Background Early administration of antibiotics in septic shock is associated with decreased mortality. Promptly identifying sepsis and eliciting a response are necessary to reduce time to antibiotic administration. Methods A best-practice advisory was introduced in the surgical intensive care unit to identify patients with septic shock and promote timely action. The best-practice advisory is triggered by blood culture orders and vasopressor administration within 24 h. The nurse or provider who triggers the alert may send an automatic notification to the intensive care unit resident, clinical pharmacist, and charge nurse, prompting bedside response and closer evaluation. Patients who met best-practice advisory criteria in the surgical intensive care unit from May 2016 through March 2017 were included. Outcomes included changes in antibiotics within 24 h, response to best-practice advisory, and time-to-antibiotics. Time-to-antibiotics was compared between a retrospective pre-intervention period and a six-month prospective post-intervention period defined by launch of the new best-practice advisory in September 2016. Data were analyzed by chi square, Mann–Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis. Results During the first six months of best-practice advisory implementation, 191 alerts were triggered by 97 unique patients. Alert notification was transmitted in 79 best-practice advisories (41%), with pharmacist bedside response in 53 (67%). New antibiotics were started within 24 h following 83 best-practice advisories (43%). There was a trend toward decreased time-to-antibiotics following implementation of the best-practice advisory (7.4 vs. 4.2 h, p = 0.057). Compared to the entire cohort, time-to-antibiotics was shorter when the team was notified and when a pharmacist responded to the bedside (4.2 vs. 1.6 vs. 1.2 hours). Conclusions A new best-practice advisory has been effective at eliciting a rapid response and reducing the time-to-antibiotics in surgical intensive care unit patients with septic shock. Team notification and pharmacist response are associated with decreased time-to-antibiotics.


Impact Assessment of Land Use Changes 21 Poverty, food insecurity, uncontrolled land conversions, loss of biodiversity, pressure on forested areas: they are part of an unsustainability spiral in developing countries. Therefore, enhancement of sustainable development is an important issue in developing countries. Land use patterns and land use changes are considered critical to sustainable development. In the EU-funded LUPIS project (Land Use Policies and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries; www.lupis.eu) we will develop integrated assessment tools to address the impact of land use policies and global trends on sustainable development in the context of a range of developing countries. Attention will be given to both natural and agricultural ecosystems. Building blocks for this project are the methodologies developed in the EU Projects SENSOR (www.sensorip.org) and SEAMLESS (www.seamless-ip.org). The SENSOR methodology develops ex-ante impact assessment tools for EU policies related to land use at regional scale, with a focus on crosssectoral trade-offs and sustainability side-effects. The SEAMLESS methodology targets at assessing agricultural and environmental policies and agricultural innovations at multiple scales. In LUPIS, a framework is developed to enable complementary use of the methodologies from SENSOR and SEAMLESS and other tools for assessment of land use policies in developing countries (i.e. China, India, Indonesia, Mali, Kenya, Tunisia and Brazil). The framework comprises guidelines on how to set up a case study, derive scenarios, select indicators and select assessment tools (models or knowledge rules), and how to perform a sustainability impact assessment. A common indicator framework is used for all the case studies, including environmental, economical, social and institutional indicators. The selection of assessment tools can vary per case study and depends on data and model availability. A common procedure is used for the post-modelling phase of sustainability impact assessment, which allows a cross-country comparative analysis of the impact of different scenarios and land use policies on sustainable development.


The Japanese lesson study model is the major form of professional development and a teacher-led instructional improvement cycle. This paper describes collaboration between researcher and teachers/practitioners on lesson study at Dhankaka CRC. The purposes of the project were to introduce lesson study approach to teaching-learning of science and mathematics, and to clarify the effect of lesson study centered in-service training of teachers by the cluster resource center (CRC) system. Moreover, the pilot work aimed to see the effectiveness of lesson study in one of the school cluster centre. Data on the pilot work show that the lesson study was positive. The approach has created better opportunity for both teachers and student. It was noted from reflections that teachers' lesson study activities helped them to develop the kinds of instructional and subject matter knowledge that are goals of teacher professional development. Five issues/concerns are suggested from this research: The need for guidelines/handbooks for lesson study to support discussion of lessons, observation of students, write-up of lessons; research on the design of professional development or lesson study experiences; model development and evaluation strategies; teaching-learning facilities/technological aids, and finally it is necessary to implement the lesson study in more sample schools with close follow-up and assessing the effectiveness to carry out workshops and training programs for teachers on lesson study.


Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is a magnetic resonance imaging technique which is sensitive to the molecular motion of water and allows measurements of anisotropy (the directionality) of water diffusion.1 Measurements of anisotropy provides information about tracts, because water molecules travel predominantly parallel but not perpendicular to tracts.2 The anisotropy of diffusion can be …


China owned the rich cherry plant resources while the cultivated species for landscaping are relative rare.Based on the analysis of the current status of sakura cultivation,sakura park construction,as well as investigating the planting form and configuration features of sakura in the sakura park construction process,the basic principles that sakura park construction should be based on the local sakura species,and combination with the natural scenes and cultural characteristics were proposed.


nervous system may have a bearing on the production of " functional hyperinsulinism." Cori (1931) in an extensive review concluded that vagal impulses play a part in the finer regulation of the insulin production, and Cannon et al. (1924) have shown that nervous control of the adrenal medulla via the splanchnic nerves ensures a rapid adrenaline response. It can well be appreciated how the continuance of abnormal stress in a susceptible individual may give rise to abnormality or instability in the control of these opposing impulses by the hypothalamic region. The terminal stages of the glucosetolerance test is illustrative of this.


RANDOM SEARCH CONFORMATIONAL ANALYSIS OF PIPERAZINE AND PIPERADINE ANALOGS OF GBR12909: IMPLICIT AQUEOUS SOLVATION EFFECTS by William A. Roosma The object of this work was to study the effect of solvent on the conformational potential energy surface (PES) of GBR12909 analogs. Local minima on the PES's were found by the Random Search algorithm using the Sybyl molecular modeling package from Tripos, Inc., and an implicit solvent model. Two force-field/charge models were employed in the analysis: the Tripos force field with Gasteiger-Hűckel charges and the MMFF94 force field with MMFF94 charges. The effect of solvent on the location of minima in multi-dimensional torsional angle space was studied by comparison to the vacuum phase results. Minima were plotted in torsional angle space using successive pairs of torsional angles. The results showed that, at least for the simple implicit solvent model used here, solvation does not significantly affect the location of the conformational minima for either of the two analogs investigated. With the MMFF94 model, some of the conformational energy minima were found in a narrower range of torsional angle space in the solvent compared to the vacuum phase, while there were no consistent differences with the Tripos model. One notable exception was the Tripos solvent phase results for the piperadine analog where a cluster of minima was found in a region of torsional angle space where no minima were present in the original vacuum phase results. This is believed to be an anomaly arising from incomplete searching of the conformational PES of the molecule. This was supported by the results of a second vacuum phase random search, which were similar to those of the solvation case. Further study remains to be performed employing other more sophisticated solvation models and conformational search techniques. RANDOM SEARCH CONFORMATIONAL ANALYSIS OF PIPERAZINE AND PIPERADINE ANALOGS OF GBR12909: IMPLICIT AQUEOUS SOLVATION EFFECTS by William A. Roosma A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of New Jersey Institute of Technology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Computational Biology Department of Computer Science May 2004


Nanowires (NWs) are 1D confined nanostructures; this geometry gives them unique properties that have been exploited in fabrication of high-density and high-tech electronic devices. Current method to produce NWs cannot fabricate large-scale-aligned NW arrays with precise control of length, orientation, location, and number of NWs individually; these inabilities hinder application of NWs in practical electronics. This paper describes e-nanowire printing, a method to print highly aligned NWs on a large scale, and then reviews recent progress in various electronic applications with highly aligned NWs. Finally, future research is suggested to advance nanoelectronics.


The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) has fostered growing attention to real-time locating systems (RTLS) using radio frequency identification (RFID) for asset management, which can automatically identify and track gas leakage within indoor or confined environments. However, most of them are inappropriate for large-scale IoT applications owing to severe radio multipath, diffraction, and reflection. A newly fashioned RTLS using active RFID for the IoT (Internet of Things) has been used. To achieve fine-grained localization accuracy, ilocate presents the concept of virtual reference tags. To overcome signal multipath, ilocate employs a frequency-hopping technique to schedule RFID communication which presents the localization accuracy and the data transmission rate for large-scale active RFID


The effect of eutrophication on benthos is usually reported as negative. In the case of the Gulf of Gdansk, eutrophication has increased the availability of food resources to filter feeders such as mussels, affecting their physiology and vertical distribution. Comparative studies of the mussel Mytilus trossulus from two depth zones (10 m and 40 m) over a seasonal cycle revealed ecophysiologic differences between deep‐ and shallow‐water animals. For the same shell length, the shallow‐water mussels were heavier (dry weight = 0.004L2.297) and showed a higher weight index (dry weight/volume), averaging 3.8 ± 1.9 mg cm−3, than the deep‐water mussels (dry weight = 0.0002L1.726 and 2.5 ± 1.1 mg cm−3), primarily because of a nearly twofold greater carbohydrate store. In the shallow zone, females contained more carbohydrates (on average 5.8% dry weight) than males (3.8% dry weight) because females conserve energy for reproduction. Differences in physiologic variables, and subsequently physiologic performance of the mussels, were related to different nutritional conditions in the ambient water. The deep habitat had lower Chl a, averaging 1.1 mg L−1, total particulate matter (TPM) 4.3 mg L−1 and particulate organic matter (POM) 1.1% of TPM as compared with the shallow habitat, with average Chl a 2.5 mg L−1, TPM 4.9 mg L−1, and POM 1.5%. The eutrophication of the Gulf of Gdańsk has led to an increase in the food availability in the water column, which allowed efficient colonization of the deep zone by the mussels; however, the dominance of males over females (~3 : 1) suggests that the food sustains only spawning‐related metabolic demands and is not sufficient for energy conservation in this zone. Starch gel electrophoresis of eight enzyme loci showed no statistical differences in the allele and genotype frequencies between the shallow‐ and deep‐water mussels; thus, the differences in ecophysiologic traits between depths are due to acclimatization.


