Speckle fields are widely used in optical diagnostics of biotissues and evaluation of the functional state of bioobjects. The speckle field is formed by laser radiation scattered from the object under study. It bears information about the average dimensions of the scatterers, the degree of surface roughness makes it possible to judge the structural and biophysical characteristics of individual tissue cells (particles), on the one hand, and the integral optical characteristics of the entire biological tissue. The aim of the study was – the determination of connections between the biophysical and structural characteristics of the biotissue and the light fields inside the biotissues. The model developed of the medium gives a direct relationship between the optical and biophysical parameters of the biotissue. Calculations were carried out using known solutions of the radiation transfer equation, taking into account the multilayer structure of the tissue, multiple scattering in the medium, and multiple reflection of irradiation between the layers. With the increase wavelength, the size of speckles formed by the non-scattered component (direct light) of laser radiation increases by a factor of 2 from 400 to 800 μm in the stratum corneum and 5 times from 0.6 to 3 μm for the epidermis and from 0.27 to 1.4 μm to the dermis. Typical values of sizes of speckles formed by the diffraction component of laser radiation for the stratum corneum and epidermis range from 0.02 to 0.15 μm. For the dermis typical spot sizes are up to 0.03 μm. The speckle-spot size of the diffusion component in the dermis can vary from ±10 % at 400 nm and up to ±23 % for 800 nm when the volume concentration of blood capillaries changes. Characteristic dependencies are obtained and biophysical factors associated with the volume concentration of blood and the degree of it's oxygenation that affect the contrast of the speckle structure in the dermis are discussed. The of speckles׳ size in the layers of tissue varies from a share of micrometer to millimeter. The established dependence makes it possible to determine the depth of penetration of light into the biotissue based on the dimensions of speckles. Calculation of the contrast of the speckle structure of scattered light in visible spectral range at different depths in the biotissue made it possible to establish the dependence of the contrast value of the interference pattern on the degree of oxygenation of the blood and the volume concentration of capillaries in the dermis.


Introduction Governance Matters Net Set, Go! What's the 'E' About? Local Knowledge Communities Addressing the Basics Citizen-centric Governance Private and Public The Twain Shall Meet The Business in Governance The Sovereign Stays A District Online The Torch-bearers Your Technology Backpack Negotiating the Roadblocks Tide of Good Fortune


Delafloxacin is a broad-spectrum anionic fluoroquinolone that has completed a phase 3 study for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. We investigated the pharmacodynamic target for delafloxacin against 12 Klebsiella pneumoniae and 5 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains in the neutropenic murine lung infection model. The median 24-h free-drug area under the curve (fAUC)/MIC values associated with net stasis and 1-log kill were 28.6 and 64.1 for K. pneumoniae, respectively. ABSTRACT Delafloxacin is a broad-spectrum anionic fluoroquinolone that has completed a phase 3 study for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. We investigated the pharmacodynamic target for delafloxacin against 12 Klebsiella pneumoniae and 5 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains in the neutropenic murine lung infection model. The median 24-h free-drug area under the curve (fAUC)/MIC values associated with net stasis and 1-log kill were 28.6 and 64.1 for K. pneumoniae, respectively. The 24-h fAUC/MIC values associated with net stasis and 1-log kill for P. aeruginosa were 5.66 and 14.3, respectively.


The Quantified Self can be defined as quantifying our actions and behaviours using numbers by self-tracking. This is used for our own knowledge and to possibly better ourselves. There are countless things which we can track and measure in regards to ourselves e.g. amount of sleep, heartrate, body weight (Lupton, 2016). The Quantified Self relies on individuals finding personal meaning in their personal data. However, the ways in which we may have tracked ourselves before have now been replaced. There are now over 160,000 self-tracking applications and a wide range of wearable devices such as Fitbit, Apple Watch and Samsung Gear (Lupton, 2016).


The utility model discloses a vibrating super-equal-length shot put special-strength trainer, relates to an auxiliary shot put training instrument and aims at solving the problem that the shot put special-strength training lacks a vibrating special-strength exercise means. An upper panel of a vibrating device is fixedly provided with two fixing sleeves, and the lower ends of support pillars are arranged in the corresponding fixing sleeves. Sliding sleeves are sheathed on the support pillars and are detachably connected with the corresponding support pillars through first top threads. A steel bar penetrates through a steel bar through hole of a shot put, and a steel bar outer sleeve and a first spring are sheathed on the steel bar. The first spring is arranged between the rear end of the steel bar outer sleeve and the front end of the shot put, and a bump is arranged on the steel bar. A second top thread is in threaded connection with the second threaded hole of the steel bar outer, and the shot out is sliding fit with the bump on the steel bar. The front end of the steel bar is connected with a front sliding sleeve through at least one tension spring, and a connecting handle is fixedly connected to the front side wall of a rear sliding sleeve. The rear end of the steel bar is hinged with the connecting handle of the rear sliding sleeve through a pin shaft, and the rear end of the steel bar is arranged in a tilted downwards mode. The vibrating super-equal-length shot put special-strength trainer is used for shot put special-strength training.


In 1927 he led a secession from the national Union Anarchiste, and in 1928 he helped to found the Association des Federalistes Anarchistes and to begin its paper, La Voix Libertaire (Libertarian Voice), which lasted from 1928 until 1939. He was reconciled with the national organization and Le Libertaire in 1934.


Noise present in the image has remained a fundamental problem in the field of image processing.  Removal of such a   noise from the original signal is really a challenging for researchers. Many algorithms and methods each having, advantages, disadvantages are there in the market. Noise can be introduced by transmission errors and compression. This paper presents a review of some significant work in the area of image de-noising. In this paper, a new threshold estimation technique has been presented along with the standard thresholding and filtering techniques. And a comparative analysis of different de noising methods has been carried out very efficiently. After a brief introduction, some Methods are classified.  An overview of various algorithms and methods is provided. As we know, the de-noising is essential and the step to be taken before the images data is recovered. It is necessary to apply an beneficial de-noising technique to compensate for such data corruption.


We intend to illustrate – on our own research – the effort one needs to invest in order to obtain a real size application of deep text understanding for a language being categorized as less-resourced. We present some language resources and tools we had to develop for processing text in Polish, a language which was still in this category in the 1990s. The resources were used to implement a full scale prototype of the rule-based system POLINT-112-SMS for improving information workflow for emergency management purposes.


March/April 2017 You may have been following, and even voted on, the proposed 2016 IEEE constitutional amendment, which recently failed. This was a real wake-up call for many Members of the IEEE. The amendment appears to have been driven primarily by the IEEE Board of Directors and staff, who presented it as an attempt to increase IEEE Member input. However, many argued that its actual impact woule be to weaken the most effective voice that IEEE Members have, the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB). The role of TAB is to encourage and support IEEE Societies, councils, and committees "to develop and deliver to their global customers appropriate and timely intellectual property products, in either printed or electronic form, or through meetings on current or emerging technologies." That is to say, TAB guides the technical activities of the IEEE. Not only do the technical activities overseen by TAB bring in the bulk of IEEE revenue, but TAB is a truly representative body: each Society or council president also becomes a voting member of TAB during his or her term. While there were strong proponents both for and against the amendment, the arguments against took the day, and the measure failed, despite the strong support it received from the IEEE Board of Directors. Many of the arguments offered against this amendment made sense, in my opinion. IEEE Societies and councils in general, and the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) in particular, are "citizen"-run organizations, in which member participation is highly valued and encouraged. This is true of our conferences, our publications, and our Administrative Committee (AdCom). For example, every member of our AdCom, including me, was elected from the Society membership and is directly involved in microwave engineering. As a general rule, IEEE Societies embrace membership participation at all levels of the organization and from all over the world. We cannot think of a better way to boost Member participation in IEEE governance than to support participation of the Societies and councils through their participation in TAB. Yet the failed amendment proposed a smaller role for TAB while strengthening the role of the IEEE Board of Directors. I see an interesting parallel between what transpired in our last IEEE election and what is going on in the modestly sized university town of A Wake-Up Call


The health benefits of a daily physical activity, and of walking in particular, are widely acknowledged. However, walking in urban environment inevitably leads to an increased exposure to noise, which forms a drawback of choosing this transportation mode. Being able to estimate the sound pleasantness associated with an urban walk trip has many potential applications, such as informing pedestrians about the sound along their intended walk, which may help them to optimize their route choice. In the past decade, various studies have focused on characterizing and estimating the sound pleasantness perceived at specific locations, on the basis of perceptive and physical measurements. However, to estimate the sound pleasantness along an urban walking trip, an additional step is required, which consists of assessing how a pedestrian evaluates the overall pleasantness of a sound environment that varies along the walking trip. In this work, the results of two laboratory experiments and one field experiment are discussed, which were designed to assess the overall evaluation of the sound environment along an urban walk. Physical and perceptive measurements at specified positions or continuously along a series of tested routes are available, in addition to a global evaluation of the route. A comparison between the results of the three experiments provides a rich source of information to understand how the sound pleasantness of a pedestrian walk is evaluated. The main conclusion is that for short walks (of about 1 minute), a recency effect is observed, which tends to disappear when the duration of the walk increases.


