(1) Equilibrium ratios (K.Y/X) for calculating vapor-liquid equilibrium states have been correlated as functions of pressure, temperature, and convergence pressure for the normal paraffin hydrocarbons from methane through decane, isobutane, isopentane, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. A model is proposed which relates the derivatives of the K-functions at convergence to the isothermal critical comositional locus of the system and is found to give very reasonable results for binary and ternary systems and two multicomponent mixures. A vapor-liquid phase-equilibrium algorithm incorporating this locus into the convergence pressure calculation was used to compute equilibrium phase compositions for comparison with expermental data from selected binary, ternary and multicomponent systems. 39 refs.


Background Agents that modulate the tumor microenvironment (TME) to promote anti-tumor effects are desirable for the therapy of solid tumors. Recombinant Listeria-monocyto-genes vaccine consisting of the fusion protein of truncated Lis-teriolysin O and tumor-associated antigen (TAA) is an established strategy to improve antigen-specific T cell response for cancer immunotherapy. CD105 is a co-receptor for the TGF-beta signaling cascade. Due to its elevated expression in many cancer types, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC), CD105 is characterized as a TAA of therapeutic potential. Here we evaluated the efficacy and immunomodulatory effects of a Listeria-based vaccine encoding CD105 (Lm-LLO-CD105A) for the therapy of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in a murine model.


Aim: Although the number of global studies on mechanical ventilation (MV) therapy, which plays an important role in the life process of patients in the intensive care unit, has increased, there is still no bibliometric research on this subject in the literature. This study, it was aimed to determine trend topics and global productivity by holistically analyzing scientific articles on MV published between 1980 and 2021 using various statistical methods and bibliometric approaches.
Material and Method: Articles on MV published between 1980 and 2021 were downloaded from the Web of Science (WoS) database and analyzed using various statistical methods. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used for correlation studies. Network visualization maps were used to identify the most effective studies with global collaborations, trend topics, and citation analysis.
Results: The study, which was in the category of 5323 articles out of a total of 10135 publications, was analyzed. The first 3 countries that contributed the most to the literature were the USA (n=1740), France (448), and Canada (386). The most active author was Laurent Brochard (n=50). The top 3 most active institutions were Assistance Publique Hopitaux Paris (224), University of Toronto (216), and League of European Research Universities (169). The top 3 journals that published the most articles were Critical Care Medicine (289), Chest (204), and Intensive Care Medicine (166). Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was highly effective in article productivity (r=0.719, p


Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels are hydrophilic, high water content, polymeric networks that represent excellent candidates as engineering biomaterials for a broad range of applications. A key challenge for many biomedical applications is the control of transport properties within the resulting 3D crosslinked gels. The effects of the water content at synthesis and crosslinker molecular weights on gel chemical structure and equilibrium volumetric swelling ratio, Q, are studied for a series of PEG hydrogels. In addition, the translational diffusion coefficients of a model probe molecule, Rhodamine 110, are determined directly within the hydrogels by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy measurements. Increasing the water content at synthesis results in larger observed swelling behavior and faster particle transport within the formed PEG hydrogels for two different crosslinker molecular weights due to fewer physical crosslinks in the gels. Comparison of the particle translational diffusion coefficient to the swelling ratio shows a linear relationship for all crosslink densities examined.


Background Congenital heart defects with intractable hypoplasia of the pulmonary arteries without intercourse or with intercourse stenosis is unsuitable for surgical correction or regular palliative procedures. We reported our experience with combined palliative procedures for congenital heart defects with intractable hypoplasia pulmonary arteries. Methods From 2001 to 2012, a total of 41 patients with cyanotic congenital heart defects and intractable hypoplasia of the pulmonary arteries underwent surgical procedures. From among them, 31 patients had pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect (VSD) and the other 10 cases had complicated congenital heart defects with pulmonary stenosis. Different kinds of palliative procedures were performed according to the morphology of the right and left pulmonary arteries in every patient. If the pulmonary artery was well developed, a Glenn procedure was performed. A modified Blalock‐Taussig shunt or modified Waterston shunt was performed if pulmonary arteries were hypoplastic. If the pulmonary arteries were severely hypoplastic, a Melbourne shunt was performed. Systemic pulmonary artery shunts were performed bilaterally in 25 cases. A systemic‐pulmonary shunt was performed on one side and a Glenn procedure was performed contralaterally in 16 cases. Major aortopulmonary collateral arteries were unifocalized in six cases, ligated in two cases and interventionally embolized in two cases. There was one early death because of cardiac arrest and the hospital mortality was 2.4%. Results Five patients suffered from postoperative low cardiac output syndrome, three had perfusion of the lungs, and two pulmonary infections. Systemic pulmonary shunts were repeated after the original operation in three cases due to the occlusion of conduits. The mean follow‐up time was 25 months. The pre‐ and the post‐operation left pulmonary indices were (8.13±3.68) vs. (14.9±6.21) mm2/m2. The pre‐ and post‐operation right pulmonary indices were (12.7±8.13) vs. (17.7±7.78) mm2/m2. The pre‐ and post‐operational pulmonary indices were (20.87±9.43) vs. (32.6±11.7) mm2/m2. They were all significantly increased (P <0.001). The diameter of the pulmonary artery increased after the modified Blalock‐Taussig shunt ((5.51±0.94) mm2/m2 pre‐operation vs. (7.01±1.97) mm2/m2 post‐operation), the modified Waterston shunt ((5.70±3.96) mm2/m2 pre‐operation vs. (9.17±3.62) mm2/m2 post‐operation) and the Melbourne shunt ((2.17±0.41) mm2/m2 pre‐operation vs. (7.35±2.49) mm2/m2 post‐operation) (all P <0.05). Bilateral pulmonary arteries developed well as compared to their pre‐operation development. Hemoglobin decreased from (194±27) to (174±24) g/L (P <0.05) and peripheral oxygen saturation increased from (65±11)% to (84±6)% (P <0.001). During the follow‐up of 27 to 49 months, ultimate complete repair was performed in four cases and one patient underwent a Glenn procedure. Conclusions The procedures should be considered on a case to case basis in patients having hypoplasia of the pulmonary arteries with cyanotic congenital heart defects. Combined palliative operations could be an adequate strategic treatment.


Simple Summary The embryonic period, together with puberty and pregnancy, are known as the three main stages of mammary gland development. The development of the mammary glands is slowed during the embryonic period due to factors such as inadequate nutrition, which directly affect the development of the mammary glands and lactation after birth. However, the impact of embryonic nutrition on fetal mammary gland development is often unnoticed. We investigate the effect of nutritional intake on embryonic mammary gland development by administering different levels of nutritional restriction to female mice during gestation. Contrary to common belief, we found that mild maternal nutritional restriction contributes to mammary gland development in the offspring. Mammary gland dysplasia is not obvious until maternal nutritional restriction reaches 70% of the normal intake. Further embryonic mammary gland development studies can be performed based on our level of maternal nutritional restriction. In addition, the use of mice as model animals can also provide a reference for dairy farming, where nutrition should not be excessive during the gestation period of the cow; otherwise, it affects the mammary gland development of the offspring. Abstract We aimed to investigate the effect of different levels of nutritional restriction on mammary gland development during the embryonic period by gradient nutritional restriction in pregnant female mice. We started the nutritional restriction of 60 female CD-1(ICR) mice from day 9 of gestation based on 100%, 90%, 80%, 70% and 60% of ad libitum intake. After delivery, the weight and body fat of the offspring and the mother were recorded (n = 12). Offspring mammary development and gene expression were explored by whole mount and qPCR. Mammary development patterns of in offspring were constructed using Sholl analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and regression analysis. We found that: (1) Mild maternal nutritional restriction (90–70% of ad libitum intake) did not affect offspring weight, while body fat percentage was more sensitive to nutritional restriction (lower at 80% ad libitum feeding). (2) A precipitous drop in mammary development and altered developmental patterns occurred when nutritional restriction ranged from 80% to 70% of ad libitum intake. (3) Mild maternal nutritional restriction (90% of ad libitum intake) promoted mammary-development-related gene expression. In conclusion, our results suggest that mild maternal nutritional restriction during gestation contributes to increased embryonic mammary gland development. When maternal nutritional restriction reaches 70% of ad libitum intake, the mammary glands of the offspring show noticeable maldevelopment. Our results help provide a theoretical basis for the effect of maternal nutritional restriction during gestation on offspring mammary development and a reference for the amount of maternal nutritional restriction.


This paper proposes a hybrid ac/dc micro grid to reduce the processes of multiple dc–ac–dc or ac–dc–ac conversions in an individual ac or dc grid. The hybrid grid consists of both ac and dc networks connected together by multi-bidirectional converters. The proposed model is in such a way that the reliability of power can be maintained during the whole day. This is obtained by connecting a PEM Fuel cell stack in parallel with the PV system. The proposed hybrid grid can operate in grid-tied or autonomous mode. The coordination control algorithms are proposed for smooth power transfer between ac and dc links and for stable system operation under various generation and load conditions. Uncertainty in characteristics of wind speed, solar irradiation level, ambient temperature, and load are also considered in system control and operation. A small hybrid grid has been modeled and simulated using the Simulink in the MATLAB. The simulation results show that the system can maintain stable operation under the proposed coordination control schemes when the grid is switched from one operating condition to another.


A closed dynamic Leontief model is implemented for the Business, Government and Household sectors of the Hungarian and the US economies at the end of the past century. It is built on rough estimates of its flow and stock coefficients. The growth rate and the length and pattern of the four most familiar cycles are reasonably well approximated by the model and are similar for the two countries in spite of the large discrepancy in the proportions of the equilibrium quantity vectors. The mathematics of cycles (for discrete or continuous time) is also discussed. Fluctuations are shown to be the elementary, basic and unavoidable consequence of all productive activities. They will emerge even in the absence of any price mechanism.


