The change in geothermal water exploitation (replacing of the free outflow by increased pumping) could cause unwished changes in geothermal water properties and consequently also some technological problems during utilization and liquidation of the used geothermal water. In the end, the long-term overexploitation of geothermal water could influence not only a single geothermal well, but consequently, the whole geothermal structure. Influence of well yield changes was studied on the example of geothermal well VZO-13 Zlatna na Ostrove (Slovakia) located in the central depression of the Danube Basin. Qualitative properties of geothermal water exploited by free outflow of 7.5 l/s were compared with those, exploited by pumping with the rate of 18.33 l/s. The value of TDS has increased from 2.5 g/l to 13 g/l. The change was accompanied by changes in gas composition and content. The total gas content increased from 274 l/m 3 to 1117 l/m 3 , nitrogen content decreased from 20 l/m 3 to 1.8 l/m 3 , CO2 content increased from 15 l/m 3 to 57 l/m 3 and the methane content increased from 239 l/m 3 to 1058 l/m 3 . The change in gas content resulted in the change of bubble point depth which decreased from 150 m (by the free outflow of 7.5 l/s) to the depth of 250 m below the surface (by the pumping rate of 18.33 l/s). Hydrodynamic calculations also documented that by the long-term abstraction of the 18 l/s, the free outflow will disappear and the piezometric head of geothermal water will decrease to the depth of 85 m below the surface.


Property specifications describe the behavior of a software system. It is often difficult to write these behavioral properties correctly using rigorous mathematical formalisms. Graphically representing the properties can overcome this difficulty and provide a more intuitive approach for describing specifications. This paper surveys techniques for visually representing the system property specifications and introduces some of the existing ideas. The two main issues discussed are : what properties can or cannot be graphically described, and the desirable characteristics of the visual approaches.


The 1984 Statistical Symposium on National Energy Issues was the tenth in a series of annual symposia bringing together statisticians and other interested parties who are actively engaged in the pursuit of solving the nation's energy problems. Initially the symposium was sponsored by US Department of Energy (DOE) and named the DOE Statistical Symposium. The symposium is organized by a steering committee made up of representatives from the national laboratories. The 1984 symposium was hosted by Pacific Northwest Laboratory, and it was organized around four special topical sessions: (1) assessing and assuring high reliability, (2) spatial statistical, (3) quantification of informed opinion, and (4) health effects of energy technologies. These were chosen by the steering committee as topics currently of high importance in energy research and data analysis. Several contributed papers were also presented. Separate abstracts have been prepared for 17 papers for inclusion in the Energy Data Base.


Objective: It was conducted to evaluate laparoscopic cholecystectomy in cirrhotics in terms of procedural safety and betteroutcome with decreased morbidity. Study Design: A retrospective, multicenteric study. Setting: Surgical Unit-III and IV DHQ Faisalabad.Period: Jan 2000 to Dec 2009. Methods: 2610 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy from January 2000 to December 2009 forcholecystitis and symptomatic gallstone disease. 61 of the patients being cirrhotics falling in child's class A&B. Evaluation of results was done byanalyzining the data in SPSS V-17. Results: of the 2610 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 61(2.3%) were cirrhotic. Ofthese 61, 47(77%) belonged to Childs group A and 14(23%) were group B. Hepatitis C was the major cause of cirrhosis (72%). Morbidity incirrhotics was 11.4% in the form of ascities leakage (57%) and port site infection (43%). Mean hospital stay was 2±1 days and the meanoperative time as 60±20 minutes in cirrhotics. Conclusions: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy offers a better post op recovery and decreasedmorbidity in Childs group A & B cirrhotics as it does in non cirrhotic patients.


A systematic procedure to simultaneously design the shape of the structure and the electrode layout, in a piezoelectric sensor o actuator moving in-plane, is described. The technique allows maximizing any electromechanical coupling or output efficiency of the transducer. Either the output current collected at the electrodes when a mechanical force is applied (sensors), or the in-plane displacement when a given voltage is applied to the electrodes (actuators) can be optimized. The method can be applied to both static and dynamic responses. Besides force and displacement sensors, due to the reciprocal relationship between piezoelectric sensors and actuators, many MEMS-based actuators like micro-grippers, surface probes, or micro-optical devices can be optimized following this procedure [1,2]. A similar approach has been desmonstrated previously in modal sensors/actuators, although restricted to the design of the electrode layout for a given structure [3]. The novel method allows the simultaneous optimization of both shapes, for electrode and structure. Finally, it is important to point out that the situation treated to date can be considered as the previous case of a more general and interesting problem in the context of modal filtering to be dealt with in the near future.


The waste generated in chemistry laboratories used in teaching, research and extension activities has been a modern concern, which in the past was neglected, but the current generation's awareness of the environmental problem has caused this issue to be rethought and practices with a more sustainable character, adopted. There is no question that reagents and solutions discarded by laboratories present themselves in concentrations inadequate to be released in conventional environments. In this sense, it is necessary to develop techniques and methods that provide the treatment and enable the emission of these effluents without causing damage to society and nature. In this work the application of crude kaolinite and its respective modifications in the literature (activated in acid and metacaulinite) in the treatment of laboratory effluent solution from a classical method of water quality analysis is carried out. These materials (crude kaolinite, acid activated and metacaulinite) were compared by factorial planning at determined intervals of time and mass in order to verify which conditions kaolinite has the best results in removing the ions in the laboratory effluent solution. The data showed that the crude species presents greater adsorption potential in relation to the modifications made, although such changes in properties are common in the specialized literature..


Objective: To investigate the status of emotion management ability in emergency nurses and to analyze its influencing factors. Method: Convenience sampling was used and 182 emergency nurses from grade Ⅲ and first-class hospitals in Qingdao City were investigated with self-designed questionnaire of emotion management of nurses in emergency department from October to November 2013. Result: The overall score of emotion management ability of nurses in emergency department was(49.59±4.83), and the dimension scores from high to low was emotional adjustment(3.57±0.48), emotional awareness(2.84±0.32), emotional using(2.79±0.37), and emotional expression(1.89±0.30). Multi- regression analysis indicated that job burnout and emotional transfer were the influencing factors of emotion management for nurses in emergency department. Conclusion: The overall emotion management ability in emergency department nurses is in the middle level. It is suggested that emotion management should be introduced into nursing field. Emergency department nurses should be trained according to their different characteristics to improve the level of emotion management ability.


Poultry production in korea is a very complex situation. Large modernized farms and old styles of small farming coexist with one another. This gives rise to a tangled epidemiological situation in terms of infectious diseases. The main poultry diseases of economic importance are colibacillosis, pullorum diseases, Mycoplasma gallisepticum infection, infectious coryza, infectious synovitis, Newcasyle disease, fowl pox, Marek's disease, avian encephalomyelitis, infectious bursal disease, infectious laryngotracheitis, infectious bronchitis and coccidiosis. Avian influenza, fowl cholera and fowl typhoid have not been reported for a few decades, and these are rated as exotic diseases.


The stability behavior of single layer lattice shell structures is the main controlling factor for their structural design,and the dynamic stability is a primary part of the stability behavior.In this paper,based on nonlinear finite element theory,the dynamic stability of the point-supported single layer intersected cylindrical latticed shell structures under the earthquake load is analyzed.In the numerical analysis,the proportional method is used to adjust the acceleration value of the earthquake load,and the B-R rule is used to determine the dynamic stability critical load of the structure.Through the analysis,the behavior of the point-supported single layer intersected cylindrical latticed shell structure is investigated,and some suggestions to their structural design are presented.


The preliminary design study of a supersonic Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) fighter is presented. A brief historical survey of powered lift vehicles was presented, followed by a technology assessment of the latest supersonic STOVL engine cycles under consideration by industry and government in the U.S. and UK. A survey of operational fighter/attack aircraft and the modern battlefield scenario were completed to develop, respectively, the performance requirements and mission profiles for the study. Three configurations were initially investigated with the following engine cycles: a hybrid fan vectored thrust cycle, a lift+lift/cruise cycle, and a mixed flow vectored thrust cycle. The lift+lift/cruise aircraft configuration was selected for detailed design work which consisted of: (1) a material selection and structural layout, including engine removal considerations, (2) an aircraft systems layout, (3) a weapons integration model showing the internal weapons bay mechanism, (4) inlet and nozzle integration, (5) an aircraft suckdown prediction, (6) an aircraft stability and control analysis, including a takeoff, hover, and transition control analysis, (7) a performance and mission capability study, and (8) a life cycle cost analysis. A supersonic fighter aircraft with STOVL capability with the lift+lift/cruise engine cycle seems a viable option for the next generation fighter.


The structural simplicity of the bryophytes exposed them easily to water stress, forcing them to have physiological and biochemical mechanisms that enable them to survive. This study evaluated the variation of total soluble sugars and reducing sugars in relation to relative water content, in Pleurozium schreberi when faced with low water content in the Paramo de Chingaza (Colombia) and under simulated conditions of water deficit in the laboratory. We found that total sugars increase when the plant is dehydrated and returned to their normal content when re-hydrated moss, this could be interpreted as a possible mechanism of osmotic adjustment and osmoprotection of the cell content and cellular structure. Reducing sugars showed no significant variation, showing that monosaccharides do not have a protective role during dehydration.


Chemicals are dispersed accidentally, deliberately, or by weather-related events. Rapid mapping of contaminant distributions is necessary to assess exposure risks and to plan remediation. Powdered aspirin or caffeine was dispersed across a concrete driveway using the exhaust port of a shop vacuum cleaner. Water-soaked, cotton-swab, wipe samples were collected to map the dispersant distribution. An autosampler/direct analysis in real time (DART [IonSense, Saugus, MA])/time-of-flight mass spectrometer was used to acquire an ion chromatogram for the most abundant ion. A semi-quantitation map for several levels of caffeine was plotted to demonstrate the feasibility of applying this technology to contaminated sites.


