When seedlings are grown in the dark, proplastids of the developing leaf differentiate into etioplasts. Greening of etiolated plastids is stimulated by light, which is sensed by various types of photoreceptors. Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to be a bioactive molecule that could take part in this light-mediated process in plants. In this paper, we show that emission of NO in barley seedlings increased concomitantly with increasing activities of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) during the greening. Treatment with sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a NO donor, increased the accumulation of chlorophyll contents, enhanced the accumulation of thylakoid membrane proteins, such as light harvesting complex of photosystem II (LHCII) and PSIA/B, and then improved the effective ...

Abstract The smart model of rural village planning is to build a digital platform to connect agriculture and industry through big data. The process starts with the construction of a big data agricultural platform, then planning and designing the physical environment of the smart village, and the third stage is the creation of a multi-industry alliance and co-operation model. For combining agricultural demand and physical access information data, the cloud database can obtain the required information and achieve the exact goal of increasing agricultural income. In addition, agricultural tourism uses the urban planning concept to carry out village layout, and develops qualitative and quantitative regulations, ecology, landscape and tourism data in scientific c...

Across the nation, school districts, communities, and policy makers are having impassioned conversations about the potential, far-reaching impacts of changing school start times on students, schools, and communities. On the one hand, scientific evidence over the past 25 years provides strong data to suggest that early school start times for high school students are in direct conflict with adolescents' internal biological clocks. In fact, only 1 in 5 middle and high schools in the United States starts the day at 8:30 AM or later, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the AmericanMedical Association. This conflict between a biological tendency to stay up late and the constraints of early school start times has resulted in widespread insuffic...

Sleepiness and sleep propensity are strongly influenced by our circadian clock as indicated by many circadian rhythms, most commonly by that of core body temperature. Sleep is most conducive in the temperature minimum phase, but is inhibited in a “wake maintenance zone” before the minimum phase, and is disrupted in a zone following that phase. Different types of insomnia symptoms have been associated with abnormalities of the body temperature rhythm. Sleep onset insomnia is associated with a delayed temperature rhythm presumably, at least partly, because sleep is attempted during a delayed evening wake maintenance zone. Morning bright light has been used to phase advance circadian rhythms and successfully treat sleep onset insomnia. Conversely, early mor...

Based on the Appraisal Tendency Framework on the antecedents and consequences of emotions two experimental studies examined the relationship between externally caused loss of control experiences and risk-taking behavior, as well as the assumed mediation of this relationship by the emotion anger. An experimental paradigm for inducing externally caused and consequently externally attributed loss of control which should lead to experiences of anger was developed and pretested in a Pilot Study. The relationship between loss of control experiences, anger and risk-taking behavior was investigated using two separate student samples from Germany (N = 84, 54% female) and China (N = 125; 64% female). In line with our hypotheses, results showed that anger mediated the ...

Plasma sampling mass spectrometry (PSMS) has been carried out to study the fragmentation kinetics of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) in a low-pressure, axially asymmetric argon rf discharge designed for the growth of nanocomposite thin films through a hybrid PVD/PECVD method. Experiments have been conducted with a pulsed injection of HMDSO over a 5-s period. Plasma conditions have been chosen to favor formation and disappearance of dust occurring in cycles of a few hundred seconds. The dissociation degree of HMDSO and the relative intensities of HMDSO-related fragments are reported and analyzed regarding these two specific time-scales. PSMS showed that formation of dust increases HMDSO dissociation. The same result can be deduced from the particle balance equat...

The effect of grain size on solid particle erosion and cavitation erosion of a nitrogen alloyed austenitic stainless steel has been investigated. Heat treatment of the steel at elevated temperatures results in an increase in grain size and thus modification in mechanical properties. Particle erosion tests were performed using an air jet erosion tester. An ultrasonic processor with a stationary specimen was used to investigate the cavitation erosion performance. The cavitation erosion rates were found to increase with the increase in grain size. The particle erosion rate shows no significant change with increase in grain size. The worn surfaces were examined to study the characteristic damage features using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The nitrogen all...

Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) remains one of the most common hospital-acquired acute renal deterioration in patients undergoing angiographic procedure. Transient and massive non-selective proteinuria of glomerular origin was previously reported in patients with stable renal function shortly after ionic radiocontrast medium (RCM) exposure. Since non-ionic RCM is mostly used nowadays for coronary angiographic procedures, the effects of non-ionic RCM exposure on microalbuminuria might be worthy to be clarified. By measuring urine albumin–creatinine­ratio, we found that exposure to non-ionic, low osmolar RCM has almost negligible effect on either the presence or the levels of microalbuminuria in patients who underwent coronary angiography using ordinary ...

A theoretical study is made of the physical adsorption of the heteronuclear diatomic molecule H35Cl on a solid crystalline argon surface. The potential energy of interaction between the adsorbate molecule and adsorbent is computed by a lattice summation over the requisite number of individual HCl...Ar “pair” interactions, described using an equation developed by Neilson and Gordon. Adsorption is considered at four sites on the (111) face of the argon cubic close-packed lattice: the tetrahedral (T) hole, the octahedral (O) hole, above a surface atom (A); and the saddle point (SP). Values of the potential energy are evaluated as a function of location and orientation of the adsorbate relative to the adsorbent surface. The results indicate that adsorption i...