The purpose of this study is to establish a mode for teaching the "Social Studies Learning Field" and to justify its availability for cultivating democratic citizenship. Also, in order to be in accord with educational reform in Taiwan, in terms of Nine-year Coherent Curriculum, the similar curriculum, such as History, Geography, and Civic Morality, must be integrated.In order to reach the aim, a theoretical foundation on democracy instructional structure was worked out so that the panel members will be able to design the "Social Studies Learning Field" curriculum mode, including designing teaching materials and creating teaching methods. Then, it was emphasized on evaluating the "Social Studies Learning Field" curriculum mode through the experiment research method. After the teaching practice, a detail analysis about the results and effects of the "Social Studies Learning Field" curriculum mode was detected.In a short, this project includes four aims as follows:1. Work out a theoretical mode for the democracy education instructional structure.2. Develop the "Social Studies Learning Field" curriculum mode to justify the theoretical mode.3. Put the instructional structure into practice and correct or confirm its availability.4. Provide the final findings as a curriculum reform model in Taiwan.


The basic principles of the discrete duality and nonlinear monotone finite volume methods are combined in order to obtain a new monotone nonlinear finite volume method for the approximation of diffusion operators on general meshes. Numerical results highlight both the second‐order accuracy of this method on general meshes and its capability to deal with challenging anisotropic diffusion problems on various computational domains. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT Abstract Methods for the synthesis of N-acyl-α-triphenylphosphonio-α-amino acid esters and for displacement of the triphenylphosphonium group with oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen nucleophilic reagents were developed. These reactions opened up new routes for the synthesis of biologically important natural and unnatural nonproteinogenic α-amino acids by double functionalization of the glycine α-position with electrophilic and nucleophilic agents. N-Acyl-α-triphenylphosphonio-α-amino acid esters may be considered to be synthetic equivalents of the α-cation of α-amino acids.


AbstractMenopause is a sure time for every woman in middle age. The arrival of the menopause isaccompanied by changes in the decline in physical condition. This often causes anxiety for everywoman, especially those who are not ready to deal with it. This study aims to determine selfacceptanceand social support in relation to the adjustment of women who face menopause. This studyuses a quantitative approach, the population is women in RW 03 Bintara VIII, kelurahan BintaraBekasi Barat aged 47 - 52 years. A total of 152 people were taken using simple random samplingtechnique. Methods of data collection using a Likert model scale consisting of self-adjustment scaleadapted from the theory of Desmita (2016), self-acceptance scale compiled from the Supratiknyatheory (1995) and the scale of social support referred to by the theory of Sarafino and Smith (2012).Data analysis technique uses Pearson Product Moment correlation in SPSS 24.0 for Windowsprogram. The results of the analysis using regression obtained R value of 0.354 which means there isa significant positive relationship of self-acceptance and social support with self-adjustment. From theStepwise test found the contribution of self-acceptance and social support variables to adjustment is12.5%. The contribution of self-acceptance is greater than social support.


One of the most significant and difficult areas of computer vision is object detection, which is used in many aspects of daily life, including security monitoring, autonomous vehicle operation, and so on, to find instances of semantic objects belonging to a particular class. In this survey, we first look at the current approaches of typical detection models and discuss the benchmark datasets in order to comprehensively and deeply comprehend the major development status of the object detection pipeline. This project explains how convolutional neural network-based deep learning techniques are used for object detection. In this study, deep learning methods for cutting-edge object identification systems are evaluated. Any kind of visual medium is represented by a computer as a collection of numerical numbers. In order to inspect the contents of images, they need image processing techniques. In order to determine which is the quickest and most effective object detection algorithm, this research analyzes two popular algorithms: Single Shot Detection (SSD) and You Only Look Once (YOLO). The COCO (Common Object in Context) dataset is used in this comparative research to assess the effectiveness of the two algorithms and to analyze their strengths and weaknesses in terms of factors like accuracy, precision, and speed. Based on the findings analysis, it can be said that YOLO-v3 outperforms SSD in the same testing scenario. Keywords- Object Detection, Deep learning, CNN, COCO, YOLO, SSD


Objective:To prepare the polycaprolactone-silk fibroin-collagen electrospun nanofibrous scaffold and evaluate the growing and proliferation of oral keratinocytes on it.Method:The regenerated silk fibroin membrane,water-soluble collagen powder and polycaprolactone were dissolved in hexafluoro-isopropanol at the mass ratio of 1∶1∶4;1∶1∶8;1∶1∶10.Method of electrostatic spinning was used to prepare porous nanofiber scaffold of polycaprolactone-silk fibroin-collagen.The scaffold was observed by scanning electron microscope.The parameters of scaffold fiber diameter,porosity,water absorption rate,and tensile strength were detected.Oral keratinocytes were seeded on the electrospun scaffold and the cell proliferation was also evaluated by MTT method and scanning electron microscope.Result:The MTT results of biocompatibility showed that grafted collagen was obviously suitable for the growth of oral keratinocytes.The scanning electron microscope images showed that the fibers were smooth and uniform with the interwoven and porous morphology,and oral keratinocytes grew well on the scaffold.Conclusion:The nanofiber scaffold of polycaprolactone-silk fibroin-collagen prepared by the method of electrostatic spinning is safe,free of toxicity,and suitable for oral keratinocytes growth.It has good cytocompatibility and proper aperture and porosity,which is a potential scaffold carrier for tissue engineered urethra.


This paper introduces a smart home system with new user experience. The system uses the mobile smart terminal to recognize the smart appliance based on the real-time image of the smart appliance captured by the terminal, then the terminal generates a user-interface (UI) for the user to control the smart appliance recognized. Using this system, user no longer needs to search the smart appliance that he wants to control in the complicated menu, instead, he just use the camera to capture the image of the appliance, then he will gets the controlling UI of the appliance; it means that as long as you can see the appliance, then you can control it, and that is the "Visible-and-Controllable" effect.


Mastocytosis encompasses a spectrum of disorders that range from solitary cutaneous nodules to diffuse infiltration of skin associated with involvement of other organs. All the disorders are characterized by aggregates of mast cells in the dermis. Urticaria pigmentosa (UP) is the most common form of mastocytosis and occurs primarily in infants and children (1, 2). Herein, we report an infant with UP and rickets. To our best knowledge this association has not been reported previously in the literature. A 12-month-old boy presented with widespread pruritic skin lesions which were firstly noted at the age of three months. On personal history, he was nursed with breast milk until the age of six months, and later, other foods such as fruit, vegetable, starchy foods, meat, and egg were added to the breast milk; however, he did not receive vitamin supplementation. The family history was noncontributory. On physical examination, the weight and height were 8,600 g (10– 25th percentile) and 72 cm (10–25th percentile) respectively. Widespread pruritic skin lesions which were yellow-brown, irregularly bordered, and Darier's sign positive were diagnosed on the entire body, especially on the trunk and abdomen. Other systemic findings were normal. Laboratory studies disclosed hemoglobin 8.7 g/dl, leukocyte count 10,500/mm, and platelet count 310,000/mm. On peripheral blood smear, the morphological characteristics of red blood cells were hypochromia and microcytosis. Serum electrolytes, renal, and liver function tests were normal. Serum calcium, phosphorus, and alkaline phosphatase levels were 9.8 mg/dl, 3.9 mg/dl, and 1,401 U/L, respectively. Left wrist X-ray showed mild osteoporosis, and cupping and fraying of the distal ends of the radius and ulna. Histopathological examination of the skin revealed the presence of hyperchromatic cells which had ellipsoid or round nuclei and eosinophilic cytoplasm. Metachromasia was established by staining with Toluidine and Giemsa, all of these findings were consistent with UP (Fig. 1). The patient was diagnosed as having UP and rickets, based on the clinical and laboratory findings and given hydroxyzine and vitamin D. Marked improvement of cutaneous symptoms was noted during the follow-up. Aside from various system involvements in systemic mastocytosis, bone lesions which are detectable radiologically as osteoporotic or osteosclerotic may be observed (1). Primary bone mastocytosis produces diffuse or circumscribed osteogenic, osteolytic, or mixed lesions. While the pathogenesis of osteolytic forms can readily be explained by the actions of heparin and prostaglandins, that of the osteogenic forms is still mysterious (3). Evans et al. (4) reported an adult patient with systemic mastocytosis and osteosclerosis. Coindre et al. (5) reported an adult case of cutaneous mastocytosis associated with bone mastocytosis and osteomalacia. Our patient had only cutaneous findings of UP and no systemic involvement. We think that the association of UP and rickets is coincidence, because nutritional rickets caused by vitamin D deficiency is still a major problem in our country (6).


Introduction : Chronic rinosinositis(CRS) is estimated to affect almost 20% of the Portuguese population. There are patients whose symptoms are resistant to the medical and surgical treatments, frequently the reasons for this are unknown. There is the hypothesis of a possible relation between the gastroesofagic reflux (GER) and the above mentioned cases of rinosinositis resistant to treatment. The validation of this hypothesis rests in three assertions: 1) a higher prevalence of concurrency of GER and CRS, comparatively to the general population; 2) the existence of a physiopathological mechanism that explains this relation; 3) improvement of the clinical nasosinusal symptoms attributed to reflux after antireflux treatment. Materials and Methods: The articles analysed in this revision were identified through a systematic search, performed at PubMed and the terms of search used were "reflux", "antireflux therapy", "proton pump inhibitor", "sinusitis", and "rhinosinusitis" sinonasal. Results: The PubMed search resulted in 264 articles, from which were excluded all of those that were not originals, those unpublished in English or the ones that did not wish a study conducted in humans. A total of 18 articles were analysed. Conclusions: The articles published so far offer a weak and inconsistent support to a possible relation between the CRS and the GER. For the future, it is essential to perform randomized studies with proper control, based on standardized, precise and validated criteria.


