SAM is known as a tuneable platform through an ultra-thin, biocompatible, and controlled organic film formed by self-assembled from a strong chemisorption of thiols (R-S-H) or its derivatives (R-OH, R-COO, R-COOH, R-NH2, etc.) onto metal or semiconductor substrate. The monolayer is offering hydrophobic-hydrophilic control depending on their terminal group. These flexibilities were functionalized in order to immobilize the biomolecule like DNA/RNA, antibody/antigen, bacteriophages, and aptamers as a selective receptor to capture E. coli selectively as the most dangerous microorganism in environmental water into an array system called biosensor. A number of methods have been developed to characterize the performance of SAM functionalization in immobilizing biomolecule for E. coli rapid detection and real time in optical and electrochemical (amperometric, potentiometric, and impedimetric). Till date, nano-materials and nanotechnologies has significantly contributed as a key role as in basic platform forming the sensor sensitively. Nano materials offer attractive properties like shape dependent physical and unique size, easy synthesize, easy surface functionalization, and enhancement of an electron transfer. This review will discuss the biomolecule immobilization techniques with SAM and the sensing mechanism.


1 Associate Dean, Education (Regional), Temerty School of Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario; Vice-President, Education, Academic Affairs and Patient Experience, Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ontario; Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. 2 Senior Ethicist, Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ontario; Adjunct Lecturer, Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. 3 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario; Staff Psychiatrist, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario. 4 Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia; Geriatric and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia. 5 Family Caregiver and Policy Analyst, Gatineau, Quebec. 6 Assistant Professor, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, University of Toronto; Medical Lead, Bridgepoint Active Health Care, Sinai Health, Toronto, Ontario. 7 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Addictions, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec; Forensic Psychiatrist, Institut national de psychiatrie légale Philippe-Pinel, Montreal, Quebec. 8 Clinical Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia. 9 University Professor, University of Toronto; Head of Research, University Health Network Centre for Mental Health; Senior Scientist, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario. 10 Medical Lead, Addiction and Mental Health Special Projects; Knowledge Lead, Addiction and Mental Health, Clinical Knowledge and Content Management, Calgary, Alberta. 11 Resident, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. 12 Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Addictions, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec; Chief of Service, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, CISSS de la Côte-Nord, Quebec.


The support vector machine is used in lower limb rehabilitation training for device driving system modeling,one of the important issues is to select training parameters.In order to solve this issue,using the simulink platform collected samples,and through the libsvm toolbox,the related interface is experimented.In contrast experiments,three kinds of regression of advanced objective function optimization algorithm are selected.Algorithm in modeling application scope and value is discussed,and the basis for selecting is given.The grid search and particle swarm optimization have a mean square error close to zero,the correlation coefficient is greater than 99%.It applies to the demand of stability and practicality of the system.The genetic algorithm is not stable,but also has practical application.The results show that the method effectively solves the problem of selecting parameters,and at the same time for the further study of the object oriented objective function external optimization algorithm improvements,especially for high requirements of real-time dynamic identification condition,provide some basic support.


LITERARY works have generally been neglected by scholars as a source of information for the social history of music. The novels and dramas of a given period are among the best places in which to discover the general attitude of society toward music and musicians. The literary movement known as Sturm und Drang contains in its writings much of interest to the student of the social history of music in Germany during the second half of the eighteenth century. Sturm und Drang cannot be given a simple capsule definition. Garland states that he is unable "to give any convincing explanation in terms of predecessors and forerunners",L but among the most important influences on this movement were Shakespeare, Rousseau, such English writers as Sterne, Richardson, Young and Macpherson (the Ossianic forgeries), the cultural particularism and isolation of Germany in the eighteenth century, Pietism, and the reaction against the petty despotism of the German courts. The dramas of Sturm und Drang are the most important literary manifestations of this movement. Goethe's 'Werther' is the only novel of the movement which is still read, and the German poetry of the time is idyllic or lyric rather than dramatic.2 The leading dramatists of Sturm und Drang are the young Goethe, Lenz, Klinger, H. L. Wagner, and 'Maler' Miller; most writers also include Schiller's first three prose dramas. Although all the Stiirmer und Drdnger lived in western Germany during the Geniezeit, they were strongly influenced by J. G. Hamann, the 'Magus of the North' in K6nigsberg, who withJ. G. Herder, also an East Prussian, furnished the philosophical support for this movement. The exact dates of Sturm und Drang are subjects for disagreement among literary historians. The terminal dates of the movement have been stated as


The paper deals with the conflict of properties «to be a proper name» and «not to be a proper name» in the same context, which leads to «propria↔appellativa» ambiguity, designated as onymic amphibology. Pragmatic and textual mechanisms of different interpretations as well as examples of non-resolving ambiguity situations in text are considered.


In Mexico, there is the guayacan species (Guaiacum sanctum L.) which is registered as a threatened species within the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), group II. A problem for their reproduction from seeds is that it requires pregerminative treatments when they are not sown after harvest, since they may present physiological dormancy and a decrease in its viability. Consequently, the objective of the present work was to identify the emergence of seedlings from seed scarification. The treatments were six, with four repetitions; the experimental design was randomized. Statistical analyzes were performed using a T test with INFOSTAT software. The results showed that there are statistical differences (p < 0.0001) between treatments. It is concluded that the best scarification treatments were soaking seeds in water for 24 hours and immersing seeds in hydrogen peroxide diluted in water (3 ml L-1) for 15 minutes.


Family businesses are legacy treasures, to be passed on to the next generation. The inheritance of the business is wishfully given to the sibling belonging to the next generation. The decision to hand over business engages a high level of emotional connection with the family and business. The founder as patriarch is solely responsible for this divide and transition. At the time of taking this decision, the level of competencies available with the next generation, including their innate interest to be in the family business is not actively considered, which may be imperative towards professionalization of the family business. Because of altruism, level of professionalization required in the interest of the family business, may not reach the optimum level. As a result, lower competitiveness may lead to reduced performance in businesses.At some point in the life cycle of a family business, the family owners might decide that they should professionalize their firm. 'Professionalization' is often thought to mean, 'changing from family management to non-family management.' Professionalization can also happen, when a family sibling, with desired capabilities, is chosen to lead the business. He or she is provided with an opportunity to acquire capability to understand the complexities of the family business and management. This may happen through higher education, constant training and in-house exposure by engaging actively in the family business. During this professionalization process, the founder manager may or may not like to be directly connected with the family business, or stay in any decision making position. Autonomy, to the next generation is passed over based on the level of competency inherited or acquired.It is a known fact that most industry leaders around the world are family businesses and are also good examples of professionalism. A company can be family-owned and managed and be professional, at the same time. Terms like 'family managers' and 'professional managers' imply that the only way to be 'professional' is to be 'non-family', which means, a definite line of difference has to be drawn between the decisions of 'family interest' and 'business interest'. Professionalism does not imply having a family manager or non-family manager in family business. It implies nurturing one's, competency, capability, attitude and behavior essentially required towards the growth of the family business.Businesses largely compete on the basis of available talent, competency and capability. Family business must be open to induct competent people within the family with required skills to lead the company. If a family nurtures a member with requisite skills, values, and ability to keep shareholders, employees, key customers, and suppliers loyal to business, then family leadership is the best option. As the business grows in dimension, differential capabilities are required to run the business competitively, which might not be easily available within the family, hence, inducting talented individuals as professionals is a better option. A family must be realistic about the talents available internally within the family business. It must also take into account the passion and the driving entrepreneurial orientation, which would later be pertinent to lead the business.


The electrical design of the MCM for a high performance network switch is presented. Electrical simulations are presented for signal crosstalk, propagation on meshed ground planes and ground bounce. The noise margins for the various signal nets on the MCM are defined. These noise margins provide a quantitative bound against which the different packaging noise sources are compared for the baseline MCM design.


To the Editor of the Journal: Dear Sir: —I am pleased with the editorial, "Toxic Urine and Surgical Operations," inThe Journalof October 2d, and hope that Mr. Reginald Harrison is entitled to all the attention your article bestows upon him, but an American, Prof. Hal C. Wyman, of Detroit, published, some years ago, ideas so very similar to those you attribute to Mr. Harrison in his article in the Liverpool Medico-Chirurgical Journal , that I cannot refrain from using this occasion to say that Dr. Wyman not only described all the toxic effects mentioned by Mr. Harrison, but devised an operation for relief of hypertrophied prostate, the main feature of which was that no urine could come in contact with the wound to poison it. The principles involved in your editorial are very important. I feel that it is only right that our countrymen should have full credit for


Bentlage, Belyna M. M.S. Purdue University, August 2015. Assessing Public Attitudes toward Endangered Freshwater Mussels. Major Professor: Linda Prokopy. The Tippecanoe River, situated in northcentral Indiana, supports five federally endangered and one federally threatened species of freshwater mussels. Past overharvesting and present water quality degradation threaten the survivorship of these mussels. To increase awareness about the imperilment of the mussels, we are designing an outreach and education campaign. The first step of the campaign is to collect baseline data about riparian landowner attitudes toward the federally listed mussels. We surveyed 1804 landowners who own property along the Tippecanoe River. We found significant differences in attitudes among landowners based on their awareness of a conflict that occurred as a result of conservation efforts to protect the mussels. Landowner attitudes also differed significantly based on residency in or out of the town where the conflict occurred. We also found that a majority of our sample is religiously affiliated, specifically with Christian traditions. Some literature suggests that within Christian traditions, Catholics tend to exhibit more positive attitudes toward the environment. Our data do not support this claim. Instead, we found few significant differences across Catholic, Mainline Protestant, and Evangelical Protestant groups.