In this paper we introduce a new concept of approximate optimal stepsize for gradient method, use it to interpret the nice numerical effect of the Barzilai–Borwein (BB) method, and present several efficient gradient methods with approximate optimal stepsizes for large scale unconstrained optimization. Based on revising some modified BFGS update formulae, we construct some new quadratic approximation models to develop several approximate optimal stepsizes. It is remarkable that these approximate optimal stepsizes lie in the intervals which contain the two well-known BB stepsizes. We then truncate these approximate optimal stepsizes by the two well-known BB stepsizes and treat the resulted approximate optimal stepsizes as the new stepsizes for gradient metho...

Abstract Drug-antibody ratio (DAR) of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) is important for their therapeutic efficacy and pharmacokinetics, therefore control on DAR in synthesis process is a key for ADC quality control. Although various analytical methods were reported, the real-time monitoring on DAR is still a challenge because time-consuming sample preparation is usually needed during the analysis. Antibody deglycosylation of ADC simplifies DAR measurement, however long-time PNGaseF digestion for deglycosylation hampers the real-time detection. Here, we report a rapid DAR analysis within 15 min by robust deglycosylation treatment and LC-MS detection that enables real-time DAR monitoring for optimization on ADC synthetic process. With this approach, we were ab...

Etude de l'organisation des femmes, incluant mais ne se limitant pas a l'organisation feministe, en ex-URSS et selon le principe de base que le genre a ete et continue de jouer un role crucial dans la dynamique sociale, politique et economique de la region. Soulignant les contextes historiques de ces organisations par l'Etat et par les femmes elles-memes, les AA. examinent la relation entre les buts de l'Etat et ceux des femmes a differents moments, les contradictions des femmes actives avec l'ideologie prevalente de la fonction sociale primaire de la femme en tant que mere, et les facteurs actuels affectant les reponses des femmes dans une situation de changement et de crise. Les AA. presentent les defis auxquels les feministes russes font face et leur croy...

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTSolvatochromic Dyes as Solvent Polarity IndicatorsChristian ReichardtCite this: Chem. Rev. 1994, 94, 8, 2319–2358Publication Date (Print):December 1, 1994Publication History Published online1 May 2002Published inissue 1 December 1994https://doi.org/10.1021/cr00032a005RIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views25836Altmetric-Citations4271LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information...

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a liver disease of unknown etiology characterized by chronic nonsuppurative destructive cholangitis (CNSDC) of intrahepatic septal and interlobular bile ducts. It is generally defined as an autoimmune disease. Characteristically, patients with PBC have a cholestatic serum hepatic profile and circulating antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA). PBC is progressive and ultimately leads to biliary cirrhosis and liver failure. It occurs at least three times more often in women than in men and it is the most common indication for liver transplantation in women around the world. There is no known cure for PBC. Despite the remarkable progress elucidating the genetics of breast cancer, and the effort placed on breast cancer education and...

This paper is the first of a projected series of studies on the structure and composition of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) of the rat and the relations of this fiber system to its bed nucleus, the lateral hypothalamic area. The first part of the paper comprises an extensive review of literature on the MFB from its discovery by Ganser in 1882 to the present. This review serves as the basis for an evaluation of our present-day knowledge of the organization of the MFB, which is presented in the second part of this paper. Despite the wealth of information available on the origins and sites of termination of the axons that constitute the MFB, surprisingly little attention has been given to the bundle itself, to its topographic boundaries, its fiber compositio...

This article investigates the extent to which classical gender stereotypes are transmitted in the public space of higher education institutions and how this contributes to maintaining a social vision in which an unequal distribution of gender persists. This study analyzes, from a multimodal perspective, posters hung on walls in secondary schools and a university in a Spanish city over a period of several months. Results show that although the linguistic messages used in these posters avoid any reference to gender, images continue to represent classical stereotypes in a subtle and an inexplicit way. Images depict daily life activities, unexceptional and apparently without gender ideology. However, they still associate gender with classical roles. In this cont...

The present study chiefly aims to design the model of challenges females entrepreneurs are face with higher education centers in Tehran province. To achieve the major objective and on the basis of the designed conceptual model, examination of the participants' attitudes about the impact of components of quality challenges, entrepreneurship instructors, training methods, financial supports, individual factors, legal factors and cultural factors on females entrepreneurs development at the higher education centers in Tehran province were addressed as the minor purposes. with regard to the challenges the Iranian universities are facing with, besides a questionnaires were distributed among 100 female students studying entrepreneurship at University of Tehran as w...

In this study, the effect of oxygen (O 2 ) adsorption on polaron conduction in nanometer-scale Nb 5+ -, Fe 3+ -, and Cr 3+ -doped SrTiO 3 thin films was investigated. The SrTiO 3 -based thin films were epitaxially grown onto SrTiO 3 (001) single-crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). It was found that polaron diameter decreases owing to O 2 adsorption; this can be understood by assuming that O 2 adsorbates induce local distortions of TiO 6 unit cells, at which conduction electrons are frequently trapped. Furthermore, the polaron diameter of Sr(Ti,Nb)O 3 and Sr(Ti,Fe)O 3 exhibited less dependence on O 2 concentration than that of Sr(Ti,Cr)O 3 ; this can be explained by the shielding of electron–phonon interaction by doped electrons in Sr(Ti,Nb...

