Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play an important role in the governance of international humanitarian response as implementing partners to governments and international organisations, as advocates, and as critics. They face challenges in reconciling their role as implementing partner with their responsibility to promote principles of international humanitarianism, such as humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. But this tension can be managed to ensure effective assistance to those in need. Governments and international organisations should welcome the role of NGOs in the governance of humanitarian response, given the expertise and resources that NGOs provide. To improve integration of effort and overall effectiveness, governments and NGOs should work to establish greater communication and enhanced procedures for coordination, especially given the increased engagement by non-traditional donor governments in the provision of humanitarian aid.


Much has been said and written about the accuracy of visual attribute inspections of potentially counterfeit components. The techniques and procedures being used to inspect counterfeit and reworked electronic components in the open marketplace can be quite effective in most cases.  The Independent Distributors of Electronics Association (www.IDofEA.org) has produced an industry accepted inspection standard, IDEA-STD-1010. It provides a wealth of information about visually inspecting components and in most cases will allow the inspector to make preliminary decisions about the legitimacy of any given part.  This paper will provide additional knowledge about new techniques using x-ray photography acquisition methods recently developed that will speed the detection and accuracy during the process of inspecting counterfeit components. X-ray photographs of counterfeited parts along with the explanations detailing how they were detected are explained in this document. Often overlooked clues left behind by even the most experienced counterfeiters are discussed.


Large-scale model channels (30m long × 1m wide × 1.3m deep × 6 channels) were constructed for contact purification experiments for coastal saline water. Each channel was filled with crushed stones which were expected to be coated with natural biofilm. Effects of sedimentation and biological oxidation were observed for different hydraulic retention time (HRT: 1-5 hours) and different stone size (mean d: 10-100 mm). Hydraulic characteristics were also measured. The following was clear after five months' observation in autumn and winter, (a) biofilm was developed for saline (S: 1-2 %) and low COD (COD: 1-5 mg/l) influent, (b) SS was removed by 50-60 % though TOC by 10-20%, (c) effluent quality was clearer with longer HRT and smaller stones, but total removed weight was maximum at the channel of shortest HRT due to the high hydraulic loading(12m3) (d) permeability ranged between 5-20cm/s for bare stones and became smaller as clogging developed, (e) inclination of water surface was a good index for clogging detection.


Beginning with the current legislation of legal liabilities in administrative monopoly, the article analyses the conception, characteristic and constitutive requirements of legal liabilities in administrative monopoly.


Four factors affected color stability of sliced ham in processing and preservation were studied,including oxygen transmission rate of packaging material(OTR),mixed phosphate levels(Phos),cooking temperature(CT)and illumination intensity(Ill).The results showed that the a* values were decreased significantly with the increase of OTR of packaging material,and color of sliced ham was stable relatively with the package film OTR for 0.5cm3/m2/24h/atm,both the addition of 3000mg/kg phosphate and cooking center temperature of 85℃ significantly affected the color stability.Illumination(1200lx)did not significantly affect the a* value but the b* value.


At present,China's rural water environment had been polluted,and the normal production and living water was affected.The pollution sources were the domestic sewage and garbage,chemical fertilizer,pesticide,and the livestock and poultry breeding.The rural water environment should be restored from the aspects of management system,technical support,and funds investment in the backdrop of new rural construction.


A case of acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) occurring in the tonsillar fossa as an ulcerating lesion with a neck mass is described. Other common occurrences of AML in the upper respiratory tract are discussed. This disease entity may be confused with squamous cell carcinoma on initial examination.


Community Care and the Meaning of Caring - Feminist Ideology and Possessive Individualism - Collectivism Defined - Collective Forms in the Social Organisation of Daily Living - Collective Responsibility for Dependent People - The Principles and Practice of Collective Care - The Future for Collectivism


A semisupervised feature selection method based on graph Laplacian (S2FSGL) was proposed for quantitative structure‐activity relationship (QSAR) models, which uses an ℓ2,1‐norm and compounds with both known and unknown activities. In the proposed S2FSGL method, 2 graphs Gunsup and Gsup are constructed. It uses the label information of compounds with known activities and the local structure of compounds with known and unknown activities to select the most important descriptors. The weight matrix of graph Gunsup models the local structure of the compounds with known and unknown activities. The S2FSGL method uses the ℓ2,1‐norm to consider the correlation between different descriptors when conducting descriptor selection. The performance of the proposed S2FSGL coupled with a kernel smoother model was evaluated using 2 QSAR data sets and compared with the performance of other feature selection methods. For the evaluation of the performance of QSAR models and selected descriptors, several different training and test sets were produced for each data set. The comparison between the statistical parameters of QSAR models built based on the semisupervised feature selection method and those obtained by other feature selection methods revealed the superiority of the proposed S2FSGL in selecting the most relevant descriptors. The results showed that the use of compounds with unknown activities beside compounds with known activities can be helpful in selecting the relevant descriptors of QSAR models.


The precondition(I+S_α)is considered to be applied to the AOR iterative method and 2PPJ iterative method.Convergence theorems for the methods are obtained and it is theoretically proved that the convergent speed of the original methods has been improved.


The one of the main aims in modern clinical pharmacology is to provide safe and effective therapy considering a frequent administration of several drugs having different drug-drug interactions. Warfarin belongs to the number of popular anticoagulants which along with its efficiency not infrequently alters anticoagulant characteristics when administered with other drugs and food products. A case of a decrease in the efficacy of warfarin in a patient with mitral stenosis while taking a combined choleretic drug is presented in the article. The components of this choleretic drug (dry animal bile, dry garlic extract, dry nettle extract, activated charcoal) could impair the absorption of warfarin, increase intestinal absorption of vitamin K, and have a negative effect on the anticoagulant effect of warfarin. Management of patients receiving anticoagulants should be performed in accordance with clinical recommendations. Prescription of drugs, including multicomponent ones, without proven efficacy, for such patients should be considering the potential drug interaction.


The relationship between religion/religiosity and democratic values is a hot topic for the discipline. On the one side, the 'secularist' school sees religion as inherently in tension with democratic attitudes (due to its dogmatism and closure) and argues that intense religiosity might pose an obstacle to the diffusion of democratic values. On the other side, many scholars have challenged these beliefs and empirically shown that religion does not imply lower support for democracy. This paper test different hypotheses drawn from the literature, by comparing the influence of religiosity on political attitudes in Georgia and Azerbaijan. The comparison allows sketching a more composite picture and suggests that religion might play diverse roles in different contexts. This leaves the scenario open for further researches and for original interpretations.


Resonant rotary clocking is a next generation clocking technology for ultra-low power, multi-GHz range operation. Previous works demonstrate the feasibility of this technology with full-custom, low-complexity circuit implementations. In this work, the rotary operational principles are investigated at a larger scale, and physical design and timing verification methods are developed as a blueprint for a fully-automated, semi-custom implementation.


Formation and growth of intermetallics are one of the most important problem in the search for reliable lead-free alloys. Since the majority of the commercially available lead-free alloys contain high tin concentration, there is a long-term reliability concern due to tendency of tin to form intermetallics. A prolonged exposure to higher temperatures of lead-free alloys results in the continuous growth of brittle intermetallic layer that is prone to facture thus leading to mechanical and electrical failure of joint. In this work, the formation and growth of intermetallics between lead-free alloys and contact materials such as copper, tin-plated and silver-plated copper materials were studied. For this purpose bimetallic couples formed between commercially available lead free alloys and selected contact materials were subjected to diffusion annealing using thermal gradients and heating by electrical current. Following diffusion annealing, the contact interfaces were subjected to a detailed metallographic, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyses. In addition, electrical resistance was used for electrical characterization of the intermetallics formed at the contact interfaces. The results of the work enabled to make a comparative assessment of the susceptibility of the lead free alloys to the formation of intermetallics.


Strong programs are needed promptly to bring new personnel into the nuclear power field and to prepare them for operation and support functions four or five years hence. Specific steps for implementing such programs are recommended. It is stressed that if the utilities at large do not take such steps now to meet the relatively short-range manpower needs, many plants at the construction permit stage today may not have the plant staff to satisfy AEC requirements for an operating license, and that if only some utilities take corrective steps now, others might continue to bid competitively for the relative small supply of already trained personnel. (LCL)


On the "Transarktika-2019" expedition, works were carried out for determining the physical and mechanical characteristics of frost field of the first-year sea ice and the field of second-year ice. The thickness of the ice cover was determined by contact and non-contact methods, the temperature, salinity and density of ice, the strength of the samples at central bending and uniaxial compression, as well as the local (borehole) strength of ice were measured. Studies have shown that most of the field is an ice formation formed in the process of dynamic metamorphism. At the beginning of the expedition, an ice floe passed through a section of warm surface waters. This led to the disappearance of the openwork layer on the lower boundary of the ice and stopping the growth of ice from below. During the observation period, the average temperature and salinity of the deformed ice increased, while the average density decreased. The values of mechanical characteristics decreased with increasing temperature and brine volume. The average borehole strength were close to the values obtained by the quadratic approximation for ice in the area of the Ice Station "Cape of Baranov". The physical and mechanical properties of the level ice are generally similar to the properties of ice, composed mainly of fibrous structures. The ratios between the borehole strength and the strength under uniaxial compression of ice samples drilled parallel to the ice surface were 4.5 and 4.7, which corresponds to the literature data. The thickness of the second-year sea ice at the place of work was 166 — 169 cm, the snow height was 27 cm, the raft of the ice surface above the water surface was 15 cm. The average ice temperature was –4.0 °C. Second-year ice can be divided into three parts that differ in their physical properties. The upper part (0 — 10 cm) was formed in the autumn. The second part (10 — 85 cm) is ice that has undergone seasonal thermometamorphic changes. The lower part was formed during the natural growth of ice from below at the current season.