For over two hundred years, our nation's legal system has been based on the "American Rule" ‐ with each party bearing its own litigation costs. As the Supreme Court noted in 1975, this distinctly American tradition is "deeply rooted in our history and in congressional policy, and it is not for us to invade the legislature's province by redistributing litigation costs…" Not surprisingly, the founders of our legal system did not anticipate the extent to which e‐mail would come to dominate our professional and personal lives. Experts estimate that 30 billion e‐mail messages are currently are being sent every day ‐ or an average of five e‐mails per day for every person on the planet.


Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women from western countries. The risk to develop recurrence of the tumor is about 30%. Intra-abdominal and pelvic metastases count <5% of clinical findings and they represent 30-40% and 20-40% of autopsy findings, respectively. Conventional imaging workup to follow-up of patients with breast cancer includes CT, MRI and bone scintigraphy for distant metastases.We present a rare case of a caucasian 59-years-old woman, with history of breast cancer in her anamnesis. She occurred to our attention for the onset of a single adnexal mass, ascites and increasing in waist circumference. Until then, the standard imaging tecniques were negative for relapse. Patient was affected by recurrent lobular breast cancer. Positron Emission Tomography (PET-CT) has a high sensitivity and specificity for peritoneal carcinosis and 0.5 cm is considered as a size threshold for the detection of tumor nodules. We think PET-CT could be useful in the evaluation of women suspected of distant recurrence of breast cancer. The next step should be to design prospective studies in which PET-CT will be used as first-line imaging procedure in these patients. Impact of management and survival of patient could be significant.


Kotlin Coroutines are generalised subroutines that can suspend and resume execution freely. They exhibit lower overhead than Java Virtual Machine (JVM) Threads, making them suitable for asynchronous applications in resource-constrained environments. This paper analyses the performance of Kotlin Coroutines framework on Android and measures its benefits over JVM Threads-based concurrency framework RxJava using a novel benchmarking methodology for reliable and reproducible results. It also highlights the performance improvements enabled by Kotlin Coroutines in real-world projects by comparing two Model-View-Intent (MVI) architecture libraries MvRx (by Airbnb), and Vector (by author Chauhan, K) based on RxJava and Coroutines, respectively.


Objectice To investigate the treatment results of palatally impacted upper canine with induced eruption and improved auxiliary arch after surgical exposure.Methods According to the evaluation of panoramic X-ray and CT scan images,18cases of palatally impacted upper canine were included in the study.In all of these cases,the activation of improved auxiliary arches were used to induce impacted canines after surgical exposure.Results The upper impacted canines of 18cases were induced favorably and were well aligned with the help of the improved auxiliary arch.Conclusion The study shows that the improved auxiliary arch is helpful to the orthodontic treatment for impacted upper canine,especially in some difficult cases.


A new class-in-the-making is emerging worldwide: the Precariat. A growing army of workers displaced in the globalized era, with no security, control over their time, nor hope for their future. Often threatened by precarity and poverty traps, they represent a new group of people in need of a charter of demands, according to Guy Standing, author of A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens. This book follows his previous success on the same topic; it is a thought provoking and resolute challenge to the widespread consensus around neo-liberal policies, writes Elisa Pannini.


A process of preparing activity peptide of oyster shell adopted the steps of enzymolysising, desalting and concertrating. Add water into oyster shell as ratio 1:1, enzymolysis it at pH3.0-9.0,30-65deg.C by prolease. Control the hydrolyse degree between 16% and 20% by way of TNBS or pH -stat. Heat the enzyme after reaction, then centrifugate and filter. Enzymolysis, desalt and concentrate and spray dry to obtain the object.


The aim of the project described in the paper was - based on the experiences with the previously designed fully automatic scale measuring machine - to develop a cheaper version for small calibration laboratories. In this case we were not restricted by the special constraints of the customer. In new version the conventional guideways were replaced by vacuum preloaded flat air bearings and the motion system by manually operated friction drive. Using the same optic an improved picture processing and evaluation algorithm was implemented. The paper includes the uncertainty budget and some results gained with the machine.


Pleomorphic adenoma usually occurs in the parotid gland or submandibular gland and rarely occurs in the sublingual gland. We describe a pleomorphic adenoma of sublingual gland in a 58-year-old man. The patient's chief complaint was a painless mass in the oral floor. The mass was elastic hard and mobile. The patient underwent excision of tumor, including the capsule, under general anesthesia. On histopathological examination, the solid lesions were found to consist of plasma cells or myoepithelial cells. Interstitial components showed myxomatous degeneration or hyalinization.


Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) hydrolyses blood lipids at the vascular endothelium. This action makes fatty acids available for tissue metabolic requirements. LPL is anchored to the endothelium by electr ...


A new hypothesis explaining the adaptive significance of bright autumn leaf colors argues that these colors signal tree quality to myrmecophilous specialist aphids. In turn, the aphids attract aphid-tending ants during the following spring, which defend the trees from other aphids and herbivores. In this context, other types of plant coloration, such as the color change observed in young and old spring leaves, may function as a signal of plant quality for aphids and other myrmecophilous hemipterans. If these plant colors are costly for plants, then vividly colorful plants would be required to invest more in growth than in defense; as a result, colorful plants may be more palatable for honeydew-producing hemipterans, such as aphids, scale insects, and treehoppers, although the relative importance of hemipterans other than aphids may be relatively low. These hemipterans may be attracted to colorful plants, after which their attendant ants would protect the plants from herbivory. However, it is necessary to examine color vision in hemipterans to support this hypothesis. Addendum to: Yamazaki K. Autumn leaf colouration: a new hypothesis involving plant−ant mutualism via aphids. Naturwissenschaften 2008; In press.


We examine the effects of liquidity, default and personal taxes on the relative yields of Treasuries and municipals using a generalized model with liquidity risk. The municipal yield model includes liquidity as a state factor. Using a unique transaction dataset, we estimate the liquidity risk of municipals and its effect on bond yields. Empirical evidence shows that municipal bond yields are strongly affected by all three factors. The effects of default and liquidity risk on municipal yields increase with maturity and credit risk. Liquidity premium accounts for about 9-13% of municipal yields for AAA bonds, 9-15% for AA/A bonds and 8-19% for BBB bonds. A substantial portion of the maturity spread between long- and short-maturity municipal bonds is attributed to the liquidity premium. Ignoring the liquidity risk effect thus results in a severe underestimation of municipal bond yields. Conditional on the effects of default and liquidity risk, we obtain implicit tax rates very close to the statutory tax rates of high-income individuals and institutional investors. Furthermore, these implicit income tax rates are quite stable across bonds of different maturities. Results show that including liquidity risk in the municipal bond pricing model helps explain the muni puzzle.


Background: One of the most significant problems in the treatment of leukemia is the expansion of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. Therefore, assessing the drug resistance and especially the drug resistance genes of leukemic cells is important in any treatment. The impact of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) and hypoxic condition have been observed in the biological performance of majority of leukemic cells. Methods: MOLT-4 cells were co-cultured with MSCs in the hypoxic condition induced by Cobalt Chloride (CoCl2) for 6 and 24 hr. Then, apoptosis of cells was analyzed using annexin-V/PI staining and expression of the drug resistance genes including MDR1, MRP, and BCRP along with apoptotic and anti-apoptotic genes, including BAX and BCL2, was evaluated by real-time PCR. Results: The hypoxic condition for MOLT-4 cells co-cultured with MSCs could significantly increase the expression of MDR1 and BCRP genes (p<0.05) which are involved in drug resistance. Also, the results indicated that this condition significantly increases the expression of BCL2 (p<0.05) and reduces the apoptosis in MOLT-4 cells co-cultured with MSCs in the hypoxic condition. Conclusion: These effects can demonstrate the important role of hypoxia and MSCs on the biological behavior of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) cells that may lead to particular treatment outcomes.


The paper presents the results of studies on the recycling of waste polymer materials foundry, in particular the analysis of the solubility of polymer plates RAKU-TOOL, used for the manufacture of foundry pattern equipment. It has been found that RAKU-TOOL WB-1404 undergoes dissolution in toluene and acetic acid and swells noticeably in nitric acid. RAKU-TOOL MB-0720 reacts with acids and xylene, but does not react with toluene. RAKU-TOOL WB-1000 reacts noticeably only with nitric acid and does not react with toluene or xylene. The results obtained can be used for further processing and return to the production of model equipment, or to other industrial products for machine-building or household purposes.


