The article provides updated information about the hydrological characteristics, biodiversity and the influence of these and other anthropogenic factors in the Araz River and some of its tributaries in Azerbaijan. Its is revealed that concentration of such unnatural components as heavy metals, phenols, oil products and other pollutants in the water of the river highly increased during last 50-60 years. As a result, the proportion of dissolved oxygen in the water is partly decreased, while the degree of water mineralization increased 2-4 time. Ten species of macrophytes, 34 species of fishes, 28 species of zooplankton organisms belonging to 3 ecological groups and 95 species of macrobenthic organisms, belonging to 14 systematical groups, were found in Araz River. 6 groups (60 species) of macrobenthic organisms were revealed in the faunas of Okhchuchay River and Hakarichay River.


We show that a scalable frame does phase retrieval if and only if the hyperplanes of its orthogonal complements do phase retrieval. We then show this result fails in general by giving an example of a frame for $\mathbb R^3$ which does phase retrieval but its induced hyperplanes fail phase retrieval. Moreover, we show that such frames always exist in $\mathbb R^d$ for any dimension $d$. We also give an example of a frame in $\mathbb R^3$ which fails phase retrieval but its perps do phase retrieval. We will also see that a family of hyperplanes doing phase retrieval in $\mathbb R^d$ must contain at least $2d-2$ hyperplanes. Finally, we provide an example of six hyperplanes in $\mathbb R^4$ which do phase retrieval.


This research was conducted to determine the effect of learning sail on class Xa students as an experimental class using the guided inquiry method assisted by simple practical tools and class Xg using conventional methods on electrolyte solution material. This type of research is experimental research using pretest-posttest control. The population is students of class Xa and Xg SMA Negeri 1 Sausu. The technique used in sampling is purposive sampling, which is a non-random sampling technique in which the researcher determines the sample by determining special characteristics that are in accordance with the research objectives. The sample in this study was 28 in the experimental class and 27 in the control class. Testing the research data using statistical analysis of one-party t-test with prerequisite test with normality test and homogeneity test. The results of the analysis of the data obtained on the normality and homogeneity tests are prerequisite tests for the t-test statistics. Based on the normality test of the learning outcomes test data for the experimental class, the value of 2count < 2 (5.91623 < 5.99) and the normality of the data for the control class obtained 2count < 2table (5.7952 < 7.81). These results show that both the experimental class and the control class have data that are normally distributed. This means that the data obtained has an even distribution between low, medium, and high student learning outcomes, which meet the normal curve. be accepted. So it can be concluded that there is no difference in variance between the control class and the experimental class, so the data is homogeneous. So this research concludes that guided inquiry learning has an effect on student learning outcomes.


In the paper,we clarified the characteristic defference of the change of the experienced person and the inexperienced person in the fencing by the movement measurement.


Objective To evaluate the safety and feasibility of harm on ic scalpel in open thyroid surgery.Methods The clinical data of th e harmonic scalpel group (n=38) and conventional hemostasis group(n=42)were analyzed and compared retrospectively.Results There were no significant differences on the baseline between the two groups (P0.05).But it was found that the operative time,intraoperative bleeding volume and postoperative drainage volume in harmonic scalpel group were significantly lowe r than conventional hemostasis group (P0.05).The surgical complications sh owed no significant difference between the two groups.Conclusions T he use of harmonic scalpel for the open thyroid surgery is safe and feasible,a nd it provides significant advantages over conventional hemostasis in open thyro id surgery.


Introduction The aim of this work, which is supported by the 2010 ISMRM Seed-Grant, was to implement and evaluate a sequence which enables simultaneous measurement of pharmacokinetic modeling parameters and the mean vessel size. Perfusion, permeability and relative blood volume usually assessed by dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI), and the mean vessel size assessed by vessel size imaging (VSI) [1] are able to detect early anti-angiogenic therapy responses [2]. Anti-angiogenic drugs are of increasing importance in cancer therapy. DCE-MRI is routinely performed with clinically approved Gd-based contrast agents (CAs) and is based on the change of R1 during and after the injection of the CA. Up to now VSI is usually performed with iron-oxide particles which are not yet approved for clinical use. It is based on the change of R2* and R2 pre and post CA injection. Combination of both techniques using a single MR sequence and only one injection of a Gd-based CA results in reduced scan time and improved animal or patient comfort. Successful implementation of VSI with GD-DTPA has already been shown [3]. In our method DCE-MRI parameters will not be calculated by changes of R1 but from the change in R2 or R2*. Materials and Methods All sequences were implemented on a 9.4 T animal scanner (BioSpec 94/20, Bruker, Ettlingen, Germany) using a mouse quadrature coil. The developed single shot gradient echo spin echo EPI sequence (GESE-EPI) consists of a 90 deg. excitation pulse and a 180 deg. refocusing pulse. Both, the FID (free induction decay) as well as the generated SE signal are acquired by an EPI readout. To analyze the accuracy of delta R2 and delta R2* quantification phantom measurements were performed on a custom-built phantom with the developed sequence and compared to standard relaxometry sequences. Sequence parameters were as followed: SEGE-EPI: single slice, TEGE=80 ms, TESE=200 ms, acquisition time < 500 ms, FOV 30x30 mm2, matrix 64x64, receiver bandwidth 300 MHz, readout time EPI module 15.2 ms. ΔR2 and ΔR2* were calculated from 1/TE*signal1/signal2. Standard T2 mapping was performed with a multi spin echo sequence (single slice, TR=2500 ms, 16 echoes with TE=11...176 ms in steps of 11 ms, acquisition time 8 min, FOV 30x30 mm2, matrix 256x256) while T2* mapping was performed with a multi gradient echo sequence (FLASH, single slice, TR=350 ms, 6 echoes with TE=30...180 ms in steps of 30 ms, acquisition time 9 min, FOV 30x30 mm2, matrix 256x256, flip angle 30 deg.). The phantom consists of several vials with different concentrations of Gd-DTPA. Gd-DTPA was diluted in saline (0.9% NaCl) yielding Gd concentrations of 2.8, 1.4, 0.7, 0.35, and 0.175 μM. Results GESE-EPI images of the phantom are shown in Fig. 1. The GE image shows typical susceptibility artifacts due to changes in susceptibility between fluid and air bubbles or fluid and vial wall while both GE and SE images show the EPI ghostings. ΔR2 and ΔR2* between the different vials were calculated (for all 3 sequences). GESE-EPI slightly overestimates ΔR2 and underestimates ΔR2* as compared to the standard sequences (Fig. 2). Note the dramatic differences in acquisition time between the GESE-EPI and relaxometry sequences. Furthermore, we found a linear dependency between CA concentration differences and ΔR2 and ΔR2*, respectively (R=0.999 and 0.98, data not shown). Discussion and Outlook First phantom studies showed that the technique provides a reliable quantification of ΔR2 and ΔR2* in a very short acquisition time. A short acquisition time is important for a sufficient temporal resolution in dynamic MRI experiment during CA injection consisting of a series of GESE-EPI scans. The linear dependency between ΔR2 and ΔR2* and CA concentration difference should enable us to perform pharmacokinetic modelling based on a dynamic scan during CA injection. The next step will be the evaluation of the GESE-EPI sequence in vivo in rats during i.v. injection of CA. Perfusion, blood volume, and vessel size measurement using the GESE-EPI sequence with Gd-DTPA will be compared to standard VSI with iron oxide particles and to standard DCE-MRI with Gd-DTPA. References 1. Troprès I at al., Magn Reson Med. 2001;45(3):397-408. 2. Zwick S et al., J Magn Reson Imaging. 2009;29(5):1125-33 3. Kiselev VG et al., Magn Reson Med. 2005 Mar;53(3):553-63. Fig. 1: SE image (left, TE=200 ms) and GE image (middle, TE=80 ms) acquired with the new GESE-EPI sequence and SE image from a standard multi SE dataset (right, TE=176 ms).


Article 15 of the Framework Convention places an obligation upon the State Parties to provide conditions for the participation of persons of minority origin in the work of their public administration and other segments of the public sector. As it is the case with the other strands of Article 15, the degree of realisation of this duty is measured against the standard of adequate representation. Due to the novel nature of the obligation and the programmatic character of Article 15 the standard of adequate representation in non-elected public bodies has remained underdeveloped and vague. In the paper, the author seeks to identify the legal objectives behind the standard of adequate representation by analysing the Advisory Committee's thematic commentaries and country-specific opinions. The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the further normative elaboration of the standard of adequate representation in a way which would increase its interpretative value.


Questions in natural language typically consist of a proposition articulated into a foreground part, which evokes a set of alternatives, and a background part, which provides a function for distinguishing among those alternatives. For instance, the question Who left? asks which of the people that who quantifies over (the foreground) have the property of leaving (the background). Concealed questions are DPs that can be interpreted as if they were interrogatives. For instance, I found out Bill's age means roughly the same thing as I found out what Bill's age is, so the DP Bill's age is functioning here as a concealed question. It has long been observed by L ¨ obner and others that DPs containing re-lational nouns such as age make excellent concealed questions, but simple DPs headed by sortal nouns such as brick do not: it is difficult or impossible to interpret ??I found out the brick as meaning the same thing as I found out which object the brick is. I propose that, just like ordinary clausal questions, concealed-question DPs must be articulated into a foreground and a background. For a DP headed by a relational noun, such as Bill's age, the possible referents serve as the set of alternatives (that is, the set of ages), and the background property corresponds to standing in the relation denoted by the head noun to the possessor (Bill). In contrast, simple sortal DPs provide only a set of alternatives (e.g., the set of bricks), without providing any non-trivial property for distinguishing one brick from another. It is this lack of foreground/background structure that prevents DPs headed by sortal nominals from serving as concealed questions. If so, then the denotations of definite descriptions must have internal structure in the way that has long been argued for propositions .


