Policy makers have long favored command-and-control (CAC) methods to tackle environmental damage. The number of CAC policies devoted to environmental protection has increased steadily since the 1950s and have been a large part of the overall portfolio of environmental laws andregulation in the industrialized world. Schmitt and Schulze (2011) document that between 1970 and 2011 the two most prevalent EU air-pollution control instruments were CAC in nature. Over 50% of the policy instruments were of the CAC type (regulatory, interventionist, and top-down), with emission limits and technical requirements playing the role of the top two. In China and India, most of the environmental legislation also take the form of explicit directives that levy restrictions on both mobile (vehicular) and stationary sources (factories and combustion plants) of pollution (see Tanaka 2014, Greenstone and Hanna 2014).In the last two decades, there has been a notable increase in research evaluating policy and programs for environmental protection. The design of empirical studies emphasizes causal inference by comparing group of regulated (treated) firms with a comparable control group of firms that were not subject to the treatment. As a result, we now have an improved perspective on the causal effects of environmental policy instruments that address industrial pollution. This review discusses some of the implementation details of prominent CAC type regulations and highlights the lessons learned from the empirical evaluation of these initiatives.


In this study, a method for classification of tumor sample microarray data based on support vector machines is presented. Different possibilities for data processing, gene selection and support vector machine classification are recited. The performance of support vector machine classification is compared to that of linear discriminant analysis and decision tree -based classifiers.


A robust control method for synchronizing a biaxial servo system motion is proposed in this paper. A new neural network based cross-coupled control and neural network techniques are used together to cancel out the skew error. In the proposed control scheme, the conventional lived gain PID cross-coupled controller (PIDCCC) is replaced with the neural network cross-coupled controller (NNCCC) to maintain biaxial servo system synchronization motion. In addition, neural network PID position velocity and velocity controllers provide the necessary control actions to maintain synchronization while following a variable command trajectory. This scheme provides strong robustness with respect to uncertain dynamics and nonlinearities. The simulation results reveal that the proposed control structure adapts to a wide range of operating conditions and provides promising results under parameter variations and load changes


This present work is devoted to the study of the behavior in water of important antifungal drug, the amphiphilic Amphotericin-B (AmB) molecule. Experimental spectroscopy data, namely, the modification of the AmB UV absorption spectrum in water (hypsochromic frequency shift) with the increasing AmB concentration, indicate the self-association of the molecule in water. In this work, a possible three-dimensional structure of the AmB self-associated species present in water has been determined by using in concert both spectroscopy and energy information and not by fitting the calculated UV absorption spectrum to the experimental one. The calculations have been performed upon AmB dimers and helicoidal oligomers involving 2−8 unit cells. The total energy of any helicoidal oligomer has been evaluated taking into account, besides the intermolecular interactions (computed using an accurate intermolecular interaction potential), (i) the "thermal" effects evaluated utilizing the well-known formulas of statistical th...


The chemical quality of water is one of the widely studied and chronicled topics world-over as life on the earth flourishes or perishes based on the availability of suitable water. Enormous industrialization and urbanization has become a challenge for supplying safe drinking water not only for developed countries but also for the third world countries. Surface water is more susceptible to contamination than sub-surface water; the surface water hosts many pathogens, organic compounds which cause the endemic diseases like cholera, jaundice, typhoid, gastroentitis, diarrhoea, dysentery etc in a very short span of time. Groundwater is well known for inorganic contaminants and is responsible for plethora of ailments. The water resources are increasingly getting contaminated with NO3, Cl, Fe, As and radioactive elements like Sr-90, Cr-6 apart from pesticide residue. It is imperative to examine the chemical content of the water and drinking water specifications periodically to counter the onslaught of new diseases. The present Indian drinking water standards do not have the specifications for many of the vulnerable inorganic and organic compounds as compared with those of WHO, USA and EU. In the light of rapidly changing living standards of the people, rampant water contamination and advent of new health hazards it is necessary to revise the drinking water standards periodically to maintain the good public health. In an urge to reduce the undesirable chemical content of water people are resorting to over filtration or purification of water using membranes, resins or reverse osmosis techniques. Such methods will remove or dilute many essential mineral content of water depriving the people the much needed naturally occurring minerals often leading to vitamin deficiencies. To combat such problems there, it is essential to specify and notify to maintain the minimum mineral content in potable water. Controlling water contamination is pre-requisite to prevent rapid spread of not only the endemic diseases but also malignancy which is frequently reported among people living in industrial clusters. Strict enforcement is required to totally avoid dumping of all the unwanted material, domestic sewerage as well as industrial effluents into water bodies which is a very common practice in many parts of India. Such methods of improper disposal cause direct, rapid and immediate contamination of water resources. Water is worshiped but not protected, preserved or perused to maintain its natural chemical composition. There is an urgent need to sensitise the people and administrators on necessity of maintaining the water quality, refining the drinking water standards and prevention of water contamination.


As the university's information center,the library needs to introduce the "human-oriented concept" because it is both the demand that the knowledge economy makes on the university library and the trend and the direction that today's library business needs to follow.Therefore,the librarian should know and understand the rich connotations and realistic significance of the human-oriented concept and apply the concept in his/her own work so as to ensure that the library materials can play an active role in teaching and scientific research.


The appropriate methods for the analysis of the indexes of the athletes' hemodynamics and their adaptation to the physical loads are based on the calculation approach. For this purpose a 20 Любомир ВОВКАНИЧ, Віктор СОКОЛОВСЬКИЙ, Христина МАХОВСЬКА hardwaresoftware complex «Automated complex for analysis of heart rate variability and basic indices of human hemodynamics» (SHC «Rytm») was designed. The aim of our research was to compare the hemodynamics indexes of the human body, obtained by SHC «Rhythm» and the reocardiography method. The study included four male subjects, aged 20–21 years, untrained. Measurements were performed at rest, at the end of physical exercises with increased levels of loads and during recovery period. The hemodynamic indexes were calculated by SHC «Rytm» software on the base of values of heart rate and arterial blood pressure, and simultaneously determined by method of tetrapolar chest rheography with «ReoCom Standard» device. We have found that stroke volume (SV) under physical activity increased proportionally to intensity of exercise. The difference between the SV values, obtained by SHC «Rhythm» and the "ReoCom Standard" did not exceed 9 ml and was statistically unsignificant (P>0.05). The increase in cardiac output (CO) during the physical activity by SHC «Rhythm» was estimated to be 60–140 %, in comparison to 35–107 %, calculated by «ReoCom Standard». The time course of CO changes was similar in the case of both devices, the difference in values was statistically significant (P<0.05) only in one point. During the entire measurement period, no statistically significant difference was found between the values of peripheral resistance obtained by two devices (P<0.05). The main finding of this study is that the algorithms, implemented in SHC «Rhythm» for calculating the changes in the basic indexes of human hemodynamics, allow to reflect the dynamics of their changes during the physical loads and recovery period at the same similarly to the well approved methods of research.


The electrode of the dielectric barrier discharge ozone generator is a kind of very special non-linear load, which has great influence on the output characteristic of power. So it is essential to design power rationally and understand electric characteristic of load of such special electrode, It is helpful to settle the match problem between power and electrode. There are three method to increase the power induced by discharge: high operation frequency, thin dielectric and large e and high peak power voltage. The power match with electrode load requires decreasing the impact by pulse discharge current.


A power unit (1) for an electric vehicle includes: a first power source (11) connected between a first node (A) and a second node (B); a first switch (14) connected between the second node (B) and a third node (C); a second power source (12) connected between the third node (C) and a fourth node (D); a second switch (15) connected between the first node (A) and the third node (B); and a DC-DC converter (13), wherein the DC-DC converter adjusts an electric potential (VA) of the first node (A) aby changing an electric potential of the second node (B)by making the first node connectable to the third node(C), or, by making the second node connectable to the third node; an output electric power obtained from between the first node and the fourth node (D) is supplied to an electric motor (M) (2); and the first power source or the second power source is a fuel cell stack and an another is a secondary battery.


Incarceration rates in the United States are far higher than the world's other Western democracies, so high that they are referred to as mass incarceration. After nearly 40 years of sustained growt...


This article takes the coal as the object of study,in its analysis of the natural course of the physical chemistry mechanism,thus effectively preventing the occurrence of coal natural.Better protection of coal resources,reduce the danger may occur,and realize the maximization of energy utilization.


It seems to me that a new perspective is unfolding within which the history of rural Africa is being rewritten. In this article, I trace this emerging perspective. I try to show its internal coherence and characteristic features. I also comment on its arch-enemies, narrative tropes and to its limitations. I call this perspective a paradigm although, significantly enough, it has not been portrayed as such in the literature. This article also serves another purpose. It is a select literature review of recent works of social history which adopt a critical, culturally informed analysis of African rural development. Thus the article is also a review of a specific interpretation of African social history. As far as theory is concerned, the article draws on three key texts: Sara Berry's No Condition is Permanent, Allen Isaacman's Peasants and Rural Social Protest in Africa and David Booth's Social Development Research: An Agenda for the 1990s.


