This thesis is about the further development of Theophostic Prayer Ministry (TPM), within Pastoral Theology as well as in its practices. This research explored if more healing possibilities may emerge when TPM is epistemologically positioned in social constructionism and has drawn attention to healing possibilities that narrative practices may open up for TPM. The participants related how and why the practices of TPM influenced the way they narrated their lives. According to their tales the main influencing factor was an authentic encounter with God, where they experienced that He had experientially entered into a conversation with them about the way they constructed their realities. By giving His perspective on their beliefs about memories from their past, He helped them to start processes of reconstructing new preferred life stories. The main contribution of this research was probable to lift out the important role that the 'not-knowing' position of the facilitator plays in the helpfulness of TPM. It became clear through the narratives that when the facilitator's knowing entered the Theophostic process, the process was impeded.


Abstract Surface observations of the lunar semidiurnal tidal oscillations in geopotential height (at equator: amplitude ≈65 cm, phase lag ≈3O min), temperature (at Batavia: amplitude ≈0.008 K, phase lag ≈46 min), and wind (at Mauritius: amplitude U ≈ 1 cm sec−1, V ≈ 1.2 cm sec−1, phase lags: U ≈ 7⅔, V ≈ 3 hr) are presented. At most locations the tidal oscillation in surface pressure is observed to vary annually such that the amplitude remains relatively constant throughout the year while the phase lag varies so that it reaches maximum values during the months November–February and minimum values during the months May–August [November–February: amplitude (at equator) ≈ 61 cm, phase lag ≈ 1⅓ hr; May–August: amplitude (at equator) ≈ 72 cm, phase lag ≈ ⅓ hr]. The equations of tidal theory with Newtonian cooling are derived starting with the usual equations of dynamic meteorology. Data on the stability of the atmosphere indicate that seasonal variations in mesospheric temperatures act in the summer months to c...


In this paper, a quasi-linear parameter varying sliding mode control allocation law is proposed for the fault tolerant control of an octorotor. In the event of rotor faults/failures, an allocation law redistributes the control effort among the remaining healthy rotors. The sliding mode control law is designed to guarantee asymptotic tracking of a reference model which is tuned on-line, through an interpolated feedback gain, to ensure that the control signals remain within their saturation limits. A method for designing the parameterised feedback gain is proposed which is shown to maximise a defined stability criteria whilst preventing undesirable performance characteristics in the reference model. The proposed scheme is tested on a non-linear octorotor model in the presence of severe rotor failures and uncertainty/disturbances.


The inner aesthetics structure of literary works is often made of three hierarchies: "Yan"(language),"Xiang"(image),"Yi"(meaning)."Chuang Zi" claimed that the 90% text in it was made of fables mainly,and whose features were prominent particularly.The writer always hid some philosophy or meaning into the given images and stories which were described by some literary language,therefore,the text of "Chuang Zi" formed three hierarchies: "Yan","Xiang","Yi"."Yan" in "Chuang Zi" is particular,individual and literary language,including connotation,psychological meaning and unreadability."Xiang" in "Chuang Zi" is unthinkable images,characterized as unification of subjective and objective,of assumption and reality,of individual and common,of certain and uncertain."Yi" in "Chuang Zi" is philosophical meaning mainly,characterized as complicated,meaningful,artistic,unknowable,unspoken,aesthetics and historical.In a word,"Yan","Xiang","Yi" in "Chuang Zi" are artistic,ample and impelling,forming the typical,poetic and charming "impelling structure".


The development of Parkinson's disease (PD) causes dysfunction of the frontal cortex, which contributes to hallmark motor symptoms and is regarded as one of the primary causes of the affective and cognitive impairments observed in PD. Treatment with L-DOPA alleviates motor symptoms but has mixed efficacy in restoring normal cognitive functions, which is further complicated by the psychoactive effects of the drug. In this study, we investigated how L-DOPA affects gene expression in the frontal cortex in an animal model of unilateral PD. We performed an RNA-seq analysis of gene expression in the frontal cortex of rats with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced unilateral dopaminergic lesion that were treated with L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), for 2 weeks. We used analysis of variance to identify differentially expressed genes and found 48 genes with significantly altered transcript abundance after L-DOPA treatment. We also performed a weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA), which resulted in the detection of 5 modules consisting of genes with similar expression patterns. The analyses led to three primary observations. First, the changes in gene expression induced by L-DOPA were bilateral, although only one hemisphere was lesioned. Second, the changes were not restricted to neurons but also appeared to emerge in immune or endothelial cells. Finally, comparisons with databases of drug-induced gene expression signatures revealed multiple nonspecific effects, which indicates that a part of the observed response is a common pattern activated by multiple types of pharmaceuticals in different target tissues. Taken together, our results identify cellular mechanisms in the frontal cortex that are involved in the response to L-DOPA treatment.


This study explores the intercultural encounters of a group of Australian teacher trainees who were engaged in a practicum (teaching English) in the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 200 I (Ljungdahl 2002). Specifically, twelve trainees enrolled in the Bachelor of Education program from the University of Technology Sydney completed a 3-week teaching practicum in the city of Kunming, a modern city with a population of c. 3.838,2000, in the Province of Yunnan. They also visited Dali and Lijiang as tourists. The study focuses on outside-the-classroom encounters with Chinese people and the subsequent effect on the outlook and values change of the Australian trainees (Guan & Dodder 2001).


I used a reciprocal sowing experiment in the field to reveal differentiation in adaptive traits between two neighbouring northern populations of Scots pine Pinus sylvestris. 1 compared a peat bog population with a mineral soil population. Seedling survival was monitored during seven growing seasons and the plants were then harvested to obtain data on pine traits associated with growth and resource allocation, i.e. height, needle length, total dry weight, relative growth, proportion root and proportion needles. Seeds from the peat bog populations had lower germination capacity and were smaller than those from the mineral soil population. Despite their smaller size, the seeds from the bog population were superior for establishment of pines on the bog. On the mineral soil, the traits were strikingly similar in the two pine populations. In contrast, the traits were more variable and differentiated on the bog. Here, the native bog pines grew faster and had a larger proportion root than those originating from the population on the adjacent mineral soil. It is suggested that the differentiation between peat bog populations and mineral soil populations might represent a major direction of differentiation in northern Scots pine populations.


The RCS-measurement facility comprising the short-pulse-Doppler-Radarand heavy experimental equipment for an out-door-range in Oberpfaffenhofen are being displayed. Some principal benefits and drawbacks in relation to near-range measurement facilities were discussed. Several typical measurement results of recent experiments were displayed.


Objective To determine the effect of lead at right high-interventricular septum(RHVS) and right ventricular apex(RVA)on cardiac function.Method One hundred and four cases with 3-year follow-up,implanted with VVI permanent pacemakers,including 54 cases of lead at RHVS and 50 cases of lead at RVA.The cardiac function was measured with the same pacing frequency(60 bpm) at 1 week,6 months,1 year and 3 years post-implantation.Left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF),fractional shortening,cardiac output were measured with echocardiogram and brain natriuretic peptide(BNP) was also measured.Results Lead at RHVS did not significantly affect LVEP and BNP;Lead at the RVA deteriorates cardiac function(LVEF decereased: 0.60±0.15,0.54±0.16 at 6 months and 3 years,BNP increased: 96.51±46.41 ng/L,168.33±49.37 ng/L at 6 months and 3 years).Conclusion Pacing at RHVS is superior to pacing at RVA.


Abstract : Explosive initiation at increased hydrostatic pressure takes place through a transfer of the detonation from the hermetic fuse (explosive cartridge) to the main charge of the mechanism. The conducting medium is water, a borax solution, oil. The authors investigate the possible effect of the conditions which are active in the blast hole on detonation transfer. (Author)


Probability based structural design has been widely used in the last decades: either directly for the design or spectral structures (offshore, nuclear), or indirectly for the rational choice of partial safety factors in modern building codes. Considering the probability of reaching a limit state as a safety index the reliability of rectangular columns and circular shafts was studied. Based on simulation techniques, the conditional distribution of the resisting moment was calculated and the parameters affecting safety uniformity were examined.


Abstract Over the course of the twentieth century, Guarani ethnology produced a series of works whose genesis can be traced back to the migrations registered by Curt Nimuendajú and published in his work of 1914. On the Atlantic coast, various chroniclers had registered similar phenomena, since the beginning of the European Conquest, among diverse indigenous groups that were generically denominated Tupi-Guarani. Since then, many anthropologists have proposed to establish a common thread between the Tupi-Guarani migrations and those of the Guarani, frequently attributing the same motives and objectives to both: to escape the destruction of the world and enter the land of the immortals while still alive. However, a detailed examination of the bibliography, as well as various documentary sources, calls any such connection into question. This article is a study of the multiple forms of translocation observed among the Guarani during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and subsequently during the nineteenth and twentieth. Its objective is to analyse and distinguish these forms of translocation: on one hand, the migrations toward the land without evil in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; on the other, the war expeditions, raids, slave captures, flights from the Spanish colonisers and Portuguese bandeirantes, and attractions to the Jesuit missions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.


In the embedded distribution control system, the analogue quantity under test is usually non-linear. In this paper, the concept of variable threshold neuron for the detecting of non-linear analogue is adopted. The subsection linearization and subsection variable slope are chosen as its training methods. It is shown by analyzing and comparing for the two training methods that the subsection linearization training method can improves the detecting precision and detecting resolution, and the subsection variable slope training method can not only calibrate the detecting curve from the subsection linearization ones but also give less computation error than it. Their simulation results are provided, and precise and feasible measurement is realized.