Gastroschisis is a developmental disorder involving the extrusion of fetal intestines through a defect in the abdominal wall. The mechanism is presumed to be a dual vascular/thrombotic pathogenesis, where normal right umbilical vein involution forms a possible site for thrombosis adjacent to the umbilical ring.The aim of this study was to demonstrate that the 3 common prothrombotic polymorphisms, MTHFR c.677C>T, F2 c.20210G>A, and F5 Leiden, were elevated in frequency in Indonesian gastroschisis patients.Three genetic markers were investigated in 46 patients with gastroschisis and 89 ethnicity-matched controls for association studies using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) or TaqMan Genotyping Assays on genomic DN...

Xylella fastidiosa infects a wide range of plant hosts and causes Pierce’s disease (PD) of grapevines. The type 1 multidrug resistance (MDR) efflux system is essential for pathogenicity and survival of bacterial pathogens in planta. X. fastidiosa, with a single MDR system, is significantly more vulnerable to inhibition by small-molecule treatments than most bacterial pathogens that typically carry redundant MDR systems. A high-throughput cell viability assay using a green fluorescent protein-marked strain of X. fastidiosa Temecula 1 was developed to screen two Prestwick combinatorial small-molecule libraries of drugs and phytochemicals (1,600 chemicals in total) approved by the Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency for cell growth inhi...

Studies of rates, processes and modes of rock surface, and near-surface, deterioration, and also hardening, are central to rock weathering and building stone research, conservation and management. There is a need to measure and monitor weathering at the rock–atmosphere interface to facilitate understanding of climatic, environmental and lithological controls on the evolution and development of surface weathering features. This paper reviews long-established and recently developed field and laboratory methods used by geomorphologists to monitor and measure the impact of weathering and erosion on physical and mechanical properties of exposed rock surfaces and their immediate subsurface. Key advances are highlighted, their application to multi-scalar understa...

Dried egg white powders are used in many segments of the food industry in place of traditional liquid egg materials. Dry heating during the processing of these products plays an essential role in obtaining their excellent functionalities, which are associated with protein aggregation. The objective of this study was to understand the aggregation behaviour of ovalbumin (OVA), the major component of egg-white proteins, during dry heating at 75 °C for 21 days. The results indicated that OVA aggregation increased from 28.7 ± 1.23% to 57.5 ± 2.45% as the reaction time increased, resulting in the generation of insoluble aggregates that were often 1-100 nm in diameter. However, a few soluble OVA aggregates became insoluble precipitates as their morphology change...

The Drosophila Schneider S2 (S2) Expression System enables expression of recombinant proteins constitutively, as well as inductively. This system can establish both transient and stable transformants with various selection markers. The generation of stable cell lines for increased expression or large scale expression of the desired protein is currently accomplished by cotransfection of both the expression and selection vectors. The selection vectors, pCoHYGRO and pCoBLAST, are commercially available using hygromycin-B and blasticidin S, respectively. Recently, we generated a plasmid, pCoPURO, for selection of transfected S2 cells using puromycin, which allows significant acceleration of the selection time. Although co-transfection of the selection marker wit...

Abstract Novel 3D N-doping Ta2O5 nanoflowers (NFs) photocatalysts were synthesized at different annealing temperatures ranging from 700 °C to 850 °C. The microstructure, phase composition, and chemical states of those photocatalysts were characterized in details. The adsorption kinetics as well as photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation were also investigated. Importantly, compared to N-doping Ta2O5 NFs samples obtained at other nitriding temperatures, the Ta2O5 NFs nitrided at 750 °C displayed high surface adsorption and photocatalytic degradation activity of Methylene Blue (MB) due to the synergistic effect of large surface area, strong surface adsorption, light absorption and photosensitization. The experiment results confirmed tha...

The effect of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) on hepatic gene expression was analyzed by exon microarray and real-time PCR from livers of diet-induced obese (DIO) mice fed a high-fat (HF) diet supplemented with either 6% HPMC or 6% microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). HPMC-fed mice exhibited significantly reduced body weight gain (55% lower compared to MCC), liver weight (13%), plasma LDL-cholesterol concentration (45%), and HF diet-increased intestinal permeability (48%). HPMC significantly reduced areas under the curve for 2 h insulin and glucose responses, indicating enhanced insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism. HPMC up-regulated hepatic genes related to fatty acid oxidation, cholesterol and bile acid synthesis, and cellular activation of glucoco...

Abstract A dual-parameter sensor for strain and temperature measurement featuring cascaded long period fiber grating and Fabry-Perot (LPFG-FP) structure has been proposed and realized both theoretically and experimentally. The sensor structure is theoretically proved to be efficient, where the LPFG serves as a passive filter. The direct point-by-point method of CO2 laser system is used for LPFG fabrication. The FP structure is fabricated by splicing the chemically etched SMF and the end of LPFG. The total sensor length is 3.6 cm, and three dips at 1544.18 nm, 1556.27 nm, and 1566.92 nm are chosen for following analysis. The strain experimental results show that in the range of 0–450μe, the strain sensitivities are 1.7 pm/μe, −8.2 pm/μe, an...