THE present Melville Hospital, Chatham-which was previously a Royal Marine infirmary attached to the headquarters of the marine division at Chatham, receiving also naval patients from the ships at Chatham and Sheerness, as also some foreign invalids-was built in 1828. It had three pavilions, each with a sunk basement and three storeys over. About sixteen years ago it was changed to a naval hospital, though still affording accommodation for marine patients from the division; subsequently one-storey storerooms were placed in the interspaces between the hospital pavilions, already too limited in breadth, and these storerooms obstructed both air and light from the bapement rooms and ':1


An isocratic reversed phase stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatographic(HPLC) assay method was developed and validated for quantitative determination of Irinotecan hydrochloride in bulk drugs. An isocratic, reversed phase HPLC method was developed to separate the drug from the degradation products, using an Inertsil ODS C18 (250 x 4.6)mm,5u column and the mobile phase containing 2.0gm Sodium dihydrogen phosphate and 1.0 gm 1-octaneSulfonic acid salt in 1000ml waterfilter and mixed. Prepare a homogenous mixture of buffer, methanol and acetonitrile (55:28:17,v/v/v). The detection was carried out at wavelength 254 nm. The developed method was validated with respect to linearity, accuracy (recovery), precision, system suitability, selectivity, robustness prove the stability indicating ability of the method.


The electrochemical performance of porous silicon (pSi) stabilized via thermal decomposition of acetylene gas is investigated for the first time. In this study, pSi undergoes two thermal treatments at either 525 or 800 °C, which result in hydrogen‐terminated thermally hydrocarbonized pSi (THCpSi) and hydroxyl‐terminated thermally carbonized pSi (TCpSi), respectively, the latter upon dipping in hydrofluoric acid to activate the surface termination. Electrochemical characterization, using cyclic voltammetry, chronocoulometry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in the presence of several redox pairs, [Fe(CN)6]3/4−, [Ru(NH3)6]2/3+, and hydroquinone/quinone, is used to demonstrate the versatility and high stability to degradation of carbon‐stabilized pSi nanostructures and their excellent electrochemical performance. Added to the large surface area, adjustable pore morphology and tailorable surface chemistry of THCpSi and TCpSi, these nanostructures demonstrate fast electron‐transfer kinetics, providing key advantages over conventional carbon electrodes. The versatile surface chemistry of THCpSi and TCpSi offer various possibilities to introduce multiple functional groups depending on the nature of the bioreceptor to be immobilized. For proof of principle, the use of a THCpSi‐based immunosensor to detect MS2 bacteriophage is demonstrated by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, showing a detection limit of 4.9 pfu mL−1. Carbon‐stabilized pSi structures represent a new class of nanostructured electrodes for biosensing applications.


This paper describes a fully automatic Estonian word sense disambiguation system called semyhe which is based on Estonian WordNet (EstWN) hyponym/hypernym hierarchies and meant to disambiguate both nouns and verbs.


Summary The article describes the features of the engineering-geological structure of soils at the base of the stone embankments of St. Petersburg and the design of embankments. The description of the main defects arising during the operation of embankments is given. The background of the application and examples of solving specific problems using the electrical sounding with capacitive electrodes are described. The spatial correlation of electrical resistance anomalies with local areas of embankment defects is revealed and possible causes of their occurrence are considered.


In the modern consumer age that emerged after the First World War, shopping became ubiquitous but its meaning was always inextricably linked to the political, material and economic contexts within which it took place. Shopping practices varied widely according to race, ethnicity, class and geography but almost everywhere it became an activity that was undertaken dominantly by women rather than men. National brands and chain stores developed, undercutting the smaller general stores of the past, while mass car ownership encouraged consumers to travel farther to shop, often at malls located in or around urban centres. The digital revolution in shopping that began in the last decade of the twentieth century has changed the face of cities and towns and led to the closure of many bricks-and-mortar stores but, as this volume explores, the shopper remains very much at the centre of Western capitalist societies.
 A Cultural History of Shopping in the Modern Age presents an overview of the period with themes addressing practices and processes; spaces and places; shoppers and identities; luxury and everyday; home and family; visual and literary representations; reputation, trust and credit; and governance, regulation and the state.


[Objective] The purpose was to prove up the enrichment character of heavy metals in mature crops in coal mine area of Jiaozuo. [Method] The method of fan-shaped sampling points was used to select the samples of soil and wheat and corn etc. from the agricultural field around the coal mine area of Jiaozuo so as to determine the contents of 4 heavy metal elements as Cu, Zn, Pb and Cr in soil and crop. [Result] It was found that Zn, Pb and Cu had been enriched in soil, and Cr had been not only enriched, but also lacked. The enrichment of heavy metal elements in grain and stem-leaf of mature corn in order was Zn>Cu>Cr>Pb and Cu>Pb>Zn>Cr, resp. and that in grain, stem-leaf and root of mature wheat in order was Zn>Cu>Cr≈Pb, Cu>Pb>Zn>Cr and Zn>Pb>Cu>Cr, resp. The distribution of Pb and Cu in different parts of corn were stem-leaf>grain and that for Cr and Zn were grain>stem-leaf. The distribution of Pb in different parts of wheat were root>stem-leaf>grain, the distribution of Cr and Cu in wheat was root>grain ≈ stem-leaf and that of Zn in wheat was root>grain>stem-leaf. [Conclusion] The accumulation of heavy metal by crops was different with crop kinds and heavy metal kinds.


The thesis explores the necessity of autonomous learning research and its enlightenment on the cultivation of students' cross-cultural communication in terms of the new syllabus of the college English course,with an aim to change the traditional teaching approaches and enhance students' cross-cultural competence.


Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may occur through multiple routes. We collected aerosol samples around six patients admitted into mixed acuity wards in April of 2020 to identify the risk of airborne SARS-CoV-2. Measurements were made to characterize the size distribution of aerosol particles, and size-fractionated, aerosol samples were collected to assess the presence of infectious virus in particles sizes of >4.1 m, 1-4 m, and <1 m in the patient environment. Samples were analyzed by real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR), cell culture, western blot, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in all six rooms in all particle size fractions (>4.1 m, 1-4 m, and <1 m). Increases in viral RNA during cell culture of the virus from recovered aerosol samples demonstrated the presence of infectious, replicating virions in three <1 m aerosol samples (P<0.05). Viral replication of aerosol was also observed in the 1-4 m stage but did not reach statistical significance (0.05<P<0.10). Western blot and TEM analysis of these samples also showed evidence of viral proteins and intact virions. The infectious nature of aerosol collected in this study further suggests that airborne transmission of COVID-19 is possible, and that aerosol prevention measures are necessary to effectively stem the spread of SARS-CoV-2.


Stat3 is a transcription factor that is involved in diverse physiological processes including cell proliferation and survival. High expression of STAT3 has been found in many types of breast cancers, lung, prostate, esophagus, liver and ovary. The objective of this study was to investigate the expression of Stat3 in a series of odontogenic tumors to add more information to the knowledge of the biological profile of this group of neoplasms. For this, we quantified expression of Stat3 gene by qPCR in 30 odontogenic tumors samples, which 23 odontogenic tumors of keratocystic (OKT) and 7 cases of ameloblastoma (AB) and comparing this expression to non-neoplastic oral mucosa. We also measure of Stat3 protein expression by immunohistochemistry in 43 cases of OKT and 47 cases of AB. Transcripts of Stat3 were found in 96.6% of tumors studied, however this gene was subexpression in OKT and AB compared to non-neoplastic oral sample. Sporadic OKT had higher levels of Stat3 transcripts in relation to syndromic OKT (p = 0.04). There was no difference in the expression of Stat3 gene between OKT and AB (p = 0.88). In immunostaining of Stat3, there was no statistical difference in the proportion of positive cells, staining intensity and final score between sporadic and associated with syndromic (p = 0.31; p = 0.39; p = 0.65, respectively) and there was no difference between solids and unicystic ABs (p = 0.35; p = 0.13; p = 0.37, respectively). ABs showed a significantly higher immunostaining of Stat3 in relation to OKT (p = 0.03). It was shown that OKT with inflammation have a higher proportion of labeled cells by Stat3 (p = 0.001). In OKT and AB, immunostaining of Stat3 was predominantly cytoplasmic and it was not observed difference in cellular localization of Stat3 between these tumors (p=0.58). Our findings showed low expression of Stat3 in OKT and ABs. However, we observed a greater immunostaining of Stat3 in ABs compared to OKT demonstrating that Stat3 may contribute to more aggressive behavior of the ABs. The presence of inflammation seems to have influenced a higher immunostaining of Stat3 in OKT.


Aiming to the application of spectral subtraction in speech enhancement, several improved measures such as pre-emphasize,estimate original noise spectrum, energy threshold VAD and protecting frame are proposed. Informal listening tests indicated that the proposed methods has better result in speech enhancement.


Laminate packaging material made of layers of film adhesive bonded variable tensile strength to allow the container to reseal it. The packaging material (14) consists of a layer of backing film (24) and a layer of weldable film (26) attached, at least in specific zones, a layer (28) of permanent adhesive with two communication interfaces ( 36, 38) having a tensile strength applied perpendicular to the board that is greater than the adhesive between the two interfaces. The resistance of the layer of weldable film at break is less than the tensile strength of the intermediate region of the adhesive layer, which is preferably 20 microns thick.


This experimental work proposes responses to 3 research questions:
1) How may we reconstitute design to construct robust models of social enterprise in the service of community regeneration and sustainment?
2) How may the role of design and the education of design evolve to support the long term development of social enterprise within regenerating communities?
3) How may we best disseminate the knowledge gained both for the greater benefit of subject of the research and society as a whole?