Let \(X\) be a~Banach space and \(\mathcal{S} \mathit{eq}(X^{**})\) (resp., \(X_{\aleph_0}\)) the subset of elements \(\psi\in X^{**}\) such that there exists a~sequence \((x_n)_{n\geq 1}\subset X\) such that \(x_n\to \psi\) in the \(w^*\)-topology of \(X^{**}\) (resp., there exists a~separable subspace \(Y\subset X\) such that \(\psi\in \smash{{\overline{Y}^{w^*}}}\)). Then: (i) if \(\operatorname{Dens}(X)\geq \aleph _1\), the property \(X^{**}=X_{\aleph _0}\) (resp., \(X^{**}=\mathcal{S}\mathit{eq}(X^{**})\)) is \(\aleph _1\)-determined, i.e., \(X\)~has this property iff \(Y\) has, for every subspace \(Y\subset X\) with \(\operatorname{Dens}(Y)=\aleph _1\); (ii) if \(X^{**}=X _{\aleph _0}\), \( (B(X^{**}),w^*)\) has countable tightness; (iii) under the Martin's axiom \(\mathit{MA} (\omega _1)\) we have \(X^{**}=\mathcal{S}\mathit{eq}(X^{**})\) iff \((B(X^*),w^*)\) has countable tightness and \(\\overline {\text {co}}(B)=\overline {\text {co}} ^{w^*}(K)\) for every subspace \(Y\subset X\), every \(w^*\)-compact subset \(K\) of \(Y^*\), and every boundary \(B\subset K\).


Background : Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of death, primarily because of delays in diagnosis. Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most common histological form of ovarian cancer. The results of treatment depend on the stage and the presence of a residual tumour after surgery. Objective: The primary objective was to study the histopathological subtype of EOC in patients at Prapokklao Hospital. The secondary objectives included studying the outcomes and factors that affect the outcomes of surgery and treatment in EOC patients. This a hospital-based retrospective in Division Incidences Results: A total of 172 patients were included in the sampling. The most common form identified was serous cystadenocarcinoma (51 cases, 29.7%). The results of surgery were not statistically significant in terms of difference between histopathological subtypes ( p = 0.145). Further, there was no difference in treatment method ( p = 0.151), metastatic site of disease ( p = 0.364) between less and more aggressive histopathological subtypes. Obesity (AOR = 2.37, 95%CI 1.09-5.15, p = 0.03) and advanced stage (AOR = 4.78, 95%CI 2.11-10.78, p < 0.001) were factors that related to suboptimal surgery in EOC patients. Conclusions: In this study, serous cystadenocarcinoma was found to be the most common of histopathological subtypes. Histopathological subtypes do not affect the outcome of surgery. Suboptimal surgery was found to be more prevalent in patients with obesity and advanced stages of illness. surgery; Optimal surgery= residual tumor nodules each measuring 1 cm or less in maximum diameter There was no significant difference in treatment method ( p = 0.151), metastatic site of disease ( p = 0.364) between less and more aggressive histopathological subtypes. Most EOC patients underwent surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy (119 [69.2%]) followed by neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus interval tumour debulking surgery (25 [14.5%]). The most metastatic sites included the pelvis and abdomen (84 [48.8%]), followed by only the pelvic region (83 [48.3%]), as shown in table 3. adenocarcinoma was the most histopathological subtype. The mean age of EOC was 52.3 years old, which was similar to a recent study in Thailand, 24 which showed patients were affected by reproductive factors. Further, most patients were menopausal, possibly due to estrogen


Abstract Hydrodistilled volatile oils from the aerial parts of Artemisia afra and leaves of Leonotis ocymifolia var. raineriana were investigated, by a combination of GC and GC/MS. From A. afra 37 compounds were identified, representing 95.3% (area percent) of the total oil and from L. ocymifolia var. raineriana, 27 compounds were identified, representing 91.1% of the total oil. Among the identified components camphor (46.2%), α-thujone (15.2%), artemisia ketone (7.4%) and 1,8-cineole (4.2%) were found as the main components of A. afra oil and germacrene D (36.8%), (Z)-β-ocimene (7.9%), β-caryophyllene (7.0%) and (E)-β-ocimene (4.4%) were the major components of L. ocymifolia oil. Furthermore, the oils, as well as nine of their constituents, were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity, against six bacteria, two oral pathogens and three pathogenic fungi. The results showed that the oil of A. afra has a moderate antimicrobial activity, while the oil of L. ocymifolia exhibited a stronger one against Gram-negative bacteria and oral pathogens, and a weaker one against Gram-positive bacteria. This interesting profle can be attributed to the high content of the oil, of germacrene D which is known for its antimicrobial activity.


The invention provides a preparation method of an 8-cun (110) magnetic field Czochralski crystal. The preparation method comprises the following steps in sequence: charging, heating to melt the material, opening an electromagnetic field, stabilizing the temperature, introducing fine diameter, shouldering, shrinking the shoulder, growing with a constant diameter, ending, lifting to cool, and discharging; after the temperature is stabilized, the liquid level of the molten raw material is at the temperature of 1450 DEG C, the SP value is set to be 1300; the SP value is reduced by 80 to 120 units from the step of starting to introduce the fine diameter to the step of finishing the shouldering; the Czochralski speed adopted in the step of introducing the fine diameter is 350 to 450mm/min; introducing the fine diameter is carried out by the point-Czochralski method, and the fine diameter is 200 to 300mm in length and 3 to 5mm in diameter; when in shouldering, the Czochralski speed is controlled to reduce from 350 to 450mm/min to 40 to 60mm/min within 5 minutes, the Czochralski speed is remained the same during shouldering, and a shoulder part is kept at an angle of 30 to 60 degrees. The preparation method has the beneficial effects that the one-time crystalline ratio of the 8-cun (110) Czochralski crystal is increased, the time for blowing in to perform Czochralski to the crystal is reduced, and the cost is saved.


A methodology was developed and applied to the Tindouf (southwestern Algeria) and the Annaba–Bouteldja aquifers (northeastern Algeria) in order to understand better the hydrogeology of the complex aquifers despite the scarcity of the available data. Graphical representation of deuterium versus oxygen‐18 and principal components analysis (PCA) are statistical techniques used to combine various disciplinary data in order to identify chemical and isotopic groups, which are in turn used to define groundwater flow paths. The results of this study agree with the generally accepted hydrogeological conceptual model of the aquifers. In addition, we obtained new results using the PCA method: (1) a description of the complex flow system by grouping various qualitative and quantitative parameters; (2) the definition and characterization of the main groundwater flow paths from their sources to the discharge zones. These flow paths are defined by their water categories, which are represented by salinity and origin of groundwater. This approach is useful for analysing aquifers despite the lack of important database and may also be helpful for studying other complex groundwater basins. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A modified Molskich apparatus has been presented. It enables bone loss treatment in a manner similar to the Ilizarov method. A case of patient with 4 cm bone defect within tibia treated successfully is presented.


some valuable information tend to be ignored, such as the road constraints. The road constraints, as prior information about the state, should be incorporated into the dynamic modeling process of the filtering algorithm. In this paper, a method of incorporating state linear equality constraints (LEC) into the Bernoulli filter called the LEC Bernoulli filter (LECBF) is presented for tracking ground moving target. In this case, the Bernoulli filter is improved by exploiting road constraints, and can achieve a better filtering performance than the original unconstrained Bernoulli filter. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to show the effectiveness and efficiency of the LECBF.


This study presents a new method for determining the harmonic contributions (HCs) of utility and consumer at the point of common coupling (PCC). The proposed method is based on a well-known statistical signal processing technique, the so-called complex independent component analysis (ICA). The complex ICA technique is applied to the harmonic voltage and current measured at the PCC to estimate the parameters of the Northon equivalent circuit model. Then, the HCs of utility and consumer are calculated through quantitative indices defined by the superposition method. The proposed method is robust against the background harmonic disturbances and works well in resonance condition. Moreover, the impact of consumer harmonic impedance is appropriately considered in calculations. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through the computer simulation and the real case study.


The halogenation of the C−H bond by metal‐oxo‐peroxo species and the decarbonylation of aldehydes by metal‐peroxo species are performed routinely in biological systems. However, metal‐mediated decarbonylative halogenation is unknown in nature. In this work, we have shown that widely available V2O5 and VO(acac)2 (acac=acetylacetonate) can catalyze decarbonylative halogenation through the generation of an intermediate vanadium‐oxo‐peroxo species, which was characterized by using 51 V NMR, UV/Vis, and resonance Raman spectroscopy. Further detection of formic acid from the reaction mixture confirmed the biomimetic aspects of decarbonylative halogenation. A detailed experimental and DFT study indicated a concerted mechanism for this decarbonylative halogenation performed under simple and mild reaction conditions.