RIT's Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Image Generation (DIRSIG) tool allows modeling of real world scenes to create synthetic imagery for sensor design and analysis, trade studies, algorithm validation, and training image analysts. To increase model construction speed, and the diversity and size of synthetic scenes which can be generated it is desirable to automatically segment real world imagery into different material types and import a material classmap into DIRSIG. This work contributes a methodology based on standard texture recognition techniques to supervised classification of material types in oblique aerial imagery. Oblique imagery provides many challenges for texture recognition due to illumination changes with view angle, projective distortions, occlusions and self shadowing. It is shown that features derived from a set of rotationally invariant bandpass filters fused with color channel information can provide supervised classification accuracies up to 70% with minimal training data.


Soil moisture is a critical component for Earth science studies, and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data have high potential for retrieving soil moisture using backscattering models. In this study, polarimetric SAR (PALSAR: Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar) data and polarimetric decompositions including span, entropy/H/alpha, and anisotropy, in combination with surface properties resulting from field and laboratory measurements, are used to categorize the natural surface condition and discriminate the backscatter parameter in the test site for applying the inversion soil moisture retrieval. The work aims to introduce the better of two examined models in the research for soil moisture retrieval over the bare land and sparse vegetation in arid regions. After soil moisture retrieval using the two different models, the results of comparison and validation by field measurement of soil moisture have shown that the Oh model has a more realiable accuracy for soil moisture mapping, although it was very difficult to find the best model due to different characteristics in land cover. It seems the inversion model, with the field observation and polarimetric SAR data, has a good potential for extracting surface natural conditions such as surface roughness and soil moisture; however, over- and under-estimation are observed due to land cover variability. The estimation of accurate roughness and moisture data for each type of land cover can increase the accuracy of the results.


ACM Reference Format: Krasimir Nechevski and Daniel Gagiu. 2022. Real time technologies for Realistic Digital Humans: facial performance and hair simulation. In Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference Real-Time Live! (SIGGRAPH '22 Real-Time Live), August 07–11, 2022, Vancouver, BC, Canada. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1 page. https: //doi.org/10.1145/3532833.3538683


Many large companies in Romania are still functioning without an ERP system. Instead they are using traditional application systems built around the strong boundaries of specific functions: finance, selling, HR, production. An ERP will offer lots of advantages among which the integration of functionalities and support for top management decisions. Although the total cost of ownership is not small and there are some risks when implementing an ERP inside large and very large organizations, having such a system is mandatory. Choosing the right product and vendor and using a correct risk management strategy, will ensure a successful implementation.


International guidelines for medical journals are too lax and enable drug companies to conceal their contributions to scientific papers, says a personal view published in PLoS Medicine (doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001072).

Alastair Matheson, who has worked as a consultant and freelance writer for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries for more than 15 years, says that the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors need to be "fundamentally revised," because they fail to differentiate clearly between authors and contributors.

The guidelines identify authors as those who have contributed to the preparation of a study at three stages, the third of which is the final sign-off. As long as researchers make some …


It is shown that a well-known theory of random stationary processes contain contradictions. Integral representations of correlation functions and random stationary processes are investigated further. The new method of struggle with handicaps is received on the basis of the carried out researches. Method of dealing with noise leads to a new method of identification of dynamic characteristics of control objects in a class of multidimensional linear stationary models. As an example, describe an algorithm for obtaining the differential equation-wire feed control aircraft pitch, taking into account the elastic deformation of the structure of class IL -96 aircraft.


As an inhibitory amino acid similar to gama-aminobutyric acid,taurine can activate the corticostriatal pathway as an endogenous ligand for glycine receptors,establishing equilibrium between the excitatory and inhibitory processes in the brain.In mammalian brains,taurine concentrations increase during the developmental period of the brain until weaning,and subsequently decline reaching stable concentrations in adulthood.With abilities of anti-oxidative stress,anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptosis,taurine can improve the hypoxic-ischemic brain injury,promote the proliferation and differentiation of neurons and affect brain development,It needs more investigations to prove when and how taurine supplementation during gestation,baby,children or adult can assist the development of the brain and prevent the damage of the brain from hypoxic and ischemic damage.

Key words:
Inhibitory amino acid;  Brain development;  Anti-oxidative stress;  Anti-inflammatory;  Anti-apoptosis


This article presents the correlation between rheology and morphology of nanocomposite foams of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), and their blends. LDPE/EVA nanocomposites were prepared via melt mixing and then foamed using batch foaming method. To assess the rheological behavior of polymer melts, frequency sweep and creep recovery tests were done. Morphology of the samples was also studied by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that with increase in clay content, storage modulus, complex and zero shear viscosities will be increased, which affect the foam morphology. In addition, elasticity plays an important role in foaming process, in a way that samples with more elasticity percentage have the highest cell density and the lowest cell size. POLYM. COMPOS., 31:1808–1816, 2010. © 2010 Society of Plastics Engineers.


.......................................................................................................................... 27 Background ............................................................................................................................................................. 27 Aim .......................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Method .................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Results ..................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................... 28 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 28 SUBJECTS AND METHODS .................................................................................................... 29 RESULTS .............................................................................................................................. 29 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................ 33 Mechanism of injury................................................................................................................................................ 33 Presentation and pathology .................................................................................................................................... 34 Investigations .......................................................................................................................................................... 34 Management ........................................................................................................................................................... 35 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 37 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 38 PART D: APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................. 43 DRC approval letter ............................................................................................................. 43 Ethics Committee Approval letter ........................................................................................ 44


This chapter presents a discourse analysis of two bulletin board systems (BBS). The analysis was done to identify online language practices within the contextualized parameters of online communities and ongoing sociopolitical development in China. Chinese Internet users employ various discourse strategies to establish community identities, organize online interactions, and defy censorship. These practices demarcate an emergent, public, non-official discourse universe apart from but responsive to the official discourse universe of Chinese political communication. INTRODUCTION The rapid diffusion of the Internet has prompted developments in the variety and creativity of language use. Internet users often create new words or appropriate the meanings of existing words in order to express themselves and to communicate with each other. The resultant "Internet language" has unique lexical and discourse features. Existing research on communication in cyberspace, however, typically investigates such language use by analyzing the linguistic characteristics of online texts (e.g. Gao, 2006; Lin 2002; Wu 2003; Yao 2005; C. Yang, 2007). Such research, moreover, often situates language change in narrow technological contexts. In contrast, the discourse analysis of language presented here aims to understand online discourse patterns within the contextualized parameters of online communities. In so doing, the chapter also touches on the broad sociopolitical environment associated with the wide diffusion of the Internet in China. Chinese Internet users employ a variety of linguistic and discourse strategies to establish and maintain community identities, organize and sustain online interactions, and avoid and defy censorship. Moreover, unique multi-coded discourse practices on the Chinese Internet delineate an emergent public and non-official discourse universe in which Chinese individuals express themselves and debate social issues. This online discourse differs from the official discourse universe characteristic of mainstream Chinese media, which is tightly controlled by the Chinese government. In fact, online language and discourse practices on the Chinese Internet serve as both a catalyst for and a result of recent technological and social developments in China. As a result, the Internet enables the greater Chinese public to interact with, within, and against an official discourse that demands strict limitations on what one can say or do. This chapter presents a critical discourse analysis of two distinct BBS forums in two prominent online communities in China. These forums are tianya.cn and jjwxc.net, and they demonstrate vivid examples of online language practices and represent the burgeoning space of online public expression and opinion in China. The use of this approach allows the current findings presented here to be compared with similar studies in other socio-cultural contexts. Such cross-cultural comparisons are the key to understanding and encouraging cross-cultural communication on and about an increasingly multilingual Internet (Danet & Herring, 2007). Additionally, in examining these issues, the author also provides up-to-date information about Internet diffusion, user activities, and Internet regulations in China. THE CHINESE INTERNET Since its inception in 1994, the Internet access and use has diffused rapidly throughout China. Today, with over 384 million users (a group that constitutes 28.9% of the country's total population), China has surpassed the United States as the world's largest Internet market. Over 90% of Chinese Internet users connect to the online environment via broadband, and another 8% can do so through mobile phones. As of 2009, there were 3.23 million Websites registered in China, and the overwhelming majority of these sites were in Chinese (China Internet Network Information Center, CNNIC, 2010). Like elsewhere in the world, the Internet in China abounds with various user applications ranging from email, news portals, and videocasts to blogs and social networking sites. Online bulletin board systems (BBSs), however, are among the most popular online communication platforms available to Internet users in China. 80% of Chinese Websites, for example, run BBS forums (iResearch, 2007), and BBS-based online activities are popular among 40% of Chinese Internet users in comparison to only 17% of Internet users in the U.S. and 17.1% of Internet users in Japan (Tai, 2006). The total number of daily BBS page views in China, moreover, is over 1.6 billion, with 10 million posts published daily (Lu, 2008). Given their enormous reach and popularity, it is perhaps no surprise that BBS forums have effectively become "mass media" for disseminating formation and crystallizing public opinion among Chinese netizens (Xiao, 2008). A number of factors contribute to the popularity of this medium. China's Internet population, for example, is young and relatively well educated compared to the China's general population. Over 60% of the Internet users in China are under the age of 30. More than 40% of these individuals are either high school students or high school graduates, and 25% of them are working toward or have completed more advanced degrees (CNNIC, 2010). These demographic characteristics are conducive to the development of a lively online environment for public deliberation. What sets the Chinese Internet apart from the rest of the online world, however, is the government's extensive control and censorship over the massive network of users and public discourses in China. Not only does the Chinese government directly control the Internet gateway infrastructure, and therefore the online information traffic in and out of China (Xiao, 2008), but it also actively employs various tactics to police the use of the Internet in China. These monitoring tactics include coercive co-option of Internet service providers, filtering, discipline of dissident use, suppression of cyber cafes, and most recently the use of Web commentators to manipulate public opinion (Jiang, in press; Qiu, 2000; Zittrain & Edelman, 2003; Tai, 2006; MacKinnon, 2009). Yet it would be wrong to conclude that Chinese Internet users are hopelessly trapped behind a great wall of cyber-censorship. Given the ephemeral, anonymous, and networked nature of online communication, the government's control tactics cannot be deployed invariably across all online media or cyberspace access points (Benkler, 2006; Jiang, in press). Consequently, opportunities for public discourses are left open for an increasingly vocal online public in China. In fact, recent years have witnessed a growing number of social incidents that originated from and were sustained by online public opinion in China (e.g., Z. He, 2008; Tai, 2006; G. Yang, 2003, 2006; Zhao, 2008). In 2006, Baogang He coined the term "authoritarian deliberation" to recognize limited yet lively public debate and discussion of political issues in China. He argues that in contrast to democratic deliberation, which often dwells upon an idealized notion of a public sphere (Habermas, 1989), authoritarian deliberation in China takes place within the boundaries sanctioned and prescribed by the party-state. This concept has been productively applied to the study of public discussion and opinion formation on the Chinese Internet (Jiang, in press). The development of online public opinion formation and expression signals the revival of a non-official political discourse universe in China (Esarey & Qiang, 2008; Z. He, 2008). That is, two distinct discourse universes have developed since the inception of the communist regime. One is the official/government-controlled discourse universe, which features "ritualized rhetoric that is characterized by indoctrination, abstractness, vagueness and ambiguity" (Z. He, 2008, p. 183). This discourse universe functions to "legitimize and justify the mandate of the ruling Communist Party, hold the institutionalized state apparatus together, and preempt challenges to the status quo" (Z. He, 2008, p. 183). The other is the private universe characterized by non-hegemonic expressions of ordinary Chinese people (Z. He, 2008, p. 183). Previously, while the official universe dominated the public spaces of expression carried in the party-state controlled mass media, the private non-official universe primarily existed among trusted friends and family members (Esarey & Qiang, 2008). As the Internet increasingly provided a new channel for information dissemination and public opinion formation, the non-official discourse universe extended its boundaries (Z. He, 2008). As a result, these two discourse universes are increasingly interactive in contemporary Chinese political communication. The dominance of the official universe is often exposed, ridiculed, and challenged by civic-minded Chinese netizens active in the online non-official discourse universe (Z. He, 2008). LANGUAGE USE ON THE CHINESE INTERNET Although computer-mediated communication has become increasingly multimodal, online interaction still takes place mainly in textual forms. Early studies of cyberspace interactions mainly focused on identifying common characteristics of online languages and categorizing them according to medium-specific features (Androutsopoulos, 2006). For instance, in his study of "netspeak," a broad term for a homogeneous online language as distinguished from the standard natural language, Crystal (2001) found online communication was often a hybrid of written and spoken languages. Moreover, the linguistic features of online communiqués varied across different online media such as email and chat groups. Thus, studies such as Crystal's paid less attention to the socially situated discourses in which these features are embedded (Herring, 2004). Herring (1996), by contrast, argues that the study of online language practices needs to pay more attention to the interplay of contextual and social factors in addition to t


