Simple Summary The crucial role of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in the disease progression of various types of tumors, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), has been well established. To investigate the close interplay between cancer cells and TAMs, we previously established a direct co-culture system. Our aim was to identify useful molecular markers whose expression is regulated by interactions with cancer cells and TAMs, to predict patient prognoses, or to gain a deeper understanding of the ESCC mechanism. Our method revealed that direct contact with macrophages stimulated matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) production in ESCC cells, and that MMP9 played an integral role in cancer cell migration and invasion in vitro. Moreover, MMP9 expression in ESCC cells was significantly correlated with high infiltration of TAMs and poor clinical outcomes in immunohistochemical analysis. Our study suggests the potential for TAMs or MMP9 as important prognostic markers or therapeutic ESCC targets. Abstract Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) contribute to disease progression in various cancers, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). We have previously used an indirect co-culture system between ESCC cell lines and macrophages to analyze their interactions. Recently, we established a direct co-culture system to closely simulate actual ESCC cell-TAM contact. We found that matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) was induced in ESCC cells by direct co-culture with TAMs, not by indirect co-culture. MMP9 was associated with ESCC cell migration and invasion, and its expression was controlled by the Stat3 signaling pathway in vitro. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed that MMP9 expression in cancer cells at the invasive front ("cancer cell MMP9") was related to high infiltration of CD204 positive M2-like TAMs (p < 0.001) and was associated with worse overall and disease-free survival of patients (p = 0.036 and p = 0.038, respectively). Furthermore, cancer cell MMP9 was an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival. Notably, MMP9 expression in cancer stroma was not associated with any clinicopathological factors or patient prognoses. Our results suggest that close interaction with TAMs infiltrating in cancer stroma or cancer nests induces MMP9 expression in ESCC cells, equipping them with more malignant features.


To make full use of E.ulmoides leaves,chlorogenic acid was extracted from E.ulmoides leaves by microwave-enzymatic synergistic extraction method.The optimum extraction conditions were determined by experimental factors and response surface methodology.The results showed that the optimum enzymatic extraction conditions of chlorogenic acid from E.ulmoides leaves were as follows:enzymolysis time 56 min,cellulose dosage 4mg/g,pH 4.6,enzymolysis temperature 46℃.Under these conditions,the extraction yield of chlorogenic acid was 2.39%.


On the occasion of the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change in 2014, a rather unique clock was installed in front of the Copenhagen City Hall. Olafur Eliasson's Ice Watch (2014–2019) is an ecological artwork that aims to raise awareness about climate change by engaging its audience. The artwork consisted of twelve enormous ice blocks installed in the shape of a clock. Drops of water slowly dripped to remind the audience of the precarious situation that our planet is currently in. This chapter addresses and explores the paradoxical nature of ecological artworks, with Ice Watch as a case study. By drawing on Arne Næss' concept of deep ecology and Donna Haraway's call for 'staying with the trouble', this chapter explores whether anthropocentrism can truly be criticised by ecological artworks.


The bachelor thesis The development of activities of the civic association Misa & Misa is engaged in activities of a particular civic association that helps the physically and mentally disadvantaged people. The aim is to map in detail the activities of this social group, find out why it was formed and how it is successful in process of integration to ordinary society. The theoretical part describes the legal norms, history of civic associations and the specific activities of this civic association. In the practical part is used a qualitative research. To obtain data for the research were used semistructured interviews with some members of the civic association, participant observation and document analysis.


Career situation of first and presenting author Post-doctoral fellow Introduction Anti-citrullinated antibodies (ACPA) in RA have been postulated to contribute to disease pathogenesis. This has been supported by studies of monoclonal APCA generated by cloning from single cell sorting of different B cell subsets from peripheral blood and synovial fluid. It has been debated if the bone marrow (BM) compartment of RA patients hosts long lived plasma cells producing ACPA or if ACPA are primarily coming from plasmablasts at the sites of inflammation, e.g. the synovium. Objectives The main objectives were to study primary lymphoid tissue from RA patients, the BM plasma cell IgG repertoire and further characterize recombinantly expressed antibodies from selected sequences to explore if ACPA producing long lived plasma cells reside in this niche. Methods For this study we collected bone marrow from proximal or distal femur of RA patients undergoing hip replacement surgery due to secondary osteoarthritis. BM samples were processed from four ACPA+RF+ and one ACPA-RF+ RA patients. Mononuclear cells were obtained by Ficoll separation and CD138+ plasma cells were single cell sorted by flow cytometry. Paired heavy and light chains were PCR amplified, sequenced and analyzed by V-Quest and IgBLAST towards the IMGT database to annotate variable gene usage. Selected sequences were cloned and expressed as IgG in Expi293 cells. Results Overall 465 paired IgG BM plasma cell sequences were obtained, 97 from the ACPA- patient and 368 (range 20–194) from ACPA+ patients. We observed statistically significant changes in heavy chain variable gene usage with lower VH-1 and higher VH-3 frequency in the ACPA+ sequences compared to ACPA- seqences. We also found statistically significant increase in VH N-glycosylation in ACPA+sequences (22.6% ACPA+ vs 12.4% ACPA-; p=0.03). There was however no difference in mutation numbers. From these, 34 clones were selected, based on mutation numbers and presence of Fab N-glycosylation sites, for subsequent mAb-expression. Among the 34 clones we found two CCP2+ and cit-peptide positive clones and one malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde (MAA) adduct reactive clone, originating from different APCA+ patients. Conclusions We could identify BM plasma cells producing autoantibodies to malondialdehyde-modified proteins and citrullinated peptides, isolated from RA patients. Hence, we show for the first time, that not just at the site of inflammation but also long-lived plasma cells in bone marrow do produce RA specific autoantibodies. Acknowledgements Orthopedic staff at Karolinska University Hospital. Danika Shepis, Louise Berg and Christina Gerstner for sorting help. Disclosure of Interest None declared


[if gte mso 9]> The purpose of this paper is to consider the problem of scheduling a set of start time-dependent jobs in a two-machine flow shop, in which the actual processing times of jobs increase linearly according to their starting time. The objective of this problem is to minimize the makespan. The problem is known to be NP-hardness[ah1] ; therefore, there is no polynomial-time algorithm to solve it optimally in a reasonable time. So, a branch-and-bound algorithm is proposed to find the optimal solution by means of dominance rules, upper and lower bounds. Several easy heuristic procedures are also proposed to derive near-optimal solutions. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms, the computational experiments are extracted based on the recent literature. Deteriorating jobs lead to an increase in the makespan of the problems; therefore, it is important to obtain the optimal or near-optimal solution. Considering the complexity of the problem, the branch-and-bound algorithm is capable of solving problems of up to 26 jobs. Additionally, the average error percentage of heuristic algorithms is less than 1.37%; therefore, the best one is recommended to obtain a near-optimal solution for large-scale problems.


Novolac resin based two polymer networks were synthesized from novolac-based epoxy resins and low molecular weight amines such as ethylenediamine and diethylenetriamine. The designed polymer networks were characterized by a variety of methods including FTIR, solid state 13C NMR spectroscopy, elemental, thermal (TGA) and particle size analyses. The presented networks were used as fascinating tools for the effective removal of azo dye molecules from aqueous solution.


Control of chaos in Colpitts oscillator by using Washout filter is studied. Firstly, normalization of the circuit and controlling equations are derived based on Washout filter technique. Then by adjusting the control parameters, chaos in Colpitts oscillator is controlled to stable equilibrium point or periodic state. Finally, the controlling result is analyzed simulation is done and the effectiveness of this control method is verified.


In this paper, an efticient modeling method for arbitrary shaped multi-layer power distribution network is proposed based on the method of transmission line grid model. In addition, a pre-layout design approach for the high-speed microprocessor is proposed. For arbitraly-shaped multi-layer PCB stack up configuration as well as selection and placement of decoupling capacitors, an effective solution for reducing SSN and EMI is obtained by modeling and simulation of complete power distribution system.


Luttinger liquid (LL) physics is a remarkable manifestation of strong correlations in one-dimensional (1D) systems. Physical properties of a LL are determined by two Luttinger parameters characterizing the power law decay of most observables. In addition to the difficulty in realising LLs, no precise control over Luttinger parameters is usually possible. Notable exception are gapless phases of 1D antiferromagnets (AFs), such as spin chains and ladders, where the Luttinger parameters can be directly tuned by an external magnetic field. Here we demonstrate that CuBr4(C5H12N)2 (BPCB), a material containing weakly coupled spin-1/2 Heisenberg AF ladders, is a unique system for controlling and probing the LL physics. Using 14N nuclear magnetic resonance we quantitatively characterize the variation of Luttinger parameters over the gapless phase of BPCB. This allows us to fully account for the phase transition to a 3D ordered phase at temperatures below 110 mK, which takes place due to weak inter-ladder exchange coupling, in terms of weakly coupled LLs.


This research was developed with the aim of developing research strategies stud collection costs of the North Agroindustrial Servicios EIRL That company has been developing in a highly competitive market. With the development of this research, the company seeks to improve the implementation of the Asparagus collection strategies and implement new strategies to help you increase decrease costs and increase net income. For this research report was used nonexperimental, cross, and the following methods: inductive and deductive, hypothetico-deductive analysis-synthesis, and finally applied the following research techniques: interviews and surveys . In surveys conducted by staff of the North Agroindustrial Servicios EIRL We emphasize that all workers are not well informed about the implementation of strategies stud collection costs because there is not an effective channel of communication, it can be noted that the company does not have precise control costs incurred in a given period. With this research report concluded that better implementation strategies costs and better cost control will, that the company "Agroindustrial Company Services North EIRL achieve lower costs and increase margins the company's net income thus leading to cost leadership in the market where it grows.


