PEG-4 defines a multimedia system for interoperable communication of complex scenes containing audio, video, synthetic audio, and graphics material. In part 1 of this two-part article (in the previous issue) we provided a comprehensive overview of the technical elements. Here in part 2 we describe an application scenario based on digital satellite television broadcasting, discuss the standard's envisaged evolution, and compare it to other activities in forums addressing multimedia specifications. In April 1997 the Systems subgroup founded an implementation ad hoc group (IM1) with the mandate of validating the concepts of the MPEG-4 standard and promoting it by developing demonstration applications. This group also contributes to part 5 of the standard, the reference software. A system architecture was developed and successfully demonstrated at the 45th MPEG-4 meeting, where the world's first real-time display of MPEG-4 content (multicast over satellite) was shown to the MPEG community and the world press. Here we give a concise description of the architecture and demo mock-up. MPEG-4 broadcast scenario The scenario is an electronic programming guide (EPG) application where the user can choose among channels providing CD-quality audio, films, and news. The content is premulti-plexed and then streamed. The target band for the overall application is 5 megabits per second. The overall system is constructed of a single (logical) origination point, a real-time, unidirection-al communication channel, and a large number of end-user receiver/decoder terminals. It is a one-to-many, or possibly a few-to-many, system. The asymmetry of the architecture leads to an emphasis on reducing complexity and cost at the receiving side even if this implies increasing the complexity and cost at the transmitting side. The architecture is schematically depicted in Figure 1. The demonstration consisted of MPEG-4 server components located in Sunnyvale, California linked via a hybrid satellite network to MPEG-4 clients in Atlantic City, New Jersey. MPEG-4 takes advantage of the latest compression technologies , providing rendering of multiple objects within one viewing window. The network uses the Internet Group Multicast Protocol (IGMP) to route


As the applications implementing finite element analysis have become more powerful, the customers of these applications have turned to "process automation" and "process integration" to achieve the next level of enhanced throughput. The typical model size has increased and the rule base for effectively applying the analysis technologies has changed significantly from the early days of NASTRAN. Customer in-house software, applications that implement "best practices", competitive advantage methodologies and the increase in distributed, multi-national engineering have vastly increased the need for companies to invest in software applications that automate processes or better integrate 3 party applications into in-house processes. In this paper, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these open architecture process integration tools in NASTRANcentric process implementations. Archetypical applications for each class of open architecture tool are presented and the kinds of applications for which each is appropriate are discussed. To illustrate the new custom module development capabilities, we will develop and present an implementation connecting NASTRAN-xMG to a critical loads survey tool that is illustrative of the class of in-house process for which it is ideal.


Indonesia's vision to become a global maritime axis requires the government to improve connectivity, reduce logistics costs, and meet international port standards' requirements. A growing of international port standards recognizes the need to standardize sustainable port development. Indonesia's government proposed a green port policy to meet this requirement. However, different views and interests make it difficult for the government to coordinate private stakeholders and the various economic sectors to support the policy implementation. This paper analyzes different perspectives from different actors to find potential conflict as the basis for the government collaborates among actors to accelerate Indonesia's green port implementation. Dynamic Actor Network Analysis (DANA) is used to define each viewpoint in the perspective diagram systematically. Each perspective diagram generates one hypothesis, and we get which actors with the potential to cooperate and which actors are not by confirming all hypotheses. This paper concludes that DANA can develop and promote multi-actor system arrangements that address all port-related stakeholders' interactions.


: Smart home and the Internet of Things (IoT) have become integral parts of our daily lives. This paper provides an overview of the concept, development history, application scenarios, and future trends of smart home and IoT. The paper introduces the fundamental concepts of smart home and IoT, including the use of sensors, communication technology


Review(s) of: Haunted: The book of Australian ghosts, by John Pinkney (2005/2008), Victoria: The Five Mile Press. 333 pages, ISBN:9781741248630 (pb), Kindle: AUD$3.50 (Amazon second-hand: AUD$55.00).


The optimal chelating conditions for compound amino acid in cottonseed meal and ferrous chloride were investigated by response surface methodology(RSM). Quadratic orthogonal rotation combination design and response surface methodology were applied the chelated conditions by pH,temperatureand the mass ration of compound amino acid and ferrous chloride as independent variables,while taking the chelated percent as dependent variable in the experiment. The results showed that the optimal reaction conditions were pH 4.30,temperature 40℃,the mass ration of compound amino acid∶ferrous chloride 3.3∶1(g∶g). Under these conditions,chelating rate was 73.76%,closed to the predictive value of 74.06%.


. We investigate the connections between the complexity of a c.e. set, as calibrated by its strength as an oracle for Turing computations of func- tions in the Ershov hierarchy, and how strong reducibilities allow us to compute such sets. For example, we prove that a c.e. degree is totally ω -c.e. iff every set in it is weak truth-table reducible to a hypersimple, or ranked, set. We also show that a c.e. degree is array computable iff every left-c.e. real of that degree is reducible in a computable Lipschitz way to a random left-c.e. real (an Ω-number).


The study is critically investigates the relationship between human resource management and knowledge-based economy in Malaysian Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) companies status. Also, it discusses the obvious differentiation between human resource management and knowledge management. Based on semi-structured interviews, this study provides evidences for the changing roles required for human resource management in managing knowledge workers In short, this study is perhaps one of the first to investigate the influence of human resource management in the knowledgebased economy in MSC companies' status in Malaysia.


HORTSCIENCE VOL. 41(1) FEBRUARY 2006 annuum L.), pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merrill], potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), spinach, strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.), and tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.). Ascorbic acid is critical in maintaining a healthy immune system, reducing the severity of colds by preventing secondary viral or bacterial infections, protecting against damage by reducing free radicals (Larsen, 1997), and in the prevention of cardiovascular disease (Eichholzer et al., 2001). Folic acid (vitamin B9). Folic acid was fi rst isolated in 1941 from spinach and characterized as B9, a water-soluble vitamin and a member of the vitamin B complex (Cossins, 2000). The richest plant sources for folic acid can be found in asparagus (Asparagus offi cinalis L.), broccoli, butterhead lettuce (Latuca sativa L. var. capitata), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), lentils (Lens culinaris Medik.), and spinach. Other members of the B complex are B1 (thiamine), B2 (ribofl avin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine ), B12 (cyanocobalamin), and biotin (vitamin H). Folic acid helps in the transport of amino acids to the appropriate location in protein chain creation (Kelly, 1998), is involved in methylation of amino acids, DNA, and RNA (Lucock at al., 1996; Ma et al., 1997); regenerates methionine from homocystine, a compound contributing to cardiovascular disease (Laclerc et al., 1998); is involved in cell division, differentiation, and regulation Environmental Regulation of Human Health Nutrients (Ascorbic Acid, β-Carotene, and Folic Acid) in Fruits and Vegetables


E107 is a mutant of pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Sparkle) characterized by necrotic spots on its leaves, high Fe accumulation in its shoot, and decreased nodulation. Fresh, cleared, and fixed tissues of the mutant and its parent were observed by light and electron microscopy. E107 has cell wall appositions in its basal leaflets and in the endodermis of its lateral roots. The wall deposits in the leaves are layered and contain callose and phenols. The appositional walls in the lateral root endodermis, made of lignin or of phenols, are not organised. We hypothesize that the appositions are stress responses to metal toxicity. Key words: pea mutant, wall appositions, histochemistry, iron toxicity.


One of the problems we face in teaching introductory physics courses at the college level is that about 2/3 of students never had physics prior coming to college.  Thus, many students find it very difficult to learn physics for the first time at the relatively fast-paced teaching of college physics courses.  Sometimes the drop/failure/withdrawal rate at West Virginia University is as high as 65% (~2/3) for the introductory physics courses taken mostly by pre-engineering students.  Obviously, there is a strong connection between the students' physics backgrounds and the success rate of passing physics.  With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) funding, we created an intervention course for a small group of students who did poorly in the first test in one of the physics courses. This intervention course ran concurrently with the regular physics course, but started at the fourth week of class after the first test. Students who received our intervention showed significant improvement in the subsequent physics tests. 1  The recruitment of the students and the supervision of the course were the result of a unique collaboration between the College of Engineering and the Physics Department.  After the expiration of the NSF grant, the intervention course was cancelled due to the lack of funds.  The labs associated with physics classes, however, give us the opportunity to continue the advancement of physics learning after the ending of the NSF grant.


Spanish haematologists are warning against storing umbilical cord stem cells in private foreign clinics because of the risk that transportation will render the cells useless.

The practice of keeping the cells from the umbilical cord in private banks became popular after the Spanish crown prince, Felipe de Borbon, and his wife Letizia made public in 2006 that they sent blood from the umbilical cord of their baby, future queen Leonor, to a private bank in the US. At the time, there were only public stem cell banks in Spain, but shortly afterwards the Ministry of Health authorised the first private bank.

The law governing blood banks means that parents cannot keep umbilical stem cells for their own use, but that—as happens with organ donations—private banks …


Summary: The article is devoted to the study of motivation to play mini-football in adolescents aged 11-13 years. It is shown that the motivation of training and competitive activities determines the success of the training process. The concept of motivation of sports activity from the position of the activity approach is revealed. It is shown that motivation of sports activity is a system formation of the athlete's personality, which includes a number of motives and is characterized by a certain dynamics. The conclusion is made about the importance of developing a high level of sports motivation of young football players in terms of achieving high results of the training process. A study of sports motivation in young football players aged 11-13 years, depending on the effectiveness of training and competitive activities. Analysis of the motives of sports activity revealed the motivational profile in groups of football players with high and low levels of sports performance. The results showed that highly effective football players aged 11-13 years are distinguished by a high level of commitment to the success of their team, to sports improvement for successful performance in competitions and to maintain the prestige of the team. Football players with reduced effectiveness of sports activities are characterized by a predominance of social and emotional motivation associated with the emotional intensity of sports events in the process of playing sports. motives, competitive motives.