Right hepatectomy (RH) is a standard anatomical procedure. The history began by successful reports of RH in non–English languages by two surgeons, who were Honjo in East (1950) and Lortat–Jacob in West (1952). Although the pioneer of RH would be argued, English reports regarding RH were dramatically increased in hepatobiliary malignancies in West. In 1960̓ s, Lin and Tung (East) developed the extra or transfacial fissural access to the Glissonian pedicle during transection and, eventually, Bismuth accomplished the combined procedure of Jacob̓ s vascular control and Tung̓ s transection technique in 1982. Couinaud (West,1985) and Takasaki (East,1986) succeeded the extrafascial Glissonian approach. Three types of accesses for hepatic hilum as: 1) intrafascial, 2) extrafascial and 3) extrafascial and transfissual access were achieved. Hasegawa (East) introduced "intersegmental plane"as a landmark of RH in nonEnglish languages, 1960̓ s and Blumgart reported"liver split"procedure by exposing middle hepatic vein. Jacob applied thoracolaparotomy for RH, which was taken over until 1980̓ s. Makuuchi (East) developed J–shape incision with thoracotomy to reduce complications of conventional procedure and focused the ligament of RHV in 1991. Takasaki (East) succeeded in the"nontouch isolation method"or"anterior approach" without mobilization of the right liver reported in Japanese, 1984. Significance of anterior approach was proposed in English reports, 1990̓ s, which has been applied to Behlgiti̓ s liver hanging maneuver in 2001. In the era of laparoscopic hepatectomy, it remains as an assignment whether these concept and procedures in laparotomy is transferred. SP–2 Evolution of living donor liver transplantation: A global perspective 1) Department of Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan 2) Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan 3) Department of Surgery, Institute of Gastroenterology, Tokyo Women̓ s Medical University, Tokyo, Japan Taizo Hibi, Susumu Eguchi, Hiroto Egawa We reviewed the history of living donor (LD) LT from a global perspective. In 1963, Starzl et al. performed the world̓ s first human LT for a 3–year–old child with biliary atresia. LT was recognized as a clinically applicable, life–saving procedure for end–stage liver disease at the National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference in 1983. Reduced–size and split LT were the cornerstones of surgical innovation that lead to the first LDLT report from Brazil in 1988. The first LDLT in Japan was performed by Nagasue et al. in 1989 for a 1–year–old boy. Kyoto University shortly became the world–renowned mecca of LDLT and was the first to introduce microvascular surgery for hepatic artery reconstruction in 1992. Makuuchi et al. performed the world̓ s first adult–to–adult LDLT, using a left liver graft in 1993. Lo et al. (Hong Kong) first introduced an extended right lobe graft in 1996 for adult patients under urgent situations to increase graft volume. In 2001, Lee et al. (Korea) proposed aggressive reconstruction of middle hepatic vein drainage tributaries of the right anterior segment to prevent congestion. A series of technical refinements including vascular/biliary anastomosis, graft selection, countermeasures against small–for–size syndrome, ABO–incompatible LDLT, etc. have been described to improve outcomes. Live donation remains to be an important organ resource particularly in Asia as well as in the Middle East and Africa. It is also being revisited both in the U.S. and in Europe due to persisting organ shortage. There is a growing momentum for more intimate international collaboration to safely perform LDLT as the last hope for patients who would otherwise have died.


In this paper, adaptive fuzzy back-stepping controller for the tracking control of a nine-degree of freedom quadruped robot has been investigated. First, the back-stepping controller has been designed and its inherent stability has been studied using the Lyapunov theory. Due to the unknown control coefficient in the back-stepping method, a fuzzy system has been employed to change these coefficients adaptively. The proposed method has been applied to the quadruped robot and path-tracking problem has been studied. The simulation results show good performance of the proposed controller as compared to the recently proposed methods in literature.


In the mobile station, that there was no received signal at the mobile station within a predetermined time period, or, in response to the received signal is decided to below a predetermined intensity within a predetermined time period, reduction by sending a pilot message including the pilot tones transmitted in bandwidth to the base station, comprising the steps of receiving from a base station a response that is beam steering toward the reception direction and / or power of the pilot messages, process .


Abstract : The objective of this research was to provide environmental information in a study intended to characterize the behavior of small, mobile objects (eg, mines) within the swash and inner surf zones. Field measurements were made during October 1996 at Torrey Pines Beach, California, a sandy beach exposed to the open ocean. The migration, scour, and burial of several types of mines was monitored under a range of environmental conditions (eg, waves, currents, beach slope). Waves and currents were measured with insitu pressure gages and electromagnetic current meters. Wave conditions were variable, and included low amplitude, long period swell and moderate amplitude, high frequency seas generated by local winds. The results can be used to guide the development of mine burial models required by the operational Navy.


Through the research of the game teaching method applyed in common high college basketball lesson, this article pointes out that the game teaching method can stimulate the positivity of the wide university students and increase their interesting,and consequently attain the good teaching result.


In the field of immersive learning, instructors often find it challenging to match their pedagogical approaches and content knowledge with specific technologies. Unfortunately, this usually results in either a lack of technology use or inappropriate use of some technologies. Teachers and trainers wishing to use immersive learning environments face a diversity of technological and pedagogical alternatives. To scaffold educators in their planning of immersive learning educational activities, we devised a recommendation tool, which maps educational context variables to the dimensions of immersion and uses educators' contexts to identify the closest educational uses. Sample educational activities for those uses are then presented, for various types of educational methodologies. Educators can use these samples to plan their educational activities in line with their current resources or to innovate by pursuing entirely different approaches.


A novel confidence-based parallel multiple expert decision combination framework is introduced. The traditional approaches to parallel multiple source decision fusion either take no account of the confidence of each decision by each participating expert in the combined framework or only exploit the confidences associated with each decision. But it is entirely possible to incorporate more additional ap rioriinformation in the form of various confidence indices that can be estimated from the performances of various participating experts. The confidence-based parallel multiple expert decision combination framework proposed here addresses this shortcoming. Very encouraging results have been obtained by implementing this proposed framework in combining decisions of multiple experts applied to the problem of handwritten and machine printed character recognition.


Urraca and Gobron investigate the long-term temporal stability of snow-related variables produced by two global climate reanalysis products (ERA5 and ERA5-Land) for the period 1950-2020 (1980-2020 in the case of ERA5-Land) and the weekly Snow Cover Extent (SCE) charts produced by NOAA Climate Data Records (CDR) for the period 1966-2020. The authors compare these products against a set of 470 ground stations over the Northern Hemisphere. Temporal stability is investigated by calculating the bias in snow depth and snow cover duration of the products at each ground station. The authors found that the assimilation of new observations and satellite products improves the accuracy of snow variables of the reanalysis at the expense of introducing step discontinuities in the long-term time series, or, in the case of NOAA CDR, producing an artificial positive trend since 1990. Finally, the authors also use the ground stations data to update snow trends over the North Hemisphere.


Advances in experimental methods for studying surface phenomena have provided the stimulus to develop theoretical methods capable of interpreting this wealth of new information. Of particular interest have been the relative roles of bulk and surface contributions since in several important cases agreement between experiment and bulk self‐consistent (SC) calculations within the local spin density functional formalism (LSDF) is lacking. We discuss our recent extension of the (LSDF) approach to the study of thin films (slabs) and the role of surface effects on magnetic properties. Results are described for Ni (001) films using our new SC numerical basis set LCAO method. Self‐consistency within the superposition of overlapping spherical atomic charge density model is obtained iteratively with the atomic configuration as the adjustable parameter. Results are presented for the electronic charge densities and local density of states. The origin and role of (magnetic) surface states is discussed by comparison wit...


A facile synthetic method to access 4-amino-isoquinolin-1(2H)-one and oxazole derivatives was disclosed in this paper. The reaction of N-(pivaloyloxy)-amides with ynamides produced 4-amino-isoquinolin-1(2H)-ones in good yields in the presence of Cp*Rh(III) catalyst through a C–H bond functionalization. Using Sc(OTf)3 as the catalyst, oxazole derivatives were obtained in good yields from the same reaction. This protocol features good functional group tolerance and excellent regioselectivity.


Aims. We study the origin and characteristics of a bright coronal downflow seen after a coronal mass ejection associated with erupting prominences on 5 March 2000. Methods. This study extends that of Tripathi et al. (2006b, A&A, 449, 369) based on the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT), the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) and the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) observations. We combined those results with an analysis of the observations taken by the H α and the Mk4 coronagraphs at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO). The combined data-set spans a broad range of temperature as well as continuous observations from the solar surface out to 30 R (cid:2) . Results. The downflow started at around 1.6 R (cid:2) and contained both hot and cold gas. The downflow was observed in the H α and the Mk4 coronagraphs as well as the EIT and the SXT and was approximately co-spatial and co-temporal providing evidence of multi-thermal plasma. The H α and Mk4 images show cusp-shaped structures close to the location where the downflow started. Mk4 observations reveal that the speed of the downflow in the early phase was substantially higher than the free-fall speed, implying a strong downward acceleration near the height at which the downflow started. Conclusions. The origin of the downflow was likely to have been magnetic reconnection taking place inside the erupting flux rope that led to its bifurcation.