Abstract : An empirical impact acceleration injury prediction model can be based on an underlying logistic function using information extracted from dynamic response data to define independent (predictor) variables. This report describes statistical procedures for the extraction of optimal predictor variables. The application of the statistical techniques of principal components analysis and canonical correlation analysis is described. An outline of how the data analysis may be conducted with the BMDP statistical computer package is discussed. (Author)


The model-X conditional randomization test (CRT) is a flexible and powerful testing procedure for the conditional independence hypothesis: X is independent of Y conditioning on Z. Though having many attractive properties, the model-X CRT relies on the model-X assumption that we have perfect knowledge of the distribution of X | Z. If there is an error in modeling the distribution of X | Z, this approach may lose its validity. This problem is even more severe when the adjustment covariates Z are of high dimensionality, in which situation precise modeling of X against Z can be hard. In response to this, we propose the Maxway (Model and Adjust X With the Assistance of Y) CRT, which learns the distribution of Y | Z, and uses it to calibrate the resampling distribution of X to gain robustness to the error in modeling X. We prove that the type-I error inflation of the Maxway CRT can be controlled by the learning error for the low-dimensional adjusting model plus the product of learning errors for X | Z and Y | Z, which could be interpreted as an"almost doubly robust"property. Based on this, we develop implementing algorithms of the Maxway CRT in practical scenarios including (surrogate-assisted) semi-supervised learning and transfer learning where valid information about Y | Z can be potentially provided by some auxiliary or external data. Through extensive simulation studies under different scenarios, we demonstrate that the Maxway CRT achieves significantly better type-I error control than existing model-X inference approaches while preserving similar powers. Finally, we apply our methodology to two real examples, including (1) studying obesity paradox with electronic health record (EHR) data assisted by surrogate variables; (2) inferring the side effect of statins among the ethnic minority group via transferring knowledge from the majority group.


The IEEE 1687 Std. provides an efficient access methodology for embedded instruments in complex system-on-a-chip designs by introducing reconfigurable scan networks. This flexibility enables the reduction of the overall test access time, which significantly decreases the test costs compared to the conventional daisy-chaining method. However, the new access methodology strictly requires effective test schedulers that consider multi-power domains with individual constraints.This work proposes a novel test scheduler that orchestrates the Boolean Satisfiability problem in conjunction with Pseudo-Boolean optimization techniques. The effectiveness of the proposed scheduler is proven by considering networks with over one thousand of so-called instruments forming industrial representative benchmark candidates.


Extending results of Harg{\'e} and Hu for the Gaussian measure, we prove inequalities for the covariance Cov$_\mu(f, g)$ where $\mu$ is a general product probability measure on $\mathbb{R}^d$ and $f,g: \mathbb{R}^d \to \mathbb{R}$ satisfy some convexity or log-concavity assumptions, with possibly some symmetries.


This article integrated the critiques of present theorists on Experimental methods, discussed the status of it and gave some suggestions on the development of Experimental Psychology.


Abstract Multinomial logistic regression (also referred to as polychotomous logistic regression) is frequently used for the analysis of categorical response data with continuous or categorical explanatory variables. Parameter estimates are usually obtained through direct maximum likelihood estimation. Normal discriminant analysis has been used as an alternative approach to this methodology, although it is strictly appropriate only when the usual normal discriminant assumptions concerning the explanatory variables are valid. Comparative evaluations of the two procedures, including the investigation of bias and efficiency in parameter estimation, have been almost entirely limited to the case of two response groups for both normal and nonnormal explanatory variables. Bull and Donner (1987) extended the comparison of logistic regression and normal discrimination in the normal case to more than two response groups, deriving the large sample distribution of the slope parameter estimates for each of the two proc...


A distinguishing generational experience is a precondition for belonging to a certain generation. The 1960s was a time of great changes in media research as youth culture, rock and film had an impact on the interests of researchers. The Vietnam war in the 19 0s speeded up the consideration of media ethics and at least in Finland the turn of the 1980s and 1990s is remembered as the beginning of financial recession. The interaction of technology and culture, mediation and global networks are setting new demands for media ethical and media philosophical considerations in the 21st century. The links between media and power have become more complicated and invisible than before. The Internet has revolutionized the research of media and created a new generation of researchers whose minds are occupied with media philosophical questions, such as What is media? What is mediation? What is mediated activity? While the marxist philosophy of the 1970s was considering the influences that the society system had on the actions of people, in the 21st century one must cross boarders of nations and societal forms and pay attention to functional contexts and networks worldwide. Media research has entered a new phase where influences are adapted from different sources and research is taking place even more on no-mans land, for instance in societies and by using the new web technology. Face-to-face interaction has changed into computer-to-computer communication. One distinctive feature of the change of generation can also be an important event that shakes a person so profoundly that it can crucially change his/her world of thoughts and values. The media researchers of my own generation are connected, not only by Nordic conferences, but also by societal crisis like the collapse of the socialistic system in Europe, the unification of Europe and the digitalization of media. The reporting of global catastrophes in media can also produce generation based experiences. The Nordic Conferences on Media and Communication Research have functioned as a meeting point and a crossroad already for quite some generations. The conferences that begun in Voksenåsen, Norway in 1973 have discussed current issues about communication and media research. Although modern communication technology can replace face-to-face meetings, it can't deliver the humane forms of interaction even at its best. The interaction between the different generations of researchers has to be cherished in a concrete place and atmosphere. The younger generation of researchers is still in the need of support and opportunities for meeting other researchers. The conference is a special opportunity to say out ones thoughts aloud and for communication with the researchers of the field, which can result in new ideas and forms of interaction. The conference is medium par excellence.


In 2007,the Cultural Academic Conference on A Journey to the West was held in Xuyu.The author makes a review of all the articles at the conference,holding that scholars have made new breakthrough in researches concerning the relationship between the novel and Xuyu County,known as Sizhou in ancient times.The conference is also applauded for rich and new researches as regards the novelist,different editions,documentation,relationship between the novel and development of local cultural resources,and the phenomenological significance of studies in this respect.


We study issues connected to the emission of axions from SN 1987A. For these purposes we construct an effective Lagrangian to describe the interaction of axions with nucleons and analyze, particularly, the relevance of its dimension-6 axion-pion-nucleon interaction terms. We find that these terms do not contribute, in the nonrelativistic limit appropriate to axion emission from SN 1987A, thereby reconfirming various extant calculations.


Market changes and new applications, as well as technological developments like SDH, optical amplifiers and WDM present new requirements for flexibility and upgradability on the wet part of a repeaterless submarine system. This in turn has generated the need for a development of a large range of submarine cables and associated components and services. All elements must be simple for lowest possible cost, but also coordinated and optimised against the system requirements.


Titanium alloys have a wide range of applications, and the internal placement of hydrogen into them can modulate the microstructure of the alloys and thus have great potential for further development. However, few studies have been reported on the application of this technique to Nb-Ti-Co ternary alloys, which needs to be urgently investigated. In this paper, four types of alloys (Nb10Ti61Co29, Nb15Ti55Co30, Nb20Ti50Co30, and Nb25Ti50Co25) are selected near the eutectic point of the phase diagram to study their placement of hydrogen by both static and dynamic processes of hydrogen's placements, focusing on the effects of the temperature, time, and hydrogen-flow rate of such processes on the amount of hydrogen placements. The relationship between the hydrogen replacement parameters and the mechanical properties of the alloys is constructed. The results show that the placed-hydrogen amount of Nb-Ti-Co as-cast alloy grows with the increase of hydrogen-flow rate and soaking (or holding) time, with an upper limit of the placed-hydrogen amount, and the pattern of the directionally- solidified alloys is similar to that of the as-cast alloys; however, at a certain soaking time and hydrogen- flow rate, although the placed hydrogen amount of both alloys rises with the increase of temperature, the placed-hydrogen amount of Nb-Ti-Co directionally-solidified alloys is always larger than that of the as-cast alloys. However, the amount of hydrogen placement in the Nb-Ti-Co directionally-solidified alloys is always larger than that in the as-cast alloys, and the amount of hydrogen placement decreases significantly as the growth rate of the alloys increases. In addition, the microhardness decreases with increasing growth rate in the directionally-solidified specimens, and the amount of hydrogen placement and microhardness increase with growing Nb content.