The developing of nanosystems has been intensely studied because of their efficiency when applied to pharmaceutical excipients, frequently called as drugs delivery systems. Sol-gel obtained pseudoboehmite, a fine synthetic ceramic precursor of alumina, shows itself as very promising due to its adsorption/desorption properties with pharmaceutical molecules. The use of factorial planning of two levels is very effective in preliminary studies about the possible influence of specific factors in the reagent conversion to a product. A method of pseudoboehmite obtainment was adopted, that has been already reported. The factorial planning 2³ used for the pseudoboehmite synthesis involved three variables of synthesis: temperature (A), the aluminum nitrate (Al (NO3)3·9H2O) concentration (B) and the ageing time (C). The X-ray diffraction data shows that the aging time has influence in the crystalinity of the synthesis product.


New Ways of Promoting Internationalization – What Role for Migration?This article summarizes the large number of theoretical and empirical studies on the role of migration for internationalization and discusses relevant policy implications in a Nordic context. Migration is assumed to lower costs associated with internationalization through knowledge and contacts. We survey the evidence and conclude that migration has a real potential to contribute to countries' and firms' internationalization. However, there is considerable co-influence from several factors. The potential of migration to facilitate internationalization should be better utilised in trade policy-making.


In an increasingly interconnected world, understanding and summarizing the structure of these networks becomes increasingly relevant. However, this task is nontrivial; proposed summary statistics are as diverse as the networks they describe, and a standardized hierarchy has not yet been established. In contrast, vector-valued random variables admit such a description in terms of their cumulants (e.g., mean, (co)variance, skew, kurtosis). Here, we introduce the natural analogue of cumulants for networks, building a hierarchical description based on correlations between an increasing number of connections, seamlessly incorporating additional information, such as directed edges, node attributes, and edge weights. These graph cumulants provide a principled and unifying framework for quantifying the propensity of a network to display any substructure of interest (such as cliques to measure clustering). Moreover, they give rise to a natural hierarchical family of maximum entropy models for networks (i.e., ERGMs) that do not suffer from the "degeneracy problem", a common practical pitfall of other ERGMs.


The issue of the value impairing impact of airports on nearby properties has been studied in the technical literature for decades. There is quite a wide consensus on the fact that in North America and Western Europe, the increasing noise pollution caused by airports leads to reduced property values: in general, each 1 dB growth in noise level leads to a 1% drop in property value. The purpose of this study is to find a correlation between noise levels and property value impairment (if any), based on the limited amount of available data, with regard to Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD). The examination described in this paper was conducted applying the commonly-used hedonic model, and, even though this study could not prove the correlation, it designates the direction in which necessary database-building and future research should be conducted.


Nonlinear structures which arise as Bessel beams of electromagnetic radiation propagate through a plasma are analyzed. Various mechanisms for focusing nonlinearities of the medium and their role in the spatial modulation of the field intensity are analyzed. For certain types of nonlinearities, which are identified here, a large-scale structure arises at the same time as the small-scale longitudinal structure. Photographs of spatially periodic plasma formations which have been observed in experiments on the propagation of Bessel beams, and which correspond to smalland large-structures accompanying a modulation of the beams, are presented. The selfmodulation of Bessel beams is shown to be of a universal nature, independent of the particular . mechanism responsible for the nonlinearity of the medium.


Nowadays, there are so many researches about the baby crying detection for many purposes. The right interpretation of the crying baby is notable for the medical objective so caregiver knows how to treat baby well. Babies within the first three months of age use Dustan Baby Language (DBL) to communicate. Based on some researches, there are five words to express their needs, such as "Neh" (I am hungry), "Eh" (burp is needed), "Owh/Oah" (fatigue), "Eair/Eargghh" (cramps), "Heh" (physical discomfort; feel hot or wet). Beside that purpose, smart home technology implements baby crying detection for monitoring the baby. Several stages to detect crying baby are preprocessing, feature extraction, and classification. Popular feature extractions for voice or sound recognition are Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) and Linear Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (LFCC). In this study, both of that feature extraction have been analyzed to know the appropriate condition when using one of those feature extractions. Classification methods (KNN classification, Vector Quantization, and Simple Neural Network) affect the accuracy in detecting and recognizing of baby crying. KNN classification with LFCC results better accuracy than using MFCC one with the sample data is female voice. Ifusing baby voice, there is no significant different accuracy in both of feature extractions.


Puerperal fever was a devastating disease. It affected women within the first three days after childbirth and progressed rapidly, causing acute symptoms of severe abdominal pain, fever and debility. Although it had been recognized from as early as the time of the Hippocratic corpus that women in childbed were prone to fevers, the distinct name, "puerperal fever" appears in the historical record only in the early eighteenth century.


Rating: General Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: M/M Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) All Media Types Relationship: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark (background) Character: James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, OMC Additional Tags: Sickfic, Sick Character, the flu used to kill lots of people, Bucky doesn't know the flu can be easily treated, bucky thinks his nephew is going to die of the flu Stats: Published: 2019-02-18 Words: 2092


This study aims to investigate the effect of uncertainty perception and future time reference on the investment decisions and the liquidity of 1,883 European micro and small enterprises (MSEs) during their first years of existence. It presents a novel method for measuring owner-managers' perception of uncertainty based on whether inflectional morphology is used to convey the future tense in their language, as determined by the country where the MSEs are located and their owner-managers' nationality. The results of this novel method of measurement suggest that when MSE owner-managers speak a language with an intense perception of uncertainty there is a positive effect on the MSEs' tangibility and a negative effect on the accounts receivable (debtors) ratio, cash ratio, and liquidity. The results present a new explanation and fresh evidence for the impact of MSE owner-managers' characteristics on corporate investment decisions. The findings also provide MSE owner-managers, entrepreneurs and regulators with suggestions on how to assist early-stage MSEs. The findings are robust to the inclusion of several owner-manager characteristics, corporate-specific variables, macroeconomic factors, and Hofstede's cultural dimensions.