Insofar as the title of this piece might call for a straightforward answer, it seems obvious that EPMA professionals are servants. Viewed in this perspective, Paul E. Newton's (this issue) analysis is carefully balanced, in that it respects the complex history of the concerns of the professionals, whilst moving towards conclusions that place the needs of the users at the forefront. This is not to say that all responsibility for ensuring validity lies with the professionals. Indeed it follows from the clarifications proposed in this article that this responsibility is, and has to be, a shared one. This essential interplay between the responsibilities of both providers and users of an assessment is a key feature of Newton's analysis. The main features of this analysis that seem relevant here are, first, that validity is not simply a function of the test itself but also of the interpretation and use of results—so that responsibility for any use is shared by all stakeholders. For the test providers, they should be able to argue that appropriate interpretation of the outcomes of a correctly administered assessment will be fit for making certain kinds of decisions, a claim that implies that the assessment procedure can be used to measure the attribute entailed by that decision. However, different users have a role to play in declaring validity insofar as they judge the link between attributes, measurement, and decisions from different perspectives. The main elaboration of this argument, which I wish to develop here, is to explore the variety of situations in education within which the clarity sought in Newton's treatment is an important target. To do this, I consider a few examples, with particular relevance to three agencies involved in any assessment episode, namely the teachers, the test providers, and the users of the outcomes.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of environmentally realistic egg loadings of the polychlori- nated biphenyl Aroclor 1254 on the subsequent growth and behavioural survival skills of Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus larvae. Adult fish were given a dietary administra- tion of 0 (control) or 0.4 (dosed) mg Aroclor 1254 kg -1 fish d -1 for 2 wk during the final stages of gonadal recrudescence. Fertilised eggs collected from control and dosed adults im- mediately after spawning contained 0 and 0.66 µg Aroclor 1254 g -1 egg, respectively. Growth rate (increase in total length) of dosed larvae was significantly lower than that of control larvae between 2 and 13 d post-hatching, with dosed larvae showing a 4 d delay in attaining the same size as con- trol larvae. Behavioural assays were conducted to evaluate survival skills of larvae on Days 5 (complete yolk absorption), 9 (complete oil globule absorption), and 13 (larva wholly dependent on exogenous food sources) post-hatching. Sur- vival skills examined were potential foraging rate (routine swimming speed and activity) and the response to a startle (transient vibratory stimulus) stimulus. Routine swimming speed and activity were similar for control and dosed larvae. There was a significant dose × age interaction in the responses of the control and dosed larvae to a vibratory stim- ulus. The percentage of control larvae responding to the stimulus, and their average and maximum burst speeds, increased with age. In contrast, no such age-related response was found in the dosed larvae. The results indicate that envi- ronmentally realistic body burdens of Aroclor 1254 transfer to the eggs and larvae, reducing their growth rates and impair- ing their startle responses, possibly making the larvae more susceptible to predation.


The objective of this research is to determine strength rate of Damar Batu/Balau (Shorea spp.), Kempas (Kompassia malaccensis), and Durian (Durio spp.) before and after extraction. For this purpose, three solvents were used in sequence to extract the wood which are acetone pentane, and mixture of hexane, acetone, and water (HAW) with volume ratio 55:44:2. Studies on the wood comprises of tensile, bending, and impact test. The tests are conducted based on method of ASTM D 3500 – 90, ASTM D 3043 – 95, and ASTM D 1e43 – 94 for tensile, bending, and impact test, respectively. The result showed that Damar Batu/Balau has higher strength compared to Kempas and Durian Woods. All the wood samples after extraction show a slight decreasing in tensile strength, tensile extension, and flexural stress, whereby modulus tensile, modulus flexural, and impact strength increases. Keywords: bending, extraction, impact, tensile


Structural phase transition and Neel temperature (TN) enhancement were observed in Cr-substituted Mn3O4 spinels. Structural, magnetic, and dielectric properties of (Mn1−xCrx)3O4 (where x = 0.00, 0.10, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.40, and 0.50) were investigated. Cr-substitution induces room temperature structural phase transition from tetragonally distorted I41/amd (x = 0.00) to cubic Fd 3¯m (x = 0.50). TN is found to increase from 43 K (x = 0.00) to 58 K (x = 0.50) with Cr-substitution. The spin ordering-induced dielectric anomaly near TN ensures that magneto-dielectric coupling persists in the cubic x = 0.50 system. X-ray absorption spectra reveal that Cr exists in a trivalent oxidation state and prefers the octahedral (Oh)-site, replacing Mn3+. Due to a reduction in the Jahn–Teller active Mn3+ cation and an increase in the smaller Cr3+ cation, the system begins to release the geometrical frustration by lowering its degeneracy. Consequently, a phase transition, from distorted tetragonal structure to the more sym...


Original Research Article The retroperitoneal tumors in children represent the majority of abdominal masses child before the age of 7 years and half between 7 and 15 years. Nephroblastoma or Wilms tumor and neuroblastoma are the most common etiologies. The aim of this study is to recall the contribution of imaging methods in the diagnosis and monitoring of retroperitoneal tumors in children. It is a retrospective study conducted over a period of 10 years (from January 2010 to December 2019), 126 benign and malignant retroperitoneal tumors, explored by ultrasound in all patients and by the abdominal CT scan in (88% of patients. All diagnostics were confirmed histologically by the examination of the surgical specimen. The average age of our patients was 8 years with a slight female predominance. We identified 75 cases of nephroblastoma (59.52%), 38 cases of neuroblastoma (30.15%), 5 cases of SRCC (3,96 %),4 cases of mesoblastic nephroma (3.17 %), 3 cases of pheochromocytoma (2.38%), and a case of malignant non Hodgkinian lymphoma (Burkitt) (0,79%). The imaging plays a vital role in the diagnosis of retroperitoneal tumors in children. Ultrasound remains the predominant method made its availability, its diagnosis and its nonradiating performance character. It allows, before the discovery of an abdominal mass, confirmed the presence of a tumor and make the differential diagnosis with other nontumor lesions. Then comes the role of abdominal CT in second plan to confirm the ultrasound data and identify locoregional and distant as well as anatomical and vascular reporting and it also helps in cases of large tumors to determine its organ of origin and measures in the 3 spatial planes.


In this work, the under-the-hood reliability of smaller PBGA packages has been evaluated in the automotive thermal cycling environment. Various methods of enhancing reliability have been explored including increased BT substrate thickness, the utilization of NSMD pads on the BGA component, alternative PCB plating finishes, and the use of underfill encapsulants. A set of test boards was assembled with several 15 and 17 mm body size BGA components from two different vendors. In addition to non-underfilled parts, the enhancements achieved with four different underfill encapsulants have been explored. Larger 23 mm BGAs have also been included in the test matrix as a control/reference. The assembled test vehicles have been subjected to 6000 thermal cycles over the range -40 to 125 °C, and the daisy-chain resistances of the various components were monitored throughout the testing. Logged failures have been statistically analyzed using two parameter Weibull models. The analysis results have allowed the board level reliabilities of the examined BGA components to be compared and ranked, and the reliability enhancements achieved with various underfills to be accessed. Detailed failure analyses have also been performed to find the locations of solder joint fatigue crack growth, and to identify other failure modes occurring in underfilled parts.


A synergistic increase in cell killing is observed when a heat‐shock is administered prior to, during, or immediately after exposure to ionizing radiation (IR). This phenomenon, known as heat‐radiosensitization, is believed to be mediated by inhibition of repair of radiation‐induced double strand breaks (DSB) when cells are exposed to temperatures above 42°C. However, the mechanism by which heat inhibits DSB repair is unclear. The bulk of radiation‐induced DSBs are repaired via the non‐homologous end‐joining pathway (NHEJ). Several reports indicate that the Ku70 and Ku80 subunits of the mammalian DNA‐dependent protein kinase (DNA‐PK), a complex involved in NHEJ, appear to be susceptible to a heat‐induced loss of DNA‐binding activity, with Ku80 representing the heat‐sensitive component. Since the heat‐induced loss and subsequent recovery of Ku–DNA binding activity correlates well with heat‐radiosensitization, a role for Ku80 and NHEJ in heat‐radiosensitization has been proposed. However, direct evidence implicating Ku80 (and NHEJ) in heat‐radiosensitization has been indeterminate. In this study, we demonstrate that equitoxic heat treatments at 42.5–45.5°C induce a similar amount of aggregation of Ku80 in human U‐1 melanoma cells. These data suggest that the time–temperature‐dependent relationship between heat lethality and Ku80 aggregation are similar. However, the aggregation/disaggregation of Ku80 and its transient or permanent inactivation is unrelated to heat‐radiosensitization. When survival curves were obtained for irradiated or irradiated and heated Ku80−/− mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) and compared with survival curves obtained for wild‐type (WT) cells, we found that heat‐radiosensitization was not reduced in the Ku80−/− cells, but actually increased. Thus, our findings indicate that Ku80 is not essential for heat‐radiosensitization. Non‐involvement of Ku‐dependent or Ku‐independent NHEJ pathways in heat‐radiosensitization was confirmed by comparing clonogenic survival between DNA ligase IV‐defective and WT human cells. Our data therefore implicate homologous recombination in inhibition of repair of radiation‐induced DSBs and as a target for heat‐radiosensitization. J. Cell. Physiol. 196: 557–564, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Objective:To investigate the impairment of Cold expose-induced impairment on learning and memory of rats and to investigate the mechanism. Methods:Adult male SD rats were treated in the refrigerator, and the exposure temperature was -15℃ ; Learning and memory was detected by Y maze ; ATP content was detected by ATP kit; The expression of AKT, ERK was measured by Western blot. Results:Cold exposure induced significant impairment of learning and memory (the descent of correct number, CN: the increasing of total reaction time,TRT). ATP decreased; Western blot showed that the level of phosphorylated AKT and ERK decreased after the cold exposure .Conclusion: There is impairment on learning and memory of rat induced by Cold exposure, which may have relations with the decrease of ATP, AKT and ERK.


