Editor's Introduction: Through a Glass, Darkly Daniel C. Peterson, with John Gee I have reiterated over again what I have said before. Robert F. Wagner, former mayor of New York Not long ago, I had the experience along wilh one or two oth ers of working with a youn g man whose scattered readings about science (he himself was a hi story major) had inspired him to reject the ex istence of God. Rather ironically fo r an ecclesiastical leader, I found myself obli gated to try to create doubt in hi s mind, attempt ing to ta lk him out of a scientistic dogmatism that had Jeft no room in his mind for the religious faith he had once treasured. Skepticism of the alleged certainties de livered up by science and scholarship has been an occas ional theme in my writings fo r this Review. l (My think ing along these lines probably began back in high school, when I ran across a book by a British chemist, Anthony Standen, which made an interesting case for the propos ition that, as its title succinctly expressed the theme, Science Is a For example, Daniel C. Peterson, "Triptych (Inspired by Hieronymus Bosch," FARMS Review of Books 8/1 (1996): xi-xli ii ; Daniel C, Peterson, "Doubting the Doubters," FARMS Review of Books 812 (1996): v-xiv; Daniel C. Peterson, "Tradi tions of the Fathers," FARMS Review of Books 911 ( 1997): v-xxvi i: perhaps also Daniel C. Peterson, "By What Measure Shall We Mete'?" Review of Books Or! the Book of Mormon 2 (1990): vii-xxvi; and Daniel C, Peterson. ''Text and Context," Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 611 (l994): 524-62. Severn I of the reviews we have published of books critical of the church also raise this issue, vi FARMS REVIEW OF BOOKS 9n (1997) Sacred Cow.)2 This skepticism has also, now that I th ink about ii, figured rather prominently in my teachin g and in my scholarl y work: The new Islamic Translation Series. for wh ich I am the managing editor, has just published as its first volume a very famous work by the great medieval Muslim thinker Aha l:Iamid alGhazali . This book, the Taluifut aJ-Faliisi[a or Incoherence of the Philosophers, forcefully confronts the most overtly Hellenized writers of the classical Arabic and Persian traditions. It contends that their supposedly ironclad arguments, which represented the elite, prestigious, and advanced thought of the day-ancient science, really-but which also led to positions that contradicted orthodox Islamic (and Jewish and Christian) belief, were neither certain nor irrefutable. Accordingly, said al-Ghazali, the contrast that some wanted to draw between a worldview based on revelation (subrational and dubious at best), and one-often implicitly o r explicitly anti-reli gious-based solely on ri gorous reasoning applied to indisputable evidence, was false. Indeed, for some of its advocates it was nothing less than se lf-serving. The reasoning o f the anti-religious worldview was not so rigorous as it cl aimed, and the evidence supporting it was far from unassailable.3 This issue continues to be relevant today. (The recent Holl ywood film Contact. based on a novel by the late astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan, is an effective current presentation of one side of the question. ) And Phillip E. Johnson, a law professor at the Uni versity of California at Berkeley of whom 1 have written earl ier in this Review, con tinues to serve as an incisive critic of material istic ideology masquerading as science, smuggling atheistic presuppos itions into its conclusions.4 2 3 Anthony Standen, Science Is a Sacred Cow (New York: Dutton. \950). AI-Ghaun, The Incoherence of the Philosophers, trans. Michael E. Marmura (Provo, lIT: Brigham Young University Press. 1997). The books of the series are dist ributed by the University of Chicago Press. 4 To his previous writings, :d1 Phillip E. Johnson, Defeating Darwin· ism by Opening Minds (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press. 1997), and Phillip E. Johnson. ''The Unraveling of Scientific Materialism." FirSl Things 77 (November 1997): 22-5. John L. Sorenson, "Science and Mormonism as Traditions," in Mormon Culture: Four Decades of Essays on Mormon Society and Personality (Salt Lake City: New Sage Books. 1997), 70-8. is a newly republished statement of the fact, increasingly recognized among academic observers. that science, like re ligion, represents a tradition and a culture. Even so bloodless and


to support this figure. The difficulty in measuring the amount of mental illness seen by G.P.s results from the absence of any agreed system of classifying mental illness. There is no agreement as to whether a particular condition should be regarded as psychiatric, and the standards of measurement vary from doctor to doctor. In this situation it is scarcely worth while for any more individual G.P.s to try to measure how much mental illness they deal with. This is a job for a team of


Data are presented demonstrating photopumped laser operation of a planar photonic lattice (∼1 μm thick) that is comprised of 9 μm disks with 2 μm separation arranged in a two‐dimensional hexagonal close‐packed pattern. The active region of each disk is an AlAs (70 A)–GaAs (30 A) superlattice (100 periods). The disks are defined by impurity‐induced layer disordering, followed by wet oxidation (N2+H2O vapor, 400  °C), which surrounds each disk with a low‐refractive‐index AlGaAs native oxide. The photonic lattice exhibits laser operation within wide (Δλ∼17 A) spectral bands that are spaced according to the disk modes, and that propagate light anisotropically in the plane of the lattice. In addition to the extended lattice, groups of seven disks are studied and are seen to display similar behavior.


In this paper, recent research progress in extraction of dietary fibers from several kinds of materials, including gain, bean, fruit, vegetables, etc. was reviewed. And the characteristics and application of these dietary fibers were compared.


Abstract The aim of our study is to investigate the importance of arachnoid granulation in cerebrospinal fluid physiology in fetuses and early infancy. Using the random sampling method, postmortem fetuses more than 26 weeks of gestation age and the children under the age of 1 year were chosen from the autopsy materials. Two male and two female intrauterine dead fetus; three male and three female, totally six children under the age of 1 year and one 3-year-old male were included in this study. In cases of intrauterine fetuses more than 26 weeks of gestation and children under the age of 1 year, complete invagination of arachnoid villi into the superior sagittal sinus was examined histologically. In the intrauterine period and in the first 6 months of life, arachnoid villi structures were not found in histologic preparations although in preparations taken after the 6 months of life samples showed similarities to arachnoid granulations. These structures were considered as arachnoid villi drafts after immunohistochemical analysis. In the control case who were 3 years old, maturation of arachnoid villi was complete and the arachnoid villi were invaginated into the superior sagittal sinus as fingerlike extensions. In our study, we think that the failure after E3V intervention in the treatment of hydrocephalus in cases under the age of 1 years may be related to the completion of arachnoid granulation development after the 18th month of life and the immature resorption capacity in this period.


Dec. 7th, i868, P. 502), the hemorrhage was alarming, and the patient nearly died under the operation, from the quantity of blood which passed down the trachea. In another of Navratil's cases (No. 32), (Ibid.), the patient suffered from high fever after the operation, and expectorated a quantity of blood and pus ; cedema took place round the wound, and the patient was in a very critical state. In Schrdtter's case (Medizi;?. .ahrbuch, Wien, i869, vol. xvii, 2nd Heft, p. 8I), the operator observed that, after dividing the thyroid cartilage, " holding open the borders of the wound with blunt hooks gave rise to such paroxysms of coughing and caused so much fresh hoemorrhage, that the examination could only be carried out for a short time;" and, further, "that the sputa consisted of pure blood even well into the night, and on the following day the expectoration was still coloured." By a clerical error in my thyrotomy table, it was stated that this patient died in seven hours instead of eleven days, as it should have been. I regret this error extremely; because, though original y occurring in an abbreviated tabular statement, it was subsequently accepted as a fact, and repeated in the text. It is certainly remarkable that Mr. Durham, who has devoted nearly a page to the exposure of this clerical error of mine, and who has given up another page and a half to the description of Schrotter's case, besides referring to it on another separate occasion (Op. cit., p. 29), does not once mention the prolonged and dangerous hbemorrhage which occurred, and which must have greatly prejudiced the issue of the case, even if it did not, as I believe it did, directly lead to death. Mr. Timothy Holmes remarks with regard to his case (S'urgical Treatment of ChildZdn's Diseases, 2nd edit., p. 31I), "that the parts over the larynx were found to be peculiarly vascular." After the hbemorrhage caused by the preliminary incision had been stopped, the thyroid cartilage was divided. " The bleeding that followed was very considerable." Again, the reporter of Mr. Davies-Colley's third operation (BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, Sept. 28, i872) remarks, "that the boy at one time ceased to breathe, blood having apparently run down the trachea into the bronchial tubes, and the chloroform acting powerfully on the lungs. But after artificial respiration had been carried on for several minutes the little patient recovered." Mr. Durham even tries to qualify the only deaths he has at all ad. mitted in the following words: " In each of these [cases] the fatal result was brought about in a manner by no means special to the operation, but, alas! of far too common occurrence in general surgical experience. " Upon this I have only to remark that when blood-poisoning ceases to follow operations, no doubt many surgical procedures will be adopted which are not at present in vogue; but that until that time arrives, septicaemia remains one of the contingent risks of all operations. On the other hand, the life of the patient is not imperilled by this danger when laryngoscopic treatment is adopted. In referring to my observations on the mortality of thyrotomy, 'Ir. Durham has produced a very erroneous impression as regards my treatment of the subject. He has made it appear as if, whilst comparing the mortality of laryngoscopic treatment with that of thyrotomy, I have concealed the circumstance that the laryngoscopic cases in my essay were all benign, and that the thyrotomy table included some cases of cancer. By inference he leads his readers to suppose that I have made an unfair comparison between the two sets of cases. Mr. Durham remarks as follows:-"Considering the prospect of the operation in relation to the preservation of life, Dr. Mackenzie says, in division of the laryngeal cartilages, there is always some immediate danger to life, and nine out of the twenty-eight cases on record terminated fatally." If Mr. Durham wished to do justice to my views, it is strange that he quoted an isolated passage, and did not add the remarks on the same page (94) viz., " In six of the nine fatal cases in the thyrotomy table the disease was cancerous (or semi-malignant)." So far from attempting to conceal the inclusion of malignant cases, I called special attention to their admission, not only in the passage referred to, but also in almost the same words when speaking of recurrence*, where I not only gave prominence to the inclusion of cancer cases, but pointed out the pathological character of the growths as a cause of their great disposition to recurrence. I also called attention to the inclusion of cancer cases at the head and foot of my thyrotomy table. It is certainly remarkable that Mr. Durham, who objects to my mode of dealing with the subject has himself adopted precisely the same plan, without any of the precautions which I have taken. In the fourth volume *of l1olmes's Sstiem of S-rger', page 584, Mr. Durham has published a table showing " the general success of different methods of


The pain conducting systems in the thorax will be described. The diagnosis angina pectoris is a symptom diagnosis. The common medical assumption is that these symptoms are caused by decreased circulation in the coronary vessels. The truth is that exactly the same symptoms can be the results of pathological changes in for example the oesophagus, the mediastinum and the thoracic spine. Our knowledge of referred pain and the pathways for pain conduction permits us nowadays to understand how pain symptoms can have different origins and still be experienced as identical.


