The formation of cardiac-electric-field potentials on the surface of the heart and torso in vertebrate animals

The comparative electrophysiological study of excitation process in heart with different types of organization have laid the foundation for solution of the problems of formation of cardioelectric field. It was shown, that the form of extracellular potentials on the epicardium correlated with different types of ventricle myocardial activation. Animals with the "flash" type of myocardial depolarization in most cases have the negative extracellular potentials in the greater part of the epicardial ventricular surface. Animals with the consecutive type of myocardial activation--the positive and biphase potentials. All myocardial layers (epicardial, intramural and endocardial) are electrophysiologically informative.     

The psychocultural roots of genocide. Legitimacy and crisis in Rwanda

In April 1994, the small east African nation of Rwanda became the site of one of the most violent episodes of the 20th century. Over the course of just 100 days, an embattled authoritarian state organized the slaughter of at least 850,000 Rwandans. Briefly, worldwide attention was riveted. But clichés about "age-old tribal hatreds" soon dominated discussion, conveying the impression that this was simply the latest episode in an unending cycle of violence. The truth, however, is quite different. The April genocide was in many ways unique. It was neither tribal nor age-old, and it is hardly fated to recur. Indeed, the author's premise is that if this genocide is grasped in all its psychocultural novelty and complexity, a point of Archimedean leverage can be found for interventions to avert tragedies in the future.     

Treatment of acute bronchitis in adults without underlying lung disease

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether antibiotic and bronchodilator treatment of acute bronchitis in patients without lung disease is efficacious. DESIGN: A MEDLINE search of the literature from 1966 to 1995 was done, using "Bronchitis" as the key word. Papers addressing acute bronchitis in adults were used as well as several citations emphasizing pediatric infections. A manual search of papers addressing the microorganisms causing acute bronchitis was also done. Data were extracted manually from relevant publications. SETTING: All published reports were reviewed. Papers dealing with exacerbations of chronic bronchitis were excluded in this review. RESULTS: Although acute bronchitis has multiple causes, the large majority of cases are of viral etiology. Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Bordetella pertussis are the only bacteria identified as contributing to the cause of acute bronchitis in otherwise healthy adults. Nine double-blind, placebo-controlled trials were reviewed. Four studies showed no advantage for doxycycline and one study showed no advantage for erythromycin. One study using erythromycin and one study using trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole showed that these antibiotics were slightly better than placebo. Two other studies showed an impressive superiority for liquid or inhaled albuterol when compared with erythromycin. CONCLUSIONS: Most studies showed no significant difference between drug and placebo, and the two studies that did showed only small clinical differences. Albuterol had an impressive advantage over erythromycin. Antibiotics should not be used in the treatment of acute bronchitis in healthy persons unless convincing evidence of a bacterial infection is present.     

A note on formal learning theory

Previous investigations have challenged the generality of the claim that perceived motion in an effective stimulus for smooth pursuit eye movements. The experiments extend the scope of these investigations. Three experiments test the hypothesis that perceived motion can serve as the stimulus for pursuit when the eye movement does not generate constraining retinal error information. Observers viewed retinally stabilized displays that elicited the perception that a stationary target was moving or that a moving target was moving faster than it was actually moving. The results failed to confirm the hypothesis. Relevant literature is reviewed. We conclude that perceived movement can act as a stimulus for pursuit only when the "perceptual target" has no retinal counterpart.     

Effect of WiFS viewing geometry on crop reflectance: A simulation study using SAIL model

The Wide-Field Sensor (WiFS) on board Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS-1C, IRS-P3 and IRS-1D) has a wide swath (～810 km) and is thus able to provide high repetivity (5/3 days) data acquired from different orbits. The impact of variable viewing geometry from WiFS on crop reflectance was investigated for Delhi (77.2°E and 28.58°N) for all 122 possible acquisitions by IRS-1C during 1997. Using the SAIL simulation model, top-of-canopy red and near-infrared reflectances were simulated for partial and closed crop canopies over soils of different brightness. Results show significant variations in red and near-infrared reflectances. The effects are higher in partial canopies, and they are observed in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) also. For partial canopy, the seasonal variations with solar zenith angle are also significant. For closed canopy, these variations are less, and computed NDVI is relatively insensitive to viewing geometry.     

Shear Plugging and Frictional Behaviour of Composites and Fabrics Under Quasi‐static Loading

Experimental studies are presented on the shear plugging and frictional behaviour of composites and fabrics under quasi‐static loading. The primary focus is on the effect of specimen thickness on quasi‐static shear plugging behaviour. In the present study, quasi‐static shear plugging and through‐the‐thickness frictional tests are carried out on three types of materials. The materials investigated are 2D plain weave E‐glass/epoxy, 2D plain weave T300 carbon/epoxy and 2D plain weave E‐glass fabric. Typical results on shear plugging strength and frictional behaviour are presented. Effect of specimen thickness on quasi‐static shear plugging behaviour is also investigated.     

Performance optimization of integrated gas and power within microgrids using hybrid PSO–PS algorithm

In this paper, a hybrid algorithm consisting of particle swarm optimization and pattern search algorithm is proposed to evaluate and optimize the design and operation of microgrids (MGs) in combined gas and power networks. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are modeled and proposed to evaluate and assess MGs. The paper begins by proposing a comprehensive study to define KPIs, which are used to evaluate the following MG parameters: economical efficiency, reliability, environmental conservation, and power quality. Multi‐objective evaluation functions are then developed by building a relationship matrix of MG and KPI components. The results are then displayed as optimized power generation percentages for each technology with values for four KPI categories: cost, quality, reliability and environmental friendliness. Two case studies are examined in this paper; both the province of Ontario and Toronto regional zone under all system parameters with varying percentage of generation via gas technology. Results indicated that the optimal scenario for both Ontario and Toronto was achieved at hybrid PSO–patern search percentage generation via gas technology with improved cost KPI and other KPIs remaining approximately constant. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electroanalytical tools to investigate the divalent state of Eu（III） and Nd（III） ions in non-aqueous medium

The divalent state of Ln(Ⅲ) ions has attracted much interest because of their ability to serve isomorphously in many biological sys-tem of divalent Ca(II) ion. Therefore, present paper deals with the study of divalent state of Eu(Ⅲ) and Nd(Ⅲ) ions in non-aqueous medium. In present study, cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry were utilized to establish the divalent state of Eu(Ⅲ) and Nd(Ⅲ) ions. The cy-clic voltammetric technique showed two-step reduction process at cathode for both Ln(Ⅲ) ions under specified experimental conditions and chronopotentiometric method also showed two different transition times (). Looking to the shape of cyclic voltammogram we calculated het-erogeneous forward rate constant (K0fh, cm/s) and diffusion coefficient (D, cm2/s) for both ions, which suggested that sweep rate had great ef-fect on the shape of cyclic voltammogram of Eu(Ⅲ) and Nd(Ⅲ) ions. The result of chronopotentiometry also suggested that stable divalent states of Eu(Ⅲ) and Nd(III) ions existed with chronopotentiogram with two distinct transition times. The diffusion coefficients (D, cm2/s) were calculated from Sand equation. The diffusion coefficients of both techniques were compared and the results suggested that the system at electrode surface was changing from being reversible to irreversible.