The work was an invited keynote presentation at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design Include 2011 Conference at the Royal College of Art, 18-20 April 2011

http://www.hhc.rca.ac.uk/2968/all/1/include-2011.aspx

http://www.hhc.rca.ac.uk/3840/all/1/monday-18-April.aspx

Dissemination was commissioned by the Audi Foundation

http:www.getgoglasgow.co.uk

The work is ongoing and provides a platform for development and proving of philosophical and pragmatic constructs in this arena.


A model of the type of estimates calculation, based on the systems of logical regularities of classes (LRC), to solve supervised classification problems is considered. The basic definitions are given. Two approaches for processing sets of LRC (based on the construction of the shortest logical class descriptions and clustering sets of LRC) are described. Different ways to use LRC are considered: based on LRC sets classification, construction of various logical descriptions of classes, the calculation of informative features, logical correlations of features, minimization of the feature space, assessment of outliers.


Thank you very much for downloading the mind of kierkegaard. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their chosen novels like this the mind of kierkegaard, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some malicious virus inside their laptop. the mind of kierkegaard is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly. Our digital library hosts in multiple locations, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Merely said, the the mind of kierkegaard is universally compatible with any devices to read.


Recently Incheon Port and Pyeongtak·Dangjin Port called as Capital Region Ports have enjoyed ever-increasing cargo volumes. However, there is a lack of research on this region while plenty of outputs were suggested on mega hub and regional hub ports in terms of shipping companies and stakeholders' port choice criteria. To identify and evaluate the Capital Region Ports, this paper identifies the factors and sub-components influencing their port choice and presents a structure for evaluating them. Based on the literature related to port selection and competition, a regional survey employed Factor Analysis to reveal that 'port facility and link', 'cost and service', 'port hinterland' and 'information service and port operation policy' are the determining factors in these regions. From the overall evaluation using Fuzzy Theory, Port of Incheon Port obtained high score compare to that of Port of Pyeongtak·Dangjin.


Abstract In this paper I give a characterization of the closed fragment of the provability logic of I Δ0 + EXP with a propositional constant for EXP. In three appendices many details on arithmetization are provided.


There exist many approaches to object recognition of image data. Most of the methods use a topdown approach to classify the content, as low-level information is often considered inapplicable or insufficient for this task. The method presented in this work, however, shows a way to exploit low-level image segmentation for the purpose of categorizing different object classes of still images. The key idea is to not only use one single segmentation, but a whole set of different parameterized segmentations of an image as basis for feature extraction. Segment boundaries are used as paths along which strings of feature vectors are drawn. These strings are pairwise aligned to create a scoring matrix, which can be transformed into a Mercer kernel for a standard SVM based classifier. Despite the inherit problems of low-level segmentations, this method performs very well on standard benchmark image databases and shows that segmentation indeed can be used for object recognition. The first goal of this semester thesis was to create a Matlab framework that implements the proposed method for object recognition. With this framework as basis, several approaches to improve scoring results of pairwise alignments, and thus improve the categorization rate, need to be tested. Also the parameters used for the string alignment can have an impact on the performance as well. Therefore, the second goal was to examine different combinations of methods for feature extraction and string alignment with different parameter settings in order to find out which configurations lead to the highest retrieval rates.


In the context of approaching next generation cellular network where increasing antennas are installed, link quality largely depends on channel information acquired at transceivers. Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) carrier-based Switching, an emerging technique developed starting from 3GPP Release-14 standards, enables SRS transmitted on non-SRS carriers to provide base station reciprocity-aided channel information; therefore it accomplishes better precoding selection for beamforming and becomes a critical role in multi-carrier aggregation system. In this article, we look into SRS Switching and present a comprehensive analysis for this technique. A standard-compatible and high-efficiency SRS Switching algorithm is proposed, and then implemented into a system-level simulator to evaluate the network performance in terms of downlink throughput. We extract the design principle from analyzing its own characteristics. Also, the rationales behind why the technique works are identified from the numerical results. More than an implementation of standardized technique, out algorithm can serve as precious basis for its practical realization and further evolution of standards. Compared with conventional SRS cases, the remarkable performance enhancement has revealed significant superiority of our proposal which suggests a bright prospect of this technique in next generation mobile wireless network.


Congress and the media recently have claimed that various activities of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - from rendition operations, to the destruction of videotapes, to the maintenance of secret detention facilities overseas - are illegal. Critics levied similar charges against the CIA thirty-five years ago, with regard to activities contained in the "Family Jewels" - the 1973 compilation of the CIA's darkest secrets. The recent release of the Family Jewels provides the opportunity to try to put today's concerns in perspective. This Article evaluates the key activities conducted by the CIA as described in the Family Jewels - experimentation on unconsenting individuals, attempted targeted killings of foreign leaders, electronic surveillance of Americans, examination of U.S. mail, and collection of information on American dissident movements. Contrary to widely held beliefs both then and now, all but one of these activities (experimentation on unconsenting individuals) were legal when they were committed, suggesting that other allegedly "illegal" activities, engaged in by the CIA now, may similarly prove to be lawful.


Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (or MMORPGs) have propelled the vibrant development for the gaming industry and satisfied gamers' desire to play and assume the roles of various virtual characters. In order to explore the differences between the terminal values for different player groups, this study has adopted Means-end Chains theory as the basis for this study and opted for soft laddering as the tool for in-depth interviews to analyze the significance of "game attribute – consequence benefits – terminal values" paths for different player groups. For the purpose of this study, 60 players have been separated into different groups according to their gender, level of education, method of consumption, extent of play and so forth in order to determine the differences in their values. Results of this study revealed that the attributes and consequences for different player groups varied significantly, with Fun and Enjoyment of Life, Warm Relationships with Others, Sense of Accomplishment and Security being the terminal values pursued by the different player groups. This reflects the fact that MMORPGs offer experiences of fun and joy for gamers and also suggest that players want more out of their games.


A great progress has been made in two-line hybrid rice in China. Up to 2010, a total of 427 two-line hybrid combina- tions (cultivars) had been registered. In recent years, two-line hybrid rice has become an important type in rice production in China. Photoperiod-thermo sensitive genic male sterile (PTGMS) lines are the basis of two-line hybrid rice. In this paper, the rela- tionship of 130 PTGMS lines used as parents of registered hybrid combinations and/or with the right of protection of new varieties was analyzed, and 126 of 130 PTGMS lines that the relationship defined were traced back to their original PTGMS lines as a starting point. The pedigree of the 73 PTGMS lines used for producing hybrid combinations with large scale planting and/or the right of protection of new varieties was analyzed in detail, and the breeding methods of the 126 PTGMS lines were analyzed. The relationship between the photoperiod-thermo response type and the pedigree of the PTGMS lines was discussed. We also pro- posed that selecting the proper PTGMS materials by pedigree analysis is as important as photoperiod and temperature controlling for studying the molecular mechanism of photoperiod-thermo response in PTGMS lines. Open sharing of the PTGMS resources has the great significance for accelerating the breeding of new practical PTGMS lines and minimizing the adverse environmental


We report on the pulse-to-pulse energy distribution and longitude-resolved modulation properties of PSR J1631+1252 discovered by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope. Our analysis made use of the data acquired at 1250 MHz from the follow-up timing observations that lasted over a year. PSR J1631+1252 has a rotational period of ∼0.310 s, and a dispersion measure of ∼32.73 pc cm−3. The energy distribution is well described by a lognormal distribution, the parameters of which do not vary with time. We show that large modulation occurs across the bridge emission of the pulse profile, with sporadic bright bursts at the leading emission region. The fluctuation spectral analysis reveals the existence of subpulse drifting in the leading component with vertical spacing between the drift bands of 3.28 ± 0.08 pulse periods between consecutive drift bands. Possible physical mechanisms for subpulse drifting are discussed.


Background There are limited data available on the outcome of patients following isolated fractures of the greater tuberosity of the humerus. In this retrospective study, we looked at how differences with respect to the injury and subsequent management affected patient outcomes. Methods Forty-eight (28 men and 20 women) patients (mean age 45 years) who were treated at our institution between 1999 and 2009 matched our inclusion criteria. Thirty-five patients were treated surgically and 13 were managed conservatively. Functional outcome was assessed after a mean follow-up of 5.5 years using the Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS), the University of California and Los Angeles (UCLA) rating scale and the shoulder index of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES). Results Post-fixation displacement of the greater tuberosity fragment of < 5 mm led to a significantly better outcome than displacement > 5 mm (OSS = 43 versus 37; ASES = 25.6 versus 17.7; UCLA 28.2 versus 21.3). Patients who had surgery > 2 weeks after the initial injury had a significantly worse outcome than those who had surgery in < 2 weeks (OSS = 37.4 versus 44.7; ASES = 18.9 versus 27.2). Patients with shoulder dislocation had worse outcome than those with no dislocation (OSS = 40.6 versus 44; ASES 22.9 versus 26) and rotator cuff tears were also associated with worse outcome scores than those without (OSS 42.8 versus 36.8; ASES 24.5 versus 20.5), although neither of these variables proved statistically significant. Conclusions Isolated fractures of the greater tuberosity have a worse outcome if there is a delay in surgical fixation of > 2 weeks and post-fixation displacement of > 5 mm.


[Objective]To analyze uncertainty of Bromate ion determination in water by ion chromatography.[Methods]According to procedures,mathematic model was established,then the relative and the absolute expanded uncertainties were calculated based on the spreading regulation of uncertainty.[Results]When the concentration of Bromate in water arrived 0.0638 mg/L,the expanded uncertainty was ±0.0031 mg/L.[Conclusion]This method can produce large application value in practical work.