This study examines the most valuable sources of new product ideas and the criteria used to screen potential new products in entrepreneurial, high-tech firms. Teresa Pavia explored the practices of 118 small, young, high-tech firms. Her findings complement a variety of existing studies of the new product process in large firms and the few existing studies of the process in entrepreneurial, high-tech firms. The firms participating in this study rely on informal techniques to generate new product ideas. They place heavy reliance on input from their customers and often develop new products in response to problems articulated by these customers. Although the annual strategic plan is not used by most firms as a new product identification tool, it is highly rated by the most successful firms. Successful firms also actively engage in environmental scanning. The majority of the respondents do nt use financial measures as a screening criterion, preferring to evaluate new products by "gut feel." However, the firms that have experienced the fastest growth in sales employ financial hurdles for project selection. The educational background of the key GO/NO GO decision-makers was also evaluated. Two thirds of the firms reported having a key decisionmaker with an educational background in business. The educational background of the key decision-makers had little impact on the aspects of the new product process studied here.


Provision of quality and affordable education for all is the motto of the Open University of Tanzania (OUT). This institution has been in the education industry for more than twenty five (25) years since its establishment by an Act of Parliament No. 17 of 1992. The overall evaluation of its activities has been elaborated in various documents when the university celebrated her 20 years anniversary in the year 2012/2013. Summarily, the university is progressing very well by recruiting more students in various fields of studies as well as establishing new academic programmes and short courses to cater for special needs in the society. Concerning the idea of having OUT regional colleges, the same has managed to establish and successfully operate regional, district and examination centres in all regions and some districts in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. The university has also opened its doors to international markets by having OUT centres in foreign countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Namibia. Although the number of students has risen, the number of active students seems to have dropped; a phenomenon that needs a serious academic intervention to find out why this is happening at a time when education is regarded as the top agenda around the globe. This paper tries to explain the experience of teaching law at the Faculty of Law of the Open University of Tanzania for a period of ten years from 2008 to date. This will include the mode of teaching law in OUT, involvement of students in education delivery mode, supervision of undergraduate research projects, delivery of face to face programmes, and assessment through take-home assignments, timed tests, annual examinations as well as on-demand examinations. The paper analysed the concept of the use of statutes in the examination rooms for law students which has been banned at OUT for various reasons. The paper also provides solutions and recommendations to better the situation. This paper heavily depended on the experience of the author as a law lecturer at OUT for the last ten years and explored some valuable literature related to quality assurance in higher learning institutions with particular attention to open and distance learning. It was found that the faculty of law in particular and the university at large is still maintaining the provision of affordable and quality education for all its customers at all levels of studies. Keywords: Law, Open University, quality, quality assurance, teaching.


Maternal parenting plays an important role in determining the nutritional status of children, when parenting less well in terms of feeding, health care and stimulation of development, can affect the growth and development of children. The purpose of this research is to determine factors that influence parenting mothers in Banyumas district. This type of research is observational analytic with cross sectional design approach. Number 97 children of samples (0-59 months) are taken proportionally by cluster random sampling while the respondents is children's mother. The data collection used structure interview with questionnaires. Data analysis used univariate (frequency distribution), bivariate (chi-square) and multivariate (logistic regression). The results showed an association between knowledge (p=0.000) and attitude (p=0.000) with the mother's parenting. The results of multivariate showed knowledge and attitudes affect maternal parenting together, while knowledge is the most dominant factor that influence the mother's parenting. Effort to increase maternal parenting behavior that is held guidance in the form of training to midwife and cadres in order to enhance the skills and capabilities of counseling to the community to be able to deliver better information on nutrition and maternal parenting.


cisplatin (CDDP) and tamoxifen (TAM). The woman died one year and one month after the lest operation. Anorectal melanomas are highly malignant, with even an early tumor with SM invasion posing a poor prognosis, making the selection of operative proce-dures very difficult.


.............................................................................................................................. i Executive Summary ........................................................................................................... ii Table of key assumptions for the base case ................................................................. iii 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3 2 Long-term Fiscal Model primer and approaches to projections .......................... 5 2.1 How the Long-term Fiscal Model works ......................................................................... 5 2.2 Two ways of presenting LTFM projections ..................................................................... 7 3 Demographic assumptions ..................................................................................... 9 3.1 Approach to quantifying demographic uncertainty ......................................................... 9 3.2 Fertility assumptions .....................................................................................................10 3.3 Mortality (life expectancy) assumptions ........................................................................13 3.4 Net migration assumptions ...........................................................................................16 3.5 Role of the baby boom ..................................................................................................17 3.6 Demographic assumptions: conclusions ......................................................................18 4 Economics .............................................................................................................. 20 4.1 Labour participation assumptions .................................................................................20 4.2 Productivity growth assumption ....................................................................................22 4.3 Unemployment rate ......................................................................................................23 4.4 Average hours worked ..................................................................................................23 4.5 Inflation .......................................................................................................................24 4.6 Interest rates .................................................................................................................24 4.7 GDP projections ............................................................................................................24 5 Revenue .................................................................................................................. 25 6 Expenditure ............................................................................................................. 26 6.1 Health .......................................................................................................................26 6.2 Education ......................................................................................................................28 6.3 New Zealand Superannuation ......................................................................................29 6.4 Welfare .......................................................................................................................29 6.5 Law and order ...............................................................................................................30 6.6 Other spending .............................................................................................................31 6.7 Fiscal assumptions: conclusions ..................................................................................31 7 Fiscal-framing assumptions .................................................................................. 32 7.1 Level of debt constraint .................................................................................................32 7.2 Forecast-projection transition timing .............................................................................34 8 Projection sensitivity to assumption change ...................................................... 35 8.1 Sensitivity to demographic assumptions ......................................................................35 8.2 Sensitivity to economic assumptions ............................................................................36 8.3 Sensitivity to fiscal assumptions ...................................................................................38 8.4 Sensitivity to assumptions: Conclusions .......................................................................40 9 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 42 References ....................................................................................................................... 45


In my study, I have dealt with a very important field of study "The book of menstrual period, menstruation, per period from the editor in Shafie –investigator and study. The book has a very important scientific and cognitive status that highlights the wealth of Al-Shafie's doctrine and the Muslim women need to understand these issues especially that many of worships and provisions are based on it , such as prayers, fasting, Omrah, pilgrimage and the relationship between husband and wife.
Many questions have been raised about why many of our professors prefer to keep the issue on part of self-reading, that is why there was a need to discuss it in a separate research hopefully that God Al-Mighty adds it to our virtues.


Learning mathematics in Junior High School is transition from arithmetic to algebra. In algebra, students must develop a relational view of the symbol if they are to make any sense of more complicated equations with operations on both sides of the equal sign. The term relational thinking is used here to encompass more than a relational understanding of the equal sign. It is important to discuss students' relational thinking process when solving unknown number on mathematic sentences, so it can prevents students' misconception about the meaning of equal sign. Descriptive method was used in this study, involving five students of Junior High School in Boyolali with high capability in mathematics. The result of this study showed that students had a deep understanding about the meaning of equal sign. They knew that the equal sign as symbol of mathematical equivalence. Therefore, they were able to solve the mathematic sentences with relational thinking strategies rather than arithmetic procedures. Keywords—relational thinking, equivalence, equal sign


Today we offer another of our "Guest Post Wednesday" extras, with some meditations on Rambo from Aaron Urbanski. Yeah, we're not kidding... Rambo. Aaron is a graduate of the GMU American History Masters program and alumnus Ranger of the NPS. [excerpt]


The study aims to determine the essence, classification, reduction methods, and the impact on accounting organization of the risks faced by the customer and the contractor when outsourcing accounting. The article examines the types of risks that arise when outsourcing accounting. Based on the use of such scientific methods as logical generalization and comparison, as well as an expert survey, the following classification criteria and types of risks for the customer have been identified: concerning the customer's activities (operational, financial, control); by the level of loss and distortion of information (risk of disclosure of confidential information, risk of loss of customer documentation, accounting risk); by the aspect of emergence (psychological, moral, loss of reputation); by the source of occurrence (subjective, objective), by the possibility of prediction (predicted, unpredictable); by the possible consequences (risk resulting in loss to the customer; risk resulting in the customer receiving a specified level of income). The reasons and consequences of the proposed types of risks have been determined. The authors also have determined the influence of each of them on accounting organization and the main stages of risk management and methods of risk reduction. The practical importance of improving the classification of risks in outsourcing accounting is to assist parties in contractual relations in developing a strategy and forecasting business activities. The theoretical value lies in the possibility of using the research results to develop new classifications.


Release planning — deciding what features to implement in upcoming releases of a software system— is a critical activity in iterative software development.Many release planning methods exist but most ignore the inevitable uncertainty of future development effort and business value. The thesis investigates how to analyse uncertainty during release planning and whether analysing uncertainty leads to better decisions than if uncertainty is ignored. The thesis's first contribution is a novel release planning method designed to analyse uncertainty in the context of the Incremental Funding Method, an incremental cost-value based approach to software development. Our method uses triangular distributions, Monte-Carlo simulation and multi-objective optimisation to shortlist release plans that maximise expected net present value and minimise investment cost and risk. The second contribution is a new release planning method, called BEARS, designed to analyse uncertainty in the context of fixed-date release processes.Fixed-date release processes are more common in industry than fixed-scope release processes. BEARS models uncertainty about feature development time and economic value using lognormal distributions. It then uses Monte-Carlo simulation and search-based multi-objective optimisation to shortlist release plans that maximise expected net present value and expected punctuality. The method helps release planners explore possible tradeoffs between these two objectives. The thesis' third contribution is an experiment to study whether analysing uncertainty using BEARS leads to shortlisting better release plans than if uncertainty is ignored, or if uncertainty is analysed assuming fixed-scope releases. The experiment compares 5 different release planning models on 32 release planning problems.The results show that analysing uncertainty using BEARS leads to shortlisting release plans with higher expected net present value and higher expected punctuality than methods that ignore uncertainty or that assume fixed-scope releases.Our experiment therefore shows that analysing uncertainty can lead to better release planning decisions than if uncertainty is ignored.