Increases in prevalence have led to a diabetes pandemic. Obesity and low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) are considered to be central mechanisms. We investigated if the effect of CRF on diabetes risk was equivalent across levels of fatness among healthy men.In total 4988 middle-aged Caucasian employed men free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer were included from the Copenhagen Male Study starting in 1970-71. CRF was assessed using a sub-maximal bicycle ergometer test and body mass index (BMI) was measured by height and weight. Their interaction and stratified associations with diabetes incidence were estimated in multivariable Cox-models including conventional risk factors and social class. Diabetes incidence was assessed through a national regi...

Abstract The whey protein isolate-kale leaves chlorophyll (WPI-CH) microcapsules were prepared by spray drying in this work. Results from Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) showed that WPI-CH microcapsules were successfully obtained by forming the hydrogen bonds between WPI and chlorophyll, which resulted in shifting of the absorption band at 1074 cm−1 to 1078 cm−1 with a new absorption band revealed in 1049 cm−1. Effect of inlet air drying temperatures on the physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity of WPI-CH microcapsules were investigated. The result revealed that the moisture content of WPI-CH (20% addition) microcapsule was decreased by 21.1% with the inlet air drying temperature increased from 120 to 180 °C. Moreover, ...

This article reported combination of anthocyanin and synthetic dyes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) applications. This study aims was to improve the performance of DSSC by addition of synthetic dye into anthocyanin dye. Anthocyanin dye was extracted from red cabbage and synthetic dye was obtained from N719. We prepared anthocyanin and synthetic dyes at 2 different volume, anthocyanin dye at volume of 10 ml and combination dyes with anthocyanin and synthetic dyes at volume of 8 mL : 2 mL. The DSSCs were designed into sandwich structure on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates using TiO2 electrode, carbon electrode, anthocyanin and synthetic dyes, and redox electrolyte. The absorption wavelength of anthocyanin dye of red cabbage was 450 nm – 580...

Abstract Duckweeds are promising potential sources for bioethanol production due to their high starch content and fast growth rate. We assessed the potential for four species, Landoltia punctata, Lemna aequinoctialis, Spirodela polyrrhiza, and Wolffia arrhiza, for bioethanol production. We also optimized a possible production procedure, which must include saccharification to convert starch to soluble sugars that can serve as a substrate for fermentation. Duckweeds were cultivated on 10% Hoagland solution for 12 days, harvested, dried, homogenized, and dissolved in solutions that were tested as substrates for bioethanol production by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. First, we optimized the saccharification process, including the ideal ratio of the enzyme ...

Tea is one of the top beverages used around the world every day, which contains a high amount of polyphenols and antioxidants. The main aim of this research is to quantify some marketed black tea (Rabea, Lipton, Alkbous, Green gold and Haritham) for phenolic contents and antioxidant potential evaluation by ultrasound solvent extraction and was compared with conventional extraction. Ultrasonic extraction was optimized by considering frequencies (26 kHz, 40 kHz), temperature (30, 40 and 50 °C), and power (30, 40 and 50%) at a fixed time of 30 min. In both the ultrasonic frequencies, 40 °C temperature and 40% power combination exhibited highest cumulative yield (mg/100 g DW), total phenolic content (mg gallic acid/g DW), flavonoids (mg/g DW) and DPPH radical ...

Here, we demonstrate the production of large quantities of gallium sulfide (GaS) nanosheets by liquid exfoliation of layered GaS powder. The exfoliation was achieved by sonication of the powder in suitable solvents. The variation of dispersed concentration with solvent was consistent with classical solution thermodynamics and showed successful solvents to be those with Hildebrand solubility parameters close to 21.5 MPa1/2. In this way, nanosheets could be produced at concentrations of up to ∼0.2 mg/mL with lateral sizes and thicknesses of 50–1000 nm and 3–80 layers, respectively. The nanosheets appeared to be relatively defect-free although oxygen was observed in the vicinity of the edges. Using controlled centrifugation techniques, it was possible to ...

A brief history of substances containing s,p- and d-block metals in negative oxidation states is described. A classification of these species and discussions of formal oxidation state assignments for low-valent transition metals in complexes are included, along with comments on the innocent and noninnocent character of ligands in metalates. Syntheses of highly reduced carbonyl complexes formally containing transition metals in their lowest known oxidation states of III− and IV− are discussed. Atmospheric-pressure syntheses of early-transition-metal carbonyls involving alkali-metal polyarene-mediated reductions of non-carbonyl precursors have been developed. In the absence of carbon monoxide, these reactions afford homoleptic polyarenemetalates, including...

A series of novel 1,3,5-triaryl pyrazoline derivatives has been synthesized by the reaction of chalcone and 3-chloro-6-hydrazinylpyridazine in 47–82% yields. The structures of compounds obtained were determined by IR, 1H NMR and HRMS spectra. Representatively, the spatial structure of compound 3d was determined by using X-ray diffraction analysis. Absorption and fluorescence spectral characteristics of the compounds were investigated in CHCl3 by UV–vis absorption and emission spectra. The results showed that the absorption maxima of the compounds vary from 332 to 342 nm depending on the group bonded to benzene rings. The maximum emission spectra of compounds in CHCl3 are dependent on groups in benzene ring in which a strong electron-donating group in ben...