A pressure regulator and flow of a respiratory gas, the application and to dilution, comprises an inlet (8) of additional gas and an outlet (4) to a breathing mask and dilution means (5). Control means (23) switches a power supply (27) of additional gas under pressure between at least two passages (25, 26). At least one of these passages is at an economical rate and having a restricted section to limit the flow of additional gas supplied to the inlet (8). The other passage (26), said "full rate", has a section such that the additional gas is a maximum flow rate to supply the user with additional gas physiologically sufficiently.


THE INVENTION CONCERNS A DEVICE FOR PRODUCTION OF ICE CREAM TREATS. According to the Invention, IT INCLUDES A CONTAINER 1 A DOUBLE WALL CONTAINER HAVING A PARALLEL 2 INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CYLINDRICAL CONTAINER HERMETICALLY SEALED 3 L ONE TO ANOTHER BY THEIR ENDS HIGHER, AGENT BEARING COLD 4 A TRAY 10 MAY RECEIVE DOUBLE WALL CONTAINER, AN ORGAN FORMING COVER 13 BLADES AND A cERTAIN NUMBER OF STIRRING 15 ROTARY TRAY 11 SPACE AGENCY INTERNAL TRAY APPROXIMATELY HALF ITS HEIGHT AND NOW THE DOUBLE WALL CONTAINER AND MEANS 20, 21, 22 AGENCY UNDER THE ROTARY TRAY FOR tRAINING IN ROTATION. THE iNVENTION APPLIES ESPECIALLY MAKING HOUSE ICE CREAM AND SORBET.


In a JAMA MEDICAL NEWS report last April 4 on promising results with the new antiherpetic drug acyclovir in tissue culture and in animal models, Jonathan H. Lass, MD, was quoted as saying: "The properties of acyclovir so far are encouraging. Exactly how close [it] comes to the bull's-eye remains to be seen ( JAMA [MEDICAL NEWS] 1980;243:1315). Well, if the results of two clinical trials described at the recent Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in New Orleans are any indication, acyclovir is right on target but as yet has made no substantial contribution to the body's fight against invading herpesviruses. "There is an antiviral effect. That's all we're comfortable saying," Clyde Crumpacker, MD, of Harvard University Medical School, told JAMA MEDICAL NEWS. In a double-blind study, Crumpacker, Spotswood Spruance, MD, of the University of Utah College of Medicine, Salt Lake City, and colleagues administered either acyclovir in polyethylene


The nuclear fuel rod support grid is an important structural part for the nuclear fuel assembly of the pressurized light water reactor. It provides flexible support for the nuclear fuel rods which experience thermal expansion and contraction caused by the severe operation environment in the core. It should maintain the soundness of the mechanical integrity from the lateral impact which can be caused by the collision of the fuel assembly with neighboring assemblies. And the spacer grid should affect the flow around it in such a way that the heat exchange between fuel rod and the cooling water is expedited. In this paper, we analyze the design of a unit grid cell in the view point of axiomatic design in order to preserve the support integrity and buckling resistance of the grid structure.


ABSTRACT
This dissertation focuses on new technology commercialization, innovation and new business development. Industry-based novel technology may achieve commercialization through its transfer to a large research laboratory acting as a lead user and technical partner, and providing the new technology with complementary assets and meaningful initial use in social practice. The research lab benefits from the new technology and innovation through major performance improvements and cost savings. Such mutually beneficial collaboration between the lab and the firm does not require any additional administrative efforts or funds from the lab, yet requires openness to technologies and partner companies that may not be previously known to the lab- Labs achieve the benefits by applying a proactive procurement model that promotes active pre-tender search of new technologies and pre-tender testing and piloting of these technological options. The collaboration works best when based on the development needs of both parties. This means that first of all the lab has significant engineering activity with well-defined technological needs and second, that the firm has advanced prototype technology yet needs further testing, piloting and the initial market and references to achieve the market breakthrough. The empirical evidence of the dissertation is based on a longitudinal multiple-case study with the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. The key theoretical contribution of this study is that large research labs, including basic research, play an important role in product and business development toward the end, rather than front-end, of the innovation process. This also implies that product-orientation and business-orientation can contribute to basic re-search. The study provides practical managerial and policy guidelines on how to initiate and manage mutually beneficial lab-industry collaboration and proactive procurement.


To study a charge-induced stabilization of α-helix, α-helical peptides having a positively charged random-coil block on either N- or C-terminal of the helix, and having a strictly defined length, (Ala)20(X)20Phe and (X)20(Ala)20Phe (X=Lys or Orn), were synthesized. Component dipeptides were coupled on p-(oxymethyl)phenylacetamidomethyl polystyrene.


The Cloud is an internet-based computing where shared resources, software and information are provided to the computer. Now a days it is one of the prominent technologies to provide wide variety of services. In this condition data can be categorized into sensitive and insensitive. Among these two types sensitive data requires security. The existing system does not provide any security concerns for storing sensitive data in the cloud environment. So, it is necessary to develop an application to provide better security to the sensitive data in the cloud environment. This paper presented one of the best cryptographic algorithm that is homomorphic encryption which is used to provide better security to the multimedia data in the cloud environment when streaming or after streaming is over. Through this algorithm data can be encrypt and upload into cloud environment as well as download and decrypt into original form. By using this application we can provide better security to the cloud environment when compare to existing one. Keywords— Homomorphism, Cryptography, Public Key, Private Key, Euler's totient function, Carmichael's function, Frame Buffer.


Objective To explore the levels of angiopoietin like protein 1(Ang-1) and 2(Ang-2) in patients with acute myocardial infarction(AMI) and its correlation with cardiac troponin T(cTnT).Methods 75 patients with AMI were selected.50 healthy subjects were chosen as a control group.The levels of Ang-1,Ang-2,and cTnT were determined by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technology (ELISA) and chemiluminescence method,respectively.The results were compared.Results The levels of Ang-2 [(2310.2 ± 131.6) ng/L] and Ang-2/Ang-I (11.9 ± 1.3) in the AMI patients were significantly higher than those of the control group[(905.8 ± 171.4) ng/L,(4.6 ± 1.8)] (P < 0.05).There was no statistical difference in Ang-1 level between the AMI patients[(19 589.3 ± 2033.4) ng/L] and the control group [(19 612.1 ± 1824.1) ng/L].Ang-2 and Ang-2/Ang-1 positively correlated with cTnT (r=0.597 and 0.604,respectively,P < 0.05).Conclusions High levels of Ang-2 and Ang-2/Ang-1 are the risk factors of AMI.Ang-2 and Ang-2/Ang-1 positively correlate with cTnT.

Key words:
Angiopoietin like protein 1;  Angiopoietin like protein 2;  Cardiac troponins T;  Acute myocardial infarction


Abstract The synthesis of a series of new nucleosides and nucleotides, including ribo-, 2-deoxyribo- and arabinofuranosides of 5-sulfur-substituted cytosines, is described. The synthetic methods employed involve 5-thiolation of the appropriate cytosine or 5-bromocytosine nucleosides and nucleotides, or alternatively, 4-thiation followed by amination of the corresponding protected 5-(S-benzyl)mercaptouracil nucleosides and subsequent deblocking with sodium and liquid ammonia.


Study Design. This study analyzed the effects of autografted nucleus pulposus on nerve root axon morphology, neurophysiologic function, and sodium channel expression. Objectives. To investigate the chronic effects of the epidural implantation of nucleus pulposus on nerve root morphology, neural activity, ectopic discharge, mechanosensitivity, and sodium channel expression. Summary of Background Data. It has been reported that ectopic discharges were recorded antidromically from sural nerve on compressing nucleus pulposus exposed spinal nerves. However, it is not clear what the effects of nucleus pulposus are on ectopic discharges recorded directly from the spinal nerve roots. It is also not clear what the effects of nucleus pulposus are on the threshold pressure to provoke ectopic discharges in the spinal nerves. Sodium channel content increases in remodeling axons after nerve injury, but it is not clear what the effects of nucleus pulposus are on sodium channel expression in spinal nerve. Methods. Forty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats were used, 20 in a nucleus pulposus-implanted group, 18 in a fat-implanted group, and 8 in a normal group. Fresh autografted nucleus pulposus or fat tissue was implanted into the dorsal epidural space at the L4–L5 disc level. On the 7th, 21st, or 42nd day, neurophysiologic recordings were made to determine nerve root response to compression. Nerve roots were then harvested to determine sodium channel protein concentration and histologic changes in the nerve root. The correlations between sodium channel density and neural activity and mechanosensitivity of dorsal root were analyzed statistically. Results. Ectopic discharge rate was higher in nucleus pulposus 7-day group. Threshold pressure to evoke ectopic discharges was lower in the nucleus pulposus 7-day group, and higher in the nucleus pulposus 42-day group compared to the normal group. Sodium channel protein density increased in the nucleus pulposus 7-day and nucleus pulposus 21-day group compared to normal nerve. Sodium channel density changes were not correlated to threshold pressure. Ectopic discharge rate increased with increase of sodium channel density in the nerve roots. The number of axons with neuropathy increased in the nucleus pulposus 7-day and 21-day groups. Conclusions. Acute exposure of nerve root to nucleus pulposus resulted in increased number of axons with neuropathy, higher intensity of ectopic discharges on compression, and nerve mechanosensitization. Chronic exposure resulted in mechanical desensitization. Changes of sodium channel density were correlated to ectopic discharge rate.


