiments were conducted to determine if fermented corn protein (FCP) can serve as a replacement to enzymatically treated soybean meal (ESBM) in 6.0 to 15.8 kg or as a replacement for soybean meal in 12.1 to 24.7 kg pig nursery diets. In Exp. 1, 350 barrows (initially 6.0 kg) were randomly allotted to 5 treatments with 5 pigs/pen and 14 replications/treatment. Dietary treatments were arranged in a 2×2 + 1 factorial with a control diet or diets with 5 or 10% FCP or ESBM. Newly weaned pigs were fed phase 1 diets for 10-d followed by phase 2 diets for 21-d. There were no interactions throughout the experiment. Overall (d 0-31), pigs fed increasing FCP had decreased (linear, P ≤ 0.026) ADG and ADFI with no differences in G:F, whereas increasing ESBM had no effect on growth performance (Table). Pigs fed ESBM had increased (P ≤ 0.034) ADG and G:F compared with pigs fed FCP with no effect on ADFI. In Exp 2, 350 pigs (initially 12.1 kg) were randomly assigned to pens with 5 pigs/pen and 14 replications/treatment. On d 24 after weaning (d 0 of trial), pens of pigs were weighed and assigned to 5 dietary treatments. Dietary treatments were arranged in a 2×2 + 1 factorial with a control diet or diets with 10 or 20% FCP with either high or low Val+Ile:Leu ratios. There were no interactions observed throughout the experiment. Overall (d 0-21), ADG, ADFI, and G:F worsened (linear, P < 0.001) as FCP increased. High Val+Ile:Leu ratios improved (P = 0.017) G:F compared with low Val+Ile:Leu ratios with no effect on ADG and ADFI. In summary, using FCP to replace ESBM for nursery pigs weighing 6.0 to 15.8 kg had decreased growth performance. Increasing concentrations of FCP in diets for pigs weighting 12.1 to 24.7 kg worsened growth and increasing Val+Ile:Leu ratios only improved G:F.


Sharp conditions for gradient estimates or gradient blow up of the viscosity solutions to linear degenerate elliptic equations on the "interior boundaries" in bounded domains in Rn are given.


Department of Computer Engineering, Theem College of Engineering ---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract Human signatures have been shown to be the most significant factor in gaining entry. The importance of a person's signature as a biometric feature that can be used to authenticate human identity has been confirmed. Face recognition, fingerprint detection, iris examination, and retina scanning are only a few of the biometric characteristics that can be used to establish one's identity. Among the non-vision-based ones, voice recognition or signature authentication are the most well-known. Since signatures are becoming increasingly important in financial, commercial, and legal transactions, truly secure authentication is becoming increasingly important. The "seal" is described as a signature by an approved individual. and is still the most common method of identification. Online signature systems make use of complex information captured at the time the signature is generated. The scanned picture of a signature is used by offline systems. We've been working on Offline Signature Verification using a collection of shape-based geometric features. Baseline Slant Angle, Aspect Ratio, Normalized Area, Center of Gravity, number of edge points, number of cross points, and the Slope of the line connecting the Centers of Gravity of two halves of a signature picture are the features that are used. Preprocessing of a scanned image is needed before extracting the features in order to isolate the signature part and eliminate any spurious noise. The system is trained using a database of signatures collected from those whose signatures must be authenticated by the system at first. A mean signature is calculated for each subject by combining the above features extracted from a collection of his or her genuine sample signatures. This bogus signature serves as a template for comparing it to a claimed test signature. In the feature space between the two, there is a Euclidian gap between them. If the difference between the signature and the claimed subject is less than a predetermined threshold (corresponding to the minimum reasonable degree of similarity), the signature is validated to be that of the claimed subject; otherwise, it is detected as a forgery. The report includes information on pre-processing as well as the above-mentioned functionality, as well as implementation details and simulation performance.