Poly(vinyl alcohol)-g-poly(sodium allylsulfonate/acrylamide) (PVA-g-PSAS/AM) were synthesized by free radical polymerization. The PVA-g-PSAS/AM was degraded into poly(vinyl alcohol)-g-poly(sodium allylsulfonate/vinylamine) (PVA-g-PSAS/VA), which was PVA based polyampholyte (PBPA). The PBPA homogeneous membrane was characterized by FT-IR and SEM. The isoelectric point of PBPA was pH=6. Surface hydrophilicity of membranes was examined by automated contact angle measurement device. At 90 °C, the PBPA membrane showed a separation factor of 991 and a flux of 1140g/(m2·h) for 90 wt.% ethanol aqueous solution, while about 1491 and 970 g/(m2·h) for 90 wt.% isopropanol aqueous solution.


A five-phase six-leg switching power amplifier with a fault-tolerant leg is proposed for a five-degree-of-freedom magnetic bearing system. Compared with the traditional five-phase six-leg switching power amplifier, it adds a fault-tolerant leg to achieve fault-tolerant operation. Taking the neutral leg as an example, the simulation analysis is carried out by MATLAB software. The simulation results verify the rationality and correctness of the design of the five-phase six-leg switching power amplifier with fault-tolerant leg.


As a condition of the modified National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit issued to the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP; now referred to as the Oak Ridge K-25 Site) on September 11, 1986, a Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program (BMAP) was developed for the receiving stream (Mitchell Branch or K-1700 stream). On October 1, 1992, a renewed NPDES permit was issued for the K-25 Site. A biological monitoring plan was submitted for Mitchell Branch, Poplar Creek, Poplar Creek Embayment of the Clinch River and any unnamed tributaries of these streams. The objectives of BMAP are to (1) demonstrate that the effluent limitations established for the Oak Ridge K-25 Site protect and maintain the use of Mitchell Branch for growth and propagation of fish and other aquatic life and (2) document the effects on stream biota resulting from operation of major new pollution abatement facilities, including the Central Neutralization Facility (CNF) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) incinerator. The BMAP consists of four tasks: (1) toxicity monitoring; (2) bioaccumulation monitoring; (3) assessment of fish health; and (4) instream monitoring of biological communities, including benthic macroinvertebrates and fish. This document, the third in a series, reports on the results of the Oak Ridge K-25 Site BMAP; it describes studies that were conducted over various periods of time between June 1990 and December 1993, although monitoring conducted outside this time period is included, as appropriate.


In 1974 a circular-shaped iron oxide anomaly was observed in an image of a LANDSAT frame centered near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Field examination of the anomaly has shown that it coincides with a zone of hydrothermal alteration on the northern edge of the Nogal Canyon Cauldron. The altered area contains clay minerals ranging in colors from white to vivid red, the latter presumably resulting from hematite staining. In situ gas measurements showed no evidence of active hydrogen sulfide seepage. Preliminary geochemical analyses of grab samples have detected no significant amounts of mineralization. Whereas this area does not at present appear to be economically important, it provides an example of how LANDSAT can be utilized in reconnaissance mapping for cauldrons, calderas, and other volcanic features which display hydrothermal alteration.


Traditionally, two basic models of magnetic reconnection have been discussed in the framework of resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD): Fast Petschek reconnection and slow Sweet--Parker reconnection. However, the former requires a localized profile of the electric resistivity. The latter is free from such an assumption, but it is too slow to explain reconnection events in the plasma universe.


The present invention discloses a one-sided etching method of a liquid crystal panel glass, comprising the following steps; Step A: the selected liquid crystal panel glass may be one-sided etching, the etching conditions may be a single-sided single-sided thickness> 0.1mm; Step B : the selected by step a liquid crystal panel glass need to keep one side foil protection; step C: using the etching apparatus treated in the step B liquid crystal panel glass etching; step D: the liquid crystal panel glass after etching off membrane treatment; step E: after the release of the liquid crystal panel glass clean. The method of the present invention using the liquid crystal panel glass processing can solve the problem of thinning of the liquid crystal panel glass of the prior art, the etching method is equally applicable to other glass-sided protection required.


In this paper I will revisit an earlier and incomplete exchange with Brian Tierney on Ockham's discussion of infallibility in the Church1 in order to set out just what Ockham thought about infallibility. Constraints of time will prevent me from detailing how much I agree with Tierney's general assessment of infallibility as a doctrine and even how much I sympathize with his reaction to Ockham's polemical writings. I will be able only at the end to indicate where I think Tierney has understood something peculiar and important about Ockham's presentation of infallibility. But for now I must begin by saying that my study of Ockham's ecclesiological writings2 shows Tierney to be wrong and, considering his persistence, wrong-headed in his understanding of what he calls Ockham's "anti-papal infallibility." His mistake is engendered by his shifting the focus of argument away from papal prerogatives to papal documents, a move which enables him to cite Ockham's ambiguous appeal to a papal pronouncement as immutable. Then, in an ambiguity of his own, he mixes immutability with infallibility, and has Ockham claiming a papal infallibility which in no sense does Ockham admit, who everywhere insists upon quite the opposite. It is not so


Sociodemographic and clinical features of antidepressant-induced hypomanic and manic switch in patients with bipolar disorder Objective: The aim of this study was to identify sociodemographic, familial, childhood and various clinical characteristics of bipolar disorder patients in whom hypomanic/manic switches had been observed during treatment with antidepressant drugs. Methods: One hundred sixty-one patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder on the basis of DSM-IV-TR were included. The study was a retrospective chart review. The sociodemographic, familial, childhood and various clinical characteristics of patients with manic or hypomanic switches (n=41, 25.4%) observed in association with antidepressant treatment during polyclinic or ward monitoring, or patients without switches (n=120, 74.6%) were compared. Patient data were obtained from Psychiatric Association of Turkey Mood Disorders Branch patient record forms. Results: The first disease episode in the switch group was more commonly a depressive one. Cesarean birth and enuresis nocturna were more common childhood characteristics in the switch group. No difference was determined between the groups in terms of other characteristics. Conclusion: Physicians should be careful in terms of hypomanic/manic switch in patients whose first episode is a depressive one. Our other two findings, cesarian birth and enuresis nocturna, may be significant in terms of suggesting clues for the planning of new studies illuminating the etiology.


Communication gaps across interfaces of care are seen throughout the health care industry, most noticeably between primary and secondary care practitioners. Moreover, incomplete and/or inaccurate discharge information can fragment continuity of care, diminish patient safety, and contribute to adverse events leading to preventable readmissions. This retrospective study, implemented in a teaching hospital in Nottingham, United Kingdom, sought to identify communication gaps at hospital discharge (characterized as incomplete discharge forms), to assess the association between these gaps and readmission, and to develop strategies that may avoid fractures in communication. Inpatient notes and discharge documents were obtained for 108 patients aged 75 and older, all of whom were readmitted within 4 weeks of a prior hospital visit. Investigators reviewed records using standardized criteria to identify discrepancies in documentation and care, to determine if readmissions were potentially drug related, and to assess if these drug-related readmissions were preventable. The authors found that 67% of discharge documents contained inaccurate medication information, 38% of readmissions were drug related, and 61% of these were considered to be preventable. Decisions regarding the influence of medication on readmission were based on case notes, and thus investigators were unable to find a causal link between incomplete discharge forms and readmission for adverse events. Nevertheless, based on their results, the authors suggest systematic recordings of medication changes, predischarge reviews of patients to identify early symptoms of adverse effects from medication alterations, and augmented monitoring. Further studies are needed to develop and evaluate strategies to improve communication and preclude preventable readmissions.


An extremely encouraging development of the past several years for those concerned with constructing portable numerical software has been the increasingly widespread use of hardware that conforms to the IEEE standard for binary floating-point arithmetic (ISO/IEC 559:1989 and ANSI/IEEE 754-1985). This was designed with great care and has many features that assist the construction of software that is robust and executes rapidly.