Abstract The wide variation in state election laws poses serious obstacles to voting for overseas and military citizens. While issues with delivering an unmarked ballot remain, the principal problem is how best to return a marked ballot from overseas and military voters to local election officials in sufficient time to be counted. The Presidential Commission on Election Administration recommended that states distribute ballots and registration materials to overseas citizens and military personnel via specially designed and easily navigated websites. Despite the lack of guaranteed electronic security, the peculiar needs of citizens living overseas and military personnel raises the prospect of using the Internet for communication and document delivery.


ABSTRACT
This study aims to examine the effect of internal control, organizational culture, and leadership to the public accountability at BAZNAS and LAZ in Surakarta Residency. Dependent variable in this research is publicaccountability. While the independent variables are internal control, organizational culture, and leadership. The population in this study is director and chairman of finance selection at each of BAZNAS and LAZ in Surakarta Residency. The sample method used is purpossive sampling, and obtained 57 respondents. The data in this study was taken by using questionnaires distributed to BAZNAS and LAZ in Surakarta Residency. And the analytical method used in this study is multiple regression. The results test of this study indicate that internal control has positive effect and significant on the public accountability. Organizational culture not identification because canceled in the last test. And, leadership has positive effect and significant on the public accountability.
Keyword : public accountability, internal control, organizational culture,
leadership


Acid-catalyzed elimination of methanol from 2,4-dimethoxytetrahydropyran (1) produces 2-methoxy-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyran (3) rather than the expected olefin 4-methoxy-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran (2).The reaction of 1,3-dibromo-5,5-dimethylhydantoin with 3 in ether – methanol gives a 2:1 mixture of the isomers 3β-bromo-2α,4α-dimethoxytetrahydropyran (5a) and 3α-bromo-2α,4β-dimethoxytetrahydropyran (5b) respectively. A rationale is given to explain the preponderance of 5a over 5b and the highly selective attack of the bromine of the hydantoin and the methanol on C-3 and C-4 respectively of the double bond of 3. Reduction of 5ab with zinc in ethanol provides only compound 3.The room temperature reaction of 1 in a mixture of water and 1,2-dimethoxyethane containing Amberlite IR-120, produces 2-hydroxy-4-methoxytetrahydropyran (6) as an equilibrium mixture of cis and trans isomers in the ratio 1:1. This gave a value of 0.9 kcal/mole for the anomeric effect in 6. Pyrolysis of the derivative, 2-acetoxy-4-methoxytetrahydrop...


Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an effective anticancer procedure that relies on tumor localization of a photosensitizer followed by light activation to generate cytotoxic reactive oxygen species. We recently reported the rational design of a Hf-porphyrin nanoscale metal-organic framework, DBP-UiO, as an exceptionally effective photosensitizer for PDT of resistant head and neck cancer. DBP-UiO efficiently generates singlet oxygen owing to site isolation of porphyrin ligands, enhanced intersystem crossing by heavy Hf centers, and facile singlet oxygen diffusion through porous DBP-UiO nanoplates. Consequently, DBP-UiO displayed greatly enhanced PDT efficacy both in vitro and in vivo, leading to complete tumor eradication in half of the mice receiving a single DBP-UiO dose and a single light exposure. The photophysical properties of DBP-UiO are however not optimum with the lowest energy absorption at 634 nm and a relatively small extinction coefficient of 2200 M-1·cm-1. We recently designed a chlorin-based NMOF, DBC-UiO, with much improved photophysical properties and PDT efficacy in two colon cancer mouse models. Reduction of the DBP ligands in DBP-UiO to the DBC ligands in DBC-UiO led to a 13 nm red-shift and an 11-fold extinction coefficient increase of the lowest energy Q-band. While inheriting the crystallinity, stability, porosity, and nanoplate morphology of DBP-UiO, DBC-UiO sensitizes more efficient singlet oxygen generation and exhibits much enhanced photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficacy on two colon cancer mouse models as a result of its improved photophysical properties. Both apoptosis and immunogenic cell death contributed to cancer cell-killing in DBC-UiO induced PDT. Our work has thus demonstrated that NMOFs represent a new class of highly potent PDT agents and hold great promise in treating resistant cancers in the clinic.


Abstract Let $V$ be an analytic variety in some open set in ${{\mathbb{C}}^{n}}$ which contains the origin and which is purely $k$ -dimensional. For a curve $\gamma $ in ${{\mathbb{C}}^{n}}$ , defined by a convergent Puiseux series and satisfying $\gamma (0)\,=\,0$ , and $d\,\ge \,1$ , define ${{V}_{t}}\,:=\,{{t}^{-d}}\,\left( V\,-\,\gamma \left( t \right) \right)$ . Then the currents defined by ${{V}_{t}}$ converge to a limit current ${{T}_{\gamma ,d}}\left[ V \right]$ as $t$ tends to zero. ${{T}_{\gamma ,d}}\left[ V \right]$ is either zero or its support is an algebraic variety of pure dimension $k$ in ${{\mathbb{C}}^{n}}$ . Properties of such limit currents and examples are presented. These results will be applied in a forthcoming paper to derive necessary conditions for varieties satisfying the local Phragmén-Lindelöf condition that was used by Hörmander to characterize the constant coefficient partial differential operators which act surjectively on the space of all real analytic functions on ${{\mathbb{R}}^{n}}$ .


A graph G is regular of degree d if for every vertex t; in G there exist exactly d vertices at distance 1 from v. A graph G is fcth order regular of degree d if for every vertex v in G, there exist exactly d vertices at distance k from v. In this paper, third order regular graphs of degree 1 with small order are characterized. 1 Definitions and Examples We denote the distance between two vertices u and v in a connected graph G of order p by d(u,v). For an integer k with 1 < k < p —1, the k-neighborhood Nic(v) is defined by Nk(v) = {u\u e l/(G)and d{u,v) = k) and the closed k-neighborhood by Nk[v] = Nk{v)U{v}. Definition The kth order degree of v is degkv = \Nk(v)\. Definition A graph G is kth orderregular of degree d if degk(v) = d for every vertex v of G. Consequently, first order regularity of degree d is synonomous with regularity of degree d. For example, the graph G\ of Figure 1 is second order regular of degree 4, while Gi is first order regular of degree 4, second order regular of degree 5, and third order regular of degree 2.


Along with the evolution of digital ecosystem, in regards to its definition, two different theories have emerged, respectively from Soluta.net and from digital ecosystem and Business Intelligence Institute. This is paper explains the differences between the two theories and more importantly proposes a ontology-based conceptual representation for the concept of digital ecosystem with the purpose of helping researchers in the field to better understand the notion of digital ecosystem. In addition, we will introduce a simple ontology notation system, as the basis of our ontology model.


The number of countries reporting on the 1974 UNESCO Recommendation, the basis of the global indicator for this target, rose from 57 to 83 between the last two consultations.


The catfish Ompok pabda (Hamilton) locally known as Pabdah (butter fish) is an indigenous small freshwater fish belonging to the family Siluridae. Length-frequency data of a member of commercially important catfish, O. pabda was collected monthly from the different sampling sites and related landing centers of Gomti River during May 2008 to April 2010. The annual size frequency distribution obtained from monthly (alternate month) samples showed exploited sizes between 7.0-20 cm. The modal lengths with cohorts in different months were identified by monthly size frequency distribution. The length frequency distribution over a year suggested that the population consisted of a maximum of three age groups, with mean values being 16.5 cm, 12.7 cm and 9.6 cm TL, for the respective groups. For O. pabda, recruitment was found to occur once in a year during August to November. The highest and lowest percent recruitment were observed in August and September 2008, respectively. The computed maximum allowable limit of exploitation (Emax) for the Y⁄R and B⁄R was 0.42; corresponding fishing mortality was 0.29 year -1 .


Objective: To assess the degree of agreement between anorectal manometry and dynamic pelvic floor ultrasound (Echodefecography) by calculating kappa index in patients with symptoms of obstructed defecation. Material and Methods: Anorectal manometry and echodefecography were performed in patients with obstructed defecation symtpoms between May 2011 and May 2014. When the anorectal manometry was performed, the pressures during attempted defecation were recorded. Dyssinergic pattern was defined if a rise in pressures was noted. When the echodefecography was performed, the angle between the internal edges of the puborectalis with a vertical line according to the anal canal axis was calcultated at rest and during straining. Results: Anorectal manometry and echodefecography was performed in 89 patients with defecatory disturbances symptoms. Male:female 9male, the mean age of patients was 57 years old (range 25-78). The assessment of the degree of agreement or concordance between dynamic ultrasound and anorectal manometry yielded a kappa index of 0.87 (very good agreement) with statistically significant results (p=0.05). Conclusion: Ultrasonography may be used to assess patients with obstructed defecation, as it is able to detect the same anorrectal dysfuntions found by another pelvic floor studies. It is a minimally invasive, well tolerated method, and avoids exposure to radiation. Although both methods shows very good agreement with each other, they cannot replace them since both methods have false positive results.


Much attention has been given to education reform at the primary and secondary level in the United States since the "Coleman Report" (Coleman et. al., 1966). Consideration by Becker, Murphy and Tumura, (1993) , of the role of education on economic growth, the lagging performance of the U.S. relative to other nations at the primary and secondary educational levels, and competition among states to attract industry with a skilled labor force all serve to liven the public policy debate on education reform. This is true both nationally and in South Carolina. The aim of this paper is threefold: (1) to provide the casual reader a review of some recent findings by leading economists in the economics of education area (2) discuss a few terms/concepts that are endemic with respect to research in this area (3) touch on continuing research efforts at the Jim Self Center On The Future (JSCF) that are focused on South Carolina's educational concerns.