Reaction of α-chloro nitroso compounds with tetramethylallene gives rise to the formation of hitherto unknown crystalline cross-conjugated nitrone hydrochlorides 3, which can be converted into free nitrones 4 upon treatment with liquid ammonia. The reaction between 2-chloro-2-nitrosoadamantane and 3-phenyl-1,2-butadiene proceeds equally well, but with other α-chloro nitroso compounds and with other alkylallenes only complicated mixtures are obtained, which contain the corresponding nitrone hydrochlorides as judged from hydrolysis to ketone and oxime 6.


In spite of decades of research and more recent guidance by Government, bullying in schools remains a serious concern to young people and to educational practitioners. This two year qualitative study explored the meanings eight teenagers gave to bullying they had experienced, and related this to an analysis of previous research and school policies about bullying. The findings from the study revealed that bullying affected the subjectivity of young people, including how they positioned themselves and believed themselves to be positioned by others. It also found previous research and school policies focused on the behavioural aspects of bullying, neglecting the subjective meanings that it had for those who experienced it. The research findings suggested that a more open approach by adults to what bullying means to individuals, and clearer guidance to teachers on how to work with them about subjective meanings, may provide a new direction in supporting young people who have been bullied.


Purpose: One of the strategies to develop rural regions in most countries is to promote rural tourism. One of the features of rural tourism is its fragmented physical nature; therefore, in recent years, the rural tourism networks are of great concern in this regard. In most countries, the importance of rural tourism networks concept is rising. In the economy of many countries, this concept works better in tourism than other sectors. An analytic approach on rural tourism networks and its application in the development of tourism is essential. One of the most important contributions of tourism is flourishing related and marginal businesses. In the current study and based on ground theory, we attempted to analyze rural tourism networks in mountainous-valley route of Haraz rural areas.Methods: In-depth interviews and group discussions were conducted to collect data. The statistical population consisted of the tourism and related businesses and the samples were selected through the snowball effect sampling method among 216 local businesses. About 35.5 hours were spent to conduct interviews with 40 tourism businesses.Results: The most important network cooperation is found among the borrowing, manpower, information, consulting, revising, and trade.Conclusion: In general, the obtained results indicated that regarding business network cooperation, the conditions were not in good condition.


Objectives: Determine the influence of muscle mass, muscle strength, physical performance, nutritional status and certain comorbidities on the four years mortality risk of hospitalized geriatric patients. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: During hospitalization of the included geriatric patients, the determinants of sarcopenia and nutritional status were obtained. Participants: A total of 302 patients hospitalized at the geriatric department of the Saint-Elisabeth hospital in Antwerp (Belgium) from 01/08/2012 until 31/01/2013. Measurements: Muscle mass was measured using a CT scan. The muscle strength was obtained by measuring the handgrip strength using a Jamar dynamometer. The physical performance was measured by performing the SPPB. The nutritional status was surveyed by using the MNA-SF. Comorbidities were obtained through medical records. Results: The variables gender (HR= 0.609; 95% CI 0.442-0.838), nutritional status (HR= 2.953; 95% CI 1.924-4.531), muscle mass (HR= 0.443; 95% CI 0.251-0.780), muscle strength (HR= 0.215; CI 95% 0.079-0.587), physical performance (HR= 0.407; 95% CI 0.237-0.702) and heart failure (HR= 1.440; 95% CI 1.022-2.029) have been shown to be significant. Conclusion: The determinants gender, nutritional status and physical performance have the greatest prognostic value.


Memories are getting an exponential importance in our present era, and are fundamental in the definition of all the electronic systems with which we interact in our daily life. Non-volatile memory technology (NVM), represented by Flash technology, have been able to follow till now the miniaturization trend to fulfill the increasing memory density demanded by the market. However, the scaling is becoming increasingly difficult, rising their cost per byte due to the incoming technological complexity. In this context, innovative memory technologies are becoming not just an alternative, but the only possible solution to provide higher density at lower cost, better functionality and low power consumption. Phase-Change Memory (PCM) technology is considered the leading solution for the next NVM generation, combining non-volatility, scalability, bit-alterability, high write speed and read bandwidth and high cycle life endurance. However, some reliability issues remain to overcome, in order to be a valid Flash replacement in all the possible applications. In particular, retention of data at high temperature, is one of the main requirements of industrial and automotive embedded applications. This work focuses on the study of embedded Phase-Change Memories, in order to optimize the memory device and finally propose some solutions to overcome the main bottlenecks of this technology, in particular addressing automotive applications. We designed, fabricated, and tested PCM devices based on recognized and innovative structures, analyzing their advantages and disadvantages, and evaluating the scaling impact. Our reliability analysis led to the development of a characterization setup dedicated to characterize our PCM cells with pulses in the order of nanoseconds, and to the implementation of a simulation tool based on a thermoelectrical solver and on the Level Set numerical approach, to understand the different mechanisms taking place in our cells during the programming operations. In order to fulfill embedded NVM requirements, we engineered the phase-change material integrated in the PCM device with two main approaches: the stoichiometry variation and the dopants addition. We showed and explained how the data retention in GeTe based PCM devices can be enhanced increasing Te content, and how SiO2 inclusions can reduce the read voltage disturbs at high operating temperatures. Moreover, we reported the advantages on the programming power reduction of carbon doping in GST based devices. Finally, we studied the effects of Ge enrichment in GST, combined with N or C doping, integrated in state of the art PCM cells. Through the introduction of a new programming technique, we demonstrated the possibility to improve the programming speed of these devices, characterized by data retention performance among the best reported in the literature, and to reduce the drift phenomenon that affects the resistance state stability of PCM technology. We then proved, with these last results, the suitability of PCM for embedded applications.


In this paper, an adaptive neural network global fractional order fast terminal sliding mode model-free intelligent PID control strategy (termed as TDE-ANNGFOFTSMC-MFIPIDC) is proposed for the hypersonic vehicle ground thermal environment simulation test device (GTESTD). Firstly, the mathematical model of the GTESTD is transformed into an ultra-local model to ensure that the control strategy design process does not rely on the potentially inaccurate dynamic GTESTD model. Meanwhile, time delay estimation (TDE) is employed to estimate the unknown terms of the ultra-local model. Next, a global fractional-order fast terminal sliding mode surface (GFOFTSMS) is introduced to effectively reduce the estimation error generated by TDE. It also eliminates arrival time, accelerates the convergence speed of the sliding phase, guarantees finite time arrival, avoids the singularity phenomenon, and bolsters robustness. Then, as the upper bound of the disturbance error is unknown, an adaptive neural network (ANN) control is designed to approximate the upper bound of the estimation error closely and mitigate the chattering phenomenon. Furthermore, the stability of the control system and the convergence time are proven by the Lyapunov stability theorem and are calculated, respectively. Finally, simulation results are conducted to validate the efficacy of the proposed control strategy.


Abstract A new subgenus Myanmamastix subgen. n. and four new species of Rhabdomastix from Cenomanian Burmese amber were described: Rhabdomastix (Myanmamastix) asiatica subgen. and sp. n., Rhabdomastix (Myanmamastix) cretacica subgen. and sp. n., Rhabdomastix (Myanmamastix) krzeminskae subgen. and sp. n., Rhabdomastix (Myanmamastix) myanmae subgen. and sp. n. The species Rhabdomastix jarzembowskii known from Burmese amber was reclassified to the new subgenus Myanmamastix subgen. n. An analysis of the morphological structures and taxonomical differences between the representatives of Cretaceous Rhabdomastix was carried out. The manuscript presents results of original research, including the first 3D reconstruction of a Dipteran preserved as an inclusion in Burmese amber using computer microtomography.http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:79C82852-2502-4A2F-B684-CCCE10D6C525


Polycrystalline-Si thin-film transistors with a thinned channel layer have been examined. A thinner channel layer may yield a larger on-state current, due to better gate control over the entire channel region. In addition, a thinned channel layer can also reduce the source/drain bulk punch-through and thus the lateral electric field within the channel region. As a result, a 20 nm thick channel layer can significantly suppress the leakage current at relatively large negative gate voltages better than the 100 nm thick channel layer. However, a thinner channel layer would lead to more bending of the energy band at an applied gate voltage, thus enhancing the vertical electric field. Accordingly, when a channel length of 1 µm is examined, the 20 nm thick channel layer would resultantly cause a lowest leakage current (off-state current) value a half-order larger than the 100 nm thick channel layer. Hence, from the device aspect, a properly thinned channel layer, which is of 30 nm thickness here, can be employed to achieve a large on-state current without considerable degradation of the off-state leakage current, while suppressing the leakage current induced at relatively high negative gate voltages.