Synthesis and Transformations of Isoxazolidine-Nucleosides

Reaction of the oxime 12 with formaldehyde, acetaldehyde or acetone in the presence of methacrylic acid methylester leads in a highly stereoselective 1,3 dipolar cycloaddition of the corresponding nitrones to the protected isoxazolidine ribosides 13, 14, 20, 21 and 26 (Scheme 1 and 2).

Using a new, mild procedure to effect detriylation, the cycloaddition products were transformed into the alcohols 16–19, 22–25 and 27.

Cleavage of a mixture of the glycosides 16 and 17 yielded the N-unsubstituted isoxazolidine 29 in 65% optical purity while the cleavage of 27 gave optically pure 28.

Alternatively, the isoxazolidine ribosides 13, 14, 16–18 and 26 were transformed via reductive cleavage of the isoxazolidine N-O bond and subsequent lactamization into the corresponding pyrrolidinone-ribosides 30, 33, 35, 42, 49 and 50, the ribitolyl pyrrolidinones 31, 34, 36–39 and 43–46 (see Scheme 4) and the ribitolyl isoxazolidine 47.


Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) causes early onset of neuromuscular fatigue. Peripheral electrophysiological explorations suggest that supra‐spinal alterations are involved through sensitive afferent pathways. As sensory input is projected over the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), S1 area involvement in inhibiting the central motor drive can be hypothesized. This study assessed cortical activity under a fatiguing NMES protocol at low frequency.


The diffraction of an X-ray narrow beam on a double crystal interferometer with one of crystals having a uniform strain gradient is studied. The diffracted wave amplitudes are calculated on the exit surface of the second crystal supposing that the X-ray scattering in both of the crystals takes place under the Borrmann-effect condition. Expressions for the period of the interference fringes depending on the strain degree in the concrete cases of a mechanically bent crystal and a crystal with temperature gradient are obtained. The possibility of determination of the crystal bending radius by the disappearance of the interference fringes is shown.

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This paper presents a fully optimized fuzzy proportional-integral-derivative with filter (FPIDF) load frequency controller (LFC) for enhancing the performance of a hybrid microgrid system. The Marine Predator Algorithm (MPA), a recent optimization algorithm, is used to optimize the gains as well as the input scaling factors and membership functions of the proposed fuzzy PIDF controller. The controller performance is tested on a two-area hybrid microgrid system containing various renewable energy sources and energy storage devices. The effectiveness of the MPA based FPIDF controller is compared with conventional PIDF and FPIDF controllers based on other heuristic techniques presented in literatures. Moreover, different scenarios are implemented in this study to verify the robustness and sensitivity of the proposed controller to different step load perturbations, system parameters variations, wind speed fluctuation and solar irradiance variation. The dynamic response of the system is compared using different controllers in terms of settling time, maximum overshoot and undershoot values. The results are presented in the form of time domain simulations conducted via MATLAB/SIMULINK.


In this paper, we implement a random subspace based algorithm to classify the plankton images detected in real time by the shadowed image particle profiling and evaluation recorder. The difficulty of such classification is compounded because the data sets are not only much noisier but the plankton are deformable, projection-variant, and often in partial occlusion. In addition, the images in our experiments are binary thus are lack of texture information. Using random sampling, we construct a set of stable classifiers to take full advantage of nearly all the discriminative information in the feature space of plankton images. The combination of multiple stable classifiers is better than a single classifier. We achieve over 93% classification accuracy on a collection of more than 3000 images, making it comparable with what a trained biologist can achieve by using conventional manual techniques.


Because of the nonlinear relationship between force and current/displacement, the performance of active magnetic bearing (AMB) systems based on local linearization varies greatly as the operating point of the spindle changes. However, consistent stiffness and displacement tracking performance are demanded for a grinding spindle with AMBs, especially when noncircular workpieces need grinding. Here, we analyze the influence of changing operating point on performance theoretically and present experimental confirmation of the analysis. Three linear compensation methods-minimum flux (MIF), constant flux sum (CFS), and constant flux product (CFP)-are explained and compared in terms of power loss and dynamic performance. In order to design stiffness easily and to guarantee system performance in the presence of model uncertainties and disturbance force, we adopted a microsynthesis controller. We performed some experiments to compare the dynamic performance of the three linear compensation methods. The results show that CFS and CFP have better dynamic performance than MIF. An AMB system based on global linearization yielded almost the same stiffness and displacement tracking performance, despite the change of operating point.


Study in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers is one focal point in optical electronics field recently. Its characteristics must be realized so that we study its applications. In the paper, the threshold, light output, mode, modulation, polarization, far field characteristics and thermal resistance effects are analyzed and generalized.


After much debate, national health insurance was excluded from the Economic Security Bill of 1935, which passed during the first administration of President Roosevelt. As Dr. Thomas B. Gore points out in an adjacent article, my paternal grandfather, Stewart R. Roberts, MD (1) (Figure (Figure11), was involved in this debate and took a rather contrary position as a physician.

Figure 1

Stewart R. Roberts, MD, 1878–1941.

Roberts was a member of two pertinent groups in this national debate, the Committee on the Cost of Medical Care (CCMC), organized in 1925, and the Medical Advisory Board, organized in 1934. He appears to have been strongly supportive of national health insurance and found himself in direct opposition to the American Medical Association (AMA) under the leadership of Dr. Morris Fishbein, who viewed such a plan as socialist, if not communist.

The CCMC final report in 1932 highlighted the disconnect between lay reformers, who generally wanted national health insurance, and physicians, who generally opposed that level of governmental involvement. Some physicians, however, including Roberts, went against the majority view within the medical profession. In his 1999 book, …And the Pursuit of National Health, Jaap Kooijman described the circumstance:

The polarization within the medical profession reappeared, however, with a statement by Dr. Stewart Roberts, who bitterly criticized the obstinate position of the AMA. When in 1932 he had signed the CCMC majority report [written by lay members and physicians, advocating national health insurance], Roberts had been, as he claimed, condemned by the editorials in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The medical profession's obstruction had to stop, Roberts argued: "Now this American Medical Association, we doctors of America, are on trial in this room this afternoon. If we obstruct and reason and dally, we are going to receive the contempt of the American people, and will rightly deserve it" (2).

The Medical Advisory Board, organized in 1934 and composed of 11 physicians, appeared to favor the expansion of existing public health services, as an alternative to a national health insurance plan. The "round robin" letter generated by the board (Figure (Figure22) recommended that "experiments in voluntary insurance" be done first, before establishing compulsory health insurance. Roberts was the only board member who did not evidently support this cautious position.

Figure 2

Round robin letter from the Medical Advisory Board in 1935 with recommendations concerning national health.

My paternal grandfather disliked Roosevelt, but I thought it was because the USA was being drawn into a Second World War in Europe (through the lend-lease program, etc.), an inevitability which my grandfather, an isolationist, like Charles Lindbergh, opposed. The attack on Pearl Harbor, which occurred after my grandfather's death in 1941, would certainly have changed this view.

What did not occur to me until Dr. Gore shared his research was that my grandfather probably disliked Roosevelt more for excluding a national health insurance plan in his Economic Security Bill of 1935. I am grateful to Dr. Gore for reminding us of these national deliberations, which occurred some 80 years before the Affordable Care Act of 2010. It proves again that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).


Using alternative scenarios of possible future conditions, this utility has now developed contingency plans to meet long‐term demand in the most efficient and economical manner.


The influence of the absolute junction temperature Tj* on IGBT power module lifetime was systematically investigated by means of active power cycling tests. Both the impact on the wire bond lift-off and the chip solder degradation mechanism could be determined separately by applying the concept of separating failure modes. The test results not only prove that classical lifetime models overestimate the influence of Tj*, but also show that the two dominant failure mechanisms have to be treated differently. The wire bond lift-off failure mode is weakly affected by the absolute temperature level and possesses a very small activation energy of 0.069 eV. The solder degradation mode exhibits a significantly larger activation energy of 0.159 eV, which results in a massive decrease (factor 3) in power cycling capability when increasing Tj* by 85 K. For junction temperatures above 175°C SnAg-based solder joints are no longer suitable for reliable power module designs and advanced die attach technologies such as silver sintering have to be deployed. For the description of such advanced power modules specific lifetime curves are under development which exclusively represent the pure wire bond lifetime, as for common power cycling conditions the silver sintered die attach is not subjected to ageing.


The cell cytosolsuperoxidedismutase(SODase)con tentof 46 humantumorswasinvestigated. Theextraction procedure of McCord and Fridovich was used with the epinephrineassayof MisraandFridovich (J. Biol.Chem., 247: 3170-3175, 1975). The purpose of the study was to determine whetherSODase couldbe reliablyassayed from small, biopsy-sizedpiecesof tumor(0.5 to I .0 g). In mostcasesit was possibleto examinedlargermasses of tumor,whichservedas a controlof the methodology. In thispreliminarystudySODasevalues,calculatedfrom a standardcurve derived from purified bovine blood SODasewitha specificactivityof 2584units/mg,ranged fromas liftleas 0.23to as muchas 160.5units/goftumor. These findings suggested that the procedures used might be feasibleon a routinebasisto determinethe SODase contentof tumorsanditspossiblerelationship tothe radi ationsensitivityof the tumors.