IN a previous paper' it was shown that the sparingly-water-soluble compound 5-chloro-2-hydroxydiphenylmethane (benzylchlorophenol) may be solubilised by aqueous solutions of potassium laurate when the latter are sufficiently concentrated to be micellar. The bactericidal activity of such solutions was found to be related to the concentration of the benzylchlorophenol in the micelles, and not to its overall concentration in the system as a whole. The present communication deals with the solubility and bactericidal activity in aqueous solutions of potassium laurate of 2-chloro-5-hydroxy1 : 3-dimethylbenzene (chloroxylenol), a phenol of somewhat greater water-solubility than benzylchlorophenol. This compound was selected for further study because, although more water-soluble than benzylchlorophenol, it is not so soluble that appreciable concentrations obtain in the aqueous phase when it is dissolved in aqueous solutions of potassium laurate. Compounds which are markedly soluble in water were avoided, since the bactericidal activity of systems containing such compounds dissolved in aqueous potassium laurate solutions, must be the summation of the activity of the aqueous phase and of the activity possessed by the micelles containing the compound. Such a condition would introduce difficulties in the interpretation of bactericidal measurements.


We report a strong Brillouin amplification in gas using hollow-core fibers, exceeding by 6 times the gain in solid silica fibers. A novel fiber laser using Brillouin lasing in gas has been demonstrated.


In this research, two composite materials, one with iron matrix and other with iron-nickel matrix with titanium carbide and alumina re-inforcers from an ilmenite ore were fabricated, in order to obtain a material not only with good mechanical properties, high stiffness, good performance at high temperatures, also with a higher resistance to corrosion, toughness and low porosity. For this purpose, the individual milling of each one of the precursors, ilmenite, aluminum chip, nickel oxide and carbon was carried out during 3 hours. Subsequent to the characterization of the precursors by XRD and SEM- SE , BSED and SEM, these were mixed in a high energy mill to achieve a particle size between 100-300 nano-meters in which would occur the reaction that would give rise to the composite material. The procedure was carried out under a nitrogen atmosphere at a flow rate of 1 L / min for four hours. Besides using a Carver compaction machine, ½ inch diameter specimens were obtained by applying a load of 3 tons to be sintered at 1100 ° C and 1200 ° C for 2 and 3 hours; Controlling at this stage the decrease of the porosity localized by SEM. Once the characterization of the test specimens was carried out, an anodic polarization test was applied where corrosion rate of the iron-nickel matrix sample was 2.75x10-12 cm/year while the iron matrix was 4.15x10-11 cm/year indicating an improvement in the corrosion resistance, In addition, in the sintering process, a decrease in the porosity of the material was observed, especially in the material with Nickel content.


The synthesis and properties of well‐defined core–shell type fluorescent metal‐chelating polymer nanoparticles NP, in the 15 nm diameter range, with a fluorophore (9,10‐diphenylanthracene: DPA) entrapped in the particle core and a selective ligand (1,4,8,11‐tetraazacyclotetradecane: Cyclam), grafted onto the surface are presented. NPs with different number of dye‐per‐particle are readily obtained by entrapment of the fluorophore within the polymer core. The ligand‐coated NPs exhibit a high affinity for Cu2+ ions in aqueous solution and quenching of the DPA fluorescence is observed upon binding of copper. The quenching of fluorescence arises through energy transfer (FRET) from the dye to the copper‐cyclam complexes that form at the NP surface with an operating distance (d) in the 2 nm range. A simple core–shell model accounts for the steady‐state and time‐resolved fluorescence titration experiments: dye molecules located in the outer sphere (thickness d) of the NPs are quenched while the fluorescence of dyes embedded more deeply is not affected by the binding of copper ions. The observed high quenching efficiency (60–65 %), which is tightly correlated to the volumic and microstructural features of the NPs, shed light on the enhanced accessibility inherent in nano‐sized templates. The response towards different metal ions was investigated and this confirmed the selectivity of the nanoparticle template‐assembled sensor for cupric ions.


To study the effect of Liangjin mushroom polysaccharide (LIPS)on hematopoietic function.Methods:Colony forming u- nit of granulocyte and macrophage(CFU-GM)agar sinai-solid cultivation were used to observe the effect of LIPS stimulated cord blood mononuclear cell(CBMC)supernatant on CFU-GM formation,and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)was used to study the mechanism on mRNA level.Results:The supernatant of LIPS stimulated CBMC could improve the CFU-GM forma- tion,the optimal concentration was 1 μg/ml,and has significant difference in comparing with the control group(P0.01).LJPS showed no direct effect on the growth of CFU-GM,but can induce the expression of granulocyte and macrophage colony stimulating factor(GM-CSF)mRNA.Conclusion:LIPS can promote hematopoietic function.


The periodic Anderson model (PAM) represents a paradigm for understanding the physics of heavy-fermion (HF) compounds. In this paper, we study the specific heat of HF systems using the PAM within the framework of dynamical mean-field theory. By examining the systematic variation of specific heat as a function of particle-hole asymmetry and coupling strength, with the natural focus being on strong coupling, it is demonstrated that experimentally measured specific heat of a variety of paramagnetic Kondo insulators such as YbB12, SmB6, FeSi, CeRhSb and HF metals such as CeFeGe3, YbAl3 and CeAl3 can be understood semi-quantitatively using the PAM.


Objectives: Comparative Study of Snags and Maitland's Mobilization in Chronic Low Back Pain. Design: Randomized Control Trial. Methodology: A total of 60 patients were included as per pre define inclusion and exclusion criteria and randomly assigned into two groups each having 30 patients. Group A was given SNAG consisted of stretching strengthening and postural correction exercises while Group B was given Maitland's mobilization consisted of stretching strengthening and postural correction exercises for 4 weeks, 3 sessions per week one session per day. The patient's outcome measures were assessed by visual analog scale, ODI and Goniometry of Lumbar Range of Motion. Measurements were recorded before and after the end of the treatment period. Results: Results revealed that means and S.D of both group were significant ( p=.000 ) statically but clinically the Group of patients treated with SNAGS along with stretching strengthening and postural correction exercises managed pain (pre=7.81±1.16, post=0.35±0.37), ODI(pre= 40±19.18 ,post= 9±4.39)and range of motion (flexion pre=30±6.05,post=51±10.15,extension pre=16±2.33,post=30±5.21 Rt side flexion pre=10±2.15,post=20±4.15 and lt. side flexion pre=10±2.75, post=20±4.53, Rt side rotation pre= 9±1.57,post=18±2.35) lt. side rotation pre=8±2.09,post=17±2.45 better than group of patient treated with Maitland's mobilization along with stretching strengthening and postural correction exercises in terms of pain (pre=6.27±1.31, post=2.73±1.19), ODI (pre=42±20.52, post=24±11.7) and range of motion (flexion pre=24±5.85, post=36±10.66, extension pre=14±2.35, post=20±5.42, Rt side flexion pre=10±2.45 post=16±2.48, lt Side flexion pre=12±2.85, post=18±2.46, Rt side rotation pre=9±1.80 post=15.±2.81, lt Side rotation pre=8±1.75, post=16±3.27. Conclusion: The result of study suggests that both SNAG and Maitland's improves the symptoms of chronic low back pain. Better improvement was shown by SNAG group than Maitland's group. Based on these results SNAG and Exercise should be the treatment of choice for chronic Low back pain rather than Maitland's with Exercise. Article visualizations:


The aim of this paper is to discuss the possibility of enhancement of contrast in thermographic investigations directed towards medical diagnostics. Results of in vivo experiments on pigs are shown for evaluation of skin injuries inflicted by burns introduced in a controlled way. Use of cooling procedures by ice or a cooling fan as well as heating using optical irradiation is discussed. The heating procedure seems to be more comfortable in practical use while cooling gives better contrast, due to a bigger acceptable temperature span.


Background: Maternal vitamin D insufficiency has been linked with increased risk of preeclampsia. Despite this, the evidence regarding the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in preventing preeclampsia is controversial. The aim of study was to collate the incidence of preeclampsia in high-risk females with vitamin D supplementation versus placebo.Methods: The present study was a randomized controlled trial. The study was conducted in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Madinah Teaching Hospital affiliated with University Medical and Dental College Faisalabad. The study was collected over one year from July 2019 to June 2020. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups. Patients in group-A were given vitamin D supplementation of 600 IU daily. The control group (group-B) was given placebo. If blood pressure (BP) ≥140/90 mmHg and proteinuria found positive in urine, then preeclampsia was labeled (as per operational definition). Both groups were compared for preeclampsia by using Chi–square test. P value <0.05 was taken as significant.Results: The incidence of preeclampsia was 4% (n=2/150) in group A and 8% (n=6/150) in group B developed preeclampsia. The difference was (p value=0.3) insignificant difference.Conclusions: Vitamin D addition in pregnancy did not demonstrate a statistically significant effect of vitamin D on the prevention of preeclampsia.


Several N -arylamino-1,3-diazabuta-1,3-dienes were prepared by the reaction of N-arylbenzimidoyl isothiocyanates with primary aromatic amines followed by S-methytation of the resultant thioureas. All these compounds were characterised by analytical and spectral data. Antibacterial activity was determined using agar diffusion technique against Escherichia coli MTCC 42, Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 1034, Bacillus subtilis MTCC 121, Bacillus cerus MTCC 1272 and Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 1430. Some of the compounds showed significant antibacterial activity.


Village constructioning is not a mere technical task.It implies complicated social problems.The article,investigating the'co-constructioning'of human habitats in villages,puts forward the concept of"village constructioning community"and its related issues,and discusses how the architects should get involved into the village constructioning work.