This paper aims to describe the capability of the system boric acid–boron oxide for thermochemical energy storage. As part of the systematic research and in-depth analysis of potential solid/gas reaction systems, performed during the last years, this reaction system appears to be highly promising for the future of worldwide sustainable energy supply. The analysis of the reaction heat, by means of thermogravimetric and macroscopic investigations, not only showed a significantly higher energy density of 2.2 GJ/m3, compared to sensible- and latent energy storages, but the reaction kinetic further demonstrated the reactions' suitability to store energy from renewable energy and waste heat sources. This paper, therefore, shows a new approach regarding the application of the boric acid–boron oxide reaction system and elaborates on the advantages and challenges for its use as energy storage.


A new approach for robotic preparation of [11C]flumazenil with recovery of the final product by SPE technique has been developed. A hydrogen-bond-assisted methylation in a suspension of potassium fluoride absorbed on alumina was followed by purification using a standard Sep-Pak Neutral Alum N Light cartridge. As a result, the contamination of the final product with its precursor Ro 15-5528 was reduced to similar levels as obtained by traditional semi-preparative HPLC. The synthesis of [11C]flumazenil was operated by the commercially available robot Anatech RB-86. The formulated solution of [11C]flumazenil was obtained within 18 min starting from trapping of [11C]methyl iodide. The simplicity of this method and the use of disposable materials for purification instead of HPLC may be advantageous for routine clinical use. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


1 Intracellular electrophysiological recording showed that acetylcholine (1 μmol l−1) and histamine (2 μmol l−1) depolarized trachealis cells and often increased the frequency of slow waves. Higher concentrations of these agents caused greater depolarization and abolition of slow waves. Marked depolarization was often associated with the appearance of electrical 'noise'. These electrical phenomena were accompanied by tonic tension development in a contiguous segment of trachea. 2 Electrical 'noise' and tension evoked by high concentrations of acetylcholine or histamine could be dissipated by washing the agonist from the tissue. Acetylcholine‐induced 'noise' was resistant to tetrodotoxin (3 μmol l−1) and to hexamethonium (1 mmol l−1). 3 Neither acetylcholine (10–1,000 μmoll−1) nor histamine (2–200 μmol l−1) increased the lanthanum‐resistant calcium fraction of muscle‐containing strips of trachea. 4 It is concluded that, while developing tension under the influence of acetylcholine or histamine, trachealis cells depolarize markedly but there is relatively little cellular influx of Ca2+.


This paper describes a system intended to aid beginning computer science students develop a systematic approach towards problem solution using structured flow diagrams. The student is carefully monitored during the specification of an initial flow diagram and through successive stages of refinement. As each new flow diagram symbol is entered, the system checks to see that the student is being consistent with earlier work and has not introduced potential errors.
 The flow diagram is an intermediate level representation of an algorithm which is independent of the particular programming language chosen for implementation. When the structured flow diagram has been completely refined, the final translation to a programming language is relatively automatic. To test the program logic, the resultant source code should be executed. The student can modify the flow diagram, generate new code, and re-execute until the program runs correctly.


Colorimetry was found early on to correlate well neither to perceived brightness nor to perceived color. But modern psychophysics, aided by spectroradiometry, reveals the three spectral regions to which the normal human visual system responds most strongly. Light intended to carry information to the human observer, with maximum information throughput per watt content of the light, should best concentrate its power content near 450 nm, 530 nm, and 610 nm.


This book is set in the shrimp industry based out of Puerto El Triunfo on El Salvador's southeast Pacific coast, a stretch of ocean that was especially rich in shrimp and fish stocks. Although it only lasted from the late 1950s into the mid 1980s, El Salvador's shrimp industry was very profitable. Despite, or because of that profitability, the shrimp industry was defined by highly complex sociopolitical relations between owners and workers, and among the workers themselves, over differing jobs in the production process, gender relations, and ideological differences, among other distinctions. These differences, but especially the ideological variable, took shape in two rival labor unions among shrimp workers.


The Multidisciplinary Panel on Neuropathic Pain has prepared recommendations for the management of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (TN) to provide healthcare professionals in Hong Kong with current, accurate and useful information concerning disease management. Where possible, evidence-based reviews and comparisons were used to develop these recommendations. The recommendations were first published in 2003. The current update includes new clinical data for pharmacotherapy and surgical interventions in TN. The Recommendations for the Management of Idiopathic Trigeminal Neuralgia are the product of review and appraisal of current evidence in the medical literature. The recommendations serve to assist healthcare professionals in evaluating a patient's condition and deciding on a suitable treatment modality. They are not intended to replace professional judgment in determining the appropriate management of individual patients. While we have taken due care in preparing the recommendations, we cannot warrant the accuracy of the PAIN MANAGEMENT


The principle and development of low impedance and high-frequency special transformer design are introduced.The method to design transformer parameters is presented.The formula is derived.The test results of prototype are presented.


Foreword by Richard Falk Preface Introduction PART I: AN OVERVIEW OF AMERICAN HEGEMONY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE Hegemony and its Alternatives Imperialism, Empire, Global Capitalism, and American Hegemony Hegemonic Global Capitalism versus the Universal Claims of Human Rights Law Confronting Hegemony as a Form of Social Domination Hegemonic Purposes The Unmapped and Uncharted Journey beyond American Hegemony The Paradigm of Emancipation PART II: RESISTANCE, REGIONALISM& REGIONALIZATION: COUNTER-HEGEMONIC Beginnings among Social Movements& Between Regions Competing Models to Explain American Hegemony and World Order The Unbalanced Power Projections of the American Hegemon Questions and Answers about Resistance to American Hegemony The Future of World Order& the 'Principle of Hegemonic State Accountability' (PHSA) Alternative Models to Superpower Hegemony Conclusion:The Rise of Regional Orders in the Emerging Post-Hegemonic Era


Failure of high-strength steel cables of prestressed-concrete structures (PCS) is becoming a serious problem, as the deterioration of structures progresses due to corrosion induced in severe environment as chloride attack. This attack is dangerous due to the fact that these cables are tensioned at 80% UTS in concrete, so a stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) mechanism can be developed in this condition causing steel brittle failure without any external warning. The applicability of acoustic emission (AE) technique for evaluation and detection of SCC and localized corrosion of steel cables in simulated concrete-pore solution (0.01M of NaOH at high alkalinity) contaminated by chloride ions (0.1M) is studied. Tests performed in laboratory show that the cracking process can be practically monitored by AE, as well as wires failure under constant load deformation. A novel analysis of AE parameters using the principal component analysis (PCA) is used to discriminate localized corrosion from SCC. Kmean is used first as unsupervised method, and to validate the clustering k-nearest neighbor is used as supervised method. Among this study, the AE monitoring of cable corrosion was proven to be useful under severe load condition.


Pectenogammarus planicrurus Reid (Crustacea: Amphipoda) is an inhabitant of unstable gravel beaches. The reproductive output of females of this species was studied at Aberystwyth, on the west coast of Wales. There was marked seasonal variation in the size of eggs: the mean volume of eggs at an early stage of embryonic development ranged from 0·023 mm3 in summer to 0·030 mm3 in winter. Egg size was negatively related to brood size, but seasonal variation in brood size was greater than could be accounted for by egg size alone. Mean brood size ranged from 1·4 eggs in winter to 5·9 eggs in summer. Brood size was also strongly related to female body size, ranging up to 14 eggs in a large female. These findings are discussed in relation to adaptation to interstitial living in coarse intertidal gravels. A model of seasonal variation in reproductive output is suggested in which the importance of point reproductive output is related to the probability of females surviving to produce subsequent broods.


Purpose: Laparoscopic splenectomy (LS) is one method for treatment of various diseases of the spleen, especially hematological conditions. However, few recent long-term follow-up results have been reported. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcome of patients in a single institution who recently underwent LS and to analyze their long-term follow-up results. Methods: Of 366 splenectomies, this study was conducted as a retrospective review of 52 patients who underwent LS for treatm ent of hematological or primary diseases of the spleen from January 1998 to October 2011. The data included age, sex, pathological diagnosis, operative time, postoperative hospital stay, rate to open conversion, perioperative transfusion, morbidity, mortality, and relapse. We analyzed outcomes of variable results through long-term follow-up. Results: The mean follow-up period was 84 months (range, 4∼147 months). The most common indication for LS was immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). The median postoperative hospital stay was eight days (range, 3∼28 days). Mean operative time was 203 minutes (range, 115∼475 minutes). Two patients underwent open conversion. Thirty eight patients received perioperative transfusions. The mean spleen weight was 294.9 g (range, 31∼2,564 g). The overall morbidity rate was 5.8% and one patient experienced relapse. Of the 28 patients with ITP, 89.3% responded to LS. Conclusion: LS should be one of the best treatment options regardless of splenomegaly and spleen-associated diseases. In particular, for patients with ITP, LS has shown very effective long-term follow-up results. Therefore, LS should be more actively considered as an early treatment option in surgical disease of the spleen, such as ITP.