Lutzomyia longipalpis is the main vector of American Visceral Leishmaniasis, and represents a complex of cryptic sibling species. Previous studies suggested the existence of four main clades in Latin America representing different species with distinct geographical ranges: (1) Brazil (except Roraima State) – Species A = Lu. longipalpis sensu stricto, (2) Laran – Species B = Lu.Pseudolongipalpis (Venezuela), (3) cis-Andean – Species C (Colombia and northwestern Venezuela, and Roraima State in Brazil) and (4) trans-Andean – Species D (Central America). In addition, cross-mating experiments, analysis of copulation songs, pheromones, microsatellites and lovesong genes, suggested that the Brazilian populations of this vector represent different species that can be divided into two main groups according to the type of song (Burst vs. Pulse) males produce during copulation. Nevertheless, no diagnostic differences have been observed between these two groups with most molecular markers used to date. We initially analyzed the molecular divergence in a fragment of the paralytic gene, a locus involved in the control of courtship songs in Drosophila, among a number of Lu. longipalpis populations from Brazil producing Burst and Pulse-type songs. We also compared Lu. longipalpis with a very closely related species, Lutzomyia cruzi, which produces Burst-type song. The results indicated a higher number of fixed differences between Lu. cruzi and the Pulse-type populations of Lu. longipalpis than with those producing Burst-type songs. The data confirmed that the different sibling species of the Lu. longipalpis complex in Brazil can be divided into two main groups, one representing a single species and a second, a more heterogeneous group, that probably represents a number of incipient species. We also performed a macrogeographic analysis of the divergence and gene flow in the paralytic gene among Lu. Longipalpis populations from South and Central America. Our results corroborated the previous classification of Species B, C and D and also confirmed that this vector represents a species complex in Brazil with two main groups. Finally, we carried out a multilocus analysis using orthologues of the Drosophila genes period, paralytic, cacophony, ebony, fruitless and slowpoke, which are associated with courtship song production, to evaluate the divergence and gene flow between Lu. longipalpis sympatric siblings from the localities Sobral, Jaiba and Estrela in Brazil. High levels of genetic divergence were detected with evidence of asymmetric introgression in most loci. In addition, our data confirmed that genes involved in song production tend to show higher levels of genetic divergence and less introgression in the Lu. longipalpis complex than other markers.


East Nusa Tenggara Province is known to have many traditional woven craft, one that is well known by the public is Kupang Ikat woven. Enterprises weaving is still managed traditionally built with familial management and expertise only found in hereditary. In addition, to determine the timing of production of Kupang ikat woven still using forecasting as a guide. The forecasting results in the absence of standard production time. One method that can be used for determining the optimal time is the critical path method (CPM). This method is part of a network methods oriented work on determining the time schedule and estimate deterministic (certain). Research shows that the production time ikat Kupang woven is 20 days. Keyword : CPM, network, ikat Kupang woven


The invention relates to a method for producing ethylene homopolymerizates and ethylene copolymerizates exhibiting a lower mass density of up to 0.930 g/cm and a melt index ranging from 0.15 to 25 g/10 min (2,16 kg; 463 K). Said polymerizates exhibit an improved processing stability and improved availability in the installation at pressures greater than 1000 bar and at temperatures of up to 603 K. The polymerizates are produced in tubular reactors in the presence of radical-forming initiators, oxygen thereunder and chain transfer agents, of which at least one comprises an aldehydic structure. According to the inventive method, chemokinetic characteristics of the reactive feed materials (thermal half-life periods, concentrations, dosing quantities) are coupled with the fluidically relevant characteristics of the tubular reactor (flow rate) while taking the target product quality (melt index, flow figure) into consideration. This coupling is carried out such that the interfering secondary reactions, especially polar-inductive substitution effects, which can lead to the formation and the enrichment of organic hydroperoxides are reduced to a minimum and, as a result, extraordinarily stable processing conditions can be obtained.


Ms. X returned for follow-up of her Parkinson's disease. Last time, we were getting concerned; she had many lingering issues with fatigue, anxiety, trouble concentrating, gait slowing, and so forth. We had decided to increase the levodopa dose. Now, she looked remarkably well — less anxious, mood better, feeling energetic... so, how did the dose increase go? In fact, she never increased it; rather, she had started a new exercise program and was working out vigorously 5 days a week. She felt so well that the dose increase seemed unnecessary. This n = 1 experience is becoming more common in clinicians' offices as the potential benefits of exercise on Parkinson's are becoming broadly disseminated. Randomized, controlled trials of exercise generally show some benefits for objective testing, using measures such as the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). However, except for larger effects on gait, objective motor benefits seem relatively modest, at least compared with these n = 1 subjective reports. Might there be benefits to exercise that we just do not capture on our motor evaluations? In this month's Movement Disorders, Amara et al have started to answer that question by looking at the effects of exercise on sleep. In this randomized, controlled trial, they recruited patients with mild-moderate PD who were not currently engaged in regular highintensity exercise. Recruitment was stratified to age and sex, although patients were not selected based on having sleep problems. Participants were then randomized to either a nonexercise sleep intervention or an exercise program. The exercise program was broad, focusing on strength training, balance, movement speed, and cardiovascular conditioning. It was conducted via inperson sessions 3 times per week. The nonexercise intervention was a sleep hygiene intervention mainly consisting of a single physician consultation and provision of literature on sleep hygiene training, supplemented by monthly telephone follow-up. So, this is essentially a head-to-head study of simple sleep hygiene training versus exercise for sleep in PD. The main outcome measures were objective (polysomnography) and subjective sleep questionnaires. The primary outcome was sleep efficiency on the polysomnogram; sleep efficiency refers to the percentage of the sleep period that one spends actually asleep. Numerous other objective sleep quality and sleep stage variables were assessed. The polysomnogram was conducted once at baseline, once on the same night as the exercise intervention at study end (termed "acute exercise"), and again postintervention on an "off-exercise" night (termed "chronic exercise," which was set as the primary comparator). Subjective outcomes included questionnaires related to sleep overall (the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI], somnolence [the Epworth sleepiness scale], and fatigue [the fatigue severity scale]). The primary outcomes here are reported for the perprotocol analysis rather than intention to treat (ie, reporting those who actually followed the intervention, rather than all randomized to the intervention). These analysis methods have different purposes. Intention-totreat analyses are relatively conservative and are essential in licensing a new treatment (mostly because those who drop out from the intervention could be different from the rest, therefore biasing study results). On the other hand, per-protocol analyses may give a clearer picture of the amplitude of effects actually obtainable by the intervention. The primary outcome assessment found significant improvement in sleep efficiency in the exercise group compared with sleep hygiene. On other polysomnogram measures, there were additional reductions in wake after sleep onset, increased total sleep time, and increases in both slow-wave sleep ("deep" sleep) and rapid eye movement sleep. These findings were much clearer on the "chronic exercise" night and were © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society


Bug assignment, which routes software projects' bug reports to the appropriate fixers, is an important part of the development of software and its maintenance. Manual bug assignment is a time-consuming process that delays debugging. So various machine learning and information retrieval approaches have been used in order to automate the process of bug assigning. However, Most previous deep learning-based studies have focused on developers assigned to bug reports and have not specifically considered developers' collaboration and interaction to resolve bug reports. Here, we propose a novel approach for automatic bug assignment based on Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) and Preference Neural Network (PNN). First, we preprocess the textual data in the bug reports. Second, we use BERT as a word embedding technique to get vector representation of bug reports. Third, we calculate the developers' suitability score based on different developers' activity features for each bug report. Finally, PNN is used to rank developers for each bug report. Experiments are performed on open-source projects, namely Eclipse UI, Birt, JDT and SWT, and top-k accuracy is measured as an evaluation metric. The results obtained from our experiments can prove that our approach could markedly improve the performance of automatic bug assignment.


Despite increasing information on Pseudoangiomatous Stromal Hyperplasia of Breast (PASH), the challenges of management of giant PASH remain for the surgeon. A pragmatic and individualized approach is the solution in the absence of reliable algorithms for management. This instance of a giant PASH tumor producing gigantomastia with severe ptosis is a case to point. When PASH presents as a giant mass, leading to gigantomastia with inevitable severe ptosis, the surgical options range from the excision of mass with reduction mammoplasty or a simple mastectomy with or without reconstruction. The key to surgical decision-making is individualization of surgery.


Background—MicroRNAs (miRs) participate in many cardiac pathophysiological processes, including ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced cardiac injury. Recently, we and others observed that miR-494 was downregulated in murine I/R-injured and human infarcted hearts. However, the functional consequence of miR-494 in response to I/R remains unknown. Methods and Results—We generated a mouse model with cardiac-specific overexpression of miR-494. Transgenic hearts and wild-type hearts from multiple lines were subjected to global no-flow I/R with the Langendorff system. Transgenic hearts exhibited improved recovery of contractile performance over the reperfusion period. This improvement was accompanied by remarkable decreases in both lactate dehydrogenase release and the extent of apoptosis in transgenic hearts compared with wild-type hearts. In addition, myocardial infarction size was significantly reduced in transgenic hearts on I/R in vivo compared with wild-type hearts. Similarly, short-term overexpression of miR...


One of JRD Tata's great achievements was to be the first Indian in history to pilot a plane in 1932. At that time, he surely could not have envisioned the impact of the airplane on Indian and global society. As Peter Drucker so eloquently pointed out in his famous management book entitled The Aae of Discontinuity, new industries can suddenly spring up and have far reaching impacts on economies and society in general. Many of these industries such as steel, chemical, pharmeceuticals and petroleum have brought untold benefits to people everywhere. Unfortunately, these industries have also caused serious damage. Facing such moral dilemmas has fostered an interest in business ethics. The terrible tragedy at Bhopal on 4 December, 1983 almost twenty years ago is perhaps the most famous example to date.