Sentiment analysis of user-generated reviews or comments on products and services in social networks can help enterprises to analyze the feedback from customers and take corresponding actions for improvement. To mitigate large-scale annotations on the target domain, domain adaptation (DA) provides an alternate solution by learning a transferable model from other labeled source domains. Existing multi-source domain adaptation (MDA) methods either fail to extract some discriminative features in the target domain that are related to sentiment, neglect the correlations of different sources and the distribution difference among different sub-domains even in the same source, or cannot reflect the varying optimal weighting during different training stages. In this paper, we propose a novel instance-level MDA framework, named curriculum cycle-consistent generative adversarial network (C-CycleGAN), to address the above issues. Specifically, C-CycleGAN consists of three components: (1) pre-trained text encoder which encodes textual input from different domains into a continuous representation space, (2) intermediate domain generator with curriculum instance-level adaptation which bridges the gap across source and target domains, and (3) task classifier trained on the intermediate domain for final sentiment classification. C-CycleGAN transfers source samples at instance-level to an intermediate domain that is closer to the target domain with sentiment semantics preserved and without losing discriminative features. Further, our dynamic instance-level weighting mechanisms can assign the optimal weights to different source samples in each training stage. We conduct extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets and achieve substantial gains over state-of-the-art DA approaches. Our source code is released at: https://github.com/WArushrush/Curriculum-CycleGAN.


people are expected to suffer evil rather than to inflict or even to threaten or intend it. Much of their discussion of the philosophical and theological origins of their central principle absolutely forbidding the killing of innocents could support a more thoroughgoing pacifism rather than their continued acceptance of just war doctrines that sound dubious alongside unabashed assertions about the sanctity of human life, the uncertain purposes of even "good" wars, and Christian faith in God's unknowable plans (part 4). But if these two chapters provoke question marks in the margin, the essay as a whole is an excellent, sophisticated contribution, perhaps the best that has been set out among the many recent books on this difficult but crucial subject.


Boundary effects on the stability of the street of longitudinal vortices with their alternately changing direction are investigated by using the vortex filament model. The analysis shows that the longitudinal vortex street is unstable to a infinitesimal disturbance in both the infinite and the semi-infinite regions over a flat bed, whereas it is stable in the finite region bounded by the free surface and the flat bed. These results were recognized to correspond with the behavior of longitudinal vortices experimentally found in both the inner and the outer layers of an open channel flow. Furthermore, arrangements of a vortex generator are investigated to control longitudinal voricies, sand wave and bed load.


Many studies have been made of the racial distribution of blood-groups, but to our knowledge, no such studies have been made of the Papago Indians. This tribe, which is found in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, is one of the largest tribes in Arizona.
 Experimental. The technic described by Wiener (1) was employed in this investigation. The typing sera was prepared according to the directions of Wiener (1), and was carefully checked before use.
 The specimens for examination were secured by suspending blood-clots in normal saline solution (1). The majority of these blood-specimens were submitted for serological tests for syphilis. A large part of these came from Papagoes who were admitted to the Indian Oasis Hospital, Sells, Arizona. Others were submitted in connection with the physical examinations of C.C.C. enrollees and school children. All age-groups and all parts of the reservation were represented in the sampling. All specimens came from full-blooded Indians.


Several therapeutic effects including the effect on asthma and dyspnoea have been described for the seeds of cumin, Cuminum cyminum Linn. In the present study the antitussive effect of this plant was evaluated. The antitussive effects of aerosols of two different concentrations of aqueous and macerated extracts, Codeine and saline were tested on guinea pigs by counting the number of coughs produced due to aerosol of citric acid 10 minutes after exposing animal to aerosols of different solutions (n=5 for each solution). The results showed significant reduction of cough number in the presence of both concentrations of aqueous and macerated extracts and Codeine (P<0.01 to P<0.001). The cough number observed in the presence of higher concentrations of aqueous and macerated extracts were not significantly different than those of lower concentrations. In addition, there was no significant difference between cough numbers observed in the presence of both concentrations of extracts with that of Codeine. These results indicated an antitussive effect of cumin which was comparable to that of Codeine.


After the execution of the last Tsar Nikolay II and his family in July 1918, various legends have disturbed people to find historical "truth." Even after several DNA tests, the Russian Orthodox Church hardly recognized their remains, which were found in a suburb of Yekaterinburg. Veneration of saints does not always accord with Church canon, the authoritative understandings of Orthodoxy, and standardized religious practices. When veneration begins among laypeople, it often takes on a character of spontaneous, non-elite and flexible piety, and local people play a significant role. The Church Canonization assumes to regulate a spontaneous, superstitious, local practice of veneration of saints. Not only veneration of local people, but also space of veneration itself has significance as a religious resource. The Russian laypeople traditionally have attached particular importance to the non-corruption of saint's body. An army of pilgrims visits the spaces where a saint was tortured, martyred, and his/her coffin was enshrined. I will examine secular and religious interests to the fate of the loyal family and speak to the meaning of their veneration in Yekaterinburg, which influences the mainstream of the ROC.


Under conditions of ideology, a standard model of normative political epistemology—relying on a domain-specific reflective equilibrium—risks status-quo bias. Social critique requires a more critical standpoint. What are the aims of social critique? How is such a standpoint achieved and what grounds its claims? One way of achieving a critical standpoint is through consciousness raising. Consciousness raising offers a paradigm shift in our understanding of the social world; but not all epistemic practices that appear to "raise" consciousness are warranted. However, under certain conditions sketched in the chapter, consciousness raising produces a warranted critical standpoint and a pro tanto claim against others. This is an important epistemic achievement, yet under conditions of collective self-governance, there is no guarantee that all warranted claims can be met simultaneously. There will be winners and losers even after legitimate democratic processes have been followed.


From the Department of Medicine, New England Deaconess Hospital, and the Joslin Clinic, Boston, Massachusetts. The risk of acute renal failure following injection of iodinated contrast material for intravenous pyelography and visceral angiography is recognized in certain patients, such as those with diabetes mellitus or multiple myeloma.l,2 One contributory factor that is underappreciated is the degree of pre-existing renal compromise.3 The following case illustrates the hypothesis that simple decrement in renal function associated with senescence may contribute to acute renal failure, even in the absence of previously described risk factors.


Objective: To conduct a systematic qualitative review (R) to identify the most common factors (F) causing therapeutic (t)non-compliance (C) from the patient's (pz) perspective of the Medline database (MD)from 1999 to 2016 Design and method: The topics of interest in the field of pz C were: F that influence t non-C and the extent of non-C with treatment (T). Only non-C studies (S)from the pz's perspective were selected. The following MD terms were used: T refusal, pz C, and pz dropouts. The following key words were also searched in the title or abstract: F, predictors and determinants. The pz aged 19 yrs or older. Results: 113 articles (A) was retrieved and used in the R from the 1699 A identified by the L R process. From the L R, it would appear that the definition of t C is adequately resolved. The preliminary evaluation revealed a number of F that contributed to t non-C. These F could be categorized to pz-centered F, t -related F, social and economic F, healthcare system, and disease F. For some of these F, the impact on C was not unequivocal, but for other F was inconsistent and contradictory. Conclusions: The F related to C may be better categorized as "soft" and "hard". Future S need to address this interaction issue, as this may be crucial to reducing the level of non-C in general, and to enhancing the possibility of achieving the desired healthcare outcomes. To identify relevant F relating to t C, the evidence indicates that non-C is still commonplace in healthcare and no substantial change occurred despite the large number of S attempting to address and highlight the problem. In addition, too few S are being done systematically to quantify the impact of non- C on health and financial outcomes. The magnitude of the impact of non-C needs to be studied in future compliance research due to the potential tremendous implication of poor C on clinical and economic outcomes.


Simple Summary Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a treatment for cancer based on the selective accumulation in tumor of boron compounds, followed by external irradiation with neutrons. The interaction between boron-10 and a neutron gives rise to very energetic particles that travel only a very short distance (approximately the diameter of a cell) and are lethal for the cell. In this way, BNCT damages tumor tissue selectively while preserving normal tissue. BNCT has proved effective to treat certain tumors in clinical trials worldwide, with room for improvement. Our group has worked on animal models to improve the efficacy of BNCT, in particular for head and neck cancer. Herein we performed clinical veterinary BNCT studies in five terminal dog patients with head and neck cancer with no other therapeutic option. In all cases we observed partial tumor response, clinical benefit, and extension of estimated survival time at recruitment with excellent quality of life. Toxicity associated to the treatment was mild/moderate and reversible. These studies contribute towards preparation for clinical BNCT trials for head and neck cancer in Argentina and suggest a potential role for BNCT in veterinary medicine. Abstract Translational Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) studies performed by our group and clinical BNCT studies worldwide have shown the therapeutic efficacy of BNCT for head and neck cancer. The present BNCT studies in veterinary patients with head and neck cancer were performed to optimize the therapeutic efficacy of BNCT, contribute towards exploring the role of BNCT in veterinary medicine, put in place technical aspects for an upcoming clinical trial of BNCT for head and neck cancer at the RA-6 Nuclear Reactor, and assess the feasibility of employing the existing B2 beam to treat large, deep-seated tumors. Five dogs with head and neck cancer with no other therapeutic option were treated with two applications of BNCT mediated by boronophenyl-alanine (BPA) separated by 3–5 weeks. Two to three portals per BNCT application were used to achieve a potentially therapeutic dose over the tumor without exceeding normal tissue tolerance. Clinical and Computed Tomography results evidenced partial tumor control in all cases, with slight-moderate mucositis, excellent life quality, and prolongation in the survival time estimated at recruitment. These exploratory studies show the potential value of BNCT in veterinary medicine and contribute towards initiating a clinical BNCT trial for head and neck cancer at the RA-6 clinical facility.


: Based on SEResNet neural network algorithm, the inversion model of damage incentives of inland high-piled wharf is constructed. The stress data of pile foundation under the action of damage incentives of high-piled wharf are obtained by using solid element finite element model calculation and indoor model test methods. The parameterized finite element calculation model of high-piled wharf is established by using subprocess in Python program to call MANSYS module, and verified with solid element model. The parameterized simplified finite element model meets the needs of inversion calculation. Based on the stress data samples of the pile foundation of the high-piled wharf obtained from the model test, the inversion analysis of single and multiple damage incentives is carried out. The model can identify the location, size and type of injury causative agent with good generalization ability.