This paper proposes a mechanistic model to simulate the thermal and mechanical behaviour of shape memory alloys. The model is based on the thermodynamic concept of chemical, elastic and frictional energies for thermoelastic martensitic transformations and plasticity concept of grain interior and grain boundary phases. In a thermoelastic martensitic transformation system, a thermally induced transformation and a mechanically induced (stress-induced) transformation require different operating mechanisms from a mechanistic viewpoint. For a thermally induced transformation, the driving force arises from within the matrix and internal stresses are created as a result of frictional movement. For a mechanically induced transformation, the driving force is provided externally and the frictional move- ment occurs when the stress exceeds a critical value. This paper proposes a unified mechanistic model taking into account this difference. The model is able to describe, in a schematic and qualitative manner, the behaviour of a thermoelastic martensitic transformation system in both thermally induced and me- chanically induced processes, including full and partial thermal transformation cycles, stress-induced martensitic transformation, pseudoelastic deformation and ferroelastic deformation via martensite vari- ant reorientation. Such a model allows the discussion of several aspects concerning the thermal and mechanical behaviour of thermoelastic martensitic transformations, such as the non-linear pseudoelas- ticity, deformation-induced two-way memory effect, strain dependence of mechanical hysteresis and minor loop behaviour of deformation.


The effects of the commoner salts on the physiology of the higher animals and plants have been studied by numerous investigators. In order to obtain quantitative data workers in the animal field, e.g., Loeb (1906), Lillie (1901), and Moore (1901), have studied normal rhythmical movements such as heart beat, the contractions of Polyorchis or the contractions of the lymph hearts of frogs. This type of research provided the experimental basis for several important conclusions: (a) in low concentrations the common salts exert a favorable and stimulating effect, (b) a toxic effect is exerted in higher concentrations, and (c) the influence of a salt is modified by the presence of other salts in the solution. In the case of higher plants investigators have concerned themselves particularly with the influence of salts on the dry weight of the plant. The unicellular organisms provide a means of analyzing some of these effects in greater detail by chemical methods. Already there is a considerable literature dealing with this branch of the field. Several workers have shown recently that low concentrations of many different salts stimulate the growth of bacteria. Hotchkiss (1922) in a study of B. coli reported that 15 of a total of 23 chlorides stimulated growth as measured by the turbidity method. This was true of those salts which are usually considered to be particularly toxic. Holm and Sherman (1921) found that 0.2 M concentration of NaCl hastens the appearance of turbidity in media inoculated with B. coli. No measurements were made of total growth. Brooks (1919) made the important observation that an increased output of C02 by B. su.btilis took place in the


This report reviews the various ways in which image processing techniques have been applied to traffic monitoring and establishes the state-of-the-art in each case. The approaches considered have been classified into: loop emulation; incident and congestion monitoring; vehicle tracking; numberplate reading. The report contains a detailed discusssion on vehicle recognition and classification by means of image processing, mentioning the use of neural network and artificial intelligence techniques. In particular, the use of three-dimensional models is discussed. Recommendations are made for particular approaches to allow such image processing techniques to be developed for application within the UK road traffic core census programme.


Thermolyses of 18e Cp*W(NO)(η3-allyl)(CH2CMe3) compounds (Cp* = η5-C5Me5) result in the intramolecular elimination of CMe4 and the formation of 16e η2-diene and/or η2-allene intermediate complexes that effect a variety of intermolecular C–H activations of hydrocarbons. The outcomes of the reactions of the Cp*W(NO)(η3-allyl)(CH2CMe3) compounds with both C(sp3)–H and C(sp2)–H bonds of hydrocarbons are dependent on the natures of the allyl ligands in ways that are not immediately obvious. In an effort to better understand the different selectivities of the various C–H activation processes, we have examined several of these transformations by DFT calculations. The results of these computational investigations have provided several interesting and useful insights into the mechanistic pathways involved. Specifically, they have established that geminal dialkyl substituents on the allyl ligands markedly stabilize the η2-allene intermediate complexes, whereas the absence of such substituents favors the formation o...


This thesis analyse the influence of the previous career on the choice of career guidance when two possibilities are available: internal movement (vertical or lateral) and the decision of firing managers. An empirical study identified two models of career planning, based on the maximization of the net benefit (evaluated performance minus mobility cost). In the first model called + immediate benefit ;, each movement between different occupations is made in order to maximize the benefit. The second model called + delayed benefit ; define a series of movements into complementary occupations. A satisfying performance in the whole set of movements is a necessary condition to access the final occupation because it allows the manager to produce an optimal contribution into this job. This model explain the reproduction of the managerial personnel into big firms by the transmission of organizational knowledges necessary to the perpetuation of the enterprise. The fraction of the managers that are concerned by this procedure depend on the choice of external recruitment made by the employer. When considering occupational characteristics into the choice of internal mobility for two differents jobs, there is an uncertainty on the ability of the agent to master the required capacities in the new job which are missing in the actual job. The success of the mobility is never guarantee ex ante but always verifiable ex post by the observation of the performance in the new job. The fonnalization of the two models with the theory of choice of investment in uncertainty shows that the employer try to reduce this uncertainty by a selection on the individual capabilities and by the consideration of the link between the jobs. We called this link : the level of transferability between the occupations. The employer demand a premiun of performance, proportionnal to the degree of uncertainty, as a proof that the person is a priori able to master the new occupation. The coexistence of the two models depend on the capacity of the agent to achieve the anticipated trajectory. The firm can produce some + generalist ; managers or some + experts ; specialized into a particular field.


Abstract Early neurological deterioration (END) is associated with a poor survival after mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS). To assess risk factors and functional outcomes of END after MT in patients, we analyzed data from 79 patients who received MT with large-vessel occlusion. END after MT in patients is defined as an increase of two points or more in the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, compared with the best neurological status within 7 days. The mechanism of END can be classified into: AIS progression, sICH, and encephaledema. A total of 32 AIS patients (40.5%) had END after MT. Risk factors for END after MT included: history of oral antiplatelet and/or anticoagulation drugs before MT (OR = 9.56,95% CI = 1.02–89.57), higher NIHSS score when admitted to hospital (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.04–1.48), under the subtype of atherosclerotic stroke (OR = 17.36, 95% CI = 1.51–199.56), ASITN/SIR< 2 (OR = 15.78, 95% CI = 1.65–151.26), and prolonged period from AIS onset to the first revascularization (OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 1.00–1.02). AIS patients who had END at early stages were more likely to experience poor outcomes (Modified Rankin Scale [mRS] >2) at 90 days after MT (OR = 6.829, 95% CI = 1.573–29.655). Thus, AIS patients who had experienced END at early stages were more likely to have poor outcomes (mRS >2) at 90 days after MT, and the risk factors of END were connected to the mechanism of END.


We report on the crystal growth and spectroscopy of novel orthorhombic Tm:KY(MoO4)2 crystals with a layered structure. CW 2-μm laser operation in cleaved single-crystal plates and films of Tm:KY(MoO4)2 (thickness: down to 70 μm) is achieved.


The concept of surreal virtual space is used in this paper to describe a space which looks realistic but is impossible to exist in reality. For this project, we developed a 3D virtual space using Google Cardboard and an Android mobile device. Referring to the 2D drawing, "Relativity," of M.C. Escher, the virtual space was designed to have multi-directional but connected stairs. This work was exhibited with other artworks at a gallery for a period of three weeks. Despite some minor sensory confusion, all audiences experienced a degree of place illusion, enjoyment and a sense of self-awareness even though the virtual environment did not provide a visual representation of the audience's own body. For future work, we plan to investigate the advantages of these effects and apply them to everyday non-virtual environments.


We consider systems of parabolic equations coupled in zero order terms in a star-like or a tree-like shape, with an internal control acting in only one of the equations. We obtain local exact controllability to the stationary solutions of the system, under hypotheses concerning the supports of the coupling functions. The key point is establishing Carleman estimates with appropriate observation operators for the adjoint to the linearized system, which allows the study of the controllability problem, in either linear or nonlinear cases, in an $L^\infty$ framework.


In this work, our group builds up a differential conditions model of Coronavirus pandemics. We will probably anticipate forward in time the future number of cases from early detailed case information in areas all through the world. Our model consolidates the accompanying significant components of Coronavirus pandemics: (1) the quantity of asymptomatic irresistible people (with exceptionally gentle or no indications), (2) the quantity of suggestive announced irresistible people (with extreme side effects) and (3) the quantity of indicative unreported irresistible people (with less serious manifestations). We apply our model to Coronavirus plagues in India, china and Pakistan.


The paper highlights the differences in failure modes and electrical and mechanical strengths of porcelain and toughened glass insulators that have been in service for many years. The findings are based on a vast body of published literature, as well as a study performed on insulators that were in service for up to 70 years. The insulators were tested for insulation resistance, dielectric strength, porosity and residual mechanical strength. The microstructure of the porcelain was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope. Significant differences in the compositional and mi-crostructure details of porcelain insulators were observed. The electrical and mechanical strengths of porcelain insulators was found to vary significantly from one manufacturer to another, with some aged insulators showing marginal changes and others showing significant reduction in these parameters. Glass insulators evaluated showed small reduction in their residual mechanical strength when compared to new ones. These differences should have significant impact on system reliability and maintenance procedures adopted by utilities.