In Punjab Pakistan, a river flood event is the most important natural disasters that every year causes high human casualties as well as heavy economic losses. A safety-critical system should be correct, reliable, complete, consistent, and unambiguous for accurate and precise flood monitoring, prediction, as well as emergency and rescue services during or after a flood event. System correctness must be ensured in every phase of the development of a safety-critical Flood Monitoring, Prediction, and Rescue (FMPR) system. Correctness is a functional property related to the behavior of the system having sub-properties of safety and liveness. These sub-properties must also be correct, complete, consistent, and unambiguous. Rigorous mathematical based software engineering methods like formal methods are suitable for the specification, design, modeling, verification, and validation of an FMPR safety-critical system. The proposed safety-critical system for FMPR is distributed as it is based on multi-agents. This system is specified, analyzed and designed by using Gaia multi-agent methodology, which is based on organizational abstractions. Gaia role model-based agent roles are specified, regular expression based liveness properties are specified, and first-order predicate calculus based safety properties are specified. Thus, safety and liveness properties are formally specified. After the detailed design phase, the system is formally modeled and verified by Hierarchical Coloured-Petri Nets (CP-Nets). As a result, a novel formal system for the specification, analysis, design, modeling, and verification of the FMPR system is proposed. This safety-critical system is distributed based on multi-agents.


A damage mechanics based model is proposed to simulate initiation andgrowth of intra-laminar damage in fibre-reinforced laminated composites. Someexamples are presented to show the performance of the proposed approach inpredicting crack paths in notched tensile coupons of multi-directional laminates.


An improved nonlinear dynamic inverse guidance law is proposed for the problem of UAVs collision avoidance in this paper. First, a method based on collision cone boundary is investigated for collision detection. Second, an improved nonlinear dynamic inverse guidance law, which can be applied to multiple initial angles and speeds, is designed to ensure the security of UAVs collision avoidance. In addition, the stability of system is proved. The method of calculating the guidance coefficient is investigated by the optimal proportional navigation law. In order to analysis the performance of this guidance law, a simulation system based on 6-DOF UAV is established. The results conclusively demonstrated that there is no need for precise collision avoidance time and this guidance law applies to multiple initial angles and speeds.


— underwater acoustic communications presents unique challenges that are being overcome with advances in signal processing algorithms and related hardware technologies. The accurate simulation and performance comparison of various algorithms is essential for building an optimized and robust communications system. This paper describes part of a project designed , based on the results obtained from practical measurements in The Persian Gulf, to examine an underwater acoustic communication system in The Persian Gulf. Transmitted data are acoustic signals to which for more safety in transmission and low frequency bandwidth, a cryptography algorithm and speech coding are applied. In transmitter, quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signaling is employed to make efficient use of the available channel bandwidth. In this case, data are transmitted at a rate of 2.4kbps with a carrier frequency of 27 kHz for a maximum range of 2km. In the channel modeling, a comprehensive model for short-range shallow water acoustic channel has been used whose the mathematical modeling of the multipath effects is based on the ray tracing method. In the receiver, decision feedback equalizer (DFE) is applied.


I TIIVISTELMA III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS V TABLE OF CONTENTS VI LIST OF ORIGINAL PAPERS VIII THE AUTHOR'S CONTRIBUTION IX ABBREVIATIONS X


The design and study of hybrid qubits is driven by their ability to get along the best of charge qubits and of spin qubits, {\em i.e.} the speed of operation of the former and the very slow decoherence rates of the latter ones. There are several proposals to implement hybrid qubits, this works focuses on the spectral properties of an one-electron hybrid qubit. By design, the information would be stored in the electronic spin and the switching between the qubit basis states would be achieved using an external ac electric field. The electron is confined in a two-dimensional quantum dot, whose confining potential is given by a quartic potential, features that are typical of GaAS quantum dots. Besides the confining potential that characterizes the quantum dot there are two static magnetic fields applied to the system, one is a large constant Zeeman field and the other one has a constant gradient. We study the spectral properties of the model Hamiltonian, a Scr\"odinger-Pauli Hamiltonian with realistic parameters, using the Ritz method. In particular, we look for regions of the parameter space where the lowest eigenenergies and their eigenfunctions allow to define a qubit which is stable under perturbations to the design parameters. We put special attention to the constraints that the design imposes over the magnetic fields, the tuning of the energy gap between the qubit states and the expectation value of the spin operator where the information would be stored.


Quantitative risk assessment for carcinogenic chemicals is usually based on data obtained in animal studies conducted at very high levels of exposure. A key issue in using such data is extrapolation of the results from animals to man. Recently, physiological pharmacokinetic (P-P) models have been used to improve the accuracy of such extrapolations. Model results for inhalation of tetrachloroethylene will be presented and compared to experimental data for rats with humans. Scaling physiological parameters allowed them to successfully extrapolate results from rats to humans. 10 references, 3 figures, 4 tables.


Neutron drops confined in an external field are studied in the framework of relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory using the bare nucleon-nucleon interaction. A strong influence of the tensor forces on the evolution of spin-orbit splittings with neutron number is found. This result provides interesting insight for neutron rich systems and forms an important guide for future microscopic derivations of nuclear energy density functionals.


Twelve Gaddi synthetic hoggets were randomly divided into four groups and fed basal concentrate fortified with 0, 25, 50 and 100% requirements of Cu, Zn, Mn, Co, Se, I and S along with grazing/stall feeeing gf mixed grass hay for six months. DMI through concentrate and hay was sowee in grouu T4. Digestibibilies of all organic nutrients decreased by addition of salts. Nitrogen balance was reflective- of near malntainence Indicating addition of salts decreased organic nutrient availability in sheep. Greasy fleece yield, wool quallty atttrbutes, wool Cu, Zn and serum Cu, Zn and Mn were not affected by mineral supplementation.


The study of rural community has been drawn attention from sociology,geography,rural anthropology and so on since 1990's in America.Each discipline has made a wide,in-depth study of its concept and connation,changes and their mechanism.Theoretical system as rural urbanization,rural and urban continuum,time and spatial mode of rural social changes come into being;and the study ranges from rural areas at medium level to macro level to micro-mechanic analysis of its elements.China can draw on the experience,theory and methods of the study of the changes in foreign rural community.


Microsystems, both in space and ground level, will use systems with III-V semiconductors and devices of nanoscale. Vulnerability of this system towards the radiations warrants extra care to be taken. Therefore, appropriate test and analysis to assure the hardness (radiation resistance) of components to be used in various radiation environments is necessary. In this paper, the defect generated in the interaction of alpha (α) particles and silicon (Si) semiconductor material is simulated using SRIM (Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter). The induced defects are in the form of vacancies, defect clusters and dislocations. Besides, the defect is found influencing the kinetic processes that occur both inside and outside the cascade volume. The radiation tolerance between the conventional scale and nanoscale thickness of silicon layer is also being compared. From the findings, it is observed that when the thickness of silicon layer is scaled down, defect that induced by the energy deposition of -particles is significantly lesser. This means that nanoscale silicon layer features improved radiation robustness towards the deposition of energetic ions.


The construction of affordable housing in China is generally encountered the restricted funding bottleneck,thus,the introduction of shared ownership model may be the solution. The typical application either in China or in overseas will first be discussed and possible Chinese shared ownership model will also be suggested via referencing the application in the United Kingdom. Moreover,it will be evaluated through the angel of family and government supporting agencies,and reflected its role in social indemnificatory housing and its advantage to improve the government investment efficiency in a quantifying method.


Like all good feminist works, In Idi Amin's Shadow starts by refusing conventional wisdom – which is that Idi Amin Dada was a singular and sociopathic man, whose military rule in Uganda therefore is exceptional and has no meaning outside of that country and that period. Instead, Alicia Decker uses this part of Ugandan history to craft an insightful theory of militarism and the gendered dynamics that drive it and are its legacy. Through a painstaking and comprehensive case study of Uganda under the military rule of Idi Amin from 1971 to 1979, she focuses on the way militarism constitutes powerful norms of masculinity and femininity. She also demonstrates that Amin's militarism had a history, politics and culture that preceded it and grew out of the British colonial occupation in West Nile, and the use by Britain of its African colonial armies in brutal wars in Egypt, Sudan, and Kenya. The formation of the state of Uganda from this complex colonial history means that Amin's capture of the country through a military coup in 1971 and the progressive infiltration of militarism into the whole of Ugandan society from 1971 to 1979, as well as its lingering consequences, is made much more explicable. Indeed, we are left with the urgent question of how this case study of militarism in Uganda in the 1970s allows us to understand the transnational phenomenon of militarism today. Into this history, a detailed and vividly rendered world is filled out and given life by the experiences of women and others rendered invisible by patriarchy and military violence. The intuition that marginalised people – those whose position forces them into the shadows of dominant society – generate knowledge that provides a fuller and more accurate picture of history, and therefore of its lessons, is fully realised here, through interviews with over 100 women and dozens of men who lived through the 8 years of In Idi Amin's Shadow: Women, Gender and Militarism in Uganda. Alicia C Decker, 2014, Athen, Ohio, Ohio University Press


Abstract Now days, mobile sensing system is known as a hand-held as a computer which has full of many properties to run the applications. The important fact is that sensor gave a platform to smart-phones or mobile sensing devices, which are attracting attention towards next innovation in social networks, green technologies, local and global environmental monitoring, sensing enabled games, transportation systems, government, private as well as social health care etc. The mobile sensing system infrastructure is as a part of a new sensing prototype leveraging humans that study the security issues and develop the timeserving people-centric sensing. This paper tackles the problem of mobile sensing system related to security issue. The proposed work is improving the secure data aggregation mechanism which is based on encryption and decryption mechanism of sensing of data with aggregation. The research work is implemented in Java technology. Results and discussion with comparison are also part of this work.


