Impedance of cylindrical antennas in plasma - A review

Cylindrical antenna impedance in linear cold or warm plasma

Sensory characteristics and lipid composition of white amur (Ctenopharyngodon Idella) fed different diets

Two fish diets, trout chow pellets (A) and alfalfa pellets (P), were evaluated as to their effects on growth, lipid level and compo-sition, fatty acid (FA) composition of polar and neutral lipids, and sensory characteristics of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). During the 6 month feeding experiment, fish fed A gained 661 g/fish compared to 358 g for fish fed P. In addition, total lipid con-tent in fish fed A increased from 1.84 to 3.72% in 4 months time, but remained approximately the same in fish fed P (P\u3c 1.0%) across feed-ing times. Three phospholipid classes: sphingomyelin (6 to 13%), lecithin (55 to 63%), and cephalin (25 to 35%) were affected by feed-ing time (P\u3c0.05). Nineteen FA were found in the phospholipids: 14:0, 16:01, 16:0, 16:1, 18:0, 18:1, 18:11, 18:2ω6, 18:3ω6, 18:3ω3, 20:1, 20:2, 20:3, 20:4ω6, 20:5ω3, 20:5ω6, 22:5uω3, 22:6ω3, and 24:1. Significant differences between diets were found in the percentages of 14 acids, and feeding time also significantly affected the levels of these acids. All of the previous FA except 16:01 plus 9 additional 16:11, 17:0, 17:1, 20:0, 22:1, 23:0, 24:0, 24:4 and an unknown, were found in the neutral lipids. Significant differences between diets were found in the percentages of 18 acids in the neutral lipids, and feeding time significantly affected the levels of 19 of the acids. Compared with fish fed P, fish fed A had higher levels of monounsatur-ated FA (MONO) and lower levels of omega-6 polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) in both neutral and polar lipids; there were higher levels of saturated FA (SAT) and omega-S PUFA in the phospholipids but lower levels of SAT and omega-3 PUFA in the neutral lipids. Compared to P, A had lower percentages of SAT (40.9 vs. 51.1), omega-6 PUFA (12.1 vs. 18.2), and omega-3 PUFA (15.8 vs. 24.7) and a higher percentage of MONO (31.0 vs. 5.3). There was no significant difference between the flavor of grass carp fed P (3.6) and that of catfish (3.7), but the panel (n = 93) scored the flavor of grass carp fed A (3.4) lower than that of catfish (P\u3c0.06). They also found no significant differences in texture among the three fish samples. Compared with catfish acceptability (3.6), grass carp fed P tended to have lower acceptability (3.4), but grass carp fed A a significantly lower acceptability (3.3). The main reason given for scoring the acceptability of grass carp lower than that of catfish was the presence of small bones in the fillets. This indicates that either grass carp must be bigger at market-size than those in this study (1585 g) or the bones must somehow be removed

GAIN ENHANCEMENT OF DIELECTRIC RESONATOR LOADED WAVE-GUIDE ANTENNAS WITH DIELECTRIC OVERLAYS

The gain characteristics of a dielectric resonator loaded coaxial probe fed circular waveguide antenna (DRLWA) with overlaying parasitic discs have been investigated experimentally. Results indicate that, when properly spaced, the overlays can enhance the gain by more than 6 dB. This record was migrated from the OpenDepot repository service in June, 2017 before shutting down

Growth and organoleptic qualities of grass carp fed experimental diets

The growth of two different sizes of grass carp were studied in laboratory feeding experiments. Experimental diets included trout chow, bermuda grass pellets, and sudan grass; fish were fed at three feeding rates, 2.5, 5, and 10% of body weight. The fish that were fed trout chow showed excellent growth of small and large fish at 2.5, 5, and 10%. Bermuda grass produced good growth only in large fish at the 2.5% level and better growth at 5%. Small fish lost weight when fed bermuda grass at the 5 and 10% rates. This was probably due to the smaller fish being unable to consume the large pellets. The fish fed sudan grass at 2.5% body weight also lost weight during the six-week feeding trial. Organoleptic comparisons indicated that there was a significant difference in the taste preference of grass carp fed bermuda grass and trout chow. The panelists preferred fish fed bermuda grass more than those fed trout chow. There was no significant difference in the taste preference among grass carp fed bermuda grass, trout chow, and sudan grass when compared to channel catfish

Determination of Optimal Leadership Styles through Knowledge Management: A Case from the Automotive Industry

This study proposed a model to examine the impact of various leadership styles on knowledge management. This case study identified the best leadership style, which can affect the key factors of the knowledge management success. The statistical population was composed of all staff of the Pars Khodro Company headquarters in Iran, in which 226 people were accordingly chosen as the sample. The required data for examining research hypotheses were also collected using questionnaire. Results revealed the impact of leadership styles on knowledge management. The transformational leadership style was consequently found to have a positive and significant impact on the knowledge management key success factors, in contrast with other leadership styles including self-management, pragmatic, conservative and structure-based

Effects of processing parameters on dough sheet properties

Established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Progra

The relationship between financial and non-financial measures, organizational justice, and employee satisfaction