A rapid algorithm is derived for the Helmholtz--Hodge decomposition on the surface of the sphere in spherical coordinates. The algorithm uncouples modes of spherical harmonics with different absolute order, writes the conversion as barely-overdetermined banded linear systems, and solves them with banded $QR$ decompositions that factor and execute in optimal complexity. Rigorous upper bounds on the $2$-norm relative condition number of the banded linear systems support the observable low error growth with respect to truncation degree.


Xiejiagou gold ore,discovered in eastern Shandong Province,is a large Au deposit of ductile shear zones.It is located between the Zhaoping and Jiaojia-Xincheng fault zone.The types of rock altered include silicification,sericitization,chloritation,pyritation,carbonation etc.The alterative zones are obvious,and altered intensity has a close relation with Au mineralization.The alteration of wall rocks is affected by the ductile shear deformation and brittleness structure,while Au mineralization and main periods of wall rock alteration are simultaneously formed.


It was examined whether the predictability of interruption timing affects the limit of perceiving the continuity illusion. The stimulus consisted of a 500‐Hz sinusoidal inducee and a 200‐ms, 500‐Hz, 1/3‐octave noise band inducer, which were alternated repeatedly, with a fixed interval (400 ms) between adjacent inducers (regular condition) or with random intervals (irregular condition). The continuity limit (CL) was measured in terms of the maximum level of the inducee for the illusory continuity to be perceived while maintaining the inducer level at 60 dB SPL. In Experiment 1, the listeners' task was to judge whether the inducee appeared continuous or discontinuous. In Experiment 2, the task was to discriminate illusory and physical continuity in a two‐interval forced choice paradigm. In both experiments, the mean CLs in the irregular condition were significantly higher than those in the regular condition. In Experiment 3, when an identical irregular interval pattern was used repeatedly in successive trials, the mean CL gradually declined, and reached the level of the regular condition in approximately 80 trials. These results suggest that unpredictability, not mere irregularity, in interruption timing promotes the continuity illusion, implying the involvement of the short‐term plasticity of the auditory system.


The purpose of this paper is to explore the attributes (basis and values) of faith-based communication strategy on health communication. Eight series of focus group studies on Muslim community were conducted to gather the data. The finding makes abundantly clear that the tawhidic (the belief in Oneness of God) conception significantly determine the effectiveness of Islamic communication message. In addition, there were another six themes that contributes to Islamic health communication attributes which may influence the receiver's attitudes and behaviours. The insights of this paper may contribute to the further development of health promotion strategies for Muslims community.


We comment on, and complete, the analysis of the weak-field limit of metric $f(R)$ gravity in [T. Chiba, T. L. Smith, and A. L. Erickcek, Phys. Rev. D 75, 124014 (2007).].


We present different bit-string models of haploid asexual populations in which individuals may exchange part of their genome with other individuals (parasex) according to a given probability. We study the advantages of this parasex concerning population sizes, genetic fitness and diversity. We find that the exchange of genomes always improves these features.


This review article deals with hyperprolactinemia, its causes, associated symptoms, and current treatment. The objective is to review recent articles concerning pathophysiology, treatment, and therapy resistance. Hyperprolactinemia is a relatively common endocrine abnormality caused by an increased secretion of prolactin (PRL) from the pituitary gland. Hyperprolactinemia causes anovulation and infertility but can affect women of all ages and therefore should be considered in issues dealing with reproduction and menopause. The etiology as well as the natural history of hyperprolactinemia can vary widely. Better awareness in this regard is important in order to determine treatment and evaluation of patients with hyperprolactinemia.


Acute biphenotypic leukemia was diagnosed in a 29-year-old man who had previously been well. The patient immediately started a course of intensive induction chemotherapy; however, the leukemia was refractory. The patient required a total of 3 courses of chemotherapy before achieving complete


The high speed tracked vehicle has several unique characteristics. These are the effect of the load transfer, the interaction between the track link and terrain, the suspension system, the tension adjuster, and the conditions of the terrain. These characteristics affect the performance of the high speed tracked vehicle. When the high speed tracked vehicle is under the transient state such as the deceleration or the acceleration, the load transfer occurs. This load transfer affects the suspension system. The length, position and angle of the suspension are also changed. Due to the change of the suspension system, the trajectory of the track links is changed. The change of the track trajectory can cause the track links to lose the contact with the wheels. The tension adjuster operates to maintain the contact between track links and wheels. The normal pressure of the tracked vehicle differs from the wheeled vehicle. When the track links contact with a terrain in wide area, the normal pressure of the tracked vehicle is concentrated under the wheels and distributed in the contact area. The terrain conditions affect the tractive force of the tracked vehicle. In this study, the dynamic performance of the high speed tracked vehicle is investigated considering these effects using the TVS(Tracked Vehicle Simulation) program. The simulations for the load transfer, the suspension system, tension adjuster and the track trajectories of the track subsystem are conducted for the motion of the high speed tracked vehicle under the transient state.


In order to explore the reasons of miscommunication made by business English majors in intercultural business communication,one questionnaire was done by 100 subjects.The analyses of the results from the questionnaire suggest the main reason of miscommunication is lack of contextual awareness.So,to avoid such miscommunication is to increase contextual awareness.


This study investigated the effectiveness of the Father Education Program in implementing the steps of teaching personal care skills to participating fathers, examined the level of performance in personal care skills taught by fathers to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), analyzed the impact on the sustainability of these skills, and determined the views of the parents of individuals with ASD regarding the research process and effectiveness. There were two dependent variables. The first dependent variable was "the level of implementation of the steps of teaching personal care skills by the fathers participating in the research", and the second dependent variable is "the level of children with ASD performing the personal care skills taught to them by their fathers and the level of maintaining the skills they have performed". The independent variable was the "Father Education Program". Therefore, the study was carried out in two experimental processes. While three fathers with a child with ASD participated in the first experiment, their children participated in the second experiment. The first experimental period of the study was designed according to the multiple probe design across subjects whilst the second experimental period was designed according to multiple probe design across skills. The developed program was implemented to fathers in five sessions, and after fathers met the criteria, they taught their children personal care skills such as "shaving a beard using a razor, cleaning underarms using a bath razor, and cleaning the genital area using depilatory cream". Study results revealed that the father education program was effective in terms of participant fathers' implementing of the steps of teaching personal care skills to their children. Additionally, individuals with ASD were able to perform and maintain the personal care skills taught to them by their fathers. Lastly, the parents of participant individuals with ASD had positive views on the research process and its effectiveness.


Abstract This article examines an external evaluation of the quality assurance system at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) conducted by The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (NOKUT). The external audit report along with internal reports provided by the seven faculties of the university served as the major data sources for the study. The quality assurance system, which was approved by NOKUT, serves as an example of how the university falls short in producing data to systematically improve student learning. Systematic follow‐ups to verify the effects of the quality assurance system could have sparked discussions, not only about the structure of the quality system but also what quality learning means and how it can be promoted.


The notion of multi-criteria decision-making is regarded as the process of finding the best possible alternative or course of action by decision-makers. Often, it entails handling vague, incomplete and inconsistent information. The intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) has been proven more effective than a fuzzy set in handling vagueness and uncertainty. The aim of the article is to incorporate the effectiveness of the IFS with the powerfulness of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and develop intuitionistic fuzzy AHP (IF-AHP) to cope with the decision problems involving imprecise and hesitant information. In this article, we develop a distance-based novel priority method, which derives unambiguous non-fuzzy priorities of the alternatives from intuitionistic fuzzy preference relations (IFPRs). The proposed priority method is simple in computation yet effective in results. To validate the method, we applied it to the adapted supplier selection problem. This article also presents a comparison of the proposed method with classic and fuzzy AHP using Monte-Carlo simulation approach.


A numerical simulation of the multidimensional thermal-hydraulic characteristics in a three-loop PWR during a hypothetical TMLB' accident has been performed by means of the COMMIX computer code. The operating conditions, as well as the modeling approaches used in the simulation, are discussed. Selected results, which show the natural circulation and compare the thermal-hydraulic behavior in the different loops, are presented. The calculated results are in good agreement qualitatively with the out of pile experimental measurements. 9 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab.


LEON, H. B. O índice porosidade/teor volumétrico de cimento (η/Civ) como um parâmetro de estado para areias cimentadas. 2018. Dissertação (Mestrado em Engenharia) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Civil, UFRGS, Porto Alegre. The adoption of soil improvement techniques is becoming more frequent in geotechnical works, however, the dosage criteria and the parameters used to predict the soil behavior do not seem to follow the technological evolution of these techniques. The state parameter for sands (ψ) cannot represent the behavior of artificially cemented sands because it considers only the influence of the void ratio and the stress state. It is proposed to establish the porosity/volumetric content of cement (η/Civ) as a state parameter for artificially cemented sands, since it is a rational criterion which relates the porosity of the compacted mixture to the volumetric content of cement added. By using this parameter, it is possible to calibrate the amount of cement and the compaction energy used in order to provide a mixture that meets the design requirements and that is feasible to perform on site construction with the material and financial resources available there. The experimental program included the realization of 17 triaxial testes, performed in the drained and undrained conditions, analyzed simultaneously with other results obtained from previous studies. Analysis of stress-strain behavior, volumetric variation-axial strain, pore pressure development, drained and non-drained stress paths, resistance envelope, stress-dilatation behavior, the application of the critical state theory, and a brief statistical analysis supported that the η/Civ parameter is suitable for predicting the behavior of artificially cemented sand specimens. Key-words: state parameter, artificially cemented sands, triaxial tests, porosity, cement content.