Roaming between networks of different protocols and structures is one of the common situations, especially with the advances in the Internet technology, and the available services that users need to constantly access for their daily life. In this paper, we present the development of a software solution that is deployed to permit a seamless roaming between the two wireless network protocols 802.11b (WiFi), a wireless local area network, which is increasingly being used in homes and offices, and GPRS, a wireless wide area network which works as a data extension to the GSM mobile phone network. The solution is implemented and tested in hardware. The proposed solution tested for several applications demonstrates a reduction on network error swapping and shows higher performance.


The article discusses key meta-theoretical presuppositions that are key for urban planning to be possible and meaningful, and points to critical realism as a fertile philosophical position for research within the areas of urban planning and development. Several among the currently most influential positions within philosophy of science are, if taken seriously, incompatible with the production of the knowledge base necessary for urban planning to play any meaningful role. For ontological reasons, critical realism considers interdisciplinary integration as necessary in order to arrive at valid knowledge, while competing positions such as positivism and post-structuralism neglect and exclude important parts of reality. Critical realism recognizes the independent causal powers of both agents and social structures (including material/spatial structures) and hence provides a suitable base for investigating causal relationships between social conditions, urban spatial structures and the actions of agents (including those of the planners). Furthermore, a critical realist view on what kinds of research-based predictions are possible matches the qualitative impact assessments of alternative solutions and the 'soft', context-adapted estimates of the magnitude of effects typical within urban planning.


Exposure effect relationships for environmental noise annoyance have been based on Ldn or Lden, two measures based on energy averaging LAeq. For event based sources, typically, event sound level is traded for number of events in modeling the impact of noise on annoyance. Clearly, a more unified theory for noise annoyance is needed to account fully for the effect of such trade-offs. The model presented in this paper is grounded in the hypothesis that noise annoyance is primarily determined by noticed intruding sounds. The model starts by careful prediction of the occurrence of 'notice-events'. It takes into account signal to noise ratio of the target sound with respect to the ambient (natural) background level, the indoor background level, the activity the listener is engaged in, etc. Noticed events are appraised via an emotional and a cognitive path. As a test case, our model is applied to annoyance and acoustic data from a field experiment in a natural setting in which participants were engaged in other activities than focused listening to sounds. Target sounds were train noise with varying event intensity and number of events, and free flow road traffic noise from highways and roads. The outdoor background levels were 39-49 dBA.


Postoperative Sexual Concerns and Functioning in Patients Who Underwent Lysis of Vaginal Adhesions Veronica Suzuki, MD, Hope Haefner, MD, Claudia Kraus Piper, ACSW, Casey O_Gara, RN, ACSW, Barbara Reed, MD, MSPH. University of Michigan Center for Vulvar Diseases. Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Introduction: Lichen planus affects the genital skin and mucous membranes producing vaginal scarring which can result in complete closure of the vagina. Surgery for lichen planus consists of opening the vagina under anesthesia, followed by long term vaginal dilation. This study sexual functioning in women who have undergone lysis of vaginal adhesions compared to women without this disorder or surgery. Methods: 15 women (age range 50Y74) consisting of 8 patients with lichen planus underwent lysis for vaginal adhesions and 7 age-matched controls. The 8 women with lichen planus answered a mailed 12 page, 75 item questionnaire about health, sexual function (utilizing the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI)) and satisfaction with surgical outcomes 6 months to 6 years from their surgery. They were compared to 7 age-matched normal controls, who completed identical questions for sexual function. Results: Compared to controls, patients with vaginal adhesions and lichen planus who had surgery scored lower in the lubrication (2.2 vs 4.8, p = 0.002) and satisfaction (3.3 vs. 5.0, p = 0.07) subscores of the FSFI, but did not differ in total FSFI score, or the desire, arousal, orgasm, or discomfort subscores. Cases were more likely to be using lubricants (100.0% of cases vs. 57.1% of controls, p = 0.08) and dilators (100% of cases and 28.6% of controls, p = 0.007). Among those having intercourse (5 cases and 7 controls), there was no significant difference between cases and controls in never or almost never having pain during (60.0% vs. 57.1%, p = 0.54) or after (60% vs. 71.4%, p = 0.35) intercourse. Seven of the eight (87.5%) cases answered they felt happy with the surgery. 37.5% of cases reported satisfaction with their sex life compared to 85.7% of controls (p = 0.08 1-sided). Conclusion: In follow-up, womenwhohaveundergonelysisofvaginaladhesionsforlichenplanusare similar to women without this disorder in pain during and after intercourse, and in several sexual functioning subscales. They continue to report increased use of lubricants and dilators.


The recently discovered plasma regime characterised by stationary electron temperature oscillations [1,2], has been the object of further experimental investigation and extensive modelling by the integrated plasma simulation code CRONOS. The simulations have revealed the nature of the temperature oscillations, which originate from a non-linear coupling of temperature and current density profiles, of the predator-prey type. Various kinds of models are used inside CRONOS to produce oscillations which characteristics are close to the experimental observations. This phenomenon appears as a sharp test for transport theories, in particular those concerning the formation of internal transport barriers. Finally, recent experimental observations of the interplay between these stationary electron temperature oscillations and MHD activity are presented.


Most observers are agreed that the changes in the gastric mucosa which, individually and together, constitute so-called chronic gastritis. are frequently encountered in adults (Hillenbrand,' Faber,2 Guiss and Stewart,8 Hebbel 4). While it is recognized that such deviations from the normal may be from focal to diffuse in distribution, determinations of the incidence of gastritis in otherwise normal stomachs have referred largely to the qualitative features of the process and there is uncertainty as to the frequency with which varying distributions of the changes may be found. That varying distributions do exist was emphasized by Hillenbrand in a detailed study of 2 I stomachs from patients over 35 years of age. As part of a study of the relationship between chronic gastritis and gastric cancer it seemed desirable to have more information concerning the topography of gastritis in stomachs otherwise without disease. Gastritis, commonly found with cancer of the stomach, may vary in its extent (Hebbel) and the significance of that variation can be interpreted only in relation to similar processes found in stomachs without cancer. This paper presents the results of a survey of a group of stomachs with reference to the distribution of the gastritic changes encountered.


Schools are to be strengthened as the heart of health. To intervene for better outcomes in both health and academic achievement, identifying factors that impact children, is essential. The course of a child's development arises from an interaction of congenital, familial, cultural, and environmental factors. These and a wide range of other factors play a crucial role in cognitive development and a child's learning abilities. Cognitive performance is often related to physical health. Thus, children who experience medical distress are at risk for low academic achievement. Moreover, improper health impedes participation in daily school activities. Frequent absence, discomfort or pain, movement limitations, sleepiness, physical and psychological side effects of received medications among other factors limit students' abilities to engage in the education process. In addition to the deleterious outcomes related to school functioning, children with medical conditions experience restrictions in developing critical emotional bonds not only with their parents, but also with their teachers. As research says, student health predicts low educational level, social and economic inequalities, and results in behavior problems in adulthood. Focusing on the crucial role health occupies in students' educational development, it is important for school authorities to become responsible and make leading efforts to improve students' health and consequently decrease the risk associated with various medical issues. Students who are unhealthy are at higher risk for school problems than students who are free from medical problems. Students with poor health have a higher probability of school failure, grade retention, and dropout. Student health and academic performance is a serious issue. Common manageable factors of student health are nutrition, maintaining healthy weight, and physical fitness. Through a comprehensive literature review the effect of health on school achievement and nutrition, maintaining healthy weight, and physical fitness are examined. Furthermore, the efficacy of educational programs to improve nutrition, maintain healthy weight, and increase physical fitness is evaluated. This paper not only deals with the effect of health on academic performance in High School students, but also deals with those areas which are responsible for future research and practice for school authorities. Immense efforts are also made to study the relationship and association between health assets and academic achievement, thus making great efforts to reduce inequalities in both academic achievement and student health.


This work aims to develop an exoskeleton structure that complies with a set of military requirements in line with the current operational environment demands. A design process was implemented so that these requirements could be identified and embedded in the development of a functional prototype suited for laboratory trials. The prototype was manufactured using 3D scanning and additive manufacturing technologies, and a functional evaluation of the developed solution was performed by 30 subjects to assess its suitability for military applications. Results show that the developed design is suitable for military activities, incorporating requirements addressing ergonomics, range of motion and comfort. Also, additive manufacturing is suitable for developing tailor-made exoskeleton structures, allowing for the prompt production of affordable personalized parts.


Christine L. Bailey,1 Leandro Liborio,2 Giuseppe Mallia,2 Stanko Tomić,1 and Nicholas M. Harrison1,2 1Computational Science and Engineering Department, STFC Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington, Cheshire WA4 4AD, United Kingdom 2Thomas Young Centre, Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom Received 18 March 2010; revised manuscript received 28 April 2010; published 28 May 2010


Abstract This historical prospective study is aimed at the underscoring of the independent effect of a set of familial characteristics on age at time of death broken down into ten age groups (from 0 through 90 years and over). The study is concerned with the small rural population of Isle‐aux‐Coudres, Quebec. The following familial traits were analyzed: parental consanguinity, maternal and paternal age at time of childbirth, sex, birth order, the interval since the previous birth, month of birth, viability of the preceding infant, the number of deceased family members in the age groups 0–1, 1–4 and more than S years at the time of the child's birth. A multiple discriminant analysis has been worked out first on a birth cohort (1880–99) with no underreporting of infant mortality (Stage 1). Subsequently, four other cohorts were analyzed in the same way (Stage 2). Stage 1 analysis opposes the two extremities of the life span to the age group 5–69 years, and points to maternal age, among other less important v...


