Background: Job performance is an important organizational factor that plays a significant role in the success of organizations. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the moderating role of entrepreneurial behavior in the association between social capital and job performance among faculty members of the Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, analytical study that is conducted using a structural equation modeling on 260 university faculty members in different schools of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences in 2017. To evaluate the causal relationships between study variables, structural equation modeling (SEM) on AMOS software, with a significant level of 0.05, was used. Results: The findings indicated that entrepreneurial behaviors and social capital are good predictors for job performance. The direct effect of social capital on job performance (path coefficient: 0.17) and its indirect effect with the moderating role of entrepreneurial behavior (path coefficient: 0.39) were confirmed (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the Sobel test affirmed the indirect associations between variables (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Strengthening social capital and promoting entrepreneurial behavior improve overall performance. Trust-building among staff and designing new motivation methods, which use entrepreneurial indicators for performance evaluation, can improve social capital. Therefore, managers can contribute to the improvement of job performance through developing entrepreneurial behavior among their employees.


A new idea to suppress the self-excited combustion oscillation was applied to the flames. The characteristics of unsteady combustion were examined, which is driven by forced pulsating mixture supply that can modulate its amplitude and frequency. The self-excited combustion oscillation having weaker flow velocity fluctuation intensity than that of the forced pulsating supply can be suppressed by the method. The effects of the forced pulsation amplitude and frequency on controlling self-excited combustion oscillations were also investigated comparing with the steady mixture supply. The unsteady combustion used in this experiment plays an important role in controlling self-excited combustion oscillation. In addition, Symptoms of self-excited combustion oscillation were also studied in order to predict the onset of combustion oscillation before it proceeded to a catastrophic failure. For the purpose, we have found and proposed unique measures to tell the onset of self-excited combustion oscillations based on the careful statistics of fluctuating properties in flames, such as pressure or OH chemiluminescence.


In political disputes, issue frames set parameters for debate and shape which view dominates. This study expands issue framing research to examine the influence of frames on the perception of future terrorist threats as well as subsequent support for related counterterrorism policies. We test several hypotheses using data from an experimental field poll. We find that issue frames clearly influence perceptions of threat. However, our frames, which posit specific terrorism threats, only have a limited influence on respondent preferences for counter-terrorism policies. We consider a variety of explanations for these results and provide direction for future research.


In this article, a via‐based 2.5‐dimensional (2.5D) frequency selective surface (FSS) is proposed to realize a quasi‐elliptical bandpass response with high frequency selectivity. Each FSS element is composed of two parts. Part A is a double‐layer metallic circular patches, which are etched on both sides of a thick substrate and connected by a central big metallic via and several small vias. Part B is a single layer metallic circular patch etched on a thin substrate. The proposed FSS features several transmission/reflection zeros, exhibiting a flat transmission in the passband and fast roll‐off out of band. By investigating the electric field distributions, two paths of electromagnetic wave (EMW) propagation are observed, and the physical mechanism of the transmission/reflection zeros of the FSS is obtained. A prototype of the FSS is fabricated to verify the design, and the measured transmission responses agree with the simulated ones.


The introduction examines the overall questions animating the core work. Using Director of Central Intelligence William E. Colby's explanation of how opinion shaped CIA activity, it explores how the CIA both was influenced by the press and sought to influence the press to shape the environment in which it operated. The introduction also explores the previous understandings of how the press and the CIA interacted and disputes a persistent theory originated by Deborah Davis that there existed a program called Mockingbird designed by the CIA to manipulate the press. It argues also that, in addition to Cold War–related activities, the CIA was interested in the press as a way to promote its reputation and establish its security within the national security bureaucracy.


A magazine article consisting of 6 pages in "Ready Steady Go" The Magazine for Transforming Their Lives, Winter 2016/17 published by Women In Prison, a national charity supporting women in prison and the criminal justice system.

This article outlines how women peer mentors can be used positively to reduce the risk of reoffending in the community and can support each other without time limits and the background of a women's peer group in North Warwickshire, Cohort 4.


This article aims to map neurotransmitters related to specific-primary personality traits as well as adjacent and subsequent personalities. The purpose of the study is to begin the series calledneuropersonalityand present the innovative treatment called neurotherapy, starting with the narcissistic personality, from the instinctive, as a homeostatic factor, to its exacerbation and imbalance.Narcissistic personality can be natural or pathological leading to disorders and other aspects that harm mental health, as well as behavioral expression in society, bringing disapproval due to lack of adequacy. Histrionic personality, conversely, is always pathological and consists of people who use their physical appearance, acting inappropriately seductively or provocatively, to attract the attention of others. Based on this knowledge and with the case report of two patients, one with narcissistic personality disorder and other with histrionic personality disorder, the authors created the so-called neurotherapy,personalizedtreatment with the biochemical determinant, that is, the neurotransmitters specific to each personality. Ensuring the uniqueness of patient management, according to its specific characteristics.


A simulation comparison of MOSFET and double-metal-plate capacitive techniques for vibration detection of MEMS resonator and sensor applications is reported. A novel resonant suspended-gate MOSFET (RSG-MOSFET) analytical model is developed and used for simulating the mechanical and electrical behaviour of the resonant device under electrostatic actuation. It is demonstrated that a MOS-based detection offers signal amplification advantages over conventional capacitive detection especially for narrow beam resonators.


The technique of domain visualisation, revealed by a film of nematic liquid crystal (NLC) on a ferroelectric crystal substrate, is demonstrated for the first time to be applicable to thin films of lead zirconate-lead titanate (PZT) ferroelectric ceramics. PZT film thicknesses <1 µm were deposited on indium tin oxide coated glass substrates. Commercially available NLC materials with positive dielectric anisotropy were employed. The electro-optic properties of devices incorporating the ferroelectric ceramic and NLC are reported. The poled PZT grains induce a local Freedericksz transition in the NLC and it is proposed that the ferroelectric-NLC interaction is primarily due to the depolarisation field due to the ferroelectric remanent polarisation.


The notion of quality lies at the heart of many local, national and international initiatives that consume considerable resources, including time and money. Use of the term can be reckless, however, given that it still eludes common and agreed definition. At times, an adjective is assumed, so that 'quality education' seems to mean 'good quality education'. Or we turn the simple noun into a compound noun, for example, 'quality improvement' or 'quality management', meaning the thing that is done to quality. None of these usages actually tells us what 'quality' is when applied to education. The term implies many characteristics, many desirable qualities, but how do we make a judgement of what is good against this uncertain background? The papers included in this year's 'State of the Science' issue of Medical Education show that 'quality' implies different things in different contexts; further, they reveal that it is applied differently to many different aspects of education and performance. Grant and Grant, for example, argue that acquiring a generalisable evidence base as a means to define quality is an implausible aspiration. Singh and Meeks offer a more particular perspective by pointing out that global standards for medical education fail to address the inclusion of disabled people. Together, these papers suggest that treating such standards as a definition of quality may actually reinforce a lack of appropriate quality. Other papers in this issue focus on application of the concept of quality in ways that further suggest plasticity of terminology and variety in how issues related to 'quality' are realised. Jamieson, for example, highlights that 'quality improvement' is a contested term, while Amaral and Norcini examine the tensions, or contradictions, inherent in formal accreditation processes. They outline variability of context, purpose, processes and outcomes, the changing landscape in this area and the lack of evidence hazarded by 'many confounding variables'. Such evidential and contextual problems pose a real challenge for our field and its efforts towards quality improvement, given that globalisation of accreditation, particularly when linked to the migratory movement of doctors, has recently been promoted on that basis. In that regard, Rashid examines the history of changing political, social, philosophical and power-based perspectives that have resulted in quality arguments supporting the loss of doctors from the global south to the global north. More generally, the papers amassed here highlight that the concept of globalisation in medical education almost invariably reinforces the dominance of the global north by emphasising the overpowering influence of medical education imperialism that emanates from the empirically unsupported idea that 'metropolitan West is best'. Dominant ideas about quality itself tend to come from the global north, while most medical schools are in the global south. Through the thorough and thoughtful scholarship contained in this issue, we hope that readers will be better positioned to situate definitions and explorations of quality within their own context in a manner that enables challenge to this influence, moving medical education away from a unipolar world in which any one power can exert itself with minimal constraint. If globalisation is problematic, after all, so are attempts to understand and improve quality in very specific areas. Even in the well-researched field of clinical reasoning, Mamede and Schmidt show that myriad variables impinge on the formulation of unqualified claims. Samarasekera et al demonstrate that the concept of Received: 14 October 2022 Accepted: 18 October 2022


This study attempts to assess the value of a simple urinary culture method (the filter strip technique) using fresh but not 'clean voided urine'in detecting asymptomatic urinary infection in children. In 91 of 1136 asymptomatic patients high urinary bacterial counts were found. Testing of these using 'clean voided urine'and the 'pour plate'culture technique yielded 4 children with abnormally high colony counts. Further investigation showed that there was a minor abnormality in the urinary tract in each of the 4 patients. The filter strip technique is considered valuable as a cheap and simple screening test.


The present invention relates to protective mullion condensation demand response. Specifically, for example, one kind of refrigerator appliance (100) receiving an indication demand signal in response to peak demand periods, and anti-sweat heater deactivated by the refrigerator operate in the power saving mode. If (180) detected by the moisture sensor on the outer surface of the refrigerator, the sensor can start the anti-sweat heater during peak demand periods. Where the initial formation of moisture may define a preselected location (170), such as reducing the amount of insulation in this position. By forming a recess in this position, and an impedance sensor can be readily detected moisture. Sensor signal is sent to the controller, and enable anti-sweat heater to remove moisture.