A phosphoric acid-nitric acid-hydrofuoric acid mixed acid pickling process was studied for electroless nickel plating on AZ 31 wrought magnesium alloy sheet.The effects of pickle components on corrosion weight loss,surface morphology,cross section morphology and adhesion strength between the substrate and coating were investigated.The results show that addition of hydrofluoric acid can effectively reduce the rate of pickling reaction and protect the fresh substrate from being oxidized again.The volume fraction of nitric acid has a great impact on changes of the surface morphology of magnesium substrate.The best adhesion strength between the substrate and the coating is achieved when the pickle solution contains 300 mL/L phosphoric acid,60 mL/L nitric acid and 100 mL/L hydrofluoric acid.


This article examines the content and possible uses of four online news providers: , aimed at the potential clients of a major transnational information corporation; , aimed at 'alternative globalization' activists; , intended for transnational businesspeople and , directed at both local newspaper readers and members of the Irish diaspora. It suggests that the form, content and multimedia use of each is determined by its target audience and by the use this audience makes of the potential of the Internet for developing cross-border networks. Furthermore, it suggests that it is not necessarily the size, extensity and power of this audience that determines the degree of sophistication and global engagement of the website, nor is it the power and wealth of the individual website's developers.


Transport numbers of sodium and water through Nuclepore membranes are obtained when these membranes separate two isothermal aqueous solutions of sodium chloride at different concentrations but without gradients of the applied electric potential and pressure. First of all, a relationship between the membrane potential and the transport numbers of the ions and water inside the membrane is established on the basis of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. This relationship is used to determine the mentioned transport numbers from measurements of the membrane potential. The values of the transport numbers of sodium are near the values in the aqueous phase, which is due to the small value of the electric charge in the membrane.


Ochools and community-based organizations, businesses, and others are increasingly encouraged to partner on behalf of students and families. The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 in January 2002, also known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (P. L. 107-110), has additional implications for these partnerships. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program was reauthorized as Tide IV, Part B, of the No Child Left Behind Act. This program is designed to develop community learning centers that increase learning opportunities and enrichment support to students, families, and community members and help underperforming students meet academic standards in core subjects such as reading and math.


Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a pivotal role in tumor progression. However, some of the underlying pathological mechanisms have beenremain to be elucidated. Thus, in this study, we observe the distribution and expression of TLR1 (Toll like receptor, TLR1) in cancerous and adjacent tongue squamous cell carcinoma tissue, and explore the role of TLR1 in the pathogenesis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma. RT-PCR analysis showed that TLR1 had decreased expression in tongue squamous cell carcinoma specimens than that in matched adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.01). Western blot analysis further supported the similar results in protein expression of TLR1 in the cancerous and adjacent tissues (P < 0.01). The expression levels of TLR1 closely related of the clinical parameters of deeper tumor invasion, survival. Immunohistochemistry results showed TLR1 was mainly expressed in tongue normal squamous cell and vascular endothelial cell of duct, and weak expression in squamous cell carcinoma tissues. The immunofluorescence staining further revealed that TLR1 was co-location with the endothelial cell of blood vessels marker CD31, not co-location with the smooth muscle aorta cells marker α-SAM. The high expression of TLR1 in tongue carcinoma were significantly decreased closely associated with clinical progression, indicating that TLR1 plays a role in the developed process of tongue squamous cell carcinoma; it may be as an important prognostic indicator in clinical judgment.


We describe the twisted affine superalgebra sl(2\2)((2)) and its quantized version U-q[sl(2\2)((2))]. We investigate the tensor product representation of the four-dimensional grade star representation for the fixed-point sub superalgebra U-q[osp(2\2)]. We work out the tensor product decomposition explicitly and find that the decomposition is not completely reducible. Associated with this four-dimensional grade star representation we derive two U-q[osp(2\2)] invariant R-matrices: one of them corresponds to U-q [sl(2\2)(2)] and the other to U-q [osp(2\2)((1))]. Using the R-matrix for U-q[sl(2\2)((2))], we construct a new U-q[osp(2\2)] invariant strongly correlated electronic model, which is integrable in one dimension. Interestingly this model reduces in the q = 1 limit, to the one proposed by Essler et al which has a larger sl(2\2) symmetry.


Acute acquired comitant esotropia (AACE) has been a topic of interest among ophthalmologists for almost a century. Possibility of its association with neurological pathologies creates a diagnostic challenge for ophthalmologist. Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach to its etiological diagnosis with involvement of neurologist and radiologist has always been followed. AACE is an uncommon strabismus, but the incidence is gradually increasing. Most articles described AACE in children and adolescents. We present a case series of five young adults (age 20 to 30 years) with AACE to highlight the peculiarities of presentation, diagnostic challenges, and management.


Most of the individuals with labyrinthine defects severe enough to produce ataxia test performance scores within the lowest 5% of the normal distributions also showed threshold caloric test responses which fell within the same range. Similarly, almost as many individuals with decreased threshold caloric test responses also showed poor ataxia test performance scores. While vestibular influences governing threshold caloric test responses are far more specific than those affecting results on the ataxia tests, the high agreement shown between results of each in groups of individuals with various loss or disturbance of labyrinthine function implies a common vestibular effect to a considerable degree.


This article presents the analysis of art exhibitions organized in Simbirsk at the end of the XIX-early XX centuries by local artists and public figures. The increase in number of exhibitions was a characteristic feature of Russia's art life in those days. The author reveals the role of art exhibitions in the province's cultural life.


A broadband triangular printed monopole is proposed. The antenna is grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) fed and fabricated on a 0.8mm thick, low cost FR4 printed circuit board of dielectric constant 4.4 and loss tangent 0.016. It is fabricated and measured for its impedance bandwidth, gain and radiation characteristics.


Background: Stenosing tenosynovitis or trigger finger frequently involves the thumb and ring fingers of the dominant hand and more commonly seen in adult female population, in their 5th and 6th decades of life. Method: In this study, 18-gauge needle was used for the percutaneous release of trigger finger without any local anaesthesia in 12 patients with prior consent. Results: Highest numbers of patients were in 41-60 years age group (66.7%). 3 patients (25%) belong to 20-41 years age group. Only 1 patient (8.3%) of age group 61-80 was affected by trigger finger. 7 Patients (58.3%) were females and 5 patients (41.6%) were males. The most commonly affected finger was the ring (58.3%) followed by the middle (33.3%) and index (8.3%). Right hand and left hand was affected side in 8 (66.6%) and 4 (33.3%) patients respectively. According to greens classification, Grade II patients were 50%, grade III 41.6% and grade IV 8.3%. Average duration of the procedure was 5-7 minutes. There was no evidence of complications. 4 patients experienced mild postoperative pain. In one patient the procedure has to be abandoned as patient could not tolerate the pain. Conclusion: As we do not use local anaesthesia localization of A 1 pulley in trigger finger is much easier for percutaneous release. Therefore, the procedure is more effective and time saving as well. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...


Effective HAART reduces blood viral load. This study aims to determine factors which could predict the time to achieve viral load (VL) less than 50 copies/ml in HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART). A bidirectional cohort study was conducted in 2007, with records of patients investigated retrospectively from 1997, and followed prospectively until 2009. The time from starting HAART to achieve VL less than 50 copies/ml date and its associated factors were determined. There were 63.5% (533/840) of HIV patients on ART. Mean age was 36.3 years (SD10.4), 77.9% were males, Chinese (73.0%), sexual route (88.4%) and 79.7% were at clinical stage 3-4 according to WHO staging. Mean CD4 and mean VL were 139.1cell/μl (SD 146.8) and 2.50 x 105 copies/ml (SD 7.82 x 105), respectively. The mean time to achieve VL less than 50 copies/ml was 12.5 months (SD 18). There were 82.7% (441) patients on triple drugs. There was a significant difference in time to achieve VL less than 50 copies/ml by status at start of ART, had opportunistic infection, CD4 at start ART less than 200 cell/ul took longer time to achieve VL less than 50 copies/ml. Significant predictors of the time to achieve VL less than 50 copies/ml was CD4 at start ART. The CD4 at start ART was significant predictors to achieve VL less


An ammonium gemini surfactant(C16-2-C16·2Br-) was synthesized from bromohexadecane and N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-ethylenediamine.The synthetic technology was optimized by single factor analysis method.The optimal synthesis conditions were attained when the molar ratio of bromohexadecane to N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-ethylenediamine was 2.1,and reaction temperature and time were 80 ℃ and 22 h,respectively.The chemical structure was characterized by means of infrared spectroscopy and 1HNMR.Research was carried out on reducing oil and water interfacial tension,and the results indicate that C16-2-C16·2Br-had good interfacial activity;it could reduce the interfacial tension to 2.6×10-3 mN/m within 23 min at 0.3 g/L.The influencing factors,such as surfactant mass concentration,temperature and shear rate,on the viscosity behavior of C16-2-C16·2Br-solution were investigated.The viscosity of the gemini surfactant solution increased with the rise of mass concentration,and first declined sharply and then leveled off with the increase of temperature and shear rate.The flow index was lower than 0.6,calculated by Ostwald-de Wale power-law equation,which indicates that the solution is pseudoplastic fluid.


In this work, based on the Lindemann's formula of melting and the pressure-dependent Gruneisen parameter, we have investigated the pressure effect on melting temperature of silver, gold and copper metals. The analytical expression of melting temperature as a function of volume compression has been derived. Our results are compared with available experimental data as well as with previous theoretical studies and the good and reasonable agreements are found. We also proposed the potential of this approach on predicting melting of copper at very high pressure.