Double perovskite oxides have attracted great attention in the past decade due to their unique and versatile material properties. The lattice constant, a, as the only variable parameter among the six parameters in the cubic structure, has a significant impact on the structural stability, electronic structure, magnetic ordering, and thus material performance. In this work, a Gaussian process regression (GPR) model is developed to elucidate the statistical relationship among ionic radii, electronegativities, oxidation states, and lattice constants for cubic perovskite A22+BB′O6 compounds. A total of 147 samples with lattice constants ranging from 7.700 A to 8.890 A are explored. The modeling approach demonstrates a high degree of accuracy and stability, contributing to efficient and low-cost estimations of lattice constants.


Caffeine attenuated invasion of human leukemia U937 cells with characteristic of decreased protein expression and mRNA levels of matrix metalloproteinase‐2 (MMP‐2) and MMP‐9. Down‐regulation of MMP‐2 and MMP‐9 in U937 cells was abrogated by abolishment of caffeine‐elicited increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration and ROS generation. Pretreatment with BAPTA‐AM (Ca2+ chelator) and N‐acetylcysteine (ROS scavenger) abolished caffeine‐induced ERK inactivation and p38 MPAK activation. Moreover, caffeine treatment led to MAPK phosphatase‐1 (MKP‐1) down‐regulation and protein phosphatase 2A catalytic subunit (PP2Ac) up‐regulation, which were involved in cross‐talk between p38 MAPK and ERK. Transfection of constitutively active MEK1 or pretreatment with SB202190 (p38 MAPK inhibitor) restored MMP‐2 and MMP‐9 protein expression in caffeine‐treated cells. Caffeine treatment repressed ERK‐mediated c‐Fos phosphorylation but evoked p38 MAPK‐mediated c‐Jun phosphorylation. Knock‐down of c‐Fos and c‐Jun by siRNA reflected that c‐Fos counteracted the effect of c‐Jun on MMP‐2/MMP‐9 down‐regulation. Taken together, our data indicate that MMP‐2/MMP‐9 down‐regulation in caffeine‐treated U937 cells is elicited by Ca2+/ROS‐mediated suppression of ERK/c‐Fos pathway and activation of p38 MAPK/c‐Jun pathway. J. Cell. Physiol. 224: 775–785, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Heating energy and electricity represent a significant proportion of the overall financial expenditures over the life cycle of buildings and play a decisive role in the assessment of ecological quality. To ensure ecological and economical sustainability, the planning and construction of energy efficient buildings have become increasingly important. The present study introduces statistical models for the estimation of energy costs during the planning process as well as for the purpose of monitoring and controlling costs during operation including a wide range of facility types. Based on a data sample of 206 occupied facilities located in Germany, regression models are presented in detail including significant predictor variables. The provision of correctly specified models as well as a consistent and unbiased estimation beyond the employed data is verified by validation tests. The practical significance of the determined variables is presented by the calculation of various scenarios. The best estimation accuracy is indicated for regression models with transformed response and predictor variables achieving mean absolute percentage errors of 20.5% (heating energy) and 20.7% (electricity), respectively. An extension of the data sample, a consideration of further facility types, and an implementation of additional statistical methods may be considered by future approaches to improve the estimation accuracy.


AIM
To quantify the proportion of emergency department (ED) discharges that could have been managed in primary care, and to determine the consistency with which healthcare professionals assess cases as 'primary care appropriate'.

METHOD
1200 case notes from 30,493 Wellington Hospital ED discharges over a 12-month period were randomly selected. 180 were assessed by an expert panel of 12 healthcare professionals comprising GPs, ED specialists, and nurses. Level of agreement was measured between professional groups. The panel adapted an international clinical protocol on ED appropriateness. The remaining 1020 cases were assessed according to these adapted criteria.