Background Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common histologic subtype of lung cancer and a highly heterogeneous disease whose mechanism is not fully uncovered. Recently, Super-enhancers (SEs), tissue-specific clusters of enhancer elements, were found to drive cell identity genes and play an important role in tumorigenesis. However, current studies focus on SE in lung tumors but largely neglect those specific in normal lung tissues, which also provide critical data for understanding transformation of normal cells into cancer cells. For the first time, this study characterized normal-specific SE-associated genes (SEGs) in LUAD by dysregulation in tumor, prognostic significance and tumor microenvironment (TME) interactions via a comprehensive analysis of 22 bulk and single-cell transcriptomic datasets.
 Methods We analyzed TCGA datasets of 10 cancer types, and additional datasets comprising 4 datasets of LUAD tumor and normal paired samples, 5 datasets of LUAD tumors with survival information, and 3 single-cell transcriptomic datasets. For each dataset, standard methods were used for data preprocessing and normalization according to its generation platforms (e.g., microarray, bulk RNA-seq and scRNA-seq). For downstream analyses, paired t-test and linear model were used to identify dysregulated SEGs; Cox Proportional Hazards Regression was used to evaluate their prognostic significance and LASSO was used to select features for building multivariate prognostic models; bulk data deconvolution and correlation analysis were applied to assess the association of TME cell composition and SEG expression; Gene set enrichment analysis was applied for functional analysis.
 Results We found normal-lung SEGs were significantly disproportionally downregulated in LUAD tumors (Chi-squared test, p < 0.01), and associated with poor prognosis of patients. The patterns were consistently found in discovery (TCGA) and independent validation datasets. Interestingly, the effect appears specific to lung as such downregulation of normal-lung SEGs was also found in lung squamous cell carcinoma but not observed in most of other 8 cancer types. The downregulated SEGs were significantly involved in cell differentiation, apoptosis, proliferation, and stem cell pluripotency, and were enriched in tumor suppressors. Also, their downregulation correlate with reduced endothelial cells and lower immune activity with reduced B and CD8 T cells and inhibited immune target genes.
 Conclusions Our study characterized the genes associated to normal-specific SEs in LUAD, shedding sheds light on their role in tumorigenesis of lung cancers. Their broad downregulation indicates a significant effect of SE aberrancy in the transformation of normal cell into cancer cells with a modulation of immune microenvironment; further functional studies are needed to elucidate the underlying mechanism.
 Citation Format: Guoshuai Cai, Yihan Liu, Xiang Cui, Christopher Amos, Feifei Xiao. Broad downregulation of normal-specific super-enhancer associated genes in lung adenocarcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1478.


Tamil Nadu leads in production of Gloriosasuperba in India with an estimated area of 3000 hectares with annual production of 1000 ton dry seed. Gloriosa superba are the main medicinal plants grown in Tamil Nadu. Because of its high returns, Gloriosasuperba is known as a cash crop like sugar cane and cotton. This study was conducted in Tirupurdistrict of Tamil Nadu and it contains of 13 blocks in that Mulanur blockwas selected purposively based on maximum area under Gloriosasuperba.Four villages namely, Kilangundal, Kumarapalayam, Mulanur and Chinnamaruthur from Mulanur block were selected based on the maximum area under Gloriosasuperba. As well as a greater number of Gloriosa superba growers. The results indicated that majority of the respondents possess medium to high level of knowledge on recommended package of practices of Gloriosasuperba. Among allthe practices season of planting, broad row method of planting, fencing with GI wires and drip method of irrigation were fully adopted by most of the Gloriosasuperba growers.


A finite-element solution for an unbounded region is used to solve vector field problems in a three-dimensional space. The unbounded region is divided into two parts, a local dielectric space and free space. The electromagnetic field equations are solved directly by a weighted residual technique using finite elements, with integral equations as the constraints of the differential equations. The numerical results of the internal field distribution are given to show the accuracy in comparison with other calculations.<<ETX>>


Urticarial wheals produced by exposure to sunlight have been reported rather infrequently in the literature, abundant though it is on subjects dealing with physical allergy and with photosensitization. Moreover, adequate attempts to define the responsible portion or portions of the spectrum have been made in only a few of the reported cases. These facts seem to justify a brief survey of available literature and the report of a case of urticaria caused by sunlight. The comparative rarity of urticaria solaris is attested by the brevity with which it is treated in textbooks. In the 1910 edition of Stelwagon's textbook 1 there is no mention of it. Ormsby, 2 in 1937, remarked that it had been observed. Andrews, 3 in 1938, briefly referred to the case described by Duke 4 in 1923. Jadassohn, 5 in 1938, stated briefly that "urticaria solaris ('photogenica')" appears to be produced by radiation in the "longer


The Board of Directors of Cremonini S.p.A. (CRM.MI), meeting in Castelvetro di Modena today, has taken note of the communication – manifested by means of a press release sent on 31 March 2008 - of the decision of Luigi Cremonini, Cremofin S.r.l. and Ci-Erre Lux S.a. (the "Offerers"), to promote a totalitarian voluntary Public Offer of Acquisition of the company's ordinary shares, directed at the removal of the shares from listing on Borsa Italiana S.p.A. (Italian Stock Market). The Board of Directors of Cremonini S.p.A. have arranged to appoint - on the proposal of the Independent Director present - Banca Akros in the role of Financial Advisor of the Issuer for the preparation of the fairness opinion on the content of the Offer and congruity of the consideration proposed by the Offerers.


A quasi order on a topological space X is a reflexive and transitive binary relation rg. If this relation is also antisymmetric it is called a partial order. The quasi order ^ is closed if {(x, y)e X x XI x ^ y} is a closed subset of the product space X x X. For each xe X, the set L(x) = {y e X | y ^ x) (respectively, M{x) = {y 6 XI x ^ y}) is called the set of predecessors (respectively, successors) of x. Let E(x) = L(x) Π M(x) and note that ^ is a partial order if and only if each E{x) is a singleton. In case ^ is closed, the sets L(x), M(x), and E(x) are closed subsets of X. If x ^ y and x £ E(y) we write x < y. The quasi order ^ is order dense if whenever x < y, there exists ze X such that x < z < y. Let S be a subset of X. An element z e S is a zero of S if 2 ^ # for each xeS. If x ^ y or y ^ x for all x, y e S, then S is called a


Title of Thesis: MORTALITY AND MOVEMENT OF ADULT ATLANTIC MENHADEN DURING 1966-1969 ESTIMATED FROM MARKRECAPTURE MODELS Emily Morgan Liljestrand, Master of Science, 2017 Thesis Directed By: Dr. Michael J. Wilberg, Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Atlantic Menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus is an economically and ecologically important forage fish. I built a multi-state mark-recapture model to estimate movement, fishing mortality, and natural mortality rates during 1966-1969. Movement from mid-Atlantic regions to North and South Carolina in the winter was lower than previously described, and natural mortality was approximately three times greater than previously estimated. Fishing mortality was highest in North and South Carolina. We evaluated the model's performance by generating mark-recapture data sets from known values of mortality and movement then fitting the mark-recapture model to those data. The model estimated movement rates > 0.05 to within 33% of the true value even under different scenarios of spatiotemporally distributed releases and fishing effort. Distributing the fishing effort more evenly across regions substantially improved the estimates of movement and fishing mortality, and increasing the number of marked fish released had a small positive effect on accuracy of estimates. MORTALITY AND MOVEMENT OF ADULT ATLANTIC MENHADEN DURING 1966-1969 by Emily Morgan Liljestrand Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science 2017 Advisory Committee: Dr. Michael J. Wilberg, Chair Dr. Amy M. Schueller Dr. Thomas J. Miller © Copyright by Emily Morgan Liljestrand 2017


Nowadays the construction and development of infrastructures required a large capital. Huge funds, sophisticated equipment and capital goods, good management and expert labors are needed. It would be difficult for every country to develop its own infrastructure without assistance from third parties. Under current regulations in Indonesia, there were many models of cooperation that can be used by the government. Two among them are joint operation and public private partnership. The aim of this research is to distinguish the differences between joint operation and public private partnership. By understanding the differences, either the government and/ or "the partner" can choose the best legal relations that can maximize the result of the cooperation. This is research normative legal research. Data used in this research were secondary data. obtained through literature review. All data obtained will be analyzed using a qualitative approach. Result and discussion prove that joint operation has many differences from public private partnership, even though in general both are built based on mutual benefit cooperation/ arrangement as regulated in Indonesian Civil Code. The joint operation has its own benefit for the government which cannot be found in public private partnership arrangement and vice versa. Researchers encourage that either government and/ or its potential partner need to understand the concept, both joint operation and public private partnership before they enter into a mutual benefit arrangement to achieve their


In this paper, fuzzy mathematics is applied in classification of expansive soils in Guangxi. The method overcomes the shortcomings in single factor classification and solves the problem that it can′t be classified for cross of index in general multiplefactors classification.