This paper describes the evolution of a newly emerging smallholder maize paradigm in southern Africa beginning in 1996. This new paradigm involves the breeding, extension, and adoption of a new generation of open-pollinated 'flinty' maize varieties that specifically address the needs of southern African smallholder farmers for seed varieties that can be replanted (recycled) and that resist drought and low fertility problems increasingly common in southern Africa. The described mechanism is the extension and breeding work of the Southern Africa Drought and Low Fertility programme (SADLF) of the Centro Internationale por la Mejoridad de Maize y Trigo (CIMMYT). This paper explains the devolution of southern African maize production in the past two decades from centralized large-scale producers to smallholder farms, signalling a shift in research and plant breeding needs. The research/extension approach described here had profound consequences beyond the technical benefits of screening maize varieties for tolerance to stress; it empowered small-scale farmers to become informed consumers of agricultural technology. The transformation of the smallholder from a passive consumer to one actively seeking the best opportunity and seed to produce food, create economic opportunities and address local social conditions is an important development in the history and sustainability of maize production in southern Africa, and one consistent with modern African history of economic liberalization in the global food economy.


The work is dedicated to the enhancement of effectiveness of contaminated air removal and performance improvement of exhaust ventilation in sanitary and service rooms of aircraft Tu-204-300.


The aim of the present research is to investigate the effect of the Humanistic Approach (HA) on developing the Communicative Competence (CC) for the EFL second year preparatory school students. The study adopted the experimental design. 61 preparatory school students, in Zagazig Preparatory School for Girls, were participated in the present study. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups; an experimental group and a control one. First, the participants in the two groups completed the communicative competence test. Next, the students of the experimental group received the Humanistic Approach based- instruction, through applying the Community Language Learning (CLL) method. Participants in the control group received the regular instruction. After administering the experiment, all the participants in the two groups completed the communicative competence posttest. The pre-test-treatment-posttest design allowed an assessment of the effect of the Humanistic Approach within the experimental group and against the control group. Collected data were analyzed using the Statistics Package for Social Science (SPSS). Findings revealed that the experimental group students' communicative competence improved as a result of using the program based on the Humanistic Approach. In addition, they outperformed their peers in the control group, in the communicative competence posttests. Finally, the study carried important recommendations and suggestions for further research.


Abstract : The objective of this project was to begin filling the need for visualization. A set of tools has been developed to aid in analyzing the results of our FEM computations. Tools facilitating the display of both scalar and vector quantities were included. The toolset was developed utilizing the graphics routines and features available in a commercial scientific visualization package - the Application Visualization System (AVS) . The attempt was made to give the user as much control over the visualization environment as possible with a minimum amount of knowledge of the underlying software. The project was begun on an IBM RS6OOO computer. During the toolset development, the work was ported to a SUN SPARCstation 20 and it was completed there. This thesis describes the development of these visualization tools for use in the AVS environment. (AN)


The systems of quasilinear first order partial differential equations are studied by using sigularity theory, the authors get the realization theorem of geometric solutions for systems of quasilinear first order partial differential equation and some other results.


COVID-19 has hit hard on the global community, and organizations are working diligently to cope with the new norm of "work from home". However, the volume of remote work is unprecedented and creates opportunities for cyber attackers to penetrate home computers. Attackers have been leveraging websites with COVID-19 related names, dubbed COVID-19 themed malicious websites. These websites mostly contain false information, fake forms, fraudulent payments, scams, or malicious payloads to steal sensitive information or infect victims' computers. In this paper, we present a data-driven study on characterizing and detecting COVID-19 themed malicious websites. Our characterization study shows that attackers are agile and are deceptively crafty in designing geolocation targeted websites, often leveraging popular domain registrars and top-level domains. Our detection study shows that the Random Forest classifier can detect COVID-19 themed malicious websites based on the lexical and WHOIS features defined in this paper, achieving a 98% accuracy and 2.7% false-positive rate.


The combination apparatus of a women's outer sweatshirts particular T-shirts, underwear and a liner composed of the lining comprising an elastic supporting undergarment with the elastic supporting band surrounding the upper body for Xiongru below. The outer jersey (2) undergarment and the lining (3) in contact only along their collar (4) and / or shoulder region (15) together. The undergarment liner (3) having a cup (11, 12) for the two breasts, and the lining is formed undergarment configuration: it hang freely to the jersey (2) a high position, and independent of the outer jersey (2) bonded to the upper body and the breast. Preferably, the elastic supporting band (7) is implemented as two segments (7a, 7b), and with a connector and a length adjustment system (8), said system is mounted laterally on the two adjacent segments end.


Rupture of the patellar tendon is uncommon. In most cases the rupture occurs at the inferior border of the patella rather than through the midsubstance of the tendon. Bilateral ruptures are particularly rare and may occur sequentially or, as in the case reported here, simultaneously. Surgical repair is necessary to re-establish the extensor mechanism and produces good results.


In this research, we investigated the relation between observers' psychophysiological conditions and human errors made in the task of monitoring electrocardiogram (ECG) wave pattern changes. The number of errors and fingertip volume pulse waves were recorded during the task. Chaos analysis was applied to the fingertip volume pulse waves to calculate the largest Lyapunov exponents. The number of diagnostic errors of judgment and operation errors was treated as human errors. We found significant negative correlation between the largest Lyapunov exponents and human errors. The results showed that when the largest Lyapunov exponents were low, the observers made mistakes.


What is the right use of books?" Responding to the question he famously raised, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that "books are for nothing but to inspire," which we take as endorsing a pragmatic and pluralistic view of reading literature and other kinds of texts in a manner that keeps books open to a flow of continual questioning and renewal. The purpose driving Emerson's democratic conception of reading, we argue, is not to arrive at definitive readings but to engender new possibilities for thinking about oneself in relation to others and to society at large. As such, an Emersonian perspective on reading is a key practice for engaged democratic citizenship that provides a necessary counterweight to increasing pressure on teachers to standardize learning in schools. Read a response to this article Malachuk, D. (2013). Repair to the Lamps and Rake the Language. Democracy & Education, 21(1). Available online at: http://democracyeducationjournal.org/home/vol21/iss1/13 Submit your own response to this article Submit online at democracyeducationjournal.org/home Nothing solid is secure; everything tilts and rocks. Even the scholar is not safe; he too is searched and revised. Is his learning dead? Is he living in his memory? The power of mind is not mortification but life. (Emerson, 1983, "The Method of Nature," p. 116) Like it or not, the new Common Core State Standards are rapidly becoming the norm across the nation. To date, 44 states have adopted them as the basis for defining "the knowledge and skills students should have within their K– 12 education careers so that they will graduate high school able to succeed in entrylevel, creditbearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs" (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2011). Our purpose in writing this article is not to criticize the concept of standards or these specific standards, which in our view are no worse and in some respects are preferable to previous iterations of K– 12 student achievement standardization. Rather, our intention is to underscore the high ideals that appear, for example, in the overview of standards for our area of focus, the teaching of reading and literature. Who would argue against teaching young people to "undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature," to "seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with highquality literary and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and broadens worldviews," and to "demonstrate the cogent reasoning and use of evidence that is essential to both private deliberation and responsible citizenship in a democratic republic" (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2011)? We pose questions about how reading might be conceptualized for the purpose of instructing young people in accordance with these high ideals. More specifically, we question prevalent assumptions about textual objectivity that call for "close reading" of "highquality" texts using "cogent reasoning." Instead of instructors teaching children to view books as closed containers of meaning and to read passively in search of predetermined "right" answers, we believe the Michael D. Boatright is an assistant professor at Western Carolina University in the English department. His current research interests include the living dynamic of theory and practice, reading as a transactional, democratic experience, and American pragmatism. Mark A. Faust is an associate professor/department chair at the University of Georgia in the department of language and literacy education. He is currently interested in literary/aesthetic theory, the relationship between schooling and lifelong reading, and literature circles as a resource for classroom teachers.


J. Kluge, 'Spatkeltische Graber mit Sauglingsund Ferkelbestattungen aus Kelheim, Niederbayern', Bayerische Vorgeschichtsblatter 50 (1985), 183-218; van Doorselaer (1967), 61 ff.; Philpott (1991), 99 with note 13). (3) Focal burials existed through the whole prehistoric period and must not necessarily indicate Christian leaders. (4) It is easier to concur with the arguments for an identification of the apsidal building as a Christian church. Nevertheless, it has to be mentioned that a connection between cemetery and church is not exclusively Christian, but likewise attested for pagan temples and burials (e.g. J.T. Lewis, Temples in Roman Britain (1966), 6; van Doorselaer (1967), 216-17; PGalliou, Les tombes romaines a"Armorique. Essai de sociologie et d'economie de la mort (1989), 25). A good example is the temple from Lancing Ring (S.S. Frere, 'A survey of archeology near Lancing', Sussex Arch. Coll. 81 (1940), 141 ff; Britannia xi (1980), 190-1) which was apparently erected deliberately in a Belgic cemetery. However, it is admittedly very difficult to interpret the building at the Butt Road cemetery other than as a church. The present volume provides access to an important site of Roman Britain and of the Empire in general. Access is made especially easy by the well-structured nature of the publication. The honesty and clarity with which difficulties in interpreting the evidence are described (e.g. 187 ff.) is also appreciated. The weakness of the volume is fully recognized by P. Crummy: 'A more integrated approach to the study, interpretation, and publication of the funds and the structures would have been preferred but the scale of the task has meant that there had to be some sacrifice of objectives . . . ' (2). Owing to this sacrifice the publication is mainly descriptive, conclusions are not always drawn and comparisons are only rarely sought. Phantasy and imagination is sometimes used to explain features, instead of finding similar phenomena and gaining an understanding in a wider context. The high quality of innovative and useful interpretations can be diminished by the lack of evidence (e.g. keys, 155; incomplete vessels, 23; three different uses of finger-rings, 142-4). Even so this publication will serve as a massive stimulus and challenge for future burial studies.