This paper argues that the introduction of access agreements following the establishment of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) has led to changes in the way that higher education institutions (HEIs) position themselves in the marketplace in relation to widening participation. However, the nature of these access agreements has led to obfuscation rather than clarification from the perspective of the consumer. This paper analyses OFFA's 2008 monitoring report and a sample of 20 HEIs' original 2006 and revised or updated access agreements (2008) to draw conclusions about the impact of these agreements on the notions of 'fair access' and widening participation. The authors conclude that institutions use access agreements primarily to promote enrolment to their own programmes rather than to promote HE generally. As a consequence of this marketing focus, previous differences between pre-92 and post-92 institutions in relation to widening participation and fair access are perpetuated leading to both confusion for consumers and an inequitable distribution of bursary and other support mechanisms for the poorest applicants to HE.


Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) is a form of treatment in which a patient breathes 100% oxygen at higher than normal atmospheric pressure that is greater than 1 atmosphere absolute (ATA). Higher barometric pressure is used for delivering increased concentration of oxygen dissolved in plasma. Therapy is administered by special therapeutic chambers, which may be rigid or flexible. The therapy has been used over the last four decades for several medical indications. The lack of adequate scientific validation regarding efficacy and safety of treatment led to the lack of interest of physicians in this modality of treatment. Although in the last two decades, experimental studies on animals and clinical trials have produced validated scientific evidence and this has led to a renaissance of HBO, and hyperbaric facilities now form an important part of many hospitals all over the world. The aim of this overview is to summarize the mechanism of action, indications, contraindications and possible complications of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.


Opportunities in communication satellite technology are identified and defined. Factors that tend to limit the ready availability of satellite communication to an increasingly wide group of users are evaluated. Current primary limitations on this wide utilization are the availability of frequency and/or synchronous equatorial satellite positions and the cost of individual user Earth terminals. The former could be ameliorated through the reuse of frequencies, the use of higher frequency bands, and the reduction of antenna side lobes. The latter limitation requires innovative hardware, design, careful system design, and large scale production.


This paper presents a novel compact planar filtering crossover with two paths operating at different frequencies. Such codesign circuit is equal to one conventional crossover plus two bandpass filters, which can realize circuit miniaturization. It is designed based on a multimode cross-shaped resonator that contributes to both crossover and filtering functionalities. Moreover, the resonator is shared by the two transmission paths while they are isolated with each other. Thus, compactness is obtained. For validation, the filtering crossover is implemented with one path operating at 2 GHz and the other at 2.4 GHz. The theoretical and measured results are in good agreement.


A common line of past learning environment research has involved associations between the learning environment and student outcomes (i.e. the effects of learning environment). It is one thing to advocate that teachers establish outcomes-focused learning environments, but it is important to know whether the creation of such learning environments are associated with more positive student attitudes and higher achievement. Consequently, the first aim of this article is to report our investigation of associations between emphases in outcomes-focused classroom learning environments (as assessed by the Technology-Rich Outcomes-Focused Learning Environment Inventory, TROFLEI, and the student outcomes of attitudes and achievement. Because many past learning environment studies focused on determinants of classroom environments, our study of outcomes-focused classroom environments also employed the scales of the TROFLEI as dependent variables in investigating whether differences exist in perceived learning environment, preferred learning environment and attitudes between: (a) males and females and (b) students enrolled in university-entrance examination subjects and wholly school-assessed subjects.


Linear perturbation theory is used to develop the variational equations needed to determine the sensitivities of the state at some final time with respect to all of the independent variables associated with a spacecraft trajectory model that is general enough for most applications of interest. The state vector is an augmented vector that includes the position, velocity, mass, and all other control-related variables, such as thrust magnitude and direction. The force model is general and the trajectory can have any number of impulsive and/or finite burn maneuvers. The gradient expressions depend, in part, on the system state transition matrix associated with the given state and its corresponding equations of motion. As an example, the procedure developed is applied to the numerical optimization of a multi-impulse escape trajectory from the moon.


Abstract Thin films of zinc doped aluminum antimonide (Zn:AlSb) have been dumped on glass substrate using chemical bath deposition method. The morphological, structural, as well as optical properties of deposited thin films are investigated using XRD, optical microscopy, and UV-V is spectroscopy along with four-point probe technique. The XRD results exhibit that Zn is doped in AlSb and maximum grain size has been obtained at 4% Zn-concentration. Optical micrographs of pure and zinc doped aluminum antimonide (AlSb) at different concentrations of Zn have been shown to confirm the doping by observing changes in morphology and it has been observed that optimized films of AlSb are obtained at 4% of Zn-content. The optical bandgap of Zn doped AlSb films at varying concentrations of 0%, 1%, 2%, 3% and 4% has been found to decrease with enhancement in Zn-concentration and values are measured as 1.8, 1.7, 1.6, 1.4, and 1.3 eV respectively. The sheet resistivity also depends on Zn-content and has been observed to decrease as AlSb is doped with Zn, indicating an increase in electrical conductivity. The explored results indicate a significant potential of these deposited thin films to be used in photonics, photocatalysis, and energy industry.


The study is aimed at solving the problem of convective heat transfer calculating in the tubular evaporator unit of  refrigerating container, which is  equipped with fan forced convection. The mathematical model of the problem as a differential equation that establishes the  energy conservation law  in the air cells through the surface of which its movement is carried out is given. Inthe process of the convective heat transfer around the evaporator problem calculating the link between the basic physical quantities in the air − temperature fields and velocity of its movement  was considered. Close relationship of obtained temperature values and air velocity at the outlet from evaporator unit as boundary conditions for further calculation of temperature field in the refrigerator compartment of refrigerating container was proved. Statement of the problem and its simulation wereperformed in a two-dimensional coordinate system, and software environment COMSOL Multiphysics, Femlab 3.0, Fluid Dynamics - Incompressible Navier-Stokes - Convection and Conduction was applied for its solution.  he accomplished calculations have shown that the integral temperature value  at the outlet of the evaporator unit, was calculated taking into account air velocity, which is lower than its values obtained without air movement consideration. The results of the study should be useful during the research of the convective heat transfer phenomenon in the different refrigerating devices, allow to choose evaporator and  fan capacity morereasonably under conditions of obtaining the desired cooling mode for perishable products as well asin the learning process


As for the multi-sensor target decision-making system,with the affection of the opponent and the environment,the use of D-S combination rules in dealing with high conflict information will always arrive at a counter-intuitive conclusion.In this paper,an improved evidence combination rule is proposed.Firstly,conditional Boolean algebra distance is applied to define drop-falling distance,from which drop-falling similarity is deduced.Then,the credibility of evidence,as the weight of significance in evidence combination,is defined from the drop-falling similarity.Finally,the evidences are combined according to Murphy's combination rule.Both theoretic analysis and numerical examples confirm the validity of the proposed approach and the superiority to the existing methods in combining conflicting evidences.


Inverse Ant Algorithm is an enhanced Ant Algorithm that covers real-world scenarios to avoid stagnation in finding the best path from the source to destination. This is done by incorporating rules and constraints that contributes to pheromone level concentration in the path which is the basis for its decision making on agent's choice of next move. Other modifications like path elimination rule was added to ensure that only short paths were eligible of the selection process of ants' next move as it traverses from the source to its destination. Through the path elimination rule modification the inverse ant algorithm was able to eliminate long distant paths as ants' choice for the next possible move and eventually return choices of shorter paths for the ants' selection process which the inverse ant algorithm with path elimination rule has successfully implemented which resulted to shorter best path and it avoid stagnation as rules and constraints are applied. However, even with its increase in efficiency, the current implementations uses the same pheromone concentration on the path as its initial value and agents deposit the same pheromone cost as agents traverse the path. In addition, the current implement uses the same pheromone evaporation cost overtime in each path which is not the actual defection in the real-world. In order to address this issue a modification is introduced to the current Inverse Ant Algorithm model which uses variable path rules and constraints that mimics real world scenarios in a road traffic network such as car length rules, traffic light delay rule, path speed limit rule, and path pheromone capacity rule. The enhancements made is applied to the current implementation in order to achieve reliability in implementing route optimization and to enhance its performance.


Experiment impacting explosive sample with a drop weight is a standard approach in China. Pores in explosive have a significant effect on its sensitivity under impact of a drop weight. In the experiments impacting explosive samples with a drop weight, it is difficult to observe the dynamic responding and igniting process around a poreby using a measurement approach. This work developed an approach to predict the effect of pore in explosive onsensitivity under impact with drop weight. The effect of pore in composition-B explosive on the sensitivity under impact with a drop weight was investigated by using numeral simulation in this work. Through a series of numerica lcalculation, it was found that when the sizes of pore in composition-B explosive are less than 0.3 mm, its effect on sensitivity under impact of a drop weight can be ignored. This result agrees with the experimental data. Defence Science Journal, 2013, 63(1), pp.108 -113 ,  DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj. 63.2321


Hardware support for transactional memory (HTM) is now mainstream with commercial offerings from both Intel and IBM. This new flexible hardware tool for synchronization gives opportunities to improve the performance of language-level synchronization and to simplify runtime system implementation. Our research has shown that concurrent data structure performance in GHC is limited when taking the simple but common approach of atomically updating a global mutable reference to the root of a pure-functional structure. Transactional memory (both the existing software implementation and our hybrid hardware/software implementation) shows much better performance as the core count grows. Our current work aims to further improve performance by reducing the overhead of transactional memory in GHC while still supporting such powerful high-level features as retry and orElse. In our talk we will share our benchmark results on a 72-thread Intel machine with HTM, details on how we have found HTM useful in the GHC runtime system, opportunities to explore other uses of HTM, and some lessons learned while working with GHC. ∗ This work was funded in part by the National Science Foundation under grants CCR-0963759, CCF-1116055, CCF-1337224, and CCF-1422649, and by support from the IBM Canada Centres for Advanced Studies.