ARTERIAL PCO2 IS DICTATED by the ratio between the level of pulmonary gas exchange and alveolar ventilation (VA), not minute ventilation. If so, how could isocapnia be maintained if only the magnitude (tidal volume, VT) and duration (TI and TTOT) of the neural output produced by the central pattern generator of breathing (CPG) can be altered? In other words, what is the strategy used by the respiratory control system to match its output to the level of pulmonary gas exchange to keep arterial blood gas homeostasis if this neural output con- tributes to dead space ventilation? In this Viewpoint, we will show that when the spontaneous breathing is replaced by a cortically triggered breathing pattern at various breathing frequencies (we will name this new rhythm an "ecto-rhythm"), the relationship between TTOT and VT has a positive intercept that averages the pulmonary dead space. As a result, the coupling between ventilation and the pulmonary gas exchange becomes possible (17). We will present the idea that whenever isocapnia is maintained during spontaneous or automatic breathing, the magnitude and dura- tion of breath cycles must display the same relationship as during an ecto-rhythm (15). Conversely, we will discuss the implications of the observation that breathing can display the same essential regulatory properties whether generated outside or within the pontomedullary CPG area (7). Ecto-rhythm, breathing pattern, and gas exchange: the re-


Objective To observe the efficacy and safety of laser iridoplasty for sustained high intraocular pressure in acute angle closure glaucoma before surgery.Methods 23 eyes in 23 patients during acute attack of acute angle closure glaucoma were analyzed retrospectively.All the patients had sustained high intraocular pressure (IOP) more than 48 hours after the medical treatment of maximal dose.They underwent laser iridoplasty first and after the IOP and inflanmation were effectively controlled,20 patients underwent trabeculectomy with adjustable suture and Mitomycin C during the surgery.Three patients underwent phacoemulsification and intraocular lens (IOL) implantation.Results IOP before laser iridoplasty were 43-82 mm Hg,average (66.23 ±:10.40) mm Hg.IOP after laser iridoplasty were 12 -28 nn Hg,average (19.59 ± 3.89) mm Hg(t =21.503,P =0.000 ).After 3 months of operation,IOP in 19 eyes were 8- 20 mm Hg,average ( 15.24 ±2.76) nun Hg,cure rate was 82.6%,IOP in 4 eyes were 21 -27 nn Hg,effeetive rate was 17.39%.Visual acuity increased to varying degrees in all patients.Conclusion Laser iridoplasty can reduce IOP and inhibit inflammation in acute angle closure glaucoma with sustained high IOP,transform the high risk surgery into the conventional surgery.Glaucoma filtration and phacoemulsification in the second stage had higher success rate and less complications.

Key words:
Glaucoma,angle closure; Iridoplasty,laser; Intraoculax pressure


The area of salt-affected soils is increasing globally, mainly due to land use and management malpractices, which can threaten soil health and the sustainability of farms. Climate change is likely to increase the prevalence of salt-affected soils in many agricultural areas due to increased aridity and, in coastal areas, due to the increase in sea water level. The causes and processes that develop salt-affected soils are diverse and can result in soil salinity, sodicity, alkalinity, or a combination of these conditions. There is a need to continuously update strategies to tackle salt-affected soils, finding solutions tailored at different scales. This work presents a review of the current knowledge related to salt-affected soils and identifies specific strategies and related case studies for the prevention, mitigation, and adaptation to salt accumulation in soils at the field scale while addressing their limitations, advantages, research needs, and innovation potential. The presented case studies show that adequate irrigation management and drainage can be used as a preventive measure to counter salt accumulation in soils. Phyto and bioremediation can be effective practices for the mitigation of soil sodicity. Leaching and drainage can be effective measures for mitigation of soil salinity. Crop rotation and management of soil organic matter can be used as adaptative measures that improve plant tolerance to salt-affected soils, while a newer approach, microbial management, shows innovation potential as an adaptative measure.


The importance of promoting educational innovations in higher education has been highlighted by the research community (e.g. educational researchers) and also by the academic community (e.g. university teachers). Educational innovations could be educational resources and/or teaching, learning and assessment strategies for the purpose of improving teachers' academic practices and/or students' learning achievements. This paper presents a study focused on the sustainability of educational innovations developed in engineering courses, with a particular emphasis on the teachers' role. These innovations were developed by educational researchers and/or engineering teachers of public Portuguese Higher Education Institutions (universities and institutes) in the scope of financed projects. A collective case study was carried out in order to characterize projects supported by national research funding agencies, between 2006 and 2013. Document analysis of the projects' materials (e.g. scientific reports) was carried out and interviews with coordinators of selected projects were conducted. These aimed to determine the extent to which these projects have considered the impact and sustainability of educational innovations, since their conception. The sustainability involved at least part of its implementation, modification and/or expansion of the educational innovations in other contexts (e.g. other Engineering courses) by participants of the project (e.g. university teachers). Results showed that some of the developed educational innovations were sustained after the end of the funding, but that this issue should be analyzed further. Guidelines are proposed herein to enhance the sustainability of educational innovations developed in higher education following the conclusion of projects, in order to provide more information to educational policies, funding agencies and involved actors (e.g. teachers).


What you will see You will enjoy strolling around the narrow streets of the ancient town, to reach the Church of Santa Chiara, Francis companion, with the Byzantine Crucifix, which revealed Francis his mission. On the way to Piazza del Comune (Town...


Background The aim of the study was to evaluate the risk for postoperative sore throat (POST) using the self-pressurizing Air Q compared with that using classic laryngeal mask airway (LMA). Patients and methods A total of 150 patients were included in this double-blind prospective study. After induction of general anesthesia, the airway was maintained with an Air Q device (in group Q, 75 patients) and with a classic LMA (in group C, 75 patients). The POST was evaluated and graded (on the basis of its severity) within 20 min in the recovery room and 24 h after surgery. Results The incidence of POST and its severity were comparable in both groups. Conclusion Despite the self-pressurizing cuff of Air Q, there was no reduction in the POST incidence or severity compared with that using classic LMA.


We had studied the advanced satellite broadcasting system using 21 GHz frequency band by the Communications and Broadcasting Engineering Test Satellite (COMETS) of Japan. This paper presents results of 21 GHz band advanced satellite broadcasting experiments such as the payload performance, the bit error performance of modem on the satellite link, and the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) multiplexing transmission of a high definition television (HDTV).


Plant biotechnology is set of different scientific approaches and methods that are utilized to improve and modify plants for human and environmental benefit. Plant biotechnology can be used to meet the increasing need for food by improving yields, improving the nutritional quality of crops and recuing the impact on the environment. Plant biotechnology can assist to creation of varieties resistant to frost, droughts and floods, pests and disease, and other abiotic and biotic stresses. Similarly, development of plant biotechnology methods is a reach source of possibilities for creation of new agricultural genotypes, thus enriching the agricultural biodiversity.
This paper presents several in vitro methods with successful application results and particular concern for improvement of the biodiversity of horticultural crops, important for Republic of Macedonia. Utilization of the benefits of plant biotechnology will bring "economically sustainable" and "environmentally sound" agricultural production that shall be "socially equal". It is a straight contribution of plant biotechnology to the sustainable agriculture.


Dirac semimetals (DSM) and Weyl semimetal (WSM) fall under the generic class of three-dimensional solids, which follow relativistic energy-momentum relation $\epsilon_\mathbf{k}= \hbar v_F |\mathbf{k}|$ at low energies. Such a linear dispersion when regularized on a lattice can lead to remarkable properties such as the anomalous Hall effect, presence of Fermi surface arcs, positive longitudinal magnetoconductance, and dynamic chiral magnetic effect. The last two properties arise due to the manifestation of chiral anomaly in these semimetals, which refers to the non-conservation of chiral charge in the presence of electromagnetic gauge fields. Here, we propose the planar Nernst effect, or transverse thermopower, as another consequence of chiral anomaly, which should occur in both Dirac and Weyl semimetals. We analytically calculate the planar Nernst coefficient for DSMs (type-I and type-II) and also WSMs (type-I and type-II), using a quasi-classical Boltzmann formalism. The planar Nernst effect manifests in a configuration when the applied temperature gradient, magnetic field, and the measured voltage are all co-planar, and is of distinct origin when compared to the anomalous and conventional Nernst effects. Our findings, specifically a 3D map of the planar Nernst coefficient in type-I Dirac semimetals (Na$_3$Bi, Cd$_3$As$_2$ etc) and type-II DSM (PdTe$_2$, VAI3 etc), can be verified experimentally by an in-situ 3D double-axis rotation extracting the full $4\pi$ solid angular dependence of the Nernst coefficient.


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device is provided to prevent the generation of defects in a fuse region by removing a stepped part between a cell region and a peripheral circuit region. A storage electrode insulating layer(102) is formed on a semiconductor substrate(100) including a cell region(C), a peripheral circuit region(P), and a fuse region(F). A guard ring region is formed on a boundary between the cell region and the peripheral region by etching selectively the storage electrode insulating layer. A wet-etch prevention insulating layer(114) and a fuse polysilicon layer are formed on an entire surface of the semiconductor substrate. A fuse(120) is formed by etching the fuse polysilicon layer. The wet-etch prevention insulating layer is removed from the cell region. A storage electrode(124) is formed in the cell region. A dielectric layer(126) and an upper electrode(128) are formed on the storage electrode.


We have developed a practical and highly productive system for hydrogenation reactions utilizing capillary column reactors, which occupy less space than ordinary batch systems, are low cost and easy to handle, and show feasibility toward large-scale chemical synthesis. Palladium-containing micelles were immobilized onto the inner surface of the capillaries. Nine palladium-immobilized capillaries were assembled and connected to a T-shaped connector, and hydrogen and a substrate solution were fed to capillaries via the connector. Hydrogenation of 1-phenyl-1-cyclohexene (1) proceeded smoothly to give phenylcyclohexane in quantitative yield. The capillaries themselves occupy only ca. 0.4 mL and a high space-time yield has been achieved (124.3 mg/17 min/0.4 mL). In addition, leaching of palladium was not detected by ICP analysis after reactions.


A photovoltaic cell of CuPc:P3HT:PCBM was introduced to extend the light absorption in the visible wavelength between 300~500 and 550~800 nm. By fabricating the photovoltaic cells of ITO / PEDOT:PSS / CuPc:P3HT:PCBM / BCP / Al with smallmolecular and polymer donating materials blended layer, we demonstrated a high PCE of 4.20% with high Jsc of 10.05 mA/㎠. This performance of photovoltaic cell with the blended layer of small-molecular and polymer can be competitive with that of tandem cells.