OBJECTIVE
To build up the methods to prepare and determine the fimbriae of A. viscosus.

METHODS
Type 1 and 2 fimbriae were prepared from A. viscosus 5519 and 5951 respectively. Fimbriae were isolated from bacteria cells by mechanical shaking, obtained by collecting the supernatant after centrifugation, and purified by ammonium sulfate precipitations and gel filtration.

RESULTS
Electron microscope showed that fimbriae existed in the preparations. The immunological reaction between the fimbriae preparations and specific antibodies against fimbriae attested that they were type 1 or type 2 fimbriae.

CONCLUSION
The present study become a foundation for further study on the biological properties of fimbriae of A. viscosus.


In this paper we analyze how transactions related to the digital trade of intangible goods and services is being performed on the Internet. The adoption of electronic markets in an industry has a desintermediation potential because it can create a direct link between the producer and the consumer (without the need for the intermediation role of distributors). Electronic markets lower the search cost allowing customers to choose among more providers (which ultimately reduces both the costs for the customer and the profits for the producer). In this paper we contend that electronic markets on the Internet* have the opposite effect, resulting in the increase of intermediators. We introduce transaction streams which model how transactions related to the digital trade of intangible goods are being conducted. Transaction streams help explain the types of new intermediators that are appearing on the Internet and why entry barriers are close to zero. We also prove that in transaction stream-based electronic markets, searching for the best price of intangible goods is NP-complete.


Authors carry out the deep analysis of is standard-legal, methodical documents and practice of a gosu-donative cadastral estimation of the earths of agricultural purpose. A number of problems of an estimation of farmlands in the Russian Federation for their transfer from one category in another is revealed. The variant of the decision of the problems connected with inclusion of the earths in the List especially valuable selskohozjaj-stvennyh of grounds is offered.


Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are gaining importance in energy storage applications. However, many PCMs are poor thermal conductors and thus can benefit from the optimal use of appropriate fins. This work introduces a PCM-fin structure optimization framework. Typically, the non-linear solidification process increases the complexity associated with solving the mathematical equations for the PCM-fin structure optimization problem, making it computationally expensive. In this paper a modeling approach called Layered Thermal Resistance (LTR) model is extended and developed in 2D cylindrical geometry in order to enable efficient PCM-fin structure optimization. The finned LTR model represents the nonlinear transient solidification process by analytic equations. This significantly reduces the computational cost associated with optimization. A finned heat pipe structure modeled by the finned LTR approach is optimized based on minimizing cost while meeting operational requirements. The optimal results imply that thinner fins result in lower system cost and that there is a thickness limit for the fins to be economically welded on a heat pipe. The finned LTR model also gives the optimal cost of material usage for a large scale latent thermal energy storage system in terms of dollars per kilowatt and it was found that the system cost is slightly lower by using carbon-steel as the construction material for the heat pipes and fins than by using Al 6061.


A single-index model is useful in fields which employ multidimensional regression models. Many methods have been developed in parametric and nonparametric approaches. In this paper, posterior inference is considered and a wavelet series is thought of as a function approximated to a true function in the single-index model. The posterior inference needs a prior distribution for each parameter estimated. A prior distribution of each coefficient of the wavelet series is proposed as a hierarchical distribution. A direction is assumed with a unit vector and affects estimate of the true function. Because of the constraint of the direction, a transformation, a spherical polar coordinate , of the direction is required. Since the posterior distribution of the direction is unknown, we apply a Metropolis-Hastings algorithm to generate random samples of the direction. Through a Monte Carlo simulation we investigate estimates of the true function and the direction.


The research aims to determine the Dompet Dhuafa Foundation's CSR strategy in building brand differentiation through the establishment of the Smart Ekselensia Republika school. It also concerns the dynamics of the Dompet Dhuafa Foundation's business paradigm which focuses on CSR programs to form brand differentiation. This type of research is case study with a qualitative descriptive method. It aims to describe the establishment of a school accompanied by an explanation of the process of occurrence, development and changes in various aspects of the dynamics of its CSR. Thus, there are peculiarities of cases which the researcher describes descriptively based on dynamic and contextual chronology. The results showed that the Dompet Dhuafa Foundation's CSR strategy in building brand differentiation is based on social awareness, that business contributions are social benefits; economic awareness, that the maximum profit from business is the maximum benefit in increasing charity in society; and legal awareness, that justice efforts that have been criticized by the pudblic can be maximally fulfilled because the efforts being carried out have a segment of the dhuafa. Differentiation is an achievement that combines the shared value business context in the three intelligences. Intellectual intelligence is proven in the provision of education, emotional intelligence by building social service businesses for the poor, as well as spiritual intelligence with the principles of trust, worship and Islam. So, business differentiation is a business that presents God in its operations.


The invention relates to a dual-protection preparation method of arginine, belonging to the pharmaceutical chemical engineering technical field, in particular to a NG-(2, 2, 4, 6, 7-pentamethylbenzene propyl dihydrofuran-5-sulfonyl)-N alpha-(9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)-arginine. The invention leads NG-pbf protective group into Boc-Arg-OH to prepare N alpha-boc-NG-(2, 2, 4, 6, 7-pentamethylbenzene propyl dihydrofuran-5-sulfonyl)-arginine and removes alpha protective group in saturated hydrogen chloride ethanol solution, thereby avoiding expensive catalyst as palladium-charcoal and catalytic hydrogenolysis. The removal of alpha protective group is simple, the conditions are easy to control, the operability is strong and the production cost is low, therefore, the invention is suitable for industrial production, in addition, the invention avoids palladium-charcoal and catalytic hydrogenolysis, thereby reducing environment pollution. The total yield of the invention can reach 63.51% (referring to L-arginine) and product content is higher than 99.0%.


The problem of sound propagation near a lined wall taking into account mean shear flow effects and viscous and thermal dissipation is investigated. The method of composite expansion is used to separate the inviscid part, in the core of the flow, from the boundary layer part, near the wall. Two diffusion equations for the shear stress and the heat flux are obtained in the boundary layer. The matching of the solutions of these equations with the inviscid part leads to a modified specific acoustic admittance in the core flow. Depending on the ratio of the acoustic and stationary boundary layer thicknesses, the kinematic wall condition changes gradually from continuity of normal acoustic displacement to continuity of normal acoustic mass velocity. This wall condition can be applied in dissipative silencers and in aircraft engine-duct systems.


In models of altered osmolality and water balance, including two‐day salt loading and water deprivation, previous studies have suggested that intracellular redox signaling in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) contributes to the neuroendocrine response. However, the precise redox‐dependent signaling pathways and reactive oxygen species (ROS) involved in this response remain unclear. Herein, we tested the hypothesis that water deprivation increases specific ROS, particularly superoxide, and stimulates the redox‐sensitive transcription factor, nuclear factor erythroid 2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2) in the SON and that these responses are dependent on the duration of water restriction. To test this hypothesis, we used rodent models deprived of water for 24 and 48 hours (24h WD and 48h WD, respectively). We observed an increase in Nrf2 mRNA in the SON of rodents subjected to 24h WD (Control: 0.84 ± 0.08 vs 24h WD: 1.16 ± 0.09 arbitrary units) suggesting the activation of redox signaling during dehydration. In addition, at 48h WD, levels of hemeoxygenase‐1 (HO‐1), a Nrf2 target gene, were elevated in the SON (Control: 0.98 ± 0.1 vs 48h WD: 1.46 ± 0.1 arbitrary units). HO‐1 activity was also increased at both time points of water restriction (F2,34= 7.718, p < 0.05). To determine if levels of specific ROS are altered during water deprivation, we used the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. After 24h or 48h of water deprivation in C57BL/6 mice, fresh non‐fixed brains were collected and the SON was harvested via micropunch. Superoxide levels were measured in the SON micropunches by EPR. We also measured plasma osmolality and volume. We observed a dehydration period‐dependent increase in superoxide levels (reported at EPR spectra amplitude in arbitrary units) in the SON (Control: 7150 ± 3856; 24h WD: 14240 ± 9931; 48h WD: 15795 ± 7400 arbitrary units/mg of tissue) along with plasma osmolality (Control: 317 ± 2.0; 24h WD: 326.8 ± 1.3; 48h WD: 330.7 ± 1.3 mOsm/kg H2O); protein (Control: 3.56 ± 0.16; 24h WD: 4.36 ± 0.16; 48h WD: 3.94 ± 0.14 g/dL plasma); and hematocrit (Control: 35.8 ± 5.1; 24h WD: 42.4 ± 0.9; 48h WD: 45.7 ± 0.9 %). Together, these data suggest that the neuroendocrine system is associated with superoxide‐dependent redox signaling and activation of Nrf2 in the SON to cope with dehydration.


Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare inherited disorder in which phagocytes lack nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase activity. The most common form is the X‐linked CGD (X91‐CGD), caused by mutations in the CYBB gene. Clinical, functional and genetic characterizations of 16 CGD cases of male patients and their relatives were performed. We classified them as suffering from different variants of CGD (X910, X91− or X91+), according to NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2) expression and NADPH oxidase activity in neutrophils. Eleven mutations were novel (nine X910‐CGD and two X91−‐CGD). One X910‐CGD was due to a new and extremely rare double missense mutation Thr208Arg‐Thr503Ile. We investigated the pathological impact of each single mutation using stable transfection of each mutated cDNA in the NOX2 knock‐out PLB‐985 cell line. Both mutations leading to X91−‐CGD were also novel; one deletion, c.‐67delT, was localized in the promoter region of CYBB; the second c.253‐1879A>G mutation activates a splicing donor site, which unveils a cryptic acceptor site leading to the inclusion of a 124‐nucleotide pseudo‐exon between exons 3 and 4 and responsible for the partial loss of NOX2 expression. Both X91−‐CGD mutations were characterized by a low cytochrome b558 expression and a faint NADPH oxidase activity. The functional impact of new missense mutations is discussed in the context of a new three‐dimensional model of the dehydrogenase domain of NOX2. Our study demonstrates that low NADPH oxidase activity found in both X91−‐CGD patients correlates with mild clinical forms of CGD, whereas X910‐CGD and X91+‐CGD cases remain the most clinically severe forms.


Libraries of the present age cannot grow without proper application of e-resources (electronic resources) and ICT facilities to its services. The advent of new technology has drastically transformed the way and manner information professionals provide services to their clients. Digital libraries are the new developments in the ever-growing technological era. E-resources are conveniently accessible outside the four walls of the library. This paper focuses on the way e-resources can be applied as strategies for enhancing effective library services. It also considers the benefits and challenges of applying e-resources to library services. Literature review method was adopted in the study by randomly reviewing articles that were related to the study. The study showed that application of e-resources is very paramount to library services and as such every impediment to its effective use should be taken into considerations. Keywords: Application; e-resources; strategy; library services; academic library DOI: 10.7176/IKM/10-2-09 Publication date: March 31 st 2020


Macbeth's first line in Shakespeare's play, "So foul and fair a day I have not seen," announces the theme of moral ambiguity and confusion in time of war, and initiates a scene from which the play's whole action flows. On the way home from battle, Macbeth and Banquo (who, we have learned, have both fought bravely for King Duncan against traitorous rebels) encounter an unholy trinity who are themselves ambiguous. They "look not like th'inhabitants o' th' earth / And yet are on't." They "should be women, / And yet your beards forbid me to interpret / inat you are so." They riddle in three voices of royal futures and then vanish. This brief but pregnant encounter provides the raw material for the most remarkable scene of Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of Macbeth, Throne of Blood (1957). Kurosawa is one of the few filmmakers to adapt Shakespeare, whose screen images have the density and power of Shakespeare's poetic images, who understands his task is translation both into a new culture and into a new medium.1 In seventy shots full of lyrical motion, beautiful compositions, and dramatic power, Kurosawa initiates the major themes and conflicts of the film, and offers an interesting Japanese reinterpretation of Shakespeare's vision of the supernatural. Scenes in other films usually develop from the principle of climax (e.g., the shower murder in Hitchcock's Psycho, Gene Kelly's Singin' in the Rain, Boeldieu's death in Grand Illusion). Kurosawa in this sequence uses anticlimax. While returning home from battle, Washizu (Macbeth) and Miki (Banquo) have become lost in a tangled, foggy, labyrinthine forest. Twice in their ride through the forest on magnificent horses, they stop in bewilderment: first (shot 2) to notice the paradoxical weather consisting of sun and rain, daylight and darkness, and second (shot 18) to discover they are riding in their own footprints, that without realizing it they have ridden in circles. When Washizu fires an arrow up into the trees (to get a sense of direction? suspecting sorcery?) a flash of lightning, a crack of thunder, and hideous echoing laughter reveal that "an evil spirit of the forest" holds them there. Miki says that with his spear he will fight his way free, and the two spur their horses into a violent gallop-Miki slashing the air with his spear, Washizu firing arrows ahead of them, both men howling savagely in response to the spirit's macabre laughter-the very image of Man attempting to forge his own fate through action. A telephoto lens pans with them, blurring the background and exaggerating their motion. The fluid movements of the men on their horses and the camera tracking with them give us a feeling of exhiliration, tremendous forward momentum, making escape or some form of climactic event seem inevitable. But Throne of Blood is a film in the ironic mode. This is true in the beginning of the film, when the titles appear over stills of the tangled forest and a chorus chants of the story of Washizu's ambition as the camera shows fog rolling over the hills, and ruins where long ago the mighty Forest Castle stood. And it is true here. No matter how furiously Washizu and Miki ride, they are framed by and viewed through the forest branches. Direction becomes confused as Kurosawa shows them riding first oneway, then another, now toward the camera, now away from it. We don't know whether they are fleeing or attacking, and neither do they. Suddenly in shot 40 Washizu and Miki are stopped dead in their tracks. Violent, purposeful action dwindles into stunned bewilderment as they come upon a stick hut in a brightly lit clearing. Here, in the eye of the storm, everything is suddenly quiet- no rain, no thunder and lightning, only a low chant from behind a tree that stands before the hut. This anti-climax is extremely striking because Kurosawa shifts styles in mid-scene. Throne of Blood is often praised as the most cinematic screen adaptation of Shakespeare. True, the first half of this scene is pure cinemaimagery and fluid motion taking precedence over the spoken word, the meaning of the scene embodied in setting and human action. …


This thesis expounded thought of harmonious society of andai(安代) culture in producing,developing,progressing with excellent words and reliable foundation,and clarified that Mongolian looked forward to harmonious society as early as ancient times.They expressed their fine wish by the andai artistic form,and acted for it;They made thought of harmonious society a social current,and spread it.The spirit and the way of doing things still have educational meaning for modern people.It must take effect now in a fairly use for reference to learn and practise viewpoint of scientific development.


Study of 5870 school children and 1664 general population showed that even in states covered by the iodized salt, the endemic goiter prevalence rates were 26.5 to 54.3% This may be partly due to inadequate supply of the iodized salt as well as loss of iodine during transport and storage. Unfortunately approximately 8000 metric tones/annum of rock salt is imported from Pakistan and mainly consumed in the Western sub-Himalayan endemic states (J&K, HP & Punjab). The measures effective enough to eradicate endemic goitre in next 10 years will require a strong determination by the Government of India with provision in the VII five year plan to provide funds for sufficient production (including subsidy to the public sector), proper packaging, storage, maintenance of price parity, priority for transportation and judicious use of prevention of food adulteration Act. The health and welfare departments should also create public awareness on the health consequences of this dreaded disorder and the simplicity of its control by regular consumption of iodized salt.


Ten tea gardens in eastern Fujian were tested for their soil pH,organic matter,total nitrogen,available phosphor,exchangeable kalium,exchangeable magnesium,exchangeable calcium,available manganese,available cuprum,available boron and available zinc for the quality determination.These indices were subjected to the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation.The IFI value significantly correlated with the yield of the spring tea.Hence,the soil fertility could be well defined by using these indices.The fertility of the tea gardens in the eastern Fujian regions was above average,that is,60% of them were higher and 40% lower than the national average.


Training programs intended to enhance clinician confidence in coping with patient aggression have been only cursorily researched. In previous studies researchers have typically used ad hoc instrumentation and have omitted control conditions and follow-up assessment. This investigation included psych


In re ent years the automation of EBSD systems allows to get a large data of individual crystallographic orientation measurements for investigation of the global texture. The statistical accuracy of the orientation distribution function (ODF) calculation on the basis of EBSD data is actual problem for investigation [1]. The kernel and projective methods for ODF restoration from sample of individual orientations on group (3) SO are investigated. The analytical and numerical calculations of dependence of accuracy for kernel and projective methods from different parameters are considered [2,3].


T HE year 1943 bears evidence of having been one of climax Tin terms of many effects of the war upon the economic development of Pennsylvania. In broad outline at least it is now possible to observe as well some of the significant long-range trends in wartime economy. The productive capacity of the state and likewise of the nation apparently reached its near peak in 1943. This was true in terms of volume of production, efficiency of productive units, and extent of employment of labor and machines. Many new plant facilities were completed during the year, but few new projects were undertaken. Building contracts for factories, public works, and utilities in the Philadelphia area, for example, suffered an average decline of over fifty per cent from 1942 levels.' By the end of 1943 existing industrial capacity was on the whole being fully utilized. Within a year the major "headaches" connected with conversion to war production had been solved. Not only had new plants or additions been erected and machines installed, but also the necessary new labor supply had been trained. Manning tables had been worked out with selective-service officials which provided a reasonable degree of stability in the employment of war workers. Material shortages were no longer as common as in the past. This is not to say that problems did not remain. They were, however, largely of a local variety influenced by conditions not common to the state as a whole. Pennsylvania was giving the near maximum of its great economic power and resources in hope of victory by the end of 1943. Records tumbled in every field of economic activity. Industrial production in the Philadelphia Reserve Bank district averaged sixteen per cent over 1942.2 In the Pittsburgh industrial district the average climbed after a midyear slump to


Controlled Auto-Ignition (CAI), also known as Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), has been the subject of extensive research because of their ability to providing simultaneous reduction in fuel consumption and NOx emissions in a gasoline engine. However, due to its limited operation range, combustion mode switching between CAI and spark ignition (SI) combustion is essential to cover the overall operational range of a gasoline engine for passenger car applications. Previous research has shown that the SI-CAI hybrid combustion has the potential to control the ignition timing and heat release process during both steady state and transient operations. However, it was found that the SI-CAI hybrid combustion process is often characterized with large cycle-to-cycle variations, due to the flame instability at high dilution conditions. In order to control the heat release process stably and expand the operating range of SI-CAI hybrid combustion, the stratified flame ignition (SFI) and micro flame ignition strategy (MFI) involved in the SI-CAI hybrid operation were analyzed respectively based on the engine experiments carried out on a single cylinder research engine equipped with both intake and exhaust mechanical variable valve actuation systems. The premixed homogenous dilution charge as main fuel was injected by intake port injector. Meanwhile, the stratified gasoline fuel (in SFI) or DME (in MFI) injected by direct injector in the cylinder was used as an enhanced flame kernel. The results show that both SFI and MFI strategy are useful to expand the dilution combustion range and adjust the combustion phase of SI-CAI hybrid combustion. But SFI strategy faced the high cyclic variation of heat release process in continuous cycles, while the key problem of MFI is knock and the worse caused by fast heat release. Both of these two strategies require optimization to be feasible to combustion control at different conditions.


