Herbivory and fire are important drivers of ecosystem processes within African rangelands. We explore whether mid-Holocene African savannas were dominated by herbivory as a means of cycling nutrients, and whether fire perhaps played a lesser role than today. Evidence from savanna ecology, paleoecology, and historical literature indicates higher herbivore densities in mid-Holocene and pre-colonial times compared to present. While fire may increase or decrease forage availability for herbivores, depending on the nutrient status of the environment, herbivory tends to decrease fire intensity and frequency by decreasing fuel loads. Given this competitive relationship between fire and herbivory and the higher herbivore densities of the past, we suggest that some fire-dominated present-day savannas are the product of anthropogenic alterations in herbivore and fire regimes, including the increasing use of fire as a tool for managing ecosystems. We discuss whether managing for an alternative stable state dominated by herbivory could stimulate ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling and production, and whether this will achieve the same management objectives traditionally satisfied by fire. Management implications may include the adaptive manipulation of herbivore densities over time and space to maintain an appropriate carrying capacity for the rainfall and soil nutrient status of the area, occasional use of fire, and including a diversity of herbivore functional guilds.


An adaptive three-dimensional sound reproduction method and apparatus for reproducing surround sound stereo sound adaptively according to the two-channel stereo sound signals are reproduced through the media, such as DVD, CD, MP3 to the listener's position has been disclosed. The present invention to sense the listening position, the listening process to recognize the distance and angle information about the location, sensing the listening position, distance and angle information based on the output of gain and delay values of the two speaker determined also as a preset with the position of the Chemistry (localization) process to update the process, the selected filter coefficient of the filter coefficient of the localization filter on the basis of selecting the filter coefficients of the filter table, and adjusting the determined gain, and since the delay values of the two speaker output level and time delay It includes.


Abstract. According to the WHO, periodontal disease is an important socio- economic problem, and periodontitis remains the main cause of tooth loss in the adult population. Stem cells have a unique ability to transform into all types of body tissues and cells. In consequence of this, they restore damaged organs and their functions.The aim of the study. To fi nd out the features of histological changes in the gingiva under the conditions of experimental periodontitis and the use of mesenchymal stem cells as a correction.Material and methods. The experimental study was conducted on 30 mature white male rats, which were divided into three groups: I – intact animals (10); II – animals with a model of acute infl ammation of periodontal tissues (10), III – animals with acute infl ammation of periodontal tissues and under conditions of mesenchymal stem cells use (10). To simulate infl ammation of periodontal tissues in experimental animals, we used lipopolysaccharide, the animals of this group were injected with 40 microliters (1 mg/ml) of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and 1 % starch solution intragastrically into the gingiva tissues every other day for 2 weeks. Rats were euthanized by bloodletting under thiopental- sodium anesthesia. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were obtained from pregnant females approximately on the 21st – 24th day of pregnancy. Stem cells were injected into the gingiva area of rats by a single injection at the rate of 1 million cells per 1 kg of body weight. For histological examination, pieces of gingiva were processed according to generally accepted methods.The results. The results of the histological studies showed that the tunica mucosa epithelial layer of the marginal part of gingiva in the intact group of animals was represented by a stratifi ed keratinized epithelium, which is a characteristic feature of animals. The lamina propria of the gingival mucosa of intact white rats was represented by papillary and reticular layers. After 7 days of simulated periodontitis, the development of changes in the structural components of the gingiva, which had signs of an infl ammatory nature, was observed. In the marginal part of the gingiva, the stratifi ed squamous keratinized epithelium was characterized by a violation of the integrity of all layers and the appearance of single migrating, intraepithelial lymphocytes into the epithelial layer. The lamina propria of the tunica mucosa of the gingiva was characterized by swelling, destruction of collagen fi bers. Fourteen days after experimental periodontitis, the progression of infl ammatory processes and destructive changes was established. Stratifi ed squamous keratinized epithelium of the gingival mucosa was characterized by hyperkeratinosis. Thickening or signifi cant thinning of the bundles of collagen fi bers were observed, swelling of the amorphous component of the connective tissue was revealed, an increase in foci of histoleukocyte infi ltration was noted. After 21 days of the experiment, microscopic studies showed the development of destructive- degenerative changes in all structural components of the periodontium, in particular the gingiva. The oral and sulcular epithelium of the gingiva was dystrophically altered. The layers were not clear, in some areas there was destruction of the basement membrane and penetration of the connective tissue into the epithelium. The results of the periodontal research of the group of animals which underwent correction with mesenchymal stem cells, after experimental periodontitis, already on the 7th day of the experiment established a lower degree of disruption of its structural components, as well as an improvement in the functional activity of some vessels of the microcirculatory bed, compared to a group of animals without correction. In the epithelial layer of the marginal part of the gingiva, the stratifi ed squamous keratinized epithelium was well structured in some areas, diff erentiation of cell layers was observed. Collagen fi bers were fragmented, the bundles of some of them were thinned or thickened, between which there were degenerative fi broblasts and histoleukocyte infi ltration. Fourteen days after the simulated periodontitis, the course of active regenerative processes in the gingiva was microscopically established when using mesenchymal stem cells. The epithelium of the oral and sulcular part of the gingiva was characterized by the preservation of the layered architecture of epitheliocytes. In the lamina propria of the tunica mucosa of the gingiva, the restoration of the structure of collagen fi bers was observed, they were not thickened, without signs of lysis. In the gingival tissues under the conditions of correction of simulated periodontitis on the 21st day of the experiment, the lowest degree of destructive changes was established compared to all experimental groups. Polymorphonuclear cell infi ltration was not observed in the epithelial plate of the tunica mucosa of all parts of the gingiva. Diff erentiation of layers was well preserved, dystrophically changed cells were not noted. In the lamina propria of the tunica mucosa of the gingiva, an improvement in hemodynamics was noted, swelling of the amorphous component of the connective tissue was insignifi cant. In the spaces between the collagen fi bers, there were numerous fi broblasts, individual macrophages and lymphocytes.Conclusions. The conducted microscopic studies showed that 7 days after the experimental periodontitis, the structural components of the gingiva were characterized by reactive infl ammatory processes, which later became chronic and manifested signifi cant destructive- degenerative changes. The use of mesenchymal stem cells as a corrective factor after simulated periodontitis helped to reduce destructive changes in the gingiva, improved tissue hemodynamics, promoted active regenerative processes, which ultimately ensured the closure of the periodontal pocket and tight fusion of the gingiva and tooth tissues.


I thank Tarasuk and colleagues for contributing further evidence to the body of research linking socioeconomic conditions to health outcomes.[1][1] The findings stand out from other studies in this area, which often rely solely on self-reported data.

Although I recognize that the primary aim of the


The conductive transparent film is prepared by spraying tin salt solution. In stannic chloride solution as a base solution, various dopants such as Al, Co, Cu and Ni were dissolved respectively as a chloride state and then the films were made by spraying solutions on hot glass plates. The properties of them were compared with those of the stannic salt single component film. The films doped with copper oxide and nickel oxide were improved by decreasing their sheet resistivity and temperature coefficient of resistivity. In comparison with the sheet resistivity and temperature coefficient of resistivity of stannic oxide single component film, being 2.5 K ohm/㎠ and -1650 ppm/℃ respectively, its values of the film containing 15 ㏖ % of copper oxide and formed at 400℃ were 2. 5 K ohm/㎠ and -920 ppm/℃ respectively. The film containing 15 ㏖ % of nickel oxide and formed at 500℃ has shown its sheet resistivity and temperature coefficient 0.7 K ohm/㎠ and -940 ppm/℃ respectively.


A laser beam emitter is placed at the level of each front wheel and a first laser beam is projected transversely in front of the vehicle onto a first receiver placed in front of the other front wheel. A second laser bean emerging from the same emitter is projected onto a reflecting mirror placed at the level of the corresponding rear wheel and the reflected laser beam is transmitted to a second receiver. The different distances read on the receivers are transmitted to the memory of an electronic computer which automatically determines the values of the angles of toe-in and toe-out of the front or rear wheels as well as the set-back or relative axial displace ment between the front wheels.


In this study, it was aimed to test whether there were differences and failures between the definitions that lecturers desired to form in students' minds and the definitions that students described, and if so, to investigate the reasons of those differences and failures based on the fundamental topologic concepts topic from students' perspectives. A case study research design was adopted in the study and it was conducted with 99 students of elementary mathematics teaching department. The data were gathered via three ways, "Knowledge Test", "Unstructured Focus Group Interview" and "Structured Interview Form", and were analyzed with descriptive and content analysis methods. As a result, it was observed that there were considerably big differences between the formal definitions of that the lecturers used in teaching and the definitions defined by the students. According to the students, these differences and failures stemmed from following reasons: students' living difficulties in stating their ideas with the mathematical language, their prior learning habits, their negative ideas about the necessity of the concepts, their lecturers' use of the language, their lecturers' neglecting individual differences in teaching, their poor working habits and abstractness of the topics. Keywords: topologic concepts, formal definition, loss of information, definitions formation SUMMARY Purpose and significance: In this study, it was aimed to test whether there were differences and failures between the definitions that lecturers desired to form in their students' minds during their courses and the definitions that students described, and if so, to investigate the reasons of those differences and failures from students' perspectives based on the fundamental topologic concepts topic in the Analysis Course II at the Department of Elementary Mathematics Teaching. Methods: A case study research design was adopted in the study and the study was conducted with 99 university students in total in the elementary mathematics teaching department. Typical sampling strategy form purposive sampling methods were used in determining the study group. As for the data collection instruments, "Knowledge Test", "Unstructured Focus Group Interview" and "Structured Interview Form" were used and the data collection process carried out with three steps. In the first phase, in order to determine how the students defined the fundamental topologic concepts, the Analysis II courses of the two lecturers were observed throughout eight lecturing hours (each lecture's course was observed for 4 hours) to determine the lecturers' formal definitions and prepare the knowledge test After knowledge test was applied to the participants to determine the knowledge related to the fundamental topologic concepts that they formed in their minds. It took about 20 minutes for the participants to answer the knowledge test questions. In the second phase, 15 students who could not define the concepts as the lecturers explained were interviewed about the reasons and determination of the data loss. Two focus group interviews were conducted and 7 students for the first session and 8 students for the second one attended. After being defined the differences between their answers to the knowledge test and the true answer, the reasons of these differences were asked to the students. Each session took about 60 minutes. In the third phase, the validation of the findings within the whole sampling group was aimed after the interviews. For this purpose, a structured interview form was prepared based on the findings of focus group interviews and the form was applied to 99 students. It took about 10 minutes for the participants to fill the form. The data were analyzed with descriptive and content analysis methods.