N-Acetyl-l-glutamic γ-semialdehyde was enzymatically prepared in 51% yield from Nα-acetyl-l-ornithine. By the reaction with 4-benzyloxy(or methoxy)-phenylhydrazine this aldehyde was converted into N-acetyl-5-benzyloxy(or methoxy)-l-tryptophan which is known to be transformed into 5-hydroxy-l-tryptophan, a biogenetic precursor of serotonin. By this work an amino acid of l-glutamic acid family was first chemically derived to that of l-tryptophan series.


This controlled study in cirrhotic patients investigated whether two antialdosteronic steroids, spironolactone (100–200 mg/day; n=12 patient pairs) and potassium canrenoate (50–100 mg/day, n=32 patient pairs) which are reported to bind to intracellular membranes and modify cytochrome P-450, could also produce nuclear changes. The model used was the response of peripheral lymphocytes to blastogenic agents by studying lymphocyte sub-populations. No changes occurred in the B- and T-lymphocyte sub-populations or in the helper and suppressor sub-types. The response to the blastogenic agents, phytohaemagglutinin and purified protein derived from mycobacteria, did not change significantly from before entry into the study to the follow-up (18.1 ± 2.9 months). All control patients (n=44 patient pairs) had slightly greater mitogenic activity compared with patients treated with spironolactone; no difference was found when control patients were compared with patients given potassium canrenoate. The difference between spironolactone and potassium canrenoate might be due to toxicity caused by the thio group of spironolactone. Overall, however, both drugs may be regarded as safe, in terms of effects on lymphatic tissue, occurring during the course of cirrhosis.


belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." It is no wonder that Willem Visser't Hooft, the general secretary of the WCC once wrote to Nolde to describe Article 18 as "your article."5 Although For All Peoples and All Nations does an admirable job in documenting the contributions of Nolde and others who are too frequently overlooked in the histories of human rights work, the book is flawed in a number of ways. There is, for example, a kind of defensiveness in this volume about the role religious organizations did (and can still) play in advocating for a global recognition of human rights. The polemical rhetoric is at times hard to take. When Nurser suggests at one point that some of the religious figures who contributed to the UDHR have been "airbrushed out [of history] in properly Stalinist style,"6 it is hard not to flinch. Nor is the writing uniformly good. Although generally the prose is clear, Nurser is given to flights of rhetorical flourish—"the motley flotilla of Protestant denominations would transfer their crews and passengers to a single vessel"—that can only elicit groans.7 The book could also be better organized, so that the narrative thread of Nolde's status as emblem of the contribution of the ecumenical-movement churches to the foundation of the human rights regime was clearer. Nevertheless, despite these and a few other nitpicking reservations about this volume, I recommend it enthusiastically.


*Vice-President of the Division of Health Affairs, Project HOPE, Millwood, Va. †Associate Professor of Health Economics, Department of Health Administration, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va. The three preceding papers have reviewed evidence about various physician payment options and have discussed the trade-offs among them. This paper will summarize these papers in the context of a discussion of four major units of payment: procedure, case, episode, and per capita.


With the advent of a knowledge econom y era in the2 1st century,it has becom e a demand of the era and envi- ronmental developm ent for enterprise operators and managers to change their m odes of thought and behavior.Taking sustain- able developm ent as its starting point,this paper discusses and analyses enterprise operation and management under knowl- edge econom y from the following5 aspects,nam ely,enterprise green operation,diversified consum ption demands,changes in enterprise organizational mode,construction of enterprise culture and management integration.


Why Should We Analyse Convergence Using the Distribution Dynamics Approach? - Paper first received, September 2007; in final form, September 2008 The convergence hypothesis has stimulated heated debate within the growth literature. The present paper compares the two most commonly adopted empirical approaches the regression approach and the distribution dynamics approach and argues that the former fails to uncover important features of the dynamics that might characterise the convergence process. In particular, the empirical section highlights the interpretational advantages stemming from the use of stochastic kernels to capture the evolution of the entire cross-sectional income distribution. Incidentally, comparison between the results obtained from alternative sets of Italian regions suggests that the use of administrative regions may lead to ambiguous results. Keywords: Distribution Dynamics, Stochastic Kernel, -convergence, Regions JEL classification: C14; C20; O40; O52; R10


A scheme to identify deterministic linear systems from a relatively small amount of input and output data is described. Hermite functions are utilized for a modulating function which has been introduced by Loeb and Cahen. All modulating functions and their derivatives necessary to higher order systems are uniformly constructed from higher order Hermite functions.


In a recent note in the Teacher's Corner of this journal, de Jong (1999) proposed a method for computing hierarchical or fixed-order regressions in the context of latent variables. The essence of this approach is to decompose the predictor variables in the regression into orthogonal components based on a Cholesky decomposition and to regress the dependent variable on these orthogonal components. The components may be conceived of as phantom factors that do not have their own indicators. Because the idea of sequential entry of predictors in a latent variable regression framework seems generally to be unknown, the approach was developed by de Jong for latent variable regressions. However, it equally can be used for observed variable regression or path models. In this article we show that the phantom factors are unnecessary to achieve the objectives of a hierarchical regression. We give a direct approach that is equivalent to de Jong's approach.


A loop designed and built in accordance with the EuratomCEA contract concerning the Orgel project is described. The loop allows studies on radiolysis and pyrolysis of various organic products likely to be used as cooling fluids in nuclear reactors. The irradiation temperature can reach 450 deg C, the pressure 40 kg/cm?sup 2/, and the flow rate 2 m/sup 3// hour; heating is supplied by electrical resistances located on the out-of-pile circuit and by a thermo-plunger in the liquid. Previous tests were carried out on terphenyl OM2. (auth)


The Pontificia Universidad Javeriana started a process to become a healthy university in 2003. The process was defined in three phases: preparation that includes building a framework and establishing a multidisciplinary advisory team; implementation that includes


Abtract Aim: This study was conducted with the aim to determine point of view of final-year university students at Hacettepe University on gender roles regarding work life, social life, marriage and family life. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study. The questionnaire was applied to a total of 448 students including 250 females and 198 males. Results: The results of the study reveal that views of students on gender roles related to work life, social life, marriage and family life exhibit statistically significant differences among the sexes for most of the statements given. Conclusions: It was identified that male students have more traditional views on gender roles related to work and marriage life. It was identified that female and male students have more egalitarian views on gender roles related to social and family life. The results of the study are important in that views on gender roles are revealed among most university students. The finding that university students still have a traditional perspective on social gender roles indicates that universities has failed to a certain degree in achieving its goal toward educating intellectual and open-minded individuals, and it reveals the need for sensitiveness in equality of gender roles besides the acquirement of professional knowledge.


The education system in South Africa has undergone far-reaching changes since 1994. Despite the legislative and structural changes initiated to conform to the new Constitution, numerous socioeconomic challenges remain. Various education laws and education policies have emerged to ensure that a new national education system which would redress past injustices in educational provision and provide education of high quality for all learners. The South African Schools Act, 1996 strives to provide for a uniform system for the organisation, governance and funding of schools by, amongst other aims, setting uniform norms and standards for the education of learners. The making of education policy in South Africa is best described as a struggle for the achievement of a broad political symbolism that would mark the shift from apartheid to postapartheid society (Jansen, 2000: 6). Most of the education policy-making demonstrates the state's preoccupation with settling policy struggles in the political domain. In other words, many education policies are not very practical. This paper examines whether the South African Schools Act, 1996 and the new education policies contribute to the development of all our people's talents and capabilities, advance democratic transformation of society, and combat racism and sexism and all other forms of unfair discrimination Despite the noble goals for social and educational change, we must recognise that education cannot change society or on its own produce national development. Vesting such hopes in education are bound to lead to disillusionment. The role of schools should be both to assist the achievement of wider goals of social justice, equity and democracy and also to develop the intellectual abilities and social values of students.


The invention relates to a method for operation of the convertible top of a vehicle by means of moving hydraulic units. The aim of the invention is to reliably and precisely record the position of the moving hydraulic units and, thus, of the convertible top in a simple and cheap manner. The aim is achieved by fitting each hydraulic unit with a sensor in the form of a displacement transducer, whose output signals are analysed by a control unit.