Solubility is an important determinant in drug liberation and hence drug absorption, which plays a key role in oral bioavailability of formulations. The dissolution rate of a drug directly depends upon its solubility. Most of the new drugs have poor water solubility; thereby pose a difficulty in formulating into drug delivery systems. Therefore, solubility enhancement of poorly water soluble drugs is one of the necessary preformulation steps in the pharmaceutical product development research. Solid dispersion is a unique and promising approach for enhancing the dissolution characteristics and oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. The present review highlights portrayal of solid dispersions, its types including eutectic mixtures and solid solutions, method of preparation and also the useful carriers for the preparation of solid dispersions. Furthermore, the wide research conducted hitherto on solid dispersions for enhancing solubility of different efficacious drugs, challenges encountered in the development of solid dispersions and recent advancements to overcome its pitfalls have also been elaborated.


Vertical ocean loading amplitudes are determined by analysis of IRIS geodetic VLBI data. The 4 nearly diurnal (K1, P1, O1, Q1) and 4 nearly semidiurnal (K2, S2, M2, and N2) component amplitudes can be inferred from the data with accuracies of 1–2 mm. Uncertainties of total displacements can approach 1 cm. Empirically determined total displacements are considerably larger than the values calculated from two geophysical models. The Scherneck model is found to give a better representation of VLBI delay data than the model of Pagiatakis by about 3 mm in residuals at 6 sites. Empirical estimation of the ocean loading amplitudes reduces χ2 by 3067 for the 96 additional degrees of freedom in a fit to 273,000 IRIS VLBI observations, and reduces the RMS residuals by 3 mm relative to a fit using the fixed Scherneck model. Vertical ocean loading amplitudes can thus be inferred from VLBI data at a level which improves the overall model, but detailed assessment of individual tidal components is presently obscured by incomplete modeling at the tidal frequencies.


Context: Glycemic variability plays a major role in the development as well as the progression of cardiovascular disease in diabetes. Aims: We compared the mean plasma glucose and glycemic variability (GV) parameters on and off hemodialysis (HD) in patients with End-Stage Diabetic Nephropathy (ESDN) and End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Settings and Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods and Material: We included 23 ESDN and 6 ESRD patients who underwent continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) (iPro2) for 6 days and a glucose-free dialysate for 4 hours thrice weekly. EasyGV software was used to calculate the variability parameters {mean glucose, Time in range (TIR), Time above and below range (TAR/TBR), CV (Coefficient of Variation) and MAGE}. Statistical Analysis Used: The quantitative data variables were expressed by using mean and SD. Unpaired t-test was used to compare the two groups. P value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: In the ESDN group, TIR was significantly lower whereas TAR and TBR were significantly higher on HD day. MAGE (101.88 ± 40.5 v/s 89.46 ± 30.0, P < 0.007) and CV (29.41% v/s 21.67%) were higher on HD day. Subjects with pre-HD glucose values ≥180 mg/dl (Group B, n = 24) had a rapid drop with a delayed higher rise in glucose values than those with pre-HD glucose values <180 mg/dl (Group A, n = 27). Ten patients had 13 episodes of hypoglycemia. The CGM parameters were not different in the ESRD group. Conclusions: Targeting a pre- HD glucose value <180 mg/dl could be a good strategy to prevent larger fluctuation during and post HD.


Maize production and productivity are hampered by global climate change. The primary concern of crop breeders always have been about high and stable yields. The genotype × environment interaction alters the relative grain yield of genotypes in different environments and makes it difficult to select superior genotypes. Therefore the Eberhart and Russell model for genotype × environment interaction analysis was taken up in the present study for the prediction of performances and phenotypic stability of the single cross hybrids synthesized by crossing 15 inbreds with 3 testers in Line × Tester mating design. All the 18 parents, 45 F1s and 3 checks were evaluated for fifteen quantitative and qualitative traits over three different environments viz., optimal environment, drought stress environment at tasseling stage, and drought stress environment at grain filling stage, during spring 2021, in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The ANOVA on the basis of pooled data unraveled significance of mean sum of squares due to genotypes and due to genotype × environment interaction which affirms existence of variability and interplay between genotypes and their environments. Out of 45, 39 hybrids expressed non-significant deviation from regression (S2 di) unveiling their higher predictability over changing environments for grain yield per plant. The hybrid L15×T2 had higher mean value than population mean along with regression coefficient equivalent to unity (bi=1) hence was recognized as highly stable and superior for grain yield per plant, and suitable for cultivation in different kinds of environments. Among other hybrids, L6×T2, L14×T2, L1×T3, L8×T1, L10×T1, L14×T1, L15×T1, L12×T2, L4×T3, L15×T3 were noted stable in performance over the environments for flowering traits. While L10×T2, L2×T2, L15×T2, L11×T1, L3×T2 and L5×T2 were recognized stable in performance for higher yield and its component traits over the environments.


Abstract Context Guilu-Erxian-Glue (GLEXG) is a traditional Chinese formula used to improve male reproductive dysfunction. Objective To investigate the ferroptosis resistance of GLEXG in the improvement of semen quality in the oligoasthenospermia (OAS) rat model. Materials and methods Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were administered Tripterygium wilfordii polyglycoside, a compound extracted from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F. (Celastraceae), at a dose of 40 mg/kg/day, to establish an OAS model. Fifty-four SD rats were randomly divided into six groups: sham, model, low-dose GLEXG (GLEXGL, 0.25 g/kg/day), moderate-dose GLEXG (GLEXGM, 0.50 g/kg/day), high-dose GLEXG (GLEXGH, 1.00 g/kg/day) and vitamin E (0.01 g/kg/day) group. The semen quality, structure and function of sperm mitochondria, histopathology, levels of oxidative stress and iron, and mRNA levels and protein expression in the Keap1/Nrf2/GPX4 pathway, were analyzed. Results Compared with the model group, GLEXGH significantly improved sperm concentration (35.73 ± 15.42 vs. 17.40 ± 4.12, p < 0.05) and motility (58.59 ± 11.06 vs. 28.59 ± 9.42, p < 0.001), and mitigated testicular histopathology. Moreover, GLEXGH markedly reduced the ROS level (5684.28 ± 1345.47 vs. 15500.44 ± 2307.39, p < 0.001) and increased the GPX4 level (48.53 ± 10.78 vs. 23.14 ± 11.04, p < 0.01), decreased the ferrous iron level (36.31 ± 3.66 vs. 48.64 ± 7.74, p < 0.05), and rescued sperm mitochondrial morphology and potential via activating the Keap1/Nrf2/GPX4 pathway. Discussion and conclusions Ferroptosis resistance from GLEXG might be driven by activation of the Keap1/Nrf2/GPX4 pathway. Targeting ferroptosis is a novel approach for OAS therapy.


Recovering 3D face models from in-the-wild face images has numerous potential applications. However, properly modeling complex lighting effects in reality, including specular lighting, shadows, and occlusions, from a single in-the-wild face image is still considered as a widely open research challenge. In this paper, we propose a convolutional neural network based framework to regress the face model from a single image in the wild. The outputted face model includes dense 3D shape, head pose, expression, diffuse albedo, specular albedo, and the corresponding lighting conditions. Our approach uses novel hybrid loss functions to disentangle face shape identities, expressions, poses, albedos, and lighting. Besides a carefully-designed ablation study, we also conduct direct comparison experiments to show that our method can outperform state-of-art methods both quantitatively and qualitatively.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the primary school teachers' awareness of the value of creativity in education, and their attitudes in applying creativity in their classes. A total of 7 primary school teachers from a primary school in Izmir participated in this study. The data were gathered by the focus group technique that included 7 questions. The findings indicated that the participant teachers all agreed upon the importance of creativity in education, and tried to have creative classes. However they significantly emphasized that they had some important barriers both from parents and from school administration and the system. This can be explained by the cultural values of Turkish society in which child has been socialized into collectivist values.


We present a time-domain method for estimating the number and delay times for overlapping signals with a priori known shape, from noisy observations received by a sensor. The method is based on a recently developed eigenstructure technique for multiple direction finding with sensor arrays and exploits the structure of the received signal covariance matrix. The method presented also solves more general problems of signal detection and resolution.