Introduction: Plantar fasciitis is an inflammatory painful condition, one of the most common causes of heel pain. The cause of it is multifactorial; and different treatment modalities are available.
Aims:To compare the effectiveness between the stretching exercise and corticosteroid injection.
Methods:This study was conducted at Nepalgunj medical college, in the department of orthopedics from September 2019 to September 2020. Patients were equally divided into two groups. In Group A corticosteroid injection was given and in group B stretching exercise was advised. Patients were followed up at two weeks, 8weeks and 16weeks; pretreatment and post-treatment pain level was assessed by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Functional outcome was assessed by Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM) Scale.
Results: Both groups were comparable in relation to age and sex. There was significant decrease in pain and improvement of function in steroid group at two weeks and eight weeks follow up; whereas at 16weeks follow up plantar fascia stretching groups improved significantly.
Conclusion: For short term relief local corticosteroid injection is superior; but for long term relief in pain and improvement in function plantar fascia stretching exercise is better treatment option.


The ultrastructure and cytochemical localization of Ca2+-activated adenosine triphosphatase (Ca2+-ATPase) activity of the ovarian surface epithelium in immature rats and in adult rats during the estrous cycle and pregnancy were investigated at both light and electron microscopical levels. In the adult rat ovaries at all stages of the estrous cycle, the intensity of Ca2+-ATPase activity and ultrastructure of the surface epithelium were considerably varied in the different regions on the same ovary. The variations in the morphology and Ca2+-ATPase activity likely provide evidence for the differences in the functional activity of the surface epithelium, which are related to the topographical connection with adjacent structures of ovarian cortex, i.e., corpus luteum, preovulatory Graafian follicles, interstitium containing small follicles. In the adult rat ovaries at all reproductive stages, the cuboidal or columnar surface epithelial cells were found on the interstitium containing small follicles. In some places, the columnar surface epithelial cells, forming crypts of the epithelium, invaginated into the ovarian proper. This type of surface epithelial cell had well-developed microvilli on its apical membrane, and showed intense Ca2+-ATPase activity on its apical and lateral membranes. The squamous surface epithelial cells were found on the surface of corpus luteum and preovulatory Graafian follicles. These cells had a low number of microvilli and less activity of Ca2+-ATPase on the apical membrane. In the immature rat ovaries, the surface epithelial cells were in part squamous, in part cuboidal. Both types of surface epithelial cells had few microvilli. Ca2+-ATPase activity on the apical membrane was considerably less on all surfaces of the ovaries. It seems that the transport function of the surface epithelium in the immature ovary is not active as compared with the mature ovary.These results suggest that the surface epithelium may have an active function of local absorption and/or transepithelial transport between pelvic cavity and ovarian proper, and its functional activity is associated with the reproductive function of the ovary.


The best estimate of the total replacement value of local and regional roads in NSW is approximately $13.2 billion. It is only in recent years that formal road asset management systems have been developed and implemented. Even so, our knowledge of pavement asset performance is at best incomplete. Decision makers are still apprehensive about relying on the management strategies produced by these systems. There is a need to better understand the performance of road pavements, to measure the condition of our networks and to determine cost effective long term financial strategies which will deliver assets in a condition which meets the needs of our community. Within this environment there is a need for peak industry bodies such as IPWEA and AAPA to work together to develop new pavement strategies which will provide road assets of a quality which will satisfy community expectations within the scarce resources available to meet competing needs. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E213757.


In this paper,the measurements of magnetic field are described for the toroidal field coils,inner and outer vertical field coils,primary winding and bias winding of the Ohmic transformer of the HL-1 tokamak.The influence of the copper shell with gaps on these magnetic fields are discussed briefly.


Introduction: Conflicts are as natural a phenomenon in society as the sea-sons. It is difficult for a person to avoid them, but he can choose to take part in them or not. In any organization, including medical, this is a normal phenomenon inherent in the work of the workforce. The objective of the study was conflicts in the field of healthcare in the system "medical personnel of a healthcare institution, patients and relatives of patients". Materials and Methods: The study of conflict in the team was conducted by medical and soci-ological methods using an anonymous questionnaire developed by us. Results: A study was conducted aimed at identifying the socio-psychological causes of conflicts and methods for their resolution in the organization of health care using the example of medical personnel. Conclusions: Conflict is an integral part of the functioning of any organization. The study confirmed the hypothesis that the conflict management process will be more effective when changing organizational processes as a whole.


Researching for the needs of the doctoral dissertation on the topic "Life and Work of Milorad Ekmečić (1928-2015)", we noticed that this distinguished Yugoslavian and Serbian historian, in one period of his career, had shown special interest in search for the true creator of "Načertanije" - unofficial foreign policy program of the Principality of Serbia. Starting from the principle that in historical science nothing is explored to the end, he tackled the issue with almost axiomatic claim that Ilija Garašanin is the author of this writing. Thanks to decades of research experience, extraordinary erudition and a good command of archive material and relevant literature he managed to perform critical scrutiny. He discovered data that shed a whole new light on the background of this document. He wrote about its historical meaning and goals, but also about different interpretations of the essence of "Načertanije", which once had a non-scientific character. He thus gave another original contribution to our historiography.


ABSTRACT For decades, the United States has been aggressively enforcing its environmental laws. Beginning in the mid-1990s and continuing through present, this effort has been directed at the marit...


The problems of software engineering in new programming systems are discussed. We demonstrate that it is possible to generate a set of simple rules for one such system, Apple's Hypercard. The importance of software tools to assist the maintenance of programs in these new systems is emphasized. We describe a 'Documentor' stack for Hypercard which automatically produces summaries and indices of a Hypercard system.


This paper investigates the use of current sensors for the control of power converters. The whole system only requires current sensing devices that generate signals in response to the current flowing in inductors. Besides, such as used in current programming and in maximum current protection, the sensed current and the rate of change of the inductor current in different circuit topologies are used to determine the input and output voltages. Apart from reducing the number of sensors, the proposed method provides inherent electrical isolation between the power conversion stage and the controller, thus reducing noise coupling.


In order to find the new antineoplastic medicine with high potential, a low toxic and Pt-based, Pt(Ⅱ)-en-5-Fu complex, as a novel cisplatin complex, was designed and synthesized using K2PtCl4, en, 5-Fu as staring materials. Its antineoplastic activity for the K562, A549, Bel-7402, BIU-87, Bcap-37 cells was measured by the improved MTT, SRB methods. The formula of the complex is [Pt(en)(5-Fu)2]Cl2, the structure has been elucidated by IR spectra , elementary analysis and MS. The antineoplastic activity of Pt(Ⅱ)-en-5-Fu complex is stronger than cisplatin and 5-Fu only in the consistence of 0.01 and 0.1 μg /mL toward K562, and less in other conditions. However , Pt(Ⅱ)-en-5-Fu complex is worthy of being further studied.


General practitioner Belfast (b Belfast 1946; q Belfast 1970; DCH, DRCOG, FRCGP), d 19 December 2003.2003.

Figure 1

Brian Darby was a general practitioner in British Columbia and Northern Ireland for more than 30 years. He was a trainer in the Northern Ireland GP vocational training scheme and was also involved in undergraduate medical education. He was both a principal in a busy south Belfast practice and a hospital practitioner caring for neurological patients at Musgrave Park Hospital. He was a lifelong non-smoker and so it was an irony that he should die from disseminated lung cancer. He leaves a wife, Merle, and two children.


The Raman spectra of aqueous solutions of LiCl, LiI, KF, KI, CsF, and CsI were studied at several concentrations. The striking conclusion is that the intensity of both the bending and stretching vibrations are strongly affected by the nature of the anion, decreasing slightly in the presence of F-, increasing slightly with Cl- and increasing up to eight times in the presence of I-. Equally striking is the observation that there is no detectable effect of the cation, LiI and CsI yielded substantially identical spectra. There is no evidence for the presence of more than one kind of water molecule, either in pure water or in any of the solutions.


This describes a simple method to find two important characteristic parameters of a beam with a Gaussian irradiance profile—the position of the plane of the beam waist and the value of ω0 in that p...