The purpose of this study was to examine stressors and coping strategies among early (12–14 years) and middle adolescents (15–18 years). Forty male academy soccer players, aged between 12–18 years (M age = 14.22 years), participated in semi-structured interviews, which were inductively and deductively content analyzed. Findings revealed that middle adolescents reported more stressors than early adolescents and that these two groups experienced both common and different stressors. Early adolescents identified making errors, opponents, team performance, and family as salient stressors. Making errors, team performance, coaches, selection, contracts, social evaluation, and playing at a higher level were more prominent among middle adolescents. Middle adolescents reported a greater number and repertoire of coping strategies than early adolescents, and used more problem- and emotion-focused strategies, but fewer avoidance strategies than early adolescents. Based on these findings, it is recommended that applied practitioners working within soccer academies take into account the players' age when providing psychological support.


Evolution is considered an essential topic that brings to school a broader perspective of natural phenomena and of the nature of science. Most if not all research has shown that the result of the teaching of evolutionary theories is not positive in different parts of the world. Some have attributed the poor understanding shown by students to teaching style or to students' cognitive abilities. This article reports results of interviews and tests carried out with students after they had been taught the topic of evolution. By adopting a sociocultural perspective, before terming students' views "misconceptions," attention was given to several different ways Charles Darwin's theories have been re-interpreted by well-known scholars and offered to the public. I have analyzed the approaches taken by Emanuel Radl (1873-1942), John C. Greene, Robert Maxwell Young, and Ernst Mayr to assess the diverse ways Darwinism has been conceived. Attention was also given to the presentation of this controversial knowledge to the public in two major popular books written by respected scientists, Huxley and Kettlewell's Darwin and His World (1975) and Richard Dawkins' more recent The Blind Watchmaker (1989). These analyses revealed remarkable differences between what was written in Downe (Kent) a hundred years ago and what was heard at Sao Paulo (Brazil) nowadays. Students show very poor understanding of evolutionary theories. Their conceptions reveal evolution has been primarily related to the human species. Its meaning is understood as similar to progress, growth, multiplication, and improvement. Biological and cultural evolution are not clearly distinguished. Competition is misunderstood as pure violence, sometimes inevitable, and adaptation is considered an individual process that occurs during the organism's life span. Educational change may not depend just on teaching style and students' cognitive abilities. Modification of factual knowledge and epistemological gaps may be the result of a process of social reconceptualization of knowledge offered to students.


Neuropathic pain is extremely distressing as it significantly hampers the performance of daily activities and impedes overall quality of life. A large number of illnesses are linked with neuropathic pain like radiculopathy, sciatica, diabetes, herpes infection, spinal injury, stroke, etc. Treating neuropathic pain is challenging as response to the treatment is at times uncertain and associated with undesirable side effects. Uncontrolled neuropathic pain is observed in large group of patients receiving current treatment regimen. Almost half of the neuropathic pain patients need more than two drugs for pain relief. Various clinical trials have demonstrated better efficacy of combination therapy in reducing pain than monotherapy. Utilizing drug combination with different mechanism of action or acting on two different sites has demonstrated superior analgesic effect in painful neuropathic condition. The first tier agents recommended by various guidelines are calcium channel alpha-2-delta ligands and tricyclic antidepressants that act on different pain pathways. A clinical trial has shown enhanced pain relief with no increase in side effects with the administration of gabapentin and nortriptyline combination in patients suffering from neuropathic pain. Moreover, symptoms associated with neuropathic pain like sleep disturbances, altered mood, decreased walking ability, depression and quality of life were also significantly improved. Hence, combination therapy of gabapentin and nortriptyline offers a pivotal modality in the management of uncontrolled neuropathic pain.


Even mild renal disease, as measured by the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), is a major risk factor for cardiovascular complications after myocardial infarction.

Although renal failure has been associated with one of the highest risks in determining outcome after a heart attack, until now the influence of milder degrees of renal impairment was less well defined ( New England Journal of Medicine 2004;351:1285-91).

In the current study, researchers from the valsartan in acute myocardial infarction trial (VALIANT) led by Dr Nagesh Anavekar of the cardiovascular division at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, identified 14 527 …


This study reveals the kinematics rule and technologiccal characteristic of Chinese elite gymnast Teng Haibin's backward giant swing with twist 360° on the parallel bars by sport biomechanics analysis.It provides theoretical and technical reference for Chinese gymnasts' developing and improving this movement.


The INS spectra of several azines have been analyzed starting from force constant matrix calculated via ab initio and DFT methods. In order to reproduce both vibrational frequencies and intensities, the initial force constants must be fitted until the spectral profile is reproduced. We have checked the various ways which can be followed by the user in this kind of analysis. The choice between scaling or refinement-procedure of the force constants can make an important difference in the reproduction of the INS spectrum.


Soil microorganisms are an essential component of forest ecosystems being directly involved in the decomposition of organic matter and the mineralization of nutrients. Anthropogenic disturbances such as logging and livestock modify the structure and composition of forests and also the structure and diversity of soil microbial communities changing critical biogeochemical processes in the soil. In this research we evaluated the effect of anthropic disturbance on the soil in a degradation gradient of Andean temperate forest. This gradient comprises mature forest stands dominated by Nothofagus dombeyii, secondary forests dominated by Nothofagus alpina with medium degradation, a highly degraded forests dominated by Nothofagus obliqua and a highly degraded grassland. We evaluate the reservoir of the main soil nutrients (TC, TN, NO3-, NH4+) and the structure, diversity and functions of the soil microbial community (bacteria and fungi) via NGS-Illumina sequencing and metagenomic análisis with DADA2 pipeline in R-project. The results show a higher amount of TC, TN, NO3- and C:N ratio in the most degraded condition (degraded grassland). There are no significant differences in the amount of TC, TN and NH4+ along the forest degradation gradient. This reflects a C:N:P stoichiometry that tends to decrease as forest degradation increases. The soil bacteria community was mainly dominated by Phyla Proteobacteria (45.35%), Acidobacteria (20.73%), Actinobacteria (12.59%) and Bacteroidetes (7.32%). At genus level there are significant differences, Bradyrhizobium has a higher relative abundance in the condition of mature forest which tends to decrease along the gradient of degradation forest. The soil fungi community was dominated by the Phyla Ascomycota (42.11%), Mortierellomycota (28.74%), Basidiomycota (24.61%) and Mucoromycota (2.06%). At genus level the condition of degraded grassland has significantly lower relative abundance of the genera Mortierella and Cortinarius. The degraded grassland soil microbial community is significantly less diverse in terms of bacteria (D' = 0.47±0.04) however it is significantly more diverse in terms of fungi (H' = 5.11±0.33).


Background: The addition of pertuzumab to neoadjuvant trastuzumab-containing chemotherapy significantly improves pathological complete response (pCR) rates in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. However, effects on long-term survival outcomes have been modest. While prior studies suggest that only a subset of patients benefits most from the addition of pertuzumab, a reliable biomarker for response prediction has not been established. BluePrint is an 80-gene molecular subtyping test that classifies breast tumors as Basal-, Luminal- or HER2-subtype. Recent data shows that some tumors have more than one activated pathway and can be classified as dual subtype. Secondary analyses from the Aphinity trial (NCT01358877) suggest that pertuzumab benefit is largely restricted to patients with single-activated HER2-type tumors and less pronounced in patients with other single- or dual-activated subtypes. In this study, we evaluated BluePrint subtype as a biomarker for predicting response to trastuzumab-containing neoadjuvant chemotherapy with or without pertuzumab in a large nationwide cohort of patients. Methods: We collected data of all patients with stage II-III HER2-positive breast cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy and trastuzumab between January 2013 and January 2016 from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Pertuzumab was not reimbursed in the Netherlands during this period but was available to patients participating in the TRAIN2 clinical trial (NCT01996267). Pre-treatment biopsies were collected and tumor cell percentage was adequate in 404 patients who received pertuzumab and in 432 matched control patients who did not receive pertuzumab. Matching factors included treatment with anthracyclines (yes vs. no), age and hormone receptor status. BluePrint molecular subtypes were determined sucessfully through microarray in 680 patients. Pathological complete response (pCR) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed by treatment arm and BluePrint subtypes, using logistic and Cox regression analyses. Results: Microarray data was available for 334 patients who received pertuzumab and 346 patients who did not. Tumors were classified as single HER2 (77.6%), Luminal-HER2 (11.3%), single Luminal (8.4%), or other (2.6%). Overall, pCR rate was 65.0% in patients who received pertuzumab and 38.9% in patients who did not. In patients with single HER2-type tumors, pCR rate was significantly higher with pertuzumab (77.0% vs. 46.0%, multivariate adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.60 - 5.98). In patients with other subtypes, pCR rate was lower overall and not significantly different with or without pertuzumab (23.5% vs. 13.5%, aOR 2.50, 95% CI 0.98 - 6.89). In addition, multivariate Cox regression analyses showed a significant OS benefit with pertuzumab in patients with single HER2-type tumors (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.33, 95% CI 0.16 - 0.67), but not in other subtypes (aHR 0.94, 95% CI 0.31 - 2.83). However, tests for interactions between pertuzumab and BluePrint subtypes were not significant. Conclusion: We confirmed the results of a prior secondary analysis of the Aphinity trial that the benefit of adding pertuzumab to (neo)adjuvant trastuzumab-based chemotherapy seems most pronounced in patients with a molecularly defined single-activated HER2-subtype. In other subtypes, pathological complete response rates and long-term outcomes are worse overall and no clear benefit of pertuzumab was seen, although tests for interaction between pertuzumab treatment and BluePrint subtype were not significant.
 Citation Format: Marte C Liefaard, Anna van der Voort, Joyce Sanders, Shiva Vonk, Hugo M Horlings, Sabine Siesling, Linda de Munck, Elise van Leeuwen-Stok, Miranda Kleijn, Lorenza Mittempergher, Midas M Kuilman, Esther H Lips, Gabe S Sonke. Effect of pertuzumab plus neoadjuvant trastuzumab-based chemotherapy in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer according to BluePrint molecularly defined breast cancer subtypes [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PD15-07.