Music plays a unique and crucial role in the holistic development of the child. Informally, children acquire musical knowledge, skills and understanding through observation, imitation and practice of the art in their social environment. This educational process has been interrupted primarily due to religious, cultural and socio-economic transformations that have taken place in Ghana. It has now become the responsibility of the school to provide a balance music education to children. The aim of this study was to identify and describe selected Ghanaian primary school teachers perceptions and beliefs about music"s importance and value to children"s growth and development. Keyword:music education, children"s growth and development, value and importance ofmusic, traditional music, Ghana -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 23-03-2020 Date of Acceptance: 10-04-2020 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Objective To gain deeper understanding of how teenage males view abortion, adolescent fatherhood, sexual behavior, and use of contraception. Method We conducted six focus-group interviews with 17-year-old boys (n = 40). The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using manifest content analysis. Results Adolescent fatherhood was considered to be a catastrophe and abortion a moral dilemma. Most participants agreed that the unrestricted right to decide on abortion rests upon the girl, but some were frustrated by not having any legal right to influence the decision. Contraceptive failure was viewed as common and mainly due to the influence of alcohol or in relation to unplanned sex. Boys perceived girls as having a greater responsibility in avoiding pregnancy, and they often put a blind trust in the girls' use of hormonal contraceptives or initiation of emergency contraception. Several groups had insufficient knowledge about fetal development and other aspects of reproduction. Many were unsatisfied with the sex education they had received at school, but still considered it to be an important counterweight to other sources of information concerning sex, such as pornography. Conclusion Equal responsibility among boys and girls regarding reproductive issues is still a challenge, but nevertheless an important key to the prevention of unwanted pregnancies.


The objective of the research is to study the global experience of the legal regulation and organization of public procurement (from a not only legal but also a technological perspective), which should be the basis for suggestions to improve the legal regulation mechanism for procurement public in Ukraine. For the implementation of the comparative legal part of the study, normative legal acts and acts of official interpretation of the legal systems of the following states, as well as related scientific and scientific-practical materials, were used: USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, South Korea, United Kingdom, Japan, Egypt, Canada, Malaysia, Israel, India, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand. The unification of electronic public procurements systems remains to be a topical and unresolved task for the WTO GPA member countries. The experience of some countries in encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises in electronic public procurement is considered progressive and positive. We consider it necessary to adopt the experience of the USA, Israel, China countries and accelerate the adoption of laws in Ukraine to support national producers.


The Kamoya copper- cobalt deposit located in Zambia- D. R. Congo opper- cobalt metallogenic belt,is a typical copper deposit in this area near by the Kambove copper- cobalt deposit. The deposit occurs in the Kamoya- Kambovenappe structure, ore bodies occur in the Roan Group. This paper introduces the stratum,structure,ore body features,mineralization characteristics and discusses the deposit genesis based on the newly exploration information of Kamoya deposit. The deposit is a stratabound copper- cobalt deposit which occurs in a certain stratum,has experienced multi- phases of tectonic,hydrothermal superimposition and metamorphic hydrothermal superimposition. This paper proposes the prospecting criteria for this type of deposits in this area.


However, some variants are not suitable for measurement and it is here that isometric drawings are demonstrated as valuable in the examples quoted. The last chapter deals with dental disease and considers the formation of plaque, and the sites and forms of caries. The incidence of this latter with diet is evidenced by figures from Japan, where incidence is closely related to the overall sugar consumption. There are tables of the incidence of caries from Egypt and Hungary. Alveolar resorption, as an indication of periodontitis, is confined to humans in the main, but some domestic animals, presumably sharing the 'human type' diet, also suffer. There is, nevertheless, a form in sheep which can be of considerable economic importance to the farmer. The appendices deal with dentine root translucency ageing in humans, dental attrition ageing for cattle, sheep and pigs, and another for horses. This book will repay concentrated study as well as being a most valuable bench reference book for all engaged in the study of teeth. JOHN L. COLE


Abstract : This research explores the use of an alternative method for missioning the Army's recruiting battalions. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to evaluate existing missions and to set new missions based on efficient production. Keywords: Recruiting; Recruiters; Efficiency: Forecasting.


GLC examination of the oil extracted from the seeds of Nigerian Aspillia (latifolia) africana revealed the presence of fatty acids viz: myristic, myristoleic, palmitic, palmitic, palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, arachidic, arachidonic and docosanoic acid. The lipid fraction proved to contain free fatty acids, phospholipids, cholesterol ester, glycosides and hydrocarbons. The potentials of this oil with respect to its high linoleic acid content and high iodine value are tersely discussed


Nowadays, carbon dioxide is the major reason of the global climate changes. The direct CO2 hydrogenation to dimethyl ether produces an important platform molecule for synthesis of fuels and chemicals...


Sound‐paths under sea‐ice, in particular situations, appear to be highly stable. The consequences of high stability can be an improved target resolution in reverberation limited echo‐ranging applications. A preliminary experiment to test the stability of direct sound paths under springtime shore‐fast sea‐ice has shown that phase shifts at a frequency of 4 kHz over 12 mile paths were unresolved from instrumentation drift (±3°) in 8‐min periods. An improved method for stability measurement is proposed. A set of N range‐gated reverberation signals can exhibit "coherent" and "incoherent" components in its energy spectrum. The proportions of coherent and incoherent energy for narrow‐band signals is shown to be simply related to the expectation of the time jitter of a sequence of echoes from a single reverberator located within the range gate.


We investigate the abilities of buy-side analysts by analyzing nontraditional mutual funds that are exclusively managed by in-house analysts rather than traditional portfolio managers. Analysts exhibit stronger general and job-specific investment abilities than traditional managers from within and outside the fund family. Using holdings of analystrun funds as a proxy for the analysts' best ideas, we document that more-skilled portfolio managers rely on analysts' ideas from the same family to a lesser extent than less-skilled managers. We find that analysts' abilities matter in that they are positively related to the future performance of other funds within the same family.


Abstract Piaget's system of cognitive development is analyzed, namely, the semiosis of indexical representation and use. His notion of scheme is discussed, capitalizing on index as the most primary semiotic tool in early ontogeny; afterward, advances in spatial skills (topological and projective reasoning) are discussed in light of the foundational role of index in unfolding these spatial concepts. Finally, index's primary function in the onset and perpetuation of perspective-taking competencies constitutes the essential thrust. The claim is that index is the most essential component to ascertain advancements in spatial logic, in that it organizes and triggers the coalescence of temporal memories of different perceptual states. These memories, in turn, serve as the foundation for complex spatial cognitions (decentration and reversibility) necessary to understand points of view.


The transmigration of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) across vascular endothelium is a critical step in the homing of transplanted stem cells, but the molecular basis for this is unknown. We used mobilized peripheral blood CD341 selected cells and cultured bone marrow microvascular (BMECs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to investigate the adhesion and transendothelial migration of HPCs. Colony-forming cells (CFCs) in freshly isolated CD341 cells showed high levels of adhesion to both forms of endothelium (28% 6 4% and 38% 6 6% of granulocytemacrophage colony-forming cells [GM-CFCs] adhering to HUVECs and BMECs, respectively), but were unable to migrate to any significant extent across either (1.0% 6 0.3% and 1.1% 6 0.6% of GM-CFCs migrating across HUVECs and BMECs, respectively). Greater than 95% of peripheral blood CD341 cells are in G0/G1 of the cell cycle, but after 48 to 72 hours of stimulation with growth factors (interleukin-3 [IL-3] 12 ng/mL, stem cell factor 10 ng/mL, and IL-6 10 ng/mL), 28% 6 5% of cells were in S1G2/M. Growth factor stimulation had no effect on the adhesion of mobilized CFCs but resulted in enhanced migration of these cells (9.8% 6 1.6% and 12.6% 6 3.1% of GM-CFCs migrating across HUVECs and BMECs, respectively; P F .01, n 5 6). Assessment of cell proliferation by the 3H-thymidine suicide method showed that, whereas 11.7% 6 3.3% of proliferating CFCs transmigrated across endothelium, only 1.3% 6 0.3% of nonproliferating CFCs did so (P F .05, n 5 5). Transmigration of growth factor-activated CFCs was inhibited by anti-CD18 monoclonal antibody (MoAb; 50% 6 18% inhibition) and by anti–platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) MoAb (70.8% 6 7.1% inhibition; P F .05, n 5 3). IL-1 stimulation of HUVECs had no significant effect on CD341 cell transmigration, but caused marked enhancement of neutrophil migration. Stem cell homing may depend, in part, on the ability of local cytokines to upregulate the transmigratory ability of these cells. The transmigration of HPCs shares at least some molecular pathways with that of mature cells (CD18 and PECAM-1), but is differently affected by endothelial activation. r 1998 by The American Society of Hematology.


Inspecting objects in the industry aims to guarantee product quality allowing problems to be corrected and damaged products to be discarded. Inspection is also widely used in railway maintenance, where wagon components need to be checked due to efficiency and safety concerns. In some organizations, hundreds of wagons are inspected visually by a human inspector, which leads to quality issues and safety risks for the inspectors. This paper describes a wagon component inspection approach using Deep Learning techniques to detect a particular damaged component: the shear pad. We compared our approach for convolutional neural networks with the state of art classification methods to distinguish among three shear pads conditions: absent, damaged, and undamaged shear pad. Our results are very encouraging showing empirical evidence that our approach has better performance than other classification techniques.


A cosmetic composition comprising bud complex extracts is provided to remove free radicals, inhibit oxidation and inflammation, improve atopic dermatitis and restoration of damaged skin barrier, and enhance skin-moisturizing and skin irritation-alleviating effects by increasing skin permeability with stabilized nanoliposomes. A cosmetic composition for moisturizing the skin or alleviating skin irritation comprises the extracts of bud complex including broccoli, clover, radish and alfalfa which are stabilized by nanoliposomes having average particle diameter of 30-70 nm, and is formulated as skin lotion, skin softener, skin toner, astringent, lotion, milk lotion, moisture lotion, nutrition lotion, massage cream, nutrition cream, moisture cream, hand cream, essence, nutrition essence, pack, soap, shampoo, cleansing foam, cleansing lotion, cleansing cream, body lotion, body cleanser, emulsion, press powder, loose powder or eye shadow, wherein the bud complex extracts are prepared by extracting the bud complex with water, C1-C4 lower alcohol or a mixed solvent thereof and are contained in the amount of 0.1-30.0 wt.% based on the total weight of nanoliposomes.