Cultural wealth, correlation and
intercommunication during educational process are the live and
widely examined problems. But musical activity as the method of
correction of intercommunication system and its development is
still undiscovered area, because it has been mainly examined as the
direct way of cultural education of person. Based on the results of
research, the system of methods of musical activity was created and
the indicators of its significance were highlighted. They compose
the theoretic content of research and show its novelty. The object
of research is the intercommunication of educated subjects during
the fortepiano lessons. Aiming to disclose the correlation of
educated subjects, influenced by musical factors during the
fortepiano lessons, the hypothesis about functioning of general
intercommunication system of educated subjects, if the musical
factors stimulate its formation, was raised. Tasks of research:
description of conception of intercommunication system during the
lesson, analysis of musical factors, influencing the
intercommunication of educated subjects, examining of influence of
musical factors to correlation system of educated subjects during
the fortepiano lessons. Methods of research: Analysis and summation
of scientific and methodic literature, written inquiry, evaluation
of experience in accordance with the scale of emotional empathy,
the pupils' essays; qualitative and quantitative analysis and
summation of the research data.


Scientific and social activities from the academic world are frequently reflected in media outlets at a local, regional, national or international level, based on the interest of the news item and its target audience. Traditionally, universities have been mapped by measuring common areas such as scientific output. The current study proposes a visualization of similarities among Spanish universities through their presence in the national, regional and local press. To this end, we analyze the news published in the print media during September and October 2014 and retrieved from MyNews Online, which amounted to 27,170 news items. The results show how the geographic component is the main binding element of universities when their news are analyzed. This indicates that Spanish universities' brands usually have a strong regional character.


Groundwater is one of the most important and indispensable water resources. Groundwater consists of 40% of the total water resources utilization in Taiwan. Among 10 groundwater regions, Choushui river alluvial fan is the largest region which supplies 1.2-1.5 billion tons of water annually. The mountainous catchment located in the upstream of Choushui river alluvial fan, and Wuchi river basin, plays an important role in conveying surface and subsurface runoff to the downstream sedimentary aquifers. The purpose of the study is to estimate the annual groundwater lateral recharge from upstream mountainous area using base-flow and rainfall infiltration methods. Meanwhile, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is applied to facilitate the estimation. The monthly base-flow data of the representative stations of each basin were collected and complied. The amount of groundwater recharge were obtained by multiplying the estimated annual base-flow (m/yr) with the corresponding catchment area (m 2 ). The total lateral recharge estimated from upper mountainous areas was 10.85 10 9 m 3 /yr where Wuchi river and Choushui river basins comprised 0.273 (25.2%) and 0.812 (74.8%) billion ton/year, respectively. These results are similar to those estimated by O 18 isotopic analysis where 22% and 78% were from the Wuchi river and Choushui river basins, respectively. Moreover, the estimate amount using C 14 of the lateral flow in the upstream Choushui river alluvial fan was 0.83 billion ton/year, which is close to our estimation. Groundwater recharged from rainfall infiltration was estimated based on precipitation, evaporation, land use, soil types. The total groundwater recharge obtained by the rainfall infiltration method from upper mountainous area is 1.064 billion ton/year, which is close to 1.085 billion ton/year by the base-flow method. These results provide reliable data of the input of boundary conditions for the modeling of subsurface groundwater flow model.


Multivalent‐ion batteries are emerging as low‐cost, high energy density, and safe alternatives to Li‐ion batteries but are challenged by slow cation diffusion in electrode materials due to the high polarization strength of Mg‐ and Al‐ions. In contrast, Ca‐ion has a low polarization strength similar to that of Li‐ion, therefore a Ca‐ion battery will share the advantages while avoiding the kinetics issues related to multivalent batteries. However, there is no battery known that utilizes the Ca‐ion chemistry due to the limited success in Ca‐ion storage materials. Here, a safe and low‐cost aqueous Ca‐ion battery based on a highly reversible polyimide anode and a high‐potential open framework copper hexacyanoferrate cathode is demonstrated. The prototype cell shows a stable capacity and high efficiency at both high and low current rates, with an 88% capacity retention and an average 99% coloumbic efficiency after cycling at 10C for 1000 cycles. The Ca‐ion storage mechanism for both electrodes as well as the origin of the fast kinetics have been investigated. Additional comparison with a Mg‐ion cell with identical electrodes reveals clear kinetics advantages for the Ca‐ion system, which is explained by the smaller ionic radii and more facile desolvation of hydrated Ca‐ions.


The hardware structure of college students physical activity energy monitor has been designed through the design method of electronic circuit consists of microprocessor module, 3D acceleration sensor module, temperature sensor module, a pulse sensor module, the large capacity memory module, USB interface module, keyboard and LCD display module, the wireless signal transmission module, etc.


Some mechanical designs usually found in amine plants that have been found to be the cause of corrosion are presented.


Arterial pseudoaneurysms and arteriovenous fistulas of intracranial and extracranial vessels are an uncommon occurrence following blunt and penetrating trauma and are commonly treated by vessel sacrifice,dependent on collateral flow1‐3. Others have treated these cases with covered stents4 and flow diversion5. Advances in flow diversion technology have led to their use in other pathologies, including carotid cavernous fistulas6 and vertebral artery pseudoaneurysms7. We present a case of a traumatic arteriovenous fistula of the dominant vertebral artery requiring vessel preservation and reconstruction.

 A 42‐year‐old male presented with a gunshot wound to the face below the right eye. Trauma imaging identified fractures of the right maxillary sinus and orbital floor. CTA of the head/neck showed a dominant right vertebral artery dissection and pseudoaneurysm with a non‐dominant left vertebral artery (VA), effectively ending in PICA.

 Due to the inefficient supply to the posterior circulation via the left VA, the decision was made to preserve and reconstruct the right VA and the patient was brought to the angiography suite. Angiographically, the patient was noted to have retrograde filling of the posterior circulation, basilar and right VA through the anterior circulation in injection of both ICAs, suggesting decreased antegrade flow from the injured right VA. The right VA was catheterized which showed a high‐flow, high‐grade arteriovenous fistula from the V3 segment with venous drainage into multiple extraspinal cervical and epidural cervical veins. This also identified the fistulous point at the location of the pseudoaneurysm on CTA. The diagnostic catheter was exchanged for a guide catheter, and a Phenom 27 microcatheter (Medtronic; Minneapolis, MN) was navigated into the basilar artery. A Duo microcatheter (Microvention; Aliso Viejo, CA)/Synchro 2 (Stryker; Kalamazoo, MI) standard microwire complex was used to identify the fistulous point and positioned for jailing. A Pipeline Flex 4.75×20mm (Medtronic; Minneapolis, MN) was deployed from the proximal V4 segment across the pseudoaneurysm with persistence of the AVF. A second Pipeline Flex 5×20mm was placed in telescoping fashion with persistence of the AVF. A third Pipeline Flex 5×16mm was placed in telescoping fashion and flow diversion was observed. Using the jailed catheter, the pseudoaneurysm and fistulous point were coil embolized using a combination of helical and 3D HydroSoft coils (Microvention; Aliso Viejo, CA) of varying sizes. Final angiogram demonstrated resolution of the high‐flow AVF, improvement of antegrade flow through the right vertebral artery, and a slow‐flow low‐grade fistulous communication with the posterior extraspinal cervical veins. There were no thromboembolic complications and the patient recovered well from the procedure. Follow‐up angiography at 2 months post‐treatment showed obliteration of the AVF with a small remnant pseudoaneurysm of the right V3 segment.

 Flow diversion is viable in the setting of a traumatic arteriovenous fistula requiring reconstruction of the parent vessel.


The opening article in this issue addresses the emergence of music video production in Papua New Guinea over the last five years and its relation to notions of both national and cultural
independence and the representation of tradition.


The proposed system investigate changed spaces, spoke to by picture illuminant maps to propose a techniques for selecting complementary forms of characterizing visual properties for an effective and automated detection of image forgeries. In this concentrate on recognizing picture phonies containing individuals and display a technique for finding the imitation, particularly the face of a man in a picture. Tests performed on three diverse open-get to datasets demonstrate the capability of the proposed technique for pinpointing picture phonies containing individuals. In the two first datasets (DSO-1 and DSI-1), the proposed technique accomplished a grouping exactness of 94% and 84%, individually, a momentous change when contrasted and the state ofthe-workmanship techniques. At long last, while assessing the third dataset involving addressed pictures downloaded from the Internet, like wise present a point by point investigation of target pictures. Keyword: Digital forensics, splicing detection, image descriptors, forgery, tampered image, image splicing


There are a large number of cameras distributed throughout smart cities. As amount as the number of cameras increases, a huge streaming workload is produced. Although Fog computing has been used to reduce latency and jitter, Gateways IoT are unable to identify whether the data produced is invalid or absent, affecting the quality of service. Therefore, this paper presents an analysis of gap filling algorithms to smart surveillance environment. Our study shows that it is possible to maximize the accuracy of data imputation. Performance evaluation shows significant improvements in the imputation of missing data using Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA), increasing the accuracy in the estimation of the Streaming video, and thus improving the quality of service.