RESULTS
The panel considered 37% of all ED presentations (49.7% of those not admitted) 'primary care appropriate,' and 50% of all ED presentations (68.1% of those not admitted) 'primary care appropriate' if laboratory and radiological facilities were immediately available. These figures were similar when the full 1200 cases were reviewed by researchers. There was poor to moderate agreement between individuals and professional groups about which were appropriate (Kappas 0.35-0.45). In 15% of cases, professionals gave a different response to the same case on different occasions.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study has shown retrospectively that a significant number of ED presentations may have been managed in primary care. However this was determined with knowledge of investigation results and final diagnosis, by clinicians who had poor agreement about individual cases. In reality, triage nurses in ED have only the presenting complaint. This study shows how variable clinicians can be in determining primary care appropriateness even with full clinical details.


microbiome, which will refine our knowledge of its compositional and functional features. The route of the FMT administration varies between institutions. Although there is no consensus, the colonoscopic approach is favoured over enema and upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract FMT, mostly because the entire colon can be infused with stool, and the extent and severity of disease can be elucidated, at the same time that treatment is being given via colonoscopy. A recent analysis demonstrated similar findings, with a trend towards higher resolution rates of C. difficile infection (CDI) with lower GI, rather than upper GI, administration (91% vs. 82%), although no head-to-head comparison has yet been performed. We are fully aware that we are in the infancy of the new science of host–microbe interaction in the human body. Many important questions remain unsolved, including whether the transplant material could be whole flora or cultured material, which diluent should be used, how much stool is needed, methods of administration, and immunological responses, as well as the long-term safety implications. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors' declarations of personal and financial interests are unchanged from those in the original article.


The breast cancer constitutes the most frequent cause of woman's death in developing countries, and 35% of women age 35 – 55 in industry countries. The best way to reduce the death rate caused by carcinoma breast is by early detection and treatment. Computer assisted diagnosis system gives a great possibility for the equipment needed. Fuzzy Edge Detection is one of many operations done in image processing. It's been used to identify the object in the image which makes it possible to characterize and detect the tumor based on abnormal structure. However this method should not be applied without other application's assistance such as morphological watershed algorithm for its accuracy.


The constant increase in demands on the load capacity of railway structures leads to greater stiffness of construction layers and subgrade. Concrete sleepers are also almost exclusively used, because have much higher bending stiffness and less flexibility than wooden sleepers. All these factors lead to greater loading on track bed, which changes its shape under increasing load and thereby affects the track geometry parameters. In the ballast track, for the reasons described above, gravel bench behind the heads of sleepers tends to crash. Open spaces between the sleeper and gravel are created, due to the high bending stiffness of concrete sleepers. When a train passes the sleepers rest on the collapsed gravel bench, which creates uneven sleeper support and enhance the dynamic effects, which accelerates the degradation of track bed [1]. To avoid such undesirable phenomena as much as possible, considerable financial resources must be expended to new designs research, as well as to diagnostic quality of track geometry and their potential maintenance [2]. Still, there are some relatively simple measurement procedures, which can well predict the characteristics of the rail fastening and thus also its suitability. The aim of this paper is to point out the use of selected methods of experimental modal analysis to determine the characteristics of rail fastening.


The proposed method is founded on the idea of titration in a titrand + titrant isomolar system. The method enables concentrations of the weak monoprotic acid and strong acid or base species in the sample tested to be found. It is also possible to evaluate the activity coefficient of hydrogen ions and equilibrium constants [protolysis constant (K1) of the weak acid HL and the ionic product of water (Kw)]. All these values are found from only one titration curve by use of an iteration procedure. The regression functions applied have the form of the Pade approximant W=g1(h)/g2(h), where W is the total volume of the solution at a given point of titration and g1(h) and g2(h) are the polynomials of hydrogen ion activity (h). The method is illustrated by the determination of acetic acid, the iteration procedure being performed according to the MINUITS computer program.


This paper presents a positioning control system based on an optical heterodyne interferometric technique associated to a home-made high frequency electronic board. This system aims to control the translation of a mechanical stage with a quantified step as low as 0.258 574 970 5 (5) nm. Intrinsic relative uncertainty is very low. Hence the method is suitable for long displacement range, even millimeters long. Experimental results show the reliability of the method.


Complete automation of trajectory planning tools for material deposition/removal applications has become increasingly necessary to reduce the "concept-to-consumer" timeline in product development. Segmentation of a complex automotive surfaces into topologically simple surfaces remains a barrier in the automation of trajectory generation. In this paper, we develop a novel hierarchical procedure to segment a complex automotive surface into geometrically as well as topologically simple components.