This study demonstrated new evidence sustaining the idea that the issue of fraud has a long history and that fraud in deposit money banks affect performance when fraud are proxied with data extracted from inappropriate auditing process, peer group pressure, computer fraud and management looting using the Generalized Least Square Method (GLS) and the z-statistics as method of data analysis. The data used in the study were adjusted with the Jarque-Bera test of normality to remove any form of spurious result as variable normality is a standardized requirement for any linear model while the cronbach apha value was used to test the validity, consistency and reliability of the data. The main aim of the study is to investigate if variables like computer fraud, managers looting; inappropriate auditing, peer group pressure affect bank performance. To achieve this objective, research questions and hypotheses were formulated and variables were proxied for fraud and deposit banks performance as distilled from related literatures. The GLS result was used to test the formulated hypotheses with a standard z-value of 1.96. The GLS regression results revealed that there are negative relationships between bank frauds and performance while the z-test shows that bank frauds affect deposit money bank performance in Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that an efficient and modern financial technological structure such as Computer Aided Auditing Tools & Techniques (CAATTs) would combat fraud in deposit money banks in Nigeria.


This article reported the findings of a case study carried out on 3 male nurses at Bonda mission hospital in Inyanga, Zimbabwe. The paper tested the applicability of male speech stereotypes to the communicative context of nursing. It investigated occupational discourse of male nurses specifically looking at the linguistic feature of hedging. The aim is to find out how males linguistically behave in the domain of nursing. Data was collected through audio recorders and interviews were used to establish the functions of hedges as used by the male nurses. This study employed the Community of Practice approach in explaining linguistic behaviour. Findings from the study revealled that in contrast to existing speech stereotypes that men are authoritative, commanding, harsh and not polite, male nurses in this study were found to use hedges to mitigate orders, commands and requests, to signal collaboration and cooperativeness, to maintain a relationship of solidarity, to maintain a relationship of closeness, and for politeness reasons. Conclusion drawn from the research therefore is that male speech stereotypes are not applicable to the communicative context of nursing and that linguistic behaviour is governed by the context of use and not necessarily gender. Key Words: Community of Practice, Gender, Hedging, Linguistic Behaviour, Stereotype


There are two general patterns of overseas human resources management: the European and American pattern and the Japanese pattern.The versatile management pattern is popular in recent years,which is divided into two kinds of patterns based on the pledge and the control.Human resources management in our country should be inspired by the model to take the humanistic management idea,help the staff to determine the professional anchor;pay attention to emotion management,and establish study-pattern organization and so on..


With the aid of a Fermi-Walker chart associated with an orthonormal frame attached to a time-like curve in spacetime, a discussion is given of relativistic balance laws that may be used to construct models of massive particles with spin, electric charge and a magnetic moment, interacting with background electromagnetic fields and gravitation described by non-Riemannian geometries. A natural generalisation to relativistic Cosserat media is immediate.


Citing the bridge engineering over Hebei Handan Shuyuan River as example,construction monitoring technique of steel pipe-encased concrete arch bridge is discussed.Through monitoring stress and linearity,this paper puts forward and introduces the application of parameter identification method in construction monitoring of steel pipe-encased concrete arch bridge.


Hypothesis: The incidence of coronary heart diseases (CHD) in RA patients is nearly twice its incidence in OA patients. Also, RA patients experience four fold increases in cardiovascular events. Furthermore, the mortality rate from CHD increased by about two folds when compared to the general population. The exact interacting mechanisms of these findings are not yet clear especially that dyslipidemia and coronary vasculitis do not account for these respective findings. In fact, a chronic inflammatory state evidenced by elevated CRP levels can result in significant damages to the arterial system. Aim of Work: This study was designed to evaluate the extent of cardiovascular risk factors in RA patients and the role of inflammatory activity in their incidence via its comparison comprehensively in OA patients as a control group. Subjects and Methods: Sixty patients were included in this study. They were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of thirty patients (24 females and 6 males) fulfilling the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology for the classification of RA. The mean age and disease duration for these patients were 51.6 + 3.5 and 8.2 + 2.1 years respectively. The second group included thirty age-matched (mean 53.2 + 2.8), sex-matched (25 women and 5 men) consecutive OA patients. All patients were selected from the Outpatient Clinics of Dr. Erfan General Hospitals, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.


Objective. The objective of the article is to study the involvement of the population of Kryvyi Rih in decision-making at the level of the territorial community

Methods. To achieve the defined goal, the methods of generalization, analysis and synthesis, analogies, comparative comparison, theoretical-analytical method, analysis method, horizontal analysis, vertical analysis, trend analysis method are applied.

Results. The results of population involvement in management decision-making at the level of the city of Kryvyi Rih during 2019-2021 are studied in terms of: dynamics and structure of appeals, electronic petitions; availability of self-organization bodies; implementation of the "Public Budget" program. The problems of the process of involving the public are highlighted, namely: the level of activity / involvement of the population in community management remains relatively low; a low level of transparency of activities of local self-government bodies was recorded (56.9 points out of a possible 100), which represents an obstacle to the involvement of the population in the management of the community; the low level of accountability of local self-government bodies was also noted (15.5 points out of 100 possible); the problem of using public participation tools during martial law. In further studies, it is planned to develop recommendations for solving the mentioned problems regarding the involvement of the population in making management decisions at the level of territorial communities.


The sacred site of Tiwanaku, Bolivia, the first
major city-state in the Central Andes, has, for almost 3,000
years, been appropriated for various intents by the Inca, the
Spanish, the Bolivian state, European travelers, spiritualists,
and the indigenous Aymara people who claim the World
Heritage site as their ancestral home. Investing the site with
meanings, myths, memories, each group has created – or recreated
– the spirit of the site of Tiwanaku. Today, the site of
Tiwanaku continues to be a vortex of competing claims and a
location for multiple intangible heritages, such as Aymara
cultural ceremonies and modern music videos; a newlycreated
solstice festival that is held yearly at the site; and,
arguably, the rituals of archaeology and world heritage. This
paper traces the making of place and heritage: how, from its
inception through today, multiple histories and collective
memories have physically altered the site of Tiwanaku,
impacting its excavation, conservation, and presentation; and
how intangible acts shape the tangibility of place.


The Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador in Ibarra (PUCESI), in an effort to disseminate research, teaching and culture in its institutional indexed journal "AXIOMA", asks that you take into account the following guidelines which refer to the preparation and submission of papers for publication in its informative institutional medium.


The anamorph of Podosphaera xanthii (Erysiphaceae) on Euryops chrysanthemoides is reported for the first time in Australia. A detailed description of the specimen is given, along with its rDNA internal transcribed spacer sequence.


In Iraq, there is a vast construction movement. Still, it is accompanied by many problems, the most important of which is the delay in completing projects during the specified time. The time must be optimized by adopting the leadership practice and dedicating it to the benefit of performing the process and functions of the project. The research aims to identify the most important reasons and factors that affect the project delivery process within the specified period. The investigation initially dealt with the most important previous studies, on this subject, by researchers, then touched on the concept of construction projects, their types and details. A questionnaire containing reasons for the delay was identified and divided into several items. It concluded that the most common reasons for delays are delays in laboratory testing of materials, assignment of works to the lowest bidder, contractors' financial incompetence, and high building materials prices. The most crucial factor is to streamline building material inspection procedures, set up inspection laboratories on several occasions and assess the contractor's effectiveness and ability to implement before the project is referred financially. Organizations and individuals should coordinate their work between the construction departments to prevent any issues that may arise during completing tasks.


The ABWR Design Verification Program is aimed at restoring confidence in the US licensing process by demonstrating its workability by obtaining USNRC preapproval of GE's ABWR Standard Plant. The purpose of this work is to achieve full NRC approval of the ABWR through the award of an NRC Staff final design approval (FDA) and design certification. The approach is to (1) establish a licensing basis with the NRC Staff for the ABWR, (2) prepare and submit, for NRC Staff review, an SSAR to obtain an FDA, and (3) participate in a rulemaking process to obtain certification of the ABWR design. This program was initiated August 27, 1986. This report, the fourth annual progress report, summarizes progress on this program from October 1, 1989 through September 30, 1990. 9 refs., 5 tabs.


they contrast their findings with what they say is the conventional view, that large size is a universal determinant of mating success among males. In fact the authors have fallen into the same trap as many who have claimed that large size is the universal determinant. It is misleading to draw conclusions about the way in which selection will act on male insects from data on hourly, daily or any short-term measure of mating success, rather than on lifetime reproductive success. A number of different measures of reproductive success have been made in longer-term studies including the number of matings gained (Fincke 1982, Partridge and Farquhar 1983, Banks and Thompson 1985), the number of eggs produced or fertilized (Banks and Thompson 1987) and the number of offspring surviving to one year of age (Clutton-Brock et al. 1982). These measures form a series of increasingly accurate estimates of fitness, and all are more useful than short-term mating


Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common diseases in the world and is acquiring epidemic proportions. Its prevalence is growing in both developed and developing countries. India is the Diabetic Capital Of the world. Indians are genetically more susceptible to diabetes compared to other races. Cardiovascular complications are known to be the main cause of morbidity and death in diabetic patients. In diabetic patients there is an increased rate of ischemic heart disease and cardiomyopathy which may lead to heart failure (Diastolic heart failure). Despite similar left ventricular systolic function, patients with diabetes have more pronounced heart failure symptoms, use more diuretics, and have an adverse prognosis compared with those without diabetes; one putative explanation for these discrepancies is diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle in diabetes mellitus. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction represents an early stage of heart failure, without any clinical manifestations. In the view of these above facts the present study was conducted to assess the diastolic dysfunction in diabetic patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross sectional study comprising 50 cases was conducted in the Department of Medicine, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Medical College and Dr. B.R.A.M. Hospital, Raipur (C.G.) from July 2013 to July 2014 in diabetic patients without evidence of cardiovascular involvement and blood pressure less than 140/90mmHg were studied. Permission of ethical committee was taken. 26 patients were female and 24 were male. LVDD was evaluated by Doppler echocardiography, which included E/A ratio; left atrial size was assessed in relation with age/sex, duration of diabetes and HbA1c level. RESULTS: Results showed that diastolic dysfunction was present in 35 (70 %) of the patients. Among males diastolic dysfunction was present in 17 cases (70.83%). Among females diastolic dysfunction was present in 18 cases (69.23%). Diastolic dysfunction was associated with uncontrolled diabetes as assessed by HbA1c levels. Diastolic dysfunction was more common in patients who were on treatment with both oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin. The prevalence of diastolic dysfunction increased with longer duration of diabetes. There was a linear progression of diastolic dysfunction with the increase in age and those with more Left Atrial size. CONCLUSION: The findings in our study indicate that myocardial damage in patients with diabetes affects left ventricular diastolic function before systolic function. E/A ratio and Left atrial size are significantly altered in diabetic patients with diastolic dysfunction. Diastolic dysfunction is significantly associated with duration of diabetes, glycemic levels and the type of treatments. Onset of diastolic dysfunction occurs earlier in females as compared to males. Doppler Echocardiography is a simple, noninvasive, cheap, easily available and a valuable tool in diagnosing diastolic dysfunction. In diabetics before they develop cardiac symptoms, Echocardiography should be done routinely on every diabetic patients to assess the cardiac function.


PURPOSE: To obtain a spin finishing agent which provides a superior treating property on aramid fibers, which exhibits good filament coagulation and good antistatic property for respective filaments, and which has low surface tension or low interfacial tension and minimal specific colors. CONSTITUTION: Aramid fibers includes a spin finish contg. (A) an anionic antistat based on phosphoric and/or phosphoric esters, (B) a compd. expressed by the formula I: R -COO-(CH2 -CH2 -O-)x -R , and (C) a compd. expressed by the formula II: R -O-(R -O)y -R [R is a 1-22C alkyl or a 2-22C alkenyl, (x) is an integer of 2-20, preferably 3-15, R is hydrogen or a 1-22C alkyl, R is a 1-22C alkyl or a 2-22C alkenyl, (y) is an integer of 1-8, R is ethylene, or some of R may be propylene or butylene when (y) is 2, 3 or 4, R is a 1-22C alkyl, particularly methyl].


Rainfall data has a significant role in hydrological design which is, it's produce the intensity duration frequency curve. IDF curve gives critical information that needed in the design of water management infrastructure, it gives information by showing the mathematical relation of rainfall intensity, recurrence interval of the storm and duration of storm. This paper aims to compares and develop IDF curve using two frequency distribution which is generalized extreme value distribution (GEV) and Gumbel distribution (EV1). Then, the best fit distribution for flood-prone area in Sabah will be choose and determined from the two-mentioned distribution. The goodness of fit test that used to determine the best distribution is chi-square test, it works by determining the differences between observe data value from Weibull formula and the estimated values from GEV and Gumbel's distribution method. After that the chi-square value for GEV and Gumbel is compared to the critical value from chi-square table at significant level of 5%. From the Chi-square test, it is concluded that Gumbel's (chi square value Tandek:0.47952, patiu:1.0531, babagon: 1.026931, Ulu Moyog:0.382415) shows a better fit distribution compared to GEV distribution (chi square value Tandek:59.7598, patiu:16.5746, babagon: 3.3555347, Ulu Moyog:22.1315)


ABSTRACT Characterization of fuel debris is required to develop fuel debris removal tools for decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (1F). Especially, knowledge about the characteristics of molten core-concrete interaction (MCCI) product is needed because of the limited information available at present. Samples from a large-scale MCCI test performed under quenching conditions, VULCANO VW-U1 were analyzed to evaluate the characteristics of the surface of MCCI product. Four samples were selected from test sections at different locations. As a result, the characteristics of the samples were found to be similar. Several corium phases, such as cubic-(U,Zr)O2 and tetragonal ZrO2, were detected by X-ray diffraction (XRD), but concrete-based phases, such as the crystalline SiO2 phase, were not detected by XRD because the quantity of the SiO2 phase was too small to be measured. The Vickers hardness of each phase in these samples was higher than that of previously analyzed samples in another VULCANO test campaign, VBS-U4. Based on a comparison between MCCI product generated under quenching condition, such as VW-U1, and gently cooled MCCI product, such as VBS-U4, the MCCI product generated under quenching condition is more homogeneous, and its hardness is higher than that of the gently cooled MCCI product.


We document music programming in Gibber, a creative coding environment for the browser. We describe affordances for a sample-accurate and functional approach to scheduling, pattern creation and manipulation, audio synthesis, using rhythm and harmony, and score definition and playback.


Although superficially the romance of Los primos romeros could be interpreted since a surrealist, anticlerical and incestuous perspective, here it is offered a lecture coherent with most of the romancistic oral texts: a conflict so familiar and vulgar as the "wedding by penalty", viewed since a poetic and inclosed indulgent perspective. For the purpose of this romance, theoretical questions as the role of the transmitter ?author or reader?) and the nature of oral texts are examined at once.


The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that primary care clinicians screen women who have family members with breast, ovarian, tubal, or peritoneal cancer with one of several screening tools designed to identify a family history that may be associated with an increased risk of potentially harmful mutations in breast cancer susceptibility genes (BRCA1 or BRCA2). Women with positive screening results should receive genetic counseling and, if indicated after counseling, BRCA testing. B recommendation. The USPSTF recommends against routine genetic counseling or BRCA testing for women whose family history is not associated with an increased risk of potentially harmful mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. D recommendation.


Category: Diabetes; Hindfoot; Midfoot/Forefoot Introduction/Purpose: Diabetic Charcot foot is a chronic and progressive disease, following neuropathic loss of protective sensation and causing destruction of the joints. It is classically identified through a rocker-bottom deformity and may also present with a collapse of the medial arch, bony prominences, and ligamentous instability. Charcot leads to further morbidities, and patients may require surgeries including below the knee amputations or limb salvage reconstruction to treat the disease if conservative treatments fail. Previous literature demonstrated that foot ulceration is associated with mortality in diabetic patients, but no clear association between Charcot diagnosis and mortality has been identified. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mortality in patients diagnosed with acute diabetic Charcot foot. Methods: After institutional review board approval, all patients at a single institution that underwent an orthopaedic surgery for the treatment of Charcot during 2015-2020 were queried using hospital and public records. Demographic data, as well as the 30- day, 90-day, 1-year, and 5-year mortality were recorded. Results: 79 patients were identified, with 57 (72%) males and 22 (28%) females with Charcot-related surgeries between 2015 and 2020. At the time of surgery, the average age was 58.2 (28-83) years. At the time of analysis, 61 (77%) patients were still living, but 18 (23%) patients were deceased with mortality within 30 days (1), 90 days (5), 1 year (9), and 5 years (18) of the Charcot-related procedure. For deceased patients, the average age of death was 59.6 years (30-83 years). The average number of days post- operation until death was 460 days (23-1613 days). Conclusion: Diabetic Charcot foot is a serious and debilitating complication of diabetic neuropathy. This data demonstrates that 23% of patients analyzed expired an average of 1.26 years after Charcot-related surgery. In addition, patients that were deceased were an average of 59.6 years of age, suggesting that Charcot may be associated with early mortality. Future studies will include an analysis of possible predictors of mortality for patients diagnosed with Charcot foot to evolve clinical and surgical management of patients.


Objective To study prospectively the safety and efficacy of the thromblytic therapy in acute submassive pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) without randomized control.Methods A total of consecutive 177 patients with acute submassive PTE admitted to the emergency intensive care unit were screened from June of 2005 to May of 2012.After a comprehensive screening,102 patients were treated with thrombolytic therapy (TT group),and 75 with anticoagulation therapy (AT group).Clinical signs and physical examination findings were recorded 2 hours,24 hours and 7 days after treatment.Echocardiography (ECG) was repeated 24 hours later.Lung perfusion scan and CT pulmonary artery (CTPA) were repeated on the 7th day.All data was analyzed by paired t test and Chi-square test.Results ①Bleeding happened in 6 patients of TT group and in 1 patient of AT group (P > 0.05),and no lethal hemorrhage occurred in the two groups.There were no statistically significant differences in demographics and clinical history of patients between TT group and AT group (P > 0.05).②There were statistically significant changes in respiratory rate,heart rate and systolic blood pressure in the TT group 2 hours after treatment and great changes in systolic pressure of pulmonary artery (SPAP) and tricuspid regurgitation at 24 hours after treatment (P <0.01),whereas obvious change in respiratory rate in AT group was found 24 hours after treatment.③In the TT group 7 days after treatment,significant efficiency rate and total improvement of the deep vein thrombosis (DVT) identified by ultrasonography were 83.0% and 96.2% respectively,and those of CTPA and lung perfusion scan were 66.7% and 98% respectively.The efficiency of TT was significantly superior over AT in this respect (P < 0.01).④The efficiency of TT given within 3 days after onset of PTE was significantly higher than that of TT conferred over 3 days after onset of PTE (P < 0.01).Conclusions ①Thrombolytic therapy is safe and effective for the submassive PTE,but atypical cerebrovascular accident must be rule out first.②Thrombolytic therapy can improve the symptom of the patient in 2 hours compare with AT.③ Thrombus burden can be reduced more obviously in TT group after 7 days treatment compare with the AT group.④The effect of thrombolytic therapy depends on the time as ti given during the course of disease,the earlier administration the better efficacy.