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of activity-based, nonactivity-based, and combined activity- and nonactivity-based rehabilitative interventions for individuals presenting with unilateral spatial neglect (USN) and hemianopia. Data Sources We searched CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and PubMed from 2006 to 2016. Study Selection Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a score of 6 or more in the Physiotherapy Evidence Database Scale that examined the effects of activity-based and nonactivity-based rehabilitation interventions for people with USN or hemianopia. Two reviewers selected studies independently. Data Extraction Extracted data from the published RCTs. Mean differences (MD) or standardized mean differences (SMD), and 95% confidence i...

To characterize current practice preferences of pediatric ophthalmologists in the management of amblyopia and whether these are influenced by demographic variables.A 10-question survey was distributed to all pediatric ophthalmologists and fellows attending the Annual Joseph H. Calhoun Pediatric Ophthalmology Forum at Wills Eye Hospital in 2016. The questionnaire consisted of demographic information and clinical management of amblyopia using clinical scenarios commonly encountered in pediatric ophthalmology practice.Of the 133 pediatric ophthalmologists who attended, 74 completed the survey, all of which were included in the data analysis. Seventy-six percent of respondents prescribed refractive correction to a 3 year old with untreated anisometropic amblyopi...

Hyaluronic acid (HA) has an immediate volumizing effect, due to its strong water-binding potential, and stimulates fibroblasts, causing collagen synthesis, with short- and long-term effects on wrinkle improvement. We investigated the efficacy and safety of HA microneedle patches for crow's feet wrinkles. Using a randomized spilt-face design, we compared microneedle patches with a topical application containing the same active ingredients. We enrolled 34 Korean female subjects with mild to moderate crow's feet wrinkles. The wrinkle on each side of the subject's face was randomly assigned to a HA microneedle patch or HA essence application twice a week for 8 weeks. Efficacy was evaluated at weeks 2, 4, and 8. Skin wrinkles were measured as average roughness us...

The paper discusses the design process of a programmable logic controller implemented by means of an FPGA device. The PLC implements on the machine language level a subset of the instruction set defined in the EN 61131-3 norm. Different aspects of instruction list and hardware architecture design are presented, however two aspects are the most important: Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU). The ALU can execute 34 operations, which include the basic logic operations, comparators, and the four basic arithmetic operations. The operations can be performed for fixed-point and floating-point numbers. All the operations are implemented fully in hardware, so the solution is fast. The developed PLC is implemented using an FPGA device...

Using a multidisciplinary dataset based on gravimetric, seismic, geodetic and geological observations, we provide an improved picture of the shallow structure and dynamics of the southern edge of the Tyrrhenian subduction zone. With a local earthquake tomography we clearly identify two main crustal domains in the upper 15 km characterized by different P-wave velocity values: a high-velocity domain comprising southeasternmost Tyrrhenian Sea, NE Sicily and Messina Straits, and a low-velocity domain comprising Mt. Etna and eastern Sicily. The transition between the two domains shows a good spatial correspondence with a wider set of faults including the Taormina Fault System (TFS) and the Aeolian–Tindari–Letojanni Fault System (ATLFS), two nearly SE-striking...

External pressures related to environmental protection, commodity prices, energy availability, larger populations, and climate change have combined to require an immediate and substantial improvement in agricultural irrigation performance. Worldwide progression towards modernized irrigation projects has been uneven and slower than desired, but decades of irrigation modernization development have clarified certain requirements for success, as well as illuminated indicators of project failure. Of particular importance are required shifts within the state and national irrigation bureaucracies, as well as universities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Les pressions extérieures liées á la protection de l'environnement, le prix des matiéres premiéres...

In this article we discuss the employment interview as a method of studying the personality characteristics of job applicants. It is maintained that personality plays a role in job satisfaction and performance and that people in general, and employment interviewers in particular, know which personality types are typically represented in different jobs. We then describe two studies that indicate a substantial degree of agreement and accuracy in the conceptions held by students and by professional employment interviewers regarding the personality characteristics of personnel managers and computer programmers. The data and our logical analysis lead us to conclude that judgments of job candidates in the employment interview can accurately reflect the degree of c...

In this paper, we investigate the effects of a classical gravitational field on the dynamical behaviour of the nonlinear atom–field interaction within the framework of the f-deformed Jaynes–Cummings model. For this purpose, we first introduce a set of new atomic operators obeying an f-deformed su(2) algebraic structure to derive an effective Hamiltonian for the system under consideration. Then by solving the Schrodinger equation in the interaction picture and considering certain initial quantum states for the atomic and radiation subsystems, we analyse the influence of gravity on the temporal evolution of the atomic population inversion, atomic dipole squeezing, atomic momentum diffusion, photon counting statistics and deformed quadrature squeezing of th...

This research on public relations campaigns, heart disease, and meaning making addresses individual-level and community-level decisions that influence women's retention and understanding of health messages. This research is grounded in several theoretical bases of knowledge: culture and communication campaigns, the situational theory of publics, and health communication campaigns directed at women of color. Women of color from across the United States were interviewed to discover how they made meaning of messages disseminated in a national heart disease communication campaign. Despite having seen heart disease messages in the media, the participants did not feel the Heart Truth campaign messages provided them with new information. Many women indicated that t...