In greenhouses, ventilation systems and circulating fans are generally employed to improve air currents in crop canopies and to produce spatial uniformity across crop environments. Low efficiency and inadequate management of these air control systems result in poor control over the crop microclimate, which significantly affects yield and the quality of crop production (Katsoulas et al., 2007). Therefore, a method to design the optimal air currents is required to facilitate optimal control over the crop microclimate, i.e., heat and mass exchange between the plant canopy and the environment. Leaves play a dominant role in heat and mass exchange between crop canopies and the environment as they comprise the majority of the plant surface (Defraeye et al., 2013). As the primary organs of photosynthesis and transpiration, leaves are considered the most important sources or sinks of heat and mass in the canopy (Schuepp, 1993). The balance of heat and mass on leaf surfaces is strongly influenced by the convective exchange between leaves and the environment through the leaf boundary layer. A key factor in the convective exchange is leaf boundary layer conductance (GA), which represents the transfer coefficient of convection on leaf surfaces. Thus, for optimal design of air currents in crop canopies, GA, which is regulated by the convective airflow adjacent to leaves, must be evaluated. Due to the difficulty of directly measuring the air currents adjacent to leaves (Boulard et al., 2002), GA is generally estimated using the semi-empirical formulae of forced convection (e.g., Monteith and Unsworth, 1990). However, such formulae cannot be applied under the lower air velocity in crop canopies within greenhouses, which requires consideration of both free and forced convection (i.e., mixed convection) (Kitano and Eguchi, 1989). Leaf boundary layer conductance can be measured using the heat balance of electrically heated artificial leaves, and many researches have evaluated GA by using various types of artificial leaves (Grace et al., 1980; Dixon and Grace, 1983; Kitano and Eguchi, 1990; Leuning and Foster, 1990; Brenner and Jarvis, 1995; Grantz and Vaughn, 1999; Stokes et al., 2006; Katsoulas et al., 2007; Kimura et al., 2016). Profiles of GA in a greenhouse under ventilated conditions have been reported by Katsoulas et al. (2007). However, there is little information on GA in closed conditions, which are typical of heated greenhouses during winter nights. Under such conditions, circulating fans are employed to maintain uniformity in air conditions and convective heat transfer in the crop canopies. In this study, continuous and multipoint measurements of GA in a tomato canopy were carried out using electrically heated artificial leaves. In addition, the vertical and horizontal distributions of GA in the canopy within the green-


In the present study, the performance of the real time storm surge forecast model based on the neural network is examined by forecasting Typhoon Megi storm surge 2003 at Sakai, Japan in terms of a variety of the combinations of data obtained from Typhoons Songda 2004 and Maemi 2003. In the experiments, the data sets are trained with the meteorological data measured at five stations: the sea level pressure, the depression rate of the sea level pressure, the wind speed, the wind direction; the hydroulic data: the sea surface level and the storm surge at Sakai; the typhoon parameters: the typhoon position, the central pressure of the typhoon and the highest wind speed near the typhoon center. In addition, the forecast time spans of 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 12 and 24 hours are investigated for all cases of the data sets. From the results, It is found that the performance of the real time forecast models shows best when training the neural network with the data set of the storm surge, the sea level pressure, the depression rates of the sea level pressure, the wind speed and the typhoon position at Sakai.


METHOD We use the U.S. Census, Current Population Survey (CPS), Computer and Internet Use Supplement (October 2012) data to analyze the digital divide with respect to utilization across socioeconomic and de mographic lines in Kentucky, the competitor states 1 and the U.S. We are specifically interested in the pre dictor variables of household income, educational attainment, location of residence (metropolitan or not), gender, age, and race. Simple cross tabulations or "gross" differences between broadband use and the predictor variables can suggest the existence of a divide. However, the problem with "gross" differences is that many of the predictor variables are highly correlated. Consequently, if we see a digital divide across education lines we cannot determine how much is due to education, income (since lower education is associated with lower incomes), or location of residence (since individuals in urban areas tend to have slightly higher levels of income and educational attainment).


In this article, an attempt has been made to understand the focal marketing concept, i.e. market orientation, and how this construct can be used with other business processes to improve performance of a business organisation. Since resources and competencies possessed by enterprises define their success in the end. Our aim was to explore the links between market orientation and related constructs so that they could enhance the performance. The prime contribution of this study is to understand the role of knowledge management in the market orientation and innovation strategy link. A number of studies have provided support for direct link between market orientation and innovation. However, we argue that this link is mediated by the knowledge-management competency of an enterprise. First, a brief introduction about market orientation is given. Second, the present work on market orientation and related constructs has been reviewed. Last, suggestions for future research are highlighted.


The invention discloses a method for processing expanded cut stems. The method comprises the following steps of: A, storing stems, and feeding into a stem making silk thread for performing primary stem cutting, wherein the stem cutting width is 0.16-0.20 millimeter, and the water content of cut stems after being subjected to stem cutting is 20-35 percent; B, performing secondary stem cutting by a leaf silk thread shredder, wherein the cut stem cutting width is 1.15-1.25 millimeters; C, directly feeding into a CO2 steeping tank for steeping for 10-80 seconds, wherein the liquid draining time of CO2 is 120-350 seconds, and the CO2 content of the steeped cut stems is 2-6 percent; D, feeding the steeped cut stems into a sublimation tube for drying and expanding, wherein the water content of the cut stems is 3.0-5.0 percent after being subjected to sublimation and expansion; and E, performing secondary moisture regain and feeding, wherein the water content of the fed cut stems is 12.5-13.0 percent. Due to the adoption of the process, the using proportion of the expanded cut stems in class I cigarettes can be increased properly, the tar yield is lowered, and the raw material cost of a formula can be lowered properly.


Objective To explore the effect of acrylonitrile on nitric oxide(NO)and its possible mechanism.Methods40 mice were randomly divided into four groups.Three exposed groups orally administrated with acrylonitrile doses of 4.65,9.30 and 18.6 mg/kg respectively.The control group was given normal saline.Mice were administrated once a day successively for 6 days and rested for a day.After 21 days exposure,blood samples were collected through removal of eyeballs and the animals were sacrificed.Organ weight ratios of liver,spleen and kidney were measured.Nitric oxide and protein levels in serum samples were determined by assay kits.ResultsResults showed that acrylonitrile could lead to decrease in organ weight ratios of liver,spleen and kidney with an obvious dose-effect relationship.Furthermore,a reverse dose-effect between acrylonitrile exposure and protein level in serum was observed.Nitric oxide levels in serum significantly elevated in three exposure groups.ConclusionsResults suggests that acrylonitrile could exert its toxicity on blood system through interrupting protein metabolism and enhancing NO synthesis.


A DMB(Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) receiver having a destination arrival information notification function and a notification method thereof are provided to generate destination arrival information while DMB is received, and to notify a user of the generated information, therefore the user is able to prepare to get off. Destination information is inputted(S105). Destination gap filler ID information corresponding to the inputted destination information is detected(S110). DMB data which contains the gap filler ID information is received(S115). The received gap filler ID information is detected from the DMB data(S120). The number of gap fillers existing between the detected destination gap filler ID information and the detected gap filler ID information is counted(S125). Based on the number of the gap fillers, destination arrival information is outputted(S130-S150).


The Communicative Approach (CA) has been adopted in English Language-Learning contexts as the ultimate solution in English language teaching, following dissatisfaction with the structuralist approaches, grammar drills and audiolingualism (Liao, 2004; Hiep, 2007). The Communicative Approach promised rapid results in English language learning, however concerns have been voiced on a perceived decline in students' performance in writing proficiency, following the shift in focus to communication (Lakhwe, 2016; Maalouf,2016). Thirty years after its implementation, calls were made to reevaluate the Communicative Approach based on case studies and results from ELL contexts (Bacha, 2016; Samra, 2016). Arguments provided that what may work in native contexts may not have the same impact in non-native learning contexts (Lakhwe 2016, Ghadi, Biddou and Boukanouf 2016). This case study seeks to identify the main tenets of the Communicative Approach in non-native contexts, and to recommend essential components to its application. The study is based on data collected from 198 students doing English communication skills courses and 45 participating English tutors in an English foreign language (EFL)university context, Lebanon. Findings suggest that performance remains the evidence of competence; however appropriate language performance is essentially reflective of a tripod model of CLT that incorporates correct linguistic application, appropriate sociolinguistic awareness and higher order strategic maneuverability.