Text Mining is around applying knowledge discovery techniques to unstructured text is termed knowledge discovery in text (KDT), or Text data mining or Text Mining. In Neural Network that address classification problems, training set, testing set, learning rate are considered as key tasks. That is collection of input/output patterns that are used to train the network and used to assess the network performance, set the rate of adjustments. This paper describes a proposed back propagation neural net classifier that performs cross validation for original Neural Network. In order to reduce the optimization of classification accuracy, training time. The feasibility the benefits of the proposed approach are demonstrated by means of five data sets like contact-lenses, cpu, weather symbolic, Weather, labor-nega-data. It is shown that , compared to exiting neural network, the training time is reduced by more than 10 times faster when the dataset is larger than CPU or the network has many hidden units while accuracy ('percent correct') was the same for all datasets but contact-lences, which is the only one with missing attributes. For contact-lences the accuracy with Proposed Neural Network was in average around 0.3 % less than with the original Neural Network. This algorithm is independent of specify data sets so that many ideas and solutions can be transferred to other classifier paradigms. Keywords—Back propagation, classification accuracy, text mining, time complexity.


Artemisia pallens has been used in Ayurveda for the treatment of measles, cough, cold, depression, diabetes and high blood pressure. The present investigation is focussed to evaluate the antidiabetic activity of A.pallens leaf extracts. The water, methanol, chloroform, N-butanol and diethyl ether extracts of my plant was evaluated. The extracts were analysed for DPPH, phenols, FRAP, antioxidants, SOD and hydrogen peroxide. The extracts were evaluated using enzymatic studies, FTIR, GC-MS and the antimicrobial activity. The water, methanol and chloroform extracts appear to show good results than N-butanol and diethyl ether extracts. The antidiabetic activity of A.pallens might be due to presence of many natural compounds which might play a role in controlling diabetes.


Mgospalaxbailegi are distributed height of 2300-4200m above sea level forest lands,grasslands and fields in Qinghai province. Mgospalaxbailegi are one of the most dangerous rats. The main controlling method is with bow and arrow which is more limited now. So bio- controlling and some use methods are deserved recommendation.


A variable area fan nozzle assembly for a turbofan engine includes a nacelle having an aft edge and a translating nozzle segment having a forward edge and a first end. The nozzle segment is movably disposed behind the aft edge such that an upstream bypass flow exit is defined between the aft edge and the forward edge when the nozzle segment is in a deployed position. A deflector is disposed between the aft edge and the forward edge proximate to the first end. The deflector substantially prevents bypass flow from exiting the upstream bypass flow exit in a region that is proximate to the first end.


Objectives. – The objectives of this study are to offer some clinical and semiological considerations for a psychopathological conception of psychopathy. In the first part, the author provides a history of this diagnosis (see Introduction of this paper) and a description of the current trends in the international literature: the contributions of R.D. Hare and the PCL-R, D.J. Cooke and the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) and T.H. Pham for French-speaking validations (subtitle 2 of this paper). After that, the author proposes a definition of psychopathology in the sense of Minkowski and Jaspers proposals (i.e. these latter come from the principles of the continental phenomenology) (subtitle 3 of this


In this thesis we study a quantum particle with position dependent mass (PDM). We start from the general form of the kinetic energy operator in which the physical requirements are considered and then we show that the general form of the kinetic energy operator does not keep the Schrodinger equation invariant under the global Galilean transformation. To make out the problem we introduce instantaneous Galilean invariance and following this concept we show that in some specific case of the general form of the kinetic operator the Schrodinger equation remains invariant under the Galilean transformation. Furthermore we study a specific mass for a particle in an infinite square well potential. We show that the particle prefers to stay in a region with larger mass.


Abstract In this paper, the development of the matrix-pencil technique is presented, including a historical overview and recent generalizations. It has been shown that this method is computationally efficient and robust to noise. A band-pass version of this approach has been implemented in hardware utilizing an AT&T DSP32C chip, to perform real-time target identification.


The aim of this study is to determine the significance of programmed death ligand 1 (PD‐L1 or CD274) methylation in relation to PD‐L1 expression and survival in melanoma. Despite the clinical importance of therapies targeting the PD‐1/PD‐L1 immune checkpoint in melanoma, factors regulating PD‐L1 expression, including epigenetic mechanisms, are not completely understood. In this study, we examined PD‐L1 promoter methylation in relation to PD‐L1 expression and overall survival in melanoma patients. Our results suggest that DNA methylation regulates PD‐L1 expression in melanoma, and we identify the key methylated CpG loci in the PD‐L1 promoter, establish PD‐L1 methylation as an independent survival prognostic factor, provide proof of concept for altering PD‐L1 expression by hypomethylating agents, and uncover that PD‐L1 methylation is associated with an interferon signaling transcriptional phenotype. Based on our findings, measuring and altering PD‐L1 promoter DNA methylation may have potential prognostic and therapeutic applications in melanoma.


Criminal execution concerns the society not only from the point of view of the retributive will, but also from the side of the mandatory solidarity duty (Articles 2 and 3 of the Italian Constitution) which binds institutions and citizens. This duty entails the removal of the social weaknesses that often distinguish the offender's life both before the criminal event and during detention. That is why rehabilitation plays a fundamental role (Article 27, paragraph 3, of the Italian Constitution), as the starting point of a path in which the prisoner, the institutions and the community should try to rebuild the social bond and make freedom and equality effective for everybody. Therefore, the article will analyze the prison system along three lines (work, education, affectivity), highlighting the necessary interpenetration between the prison environment and the external community.


Schooling and education are situated contexts to understand issues of identity, culture, representation, and agency (Giroux, 1996). Schools are shaped by specific cultural practices and values which reflect the norms of a particular society for which they have been developed (Hollins, 1996). For example, education and schooling in Indonesia is one of the situated contexts to scrutinize the concept of 'Indonesian young girls' and 'Indonesian schoolgirls' (Muthali'in, 2001; Blackburn, 2004; Smith-Hefner, 2005). Using the conceptual frameworks of gender, identity and schooling, the schoolgirls identify themselves of being Indonesian girls shaped by their ethnic and religious affiliations. The inextricable link between ethnicity and religion in Indonesia has been continuously shaped within the historical, cultural politics in Indonesia, from the ancient time, the Old Order, New Order, Reformation and Post-Reformation Era. Within the Indonesian context, religious values and social norms hold by the society is important because cultural development contributes to the image of Indonesia as a country (Junarsin, 2009).  Keywords: Indonesian schoolgirls, academic achievement, identity, education


Arnás and Araguás are two well-instrumented basins located in the Spanish Pyrenees. Experimental data of water discharge from different rainfall events, together with precipitation, temperature and soil humidity have been used in order to calibrate a distributed numerical model of hydrological and hydraulic processes based on a two-dimensional approximation of the shallow water equations. The hydrological model is based on simple but physically-based laws to calculate the evapotranspiration and the infiltration. The surface runoff is modelled by means of a 2D diffusive-wave model. Sediment transport phenomena are simulated by means of a hillslope erosion model. All the differential equations involved in the processes have been discretized using an explicit scheme on quadrilateral meshes. The work is focused on the influence of the choice of the empirical parameters on the model results concerning solid and liquid discharges.


The pulse pressure (PP) increases with the age. We evaluated 50
patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension mean age
39 + 10 years before and after the 3months of treatment with
20mg betaxolol hydrochloride once daily. Blood pressure
measurement using 24hour ABPM and mercury sphygmomanometer
according to the WHO criteria. Conclusions: 1. The mean age
about 40 years characterises younger individuals with the lower
mean value of PP and lower potential adverse cardiac
implications. 2. The fall of mean office and day ABPM PP values
is caused by the time of the measurement. The morning and fewer
the afternoon BP and PP were the highest and the highest
betaxolol hydrochloride effect was after the treatment. It was
seen the less fall of PP in the night hours.


ion. Thanks to this direct experience at Loma Wolff was able, without interrupting the train of his thought, to verify on several occasions the progress of his – sociological philosophical and methodological concepts. Loma (Wolff 1964, 1989; Bennett 1992; Bakan 1996; Hinkle 1996) is, in short, like an inexhaustible source on which to draw or an anchor, an inextricable link between surrender and catch. It is here in Loma too that another reversals of perspective, like the many to which Wolff accustoms us, takes place: the important thing is not to define a community, to depend on field notes, on extemporaneous reflections, but to look at the context, the kind of countryside surrounding Loma, the problems that Loma created, asking the questions that being in that place


Climate change management is a challenge as well as an opportunity at national and global levels.  When climate change has adverse consequences on physical environment, increase in income inequality has huge adverse consequences on economic, political and social systems at all levels.    In this context the concept of Green New Deal ( GND ) emerged.  Many prominent members of the democratic party in the USA compare GND with the celebrated New Deal Policy of American President Roosevelt in significance and impact.Social scientists, environmentalists and social activists have joined in this debate.The present paper attemptsto draw some insights from this debate and get some inferences for policy framing.   In the first part of the paper the GND is explained in the context of adverse climate changes and the effects of increasing income inequalities.  The GND is interrogated in terms of both the mainstream liberal economics and Marxian analysis in the second and third parts respectively.In the final part inferences and conclusions are given along with suggestions for further reference in this exiting area of study.
Keywords: Climate change, Green New Deal, income inequalities


The cost of walking and running on uneven terrain is not directly explained by external mechanical work. Whilst metabolic cost of transport increases linearly with gradient at uphill and downhill gradients exceeding 15%, at shallower gradients the relationship is non-linear, with the minimum cost occurring at ~10% downhill grade. Given these non-linear relationships between grade and metabolic cost, we projected a significant difference in the total metabolic cost of two walking conditions that required the same total external mechanical work be performed over the same total period of time; in one condition time was spent walking to gradients that were fixed at +10.5% and -10.5% and in the other condition time was spent walking to gradients that varied from 0 to +21% and from -21 to 0%. We compared these two conditions experimentally, using an approach to quantify non-steady-state oxidative energy expenditure. In line with our projection, the 'variable' grade condition resulted in an 8.3 ± 2.2% higher total cumulative oxidative energy expenditure (J⋅kg-1) compared to the 'fixed' grade condition (p < 0.001). Future work should aim to apply our approach across different gradients, speeds and forms of locomotion; especially those that might provide insight into how humans optimise locomotion on variable grade routes.