A calculation of electrical resistivity and of thermoelectric power has been made for thirteen liquid systems of mercury alloys, The pseudo-potential from factors by Animalu-Heine were employed for all the elements except for mercury. The form factor for mercury was modified to give a good agreement between the calculated and the experimental values of the resistivity. The partial structure factors were assumed to be independent of concentration and the extremum points of the unlike-pair structure factors are given to be simple mean values of those of the corresponding like-pair structure factors obtained by x-ray or neutron experiments .The calculated value of the resistivity agrees well qualitatively with the experimental one, although agreement is not very good in the thermoelectric power.


Newborn screening for sickle cell disease has been recommended as a method of decreasing patient mortality. However, its effectiveness in accomplishing this has not been reliably measured. To help determine the effectiveness, 10 years of experience in newborn screening have been summarized. The effects of early patient enrollment in a comprehensive treatment program on long-term morbidity and mortality are reported. From 1975 to 1985, 84,663 newborns were screened regardless of race or ethnic background. Hb Bait's was present in 5%, hemoglobin AS in 2.6%, and hemoglobin AC in 0.75%. Excluding Bart's, approximately 3.6% of all newborns were carriers for hemoglobinopathy. Sickle cell disease occurred in 1:951 births (58 Hb 55, 25 Hb FSC, three Hb S-β+-thalassemia, and three Hb S-β°-thalassemia). In addition, one in every 4,233 newborns had a clinically significant thalassemia syndrome (eight Hb FE, ten Hb F only, two Hb H). Compared with other newborn screening programs in California (congenital hypothyroidism, 1:3,849; phenylketonuria, 1:22,474; galactosemia, 1:74,103), hemoglobinopathies are the most prevalent congenital disease. Eighty-one newborns with sickle cell disease were followed up for 7.2 years. Patients experienced 513 hospitalizations, including 13 episodes of sepsis with or without meningitis and ten acute sequestration crises. The overall mortality rate for patients with sickle cell anemia diagnosed in the newborn period was 1.8%. In comparison, the clinical course of 64 patients with sickle cell anemia diagnosed after 3 months of age and followed up for an average of 9.4 years was analyzed. Five of these patients died. In two of these, sickle cell anemia was diagnosed at the time of the death. Overall mortality rate in this group was 8%. In summary, the data indicate that newborn screening, when coupled with extensive follow-up and education, will significantly decrease patient mortality.


Education is one of the main indicators in national development efforts. The government in its efforts to realize national goals to educate the nation's life has made a policy for compulsory 9-year schools, namely elementary and junior high schools. To find out how many residents use the education facilities provided by the government can be seen through school enrollment rates (SPR). A high School Participation Rate (SPR) means showing greater opportunities to access education in general. This study aims to optimize artificial neural networks with the One Step Secant (OSS) algorithm. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is part of the artificial intelligence system (Artificial Intelligence, AI) which is one of the artificial representations of the human brain that always tries to simulate the learning process in the human brain. The sample data used for optimization is SPR Indonesia data by province. Using 4 architectural models with 5 input variables, 1 shadow layer and 1 output. The best results obtained between architectures 5-4-1, 5-8-1, 5-16-1 and 5-32-1 are architectures 5-16-1. Obtained prediction accuracy comparisons using the One Step Secant (OSS) algorithm and standard algorithms namely 96.97% and 100%. The standard algorithm is superior in accuracy, the One Step Secant (OSS) algorithm is superior in terms of iterations.


In field studies from 1978 to 1980, the relationship between Homoeosoma electellum (Hulst) oviposition and flowering of sunflower was studied in Kansas. Oviposition was greatest on sunflower heads exposed from 2 to 4 days after inflorescences began 10 open. Also, 84 to 90% of the eggs were deposited by the end of the seventh day after inflorescences began to open. Five insecticides, applied at 30% bloom and 5 days later, were evaluated in 1982 for control of H. electellum larvae infesting sunflower heads. All insecticides significantly reduced numbers of larvae compared with the untreated check. Permethrin, carbofuran, acephate, and methidathion provided the best control. Ethyl parathion was significantly less effective than the other insecticides at the rates tested.


Since the eurozone, refugee and Brexit crises, it has become evident that the EU contributes to divergence among member states and inequality within them. It is also evident that the days of permissive consensus, integration by stealth, and trust in promises of peace and prosperity are long gone. Publics across the EU now wonder why the EU ought to garner their respect, and what role, if any, the EU should play in mitigating both cross‐ and intra‐national socioeconomic inequalities. They wonder, that is, what gives the EU legitimacy beyond securing a growth dividend and protecting against another European war, and what criteria of justice we ought to use in assessing the distributional consequences of integration. This contribution articulates a conception of legitimacy that has received very little attention in the literature, namely telic legitimacy, distinguishes it from conventional criteria of 'input' and 'output' legitimacy, explains its usefulness in addressing the EU's crisis in confidence, and outlines its relation to principles of justice.


Abstract Objective To evaluate the differences of serum IGF-1, MKRN3 and kisspeptin in girls with central precocious puberty, rapidly progressive puberty, premature thelarche and control group, explore their roles in the initiation of puberty, and assess the diagnostic value of IGF-1 in puberty initiation. Methods The girls with the chief complaint of development of secondary sexual characteristics from the outpatient department were recruited, at the same time, the girls with normal puberty were recruited as normal controls. Informed consents were signed. The levels of MKRN3 and kisspeptin were measured using ELISA kits, and the level of IGF-1 was measured using chemiluminescence immunoassay kit. Results 1) MKRN3 There were no difference in the level of MKRN3 among the four groups (P=0.244). Combining the above four groups into HPGA initiated group and HPGA non-initiated group, the difference of MKRN3 level between the above two groups were not statistically significant (P=0.435). Over 10 years of age, the MKRN3 level in the HPGA initiated group was lower than that of the HPGA non-initiated group with significant differences(P=0.006). The negative correlation between MKRN3 and estradiol, LH level appeared only after 10 years (r=-0.464, P=0.034, r=-0.473, P=0.017). 2) Kisspeptin There were statistically differences in the level of kisspeptin among the four groups(P=0.003). The older the bone age at the first visit, the higher the kisspeptin level in HPGA initiation patients. Positive correlation was existed between kisspeptin level and height, weight, bone age, basal LH level, basal FSH level, peak LH level, and the ratio of peak LH and FSH level(P<0.05). 3) IGF-1 There were statistically differences in the level of IGF-1 among the four groups of CPP, RPP, PT and control groups(P=0.000). And the level of IGF-1 in the HPGA initiated group was significantly higher than that in the HPGA non-initiated group among different age levels(P=0.011, P=0.004, P=0.004). Positive correlation was also existed between IGF-1 level and some indicators(P<0.05). IGF-1 had certain diagnostic value for the identification of HPGA initiation, the area under the curve(AUC) of ROC curve was 0.833, at IGF-1 level of 304ng/ml, the Youden index reached the peak value (0.661), and the sensitivity and specificity were 0.750 and 0.911 respectively. At different age levels, The AUC of IGF-1 were 0.708, 0.866, 0.958, indicating that IGF-1was still useful among different age levels. Conclusions IGF-1, MKRN3 and kisspeptin all play important roles in the process of puberty initiation. MKRN3 acts as an inhibitory factor on GnRH whereas IGF-1 and kisspeptin are the stimulatory factors. In addition, IGF-1 has certain diagnostic value in the differential diagnosis of puberty initiation at different age levels. Unless otherwise noted, all abstracts presented at ENDO are embargoed until the date and time of presentation. For oral presentations, the abstracts are embargoed until the session begins. Abstracts presented at a news conference are embargoed until the date and time of the news conference. The Endocrine Society reserves the right to lift the embargo on specific abstracts that are selected for promotion prior to or during ENDO.


This introduces a new Flex Real-time messaging framework based on Comet, which is a real-time message transmission mechanism based on the HTTP protocol. It solved the dilemma of providing real-time messaging service without opening additional ports in the web server. It achieved a good real-time performance with the basis of consuming approximately the same amount of network bandwidth as Flex RTMP messaging framework do. It is an important supplementary to the Flex architecture.


Aims: Severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is an incurable disease whose exact mechanisms remain unknown. However, growing evidence highlights the role of inflammation and endothelin (ET) signaling. The lack of reliable models makes it difficult to investigate the pathophysiology of this disease. Our aim was therefore to develop a mouse model of severe PAH closely mimicking human condition to explore the role of Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and ET signaling in advanced PAH progression. Main methods: Young male SV129 mice received vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGF-R) inhibitor (SU5416) (20 mg/kg) three times a week and were exposed to hypoxia (10% O 2 ) for three weeks. Molecular analysis and histological assessment were examined using real-time PCR, Western blot and immunostaining, respectively. Key findings: The developed murine model presented important characteristics of severe PAH in human: macrophages, and distal arteriolar wall muscularization. We detected an increase of IL-6 production and a stronger macrophage recruitment in adventitia of remodeled arterioles developing plexogenic lesions. Moreover, ET-1 and ET receptor A were up-regulated in lung lysates and media of remodeled arterioles. Recombinant IL-6 (50ng/ml) stimulated the proliferation and regulated endothelial cells in increasing ET-1 and decreasing ET receptor B. Significance: These data describe a murine model, which displays the most important features of human severe PAH. We assume that inflammation, particularly IL-6 regulating ET signaling, plays a crucial role in forming plexogenic lesions. This model is thus reliable and might be used for a better understanding of severe PAH progression and treatment. in lung lysates. The results were expressed as means ± SEM of 5-6 lung lysates per group. Statistical differences (* P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001) were determined using t test.