It is an important research field for fabricating novel covalent organic frameworks (COFs)/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) composites with excellcent performance in broad applications. Mesoporous COF can be successfully coated on the...


Abstract:The Chosŏn-era Korean embassies to Tokugawa Japan have been under scholarly scrutiny since 1894, but researchers are still probing their cultural, economic, and political impacts, because much is not yet clear. The memorabilia left in the wake of the embassies (scrolls, poetry collections, paintings, festivals) have been largely uncovered, catalogued, and are being analyzed for what they can tell us about elite and popular images of Koreans in Tokugawa Japan. The article introduces an unknown scroll in the possession of the British Museum. The scroll depicts the 1748 Korean Embassy to Edo and possesses unusual amounts of information. Nearly all officials, not just the three envoys, are identified by name and office. The end of the scroll includes three state documents (two from Korea to Japan and one reply) with lists of gifts from the Korean King to the Japanese shōgun and gifts from the envoys to the Japanese shōgun. There is also information on return gifts to Korean officials, a musical program, an equestrian program, and further biographical details on the three envoys and high officials. All of the information is prefaced with a list of past embassies.


As in traditional commerce, parties to a contract in e-business environments are expected to operate in good faith and comply with mutually agreed terms of the contract. It may be the case however that deviation from the agreed contract obligations occur either intentionally or due to force majeure. We argue that there is value in providing various levels of automated support to deal with contract non-compliance in e-marketplaces in order to reach the best overall outcome for all parties. This includes monitoring contract significant events, simple notifications to the parties about non-compliance events and a range of enforcement mechanisms. These mechanisms can be either nondiscretionary (as in preventive security mechanisms) or discretionary, which rely on a number of control mechanisms that are applied when contract rules are violated. We describe a number of such control mechanisms and how they can be used to extend capabilities of a contract management architecture previously developed.


NAC is among the main causes of morbidity and mortality in adults, and is characterized by the inhalation of pathogens outside the hospital environment, causing the alveoli to fill with pus and fluid; The application of respiratory therapy is a fundamental part in the treatment of this pathology since they help to keep the airways permeable, facilitate the elimination of bronchial secretions and improve gas exchange.
General Objective: To determine the relationship between the application of Respiratory Therapy techniques and the evolution that occurs in community Acquired Pneumonia in adults aged 25 to 65 years attended in the IESS Babahoyo Hospital.
Methodology: The methods used were the deductive and the synthesis methods; the modality chosen is qualitative and quantitative and the type of research used was the Non-experimental, Descriptive - Correlational and transversal.
Results: the most effective techniques for patients with CAP are Aerosol therapy and Oxygen therapy, the most common complication is the Pleural effusion, the sex most prone to this disease is the male and at the same time it is the most complicated gender, the therapists in charge of the hospital's outpatient consultation if they comply with the procedure when applying the different techniques of respiratory therapy for the recovery of the patient.
Conclusion: the application of respiratory therapy techniques to patients with CAP is very effective in achieving the restoration of patients' health and improving their living conditions.


The current report examines the question of development of emotional intelligence of children at a pre-school age as a part of the work on an Erasmus+ project "To hug the world". The core idea of the project is to enhance the quality and efficiency of education at early child age, as well as emphasize equality, social convergence and active civil participation. The development of emotional intelligence is a key factor for the complete participation of a child in life, which sets the main goal of the current development and is targeted towards the children to grow up as active future members of society, ready to participate in its management and at the same time forming sense of compassion, belonging to societies wider than the family. The child as a participant in the project "To hug the world" acquires the needed social knowledge and skills for fulfilling their role of a citizen, learns to solve interpersonal, local, national and global problems, showing constructive, pragmatic and critical thinking, freedom of thought and independence of will. Teaching children emotional intelligence, to acknowledge feelings, to understand where they come from and to learn to cope with them, sets the foundations of the most important skills for success and premise of full personal development at a later stage. In the current report, there are different techniques used by teachers of Kindergarten "Zname na mira", Vratsa, targeted towards forming of emotional intelligence in children.


The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of pre-school teachers' reflective teaching on children's academic performance in Molo District, Kenya. The review of related literature focused on the nature of reflective teaching and the benefits of reflective teaching which provided the guideline and laid the background o f this study. Stratified random sampling and simple random sampling were used to come up with the required sample. A sample of 24 preschools was selected for the study among a population o f 151 preschools in the District. A total o f 29 preschool teachers and 285 preschool children participated in the study. The data was collected using a questionnaire for preschool teachers, a preschool test for preschool children, and documentary analysis o f preschool teachers. The sample was divided into two equal groups. Each group was further divided in five divisions. The two group divisions were then paired. Teachers in one group divisions received training on reflective teaching/elements of reflective teaching using a training module. The training was not given to the other group. A pretest and a posttest were administered to preschool children in both groups. The pretest was administered before treatment was given. Data collected from the tests was analysed using a computer programme SPSS statistics 17.0 for Windows. A paired samples t-test was used to determine whether a statistically significant difference existed within a given pair of samples in children's mean scores in academic performance. Data from questionnaires and documentaiy analysis forms was analysed manually and was used to give meaning to the children's mean score differences obtained from the tests at the two stages. Paired samples t-test at 0.05 significance level was set as the decision rule o f thumb; either to accept or reject the null hypotheses. The main findings of this study indicated that there was statistically significant difference in children's mean scores in academic performance in classes where teachers used reflective teaching and where they did not. The study further found out that there was no statistically significant difference when only one element o f reflective teaching was employed at a time. In the latter case; however, it was found out that there was general improvement in children mean scores compared to the controls (teaching without the particular elements of reflective teaching). Based on these findings and the fact that most of the children attending preschools in Molo District, Kenya face various forms of vulnerability because of constant land, tribal and political clashes between communities who inhabit this area for the last two decades; it is recommended that preschool teachers in Molo District should be trained on reflective teaching objectives and techniques. This should be done through regular in-service courses, workshops and seminars. Further, it is recommended that reflective teaching materials, including recent research findings should be made available in preschools and resource centers in the District to enable the teachers to have a local resource on reflective teaching.


Warm inflationary dynamics is shown to satisfy both the slow-roll and density perturbation constraints for $m_{\phi} \gg H$ or equivalently $\eta \gg 1$ and for inflaton field amplitudes much below the Planck scale, $ < m_{pl}$. I start by reviewing the two types of inflation dynamics, isentropic or cold inflation and nonisentropic or warm inflation. In the former, inflation occurs without radiation production, whereas in the latter both radiation production and inflation occur concurrently. I then discuss recent, detailed, quantum field theory calculations showing that many generic inflation models, including hybrid inflation, which were believed only to have cold inflation regimes, in fact have regimes of both warm and cold inflation. These results dispel many foregone assumptions generally made up to now about inflation models and bring to the fore various elementary issues that must be addressed to do reliable calculations from inflation models. I also discuss density perturbations and observational consequences of warm inflation, especially related to WMAP. Finally I show that warm inflation has intrinsic features that make the ``eta problem'' nonexistent, and field amplitudes are below the Planck scale.


Let Iv(x) be the modified Bessel function of the first kind and of order v. In this paper an algorithm is presented for calculating bounds of the ratio with the use of the theory of continued fractions. A sequence of lower and upper bounds can be found whose calculation is more effective and simple in comparison with other known bounds.


The invention relates to a method for producing polyurethane foams by reacting an isocyanate component with a component that is reactive to isocyanates and that comprises at least one polyether carbonate polyol, the reaction taking place in the presence of urea or derivatives thereof. The invention also relates to polyurethane foams produced by the claimed method and to the use thereof.


The present study describes the results of two experiments that analyze the effects of language dominance on Catalan/Spanish bilingual speech production. We examined the acoustics of the Catalan [a]~[ə] alternation (a phonological process induced by lexical stress) and of the Catalan mid vowel contrasts /e/-/ɛ/ and /o/-/ɔ/ (two phonemic contrasts) in the speech of Catalan- vs. Spanish-dominant early Catalan/Spanish bilinguals from Majorca (Spain). The results indicate that, contrary to the analysis of the Catalan mid vowels, stressed and unstressed Spanish and Catalan /a/ yielded no significant difference as a function of language dominance. These findings suggest that unstressed vowel reduction, a phonological process, may be relatively easier to acquire than phonemic contrasts with a low functional load (/e/-/ɛ/, /o/-/ɔ/), perhaps because its predictability and high frequency may attract attention and/or relieve cognitive resources, which could be conducive to phonological learning. These findings demonstrate that language dominance effects in the production of phonemic contrasts, widely researched in the literature on early bilingualism, do not guarantee the same effects on the implementation of phonological processes.