The Camassa-Holm shallow water equation is known to be Hamiltonian with respect to two compatible Poisson brackets. A set of conjugate variables is constructed for both brackets using spectral theory. 2000 Mathematical Subject Classification: 35Q35, 37K10


The history of local interaction between the Minahasa people and the Javanese Tondano because of the many similarities between many aspects of the life of these people, especially peaceful family ties, it is predicted that there will be no ripples of conflict in the future in Kampung Jawa Tondano which is too significant. This research will describe how the Javanese Tondano people and the Minahasa people interact in the Jawa Tondano Village. This study uses a qualitative research approach. According to the findings of this study, the relationship between the Tondano Javanese Muslim community and the Minahsa Christian community has never experienced conflict since the first time the Javanese arrived in Minahasa, all communities are very harmonious and respect each other among religions and also through marriage, kinship, and also their currency. as a social forum to meet two different cultures. The findings of this research are expected to be of use to academics, particularly in the fields of sociology and culture, as well as the general public.


Chemical manipulation of avocado trees was recently incorporated into the avocado manipulation programme at the ITSC. The current paper examines the effects of three growth inhibitors on fruit yield and size. The work shows that applications to the spring flush have a better effect on yield than applications to the flowers. The trial also indicates that Cycocel provides better yields and fruit size than Sunny and Cultar. This chemical thus shows promise as an economical growth inhibitor in avocados.


A novel space vector modulation is applied to four-leg inverter. The new algorithm uses abc coordinates avoiding the alphabetagamma transformation, which makes the selection of the switching vectors and duty cycles easier, drastically reducing the complexity of modulation algorithm. The given reference voltages are calculated timely by the load currents and bus voltage, so the inverter could works on variable load conditions. The new algorithm and the method to get the reference voltage are described in detail. The inverter output is stabilized by voltage regulate loop. The novel inverter has a high utilization of the DC link voltage, and could deal with balanced and unbalanced three-phase loads. The simulation results verify the feasibility of the proposed inverter scheme


The human femur discoevere in the site of Ain Maarouf near El Hajeb, Morocco, is probably of early Middle Pleistocene age. Its primitive features recall Homo erectus and archaic Homo sapiens.


This paper describes a simple method for acquiring conceptinstance relations from simple noun sequences that frequently appear in Japanese Web documents. In Japanese, many noun sequences can consist of two NPs that have a concept-instance relation. This phenomenon is similar to apposition in English but differs in that many of these noun sequences do not provide any explicit clues, such as the proper noun capitalization or commas used in English apposition, that indicate the boundary between the concept name and the instance name. We developed a method to detect such implicit boundaries between concept names and instance names, and to filter out erroneous concept-instance relations by using a search engine.


In this paper, we study the problem of distributed multi-user secret sharing, including a trusted master node, $N\in \mathbb {N}$ storage nodes, and $K$ users, where each user has access to the contents of a subset of storage nodes. Each user has an independent secret message with certain rate, defined as the size of the message normalized by the size of a storage node. Having access to the secret messages, the trusted master node places encoded shares in the storage nodes, such that (i) each user can recover its own message from the content of the storage nodes that it has access to, (ii) each user cannot gain any information about the message of any other user. We characterize the capacity region of the distributed multi-user secret sharing, defined as the set of all achievable rate tuples, subject to the correctness and privacy constraints. In the achievable scheme, for each user, the master node forms a polynomial with the degree equal to the number of its accessible storage nodes minus one, where the value of this polynomial at certain points are stored as the encoded shares. The message of that user is embedded in some of the coefficients of the polynomial. The remaining coefficients are determined such that the content of each storage node serves as the encoded shares for all users that have access to that storage node.


Loyalty programs are very common in practice. Many researchers have worked at understanding the impact of loyalty programs on market competition and the mechanism behind it. Interestingly, almost a...


In wastewater treatment process (WWTP), which has nonlinear and dynamic characteristics, it is difficult to realize the tracking control of dissolved oxygen (DO). To solve this problem, the online double heuristic programming (DHP) controller based on leaky echo state network (LESN) is proposed, the controller is named as DHP-LESN for short. Firstly, three Leaky ESNs are used in DHP to produce the control strategy, the system state and the derivatives of evaluation function, respectively. Then, the online gradient algorithm is used to update the output weights of three LESNs. Finally, the performance of the proposed DHP-LESN controller is tested and evaluated on Benchmark Simulation Model 1 (BSM1). The simulation results show that the proposed DHP-LESN controller can achieve better control nerformance than PID controller.


Aircrafts can be designed with different aft body configurations and all kinds of empennages exist. This paper focuses on the aeroelastic behavior of intersecting surfaces typically arising on aircraft tail, such as U-tail. It presents aerodynamic and flutter correlations between experimental and numerical results, in subsonic and transonic domains for a wind tunnel model representative of such aircraft tail. The aim is to evaluate the ability of our high-fidelity numerical tools to reproduce complex aerodynamic phenomena due to flow interactions between the different airfoil surfaces and to predict the sensitivity of the aeroelastic stability to the geometric parameters (dihedral, yaw angle). Steady and unsteady pressure coefficients along different slices of the airfoil surfaces have been measured and are compared to numerically predicted pressure coefficients. Results obtained at different aerodynamic conditions provide a good insight of the effect of flow interactions between the intersecting airfoil surfaces. The aeroelastic stability of the flutter model is also investigated and allows the assessment of different numerical approaches by comparing their ability to predict flutter mechanisms.


It is less than twenty years since David Crystal 'prophesied' that 'one day we shall not look up a word in a dictionary on a shelf but ask our home computer for the information we need' (Crystal, 1987, p. 111). And now, super-compressed, in one package are the Macquarie Dictionary, the Macquarie Thesaurus and the Macquarie Australian Spellchecker. In the same article in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Crystal listed twenty questions to ask when you buy a dictionary; I will refer to many of them for this review. Although the first two are strictly book-oriented and therefore passe for our purposes--hard-wearing paper and a binding that opens fiat--Word Genius is still pre-occupied with 'wear'. The publicity promises that the electronic version 'won't wear out'. This seems rather pointless. In today's newspaper, for example, there are words that are not yet in the Word Genius word list. 'AWB' is not there, and nor is 'Abu Ghraib'. The good thing about electronic versions of dictionaries is surely that they are much more readily revised than print ones, and we can therefore expect a cheap update soon. Another word that is missing from the current word list is 'cross-platform'. This is not just a lexical omission, but one that confronts Word Genius's claim to 'brilliant compatibility'. It only works on PCs. It won't work on my office Mac, so I and 45% of my colleagues can't use it, nor can our students in half the university labs. If I were reworking Crystal's list of questions to ask before buying a CD Rom dictionary, 'Does it have cross-platform compatibility?' would be one of them. Once the program is installed on a suitable computer, Word Genius's innovations quickly prove useful. Two icons appear on the screen, one for the dictionary and one for the thesaurus. To find the meaning of a word or a synonym for it, you simply highlight the word in question, 'drag and drop' and the relevant entry appears on screen. This works in a word processing document, an email or an internet browser, which has not been possible with other electronic dictionaries I've used, where one is obliged to open the program, type in the word then instigate a search. Word Genius's approach is faster and not open to typing errors. The program also allows us to escape the clutches of Word's spell-check and retain our own Australian conventions rather than being bullied into accepting those of Microsoft. Another invaluable feature, not available in conventional dictionaries, is help with looking up a word that you don't know how to spell--using an asterisk for the problem part. Say, I wasn't sure how to spell philanthropy; by typing in just *anthropy, I get lycanthropy, misanthropy and philanthropy and so can find my word. But that presumes I know how to spell 'anthropy', which still begs the question. What Word Genius doesn't do is let me type a sound, e.g. /fill/, and offer me other possible spellings. Is that too much to ask? I'm not a computer whiz, but with a pronunciation guide that represents 'ph' as /f/, a search based on sounds should be possible. Perhaps that will come in the update? The present asterisk is a step in the right direction. Pronunciation is another area where an electronic dictionary has obvious advantages--I could hear someone say the word, and they would say it endlessly while I practise till I get it right. Word Genius provides for two kinds of pronunciation support, but not that one. A clear enunciation of each headword is not provided. Instead, each letter is sounded out as I point at each part of the printed guide. This guide is intended to be more 'user-friendly' than the IPA, which many dictionaries rely on. Research has shown that very few users are confident or competent to follow the IPA, so an alternative is most welcome. However, Word Genius's alternative offers /fuh'lanthruhpee/ for philanthropy, /'apuhzuht/ for apposite and /kuhm'patuhbuhl/ for compatible. These three very different pronunciations all look a bit the same, because Word Genius uses /uh/ to represent the short, unstressed vowel, called schwa in IPA. …


The utility model is a arch broken anti-block vibration hopper, belonging to the materials intermediate conveying and feeding field, aimed at providing a hopper which with a long service life during operation do not vibrate without any material arch and stick, while the material flowing freely and dropping steady. The technical plan is that a vibration motor connects to a motor bottom plate through a bolt, a vibration-isolated spring, the motor bottom plate and a vibration plate connects to the side wall of the hopper through a force-transferring bolt, and the vibration-exciting force generated by the vibration motor transfers directly to the vibration plate through the force-transferring bolt, so that realizing the arch-broken and anti-block effect. The utility model can not only feed material to the material feeding machine but also directly to the belt machine or other equipment in place of the material feeder with a wide application in the intermediate conveying and feeding systems for all the materials.