This paper examines the context for education research, including teacher education research, in Scotland. Concerns about research capacity are shared with other parts of the UK, but the distinctive context for teacher development and engagement in practitioner research create fertile ground for developments in teacher education research. Schemes such as 'Research to support Schools of Ambition' provide evidence of a shared commitment to teacher research. The national project, 'Applied Education Research Scheme', funded by the Scottish government and the Scottish Funding Council, included a thematic network on learners, learning and teaching. Drawing on activities of this sort, the paper suggests that a key element of effective capacity building lies in collaborative approaches.


Dr. Vibha.S 1 and Rashmi. B. M 2 . 1. PG Scholar, Dept of PG Studies in Roga Nidana and Vikriti Vignana, Government Ayurvedic Medical College, Bengaluru. 2. Assistant Professor, Dept of PG Studies in Roga Nidana and Vikriti Vignana, Government Ayurvedic Medical College, Bengaluru. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 08 February 2019 Final Accepted: 10 March 2019 Published: April 2019


Traditionally copyright has been inflexible, creating few opportunities for those who wish to share or use a new work. Copyright is automatically assigned as soon as an original creation is fixed in a tangible medium. Although registering a work with the U.S. Copyright Office may be beneficial, is not required for an author to receive the rights and protections provided by the federal law. Under this system, anyone wanting to use a creation is limited to the allowable uses outlined in the law or must justify their use through a fair use analysis. All other applications of a work are only allowable if permission has been granted by the author or the organization that owns the rights to the work. There is no way for an author to communicate other uses that are acceptable to them. In an information world that now thrives on the sharing and exchange of new information, the restrictions of copyright are onerous and confusing. It was because of these limitations that the desire for something more proactive came about. Authors needed a system that would allow them to say up front what they were willing to let people do with their work. As a result Creative Commons licenses were developed.


The epidemic proportions of overweight and obesity prevalence have made it not only a public health threat, but also an economic problem. The high caloric density and increased consumption of food-away-from-home endorse the possibility of significant effects of it on obesity. The objective of this study is to model meals consumed away from home consumption by accounting for consumer heterogeneity in making food consumption decisions. We use random coefficient modeling to estimate a negative binomial model to reveal consumer heterogeneity effects on food away from home. The results reveal significant associations between BMI_Status categories and food consumption both at home, but no significant associations with food away from home. We also established positive significant effects of caloric intake on meal consumption both at and away from home, with the latter being significantly larger than the former. The effects of the nutrient intake on meal consumption both at home and away from home have almost identical magnitude but opposite signs. The results of this research have significant policy implications as information on demographic profiles of people with overabundant but nutritionally poor food consumption habits would help to create more efficient and well targeted policy choices.


The purpose of the present invention is to provide a spectrum control system for improving response time to secondary use requests from a secondary transmitting station and minimizing harmful interference to a primary system and loss of secondary use opportunities in a secondary system. The spectrum control system according to the present invention determines whether or not it is permissible that a frequency band approved for prioritized use by a first wireless communication system be used by a secondary wireless communication system for a secondary use. The spectrum control system is equipped with: a request discrimination unit (102) for determining whether or not the secondary use possibly affects the first wireless communication system; and a permissibility determination unit (101) for determining the permissibility of the use of the frequency band, which has been determined to possibly affect the first wireless communication system, for the secondary use, by using more detailed determination criteria than those used by the request discrimination unit (102).


A program for the education of teachers must be so planned as to meet the needs of teachers preparing for service in the schools. These needs are defined in the program that is set down and developed in the preceding pages of this volume. The teachers of the elementary school, of the junior high school, and of the senior high school should obtain an education that will prepare them for the work of these respective levels. Throughout the foregoing pages the Committee has stressed the liberalizing function of the school. , Education should liberate from ignorance. Speaking positively, the liberally educated person should be able to make intelligent adjustments to the stimuli which are associated with rich living. In order that the teacher may ~ffectively contribute to this program of liberal education the teacher must be liberally educated. The program of liberal education must be supplemented with such additional education as will enable the teacher to meet the specialized demands of professional service. In other words, the program of teacher education should be judged from the standpoint of its adequacy for liberal education and from the standpoint of its adequ~::~cy for professional education. The sine qtw non for success in teaching is liberal education. The standards for liberal education of teachers and professional education of teachers are, therefore, in large part synonymous. In order to define the work of the public school, including the teachers college, we may think of the liberally educated person as one who has explored widely into the fields of human thought a~d at the same time as one who has a measure of command in some specialized field. Evidence .in hand points rather clearly to the fact that in current practice in state teachers colleges an adequate attainment of these standards for the education of teaehers is not secured or even closely approached.


Objective To investigate the correlation between the expressions of tumour suppressor gene PTEN and oncogene C-myc in colorectal carcinoma.Methods The expressions of PTEN and C-myc protein in normal colorectal mucosa(n=8), adjacent non-cancerous tissues(n=10) and primary colorectal carcinoma tissues(n=60) were observed by S-P immunohistochemical assay.Results Of 60 colorectal carcinoma tissues,C-myc protein was detected in 46 cases.The expression rate of C-myc in the primary colorectal carcinoma tissues(76.70%) was significantly higher than that in the normal(0) and adjacent non-cancerous tissues(10%)(P0.01).Overexpression of C-myc was significantly correlated with hepatic metastasis(r=5.540,P0.05) and was not related with TNM staging(r=0.013,P0.05).The positive expression rate of PTEN protein in the primary colorectal carcinoma tissues(25.00%,15/60) was significantly lower than that in the normal(100%) and adjacent non-cancerous tissues(90%)(P0.01).PTEN protein expression was positively correlated with pathological differentiational degree(r=0.869,P0.05),negatively with TNM staging,lymph nodes metastasis and hepatic metastasis(r=0.791,r=-0.741,r=-0.634,P0.05).The level of C-myc protein expression was negatively correlated with PTEN expression(r=-0.322,P0.001).Conclusion Cmyc protein overexpression can not be used as a clinicopathological parameter to dignose colorectal cancer.The expression of PTEN is closely related to clinicopathological features in colorectal carcinoma,and could be used as a marker of tumour burden of colorectal carcinoma.


China is in the complex and interests diversification times,public policy formulation distributing interests make expression of citizens interest enthusiasm.But in the process of public policy formulation,expression of citizens interest faces to obstacles that are different from post modern public administration?s words theory: closed and single thought,straight-line bureaucracy words mode,one-way communication path and a unnormalization words domain.It reveals to us that we should start doing system innovations to re-establish the objectives and spirit for expression of citizens' interest,build a "pulic energy field" that conforms to rule of public policy formulation,and establish a benign network for expression of citizens' interest.


Reasonably choosing rheological model and accurately calculating rheological parameters are theoretical basis of instructing in-situ utilization.In this paper,a study on rheological model of micro-foam drilling fluids which has different micro-foam quality is conducted by extensive experiments combined with regression analysis using the specific software.


This paper describes the programming courses curriculum implemented by the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology (FCSIT), University of Malaya (UM) from the year 1995 to the present time. It explains the idea and logic behind the various programming courses offered at the faculty, the changes that the programming courses went through throughout the years, and also the future plans that FCSIT shall take with regards to the programming courses offered. It also discusses the students' performance in the core programming courses throughout the years; taking into account the feedback from companies that offered placements to students during their industrial training, and also their examination results.


Termites play an important role as decomposers of organic matter in forests by utilizing their gut symbionts and associated carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) to digest wood materials. However, there is a limited understanding of the entire repertoire of CAZymes and their evolution in termite genomes. Here we identified the gene families of CAZymes in publicly available termite genomes and analyzed the evolution of abundant gene families. We found that 79 CAZyme gene families from the carbohydrate-binding module and four CAZyme classes, including glycosyl transferase (GT), glycoside hydrolase (GH), auxiliary activity (AA) and carbohydrate esterase (CE), were present in termites with minor variations across termite species except for a few gene families. The gene trees of the large and conserved gene families have several groups of genes from all species, and each group encodes enzymes with complete corresponding domains. Three gene families, namely GT1, GH1 and AA3, exhibited significant variations in gene numbers and experienced several losses and a few duplications, which might be related to their rich gut symbionts and newly gained functions. Furthermore, the overall expression of CAZymes appears to have a caste- and tissue-specific pattern, reflecting a division of labor in termite colonies. Overall, these results reveal a likely stable CAZyme repertoire in termites and pave the way for further research on the functional contribution of termites to wood digestion.


Rising tuition fees, heightened student expectations, slower economic growth and increasing employer demands has more than ever directed the spotlight in higher education to that of employability. The ongoing employability debate in the literature is not merely academic; the choice of operationalisation for employability decides its implementation, which is in turn interlinked with a particular set of outcome measures. These choices have an impact on the funding of institutions, consequently affecting teaching and learning practices and the allocation of support services in higher education (Harvey, 2001). For instance, when institutions in the UK bid for extra funded places on programmes of study, part of the evidence used by panels in the decision-making process is employability indicators of graduate rates. This drives the focus on ensuring as many students as possible, in the subject areas institutions are seeking to expand, acquire the ability to obtain a job. Yet across the border in Wales, the employability focus is on attribute growth, and on measuring the activities in place within institutions (HEFCW, 1999). Harvey (2001) further elaborates on the different definitions and outcomes as seen in Table W-1.