Deletion of long arm of chromosome 20 (del(20q)) is commonly observed in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Reduced expression of genes located within the common deleted region (CDR) of del(20q) due to haploinsufficiency may play a role in molecular pathogenesis of MDS. In the previous study, we examined expression of genes located within the CDR which we determined using array-CGH, in bone marrow mononuclear cells in MDS patients with or without del(20q), indicating that BCAS4 expression was significantly reduced in bone marrow cells in MDS patients with or without del(20q). The BCAS4 gene, which was identified as a fusion transcript expressed in MCF7 cells, encodes 23kD protein. Although function of BCAS4 protein remains unclear, it could be a member of "cappuccino" family, which belong to lysosome-related organelles. Abnormality of genes encoding lysosome-related organelles cause variety of congenital disorders, including the Hermansky-Pudlak syndromes, which is characterized by oculocutaneous albinism and bleeding tendency due to platelet dysfunction as a result of lysosome abnormalities. In the present study we investigated clinical implication of BCAS4 expression level in MDS patients.
 Mononuclear cells separated from bone marrow samples taken at the time of MDS diagnosis were used for analysis. Written informed consent was obtained from patients before study. To analyze BCAS4 expression, quantitative RT-PCR was performed using cDNA from mononuclear cells as template by the TaqMan probe method (Applied Biosystems) with co-amplification of the endogenous control gene, human GAPDH (Applied Biosystems). Samples from 103 MDS patients, 64 males and 39 females with median age of 67 years (range: 20-91 years), with (n=14) or without (n=89) del(20q), were examined in the present study. Patients were classified as RCUD (n=12), RCMD (n=55), RARS (n=9), RAEB-1 (n=10), and RAEB-2 (n=13), according to WHO 2008 classification, and in RAEB-T (n=4) according to FAB classification. They also were categorized in four IPSS risk groups, low risk (n=30), intermediate-1 risk (n=46), intermediate-2 risk (n=18), and high risk (n=9).
 There was no significant difference in relative BCAS4 expression level between patients with del(20q) and those without del(20q), and among WHO subtypes. Higher IPSS risk groups (INT-2 and High) showed trend in association with reduced BCAS4 expression compared with lower IPSS risk groups (Low and INT-1) (P=0.104). We analyzed impact of BCAS4 expression on overall survival (OS). Based on BCAS4 expression level, 103 patients were divided into four groups, highest (Q1), intermediate (Q2, Q3), and lowest (Q4) quartiles. The Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that Q4 showed significantly worse OS compared with remaining quartiles (Q1-Q3) (log-rank test, P=0.0031). The estimated 2-year OS rates in Q1-3 group and Q4 group were 75.1% and 48.9%, respectively. According to the COX proportional hazards model, univariate analysis showed lower BCAS4 expression (Q4 vs Q1-Q3) was associated with worse OS (hazard ratio 3.43, 95%CI 1.89-6.11, P=0.0001) as well as older age (65 years or older vs less than 65 years), and higher IPSS risk groups (INT-2 and High vs Low and INT-1). Multivariate analysis indicated that lower BCAS4 expression showed trend for association with worse OS (hazard ratio 1.90, 95%CI 0.96-3.64, P=0.0651) by analyzing with two variables (older age and higher IPSS groups). Next, we investigated whether OS is predicted by combination of three variables, BCAS4 expression level, IPSS risk groups, and age at diagnosis. We defined lower BCAS4 expression (Q4), higher IPSS (INT-2 and High), and older age (65 years or older), as risk factors. The Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that survival curves were well separated according to number of risk factors (0, 1, and 2 or more) (P<0.0001). The estimated 1-year, 2-year, and 5-year survival rates were 100%, 100%, and 86.5% in patients without risk factor, 75%, 70.2%, and 51.7% in patients with one risk factor, and 54%, 34.3%, and 11.4% in patients with two or more risk factors.
 The present study demonstrated that reduced BCAS4 expression is associated with inferior clinical outcome, indicating that BCAS4 expression level could be a useful prognostic marker in MDS, especially by combination with IPSS risk and patients age at diagnosis.

 Tanaka: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding.


Background: Older adults are at an increased risk of inadequate diet and at risk of malnutrition. Poor nutritional status is associated with increased demands on health services, lengthier hospital stays and it is recognized as an important predictor of morbidity and mortality. Strategies for effective nutritional intervention should be implemented to prevent and treat malnutrition. Objective: The study aimed to assess the effect of a nutrition education program on the nutritional status of elderly in rural areas in Damanhur city. Subjects and Methods: One group pre-test post-test intervention study was carried out on 100 elderly at rural health unit namely Zarkon village, Damanhur city, Egypt. Data about socioeconomic characteristics, medical history, and life style were collected by interviewing. Nutrition educational program was implemented on 6 consecutive sessions, 6 days per week, and two sessions per day. Duration of each session ranged from 1-2 hours. The elderly persons were divided into 10 groups (each group in elderly contains 10 client). Healthy Nutrition Scale and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) were used to assess the knowledge about healthy eating and proper nutrition for elderly, and the nutritional status of elderly and determine the risk of malnutrition, respectively three times, before, immediately after the end of the programme, and 3 months later to evaluate the immediate and retained changes in elderly. Results: Less than half (49%) of the elderly had poor nutritional knowledge before the educational program compared to 9% and 4% of them in the immediate post program evaluation and three months follow up respectively. None of the elderly were malnourished in the second evaluation after 3 months compared to 5% immediately after the program and 16% before the program. Conclusion: The education program was very effective in enhancing the nutritional status of the elderly as well as the nutritional knowledge of them.


The longitudinal Kerr and Faraday effects in Ni and 80% Ni Permalloy films are investigated by the use of a photoelectric polarization spectrometer. The refractive indices and the gyroelectric constants of Ni or Permalloy films are chosen as 1.40 (1–1.80i) or 1.65 (1–1.70i) and 4.55×10-3 exp {i(21^°)} or 1.20×10-2 exp {i(26^°)}, respectively, at the wavelength of 550 mµ. Then the theoretical values of rotation as a function of the angle of incidence and the film thickness calculated from the equations given in I agree fairly well with the experimental results. The wavelength dispersion of the rotation and the boundary surface effect of these films are also treated.


The second chapter, 'A Vagrant Sensibility: Patrick Keiller's Robinson Films', casts new light on Keiller's later work, partly by considering it in relation to the idea of 'left-wing melancholy' and Svetlana Boym's writing on nostalgia. If, as Raymond Williams wrote, 'there is usually principle in exile, there is always only relaxation in vagrancy', then this chapter shows how the vagrant wanderings of 'Robinson' through London and England are able to both 'luxuriate' and to produce a potent critique of capital, landscape, and culture. Beginning by reading the Robinson of London (1994) as an urbanist swayed not so much by the ebb and flow of the Baudelairean crowd as by the blips and dips of the free-market economy, it then examines the 'English Journey' of Robinson in Space before enquiring into Keiller's own critique in Robinson in Ruins (2010) of Heideggerian dwelling as the process of 'entering in simple oneness into things'.


Recently, more and more attention are drawn to flexible and wearable electronics due to their potentiality in various industries, including sensing and healthcare. In flexible and wearable electronics fabrications, carbon materials are believed to be an ideal choice because of their outstanding physical and chemical properties like conductivity, flexibility, and stability. This review concentrates on two kinds of carbon materials, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene, widely studied and implemented in the flexible and wearable electronics industry. CNTs are firstly discussed with their properties and an overview of their synthesis methods. Following this, the manufactural approaches to synthesis CNTs are reviewed from both dry chemistry and wet chemistry perspectives. Then, graphene's potential and synthesis methods are reviewed, with advanced achievements done in recent studies on flexible and wearable devices. In addition, various applications of CNTs and graphene in flexible and wearable electronics are discussed in detail. Finally, the expectation and development directions of desirable materials in the field are discussed.


This text presents a pilot project for the dematerialization of a procedure inherent to the delegation of powers between the Municipality of Oeiras and the Parish Councils. In a context in which Portuguese cities are starting to bet more strongly on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to change the relationship between citizens, spaces and municipal services, this project is presented as a learning case of territorial intelligence. The project was conducted in an organic unit in the municipality, seeking to assess the potential of open-source technologies (QGIS 3.6) in the digital governance of the city. Digital governance implies enabling government practices centred on users (citizens and companies) as co-creators of services and public policies. In this sense, this digitalization project idealizes in a second phase the involvement and participation of users so that services and policies can be sustained in their needs/preferences. The dematerialization of the procedure implied the identification of information circuits and flows, documentary typologies involved and responsibilities associated with each activity, in the sense of simplifying, computerizing and optimizing it. The main learning of this case is to demonstrate from the ground how small incremental projects are/can be activated so that in the future a more profound digital transformation can happen. Smartification led by municipalities (Smart Cities 2.0) is therefore still in a kick-off phase that must be analysed, specifically in its relationship with digital governance, through learning cases for better planning and management of the territory.


The method of arbitrary polynomial chaos (aPC) is used to characterize the delay and subthreshold leakage of commercial 65nm and 28nm standard cell libraries. Delay and subthreshold leakage of a standard cell are modelled as orthogonal polynomial series of process variables. The aPC approach constructs the polynomials using only moments, and the coefficients of the polynomials are determined by minimum least squares, using samples generated by Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). The mean and standard deviation of delay and subthreshold leakage computed using aPC are within 1% of those computed using MCS while the aPC method results in a 25X-40X speed up over MCS.