Recreational firearm use is a popular leisure-time activity in the United States enjoyed by millions of individuals across all age groups. Recreational firearms produce impulse noise levels that exceed 140 decibels peak sound pressure levels (dB peak SPL). Unprotected ear exposure to this high-level impulse noise can cause immediate and irreversible damage to delicate inner ear structures of both the shooter and bystanders in close proximity. This damage includes noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and tinnitus. The potential increased risk of NIHL and tinnitus associated with recreational firearms noise may not be evident to recreational shooters, or nearby bystanders such as instructors and spectators. NHCA developed this guidance document to assist hearing conservationists, audiologists, physicians and other hearing conservation professionals, in managing and mitigating the risk of NIHL associated with recreational firearm noise. Recreational Firearm Prevalence in the United States Recreational firearm use by civilians is prevalent in the United States. Americans own an estimated 270310 million firearms (Jütersonke et al., 2007; Krouse, 2012), more than any other country in the world. Data collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2011) revealed that approximately 15.7 million individuals over the age of 16 years used several types of firearms (rifles, shotguns, pistols, muzzle loaders) for hunting purposes while approximately 7.1 million people participated in target shooting in preparation for hunting. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (2009), over 30 million Americans are actively involved in the shooting sports. Several states allow children 10 years of age and younger to use firearms for hunting when accompanied by an adult family member (National Shooting Sports Foundation, 2010). Recreational Firearm Noise Sound Pressure Levels Although firearms are used by millions of U.S. citizens for recreational activities related to the shooting sports, these individuals may not be aware that exposure to high-level firearm noise can be hazardous to their hearing. This need for awareness also extends to those that are exposed as nearby bystanders, e.g. instructors, spectators. Almost all firearms generate peak impulse noise levels that exceed the 140 decibel peak sound pressure level (dB peak SPL) exposure limit mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA. 1983) and the A-weighted 140 decibel (dBA) limit recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, 1998) for adults in occupational settings. The World


Background: Environmental surfaces of intensive care units (ICUs) are suitable for the growth of Gram-negative bacteria. Normally, these strains that are circulating between the environment and patients can cause outbreaks of nosocomial infections among vulnerable patients. In this study, the genetic diversity of common Enterobacteriaceae bacilli family in the environment of the ICUs was evaluated. Methods & Materials: During a 10-month period, samples were collected from environmental surfaces of ICU departments such as toilets, different surfaces, machineries and equipment, and injectable solutions from 5 hospitals located in Qom, central Iran. Swab samples were transferred on Blood Agar and sub-cultured on MacConkey medium, then suspected colonies were inoculated into the TSI media and differential diagnosis was done by using differential culture media and biochemical reactions for Enterobacteriaceae family. Results were confirmed by using API 20E kit. Genetic diversity was evaluated by using universal primers in ERIC-PCR method. The clonal relatedness of the strains were obtained using GelCompar II software. Results: A total of 396 swab samples were collected and 1205 colonies were isolated including 194 colonies of Gram-negative bacilli. Totally, 22% of the isolates belonged to Enterobacteriaceae family including Klebsiella pnuamoniae (7.21%) and Enterobacter cloacae (2.6%) as the most prevalent. Overall, 14 strains of K. pnuamoniae were identified. Band patterns of 2 cluster each with 2 strains had 90% similarity (one clone): two strains were isolated from soap and pillow from hospitals I and III with one month interval, two other strains were isolated from dining table and sink from hospitals IV and V with 4 month interval. Overall, 5 strains of E. cloacae were identified from hospitals IV and V. Band patterns of these strains had less than 50% similarity and were considered as 5 distinct single types. Conclusion: The results show the diversity of contaminating sources and presence of different circulating clones of E. cloacae. Isolation of similar clones of K. pneumonia from different hospitals is crucial in aspect of controlling the spread of same clone of nosocomial infections.


The propagation of shock wave of Ms equals 1.8 through single cylinder, double cylinders in a shock tube with a channel bend was studied experimentally with holographic interferometer. Quantitative density fields were obtained from interferograms for the double cylinders.


ABSTRACT

Coastal land in Indonesia is very a broad and potensial as tourist object so it need to be manage as optimal medium for plant growth well in order to beautify the tourist site,


For research of hierarchic medium we had developed an iterative algorithm for electro-magnetic and seismic fields in the problem setting similar to analyzed higher for layered-block models with homogeneous inclusions. We had developed an iterative algorithm of inverse problem solution for the same models, using the approach of three stage interpretation. For that we had developed a new integral differential equation for the theoretical inverse problem of 2-D electromagnetic field in a hierarchic inclusion, embedded in the N-layered medium. Keywords: direct problem, inverse problem, hierarchic model, electromagnetic and seismic field, frequency-geometric research


Well-adapted cells, which had been initiated from root tissue of Ipomoea and of Daucus carota, were grown in 7.5-liter stirred-jar fermenters, and both the cells and media were analyzed for major components at intervals during the growth period. Controlled variables included the size of inoculum, the amount of sucrose, and the source and amount of nitrogen in the media.The data obtained indicate that there are two distinct growth phases in the development of batch cultures of these cell lines. The first, which we term "cytoplasmic growth phase," begins immediately upon addition of inoculum to fresh medium and is characterized by a high rate of nitrogen uptake and metabolism relative to the increase in cell dry weight. The second, or "maturation phase," is characterized by large increments in dry weight and total cell carbohydrate relative to the increments in cell nitrogen. It is suggested that the classical lag, log, and stationary phases of bacterial growth could apply only to the early hours of cytopla...


The air microbial species and quantities in a wood mill in Harbin, China were measured using sedimentation plate method. Results showed that the microbial quantity in the air at the workshop without depurator (54939 cfu.m-3) was 2.1 times that of the workshop with depurator (25768 cfu·m^-3). The depurator could purify air microorganisms at the workshop, with a purifying rate of 53.1%, but it did not reach the standards of clean air. Comparatively the depurator is effective in reducing the quantity of air actinomyces, and some kinds of air actinomyces,such as Scabies, Cinereus and Hygroscopicas, can be clean out, but it is not very effective to bacteria and fungi. It is suggested that more effective and feasible methods should be developed for purifying air microorganisms at the workshop in the future.


Measurements of the pressure drop across a dense medium cyclone (DMC) and of the feed volumetric flow rate can be useful diagnostic tools for monitoring the cyclone's performance and the flow conditions within it and to indicate cyclone wear.1 Flow rate, in particular, is an important variable in the modelling of cyclone performance2 and its on-line measurement could facilitate model-based cyclone control. In practice, however, the feed volumetric flow rate is usually not measured because of the difficulty of doing so and the pressure drop is measured at some arbitrary point prior to the feed inlet. Although this pressure measurement is a useful general indicator, it is not usually the true pressure drop across the cyclone because it is not measured exactly at the cyclone inlet. A simple method for measuring the feed volumetric flow rate on line is presented here, with an asssessment of its likely accuracy, and validated with experimental data.


Engineering education in Spain has a long tradition exceeding 150 years. Its traditional character has always been complemented by an effort to work with the social, industrial and international environment of each era. The last great change has taken place in the last ten years (1986-1996) by: (1) expanding the number of engineering degrees offered; and (2) profoundly changing the various curricula. Spain has a dual system based on two engineering degrees: The Technical Engineer or First Cycle Engineer; and the Engineer or Second Cycle Engineer. Access from one degree to the other is guaranteed by a cyclical education system.


The damage of the control windings will lead to the suspension failure of the hybrid magnetic bearing (HMB). Therefore, to improve the reliability of hybrid magnetic bearing, a 9-pole radial hybrid magnetic bearing with strong fault tolerance is proposed. Firstly, the structure and fault tolerance mechanism of 9-pole hybrid magnetic bearing are introduced. Then, the mathematical models of the suspension force are derived. Two suspension force compensation methods are analyzed based on the criterion of producing the same positive X-direction suspension force. Finally, the suspension force compensation methods are verified by MagNet 3D. The research results have shown that the double winding compensation control method has the best electromagnetic performances and low cost.


Northern shrimp Pandalus borealis is found in both inshore and offshore areas around Iceland, where it has supported an important commercial fishery. However, in the past 15 yr the northern shrimp population has decreased in size and collapsed in most of the inshore areas. In this study, the importance of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua on northern shrimp stock dynamics was studied by comparing stomach contents of cod between 2 different habitats, inshore and offshore northern shrimp fishery areas. Many prey items were observed in cod stomachs, but only a few dominated. The most important prey types, in decreasing order of importance, included northern shrimp, fish and euphausiids in the inshore area, as opposed to capelin Mallotus villosus, other fish species, northern ambereye Hymenodora glacialis and northern shrimp in the offshore area. Low northern shrimp biomass was observed during periods of high cod density, suggesting that predation by cod affected northern shrimp biomass in both areas.


In this paper, a possible merge between the theory of variable structure control systems and that of model reference adaptive control is presented with reference to a pole assignment control problem in the presence of uncertain non-minimum phase systems affected by bounded disturbances. The control scheme proposed is characterized by a simple first-order fixed compensator introduced in parallel to the plant, so that the parallel connection turns out to be a relative-degree-one system with a not necessarily Hurwitz numerator, by a set of tunable state variable filters, along with an all-pass filter which allows us to avoid any unstable pole-zero cancellation in the presence of a non-Hurwitz plant numerator. By applying discontinuous control actions with an all-pass filter, it is possible to force a signal, which plays the role of output error, to zero, keeping the amplitude of all the control signals bounded, and solving a pole assignment problem. The main novelty of this work consists in the analysis of t...


One of the major drawbacks of the conventional differential chaos shift keying (DCSK) system is the addition of channel noise to both the reference signal and the data-bearing signal, which deteriorates its performance. In this brief, we propose a noise reduction DCSK system as a solution to reduce the noise variance present in the received signal in order to improve performance. For each transmitted bit, instead of generating β different chaotic samples to be used as a reference sequence, β/P chaotic samples are generated and then duplicated P times in the signal. At the receiver, P identical samples are averaged, and the resultant filtered signal is correlated to its time-delayed replica to recover the transmitted bit. This averaging operation of size P reduces the noise variance and enhances the performance of the system. Theoretical bit error rate expressions for additive white Gaussian noise and multipath fading channels are analytically studied and derived. Computer simulation results are compared to relevant theoretical findings to validate the accuracy of the proposed system and to demonstrate the performance improvement compared to the conventional DCSK, the improved DCSK, and the differential-phase-shift-keying systems.


A group divisible design GDD(v = v 1 + v 2 + · · · + v g,g, k, λ 1, λ 2) is an ordered triple (V, G, B), where V is a vset of symbols, G is a partition of V into g sets of size v 1, v 2,⋯ v g, each set being called group, and B is a collection of ksubsets (called blocks) of
V, such that each pair of symbols from the same group occurs in exactly λ 1 blocks; and each pair of symbols from different groups occurs in exactly λ 2 blocks. Here, we focus on an existence problem of GDDs with two associate classes or when g = 2, and with blocks of size 3, when the required designs have two groups of unequal sizes and λ 2 = 4. We obtain the necessary conditions and prove that these conditions are sufficient.