Modified strontium titanate(ST) was prepared by solution method on the condition of alkalescence,and the complexing agent is tartaric acid.A series of high-ielectric-constant and low-dielectric-loss ceramic/polymer composites were prepared with modified ST powder and PVDF after blending and hot expressing technology.The results indicated that the dielectric constant of composite increases 34% after the modification of ST,and the dielectric loss is unchanged;the dielectric constant increase with content of ST,meanwhile,the dielectric loss does not change.Modified composite shows excellent comprehensive dielectric properties.


LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE T he introduction of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) has greatly revolutionized therapies for several cancer types and immune disorders (1–5). Benefits to patients have been substantial, translating into both increased life expectancy and improved quality of life. Currently, twenty-one therapeutic MAbs are registered for marketing in the United States, with the introduction of several more expected in the coming years (6–11). Some cancer cells over-express growth factor receptors on their surface, which when activated signal cell division, proliferation, and survival through integration of multiple downstream pathways (12). Several MAbs used in oncology function by preventing interaction between growth factors and overexpressed receptors located on the surface of malignant cells. This strategy of disabling the most upstream part of these complex signaling pathways through the interference of a MAb with either the intended receptor or its ligand has demonstrated excellent therapeutic benefit to patients (9, 13, 14). Because overexpression of IGF-1R is prevalent in many cancer types, targeting the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) is an attractive approach to controlling proliferation of cancerous cells. Preclinical evidence strongly supports use of antibody therapy as a potential means of controlling proliferation and survival of malignant cells overexpressing IGF-1R (12, 15–17). With the increasing pace of discoveries, the field of biotechnology is rapidly becoming more complex and fragmented. As a means of leveraging


Abstract Purpose : The purpose of this study was to determine the factors influencing capital adequacy in business organizations. Methodology: A case study design was. The study consisted of 46 insurance companies. The data is quantitative and secondary data collection method was used. The study used descriptive and regression approach in data analysis. Using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) regression analysis model was calculated. Data was presented in tables and graphs. Results: Regression analysis showed that ownership listing status had a beta coefficient of (-16.614) and that it was statistically insignificant (0.329). Regression analysis showed that dividend payout ratio had a beta coefficient of -0.455 and that it was statistically significant (0.000). Regression analysis showed that the profitability ratio had a beta coefficient of 0.485 and that it was statistically significant (0.000). Regression analysis showed that the liquidity ratio had a beta coefficient of 0.226 and that it was statistically significant (0.000). Regression analysis showed that the cost of capital had a beta coefficient of -0.566 and that it was statistically insignificant (0.125). Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study recommended that insurance Regulatory Authority should put in measures to make the insurance companies adhere to the recent regulations and policies which require the companies to have minimum capital requirements and hence in turn increasing capital adequacy.


This practicum was conducted in a large high school for the purpose of improving grade point averages, attendance, and attitudes of student athletes at high risk with respect to eligibility to play sports. The program contained four basic components: (1) orientation; (2) implementation; (3) monitoring; and (4) evaluation. An orientation was offered to the students, parents, administrators, teachers, and guidance counselors. When the program was implemented, student athletes attended study hall sessions 3 days a week (monitored by coaches) and completed daily homework diaries. Guidance counselors provided specific behavioral strategies to enhance study skills; student athletes were paired with high achieving peers; parents were given surveys to identify specific needs and were asked to sign weekly progress reports; and student athletes were given surveys to confirm the effective aspects of the program. Although most of the student athletes did not achieve the expected objectives of the progrbm, attendance, grades, and peer interaction improved. As a result, this program was recommended as part of the athletic criteria for student athletes throughout the county school system. Five appendixes to the report include samples of: a parent survey, a grade and absence record sheet; a weekly progress report, a post-student athlete survey; and grade and absence results. (LL) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EARS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** IMPROVING ATHLETIC ELIGIBILITY AMONG HIGH RISK NINTH, TENTH AND ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS THROUGH PARENTAL AWARENESS AND PEER INVOLVEMENT By Derrick C. Manning A Practicum Proposal Submitted to the Faculty of the Center for the Advancement of Education at Nova University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science. The abstract of this report may be placed in a national Database System for reference. U $ DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (Mae I Educabona, Research and u-,pro,erna rI EDUCATIONAL RESOLOCFS INFORMATION CENTER IERICI C' Th.s dcument has been reproduced as reCenied from the Person Or organTabon Ofq,111P,Ijd r !Amor ChangeS have been made to .mprove reprOduChOn Quallty Pomis or vlev. Or Opimons stated ,n rh.srlOCu ment do nor necessar4 represent &boa! MRIPosrbor,ormbcy June 1990 -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)"


Last update: 19-VII-2019  View and/or print full status report Number of Contracting Parties to this Convention: 101 The expression "Contracting Party" covers both cases in which the Convention has, and cases in which the Convention has not yet, entered into force for that Party following the deposit of its instrument of rati cation, accession, acceptance or approval (see column EIF in the chart).


Infiltrating lipoma is a rare, benign soft tissue tumor. Its name originates in its infiltrating growth nature which penetrates the skeletal muscle. Nevus lipomatosus cutaneous superficialis is a very rare skin anomaly characterized by ectopic adipose tissue in the dermis. We experienced a 45-years-old male patient who presented with well-defined, 10×4cm sized scapular mass and 5×4cm sized subscapular mass combined with a brown colored papule on the back. These lesions are well treated by surgical excision. Histopathological findings showed ectopic mature adipose cells in the dermis in nevus lipomatosus cutaneous superficialis and among muscle fibers in infiltrating lipoma. There is no previous report in wihch solitary nevus lipomatosus cutaneous superficialis is combined with lipomas in seperated area. Two diseases have a common that both have infiltrating nature and from this fact we could deduce that nevus lipomatosus cutaneous superficialis is originated from as infiltration to dermis of infiltrating lipoma or vice versa.


Abstract : In July 2006, the former Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) announced plans to relocate certain functions from Cheyenne Mountain to create an integrated command center at Peterson Air Force Base (AFB). In May 2007, we reported that NORAD and USNORTHCOM had not analyzed the anticipated operational effects and that the Department of Defense (DOD) could not discern the full costs or security implications of the move. As a result, Congress directed the Secretary of Defense to submit a report by March 1, 2008, assessing the relocation of the NORAD Command Center and related functions from Cheyenne Mountain to Peterson AFB and mandated that we review DOD's report and the final plans for the relocation, and that we report to Congress within 120 days. Our report to Congress, which was classified by DOD, was issued on July 1, 2008, and provides additional details on the security issues surrounding the relocation of the NORAD Command Center from Cheyenne Mountain to Peterson AFB. This report is the unclassified version of our classified report. In reviewing DOD's report to Congress, our objectives were (1) to evaluate DOD's assumptions in its cost-benefit analysis of the three alternatives, and their effect on the recommendation; (2) to determine the extent to which DOD's report assessed and contained a plan to mitigate the security risks DOD identified at Peterson AFB; and (3) to determine the extent to which the final relocation plans take into account security issues raised in DOD's report.


Viral infections, especially those caused by hepatitis B and C viruses are common in chronic hemodialysis patients. The hepatitis C virus is the main cause of post-transfusion hepatitis. The main objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B and C and HIV in chronic hemodialysis patients at the TIZI OUZOU University Hospital Center, as well as the main risk factors for contamination, in chronic hemodialysis patients treated at the from our center.

 This retrospective study carried out on 149 chronic hemodialysis patients consisted in searching for anti-HCV, anti-HIV antibodies and the HBs antigen and in determining the possible causes of contamination, in particular the age of the hemodialysis and history of blood transfusion. The characteristics studied for all patients are: demographic characteristics, initial nephropathy, seniority on hemodialysis, the concept of hemodialysis outside our center at the time of dialysis or for a limited period during follow-up ( vacation…), the notion of transfusion; patients are considered to be multi-transfused when they have received more than four transfusions, the search for hepatitis B and C virus infection by ELISA, the concept of hepatic cytolysis: a transaminase level that exceeds 1.5 times normal, vaccine status, HIV serology

 The average age of our 149 patients varies between 19 and 82 years with a male predominance (92 men and 57 women) and an average duration of dialysis of 90 months. The predominant etiology of IRCT is vascular nephropathy. We also note other causes including glomerular, diabetic and tubulointerstitial nephropathies. The etiology was largely undetermined. Hepatic serology C is positive in 5% of patients. None of our patients tested positive for HBS. No case of HIV infection has been noted.
 The prevalence of hepatitis B and C in hemodialysis patients varies from country to country but remains higher than in the general population (HCV: 2.7-22.2% in the DOPPS register). In our series the prevalence is around 5% lower than that reported in other regional and international studies.

 In hemodialysis, the risk of infection is very high, on the one hand due to access to regular blood and on the other hand due to the alteration of the immune defenses induced by chronic renal failure. Nosocomial transmission plays a very important role. It is strongly linked to the age of dialysis. Compliance with hygiene measures is a very essential element; isolation of the infected patient is no longer recommended


In this paper we report the preparation of an adsorbent for fluoride removal from drinking water. That adsorbent was prepared through thermal treatment of pseudoboehmite agglomerates. Taguchi and Surface Response methodologies were used in order to standardize the adsorbent synthesis and to obtain the best fluoride removal rate of adsorbent. After 30 minutes of agitation, our adsorbent removed the 67.8 % of fluoride present in 100 mL of 2 mg/L-made up -solution. The fluoride removal rate of our adsorbent was higher than those obtained for a commercial alumina and bone charcoal. This adsorbent was also tested and compared using different experimental conditions with fluoride solutions and tap water. The presence of another ions in tap water caused a mean depletion of 43.26 % in the fluoride removal rate of adsorbent.