This paper examines patterns in the linear distribution of helminths in the small intestine of each of 45 scaup. Over all birds, most common species of helminths were found in over half of the smal...


and if glomerular (GFR) the hospitalization ml/min/1.72 square meter. Results: Overall, 90,199 TSH sent the non-surgical wards, most of them as part of the admissions profile. these, 2,116 the inclusion criteria of the hospitalization. In the final analysis, 126 inpatients of and re-hospitalization, in 11(8.7%), 4 heart The TSH level re-hospitalization 81.4% 86.4% No association between heart failure or renal-failure and thyroid function worsening was found ( p = 1.00 for both). Of 34 patients with chronic heart failure re-hospitalized after 1/2-1 year, in 29 (85.3%) the repeated TSH was normal, in 3 (8.8%) and in 2 (5.9%) worse. In most re-hospitalization the worsening to initiation of retrospective nature of the study sure whether the initiation justified; therefore, is likely that the worsening percentage is even lower. Conclusions: An isolated TSH elevation in hospitalized patients with past medical history of chronic heart-failure or chronic renal failure does not in-dicate thyroid disease, in most cases. androgen levels and potential GC complications in and


The new approach to automate stationary techniques to analyze gas using a stepwise injection analysis (SWIA) is revealed and determination of hydrogen sulfide in natural gas using SWIA is described. The determination is based on absorption of hydrogen sulfide into open to the air reaction tube with 2% zinc acetate solution, stepwise injection of the reagents to the reaction tube to form a methylene blue and subsequent measurement of the downstream colored product at 670 nm. The open to the air reaction tube is a part of hydraulic system and has PTFE granules to increase a surface area during the gas sample bubbling. Nitrogen was purged to the reaction tube for enhanced mixing. All experimental manipulations were controlled by software. The absorbing solution has an absorption efficiency of >98% at a sampling flow rate of 0.3 l/min. This method provides a linear working range of 0.5 to 20 mg/m 3 with a relative standard deviation of 2.5 % (n=10) at the 5 mg/m 3 level for 3 liters of gas sample and concentration time of 10 min. The determination limit of 0.1 mg/m 3 was achieved using 3 liters of gas sample and time of one cycle of 18.5 min.


A series of poly(benzobisoxazole)s,including poly(p-phenylene-benzobisoxazole)(PBO),poly(1,4-naphthalene benzobisoxazole)(1,4-PNBO),poly(2,6-naphthalene benzobisoxazole)(2,6-PNBO),poly(2,5-thiophene benzobisoxazole)(PTBO),poly-4,4'-(1,2-diphynylethylene benzobisoxazole)(4,4'-PDPEBO) and poly(2,6-diylvinylene benzobisoxazole)(PBOV),were synthesized by polycondensation of 4,6-diamino-1,3-benzenediol dihydrochloride with terephthalic acid,1,4-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid,2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid,2,5-thiophenedicarboxylic acid,4,4'-(1,2-diphynylethylene) dicarboxylic acid and 2,6-diylvinylenedicarboxylic acid respectively in polyphosphoric acid.The relationship between the resulting polymer chain structures and the properties of the polybenzobisoxazoles was also investigated.The results show that the target polymers were successfully synthesized characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra and elemental analysis.The relationship between the structure and properties of poly(benzobisoxazole)s was analyzed using the conductivity meter and fluorescence spectrometer.The results of the study show that,the conductivity of PBO,1,4-PNBO,2,6-PNBO,4,4'-PDPEBO,PTBO,PBOV decreased in turn,and the data of PBO was 37.8 mS/cm,the conductive mechanism of polymer is mainly through the delocalization of the electrons in polymer molecules.π electron clouds can flow between the adjacent carbon atoms,but the electric conductivity is lower when conjugate chain become longer to some extent;in addition,the shape of poly(benzobisoxazole)s of fluorescence emission spectrum and stimulate spectrum are very similar,the biggest emission peak wavelength of poly(benzobisoxazole)s are almost consistent,and among them the fluorescence intensity of 2,6-PNBO is the strongest.


Since the sudden outbreak in 2019, COVID-19 has had a great impact on the whole social economy. By analyzing the specific reasons for the blow or promotion of all industries, This paper discuss the specific countermeasures to promote the future development of the industry. Research shows that the impact of the COVID-19 on tourism and catering industry is rapid and destructive. But it has a significant role in promoting the Internet industry. Today, when the epidemic situation is gradually stabilized and normalized, enterprise managers can no longer imagine returning to the normal operation mode, and should actively reform to adapt to the stable development of the overall environment. For some industries that are currently enjoying the dividends brought by the epidemic, they should be soberly aware of the strength of their products, analyze the actual growth rate brought by the epidemic and make plans for long-term development.


Importin13 (IPO13), the newest member of importin‐β family discovered recently, is a unique nucleus‐cytoplasm bidirectional transport receptor protein. In this study, IPO13 expression in human corneal tissue, limbal epithelial primary explant and clonal culture was evaluated by immunostaining and reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reasgon. IPO13 function was evaluated in the corneal epithelial culture treated with IPO13 inhibitor, or fetal bovine serum (FBS)‐containing Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) medium by colony‐forming efficiency, clone growth capacity, MTT, immunostaining, and Western blotting assay. IPO13 protein was expressed mainly in nuclei of limbal epithelial basal cells, but not in the other cell layers of limbus and full thickness of corneal epithelia. IPO13 was expressed in the majority of epithelial cells in early‐stage clones and in the margin of late‐stage clones. IPO13 was positively expressed in mouse TKE2 progenitor cells cultured in keratinocyte serum‐free defined medium, while it became negative in FBS‐containing DMEM, which promoted TKE2 cell differentiation. In the presence of IPO13 inhibitor, IPO13 expression and the proliferative capacity decreased in human limbal epithelial clones and mouse TKE2 cells, which were accompanied with the cell differentiation. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate for the first time that IPO13 is uniquely expressed by human limbal basal epithelial cells, and plays an important role in maintaining the phenotype, high proliferative potential, and less differentiation of corneal epithelial progenitor cells, suggesting that IPO13 could serve as a novel potential marker for corneal epithelial progenitor cells. STEM CELLS 2009;27:2516–2526


Successful preparation of structures for deep drilling and estimation of oil and gas reserves requires a complicated program of geological exploration. Successive stages follow one another until reserves are determined and the field is placed in production. There are several currently used classifications of the principal stages of geological exploration for oil and gas. The most successful from our point of view is that proposed in VNIGRI by M. G. Leybson. According to this classification, the work preceding deep exploration drilling consists of two stages. The first includes regional geological-geophysical work (small scale surveys, stratigraphic and parametric drilling). This is directed toward determining the general geology of large territories, clarification of their oil-gas potential, and estimation of reserves. The second stage includes detailed geological-geophysical work (geological surveys, seismic surveys, structural drilling). It is directed toward determining the favorability of areas (structures) and their preparation for deep drilling. This stage refines the estimates of prognostic reserves and often determines reserves of category C 2 . After these preliminary operations, the next two stages are directed toward discovery of oil and gas fields by deep drilling on known structures and determination of their commercial value. The effectiveness of deep exploration drilling in a region depends to a great extent on the efficiency of the first two stages. Very important here is the establishment of structures and their preparation for deep drilling.


A method and a portable terminal for displaying image data acquired from a camera are provided to display the image data while minimizing the conversion of raw image data, thereby saving time for which the acquired image data is displayed. A camera(107) is activated(S201). When the camera receives an image data acquiring signal from a main control unit(119), the camera acquires the image data(S205). The camera transmits the first image data of raw format to a sub control unit(109) by the control of the main control unit(S207). The sub control unit calls a conversion program stored in a memory(115). The sub control unit controls an image processing unit(110)(S209). The sub control unit converts YCbCr information of the first image data into RGB information(S211). The sub control unit temporarily saves the second image data in a buffer(111)(S213). The sub control unit transmits the second image data to a display unit(113)(S215). The sub control unit controls the image processing unit(S219). The image processing unit encodes the second image data to generate the third image data(S221). The sub control unit provides the third video data to the main control unit(S223). The main control unit stores the third image data in the memory(S225).


Workplace spirituality from the organizational perspective could be seen as an integrative mechanism that motivates employees towards the organizational values and mission and enhancing the commitment to them. Past studies, though affirmed its relevance and importance, were generally based on the assumption of acceptance, where the motivational goals were neglected. This study aimed to understand more on the motivational goals that promote the interaction of spirituality and its acceptance, from the value perspective, especially in a multi-culture and religion context. This research used the qualitative research method by abstracting the possible motivational goals based on the value type framework of Schwartz (1994). An in-depth interview was conducted with the employees of a religious run hospital in a multi-culture and religion context. The findings shown the value types were applicable framework for organizational spirituality, where the acceptance and participation of workplace spirituality was a process driven by diverse motivational goals. The values involved were varied, complex and possibly inconsistent. Spirituality type, which appealed directly to the spiritual needs, could be treated as separate value type in contrasting to other value types and could be discriminated without much difficulty. The perception of value was critical when there were divergence and conflict of values. This was because identification could be viewed as employees' perception of "oneness" with the organization, and strong identification would tend to be more supportive, making decisions more consistent with the organizations' objective, consequently more involved with the mission. This study simultaneously provided a possible framework for the better understanding of what motivate the acceptance of organization spirituality, and possible directions for better integration of organizational values that is crucial for achieving the organizational goal and mission.