Collision detection is essential to virtually all robotics applications. However, traditional geometric collision detection methods generally require pre-existing workspace geometry representations; thus, they are unable to infer the collision detection function from sampled data when geometric information is unavailable. Learning-based approaches can overcome this limitation. Following this line of research, we present DeepCollide, an implicit neural representation method for approximating the collision detection function from sampled collision data. As shown by our theoretical analysis and empirical evidence, DeepCollide presents clear benefits over the state-of-the-art, as it relates to time cost scalability with respect to training data and DoF, as well as the ability to accurately express complex workspace geometries. We publicly release our code.


With the advancement of mobile technology the use of Smartphone is greatly increased. Everyone has the mobile phones and it becomes the necessity of life. Today, smart devices are flooding the internet data at every time and in any form that cause the mobile crowdsensing (MCS). One of the key challenges in mobile crowd sensing system is how to effectively identify and select the well-suited participants in recruitments from a large user pool. This research work presents the concept of crowdsensing along with the selection process of participants from a large user pool. MCS provides the efficient selection process for participants that how well suited participant's selects/recruit from a large user pool. For this, the proposed selection algorithm plays our role in which the recruitment of participants takes place with the availability status from the large user pool. At the end, the graphical result presented with the suitable location of the participants and their time slot.


The large sum of Non-Performing Loans(NPLs) in Chinese commercial banks bring about great risks. How to resolve NPLs is of extreme urgency. In recent years, handling commercial bank's NPLs by using ABS has become a financial innovation. However, the execution of NPLs' securitization still faces many legal obstructions. Therefore, it's necessary to perfect the law of ABS and push forward the development of ABS in our country.


Blueberries belong to the genus Vaccinium and comprise about 400 species (Camp, 1945). Vaccinium meridionale Swartz, known as "agraz" or "mortiño", is distributed in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Jamaica, and is located at the Andean (Escobar et al., 2009). A total of 20 populations and 100 plants of V. meridionale Swartz (Ligarreto et al., 2011) have been individually characterized in Colombia. The V. meridionale fruits are globose berries of 5-10 mm diameter, with purple-dark color at maturity, with persistent calyx at the apex, edible pulp with some acid, but nice flavor, and contain numerous small seeds (Ávila et al., 2007).


Microencapsulation is a process in which active substances are coated by extremely small capsules. It is a new technology that has been used in the cosmetics industry as well as in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and food industries, being used in flavours, acids, oils, vitamins, microorganisms, among others. This paper provides an UpToDate review of different microencapsulation methods and polymers used specifically for Celecoxib drug. As Celecoxib is poorly soluble in water, there are several methods used to improve solubility and bioavailability using various polymers. The different microencapsulation methods along with different polymers were studied and given a comprehensive review. There are several NSAIDs which are used for pain management and Celecoxib is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used in the treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, acute pain, painful menstruation, and menstrual symptoms. There are many techniques available that can be used to fabricate microcapsules based on desired characteristics, and applications of the final microcapsule formulation. For Celecoxib microencapsulation, Spray drying techniques are widely used method for the research studies. some of the advantages of spray-drying include its ability to be fully automated and continuous.


Pulse compression by sum frequency generation is demonstrated in femtosecond time domain with a type II phase matching BBO crystal. By frequency mixing in BBO crystal infrared signal and idler pulses of 160 fs duration generated by an optical parametric amplifier, sum frequency pulses as short as 34 fs were obtained. Experiments and computer simulations demonstrate the potential of this technique to produce ultrashort pulses with high conversion efficiency.


The invention relates to a concentrating solar light guiding convergence funnel module and belongs to the technical field of solar power generation. The concentrating solar light guiding convergence funnel module comprises light guiding funnels, a fixed lens funnel, a connecting plate and a fixed mounting hole. The light guiding convergence funnels guarantee that converged sunlight is completely converged to the effective surface of a concentrating photovoltaic cell chip. The light guiding convergence funnel can fix secondary condensing lenses. Multiple light guiding funnels can be mounted every time, and therefore machining efficiency is improved. The connecting plate of the concentrating solar light guiding convergence funnel module can protect internal electric wires effectively. In addition, focal spots concentrated from a Fresnel lens can be converged on the effective area of a concentrating solar energy cell in a complete overlaid mode in a certain time period through the light guiding funnels, a motor of a solar tracking device only works once in a set time period, the power supply power to the motor is lowered greatly, and therefore the concentrating solar light guiding convergence funnel module saves more energy.


A 53-year-old man, who had been diagnosed with mild hemophilia A (HA) at 35 years of age, was hospitalized with a thigh hematoma. His bleeding continued despite the administration of recombinant factor VIII (FVIII). The results of an FVIII/von Willebrand factor binding assay were normal. The patient's FVIII coagulant activity (FVIII:C) was low, but his FVIII antigen levels were within the normal limits, suggesting FVIII protein dysfunction. The FVIII:C measurements obtained by one-stage clotting and chromogenic assays were different. An FVIII gene analysis revealed a missense mutation p.Ser308Leu, which is rare in Japan. This case highlights that gene analyses and chromogenic assays are necessary to interpret the discrepancies between FVIII:C and the bleeding phenotype of patients with mild HA.


The recent developments in the area of surface electrodes materials for biomedical devices such as ECG, EEG are unforeseeable. The role of novel materials in electrode development is highly required for futuristic applications in health and biomedical industry to fulfill the patients' demand. The proposed project has emphasized on the uses of conductive materials Super p carbon black (SPCB) in electrodes, for enhancing the activity of surface electrodes to capture the better signal of the patients. A great challenge lies not only in fabrication of such materials but also in physical characterization of such conductive materials. In the recent era carbon based nano-materials like CNTs, Graphene, GO and rGO overruled on Ag/AgCl based on its better conductivity. The research work has focused on the electrode fabrication with a conventional slurry-based gel cast method by using Super p carbon black and polymer Ethylene Co Vinyl Acetate (EVA). Further the study has aimed on the quantitatively use of Super p carbon black conductive materials on the surface of the electrode and fictionalized it by using EVA. The electrode material was characterized by in-situ non- destructive conductivity study using the Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopic (EIS) method. This Super p carbon black could be used directly on the surface of the electrode as inbuilt in a dry form to avoid the un-comfortableness of the patient and longevity of the electrode in various biomedical devices like ECG, EEG, etc.


suitable for human use. Apart from the conventional problem of excluding pathogens, there will be a particular risk of contamination with blood group substance if the present techniques are used for cultivation of malaria parasites. In this connection, vaccines prepared from extracellular merozoites are likely to prove more acceptable than those isolated from erythrocytes containing normal or attenuated parasites. A further problem concerns the requirement for the clinically unacceptable Freund's complete adjuvant in vaccines such as those which have proved effective against simian malaria (Table I). The relevance of such experimental models to human populations is difficult to assess. Susceptibility to malaria is influenced by many factors including bloodgroup specificity, haemoglobin constitution and genetically-determined differences in patterns of immune responsiveness. There is convincing evidence in human populations that malaria selects for genes controlling not only haemoglobin synthesis and blood-group specificity, but also HLA specificity. The immune response of a given population to malaria vaccination is likely to bestrongly influenced by such antecedent selection. The adjuvant requirements in exposed subjects may, therefore, be less stringent than in experimental malaria, which relates almost exclusively to infections in unnatural hosts. The ultimate choice of adjuvant will be restricted to those acceptable for human use and will be guided by knowledge of the mechanisms of malarial immunity and the action of available adjuvants; understanding of both of these topics is at present incomplete. S Cohen Professor of Chemical Pathology Guy's Hospital Medical School London SE1 9RT


ABSTRACT Background There is no standard guideline for treating mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). 5% dextrose perineural injection has been a potential and innovative treatment with long-term effects for CTS; however, there is few published randomized clinical trial comparing the efficacy of 5% dextrose perineural injection versus corticosteroid injection in treating CTS. Materials and Methods In this double-blinded randomized active-controlled trial, we randomly allocated 1 session of either 2 cc 5% dextrose or 1 cc methylprednisolone acetate mixed with 1 cc normal saline in 36 patients with mild to moderate CTS of single or both their wrists. The baseline VAS, BCTQ, electrophysiological studies, and sonography assessment of median nerve CSA were carried out at the baseline and 1-month and 3-month follow-ups, as well as recording demographic variables. Results A statistically significant decreasing trend in VAS (P < 0.0001), BCTQ-ss (P < 0.0001), median nerve CSA (P = 0.05), SNAP-PL (P < 0.0001), and CMAP-OL (P = 0.048) in both methylprednisolone and 5% dextrose groups was observed. No significant difference was observed in slope of the trend of studied parameters, including VAS (P = 0.95), BCTQ-ss (P = 0.88), BCTQ-F (P = 0.34), median nerve CSA (P = 0.321), SNAP-PL (P = 0.9), CMAP-OL (P = 0.799), SNAP-amplitude (P = 0.798), and CMAP-amplitude (P = 0.584). Conclusion 5% dextrose perineural injection is an effective and safe treatment for mild to moderate CTS, in comparison with the short-term results attained from corticosteroids. Further randomized clinical trials with longer follow-up periods are warranted.