An 87-year-old patient was found to have an unusually protrusive hyperostosis frontalis interna, discovered on MRI examination during an assessment of cognitive decline. Neuropsychological evaluation suggested direct repercussions of the frontal lobe compression on executive functions, as well as psychiatric disorders and possibly memory loss.


Corresponding author: Eduardo Mendonça Scheeren Escola Politécnica, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Tecnologia em Saúde Rua Imaculada Conceição, 1155. Curitiba – Paraná. CEP 80215-901 – Curitiba, PR, Brasil email@example.com 1 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Programa de Pós-graduação em Tecnologia em Saúde, Curitiba, PR, Brasil. ABSTRACT Objective: To report the nurse's experience of inclusion in interdisciplinary clinical study about technological innovation, involving people with spinal cord injury. Method: Descriptive experience report. The empirical support was based on notes about perspectives and practice of clinical research, with a multi-professional nursing, physical education, physiotherapy and engineering staff. Result: The qualification includes the elaboration of the document for the Ethics Committee, familiarization among the members of staff and with the studied topic, and also an immersion into English. The nurse's knowledge gave support to the uptake of participants and time adequacy for data collection, preparation and assistance of the participants during the intervention and after collection. Nursing theories and processes have contributed to reveal risky diagnoses and the plan of care. It was the nurse's role to monitor the risk of overlapping methodological strictness to the human aspect. The skills for the clinical research must be the object of learning, including students in multidisciplinary researches. Conclusion: To qualify the nurse for clinical research and to potentialize its caregiver essence, some changes are needed in the educational system, professional behavior, attitude and educational assistance.


The increasingly common online credit card repayment formats typically involve consumers' active choice from among various payment amounts. Consumers rarely view minimum payment warning (MPW) disclosures while repaying online; therefore, the common shift toward online repayment means that the MPW is not salient for most credit cardholders. This article aims to shed light on credit cardholders' payment decisions under this "active choice format" and explore effective online interfaces for payment decisions. Drawing on research in active choice, the authors demonstrate in three experiments that, compared with the "open format" used in traditional monthly statements, active choice format increases consumers' full balance payment propensity and overall repayment amount, and this effect is even stronger when current account balance is included in the choice context. Furthermore, presence of the MPW disclosure significantly decreases payment of the minimum required amount and increases payment of the "three-year payoff amount." Finally, presence of MPW increased consumer feelings about making the right decision, primarily for financially vulnerable people. These findings, based on hypothetical scenario choices, offer interesting theoretical and important policy implications.


We consider optimal income taxation in two kinds of classes of convex and piecewise-linear tax schedules: one is the class of all piecewise-linear tax schedules with at most n-brackets and the upper bound y of kink points; the other is the class of all piecewise-linear tax schedules restricted by a so-called rate grid with respect to marginal tax rates, where a rate grid is a finite set of real numbers with a certain property. In these classes of tax schedules, we discuss the problem, motivated by Kaneko (1982), of income taxation for rich people. Kaneko (1982) considered the class of convex tax schedules and proved that the optimal marginal tax rates tend asymptotically to 100 percent as the income level becomes large. Kaneko's result can be interpreted as progressiveness in a stronger sense than convexity. Our concern is whether or not the strong progressiveness in Kaneko's sense is consistent with the unboundedness of the optimal disposable income. Kaneko raised this question as a open problem. We address this problem in the consideration of optimal piecewise-linear income taxation. First, we prove the existence of an optimal tax schedule in each class of tax schedules we consider. Then, we give a positive answer to our concern.


The objective need for quality management has identified the special role of digital technology in booking services, information and communication systems in the tourism business. The quality of services is one of the most important components of the efficiency and profitability of the tourism industry in the current conditions of tourism development. The quality management system of production processes in the tourism sector should be a continuous process of measures aimed at improving the level of services, improving production elements and introducing innovative technologies. All the processes of designing, ensuring and maintaining the quality of tourism products should be integrated into the quality management system. It has been established that the consistency between the priorities of the enterprise in the field of improving the quality of services and the goals of the overall set of business processes is a condition for the effective and long-term development of the enterprise. The authors determined that modern management and modeling of business processes in enterprises, speed and quality of customer service require a specialized software product developed exclusively for the needs of the tourism industry. Based on the methods of financial analysis, the authors of the article substantiated the economic feasibility of implementing Fox Manager BPA 2.5 software using the example of a travel company. The profitability index of the proposed software product will be 1.6. The estimated payback period is 1.7 years. The authors' suggestions are aimed at creating a modern workplace for sales managers and automation of internal office processes in a travel company using digital technology.


Several previous scholars have noted the decline in the field of comparative psychology in so far as fewer students are obtaining an advanced degree in the field and fewer courses are being offered in universities. However, the real cause for the decline occurred decades prior and although the problem was acknowledged at the time, no significant corrections were made and those same scholars have skirted the issue. Presently, it is bureaucratic obstacles that impede a resurgence of the discipline.


Given a characteristic polynomial and a sampling polynomial with respect to it, whether the sampling polynomial is a dependency polynomial is important to the designer. A dependency polynomial gives low fault coverage in the built-in self test. The tool LDC (linear dependency check) computes the residue combinations of the factors in the set polynomial and advises designers if the sampling polynomial covers all the testing space. When the sampling polynomial is a dependency polynomial, LDC will try to find one, if any, independent polynomial at a minimum cost. In cases of short test vectors, LDC can exhaustively enumerate all independent polynomials for the designers to choose from. The author reviews the basics of the linear dependency computation, explains the LDC capabilities and its usefulness, and discusses the computational issues of the problem.<<ETX>>


Abstract : The phytoremediation potential of two macrophytic plants, E.crassipes and T.capensis were evaluated for their capacity to remove total dissolved solids (TDS) from a plastic recycling industrial effluent. The effluent was collected from a plastics recycling company in Harare, Zimbabwe. Experimental design was used in the research and the pants were grown in 2.5L plastic pots. The experiment consisted of 8 treatments with replicates. TDS, electrical conductivity and pH were measured every day for 15 days and proline accumulation in plant leaves was analyzed every 2 days alongside wastewater treatment. A t-test analysis was used for testing the data for significance difference. Result show that T.capensis had reduced TDS by 77.3% in diluted and 69.3% in undiluted effluent while E.crassipes, also remarkable TDS reduction of 65.1% in diluted and 57.8% in undiluted effluent. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference at p < 0.05 for the two plants. TDS reduction by both plants was accompanied by an increase in pH and decrease electrical conductivity. Waste water only and wastewater + soil controls showed a TDS concentration decreased of 5.0 % and 42.1% after treatment which may be due to microbial activity. Proline accumulation for both plants in undiluted effluent (30.05% in Typha spp. and 19.04% in Eichhornia spp.) is an indication of high TDS stress capability of the two plants. The proline concentration results show significant difference between day 0 and day 6 at p < 0.05.


This paper studies an exact soliton solutions for the perturbed nonlinear Schrödingers equation which describes the dynamics of ultrashort optical solitons in nonlinear left-handed metamaterials. To befall soliton solutions, the function transformation method is apply. Dark, bright and exact travelling wave solutions like Jacobi's elliptic function solutions are reported.


The focus of this thesis is to compare four codes for solving boundary value problems (BVP) for ordinary differential equations (ODE), namely COLNEW, COLSYS, HAGRON and MUTS. Background information concerning the riumerical methods that underlay these four codes, as well as information concerning how to use the four codes, is included. The four codes are compared according to many important criteria such as robustness, timing, and ease of use. A considerable portion of this thesis is devoted to the discussion of various issues concerning the comparison of codes, such as the validity of conclusions resulting from a comparison of codes and the methods for making a comparison. The need for and the difficulties of comparing codes, in particular in our context of solving BVP for ODE, are discussed. A traditional method of comparison where the performance of the codes are compared under similar input parameter settings is examined. A different approach that compares the performance of the codes under the condition that the numerical solutions produced by the codes are of the similar quality is proposed. The relationship between these two approaches, as well as their relative merits, are also discussed.


For low frequency sound (below 50 Hz), all ocean propagation is effectively shallow water, as the impact of the seafloor topography impacts the direction and level of acoustic propagation. In this paper, we present a parabolic equation (PE) model, based upon the Range-dependent Acoustic Model (RAM), developed by Michael Collins, which was extended to handle parts of this 3-dimensional acoustic propagation problem. The model, which applies the Pade propagation operator in cross range, after each range step, is well suited to global scale problems where the effects of diffraction and refraction dominate. A quantitative comparison of observations of undersea explosions detonated off the coast of Japan measured from Chile will be presented. In addition to the presentation of this model and it's application to several observed 3-D propagation effects, a collection of hybrid models used historically to address the out-of-plane propagation will be presented.For low frequency sound (below 50 Hz), all ocean propagation is effectively shallow water, as the impact of the seafloor topography impacts the direction and level of acoustic propagation. In this paper, we present a parabolic equation (PE) model, based upon the Range-dependent Acoustic Model (RAM), developed by Michael Collins, which was extended to handle parts of this 3-dimensional acoustic propagation problem. The model, which applies the Pade propagation operator in cross range, after each range step, is well suited to global scale problems where the effects of diffraction and refraction dominate. A quantitative comparison of observations of undersea explosions detonated off the coast of Japan measured from Chile will be presented. In addition to the presentation of this model and it's application to several observed 3-D propagation effects, a collection of hybrid models used historically to address the out-of-plane propagation will be presented.