From the days when the Romans first came to appreciate the economic value of prisoners of war as a source of labor, and began to use them as slaves instead of killing them on the field of battle.


: The objectives of current technical education aim to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and contemporary practices. Integration of Theoretical and Practical Knowledge: Technical education seeks to combine theoretical knowledge with practical skills and applications. It aims to provide students with a solid foundation of scientific principles and concepts while emphasizing hands-on learning experiences. By integrating theory and practice, technical education prepares students to apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios and adapt to evolving industry practices. Industry Relevance and Employability: One of the primary objectives of technical education is to equip students with the skills and knowledge that are relevant to current industry needs. It focuses on understanding the demands of the job market, identifying emerging trends, and aligning curricula with industry requirements. This approach ensures that graduates are prepared for the workforce, possess the necessary technical competencies, and have a higher employability rate. Practical Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking: Technical education fosters the development of problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Students are encouraged to analyze complex problems, identify innovative solutions, and apply scientific knowledge to practical situations. By emphasizing analytical and logical reasoning, technical education prepares students to address challenges in their respective fields and contribute to technological advancements.


Let $\mathcal{M}$ be an indefinite inner product module over a *-ring of characteristic 2. We show that every self-adjoint operator on $\mathcal{M}$ admits Halmos, Egervary and Sz.-Nagy dilations.


Objective
To observe the effects of docosahexenoic acid (DHA) on sevoflurane-induced Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/myeloid differentiation factor 88(MyD88)/nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB) pathway activation and the release of inflammatory mediators.

Metheds
N9 cells were assigned to a CON group, a Sevo group and a DHA+Sevo group. After 24 h treatment, cell survival was assessed by methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide(MTT) assay. Western blot was used to detect the levels of microglial TLR4, MyD88 and inhibitor of NF-κB-α(IκB-α), while the contents of inflammatory mediator tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and IL-10 in each group were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Results
Compared with the CON group, the survival rate of N9 cells in the Sevo group decreased significantly, while the level of TLR4 and MyD88 protein was increased significantly, the level of IκB-α was significantly decreased, the release of TNF-α and IL-1β and IL-6 was increased significantly (P<0.05). The amounts of IL-1β and IL-10 were increased significantly in the DHA+Sevo group (P<0.05). Compared with the Sevo group, the survival rate in the DHA+Sevo group increased significantly, the level of TLR4 and MyD88 protein decreased significantly, the level of IκB-α was increased significantly, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 release was increased significantly, while IL-10 release was increased significantly(P<0.05).

Conclusions
DHA inhibits sevoflurane-induced cell damage and activation of TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway, and reduces the release of pro-inflammatory mediators TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6, and increases anti-inflammatory mediator IL-10 release.

Key words:
Docosahexenoic acid; Sevoflurane; Microglia; Toll-like receptor 4/myeloid differentiation factor 88/nuclear factor-κB pathway; Inflammatory mediator


Context. The primary goal of the Kepler mission is the measurement of the frequency of Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars. However, the confirmation of the smallest of Kepler's candidates in long periods around FGK dwarfs is extremely difficult or even beyond the limit of current radial velocity technology. Transit timing variations (TTVs) may offer the possibility for these confirmations of near-resonant multiple systems by the mutual gravitational interaction of the planets. Aims. We previously detected the second planet candidate in the KOI1574 system. The two candidates have relatively long periods (about 114d and 191d) and are in 5:3 resonance. We therefore searched for TTVs in this particularly promising system. Methods. The full Kepler data was detrended with the proven SARS pipeline. The entire data allowed one to search for TTVs of the above signals, and to search for additional transit-like signals. Results. We detected strong anti-correlated TTVs of the 114d and 191d signals, dynamically confirming them as members of the same system. Dynamical simulations reproducing the observed TTVsallowed us to also determine the masses of the planets. We found KOI 1574.01 (hereafter Kepler-87b) to have a radius of 13.49 ± 0.55 R⊕ and a mass of 324.2 ±8.8 M⊕, and KOI 1574.02 (Kepler-87c) to have a radius of 6.14 ± 0.29 R⊕ and a mass of 6.4 ± 0.8 M⊕. Both planets have low densities of 0.729 and 0.152 gcm −3 , respectively, which is non-trivial for such cold and old (7−8 Gyr) planets. Specifically, Kepler-87c is the lowest-density planet in the super-Earth mass range. Both planets are thus particularly amenable to modeling and planetary structure studies, and also present an interesting case where ground-based photometric follow-up of Kepler planets is very desirable. Finally, we also detected two more short-period super-Earth sized (<2 R⊕) planetary candidates in the system, making the relatively high multiplicity of this system notable against the general paucity of multiple systems in the presence of giant planets like Kepler-87b.


BACKGROUND
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system characterized by demyelination and neurodegeneration processes. It leads to different clinical courses and degrees of disability that need to be anticipated by the neurologist for personalized therapy. Recently, machine learning (ML) techniques have reached a high level of performance in brain disease diagnosis and/or prognosis, but the decision process of a trained ML system is typically non-transparent. Using brain structural connectivity data, a fully automatic ensemble learning model, augmented with an interpretable model, is proposed for the estimation of MS patients' disability, measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS).

METHOD
An ensemble of four boosting-based models (GBM, XGBoost, CatBoost, LightBoost) organized following a stacking generalization scheme, was developed using DTI-based structural connectivity data. In addition, an interpretable model based on conditional logistic regression was developed to explain the best performances in terms of white matter (WM) links for three classes of EDSS (Low, Medium, High).

RESULTS
The ensemble model reached excellent level of performance (RMSE of 0.92 ± 0.28) compared to single-based models and provided a better EDSS estimation using DTI-based structural connectivity data compared to conventional MRI measures associated with patient data (age, gender and disease duration). Used for interpretation of the estimation process, the counterfactual method showed the importance of certain brain networks, corresponding mainly to left hemisphere WM links, connecting the left superior temporal with the left posterior cingulate and the right precuneus gray matter regions, and the inter-hemispheric WM links constituting the corpus callosum. Also, a better accuracy estimation was found for the high disability class.

CONCLUSION
The combination of advanced ML models and sensitive techniques such as DTI-based structural connectivity demonstrated to be useful for the estimation of MS patients' disability and to point out the most important brain WM networks involved in disability.


Nanocomposites of Ni-Zn with copolymer matrix of aniline formaldehyde in presence of varying concentrations of zinc ions have been studied at room temperature and normal pressure. The absorption spectra of these materialsare recorded by a Hitachi spectro-photometer, model U-3400, in the wavelength range 850-410 nm. From the analysis of absorption spectra, nanocomposites copolymer of aniline formaldehyde Ni 1 - x Zn x Fe 2 O 4 (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8) have been found to have direct band gaps ranging from 1.54 eV to 1.88 eV. Sudden increase in the band gap of these composites in the vicinity of composition from x = 0.2 to x = 0.4 has been explained on the basis of structural change at those concentrations of Zn.


We have developed a unique, computer-assisted instruction (CAI) tool called PathPots to facilitate student's learning about clinical-pathological correlation in Applied Pathology and Clinical Medicine. Authors create cases using a flexible description language which then instructs the PathPots system on how to interact with the student. The student types in answers to each question and the computer analyses the answers before giving the student individual feedback on the answer offered. We describe the PathPots CAI authoring environment and discuss preliminary results from its use in a fourth year Pathology curriculum.


As a natural ventilation strategy, general gravity ventilators can be installed on the roof of an industrial building. Unfortunately, the appropriate design data for this type of ventilator could not be found except for the design data in commercial catalogues in which there is no scientific reference. In this study, the ventilation rates of gravity ventilator were thus evaluated for the several design parameters, i.e. 1) wind direction, 2) wind speed, 3) temperature differences between the exterior and interior of a building and 4) ventilator height and width. A commercially available CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) package was used to estimate the ventilation rates numerically. The ventilation performance were enhanced as 1) the wind direction is close to the perpendicular direction of industrial building, 2) wind speed increases, 3) the temperature difference between the exterior and interior of a building increases, and 4) the width of ventilator neck enlarges. In addition, the temperature difference is the dominant factor in the lower wind speed (0~2.5㎧) while the wind speed act as significant factor in the higher wind speed (2.5~10㎧). The flow rate of low height ventilator is dramatically reduced than standard height. But efficiency of tall ventilator aimed for increasing flow rate was insignificant.


Papain fragmentation of the subunits (IgMs) produced by mild reduction and alkylation of IgM that had been isolated from a patient with macroglobulinemia was studied.
 A stable fragment (Ms pap I) was isolated after papain digestion of IgMs for 16 hr. The approximate molecular weight of the Ms pap I fragment was 50,000. It was composed of light chain (κ chain) and a part of heavy chain (µ chain) and obtained in a yield of 10 fragments/molecule of IgM or 2/molecule of the subunit. Some chromatographic and electrophoretic heterogeneity was observed with this fragment although there seemed to be no difference in chain composition and size between chromatographically separated Ms pap I fragments.
 Another fragment, Ms pap III, was isolated from a short period digest. The sedimentation coefficient of this fragment was 2.9 S and it was composed of a part of the µ chain which was not included in the Ms pap I fragment. Although it may not represent all of the µ chain other than included in the Ms pap I fragment, it carries the major antigenic determinants of the µ chain and most of the hexose of IgMs.
 The former fragment, Ms pap I, is considered as a counterpart of Fab fragment of IgG and the latter, Ms pap III, as that of Fc fragment and, thus, the formula of the papain fragmentation of IgMs is similar to that of IgG except that the counterpart of the Fc portion is hydrolyzed to dialyzable peptides in a short period.