Sequence clustering is a fundamental step in analyzing DNA sequences. Widely-used software tools for sequence clustering, such as CD-HIT and UCLUST, utilize greedy approaches that are not guaranteed to produce the best results. These tools are sensitive to one parameter that determines the sequence similarity between sequences in a cluster. Often times, a biologist does not know the exact sequence similarity Therefore, clusters produced by these tools do not likely match the real clusters comprising the data if the provided parameter is inaccurate. To overcome this limitation, we adapted the mean shift algorithm, which has been used successfully thousands of times in fields such as image processing and computer vision. Here we describe the first application of the mean shift algorithm to clustering DNA sequences. Further, we applied machine learning to devising a novel alignment-free method for measuring sequence similarity. These two innovations represent the core of our software tool, MeShClust. We demonstrate MeShClust's outstanding ability to cluster DNA sequences with high accuracy even when the sequence similarity parameter provided by the user is not very accurate.


Web mining has been explored to a vast degree and d ifferent techniques have been proposed for a variet y of applications that include Web Search, Web Classific at on, Web Personalization etc. Most research on We b mining has been from a 'data-centric' point of view. The f ocus has been primarily on developing measures and applications based on data collected from content, structure and usage of Web till a particular time instance. In t his project we examine another dimension of Web Mining, namely tem poral dimension. Web data has been evolving over ti me, reflecting the ongoing trends. These changes in dat a in the temporal dimension reveal new kind of info rmation. This information has not captured the attention of the W b mining research community to a large extent. In this paper, we highlight the significance of studying the evolv ing nature of the Web graphs. We have classified th approach to such problems at three levels of analysis: ingle node, sub-graphs and whole graphs. We provide a framework to approach problems of this kind and have identified interesting problems at each level. Our experiments verify the significance of such analysis and also point to fut ure directions in this area. The approach we take i s generic and can be applied to other domains, where data can be mode led as graph, such as network intrusion detection o r social networks.


Assessment is an integral part of effective curriculum design and development within modules and across programmes. However, it is also influenced by the wider local, national and, to an extent, international education policy context. This chapter will explore some aspects of this wider context and consider the implications for learning, teaching and assessment practices.


Governments situated on the same level of a multi-level governmental system compete with each other as well as with those placed higher or lower. This paper is concerned with horizontal competition only. It discusses both competition based on the mobility of agents (individuals, business firms, or factors) and competition related to the circulation of information. With regard to the first kind, it focuses on the capacity that governments keep to decide their policies and compete in spite of the mobility of agents. Some attention is also given to the implications of some non-standard assumptions about the underlying political set up. The discussion of information-based competition includes that of "laboratory federalism" (whether decentralization favours innovation) and of "yardstick competition" (what are the effects of comparisons of governments' comparative performance across jurisdictions). Some questions pertaining to the relationship between the different forms of horizontal competition and to their normative and empirical dimensions are addressed briefly. JEL classification: D72, H7


We report on the state of development of optical performance monitoring (OPM) method based on asynchronous amplitude histogram analysis. Accurate monitoring of noise and chromatic dispersion is demonstrated for intensity- and phase-modulated signals.


Production of CO-rich hydrogen gas from methane dry reforming was investigated over CeO 2 -supported Co catalyst. The catalyst was synthesized by wet impregnation and subsequently characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), energy dispersion X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), liquid N 2 adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for the structure, surface and thermal properties. The catalytic activity test of the Co/CeO 2 was investigated between 923-1023 K under reaction conditions in a stainless steel fixed bed reactor. The composition of the products (CO 2 and H 2 ) from the methane dry reforming reaction was measured by gas chromatography (GC) coupled with thermal conductivity detector (TCD). The effects of feed ratios and reaction temperatures were investigated on the catalytic activity toward product selectivity, yield, and syngas ratio. Significantly, the selectivity and yield of both H 2 and CO increases with feed ratio and temperature. However, the catalyst shows higher activity towards CO selectivity. The highest H 2 and CO selectivity of 19.56% and 20.95% respectively were obtained at 1023 K while the highest yield of 41.98% and 38.05% were recorded for H 2 and CO under the same condition. Copyright © 2016 BCREC GROUP. All rights reserved Received: 21 st January 2016; Revised: 23 rd February 2016; Accepted: 23 rd February 2016 How to Cite: Ayodele, B.V., Khan, M.R., Cheng, C. K. (2016). Production of CO-rich Hydrogen Gas from Methane Dry Reforming over Co/CeO 2 Catalyst. Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysi s, 11 (2): 210-219 (doi:10.9767/bcrec.11.2.552.210-219) Permalink/DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.9767/bcrec.11.2.552.210-219 Article Metrics: (click on the button below to see citations in Scopus)


The Academic Computer Systems Department of the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur has been implemented as one of the strategies to reduce dropout and failure rates, measure and analyze the academic performance of each of the students during the courses, to identify factors that may influence academic performance. This requires having a tool that facilitates the teaching record each student's work during the course, and that this information is available throughout the course period. This paper describes the development of a web application that allows the teacher to keep track of the activities within the classroom, in an efficient, easy, convenient, anywhere Internet access is presented. This application concentrates in one place the information regarding the academic performance of students by providing access to reliable and timely information to the decision maker.


Copyright © 2001 American Heart Association. All rights reserved. Print ISSN: 0009-7322. Online ISSN: Circulation is published by the American Heart Association. 7272 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 72514 DOI: 10.1161/hc3101.09370


Submitted for the APR15 Meeting of The American Physical Society A Critical Examination of the Models Proposed to Account for Baryon-Antibaryon Segregation Following the Quark-Hadron Transition MOISHE GARFINKLE, Drexel University — The major concern of the Standard Cosmological Model (SCM) is to account for the continuing existence of the universe in spite of the Standard Particle Model (SPM). According to the SPM below the quark-hadron temperature (≈ 150 ± 50 MeV) the rate of baryon-antibaryon pair creation from γ radiation is in equilibrium with rate of pair annihilation. At freezeout (≈ 20± 10 MeV) the rate of pair creation ceases. Henceforth only annihilation occurs below this temperature, resulting in a terminal pair ratio B+/γ = B−/γ ≈ 10−18, insufficient to account for the present universe which would require a pair ratio minimum of at least B+/γ = B−/γ ≈ 10−10. The present universe could not exist according to the SPM unless a mechanism was devised to segregation baryons from antibaryon before freeze-out. The SPM can be tweaked to accommodate the first two conditions but all of the mechanisms proposed over the past sixty years for the third condition failed. All baryon-number excursions devised were found to be reversible. The major concern of the SCM is to account for the continuing existence of the universe in spite of the SPM. The present universe could not exist according to the SPM unless a mechanism was devised to segregation baryons from antibaryon before freeze-out. It is the examination of these possible mechanisms that is subject of this work. Moishe Garfinkle Drexel University Date submitted: 23 Dec 2014 Electronic form version 1.4


The paper clarifies the necessity of constructing curriculum system for information management and information system specialty in common medical colleges and universities,combining with the teaching reform practices in Mudanjiang Medical College,it analyzes curriculum system constructing principles and current problems existed in curriculum system,discusses new ideas for constructing curriculum system with college characteristics.


The paper is related to the principle of the electrical heat insulation technology by the skin effect, also to the basic construction and technological characteristics of the unit of the electrical heat insulation by the skin effect and its calculating method on engineering. Farther more, the applications in the factory-to-factory piping net of our company of the technology is also discussed in the paper.


The utility model relates to an integrated device for purifying and sterilizing air, which comprises a high concentration ozonizer, a low concentration ozonizer and corresponding control circuits, wherein the high concentration ozonizer and the low concentration ozonizer are arranged in a casing; the control circuit of the high concentration ozonizer comprises a timing circuit, the casing is a closed type air passage, an air outlet of the air passage is provided with an axial flow fan, and the positions of the casing, which correspond to the ozonizers, are provided with viewing windows. The utility model has the advantages that the utility model generates ozone constantly, and emits the ozone uniformly, the high concentration ozonizer and the low concentration ozonizer are operated reasonably, the ozonizers are checked conveniently whether the ozonizers work normally or not and the utility model is used safely and reliably. The utility model is suitable for purifying, sterilizing, etc. in offices, meeting rooms, business halls, bedrooms, sickrooms, kitchens, toilets, etc.


Fire accidents produce huge loss in industry. The irrecoverable and unaccountable damages also make environmental harm. Many safety standards are implemented in industry to avoid such accidents. But the fire catching news is increasing more in now days. Sensor based fire detections were installed in most companies. But the range of such sensor is low compared to the area of the premises. Camera surveillance system is a predominant part in building automation system and thus computer vision based fire detection system are being developed to embed with camera. The identification of blaze edges defines a practice of determining margin between the region of thermal response or not. Several fire detection algorithms have been developed. These procedures will not point out steadiness of blaze regions. Here a novel approach is proposed to distinguish the fire region from the video frame using color correlogram feature. Saliency based features are also extracted from the segment. The color probability of neighbouring pixel is estimated with color auto correlogram feature. Machine learning algorithm is implemented to train the feature vector. With the naïve bayes classifier, the proposed system could test Fire 2018 dataset and obtained 96.97 % accuracy.