Along with economic transition,the political corruption problem gets increasingly important in China.This article is a literature review of foreign scholars' study on the phenomenon.Their researches focus on one core question: why does the supervision fail? And two theories emerged out of the contention around this question: the theory of auto-corruption of state;and the theory of market-transition incentive corruption.This literature review is done in the conceptual framework of the two theories.


Allah, the beloved creator and Sustainer of the entire universe, is deserving of all prayers and thanks. The most honourable Prophet Muhammad, the one who bears the seal of Allah's Prophets, along with their noble families, associates, and followers down to the final day, may Allah's most flawless and most abundant blessings be upon them. The paper contains examples from the lifetime of the four rightly guided and guiding caliphs and their existence on the sunnah despite their political engagements, and then instances of how they gave prior attention to the sunnah.


There are many settings in which a principal performs a task by delegating it to an agent, who searches over possible solutions and proposes one to the principal. This describes many aspects of the workflow within organizations, as well as many of the activities undertaken by regulatory bodies, who often obtain relevant information from the parties being regulated through a process of delegation. A fundamental tension underlying delegation is the fact that the agent's interests will typically differ -- potentially significantly -- from the interests of the principal, and as a result the agent may propose solutions based on their own incentives that are inefficient for the principal. A basic problem, therefore, is to design mechanisms by which the principal can constrain the set of proposals they are willing to accept from the agent, to ensure a certain level of quality for the principal from the proposed solution. In this work, we investigate how much the principal loses -- quantitatively, in terms of the objective they are trying to optimize -- when they delegate to an agent. We develop a methodology for bounding this loss of efficiency, and show that in a very general model of delegation, there is a family of mechanisms achieving a universal bound on the ratio between the quality of the solution obtained through delegation and the quality the principal could obtain in an idealized benchmark where they searched for a solution themself. Moreover, it is possible to achieve such bounds through mechanisms with a natural threshold structure, which are thus structurally simpler than the optimal mechanisms typically considered in the literature on delegation. At the heart of our framework is an unexpected connection between delegation and the analysis of prophet inequalities, which we leverage to provide bounds on the behavior of our delegation mechanisms.


PRESENTATION A 12-year-old girl with a medical history signi fi cant for unvaccinated status pre-sents to the emergency department (ED) with a 1-week history of fever, rash, myalgias, and a new oral ulceration. The patient was well until she went camping with her family and friends. On the second day of the camping trip, she and another child began to feel ill, with subjective fevers and fatigue. The following day she had a fever of 101 (cid:1) F (38.3 (cid:1) C) and began to complain of myalgias and headache. After 2 days at home, the patient was sent back to school. However, she began to feel ill during class and went to the school nurse, who noted " white spots " on her tonsils. The patient was then taken to her pediatrician, who ran a rapid in fl uenza diagnostic test, which was negative, and a rapid group A strepto-coccus test, which was inconclusive. The patient was subsequently started on amoxicillin – clavulanic acid for presumed streptococcal pharyngitis. After her fi rst dose, the patient began to complain of mouth pain. Her mother saw that she had blistering and ulceration of her lips, tongue, and throat (Fig 1), as well as on the corners of her eyes, so she brought her to the ED. In the ED she is noted to have bilaterally injected conjunctiva, several small pustular erythematous lesions on her elbow (Fig 2), blistering of her upper and lower lips, oropharyngeal exudates, and blistering of the tongue. A single dose of ceftriaxone is given, and clindamycin is started. Ophthalmology is consulted and notes bilateral conjunctivitis. The patient Initial


The number, height and age of western hemlock dwarf m i s t l e t o e (Arceuthobium tsugense (Rosendahl) G.N. Jones) i n f e c t i o n s were recorded i n two western hemlock (Tsuga h e t e r o p h y l l a (Raf.) Sarg.) stands (44 and 130 years old) l o c a t e d on s i m i l a r s i t e s on the U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia Research Forest at Maple Ridge, B.C.. The r a p i d decrease i n numbers of i n f e c t i o n s w i t h i n f e c t i o n age was shown t o be l a r g e l y due to i n f e c t i o n m o r t a l i t y . The r a t e of i n t e n s i f i c a t i o n of the disease expressed as "doubling time" was estimated to be 40 or more years i n both stands. A l s o estimated was a ra t e of v e r t i c a l spread of .15 metres per year. The r e s u l t s d i f f e r e d markedly from those of other s t u d i e s i n s i m i l a r stands, which g e n e r a l l y p r e d i c t "doubling times" of 2 t o 4 years and v e r t i c a l spread r a t e s of up to .5 metres per year.


Aloe vera finds tremendous application in food and cosmetic industry due to its medicinal and functional attributes. In the present study, the RTS beverage prepared from blend comprising 75% mango (Mangifera indica L) and 25% Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis miller) was found to be most acceptable than other combinations (0 and 100%, 100 and 0%, 50 and 50% and 25 and 50% mango and Aloe vera pulp, respectively). Storage study of developed Aloe vera mango RTS was carried out at two different temperatures, i.e., 10 and 25 C. The RTS was organoleptically acceptable up to two months of storage at 10 C. During storage studies the total soluble solids, acidity, reducing sugar, total sugar increased whereas, ascorbic acid, non-reducing content and organoleptic scores decreased more significantly during storage at 25 C then at 10 C. DPPH activity and polyphenol content of Aloe vera mango RTS kept at 10 C, decreased less significantly (p≤0.05) during storage. The marginal changes of overall attributes in developed RTS with storage at low temperature shows its consumer acceptability in terms of taste, colour & appearance, consistency, flavor and medicinal and functional attributes.


Branch of China University Sports Association Dragon and Lion is vigorously promoting the Dragon and Lion to come into classrooms in more than 100 schools.Under this premise,I found that colleges and universities in Hunan Province,a small number of schools campaign launched Dragon and Lion,and they are mainly concentrated in the colleges and universities which set up professional sports;The participants of Dragon and Lion campaign are the students majored in sports;The students mainly take part in the"Branch of China University Sports Association Dragon and Lion";Teaching and training courses mainly in the form of Dragon and Lion Campaign is the main source of funding for school and paying performances.


1. WarㆍBuddhismㆍmourning in pre-modern societyThis article is to clarify that there is a descended thought up to today, like 'designation of national monument' with examples such as 'Goryo(spirit) belief' of the Heian age and 'Memorial service of enemy and our forces' of later age. Though its basi...


Portulaca pilosa L., belonging to the family Portulacaceae, is commonly known as Balibalua in Odia, Lunia in Hindi, Nunia sag in Bengali, Peddapavilikari in Telugu and kiss me quick in English. It is a warm-climate, herbaceous succulent annual weed with a cosmopolitan distribution. It is eaten extensively as a potherb and added in soups and salads around the Mediterranean and tropical Asian countries and has been used as a folk medicine in many countries. Diverse compounds have been isolated from P. pilosa , such as flavonoids, alkaloids, polysaccharides, fatty acids, terpenoids, sterols, proteins vitamins and minerals. P. pilosa possesses a wide spectrum of pharmacological properties including antibacterial, anti-ulcerogenic, anti-inflammatory,antioxidant, diuretics, analgesic, and wound-healing,properties. However, few molecular mechanisms of action are known. This review provides a summary of phytochemistry and pharmacological effects of this weed.


Objective To investigate the application of blood purification therapy in severe acute toxicity.Methods Among sixty subjects with severe acute poisoning,4 were treated with peritoneal dialysis(PD),11 with hemodialysis(HD),44 with hemoperfusionor(HP) and 1 with both hemoperfusion and hemodialysis.Results Among the sixty,one case with coma in PD group was treated to consciousness within 48.0 hours after treatment;One case with coma in HD group within 48.0 hours;22 cases with coma in HP group within 0.5~48.0 hours.59 cases healed completely;One case with rogor poisoning died of organophosphorus toxicity rebound.Conclusion Cure rate can be raised by blood purification,and HP is easy to operate and efficient in the treatment of toxicity of drug and poison.


Kawasaki disease (KD) is a disease that causes inflammation in blood vessels and can lead to serious heart problems, such as aneurysms. It is important to identify the disease quickly so that preventative measures can be taken. The main symptoms include fever, red eyes, swollen and red tongue, redness and swelling of the hands and feet, and swollen lymph nodes. If you notice these symptoms, seek medical attention immediately. Coronary CT angiography is a very effective test for detecting the presence of aneurysms and other cardiac complications in KD. Treatment includes immunoglobulin and aspirin, which help reduce inflammation in the blood vessels and minimize the risk of serious heart problems. To ensure good heart health in the long term, it is important to have regular follow-up with a cardiologist and undergo additional tests, such as exercise test, to monitor the evolution of the disease. If diagnosed early, KD can be treated successfully and prevent serious complications.


H-bridge-based single-phase applications have second-order harmonics on the dc-link voltage. Conventionally, the second-order harmonics are filtered by bulky dc capacitors to maintain the constant dc-link voltage, which results in poor power density and low reliability. However, in applications, such as the solid-state variable capacitor (SSVC), the constant dc-link voltage is unnecessary since the dc link is disconnected from the load or source. This article proposes a dc capacitor-less SSVC, which removes the dc capacitors from the topology. The dc voltage is supported by the ac-side voltage directly. Only a 0.03 per unit (p.u.) capacitor is needed to filter the switching-frequency harmonics. This enables the proposed SSVC to use the snubber capacitors to achieve the function of the 0.03-p.u. filtering capacitor. Other capacitors can be removed from the dc-link busbar. The modulation, modeling, and control strategy of the proposed dc capacitor-less SSVC are provided in this article. The proposed dc capacitor-less SSVC is validated by the experiment.