The important role of various international actors in the emergence of ancient Russia is discussed in this article. The appearance of new trade routes led to significant changes in the balance of power in Eastern Europe. In the IX century, Russia was first presented as an actor in East Europe which was able to mobilize the region for military action on European arena.


During the accounting harmonization process between the universal accounting standards of the International Accounting Standards Board and the American Financial Accounting Standards Board, the standardization of the share-based payment may be pointed out as one of the successful projects. The American Financial Accounting Standards Board accepted the European proposal on the standardization of this field regardless the discontent of the major American corporations. The novelty in the standard is the reporting requirement of the allocated employee stock option costs in the profit and loss account according to their fair value, instead of the usual reporting scheme according to their intrinsic value. The consequence of such a treatment of the employee stock options is that the reported profits have been decreased in the companies who decided to stimulate the employees and the management in this manner. The reduction in profits reported ranges between 10% and 50% of the profits reported before the introduction of the standard. Research results also indicate on a negative correlation between the level of management compensation using stock option plans and their willingness to use derivatives to hedge the company's fair value, cash-flows and translation exposures. According to the Croatian Accounting Act, it is the Company's obligation to compile the financial reports in line with the International Financial Reporting Standards adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board. In line with the above law, Croatian companies which securities are traded publicly or which have the obligation to compile consolidated financial reports, also have the duty to apply International Financial Reporting Standards in their full extent. This also implies they have to report in line with the IFRS 2, Share-based payment. This paper shows the effects of the application of the new accounting treatment of executive management awarding schemes, using stock option allotments, on the reported financial position and business results. Moreover, the hypothesis viability on a negative correlation between stock option compensation of the executive managers and active hedging policies will be described in this paper.


Knowledge Management (KM) is a process that focuses on knowledge-related activities to facilitate knowledge creation, capture, transformation and use, with the ultimate aim of leveraging organisations' intellectual capital to achieve organisational objectives. The KM process receives input from its context (e.g. internal business environment), and produces output (i.e. knowledge). It is argued that the validity of such knowledge should be justified by business performance. The study, this paper reports on, provides enhanced empirical understanding of such an input-process-output relationship through investigating the interactions among different KM activities in the context of how construction organisations in Hong Kong manage knowledge. To this end, a theoretical framework along with a number of hypotheses are proposed and empirically tested through correlation, regression and path analyses. A questionnaire survey was administered to a sample of construction contractors operating in Hong Kong to facilitate testing the proposed relationships. More than 140 respondents from 99 organisations responded to the survey. The study findings demonstrate that both organisational and technical environments have the potential to predict the intensity of KM activities. Furthermore, different categories of KM activities interact with each other, and collectively they could be used to predict business performance.


This article discusses the shortcomings in the financing of studies at universities in Lithuania, and the need for reforms in this area. They are determined both by inadequate levels of public financing in st ate universities, as by the social and economic ineffectiveness of the currently applied financing methods. The article investigates the correspondenc e of the main types of public financing ‐ payment for studies as well as various types of financial suppo rt available to students ‐ to theoretical provisions o f public goods, the social justice crisis behind fina ncial assistance given to students and how it contravenes prevailing world practices. The article is based on an analysis of the financing of studies in the Europea n Union and other countries.


Between 1903 and 1920, 10 million people emigrated to the United States by passing through the portals of the receiving station on Ellis Island . During that period, the U.S . Department of Labor and its predecessor agency, the Department of Commerce and Labor, administered the immigration laws of the country, including those providing for the operation of Ellis Island . The island lies just a short distance from the New Jersey shoreline in New York Harbor . The Federal Government, over many years, expanded the land area from 7.5 acres to a landfilled 27 .5 acres for new buildings, park areas, and other facilities . The main hall, a spacious brick building with white limestone trim, in French Renaissance style, is the most striking landmark on the island and the site where immigrants first entered for processing . Kitchen facilities, dormitories, a hospital, and a power plant also occupied island space . Docks to receive passenger and cargo vessels expanded in proportion to the island's growth.' Men, women, and children segregated by sex, stood in lines on Ellis Island awaiting a barrage of questions on their potential destinations, intentions for going there, and job prospects upon arrival . Prearranged labor contracting was


To compare outcomes after minimalist and standard transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TF‐TAVR) in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).


The present invention relates to a bicycle for exercising the upper part of the body, which enables a user to exercise the upper part of the body while also exercising the lower part of the body, wherein exercising the lower part of the body is performed by pedaling, and in which a motion-converting unit has a simplified configuration and handles are provided with respective braking apparatuses. The bicycle for exercising the upper part of a body according to the present invention comprises a motion-converting unit (40) for transferring the motion of a rotating motion unit (30) provided with handles (31, 31') to a driving force transferring unit (50), wherein the rotating motion unit (30) transfers the rotating driving force of the handles (31, 31') to the driving force transferring unit (50) through an upper motion-converting means (41) comprising a pair of bevel gears (410, 411) and through a lower motion-converting means (42) comprising a pair of bevel gears (420, 421), and wherein the handles (31, 31') are provided with respective braking levers (1, 1') for operating respective brakes (111, 121) of the front and rear wheels (11, 12) of the bicycle. The present invention provides a bicycle for exercising the upper part of the body, which has a simple configuration, and which enables handles to perform a braking function, thereby achieving improved use convenience and operating safety.


Sorghum is an important crop in many countries of Africa and Asia and serves as a dietary sources of protein, calorie, minerals and vitamins for millions of people in this regions. The concentration of the different nutrients and thermal behavior varies among different cultivars of sorghum and therefore affect its nutritional contribution and selection for processing. In this study, we evaluate the proximate, calorie, mineral and thermal properties of 9 cultivars of sorghum varieties marketed in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. The results showed significant variation (p


In this paper we describe a heuristic technique for solving the 2D find-path problem for a rigid mobile body amidst a set of fixed obstacles of arbitrary shapes. The proposed approach tackles path planning as an informed search process in dis crete configuration space. Three heuristics are proposed to guide this search process, all of them relying on a global path computed from the R-MAT model of free-space (a retraction of MA T defined specifically for path planning). One of the heuristics guides the evolution of the two Cartesian degrees of freedom of the mobile body along the search, while the remaining two guide the evolution of its rotational degree of freedom. The benefits derived from the use of the proposed heuristics are twofold: on the one hand, a speed-up of the search process as compared to noninformed search algo rithms is attained, and on the other hand, the features of the resulting solution path can be somewhat controlled. Other advantages and shortcomings of the proposed path planning approach are discussed, with the practical interest of the overall process being justified by the experimental results ob tained.


Automatic Speaker Recognition (ASR) is the use of a machine to recognize a person from a spoken phrase. It verifies the persons claimed identity from his voice pattern. It is probably the most natural and economical method of restricting unauthorized access to computer network, communication system and multilevel access control. With the ubiquitous telephone network and microphones attached with computers, the cost of speaker recognition system might only be for software. In this paper speaker recognition system using DWT based feature extraction technique and VQ for pattern matching is proposed. The performance of the proposed recognizer is compared with traditional methods and found better in terms of measure of False Acceptance and False Rejection.


In this paper, a m athematical model for i nvestigation the effects of internal heat losses on the flame speed and temperature profile in Aluminum Particle Clouds combustion with continues reaction rate have been studied. The p resent work ext ended previous re sults by bridging t he t heories of the no n- adiabatic stationary d ust fl ame and the propagation of premixed flames in one-dimensional ch annels accounting for heat-losses to par ticles and environment. The results showed that the effects of heat losses played an i mportant role i n f lame regi mes and flame t ransition. Furthermore, it was found that convective heat losses significantly decreased t he velocity of flame propagation an d t emperature i n pos t-flame zone. Comparisons b etween the analytical so lutions a nd the experiment re sults showed a good agreement.


Based on the cubic nonlinear of tire and the mechanical characteristic of 4WS, the nonlinear vehicle 4WS model was established. And the effect of the unknown items, such as nonlinear disturbance and model error were taken into account. At the same time the nonlinear controlling design with the method of robust control theory was made, the expected controlling effect can be obtained. At last the simulation validation was carried out.


This article begins with the necessity of the management for the new college students. It will analyze some characteristics of the new college students, and give some suggestions for improving the level of the student management in college, also, I wish that we can catch this good chance to create a new situation for the student management and education. Meanwhile, it is the most important basis for the later management and education.


Preliminary sector tests at 920 K of three afterburner concepts proposed for inlet temperature of 1260 F and comparison of results with conventional V-gutter flame holder


The background of the research is the growth of business in Indonesia in the culinary field which is growing rapidly. One of the popular culinary businesses in Bandung is Mie Gacoan. This type of research is quantitative causal research. The number of samples used is 100 respondents using probability sampling technique to customers who are domiciled in the city of Bandung and have purchased Mie Gacoan products more than twice. Data analysis used descriptive analysis and multiple linear analysis, classical assumption test, instrument test (validity and reliability), hypothesis testing using t test and coefficient of determination. The results of the partial study of each price and service quality variable have a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction, on the other hand product quality has a positive but not significant effect on customer satisfaction. The Adjusted R Square figure is 0.403, the dependent variable is explained by the independent variables namely price, product quality and service quality as much as 40.3% on the other hand the remaining 59.7% is explained by other variables not included in this study.