In order to fit the small cross-center-biased characteristic of the real world video sequences, an improved version of the well-known cross diamond search algorithm is proposed in this paper. The new algorithm uses a small cross-shaped search patterns in the first two steps to speedup the motion estimation of stationary and quasi-stationary blocks. Experimental results show that this new cross-diamond search algorithm could achieve much higher computational reduction as compared with Diamond Search (DS) and Cross Diamond Search (CDS) while similar prediction accuracy is maintained, and it is especially suitable for videoconferencing sequences.


This document presents an example from an end user's viewpoint of a Web Selling Partner site linked to a professionally merchandised page providing the information necessary to close sales online.


A signal restoration algorithm is proposed as a correction model of distorted kinesiographic measurement. The algorithm performs to build two-dimensional nonlinear correction operator based on the group method of data handling(GMDH) in self-organized manner. A total of 87 lattice points in space which corresponds to the area where the mandible positions at rest and during chewing is selected for measurement and correction. Approximately 92% of the corrected coordinates(241 out of 261 coordinates) revealed the estimation errors smaller than 0.3mm, while 2% of them showed the errors of between 0.5mm and 1.0mm. The mean estimation error for all coordinate values was 0.101mm(s.d.,0.125mm). A 3-D interpolation method for given points in the aforementioned space is also described, in which the measurement of an arbitrary point of a distorted cubic body whose eight edge points are measurements of displacement points is transformed into the interpolated points.


Some new invariance principles are formulated for the calculation of radiation fields in semiinfinite atmospheres. As special cases they yield the previously known invariance relations, and also a number of new results. One of them is a doubling formula in the problem of diffuse reflection: Given the intensity at depth tau one can, by simple integration and without any iteration or solution of equations, obtain the intensity at depth 2tau. (AIP)


This research aims to determine the effect of transformational leadership style, work environment, and work motivation on the performance of employees of PT. Dwi Putra Selaras in Cilegon City. The research method used is quantitative. This study collects data based on a questionnaire with measurements using an interval scale. and using 93 respondents as a sample as well as a population or called non-probability sampling (saturated sample). The data analysis method used is the SmartPLS 3.0 analysis tool which consists of instrument testing and outer and inner model tests.
From the results of data calculations that have been carried out using SmartPLS 3.0, it can be concluded: (1) there is no significant effect of transformational leadership style on employee performance (2) there is a positive and significant effect of the work environment on employee performance (3) there is a positive influence and the significance of work motivation on employee performance.


Angiotensin is a hormone that plays a key role in the development of hypertension. AngiotensinConverting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs) are now the most often prescribed drugs to treat hypertension. The present in silico study involves exploring the antihypertensive potentials of substituted benzimidazoles and indazole compounds ARC 36, ARC 38, ARC 45, ARC 76, and ARC 77 against the most prominent molecular target Angiotensin Receptor (PDB ID: 4YAY, XFEL structure of Human Angiotensin Receptor)using the software Schrodinger Maestro .Based on glide score, ARC 45, ARC 76 and ARC77 were having the docking score of -7.461 Kcal/mol, -7.947 Kcal/mol and -6.683 Kcal/mol which is comparable to the standard drug (Telmisartan) -5.036.The compounds were further screened for Lipinski's rule for druglikeliness, and ADME properties. In this study we reported compounds ARC 76 and ARC38had comparable in silico parameters to the standard dug Telmisartan and hence necessitating further in vitro and in vivo studies. Original Research Article Silky et al.; JPRI, 33(32A): 79-87, 2021; Article no.JPRI.69875 80


This research is aimed to identify the overall perception of the rural community towards the transformation of agriculture from traditional farming to commercial farming. It focuses on the influences of the external factors that had been determined as the major driving forces (economic, government and social forces), which led to the transformation of agricultural practices in rural areas. In particular, this research was also intended to study the relationship among the driving forces and demographics factors in influencing the respondent's opinion or thingking regarding the issue on the trasformation of agriculture.


There are two parts in this dissertation. In the first part we prove that genuine nonuniformly hyperbolic dynamics emerge when flows in R with homoclinic loops or heteroclinic cycles are subjected to certain time-periodic forcing. In particular, we establish the emergence of strange attractors and SRB measures with strong statistical properties (central limit theorem, exponential decay of correlations, et cetera). We identify and study the mechanism responsible for the nonuniform hyperbolicity: saddle point shear. Our results apply to concrete systems of interest in the biological and physical sciences, such as May-Leonard models of Lotka-Volterra dynamics. In the second part we introduce a notion of conditional memory loss for nonequilibrium open dynamical systems. We prove that this type of memory loss occurs at an exponential rate for nonequilibrium open systems generated by one-dimensional piecewise-differentiable expanding Lasota-Yorke maps.


The poem "Unselved" is a meditation upon the encroachment of Christianity upon animism, which according to Lynn White Jr. resulted in an altered relationship between humans and the environment, specifically, a relationship in which the nonhuman could be exploited without guilt.


The paper presents a graph cut based active contour without edges segmentation model to track pedestrian in thermal images. The deformable model is based on the Mumford- Shah piecewise constant energy formulation. However, the model presented here relaxes the global homogeneity assumption of the Mumford- Shah functional. A discrete energy formulation is presented and the optimization is performed using graph cuts. The major advantages of our approach are; 1) The optimization using graph cuts makes the segmentation process much faster than solving it using level sets. 2) Relaxing the global homogeneity assumption makes the model more practical.


Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease present in all Brazilian territory. Brazilian government, however, lacks an accurate early warning system to quickly predict future dengue outbreaks. Such system would help health authorities to plan their actions and to reduce the impact of the disease in the country. However, most attempts to model dengue fever use parametric models which enforce a specific expected behaviour and fail to capture the inherent complexity of dengue dynamics. Therefore, we propose a new Bayesian non-parametric model based on Gaussian processes to design an accurate and flexible model that outperforms previous/standard techniques and can be incorporated into an early warning system, specially at cities from Southeast and Center-West regions. The model also helps understanding dengue dynamics in Brazil through the analysis of the covariance functions generated.


The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) is implemented by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) with the goal to ensure that decision in nine Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) of Earth observations (EOs) can be informed by sustained Earth observations. Extracting actionable information from Earth observations often depends on research, and utilization of the societal benefits of EOs requires the involvement of science and research communities. Building a GEOSS responding to the needs of a wide range of users necessitates contributions from many science and technology (S&T) communities. The success of GEOSS depends on a outreach of GEO to the relevant S&T communities, and the outreach concept has a focus on demonstrated services for S&T communities. The GEO Work Plan includes several Tasks focusing on outreach to S&T communities, and most of the GEO Community of Practice have a strong S&T component. Infrastructure serving and linking S&T users communities and GEOSS has been developed and is integrated into a GEOSS S&T Service Suite. The GEOSS S&T Stakeholder Network facilitates input from S&T communities to GEO.


Modern power systems are undergoing a transitional phase, increasingly incorporating renewable energy sources (RES) to harness their economic and environmental benefits. The main challenge with this transitional phase is the management of the increased variability and uncertainty in the power balance. Legacy operation and planning practices are gradually seen as becoming inadequate or ill-adapted in addressing this challenge. One particular gap in the state of the art, which is of great importance, is estimating the operational flexibility potential of individual power system assets and their aggregation at the system level. System operators need to evaluate and plan ahead flexibility adequacy for their power systems in order to ensure feasible and economical operation under high RES penetration. Likewise, asset owners need to integrate the notion of asset flexibility as part of their investment and operations decisions. To this end, we propose the concept of the flexibility envelope to describe the flexibility potential dynamics of a power system and its individual resources in the operational planning time-frame. We demonstrate that the resulting envelope dynamics can be a starting point for flexibility adequacy planning in systems with highly variable generation.


In today's competitive environment in which companies and organizations of private and public sector, are trying to implement successfully their operational plans to achieve their strategic objectives and to fulfill their mission, increasingly leads to be adopted by them, principles and techniques of project management. In the present work, the management Project-based Management, which is a relatively new approach for its management, is proposed as an alternative method of enterprises and organizations.


Because the traditional carrier modulation is complex to realize,a single-carrier modulation method is proposed.It uses a carrier to compare with a modulation signal,combine with pulse occurrence and distribution principle,so that the software become easier.Giving the detailed analysis of the working principle,the simulation model in Matlab software is established,finally the experimental platform is set up.The simulation and experimental results verify the feasibility of the single-carrier modulation method and the control strategy of grid inverter,and the control method of neutral point voltage balance is effective.


One of the difficult and recently-emerging problems in the realm of natural language processing is the recognition and analysis of emotions (NLP). A current area of research involves identifying a person's emotional state through textual data in addition to recognizing emotions from face and auditory records. Numerous disciplines, including higher education institutions, can use the study of emotions to their advantage. This is especially true given the widespread usage of social media in today's world, when everything is done online. This information could be very helpful in guiding an organization's decisions. The abundant text found in social media, blogs, and other places can be used to explore different text mining findings, such as emotions. This study tackles on making use of the vast amount of information available online especially in social media platforms through the development of iMosyon, an emotion recognition system to help aid higher institutions in their decision-making process. Experimental results were executed and researchers then decided to use the Support Vector Machine (SVM) model due to the fact that it received the highest accuracy score of 78% among the classifiers. The beta testing which made use of Evaluation of Performance Functionality and Software Product Quality shows an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5.0 that indicates that the respondents accepted its functionality and the feedback was good.


Established in practice, but often viewed with skepticism – for a long time that was the case for mini dental implants. However, in recent years, the reduced diameter (under 3mm) implants have increasingly attracted the attention of scientists. Corresponding studies to investigate the clinical feasibility of mini-implants have been initiated at numerous universities worldwide. | PROF.DR. DR. NORBERT ENKLING


Leadership styles play a significant role in shaping the behaviour, motivation, and productivity of employees, particularly at the middle management level. Transformational leaders inspire and motivate employees, encouraging them to exceed expectations and achieve higher levels of performance. Transactional leaders focus on setting clear goals, providing rewards and punishments based on performance, and maintaining the status quo. Laissez-faire leaders adopt a hands-off approach, giving employees a high level of autonomy and decision-making power. The choice of leadership style can significantly impact middle-level employees' performance indicators, including productivity, job satisfaction, and motivation. This study presents essential inputs for organizations to effectively manage and optimize the potential of their middle-level employees, ultimately contributing to overall organizational success.