Abstract : Theoretical and experimental research has been conducted to elucidate the basic physics behind the properties of superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) tunnel junction receiving devices. The quantum theory of mixing was employedto calculate the saturation behavior of the SIS mixer and the SIS direct detector. The direct detector was found to saturate at far higher powers than previously believed, allowing the possibility of practical application of this device. Experiments verified the saturation theory. The mixer saturation expression led to the formulation of frequency scaling regions. The origin of quantum noise sources are completely minimized. The mixer quantum noise limit was shown to be reached in only two special cases. Computer calculations determined that the behavior of SIS receivers divides into two regimes, low and high frequencies, the cross-over frequency depending upon junction quality. The properties of these two regimes were delineated. All previous SIS receivers have operated in the low frequency regime. Plasma-etched niobium nitride edge junctions have been fabricated using a novel barrier formation process. These junctions have excellent current-voltage characteristics, but their precise physical nature has not yet been determined. (Author)


This paper is about the historical appropriation of epistemological values. Bachelard is a pioneer explored the march of historical epistemology in a series of his works. He presupposes that historical epistemology will culminate at the end of its history, as Marx too had imagined. Much before the rise of post-structuralism and post-humanism Bachelard traced how the rise of new science, scientific imagination could become free from human sentimentalities as humanity could extend their understanding using technological apparatuses. In line with Bachelard, I explore the march human imagination in its semantic ecology of reveries, rhetoric and interpretation and its relevance to evolutionary ascendance of epistemological values.


Objective: To detect changes in levels of glutamate and asparate in rat discrete brain regions which may be involved in the mechanism of seizure initiation and maintenance in soman induced seizures. Methods: Total amino acids in freshly prepared brain regions in rats at different time phases after seizure dissected under microscope were detected by using a Beckman 6300 analyzer and 601 Gold system for spectrochrome analyzer. Results: The levels of total glutamate and asparate were significantly decreased in the rat brain after soman induced seizures. The lowest level of glutamate was observed in cerebral cortex and hippocampus in 30 min after seizure initiation. It decreased in other regions including cerebellar cortex and olfactory bulb. Asparate appeared to be more vulnerable to soman intoxication. The levels of asparate in 6 brain regions including striatum cerebral cortex, hippocampus, midbrain, cerebellum, diencephalon and olfactory bulb at 5, 30 and 90 min after seizure were significantly decreased as compared with the control. Conclusion: The excitatory amino acid transmitter activity may play an important role in soman induced seizures.


The complete moment convergence of weighted sums for arrays of rowwise negatively associated random variables is investigated. Some sufficient conditions for complete moment convergence of weighted sums for arrays of rowwise negatively associated random variables are established. Moreover, the results of Baek et al. (2008), are complemented. As an application, the complete moment convergence of moving average processes based on a negatively associated random sequences is obtained, which improves the result of Li et al. (2004).


To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally-funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank our three state partners, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, and the Iowa Department of Human Services. The study would not have been possible without their cooperation and financial support. We also want to recognize our other funders of the Midwest Study, the William T. Grant Foundation, the National Institute of Justice, and the National Institute of Mental Health. We also thank the University of Wisconsin Survey Center in Madison, Wisconsin, for their invaluable contribution to this study. We thank the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and the Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning and Statistical Analysis Center for providing criminal history data. We also thank our colleagues Noel Bost, for his help with the literature review and conceptual design, and Wayne Osgood, for his insightful comments on earlier drafts of this work.


This study empirically analyzed between the use hours and the emotional intelligence of elementary school students and also, analyzed between the exercise time and the emotional intelligence of elementary school students. As a result of the regression analysis, the smart devices using time of elementary school students impact on the emotional intelligence of elementary school students. We also concluded there is no relationship between the exercise time and emotional intelligence of elementary school in the regression analysis. It seems that additional research is needed, existing studies and obtained different results for sports activities and emotional intelligence in the future.


Abstract— Occupational radiation exposure is often coded as zero when the exposure dose is below the minimum detection level. This leads to an underestimation of the doses received by individuals and can lead to overestimates of risk in occupational epidemiologic studies. The extent of the dose underestimation is increased with the magnitude of the minimum detection level and the frequency of monitoring. The paper proposes a Bayesian approach to estimate the actual dose and the dose distribution parameter when the observed dose is subject to censoring due to minimum detection level. A Gibbs sampling algorithm is developed to implement the method. Simulation studies are used to evaluate the performance of the estimators. The method is applied to a sample of historical occupational radiation exposure data from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.


Summary A Generalized Predictive Controller (GPC) for ship track keeping is introduced in this paper. A predictive model for desired heading angles is deduced, the controller is designed based not only on the prediction of the outputs (heading angles), but also on the prediction of the desired heading angles. A recursive algorithm for matrix inversion in the controller is also presented. Applied to cargo ship"s track keeping, simulation results show efficiency of this new control scheme. The computational time required by the recursive algorithm for matrix inversion is only 1/3 as general matrix inversion algorithms.


It is necessary to increase detectable length of ultrasonic range sensor for autonomous land vehicles. This means that we must radiate the powerful ultrasonic waves whose directivity is sharp. However sound waves have the characteristic that small attenuation in propagation and sharp directivity are incompatible with each other. In order to decrease attenuation rate for distance, the authors used multiple ultrasonic transmitters whose frequency is 40 kHz although their directivities are not sharp. We tried to sharpen the directivity by using plural transmitters and by exciting multiple transmitters whose individual outputs are different from each other. This paper describes how to get sharp directivity by ultrasonic transmitters array and its design method. The effectiveness is confirmed by simulations and experiments.


A majority digraph is a finite simple digraph G = (V,→) such that there exist finite sets Av for the vertices v ∈ V with the following property: u → v if and only if "more than half of the Au are Av". That is, u → v if and only if |Au ∩ Av| > 1 2 · |Au|. We characterize the majority digraphs as the digraphs with the property that every directed cycle has a reversal. If we change 1 2 to any real number α ∈ (0, 1), we obtain the same class of digraphs. We apply the characterization result to obtain a result on the logic of assertions "most X are Y " and the standard connectives of propositional logic.


Let X be a non-singular, non-reducible real algebraic curve of genus g = g(X). It is called orientable if its real points R(X) divide its complex points C(X) ⊃ R(X) into 2 connected components. Consider now a set of orientable non-singular, non-reducible real algebraic curves X1, . . . , Xn (n > 3) of genus g > 1 such that for all i 6= j Xi is non-isomorphic to Xj over R but it is isomorphic to Xj over C. According to [3], (n − 4)2 n−3 6 g − 1 and there exists {X1, . . . , Xn} such that (n − 4)2 n−3 = g − 1. According to Harnak theorem, R(Xi) form |Xi| 6 g + 1 simple closed contours (ovals). In this paper we prove that


In order to support the development of 5G technologies, researchers are actively engaged in addressing the challenges accompanying the emerging 5G applications. Unquestionably, an eminent technology gaining significant research attention is edge computing. Vehicular edge computing brings data storage and computing capabilities as well as hosting support applications that comprise emerging vehicular services and applications which demand low-delay processing, to the edge closer to the vehicles, reducing response time and increasing reliability, therefore achieving the holistic vision of the tactile Internet. In this context, this paper considers a vehicular network with edge computing capabilities deployed at road side units, and addresses the problem of workload offloading as well as scheduling of computation tasks on the computing resources available at the edge. The challenge here is the high mobility of the vehicles and hence their short residence time within the coverage range of the road side units hosting the edge computing resources. A joint problem considering the communication and computation resources, as well as the latency requirements of the workload is formulated and the scheduling is shown to be NP-Hard. Subsequently, efficient solutions based on Lagrangian relaxation are derived and presented. We evaluate numerically the proposed methods and show their closeness to the optimal solutions.


Please cite this paper as: Flouris and Cheung (2011). Thermal Basis of Finger Blood Flow Adaptations During Abrupt Perturbations in Thermal Homeostasis. Microcirculation18(1), 56–62.


In this work, we propose an interactive platform to perform grammar-guided symbolic regression using a reinforcement learning approach from human-preference feedback. To do so, a reinforcement learning algorithm iteratively generates symbolic expressions, modeled as trajectories constrained by grammatical rules, from which a user shall elicit preferences. The interface gives the user three distinct ways of stating its preferences between multiple sampled symbolic expressions: categorizing samples, comparing pairs, and suggesting improvements to a sampled symbolic expression. Learning from preferences enables users to guide the exploration in the symbolic space toward regions that are more relevant to them. We provide a web-based interface testable on symbolic regression benchmark functions and power system data.


More than ever, today's engineers need to be equipped to understand the complex contexts in which they do their designwork. Studies suggest, however, that undergraduate engineering programs are not sufficiently preparing students with thiscontextual competence. To contribute to the growing body of work investigating where and how engineering studentsdevelop contextual competence, we interviewed civil/environmental engineering undergraduates about the kinds ofexperiences and background they find helpful for developing specific aspects of contextual competence. They cited a widerange of helpful sources, including engineering and non-engineering courses and co-curricular activities, as well as personalexperiences, family influences, and current or historical events.


Backgr о und. The spatial correlations of the epiphysis and acetabulum during slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) with acute (at the stage of partial synostosis) and chronic displacement of the epiphysis to a severe degree were restored using different extra-articular corrective hip osteotomy techniques and the standard Dunn procedure. A large number of postoperative ischemic complications and/or the remaining residual displacement of the epiphysis, which is the cause of FAI, was the rationale for improving traditional surgical methods. In 2007, a modified technique of the classic Dunn procedure was proposed using a low traumatic surgical hip dislocation. Aim. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the modified Dunn procedure in the treatment of children with SCFE. Materials and methods. The data of preoperative and postoperative clinical and radiological studies of 10 patients (six males and four females) aged 11–15 years who were suffering from SCFE with severe epiphyseal displacement were analyzed. In five cases, the displacement of the epiphysis was chronic, in four cases it was acute associated with chronic, and in one case it was primarily acute. In the joints with acute displacement at the time of surgery, there were signs of partial synostosis at the level of the epiphyseal growth plate. All children underwent a modified Dunn procedure with strict adherence to the author's technique. The maximum follow-up period was 1.5 years. Results. Evaluation of the most short-term anatomical and functional treatment results confirmed a satisfactory result in half (5/10) of the observations with the possibility of an additional three. In two cases, a poor treatment result was obtained due to the development of an early complication in the form of aseptic necrosis of the femoral head. The number of early complications of surgical treatment that were recorded is consistent with the literature. Conclusions. To date, the modified Dunn procedure is the only intervention with a relatively small number of complications that provides a complete and accurate reposition of the epiphysis, thereby eliminating FAI in the above anatomical situations. The modified Dunn procedure can be characterized as an effective intervention for SCFE with severe, acute (at the stage of partial synostosis), and chronic displacements of the epiphysis. The authors intend to continue using the procedure in practice.