The POLDER sensitivity to aerosol size is investigated based on PARASOL and AERONET observations made during 2005–2013. In this study, three AERONET sites: Xianghe, Beijing (China) and Banizoumbou (Niger) where aerosols are dominated by the rural emission, urban pollution and desert dust, respectively, are selected, and the data are screened and matched with PARASOL observations. Then, the AOD870 (aerosol optical depth at the central wavelength of 870 nm) within different size ranges is calculated using AERONET data and compared with POLDER AOD. The POLDER sensitivity is determined by looking for the best fit between the calculated AOD and the POLDER AOD. The results show: (1) The POLDER sensitivity is around 0.27 μm. (2) The AOD contributed by particles with radius less than 0.27 μm can be retrieved with high quality by using POLDER measurements. (3) Even using POLDER measurements, the retrievals in rural areas are still better than in urban. This study will help us properly understand the POLDER remote-sensing products and use them in climate studies, therefore improve our understanding of the role of human activities in climate change.


Constructing maximum bandwidth paths has been a basic operation in the study of network routing,in particular in the recent study of network QoS routing. In the literature,it has been proposed that a maximum bandwidth path be constructed by a modified Dijkstra's algorithm or by a modified Bellman-Ford algorithm. In this short note,we present a very simple proof to show an interesting relation between a maximum spanning tree and a maximum bandwidth path. According to this proof,the Max-Bandwidth path problem can be solved based on a maximum spanning tree of the network. This observation suggests that the Max-Bandwidth path problem can be solved using Kruskal's algorithm,which is a well-known algorithm for minimum spanning tree construction. A modified Kruskal's algorithm for Max-Bandwidth path is given in this paper and compared with the modified Dijkstra's algorithm being suggested before. Although Dijkstra's algorithm and Kruskal's algorithm have the same time complexity asymptotically,Kruskal's algorithm takes a simpler form and runs much faster practically. We have programmed both algorithms and compared their performance based on a variety of network topologies. From the simulation results,we can see that for low link density networks such as mesh network,hypercube networks,networks of link density 1% and networks of link density 5%,Kruskal's algorithm in general is at least five times as fast as Dijkstra's algorithm. Even on dense networks of link density 40%,Kruskal's algorithm is still more than three times as fast as Dijkstra's algorithm. Besides the advantage of running time, we also indicate other advantages of our approach over the traditional approaches. Our results should have significant impact on the research and implementation of network applications.


An artificial neural network (ANN) has been developed for the task of change detection in an area of high spatio-temporal heterogeneity along a climatic gradient between humid and and climate regions. Four recognition classes, "positive change", "negative change", "false change", and "no change" have been learned by a backpropagation ANN and then applied to Landsat images that were acquired over the study area in 1992 and 1997. A comparison with existing classification techniques indicates, in many instances, significantly improved performance due to the ANN developed.


The efficacy of two commercial gonadotrophins (PMSG) on sexual receptivity of 1104 does was compared in a field trial. The two gonadotrophins were tested in alternate 8 weekly groups (4 Foligon*; 4 Gonaser*). Does that allowed the male to mate were considered as receptive. Does treated with different PMSG were equally receptive (Foligon* 94.5% vs Gonaser* 95.1%).


Humanitarianism and politics are more often than not considered to be separate from each other, despite the increasing complexity of contemporary conflict. This article highlights the specifics of the flight of one renegade soldier and some 300 of his men from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Rwanda, at a time when the international community was plotting the roadmap for an ideal solution that everybody could have approved. The article explores what caused the relevant parties to forfeit such a solution and recommends ways to improve operational coordination and complementarity among international actors.


We describe an instrument designed for studying the electronic structure of bulk, surface, and deep solid–solid interface. The analysis is made by soft‐x‐ray emission spectroscopy induced by electron bombardment. The target is placed under ultrahigh vacuum and can be prepared and treated in situ. High resolution is achieved both as concerns the photon energy and the electron‐beam energy. Tests have been made in the dispersive mode and in the characteristic isochromat mode. In both cases experimental resolution is in good agreement with the expected one.


In order to replace the high performance cement mortar by the ordinary and then reduce the project cost and create convenience for getting the material, this paper put forward the mixed prestressed reinforcement theory based on the existing P-SWR reinforcement technique. Taking the reinforcement of Lian Jiang bridge in Yinede city, Dawan as engineering background, and utilized the method of pre and after tensioning applied to be reinforcement structures at the same time, diverse stress condition of reinforced concrete T beam are simulated and stress distribution law of various stress stage is analysed using the finite element analysis software Midas. The finite element modeling results are in line with the theoretical calculation results and proving the mixed prestressed reinforcement theory of reinforced concrete T beam bearing capacity increase to a certain extent.


"This research considers the role of Master's study in the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of teachers in Ireland, North and South. Countries with the highest pupil assessment outcomes emphasise the importance of teachers having Master's degrees and effective CPD for teachers has been widely acknowledged as a key characteristic of mature systems of teacher education. There has also been a developing focus on the concept of teachers as researchers which clearly places an onus upon teachers to reframe and reconceptualise their work; in this sense, it can be seen how the Master's qualification can have increasing relevance. Despite attempts to better understand and standardise the general definition of Master's qualifications there is still much variation in terms of its value in relation to the professional status, identity and practice of teachers. In addition, whilst there is some evidence to suggest that teacher confidence can benefit from Master's study, there is limited research on the extent to which Master's work can influence professional identity and subsequent practice. This research aims to address some of these questions by generating a profile of teachers studying for Master's degrees in Education across the island of Ireland. The research aims to clarify issues around motivation and the influence that having a Master's degree might have on the participants' professional identity and practice. Working within a qualitative, interpretative design and using a mixed methods approach employing survey and focus groups, primary survey data were collected from cohorts of students studying for Master's in Education in all universities across Ireland in the time period 2017 – 2022. This first round of data collection will be presented here. The research may help inform programme design and also have the potential to influence policy-makers in terms of developing coherency around the professional development of teachers, beyond the initial stage."


The conservation of ecosystems has benefited from planted forests which provide reforested wood reducing the pressure on deforestation of natural forests. Soil physical attributes determine soil water storage capacity; therefore, they play an important role on plant roots' development which may compromise plant's survival. The study tested the influence of soil physical and water attributes on the survival of Eucalyptus spp. clones under dry tropical climate. Two areas were selected, including one with living plants and a second with non-living plants of Eucalyptus spp. clones. Moreover, five soil profiles were studied in each area and the parameters estimated were soil bulk density, total porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, soil water retention curve, pores size distribution, available water capacity, and S index. Soil physical and hydric attributes did not differ between the area with living plants and the one with non-living plants. The saturated hydraulic conductivity in the area surface layer was high for both the living plants and non-living palnts; 331 mm h-1 and 294 mm h-1, respectively. The S index (to give the value) indicated that the structure was suitable for the development of Eucalyptus trees. Furthermore, it was possible to affirm that soil physical and water attributes of the studied areas were promising for the cultivation of Eucalyptus spp. in the dry tropical climate.


The invention relates to a microphone fixing device for saloon car exterior tire noise testing. A stand column is fixed to the upper surface of a base, a transverse rod is fixed to the top end of the stand column, an arc-shaped installation rod is fixed to the transverse rod, the cross section of the installation rod is circular, the two ends of the installation rod are fixed to the corresponding ends of the transverse rod, and a microphone chuck is installed on the installation rod. By means of the microphone fixing device, noise generated by an saloon car exterior tire is accurately and stably tested through a microphone measurement device, the position of a microphone can be freely adjusted in a multidirectional mode, the microphone fixing device is flexible in use and convenient to install, and the testing efficiency and the testing flexibility are greatly improved.


12 Pressure coupled infusion gyration (PCIG) is a novel promising technique for economical and effective 13 mass production of nanofibers with desirable geometrical characteristics. The average diameter of spun 14 fibers significantly influences the structural, mechanical and physical properties of the produced fiber 15 mats. Having a comprehensive understanding of the significant effects of PCIG experimental variables 16 on the spun fibers is beneficial. In this work, response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized to explore 17 the interaction effects and the optimal PCIG experimental variables for achieving the desired 18 morphological characterization of fibers. The effect of experimental variables, namely solution 19 concentration, infusion (flow) rate, applied pressure and rotational speed, was studied on the average 20 fiber diameter and standard deviations. A numerical model for the interactional influences of experimental 21 variables was developed and optimized with a non-linear interior point method that can be utilized as a 22 framework for selecting the optimal conditions to obtain poly-ethylene oxide (PEO) fibers with desired 23 morphology (targeted average diameter and narrow standard deviation). The adequacy of the models 24 was verified by a set of validation experiments. The results proved that the predicted optimal conditions 25 were able to achieve the average diameter that matched the pre-set desired value with less than 10% of 26 difference. 27 28 Key-words: Pressure coupled infusion gyration, nanofiber, modeling, response surface methodology, 29 process optimization 30 31 32 33 34 2


In this paper, we propose a frozen bit selection scheme for polar coding scheme combined with physical layer security that enhances the security of two legitimate users on a wiretap channel. By flipping certain frozen bits, the bit-error rate (BER) of an eavesdropper is maximized while the BER of the legitimate receiver is unaffected. An ARQ protocol is proposed that only feeds back a small proportion of the frozen bits to the transmitter, which increases the secrecy rate. The scheme is evaluated on a wiretap channel affected by impulsive noise and we consider cases where the eavesdropper's channel is actually more impulsive than the main channel. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme ensures the eavesdropper's BER is high even when only one frozen bit is flipped and this is achieved even when their channel is more impulsive than the main channel.