THE LONDON HOSPITAL. H-?ITS FINANCIAL NEEDS AND HOW TO MEET THEM. Last week we dealt with the development and Present condition of the London Hospital, and also Published some historical facts which have excited general interest. To-day we propose to consider 'he financial position of this great institution. Twenty years ago the financial condition of all the v?luntaiy hospitals of London was unsound, and '?here were many people who, whilst believing in the


Objective To characterize postprandial glucose excursion in subjects with different impaired glucose tolerance using continuous glucose monitoring system(CGMS).Methods Assessed by repeated 75g oral glucose tolerance test(75g-OGTT),88 individuals in Beijing were divided into 5 groups: normal glucose tolerance group(NGT,n=22),isolated impaired fasting glycemia group(I-IFG,n=15),isolated impaired glucose tolerance group(I-IGT,n=19),combined IFG/IGT group(n=11) and newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes group(T2DM,n=21).Their blood glucose levels were monitored by CGMS for 72h.The characteristics of postprandial glycemic excursion were studied based on peak postprandial glucose(PPG) concentration,time to PPG(Δt),postprandial glucose excursion(PPGE),duration of postprandial glucose excursion(DPE),area under curve(AUC) and incremental area under the curve(ΔAUC) among different groups.Results The values of PPG and PPGE were significantly higher in I-IGT,IFG/IGT and T2DM groups than in NGT and I-IFG groups.DPE delayed obviously in I-IGT and T2DM groups.Δt was longer in T2DM group than that in NGT group(P0.05).The contribution of postprandial glucose to the whole-day hyperglycemia(ΔPAUC1) varied among groups,showing decreased value with deterioration of glucose regulation.Moreover,ΔPAUC1 readout in I-IFG,IFG/IGT and T2DM groups was significantly different from that in NGT group.When HbA1C ≥ 7%,the contribution of fasting glucose to overall glucose increment was greater than that of postprandial glucose.And ΔPAUC1 showed significant difference compared with HbA1C5.5 group.HbA1C was found to be positively correlated with the incremental area under the curve of postprandial glucose(AUC1,r=0.743),of overall diurnal glucose(AUC2,r=0.687),and of fasting glucose(AUC3,r=0.504),and with 2-h postprandial blood glucose(2hPBG,r=0.708) and mean of the peak postprandial glucose(MPPG,r=0.732)(P0.001).With HbA1C as dependent variable and AUC and plasma glucose level as arguments,it was shown by multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis that AUC1 and AUC2,2hPBG and PPG after lunch entered two final equations(R2 value was 0.552 and 0.614,respectively,P0.01).Conclusions Among three components of IGR,the PPGE in I-IGT group is similar to that in T2DM and NGT groups.Except I-IFG group,the contribution of postprandial plasma glucose increments to the whole-day hyperglycemia varies among groups,showing decreased value with deterioration of glucose regulation.When HbA1C7%,postprandial glycemia should be concerned and 2hPBG may act as a simple evaluation index.On the other hand,if HbA1C≥7%,more attention must be paid to control fasting plasma glucose.


Trajectory planning plays an important role in task operations of industrial robots. A novel online method for generating rhythmic Point-to-Point (PTP) trajectories is presented in this paper to meet the requirements of smoothness and online trajectory transition for repetitive PTP tasks of industrial manipulators. This method is inspired by the biological concept of Central Pattern Generator (CPG), which underlies most rhythmic activities in animal bodies. A modified CPG model with simple structure is designed based on traditional harmonic trajectory for producing the desired joint angles of robots. The pick-and-place task, as a representative example of PTP operations, is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the novel method. The simulation results show that the method is capable of generating smooth trajectory in Cartesian space without any other additional restrictive conditions while only requires solving the inverse kinematics of the initial and final points. Furthermore, it enables stable online trajectory transition with jerk constraints by simply modulating the CPG parameters, which reduces the operation time and is beneficial to increasing the productive efficiency.


Scrub typhus.jmains a major cause of febrile illness throughout the AsiaPacific reio lay in diagnosis or the ab epce of a differential diagnosis has been shown to result in significant mortality:.'The specific diagnosis of this disease is generally based on retrospective serodiagnosis. because clinically useful. rapid methods for cultivation and identification of the etiologic agent. Rickettsia tsutsugamushi, arc not available. The recent introduction of gene amplification by the polymerasZ chain reaction (PCR) has proven useful in the diagnosis of =a infectious dise'fs for which the agents are difficult to grow or detect.-e laborat~o;ymouse provides -wet*lfablished animal model for the study of scrub typhu.1i Using the muriie scrub typhus model and DNA primers derived from the DNA sequenccajof thie 56-kilodalton (kDa) antigen of the Karp strain of R. tsutsugamushi;ITwe have developed a rapid direct-agent detection system for R. tsutsugamushi which is based on PCR amplification of rickettsial DNA. We present here the first application of PCR methodology used for the detection of the etiologic agent of scrub typhus and show that its sensitivity and specificity are adequate for the detection of the sparse numbers of rickettsiae present during infection. Ts


DISCLOSURES
No funding supported the writing of this commentary. Brummel has consulted, presented, or was engaged in an advisory board for UCB, Boerhinger Ingelheim, Pfizer, and Lilly. Sorenson has nothing to disclose.


The extensions of the Riemannian structure include the Finslerian one, which provided in recent years successful models in various fields like Biology, Physics, GTR, Monolayer Nanotechnology and Geometry of Big Data. The present article provides the necessary notions on tensor spectral data and on the HO-SVD and the Candecomp tensor decompositions, and further study several aspects related to the spectral theory of the main symmetric Finsler tensors, the fundamental and the Cartan tensor. In particular, are addressed two Finsler models used in Langmuir-Blodgett Nanotechnology and in Oncology. As well, the HO-SVD and Candecomp decompositions are exemplified for these models and metric extensions of the eigenproblem are proposed.


Abstract (1) Urogenital tuberculosis is of hematogenous origin and is never primary. (2) Tuberculosis is not limited to the genitourinary tract; therefore close cooperation with the internist is essential. (3) Miliary lesions may cause tubercle bacilluria with normal pyelographic findings. (4) Healing of renal tuberculosis by calcification ("true autonephrectomy") or by slough of caseous material rarely occurs. (5) The commonly employed cleansing and sterilizing agents fail to remove acid-fast bacilli from ureteral catheters, a possible source of diagnostic error. (6) Bilateral retrograde pyelography is not contraindicated in tuberculosis. (7) Sanatorium care is important, pre- and postoperatively. (8) Surgical details of nephrectomy and ureterectomy include: proper preparation, anesthesia, transfusion, oxygen therapy and atraumatic technic (rib resection, removal of perirenal fat, ureterectomy). (9) Sinuses, fistulas, amyloidosis, cystitis, meningitis, postoperative spreads and bilateral renal tuberculosis are discussed. (10) Cutaneous ureterostomy plays an important role as a palliative procedure. (11) Nephrostomy has been found to be safe and beneficial when indicated. (12) Genital tuberculosis occurred in 14.4 per cent of male autopsies, of which 95.2 per cent showed prostatic involvement. (13) Medical treatment of genital tuberculosis is unsatisfactory. (14) Radical removal of the entire genital tract (Young) appears logical for patients with a satisfactory pulmonary status. No favorable case has been admitted on our service. (15) Epididymectomy or orchidectomy is advisable to prevent traumatizing of these exposed tuberculous foci. (16) Surgery for the tuberculosis of the external genitals requires attention to anesthesia, prevention of spillage, removal of sinus tract, preservation of blood supply, proper dependent drainage, and satisfactory scrotal support.


OBJECTIVE
The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) is widely used to assess cognitive performance in clinical settings. However, availability of normative data for Revised Version of PASAT (PASAT-R) is often constrained by sample size among elderly individuals. In this study, we sought to establish normative data for PASAT-R for elderly individuals in Taiwan.

METHODS
This study recruited 166 individuals aged over 65 years stratified in accordance with the general population in terms of demographic characteristics, including age, educational level, and sex. We assessed PASAT-R test results in terms of psychometric properties.

RESULTS
PASAT-R demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Performance on PASAT-R was correlated with performance on the criterion tests. Performance on PASAT-R was negatively correlated with age and positively correlated with educational level. This study provides normative data for PASAT-R for elderly Taiwanese individuals.

CONCLUSIONS
PASAT-R is applicable to neuropsychological assessment among elderly Taiwanese individuals.


Origins of South Yemeni revolutionary strategy insurgency in Oman and the Gulf subversion in Northern Yemen participating in a Pro-Soviet Bloc.


This paper proposes a new design of printed monopole antenna array for WLAN applications. In order to get rid of the parasitic effects of a uniform ground plane on the array feeding network, the metal shape is specifically cut out to minimize its interaction with the monopole while ensuring the proper operation of the array feeding network. Simulations of a 2-by-2, monopole antenna array with the optimized ground plane shape shows that the array performance is significantly improved with miniaturization of ground structure. These results are validated by the measurements showing that the unique shape of the ground structure increases the antenna gain by 1.75 dB and decreases the side lobe level by 5.30 dB with respect to a standard uniform ground.


The cost of developing computer software consumes an increasing portion of many organizations' budgets. As this trend continues, the capability to estimate the effort and schedule required to develop a candidate software product becomes increasingly important. COSTMODL is an automated software development estimation tool which fulfills this need. Assimilating COSTMODL to any organization's particular environment can yield significant reduction in the risk of cost overruns and failed projects. This user-customization capability is unmatched by any other available estimation tool. COSTMODL accepts a description of a software product to be developed and computes estimates of the effort required to produce it, the calendar schedule required, and the distribution of effort and staffing as a function of the defined set of development life-cycle phases. This is accomplished by the five cost estimation algorithms incorporated into COSTMODL: the NASA-developed KISS model; the Basic, Intermediate, and Ada COCOMO models; and the Incremental Development model. This choice affords the user the ability to handle project complexities ranging from small, relatively simple projects to very large projects. Unique to COSTMODL is the ability to redefine the life-cycle phases of development and the capability to display a graphic representation of the optimum organizational structure required to develop the subject project, along with required staffing levels and skills. The program is menu-driven and mouse sensitive with an extensive context-sensitive help system that makes it possible for a new user to easily install and operate the program and to learn the fundamentals of cost estimation without having prior training or separate documentation. The implementation of these functions, along with the customization feature, into one program makes COSTMODL unique within the industry. COSTMODL was written for IBM PC compatibles, and it requires Turbo Pascal 5.0 or later and Turbo Professional 5.0 for recompilation. An executable is provided on the distribution diskettes. COSTMODL requires 512K RAM. The standard distribution medium for COSTMODL is three 5.25 inch 360K MS-DOS format diskettes. The contents of the diskettes are compressed using the PKWARE archiving tools. The utility to unarchive the files, PKUNZIP.EXE, is included. COSTMODL was developed in 1991. IBM PC is a registered trademark of International Business Machines. Borland and Turbo Pascal are registered trademarks of Borland International, Inc. Turbo Professional is a trademark of TurboPower Software. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Turbo Professional is a trademark of TurboPower Software.