Among the various plants breeding technique induced mutation using physical and chemical mutagens play a great achieving role in current days in improving economic value of the crop with genetic modification. In the present investigation foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.) Beauv.] seeds were treated with different doses of gamma rays (GR) ranging from 200, 300 and 400Gy, varying concentration of ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4% and sodium azide (SA) 0.02, 0.03 and 0.04%. Variations in the germination percent of seeds, seedling height, seedling injury and survival of plant at maturity of foxtail millet were recorded in M1 generation. The effects of the mutagenic treatments on quantitative traits resulting in reduction in traits such as percent seed germination except 200Gy (86.13%), 0.2% EMS (85.96%) and 0.02% SA (87.21%), seedling height except 200Gy (7.02cm), 0.2%EMS (7.12cm) and 0.02%SA (6.96cm) while survival of plant at maturity except 200Gy (82.94%), 0.2% EMS (81.73%) and 0.02%SA (83.02%) but increases seedling injury except 200Gy (-02.03%), 0.2% EMS (-03.49%) and 0.02%SA (-01.16%) was observed in treated M1 generated plants.


The symmetric eikonal model has been extended for electron ionisation in ion-atom collisions. An approximation to this model has been applied to describe double differential cross sections. Calculations for H+H(1s) to H++H++e- are compared with other present theoretical results obtained using the continuum-distorted-wave-eikonal-initial-state approximation. A qualitative comparison is made with experimental data for the H++H2, collision system.


The coordinate measuring machine working principle widely used in reverse engineering with several methods used for planning and route optimization when measuring surfaces.The circle interpolation method and the polynomial method are widely used because they are simple and easily controlled.During adaptive measurements of a sculptured surface,the circle interpolation method and the polynomial method need more data points with the precision rapidly deteriorating as the surface complicity is increases.The present adaptive continuous curvature method assumes that the sculptured surface has n-order geometric continuity to measure object with sculptured surfaces.The system improves the precision and efficiency of the planned trajectory,and the reliability of the results.


Me(2)Zn and Et(2)Zn added to aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes in the presence of 3 mol % of 2. (S)-1-Phenylethanol (91% ee) and (S)-1-phenylpropanol (86% ee) were synthesized from benzaldehyde and (S)-1-furan-2-yl-1-propanol (86% ee) from 2-furaldehyde. Nonanal and 3-phenylpropanal provided (S)-3-undecanol (96% ee) and (S)-1-phenyl-3-pentanol (94% ee). A solid-phase variant was effective with reduced ee's (e.g., 86% ee --> 79% ee) for (S)-1-phenylpropanol.


The 6xxx series aluminum alloys are used across end applications including all forms of transportation, electronics, and building and construction. This article contains tables that list standard specifications for 6xxx series aluminum alloys and select specialty mill products. The relationships among commonly used alloys in the 6xxx series are illustrated.


Helical carbon nanotubes were produced on silica supported Co catalysts by chemical vapour decomposition of acetylene. The catalysts were prepared applying two methods: ion‐adsorption precipitation and sol‐gel technique. We compared the quality of the products obtained on these catalysts, the amount and characteristics of coiled carbon nanotubes. The characterization of products was based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations and on thermogravimetric measurements.Coiled nanotubes have been found to be of various shapes, diameter and pitch. Some of them are extremely long, 2.5 μm, with regular helices. The average outer diameter of coils are about 16 nm, the pitch is in the range 50–400 nm and the length about 1–1.4 μm. The helix‐shaped windings of the helical carbon nanotubes reveal characteristic mechanical resonances, which are determined by the elastic modulus, mass, shape and dimensions.


Metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) with Al2O3 passivation layer grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at 200 oC and 300 oC were fabricated on hydrogen-terminated polycrystalline diamond by using gold mask technology. The device with 200 oC grown Al2O3 dielectric shows high output current, low on-resistance, large threshold voltage and high transconductance compared to that with 300 oC grown Al2O3. A maximum drain current of 339 mA/mm has been achieved by the 2-μm device of the former kind, which, as we know, is the best result reported for the diamond MOSFETs with the same gate length except the NO2-adsorbed case. The current-voltage (I-V) of gate diodes of both kinds of devices show the gate forward leakage is dominated by the Frenkel-Poole (FP) emission mechanism at a high electric field, and the gate of the latter device can sustain higher forward bias. The stability of successive I-V measurements of both kinds of devices was proved. We expect that a high performance H-diamond MOSFET with high stability can be achieved by a double-layer dielectric structure with 200 oC grown Al2O3 stacked by another high-quality high κ dielectric.


is important to properly understanding the Theses, because their context is essential to their meaning and intention. I also find the Theses to be a rather through-going critique of the papacy and papal power—on this point, Johannes Eck does seem to have read Luther correctly. And I find the idea that Luther was showing great respect to Albrecht a rather over-generous reading of what he was doing. Both criticisms go to the central aim and audience of these volumes. I am not entirely sure for whom these volumes are meant. As an instructor, I am sure I could use some of these texts—some of which are helpfully sold as stand-alone mini-books—but I could not use others because they frame the text too tightly. Even if I agreed with every point made by an editor, I still could not use them because the editor has so guided the reading that little is left for the student to do. Most exegetical, contextual, and even theological questions are answered in the annotations and introductions. These volumes, thus, might best be used in specific ecclesiastical rather than academic settings. Baylor University David M. Whitford Waco, Texas


The phenomenon of hooligans cannot be taken lightly in a country such as Ecuador. The
reasons and motivations of violence in stadiums and outside go beyond of what is
published in the media. Hooligans behave based on their own standards. They transform
the illegal into legal. The world becomes a war of masculinity, power and identity. The
contrast between the views of hooligans, police, football leaders and experts make a deeper
look into football-related violence. Understanding the actions and reactions of these groups
provides a specific view of a new part of society that has been isolated because of the lack
of interest in what happens around the most popular sport in the world.


Abstract Analyses of indices observed in macro-photographs of a variety of cigarette cross-sections have shown that tobacco shreds forming the internal structure of cigarettes are highly arranged in a defined pattern in which their lenghts are predominantly oriented along the cigarette lenghts and their widths - parallel to the cigarette seams. These pattern-arrangements of tobacco shreds have an effect upon the dielectric properties and deformation of cigarettes. The deformation has been found to be bigger when measured perpendicular to seams.


Potential terrestrial sources of naturally occurring elevated radiation levels have been identified in Tanzania. Thus, efforts are currently being undertaken to create a natural radiation database, in the form of a radiation level map of natural radioactivity, to be used to assess the associated radiation risk to public and workers. Background radiation dose rate was determined with thermoluminescent dosimeters for 7 y (1993–1999) in five stations. The average background radiation dose rates for these stations were as follows: Tropical Pesticides Research Institute (TPRI) (102 ± 7 nGy h−1), Same (98 ± 2 nGy h−1), Namanga (98 ± 5 nGy h−1), University of Dar Es Salaam (99 ± 2 nGy h−1), and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (121 ± 3 nGy h−1). These stations were found convenient from an economic point of view since the project has no funds to cover wider and/or more remote areas in Tanzania. For the sake of comparison, similar measurements were made for the same period at Minjingu phosphate mine. The mine was one of the suspected areas with elevated levels of natural radioactivity. The radiation dose rate measured in this mine was about fourteen times higher (1,415 ± 28 nGy h−1) than the average value obtained in northern Tanzania (98 nGy h−1). The high average activity levels of phosphate (5760 ± 107 Bq kg−1 for 226Ra, 497 ± 5 Bq kg−1 for 228Ra, 350 ± 6 Bq kg−1 for 228Th, and 280 ± 5 Bq kg−1 for 40K) and radiation dose rate recorded show that Minjingu phosphate mine has higher values than the highest radioactivity in phosphate compiled by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effect of Atomic Radiation. In view of these findings, a comprehensive risk-management strategy for reduction of radiation risk to the public and mine workers should be put in place. Efforts are currently being made to seek support to improve the background radiation database for subsequent assessment of radiation risk to miners and the societies in the vicinity of these mines in Tanzania.