Gastroenteritis is inflammation of the lining of the stomach and intestines. It presents as diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting. Gastroenteritis may have many causes, of which viral, bacterial or parasitic infections are most common. Well-known forms of gastroenteritis include traveller's diarrhoea, food poisoning and rotavirus infection.


A series of site-specific insertion and deletion mutants was prepared in the pro domain of transforming growth factor ,Q1 (TGFa1) encoded by simian TGF01 cDNA. These mutants were transiently ex pressed in COS-1 cells and the ability of each to be properly processed, folded correctly, and secreted was determined by immunoblot analysis of cells and culture supernatants . Insertions in regions corresponding to amino acid residues 50, 154, and 170 blocked secretion ; culture supernatants from COS-1 cells showed no immunologically reactive proteins, whereas intact cells contained high levels of the mutant polypeptides . Insertions in the middle portion of the pro domain at residues 81, 85, and 144 affected disulfide maturation of the mature TGFOL An insertion at residue 110, on T RANSFORMING growth factor-beta-I (TGF#I)' is a potent regulator of cell growth and differentiation (Roberts and Sporn, 1988, 1990; Barnard et al ., 1990) . Following the initial purification and characterization of TGFQI as a homodimeric, 24-kD polypeptide (Assoian et al ., 1983 ; Frolik et al ., 1983 ; Roberts et al ., 1983), several distinct but related TGF# family members have been cloned and analyzed by cDNA sequencing (Derynck et al ., 1985, 1988 ; deMartin et al ., 1987 ; ten-Dijke et al ., 1988 ; Hanks et al ., 1988 ; Jakowlew et al ., 1988a,b ; Madisen et al ., 1988), indicating that they share similar structural properties . These novel TGFos are encoded as large precursors and each is processed from the carboxyl-terminus of its precursor by proteolytic cleavage . The mature TGFas all show considerable sequence similarity (-80%) and contain nine cysteine residues which can be perfectly aligned in sequence . The pro domains ofeach precursor contain three aligned cysteine residues as well as several sites for N-linked glycosylation . Since the pro portions of each precursor show less sequence similarity (<50%), each form of the growth factor may be secreted and activated differently. Studies on posttranslational modification and processing of the TGF01 precursor have been derived from sequence 1 . Abbreviations used in this paper: LAP, latency-associated peptide; TGF01, transforming growth factor 01 . © The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/91/08/827/13 $2 .00 The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 114, Number 4, August 1991827-839 the other hand, appeared to destabilize the mature TGF01 polypeptide, resulting in degraded growth factor. Relatively small (10 amino acids) to large (125 amino acids) deletion mutations in the pro domain of TGF0I, when expressed as the full-length pre-proTGF/01, appeared to block secretion . By contrast, if the pro domain (designated al-latency-associated peptide [a1-LAP]) was expressed independently, deletion mutants in the region 40-110 were readily secreted by the COS-1 cells, whereas deletions in residues 110-210 either destabilized the structure of the protein or blocked its intracellular transport . Cross-linking assays employing radioiodinated TGF01 and biological assays indicate that residues 50-85 of (31-LAP are required for association with mature TGFOL analysis of cDNA clones (Derynck et al ., 1985, 1986 ; Sharples et al ., 1987) and from the high-level expression ofthese proteins in CHO cells (Gentry et al ., 1987, 1988, 1989) ; these studies have indicated that a signal sequence of 29 amino acids is removed from the amino-terminus between Gly-29/Leu-30 (Gentry et al ., 1988) . Glycosylation occurs at all three predicted N-linked sites within the pro region followed by phosphorylation at mannose residues of the attached oligosaccharides (Purchio et al ., 1988 ; Brunner et al ., 1988) . At some stage during synthesis or transit, proteolytic cleavage at dibasic residues and disulfide bond formation occur and the mature growth factor is released (Gentry et al ., 1988) . The precise order of the processing, and the pathway of the intracellular routine of TGF01 precursor have not been characterized . The independently expressed pro domain of TGF01, when cotransfected with the mature TGF,61, aids in the folding of the growth factor within the cell resulting in a small percentage of secreted, mature TGF01 (Gray and Mason, 1990) . Furthermore, the pro portion of TGFf1 represents a functional binding protein for mature TGF01 (Gentry et al ., 1987; Miyazomo et al ., 1988 ; Wakefield et al ., 1989 ; Gentry and Nash, 1990) . The dimer of this pro domain, termed /31latency-associated peptide ((31-LAP), appears to be important for its biological function (Brunner et al ., 1989 ; Gentry and Nash, 1990) . The resulting latent form may then be acti827 on A uust 7, 2017 jcb.rress.org D ow nladed fom vated by extreme pH values, by heat, or by treatment with selected chaotropic agents or proteases (Lawrence et al ., 1985 ; Pircher et al ., 1986; Lyons et al ., 1988, 1990 ; Gentry and Nash, 1990). These results suggest that the TGFOI pro domain serves an important role in disulfide folding of mature TGFfl and latent complex formation . As an initial step towards understanding the mechanisms by which cells control TGF01 activities, we undertook a systematic dissection of the pro domain of TGFOI by sitespecific insertion and deletion mutagenesis . Our approach was to place a unique 12-mar oligonucleotide at specific restriction sites in the pro domain of TGF01, resulting in the in-frame placement of four amino acids . Such insertions should disrupt the local protein structure and allow our assignment of functional regions . The mutant TGFM molecules were transfected in COS-1 cells and the proteins were identified by immunoblotting and then analyzed for proteolytic processing, secretion, and disulfide maturation . We found by these approaches that the structural integrity of the pro region, when expressed as pre-pro-TGFOI, is essential for secretory exit of mature and precursor forms of TGFOI from cells . Several insertions resulted in mutants of TGF,81 precursors which were not secreted, while insertions at other sites resulted in high levels of disulfide-linked TGFOI aggregates, indicating that mature TGFOI was not properly folded at disulfide bonds . Independently expressed deletion mutants of al-LAP reveal that the amino-terminal portion of the pro region is involved in noncovalent association of the mature TGFOI to form a latent complex . Materials and Methods Cell Culture Condition COS-1 cells (ATCC CRL 1650), a simian fibroblast cell line transformed by an origin-defective mutant ofSV40, andminklung epithelial cells (ATCC CCL 64) were grown in DMEM supplemented with FBS (10% vol/vol), penicillin (100 U/ml), and streptomycin (100 pg/ml) . These cells were passaged by treatment with 0.5 % (wt/vol) trypsin (Gibco Laboratories, Grand Island, NY) at a 1:5 splitting ratio .