Silicon dioxide (SiO2) and silicon oxynitride (SiON) thick films used for cladding and core layer of silica based waveguides were fabricated by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method, at a low temperature (320 ◦C) and from (SiH4+N2O+N2) gas mixtures. The effects of deposition parameters on properties of SiO2 and SiON thick films were investigated by variations of SiH4, N2, N2O flow ratio and RF power. The obtained SiO2 films had a high thickness and refractive index of 1.460±0.001 with the annealing process. FTIR and XPS revealed that deposited films were nearly stoichiometric composition with no presence of hydrogen content. SiON films had a 0.75 % higher refractive index than the cladding layer and a high thickness(> 5 μm).


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the possible vascular effects of an environment carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene (BaP).

METHODS
The cytotoxicit of BaP and rat liver S9 (0.25 mg/mL)-activated BaP were examined by MTT assay. Thoracic aortic rings were dissected from Sprague-Dawley rats. Contraction of aortic rings was induced by 60 mmol/L KCl or 10(-6) mol/L phenylephrine (PE) in an ex-vivo perfusion system after BaP (100 μmol/L) incubation for 6 h. [Ca(2+)](i) was measured using Fluo-4/AM. For in-vivo treatment, rats were injected with BaP for 4 weeks (10 mg/kg, weekly, i.p.).

RESULTS
BaP (1-500 μm) did not significantly affect cell viability; S9-activated BaP stimulated cell proliferation. BaP did not affect the contractile function of endothelium-intact or -denuded aortic rings. BaP did not affect ATP-induced ([Ca(2+)](i)) increases in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. In BaP-treated rats, heart rate and the number of circulating inflammatory cells were not affected. Body weight decreased while blood pressure increased significantly. The maximum aortic contractile responses to PE and KCl and the maximum aortic relaxation response to acetylcholine were significantly decreased by 25.0%, 34.2%, and 10.4%, respectively.

CONCLUSION
These results suggest, in accordance with its DNA-damaging properties, that metabolic activation is a prerequisite for BaP-induced cardiovascular toxicity.


One humic acid/amylum/polyacrylic acid resin,applied to slow release fertilizer,was prepared from humic acid,amylum,acrylic acid by the method of copolymerization and cross-linking.The results showed that the water absorption amount of composite was 551 g/g for deionized water,when the mass ratio of amylum and acrylic acid was 20∶ 80,the molar ratio of potassium hydroxide and acrylic acid was 15∶ 100,while humic acid content was 6 %.The slow-release time of urea was 65 d and conformed to the technological standards of GB/T23348-2009.


ABSTRACT The job-shop scheduling problem is one of the most complicated and well-known hardest combinatorial optimization problems. It's purpose is to improve the production efficiency and reduce the processing duration so as to gain profits as high as possible. In addition, it has been illustrated that job-shop scheduling is usually an NP-hard combinatorial problem and is therefore unlikely to be solvable in polynomial time. In this study, a bacterial evolutionary algorithm is proposed for finding multiple optimal solutions to the job-shop scheduling problem. Bacterial evolutionary algorithm is an optimization method that incorporates special mechanisms inspired by natural phenomena of microbial evolution. Gene transfer and bacterial mutation operators are incorporated to improve the performance of the proposed method. Moreover, niche scheme is employed to discover multiple solutions. Numerous well-studied benchmark examples were utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


In May 2011 we deployed nine 25 m long KOSMOS units for 5 weeks in a Norwegian fjord (Raunefjord, 60.265°N, 5.205°E) close to the city of Bergen, in order to study the influence of ocean acidification on the succession of a plankton community under in-situ conditions. Towards the end of the study (7th of June), we mounted an underwater camera on a diving torch and slowly lowered this setup to a depth of approximately 24.5 m. A variety of different organisms (copepods, fish larvae, jelly fish, appendicularians) and detrital aggregates can be seen during the descent of the camera into the deep. The conical mesocosm sediment trap and particles collected in the funnel can be seen at the end of the video in 25 m water depth. The video shows that we enclosed and studied lively plankton communities within the KOSMOS system.
The video can be downloaded on OceanRep but is also available on the KOSMOS channel of the streaming platform YouTube.


The development, analysis and production of algorithms in sparse linear algebra often requires the use of test problems to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the algorithms. Many algorithms have been developed in the context of specific application areas and have been tested in the context of sets of test problems collected by the developers. Comparisons of algorithms across application areas and comparisons between algorithms has often been incomplete, due to the lack of a comprehensive set of test problems. Additionally we believe that a comprehensive set of test problems will lead to a better understanding of the range of structures in sparse matrix problems and thence to better classification and development of algorithms. We have agreed to sponsor and maintain a general library of sparse matrix test problems, available on request to anyone for a nominal fee to cover postal charges. Contributors to the library will, of course, receive a free copy.


This article looks at Australia's current account deficits in light of concerns about the role of external imbalances in the global financial crisis and the difficulties now facing a number of countries that have run large current account deficits in recent years. Australia is clearly differentiated from other deficit countries in that recent high deficits have been driven by rises in non-housing investment — mainly in response to high resource prices — while national saving has been increasing. This suggests that our deficits are less likely to reflect underlying imbalances in the economy.It is plausible that Australia could maintain large inflows of foreign capital for some time, given resource demands from China and India. This would imply a further rise in our net foreign liabilities as a share of GDP. However, the trade balance adjustment that will be needed eventually to stabilise this share does not appear onerous, particularly as investment in the resources sector will boost future export supply.


This paper reports on thermomechanical pulps produced in two pilot plant installations. Both installations were conventional two-stage systems in which the first stage was pressurized and the second was atmospheric. At a given specific energy, pulp quality was improved. Alternatively, for a given pulp quality, the energy consumption was reduced when refining in the first stage was carried out at a high refining intensity. High refining intensity was reached by operating the first stage either at a high rotational speed or low consistency. There were indications that these benefits could be enhanced if the second stage were operated at a low refining intensity.


The main ideas of simulation of two-phase flows, based on a combination of the conventional Lagrangian or fully Lagrangian (Osiptsov) approaches for the dispersed phase and the mesh-free vortex and thermal-blob methods for the carrier phase, are summarised. In the approach based on a combination of the fully Lagrangian approach for the dispersed phase and the vortex blob methods for the carrier phase the problem of calculation of all parameters in both phases (including particle concentration) is reduced to the solution of a high-order system of ordinary differential equations, describing transient processes in both carrier and dispersed phases. It contrast to this approach, in the approach based on a combination of the conventional Lagrangian approaches for the dispersed phase and the vortex and thermal-blob methods for the carrier phase the non-isothermal effects in the two-phase flow were taken into account. The one-way coupled, two-fluid approach was used in the analysis. The gas velocity field was restored using the Biot-Savart integral. Both these approaches were applied to modelling of two processes: the time evolution of a two-phase Lamb vortex and the development of an impulse two-phase jet. Various flow patterns were obtained in the calculations, depending on the initial droplet size.


In this paper, we show that a coupled diode-injection laser stripe array system with complex coupling coefficients can be stabilized around the lowest order supermode using a feedback-control law and verify the system performance by numerical simulations. The symmetry of the array can be exploited to obtain a feedback-control law of a particularly simple form. >


The formula of E.M.wave's attenuation in decibel is derived.By combining the attenuation with the reference,the system model of equivalent dielectric constant for rain medium is constructed.The function of dielectric constant versus rain rate and frequency is presented.The results obtained are in agreement with the reference,which indicates the model's validity.The method used is of briefness.A new way of investigating the effects induced by random particles on E.M.wave is developed.


In this paper,we will discuss the period of quadratic function in finite region Fp (in modular arithmetic). According to the isomorphic character between two cyclic groups (Mp x) and (Zp-1, +) function f(x) = x2 and f(x) = 2x is one to one. Thus we can change multiplication to addition in modular arithmetic. Compare with multiplication addition is more easier. We get some initial results for the directed graph.


The present article investigates the interlaminar shear strength of the woven carbon, glass, and Kevlar fiber reinforced epoxy (CFRE, GFRE, and KFRE) composites filled with SiC particles. The work covers the samples preparation, testing, and analyzing. The samples were fabricated using the regular addition of the SiC particles as 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt% of the total weight of epoxy resin. Samples of the short beam shear test were cut using CNC machine. The experiments were conducted according to the ASTM-D-2344 standard. The fracture surfaces of the laminate samples were observed by scanning electron and optical microscopy. The major benefits of the current study are that the modification process by adding a certain amount of the SiC particles significantly enhanced the interlaminar shear strength of CFRE, GFRE, and KFRE composites as the comparison to the conventional ones.


Economic Infrastructure is a prerequisite for economic development. To this end, it is necessary to reveal the theoretical background for estimating the effectiveness of economic infrastructure and establish the methodology for estimating the effectiveness. Until now, there have been a number of qualitative and quantitative studies that investigate the effect of infrastructure on the economy. However, it can hardly say that there is an agreed upon methodology for estimating such effectiveness. The aim of this article is to solve methodological problems arising in estimating the effectiveness of infrastructure in terms of economic, physical-value, and spatio-temporal aspects. The first section of the paper discusses theoretical problems for estimating the effectiveness of economic infrastructure. For this, authors analyze the preceding studies on economic infrastructure as an economic concept and on this basis, systemize its specific features and roles in a new way. The second section illustrates the main indicators and methodology for estimating the effectiveness of economic infrastructure. In this section, authors apply various indicators related to physical and value aspects to suggest the methodology for estimating the space-time effectiveness of economic infrastructure. The findings are that the contribution of economic infrastructure to economy is interrelated with its economic effectiveness, but economic contents of these concepts are not same and therefore, it is reasonable to estimate its economic effectiveness using benefit to cost approach rather than functional approach. This study can be of significance in decision-making related to infrastructural investment for policymakers or investors.