A telemetry test board based on FPGA(field programmable gate array) is designed and implemented in the test bench of EILog system.The board has CAN,DTB telemetry cartridge and DTB tool communication capabilities.The CAN interface is jointly accomplished by SJA1000 and FPGA.FPGA and level conversion circuit together implement DTB communication function.With the support of software,it can not only simulate telemetry system debugging downhole tools,but also simulate various downhole tools for test of telemetry system and surface system.


Stroke is the most common cause of epilepsy in older adults, but there is limited information about rates and risk factors in this population.


The main purpose for this project is to investigate the effect of nano calcium carbonate on the mechanical properties of epoxy composite reinforced recycle rubber. Different weight percentage of nano calcium carbonate will give different mechanical properties to the epoxy composite. The reinforcement of elastomers by particulate fillers is achieved largely on the basis of physical interactions between the filler and the rubber matrix. In recent years, nano-size organic particles have attracted considerable attention as new toughening agents, because the resulting materials exhibit uniquely high thermal and mechanical properties. Nano-CaCO3 powder is the cheapest commercially available, and has the additional advantages of a low aspect ratio and a large surface area. This project is start from preparing of sample by adding the epoxy resin with recycle rubber with ratio 1 : 0.4. The material were stir using mechanical stirrer at speed 500rpm until it mixed. After that nano CaCo3 powder will added with 5 different weight percent (0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8%). The nano-CaCO3 powder was added and mixed using the mechanical stirrer mill at speed 500 rpm for another 5 min. Then the epoxy hardener were added in the same manner, at speed 500 rpm for 5 min. After the mixture is prepared, this mixture will poured into the mould and then wait about 5 hour until it cured. Then the sample will cured inside the furnace and be heated at 140 °C for 1 hour . After curing, mechanical tests were performed and the fractured surfaces of the specimens were examined under Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results show that as we increased the nano CaCo3 to the epoxy composite, the strength of mechanical properties are been improved.


AIM
To comparatively evaluate PCR and other diagnostic methods (the rapid urease test and / or culture) in order to determine which of the three PCR methods (ureA, glmM and 26-kDa, SSA gene) was most appropriate in the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori (H pylori ) infection and also to evaluate the detection of a putative virulence marker of H pylori, the cagA gene, by PCR in biopsy specimens.

METHODS
One hundred and eighty-nine biopsy specimens were collected from 63 patients (three biopsies each) undergoing upper gastroduodenal endoscopy for various dyspeptic symptoms. The PCR methods used to detect H pylori DNA directly from biopsies were the glmM, 26-kDa, ureA and then cagA was used to compare the culture technique and CLO for urease with the culture technique being used as the gold standard.

RESULTS
Thirty-five percent of the biopsies were positive for H pylori DNA using the 3 PCR methods, while 68% of these were positive for the cagA gene. Twenty-four percent of the biopsies were negative for H pylori DNA in all PCR methods screened. The remaining 41% were either positive for ureA gene only, glmM only, 26-kDa only, or ureA + glmM, ureA + 26-kDa, glmM + 26-kDa. Out of the 35% positive biopsies, 41% and 82% were positive by culture and CLO respectively, while all negative biopsies were also negative by culture and cagA. Cag A+ infection was also predominantly found in H pylori DNA of the biopsies irrespective of the clinical diagnosis.

CONCLUSION
This method is useful for correctly identifying infections caused by H pylori and can be easily applied in our laboratory for diagnostic purposes.


Depression and anxiety disorders have been linked to the dysfunction of serotonergic neurotransmission [1]. Five major classes of antidepressant drugs exist: monoamine oxidase inhibitors, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, tricyclic compounds, and atypical antidepressant drugs [2,3]. Citalopram is a SSRI and its molecular target is the serotonin transporter (solute carrier family 6 member 4, SLC6A4) [4–6]; it inhibits serotonin reuptake from the synaptic cleft (see the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors pharmacodynamics pathway at http://www.pharmgkb.org/do/serve?objId=PA161749006&objCls=Pathway, [7]).

This summary briefly reviews the pharmacokinetics of citalopram (Fig. 1) and discusses the candidate pharmacogenes involved.

Fig. 1

Pharmacokinetics of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram (PA164713429; http://www.pharmgkb.org/do/serve?objId=PA164713429&objCls=Pathway). SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.

Metabolism of citalopram
After oral administration, citalopram is rapidly absorbed, with peak plasma levels observed approximately after 1–4 h and a plasma half-life of approximately 35 h after administration [8–10]. A substituted phthalane derivative with a tertiary amino acid side chain, citalopram is highly lipophilic and has one chiral center [11]. Its lipophilicity results in high bioavailability (approximately 80%) after oral administration [10]. Approximately 12–23% of orally dosed citalopram is excreted unchanged in the urine, and approximately 10% is excreted in the feces [12].

Citalopram and its N-demethylated metabolites exist as racemic compounds. In-vitro and in-vivo tests showed that the effects of citalopram and N-demethylcitalopram depend primarily on the S-enantiomers: S-citalopram and S-demethylcitalopram [13]. The in-vitro inhibition of serotonin uptake of S-citalopram and S-demethylcitalopram is 167 and 6.6 times more potent, respectively, than the R-enantiomers [13]. In radioligand-binding assays, demethylcitalopram showed a similar affinity for the human SLC6A4 as citalopram [14], but compared with citalopram, demethylcitalopram crosses the blood–brain barrier poorly [15].

S-citalopram is the active ingredient of escitalopram, another SSRI [16]. To a certain degree, R-citalopram counteracts the serotonin-enhancing action of the S-citalopram enantiomer [17,18]. As a result, escitalopram is a more potent antidepressant than citalopram, as the latter is a mixture of S-citalopram and R-citalopram [17].

Both enantiomers of citalopram are metabolized by the hepatic cytochrome P450 system, as depicted in Fig. 1. In-vitro studies showed that the formation of R/S-demethylcitalopram is catalyzed by the isoenzymes CYP2C19 and CYP3A4, with a minor role of CYP2D6 [19–21]. The subsequent N-demethylation to R/S-didemethylcitalopram is mediated by CYP2D6 [19,22,23]. The clearance of R/S-citalopram is stereoselective [10,24,25]. In in-vitro studies in human liver microsomes, CYP2C19, CYP3A4, and CYP2D6 seem to primarily metabolize the biologically active S-enantiomer [10,22]. The administration of the racemic compounds produces different steady-state concentrations of the R/S-stereoisomer. Furthermore, N-oxidation and deamination lead to R/S-citalopram N-oxide and citalopram propionic acid metabolites, respectively [26–28]. The N-oxidation step to R/S-citalopram N-oxide is also mediated by CYP2D6 [22]. A study using recombinant supersomes expressing human CYP2C19 showed that CYP2C19 forms the propionic acid metabolite of S-citalopram [29], in contrast to previous studies [22,28]. Monoamine oxidases type A and B and aldehyde oxidase probably form citalopram propionic acid from citalopram, N-demethylcitalopram and N-didemethylcitalopram [27,28]. As there is no clear consensus about the enzymes involved in this step, they are not illustrated in Fig. 1.

Citalopram and escitalopram are weak CYP2D6 inhibitors [30–32] and have weak or no effect on CYP1A2, CYP2C19, and CYP3A4 [30]. Demethylcitalopram is a one order of magnitude more potent inhibitor of CYP2D6 than citalopram and may mediate the mild interaction of the drug with other drugs metabolized by CYP2D6 [15].


The invention provides a method and a device for measuring organic matter of soil. The method comprises the following steps of: detecting soil in a sample pool to obtain a corresponding voltage curve equation of a voltage value corresponding to the organic matter of the soil and time; denoising the voltage curve equation; fitting the denoised voltage curve equation to obtain a voltage fitted curve equation; according to the voltage curve equation and the voltage fitted curve equation, calculating to obtain a parameter value of voltage value change; and according to the parameter value and thepreset calculation formula, calculating the organic matter content of the soil. The voltage curve equation is formed by detecting the corresponding voltage value of the organic matter of the soil, related parameters are obtained through calculation, and the organic matter content of the soil can be obtained accurately and reliably by bringing the parameters into the preset calculation formula. The whole detection process can be automatically finished by the device without being influenced by anthropic factors, so reliability and accuracy of the method for measuring the organic matter of the soil are improved.


Reading has been analyzed as the most crucial point in teaching a foreign language. Not because it is considered a difficult subject for the learner, but because of the implications it carries in relation to areas like speaking and writing.


This paper provides a description of the methods, skills, and knowledge of expert searchers working on medical literature search. Searching is a critical part of scientific research, as errors made in the search process potentially result in a biased or otherwise incomplete evidence base for the research.We hope that this paper will be helpful and lead the reader to develop a more systematic approach to literature searching.


Recent development in Internet-scale data applications and services, combined with the proliferation of cloud computing, has created a new computing model for data intensive computing best characterized by the MapReduce paradigm. The MapReduce computing paradigm, pioneered by Google in its Internet search application, is an architectural and programming model for efficiently processing massive amount of raw unstructured data. With the availability of the open source Hadoop tools, applications built based on the MapReduce computing model are rapidly growing. This thesis focuses on a unique security concern on the MapReduce architecture given its loosely-coupled computational resources. We study the potential security risks from lazy or malicious servers involved in a MapReduce task. We introduce innovative mechanisms for detecting cheating services under the MapReduce environment based on watermark injection and random sampling methods. Results of these new detection schemes are expected to significantly reduce the cost of verification overhead. Also, we believe that the research reported is an important step towards trusted computational services and will assist in directing avenues for future research. In practical applications, we hope the results reported here will hopefully further promote the secure adoption towards trusted MapReduce services and therefore help to bring profits to MapReduce service providers with increasing number of potential clients.