The role of the custodian is changing. Tasks such as fund accounting, tax reporting and corporate actions have been provided to funds as a commodity service. But as funds have grown, their investment operations have changed. Much of the custody core remains the same, but how are custodians adding value and differentiating themselves in 2012? These issues were discussed at a Melbourne roundtable, comprising custodians, fund managers and consultants, and sponsored by National Australia Bank. Here is an edited transcript of that discussion, which was moderated by Investment Magazine's Lachlan Colquhoun.


In this study, Don't Know/Not Applicable (DK/NA) responses on a measure of academic behaviors associated with college readiness for high school students were treated with: (a) casewise deletion, (b) scale inclusion at the lowest level, and (c) imputation using E/M algorithm. Significant differences in mean responses according to treatment method resulted. Comparisons of survey completers and noncompleters revealed first generation students have a significantly higher number of DK/NA responses. Results indicate a potential external validity threat in treating DK/NA responses with casewise deletion or imputation because noncompleters would be removed or reduced, and the unique needs of first generation students could be overlooked. Findings support scale inclusion at the lowest level as the most appropriate treatment of nonresponse items. Treatment of Nonresponse Items on Scale Validation 3 Treatment of Nonresponse Items on Scale Validation: What "Don't Know" Responses Indicate about College Readiness Unprepared high school graduates are enrolling in postsecondary school in increasing rates, which is particularly evident with the number of college freshmen requiring remedial education ranging between 30% and 60% (NCES, 2004). Typical measures of college readiness include college admissions and placement test scores, grade point averages, high school achievement exam scores, and academic rigor of high school courses. While some studies have demonstrated predictive validity of college admissions and high school achievement tests to college grade point average (Camara & Echternacht, 2000; Cimetta, D'Agostino, & Levin, 2010; Coelen & Berger, 2006; McGee, 2003; Noble & Camara, 2003), some of these commonly used college readiness indicators have shown a lack of alignment between high school academic content and the necessary knowledge and skills pertinent for postsecondary success (Achieve, Inc., 2006; Brown & Conley, 2007; Brown & Niemi, 2007; Conley, 2003). Clearly, the current and most commonly used indicators of college and career readiness are not measuring all of the knowledge and skills needed for postsecondary success. According to Conley (2010), comprehensive college and career readiness involves student awareness and planning around key areas such as cognitive strategies, content knowledge, academic behaviors, and contextual skills. This growing body of research on what it takes to not only enroll but succeed in postsecondary settings has lead to the development of new measures of the knowledge and skills necessary for postsecondary success (Conley, Lombardi, Seburn, & McGaughy, 2009; Conley, McGaughy, Kirtner, van der Valk, & Martinez, Wenzl, 2010; Lombardi, Seburn, & Conley, in press). This comprehensive model of college and career readiness is shown in Figure 1. Treatment of Nonresponse Items on Scale Validation 4 <insert Figure 1> Key cognitive strategies are the intentional behaviors that enable students to learn, understand, retain, use, and apply content from a range of disciplines, and include the ability to make inferences, interpret results, analyze conflicting source documents, support arguments with evidence, reach conclusions, communicate explanations based on synthesized sources, and think critically about what they are being taught (Conley, 2003, 2005, 2010; National Research Council, 2002). Key content knowledge is the foundational subject-specific content, including overarching reading and writing skills, and core academic subject area knowledge and skills, including English/language arts, mathematics, science, social sciences, world languages, and the arts. Contextual skills and awareness refers to college admissions, financial aid processes, and general understanding college culture. Finally, academic behaviors are self-monitoring and study skills that encompass attitudes and habits necessary for success in college courses. High school students are not typically assessed in academic behaviors. In fact, of the four model dimensions, high school students are perhaps the least likely to be assessed in academic behaviors despite prior evidence that shows students with good academic behaviors tend to fare well in postsecondary settings (Reid & Moore, 2008; Watt, Johnston, Huerta, Mediola, & Alkan, 2008). These behaviors are not specific to content area. Students who exhibit these behaviors are better equipped to translate their intellectual capabilities in school settings (Zimmerman, 2002). Examples include the ability to self-monitor, manage time, take notes, set goals, persevere in the face of obstacles, collaborate, self-evaluate, and self-advocate (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000; Conley, 2007). Evidence shows students who participated in structured study skills programs during high school reported feeling confident in their abilities to Treatment of Nonresponse Items on Scale Validation 5 manage college coursework (Watt et al., 2008). Further, individuals raised outside of a collegebound cultural or social capital network, such as low-income and underrepresented students, must rely more heavily on their high schools for college preparation (Gandara & Bial, 2001; McDonough, 2004; Plank & Jordan, 2001; Venezia, Kirst, & Antonia, 2003). Schools can increase access to college by providing skill-building instruction that promotes academic behaviors (Watt et al., 2008). In light of the evidence supporting positive associations between academic behaviors and better college student preparation, we may infer that students who are less aware of academic behaviors are less "college ready". Measuring academic behaviors associated with college readiness entails careful consideration in treating Don't Know/Not Applicable (DK/NA) responses, or nonresponse items. Some recommended missing data treatment methods may be inappropriate. To ignore, impute, or delete these responses is a potential validity threat; students who respond DK/NA show the lowest level of awareness of academic behaviors associated with college readiness. Mistreatment of DK/NA responses may lead to incorrect assumptions and interpretations about college and career readiness behaviors. Missing Data and "Don't Know" Responses In social science research, item nonresponse, or "Don't know" (DK) responses, are sometimes correlated with respondent characteristics such as gender, age, and socioeconomic status (Francis & Busch, 1975). Specifically in regards to attitudinal surveys, females are more likely to provide a DK response, findings proven as stable over time and across age range and education levels (Rapoport, 1981; 1982). Findings of this nature support the conclusion that DK responses should not be treated as "missing" or blank responses; these responses represent important and reliable data (Rapoport, 1982). As such, appropriate treatment of nonresponse Treatment of Nonresponse Items on Scale Validation 6 items is especially important for study implications, particularly when examining group differences. In more recent studies, item nonresponse in demographic and test score data were treated with casewise deletion and imputation (Schafer & Graham, 2002; van Ginkel, Sijtsma, van der Ark, & Vermunt, 2010; Winglee, Kalton, Rust, & Kaspryzk, 2001). Particularly with casewise deletion, reduction or elimination of student populations with unique needs represented in the sample is a concern (van Ginkel et al., 2010). More sophisticated imputation methods are proven better alternatives to casewise deletion (Schafer & Graham, 2002; van Ginkel et al., 2010; Winglee et al., 2001). van Ginkel et al (2010) defined four categories of missing data where the application of imputation methods is appropriate: (a) item nonresponse, where one or more item responses are left blank, (b) unit nonresponse, where the participant refuses to complete an entire section or more of the instrument, (c) attrition, when participants drop out of a longitudinal, repeated-measures study, and (d) planned missingness, where the researcher intentionally does not administer all sections of the instrument for certain reasons (e.g. limited time). Importantly, these categories address the use of imputed values for items left blank by the respondent. In this study, we did not focus on blank items; but instead on those where the respondent provided a don't know/not applicable response. As such, we were concerned that imputed values may not adequately represent DK/NA. In measuring academic behaviors associated with college readiness, DK/NA is an indicator of the lowest level of awareness. If treated with imputation, the low level of awareness may not be adequately represented and student variability may be reduced. The purpose of this study was to determine the most appropriate treatment of item nonresponses on a measure of academic behaviors associated with college readiness. Due to the Treatment of Nonresponse Items on Scale Validation 7 nature of the measure, we hypothesized the optimal treatment method was to include the DK/NA responses as the lowest scale level, coded as "0". Thus, we sought to address the following study objectives: (a) compare mean scores using three treatment methods, (b) examine group comparisons based on demographic characteristics and students with complete and incomplete response patterns, and (c) examine score means between groups using three treatment methods.


Nowadays dolphin-assisted therapy is a method of animal-assisted therapy without a standardized form of conduction and effectiveness assessment. In this paper, a literature review performed on the topic of the effects, impact mechanisms and application area of animal-assisted therapy with dolphins. There is numerous evidence that participation of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in dolphin therapy leads to a decrease in stereotypic behavior, increased concentration, improved speech skills, and stabilization of the emotional state. Nevertheless, in most cases, these results are inconclusive, due to poor control of the influence of side factors. The analysis resulted in the study design of the dolphin-assisted therapy effects on children with ASD, as well as evaluation methods, considering previous research experience and existing criticism of previous findings. The article also includes the hypotheses, goals and objectives description of an upcoming pilot study of the use of directed animal therapy with dolphins.


The onset, the spread, and the outcome of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020 in Italy has been characterized by multiple socio-territorial factors that can help to read the pandemic evolution from different points of views. This paper has a special focus on statistical significative aspects emerged in a multidisciplinary research of the University of Bergamo that has the aims to identify some factors of contemporary urban and mobile living, which favored the spread and propagation of COVID-19 in Italy. We describe the methods used and the results obtained to describe the severity of the impact of COVID-19 epidemic in the first months of its spread in Italy, and in particular in its epicenter, the Bergamo province. We aim also, on the one hand, to integrate and validate different information from various sources of territorial data, and, on the other hand, to provide a measure of the severity of the impact of COVID-19 epidemic on the territories of the area of Bergamo, Italy.