State Council issued "opinions on the support of Fujian Province speeding up the construction of Strait West Side in Economic Zone" in the May 2009,it was the great opportunity for Pingtan development,and this district entered a new stage of development.Under the research of current Public administrative system of Pingtan comprehensive experimental zone,it analyzes the existence of hidden dangers,and proposes feasibility optimizing principle and path with the hope to provide decision-making references for government on building a sound public administrative system.


Recently a lot of effort has been dedicated to maximize throughput in highly mobile multi-channel networks such as vehicular networks. Nevertheless, distributing the load as equally as possible between service channels varying in space and time is still a matter of investigation. The contributions of this paper are two-fold. Firstly, we present an adaptive multi-channel allocation mechanism (AMC) that relies on space-time discretization to fairly balance the load on service channels. Secondly, this paper investigates how the delivery performance of service updates can be enhanced by targeting vehicles which exhibit higher centrality. A Social-based Relaying Strategy (SRS) which optimizes the dissemination of service updates to create a wider situation awareness between areas of interest is introduced. This stateless strategy exploits knowledge from the social properties of the communication graph into its forwarding's weighting function. More particularly the weighting function includes a localized version of the clustering coefficient metric and the lobby index in order to select forwarding vehicles with high centrality and strong connectivity. Simulations based on a post-crash scenario demonstrate that SRS can substantially improve the delivery performance compared to GPSR-MA, a stateless geographical forwarding algorithm and slightly outperforms another social-based forwarding strategy which only accounts for lobby index.


1. The History and Sources of the International Law of the Sea 2. Coastal Waters 3. Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone 4. The Exclusive Economic Zone 5. The Continental Shelf 6. The Deep Seabed 7. High Seas 8. Archipelagic States 9. Landlocked and Geographically Disadvantaged States 10. Navigational Rights and Freedoms 11. International Straits and Archipelagic Navigation 12. Military Uses of the Oceans 13. Marine Resource Management 14. Marine Scientific Research 15. Marine Environmental Protection 16. Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries 17. Maritime Regulation and Enforcement 18. Dispute Settlement in the Law of the Sea 19. Oceans Governance


Taste thresholds for phenylthiourea were measured among 295 Japanese in Brazil. The frequency of non‐tasters was observed to be 7‐1 ± 1 4 %. This estimate does not differ from those of other Mongoloid groups tested by means of the sorting technique.


The vegetation coverage on the Loess Plateau (LP) of China has clearly increased since the implementation of the Grain for Green Project in 1999, but there is a debate about whether the improved greenness was achieved at the expense of the balance between the supply and demand of water resources. Therefore, developing reliable indicators to evaluate the water availability is a prerequisite for maintaining ecological sustainability and ensuring the persistence of vegetation restoration. This study was designed to evaluate water availability on the LP during 2000–2015, using the evaporative stress index (ESI) derived from a remote sensing dataset. The relative dependences of the ESI on climatic and biological factors (including temperature, precipitation and land cover change) were also analyzed. The results showed that the leaf area index (LAI) in most regions of the LP showed a significant increasing trend (p < 0.05), and larger gradients of increase were mainly detected in the central and eastern parts of the LP. The evapotranspiration also exhibited an increasing trend in the central and eastern parts of the LP, with a gradient greater than 10 mm/year. However, almost the whole LP exhibited a decreased ESI from 2000 to 2015, and the largest decrease occurred on the central and eastern LP, indicating a wetting trend. The soil moisture storage in the 0–289-cm soil profiles showed an increasing trend in the central and eastern LP, and the area with an upward trend enlarged with the soil depth. Further analysis revealed that the decreased ESI on the central and eastern LP mainly depended on the increase in the LAI compared with climatic influences. This work not only demonstrated that the ESI was a useful indicator for understanding the water availability in natural and managed ecosystems under climate change but also indicated that vegetation restoration might have a positive effect on water conservation on the central LP.


We study representations of the Cuntz algebra ON arising from dynamical systems with branching(or bifurcation) in [11, 12, 13, 14]. So-called iteration function systems([7]) on dynamical systems are represented as families of isometries on Hilbert spaces so that their composition is corresponded to the product of isometries. In this paper, we treat a representation arising from a naive complex dynamical system. On C, we consider a transformation


Chemistry curriculum reform of senior school was an important component of China 's basic education curriculum reform. The chemistry curriculum structure had a significant change. No matter what stage in secondary school chemistry,the knowledge content of the structure of matter existed,also undergone major changes. The knowledge of chemicals was throughout the entire chemistry learning content,including the content of the composition,structure,nature of change in use,the existence and preparation. Structure-property-use was an important chemical learning methods, and the core of the chemicals learning was the structure of matter.


Author(s): Hayter, Jason Alexander | Abstract: Search a well-stocked library or bookstore for works on urban form and you might reach the same conclusion drawn by Robert Bruegmann: "Most of what has been written about sprawl to date has been written about com plaints" (p. 3). But what separates Bruegmann, a professor of art history, architecture, and urban planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago, from most people is what he does next. "[S]o many 'right-minded' people were so vociferous on the subject that I began to suspect that there must be something suspicious about the argument itself" (p. 8). The result of this questioning is a work lauded by Alexander Garvin on the book's jacket as no less than "the most important book on the American landscape since Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities". This surprisingly ebullient endorsement from one of the most public personalities in city planning should make us all take notice.


Accumulative switching (AS) in ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs), which takes place under a train of subcritical voltage pulses, represents not only a concern in terms of disturbs for classical nonvolatile memory but also a source of novel opportunities for neuromorphic applications. Here, we report a detailed experimental investigation of AS for large-area and scaled devices and compare it with the conventional one-shot switching. We show that both of them obey the same exponential dependence between the switching time and voltage, irrespective of the pulse polarity, the investigated interval duration between the pulses, and the device size. This unified physical picture sheds new light on the FeFET operation and holds promise to considerably simplify the modeling of both memory and neuromorphic functionalities in these devices.


Introduction Limited data is available on the prognosis of patients with FND concerning their ability to return to work. Objectives To identify factors associated with the ability to return to work in patients with FND following treatment and rehabilitation. Methods We retrospectively assessed the employment outcomes of 79 consecutively evaluated patients. Patients were referred at the inception of an FND Program for adults. The majority of patients were unemployed, on sickness leave and or disability benefits at the time of their referral (n=71). Their median age was 48 years. Most patients were of female gender (n=50), in a relationship (n=53), with no dependants (n=64). Most patients had a referral diagnosis of mixed functional neurological symptoms (n=35), presenting with a combination of motor, sensory, cogniform or dissociative seizure symptoms. Among patients distinct phenomenological presentations, the most common referral diagnosis was functional sensory disorder (n=16). Twenty two patients had a concurrent structural neurological disorder. Seven patients had an accident compensation claim, and twenty had a workers' compensation or employment insurance claim at the time of referral. Results Approximately 30 % of patients were able to return to some work (n=24) within five years or less, and all those who were in employment at the time of the referral continued to hold a job for the duration of their treatment. We identified a negative correlation between patients' ability to return to work and the length of employment interruption, with patients more recently out of work (within a year prior to the referral) being most able to return to work (odds ratio = 2; 95% CI, 1.2 to 3.8). We previously analyzed employment figures at 18 months of the service operation. Return to work was moderately lower at that point at 19%, but with maintained negative correlation with the length of employment interruption. There was a negative correlation between having a work-related financial claim and the ability to return to work (p <0.001). There was no statistically significant correlation between demographic variables (gender, age, relationship status, or having dependants) and the ability to return to work, nor was there a statistically significant correlation between the phenomenology of Functional Neurological Disorder (motor, sensory, cogniform, non-epileptic attack disorder or mixed) and the ability to return to work. Conclusions Early and continuous treatment of employed or recently unemployed patients with Functional Neurological Disorder is associated with better occupational outcomes. Having a work-related compensation claim is correlated with negative occupational outcomes. There is a need for further research into occupational rehabilitation, specially for patients receiving work-related compensation claim. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Radiation-induced polymerization of liquid ethylene was investigated at - 78 nif- C. No induction period was observed. The rate of polymerization was proportional to the first power of the dose rate. Radical scavengers did not inhibit the polymerization. On the other hand, methylene chloride accelerated the polymerization appreciably. It was concluded that the polymerization of liquid ethylene at low temperature proceeds by a cationic mechanism. (auth)


The present invention relates to a novel Spray drying process for the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions contain ing Small particles of phospholipid-Stabilized fenofibrate. This invention also relates to Spray dried powdered compo Sitions prepared according to this process, and to dosage forms of fenofibrate (capsules, tablets, powders, granules, and dispersions) prepared from these powdered composi tions. The powdered compositions and dosage forms are useful in the treatment of dyslipidemia and dyslipoproteine mia and have the advantage that they provide reduced in Vivo variability in the bioavailability of fenofibrate active Species among fed and fasted patients when administered orally.


Mixed potential integral equation (MPIE) based algorithms stand as one of the most accurate and efficient tools in computational electromagnetics, especially when dealing with electromagnetic scattering and radiation problems from arbitrary perfect conducting surfaces [1], [2]. The numerical solution of the surface MPIE via the method of moments, using the linear Rao-Wilton-Glisson basis functions [1], calls for the computation of the 4-D weakly singular integrals:


We consider evacuation of two robots from an Exit placed at an unknown location on the perimeter of a unit (radius) disk. The robots can move with max speed 1 and start at the center of the disk at the same time. We consider a new communication model, known as the SR model, in which the robots have communication faults as follows: one of the robots is a Sender and can only send wirelessly at any distance, while the other is a Receiver in that it can only receive wirelessly from any distance. The communication status of each robot is known to the other robot. In addition, both robots can exchange messages when they are co-located, which is known as Face-to-Face (F2F) model. There have been several studies in the literature concerning the evacuation time when both robots may employ either F2F or Wireless (WiFi) communication. The SR communication model diverges from these two in that the two robots themselves have differing communication capabilities. We study the evacuation time, namely the time it takes until the last robot reaches the Exit, and show that the evacuation time in the SR model is strictly between the F2F and the WiFi models. The main part of our technical contribution is also an evacuation algorithm in which two cooperating robots accomplish the task in worst-case time at most π + 2 . Interesting features of the proposed algorithm are the asymmetry inherent in the resulting trajectories, as well as that the robots do not move at full speed for the entire duration of their trajectories.