Along with the development of modern economic,urban transport development is not reasonable and cause a series of problems at the same time,and the transportation system for shunt passengers and goods worsen these phenomena.In developed countries,such as Europe,America and Japan,the research and construction of urban underground logistics system puts forward a new direction for modern city transport development.Based on the present situation and trend at home and abroad,the paper points out the comprehensive advantages of underground logistics system.Besides,the main problems of the construction of domestic underground logistics system is analyzed and some specific countermeasures are put forward.


The sorghum shootfly, Atherigona soccata Rondani, which was considerd as a minor pest in early forties in the Deccan Plateau (Ponnaiya 1951). has assumed the most serious status as the pest of sorphun. With the introduction of the high yielding varieties, the situation has further accentuated during recent years...


Abstract Library chat queries changed between the Spring 2018 and Spring 2019 semesters. During the Fall 2018 semester, the Library implemented two major services. Researchers saw trends associated with these services reflected in chats. Analysis examined how the frequency of controlled terms applied to chat transcripts changed before and after the services' implementation. During the Spring 2018 semester, 411 substantive chat conversations occurred. During the Spring 2019 semester, 237 substantive chat conversations occurred. The terms associated with the new services showed a dramatic decline in frequency. An association is strongly suggested between changes in chat frequency and new services.


ABSTRACT The molecular structures, spectra and properties of six chiralanes and chirolanes (approximately spheroidal, saturated, cage hydrocarbons) have been determined by density functional theory (DFT) quantum chemistry calculations. The main features determined are: molecular geometry, partial atomic charges, standard enthalpy of formation, IR, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and circular dichroism (CD) spectra. On the basis of the calculated standard enthalpies of formation and highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)–lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) gaps, we suggest that chiralanes/chirolanes are potential synthetic targets. We have calculated the anomalously large downfield 13C-NMR shifts for endohedral carbons in the spectra of [5.5] and [5.7]chiralanes.


With flocculent cells of Zymomonas mobilis levan was produced in a continuous upflow-tower fermentation with a productivity of up to 16 gl−1h−1. A large-scale process basing on whole Zymomonas cells is thought to be economical, if levan and ethanol production can be carried out simultaneously. Levan sucrase as the enzyme responsible for levan biosynthesis was purified and partially characterized.


The coastal response to local and remote wind forcing is examined using observations from the Coastal Dynamics Experiment (CODE) which took place on the northern California coast during 1981 and 1982. The responses to local and remote forcing are determined from multivariate statistical cross-spectral analysis covering periods from 12 to 2.5 days. Remote forcing is deduced from coastal sea level. This analysis leads to discovery of a mode of sea level variability, apparently a barotropic Kelvin wave, with much greater alongshore and across-shelf scales than those of coastally trapped waves; there is no measurable response to this mode in coastal temperature or velocity. Coastally trapped waves are also evident and have responses over the shelf much as predicted by theories which account for bottom friction. The local response to wind differs markedly from coastally trapped waves, showing the across-shelf flow responsible for upwelling, surface-intensified temperature fluctuations caused by advection and mixing and even the alongshore pressure gradient partly responsible for the across-shelf return flow which, on the largest scale, balances Ekman transport. Unfortunately, even the extensive CODE observations are inadequate to diagnose the dynamics of the across-shelf flow or accurately determine the cross-shelf heat flux supported by eddies and the fluctuating responses to local wind forcing.


ABSTRACTHandling the data sparseness question is a main way to further enhance the system performances of Head-driven statistical parsing models. Two smoothing methods are proposed to mitigate rema...


Early foreign language teaching is a widely discussed phenomenon. Its importance increases in the Kazakhstan context and with the ideas of multiculturalism and multilingualism. Despite many positive sides to standardizing early English language teaching in Kazakhstan many problems still remain to be tackled. The necessity of using communicative games in teaching English to primary school children is substantiated in the article. Complex of games for different stages of learning are described. Factors affecting communicative competence development are analyzed.


Capturing the dynamic properties of financial market volatility has always been very auspicious in asset pricing. The mean reverting properties of financial markets are of paramount importance for investment decision makers with far reaching implications. The purpose of this study was to investigate stochastic volatility in international financial markets during periods of financial distress. Accordingly, a Heston model was used to stochastic volatility in the CAC 40, DAX, JSE, Nasdaq Index and the Nikkei-225 during the 2007-2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. This study used January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021 and December 1, 2007 to June 30, 2009 as the sample period representing the Covid-19 pandemic and financial crisis respectively. The findings of this study revealed the extortionate stochastic volatility during the Covid-19 pandemic compared to the financial crisis. There will be slightly higher than normal arbitrage opportunities and mispricing in most financial markets as a result of the pandemic.


It refers to a double-deck bus chassis comprising four parts, such as front section assembly, middle section assembly, middle section near to the back end and the back section. The left side of the said back section chassis assembly is designed as truss structure where the engine assembly can be arranged lengthways and sideways deviating to the left; the right side of the said back end chassis assembly gives floor space, adopts through-beam and fully lower floor welded chassis and obligates 3 positions for passenger doors so that all the 3 passenger doors has one step. This model utility adopts welded pipe and beam frames for the lower floor and double deck bus chassis and resolves the issues that the head room in the upper and lower layer of the double deck bus is too lower in the past, the passengers get on and off the bus slowly and inconveniently and the chassis is not strong enough, etc..


The invention discloses a camera movement detection system in a monitoring system and a method, and the system comprises an image segmenting module, a feature extracting module, a feather point matching module, a motion vector filtering module, a background segmenting module and a movement judging module, wherein the image segmenting module is used for segmenting images of a reference frame and asubsequent frame; the feature extracting module is used for extracting the features of the images of the reference frame and the subsequent frame; the feature point matching module is used for searching out the matching point corresponding to the candidate feather point in each small area of the subsequent frame from the reference frame; the motion vector filtering module is used for filtering out the feature points which are in mistaken matching in the a motion vector field; the background segmenting module is used for separating out the background images and accumulating the static accumulation times of each small area in the background images; and the movement judging module is used for marking each feature point based on the area positions, accumulating the feature points of which themotion vector is zero, and judging whether a camera moves or not. By the system and method in the invention, the slow movement of a camera in a monitoring system can be detected.


Land and building tax is local revenue that is collected from the community for land and building ownership. The rationality of the people in this study is shown in the form of public awareness in accepting and paying land and building taxes. The purpose of this study is to explain how people are invited to participate rationally in increasing land and building taxes and being obedient in paying taxes. The research method used in this study uses  quantitative methods. The results of the statistical test show that the variable bearing power has a positive and significant effect on the awareness as well as the benefits of taxes variable which has a positive and significant effect on the awareness as a manifestation of community participation and mutual cooperation under Development.


Recently, algebras of conditional expressions or conditional events compatible with all possible conditional probability evaluations have begun to be developed. Following a brief overview of the main results, two new properties are also demonstration extension of the standard normal disjunctive form expansion to a conditional event setting and a basic connection between the two leading conditional event algebras, showing that one can be considered a weighted averaging of the other in an algebraic sense. However, because of the inherent non-Boolean structure of all of the current approaches, a number of difficulties have arisen, including the issues of higher order conditioning modeling, defining of conditional random variables, and relations to likelihood forms via standard numerically-oriented probability. By taking a fresh approach, based on a product probability space formation, a sounder theory can be established, though it entails significantly more computations.<<ETX>>


The microstructure and galvanic corrosion resistance properties of die cast AZ91-xCe(cerium) magnesium alloys were studied by microanalysis,galvanic corrosion test and analysis of anodic polarization curves,where x is 0,0.85,1.7wt.%,respectively.The results indicate that Ce sufficiently refines α-Mg and β-Mg17Al12 grains,forms intermetallics Al11Ce3 in needles and particles in AZ91 and improves the galvanic corrosion resistance of AZ91 due to optimization of alloy microstructure,decrease of active points on surface and formation of corrosion product films containing Ce oxide.


While approximations are used frequently in science, high school students may be unaware of the use of approximations in science, the motivation for their use, and the limitations of their use. In the article, we consider the use of approximations in a high school chemistry class as opportunities to increase student understanding of the use of approximations in science.


With the increasing availability of high dimensional data and demand in sophisticated data analysis algorithms, manifold learning becomes a critical technique to perform dimensionality reduction, unraveling the intrinsic data structure. The real-world data however often come with noises and outliers, seldom, all the data live in a single linear subspace. Inspired by the recent advances in sparse subspace learning and diffusion-based approaches, we propose a new manifold denoising algorithm in which data neighborhoods are adaptively inferred via sparse subspace reconstruction, we then derive a new formulation to perform denoising to the original data. Experiments carried out on both toy and real applications demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, it is insensitive to parameter tuning and we show significant improvement over the competing algorithms.


The booming optics manufacturing industry is suffering from a severe shortage of skilled technicians. The registered Optics Manufacturing Technician apprenticeship is a structured "earn and learn" solution that combines on-the-job learning with related technical instruction.


This article investigates the lantern slide collections of the London Royal Geographical Society (RGS), a prominent British society dedicated to the promotion of geographical exploration and science, across the period of the First World War. It outlines some of the salient features of the lantern slide collections and how they evidence the changing purposes of the RGS, conceptualizations of space and geography and their communities of producers and consumers from 1914 to 1918. The inclusion of illustrated war propaganda lectures in the Society's popular evening meetings is discussed. The full admission to the Society in 1913 of women and their coming to prominence within RGS activities during the conflict is also explored. The use of lantern slides by female lecturers is investigated, as is the acquisition of their slides by the RGS. The focus in this period on subjects of aviation and human geography in the RGS Research Department lectures is also examined in relation to changing practices of exploration, representation and notions of science within British academia.


The admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a post-operative patient is to optimize clinical status by correcting disorders related to surgical stress and intraoperative complications. The objective of the study was to characterize the postoperated patients who entered to the ICU. An observational, descriptive, crosssectional study was conducted in 163 post-operative patients of elective surgeries that entered ICU. The sample represented the 4.6% of elective surgeries, 94.5% was planned admissions and 5.5% unexpected. Within the expected cases (n-154), 68% entered stable and extubated for monitoring, 19% for hemodynamic instability and 13% for impossibility of extubation. The average number of days of ICU internment were 4 ± 3 days and seven patients died (4,3%). In conclusion, a high frequency of expected admissions was found. Most of them were for postoperative monitoring by the size of the surgery or by the patient's comorbidity. Most patients entered hemodynamically stable and extubated. The services that required most admittances Delgado W, et al Caracterización de pacientes postoperados de cirugías electivas ... Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud. Abril 2021; 19(1):86-91 87 were General Surgery and Neurosurgery. The average hospitalization time were 4 days and mortality was 4.3%.


The demographic and socioeconomic impacts of the baby boomer generation turning 65 in 2011 will be magnified in rural areas where elderly are already disproportionately represented. The overall goal of a collaborative, community-based project was to improve the health literacy, health outcomes, and overall well-being of rural elderly in four small, rural communities. The methodology involved implementing four documented interventions working with Extension agents, senior center directors, librarians, and public health nurses in the communities. Extension can play a critical leadership role working with other key community stakeholders in improving health literacy, health and well-being of rural elderly.


ABSTRACT This essay brings together the work of two analysts writing about the performative dynamics of terrorism, while staging a creative act of their own. To illustrate the psychoanalyst's writing process as a creative performance, I examine Shatan's (1989) "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and Chassay's (2006) "Death in the Afternoon," both addressing unassimilable loss, psychical annihilation, and massive destruction. Beyond exploring these topics, these articles call for a witness to bear the dread that they represent. At a deeper level, Shatan's and Chassay's writing is also an act of working through their own experiences as bearers of atrocities. To conclude, I propose that immersing readers in the raw imagery of analysts' suffering carries healing potential, yet it puts the analyst at risk of being silenced by the repudiation of the image that she is unveiling.


In this paper we analyze trading behaviour in an economy with substantial individual heterogeneity and individual agent- specific endowment risks. We establish that markets can be made effectively complete with a very small number of assets. In particular, if full insurance contracts are available, agents will only actively trade in two assets: a mutual fund and a bond. We also establish that contrary to standard results in the insurance demand literature, agents' optimal insurance demand can include in equilibrium full insurance in the presence of insurance prices which are actuarially unfair and that this demand will be independent of the correlation of insurance payments and the payments of other assets. Finally, we introduce asymmetric information concerning agents' risks into the economy and we show that adding a restriction on agents' possible insurance trades rather than introduce additional inefficiencies serves to ensure the attainability of efficient net trades.


Depending on the imaging modality used, between 19% (with chest radiographs) [1] and 54% (with ultrasound) [2] of patients with community-acquired pneumonia have an accompanying pleural effusion. Most previous studies on parapneumonic effusions have focused on the necessity of fluid drainage [3, 4], with less attention being paid to the prognostic aspects. However, pleural infection (a term indistinctly used for parapneumonic effusions and empyemas) remains a serious condition associated with significant healthcare resource utilisation that portends a non-negligible mortality. In a large Danish registry of 6878 hospitalised patients with empyema the crude 30-day mortality was about 10%, though it ranged from 1.2% in those younger than 40 years to 20.2% in those aged ≥80 years [5]. Supportively, in two large series of patients with pleural infections, the reported 30-day mortality rate was roughly 14% [6, 7]. Generally, figures for long-term prognosis are worse, with an observed 3-month and 1-year mortality of 23% and 42%, respectively, in an Australian series of 561 adults with culture-positive pleural infections, two-thirds of which were hospital-acquired [8]. Moreover, a recent systematic review totalling 227 898 patients with pleural infections found the median prevalence of pre-existing comorbidities (mainly respiratory and cardiac diseases) to be as high as 72%, while the median length of hospital stay was 19 days [9]. The RAPID score can estimate short-term mortality in patients with pleural infections and should be considered the "gold standard" for outcomes assessment in this population https://bit.ly/31XctMK


Ag2Se dendrites and nanoparticles were successfully fabricated through a rapid one-pot microwave-assisted solution method using EDTA as complexing agent and formamide as solvent and reducing agent. The as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) techniques. On the basis of the experimental observations, an in situ template growth mechanism was proposed to explain the formation of the Ag2Se dendrites and nanoparticles. Moreover, the electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient were investigated over the temperature range of 300–600 K to determine the impact of particle size and morphology on the electrical performance. The maximum power factor of 1.84 × 10−3 Wm−1 K−2 was obtained at 400 K for Ag2Se dendrites, which is about 20% larger than that of Ag2Se nanoparticles. The reasons of enhanced electrical performance were also carefully discussed in the paper.


This paper discusses path delay analysis programs as an alternative to detailed logic simulation for finding timing problems in logic networks. Fundamentals of path delay analysis are reviewed, and several previously reported methods are surveyed. This is followed by a more detailed description of a delay analysis program that we have recently implemented. Our implementation uncovers a wide variety of timing problems and has a run time that is linearly proportional to the number of gates in the network. Other principle features are that timing information loss is minimized by treating 0-to-1 and 1-to-0 delays separately, and the user is given the capability of selectively disabling paths in order to discover timing problems that would otherwise remain hidden.


【The piezoelectric properties of the PT-PZ-PNN system ceramics were investigated depending on the variati on of the grain size. The grain size was varied by sintering temperature, and additive. The effect of the grain size on the electrical, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties was studied with respect to the feasibility of the application for the piezoelectric transformer. Grain size increased as the PMW contents increased. The smaller the particle size used, the smaller the grain size obtained. Specimens are densily sintered. Dielectric and piezoelectric properties are not always improved in proportion to the grain sizes. When he particle size are fine and the grain size are increased properly with the optimum additives, the piezoelectric preperties have good values. the specimen sintered at 1200 $\^{C}$ with PMW 2 mol% and MnO $\_$ 2/ 0.5wt% contents exhibited good piezoelectric properties for a piezoelectric transformer.】


Functional zoning provides a basis for establishing a regional development layout with clear functions, reasonable division of labor, and complementary advantages. In the process of urban development, a large number of behaviors such as occupying ecological land and generating a lot of pollution cause damage to the urban ecological environment. Functional zoning of the ecological environment has become an important tool used by the local and central governments to establish a harmonious relationship between socio-economic welfare and the ecological environment in recent years. Guided by the concepts and principles of ecological function zoning, this study applies and extends the methodological approach of ecological function zoning to the scale of urban space. Based on consideration of an evaluation of ecological environment sensitivity, ecosystem service function importance, and socio-economic coercion, this paper divides urban space into four types, namely: ecological environment restoration zone, ecological economy bearing zone, ecological environment preservation zone, and ecological environment protection zone, utilizing a mutually exclusive matrix classification. Taking Taizhou in Jiangsu Province as a pilot study, this paper verifies the actual application of a theoretical model and its technicalities, thus advancing the general case for function zoning of the ecological environment. Furthermore, it outlines measures for ecological environment protection and the industrial development orientation of each function area, thus providing a scientific basis for Taizhou's ecological city development and construction.


Since social change has impacted Muslim marriages, traditional pre-marital counselling is being influenced by the formalized one. But the establishment of a pre-marital counselling centre by a woman in the Muslim community is what aroused the interest to investigate this phenomenon. This paper discusses the practices of the Aluwanka (traditional pre-marital counsellor) and assesses the formalized type by Hajia Memuna Maliki. We argue that though Hajia Memuna Maliki has attempted to bring pre-marital counselling to the Muslim community particularly women, she faces several challenges as with any new development and must be assisted by stakeholders to perform better.


Callous-unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., lack of guilt and empathy) are a risk fac-tor associated with antisocial behavior. Youth with CU traits can be differentiated by varying levels of co-occurring anxiety. In this study, we examined CU variants in incarcerated adolescent females (n = 109) and their associations with emotional and behavioral problems and history of maltreatment. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with a subsample of the participants ( n = 13). Participants with CU traits and anxiety had similar levels of conduct problems compared to individuals with high CU traits without anxiety, but they reported more childhood maltreatment (especially sexual abuse).


and exceeded 0.1 N/m 2 , vertical mixing occurred, the two-layered flow pattern disappeared, and currents were directed alongshore with the wind at all sites and throughout the water column. In the fall, near-bed flows close to the shore (water depth <7 m) were often reduced compared to or opposed those measured farther offshore under southwestward winds. A simplified analysis of the depth-averaged, alongshore momentum balance illustrates that the alongshore pressure gradient approached or exceeded the magnitude of the alongshore wind stress at the same time that the nearshore alongshore current opposed the wind stress and alongshore currents farther offshore. In addition, the analysis suggests that the wind stress is reduced closer to shore so that the alongshore pressure gradient is large enough to drive the flow against the wind.