We present the results of a deep near-infrared survey of a 36 x 36 arcmin 2 region centred on the giant elliptical radio galaxy PKS 1343-601, suggested to be the core of an unknown rich cluster located at the low Galactic latitude of b = 1°73 in the Great Attractor (GA) region. 19 obvious galaxies and 38 galaxy candidates have been detected; only three of them were previously identified as a galaxy. The total Galactic extinction A K towards our survey area is estimated to be 0.6-0.8 mag from the J - K colour of foreground giants. This is systematically lower by about 0.4 mag than A K taken from the IRAS/DIRBE extinction map. The number density of galaxies brighter than an extinction-corrected Ks band magnitude of 13 is 42 galaxies deg -2 , five times as high as the overall average in the GA region. However, the number of galaxies within the central 270-kpc radius is less than that of the Norma, Pavo and Centaurus clusters in the GA region. We found no evidence that a rich cluster is associated with PKS 1343-601.


A series of diagnosis such as epidemiological survey,pathological anatomy,histopathological observation and B1 detection of aflatoxin in the feedstuff were made on the diseased and dead ducklings in a duck farm in Xiangfan city of Hubei province.The results showed that the liver of the dead ducklings was enlarged with sclerosis and there were white gridding stripes on the surface.Offwhite focus was on the lung surface and sections.Liver cell took place vacuolar degeneration,fatty degeneration and necrosis and bile duct epithelium showed cord-like hyperplasia.Granuloma was formed in the lung and mould hypha could be seen in the pulmonary trachea.B1 content of aflatoxin in the feedstuff was 8.3 μg/kg.According to the above results,it was diagnosed as the complicating disease with aflatoxicosis and aspergillosis in the ducklings.


Though slowly improving, the majority of modern real-time productions-chiefly consisting of video games-tend to be lacking detail and flexibility in facial animation. A new facial rig is devised by investigating both the game asset development pipeline as well as current facial setup and animation schemes. The resultant rig hybridizes several of these solutions and not only attempts to address the issue of detail in facial animation but also usability and efficiency.


This issue brings together an outstanding group of European scholars interested in China who recently presented at a conference the European perspective on the development of Chinese-European relations since China embarked on its open policy and the European Union evolved into the major economic and political force in Europe. The conference, held 17–19 May 2000, was hosted by the Instituto do Oriente, in the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas at the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. The China Quarterly wishes to warmly thank the head of the Institute, Prof. Narana Sinai Coissoró and his assistant, Sra. Ana Cristina Dias Alves, as well as Sra. Andrea Sofia da Cruz Valente and Sr. André Filipe Reynolds Castel-Branco da Silveira. The papers also benefited from the participation of Hugh Baker, Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard, Ana Maria Gonzalo Castellaños, Stefan Friedrich, Wolfgang Pape, Klaus Rupprecht, and the rapporteur's report done by John Ingerson. The contributions in this volume largely are the revised versions of the conference papers.


In order to solve the problem that the traditional association rules mining algorithm has been unable to meet the mining needs of large amount of data in the aspect of efficiency and scalability, take FP-Growth as an example, the algorithm is realized in the parallelization based on Hadoop framework and Map Reduce model. On the basis, it is improved using the transaction reduce method for further enhancement of the algorithm's mining efficiency. The experiment, which consists of verification of parallel mining results, comparison on efficiency between serials and parallel, variable relationship between mining time and node number and between mining time and data amount, is carried out in the mining results and efficiency by Hadoop clustering. Experiments show that the paralleled FP-Growth algorithm implemented is able to accurately mine frequent item sets, with a better performance and scalability. It can be better to meet the requirements of big data mining and efficiently mine frequent item sets and association rules from large dataset.In order to solve the problem that the traditional association rules mining algorithm has been unable to meet the mining needs of large amount of data in the aspect of efficiency and scalability, take FP-Growth as an example, the algorithm is realized in the parallelization based on Hadoop framework and Map Reduce model. On the basis, it is improved using the transaction reduce method for further enhancement of the algorithm's mining efficiency. The experiment, which consists of verification of parallel mining results, comparison on efficiency between serials and parallel, variable relationship between mining time and node number and between mining time and data amount, is carried out in the mining results and efficiency by Hadoop clustering. Experiments show that the paralleled FP-Growth algorithm implemented is able to accurately mine frequent item sets, with a better performance and scalability. It can be better to meet the requirements of big data mining and efficiently mine frequent item sets and ass...


We present a systematic entanglement concentration protocol (ECP) for an arbitrary unknown less-entangled three-photon W state, resorting to the optical property of the quantum-dot spins inside one-sided optical microcavities. In our ECP, the parties obtain not only some three-photon systems in the partially entangled with two unknown parameters when one of the parties picks up the robust odd-parity instance with the parity-check gate (PCG) on his two photons, but also some entangled two-photon systems by keeping the even-parity instance in the first step. By exploiting the above three-photon and two-photon systems with the same parameters as the resource for the second step of our ECP, the parties can obtain a standard three-photon W state by keeping the robust odd-parity instance. Meanwhile, the systems in the even-parity instance can be used as the resource in the next round of our ECP. The success probability of our ECP is largely increased by iteration of the ECP process. As it does require that all the coefficients are unknown for the parties, our ECP maybe have good applications in quantum communication network in future.


Elena Alshanskaya, Elvira Garifulina, Aleksander Gezalov, Galina Rakhmanova

Adoption of the Government Decree No. 481 marked a new stage in the evolution of the system of substitute care for children placed out of parental care in Russia. This normative act came into force in September 2015, and the first experience of its application essentially only appeared recently. Given this context it is relevant and useful to discuss issues such as the content of major changes introduced in the Decree No. 481 and the barriers to their implementation. Another important issue is the possible role of non-profit organisations that have recently become one of the key players in this field, as well as the timeliness involved in such serious decisions and the reasons why they were adopted. This paper presents the answers of the four Russian experts – Elvira Garifulina, Galina Rakhmanova, Elena Alshanskaya and Aleksander Gezalov – to these questions. Among the key changes introduced by the Decree No. 481, experts highlight the reorientation of institutions towards an open format of work, the limitation of the length of stay of children in institutions, the introduction of an individual plan for the placement of children, as well as some other changes. Speaking of barriers, the experts refer to the shortage of personnel and financial resources in the system of children's placement, the lack of regulations for new processes together with a system for monitoring the changes that are taking place. The role of non-profit organisations in the current situation is seen in disseminate their accumulated knowledge and experience in working with different types of families, children and future replacement parents. Finally, the experts consider the adoption of the Decree as a logical step in the evolution of the Russian system of child care or as a reaction to the worsening of the situation of children in connection with the restrictions introduced in 2012 on foreign adoptions. The responses, though they do not describe the entire field of opinions on the topic, characterise the scale and severity of the changes that have occurred, and, at the same time, identify possible problem points, discussion issues, and tasks that require monitoring.


The invention relates to a laser welding machine comprising an enclosure, a laser generator, a light beam expander connected with the laser generator, a reflection mirror located right below the light beam expander, a beam splitter mirror I, and a lens located right below the beam splitter mirror I, wherein the beam splitter mirror I and a mirror surface of the reflection mirror are parallel to each other and positions of the beam splitter mirror I and the mirror surface correspond to each other; and an incident plane and/or an emergent plane of the beam splitter mirror I are/is provided with coating films/a coating film. The invention provides the efficient laser welding machine which is long in service life, simple in maintenance and stable in system; and an optical lens is used for focusing to realize high-precision welding in a non-contact type manner.


We investigated the use of intra-palm propagation signals as biometrics. The intra-palm propagation signal is an electromagnetic wave that is propagated in the shallow part of the skin of a palm. However, the use of a support vector machine (SVM), which is a powerful machine learning method, does not enable superior verification performance. In this paper, we focus on problems related to measuring devices. The first problem is the contact stability between the electrodes and a palm, the second problem is the variation of the electrode position on a palm, and the third problem is the size of a palm. We develop new measuring devices by considering these problems and perform experiments to evaluate their effects.


S DOCTORAL STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, we often had the opportunity to collaborate on class projects and homework assignments. In addition, our professors had us participate in peer learning activities such as discussion groups, peer review groups, and student-led teaching. Previously, we had only been classmates at the university and carpool partners for the 2-hour drive to Athens, Georgia from Spartanburg, South Carolina. During the summer of 2014, we were hired to teach art at the same high school and our weekly drives to Georgia transitioned into the perfect time for us to plan lessons and bounce ideas off of one another. It was during one of these sessions that we began to work on a project that would give our students the opportunity to experience learning through peer teaching strategies. Through this article we describe a peer teaching experience that resulted from our collaborative planning to engage our classes in a learning event where our older, advanced high school art students would teach an artmaking lesson and lead an art gallery discussion with our foundational art students. Inquiry into peer teaching and learning research assisted us in developing the methodological foundations for a benefi cial learning experience. Figure 1. Student Art Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, 2015.


A two-year project to digitize the archive of plates of the Italian Astronomical Observatories and of the Specola Vaticana has started in 2002 with funds from the Ministry of the University and Research. Identical systems, composed by a commercial scanner plus dedicated PCs and acquisition software have been installed in all participating Institutes. The project means to provide high quality photometric sequences with the Campo Imperatore telescopes and to distribute the digitized information via the international Web. This paper concisely presents some of the activities carried out and results obtained so far.


The author briefly tackles a very topical cultural problem: the pressing need to allow a firm and sound interrelatedness among traditionally independent branches of learning in order to carefully analyse the puzzling consequences of the so called globalization.


Digital Signal Processing (DSP) applications involves numerous advanced operations. This paper proposes a new advancement in the design of Fused Add-Multiply operator, which finds its extensive use in many of the such DSP applications especially in arithmetic circuits. This paper includes the techniques to implement the direct recoding of sum of two externally given input signals to their corresponding Modified Booth (MB) form. This particular representation introduces a structured and efficient recoding technique by suggests that of three totally different schemes by incorporating them in FAM design. As compared to all the existing methods, this new technique yields wide reductions in terms of the critical path delay, hardware complexity and power consumption of the FAM unit.