The Teager Energy Operator is a nonlinear operator defined for both
continuous and discrete time signals. In this thesis we define
different versions and extensions of the one-dimensional operator, and
then look at the properties and positivity of the operator. Its
connection to Volterra systems is explained. The Teager Energy
Operator is used for demodulation of AM-FM signals, and we look at how
this can be done using the operator and nonlinear methods (Hilbert
transform, Prony's, Modified covariance, etc). As the Teager Energy
Operator is sensitive to noise, the multiband demodulation technique
is introduced to refine the estimates. The performance of linear and
nonlinear differentiators is investigated. An application to speech
analysis is shown, using a multiband method to locate formants in
speech. Finally, a performance comparison in different levels of noise
is done.


In situ neutron diffraction patterns were recorded from a 3Y-TZP sample during a complete loading-unloading cycle at compressive loads up to 2.3 GPa. The macroscopic stress-strain diagram shows elastic behavior to 1.7 GPa followed by volume conserving plastic strains of ∼1.6 x 10 -3 . There were no signs of t → m transformation in the neutron diffraction patterns, and intensity changes in the pattern show that the plasticity is due to ferroelastic switching of tetragonal zirconia crystals. Quantification of the degree of switching gives good agreement with the macroscopic strains. The ferroelastic switching is completely reversed by a process akin to creep relaxation on unloading. Lattice parameters, elastic constants, and structural changes as a function of load are also discussed.


The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand‐dependent transcription factor that mediates immunosuppression caused by a variety of environmental contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or dioxins. Recent evidence suggests that AhR plays an important role in T‐cell‐mediated immune responses by affecting the polarization and differentiation of activated T cells. However, the regulation of AhR expression in activated T cells remains poorly characterized. In the present study, we used purified human T cells stimulated with anti‐CD3 and anti‐CD28 Abs to investigate the effect of T‐cell activation on AhR mRNA and protein expression. The expression of AhR mRNA increased significantly and rapidly after T‐cell activation, identifying AhR as an immediate‐early activation gene. AhR upregulation occurred in all of the T‐cell subtypes, and is associated with its nuclear translocation and induction of the cytochromes P‐450 1A1 and 1B1 mRNA expression in the absence of exogenous signals. In addition, the use of an AhR antagonist or siRNA‐mediated AhR knockdown significantly inhibited IL‐22 expression, suggesting that expression and functional activation of AhR is necessary for the secretion of IL‐22 by activated T cells. In conclusion, our data support the idea that AhR is a major player in T‐cell physiology.


Sojak et al .[ 1] reported their experience with bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis (BCPA) and the hemi-mustard procedure for an anatomic correction of a congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA), a strategy that somewhat simplifies the classic atrial switch procedure as already reported by several groups [2]. In this recent small series (eight patients), the authors made the choice to use this approach in selected patients with atrio-apical discordance to technically simplify the atrial switch component of the surgery. For the functionally borderline right ventricle, and/or tricuspid valve dysfunction, a one-anda-half-type repair was chosen to unload the RV. Of the patients who benefited from this modified atrial switch, six had an associated Rastelli procedure and two had an arterial switch procedure. The early mortality was 12.5% (one patient); two patients were treated for supraventricular tachycardia and three patients developed pleural effusion but no superior vena cava syndrome was notably observed. Only one patient needed re-operation for a conduit replacement at 6 years, from a mean follow-up of 4.5 years. All except one patient were in NYHA class I at the last follow-up. Systemic or pulmonary venous obstruction, sinus node dysfunction or atrial baffle leak were not observed. Successful early outcomes with anatomic repair in ccTGA were first reported by several centres in the mid-1990s. Nevertheless, 20 years later, it remains a challenging surgical procedure and the anatomic variability observed poses technical difficulties. The excellent results published by most of the experienced centres in this field [3, 4] probably do not reflect the real morbidity and mortality observed worldwide for the anatomic repair of ccTGA. Therefore, a strategy that reduces the surgical complexity of the repair, whilst maintaining good early and long-term outcomes, has to be considered as an important alternative, particularly for patients presenting for surgery at lower volume centres. This one-and-a-half repair approach definitely reduces the technical challenge of the operation, especially when atrio-apical discordance is present (difficult surgical access to the atrial chambers and narrowed free wall of the right atrium) even though flipping the heart over into the left chest by opening the left pleura usually allows one to perform a Senning. Less complex surgery is associated with a shorter cross-clamp time, something that can be helpful in preserving the ventricular function in this subset of patients. This one-and-a-half strategy, perhaps offers the possibility that anatomic repair, even in the most complex forms of ccTGA, could be achieved by less-experienced surgeons. Another theoretical advantage of the procedure is the avoidance of a superior vena cava stenosis, though this complication has become rare, with almost no reported instances of re-operation in the most recent series [3, 4]. For the pulmonary venous pathway, one might expect a decrease in the rate of obstruction with this technique, although it appeared that, for all except one case in this latter series, the right atriotomy needed to be enlarged with a xenopericardial patch, something that might compromise the long-term growth of the channel. Reducing atrial suture lines did not avoid supraventricular tachycardia, but no sinus node dysfunction (associated with higher sudden death risk) was observed, a major advantage compared with the Senning procedure. Finally, the real consequences of the volume unloading of the right ventricle are difficult to appreciate, due to the lack of data concerning the pre- and postoperative function and dimension of the RV and importance of the TR in this series. Furthermore, the potential benefit of the unloading is highly dependent on the patient's age, and this benefit is likely to decrease as the patient ages. Nevertheless, a staged approach, with initial BCPA alone, is an option for complex ccTGA with LVOTO that avoids iterative systemic-pulmonary shunts. This strategy allows a complete repair to be delayed at a time when construction of the intraventricular LV to aorta baffle would otherwise be hazardous and shortens the surgery at the time of a subsequent full repair. BCPA might also allow re-operation to be delayed in cases where the RV to pulmonary artery conduit becomes stenotic. However, the benefits (easier surgical procedure, sinus node rhythm, unloading of the RV) are counterbalanced by the numerous adverse effects of this technique. BCPA precludes any superior venous access for endovascular electrophysiological procedures, including pacing. Complete heart block is a frequent complication after the closure of the ventricular septal defect in ccTGA or during the natural history


The present study was undertaken in 120 Japanese quails to assess the clinical and pathomorphological changes along with their egg quality in diclofenac toxicity. The birds fed with diclofenac Na @ 0.5mg/kg for two months revealed anorexia, emaciation, dehydration, depression, letharginess and feather plucking. In few cases, joints were painful and swollen with lameness and the birds were unable to stand. There was no significant variation in the mean values of egg weight, egg length, egg width and shell Index in birds in between the groups but egg shell thickness showed significant decrease with poor pigmentation in diclofenac group. On post mortem examination, grossly, the visceral organs revealed chalky white deposition while microscopically showed tophi of urates when stained with De Galantha stain.


Introduction. The notion of semi–dynamical system arose from the study of ordinary differential equations and was successively generalised by several authors [12], [1]. BUCUR–BEZZARGA [4] seem to be the first to accept the ramification points. In this way, some specific notions from potential theory were introduced within the framework of semi–dynamical systems (for example, excessive functions). My papers [14], [15], [16], continued the research in this direction, introducing and studying further notions, such as: entrance and exit boundaries, harmonic functions and potentials, mor-phisms, Green function, time changes and so on. Even after these developments , it seems a surprising result that this theory, with a purely determi-nistic character (at least at first sight), by its starting point, includes all the situations which appear in the axiomatic potential theory (hence essentially probabilistic). I defined the notion of semi–dynamical system on an algebraic structure (s.d.s.a.s.) (X, Φ), imposing that the set X possess a structure of ordered convex cone, and the map Φ : [0, +∞) × X → X has some natural properties of compatibility with the algebraic structure. A good duality theory can be developed (this was not available within the theory of general semi–dynamical systems, see [5]), each such system possessing a canonical dual of the same type. An abstract version for the potential theory associated with a kernel or with a resolvent family of kernels, is proposed in [8]. The definition of s.d.s.a.s. develops the analogous abstract theory for the semi–groups of kernels. It was showed that the following situations are subsumed to this notion: the semi–groups of kernels (on measurable spaces) [9], as well as of linear, positive operators (on linear ordered spaces). Particularly , with each semi–dynamical system one associates, using this procedure,


Objective:To observe clinical therapeutic effectiveness of Fraxiparine in the treating unstable angina pectoris.Method:64 cases of unstable angina pectoris were randomly allocated into the control group (of normal treatment) and treating group (normal treatment combined with Fraxiparine). The therapeutic course was one week.Result:The effective rate was 93.75 % in the treating group and 68.75 % in the control group after one week (P 0.05 ). No acute myocardial infraction happened in the treating group. 3 cases had acute myocardial infraction in the control group ( 9.38 %). And the treating group had no obvious adverse reaction.Conclusion:Fraxiparine combind with normal treatment can control angina pectoris effectively and decrease incidence of myocardial infraction.