They have a reddish to brown colored bark, with deep green, soft leaves, he says. The leaves or needles, are dark, somewhat glossy on the top and normally a lighter green underneath. Unlike most other needle-type evergreens, yews have soft pliable leaves that are flat. Another valuable trait of the yew is its ability to recover from an awful pruning. Unlike other conifers, yews grow back quickly and recover from deep pruning cuts.


Based on snout-vent length ( SVL) frequency data 113 specimens of Teratoscincus roborowskii were preliminarily divided into six age classes. Then,age determination was evaluated by skeletochronology of 54 samples of the 3rd section on the 2nd fore-right phalanges selected from the six age classes. The result of age determination was evaluated by individual growth index measured from mark-recapture samples. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in SVL between male and female individuals,there was a strong correlation between SVL and skeletochronological data. By combining SVL with skeletochronological data,individuals of geckoes less than 6 years old can be identified by the technique of Skeletochronology.


Man is author and director of this practice research project that explores the significance of the solo female performer on the Chinese Pole within the development of Chilean contemporary circus. EXPLORANDO was awarded a £10,000 (equivalent) research grant from the Chilean Government Arts Funding (FONDART). The project was developed with the circus artist Francisca Arce Gatica over four stages and in association with the Circus House, Manchester (March-April 2015), The Grainerie, Toulouse (May 2015), Valparaiso Cultural Park, Valparaiso, Chile, and the Circus School, El Circo de Mundo, in Santiago de Chile, Chile (August 2015).

The EXPLORANDO research sought to articulate and choreograph new approaches to working with the Chinese pole. Taking the physical risk and committed training needed to generate material on the circus apparatus as a given, the project's lines of investigations aimed to develop acrobatic languages that are rooted in the sensorial experience and architectural awareness of the performer/researcher and the performative space. Within in the context of Chilean circus, this research marked a significant break away from traditional methods of constructing circus performance that tend towards the conventional and popular spectacle. Whilst the Arts Funding was awarded for research and development, and not for production of performance, sharings of the findings were offered at the Circus School, El Circo de Mundo, in Santiago de Chile, Chile in September 2016.

Documentation is available on request. Please email firstname.lastname@example.com


STUDY OBJECTIVES
Pilot study comparing the short-term efficacy on pain and functional impairment of nerve root sheath versus interspinous glucocorticoid injections in patients admitted to a French rheumatology department for disk-related sciatica or femoral neuralgia.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Thirty patients with refractory nerve root pain (sciatica, n = 29; femoral neuralgia, n = 1) for a mean of four months were randomized to nerve root injection (n = 17) or interspinous injection (n = 13) of the same mixture of 0.10 g of lidocaine hydrochloride and 3.75 mg of cortivazol. Both injection methods were performed under analgesia and benzodiazepine sedation to maintain double blinding. Each patient was evaluated daily during the first seven days of bed rest in the hospital, then after discharge on postinjection day 28.

RESULTS
Prompt pain relief was obtained in both groups. On day 1, the mean pain scale score (0-100) fell from 70 +/- 3.9 to 26 +/- 5.6 in the nerve root group and from 63 +/- 4 to 23 +/- 4.7 in the interspinous group. These results were sustained on D7 and D28.

CONCLUSIONS
The unusually high level of efficacy of glucocorticoid injection in our study may be ascribable in part to strong placebo and Hawthorne effects and in part to the intrinsic effects of the injections. Whether nerve root injection is superior over interspinous injection remains unproven.


Based on the analysis of the instantaneous phase characteristics of the echo Linear Frequency Modulated (LFM) signals respectively from single and multiple scatter point targets, an algorithm of the Doppler chirp's estimation based on the Time-Chirp Distribution (TCD) of echo LFM signals from targets is proposed, in which the projection integral vertical to the chirp axis is adopted to enhance the Doppler chirp's term of the TCD, but to suppress non-Doppler chirp's cross term of the TCD and noise. Simultaneously, two-time search method is taken to obtain the maximum value of the TCD's projection integral to guarantee the estimation accuracy of the Doppler chirp and effectively reduce the amount of computation. The theoretical analysis shows that the time-consuming of calculation can be controlled to the minimum in the appropriate search step. Simulation results show the effectiveness of this method that it has higher estimation accuracy and good immunity for noise.


This dissertation explores models of heterogeneous product markets that rely on the "vertical product differentiation" formulation, where products differ in their quality levels and consumers differ in their willingness to pay for quality. The demand structure applied here is the covered-market configuration under the vertical product differentiation. With this specification, product market equilibria of the monopoly and duopoly market are derived. In particular, parameter restrictions on the degree of relative consumer heterogeneity associated with the covered-market setting are identified and used to interpret analytical results. Based on the specified demand structure, I revisit two industrial organization topics from the perspectives of vertical product differentiation. The first essay analyzes the entry of a new product into a vertically differentiated market where an entrant and an incumbent compete in prices. Many models on strategic entry deterrence deal with "limit quantities" as the established firm's strategic tool to deter or accommodate entry. Here, however, the entry-deterrence strategies of the incumbent firm rely on "limit qualities". With a sequential choice of quality, quality-dependent marginal production cost, and a fixed entry cost, I relate the entry-quality decision and the entrydeterrence strategies to the level of an entry cost and the degree of consumer heterogeneity. In particular, the incumbent influences the quality choice of the entrant by choosing its quality level before the entrant. This allows the incumbent to "limit" the entrant's entry decision and quality levels. Quality-dependent marginal production costs in the model entail the possibility of inferior-quality entry as well as the incumbent's aggressive entry-deterrence strategies by increasing its quality level towards potential entry. Welfare evaluation confirms that social welfare is not necessarily improved when entry is encouraged rather than deterred. The second essay is motivated by some specific economic questions that have arisen with the introduction of 'genetically modified' (GM) agricultural products. A duopoly market-entry model associated with the vertical product differentiation is developed to show how the existence of segregation costs biases the firm's quality choice behavior. Thus, the key factor of the model is the cost of segregation activities that are necessary to distinguish


Introduction In recent decades, digestive endoscopy has become not only one of the essential techniques for diagnosis of most parts of the alimentary tract, pancreas hepatobiliary system and peritoneum, but also a useful tool for the people working in pathology, pathophysiology and physiology who are doing research in the digestive and hepatobiliary system. What is more, it has been used as an alternative way to perform polypectomy, remove foreign bodies from the GI tract, papillotomy, choledocholithotomy , hemostasis, variceal sclerosing therapy and even for cancer treatment. As a result, several new techniques have been created and come into use such as magnifying endoscopy, dyeing endoscopy, functional endoscopy, emergency endoscopy, therapeutic endoscopy, endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography and endoscopic ultrasonography, etc. Although digestive endoscopy has been used intensively in many different places such as the emergency room, intensive care units, outpatient department and operating room, a specific space should be designated solely for the use of digestive endoscopy. This place should function as a home base for all performance of digestive endoscopy in the hospital'. By use of effective administrative support, equipment maintenance and a centralized operating network, we can make all practices become very efficient. By the joint efforts of the hospital administrators and house staffs of the GI section, an unique digestive endoscopy department was established at the National Taiwan University Hospital in 1992.


In this paper, an antenna arrangement and a control system that decreases the losses caused by the user of the mobile terminal, is presented. Performance of the system is evaluated with the presence of user hand and index finger. Experimental results prove that two switchable antenna elements are able to increase the total efficiency up to 2.5 dB at 900 MHz.


In this letter, we propose a training approach combining hand-over-hand and trial and error training approaches and we evaluate its effectiveness for both robotic and standard laparoscopic surgical training. The proposed approach makes use of the data of an expert collected while using the da Vinci Surgical System. We present our data collection system and how we use it in the proposed training approach. We conduct two user studies (N = 21 for each) to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach. Our results show that subjects trained using this combined approach can better balance the speed and accuracy of their task execution compared with others trained using only one of either hand-over-hand or trial and error training approaches. Moreover, this combined approach leads to the best performance when it comes to the transferability of the acquired skills when testing on another task. We show that the results of the two studies are consistent with an established model in the literature for motor skill learning. Moreover, our results show for the first time the feasibility of using a surgical robot and data collected from it as a training platform for conventional laparoscopic surgery without robotic assistance.


This paper proposes an overview of an alert system which uses cloud service and provides a network to user for medical assistance of ambulance service within "Golden Hour". In medical terms Golden Hour refers to an hour after any casualty occurs in that one hour major casualty can be avoided. This application will help a victim in golden hour as this application will locate the nearest hospital from the location of accident, contact its ambulance emergency system then specific hospital will receive an alert and will provide ambulance service to the user, as application will locate the nearest hospital then in Golden Hour proper medical assistance is provided to save the patient's life or to avoid any major disabilities or further risk, hence the objective of an application can be achieved using this application.


The title compound, C14H10Br2N2O2, was synthesized by the reaction of 5-bromosalicylaldehyde with an equimolar quantity of 3-bromobenzohydrazide in methanol. The dihedral angle between the two benzene rings is 10.5 (4)°. In the crystal structure, molecules are linked through intermolecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds to form chains parallel to the c axis, and an intramolecular O—H⋯N interaction also occurs.


Acaricide cyflumetofen was synthesized with the starting material p-tert-butylphenylacetonitrile by three steps of reaction,its total yield was 46.8% (calculated by p-tert-butylphenylacetonitrile),the content≥96%.