The aim of this paper is to automatically define the similarity I)etween two nouns which are generally used in various domains. By these similarities, we can construct a large and general thesaurus. In applications of natural language processing, it is necessary to appropriately measure the similarity between two nouns. The similarity is usually calculated from a thesaurus. Since a handmade thesaurus is not slfitahle for machine use, and expensive to compile, automatical construction of~a thesaurus has been a t tempted using corpora (Hindle, 1990). llowever, the thesaurus constructed by such ways does not contain so many nouns, and these nouns are specified by the used corpus. In other words, we cannot construct the general thesaurus from only a corpus. This can be regarded as data sparseness problem that few nouns appear in the corpus. 9b overcome data sparseness, methods to estimate the distribution of unseen eooecurrence frorn the distribution of similar words in the seen cooccurrence has been proposed. Brown et al. proposed a class-based n-gram model, which generalizes the n-gram model, to predict a word from previous words in a text (Brown et al., 1992). They tackled data sparseness by generalizing the word to the class which contains the word. Pereira ct al. also basically used the above method, but they proposed a soft clustering scheme, in which membership of a word in a class is probabilistic (Pereira et al., 1993). Brown and Pereira provide the clustering algorithm assigning words to proper classes, based on their own models. I)agan eL al. proposed a similarity-based model in which each word is generalized, not to its own specific class, but to a set of words which are most similar to it (Dagan et al., 1993). Using this model, they successfully l)redieted which unobserved cooccurrenccs were more likely than others, and estimated the probability of the cooecurrences (Dagan et al., 1994). However, because these schemes look for similar words in the corpus, the number of similarities which we can define is rather small in comparison with the nunlber of similarities for pairs of the whole. The scheme to look for similar words in the corpus has already taken the influence of data sparseness. In this paper, we propose a method distinct from the above methods, which use a handmade thesaurus to find similar words. The proposed method avoids data sparseness by estimating undefined similarities from the similarity in the thesaurus and similarities defined by the corpus. Thus, the obtained similarities are the same in nmuber as the similarities in the thesaurus, and they reflect the particularity of the domain to which the used corpus belongs. The use of a tlmsaurus can obviously set up the similar word independent of the tort)us, and has an advantage that some ambiguities in analyzing the corpus are solved. We have experimented by using Bunrui-goihyon(Bmlrui-goi-hyon, 1994), which is a kind of Japanese handmade thesaurus, and the corpus which consists of Japanese economic newspaper 5 years articles with about 7.85 M sentences. We evaluate the appropriateness of the obtained similarities.


The natural grazing land of the semiarid region of central Argentina is subject to long and intense periods of drought during the hot season. The aim of the present study was to analyze the pattern of leaf water status for the cool-season grassesPiptochaetium napostaense and Stipa tenuis and the warm-season grass Pappophorum subbulbosum, which are important forage species in this grazing area. Leaf water potential, soil water potential, and relative humidity were measured during 1983 and 1984. At soil water potentials above -0.5 MPa, the leaf water potential of the 3 species showed high values at 0800, after nocturnal rehydratation, and minimum values at 1400, coincident with maximum atmospheric water demand. P. subbulbosum showed a greater capacity to withstand the drop in water potential at 1400 than did the cool-season species. During periods of low soil water potential the range of daily variation in leaf water potential was reduced in the 3 species because of marked decreases in the maximum and minimum values. Leaf water potential in the cool-season species correlated better with the deficit of atmospheric vapor pressure than with soil water potential. Leaf water potential of P. subbulbosum on the other hand showed a higher correlation with soil water potential than with atmospheric vapor pressure deficit.


The invention discloses a preparation method of D-glucosamine sulfate sodium chloride salt. The preparation method comprises the following steps of: dissolving D-glucosamine hydrochloride in a solvent; adding a sodium-containing alkaline substance into the obtained solution at the temperature of minus 40-100 DEG C, or adding the sodium-containing alkaline substance into the obtained solution under the protection of one or more protective gas(s) of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and inert gases; adding the sodium-containing alkaline substance into the mixed solution at the maintained temperature of minus 40-90 DEG C; adding sulfuric acid into the obtained solution at the temperature of minus 25 to 90 DEG C for salifying; carrying out complexation reaction to obtain a D-glucosamine sulfate sodium chloride salt complex; and filtering and crystallizing to obtain the D-glucosamine sulfate sodium chloride salt solid. The method is novel and unique and simple and reasonable in technology, product quality is good and purity is high, and completely reaches the standard of United States patent (USP) 34 edition pharmacopeia.


We propose and evaluate two new schemes for providing differentiated services in optical burst switched (OBS) networks. The two new schemes are suitable for implementation in OBS networks using just-in-time (JIT) or just-enough-time (JET) scheduling protocols. The first scheme adjusts the size of the search space for a free wavelength based on the priority level of the burst. A simple equation is used to divide the search spectrum into two parts: a base part and an adjustable part. The size of the adjustable part increases as the priority of the burst becomes higher. The scheme is very easy to implement and does not demand any major software or hardware resources in optical cross-connects. The second scheme reduces the dropping probability of bursts with higher priorities through the use of different proactive discarding rates in the network access station (NAS) of the source node. Our extensive simulation tests using JIT show that both schemes are capable of providing tangible quality of service (QoS) differentiation without negatively impacting the throughput of OBS networks.


ABSTRACT This paper explores the relationship between workforce competence, migration, and quality improvement in the Asia-Pacific through analysis of Early Childhood Education (ECE) policy texts from three East Asia Summit countries. Content (word level) analysis of salient policy texts was undertaken to address two questions: How are culture and diversity conceptualized in these texts? How are diverse educators positioned in these texts? We show that, despite differing historical trajectories of ECE, policy frameworks in all three countries fail to sufficiently acknowledge the potential contribution of migrant educators to quality improvement initiatives. We conclude by calling for greater attention to workforce mobility and diversity in ECE policies, and for further research into the untapped competence of migrant educators.


OBJECTIVE:
Compare efficacy of AVP-825 (22mg sumatriptan powder) and 100mg oral sumatriptan using secondary measures from the COMPASS study (NCT01667679) in adults with episodic migraines.
 BACKGROUND:
AVP-825 is an investigational Breath Powered™ Bi-Directional™ device that delivers low-dose sumatriptan powder deep into the nasal cavity. In COMPASS, AVP-825 produced significantly greater benefit over the first 30 minutes (SPID-30) and at every timepoint between 15-90 minutes vs oral sumatriptan (primary results reported separately).
 DESIGN/METHODS:
Multicenter, double-dummy, multi-attack crossover study with two 12-week double-blind periods. Migraineurs (2-8 attacks/month) were randomized to AVP-825 plus oral placebo or identical placebo device plus 100mg oral sumatriptan for period-1; treatments switched for period-2. Patients treated ≤5 migraines/period (<1 hour from onset, even if mild). Secondary efficacy measures included pain freedom for mild vs moderate/severe migraines, presence of migraine-associated symptoms, meaningful pain relief, pain reduction, and Clinical Disability Scale.
 RESULTS:
185 patients treated migraines in both periods (1531 migraines assessed). For migraines treated when pain was mild, pain freedom rate was significantly greater with AVP-825 vs oral sumatriptan at 30 (29.3[percnt] vs 17.9[percnt] P=.0004) and 45 minutes post-dose. For migraines treated when pain was moderate/severe, pain freedom rate was significantly greater with AVP-825 from 15-90 minutes (30 minutes: 12.6[percnt] vs 7.7[percnt] P=.0308). Compared with oral sumatriptan, AVP-825 showed: significantly lower nausea rates (30-90 minutes); significantly reduced photophobia (10-60 minutes) and phonophobia (15-60 minutes); and significant differences in meaningful pain relief (10-60 minutes). Pain reduction rate was significantly greater with AVP-825 (15-60 minutes); Clinical Disability Scale was significantly lower for AVP-825 (10-90 minutes). ≤2[percnt] of patients discontinued due to adverse events (AEs); no AEs were serious.
 CONCLUSIONS:
AVP-825 (22mg sumatriptan powder) produced faster migraine pain and symptom relief than 100mg oral sumatriptan.
 Support:
Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Disclosure: Dr. Silberstein has received personal compensation for activities with Alder Biopharmaceuticals Allergan, Inc., Amgen Inc., Avanir Pharmaceuticals, eNeura Inc., ElectroCore Medical, LLC, Medscape, LLC, Medtronic, Inc., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America, In Dr. Tepper has received personal compensation for activities with Allergan, ATI, Impax, Merck, Nautilus, NuPathe, Pfizer, and Zogenix as a consultant, scientific advisory board member, or speakers bureau member. Dr. Cady has received personal compensation for activities with Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and OptiNose US Inc. as a consultant, investigator and/or advisory board member. Dr. Messina has received personal compensation for activities with OptiNose US Inc. as an employee. Dr. Mahmoud has received personal compensation for activities with OptiNose US Inc. as an employee. Dr. Djupesland has received personal compensation for activities with OptiNose AS. Dr. Shin has received personal compensation for activities with Avanir Pharmaceuticals as an employee. Dr. Siffert has received personal compensation for activities with Avanir Pharmaceuticals as an employee.