Objective To observe the effects on cholinergic neurons in Macaca Rhesus model induced by intracranial co-infusion of Aβ1-42 and Thiorphan.Methods After drilling the skull,the Thiorphan was injected into the cerebral cortex and into the basal ganglia to consume the existed Neprilysin,then infusing the fibrilla Aβ1-42 slowly and implanting miniosmotic pump with Thiorphan into the basal ganglia.The pathological changes and number of immunoreactive neurones were observed,and the activity of ChAT was detected by immunohistochemistry.Results The number and levels of ChAT positive neuros in basal ganglia and cerebral cortex of Macaca Rhesus brain decreased significantly in experimental group,as compared with those in controll group.Conclusion The combined application of Aβ1-42 and Thiorphan in Macaca Rhesus brain can damage the cholinergic neurons in basal ganglia and cerebral cortex of Macaca Rhesus brain.


To date there are two demonstrated technologies for the fabrication of organic integrated circuits: the unipolar and the complementary technology. Unipolar architectures consist of p-channel organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), which are simple to fabricate since they require a single, high-workfunction metal (e.g., gold) and a single semiconductor material, which can be either evaporated or solution-processed.[1–4] Despite this great advantage, unipolar circuits have poor performance, exhibiting a narrow noise margin, low yield, and high power consumption.[2] In order to improve their performance, more sophisticated architectures are usually employed.[5] Although beneficial, such an approach increases circuit complexity by nearly 100 %. Complementary architectures, adopted from silicon microelectronics, solve this bottleneck by providing major advantages in circuit performance, including wide noise margin, robustness, and low power dissipation.[6,7] Unlike silicon technology, however, fabrication of discrete organic n- and p-channel transistors with lateral dimensions of a few micrometers, typically required for largescale integration, is still very challenging.


The article describes and analyses the results of the monitoring carried out following the results of the training of specialists trained for organizations of the national economy of the Russian Federation in accordance with the state plan for the training of management personnel. The data of the last monitoring of the 2019/2020 academic years were compared with the results of previous years using general scientific and specific sociological methods. Based on the results of the analysis, the author proposes changes and innovations in the methodology for assessing the professional competence of the graduates of the Program. The assessment methodology has a clear structure, stages, uses mathematical tools to calculate the level of competence in order to exclude subjectivity in the analysis.


The paper described structure and principle of spark test device and its application in assessment of intrinsically safe circuit,and pointed out that the device should be adjusted and verified from different aspects while applied to assessment of intrinsically safe circuit,and that the device has limitations such as inapplicability for circuit with testing current greater than 3 A.


Abstract Improving children's environmental health is integral to achieving sustainability. Sustainability is often presented as the balance among three interdependent components—environment, economy, and social dynamics—the goal of which is to improve life for future generations. Traditionally rooted in resource conservation and management, sustainability efforts have focused on environmental and economic elements, at times neglecting human health as an important aspect of the social component. Improving quality of life for future generations requires protecting the environmental health and well-being of today's children and women of childbearing age. During early stages of physiological development, from critical prenatal windows of development through infancy and childhood, people may be particularly sensitive to environmental hazards. Children also have higher exposure to certain factors, per unit of body mass, than adults. Consequently, environmental insults during development may increase the risks for adverse health outcomes at birth, during childhood, or later in life. Protecting children's environmental health has overlapping environmental, economic, and social benefits. This research analyzes the intersections between children's environmental health and sustainability and explores children's environmental health indicators as quantitative metrics to evaluate existing sustainability initiatives in the United States.


Since the 19th century, the studies of Chinese logic history,comparing with western logic,only consider the logicians' learning of the pre-Qin times the main body in the Chinese logic history. Though a few scholars have touched upon Zhouyi in studying Chinese logic, their researches are superficial. From the time when the Text and Commentaries of Zhouyi came into being, particularly by comparing the logic conceived in Zhouyi and the thought of the logician representatives such as Confucius, Hui Shi, and Deng Xi, this paper attempts to reveal the deep influences of the logic in Zhouyi upon the logicians' logic, concluding that the Text and Commentaries of Zhouyi set ancient Chinese analogy afoot, whereas the analogy upheld by the logicians, especially by the Mo School summarized and developed the logic tradition established in Zhouyi.


We used forest inventory data, intensive tree measurement, destructive sampling in the field, and subsequent laboratory analyses to develop regression equations that estimate tree biomass, merchantable volume, and total volume for upland forests in Puerto Rican subtropical dry forest. Most parsimonious and additive biomass equations for mixed, dry forest species were fitted to data from 30 destructively sampled trees, and most parsimonious volume equations were fitted for mixed species, Bucida buceras, and Bursera simaruba. Before undertaking this study, we were un- able to confidently estimate biomass and volume for these forests despite having current, detailed forest inventory data.


There is a huge number of people in our country who suffer from celiac disease. Nowadays this problem is a very serious one not just for Republic of Moldova and also for all continents and countries. This disease is one of the most common chronic digestive ailments. The existence of people affected by this disease implies the presence of gluten-free products on the consumer market. Wheat flour products are prohibited in this diet. They have to be replaced with products made from non bread flours, obtained from cereals whose proteins do not contain gluten. The purpose of the study: the development of recipes for noodles from non bread flour. The research object - the technology of obtaining noodles from non bread flour and with various supplements. The research methods are: sensory, laboratory, technological and counting. As a result of the scientific research carried out, it was proven that the following sorts of buckwheat flour can be used in the technology of manufacturing gluten-free noodles (buckwheat flour without addition and with addition of flaxseed flour, tomato paste and chopped spinach). To make noodles from sorghum flour, a thickener, starch or other flour addition is required. The other sort of flour we used to make pasta was amaranth flour. As a result this flour without addition and with addition of flax seed flour or tomato paste was accepted for consumption. The samples with the addition of spinach and beetroot turned out to be sticky and had a poor appearance. The noodles resulting from the research do not contain gluten and can be intended for people with gluten intolerance.


SYNOPSIS Fiber spinning and mechanical properties of four rigid polyesters with alkoxy substituents of different length and placement were evaluated. Properties of oriented fibers from the polymer with dodecyloxy substituents on the terephthalate moiety, PTAlZHQ, were significantly affected by the crystal modification. At room temperature the following properties (tensile modulus E, tensile strength ob, and strain at break tb) could be obtained E = 9.5 GPa, ffb = 85 MPa and €6 = 1.1% for phase L, (the "frozen in layered mesophase"); E = 10.4 GPa, q, = 59 MPa and tb = 0.6% for modification A; E = 17.3 GPa, q, = 158 MPa and tb = 1.2% for modification B. Because of the higher amount of main chains per crosssectional area the polymer with hexyloxy side chains, PTAGHQ, showed better properties at a comparable degree of molecular orientation: E = 24 GPa, ffb = 270 MPa, Q = 1.4%. Fibers obtained from the polyester with dodecyloxy substituents on the hydroquinone moiety, PTAHQ12, were too brittle to handle. The polyester with dodecyloxy substituents on both moieties, PTA12HQ12, was spun from the isotropic melt. Because of the obtained low degree of orientation, properties (E = 1 GPa, ffb = 40 MPa, and cb = 6.3%) were governed by interactions between the chains (the main chains are not load-bearing).


ii Dedicated to my dearest parents iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Ernest A. Mendrela, for his invaluable suggestions and constant patience in guiding me throughout the research. His technical advice and expertise in the field provided me the motivation towards successful completion of this thesis. Shahab Mehraeen, for sparing time out of their busy schedule and providing valuable suggestions. I would like to thanks to my parents, who have always trusted me and support me to study here to realize my dreams. Thousands words cannot express how thankful I am to them for their love and support. I would like to my colleague, Pavani Gottipati and Alex, who give me useful support and encourage me. I deeply appreciate your time and help. Last, I hope this thesis will be on step leading me to become a professional engineer.


aInstitute of Academic Surgery, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia. b3d Medical Printing Laboratory, Austin Health, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia. cThe University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia. dDepartment of Religion and Philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, HK eDepartment of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. fARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia.


According to the spirit of the 17th Congress of the CPC about overall planning for regional coordinated development,i.e.breaking through the administrative regions to form some economic circles and economic belts with strong driving power and close connection,there is a view that the nine areas of Zhe,Gan,Min and Wan are located in the link point between China's eastern developed areas and central regions,which will have strategic importance for the realization of inter-regional coordination development.


His bundle electrograms have been recorded in over 50 patients. A special electrode catheter is positioned across the tricuspid valve to allow clear recordings of a sharp His bundle (H) electrical spike. Defects in AV nodal conduction are manifest by a prolonged interval from atrial activity to H spike (AH interval) and defects in the peripheral conducting system by a prolonged H spike to ventricular activity time (HV interval). Examples are presented to show the potential value of this technique in the assessment of intracardiac conduction defects, of complex cardiac arrhythmias and in the further elucidation of sites of action of cardiac drugs.


Nowadays, cooperation is necessary and this study tries to illuminate the possibilities and problems about cooperation in fiction between 7 small/midsize farms in Skane. Conventional Farming is done with grain and sugarbeets as specialization. Calculation of machine costs have been done and compared in the study, both for the farms in thorough and the fictitious operation companies. Business ratios as depreciation/ha, interest/ha and maintenance/ha have been calculated.
In this essay we present a proposal about how a practical implementation can be done. In the proposal there is an example how the distribution of work can be done. Our study also shows that cooperation gives better opportunities if you want to continue doing conventional farming.
The social part also has been treated. Many families are divided both physical and mental because of high charge of work. Cooperation gives possibilities to reduce the individual worktime.