Objective: To evaluate if abciximab restores the flow through the reoccluded infarct related artery (IRA) after thrombolysis, the result of urgent angioplasty and hemorrhagic risk.Design: A prospective pilot study.Setting: Intensive Care and Coronary Unit (ICCU), in a tertiary hospital with hemodynamic laboratory.Subjects: Patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and reocclusion of the IRA after thrombolysis.Interventions: Thrombolysis, abciximab administration and urgent stenting.Endpoints: Reperfusion of the IRA after abciximab administration and the rate of hemorrhagic events.Measurements and main results: Clinical and electrocardiographic criteria of IRA reperfusion and reocclusion were established. The times elapsed between different procedures, the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) flow grade at the onset of coronary angiography and after stent placement, complications of the revascularization procedure and hemorrhagic events were recorded. Twenty patients were included, r...


In recent years, we see an enormous amount of increase in online activities whether it be for using an internet banking services or for using social media or for education purpose. On other side, most of the peoples did not focus on the privacy because either they are not well aware about the harm of privacy breach or they simply neglect the security part since security comes at the cost of some constraints. Because of these reasons we are witnessing a rapid increase in cyber security attacks. Now-a-days one of the top ten cyber-attacks is phishing attack. Phishing attack is an attempt to mimic the legitimate websites to obtain or gain the confidential data such as credit or debit card details, username and password, etc. The problem of phishing attack detection is addressed so many times. Recent advancements in this domain is classification using the deep learning techniques. However the results of deep learning technique highly depends on the architecture of the system and parameter tuning of learnable parameters. Most of the previous techniques requires high computational power systems to train the deep learning or neural network models. Hence, such approaches requires more time to train the model. In this paper, we propose a convolutional neural network architecture using fast.ai library across GPU which solves the problem of traditional neural networks. By applying the proposed method, we were able to improve the phishing detection accuracy and training time when compared to other existing approaches. We use the ISCX-URL-2016 dataset to train our model for binary classification as phishing and legitimate. We got the accuracy of 99% for phishing URL's detection.


Sex education can be informal, it can be a parent-to-child conversation, with a sex health specialist, teacher and student. Over the past years, in schools, knowledge about sexual health has mainly been approached by students through biology. However, in order for sexual health counseling and care to meet the needs and aspirations of students at the student's age, it is necessary to have a hand from many sides. The paper mainly focuses on analyzing the importance of sex education for Vietnamese society in general and for Vietnamese education in particular. The paper uses survey result as well as some literature theories so that people's thinking about bringing sex education into teaching in schools and the importance of gender knowledge in life need to take into consideration. The paper also analyzes the current state of modern society, thus explaining the importance of gender knowledge in a developing society like Vietnam. The paper will also provide some facts as well as the current situation of sex education in this country through articles published on mass media sites to concretize the topic of the research paper.


Language can be learned subconsciously through various activities in classroom. Language learning of an infant is primarily achieved through listening and speaking, whereas reading would contribute after their visual-ability is welldeveloped. Vocabularies in printed form can be introduced to an infant as early as six months old. Reading capability is an indication of child's first insight into character and use of writing. This is a multi-case study, employing documentation analysis and unstructured interview techniques, based on three Early Childhood Education Program undergraduates participating in helping the development of kindergarten students' English vocabulary in Bandung, Indonesia. The three instructors focused merely on how to pronounce words but not in meaningful context. They also paid less attention in proper pronunciation in building vocabulary, and rarely check dictionary for proper pronunciation. They did not realize vocabulary mistakes can be sustained throughout the students' life. It would require at least three months for attempts to correct a meaning and pronunciation of a word. Therefore, to develop English vocabulary, an instructor or teacher should introduce them in meaningful context, and also in correct pronunciation through various methods such as listening to an audio, listening to teacher, watching a video, using pictures or printed media, repeating and practicing altogether.


FIELD: electronics. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to screen unlocking. Screen unlocking method contains: detecting input operation, performed by user at input location, unlocking password; comparing to determine, whether all characters in unlocking password input location correspond to password, preset by user, every time, when input operation is detected, being once performed by user at unlocking password input location; and unlocking screen, if all characters in unlocking password input location coincide with password, preset by user; detecting, whether input characters are removed by user between two input operations; increasing total number of times when password is incorrectly entered by one if it is detected, that input characters are removed by user between two input operations; detecting, whether total number of times reaches, when password is entered incorrectly, preset maximum number of times; and locking terminal, if total number of times, when password is entered incorrectly, reaches preset maximum number of times; increasing user input operation total number of times by one each time, when input operation is detected, being once performed by user at unlocking password input location; detecting whether total number of user input operation times reaches preset maximum number of times; and locking terminal, if total number of user input operation times reaches preset maximum number of times; wherein preset maximum number of times is equal to value obtained by subtracting one from integer multiple of maximum preset password length. EFFECT: technical result is higher accuracy of unlocking operation using unfixed length password and improved terminal security. 11 cl, 14 dwg


During the Pacific Atmospheric Sulfur Experiment (PASE), dimethyl sulfide (DMS) was not the principal source of non–sea salt sulfate (NSS) mass in the remote marine boundary layer (MBL), according to an Eulerian sulfur budget based on observations of chemical concentrations from the NCAR C‐130 in relatively dry, subsiding regions of the tropical Pacific. Our three (DMS, SO2, and NSS) monthly‐average budgets are mutually consistent. The PASE‐average DMS emission was 3.0 ± 0.5μmol m−2 d−1 (our budget "units"). SO2 sources include DMS + OH (1.4 ± 0.4 units, assuming 75% of reacted DMS forms SO2) and entrainment from the free troposphere (FT) (0.8 ± 0.2 units). Clouds were the most important chemical reactors for SO2 (−1.0 ± 0.5 units). SO2 loss terms also include divergence (−0.9 ± 0.3 units), dry deposition (−0.5 ± 0.2 units), and OH + SO2 (−0.22 ± 0.05 units). The total SO2 loss balanced the SO2 source. We assume that no SO2 was lost to ozone oxidation on sea salt particles; we found negligible NSS on particles from 2.6 μm (the sea salt mass peak) to 10 μm diameter. Fine‐particle NSS sources include in‐cloud oxidation of SO2 by H2O2 (1.0 ± 0.5 units), OH + SO2 (0.19 ± 0.05 units), and entrainment (1.1 ± 0.3 units in clean conditions; twice that when continental pollution is present). NSS sources balance NSS loss to divergence. Only about one fourth of emitted DMS becomes NSS. FT entrainment supplied two thirds and DMS oxidation produced one third of MBL NSS, rather similar source terms.


Background: Despite an emphasis on a biopsychosocial understanding of human behavior and the relevance of biosocial research to social work practice, it is unclear whether social work is contributing to biosocial research and knowledge. Methods: Systematic review procedures were employed to locate studies that included biological variables (e.g., genetic or physiological factors) related to behavior and were published in a social work journal between 2000 and 2015. Seventy-five social work journals were searched. Studies were screened and coded by two independent reviewers. Results: Eleven studies were eligible for this review; one was a behavior genetics study, two were molecular genetics studies, two were neurological studies, and six studies examined physiological factors such as skin conductance and salivary cortisol. Discussion: Findings suggest that social work as a discipline is not contributing new knowledge to advance the "bio" component of the biopsychosocial framework. Implications and recommendations are discussed.


PERIODONTOSIS was first described by Gottlieb in 1920. Since this time, the number of recorded cases with complete medical history and histologic findings are extremely few in number. 2 , 3 In addition, the term "periodontosis" is itself a very controversial term, as there are some investigators who do not believe in the existence of such a diseased entity. To us, periodontosis means advanced alveolar bone loss about one or more of the permanent teeth in an otherwise normal, healthy adolescent. Our criteria for a "normal healthy adolescent" is one who has been given a routine physical examination by a physician and shown to be without any apparent systemic disease. The physical examination should include as a minimal requirement, a chest plate and the following laboratory tests: complete and differential white blood counts, urinalysis, sedimentation rate, hemoglobin and hematocrit.


Speech enhancement is fundamental for many real-time speech applications and it is challenging in case of single-channel because practically only one data channel is available. Without any constraint, a countless range of solutions are possible to solve this problem. In this paper, we present a supervised learning approach to enhance a speech degraded by speech-babble noise, which is most challenging type of noise in speech enhancement systems. The proposed method is composed of deep neural networks (DNNs) and less aggressive Wiener filtering (LW) for speech enhancement, labeled as the DNN-LW. The proposed method is composed of the training and testing stages, respectively. The DNN in the training stage calculates the magnitude spectrums of noise-free speech and the noise signals, respectively from the input noise-masked speech features concurrently. The Less aggressive Wiener filter is then placed as an extra layer on top of the deep neural network to create the enhanced magnitude spectrum. Finally, the phase of noisy speech is used to restore the estimate of clean speech. During testing stage, the trained DNN is provided the features of noise-masked speech to attain the enhanced speech. The experimental results revealed that the DNN-LW approach performs significantly better against baseline speech enhancement methods.