Processes were developed to convert nitrite-containing caustic waste water to neutral and oxidized salt solutions. The product can be used as liquid fertilizer or safely disposed. This compares to current disposal techniques of bulk storage or deep-well injection. The processes developed and described in this paper have applications from coal-fired power plant industry for NO{sub x} control to east/west coast space launch sites where NO{sub 2} is used as hypergolic fuel and controlled via caustic scrubbers. Since aqueous scrubber waste solutions containing nitrites can produce NO{sub x} emissions through chemical pathways promoted by neutral and acidic pH, waste conversion strategies must take into account the sequence of oxidation and neutralization detoxification steps. The detoxification processes outlined here provide the basis for a controlled nitrite-waste treatment scheme which far exceeds the OSHA STEL of 1 ppm. for NO{sub 2}. The detoxification processes utilize a liquid-phase oxidation of the scrubber liquor nitrites (NO{sub 2{sup {minus}}}) to nitrates (NO{sub 3{sup {minus}}}) followed by neutralization of the hydroxide-nitrate waste stream to a high potassium and phosphate-containing aqueous stream. Two primary treatment schemes were developed: (1) a single-step conversion of nitrite-containing water with hydrogen peroxide and MKP, and (2) a dual-step process with ozone andmore » MKP. Oxidation of nitrites to nitrates with 99+% efficiency were achieved with ozone, and conversions >97% were measured using a hydrogen peroxide treatment process. Upon neutralization of the hydroxide-nitrate waste with monobasic potassium phosphate the net conversion of NO{sub x} to neutral aqueous solution was generally greater than 98%. The NO{sub x} emissions measured during the detoxification processes were less than 1 ppm (volume) as monitored using UV/VIS spectrophotometry.« less


Objectives The aims of the study were to organise a program of guided walking for sedentary subjects, to analyse the changes of some risk factors for cardiovascular diseases after one year of walking and to check the permanence of unsupervised walking practice months after the program was over. Methods 650 adults and elderly subjects, declaring only occasional physical activity, were enrolled. Weight, height, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and walking speed (measured on a 100 metres course, at an intensity of 12-14 on the Borg scale) were determined at enrolment. Subjects were invited to walk as frequently as possible alone or with one of the several walking groups organised for the project. Walking groups were active five days a week with walking sessions of approximately one hour. The variables measured at enrolment were re-determined after one year. Sixteen month after the end of the project the participants completing the program fill in a questionnaire on the weekly walking hours they were still doing. Results 326 subjects (212 women and 114 men) walked from three to seven days a week and completed the one-year project. After 12 months of walking, highly significant reductions of body weight, BMI, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and highly significant increase in walking speed were documented1(Table 1). Identical results were obtained for both women and men. Abstract P-9 Table 1 Values (mean ± standard deviation) at baseline and change after 12 months of walking in the 326 subjects completing the project Baseline At 12 months p Change Weight (kg) 74.5 ± 15.6 72.2 ± 14.2 p < 0.0001 -2.2 ± 2.9 BMI (kg/m2) 27.0 ± 4.4 26.2 ± 4.0 p < 0.0001 -0.8 ± 1.0 Waist Circumference (cm) 95.2 ± 13.4 92.4 ± 12.4 p < 0.0001 -2.8 ± 3.3 Systolic Blood Pressure (mmHg) 134.2 ± 16.2 128.1 ± 11.3 p < 0.0001 -6.1 ± 8.2 Diastolic Blood Pressure (mmHg) 77.3 ± 9.2 74.8 ± 6.8 p < 0.0001 -2.5 ± 7.6 Walking Speed (km/h) 5.6 ± 0.7 6.3 ± 0.7 p < 0.0001 0.8 ± 0.5 Sixteen months after the end of the project 258 subjects declared 170 ± 110 minutes a week of independent walking (Figure 1), a time superimposable to the one indicated by the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Conclusions One year of guided walking has been followed by highly significant reductions of some risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and by a highly significant improvement of the walking speed. Sixteen months after the end of the project, 77% of the participants were independently maintaining the walking practice, indicating that guided walking is effective in permanently modifying the lifestyle of sedentary subjects. Acknowledgments Supported by the Italian Ministry of Education and Scientific Research and the Ministry of Sport. References Murphy MH, Nevill AM, Murtagh EM, Holder RL. The effect of walking on fitness, fatness and resting blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomised, controlled trials. Prev Med. 2007;44(5):377–85. Abstract P-9 Figure 1 Minutes of walking per week of 258 subjects 16 months after the end of the project


The article examines the mechanisms of the impact of social and psychological factors on the realization of the human right to the protection of the law. This problem is considered through the prism of human rights relations, which allow us to demonstrate in dynamics how these factors affect the state of human rights relations between a person and the state. An attempt is made to show the peculiarities of the influence of social and psychological phenomena on the behavior of a person who finds himself in the role of an authorized party to a legal relationship and on the behavior of a state that finds itself in the role of an obligated party to a legal relationship


Image segmentation is the process of partitioning a digital image into multiple segments or set of pixels. The objective of image segmentation is to group pixels into a prominent image region. In this paper, segmentation of Gray level images is used to provide information such as anatomical structure and identifying the Region of Interest i.e. locate tumor, lesion and other abnormalities. The image segmentation methods may be classified into several types: image-based, model-based and hybrid methods. Purely image-based methods perform segmentation based only on information available within the image. These include thresholding, region growing, morphological operations, active contours level sets, watershed, fuzzy connectedness, and graph cuts (Gcs).Image based methods perform well on high-quality images. However, the results are not as good when the image quality is inferior or boundary information is missing .One advantage of model based methods is that, even when some object information is missing, such gaps can be filled by drawing upon the prior information present in the model .In this paper a semi automated segmentation method is implemented for medical image segmentation. Tumor detection is one of the major applications of medical image segmentation .A tumor detection algorithm using fuzzy c means clustering is also implemented in this paper.


The use of thin disk active elements [1] leads to essential decrease in negative influence of the thermal distortions on the output parameters of solid-state lasers. We may increase the output power from the single disk without suffering from thermal distortion while using the multi beam pumping. The purpose of our work was the realization of phase synchronization of several laser channels with a cavity utilizing Talbot effect.


Outsourcing and contract manufacturing have developed as effective business strategies for electronics manufacturing services in the recent years. Most Consumer Electronic brand firms do not actually make the consumer products they sell but hire contract manufacturers, mostly in the developing world. Asia is currently the major production base of mobile phones for instance, with China and ASEAN accounting for 81.9% of the related products exported from Asia. Many of the major brand-name CE manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung and HP have been facing a lot of scrutiny for the past few years owing to ongoing scandals about appalling working conditions in their Asian plants. Reportedly, workers in many of the CE supplier factories in many Asian countries are plagued by substandard working conditions that include but are not limited to excessive working hours; health and safety risks including chemical poisonings and deaths; and weak or suppressed trade unions and collective bargaining. Occupational Safety and Health, in particular, is an area of major concern. This thesis aims to the review the international legal framework governing Occupational Safety and Health(OSH) applicable to a) governments of host countries where CE supplier factories are situated and b) to the CE brand firms as business enterprises. The thesis further aims to analyse the current situation of OSH in some of the supplier factories of major brand firms in China and Malaysia and identify the key issues with regard to the legal system governing workers' right to OSH, and its implementation, in the CE sector. Major findings of the thesis include: the self-regulatory private standards and codes of conduct employed by most brand firms to ensure the protection of labour rights and OSH standards in their supplier factories are not backed by effective monitoring and implementation mechanisms; while there is an extensive database on guidance to business enterprises and individual factories in relation to effective OSH management, there is lack of binding legal obligations for the violation of which, brand firms can be held liable; working conditions in many of China's Supplier factories appear to be in direct violation of China's international legal obligations and its national legal framework; Malaysia appears to be attractive to companies wishing to outsource labour due to its low-cost workforce, apparently low levels of unionisation and weak labour rights; migrant workers in the CE sector in Malaysia are at particular risk of jeopardy to physical and mental health. (Less)


Group synchronization refers to estimating a collection of group elements from the noisy pairwise measurements. Such a nonconvex problem has received much attention from numerous scientific fields including computer vision, robotics, and cryo-electron microscopy. In this paper, we focus on the orthogonal group synchronization problem with general additive noise models under incomplete measurements, which is much more general than the commonly considered setting of complete measurements. Characterizations of the orthogonal group synchronization problem are given from perspectives of optimality conditions as well as fixed points of the projected gradient ascent method which is also known as the generalized power method (GPM). It is well worth noting that these results still hold even without generative models. In the meantime, we derive the local error bound property for the orthogonal group synchronization problem which is useful for the convergence rate analysis of different algorithms and can be of independent interest. Finally, we prove the linear convergence result of the GPM to a global maximizer under a general additive noise model based on the established local error bound property. Our theoretical convergence result holds under several deterministic conditions which can cover certain cases with adversarial noise, and as an example we specialize it to the setting of the Erd\"os-R\'enyi measurement graph and Gaussian noise.