Objective To observe the curative effect on treatment of acute pneumonia and bronchitis with TRQ.Methods 36 cases of acute pneumonia and bronchitis patient were treated with 20 mL TRQ in therapy group and SHL 3.6 g was injected as control group.Results The curative rate was 36.1% and total effective rate 94.4% in therapy group.The curative rate was 9.38% and total effective rate 87.5 % in control group.There was significant difference between two groups.Conclusion This drug could obtain satisfactory effect to treat acute pneumonia and bronchitis.


NASA will launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (hereafter Roman) in the second half of this decade, which will allow for a generation-defining measurement of dark energy through multiple probes, including Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). To improve decisions on survey strategy, we have created the first simulations of realistic Roman images that include artificial SNe Ia injected as point sources in the images. Our analysis combines work done on Roman simulations for weak gravitational lensing studies as well as catalogue-level simulations of SN Ia samples. We have created a time series of images over 2 yr containing ∼1050 SNe Ia, covering a 1 deg2 subarea of a planned 5 deg2 deep survey. We have released these images publicly for community use along with input catalogues of all injected sources. We create secondary products from these images by generating coadded images and demonstrating recovery of transient sources using image subtraction. We perform first-use analyses on these images in order to measure galaxy detection efficiency, point source detection efficiency, and host-galaxy association biases. The simulated images can be found here at https://roman.ipac.caltech.edu/sims/SN_Survey_Image_sim.html.


G protein–coupled receptor CRHR1 activates both soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC) and transmembrane adenylyl cyclases. Here, Inda et al. show that only sAC activity is essential for internalization-dependent cAMP and sustained ERK1/2 activation responses, revealing a functional association between sAC-generated cAMP and endosome-based G protein–coupled receptor signaling.


Explore the latest scientific research, philosophical thinking, and expressions of human creativity. Some of the world's most esteemed experts-Nobel laureates, best-selling authors, and renowned scholars-engage in spontaneous and intimate conversations that combine hard facts with an inspiring, and breathtaking, look into our future. Based on the public television program of the same name, Closer To Truth features distinguished specialists who forcefully debate provocative subjects that have broad ramifications for the population at large: Who gets to validate alternative medicine? How does basic science support national security? Can we believe in both religion and science? At the heart is the question: how will scientific advances and the philosophical issues they create affect the individual as well as humanity as a whole? Closer To Truth: Science, Meaning, and the Future explores the latest scientific research, philosophical thinking, and expressions of human creativity. Some of the world's most esteemed experts-Nobel laureates, best-selling authors, and renowned scholars-engage in spontaneous and intimate conversations that combine hard facts with an inspiring-and breathtaking-look into our future. Based on the public television program of the same name, Closer To Truth features distinguished specialists who forcefully debate provocative subjects that have broad ramifications for the population at large: Who gets to validate alternative medicine? How does basic science support national security? Can we believe in both religion and science? At the heart is the question: how will scientific advances and the philosophical issues they create affect the individual as well as humanity as a whole? Whether the subject is the meaning of human consciousness, the ethics of testing experimental drugs on sick people, scientific thinking versus religious beliefs, or how music may help mental development, Closer To Truth uncovers exciting new lines of inquiry and offers fresh perspectives. Participants include Nobel laureates Murray Gell-Mann and David Baltimore; authors Michael Crichton, Octavia Butler, and David Brin; astrophysicists Alan Guth and Neil deGrasse Tyson; planetary scientist Bruce Murray; physicist Steven Koonin; quantum theorist Seth Lloyd; molecular biologist Lucy Shapiro; neuroscientists Nancy Andreasen, Terry Sejnowski, and Christof Koch; psychiatrist Leslie Brothers; Psychology Today's Robert Epstein; musicologists Jeanne Bamberger and Robert Freeman; ethicist Alexander Capron; skeptic Michael Shermer; theologian Nancey Murphy; and Islamic scientist Muzaffar Iqbal.


In this paper, we study the transonic shock solutions to the Euler–Poisson system in quasi-one-dimensional nozzles. For a given supersonic flow at the entrance of the nozzle, under some proper assumptions on the data and nozzle length we first obtain a class of steady transonic shock solutions for the exit pressure lying in a suitable range. The shock position is monotonically determined by the exit pressure. More importantly, by the estimates on the coupled effects of the electric field and the geometry of the nozzle, we prove the dynamic stability of the transonic shock solutions under suitable physical conditions. As a consequence, there indeed exist dynamically stable transonic shock solutions for the Euler–Poisson system in convergent nozzles, which is not true for the Euler system [T.-P. Liu, Commun. Math. Phys., 83, 243–260, 1982].


Objective-To estimate theprevalence andoutcomeofsymptomatic internal carotid artery lesions inyoungadults. Design-Multicentre hospital basedobservational study withfive yearfollow up. Setting-Seven neurological departments in northern andcentral Italy. Subjects-240 patients (115 men)aged15-44 witha recent transient ischaemic attack orstroke inthe carotid territory. Main outcomemeasures-(a) Prevalence of symptomatic internal carotid arterystenosis or occlusion detected bycontinuous waveDoppler ultrasonography atentry; (b)incidence ratesof cerebral, cardiac, andnon-vascular death; non-fatal stroke; andnon-fatal myocardial infarction. Results-Carotid stenoses of50-99%andocclusionswerefoundin38patients (15.8%). Both conditions weresignificantly morefrequent in patients agedover35andinthose withhypertension, diabetes mellitus, andstroke atentry. Thestandardisedmortality ratio atfiveyearswas10-5(95Gb confidence interval 50to19.3). Survival ofpatients withstenoses of0-49G/o andocclusions wassignificantly better thanthatofpatients withstenoses of50-99%. Carotid stenosis of50-99% wasanindependent predictor ofdeath(hazard ratio 79;95% confidence interval 2-2to29)andnon-fatal stroke (hazard ratio 7*4; 15to374). Conclusions-The prevalence ofcarotid stenosis orocclusion inyoungadults after acerebrovascular eventislow.Thoughpatients withhighgrade symptomatic carotid stenosis areatrisk ofnon-fatal andfatalevents, patients withinternal artery occlusion apparently haveabenign prognosis.


Objective. Pregnancy‐associated plasma protein A (PAPP‐A) is expressed in eroded and ruptured atheromatous plaques, and circulating levels are elevated in acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Our objective was to investigate release patterns of PAPP‐A in ACS and whether they differ among different types of ACS. Methods. In 40 patients, PAPP‐A concentrations were measured in serially collected samples assessed by a novel ELISA technique. The patients were grouped according to type of ACS. Results. Release patterns for ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) showed a single substantial PAPP‐A increase shortly after pPCI, followed by an abrupt return to normal levels without secondary peaks. STEMI, high‐risk and low‐risk non‐ST elevation myocardial infarction/unstable angina pectoris (NSTEMI/UAP) patients without pPCI showed highly variable patterns with primary peaks followed by secondary PAPP‐A increases. All patients with elevated PAPP‐A levels reached the upper reference level within 24 h. There was a significant difference in median peak levels between STEMI (23.2 mIU/L) and low‐risk ACS patients (6.35 mIU/L) (p = 0.004) and between high‐risk (median = 15.3 mIU/L) and low‐risk ACS patients (p = 0.01). Among high‐risk ACS patients, NSTEMI patients had significantly higher peak levels than UAP patients (p = 0.003). Conclusion. PAPP‐A serum levels increase above normal values within 24 h after onset of symptoms in ACS. There are significant differences in PAPP‐A peak levels and release patterns across the spectrum of ACS patients.


Melinjo chips, which is commonly consumed by Indonesian people, are considered as one of the causes which triggers gout disease due to its purine content. The method to analyze purine in food is limitedly known by food laboratories in Indonesia. The objective of this research was to validate the analytical method for purine bases determination in melinjo chips by HPLC-UV. Adenine and hypoxanthine were of the known purine bases and chosen to be analyzed due to their characteristics which cause more uric acid accumulation in the body rather than other purine bases, guanine and xanthine. Guanine and xanthine were insoluble in the mobile phase used in this study, so that they might not be able simultaneously analyzed with adenine and hypoxanthine. Adenine and hypoxanthine standards were used in the instrumental performance experiment, method linearity and recovery test. The results showed that the HPLC-UV instrument with RP-C18 column and UV 257 nm detection had a good linearity in the concentration range of 7.81–125.00 μg/mL. The coefficients of determination (R2) were more than 0.999 for both adenine and hypoxanthine. Adenine and hypoxanthine were detected by HPLC-UV at retention time of 5.9–6.8 and 4.8–5.5 min respectively, and both retention times had an acceptable precision, less than 2.0 %. Detection limit (LOD) and quantification limit (LOQ) of the instrument were found at 0.72 and 2.39 μg/mL for analysis of adenine, while for analysis of hypoxanthine were at 0.69 and 2.30 μg/mL, respectively. The analytical method showed a good linearity at a concentration range of 50–800 μg/g sample with R2 more than 0.990 for both adenine and hypoxanthine analysis. Method detection limit (MDL) of adenine and hypoxanthine analysis was 19.44 and 14.42 μg/g respectively. Accuracy of the method was determined by a recovery test at spiking concentrations of 100, 500, and 1000 μg/g. In the analysis of adenine, the respective recovery results were 79.33%, 89.39%, and 90.37% with respective precisions were 5.19%, 4.50%, and 3.46%. While in the analysis of hypoxanthine, the recovery results were 66.75%, 92.29%, and 100.15%, and the precisions were 2.98%, 3.15%, and 2.22%, respectively. Based on these results, the analytical method for determination of purine bases in melinjo chips has been validated and was found to be accurate at concentration more than 100 μg/g wet weight of sample.