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Today, human resources play a key role in the success of organizations and leading organizations have creative, motivated and capable employees.  In addition to the characteristics of the employees, the measures and practices related to strategic human resources management planned and implemented by organizations are effective mechanisms to attract employees who believe in their abilities and create energy and motivation in the Khuzestan Regional Water Organization, like any other organization. Also, it requires the deployment of the strategic human resources management capacity and its subsystems to improve the perceived organizational fairness of employees in order to improve work behavior and employee satisfaction, which the present study has dedicated to this important topic. The aim of the study is therefore to examine the relationship between performance appraisal measures and employee satisfaction and to investigate the mediating role of procedural and distributive justice in the relationship. METHODS: The research population were employees of the Khuzestan Regional Water Organization. The sample size was selected based on Morgan's table as 297 people. Data were collected using simple random sampling method. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS25 and AMOS24 software.FINDINGS: Based on the quantitative data analysis, the results of testing the research hypotheses show that financial measures are significantly related to procedural fairness (C.R.= 6.009) and distributive fairness (C.R.= 5.748), non-financial measures are significantly related to procedural fairness (C.R. = 3.643) and Distributive Justice (C.R.= 5.196). Financial metrics have a significant correlation with employee satisfaction (C.R.= 4,080), non-financial metrics have a significant correlation with employee satisfaction (C.R.= 2,569). Procedural fairness has a significant association with employee satisfaction (C.R.= 2.786), distributive fairness has a significant association with employee satisfaction (C.R.= 2.084). Procedural and distributive justice play a partially mediating role in the relationship between financial and non-financial measures and employee satisfaction.CONCLUSION: The results showed that the use of the comprehensive performance evaluation system is effective on organizational justice and the result will lead to the improvement of the job satisfaction of the employees and the results of this research can be used and generalized in governmental organizations and public non-governmental organizations that have almost the same organizational structure. The use of non-financial measures is suggested to evaluate employee performance, in addition to using traditional financial objective measures to evaluate performance

Obesity promotes 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene-induced mammary tumor development in female zucker rats

INTRODUCTION: High body mass index has been associated with increased risk for various cancers, including breast cancer. Here we describe studies using 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) to investigate the role of obesity in DMBA-induced mammary tumor susceptibility in the female Zucker rat (fa/fa), which is the most widely used rat model of genetic obesity. METHOD: Fifty-day-old female obese (n = 25) and lean (n = 28) Zucker rats were orally gavaged with 65 mg/kg DMBA. Rats were weighed and palpated twice weekly for detection of mammary tumors. Rats were killed 139 days after DMBA treatment. RESULTS: The first mammary tumor was detected in the obese group at 49 days after DMBA treatment, as compared with 86 days in the lean group (P < 0.001). The median tumor-free time was significantly lower in the obese group (P < 0.001). Using the days after DMBA treatment at which 25% of the rats had developed mammary tumors as the marker of tumor latency, the obese group had a significantly shorter latency period (66 days) than did the lean group (118 days). At the end of the study, obese rats had developed a significantly (P < 0.001) greater mammary tumor incidence (68% versus 32%) compared with the lean group. The tumor histology of the mammary tumors revealed that obesity was associated with a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the number of rats with at least one invasive ductal and lobular carcinoma compared with lean rats. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that obesity increases the susceptibility of female Zucker rats to DMBA-induced mammary tumors, further supporting the hypothesis that obesity and some of its mediators play a significant role in carcinogenesis

Diet and body constitution in relation to subgroups of breast cancer defined by tumour grade, proliferation and key cell cycle regulators

BACKGROUND: The general lack of clear associations between diet and breast cancer in epidemiological studies may partly be explained by the fact that breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that may have disparate genetic associations and different aetiological bases. METHOD: A total of 346 incident breast cancers in a prospective cohort of 17,035 women enrolled in the Malmö Diet and Cancer study (Sweden) were subcategorized according to conventional pathology parameters, proliferation and expression of key cell cycle regulators. Subcategories were compared with prediagnostic diet and body measurements using analysis of variance. RESULTS: A large hip circumference and high body mass index were associated with high grade tumours (P = 0.03 and 0.009, respectively), whereas low energy and unadjusted fat intakes were associated with high proliferation (P = 0.03 and 0.004, respectively). Low intakes of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids were also associated with high proliferation (P = 0.02, 0.004 and 0.003, respectively). Low energy and unadjusted fat intakes were associated with cyclin D(1 )overexpression (P = 0.02 and 0.007, respectively), whereas cyclin E overexpression was positively correlated with fat intake. Oestrogen receptor status and expression of the tumour suppressor gene p27 were not associated with either diet or body constitution. CONCLUSION: Low energy and low total fat (polyunsaturated fatty acids in particular) intakes, and high body mass index were associated with relatively more malignant breast tumours. Dietary behaviours and body constitution may be associated with specific types of breast cancer defined by conventional pathology parameters and cyclin D(1 )and cyclin E expression. Further studies including healthy control individuals are needed to confirm our results

Guidance from an NIH Workshop on Designing, Implementing, and Reporting Clinical Studies of Soy Interventions1–4

The NIH sponsored a scientific workshop, “Soy Protein/Isoflavone Research: Challenges in Designing and Evaluating Intervention Studies,” July 28–29, 2009. The workshop goal was to provide guidance for the next generation of soy protein/isoflavone human research. Session topics included population exposure to soy; the variability of the human response to soy; product composition; methods, tools, and resources available to estimate exposure and protocol adherence; and analytical methods to assess soy in foods and supplements and analytes in biologic fluids and other tissues. The intent of the workshop was to address the quality of soy studies, not the efficacy or safety of soy. Prior NIH workshops and an evidence-based review questioned the quality of data from human soy studies. If clinical studies are pursued, investigators need to ensure that the experimental designs are optimal and the studies properly executed. The workshop participants identified methodological issues that may confound study results and interpretation. Scientifically sound and useful options for dealing with these issues were discussed. The resulting guidance is presented in this document with a brief rationale. The guidance is specific to soy clinical research and does not address nonsoy-related factors that should also be considered in designing and reporting clinical studies. This guidance may be used by investigators, journal editors, study sponsors, and protocol reviewers for a variety of purposes, including designing and implementing trials, reporting results, and interpreting published epidemiological and clinical studies