The goal of this study was to compare the variation of manipulative forces produced by instruments and a manual technique.Four operators (2 experts and 2 novices) used 4 different mechanical instruments to apply force to a uniaxial load cell. A different group of 2 expert and 2 novice operators used a traditional manual technique to apply force to a sensor mat. Two primary outcome variables were obtained from each sensor system: peak-to-peak force magnitude (N) and peak-to-peak force duration (millisecond). Multiple analyses were performed to determine the absolute differences and variation in each variable.Force-producing instrumentation exhibited less variation in absolute force and force duration compared to manual techniques. However, the same instrument...

Using first-principles calculations, we systematically study the influence of Pb adatom on the adsorption and the dissociation of oxygen molecules on Pb(111) surface, to explore the effect of a point defect on the oxidation of the Pb(111) surface. We find that when an oxygen molecule is adsorbed near an adatom on the Pb surface, the molecule will be dissociated without any obvious barriers, and the dissociated O atoms bond with both the adatom and the surface Pb atoms. The adsorption energy in this situation is much larger than that on a clean Pb surface. Besides, for an adsorbed oxygen molecule on a clean Pb surface, a diffusing Pb adatom can also change its adsorption state and enlarge the adsorption energy for O, but it does not make the oxygen molecule d...

Two new Ru(II) complexes [Ru(tpy)(dpoq)Cl]+ 1 and [Ru(tpy)(dpoq)CH3CN]2 + 2 (tpy = 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine; dpoq = dipyrido[1,2,5]oxadiazolo[3,4-b]quinoxaline) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, 1H NMR, electrospray ionization mass spectra (ESI-MS) and X-ray crystallographic study. The experimental results of spectra titration, thermal denaturation and viscosity measurements suggest that the two complexes intercalatively bind to DNA. When irradiated under light, the two complexes could efficiently photocleave DNA both under aerobic and anaerobic condition. The mechanism studies reveal that the photocleavage reaction functions through both oxygen-independent (photoinduced electron transfer, type III reaction) and oxygen-dependent (...

Rationale: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has an unknown etiology and poor prognosis. Several large-scale epidemiologic studies have been conducted predominantly in Western countries. There are few studies reported from Asian countries. It remains unclear whether ethnic difference exists in IPF. It is important to determine the current IPF status in Asian populations and compare it with that of Western populations.Objectives: To provide the epidemiologic status of IPF in Japan and to investigate ethnic differences.Methods: We selected Hokkaido prefecture (population, 5.6 million) as the epidemiologic cohort of IPF among Japanese. On the basis of the clinical records of 553 patients with IPF who were accepted based on the application of the Certificate o...

This paper describes a corpus, dataset and associated ground-truth, for the evaluation of people detection algorithms in surveillance video scenarios, along with the design procedure followed to generate it. Sequences from scenes with different levels of complexity have been manually annotated. Each person present at a scene has been labeled frame by frame, in order to automatically obtain a people detection ground-truth for each sequence. Sequences have been classified into different complexity categories depending on critical factors that typically affect the behavior of detection algorithms. The resulting corpus, which exceeds other public pedestrian datasets in the amount of video sequences and its complexity variability, is freely available for benchmar...

We consider closed sequential or multistage sampling, with or without replacement, from a lot of N items, where each item can be identified as defective (in error, tainted, etc.) or not. The goal is to make inference on the proportion, π, of defectives in the lot, or equivalently on the number of defectives in the lot D = Nπ. It is shown that exact inference on π using closed (bounded) sequential or multistage procedures with general prespecified elimination boundaries is completely tractable and not at all inconvenient using modern statistical software. We give relevant theory and demonstrate functions for this purpose written in R (R Development Core Team 2005, available as online supplementary material). Applicability of the methodology is illustrated ...

We captured 11 Myotis sodalis and radiotracked them to foraging areas near Indianapolis International Airport during summer 2002. A series (3–7) of multiazimuth triangulations was used to obtain an estimate of the location of each bat throughout the night. Compositional analysis was used to compare habitat that bats used to available habitat at 2 spatial scales. At both spatial scales, bats preferentially used woodlands over other available habitats (especially developed habitats). These findings suggest that suburban development may negatively impact M. sodalis by limiting foraging options. Many conservation plans aimed at protecting bats exclusively target roosting sites. Although roost conservation should continue to be central in efforts to protect bat...

Due to its random fibre distribution across the cross-section and their anisotropic and heterogeneous characteristic, the prediction of the mechanical behaviour of fibre composite materials is complex. Multi-scale approaches have been proposed in the literature to more accurately predict their mechanical properties using computational homogenization procedures. This work is based on existing multi-scale numerical transition techniques suitable for simulating heterogeneous materials and makes use of two meshless methods—the Radial Point Interpolation Method (RPIM) and the Natural Neighbour Radial Point Interpolation Method (NNRPIM)—and the Finite Element Method (FEM). Representative volume elements (RVEs) are modelled and discretized using the three numer...