The musical key serves as a crucial element in a piece, offering vital insights into the tonal center, harmonic structure, and chord progressions while enabling tasks such as transposition and arrangement. Moreover, accurate key estimation finds practical applications in music recommendation systems and automatic music transcription, making it relevant across academic and industrial domains. This paper presents a comprehensive comparison between standard deep learning architectures and emerging vision transformers, leveraging their success in various domains. We evaluate their performance on a specific subset of the GTZAN dataset, analyzing six different deep learning models. Our results demonstrate that DenseNet, a conventional deep learning architecture, achieves remarkable accuracy of 91.64%, outperforming vision transformers. However, we delve deeper into the analysis to shed light on the temporal characteristics of each deep learning model. Notably, the vision transformer and SWIN transformer exhibit a slight decrease in overall performance (1.82% and 2.29%, respectively), yet they demonstrate superior performance in temporal metrics compared to the DenseNet architecture. The significance of our findings lies in their contribution to the field of musical key estimation, where accurate and efficient algorithms play a pivotal role. By examining the strengths and weaknesses of deep learning architectures and vision transformers, we can gain valuable insights for practical implementations, particularly in music recommendation systems and automatic music transcription. Our research provides a foundation for future advancements and encourages further exploration in this area.


The reliability evaluation of the distribution system becomes more and more important due to the customer's requirement for a distribution system of a higher quality.Based on the analysis of reliability for distribution systems,a variable fuzzy method is proposed.Firstly the matrix of relative membership degree is calculated based on the index feature value,the matrix of index evaluation interval,the matrix of variable range evaluation interval and the matrix of point values.Then the comprehensive relative membership degree of samples is calculated by a model of variable fuzzy evaluation.The rank feature value is thus obtained,for the evaluation.The variable fuzzy engineering method can scientifically determine the relative membership degrees of sample's indexes at level intervals,and reasonably determine the evaluation level of each sample by varying the model and its parameters.From the evaluation of the reliability of the distribution system,a relative stable value can be obtained to be regarded as the final evaluation.The case study shows that the method gives more reliable evaluation of reliability of a distribution system than the method in literature.


Incorporating MPI programming model into data-intensive file system for big data application is significant in performance research for optimization purpose. In this paper we ported an MPI-SVM solver, originally developed for HPC environment to the Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS). We analyzed the performance bottlenecks with which the SVM solver will be confronted on the HDFS. It is known the storage expansion on HDFS comes with a skewed data distribution. As a result, we found out that some hot nodes always receive condensed I/O requests while other nodes always send remote requests. These remote requests make the I/O delays elongate on hot nodes, which leads to performance bottleneck for our solver. Thus we specifically improved the data preprocessing part that requires large amount of I/O operations by a deterministic scheduling method. Our improvement showed a balanced read pattern on each node. The time ratio between the longest process and the shortest process has been reduced by 60%. Also the average read time has significantly reduced by 78%. The data served on each node also showed a small variance in comparison with the originally ported SVM algorithm. We believe our design avoids the overhead introduced by remote I/O operations, which will be beneficial to many algorithms when coping with large scale of data.


Theory of Mind (ToM) is a critical component of intelligence, yet accurately measuring it continues to be a subject of debate. Prior research has attempted to apply human ToM assessments to natural language processing models using either human-created standardized tests or rule-based templates. However, these methods primarily focus on simplistic reasoning and require further validation. In this study, we utilize dynamic epistemic logic, which has established overlaps with ToM, to generate more intricate problems. We also introduce novel verbalization techniques to express these problems using natural language. Our findings indicate that certain language model scaling (from 70M to 6B and 350M to 174B) does not consistently yield results better than random chance. While GPT-4 demonstrates improved epistemic reasoning capabilities, there is still room for enhancement. Our code and datasets are publicly available https://github.com/antoinelrnld/modlog https://huggingface.co/datasets/sileod/mindgames


We had made investigation on insect microsporidia resources in Guangdong Province, and done some experiments of microsporidia cross infection among some insects to reveal from where the new silkworm microsporidia came. 8 microsporidia, isolated from the silkworm, Bombyx mori, were different from Nosema bombycis. 389 kinds of insects were investigated through microcopy, of which 51 kinds were infected with microsporidia. Among them, 28 kinds of microsporidia can infect silkworm by oral transmission, 18 kinds can transvarian transmission to progeny. Cross infection test revealed that 9 microsporidia isolated insects can infect other 5 kinds of insects. The result showed that the cross infection among insects were very complex.


This research investigates techniques for fabricating hybrid rocket fuel grains composed of porous Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene impregnated with paran wax. The ABS substrate provides mechanical support for the paran fuel material and serves as an additional fuel component. The embedded paran provides an enhanced regression rate while having no detrimental eect on the thermodynamic burn properties of the fuel grain. Fused Deposition Modeling manufacturing techniques are used to fabricate the ABS substrate that supports the paran fuel. Multiple fuel grains with various ABS-to-Paran mass ratios were fabricated and burned with nitrous oxide. Analytical predictions for end-to-end motor performance and fuel regression are compared against static test results. Baseline fuel grain regression calculations use an enthalpy balance energy analysis with the material and thermodynamic properties based on the mean paran/ABS mass fractions within the fuel grain. In support of these analytical comparisons, a novel method for propagating the fuel port burn surface was developed. In this modeling approach the fuel cross section grid is modeled as an image with white pixels representing the fuel and black pixels representing empty or burned grid cells. A suite of standard MATLAB image-processing techniques is used to regress the fuel grain geometry.


A review of the ex ante evaluation of research proposals is structured in the wider context of research management. Five functions of research management are identified; initiation, evaluation, selection, implementation and control, and dissemination. After considering the relative weights given to these functions In the. literature, it is concluded that the past emphasis on selection should, for agricultural research, give way to more on evaluation. A review of the literature indicates that ex ante evaluation of research is feasible, whether using simple expected value or more costly and complex probabilistic models. The cost of evaluation should be balanced against investment in both the other research functions and the proposals themselves.


Regional disparities in China have recently attracted the attention of economists both inside and outside China. In particular, researchers and policy makers are concerned with how economic reforms have affected regional disparities in China. As a result, there has been a boom in the literature. However, the exploding literature has so far presented conflicting results. The aim of this paper is to review the literature in this field and to present new evidence on income disparities in China's regional economies. This study is based on the application of regional GDP figures covering the period of 1953‐1997. It attempts to assess and consolidate the findings from previous studies and hence contributes to the current debate.


The article consists the review of basic elements of criminal procedure law of the Czech republic. Th e author characterizes the criminal procedure law sources, goal and targets of criminal procedure, basic principles, law status of subjects and sides of criminal procedure, the preliminary and the basic judicial stages. The author has used the Criminal procedure law of the Czech republic as of 01.07.2015. Refs 16.


In this paper, we derive new method for solving particular solution of linear second order ordinary differential equations whenever one solution of their associated homogeneous differential equations is given. Also, we construct second solution of the associated homogeneous differential equation from this new method. Moreover, we have general solution method of linear second order ordinary differential equations without applying the two famous methods, undetermined coefficients method and variation of parameters method, for solving their particular solution


Double-injection (DI) devices consist of an anode (p+) and a cathode (n+) in a semi-insulator containing deep traps and exhibit S-type differential negative resistance (DNR) similar to SCR's under proper conditions [1]-[6]. Recently this laboratory reported a DI device with a hole emitting (p+) gate between the anode and the cathode which resulted in substantial improvement in the switching threshold voltage VThas well as extreme sensitivity Of VThto gate voltage [7]. A major limitation of these DI devices was Seen to be the relatively high ON state voltage. In this paper, we describe some recent results where the ON state or holding voltage VHis controlled by a supplementary gate bias which allows VHto be arbitrarily reduced to zero or even to a negative value by applying sufficiently large negative voltages to the controlling gate with respect to the cathode.


Ultrasound (US) and cholescintigraphy (e.g., hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid [HIDA] scanning) are used widely to evaluate patients with suspected acute cholecystitis. Additionally, emergency department clinicians sometimes order computed tomography (CT) as the initial test, especially when they are considering both biliary and nonbiliary causes of abdominal pain.

To address …


Background Real‐world evidence for the selection of gatekeeping studies in patients with suspected coronary syndromes is limited. Methods and Results We identified 27 036 patients who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), single‐photon emission computed tomography, and the treadmill test for suspected coronary syndromes from the Korean National Health Insurance Service–National Sample Cohort between 2006 and 2014. The primary end point was a composite of cardiac death and myocardial infarction, and the secondary end point was a composite of the primary end point and revascularization. During a median follow‐up of 5.4 years, the risk of both primary and secondary end points was significantly higher in the single‐photon emission computed tomography group (hazard ratio [HR], 1.81 [95% CI, 1.34–2.45]; and HR, 1.42 [95% CI, 1.22–1.66]), but significantly lower in the treadmill test group (HR, 0.53 [95% CI, 0.42–0.67]; and HR, 0.69 [95% CI, 0.62–0.76]) compared with the CCTA group. After balancing baseline risk factors, there was no significant difference in the primary end point in those with single‐photon emission computed tomography (HR, 1.11 [95% CI, 0.78–1.57]; P=0.58) or treadmill test (HR, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.65–1.08]; P=0.18) groups, compared with the CCTA group. The event rate of the secondary end point was significantly lower in the treadmill test group than in the CCTA group (HR, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.78–0.96]; P=0.008). Conclusions Compared with functional testing, initial CCTA was not associated with a lower rate of cardiac death or myocardial infarction when used as an initial diagnostic test for patients with suspected coronary syndromes.


A 32-year-old man presented with a 1-year history of olfactory hallucinations and a 6-week history of intermittent numbness and paresthesias on the left side. MRI revealed a nodular focus of enhancement in the medial right temporal lobe. A diagnostic procedure was performed.