This paper describes an approach for assigning linguistic tags to sentences in a target language by exploiting a linguistic tagger that has been configured in a source language. The approach does not require that the input sentence be translated into the source language. Instead, it is assumed that crosslingual projection of linguistic tags is accomplished through the use of a bitext corpus for the source and target languages. A system for part of speech (POS) tagging of French language sentences using an English language POS tagger and an English/French bitext corpus has been implemented and evaluated using this approach.


Aim. To study various aspects of quality of life of physicians working in health centers, to conduct a comparative analysis of the criteria of the quality of life among physicians of health centers and heads of medical institutions. Methods. Used was the questionnaire EUROHIS, which included eight key questions about the quality of life. Formed were two groups of respondents in the Bryansk, Kaluga and Smolensk regions. The first group of respondents physicians of health centers (88 pers.), the second the heads of medical institutions (100). Results. Established was a low quality of life of healthcare providers. The criterion of sufficient funds to meet the needs received the lowest scores. The highest scores by doctors and managers were given to the criterion of sufficient power for the everyday life. Significant differences between doctors and managers were observed in 7 criteria of quality of life. Higher scores were given by the managers to such criteria as satisfaction with housing, enough money to meet the needs, enough power for everyday life, satisfaction with their own health, quality of life. Among the doctors of health centers during the formation of these centers the highest scores were given to such criteria as self-satisfaction and relationships with other people. Conclusions. In the current conditions of modernization of the healthcare system increases the importance of studying the quality of life of health professionals. The current situation requires the healthcare administration at all levels to pay more attention to issues of social, material and psychological support for health professionals


Arginine vasopressin has attracted attention as a potentially important neurohormonal mediator of the heart failure (HF) syndrome and hyponatremic states in humans1 because vasopressin influences renal handling of free water, vasoconstriction, and myocyte biology.2,3 Several vasopressin antagonists are under development,4 and one of these agents, conivaptan, recently received US Food and Drug Administration approval for short-term intravenous treatment in patients with euvolemic or hypervolemic hyponatremia.

A neurohypophysial hormone, vasopressin (also called antidiuretic hormone [ADH]), affects free water reabsorption by the kidney, body fluid osmolality, blood volume, vasoconstriction, and myocardial contractile function.2,3 Vasopressin is synthesized by neurosecretory cells located predominantly in the supraoptic and paraventricular hypothalamic nuclei. These neurons have axons terminating in the neural lobe of the posterior pituitary (neurohypophysis) that release vasopressin and oxytocin.5

### Physiology of Regulation of Vasopressin Release

Normally, the dominant stimulant for vasopressin release is a change in plasma tonicity, plasma volume depletion, or blood pressure, the last 2 mediated by arterial baroreceptors. Osmoreceptors in the anterior hypothalamus sense the increase in serum osmolality and stimulate secretion of vasopressin from the posterior pituitary. In an attempt to normalize plasma osmolality, vasopressin acts on the V2 renal receptors, increasing free water reabsorption by insertion of protein water channels, aquaporins, in the luminal membranes of the principal cells of the renal collecting ducts.6

### Receptor/Effector Mechanisms

The 3 vasopressin receptor subtypes belong to a family of rhodopsin-like G-protein–coupled receptors.7 V1a (vascular) receptors are located on several cell types, including vascular smooth muscle cells and cardiomyocytes (Table 1), with effects on the maintenance and regulation of vascular tone and possibly myocardial function.3

View this table:

Table 1. Vasopressin Receptors: Location and Function 5,8

V1b (pituitary) receptors are expressed on the surfaces of corticotrophic cells in the anterior pituitary and the pancreas and adrenal medulla (Table 1).5,8 V1a and V1b receptors are …


A total of 56 guts of the alligator pipefish, Syngnathoides biaculeatus collected from Palk Bay, southeast coast of India were analysed for determining its natural diet composition. The gut fullness index as assessed by point method showed that the majority of fish (71.43%) either had half-full (37.5%) or quarter-full guts (33.93%). Mean values of relative growth length (RGL) and gonado-somatic index (GSI) were estimated to be 0.36±0.03 and 3.78±1.67%, respectively. Copepods and sand particles occurred with 100% frequency of occurrence (% FO ) followed by amphipods (% FO =99.25) isopods (% FO =86.79), peracarids (% FO =70.76) and decapods (% FO =65.28). The results of the gut content analysis showed that S. biaculeatus largely preyed on crustaceans (~90%) which included amphipods (40.36%), copepods (35.27%), decapods (8.12%), isopods (3.48%) and peracarids (2.21%). Consistent occurrence of sand particles and algal pieces in the guts reflect the feeding behaviour of S. biaculeatus in seagrass habitat over the sandy bottom. No significance difference in prey numbers and composition between male and female specimens was observed ( P >0.05).


The investigation dealt with the effect which different devices have on the performance of index languages. It appeared that the most important consideration was the specificity of the index terms; within the context of the conditions existing in this test, single‐word terms were more effective than concept terms or a controlled vocabulary.


Recent studies have suggested an extensive exposure to neonicotinoids in human, but the sources and health risk of exposure to neonicotinoids remains little known in children.

 After 309 school children were selected in 2019 from a dynamic child cohort established in Shanghai, East China, detailed data about basic information, intake of drinking water, and food consumption were collected and 12 typical neonicotinoids and metabolites were determined in morning urine. Sources of exposure to neonicotinoids were explored by binary/ordinal logistic regression model. Health risk was assessed by hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI).

 Except for imidaclothiz, thiacloprid, and 5-OH-imidacloprid, other six neonicotinoids and three metabolites were detected in 81.3% of urine samples overall. After adjusted for potential confounders, Thiamethoxam was more detected in children consuming more fresh vegetables (odds ratio (OR): 2.93, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.21,7.14) and its subgroup (Chinese cabbage (OR: 2.00, 95%CI: 0.89,4.46) and nori and kelp (OR: 2.25, 95%CI:1.21,4.17)). Clothianidin showed a similar association with fresh vegetables and its subgroup to thiamethoxam. N-desmethyl-acetamiprid were detected in children drinking type water more (OR: 1.84, 95%CI: 1.10,3.06). The maximum HQ and HI were 0.3522 and 0.5187, respectively, and 2.8% of children had HIs between 0.1 and 1.

 Tap water and fresh vegetables were potential exposure sources. A low health risk was posed on Chinese children by neonicotinoids. Given limited data about the adverse effects of neonicotinoids on human, sufficient attention should be paid to the exposure to these compounds and potential health effects.

 Tap water and fresh vegetables were exposure sources and a low health risk was posed on Chinese children by neonicotinoids.


There is a considerable literature analyzing the behavior of exchange rates. However, the modeling and forecasting of exchange rates has not been very successful. One of the obstacles to effective modeling of financial time series is heteroscedasticity. The recent availability of high frequency data, such as tick-by-tick data, provides us with extra information about the market. However, even with today's computer power, analyzing data with order of gigabits is extremely expensive and time consuming. This article proposes to analyze a homoscedastic subsequence of such data. The procedure of obtaining such a homoscedastic subsequence is called devolatilization. The empirical evidence suggests that devolatilization can help us to detect trends of the market quickly. Our forecasting results indicate that the exchange market can be forecast to certain extend.


Let G be 2-connected graph with girth g and minimum degree d. Then each pair of vertices of G is joined by a path of length at least max{1/2(d − 1)g, (d − 3/2)(g − 4) + 2} if g ⩾ 4, and the length of a longest cycle of G is at least max{[(d − 1)(g − 2) + 2], [(2d − 3)(g − 4) + 4]}.


In this paper the concept and architecture of Data Farming Services (DFS) are presented. DFS is developed and implemented in NATO MSG-155 by a multi-national team. MSG-155 and DFS are based on the data farming basics codified in MSG-088 and the actionable decision support capability developed in MSG-124. The developed services are designed as a mesh of microservices as well as an integrated toolset and shall facilitate the use of data farming in NATO. This paper gives a brief description of the functionality of the services and the use of them in a web application. It also presents several use cases with current military relevance, which were developed to verify and validate the implementation and define requirements. The current prototype of DFS was and will be tested at the 2018 and 2019 NATO CWIX exercises, already proving successful in terms of deployability and usability.


In a recent paper, we have proposed an adaptive observer whose parameter adjusting law is determined by equations forcing the errors into decreasing exponentially. The convergence rate of the observer is specified by a constant gain which is included in the parameter adjusting law. However, use of constant gains occasionally causes excessive feedback in the adaptive loop of the observer so that the identification processes are sensitively affected by the noise which is mixed in the measurement. Hence, it is difficult to make identification values fast convergent and free to measurement noise simultaneously. In the present paper, we introduce variable gains for the improvement of the abovementioned defect. A sufficient condition for the convergence of errors is obtained. The effect of introducing variable gains is confirmed experimentally by applying the parameter identification problem of a secondorder thermal system. The results of the experiment show that the effect of observation noise on identification processes is extremely reduced by the use of variable gains. Keyword: adaptive observer, exponential convergence, variable gain, experimental application, thermal system


The most costly and labor-intensive activity for almost every warehouse is the order picking process and a key challenge for manufacturing companies is to store parts in an efficient way. Therefore ...