In recent years, the public concern on human biological effect of mobile phone is increasing due to the widely used of mobile phones by public including the children. As a consequences, a safety guidelines have been established by the various public organization such as World Health Organization (WHO) and International Commission on Non-Ionization Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The main objective of this paper is to investigate and study on the human biological effect that may cause by the used of 900MHz and 1800MHz mobile phones. For the purpose of the assessment, Finite-Difference Time Domain (FDTD) is used to simulate the modeling of mobile phone attached to human head in order to obtain the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) value of mobile phones that absorbed into human head. The minimum SAR value stated by International Commission on Non-Ionization Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) is 2W/kg. When the limit is exceeds, it may produces adverse human health effects that contibute to reverse cell membrane polarity, alter brain waves and damage DNA. This leads to cancer and memory loss. However, mobile phones are designed with low power and operate at high frequency, resulted in lower SAR value comparing to 2W/kg that stated by ICNIRP. Other temporary biological or potential human health effects that may produce by mobile phones are heating, headache, fuzziness, fatigue and nausea. By the way, further studies or researches are needed in order to draw more complete picture of health risks that may cause by the used of mobile phones.


The goal of this paper is to identify the features and distinguishing characteristics of nationalism and ideology, and apply them to the recent nationalistic movement in the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine, the Orange Revolution. The Orange Revolution was a reaction to the massive electoral fraud that took place during the presidential election of 2004. Political corruption and economic monopolization in the region is rampant, and has been even since Ukraine declared independence from the USSR in 1991. I argue that the Orange Revolution was the final straw for Ukrainians; students and workers. poor and wealthy every conceivable social and economic class staged massive protests for 17 days. Protesters voiced their disgust and distrust of their rulers, demanded freedom of thought and political representation, and to developed and strengthened national unity and identity. The belief system of nationalism, with all its complex and intricate tenets, was deemed the ideology of the group. Around this ideology Ukrainians mobilized, participated, and successfully demanded democracy for the!r nation.


The problem of localization in time is considered using non-Hermitian time operators. The Hermitian part of these operators is interpreted as time and the imaginary part as dispersion of time. A semi-spectral probabilistic measure on the complex half-plane of the analytically continued time coordinate is proposed. (AIP)


We review new multiple access schemes based on a combination of code division and multi-carrier (also known as OFDM: orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) techniques, such as multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA), multicarrier DS-CDMA and multitone CDMA (MT-CDMA). We discuss their advantages and disadvantages, and present some computer simulation results on the down-link bit error rate (BER) performance in a frequency selective slow Rayleigh fading channel. Code division and OFDM based multiple access schemes have drawn a lot of attention in the field of wireless personal and multimedia communications because of the need to transmit at a high data rate in a mobile environment.


The benefits of supply chain optimization have been well recognized in many industries, including the construction industry. A reasonable profit allocation mechanism will keep the construction supply chain stable. Profit allocation is commonly determined by the main-contractor and other partners. In the article, improved profit allocation method will be discussed. It will also consider the quality objective. And in our model, we will add the time alternative and think of discussing the objectives on different construction stages. Furthermore, it will be analyzed with game theory to attain the best allocation coefficient. According to the numerical example, we could attain a more sound allocation method and it can be proved that the new multi-objective model on single stage is much better in the model applications.


Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP-4 inhibitor) such as sitagliptin has been presented as antidiabetic drugs and has numerous restorative advantages over different diseases; however, its defensive role against aflatoxin b1 (AFB1) liver toxicity has not been previously examined. Wistar rats (65 weeks, male) were utilized in the investigation. Animals were divided into five different groups (n = 10): control; AFB1; AFB1 + Sita (50); AFB1 + Sita (100); and Sita (100). Sitagliptin significantly (*p ≤ .05, **p ≤ .01, and ***p ≤ .001) altered the levels of various serum liver enzymes (lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphate, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase). It decreased the concentration of an oxidative stress marker, that is, malondialdehyde and increased the level of antioxidant enzymes such as reduced glutathione, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase in AFB1-administered rats. It also improved the Nrf2 expression and HO-1 level in AFB1-intoxicated rats. This investigation discusses innovative evidence on the protective role of sitagliptin against AFB1-induced hepatotoxicity in rats.


This paper brings forward a whole new scheme of distinguishing transient faults from permanent faults based on the carrier channel of carrier protections of EHV transmission lines. By using the method of mode components, the propagation characteristic of carrier current has been examined in detail. Theoretical analysis and EMTP simulation tests show that the proposed scheme is correct and valid when applied in three-phase reclosure. It is of great significance that the new scheme solves the problem of reclosing on permanent faults when a three-phase recloser is used.


Experience at the North West Hutton field has emphasized the importance of properly understanding gas-lift valve behavior. In conjunction with regular downhole pressure and temperature surveys, this has helped maximize production from gas-lifted wells. This paper emphasizes the importance of the downhole temperature survey and of simultaneous well testing with downhole survey work. The paper shows how this kind of performance analysis can reveal such classic problems as leaking valves and such fundamental problems as mandrel spacing that does not match well performance. These analysis techniques also can predict the consequences of increasing available surface injection pressure and have led naturally to the development of more flexible design procedures that optimize production from wells whose performance may be either unpredictable or unlikely to permit a deep point of injection. Field application of these design procedures also is discussed.


In this paper, Touchard polynomials (TPs) are presented for solving Linear Volterra integral equations of the second kind (LVIEs-2k) and the first kind (LVIEs-1k) besides, the singular kernel type of this equation. Illustrative examples show the efficiency of the presented method, and the approximate numerical (AN) solutions are compared with one another method in some examples. All calculations and graphs are performed by program MATLAB2018b.


We propose a distributed particle filtering algorithm based on optimal fusion of local posterior estimates. We derive an optimal fusion rule from Bayesian statistics, and implement it in a distributed and iterative fashion via an average consensus algorithm. We approximate local posterior estimates as Gaussian mixtures, and fuse Gaussian mixtures through importance sampling. We prove that under certain conditions the proposed distributed particle filtering algorithm converges to a global posterior estimate locally available at every sensor in the network. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the performance advantages of the proposed method in comparison with other posterior-based distributed particle filtering algorithms.


We evaluate the impact of foreclosure on house prices and are especially interested to evaluate heterogeneous impacts of foreclosure along the house size and income distributions across geographic regions. The study uses a novel and comprehensive dataset that encompasses detailed housing and neighborhood characteristics, home sales, locations, foreclosure transactions and mortgage and income information and covers parts of Florida and Indiana from 2000 to 2008. We find that foreclosed homes in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) lost, on average, $42,110, while foreclosed houses in Lafayette (Indiana) lost $23,798. In much of Florida, foreclosed houses lost most value at the upper part of the house size and income distributions. In contrast, foreclosed houses in Indiana lost most value at the lower part of those distributions. Finally, we show that non-foreclosed houses experienced losses (between 0.8 and 4.7 percent) due to other houses in the neighborhood being foreclosed.


Please cite this paper as: Hasegawa J, Sekizawa A, Farina A, Nakamura M, Matsuoka R, Ichizuka K, Okai T. Location of the placenta or the umbilical cord insertion site in the lowest uterine segment is associated with low maternal blood pressure. BJOG 2011;118:1464–1469.


The primary goal of the Formula SAE Variable Intake senior design project was to design, manufacture and integrate a successful upgrade to the engine package that would allow for gains in engine power while maintaining simplistic manufacturing and maintenance with high reliability. The RIT Formula SAE Racing Team is world renown for high standards of engineering excellence and the addition of a variable intake system to the engine package is viewed as an upgrade that will keep the car ahead of the design curve. The senior team was divided into five titles: project manager, design engineer, test engineer, integration engineer and programming engineer. The quarter began with initial testing for a comparative analysis in order to understand where areas of improvement were needed regarding the plenum design and positioning of the runners. The team went into the design phase where upgrades were made to the overall intake system along with the initial stages of programming of the engine's control system. This led into the manufacturing and assembly of the plenum and runners. The results of testing the final design will be described in detail in this paper.


Using assessment data is a complex process (Wayman & Jimerson, 2014) that requires teachers have necessary skills to access, understand, analyze, and utilize student and school-level data to increase student learning. Educators need intensive professional development to acquire expertise to use continuous assessment data effectively in response to individual learning needs (Campbell & Levin, 2009; Fullan & al, 2006). Schools overlook opportunities to integrate data from assessments into instructional application in classrooms (Means & al, 2009). This presentation introduces the Data Literacy Learning Model (DLLM) piloted in this qualitative study. The DLLM was developed to build educator capacity to translate data into instructional practice that positively impacted student learning. The DLLM was revised in a K-5 school in collaboration with teachers and administration working with student, class, and school data to provide timely, continuous, and tiered responses to each child's ongoing learning needs in early literacy. The collaborative, job-embedded, professional learning focused on educators using skills in the DLLM to transfer assessment data to instructional practice. The DLLM contributed to an increased used of assessment data and confidence using data to target student learning needs and was unanimously accepted as a strong model to develop data literacy for educators.