The notion of employing very high magnetic fields for fusion has been extended to so-called magnetized-target fusion (MTF), which may comprise both magnetic and inertial-confinement fusion schemes, and magneto-inertial fusion (MIF) in which the inertia of the liner is explicitly recognized for compressing and holding fusion plasma at relatively high density. Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy through ARPA-E has initiated the ALPHA program for technologies that will enable the development of low-cost controlled fusion by MIF. While it is certainly possible to continue the past history of single-shot implosions of liners onto plasma targets, it has become clear that some means for performing frequent laboratory experiments at multimegajoule levels are needed for reasonable progress. To develop the necessary plasma targets for liner compression requires hundreds of shots, so technology for low cost, repetitive experiments must be created and demonstrated. Furthermore, to satisfy overall program goals, these techniques must extend to break-even experiments and economical fusion power reactors. The stabilized liner compressor (SLC) seeks to accomplish these goals by means of pneumatically driven, annular free-pistons imploding rotationally stabilized liquid metal liners. We review the basic concept, including the reactor embodiment, and discuss the liner and plasma issues for SLC.


Two soil chronosequences were investigated to identify soil properties related to acidification during succession of dune slack vegetation. One chronosequence was associated with a primary succession series on a wet beach plain on the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog, the other with a succession series after sod cutting in a secondary (blown out) slack on the island of Terschelling (the Koegelwieck). Both chronosequences include a succession sequence which starts from bare sand, proceeds to basiphilous, mesotrophic (low productivity) vegetation types (Junco baltici-Schoenetum nigricantis) with many rare species, and ends with productive shrubbery or forested, acidified organically enriched soils with little floristic value. The pH decreased with time in both chronosequences. In the beach plain this was correlated with an increase in organic matter and a decrease in salt content. In the blown out slack the pH decrease was correlated with an increase of organic matter and with an increase in exchangeable bases, except for Ca, on the exchange complex. The faster organic matter increase and pH decrease in the blown out slack chronosequence resulted in a relatively short persistence of mesotrophic vegetation type with endangered basiphilous species. The mesotrophic basiphilous vegetation persists for a longer time (c. 20-25 years) in the initially calcareous beach plain chronosequence with a high acid buffering capacity as compared to the Koegelwieck chronosequence with a low acid buffering capacity.


Towards diversifying the germplasm base available for durum wheat (Triticum turgidum) the production and morpho-cytogenetic categorization of F1 hybrid combinations between durum wheat cultivars and Thinopyrum intermedium and its sub-species (acutum, glaucum, pulcherrimum, trichophorum, varnense) are reported. All F1 hybrids were mitotically stable with 2n=5x=35 chromosomes, expressed a co-dominant phenotype and exhibited mean meiotic metaphase I chromosomal associations, that in general, do not support alien genetic introgression into the A and / or B genomes of durum wheat via recombinational exchange. This F1 perennial germplasm has formed the basis to generate backcross derivatives, amphiploids, and shall enable the application of genetic manipulation strategies for transferring useful genes from select combinations for durum wheat improvement. Backcross 1 derivatives (F1 / durum wheat) were cytologically stable with 2n=7x=49 but exhibited poor self-fertility hampering their maintenance as genetic stocks. Amphiploids however had good stability at the C-0 stage with 2n=10x=70 chromosomes, were self-fertile and set healthy seed progeny. Subsequent generations derived from C-0 seed gave derivatives that were closely true to the C-0 type in composition, as well as combinations that indicated genomic loss where all combinations possessed 56 chromosomal progeny. Aneuploidy, both hyper- and hypo-ploidy, was rampant across both the 56 and 70 chromosome progenies.


One of the most acute problems faced today by Railway Transport Companies is the rapid wear of locomotive wheel borders in the freight transport. Hence, the purpose of this article is to find ways to reduce the forces acting on the wheels of railway vehicles, generally during their movement in small radius turns. For means of simplification has been assumed that the train is moving at uniform speed during a curved path. Analyzing the scheme of action of forces on the pair of wheels, we see that one of the ways to reduce this consumption phenomenon is to reduce the parasitic moment of frictional forces. With reference to the practice of roller-contact studies, we modeled mathematically the redistribution of frictional forces at the point of contact of the wheel – rail pair and realized two computer models for two variants of wheel profiles: conical and curved.

Received: 23 September 2022 / Accepted: 28 November 2022 / Published: 20 December 2022


Targeted gene modification, which can be accomplished by gene-specific double-stranded DNA breakage followed by mutagenic end-joining or homologous recombination, is becoming an increasingly powerful tool for genetically manipulating model organisms and treating certain human diseases. Just a decade ago, precise genome editing was only efficient in the yeast and mouse models. Due to the emergence of engineered nucleases, genome editing is now on its way to becoming standard procedure for a menagerie of other systems.


Q: I am a physical therapist who provides services, such as electrical stimulation, to patientswith chronic wounds in the hospital-based, outpatient rehabilitation department. I thought I understood that therapy services provided to Medicare patients in our outpatient department were exempt from the outpatient therapy caps, even though Medicare has a therapy cap on services provided in private therapy practices. Has something changed about our outpatient department's therapy cap exemption? A: I can understand your confusion. Let's take a look at the various pieces of legislation that created and morphed the annual per beneficiary payment limits for outpatient therapy services provided by therapists and other eligible providers in certain settings. First, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) placed financial limitations on outpatient physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), and speech-language pathology (SLP) services in all settings except outpatient hospital type of bills (TOB): 12X Hospital Inpatient Part B 13X Hospital Outpatient 85X Critical Access Hospital. The BBA financial limitations applied to bill types: 22X SNF Inpatient Part B 23X SNF Outpatient 34X Home Health Part B 74X Clinic Outpatient Rehabilitation Facility (ORF) 75X Clinic Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities Second, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 made it possible for therapy providers to receive patient-specific waivers/ exceptions to cover medically necessary services above the capped amount. The exceptions to the financial limitations have been extended by legislation several times. Most recently on February 22, 2012, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, Section 3005, makes several therapy-related changes pertaining to the therapy caps/exceptions: Expands the therapy cap, effective October 1, 2012, to all Part B outpatient therapy settings and providers (including temporary application of therapy caps to hospital outpatient departments): Private Practices, Part B Skilled Nursing Facility (22X), Part A Skilled Nursing Facility Outpatient (23X), Home Health Agency Part B Only (34X), ORF (74X), Comprehensive ORF (75X), Hospital Outpatient Therapy, Hospital Inpatient Part B (12X). Hospital Outpatient (13X), and Hospital Emergency Room (13X). Note: The therapy cap does not apply to outpatient therapy services provided in these settings: Part A Skilled Nursing Facility (21X), Part A Inpatient Swing Bed (28X), Home Health Agency Under a Plan of Care (32X), Part A Inpatient Hospital (11X), and Critical Access Hospital (85X). Extends the therapy caps exceptions process through December 31, 2012. Requires a manual review of claims, which exceed the new outpatient therapy annual per beneficiary threshold, unless exceptions to the threshold are requested through a preapproval process. Requires the mandatory use of the KX modifier for claims that exceed the 2012 therapy cap but do not exceed the new 2012 annual per beneficiary threshold. Requires Medicare claims for therapy services to include the National Provider Identifier (NPI) of the provider (physician, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and clinical nurse specialists) certifying the therapy plan of care. For dates of service on or after October 1, 2012, the NPI should be reported in the Attending Physician field on institutional claims for outpatient therapy services. In cases where different physicians/nonphysician practitioners certify the OT, PT, or SLP Plan of Care, report the additional NPI in the Referring Physician field on institutional claims. For claims processing purposes, the certifying physician/NPP is considered a referring provider for reporting the referring provider on a claim. Claims without at least 1 referring provider, including his/her NPI, will be returned as unprocessable.


Along the lines of Putnam's (2008) findings of positive correlation between social capital and tolerance, this article is aimed at examining the relationship between the social involvement of Croatian students as a structural dimension of social capital and the level of social distance towards the main ethnic groups of the former Yugoslavia. The empirical data was collected in 2010 on a representative national sample of 2000 regular students from all universities in Croatia. For the purpose of this article, only respondents of Croat ethnicity were included in the statistical analysis (N= 1618). The structural dimension is operationalized in associational membership and volunteering and the expressed readiness for some form of civic action. Associational membership alone does not imply low expression of social distance ; hence these data do not entirely support Putnam's findings. The results however do suggest that the type of association and readiness for civic action are connected to the level of acceptance of ethnic groups, so it may be said that our hypothesis was only partially confirmed.


Objective:The aim of this study was to assess the safety,feasibility,and short-term outcomes of transumbilical laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal prosthesis (TAPP).Methods:Four cases of transumbilical laparoscopic TAPP were accomplished for indirect inguinal hernia.Outcome measures included operative time,blood loss,hospital stay,intraoperative and postoperative complications.Results:The 4 operations were successful.The operative time was 50-90min,average (62.0±17.9)min.All patients were discharged on the second day following the procedure.There were no intra or post operative complications.Conclusions:Experienced laparoscopic surgeons can accomplish transumbilical laparoscopic TAPP procedure safely and feasibly in selective patients.


Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) is a heterogeneous subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and is more frequent in children than in adults. The molecular basis of AMKL is poorly understood in adults, whereas two major molecular subtypes are recognized in pediatric AMKL. The first group occurs in infants and is associated with the t(1;22)(p13;q13) chromosomal translocation resulting in expression of the OTT-MAL fusion protein (a.k.a. RBM15-MKL1). The second group is represented by Down syndrome (DS) patients with transient myeloproliferative disease and AMKL, who present with acquired GATA-1 mutations. We generated a murine knock-in model of OTT-MAL expression and observed that expression of OTT-MAL results in abnormal megakaryopoiesis during embryonic and adult development, but rarely causes AMKL. We hypothesized that transformation to AMKL associated with OTT-MAL requires cooperating mutations and used a candidate gene approach with previously reported activating alleles of signaling molecules. Our data indicate that OTT-MAL cooperates only with a limited subset of activated signaling molecules, including MPLW515L, to generate a fully penetrant and rapidly fatal disease closely resembling human AMKL. OTT has homology with SHARP, which inhibits Notch signaling through direct interaction with RBPJ. In light of our recent observation that canonical Notch signaling specifies megakaryocyte fate of hematopoietic stem cells (Mercher et al, Cell Stem Cell, in press), we investigated whether OTT-MAL could interfere with the Notch pathway. We observed that OTT-MAL interacts with RBPJ and aberrantly increases its transcriptional activity in vitro and in vivo. The N-terminal portion of OTT is required for interaction of OTT-MAL with RBPJ and the transactivation domain of MAL is necessary for activation of RBPJ-mediated transcription, suggesting that OTT-MAL aberrantly recruits transcriptional co-activators to regulatory elements of genes normally inhibited by OTT/RBPJ. As a confirmation of clinical relevance, we have observed that several Notch pathway genes are specifically upregulated in human AMKL patient cells associated with the t(1;22)(p13;q13) as compared to DS-AMKL. Together our data suggest that aberrant activation of RBPJ by OTT-MAL results in abnormal commitment of hematopoietic progenitors to the megakaryocytic lineage, and is the basis for the specific association between t(1;22)(p13;q13) and AMKL. These results provide important biological insights into a novel mechanism of leukemogenesis of the megakaryocyte lineage, and indicate that concomitant activation of RBPJ (Notch signaling) and MPL (cytokine signaling) transforms cells of the megakaryocytic lineage. Furthermore, these findings suggest that specific targeting of these pathways could be of therapeutic value for human AMKL.


Large aeronautical parts present important distortions at the end of its manufacturing process. To solve this problem, a reshaping operation is required. This step is highly manual and involves skilled workers. The traditional analysis of reshaping requires to simulate before all the manufacturing steps, in order to determine the residual stresses that generate distortion. Here, a new strategy to study reshaping is presented, which consist in using the initial distortion as a starting point considering the part free of residual stresses.


At present, there is little practical guidance regarding the assessment of potential alkali-aggregate reactivity given in the various national standards. Sometimes aggregate assessment is based on specific tests which may not be appropriate to the materials in question. Simplified schemes to assist in the avoidance of alkali-reactivity are never universally applicable. Some form of petrographic examination is essential; it can often obviate the need for any further testing, and it will identify the most pertinent sequence of tests required and help in the correct interpretation of results. Two problems often occur: insufficient time to carry out the more reliable long-term tests and insufficient sample to ensure representability. The author suggests methods of accelerating tests; the simple gel pat test has been run at an elevated temperature of storage with reasonable success. The author suggests a simplified procedure for petrographic tests based on ASTM C295-65. Details are also given of the chemical test ASTM C289-71 and sources of possible error are indicated. Part 2 of this article (TRIS no 349116) is published in the November 1981 issue of Concrete. (TRRL)


The names of political coursebook have varied in the past century,i.e.,virtue book,citizen textbook,Party textbook,political textbook,moral and social textbooks.Different textbooks carry different contents.However,political orientations have been clearly signalized in the names of moral and social books for thirty years since the founding of the new China.Since the beginning of opening and reform policy,the moral textbook is rectified.


Abstract : A predictive program for the estimation of static aerodynamic coefficients for long rod projectiles at 2M5 is presented in desk top (Tektronix 4051) computer context. The technique is demonstrated by application to a typical projectile for which range data is available for comparison.


We isolated seventy two lactic acid bacteria and two hundred yeast from traditional Andong sikhe. Microorganisms were isolate from 4 kinds of traditional Andong sikhe. The optimum temperature and pH for growth of sikhe yeast, No. SCS 5, was and 4.5, respectively. SCS 5 produced gas and 1.5% of alcohol in malt extract broth. SCS 5 was identified as S. cersvisiae from the observation of shape of vegetative reproduction, morphological and cultural chararteristics, fermentation and assimilation of carbon sources, and physiological characteristics.


When we consider the democratic phenomenon,we must take a long views for our future. We must examine its centent, form and giving evidence of the democracy in any scope. In order to widen the studying field of democracy,we must correctly understand the principle of our Partys democratic centralism and play a role in the socialistic democratic construction.


One of the central challenges in kinetic theory is the derivation of macroscopic evolution equations--describing, for example, the dynamics of an electron gas--from the underlying fundamental microscopic laws of classical or quantum mechanics. An iconic mathematical model in this research area is the Lorentz gas, which describes an ensemble of non-interacting point particles in an infinite array of spherical scatterers. In the case of a disordered scatterer configuration, the classical results by Gallavotti, Spohn and Boldrighini-Bunimovich-Sinai show that the time evolution of a macroscopic particle cloud is governed, in the limit of small scatterer density (Boltzmann-Grad limit), by the linear Boltzmann equation. In this lecture I will discuss the recent discovery that for a periodic configuration of scatterers the linear Boltzmann equation fails, and the random flight process that emerges in the Boltzmann-Grad limit is substantially more complicated. The key ingredient in the description of the limiting stochastic process is the renormalization dynamics on the space of lattices, a powerful technique that has recently been successfully applied also to other open problems in mathematical physics, including KAM theory and quantum chaos. This lecture is based on joint work with Andreas Strombergsson, Uppsala.


This study aims at analyzing parental capacity of North Korean female defectors in South Korea and exploring measures to support and strengthen their...


Background Determining disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients is challenging and limited by the lack of reliable biomarkers. Analysis of the altered distribution of circulating B cells has shown promise for assessment disease activity. Yet studies are limited by variable classifications of B subsets. Therefore, we studied peripheral B cells using high-dimensional tools to identify a valid biomarker of disease activity.Methods We studied B cells in two separate cohorts of patients included in the Swiss SLE Cohort Study. In discovery cohort A, we analyzed cryopreserved PBMCs from 30 SLE, and 30 age-, sex- and ethnicity matched healthy controls (HC) by mass cytometry. In validation cohort B, fresh blood from 63 SLE, 14 Sjögren syndrome (pSS), 14 Sarcoidosis (Sarc), and 39 age-matched HC were analyzed by flow cytometry.Results In cohort A, using unsupervised clustering analysis, we identified 7 metaclusters within B cells. Two metaclusters were increased in SLE and exhibited a phenotype of atypical memory B cells (aMBC): CD21-, CD27-, CD11c+ and CXCR5-. Based on cohort A results, we confirmed in cohort B the increase in CD21-CD27- aMBC in SLE, compared to healthy and disease controls. In both cohorts, aMBC were associated with the severity of clinical manifestations. Compared to classical biomarkers, aMBC showed a significant correlation with clinical signs of disease activity. Conclusion aMBC were expanded in SLE, and the increase correlated with clinical disease activity. According to our data, aMBC represents a robust and easily accessible biomarker to assess disease activity in patients with SLE.


The performance of tasks with robots in environments with low clearances (e.g. robotized assembly) is usually difficult, due mainly to geometric uncertainty and tolerances. Following a pragmatical approach to planar constrained-motion planning, this paper proposes a method for checking the feasibility of paths generated by gross-motion planning algorithms, taking into account the uncertainties affecting the task and the use of a compliant control mode. The method enables the extension of gross-motion planning techniques to constrained-motion planning problems, ensuring the feasibility of the task despite the uncertainties.


Neoplastic pathologies, in particular those involving patient's face, may cause dysmorphic lesions and function limitation which can lead to depression, frustration, discouragement and/or anger. Self-perception could lead to more discomfort in addition to pathology-linked pain and suffering. Aesthetic Medicine may improve the function of the involved parts and also restore an emotional sense of wellbeing, giving back self-confidence and reinforced relationships. I present here the case of a 60-years-old man, affected by ductal carcinoma of parotid gland, who underwent total right paroti -dectomy, consensual lymphadenectomy, VII cranial nerve resection, that was unavoidable, and emptying LCII-V; this demolitive kind of surgery led to hemiparesis of the right side of his face, that required a four-sessions treatment. In the first one I volumized the zygomatic—malar area by injecting hyaluronic acid filler (Revofil Ultra – Caregens) through a 22G cannula positioned above the periosteal level using the retrograde linear submuscular technique. During the second session I placed two polydioxanone threads V-LIFT PRO Tensio through the vectorial line from the ear lobe to the labial commissure, using the innovative one-point technique. In third session two more threads V-Lift Pro Tensio were placed from zygomatic bone to pre-jaw and from maxillary bone to jaw, in order to lift up the angle of the mouth, using two independent vectorial lines. In the last session I performed a new refilling treatment with Revofill Ultra, restoring volumes of the right part of the face. Results, which consisted in lifting-up and volumizing the right part of the face, are confirmed at 6 months follow-up and the patient has confirmed his satisfaction, having recovered his self-comfort and a new emotional status.