If a fluid body is heated nonuniformly or if energy is released within the body, a thermal flux transported by heat conduction appears. Heat con duction promotes energy diffusion and temperature equalization. In general, with temperature gradients also arise pressure gradients, which set the fluid into motion. In many cases hydrodynamic energy transport dominates over that associated with heat conduction. However, often the motion and hydrodynamic energy transfer are unimportant and heat from any source present is transported by means of thermal conduction alone. For temperatures which are not too high it is ordinary heat conduction which serves as the mechanism of heat transfer. Ordinary heat conduction transports thermal disturbances comparatively slowly through a medium (we shall prove this subsequently using a gas as our example). Small pressure disturbances propagate with the speed of sound, leaving certain redistributions of density, and the pressure equalizes more rapidly than the temperature. If the temperature changes in the medium are not large, the fluid moves at a speed much less than the speed of sound, and the motion of the fluid can often be neglected when considering heat propagation by thermal conduction, treating the process as one at constant pressure. The energy balance equation takes the form


Cities are complex systems that are constantly evolving to better allow people to connect with one another. Moreover, and similar to countless natural phenomena, cities exhibit inherent orders that can be captured and expressed through complex analyses of their components. Using a variety of large datasets, this work offers a ring-buffer approach to analyze the spatial characteristics of four components of Chicago urban system, namely: roads, intersections, buildings, and population+ employment. The complex nature of these four components manifests itself in power-law relationships, represented by their fractal dimensions. Results show that road length and number of intersections, and to a larger degree, population+employment count and building gross floor area exhibit significantly similar properties. The proposed method could further be used to analyze large demographic, socio-economic, and other geospatial datasets with the aim to study their impacts on relevant urban systems characteristics, including mobility, connectivity, and accessibility to name a few.


In this workshop we explore the Literatronica system in regards to the choices and decisions made by the technical architect of the system and by an author. The Literatronica system allows authors to create pieces of adaptive digital narrative, and provides an accessible web interface for readers. Digital narrative works could reconfigure themselves for the reader, leading every time to a potentially unique read. Literatronica works could not be reproduced on paper except, perhaps, as a reading path at a given moment.


Many people are against the positive financial policy for its risk and other negative effects.But this is a prejudice because of the practical analysis of the proportion of the balance of national debt to the GDP. The positive financial policy has played an indispensable role and therefore it should not fade out now.


In this information age,product packing plays no more the minor role in merchandise selling.For the subdivision of buyers'market and the differentiation of target client,individuation packing of product becomes the demand of the future market,and the individuation and diversification of packing design just answer for the requirement of present market.This thesis discusses from the individuation packing of CD product,analyses and expatiate the reason for individuation of product packing,and the necessity of implementing individuation packing, and some factors that make for the emergence of individuation packing.


Based upon a workshop and some relevant surveys of U.S.higher education,some analysis and reflections are made about the distinctive features of U.S.higher education including mass education,diversity and internationalization.


Objective To explore the predict factors of left ventricular mass(LVM) in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy(HCM).Methods Twenty-two patients with HCM and 20 normal volunteers underwent cardiac cine MR and delayed enhancement,LV functional parameters and delayed enhancement parameters were analyzed by Segment software.The functional parameters were indexed by body surface area.univariate and multivariate regression analysis were performed between LVM index and other parameters.Results The LVM index in HCM patients significantly exceeded that of control subjects(P0.001).On multivariate analysis,only maximum left ventricular wall thickness(β=7.53,P=0.02) was associated with LVM index.In HCM patients with preserved systolic function,LV end-diastolic volume index(β=3.68,P=0.004) and maximal LV wall thickness(β=5.16,P=0.008) were correlated with LVM index.Conclusion In patients with HCM,maximum LV wall thickness has useful value to predict LVM.The optimum parameters to estimate LVM in HCM patients with preserved systolic function are LV end-diastolic volume index and maximal LV wall thickness.


This research is concerned with harnessing collaborative approaches for the authoring of Adaptive Educational Hypermedia (AEH) systems. It involves the enhancement of Semantic Wikis with pedagogy aware features to this end. There are many challenges in understanding how communities of interest can efficiently collaborate for learning content authoring, in introducing pedagogy to the developed knowledge models and in specifying user models for efficient delivery of AEH systems. The contribution of this work will be the development of a model of collaborative authoring which includes domain specification, content elicitation, and definition of pedagogic approach. The proposed model will be implemented in a prototype AEH authoring system that will be tested and evaluated in a formal education context.


A series of recent papers shows that it is NP-complete to deci de whether an oriented graph admits a homomorphism to the tournament T4 on 4 vertices containing a 4-circuit, each time on a smaller graph class. We improve these results by sho wing that homomorphism to T4 is NP-complete for bipartite planar subcubic graphs of arbi trarily large fixed girth. We also show that push homomorphism is NP-complete for planar g raphs with girth 9 and for bipartite planar graphs with girth 8.


Examines two problems regarding the calculation of the solubility of a silver salt in aqua ammonia of a given concentration.


The purpose of this thesis is to design an 8 Gbps clock and data recovery circuit intended to work in the receiver of a high-speed Serializer-Deserializer interface (SerDes). The proposed architecture is based on a phase-locked loop operation (PLL) that integrates a linear phase detector, a charge pump, a wide-tuning range voltage-controlled ring oscillator (2.512 GHz), and a third order low pass filter that achieves a bandwidth of 150 MHz. A wide loop bandwidth is considered in the design to achieve a high input jitter tolerance and a fast locking time. Implemented in 22 nm FDSOI, the overall circuit draws 1.38mW from a 0.8V power supply, exhibits a recovery clock RMS jitter of 0.970 fs and and requires a locking time of 22 ns. A Monte Carlo analysis has been performed applying temperature and voltage corners of -40◦C to 125◦C and 0.72 V to 0.88 V respectively. The results indicated a 95.6% success rate. By using an external voltage that has been implemented to adjust the phase detector's flip-flops bias current, 100% success rate is achieved.


2. The Water Framework Directive of the European Union (WFD) adopted in year 2000. outlines number of water policy and management actions, where monitoring is of primary importance. Following WFD principles Serbia adopted new legislation in water sector aiming to conserve or achieve good ecological, chemical and quantitative status of water resources. Serbia, as most of the countries of former Yugoslavia mostly uses groundwater for drinking water supply (over 75%). However, the current situation in monitoring of groundwater quality and quantity is far from satisfactory. Several hundred piezometers for observation of groundwater level under auspices of the Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia are located mostly in alluviums of major rivers, while some 70 piezometers are used by the Serbian Environmental Protection Agency for controlling groundwater quality. Currently only 20% of delineated groundwater bodies are under observation. This paper evaluates current conditions and proposes to expand national monitoring network to cover most of groundwater bodies or their groups, to raise number of observation points to a density of ca. 1 object /200 km2 and to include as much as possible actual waterworks in this network. Priority in selecting sites for new observation piezometers or springs has to be given to groundwater bodies under threats, either to their water reserves or their water chemical quality. For the former, an assessment of available renewable reserves versus exploitation capacity is needed, while to estimate pressures on water quality, the best way is to compare aquifers' vulnerability against anthropogenic (diffuse and punctual) hazards.


National and organizational assessment models are increasing in number throughout the world. Among the most recent is Quebec's QUALImetre. In a recent interview Jean‐M. Richard, managing director of the Mouvement Quebecois de la Qualite (Quebec Movement for Quality), explained the philosophy, principles for implementation and innovations of this tool, which incorporates international developments in quality to improve regional competitiveness.


Over the last century and a half, urban consumers of fluid milk in the U.S. have often mistrusted the sources of their milk. This paper traces the history of these feelings of risk and the reactions to them, using milk as an entry point into the food safety discussions of the times. There are two conflicting manners in which risk was addressed. In the first, milk production is increasingly separated from the consumer, both geographically and emotionally, through health regulations, increasingly complex production, transportation, and sanitary technology, and industry consolidation. In the second, feelings of mistrust and risk are responded to through policies and marketing strategies that attempt to forge feelings of connection between consumers and particular producers and lessen the emotional distance between city and country. While these two techniques often seemed contradictory, many movements within the dairy industry attempted to balance the two.


■ BACKGROUND In 2004, the responsibilities for all substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation services in Norway were transferred from the county level to the state owned regional healthcare enterprises. ■ AIM This reform, as many other European health reforms, was inspired by the same ideological and expert policy prescriptions for organizing public services. The aim of this paper is to analyze how these organizational principles influence the probability of services meeting the conditions of recognized prerequisites for a high quality of care. ■ DATA The paper builds on data from one national and two regional evaluations of the reform. ■ RESULTS The new organization principles have created a system of fragmented, linear transfer of responsibilities from one agency to the next, preventing the realization of fundamental preconditions for effective treatments of substance abuse. Initiatives of bottom-up organization are seen as attempts to counteract these consequences. ■ CONCLUSIONS There seems to be an inherent contradiction between the overall organization of healthcare and social services for substance abusers in Norway, and recognized preconditions for a high quality of care. Bottom-up organization is, to some degree an effective counteract in alleviating the consequences of this contradiction. Top-down and bottom-up organizing seems to have been established as two parallel forms of organizational development in the Norwegian substance treatment system.