Abstract The problems related to the coordination of mobile robots have been widely studied in the past and, because of the possible real scenarios, they are still considered one of the most interesting field of research. Even if many methods have been used to solve such problems, a new approach based on results borrowed from graph theory has been introduced in recent works. In particular, the coordination between agents relies on the possibility of solving the rendezvous problem and to drive all the agents to a predefined final state. Starting from these considerations, in this paper the stability of a group of differential-wheeled robots performing rendezvous by exploiting only local measurements is demonstrated and supported by means of simulations.


In the literature of electronic meetings, few studies have investigated the effects of topic-related variables on group processes. This article explores the effects of an individual's perception of topics on process gains or process losses using a sample of 110 students in 14 electronic meetings. The results of the study showed that topic characteristics variables, individual knowledge, and individual self-efficacy had a significant influence on the number of relevant comments generated in an electronic meeting.


In this paper, we study the joint optimization of computation mode and processing order selection in a wireless powered mobile edge computing (MEC) Internet of Things (IoT) network. In the considered network, the MEC server is integrated with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader that can use radio-frequency (RF) wireless power transfer (WPT) technology and each IoT device consists of sensors and a semiactive RFID tag that can harvest energy from the reader. By jointly considering computing mode selection (i.e., offloading mode or local computing mode) of each device and processing order of all devices, we aim to minimize the sum delay (i.e., the sum of energy harvesting, computational and queuing delays) for all devices under energy and delay constraints in a congestion scenario. To solve this problem, we leverage a Q-learning method to jointly optimize computing mode selection and processing order. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method can achieve up to 55.1% and 15.9% gain compared to offloading-only and local-computing-only method, respectively.


IN THE "TRADITIONAL" SHIP ACQUISITION PROCESS THE TECHNICAL INPUTS/CONSTRAINS (SHIP DESIGN, TECHNOLOGY BASE AND LIMITS, COST INFORMATION, ETC.) AND OPERATIONAL NEEDS/REQUIREMENTS (SCENARIOS, THREATS AND MISSION EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS) ARE INVESTIGATED IN DIFFERENT PHASES OF THE DESIGN AND ARE EXAMINED OFTEN BY SEPARATE TEAMS; IN OTHER WORDS, THEY ARE ANALYSED IN A SEQUENTIAL MANNER (DESIGN SPIRAL) BY MEANS OF CONCURRENT ENGINEERING APPROACH; THIS IS WHAT CAN BE CALLED "CLASSICAL" APPROACH. IN ORDER TO PROVIDE A WELL ORGANIZED FRAMEWORK IN WHICH SHIP DESIGN TOPICS MEET OPERATIONAL ASPECTS A "DASHBOARD" HAS BEEN SETUP. IN THIS CONTEXT A SHIP KNOWLEDGE BASED FRAMEWORK, CHARACTERIZED BY APPLYING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE VARIOUS FIELDS OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE AND MARINE ENGINEERING, HAS BEEN CREATED IN ORDER TO SYNTHESIZE A SHIP DESIGN, WHICH MEETS REQUIREMENTS, REPRESENTING A BALANCED SOLUTION IN TERMS OF WEIGHTS, AREAS, VOLUMES, STABILITY AND POWER. ALSO THE VARIOUS SUBSYSTEMS OF THE COMBAT SYSTEM (C/S) ARE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT, NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF THEIR IMPACT IN TERMS OF WEIGHTS, AREAS, VOLUMES AND CREW BUT ALSO BECAUSE THEIR PERFORMANCES ARE STRONGLY RELATED TO FINAL INTEGRATION AND THE WHOLE WARSHIP CHARACTERISTICS. THIS FRAMEWORK IS CALLED SHIP SYNTHESIS MODEL (SSM) AND CONSISTS IN A SET OF LOGICALLY–INTEGRATED, SEQUENCED PARAMETRIC EQUATIONS AND REGRESSIONS SUPPORTING THE ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES (AOA) PROCESS CHARACTERIZING THE FIRST PART OF THE SHIP ACQUISITION PHASE.


The history of literature argues that Zhou Bangyan is an epitomized person in the history of Ci poems.This paper advocates that Zhou Bangyan is a representative in popularizing poems of the Sung Dynasty by investigating the theme,the affection and the language of his poems.Then it probes into the influence of times on the popularization of Qingzhen poems in such three aspects as renewal of townspeople's consciousness,creation of literary patterns and the mentality of literary and refined scholars.


Throught translation and rotation method of coordinate axis, a problem of the dynamic thermal stress distribution on the two-dimensional section of a flow channel occupied filling medium was studied theoretically. A general analytical solution with related computional process was described in detailed. As an illustration sample, some numberical results are shown in the figure about the dynamical thermal stress distribution on the section of an elliptic flow channel occupied filling medium.


OBJECTIVE To provide the scientific basis for infectious diseases surveillance at port. METHODS Analyzed the records of infectious diseases surveillance to 4 092 travelers entered and leaved the port during 2001-2003 RESULTS 253 cases of infectious diseases and pathogen carriers have been found,the detection rate was 6.18%.Constituent ratio were listed as follows:HBsAg carriers were 91.30%,viral hepatitis were 1.98%, active pulmonary tuberculosis were 1.19%,syphilis were 5.14%,and HIV carriers were 0.40%. CONCLUSION To strengthen infectious diseases surveillance over in-out travelers at port,to enact preventive policy and resort to measures,all these are important to prevent and control the transmission of in- fections diseases through international traveling.


Student evaluations are an endless source of debate and discussion among marketing colleagues in most academic departments. This is to be commended; yet we seem no closer to commonly used and widely accepted student evaluation scales or techniques. While scale development is pursued with great passion for constructs in the marketing literature, there remain disparate views of what student evaluations should measure, what they actually do measure, how to do the measurement, and what to do with the measurements once taken. An ongoing challenge for student evaluation scale development is the nature of collegial-centric decision-making. College-wide committees are typically established every five years to "once and for all" come up with the definitive student evaluation form. The difficulty, of course, lies in the fact that each discipline views the world through its own approach to knowledge development. In marketing we often collect primary data and view it as a way to empirically test propositions. Yet others trained in a different mode will appear flabbergasted at the thought of a multi-item scale ostensibly measuring an unseen idea or construct. The final product produced by the committee is typically satisfactory rather than optimal. Where does this leave us? These challenges should not undermine the commitment to keep working toward achieving a better understanding of student evaluations. As marketing educators we understand and value the role of feedback in being responsive to served markets. If student evaluations can be a vehicle for improvement in marketing education, then they are vitally important. However, if the goal of student evaluations is essentially to mete out a finite pool of money to the faculty at the end of the year, with no focus on student learning, then the role of student evaluations is less compelling and there may be no sense of urgency to create measures that would improve teaching effectiveness and student learning. While content analysis is a widely used and respected analytical approach, it is rare to see this applied to written comments by marketing students. Written comments seen by most of us each semester remain to a large extent unanalyzed, in a formal sense, and therefore probably misinterpreted. Are these to be totally disregarded since they are difficult to quantify? Are they more prone to bias or less prone? Do they capture essential bits of advice or are they simply a forum for complaining behavior? The article by Donald W. Caudill, " A Model for Interpreting Written Comments on Student Evaluations of Marketing Courses," addresses the important yet overlooked aspect of the written comment portion of student evaluations. A technique is proposed for categorizing and ranking written comments. The article represents a helpful step toward enhancing both teaching and student learning. A goal would be to build on this piece by investigating the linkage between quantitative scales and qualitative written feedback. For example, to what extent does agreement exist between the two feedback approaches, how can quantity of written feedback by one individual color the representativeness of all comments, are written comments essentially restatements of information obtained in the conventional scaled assessments, and what is the best way to code and categorize such written feedback? A common technique from a research perspective that can be applied with great benefit to the problem at hand is to use multiple judges. Inter-rater reliability can be used to assess student comments to ensure such comments are being properly interpreted. In addition, the dichotomous classification positive/negative scheme could be expanded to reveal more subtle distinctions (e.g., personal characteristics, effectiveness of delivery style to stated student outcomes, technology-mediated communication issues, and so on). The services marketing literature has highly developed methods for understanding, classifying, and addressing the potential challenges of services such as higher education that are high in credence qualities. Another approach may be to incorporate recurring comments into attitude scales if the students continually feel the need to supplement existing scales with written comments. Yet this latter approach may be highly dependent on individual approaches taken by each professor. In a more applied vein, the next time you read through written student comments, please consider taking some extra time to do a quick analysis of what the information is revealing. At a minimum, this is certainly what we would recommend to others from our pOSition as marketing professionals. The internal data is waiting to be understood and applied. We often lament that companies do not properly take advantage of their internal data sources. This is a challenge for marketing educators to utilize their own existing data to become more self-aware and effective educators. The result should benefit marketing education.


A series of polycrystal bulk samples of La2/3(Ca0.60Ba0.40)1/3Mn1-xVxO3(x=0%、1%、5%、7%、10%、 15%、 20%) have been prepared by Sol-Gel process.The temperature dependences of resistance in zero field of all the samples were measured from 77 K up to 350 K,the temperature dependences of magnetization under the field B=0.1 T of them in this temperature range were measured meanwhile.Adiabatic small polaron hopping model ρ=αTexp(E/kT) was used to study the electrical conductivity properties in high temperature range of all the samples.From the fitting results we found that the ρ~T curves in this temperature range can be well fitted by the model.Then single magnon scattering model ρ=ρ0+AT2 was used to fit the ρ~T curves in low temperature ferromagnetic phase,which shows that they fit well.According to the fitting results,the orient of the electrical transport properties for the samples were analyzed.