As a network evolves through new requirements, technology, or applications and becomes more complicated, the ability to provide cost-effective, secure, reliable operations for critical functions and to prevent internal and external assaults on the network is important for network vendors, network operators, and end users. Thus, the goal of network design is a manageable, quantifiably reliable, and secure network that balances end-user requirements and technological capabilities. Unfortunately, quantitative reliability assessment is generally not integrated into the process of designing operations and security, even though designers normally consider reliability when they evaluate various operations and security schemes. In this paper we present — with exam...

Hydrogen and alkali atoms can form low-density metallic phases, in their most well-ordered form called Rydberg Matter (RM). RM consists mainly of small six-fold symmetric planar clusters in point group D6h as shown by rotational spectroscopy. In their “sleeping top” (dark) state they can form stacks of clusters, as recently observed by 39K nuclear spin-flip transitions. Stacks of clusters H7 are now directly observed by TOF-MS, using a laser intensity of

Concentrations and patterns of hydroxylated (OH) polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were investigated in liver from arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) sampled from Svalbard 1997–2011 (n = 100). The most important OH-PBDE in the arctic foxes was 6-OH-BDE47 detected in 24% of the samples. Relationships between 6-OH-BDE47, δ13C and BDE47 suggest that 6-OH-BDE47 residues in arctic foxes are related to marine dietary input, while the relative importance of the metabolic/natural origin of this compound remains unclear. 4-OH-CB187 and 4-OH-CB146 were the main OH-PCBs among the analyzed compounds. The OH-PCB pattern in the present arctic foxes indicates that arctic foxes have a capacity to biotransform a wide range of PCBs of d...

Thermal batteries are activated by the ignition of heat pellets. If the heat pellets are not sensitive enough to the ignition stimulus, the thermal battery will not activate, resulting in a dud. Thus, to assure reliable thermal batteries, it is important to demonstrate that the pellets have satisfactory ignition sensitivity by testing multiple specimens. There are many statistical methods for evaluating the sensitivity of a device to some stimulus. Generally, these methods are applicable to the situation in which a single test is destructive to the specimen being tested, independent of the outcome of the test. In the case of thermal-battery heat pellets, however, tests that result in a nonresponse do not totally degrade the specimen. This peculiarity provide...

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of selenium (Se) on ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rat ovaries.Thirty-five female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (n = 7): sham (S), I/R1, I/R2, Se1, and Se2. In the I/R1 and Se1 groups, 4 hours of ischemia was followed by 6 hours of reperfusion, and in the I/R2 and Se2 groups, 4 hours of ischemia was followed by 12 hours of reperfusion. In the Se groups, 30 minutes before reperfusion, a single dose of 0.2 mg/kg Se was administered intraperitoneally. The ovarian tissue levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO), and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were measured biochemically. Tissue damage to ovarian tissue ...

The role of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in the failure of cerebral circulation after cardiac arrest is unknown. We evaluated the effect of complete global cerebral ischemia that was induced on the plasma ET-1 concentration in 5 dogs, by occluding the ascending aorta and caval veins for 15 min. A fiberoptic catheter was inserted into the sagittal sinus for the continuous monitoring of venous oxygen saturation. Blood samples were collected before and at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 6 h after the ischemic insult. The ET-1 concentration in the sagittal sinus and abdominal aorta was assayed. Complete global cerebral ischemia resulted in a significant 3-fold increase in the sagittal sinus concentration of ET-1 (P < 0.01) that was associated with a significant decrease in the sagitta...

Previous articleNext article No AccessDiodorus Siculus and Megasthenes: A ReappraisalCharles E. MuntzCharles E. MuntzPDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmailPrint SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Classical Philology Volume 107, Number 1January 2012 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/663215 PermissionsRequest permissions Views: 45Total views on this site Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref © 2012 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Harald Wiese Bookkeeping in the Arthaśāstra, Indo-Iranian Journal 66, no.44 (Oct 2023): 301–332.https://doi.org/10.1163/15728536-06603...

A continuum model of a Peierls-dimerized chain, as described generally by Brazovskii and discussed for the case of polyacetylene by Takayama, Lin-Liu and Maki (TLM), is considered. The continuum (Bogliubov-de Gennes) equations arising in this model of interacting electrons and phonons are shown to be equivalent to the static, semiclassical equations for a solvable model field theory of self-coupled fermions-the N = 2 Gross-Neveu model. Based on this equivalence we note the existence of soliton defect states in polyacetylene that are additional to, and qualitatively different from, the amplitude "kinks" commonly discussed. The new solutions do not have the topological stability of kinks but are essentially conventional strong-coupling polarons in the dimerize...

Abstract Objective To explore the attitudes toward the use of local anesthetic (LA) in arterial blood gas sampling and the awareness and adherence to British Thoracic Society guidelines. Methods An anonymous eight-item survey was distributed among medical professionals in two teaching and two district general hospitals. Results In total 153 medical professionals were surveyed. Sixty-five percent have never had any training in administering LA. Most thought that arterial blood gas sampling was either “quite painful” (61%) or “extremely painful” (20%). However, 58% believed that patients should only “sometimes” be offered LA. Over half of the respondents (56%) never used LA before arterial blood gas sampling and 34% only used it “sometimes”. Th...