Under the armistice régime, now a matter of history, a peculiar legal situation prevailed in Jerusalem, for no less than four distinct régimes of demilitarization could be found in the city: the Mount Scopus régime, the régime of the Government House Area, the régime of no-man's-land, and the régime of the limitation of military forces and equipment on both sides of the demarcation lines. The object of this article is to examine one of these régimes, that which obtained on Mount Scopus. Today, the situation in Jerusalem is, of course, drastically changed, both with respect to the régime of the City as a whole, and with respect to Mount Scopus. The Jordanian attack of June 1967 resulted in a unification of this strife-torn city. Mount Scopus, for so long separated from Western Jerusalem, its humanitarian and cultural activities so long paralyzed, is slowly returning to life. The present study, which may be of interest to students of international law and relations, is of historical value only and does not relate to the current situation. The method followed will be that of a pragmatic case study. In view of the special circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Mount Scopus Demilitarized Zone, a comparative, deductive or theoretical approach would be of limited usefulness. A special effort has been made to use primary rather than secondary sources. The writer has had the opportunity to consult the diplomatic archives of the Government of Israel.


Three new prenylated 2-arylbenzofurans – artolakoochol, 4-hydroxy-artolakoochol and cycloartolakoochol – have been isolated from the root bark of Artocarpus lakoocha Roxb., Their structures were elucidated through analysis of their spectroscopic data, and their antiherpetic potential was evaluated by the plaque reduction assay.


AbstractIntroduction: Perforations are defined in endodontics as a pathological or iatrogenic communication between the canal space and the periodontium. It is the second cause of failure of endodontic treatment. The aim of this research is to evaluate the therapeutic success of iatrogenic perforations in endodontics of Malagasy practitioners in the Analamanga, Boeny and Atsimo Andrefana regions through a survey of 125 practitioners from May to June. 2021.Method: A descriptive retrospective cross-sectional multicenter study was developed. A simple random sampling was carried out for the choice of the Odontostomatologists surveyed and a sampling by convenience for the choice of 3 regions.Results: The study revealed that 12.6% of practitioners had a success rate > 75% during the perforation treatment. Calcium hydroxide has been the most widely used filling material by Malagasy Odontostomatologists, yet practitioners using BiodentineTM have achieved a success rate > 50%.Conclusion: The preservation of a tooth with an endodontic perforation is possible with a variable success rate depending on the filling product used Keywords: endodontic perforation, treatment, success rate


11 The emerging paradigms of Beyond-5G, 6G and Super-IoT will demand for Radio Frequency (RF) 12 passive components with pronounced performance, and RF-MEMS technology, i.e. Microsystem-based 13 RF passives, is a good candidate to meet such a challenge. As known, RF-MEMS have a complex 14 behavior, that crosses different physical domains (mechanical; electrical; electromagnetic), making the 15 whole design optimization and trimming phases particularly articulated and time consuming. In this work, 16 we propose a novel design optimization approach based on the Response Surface Method (RSM) 17 statistical methodology, focusing the attention on a class of RF-MEMS-based programmable step power 18 attenuators. The proposed method is validated both against physical simulations, performed with Finite 19 Element Method (FEM) commercial software tools, as well as experimental measurements of physical 20 devices. The case study here discussed features 3 DoFs (Degrees of Freedom), comprising both 21 geometrical and material parameters, and aims at optimizing the RF performance of the MEMS attenuator 22 in terms of attenuation (S21 Scattering parameter) and reflection (VSWR – Voltage Standing Wave 23 Ratio). When validate, the proposed RSM-based method allows avoiding physical FEM simulations, thus 24 making the design optimization considerably faster and less complex, both in terms of time and 25 computational load. 26


The current author chose 70 English majors as research objects,exploring their use of metacognitive strategies.The descriptive data suggests that the frequency of using the metacognitive strategies of English majors is at a middle and low level;the use of metaconitive strategies are significantly correlated with writing achievement.


: Plasmagen is a subclass of phospholipids widely distributed in animal tissues and ingest-ed as food. However, the absorptive characteristics of plasmalogen have not been clarified. Also, vinyl-ether linkage in the sn -1 position of plasmalogen is very sensitive to oxygen radicals and has antioxida-tive properties in the lipid bilayer or lipoproteins; this lipid is a component of lipoproteins and reported to suppress cholesterol oxidation, which suggests that plasmalogen is an essential lipoprotein lipid to prevent atherosclerosis. Over many years, we have been researching this strange phospholipid. In this article, we would like to introduce the absorptive characteristics of plasmalogen and the availability of serum/plasma plasmalogen as the biomarker for atherosclerosis.


The performance of organic polymer-inorganic nanocomposites (NCs) depends on the homogenous dispersion of the inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) to ensure strong interaction between the nanofillers and the polymer matrix. Although a variety of methods already exists, current encapsulation techniques through emulsion polymerization suffer from several limitations. In order to overcome such limitations the use of amphiphilic macroRAFT agents is recently being explored. In the present work macroRAFT agents with different chain lengths and composition were initially prepared by solution polymerization of acrylic acid (AA), poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate (PEGA) and a combination of the two using ( 2-(docdecylthiocarbonothioylthio)-2-methyl propanoic acid (TTC-A) as the chain transfer agent. The macroRAFT agents obtained were characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopies and Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) confirmed their successful synthesis. These Macro RAFT agents were then used prepare block copolymers with butyl acrylate via emulsion polymerization. The ensuing materials were characterized by 1H-NMR, FT-IR, Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) and GPC. Zeta potential measurements as a function of pH confirmed the pH-responsive behaviour of the PAA based systems whilst dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements showed that the use of P(PEGA)-TTC provides better colloidal stability then the use of PAA-TTC Finally, NCs were prepared using previously modified silica NPs and ZnO nanowires (NWs) as nanofillers. ZnO NWs were only used with the PAA system since it was concluded that the method used for their preparation yielded NWs that were still aggregated. Encapsulation of the NPs was confirmed by FT-IR, DMA, SEM and DLS. The latexes prepared using PEGA based systems seem to be more stable than those prepared with PAA. Yet, the SEM and DLS results prove that both systems require improvement. The presence of a polymeric stimuli – responsive shell covering the inorganic NPs using PAA-TTC was proved by DLS and Zeta potential measurements as a function of pH. The DMA results suggest that the PAA and PBA blocks tend to blend but when NPs are present that miscibility is reduced possibly due to the interaction between the PAA groups and the NPs surface. For the P(PEGA) based systems the miscibility between the polymer blocks is not so relevant.


In this work we introduce a new way of binning sunspot group data with the purpose of better understanding the impact of the solar cycle on sunspot properties and how this defined the characteristics of the extended minimum of cycle 23. Our approach assumes that the statistical properties of sunspots are completely determined by the strength of the underlying large-scale field and have no additional time dependencies. We use the amplitude of the cycle at any given moment (something we refer to as activity level) as a proxy for the strength of this deep-seated magnetic field. We find that the sunspot size distribution is composed of two populations: one population of groups and active regions and a second population of pores and ephemeral regions. When fits are performed at periods of different activity level, only the statistical properties of the former population, the active regions, are found to vary. Finally, we study the relative contribution of each component (small-scale versus large-scale) to solar magnetism. We find that when hemispheres are treated separately, almost every one of the past 12 solar minima reaches a point where the main contribution to magnetism comes from the small-scale component. However, due to asymmetries in cycle phase, this state is very rarely reached by both hemispheres at the same time. From this we infer that even though each hemisphere did reach the magnetic baseline, from a heliospheric point of view the minimum of cycle 23 was not as deep as it could have been.


Abstract : The purpose of this thesis was to assess the Total Quality Leadership (TQL) knowledge, experience, and attitude levels of Naval officers entering the Naval Postgraduate School in July 1993. A survey was designed, administered, and analyzed to establish a baseline of data to compare to future cohorts to assess whether TQL knowledge and experience is increasing at various career check points. A descriptive analysis was conducted to calculate frequencies and aggregate percentages of survey responses. In general the cohort had a low level of TQL knowledge and experience. The study revealed some skepticism among the cohort about the need for TQL, and its transformation in the Department of the Navy. This skepticism was attributed to a lack of knowledge and experience, and the belief that long-term commitment from senior leadership is lacking. Recommendations were made to incorporate TQL theory and concepts at every accession point (NROTC, OCS, OIS, etc.) and schools (Department Head, PXO, Naval Academy, NPS, PO INDOC, NAVLEAD, etc.) to disseminate the TQL knowledge in a uniform manner.


Collections of the predominantly wingless urothripine Thysanoptera from leaf litter in Australia show little variation in external morphology within any one population, although the variation between populations is frequently very considerable. Morphological segregates in which winged individuals are known show little variation between populations, and these segregates can be regarded as distinct species. However, morphological segregates in which winged individuals are not known exist in the field as a complex of similar but distinctive local forms. Taxonomy is concerned with the interpretation in biological terms of morphological difference, but the significance of these distinctive populations cannot be determined at present, whether they are species, subspecies, or local variants. However, this high rate of incipient speciation of the Urothripini is evidently related, at least in part, to the low degree of dispersive activity of the wingless forms. The resulting complicated pattern of variation at the species level is reflected in the unsatisfactory generic classification, and several of the characters which have been used for distinguishing genera are here shown to be of little value. As a result four genera, Bournieria, Ramachandraiella, Transithrips, and Verrucothrips, are here placed in synonymy with Baenothrips, and a key is provided to the remaining 13 genera of Urothripini from the world. An account is given of the eight species in five genera known from Australia, including two new species: Baenothrips caenosus (Stannard), comb. nov. ; Baenothrips moundi (Stannard), comb. nov. ; Biconothrips reedi Stannard; Habrothrips curiosus Ananthakrishnan; Octurothrips pulcher Priesner; Stephanothrips occidentalis Hood & Williams; S. barretti, sp, nov.; S. ferrari, sp. nov. In addition, knechteli Priesner is transferred to Amphibolothrips, comb. nov., and erythrinus Pelikan is transferred to Baenothrips, comb. nov.