A method of checking the charge invariance principle consists in establishing the degree of forbiddenness resulting from the conservation of isotopic spin in meson production processes. The reaction d + d yields pi deg + He/sup 4/ serves as an illustration of this principle. Measurements on the reaction were made at anextracted deuteron bean intensity of about 3x. 10/ sup 10/ sec/sup -1/.(W.D.M.)


Based on experiment study of two 1/2 scale composite wall which one is general composite wall(GCW) and another is composite wall with steel reinforcement outside frame(SCW) under low frequency cyclic and reversed lateral load,it is studied to failure type and earthquake behavior about bearing capacity,deformation,ductility,energy dissipation of SCW compared with GCW.The result show that both SCW and GCW have same failure type,but the bearing capacity,deformation,ductility,energy dissipation of SCW are excellent than that of GCW,the structure system which join shape steel in outside frame column is favorable to earthquake resistance.


e15748Background: Patients with recurrent PDAC are treated similarly to patients with de novo metastatic disease. The aim of this study is to report the outcome of patients with recurrent PDAC foll...


The present invention provides an image processing apparatus, an image processing method and a program. An image processing apparatus comprising: drawing means for drawing the drawing unit is one of a plurality of images based on a predetermined order specified by the rule memory disposed in the image as a reference image, and with reference to the reference image in the image memory arranged in this order and drawing disposed in this order of reference image and on either side of a predetermined number of continuous image and the reference image as a reference image adjacent to the image; a display controller, the display controller of the display image on the display unit depicted in the image memory the image falls within the predetermined range; and a controller, when receiving the display instruction operation to change a display state of an image on the display unit, the controller changes the position of the predetermined range based on the instructions.


Decision tasks require that nonfaulty processes make decisions based on their input values. Simultaneous decision tasks require that nonfaulty processes decide in the same round. Most decision tasks have known worst-case lower bounds. Most also have known worst-case optimal protocols that halt in the number of rounds given by the worst-case lower bound, and some have early-stopping protocols that can halt earlier than the worst-case lower bound (sometimes in as early as two rounds). We consider what might be called earliest-possible protocols for simultaneous decision tasks. We present a new technique that converts worst-case optimal decision protocols into all-case optimal simultaneous decision protocols: For every behavior of the adversary, the all-case optimal protocol decides as soon as any protocol can decide in a run with the same adversarial behavior. Examples to which this can be applied include set consensus, condition-based consensus, renaming and order-preserving renaming. Some of these tasks can be solved significantly faster than the classical simultaneous consensus task. A byproduct of the analysis is a proof that improving on the worst-case bound for any simultaneous task by even a single round is as hard as reaching simultaneous consensus.


A fundamental limit on the number of channels in an SCM lightwave CATV system is derived by considering an idealised link consisting of a shot-noise-limited receiver and a laser transmitter with a linear light/current characteristic. For VSB-AM TV, the limit is only 50 channels per milliwatt of received optical power.


To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of dynamic‐contrast–enhanced (DCE) MRI in comparison to both 18F‐FDG‐ and 68Ga‐DOTATATE‐PET/CT in patients with liver metastases of neuroendocrine neoplasms (NEN).


The invention relates to a low-temperature normal-pressure liquid-phase sintering preparation method of SiC ceramic. (1): at 1450-1650 DEG C, an Al2O3-Y2O3-CaO oxide system sintering assistant is added and a reaction between a SiO2 oxidation layer on the surface of SiC powder is carried out to form a liquid phase in a certain viscosity for promoting sintering densification of the SiC ceramic, thereby obtaining high-strength SiC ceramic. (2) Without a pre-oxidation process during oxidation of the SiC powder, the oxidation of the SiC powder is carried out directly during the sintering process of the SiC ceramic, wherein an oxidation degree of the SiC is controlled by control of a pre-embedded powder and a sintering temperature. (3) In the method, sintering of the SiC ceramic is carried out in air. Compared with a sintering furnace with a protective atmosphere, a common box-typed sintering furnace is greatly reduced in device cost. In addition, because the protective atmosphere is unnecessary, the sintering temperature of the SiC ceramic is low so that a sintering efficiency is increased and preparation cost of the SiC ceramic is reduced. The low-temperature normal-pressure liquid-phase sintering preparation method of the SiC ceramic includes following steps: material blending, material mixing, moulding, glue arranging and powder embedding and sintering.


SARS-CoV-2 was the cause of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. The cycle threshold (CT) value of the real-time RT-PCR technique is the gold standard in infections diagnosis, infections risk assessment, discharged criteria, and patient isolation for SARS-CoV-2. Heat inactivation is a simple, economical solution for safety in testing for SARS-CoV-2. The change of CT values after heat inactivation has not been thoroughly evaluated. This study evaluated the effect of heat inactivation on CT value in the realtime RT-PCR technique of SARS-CoV-2 detection. Four groups of samples consisted of one non-inactivated group, three groups that were inactivated at 65oC/30min, 80oC/10min, and 95oC/10min; each group included 16 tubes, from 16 nasopharyngeal swabs samples that were confirmed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2. Groups were inactivated and then analysed by realtime PCR technique. The results show that virus inactivation by heat increased the CT value of realtime PCR in SARS-CoV-2 positive samples. The higher temperature was in the inactivation, and the higher CT value was increased.


By a market test of longevity, seven successive editions of The Antitrust Revolution ("TAR") is a remarkable publishing event. John E. Kwoka and Lawrence J. White (editors) assembled a collection of antitrust disputes written by economists who have expertise in each case. The result has been seven books that are both textbook and treatise. The peg on which TAR hangs is the proposition that economic analysis has "revolutionized" antitrust enforcement. This article unpacks the contents of the editions and shows how the multiple editions reveal the evolution of antitrust law in response to structural changes in the economy as well as advances in economic analysis. We also discuss the one industry found in every edition (telecommunications) and assess external indicators of the book's influence. The Appendix lists all of the case studies and the authors over all editions.


ABSTRACT The aim of this project was to study the biochemical characterization of lipoxygenase extracted from basil (Ocimum basilicum L.), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), and sage (Salvia officinalis L.) leaves. The lipoxygenase extracted from these culinary herbs was frozen with liquid N2 and ground into powder before adding ice-cold phosphate buffer (pH 7). The crude extracts from the three aromatic plants showed various specific activities and the highest specific activity and the lowest protein content were observed for the basil extracts. The optimum pH values for lipoxygenase extracted from basil and sage ranged between 5 and 6, while pH 6 was the optimum value for lipoxygenase activity for rosemary. The optimum temperature was 40°C for all of the crude extracts analyzed. Considering the biochemical characteristics evaluated for lipoxygenase from each culinary herb, suitable strategies for the inactivation of the enzyme can be proposed in order to reduce its detrimental effects on fresh aromatic herbs.


The present invention provides a new type flow control system comprising a valve control circuit and a power source circuit. Two terminals of the primary coil of the power source circuit transformer are respectively connected with two power source circuit FETs, the secondary coil of the power source circuit transformer is connected to the voltage output terminal of the power source circuit through a rectification circuit. The gates of the power source circuit FETs are connected with a switching regulator. The AC input terminal of the valve control circuit is connected with a valve control circuit transformer. The primary coil of the valve control circuit transformer is connected with a valve control circuit FET, the secondary coil of the transformer is connected to a mechanical valve through a rectification circuit. A microcontroller outputs PWM signals to the gate of the valve control circuit FET.


A series of 16 symmetric, dimeric, dicationic liquid-crystalline ionic liquids with mesogenic 3,4,5-tris(alkyloxy)benzyl moieties tethered to two bridged imidazolium cations were designed and synthesised. As a comparison, 12 monocationic imidazolium liquid crystals with the same mesogens were also prepared. The mesomorphic properties of these ionic liquids were characterised in terms of polarised optical microscopy (POM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), while thermal stabilities were obtained by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). All compounds having chloride (Cl−) and tetrafluoroborate (BF4−) anions exhibit hexagonal columnar (Colh) liquid crystal mesophases, with the dimeric materials showing mesophases over an extended temperature range. The effect of the linking chain, alkyl substituents, and anion type on the thermal properties of these dimers was examined and showed a significant influence. For example, Colh mesophases were only observed for ionic liquids having Cl− and BF4− anions, whereas systems with the bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (Tf2N−) anion melted directly to an isotropic liquid. A shorter spacer paired with longer alkoxy chains tends to give rise to broad-temperature-range Colh ionic liquid crystal phases.