Many Secure RTP (SRTP) key exchange mechanisms do not disclose the
SRTP session keys to intermediate SIP proxies. Howevr, these key
exchange mechanisms cannot be used In environments where transcoding,
monitoring, or call recording are needed. This document specifies a
secure mechanism for a cooperating endpoint to disclose its SRTP
master keys to an authorized party.


This paper mainly intends to address the assessment of altitudinal variability of the vertical total electron content (VTEC) extracted from the Global Positioning System (GPS), the new versions of the International Reference Ionosphere Extended to the Plasmasphere (IRI-Plas 2017), and a quick-run ionospheric electron density (NeQuick 2) model in the equatorial anomaly region with a focus over Africa. This is manipulated employing the daily sunspot number (Rz) and 10.7 cm solar radio flux (F10.7) indices as the driver for the models during 2013–2016. The results show that the GPS-derived VTEC values are generally smaller than the modeled VTEC (IRI-Plas 2017 and NeQuick 2 VTEC) values, especially while utilizing the models with the Rz index. The modeled VTEC values are closer to the GPS VTEC values while using the models with the F10.7 index than Rz. The VTEC values obtained while using both models with the F10.7 index tend to increase while traversing from the high to the low solar activity years (especially in the March equinox and December solstice). The top-side ionospheric and plasmaspheric layers contribute the highest and lowest values to the total VTEC. Hence, the signal propagation through the ionosphere is largely affected when the signal crosses the top-side layer. Unlike other layers, due to the limited impact of the EUV on the ionization of neutral particles in the plasmasphere, the VTEC in the plasmaspheric layer (ECpl) shows smooth pattern with similar hourly values. Moreover, the IRI-Plas 2017 model does not effectively respond to the geomagnetic storm time variability of the VTEC with altitude.


Present of a cake to a soldier (N 103225) (Cake iced with N103225 for AA Company Larrakeyah Bks Darwin. Happy Birthday to Allen from all at home) (soldier about to cut cake)


Objective: To investigate the expression of Schwann's cell marker myelin basic protein (MBP) in adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), and discover the the relationship between Schwann's cell differentiation of myoepithelial cells and perineural invasion in ACC. Methods: 17 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma had been immunohistochemical stained with MBP. Double fluorescence immunostain of MBP and MA was taken in ACC. The results of double fluorescence immunostain were studied in laser scanning confocal microscope. Results: Moderate intensity staining for MBP was present in 6 of 17 cases of ACC. MBP and MA expressed in the same ACC cells. Conclusion: The schwann's cell differentiation occurs in the neoplastic myoepithelial cell of ACC. The Schwann's cell differentiation of modified myoepithelial cell may be the histologic base of neural invasion in ACC.


The analysis of user generated content on social media and the accurate specification of user opinions towards products and events is quite valuable to many applications. With the proliferation of Web 2.0 and the rapid growth of user-generated content on the web, approaches on aspect level sentiment analysis that yield fine grained information are of great interest. In this work, a classifier ensemble approach for aspect based sentiment analysis is presented. The approach is generic and utilizes latent dirichlet allocation to model a topic and to specify the main aspects that users address. Then, each comment is further analyzed and word dependencies that indicate the interactions between words and aspects are extracted. An ensemble classifier formulated by naive bayes, maximum entropy and support vector machines is designed to recognize the polarity of the user's comment towards each aspect. The evaluation results show sound improvement compared to individual classifiers and indicate that the ensemble system is scalable and accurate in analyzing user generated content and in specifying users' opinions and attitudes.


Abstract : The primary goal of this project has been to improve the degree of automation in the ACL2 when proving theorems about computer programs. We have paid particular attention to fixed-width integer arithmetic and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Our work has proceeded on three fronts. We have begun developing an approach for automating much of the detail work involved in applying the ACL2 method for proving theorems about low-level programs. Work completed includes a prototype tool targeting the language of the JVM, and a preliminary JVM-specific lemma library designed to facilitate reasoning about refined JVM models. We have improved the ACL2 theorem prover itself. We have also developed an improved library of arithmetic lemmas. We have begun work in cooperation with the Destiny Project. Destiny is an automated program verifier under development by the government. We have developed a first version of a tool that reads Destiny's XML output and converts it to ACL2.


Involving patients in groups has been identified as one way of optimizing patient treatment options while maximizing staff resources and containing costs. In this article, literature on the use of groups by nurses in an inpatient setting is reviewed, and the development of a program involving a psychoeducational group curriculum incorporating Orlando's nursing theory is described. The program was found to be very helpful in (a) providing structured content; (b) promoting greater comfort, active involvement, and learning by registered nurses and patients; and (c) demonstrating improved patient response.


Two sex-reversed males and eight intersexes have been found in a natural population of the mole species Talpa occidentalis . All individuals of karyotype 34, XY were normal males, while the 34, XX karyotype was found in normal females, intersexes and sex-reversed males. Small testes were present in XX males, and ovotestes in intersexes. Intersexes showed male antigen levels higher than for females and lower than for males (including XX males), as judged by cytotoxicity tests. The X chromosome of sex-reversed males and intersexes and the Y chromosome of males appeared morphologically normal.


In this paper, Automatic Dialect Classification (ADC) system is proposed for dialects of Kannada language (the Dravidian language spoken in Southern Karnataka). ADC system is proposed by extracting spectral Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs), and log filter bank features along with Linear predictive coefficients. In addition, prosodic pitch and energy features are extracted to capture dialect specific cues. A Kannada dialect speech corpus consisting of five prominent dialects of Kannada language is used for designing the ADC system. An attempt is made by using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) technique for classification of Kannada dialects. As, recently, ANNs and its variants are gaining more popularity in the area of speech processing application. Hyperparameter tuning of ANN has resulted with an increase in performance.


Due of transparency, decentralisation, and security qualities, Block chain is a cultural revalution which can be having significant process at current environment. For the process of its very first implementation of Crypto currencies, such as Bitcoin, Block chain has received a lot of attention. Distributed ledger system is designed for evolve at a rapid pace, conduct, and exchange information in future. Educators', corporate executives and scholars have recently been started to examine various elements of Ethereum in modern innovation. Among previous Chain polls that focus on the technology's deployments, difficulties, features, and protection. Researchers further give a comparison of frameworks, a categorization for compromise methods, and an examination on potential threats and unique experiences employed in the Block chain to date. Ultimately, the study discusses critical new approaches, unique application scenarios, and areas for further research that researchers might investigate in addition to making additional progress in this area.


The objectives of this study were to evaluate the nutritive value and metabolizable energy of Rice bran, Kapok seed meal and Coconut meal. Sixteen Thai Native beef cattle (BW 206±7.76 kg; age 2 year old) were used in this experiment. Dietary treatments were applied in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) and consisted of four total mixed ration (TMR); Basal feed (T 1 ), Basal feed and Rice bran (T 2 ), Basal feed and Kapok seed meal (T 3 ), and Basal feed and Coconut meal (T 4 ). Daily amounts of feed were offered (fixed rate at 1.2 metabolizable energy requirement for maintenance). The results showed that total digestible nutrient (TDN) (74.29, 68.22 and 51.97 %, 1,4 นกศกษาปรญญาโท, รองศาสตราจารย, ภาควชาสตวศาสตร คณะเกษตรศาสตร มหาวทยาลยขอนแกน จงหวดขอนแกน 40002 2 Researcher of Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8686, Japan 3 ผอานวยการ, ศนยวจยและพฒนาอาหารสตวขอนแกน กองอาหารสตว กรมปศสตว จ.ขอนแกน 40002 1,4 Master Degree Student, Assoc. Prof. Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Mueang District, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand. 2 Researcher of Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8686, Japan 3 Director General of Khon Kaen Animal Nutrition Research and Development Center, Animal Nutrition division, DLD, Khon Kaen * Corresponding author: Kritapon Sommart, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Mueang District, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand. E-mail: email@example.com Received: 23 February 2010; Accepted: 25 May 2010. Vol 29, No 4, Oct-Dec 2010 Nutritive Value and Metabolizable Energy Evaluation of Rice Bran, 383 respectively.), digestible energy (14.68, 9.01 and 11.18 MJ ME/kg, respectively.) and metabolizable energy (12.35, 7.44 และ 9.93 MJ ME/kg, respectively.) content of of Rice bran, Kapok seed meal and Coconut meal were not significant (p>0.05).


The use of a polarised electron beam for a coplanar asymmetric (e,2e) experiment at intermediate energy on xenon is motivated by the possible influence of both exchange and spin‐orbit interaction during the ionisation process. A preliminary experimental and theoretical investigation is presented.


Many countries have recently placed significant emphasis on the identification of people with acute HIV infection. This is important for several reasons. Firstly, acute HIV provides a unique view of HIV transmission and pathogenesis, including early hostvirus interactions and these require further studies. Secondly, prevention strategies directed at subjects with acute HIV infection could have significant impact. Thirdly, very early recognition may allow for HIV treatment that could alter the natural progression of disease. The standard HIV antibody screening test (third-generation) has therefore been replaced by the more sensitive fourth-generation and new serological testing algorithms for recent HIV seroconversion have been introduced. Recently, some laboratories have also begun adding HIV nucleic acid amplification testing to HIV diagnostic testing algorithms so that acute (antibody-negative) HIV infections can be routinely detected within the first 1– 3 weeks of exposure in about 50% of patients and thereafter up to 80 days in the remaining ones. In our case we have shown that, despite clinical suspicion, an early HIV infection can still be missed using Western blot as the sole confirmatory method in patients with an early HIV infection in whom only the HIV antigen is detectable and antibodies have not yet been produced. In addition, comments about possible non-specific reaction with the suggestion of a control at a later time can be misunderstood and consequently mistakenly ignored by both the physician and the patient. Following this, the patient can disappear and reappear later in a different setting with all the complications of disease progression, late therapy, possible unrecognized transmission of a resistant virus and infection of the environment and contacts. Specifically, reactive fourth-generation HIV screening tests should be confirmed properly in the first sample and all possible diagnostic tests need to be exploited at this point as the patient may later be lost to follow up. This case leads us to recommend that in patients with reactive HIV EIA fourth-generation, with or without clinical illness, a negative immunoblot result should be followed by nucleic acid amplification testing or a p24 antigen immunoassay with confirmatory ability using the neutralization principle. This would optimize early HIV diagnosis without a significant cost increase considering the benefits accruing in terms of opportunities for earlier treatment, source identification and introduction of preventive measures.