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A quantitative estimation of components of biological cycle is given. Identified reserves of phytomasse mortmass and net primary production of mountain fen Gorno-Altai in the Eshtykеl. Revealed the strong influence of permafrost on biological processes mountain fen. Stock vegetable substances either fen Altai close to stocks Tundra bogs. Reserve live phytomass is 4143 g/m2, and net primary production 1285±142 g/m2 per year.


According to rigorous guidelines of instrument development, a 17-item chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus-related stigma scale (HBV-SS) in college students, including 4 domains (labeling, stereotype, separating, discrimination), was developed with data from 717 college students in China. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of HBV-SS was .85. Four common factors were extracted in accordance with the conceptual model. Students with HBsAg positive/ever-positive (vs. negative), with HBsAg ever-positive (vs. never positive/did not know), and students who had any family member, friend, or acquaintance as a chronic carrier of HBV (vs. had not/did not know) had significantly lower scores. Research has shown that the scale is reliable, valid, and sensitive and is recommended for application of HBV-SS to assist public health practice.


Asset management in the built environment has been the subject of changing practice and research for years and is often complicated by inconsistency in measuring and monitoring the condition and performance of assets across the industry. There is a strong need for the industry to develop a consistent model for gathering and maintaining the most relevant digital asset information to support owners and asset/facility managers. Building Information Modelling (BIM) has emerged as the prevailing digital approach to asset management due to its fully integrated systems for collecting, managing and utilising building data across all phases of the asset life cycle. However, its use in digital asset information (DAI) management is presently limited by a lack of effective methods for exchanging information during project handover and an inability for model developers to provide access to a wide range of users and stakeholders across the asset life cycle. This paper, with a clear focus on bridge infrastructure within the transport industry, seeks to develop a Digital Asset Information Model framework to support the operation and maintenance of key assets. The proposed model framework addresses issues of DAIM through a three-pronged approach, including a literature review, case study of an existing BIM bridge project and concept study utilising the BIM software TEKLA. The implementation of a BIM-based approach to DAIM has the potential to improve collaboration between clients and contractors, facilitate complete information handover to an asset's operation and maintenance phase and streamline the design documentation process. Ultimately, the use of BIM in DAIM will enable significant cost and resource savings across a bridge asset's life cycle. To enable acceptance of BIM as a DAIM methodology, further work is required to develop standardised file formats for storing, exchanging and validating asset information.


The international accepted standard today, which is used for tax purposes to attribute profits between related enterprises operating in different countries, is the so-called arm's length principle. The arm's length principle states that transfer prices between related enterprises have to be the same amount as transfer prices in comparable transactions between unrelated enterprises. The principle has been criticized mainly because it does not take into account the interrelation and integration that exists between related enterprises and because the method is difficult to administrate. On the other hand, the principle is rather flexible and works well in most cases. In several federal states, for instance between the individual states in the US, a formulary apportionment is used. Instead of employing separate accounting as in the arm's length principle, this method determines the geographic source of corporate taxable income on the basis of a predetermined formula. The most commonly used formulas in the US are payroll, property and sales. A formulary apportionment method defines first the apportionable tax base. This depends on whether the income, property etc. belongs to the unitary business which is conducted in a particular state. Thereafter, it apportions the taxable income of the unitary business between the local state jurisdiction and the rest of the involved states on the basis of the amount of payroll, property and sales that is assignable to each state. A formulary apportionment method is less flexible than the arm's length principle but it takes into account the fact that related business groups are integrated and interdependent and demands a less administrative burden both for tax administrations and taxpayers. A formulary apportionment method demands a rather homogenous economy to work efficiently which is the reason why it is used mainly in federal states. Since the integration and harmonization of rules in the European Union goes further and further, the question arises whether a formulary apportionment method may be an alternative to the arm's length principle within the EU. Especially since the progress made in the field of a common currency and common accounting standards, shows that a formulary apportionment may work well in the EU. However, the conclusion of the thesis is that the EU is still not ready for a shift from the arm's length principle to a formulary apportionment method. The reason for this is the fact that the EU is still not such a homogenous area as the US and the fact that it would be an almost overwhelming task for the Member States to reach agreements on questions such as, what should constitute a unitary business and which factors should be used, and the fact that the EU in the foreseeable future will accept a number of new member States, all with different tax systems


Salinity is recognised as a global land management issue and the use of appropriate models is vital for the management of salinity-affected areas. A major limitation associated with the modelling of salt and water transport is the heavy reliance on good quality data for model development. Measured salinity data are required for calibration of salt and water balance (SAWB) models; however these data are not available for ungauged catchments. Hence the determination of optimal salinity management strategies for these areas is difficult. A considerable amount of research has been conducted on the development of hydrological models for ungauged catchments; however a similar approach has not yet been developed for SAWB models. In this study Partial Mutual Information (PMI) is used to assess the strength of relationships between readily- obtainable catchment characteristics and the parameters of a SAWB model. This will enable the future development of SAWB modelling for ungauged catchments by eliminating the traditional calibration requirement. In order to use the PMI to assess the strength of these relationships, a set of optimal SAWB model parameters and a set of catchment characteristics are required. The optimal set of model parameters is obtained by calibrating the model for 43 gauged catchments across Australia. CATSALT is chosen as the most appropriate SAWB model for this study due to its parsimony and reliability compared with other commonly available models. All of the inputs for CATSALT are obtained for the 43 catchments, which include values of average soil and groundwater salinity, streamflow and baseflow data. The Australian Water Balance Model (AWBM) is used to obtain the streamflow and baseflow data from measured total runoff data. Calibration of CATSALT for the 43catchments is performed using Differential Evolution, as this has been found to perform favourably compared with other calibration methods. Values for a set of 32 commonly available catchment characteristics are also obtained, including land use, vegetation and spatial attributes of the catchments. After obtaining the set of optimal SAWB model parameters by calibration and the set of catchment characteristics, the PMI algorithm is used. PMI is a technique for input variable selection that can detect linear and non-linear relationships between variables, as well as account for redundancy between variables. It is an improvement on traditional input selection methods, such as partial correlation analysis, which can only detect linear relationships between the variables. Using a bootstrapping procedure with 95% confidence limit as the stopping criterion for the PMI algorithm, six relevant and non-redundant catchment characteristics are found to have a significant relationship with each of the three CATSALT model parameters. This shows that there are relationships between easily obtainable catchment characteristics and the parameters of the CATSALT model. These catchment characteristics could be used in future research to develop models for the prediction of the CATSALT parameters, hence enabling CATSALT to be applied in ungauged catchments. This approach is not limited to the CATSALT model and could be applied effectively to other available SAWB models.


Based on the ultrasonic infrared thermography( UT) technique,the impact damage on composite was inspected.The frictional heating and thermal conductivity at the damage of composite under ultrasonic stimulation was simulated by numerical method,and different types of damage were studied.Specimens were designed and detected by the system of ultrasonic thermography after impact test at low velocity.Results show that UT method is a rapid and effective solution to detect the impact damage of composite; When the loading contact force reaches 200 N,and the loading amplitude reaches 100%,the detection effect is the best; Different types of impact damage such as matrix cracking,fiber fracture and delamination have their own characteristic in the thermography.


Sulfur ions are implanted into 6H-, 4H-, and 3C-SiC. Admittance and double correlated deep level transient spectroscopy investigations reveal that S atoms form double donors in SiC, which reside on lattice sites. The number of double donors observed corresponds to the number of inequivalent lattice sites of the particular SiC polytype. The temperature dependence of the electron capture cross section is determined by the filling pulse method. It is shown that the capture of electrons into S donors is dominated by the cascade mechanism.


Video calling allows for real time face to face communication. Skype is currently one of the leading video calling applications, it uses hybrid peer to peer network architecture which requires super nodes, central servers, internet connection as part of resources. Previous researches have proven that the network architecture used by Skype demands high bandwidth and expensive resources ,the researchers proposed alternative approaches for implementing video calling applications and network architectures that could help in minimizing bandwidth usage and resource requirements in comparison to Skype.The research project implements a LAN video calling application (VinceS-tool) using the proposed alternative approaches, to minimize bandwidth consumption and resource requirements during video calling.


Simple Summary Our research focuses in the elucidation of the nature of circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA) as a biological entity and its exploitation as a liquid biopsy biomaterial. Working on breast cancer, it became clear that although a promising biosource, its clinical exploitation is burdened mainly by gaps in knowledge about its biology and specific characteristics. The current review covers multiple aspects of ccfDNA in breast cancer. We cover key issues such as quantity, integrity, releasing structures, methylation specific changes, release mechanisms, biological role. Machine learning approaches for analyzing ccfDNA-generated data to produce classifiers for clinical use are also discussed. Abstract Breast cancer (BC) is a leading cause of death between women. Mortality is significantly raised due to drug resistance and metastasis, while personalized treatment options are obstructed by the limitations of conventional biopsy follow-up. Lately, research is focusing on circulating biomarkers as minimally invasive choices for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment monitoring. Circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA) is a promising liquid biopsy biomaterial of great potential as it is thought to mirror the tumor's lifespan; however, its clinical exploitation is burdened mainly by gaps in knowledge of its biology and specific characteristics. The current review aims to gather latest findings about the nature of ccfDNA and its multiple molecular and biological characteristics in breast cancer, covering basic and translational research and giving insights about its validity in a clinical setting.


Several structure models are considered in an interpretation of the x-ray diffraction data on the mean-square displacements of atoms in the lattice of the solid solution Ga 0.47 In 0.53 As with a weak anisotropy of the displacements. The best fit with the results of the measurements and with the known relationships governing the formation of structures is obtained in a model with two-link chains of dynamic (formed as a result of temperature-induced changes in the bond configurations) domains and with a statistically disordered (in the chalcopyrite structure) distribution of the gallium and indium atoms