This paper mainly focused on the practical approach of rebuilding 3D model for 2D turning part and divided this process into four phases; data importing, data preprocessing, profile distillation and model repair. In the importing data phase 2D CAD file format is generic DXF file. Then, data is filtrated, consolidated and repaired in the preprocessing phase. Next, the profile is classified and distilled with bound box method after preprocessing. Finally, some lost features are added, such as slot and screw in the repairing model phase. Two examples are included to demonstrate the validity of the proposed system.


This article argues that despite the growing interest in the so-called fragmentation of international law, little, if any, attention has been paid to the role of the more favourable protection clause in addressing certain aspects of the interaction between treaties on human rights. It shows that both the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights do not employ the clause, found in their respective constitutive instruments, to fulfil its initial aim and design. The article compares the practices of the two courts and explores the underlying reasons for not using, or misapplying, the clause. Moreover, the analysis finds that even though the clauses in the European Convention on Human Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights are very similar, the two courts have adopted completely different understandings of how the clause should be applied, thereby strengthening the fragmentation narrative. The discussion proceeds to suggest a novel way in which the more favourable protection clause may be used. It contends that the clause is a provision subject to violation by the contracting parties by way of offering an alternative manner in which international courts can engage with the proliferation of human rights treaties and revisit the allocation of competence among international and national courts.


Purpose of reviewThe review provides a comprehensive evaluation of Cluster schedules in subcutaneous-specific immunotherapy (SCIT) in terms of the safety profile and onset of clinical and immunological effects. Recent findingsRecent major clinical studies could clearly reveal that Cluster schedules with both (semi-)depot-allergen preparations and chemically modified allergen preparations ('allergoids') are well tolerated therapeutic options in SCIT comparable to the safety profile of conventional build-up schedules. Moreover, preliminary data indicate that these accelerated protocols result in a more rapid achievement of clinical and immunological effects. SummaryConventional schedules in SCIT have the disadvantage of both a high expenditure of time and the need for a high patient compliance. In accelerated cluster schedules two to three injections are administered sequentially per treatment day (with an interval of 30 min between the injections) in weekly intervals aimed to reach the maintenance dose of SCIT in a short time interval. Recent studies indicate that these accelerated SCIT protocols result in a more rapid achievement of clinical and immunological effects than conventional schedules. Moreover, the safety profile is comparable between conventional and cluster SCIT.


In this paper, a new bridgeless single-phase ac-dc converter with a natural power factor correction (PFC) is proposed. Compared with existing single-phase bridgeless topologies, the proposed topology has the merits of less component counts. The absence of an input diode bridge and the presence of only one diode in the current path during each stage of the switching cycle result in higher power density and less conduction losses; hence, improved thermal management compared to existing PFC rectifiers is obtained. The proposed topology is designed to work in resonant mode to achieve an automatic PFC close to unity in a simple and effective manner. The resonant mode operation gives additional advantages such as zero-current turn-on in the active power switches, zero-current turn-off in the output diode and reduces the complexity of the control circuitry. Principle of operation and the feasibility of the proposed converter are provided. Detailed experimental and simulation results are presented.


[Objective] The aim was to control weeds in mulberry garden effectively.[Method] The soil-applied herbicides 50 % Acetochlor EC,72 % Dual EC,50 % Diuron WP and 25 % Chlorosulfuron WP were sprayed evenly on the bare soil in the mulberry garden after summer cutting.The controlling effect and safety to mulberry tree and silkworm of 4 kinds of herbicides were investigated.[Result] Under the experimental concentration,the controlling effect per plant on gross weeds of Diuron after spraying for 60 d was highest,being 92.8 %,and that of Dual,Acetochlor and Chlorosulfuron were 85.9 %,56.4 % and 21.7 % respectively.Dual,Acetochlor and Chlorosulfuron all didn't cause the injury to silkworm and mulberry tree after spraying for 60 d,and Dual and Acetochlor increased mulberry leaf yield and cocoon layer ratio.But Diuron was easy to produce injury to mulberry tree in the years with too much rain.[Conclusion] Acetochlor,Dual and Diuron should be chosen in the summer cutting mulberry garden with gramineae weeds as the majority and Diuron and Chlorosulfuron could be selected to use in the mulberry garden with more broad-leaf weed.


A simple and low cost electrical property tester for material has been designed and built using cheap components. This instrument consists of simple adjustable current source circuit using LM317, gold coated pin probe and multimeters. The circuit arranged has produced sufficient current to do an electrical property measurement. Value of current could be adjusted to select suitable current in measurement. Resistance vs current graph shows a reciprocal function that generated by a constant voltage of 1.25 volts in output pin. An experiment to examine sheet resistance of ITO glass was carried out to make sure the instrument work properly.


The electrophysiological basis of atrial fibrillation (AF) is unknown. Regulators of G-protein signalling (RGS) act to deactivate G-protein signalling; they interact with the α subunit and accelerate intrinsic GTP-ase activity. RGS 4 negatively regulates inhibitory Gαi/o and Gαq/11 signalling. Absence of RGS 4 may increase G-protein gated inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) currents, shorten the atrial effective refractory period and promote atrial arrhythmia. The absence of RGS 4 results in continued Gαq/11 and thus calcium (Ca2+) signalling which may predispose to atrial arrhythmia. Does attenuation of RGS 4 promote AF? What is the mechanism? In vivo studies were performed in global RGS 4 knockout (-/-) and wild type (+/+) mice. Electrophysiological studies (EPS) were performed and ECG and EP parameters recorded. AF induction was attempted. Telemetry probes were inserted and conscious mouse ECGs were studied for AF and atrial ectopics (AE). Heart rate variability (HRV) was measured. Atrial cardiomyocytes were studied with patch-clamping and confocal microscopy. ECG and EP parameters were comparable. RGS 4 (-/-) developed AF. Conscious RGS 4 (-/-) were tachycardic, and had an enhanced bradycardic response to carbachol (CCh). ECG and HRV parameters of RGS 4 (+/+) and RGS 4 (-/-) without and with CCh were comparable. CCh-treated RGS 4 (-/-) had disrupted HRV, pauses and AE compared to RGS 4 (-/-) alone, but no AF. At patching, GIRK was not implicated but single cell restitution curves showed a steeper slope in RGS 4 (-/-). There was an increase in frequency of Ca2+ sparks in RGS 4 (-/-) compared to RGS 4 (+/+) in the absence and presence of endothelin-1 (ET-1). 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB) abolished sparks. Sparks were reduced in amplitude in RGS 4 (-/-) in the absence of ET-1, but were longer in duration, time to peak and tau. A subset analysis showed that the left atrium had a greater frequency of Ca2+ sparks than the right atrium, and that these were comparatively longer in duration, time to peak and tau. RGS 4 (-/-) mice are predisposed to AF. There is good evidence that this is mediated via Gαq/11-IP3-Ca2+. RGS 4 is a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of AF. More recently RGS 6 has been found to be expressed in the heart and negatively regulates inhibitory Gαi/o signalling. EPS with AF induction were performed in RGS 6 (-/-) and RGS 6 (+/+) mice, with greater inducibility in RGS 6 (-/-) mice. It is possible that RGS 6 mediates its effects via Gαi-GIRK and could be a therapeutic target in the treatment of AF but further mechanistic studies are underway.


In this paper, a lattice-based cell model is proposed for single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). The finite temperature effect is accounted for via the local harmonic approach. The equilibrium SWNT configurations are obtained by minimizing the Helmholtz free energy with respect to seven primary coordinate variables that are subjected to a chirality constraint. The calculated specific heats agree well with the experimental data, and at low temperature depend on the tube radii with small tubes having much lower values. Our calculated coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) are universally positive for all the radial, axial and circumferential directions, and increase with increasing temperature. The armchair tubes see very large circumferential CTEs, while the zigzag tubes see very large axial CTEs. The tube chirality affects mostly the axial and the circumferential CTEs, but not the radial CTEs.


"It would be lovely just to dance" (Marshall 1994, 19). The volume entitled "Spiritual Herstories: Call of the Soul in Dance Research," edited by Amanda Williamson and Barbara Sellers-Young, promis...


Accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of white dwarfs is often invoked as the formation mechanism of neutron stars in different types of binary systems. Necessary conditions for AIC of a C + O white dwarf are examined, with particular emphasis on the dynamic stage immediately following explosive carbon ignition. It is shown that, for the currently most favored hypotheses as to the physics of phase transition in dense plasmas, AIC is possible, but only for a comparatively narrow range of initial conditions. This conclusion depends on still poorly known input physics such as the velocities of conductive burning fronts and the growth rate of hydrodynamic instabilities. 33 refs.


Texts composed in Chinese but written down in Tibetan script are the most informative documents about the dialects spoken in the region of Dunhuang during the 9th and the 10th centuries. This period saw the end of the Tibetan occupation (until 848) and the more and more independent Chinese regime called Guiyijun. The present study first gives chronological precisions on two of the four documents studied by Luo Changpei in 1933: 1° India Office C 129, dated "after 896", has other texts on the verso which are edited here (C 112 A, B, C and C 133); 2° India Office C 130, dated "after 848", has a colophon edited, translated and annotated here. ; The author then presents eight texts from the Fonds Pelliot Tibetain composed in Chinese but written in Tibetan script. The dates of these documents extend from 820 (HS) to the end of the 9th century (99) and until the 10th century (NT, DA, P) . The latter three texts show new phonetic elements which cannot, in the author's opinion, be direct developments from the earlier dialect. It rather has to be assumed that, during the period studied here, a standard Chinese language, already strongly influenced by the local dialect, coexisted with the dialect of the Hexi region. With the progressive isolation of Hexi from central China, the regional dialect flourished and increasingly modified the language of the 10th century documents. Therefore the language changes observed between the texts of the 9th and those of the 10th century do not reflect a linear development of one dialect but the transformation of a standard Chinese language under the growing influence of a regional dialect.