Key words:
Acute pulmonary embolism ;  Submassive group ;  Thromblytic therapy ;  Anticoagulation therapy ;  Safety ;  Efficacy


We present a probabilistic relational algebra (PRA) which is a generalization of standard relational algebra. In PRA, tuples are assigned probabilistic weights giving the probability that a tuple belongs to a relation. Based on intensional semantics, the tuple weights of the result of a PRA expression always conform to the underlying probabilistic model. We also show for which expressions extensional semantics yields the same results. Furthermore, we discuss complexity issues and indicate possibilities for optimization. With regard to databases, the approach allows for representing imprecise attribute values, whereas for information retrieval, probabilistic document indexing and probabilistic search term weighting can be modeled. We introduce the concept of vague predicates which yield probabilistic weights instead of Boolean values, thus allowing for queries with vague selection conditions. With these features, PRA implements uncertainty and vagueness in combination with the relational model.


With the development of deep learning, many edge devices adopt monocular depth estimation (MDE) to produce reliable 3D RGB-D data due to its low power and low costs compared to an RGB-D sensor [1]. In a user domain, the MDE's deep neural network has to be re-trained for the domain adaptation [2], [3]. However, the conventional training system requires expensive labeled dataset collection, which is obtained by a high-cost RGB-D sensor with additional raw data preprocessing [3] such as depth alignment, depth synchronization, and depth inpainting. As a result, the proposed processor performs the unsupervised learning-based MDE system, which does not rely on additional sensors and preprocessing for data collection for the training.


A steel girder bridge with a composite concrete deck has been instrumented to record the passage of heavy vehicles. 261 days of data have been collected. An initial summary consisted of only 117 days. The aim of the project was to compare measured bridge loadings with the design serviceability and ultimate limit states. The data has been analysed to obtain the return interval of heavy vehicles. Similar curves for return interval were obtained for both data sets. The return interval information has been used to compare the experimental results with current serviceability and ultimate design loads. Close agreement was obtained for experimental and design ultimate loads. Experimental serviceability design loads were 45 per cent larger than current design loads. The number of the covering abstract for the conference is TRIS No. 393385. (Author/TRRL)


Nanoparticles of nickel (Ni) and its compounds attract a lot of attention bearing in mind their promising innovative properties allowing their use as catalysts, components in electrical appliances, electronic devices and photonic appliances, and materials used in producing medications, diagnostic preparations, and pesticides. Production volumes of these materials in their nano-form are likely to grow rapidly in the nearest future and it involves greater loads created by these nanomaterials on a human body. And we should remember that Ni and its compounds are highly toxic for humans even in their traditional disperse forms. Their toxicity induces oxidative stress, cellular membranes and mitochondria dysfunction, expression of nuclear transcription factors that are responsible for apoptosis, caspases, as well as proto-oncogenes. Leading role in toxicity of Ni-containing nanomaterials obviously belongs to ions of heavy Ni++ being emitted from them since this heavy metal has pro-oxidant properties and influences enzyme activity and gene expression. Cytotoxic effects produced by Ni-containing nanomaterials were revealed in Model experiments in vitro performed with suing cellular cultures that were morphologically and functionally similar to epithelial cells of respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys, and nervous system; these materials were able to stimulate oxidant stress, influence expression of apoptosis proteins and nuclear transcription factors, induce apoptosis and necrosis. There are data indicating that Ni-containing nanomaterials can produce malignant transforming effects in vitro. All the above mentioned proves that nickel compounds in their nanoform are a new hazardous factor that requires assessing related risks for workers, consumer, and population in general. Our review focuses on analyzing literature sources on cytotoxicity of Ni-containing nanomaterials and their effects produced on molecular-genetic and cellular levels taken over a period starting from 2011.


There hava many problems such as semantic heterogeneity,ontonogy heterogeneity and lowsearch efficiency exist in resource discovery in cloud manufacturing environment. To solve these problems,the ontology-based cloud manufacturing resources and processing tasks information model were build. The model of resource matching was build. Resource discovery was be converted to mapping between manufacturing resources ontology and processing task ontology to solve. The intelligent matching algorithm of resource discovery was designed. M atching process was divided into five stages which were state matching,domain matching,founction matching,service matching and integrated matching. Finally,the proposed intelligent algorithm was carried on the actual application in the cloud simulation environment. The proposed intelligent algorithm and the algorithm based on keyword were been compared. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed intelligent algorithm was verified by the results of the comparison.


Objective
To analyze and discuss the negative effects of atomization inhalation in mechanical ventilation patients in intensive care unit.

Methods
A retrospective study of all the mechanical ventilation patients in the general ICU of our hospital was carried out from Aprilto December 2015. The risk of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) colonizationin the lower respiratory tract and ventilation associated pneumonia (VAP) in mechanical ventilation patients were analyzed.

Results
A total of 922 patients were monitored, 160 of whom had atomization inhalation, 92 for MDROs colonizationin the lower respiratory tract and 18 for VAP. The rates ofatomization inhalation in patients with and without MDROs colonizationin the lower respiratory tract were 30.4% (28/92) and 15.9% (132/830) with statistical difference (χ2=12.193, P=0.000). And those in patients with and without VAP were 50.0% (9/18) and 16.7% (151/904) , with statistical difference (χ2=11.420, P=0.000). Atomization inhalation was the independent risk factor both of MDROs colonizationin the lower respiratory tract (OR=1.917, 95%CI1.163-3.159, P=0.011) and VAP (OR=4.613, 95%CI 1.773-12.002, P=0.000) in mechanical ventilation patients.

Conclusions
Atomization inhalation may increase the risk of MDROs colonizationin the lower respiratory tract and VAP in mechanical ventilation patients. Thus unnecessary and too frequent operations of atomization inhalation should be decreased.

Key words:
Pneumonia,ventilator-associated; Intensive care unit; Nursing procedures; Atomization inhalation; Multidrug-resistant organism


In his recent book, Reasons and Persons, Derek Parfit propounds a version of the psychological criterion of personal identity. 1 According to the variant he adopts, the numerical identity through time of persons consists in non-branching psychological continuity no matter how it is caused. One traditional objection to a view of this sort is that it is circular, since psychological continuity presupposes personal identity. Although Parfit frequently denies the importance of personal identity, he considers his own psychological account of identity important enough to attempt to defend it against the charge of circularity. The aim of this paper is to argue that Parfit's attempted defence is unsuccessful because it ultimately rests on an analysis of the unity of consciousness that is itself either circular or otherwise inadequate.


The objective of this work was to study the dissolution process from piroxicam pellets, coated with Eudragit ® RS 30 D by fluidized bed, in order to achieve an enteric release of the drug. The coating product contains a methacrylic copolymer which is insoluble, but permeable. The drug-loaded pellets were prepared by extrusionspheronization using microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel PH 101) as a spheronization agent, lactose as a filler and polyvinylpyrrolidone K30 as a binder. A dissolution study was performed using two dissolution media with different pH values, corresponding to the pH values of the stomach and intestinal environment (hydrochloric acid 0.1N, pH=1.2 for the first two hours of the test and phosphate buffer 50 mM, pH 6.8 for the next 4 hours interval of the dissolution test). The in vitro dissolution profile obtained for the piroxicam pellets coated with Eudragit RS 30 D was compared with the one corresponding to the piroxicam pellets coated with Eudragit RS 30 D associated with Methocel E5. The influence of the association of the pore-forming agent in the coating formula on the percentages of piroxicam dissolved was established. Rezumat Obiectivul acestei lucrări a fost studierea profilului de dizolvare a piroxicamului din pelete acoperite in pat fluidizat cu o dispersie de Eudragit® RS 30 D. Sistemul de acoperire conține un copolimer metacrilic insolubil in apă si cu permeabilitate redusă. Peletele cu piroxicam au fost obţinute prin metoda extrudării-sferonizării, urmată de acoperirea cu Eudragit® RS 30 D. Profilul de dizolvare al peletelor obținute a fost comparat cu cel al peletelor incărcate cu piroxicam, acoperite cu un film in care Eudragit RS 30 D a fost asociat cu Methocel E5 Premium LV ca formator de pori. Testul de dizolvare s-a efectuat in două medii de dizolvare cu pH diferit, corespunzând valorilor de pH ale mediului stomacal si intestinal (acid clorhidric 0,1 N, pH 1,2 pentru primele două ore ale testării, respectiv tampon fosfat 50 mM, pH 6,8 pentru intervalul 2 ‐ 4 ore ale testului de dizolvare). S-a comparat profilul de dizolvare in vitro obținut pentru peletele cu piroxicam acoperite cu Eudragit RS 30 D cu cel corespunzând peletelor cu piroxicam acoperite cu Eudragit RS 30 D asociat cu Methocel E5, evindențiindu-se influența prezenței formatorului de pori in formula filmului de acoperire asupra procentului de piroxicam dizolvat.


In this paper we consider the p-FEM for elliptic boundary value problems on tetrahedral meshes where the entries of the stiffness matrix are evaluated by numerical quadrature. Such a quadrature can be done by mapping the tetrahedron to a hexahedron via the Duffy transformation. We show that for tensor product Gauss-Lobatto-Jacobi quadrature formulas with q + 1 = p + 1 points in each direction and shape functions that are adapted to the quadrature formula, one again has discrete stability for the fully discrete p-FEM. The present error analysis complements the work Eibner and Melenk [2006] for the p-FEM on triangles/tetrahedra where it is shown that by adapting the shape functions to the quadrature formula, the stiffness matrix can be set up in optimal complexity.


The Back Propagation (BP) neural network genetic algorithm was used to identify alphabet, and the new algorithm combine the advantages of both genetic algorithm and the BP neural network. Genetic learning algorithm was used for the global optimization and BP training algorithm to accurately optimize the neural network weights and training the neural network to learn letter recognition algorithm. Add-noise alphabet of MATLAB simulation results show that the new network error recognition rate reduced by 10% compared to BP neural network and the recognition speed is also faster than the traditional BP neural network with accuracy and fast convergence.