PURPOSE: A printer used as a facsimile selectively printing fax data and a method for selectively printing fax data are provided to select deletion, storing, printing fax data by a user by outputting fax reception information to the user without directly printing the received fax data, thereby reducing costs for supplies. CONSTITUTION: A printer used as a facsimile selectively printing fax data includes a fax receiving part(61) receiving fax data, a printing part(50) printing the received fax data through the fax receiving part, a command receiving part receiving a command input by a user related to printing of the receiving fax data, a fax control part(42) transmitting the received fax data to the printing part if receiving a command from the user corresponding to print through the command receiving part.


This book describes the rise and fall between 1879 and 1889 of the first real trial of large-scale agricultural production in the Northern Territory. It investigates the attempt there to establish sugar plantations and tells a story of heroic yet misguided efforts. Based on wide research, 'Broken Dreams and Broken Promise' explains how the failure of the sugar industry had a significant impact on the Territory's subsequent history.


The specific activity for free and bound fractions of acid phosphatase revealed age-dependent alterations during the development of the black carpet beetle, Attagenus megatoma (Fab.). Both fraction...


Signals from SUS bombs were received at four hydrophones suspended in the deep ocean from the Research Platform FLIP. Using digital processing equipment and fast Fourier transform methods, energy‐flux spectral densities were determined for approximately 700 shots out to a maximum range of 1600 nautical miles. Differences in propagation losses at various octave and one‐third‐octave frequency bands up to 400 Hz were used to calculate attenuation values. The resulting values are lower than those predicted from Thorp's equation, but are in agreement with published values determined from cw acoustic transmission experiments in the Northeastern Pacific [J. R. Lovett, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 58, 620–625 (1975)]. [Work supported by the Office of Naval Research.]


A technique to measure the bond strength of interfaces that simulate those in brittle matrix/brittle fiber composites is proposed. The technique uses a simple planar geometry for the interface. The Pyrex/SiC system was investigated and it was found that the average interfacial shear stress at failure could be rationalized using data from the fiber pull-out tests. Since the technique does not require composite fabrication before the test, it is suggested as a screening test for prospective composite systems. 11 refs.


Regularly monitoring the movement and activity of a person is called activity recognition. Self-guided framework to practice yogasana makes individuals to learn correctly and practice yoga postures can be constructed using human posture recognition without taking help from others. We propose a method for effectively identifying and recognizing various yoga poses that makes use of "Artificial Neural Network" ANN algorithms. The selected dataset consists of 85 videos with 15 participants performing six yoga poses. The Media pipe library was used to extract the users' key points. As a Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model, real-time-monitored videos have been used to identify yoga poses using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM). In particular, the key point features are extracted by the ANN layer & subsequent LSTM layer recognizes sequence of frames in order to make predictions. The postures are categorized as wrong or right in the following: The system provides feedback in the form of text or speech if a correct pose is found. Data sets and machine learning are combined due to the synergy between the two fields as that machine learning methods, particularly ANN, can effectively recognize and make datasets interoperable.


This paper examines the effects of various tele-technologies (technologies at a distance) on the subject-object relationship within a context of Western conceptualizations about agency, self-other, and thought in relation to action. To examine these effects, the article uses the Internet postings of sex tourists as well as an example of ubiquitous media and screen culture in the form of a Hollywood film. How the loss of writing at a spatial and temporal distance influences these sex tourists, as well as how mass media (cinema) merge anxieties about the subject-object relationship with concerns about the status of individual agency supposedly enhanced by these tele-technologies is considered in the light of how thought has been constructed and understood from the early twentieth century to the present. The media through which thought and action are mediated become the focus of the inquiry.


Introduction: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication of diabetes and one of the leading causes of blindness. Retinal function loss in diabetic patients is not only caused by microvascular abnormality but also retinal neurodegeneration. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) can detect retinal neural tissue loss caused by diabetes by measuring the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness on the cross-sectional imaging of the retina. This study is to evaluate the changes of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in diabetic retinopathy patients using OCT and compare it to age matched healthy controls.
Methods: A cross-sectional study of 16 eyes from 11 diabetic retinopathy patients and 10 eyes from 7 aged matched healthy subjects for control. Patients underwent optic nerve OCT imaging, RNFL  thickness was recorded globally (average thickness) and segmented for superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal quadrants
Result: There were no significant difference of  the average RNFL thickness in diabetic retinopathy group compared to healthy subjects. However, at the nasal quadrant, there were a significant increased thickness of RNFL compared to healthy subject (p value=0.009).
Conclusion: Optical coherence tomography can be used to detect neurodegeneration progression in diabetic retinopathy patients by quantitatively measuring the peripapillary RNFL thickness. This can be used as a diagnostic and prognostic factor in cases of DR.


Resumo: This paper shows how a common sense knowledge base, collected from volunteers over the web, can be used by teachers to plan Learning Actions for preparing students to interact with the community where the common sense statements came from. Consequently, this knowledge base can help teachers to deal with some challenges they face when they adopt a DL approach. Abstract: This paper shows how a common sense knowledge base, collected from volunteers over the web, can be used by teachers to plan Learning Actions for preparing students to interact with the community where the common sense statements came from. Consequently, this knowledge base can help teachers to deal with some challenges they face when they adopt a DL approach.


In this paper we consider the economic lot scheduling problem with m machines (or facilities) in parallel. There are n different types of items. Item j has a demand Dj per unit time, a holding cost hj per unit time, and a setup cost Kj . The machines have different speeds. The speed of machine i is vi. Machine i can produce item j at rate viPj . We consider three different models. The objective in all three models is to find an assignment of items to machines that minimizes the total cost per unit time of the entire system. In the first model each machine operates according to a rotation or cyclical schedule and the cycle lengths of the rotation schedules of the m machines have to be the same. In the second model each machine again operates according to a rotation schedule, but the rotation schedules are allowed to have different cycle lengths. In the third model the machines do not have to operate according to rotation schedules. For each model we consider a number of special cases that provide some insights into the role each parameter plays. Based on the results of the special cases we formulate for each model a heuristic that can be applied to arbitrary instances. In the concluding remarks we discuss the significance of our results for problems that occur in practice. ∗Assistant Professor of Operations Management, Faculty of Management, Orhanlı, Tuzla, 34956 Istanbul, Turkey. Phone:+90-216-483-9683. Email:firstname.lastname@example.com. †Julius Schlesinger Professor of Operations Management, IOMS Dept, 44 W 4th St., New York, NY 10012. Phone:+1-212-9980287.Email:email@example.com.


: Forward stimulated Brillouin scattering (F-SBS), a 3-order nonlinear effect in optical fibers, has become the hotspot in recent years, due to its great potential in substance identification, and fiber diameter measurement, etc. Through research and analysis of the progress of F-SBS, the main principle and key techniques are generalized in this paper. Distributed sensing schemes based on local light phase recovery, opto-mechanical time-domain reflectometry, and opto-mechanical time-domain analysis are emphatically introduced here. With the gradual practical application of F-SBS, the demand for distributed measurement of F-SBS with high precision and high spatial resolution becomes more and more significant, which will be the main research direction of F-SBS in optical fibers in the future. Overview: The Brillouin optical fiber sensors have been well developed in the past decades, due to their capabilities of distributed sensing. With the introduction of new sensing mechanisms, the physical quantity can be measured by distributed Brillouin optical fiber sensors gradually increase. Forward stimulated Brillouin scattering (F-SBS) is one of the most typical representations of these new mechanisms, which allows unmarked substance identification with non-structures additional. The sensors based on F-SBS are expected to be used in pollution monitoring, chemical reaction monitoring, biomedical probes, and optical fiber manufacturing. The F-SBS sensors are promising methods for these and other applications which need high accuracy, and unmarked substance identification, and the distributed F-SBS sensors with the high spatial resolution are considered to greatly potential in the future. In the micron-sized symmetrical shapes, just like optical fiber, acoustic waves can be transmitted in cross-sections, reflected on the boundary, and with resonant frequencies ranging from megahertz (MHz) to gigahertz (GHz). It is called the transverse acoustic wave (TAW). TAW hardly transmits in the axial direction. When stimulated by intense optical waves propagating in the fiber core through electro-strictive, TAW can be considered moving with the same speed as an optical wave at the axial direction, so that a phase modulation (PM) caused by TAW can be loaded on co-propagating light, and F-SBS occurred. The lifetime of TAW will be extended to several microseconds when the optical fiber is placed in the air, without coating, and hundreds of nanoseconds in the liquids, which have a strict relationship with the acoustic impedance of the outside substance. By demodulated F-SBS induced PM, TAW can be recovered, which can be used to get the acoustic impedance of the outside substance. What's more, the resonance frequency of the TAW is related to the diameter of the fiber, which allows an optical fiber diameter measurement method with high accuracy. Distributed F-SBS sensors are considered as powerful tools on substance identification and optical fiber quality inspection, which means high accuracy and spatial resolution are necessary. In