Abstract Medical imaging has increased rapidly in the increase of interest in health, with the development of computer technology, digitization of medical imaging is rapidly advancing, PACS has been introduced to the medical field. Increase in the production of medical images by these phenomena made increased the workload of radiologist who must read a medical image. in response to the need for secondary diagnosis using a computer, The term of CAD in medical radiology field was introduced. In this study, we have proposed a CAD algorithm for the interpretation of the image obtained by the digital X-ray mammography equipment. The experiments were performed by programmed in Visual C++ for the proposed algorithm. A result of the execution of the CAD algorithm seven sample images, the results of five samples was confirmed in breast cancer and benign tumors, both the images sample was error processing. If you use a program that implements this with the algorithm proposed in this study it is helpful to reading breast images, and it is considered to contribute significantly to the early detection of breast cancer.


Critical Discourse Analysis (hereafter CDA) is a cross-discipline set forth in the early 1990s by a group of scholars such as Theo van Leeuwen, Gunther Kress, Teun van Dijk, and Norman Fairclough (Wodak & Meyer, 2001). At that time, theories and methods of CDA have been formulated to differentiate this paradigm from other theories and methodologies in Discourse Analysis. Later on, the term has been known under many designations. While, according to their fields of research or areas of study, some scholars prefer the concept Critical Linguistics (CL), others choose to use the label Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). It follows from this to argue that CDA is an interdisciplinary approach which, as stated by Bloor and Bloor (2007), can be used by professionals from a variety of backgrounds such as historians, business institutions, lawyers, politicians, etc., to investigate social problems relating to their work.


This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Political Science & Geography at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com. Repository Citation Chapman, Thomas, "Globalization, Identity, and the Florida Realm of the ORION Knights of the Ku Klux Klan: Landscapes of Resistance in Immokalee, Florida" (2005). Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications. Paper 3. http://digitalcommons.odu.edu/politicalscience_geography_pubs/3


Many researchers have done study to estimate the value of undrained shear strength for fi ne grained soils like clay or silt. Determining of undrained shear strength and compressibility parameters in laboratory are really tedious and time consuming. Th erefore, a correlation between undrained shear strength and Atterberg limits is useful for restraint of testing number and costs. Central tendency parameters such as an average, deviation standard and coeffi cient of variation are performed to analyze the data of soft clay in Pontianak, Indonesia. Based on analysis that undrained shear strength coincides with 50 percentile of distribution data meanwhile undrained compressive strength is around twice of cohesion for testing using unconfi ned pressure. Th is relationship is the most familiar equation. Moreover, undrained shear strength using mean value is more realistic for correlation between undrained shear strength and Atterberg limits on some equations from previous fi ndings.


"This panel has two primary objectives. One, it will acquaint ABSEL members with a number of different outlets for disseminating, especially publishing, business simulation and experiential learning materials. The second objective is to provide practical information on how to actually get the prospective authors' materials published. The panel will be made up of knowledgeable representatives from six. Each representative will describe the outlet, the type of materials they specifically are looking for, the do's and don'ts for authors, and the procedure steps needed to actually get the materials accepted and published. "


Out-of-network physicians who billed the insurer from 1994 to 2009 could recoup more than half of their lost payments. Even if you didn't file a claim, you may be eligible.


The number of Evildoing Gentry has emmerced in the late Qing.After the early 20~(th) century there is degenerating trend about Evildoing Gentry's changeable process from individual to entirety.The paper not only describes Evildoing Gentry's forms and main fields of action,but points out the enlargement of Gentry's degenerating process in which this phenomenon is evident especially in the village well.The paper stresses mutual relation between Gentry's degenerating process and social change, at the same time thinks evildoing Gentry as the alienation of Gentry's class embodying important meaning, which has a lot of bad influences to society.The paper explains basic causes about the Evildoing Gentry's degenerating trend as a complete whole based on the theory of social change.


It is rare that gastric cancer metastasizes to the meningeal.Here we report a patient who was suffered with gastic carcinoma,her clinical manifestation of nervous system occurred earlier than digestive symptoms.It alerts that we should pay more attention to the nervous systemic symptom when mestastatic carcinoma from gastic tissues to meningeal.


We propose an affine controller synthesis technique that maximizes the probability of the state lying in a time-varying collection of safe sets for a Gaussian-perturbed linear time-varying system under bounded control authority. Specifically, we solve a chance constrained optimization problem obtained by relaxing the hard control bounds to a probabilistic constraint with a user-specified threshold. We also construct a lower bound for the true maximal reach probability, when the proposed affine controller is saturated to satisfy hard control bounds. For tractability, we formulate the optimization problem into an equivalent difference of convex program with second-order cone constraints, using risk allocation techniques and piecewise affine overapproximations. We then solve this program to a local optimum using a well-studied successive convexification procedure. We also show that the proposed chance constraint formulation has a tractable linear program-based restriction when the feedback gain matrix is known or when only open-loop controllers are considered. We compare the performance of our approach with existing approaches on a spacecraft rendezvous problem.


Simplified equations to calculate the maximum temperature rise in stored solid wastes are given. The need for thermal conductivity values of solid wastes is demonstrated using these equations. For 55-gal containers of a calcined TBP-25 waste in a granite cave the temperature would rise 694 to 3307 deg F depending on the decay prior to storage. A program is proposed for measuring the thermal conductivity of solids produced by evaporation and calcination of synthetic fuel reprocessing solutions. Thermal conductivity is defined and factors influencing the thermal conductivity of nonmetallic solids are considered. Particularly the effects of temperature and porosity on thermal conductivity are considered. Methods of measuring thermal conductivity are outlined. Criteria used in selecting an arrangement of apparatus for measuring thermal conductivity are enumerated. An apparatus for determining the thermal conductivity of solids produced by evaporation and calcination of synthetic fuel reprocessing solutions is described. (auth)


The study focuses on the development of novel composite material with good transverse thermal conductivity able to dissipate the heat. This material will be associated with a cooling loop for transferring the heat from electrical equipment to the composite panel thermally drained and which posed at the fuselage of the aircraft. To achieve this goal, an extensive research was conducted in the thermal field leading to design a novel composite structure. The thermal conductivity of the composite materials selected in this work were assessed through experimental tests. Here, the material thermal conductivity was evaluated using measurements of density, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat. The thermal performances of material were described by the nature of constituents and reinforcement architecture. The current research highlights the influence of adding nickel coated carbon and nickel-plated copper wires on the braided composites. The results indicate that the High Tensile Strength (HTS) carbon braided manufactured with nickel-plated copper wires presents higher in-plane thermal conductivity (in direction parallel of the fibers) when comparing to HTS carbon and HTS carbon braided manufactured with nickel coated carbon. To gain more insight, a numerical model, based on the Finite Element Method was built. Besides, it helps to reduce the experimental matrix protocol. The results obtained by numerical and experimental investigation showed good correlation, which allowed to validate the numerical approach. In the end, the numerical model validated were used to optimize the structure of the composite material.


Within the framework of model approach dynamics of the changes of absorption spectrum of the intercalated layer crystals in the region of E E ≤ g have been studied. The effect of both i) structural changes caused by intercalation and ii) changes of the anisotropy of the lattice-intercalant electron overlapping have been considered. The received results have been compared to the experimental data of absorption spectrum of CdJ2 intercalated by metallic Cd. The possibility of the interpretation of inverse problem, i.e. prediction of non monotonic change of the intensity of the addition peak, considering mentioned above reasons has been discussed


In this paper, control schemes for shunt active power filter using perfect harmonic cancellation (PHC) and synchronous reference frame (SRF) methods as reference current generation techniques are proposed. SAPFs are used to eliminate source current harmonics and to improve the power factor in system feeding non-linear loads. In PHC method reference signals are calculated using positive sequence component of voltages taken from PCC and in SRF method reference signals are transformed from three-phase stationary frame (a-b-c) into three phase rotating frame (0-d-q). Using these techniques Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) can be reduced to acceptable level. These algorithms have been simulated in MATLAB/Simulink. This SRF theory is experimentally implemented with dSPACE module CP1104 which has been used for real time interfacing. KeywordsShunt Active Power Filter (SAPF), Perfect Harmonic Cancellation (PHC) method, Synchronous reference Frame (SRF) method, Power Quality, THD, dSPACE module CP1104.


Methods: Three normal adults each donated 181 mL of whole blood, some of which served as a control and the remainder of which was processed through 4 PRP separation kits: GPS III (Biomet Biologics), Smart-Prep2 (Harvest Terumo), Magellan (Arteriocyte Medical Systems), and ACP (Device Technologies). The resultant PRP was tested for platelet count, red blood cell count, and white blood cell count, including differential in a commercial pathology laboratory. Glucose and pH measurements were obtained from a blood gas autoanalyzer machine.