A disclosed double-motor-driven sling chair mechanism comprises a pedestal, and a first driving head, a second driving head, a tail-part adjusting support assembly and a middle-part adjusting support assembly are arranged on the pedestal; the first driving head drives the tail-part adjusting support assembly to show a vertical state, a flat state or an inclined state; the middle-part adjusting support assembly is in matched connection with a front-part adjusting connection rod part; the second driving head drives the middle-part adjusting support assembly to show a vertical state or a flat state, and drives the front-part adjusting connection rod part to show an opened state or a contraction state; and the front-part adjusting connection rod part is tightly locked by the tail-part adjusting support assembly when being in the contraction state, and is released by the tail-part adjusting support assembly when being the opened state. Through the above way, the double-motor-driven sling chair mechanism is capable of realizing extension and contraction of a food rest of the sling chair, uplift and decrease of a sling chair frame, and inclination, erection and other functions of a backrest, and is flexible and convenient to operate.


Our experiments have shown that it is possible by the method of degeneration to separate the vasoconstrictor and secretory fibres from the special motor fibres for the submaxillary gland in the cervical sympathetic nerve of the dog. To achieve this it is necessary to perform the experiment a certain number of hours (generally about 90 hours) after aseptic section of the vago-sympathetic nerve in the neck. The flow of saliva produced by stimulation of the partly degenerated sympathetic nerve after chorda tympani action may be explained by the presence in the nerve of special fibres innervating contractile elements of the submaxillary gland. Degeneration in these fibres is probably a slower process than in the true secretory and vasoconstrictor fibres, and their effect may be observed by isolation under proper conditions. Neither the reflex output of adrenaline nor the general and local vascular changes in the gland can be considered responsible for the outflow of saliva under the influence of the partly degenerated sympathetic nerve. Further, the response of the sympathetic nerve to electrical stimulation cannot be attributed to the effect of the current on the superior cervical sympathetic ganglion, because stimulation of the nerve does not produce either a true secretion or constriction of the blood-vessels of the gland.

The nature of the contractile elements that are activated by the motor sympathetic fibres is unknown. Sinelnikoff (1921) established the fact that the motor function of the partly degenerated sympathetic nerve is not abolished by atropine, and Mackay (1927) demonstrated that histamine acts on these contractile elements. From these conclusions and the results of the experiments reported here, it is clear that the contractile elements remain under the control of the sympathetic nerve.

1. The cervical sympathetic nerve in the dog supplies the submaxillary gland with vasomotor, secretory, and motor fibres.

2. The vasomotor and secretory fibres may be separated from the motor fibres by the method of partial degeneration of the sympathetic nerve.

3. Stimulation of the central end of the vagus, about 90 hours after aseptic section of the vago-sympathetic nerve in the neck, does not produce vasoconstriction in the submaxillary gland. The secretion also is usually absent or extremely scanty.

4. Stimulation of the partly degenerated sympathetic nerve shortly after chorda tympani stimulation produces a flow of saliva (augmented secretion).

5. Under the conditions of these experiments the augmented sympathetic secretion is a purely mechanical phenomenon, fluid that has been blown back into the gland being pressed out again as a result of stimulation of the partly degenerated sympathetic nerve.

6. In most of the experiments stimulation of the partly degenerated sympathetic nerve increased the blood-flow through the gland. This effect was not due to changes in the systemic blood-pressure, which varied in different experiments. No analysis of this phenomenon was attempted.

The writer wishes to express his indebtedness to Professor B. P. Babkin, in whose laboratory this work was carried out, for his helpful advice and criticism.


Corresponding Author: Hazzaa Alshareef Department of Computer Science, College of Computing and Informatics, Saudi Electronic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract: Due to the fact that an enormous amount of data is available to any user on the Internet, this leads to increased requests of Internet users to download or process their data among different servers. In fact, the need for increasing the reliability and performance of such servers has become an importance subject to tackle. Replicating servers is a way of reducing the overhead of Internet users' requests as well as increasing the reliability and performance of servers. However, there is still a need to redirect users' requests to a single server from those replications so these servers get unknown by Internet users. This technique is called mirroring servers. In this study, a new model that uses the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) is proposed to select the appropriate server for any new user's requests. In particular, this method considers the current features of servers with the new user's requests as an input and provides the selected server as an output. The effectiveness of the proposed method is compared with two different techniques: Human's selection after eliminating the required time from a user to make the selection and Round Robin selection. This comparison shows that the proposed method takes the advantages of these two techniques, which are based on the speed of selection for the Round Robin selection method and the selection of the best server according to the mirroring server features that are derived from the manual selection method. The results of this study indicate that the proposed model can improve the use of mirroring servers by 10% better than the Round Robin selection method since in this selection method, most of servers are idle in more than 25% of the time and do not have any more requests to serve.


A Silvaco (TCAD) based simulation approach has been used for the examination of an InP/InGaAs based pnp δ-doped heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT). First the device structure is simulated and validated with reported experimental results [1]. Then the cap-layer is changed from InGaAs to InGaAsP. With the new cap-layer, the device figures-of-merit recorded substantial improvements. To be specific the DC current gain increases from 50 to 126, the unity gain cutoff frequency $(\mathrm{f}_{\mathrm{T}})$ from 4.2 MHz to 5.4 GHz and the maximum frequency of oscillation $(\mathrm{f}_{\text{Max}})$ from 1.59 GHz to 12.33 GHz.


ABSTRACT
This research was about balance scorecard application on RSIA
Muhammadiyah. The purpose of this research is how to know balance scorecard
application as performance measuresment is better than traditional perspective.
Balance scorecard interpreted as set size giving picture to top manager
about business in a brief but comprehensive. Balance scorecard covers standard
criteria expressing action result which has been executed, customer satisfaction,
internal process, organizational innovation and repairs of operational activity
criteria which is been strigging future financial performance. In this research
there are four perspective of balance scorecard consist of financial perspective ,
customer perspective, internal business, also learning and growing perspective.
Based on analysis done it is known that there is clarity relation between
vision, mission, and corporate strategy and measuring standard in perspective of
balance scorecard which consists of financial perspective, customer perspective,
internal business, also learning and growing perspective. Besides known also that
fourth of balance scorecard perspective have been good.


Structural optimization aspects of cruise ships has been reviewed and discussed through this paper. Multi-objective scantling optimization (with Weight & VCG as objectives) of post-Panamax cruise ship has been presented as an example. Structural design software MAESTRO and in-house developed, framework for the design support system DeMak – OCTOPUS Designer was used to generate a set of non-dominated designs. Two Pareto optimal designs marked as minWGT and minVCG have been compared and differences in structural response of both variants and prototype structure were discussed.


This paper seeks to find out the effect of real interest rate on savings in using time series data from 1970-2013. In line with the objectives and using modern econometric techniques, the study estimates a generic savings model. The study also estimated a dynamic error-correction model following the Engle and Granger method to take care of the nonstationarity of the variables. The results of the study suggest that real interest rate exhibit both short-run and long-run significant positive effect on savings, making it a very important variable for savings mobilization in Ghana. The study recommends that financial policy makers in the country must work hard towards realistic interest rate specifically positive rate in real terms. The central bank authorities must also work hard to reduce inflation to probably single digit on consistent basis since real interest rate levels are affected by inflation.


Semisolid forming requires alloys with non-dendritic microstructure of the thixotropy. Recently, low pouring temperture method without stirring, i.e. liquidus casting has been found out new fabrication method of the semisolid metals. Effects of melt superheat and mold conditions on the globulization of primary Al of alloy were investigated in gravity casting process without stirring. The microstructures of primary Al as function of melt superheat and mold temperature show globular, rosette and dendritic shapes. The conditions for globular microstructure of primary Al were low melt superheat


The article envisages the linguistic mechanisms of presentation of habitualness and non-habitualness in Chinese journalism in the English language. The author distinguishes two key sets of language parameters maximally bringing together Chines press and its Anglo-American counterpart, on one side, and specifying the way of operation of the particular regional language variant in the given conditions, on the other one.


This paper considers the unknown input filtering problem of nonlinear stochastic systems with arbitrary unknown inputs. It is known that the celebrated extended Kalman filter (EKF) may have poor performance in solving this problem due to the lack of the true dynamics of the unknown input. A possible remedy to improve the performance is to apply an EKF-like nonlinear version of the recently developed ERTSF (NERTSF), which however may only yield a specific linear combination of the unknown input vector. In this paper, an unknown-input decoupled nonlinear estimation framework is proposed, through which specific derivative-based and-free estimators are derived to provide both the estimable and unestimable unknown input estimates. Applications to rederive the existing literature results are provided to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed results.


Stellite 6 is a highly regarded engineering alloy and it possesses the wear, corrosion and heat resistance properties. Parts made of Stellite 6 are widely used in aerospace, nuclear and medical industries. Under the action of cutting forces, residual stresses may be developed during the machining of Stellite components which greatly affect the product fatigue life. The purpose of this study is to analyse the level of sub-layer residual stresses developed in the surface of a Stellite 6 workpiece when machined using optimised cutting parameters (established earlier) and using coated carbide insert as cutting tool. Experiments with turning operations have been carried out on a universal lathe machine for optimising cutting regimes on the basis of surface roughness (Ra). Optimised cutting parameters (cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut) for nose radius 0.4 mm 0.8 mm and 1.2 mm were used for making sample to analyse residual stress. Residual stresses on the machined surfaces were examined by X-ray diffraction methods. Values of residual stresses were plotted against the tool nose radii in graphical form which displays the magnitude of residual stresses and the effect of nose radius with optimised cutting parameters. Finally the best nose radius with optimised cutting parameters has been offered depending on the sub-layer residual stresses for Stellite machining industries. The output of this research will help machine manufacturing industries to select adequate machining parameters, enhance their product life and reduce defective products.