What particle shape will generate the highest packing fraction when randomly poured into a container? In order to explore and navigate the enormous search space efficiently, we pair molecular dynamics simulations with artificial evolution. Arbitrary particle shape is represented by a set of overlapping spheres of varying diameter, enabling us to approximate smooth surfaces with a resolution proportional to the number of spheres included. We discover a family of planar triangular particles, whose packing fraction of ϕ ∼ 0.73 is among the highest experimental results for disordered packings of frictionless particles. We investigate how ϕ depends on the arrangement of spheres comprising an individual particle and on the smoothness of the surface. We validat...

The reaction of 2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (tptz) with Cu(BF4)2·3H2O and N,N-bis(3-aminopropyl)methylamine (Medpt) yielded the monomeric complex [(tptz)CuII(Medpt)](BF4)2·2MeOH (1) whereas reaction of tptz with CuCl2·2H2O yielded the dinuclear complex [{CuIICl2}(tptz){CuIICl2(MeOH)}] (2). The molecular structures of 1 and 2 were established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. The copper ion in complex 1 is elongated octahedral with the nitrogen atoms of Medpt and the triazine nitrogen atom of tptz in the equatorial positions, and the two pyridyl nitrogen atoms of tptz in axial positions. The two CuII ions in complex 2 are bridged by tptz, coordinating to Cu1 in a terpyridine-like fashion and to Cu2 in a bipyridine-like coordination mode...

Although glycerol has been a well-known renewable chemical for centuries, its commercial relevance has increased considerably in the last few years because of its rising inevitable formation as a by-product of biodiesel production. The present review gives a broad overview on the chemistry of glycerol starting from the classic esters and oligomers to new products like glycerol carbonate, telomers, branched alkyl ethers, propanediols and epoxides. In particular, the novel possibilities to control the numerous addition, reduction and oxidation reactions via heterogeneous, homogeneous and biocatalysis will be presented. A benchmark will be given to determine the products which will have the best chances of entering the market and which processes are currently m...

To design a variable recursive digital filter whose stability is always guaranteed, it is necessary to ensure that the stability conditions are always satisfied in the tuning process. Furthermore, it is also necessary to keep a certain margin for the stability (stability margin) in such a way that some unpredictable environmental changes and coefficient-value deviations will not cause instability. To add a stability margin to the stability of the second-order (2nd-order) recursive filter, this paper first introduces a stability trapezoid by trimming the well-known stability triangle of the 2nd-order recursive digital filter. Then, we quantitatively analyze the upper bound for the stability margin by using a stability-margin parameter. This theoretical stabil...

The objective of this paper is to propose a novel fragility analysis method pertinent to the combination of the least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) algorithm and JC method for the vulnerability estimation of deep-water high piers located in reservoirs under near-field ground motions. First, the uncertainties associated with the design parameters are considered and the LS-SVM algorithm is adopted to predict the cross-sectional critical curvature values of each damage state of the example pier and determine the probability distributions. Then, a group of finite element models of the example pier is developed using the OpenSees platform for considering the uncertainties related to the design parameters and near-field seismic waves; the Morrison equati...

Abstract Conventional semiconducting polymer synthesis typically involves transition metal-mediated coupling reactions that link aromatic units with single bonds along the backbone. Rotation around these bonds contributes to conformational and energetic disorder and therefore potentially limits charge delocalisation, whereas the use of transition metals presents difficulties for sustainability and application in biological environments. Here we show that a simple aldol condensation reaction can prepare polymers where double bonds lock-in a rigid backbone conformation, thus eliminating free rotation along the conjugated backbone. This polymerisation route requires neither organometallic monomers nor transition metal catalysts and offers a reliable design stra...

This paper employs the concepts of the state and civil society to explain the development process. It theorizes development as a dynamic and non-continuous process of state- civil society interaction. It argues that sustainable development initially requires a strong developmentalist state that allows for the growth of a vibrant civil society. At some point in this process, civil society will muster enough strength to challenge the state. If this transitional stage is successfully managed, the two forces will reach a balance of power that allows the country to enter the sustainable development stage, also characterized by democracy. The paper illustrates the theory through historical analysis and concludes by drawing out the theory's planning and policy impl...

Adenoviral pneumonia can cause significant pulmonary morbidity leading to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) rescue. Reported survival of adenoviral pneumonia requiring ECMO has been poor, and prolonged time on ECMO is associated with increased mortality. We present 2 pediatric cases of adenoviral pneumonia in patients who survived after greater than 30 days on ECMO and review the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) registry to describe the collective experience of children with viral pneumonia requiring prolonged ECMO. Although survival has improved over the past decade for pediatric adenoviral pneumonia, the ELSO database previously has had no surviving children reported with a primary diagnosis of adenovirus after more than 4 weeks on ...

Abstract Solar power can improve the quality of life and reduce dependency on traditional energies that are a significant source of pollution and global warming. Solar panels are common devices used for collecting solar energy. To balance between sustainability and resilience, it is essential to provide an accurate estimate of the design wind loads for the solar panels. Traditionally design wind loads for buildings and other structures are obtained using building codes and standards. The solar panels represent a relatively recent technology and indeed there is no complete guidance ready for codification of wind loads on these types of structures. Available wind tunnel data show discrepancies in wind loads on solar panels, owing to inconsistent model scales a...