Abstract A rapid high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed and validated for the determination of α‐lipoic acid in pharmaceutical dosage forms. The analysis was performed using a reversed phase Supelcosil LC‐18 (150 × 4 mm, 3 µm) column. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile:0.05 M potassium mono‐phosphate, pH 2.5 (45:55 v/v) at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The UV‐detector was set at 332 nm. The developed method showed a good linear relationship in the concentration range from 10–500 µg/mL with a correlation coefficient from 0.9999. The limit of detection and limit of quantification were 4.4 and 16.8 µg/mL, respectively. These values are high due to the low absorption coefficient of pure lipoic acid (ϵ = 150) at 332 nm. Statistical analysis proves that the method is reproducible.


This paper is concerned with an all-new assistant decision-making method for the operation and maintenance strategy of the primary equipment in the power grid with the risk-based maintenance and life cycle cost(LCC) taken into account.According to the assessment results of operation-risk for the primary equipment in Shenzhen power grid,the constraints affecting the operation and maintenance strategy are analyzed systematically.And the best life of equipment is assessed with the LCC method.The flow chart about scientific decision-making for the operation and maintenance strategy of equipment is developed.Finally,the optimal scheme of operation and maintenance strategy is given.Actual application shows that the proposed method is scientific and practical.


Abstract The essential oil isolated by hydro distillation from aerial parts of Kelussia odoratissima was found to be a pale yellow liquid and was obtained in yield of 3.2 % (w/w) based on dry weight. The oil was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Twenty-three compounds were identified, of which the major components were found to be Z-ligustilid (87.6 %), E-ligustilide (3.2 %), piperitone epoxide (3.1 %) and pentyl butanoate (1.7 %). The other constituents more than 0.5 % were: 2-methyl-1-octene-3-yne (0.6 %), (Z)-3-butylidene phthalid (0.6 %) and kessane (0.5 %). We can use of K. odoratissima as a potential source of Z-ligustilid.


Aiming at the problems existing in the present frequency planing,this article proposes a method,which incorporates expert system,improved genetic algorithm and layer technique etc,to overcome the obstacle of handwork frequency planing,high demand of electronic map and spectrum shortage.So it both gives a more precise frequency planning scheme based on expert experience,professional knowledge and genetic algorithm in case of lacking accurate electronic map,and proposes the improved fuzzy rules inference and self learning methods.In addition,we also develop intelligent multi layer frequency planing software package and give the simulation results.


Before July 1, 1971. US Postal Office was known as the Postal Department with the second longest history under the Federal Administration. Afterwards, it changed to US Postal Service, which is the largest business company wholly owned by the Federal Government. Generally speaking, the transfer of US Postal Office to the largest state-owned enterprise has been proved a great success, but there exist some problems at the same time. We can draw on the change and make use of the experience, which will enlighten the reform in China.


This paper analyses the implications of swelling in perspective of sealing technology for redox flow batteries (RFB). Mechanical failure due to swell in static sealing can occur on the elastomeric seal or on sealing flanges. The mechanical failure is in this case a fractured or deformed RFB component because of the swelling pressure. Swelling of such an elastomeric seal is a coupling of different physics phenomena, namely diffusion and solid mechanics. In an assembled RFB, seal swelling increases the contact pressure with the sealing flange, while making the components softer. It shifts the mechanical material properties of the components and also the stress tolerances. Graphite-polymer bipolar plates or PTFE / PP flowframes are common RFB sealing flanges and can become softer due to diffusion of the electrolyte fluid, making the flanges more prone to creep. These are time dependent effects that can create sealing failure or mechanical break of the sealing flanges and must be taken into account in RFB design. The presented experimental and modelling results validate the swelling behaviour for an assembled RFB. The compatibility tables of sealing materials in catalogues do not often differentiate swelling compatibility from chemical compatibility of a fluid. In addition, this paper proposes a basic selection procedure for swelling compatibility based on group experiments on Hansen solubility parameters (HSP).


This material is constituted by a needle (1) at the end of which is fixed by crimping, a flexible link (2), having a resistance to the appropriate traction, equipped with distance from the needle of a harpoon ( 3) and free end of a socket (4) for gripping crimped, the said equipment further comprising a supporting washer (5) and a stop member (6) deformable for both to be committed on the link. The needle permits the introduction of the link in the two stumps of the tendon in the axis of the latter and emerges in retro-malleolar dimple, the harpoon is anchored in the upper abutment and the washer is engaged on the link to bear in retro-malleolar dimple. The stop member is deformed on the link against the support washer, which ensures the link tensioning and telescoping stumps of fibers at the rupture zone.


1. The new apparatus for estimating gaseous nitrogen in solid tissues —e.g. bone marrow, liver, brain—gives results sufficiently accurate for its purpose when tested against the standard methods with gas-pumps.

2. The solubility S of nitrogen in various substances, when estimated by the new apparatus, is as follows:—Formic acid, 0·026; acetic acid, 0·122; propionic acid, 0·089; butyric acid, 0·155; valeric acid, 0·122; caproic acid, 0·097; acetone, 0·125; paraffinum liquidum, 0·065; glycerol, trace.

3. When melted and exposed to air, stearin, palmitin, and bone marrow dissolve about the same amount of nitrogen as does olein, namely, 5 c.c. nitrogen per 100 c.c. substance. This is due to the fatty acids—oleic, stearic, and palmitic—which apparently dissolve about equal amounts of nitrogen.

4. Evidence is obtained that large quantities of gaseous nitrogen may be "adsorbed" by particles of powdered stearin, stearic acid, and palmitin.

I am indebted to my assistant, Mr C. PERGANDE, for much help with this work.


Delivering three dimensional (3D) video streaming over error-prone environments is challenging due to variations of the wireless channel characteristics and the importance of each data source packet for the end-user's perceptual experience. In this work, we are focusing on extending and applying the work presented in [16] to 3D video streaming. The aim is to apply a Luby Transform (LT) based Unequal Error Protection (UEP) technique that is combined with a symbol-interleaving algorithm, in order to face the burst packet errors that occur in a wireless channel to 3D video streaming. Two UEP strategies are presented that are applied to packet level. In the first one, higher protection is given to the I-based packets from both views, whereas in the second one, higher protection is given to the packets from the base view. Through experimentation from two video sequences, it is shown that the first strategy leads to better-perceived 3D Video Quality under different wireless network conditions.


In many multi-strata agroforestry systems, transmitted photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) can be a limiting factor, particularly for the establishment and growth of annual intercrops. Knowledge of the radiative climate under a given stand according to age, planting density and planting pattern is therefore of major interest for the management of multi-strata coconut based farming systems. The present paper describes the use of a series of software modules developed at the AMAP plant modelling laboratory for predicting radiative environment in various situations. Three-dimensional muneric mock-ups were computed according to the AMAP methodology. Average values and spatial distribution for transmitted PAR reaching the ground were then calculated and mapped under virtual coconut stands in different situations. After validation with field measurements, it was possible to predict the yield of annual crops (corn and mungbean) according to the estimated transmitted PAR. This method was then tested on cocoa perennial intercrops


Hyungbangjihwang-Tang (HT), an Oriental herbal formula, has been known to play a role which helps to recover vigor of human in the Orient. In this study, antibacterial substance (HTI) was purified from the ethylacetate extracts of HT by using SiO 2 column chromatography and HPLC, and the antibacterial effects of HTI were investigated. By using the CLSI broth micro-dilution assay, the activity of HTI was evaluated against human pathogenic Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains including the clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The results demonstrated that HTI showed broad spectrum antibacterial activities against all bacterial strains tested. In conclusion, HTI is an interesting new molecule for its potential in anti-infective drug discovery and for future studies on activity-structure relationship through analysis of its chemical structure.


A unicyclic bipartite graph is a connected bipartite graph in which the number of edges equals the number of vertices.Denote by△(G) the maximum degree of graph G.In this paper we determine the upper bound of spectral radii of unicyclic bipartite graphs on n vertices with fixed maximum degree△(≥(n+1)/2) and characterize the graph in which the maximal spectral radius is attained.We also prove that the spectral radius of a unicyclic bipartite graph G on n(≥8) vertices strictly increases with its maximum degree when△(G)≥[(2n+1)/3]+ 1.On this basis we give the first seventeen unicyclic bipartite graphs on n(≥16) vertices according to the spectral radius.


The proposal of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas "Neutron Earth Science" was succeeded in the autumn of 2008, and one of the scientific research group "Magma group" is doing efforts for various exploratory experiments to make it possible to do coming Neutron experiment under high pressure and high temperature. The aim of our group is to understand magma activity in the earth interior through the understanding of the structure and physical properties of the magma with and without water. Our target material includes iron melt. Through these studies, we would like to establish "High P&T Neutron Magma Science". The scientific target is mainly divided into three groups; 1) structure of magma, 2) physical properties of magma, and 3) state observation of magma. In the present stage, the preliminary experiments and the development of the experimental technique are necessary. So we are conducting these studies by divided into two technical groups; 1) "Neutron scat-tering experiment" group and 2) "Neutron imaging experiment" group. In this talk, we will introduce our recent developments for the above issues.


The ecological situation is becoming more complicated every year in many countries of the world. The ecological doctrine emergence falls on the 1970s – a period of formation of the consumer society. At the same time, en- vironmental policy began to emerge. Its development resulted in necessity to take environmental issues into account when making socio-economic and politi- cal decisions. The article provides an analysis of the prospects for an ecological transition in the field of transport in France. The relevance of the study lies in the need to study the transport policy of France in terms of decisions taken to reduce the negative impact of transport on the environment, due to the strength- ening of international cooperation between the Russian Federation and France in the field of environmental challenges. The research methodological basis is the theory of technological structures, the theory of systems management, empirical and structural analysis of economic changes. As a key finding, it is concluded that that identifying and implementing possible solutions, as well as the use of effective experience in the area, will contribute to achieving positive changes in environmental protection and in the economic development of the two countries.