The distribution of polysaccharides in the endogenous stages of Tyzzeria parvula was investigated by cytochemical techniques. There was no PAS-positive material in the trophozoites, young schizonts, microgametocytes and young macrogametocytes. Some second generation mero-zoites showed some PAS-positive substances while others were negative. PAS-positive granules accumulated gradually in macrogametocytes. The mature macrogametes and zygotes were rich in polysaccharides. The results showed that these polysaccharides were synthesized by the parasites themselves and served as the energy source consumed during their movement and development.


The present study was designed to assess the incidence of pain when methohexitone was administered to 35 depressed patients who had electroconvulsive therapy, and to determine whether the use of lignocaine could modify this, without affecting seizure duration. The same patients were studied during three separate treatment sessions; they received either methohexitone alone or mixed with, or preceded by, lignocaine 10 mg. Six (17%) patients spontaneously complained of pain during injection of methohexitone alone; the use of lignocaine prior to methohexitone reduced this to zero (p < 0.05). A total of 49% patients reported pain during injection of methohexitone; the use of lignocaine either mixed with, or given prior to, methohexitone significantly reduced this to 23% and 20% respectively (p < 0.05). Seizure duration was not significantly different during the three treatments.


Professor Gonin reported a series of 300 cases of retinal detachments in which the patients were operated on by his method. His conclusions, being based on a large number of cases observed over a period of more than ten years, are naturally quite acceptable. With this series he reaffirmed his original conception that a tear or hole in the retina is the cause of the detachment, and that in recent cases the occlusion of this opening is sufficient to bring about a complete cure. A cure is obtained in 55 per cent of cases if treatment is applied within three weeks of the onset of the illness. In 15 per cent of Gonin's cases it was necessary to repeat the procedure, and the results were satisfactory. Of all the cases with a detachment of less than one year's duration, cures were obtained in 40 per cent. A recurrence


Web users frequently get lost because applications have a model of navigation that is different from what they are used to. These differences cause confusion. To overcome the problem, designers have to adapt familiar design rules to the Web. This paper discusses some of these problems and how to avoid them in designing Web applications and Web sites. It is based on observations during usability testing, design, and writing projects. The focus is on applications, with which users perform actions, rather than informational sites, which exist to inform. (There is a lot of overlap—for example, the task of signing up for a mailing list while at an information site. The guidelines in this paper can apply to any type of site.)


Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of propofol with lorixicam for induced abortion anesthesia. Methods The 80 cases of ASA status grade one early pregnant women without trans-vaginal delivery whose age ranged from 18 to 25 years were devided into two groups: group P and group PL(n=40). The anesthesia was induced by intravenous administration of propofol in both two groups and the lorixicam was injected intravenously 5-8 minutes before propofol in PL group. The BP, HR, RR and SpO2 during anesthesia were monitored and recorded. The propofol dosage, the movement of patients limbs, the recover time, postoperative pain from uterine contraction and other side effects were also investigated. Results The propofol dosage in PL group is less than that in group P but without significant difference; The incidence of respiratory distress in group P is 75% while 40% in group P (P0.05), The incidence of postoperative pain from uterine constraction in group PL 5% is lower than that in group P30%(P0.05); the value of BP, HR, SpO2 in the two groups are with no significant difference. Conclusions The propofol intravenous anesthesia with lorixicam for induced abortion can inhibite the postoperative pain from uterine contraction, reduce the propofol dosade and the incidence of respiratory distress, without the increase of the side-effects.


Abstract : As defense budgets continue to shrink, cost-effective methods for the accurate and timely acquisition of aerodynamic data must be developed. Traditionally, wind tunnels have fulfilled this role at both the conceptual and developmental stages, as well as throughout the service life of an aircraft. However, although wind tunnels are a trusted and valuable data source that provide consistent repeatable data upon which to construct aerodynamic models, they also have inherent limitations such as blockage effects, wll and sting interference, and flow variations. Because of these constraints and due to the elevated angles-of-attack and sideslip that modern fighter aircraft are capable of, wind tunnels can be limited in their ability to cover an entire flight envelope.


A 49 year old man was referred to the internal medicine service at St Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The patient had a six day history of pain and redness of his right …


This paper discusses the research,development and prospect of the RH technology,describing the features and trend of several dominant techniques.The general design methodology and the possibility of domestic development are also outlined.


Bamboo has a lot to offer the 'green' building industry, and this has ultimately led to its use in a new type of dimensional lumber for fencing posts and rails. Dimi Kyriakou discovers how this product stacks up against the traditional timber option.


We herein report a relatively rare case of an infl ammatory myofi broblastic tumor (IMT) of the bladder in a young woman. In contrast to IMTs of other organs, IMTs of the lower urinary tract involve the mixture of a non-neoplastic lesion with a neoplastic lesion; therefore, the determination of whether other neoplastic lesions are present is important. In this case, magnetic resonance imaging confi rmed a pedunculated lobulated tumor that protruded from the posterior left bladder wall into the lumen. The lobulated area exhibited a low-intensity signal on T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) and a high-intensity signal similar to that of urine on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI). Morphologically, the peduncle resembled a submucosal mass with faint low-intensity signaling on T1WI and faint high-intensity signaling on T2WI. These fi ndings diff er from those of a neoplastic lesion of the bladder mucous membrane. The presence of lesions from the muscularis propria to the submucosa and in areas with markedly high-intensity signals exhibiting a nodular fasciitis pattern on T2WI is considered useful for the diff erential diagnosis of IMT on imaging examination. The lobulated area exhibited a low-intensity signal on T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) and a high-intensity signal similar to that of urine on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI). The morphology of the peduncle was similar to that of a submucosal mass, with a faint low-intensity signal on T1WI and a faint high-intensity signal on T2WI. Diffusion-weighted imaging revealed some areas in the central portion of the tumor with high-intensity signals; the apparent diffusion coefficients were slightly decreased. A definitive diagnosis was difficult to achieve based on the above imaging findings; therefore, transurethral resection of the bladder tumor was performed.


Job shop scheduling problem is well known common production problems which consists of 'n'-Jobs and 'm'-Machine. Many researchers applied varied approaches with existing heuristics for small size problems with near optimal solutions. This paper presents the criterion of minimisation of makespan for the different size Job Shop Scheduling problems. The proposed computational method of selective breeding Algorithm is used for finding optimal makespan values of different size problems. This algorithm is tested with 10 bench mark problems. The result shows that the proposed algorithm is a most efficient and effective algorithm which produced better result than other algorithm compared in literature. Hence the proposed algorithm is a good tool for problem solving technique for such kind of scheduling problems.


This paper puts forward a new problem about the justice of competition in electronic commerce,analyzes the kinds of laws and regulations applying to unfair competition and probes into some typical behaviors of unfair competition in electronic commerce and their punishment by law


The effect of the design characteristics of various condensing chambers on magnesium build-up at the chamber inlet was investigated. The condensing chambers are used in the vapor-condensation process for making magnesium slurries. A complete description of the various chamber designs and the procedure used in testing the chambers is given. The results are evaluated on the basis of clogging and total magnesium distilled per run. Orifice design was also considered.


For reasons of smart growth management, upcoming demographics changes, and escalating housing affordability concern, higher-density housing presents one fitting solution to future development challenges. Market conditions also seem favorable given increases in likely consumer population and the readiness of the real estate development industry. However, higher-density residences are still underrepresented housing typologies amidst a plethora of single-family homes. This thesis investigates how aspects of policy, measurement, and perception of density relate to each other in order to uncover predispositions and elucidate reasons for the perpetuation of current development patterns. A case in Fremont California was examined to contextualize and illustrate the findings presented, and recommendations were presented to suggest ways of overcoming current biases and shortcomings. Thesis Supervisor: John de Monchaux Title: Professor of Architecture and Planning


Useful and pocket-sized, this handbook has been updated to incorporate recent legislation and professional guidance for prescribers, notably the prescribing of unlicensed medication and prescribing for cosmetic effect.


Objective. Intervention to reduce nonurgent pediatric emergency department (PED) visits over a 12-month follow-up. Methods. Prospective, randomized, controlled trial enrolled children seen in the PED for nonurgent concerns. Intervention subjects received a structured session/handout specific to their primary care provider (PCP), which outlined ways to obtain medical advice. Visitation to the PED and PCP were followed over 12 months. Results. A total of 164 patients were assigned to the intervention and 168 patients to the control. At 12-month follow-up, the intervention group had a lower rate of nonurgent PED utilization compared with the control group (70 [43%] patients in the intervention compared with 91 [54%] in the control; P = .047). At 12 months, there was an increase in the rate of sick visits to PCP in the intervention group when compared with the control (P = .036). Conclusions. Intervention designed in cooperation with pediatricians was able to decrease nonurgent PED utilization and redirect patients to their PCP for future sick visits over a 12-month period.