The invention relates to the technical field of daily chemicals, in particular to a concentrated continuous antibacterial bedding article care solution. The concentrated continuous antibacterial bedding article care solution is prepared from a synergist, essence, solvent and 20-60 parts by weight of organosilicon quaternary ammonium salt, can solve the disinfection problem of bedding articles in the washing process and the continuous antibacterial problem of fabrics such as antibacterial bedding products obtained in the industrial production process after being washed with a washing agent and can bring more reliable protection to consumers. The concentrated continuous antibacterial bedding article care solution is prepared by adopting the non-dissolving type organosilicon quaternary ammonium salt as an antibacterial agent and taking organic acid such as citric acid as a synergistic antibacterial agent and is safer, less in irritation and more durable in bacterium resisting than an existing daily fabric disinfectant. A using method of the care solution comprises the steps that the concentrated care solution is diluted by 200-600 times and added according to the bath ratio of 1:5-1:20 in the bedding article rinsing stage, the bedding articles are soaked for 10-20 minutes, spin-dried and naturally air-dried or dried, then the disinfection effect in the washing process can be achieved, and meanwhile the continuous antibacterial function can be achieved.


This paper proposes a computational method for automatically detecting suspected regions of COVID-19 from CT scans. COVID-19 has spread rapidly worldwide, infecting over 462 million people and causing over 6 million deaths. There are various methods to diagnose COVID-19, including imaging. The proposed method has five stages, including image acquisition, pre-processing, lung extraction, segmentation of suspected regions using U-Net 2.5D and Pix2Pix architectures, and result validation. The method achieved promising results, with 92% Dice for lung parenchyma segmentation, 82% Dice for suspected region segmentation using U-Net, and 71% Dice using Pix2Pix. It could potentially be integrated into clinical environments as a real aid system.


RF processing studies of 1.8-m X-band (11.4 GHz) traveling wave structures at the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA) have revealed breakdown-related damage at gradients lower than expected from earlier tests with standing wave and shorter, lower group velocity traveling wave structures. To understand this difference, a series of structures with different group velocities and lengths are being processed. In parallel, efforts are being made to improve processing procedures and to reduce structure contaminants and absorbed gases. This paper presents results from these studies.


Aging is an idiosyncratic phenomenon in each individual that converges in a series of physical and psychological changes. However, it is possible for the elderly to live well and with quality even if their organic performance is deficient. Therefore, the problem of this article is related to the growth of the appreciation of the quality of life in old age. Therefore, the objective was to verify the quality of some domains of the life of elderly people who work. Thirty-six elderly people from the city of São Paulo participated in the study, with a mean age of 71.5 and ± 5.4. Data was collected accidentally. For this, 36 identical WHOQOL questionnaires were used. To verify if there is a statistically significant difference, the non-parametric chi-square test was applied. The result was: 83.33% of seniors say they Totally Disagree with the premise that they have an unsatisfactory relationship with God and also Totally Agree that their relationship with God eliminates their feeling of loneliness; 63.33% Totally Agree with the existence of a true purpose for humanity and 47.22% of the elderly Completely accept their physical appearance. Thus, it was observed that the elderly workers are satisfied with their quality of life.


In view of a double plastic helical gear( an intermediate gear for deceleration) in some office electrical equipment,by means of Moldflow,according to the results of the simulation analysis of the best gate location,feed system and cooling system for finite element models to conduct mold-flow analysis of helical gear and numerical simulation of the injection molding process analysis were created. The feed system,cooling system and optimal process combination parameters that meet the molding requirements were obtained.The final structure assembly design of the injection mold,ejector pin,ejector sleeve and angular contact ball bearings were combined to release rotating plastic parts with toothed cavity. The optimization of automatic stripping and de-molding mechanism through three parting,the two-stage ejection mechanism with spring limit rods and limit drag plates were realized.


This paper details the results of a mixed-methods study of first-year and upper-division students' information literacy (IL) competencies. The study used a rubric and a survey, seeking to answer two research questions: 1) Is there a correlation between National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) IL survey responses and IL rubric scores? 2) Are there any indicators that correlate to improved IL performance in first-year students? Results demonstrated that first-year students reported greater engagement with IL and also indicated that instructors placed greater emphasis on IL competencies than students in upper-division courses. They also show a statistically significant impact on first-year students' rubric scores when a librarian is in the class. This finding held even when controlling for other variables. Results provide an evidence-based foundation to spur conversations with faculty and university administration on the value of IL and the role of librarians in undergraduate student success.


– In order to explore how TOEIC can help address the declining students' competencies in English, this study was pursued. More specifically, it described the TOEIC takers in terms of their program whether board or non-board and compared the listening and reading TOEIC scores when grouped according to program. It also determined the difference of responses on the listening and reading TOEIC scores when grouped according to respondents' profile; and finally proposed an English proficiency intervention program for LPU – Batangas. The study revealed that more non-board degree program students took TOEIC in the 2nd batch of 1st semester for the school year 2017 - 2018. The participants have Limited Working Proficiency ranging from basic to working proficiency. When compared, TOEIC Listening and Reading total scores of the board degree programs is higher than the non-board degree programs. The performance of the students was significantly better when grouped according to their program. Therefore, a step-up Process showing a student's progress through English Proficiency Intervention Program is proposed for the administration to consider and later evaluate its implementation.


In this article, the functions of 3D assembly design system and the concept of assembly features are introduced. On the basis of them, the importance of components location editing in 3D assembly design is illustrated. Its algorithm is also elaborated: when edit the components location, regenerate mate constraints of the corresponding components, which generated during assembling components together, then the final location of the components are updated. It抯 verified by the practice that the algorithm is stable and can satisfy the practical demand.


Introduction: Linear round-topped ridges are common features in the southern highlands of Mars (Fig. 1). They are up >500 km long and about 10s of km wide. The surface of the ridges are generally smoother than the irregularly shaped ridges and highelevation regions in the southern highlands (Fig. 1). These ridges commonly bound linear troughs radiating from the south polar ice cap. To our knowledge, the origin of the ridge morphology has not been discussed in the literature. Motivations: It has long been speculated that the southern highlands of Mars were once occupied by a single ice sheet [1]. Debate has been centered on whether the ice-transport process during the inferred glaciation event was wet-based [2] or cold-based ([3], [4]). The two competing models make specific predictions that are testable by photogeologic mapping. Specifically, the wet-based models predict the occurrence of kames, drumlins, sub-glacial channels, lateral and frontal moraine ridges, and water-assisted softsediment deformation features such as isoclinal folds [5]. In contrast, the cold-based ice-transport model predicts a pavement of angular boulders along glacialflow paths, poorly development or complete absence of lateral and frontal moraine ridges, and a lack of water-assisted soft-sediment deformation features [6]. The goal of this study is to (1) establish whether glaciation had occurred across the southern highlands and (2) to determine, if it did occur, whether glacier transport was dominated by wetor cold-based mechanism. Data and Methods: MOLA topographic data are used for locating major round-topped ridges (Fig. 1). HiRISE images are then used to examine the landforms and textures of the ridge surfaces. The results are compared against the landforms and textures of the surfaces and sedimentary/volcanic deposits in the nearby basins. Preliminary Results: Observations A matrixsupport boulder-bearing unit is widely distributed over the ridge tops near the south polar region (Figs. 2A and 2B). The boulders have an average size of 2-5 m and the grain size of the matrix material is below the resolution of HiRISE images. The boulders formed semi-circular patterns and the matrix material displays polygonal patterns, which are commonly associated with periglacial landforms on Earth. At the midlatitude, the surface of the ridges show much lower densities of boulders than those to the south closer to the south pole. Subsurface materials excavated by impact craters are dominated by layered boulder-bearing material (Fig. 2C). Closer to the northern rim of the southern highlands but before reaching the northsloping Arabia terra ramp, the surface of the roundtopped ridges contain only scattered and lineated boulder trains (Fig. 2D). Directly next to the Arabia terra, however, the surface of the ridges exposes bedrocks only without the presence of overlain boulder-bearing material. Striated surfaces are common and often associated with step-like features perpendicular to the lineation direction (Fig. 2E). Interpretation The boulder-bearing unit could either be generated by deposition of impact ejecta, glaciation, or a combination of both. The close association of the boulder unit with periglacial landforms near the polar region and with striated surfaces near the Arabia terra led us to favor a glaciation origin for the deposition of the boulder unit. However, it is possible that some of the boulders were first generated by impact processes and were later entrained into glacier flows. The lack of subglacial channels (i.e., eskers) and water-assisted soft-sediment deformation features suggests that glaciation is cold-based. This interpretation is further strengthened by the observations that the basins and troughs next to the striated ridges contain boulder-bearing materials interpreted as glacial deposits, but they do not have well-developed moraine ridges. Our work tentatively supports the notion that the southern highlands were occupied by a continuous ice sheet moving across a pre-existing landscape ([4], [7]). The presence of abundant valley networks may have resulted from in-situ melting of this ice sheet, as suggested by many earlier researchers ([8], [9]).


A coating for metals containing a polysilazane solution or a mixture of polysilazanes of general formula (1)-(SiR'R"-NR")n-(1) wherein R', R", R'" are identical or different and independently represent hydrogen or an optionally substituted alkyl-, aryl-, vinyl or (trialkoxysilyl)alkyl radical, wherein n is a whole number and n is dimensioned in such a way that polysilazane has an average molecular weight of 150-150.000 g/mol, in a solvent and at least one catalyst. The invention also relates to a method for the production of the coating.