Keyword search has been known as an attractive search over databases. One of the challenges in keyword search is to rank the answers (subgraphs) of a keyword query in order to their relevance to the query. Most of the previous studies in this area are highly heuristic ranking functions which were proposed based on a confined analysis of the characteristics of answers. These functions usually reveal serious effectiveness problems due to their failure in recognising the conceptual differences between relatively similar answers. In this article, we propose a novel model-based method to improve the ranking accuracy of answers to a keyword query using pseudo-relevance feedback. The proposed method is built upon a carefully designed model for an answer called Structure-Aware Relevance Model which is estimated based on the textual and structural characteristics of the answer. In this article, we also study how to effectively select from feedback answers those words that are focused on the query topic based on placement and importance of words in the nodes of feedback answers. Extensive experiments conducted on a standard evaluation framework with three real-world datasets confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Small claim lawsuit can help people get relief and reduce procedure burden.It is very important to make common person to protect rights easily and efficiently,maintain the social stability.It also takes play the biggest function of the law and the idea of law can take strong root.


YBaCuO films were deposited on Si and MgO substrates by RF sputtering in Ar + O{sub 2} ambient. Composition in the film is quite different from that of the target. Interfacial reactions between the film and Si or MgO substrates has been investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. After the annealing at 800{degrees}-900{degrees}C, it has been confirmed that Cu atoms diffuse into the substrate. However, by depositing a Cu interfacial layer between YBaCuO film and the substrate, Cu diffusion is suppressed and the stoichiometric superconducting phase of Y:Ba:Cu = 1:2:3 is formed.


The complete nucleotide sequence of the cloned hepatitis B virus subtype adrDNA pADR-1 was determined by using Maxam and Gilbert's method and brieflyreported in this article.It is 3215 nucleotides long.The nucleotide differences are9.7% between pADR-1 and ayw,9.3% between pADR-1 and adw,while therestill is about 2% dieffrence between pADR-1 and pHBr330 reported by Ono.Thiscomfirms the heterogeneity among the variants of the same HBV subtype,Detaileddata will be published.


A multipath expansion-type multiple screen splicer comprises a splicer mainboard. The splicer mainboard is provided with eleven input card slots, ten output card slots, and one control card slot. Each of the input card slots, the output card slots, and the control card slot is provided with two card boards. The card boards of each input card slot are both provided with four terminals HDMIIN, VGAIN, VIDEOIN, and DVIOUT. The card boards of each output card slot are provided with output terminals matched with the card boards of the input card slots. The card boards of the input card slots receive video signals of a video matrix. The card boards of the output card slots are connected with a spliced screen through a data line. The card boards of the control card slot are connected with a control host. The multiple paths of signals of the video matrix can be processed and displayed at the same time. The splicer also has an expansion function and supports more video input and output.


The results of the study show that the updated ATN grading system is an accurate and reliable tool to classify patients with pathologic myopia. These findings show that best-corrected visual acuity is more compromised in eyes with severe pathologic myopia, particularly those graded ≥A3 or T3 Purpose: To assess the reliability of the atrophy-traction-neovascularization (ATN) classification in patients with pathologic myopia (PM) and its correlation with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Methods: Cross-sectional study. Hundred highly myopic eyes with a spherical equivalent of >−6.0 diopters or axial length of >26 mm and a total ATN score of ≥3 underwent a complete ophthalmological examination, including fundus photography and swept-source optical coherence tomography. Five observers graded each eye using the ATN system. Mean A, T, and N scores were calculated and correlated with age, BCVA (in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution), and axial length. Patients were considered to present severe PM if either A or T components were ≥3 and/or N was ≥2. Results: Hundred eyes (53 left) from 91 patients (78 women) were classified. Mean age, BCVA, and axial length values were, respectively, 65.1 ± 11.7 years (range, 36–97 years), −0.63 ± 0.62 (−3.00 to 0.00), and 29.26 ± 2.7 mm (26.01–37.66 mm). Mean ATN grades for each component were as follows: A = 2.51 ± 0.78 (0.6–4.0), T = 0.88 ± 1.14 (0.0–5.0), and N = 1.31 ± 1.40 (0.0–3.0). Weighted interobserver agreement was 98.1%, 98.7%, and 94.6%, for A, T and N, respectively. In eyes with severe PM, BCVA was significantly lower and axial length was significantly longer. Conclusion: The excellent interobserver rate in this study demonstrates that the updated ATN grading system is an accurate and reliable tool to classify patients with PM. These findings show that BCVA is more compromised in eyes with severe PM, particularly those graded ≥A3 and/or T3.


This study assessed factors influencing the use of internet-based mobile phone apps on employees on job commitment in agriculturalresearch institutes in Oyo State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 94 employees. The data were obtainedthrough a structured questionnaire and analyzed using percentages, chi-square analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). Result showed that Whatsapp ( x =3.32), Emails (x =3.23) and Opera mini(x =3.23) were the most frequently used internet-based mobile phone apps. The use of internet-based mobile apps enhances their job commitments ( x =3.86) while using internet-based mobile apps saves time (x =3.54). Fluctuations of internet connectivity (x =2.71) and epileptic power supply ( x =2.36) were factors influencing the use of internet-based mobile phone apps. Significant relationship (P≤0.05) existed between employees use of whatsApp (χ2=9.80), Email (χ2=6.60) and Instagram (χ2=-16.0) and job commitment. PCA reveals that fluctuation of internet connectivity (0.78) was the major determinants of employees' use of internet-based mobile phone apps. It was concluded that whatsapp and emails positively influenced employees' commitment to their job with favourable and positive perceive ease of use of these internet-based mobile apps. Therefore, the study recommended that stable and functional internet facilities should be in agricultural research institutes to enable  employees  explore the potentials of internet-based mobile phone apps.
Keywords: Internet-based mobile phone apps, job commitment, employees, agricultural research institutes


Fatigue limit for drawn steel wire used for wire rope application is vital in determining its overall usage. The properties will determine the long-term reliability assessment of the drawn steel wire rope. The methodology is based on the computed local stress field in the critical trellis contact zone of a stranded wire rope by FE simulations and the estimated fretting damage of the drawn wire material. The result obtained by stress ratio of 0.1 and 0.25 shows an increase in the lifecycle of the wire when greater stress ratio used. The stress concentration obtained through computational effort that is based on strain and compared with the original input file gave approximately 4 times higher the stress concentration in the grip region. The fatigue limit for applied stress ratio from the experiment based on the previous test was determined at 400 MPa.Fatigue limit for drawn steel wire used for wire rope application is vital in determining its overall usage. The properties will determine the long-term reliability assessment of the drawn steel wire rope. The methodology is based on the computed local stress field in the critical trellis contact zone of a stranded wire rope by FE simulations and the estimated fretting damage of the drawn wire material. The result obtained by stress ratio of 0.1 and 0.25 shows an increase in the lifecycle of the wire when greater stress ratio used. The stress concentration obtained through computational effort that is based on strain and compared with the original input file gave approximately 4 times higher the stress concentration in the grip region. The fatigue limit for applied stress ratio from the experiment based on the previous test was determined at 400 MPa.


Readily synthesized monosubstituted aliphatic acyclic carboxamides have a physiological cooling effect similar to that obtained with menthol. Among the monosubstituted aliphatic acyclic carboxamides, WS-231 (2-isopropyl-N,2,3-trimethylbutyramide, (2) is a nearly odorless white powder, characterized by a high cooling capacity with no side effects such as burning, stinging, or tingling sensations. It has been used as a coolant in medicinal preparations, oral care products, foodstuffs, drinks, tobacco products, cosmetics, toiletries, and confectionery products. It has been synthesized2 by the Ritter reaction of 2,2diisopropylpropionitrile (1) with methanol in the presence of acid (Scheme 1). Although 2,2-diisopropylpropionitrile (1) is commercially available, it is very expensive, hence, it was our endeavor to develop an eco-friendly methodology for its preparation in good yields.


Objective To estimate the present salt iodine content and iodine nutrition need of high risk population of iodine deficiency disorder in Meixian County. Methods Each primary school was selected from urban and rural areas(Xiyang Town, 20 kilometers away from Meixian County), the goiter rate of 8 to 10 year-old students was examined and urinary iodine and household salt iodine was sampled. Twenty to 40 year-old women of childbearing age nearby schools around the urban and villages around Xiyang Town were selected to collect their urine and salt samples. At urban hospitals and rural health centers, 0 to 2 year-old infant urine samples were collected, Thyroid gland was palpated and urinary iodine was determined by iodine in urine by As3+-Ce4+catalytic spectrophotometry, salt iodine was determined by direct titration. Results The goiter rates of 8 to 10 year-old students were 1.5 % (3/200), 1.0% (1/100) for the urban area and 2.0% (2/100) for rural area. Median of urinary iodine in 8 to 10 year-old students, infants, women of childbearing age averaged at 237.1 μg/L and 280.1, 234.7,187.6 μg/L respectively, with each being 287.4,245.0,205.5 μg/L in urban area and 278.9,228.5,176.4 μg/L in rural area. Women of childbearing age had a higher percentage of urinary iodine 300.0 μg/L was more in infants than in students, that in students was more than that in women of childbearing age, each being 33.0% (33/100), 30.0% (60/200),22.5% (45/200). The median of salt iodine was 27.2 mg/kg. The coverage of iodized salt was 100.0%(400/400). Ninty-seven percent(194/200) and 96.0% (192/200) of qualified iodized salt were consumed in urban area and in rural area. Conclusions The amount of iodine added to salt meets the requirement in the 3 kinds population risk of iodine deficiency disorder. But a higher iodine status has been found out in students and infants. It is reasonable to decrease the present salt iodine content.

Key words:
Child;  Infant;  Women;  Iodine;  Nutrition assessment