Scholars in the emerging field of critical white studies maintain that as a result of the naturalization of whiteness, the vast majority of whites are blind to the power and privilege afforded by whiteness. This essay reflects on a production that attempted to put the spotlight on whiteness. Written from the points of view of the director and a performer, this essay reflects on the process of using reiterative stagings of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" to underscore the performative constitution of whiteness.


Long-range predictive control appears to be a better foundation for self-tuning compared with k-step ahead or model-reference approaches. Various methods have been proposed in the literature based on weighting-sequence models, and the paper unifies their development. By assuming a noise structure which involves Brownian motion, natural integrating action is achieved as opposed to the ad hoc approaches previously used. Simulation studies using truncated models show that large numbers of parameters are necessary using weighting sequences, although a parallel method using a CARIMA model is entirely satisfactory. When used with nonminimum-phase plant, the dynamic matrix control method works best.


ABSTRACT Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important crop in the Virginia-Carolina (VC) region. Virginia-type cultivars are preferred vs. other peanut types because of the in-shell and gourmet mar...


Abstract. Images captured in foggy weather conditions often fade the colors and reduce the contrast of the observed objects. An efficient image fusion method is proposed to remove haze from a single input image. First, the initial medium transmission is estimated based on the dark channel prior. Second, the method adopts an assumption that the degradation level affected by haze of each region is the same, which is similar to the Retinex theory, and uses a simple Gaussian filter to get the coarse medium transmission. Then, pixel-level fusion is achieved between the initial medium transmission and coarse medium transmission. The proposed method can recover a high-quality haze-free image based on the physical model, and the complexity of the proposed method is only a linear function of the number of input image pixels. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can allow a very fast implementation and achieve better restoration for visibility and color fidelity compared to some state-of-the-art methods.


The aim of this research is to promote the development of cocoa areas in Peru which allow expanding the knowledge of the cacao genome. This aim is within the framework of the objectives of the Tropical Crops Institute (ICT). The study was carried out between July 2016 and October 2017. The main task was to evaluate the morphological characteristics of 28 accessions of wild cacao under different field conditions. These 28 accessions were previously selected form the Santiago (SAN) and Morona (MOR)-Alto Amazonas basins, and later stablished in the germplasm bank of ICT – ECC. The research design was non-experimental of the sectional type. The parameters assessed were: quantitative and qualitative descriptors of the plant, leaf, flowers, fruit and seeds. It was found phenotypical variability in the accessions studied, both quantitative and qualitative in vegetative and reproductive organs. And two groups were obtained with the dendrogram. These results indicate that the use of morphological parameters allowed to accumulate a large amount of new information on pre-selected accessions. As well as distinguish phenotypically materials and have more elements to select the most outstanding, which will be included in the next phases of the Genetic Improvement Program of ICT.


For almost 40 years now, relational database management systems have successfully used data parallelism to speed up the evaluation of large queries. Here, by "data parallelism" we mean taking one operation (for example, a "join" or an "aggregation") and spreading it over multiple machines, each operating on a part of the data. In general this approach works spectacularly well, yielding almost linear speedups over a wide variety of workloads. However, like any form of parallelism, data-parallel relational query processing is vulnerable to "skew." The database literature is full of work dealing with the skew that arises when one node in a parallel system is allocated more work than the average. The following paper, by Li, Naughton, and Nehme, is interesting in that it deals with another kind of skew, one that has received much less attention: "hardware skew," that is, skew that arises because the processing units in a parallel system are not all of equal power. Such skew can arise in several ways – for example, a parallel system could be constructed "on the fly" by allocating available nodes in a cloud, or a company could upgrade an on-premises system with the addition of new nodes that are of a different generation and class of hardware than the existing ones. If the DBMS is oblivious to the fact that the underlying system is not uniform, the result will be the same as that achieved if the system were constructed entirely of the slowest nodes in the system. If all the nodes in the system are equally "balanced" the solution is simple – if one node is 1/2 as fast as the average, give that node 1/2 the average work, and you are set. Unfortunately, in practice, things are not that simple. One node may have a faster CPU but the same I/O performance, or vice-versa; or nodes may have differing amounts of memory or network bandwidth. In such cases simple proportional allocation of work will be suboptimal. The situation is further complicated by the fact that different queries make different demands on the system with respect to CPU, memory, network, and disk; in fact, different stages of a single query can make very different demands. This, finally, is the situation addressed by the paper, "Resource Bricolage for Parallel DBMSs on Heterogeneous Clusters." The authors make use of techniques for cost estimation growing out of the query optimization and query running time prediction literature; they combine these techniques with a linear programming model that chooses an optimal allocation for a given query on a given system. They demonstrate through an analytic model as well as experiments with an implementation that their proposed solution dominates simpler alternatives. An interesting question this work raises is the duality between "on-demand" load balancing of the type employed by MapReduce-like systems and the predictive, up-front allocation of work advocated by this paper. My suspicion is that both approaches have their place, and the choice of which to use depends on issues such as the predictability of the workload and the importance of "locality" in the performance of the system. Perhaps hybrid solutions will be the answer in some cases.


The paper presents a new idea of knowledge representation for students studying software engineering by developing artifacts and software components accumulated in libraries or repositories for further reuse. The idea is based on the concept of assembly line by V. Glushkov, further elaborated by Soviet and foreign specialists (A. Ershov, V. Lipaev, J. Greenfield, G. Lenz, Y. Bai, M. Fowler). The paper introduces the elements of program factory: reusable components, their interfaces, and assembly lines for designing and assembling complex software products from components. It is shown that modern operating environments provide prerequisites for such factories. The students' program factory, implemented at Taras Shevchenko Kiev National University, is then described. The technologies behind the factory, as well as its goals are studied.


ABSTRACT Transient waves propagating parallel to the layers in a linear elastic or viscoelastic layered composite are studied. A step load in time is applied at the boundary x = 0 and the head-of-the-pulse asymptotic solution is obtained for large x and large time t. For viscoelastic composites the interaction between the dissipation and the dispersion is controlled by a parameter γ that contains the material mismatch of the layers and the distance: propagated by the waves. As the distance increases, so does γ, and the oscillatory response diminishes. For elastic composites, we show how the oscillatory response depends on the mismatch of the material properties and the thicknesses of the layers. We show that there are composites other than the one with zero mismatch for which the oscillatory response is almost nonexistent.


Aim: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) viruses are the major causes of chronic viral infections globally and their prevalence has been extensively reported in the literature in various s


Recent commercial developments in multicore processors (e.g. Tilera, Clearspeed, HyperX) have provided an option for high performance embedded computing that rivals the performance attainable with FPGA-based reconfigurable computing architectures. Furthermore, these processors offer more straightforward and streamlined application development by allowing the use of conventional programming languages and software tools in lieu of hardware design languages such as VHDL and Verilog. With these advantages, multicore processors can significantly enhance the capabilities of future robotic space missions. This paper will discuss these benefits, along with onboard processing applications where multicore processing can offer advantages over existing or competing approaches. This paper will also discuss the key artchitecural features of current commercial multicore processors. In comparison to the current art, the features and advancements necessary for spaceflight multicore processors will be identified. These include power reduction, radiation hardening, inherent fault tolerance, and support for common spacecraft bus interfaces. Lastly, this paper will explore how multicore processors might evolve with advances in electronics technology and how avionics architectures might evolve once multicore processors are inserted into NASA robotic spacecraft.


A mechanism for efficient management of the evolution of multi-stage production based on the use of soft measurements and calculations is considered. To reduce the sensitivity to noise interference and delays along dynamic channels between the input and output of continuous multistage production, a diagnostic system based on the analysis of the intervals of change in the values of diagnostic variables for a given time interval is proposed. The decision making system is based on the methods of the Dempster-Schafer theory. The process control architecture model is described as a multi-agent system in which agents interact with each other and with the center. Methods and tools for managing the evolution of multi-stage continuous processes are substantiated to improve efficiency and long-term sustainability throughout the entire life cycle by introducing innovative solutions.


The experiment investigation of the effect of coupling devices on the characteristics of lateral vibration of 951 type test electric car is described. The dominant component of lateral body vibration is forced body hunting with both modes of rolling and yawing with a wave length of 40-50m. The lateral relative motion around the position of action of coupling devices decreases markedly and the restricting force is preferably enlarged in the range of value tested. (Author)


There are provided methods and apparatus for stereoscopic video coding using scalable video coding. A scalable video encoder includes an encoder (100) for encoding at least two views corresponding to multi-view video content by, encoding a particular view of the at least two views as a base layer, and encoding each of at least one other view of the at least two views as an enhancement layer using a prediction from a lower layer corresponding to at least one of the particular view and the at least one other view. The at least two views are encoded based on a selection from among at least two of temporal, spatial, and signal to noise ratio scalability techniques.


A widely used method for the in vitro measurement of fermentation parameters, total gas and methane (CH4) production (mL/g) from feed samples employs AnkomRF Technology with vented bottles, initially flushed with carbon dioxide (CO2). The volumes of gas accumulated between ventings, and the volumes vented, are calculated from the headspace pressure data. By using these data, it is possible to infer mathematically the quantity of CH4 produced, given just a single measurement of the CH4 mixing ratio measured in the headspace at the termination of fermentation. However, this calculation requires an additional assumption. Two possibilities for this are considered. We present mathematical formulae arising from each, and describe their sensitivity to violations of their respective assumptions. Also considered is a formula based on using N2 instead of CO2 as the flushing gas. It appears that, in practice, all three formulae are suitable for estimating CH4 production, with errors less than 3%.