There are 3 errors that are associated with the measurement of nuclear radiations. These are from the noise accompanying an incident radiation pulse, the dead time required for the processing of the incident radiation pulse and the pile-up of pulses. In analogue processing, these errors are often downplayed leading to the obtained results not being as accurate as they should be. Available digital processors can solve these problems to a large extent but their complex natures and high costs make it difficult for most university laboratories to easily acquire them for laboratory experiments. We have designed and implemented a digital nuclear processing system that will significantly solve the 3 problems associated with nuclear radiation pulse processing as well as being less complex and cheap. The analyses of the implemented digital nuclear radiation processing system (DNRPS) showed that the system has progressively more superior energy resolution than a popular analogue system based on the Integrated Computer Spectrometer – Peripheral Connect Interface (ICS-PCI) set up at high gamma energies of above 1000 KeV. In terms of activity of sources, the DNRPS provides more accurate values than the ICS-PCI setup at all gamma energies from 511 KeV to 1332 KeV.


We design a velocity–porosity model for sand‐shale environments with the emphasis on its application to petrophysical interpretation of compressional and shear velocities. In order to achieve this objective, we extend the velocity–porosity model proposed by Krief et al., to account for the effect of clay content in sandstones, using the published laboratory experiments on rocks and well log data in a wide range of porosities and clay contents.