Following the global trend in primary English language instruction, the Ministry of Education in Mexico has recently included English as an additional language as part of the national curriculum for primary grades. Some have questioned whether early EFL programmes can work, given the few instructional hours per week and limited exposure to the target language in non-English speaking environments. However, this article reveals that children in EFL settings often use English more than is commonly thought, and in surprising ways. It examines the types of engagements that primary school students in Mexico have with English when the teacher is not around. These engagements, especially through music, movies, and video games, illustrate the creative ways children draw on their emerging linguistic resources and employ a variety of tools to accomplish a range of communicative functions in English. The results of the study outlined in this article suggest that they can be sources from which teachers can draw pedagogical inspiration.


A pair of groups (G, N ) is said to be nilpotent if it has a central series. A detailed study of nilpotent pair of groups has been carried out recently. Related to, some further studies is done in this paper. Topics include the generalized Baer's theorem, Frattini of a pair of groups, residually nilpotent pair and Hopfian pair of groups.


There is no consensus on whether quality management can always be developed with the same mechanisms, regardless of the size of the companies. Investigations in various latitudes have been motivated to lead to a conclusion in this regard, among other reasons for the great diversity of classification criteria of companies according to their size. This investigation aims to characterize the extent to which the quality management practices of micro and small enterprises in Ecuador differ from the practices of this discipline in medium and large enterprises. For this, information on the way in which the activity is developed in 992 organizations of the population under study was used and the degree of presence of determining variables in quality management was characterized. Among other results, the existence of significant differences in quality management depending on the size of the companies was found.


【In this paper, A small inverted F Antenna with 1.9 GHz frequency band is studied theoretically, characterized by numerical analysis with computer and fabricated in order to use in the proximity sensor. Because of small space for antenna in proximity sensor, .lambda. /4 length plate and dielectric material are used to reduce the size of antenna and broaden the bandwidth. Finite ground body's affection is compensated by dielectric top loading effect which strengthen front direction power about 4 dB. Fabricated antenna is measured and the result is that resonant frequency is 1900.05 MHz, VSWR is 1.02, bandwidth is 194 MHz and input impedance is 50.45-j0.108 [ .ohm. ].】


Spatial ability is made up of several sub-components, such as the ability to perform mental rotation and object-based transformations. Together with each individual's attitudes and general skill sets, this specific ability plays an important role in technical professions such as engineering. The components of spatial ability can be enhanced using targeted training or educational programs. This study analyses the levels of spatial skills in first-year engineering students at two universities, one in Spain and one in Peru. The purpose of the study is to establish the extent of symmetry between these study groups in terms of their spatial skills. Initial comparisons indicate that the Peruvian students have a lower level of spatial skill prior to training than their Spanish cohorts. AR-based training delivering representational system content was used with engineering students at both universities to boost spatial abilities. The results obtained indicate the training was effective, as both experimental groups made significant gains in their level of spatial ability. No difference was detected in either experimental group for the variable gender. The comparison of spatial ability gains between both countries is similar, although there is significant difference in the spatial ability component spatial visualization. In this instance, gains in this component were higher amongst the student population in Peru.


Objective: To evaluate the effect of fremanezumab on work productivity loss and activity impairment in CM patients. Background: Migraine is a debilitating chronic disease that imparts a substantial indirect cost burden. In clinical trials, fremanezumab, a fully humanized monoclonal antibody that selectively targets calcitonin gene-related peptide, reduced the frequency, severity, and duration of headaches in patients with chronic migraine (CM). Design/Methods: 16-week, multicenter, randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group adult CM study. Patients assignments-1:1:1 ratio to 1 of 3 treatment groups: (1) monthly dosing: 675 mg fremanuzemab followed by 225 mg of fremanezumab at months 2 and 3; quarterly dosing: fremanezumab 675 mg at month 1, followed by placebo injections at months 2 and 3; and monthly administration of matching placebo. Change in Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire (WPAI) scores from baseline to 4 weeks after last dose (weeks 9–12) was evaluated as an exploratory endpoint. Work productivity loss was assessed as the composite of absenteeism and impairment while working (presenteeism). Results: Fremanezumab treatment led to larger reductions from baseline in overall work productivity loss from baseline to weeks 9–12 (quarterly dosing: −16.6±2.1%, n =375; monthly dosing: −15.9±2.0%, n =375) relative to placebo (−9.1±2.0%, n =371). Placebo subtracted differences favored quarterly (−7.5±2.2%, P P =.003). Similarly, changes from baseline in presenteeism were greater with fremanezumab (quarterly: −15.7±1.9%; monthly: −14.9±1.8%) than for placebo (−10.0±1.8%), resulting in significant treatment differences (quarterly: −5.7±2.0%, P =.005; monthly: −4.9±2.1%, P =.02). Fremanezumab also reduced impairment of activity outside of work in the quarterly dosing arm of the study relative to placebo (−15.0±1.7% vs −11.0±1.7%; treatment difference: −4.0±1.9%, P =.03). Conclusions: In this study, fremanezumab treatment resulted in significant improvements in work productivity and activity impairment, demonstrating the positive impact of fremanezumab on the ability of CM patients to function both at and outside of work. Disclosure: Dr. Lipton has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Has reviewed for the NIA and NINDS, serves as consultant, advisory board member, or has received honoraria from: Alder, Allergan, Amgen, Autonomic Technologies, Avanir, Boston Scientific, Dr. Reddy's, Electrocore, Eli Lilly, eNeura Therapeutics, GlaxoSmit. Dr. Lipton has received royalty, license fees, or contractual rights payments from Receives royalties from Wolff's Headache, 8th Edition, Oxford University Press, 2009 and Informa. Dr. Lipton holds stock and/or stock options in Holds stock options in eNeura Therapeutics and Biohaven. Dr. Lipton has received research support from Support from the NIH, the Migraine Research Foundation, the National Headache Foundation, Allergan plc, Amgen, Dr Reddy's, and Novartis. Dr. Gandhi has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Dr. Fitzgerald, MA, PhD has nothing to disclose. Dr. Yeung has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Teva Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Cohen has nothing to disclose. Dr. Yang has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Teva Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Aycardi has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Teva Pharmaceuticals.


The natural dyeing of cotton fabrics with Rumex crispus L. root extract was investigated. The dyeability of Rumex crispus L. root extract was evaluated with conditions of concentration, temperature, time, repeat-numbers, pH, mordants variables, methods of mordanting, color fastness and antibacterial activity, etc. The maximum V-visible spectrum possessed absorption band of Rumex crispus L. extract appeared at 274nm and 336nm. The amount of dyes extracted was increased with extracting concentration, temperature and time. The K/S value increased with increasing dyeing concentration and repeat-numbers. The K/S value increased with increasing dyeing temperature and time, the exhaustion was saturated in , respectively. Surface colors of fabrics dyed with pH 3, 7, 11 extract were RP-R-YR-Y range. The light fastness and washing fastness showed good results in Fe-mordanted. The dry leaning fastness appeared more than 4 grade. Rubbing fastness was better in dry methods han that in wet methods. In the result of antibacterial activity, the decrease rate was 9.9% to Staphylococcus aureus with the dyed fabric of cotton.


Distributed Denial of Service Attack causes the centralized controller of a Software-Defined Network to be unreachable, bringing the entire network to a halt. In this paper, we propose a model named DoubleTrApp, which uses sFlow to classify the DDoS attack and uses OpenFlow to mitigate it on a collecting set based on the Vertex Cover Problem. This paper shows how DDoS attacks can deplete controller resources and thus DoubleTrApp provides a solution to detect a DDoS attack using some bounds on two per-flow based traffic parameters. Performance results shows that the proposed model demonstrates successful attack detection and mitigation and outperforms an OpenFlow based load-balancing mechanism.


The present paper discusses four models of spatially distributed agents engaged in social interaction. We explore emergent functionality in a complex dynamical system as an alternative to explicit design in the realm of real-time interactive systems. This work is heavily inspired on computational paradigms from the discipline of artificial life.


Introduction: Metrological traceability is a little-known and little-discussed metrology theme in clinical laboratories, although it is the basis for comparable results. It is associated with certified reference material (CRM) and reference method (RMet). When it is used in the supply chain by diagnostic kit manufacturers, it ensures accuracy of the results yielded by laboratories. Objective: This study shows the availability of information on metrological traceability provided by diagnostic kit manufacturers. Method: It was done with the information obtained in kits of glucose, urea, creatinine, uric acid and cholesterol participants in a proficiency testing program throughout 2012 and 2013. Results and conclusion: In the research, 18 producers of reference materials (RMs) and 204 measurands available for laboratory medicine were found. In the study of metrological traceability, the preferential use of CRM was demonstrated by kit manufacturers (glucose 60%, urea 69%, creatinine 60%, uric acid 50%, and cholesterol 43%). An important factor is that there are a significant number of kits that do not report traceability (glucose 16%, urea 19%, creatinine 16%, uric acid 13%, and cholesterol 5%), although it is a requirement for product registration in Brazil. We hope that this study will contribute to sensitize the laboratory community to the need for a more comprehensive knowledge of this subject, and that it will stimulate institutions involved in the dissemination of knowledge in laboratory medicine to hold discussions on this topic.