Weed control in broadacre cropping systems is becoming increasingly difficult owing to widespread evolution of herbicide resistance in major weed species. The importance of crop competition in weed management is often overlooked but it can play an important role in cropping systems. Competitive ability of 86 wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes varying for early vigour was investigated at two sites over two growing seasons against cultivated oats (Avena sativa L.) as a weed mimic. There were significant (P < 0.001) treatment effects of weed, wheat genotype and weed × genotype interaction at the different sites. Mature crop height and early crop vigour were strongly correlated with improved weed suppression and tolerance. Negative correlation between early vigour (normalised difference vegetation index and visual score) and weed-free yield indicates the presence of some yield penalty in high-vigour (HV) lines. Wheat genotypes with high grain yield under weed-free conditions tended to suffer high yield loss from weeds (low tolerance) and allowed greater production of weed seed (low weed suppression). However, many of the HV lines produced significantly higher grain yield than the tested commercial cultivars under weedy conditions. The use of the Finlay–Wilkinson regression approach for assessing cultivar stability revealed a strong association between genotype mean weed suppression and stability across the four environments. Several HV lines showed consistently greater weed suppression than the wheat cultivars investigated. Genotypic variation was much greater for weed suppression than weed tolerance, suggesting greater opportunity for the selection of improved weed suppression in wheat. However, strong positive correlation between weed suppression and tolerance (r = 0.79, P < 0.001) suggests that wheat lines selected on the basis of high weed suppression may also exhibit improved weed tolerance.


A total of 771 women were included in the study. Negative smears were reported in 639 (82.9%); 82 (10.6%) were abnormal and 50 (6.5%) unsatisfactory. The post-LLETZ smear was performed at a median interval of 105 days (range, 48–829). A univariate logistic regression analysis did not reveal any relationship between the rate of unsatisfactory or abnormal smears and the interval since having LLETZ (p = 0.935).


Project Sustain Sustainability and Performance assessment and Benchmarking of Buildings (SuPerBuildings) was after 3 years finished in 2012. The main outcomes of the project include top-down approach for structure of sustainability assessments of buildings, detailed analysis of selected indicators and verification of their validity. The project also looked into building design and construction processes in order to find the most effective ways of steering. SuPerBuildings project also dealt with use of building information models (BIMs) for sustainability assessment.


Purpose: To review the results of metallic urethral stents used in patients with neuropathic bladder dysfunction after spinal cord injury (SCI). Patients and Methods: In a rehabilitation unit for SCI and stroke in Cape Town, South Africa, we performed a case note review of dual flange Memokath stents placed from March 2008 until October 2011. Stents were placed rather than performing an external sphincterotomy in selected patients. With the patient under deep general anesthesia, a thermosensitive expandable metallic stent was positioned over the internal and external urethral sphincters. Results: In total, 33 stents were placed in 28 male patients. SCI was cervical in 23 patients and thoracic in 5. Average follow-up was 18 months (range 1–40 months, median 18 months). The most common indications were repeated catheter blockage in eight patients and urinary tract infection in six. The average time from SCI to stent insertion was 79 months (range 1–468 months, median 21 months). Severe autonomic dysreflexia was present in 17 cases before stent placement and in 7 after stents were placed (P = 0.003). Stents failed in 15 patients (45%) and were removed. The most common reason for failure was stone formation. Comparing the group of patients with stents lasting > 20 months (n = 11) to the group with stent removal before 20 months (n = 10), the mean time between SCI and stent placement was 31 vs 119 months (P = 0.057). Medium term results (up to 27 months) were significantly influenced by earlier stent placement (P = 0.0484). One major complication was stent migration that caused an urethrocutaneous fistula.


A detailed system model of a VTOL aircraft approaching a small aviation facility ship was developed and used to investigate several approach guidance concepts. A preliminary anaysis of the aircraft-vessel landing guidance requirements was conducted. The various subelements and constraints of the flight system are described including the landing scenario, lift fan aircraft, state rate feedback flight control, MLS-based navigation, sea state induced ship motion, and wake turbulence due to wind-over-deck effects. These elements are integrated into a systems model with various guidance concepts. Guidance is described in terms of lateral, vertical, and longitudinal axes steering modes and approach and landing phases divided by a nominal hover (or stationkeeping) point defined with respect to the landing pad. The approach guidance methods are evaluated, and the two better steering concepts are studied by both single pass and Monte Carlo statistical simulation runs. Four different guidance concepts are defined for further analysis for the landing phase of flight.


This paper has reviewed the application of electric energy data acquisition and load management system in the operation of power supply companies,and elaborated the technologies employed in the systems including multiple thread,independent data acquisition network,distributed multi-layered architecture and modularization design.Various functions have been realized including the acquisition,calculation,analysis and management of electric energy data in electric energy remote metering system,load management system,monitoring and measurement system of distribution transformer as well as low voltage meter reading system,which have been applied to the marketing analysis of power supply companies.It would provide accurate,real-time and comprehensive data support for marketing analysis,further improve its working efficiency and quality,and guarantee the economic effectiveness of power supply companies.


Speech and language problems are one of the earliest signs of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease (AD), but they are often difficult to detect especially in the early stages. Utility of assessing speech and language problems using artificial intelligence (AI) has been examined in the past. However, the accuracy of different methods has been variable, preventing incorporation of these techniques in clinical use. In this study, we present different speech‐based machine learning techniques. We focused on the automatic extraction of a wide array of interpretable features from the speech signals, then compared these features across different neurological disorders.


World kidney day is an international campaign focused on bringing awareness to kidney health throughout the world and reducing the incidence of renal disease and its related medical complications. This mini-review sought to take a short look on the renal impact of SARS-CoV-2, with a particular focus on post-COVID-19 nephropathy as a new dilemma in the era of nephrology, which can be a new concern for nephrologists that requires more attention and particular strategies.


Assistive Technology (AT) is specifically addressed in the most recent reauthorization of IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004). The law insures that assistive devices and services are available for students with disabilities to help them access their environment at home, school, and in the work place. Therefore, it is important that teacher preparation programs in higher education establish required components for including AT in their programs of study. To explore one approach to meeting this need, an AT module was developed and implemented with pre-service teachers at a southwestern university during their student teaching semester. The goals of the study were to determine (a) prior knowledge of pre-service teachers in the area of assistive technology, (b) the effectiveness of an AT Module presented during one student teaching seminar session, and (c) the impact of the AT module on classroom practice after the seminar. Based on survey responses and in-class discussions, the impact of the information provided in the module was found to be positive. Pre-service teachers felt that they were better prepared and more confident as a result of knowledge gained about AT concepts, resources, and applications.


The invasion of Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Austin, Texas, by the multiple-queen form of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, was monitored for 3 yr. This invasion provides a rare glimpse of competitive replacement in progress. It has been remarkable for two reasons. First, imported fire ant colonies replaced colonies of the native fire ant, Solenopsis geminata (F.), at a ratio of 6:1, indicating a radical restructuring of the arthropod community rather than a simple one-for-one substitution of an equivalent species. Secondly, the invasion proceeded at a very slow rate (about 35 m/yr) along a continuous front in a pattern best explained by colony budding and considerable biotic resistance from the native ant community. These data indicate that the invasion process may continue at the local level for years or even decades after the passage of the main invasion front.


Illegal land occupation and developments on road corridors in Kenya is quite common. The consequences include destruction of property and delays when the time comes to construct the roads. The fact that it is possible to occupy land, which had previously been acquired for road construction, could be caused by various factors ranging from a weak land administration system to poverty and corruption in the country. The study utilizes the Nairobi Northern bypass to examine the factors, which contribute to the illegal occupation and development on the road corridors. The objectives were to determine the nature and the extent of the illegal occupation and development on the bypass, to determine the process followed during the planning, design and acquisition of the road corridor, to examine the factors which led to the illegal occupations and development, and to find out the reaction of the Government and other stakeholders to the illegal occupations. The study aims to contribute towards policy guidelines to ensure that there is proper management o f the road corridors in the future. The study was carried out by use of questionnaires and interview schedule with the relevant government officers in the various ministries involved with the land administration. A total of 113 household questionnaires were administered and these were selected using systematic sampling technique. The data collected was both qualitative and quantitative and hence various methods of analysis were adopted such as using frequency analysis and inferential statistics. A weak land administration system, poor enforcement of regulations, a weak legal framework, poverty, population increase, greed and corruption emerged as some of the factors which have contributed to the illegal occupations and development of the road corridors. There was also abuse of public offices and the failure o f the land professionals to uphold moral and ethical principles in the execution of their duties and failure to implement plans. There is therefore a need to look closely into the land administration systems of the country, which in reality is about the use, the ownership, and the value of the land. All the factors identified as contributing to the


The invention relates to an embedded pole part and method of manufacture the same, with vacuum interrupter which is embedded or assembled in an expoxy resin or thermoplastic housing, with a fixed contact and a movable contact, wherein the fixed contact is electrically and mechanically fixed to an upper electrical terminal, according to the preamble of claim 1 and 8. In order to damp and/or reduce this bouncing at the upper terminal or at the terminal concerning to the fixed contact of the pole part, the upper terminal or the terminal according to the fixed contact is covered by a damping layer between the terminal surface and the embedding or surrounding housing.


The removal of Cr ions from industrial wastage by adsorption on rice hulls was investigated based on activated pure rice hulls dosage, stay time, metal concentration and solution temperature. The optimum values of activated pure rice hulls dosage and stay time were determined to be 0.5 gm/50 ml solution and 60 min, respectively, for the adsorption of Cr ions. The constant for the Freundlich, D-R and Langmuir isotherms were calculated at (293 – 323 K). The adsorption of Cr from industrial wastage was found to be exothermic. Thermodynamic parameters such as free energy (G°), enthalpy (H°) and entropy (S°) of adsorption was also calculated and interpreted from the slope and intercept of the plots of In KD vs I/T. The G° value decreases with rise in temperature and the negative values of H° indicate that the adsorption of Cr from industrial wastage was an exothermic process while positive values of change in entropy (S°) were also observed.