The aim of this study is to examine experiences of placements in foster care, with the main focus on relations and the importance of the foster family. The study is based on the qualitative, hermeneutic approach with a thematic analysis made on the answers of the participants' written accounts. The participants consisted of persons with different experiences of foster care, either they had previously been placed in out of home care, or they worked as social workers. The themes that seemed to characterize experiences of placements in foster care was family life, emotions and development, which to a great extend also depended on the attitudes of the parties involved. These are factors which appeared to affect both how successful the placement become, and whether a relationship arises between the foster home and the person placed in foster care. Based on these results it can be concluded that placements in foster care are complex and include various factors. As the placements outcome seems influenced by the attitudes of the parties concerned, it is important to work towards ensuring that all concerned are positive and that the person who is placed receive help, in order to be able to benefit from the care offered from the foster family and emotionally embrace them.


This paper proposes a methodology to estimate the disturbing noise of input/output measurements of slowly time-varying systems excited by multisines. This method circumvents the need of repeated measurements, which are, for time-varying systems, usually difficult to execute. An estimation of the disturbing noise is mandatory when identifying dynamic systems within an errors-in-variables framework The discussed noise model is intended for system identification performed in the frequency domain, in which case a non-parametric noise model is easily implemented. The noise model is estimated independently of the parameters of the time-varying system under consideration.


This paper explains the algorithm of Modified Roaming Optimization (MRO) for capturing the multiple optima for multimodal functions. There are some similarities between the Roaming Optimization (RO) and MRO algorithms, but the MRO algorithm is created to overcome the problems facing while applying the RO to the problems possessing large number of solutions. The MRO mainly uses the concept of density to overcome the challenges posed by RO. The algorithm is tested with standard test functions and also discussions are made to improve the efficacy of the MRO algorithm. This paper also gives the results of MRO applied for solving Inverse Kinematics (IK) problem for SCARA and PUMA robots.


Recently, the chronical traffic congestion and the environmental pollution have increased in the main cities of the world. The introduction of the railway system which enables stable and mass transit has been requested strongly as a countermeasure against these problems. The railway system function depends on the integration of various kinds of technologies. Therefore, it is essential for the consultants to make an effort to provide the excellent consulting services which are suitable for the local conditions through planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance in both software and hardware, so that the project becomes an economical one in respect of both construction and management.


I. INTRODUCTION Every year before April 15th, Americans take time out of their busy schedules to fulfill their duty to pay income tax. (1) The average American dislikes this time of year because the tax return process is complex, costly, and anxiety-provoking. (2) The United States government taxes individuals based on their income, which equates to consumption plus changes in wealth. (3) The concept sounds simple, but the process is not. With hundreds of filing forms to decide among, (4) those taxpayers who cannot understand the process may feel compelled to seek paid, professional help by visiting a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or a tax preparation provider, such as H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt. (5) As technology has improved, new online tax services have launched, and the task of filling out tax returns has become less burdensome. (6) For example, the popular software package "TurboTax" provides a computerized, step-by-step process for filling out tax returns and then offers the option to "e-file." (7) Customers are drawn to TurboTax because of its ease and convenience. (8) Understandably, a constant demand exists for user-friendly computer programs that make complex tax filing processes simpler. However, companies with profit incentives are not the only entities that realize this--the government is also stepping into the arena. Recently, the California Franchise Tax Board instituted an online tax filing process called "ReadyReturn" that sidesteps commercial tax preparers and software providers by enabling taxpayers to e-file their California income taxes using income and tax liability information pre-calculated by the state." (9) This Note posits that the federal government, via the IRS, should offer an equivalent of ReadyReturn to federal income tax fliers. It begins by reviewing ReadyReturn's development in California and explaining its operation within the state. It continues by examining whether ReadyReturn can be applied at the federal level and analyzing the legal implications of such a government-run tax-filing scheme. In evaluating ReadyReturn's pros and cons, the Note concludes that a national implementation of ReadyReturn would benefit both taxpayers and government in improved efficiency and compliance. II. HISTORY OF READYRETURN ReadyReturn has been a controversial proposition since its conception. The idea of a federally funded tax return program has garnered support from both the Democratic and Republican parties, (10) but simultaneously has battled some nonpartisan opposition. (11) Not surprisingly, one of its most strident opponents is Intuit, the manufacturer of TurboTax. (12) After successful pilot programs in 2004 and 2005, California was ready to implement ReadyReturn, but was sidelined by Intuit's attempts to block it. (13) The TurboTax developer spent a million dollars on lobbying efforts. (14) At first, the legislature ceded to Intuit's pressure and let the program die. (15) Subsequently, however, outgoing State Controller Steve Westly and his successor, John Chiang, recognized that the California Franchise Tax Board ("FTB") had the authority to effectuate the tax program on its own. (16) Stanford Law Professor Joseph Bankman, (17) a strong supporter of ReadyReturn, (18) helped diminish Intuit's influence by investing $30,000 of his own money to hire a business lobbyist. (19) Finally, on December 4, 2006, the FTB decided unilaterally to move forward with ReadyReturn despite legislative uncertainty. (20) III. READYRETURN IN CALIFORNIA The FTB introduced ReadyReturn to its taxpayers as a pilot program in 2005 and made it fully available in 2008 for the 2007 taxable year. (21) The program's objective, in shifting the majority of tax preparation work from the taxpayer to the government, was to alleviate the burden of filing taxes. (22) ReadyReturn uses information about the taxpayer already available to the state to generate a pre-filled tax return for the taxable year, which the taxpayer then must approve and submit. …


The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Benevolence, Integrity, and Ability on trust in supervisors in Karachi, Pakistan. To perform this research, a quantitative study was conducted and a structured questionnaire was designed and distributed among the 300 employees in the manufacturing industry. The findings of this research are to discover the relationship between benevolence, integrity, and the ability to trust a supervisor. This is academic research and is conducted in Karachi, Pakistan. This research is done to find out the trustworthiness attribute that is most important and effective to predict employee trust in the supervisor. Supervisors should have trustworthiness attributes such as benevolence, integrity, and the ability to gain employees' trust and decrease the anxiety and avoidance of employees at work.


It is becoming increasingly apparent that without some form of explanation capability, the full potential of trained Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) may not be realised. The primary purpose of this report is to survey techniques which have been developed to redress this situation. Specifically the survey focuses on mechanisms, procedures, and algorithms designed to insert knowledge into ANNs (knowledge initialisation), extract rules from trained ANNs (rule extraction), and utilise ANNs to refine existing rule bases (rule refinement). The survey also introduces a new taxonomy for classifying the various techniques, discusses their modus operandi, and delineates criteria for evaluating their efficacy. An additional facet of the report is a comparative evaluation of the performance of a set of techniques developed at the NeuroComputing Research Centre at the QUT to extract knowledge from trained ANNs as a set of symbolic rules.


Clonal mutations accrue with age and 20% of the elderly have dominant clonal hematopoiesis. Mutations to demethylating enzymes (including Tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2, TET2) are common in these patients and loss of functional TET2 in mature myeloid cells increases pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion (such as interleukin 6, IL-6) leading to immune cell dysfunction. Our group investigated the impact of TET2 mutations in immune cells and effects of altered hematopoiesis on non-mutated cells in chimeric mouse models. We utilized an MxCre x Tet2fl/fl mouse model on a CD45.1 background. After polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid excision, bone marrow was collected and transplanted retro-orbitally into CD45.1/CD45.2 hosts. Peripheral blood was analyzed at 8-, 14-, 18-, and 24-weeks using flow cytometry to test for engraftment of Tet2−/− cells. Mice were taken down and marrow, spleen, and mediastinal lymph nodes (medLN) were analyzed at 18- and 24-weeks of age.
 We saw increases by frequency and counts of TET2−/− cDCs in the spleen and medLNs along with reduced production of host cDCs. Specifically, there was a slight increase in TET2−/− cDC1s and frequency of mutant cDC2s was three times greater than host, indicating host cDCs are being outcompeted. Loss of Hdac2 acylation in TET2−/− cDCs causes sustained production of IL-6, influencing Th17 and Tfh cell production and inflammatory cytokine secretion. This suggests cDCs play a role in disease progression and altering immune response. Mutant and disease-exposed cDCs are being explored using scRNAseq and ATACseq in combination with functional assays to determine gene regulatory networks governing mutant pro-inflammatory mechanisms and consequences in the education of adaptive immunity.


Racemic benzylic ethers undergo intramolecular SN2-type alkylation in the presence of a TRIP phosphoric acid catalyst to give tetrahydrofuran derivatives with excellent enantioselectivity.


Defined as a skeletal disorder characterized by decreased bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration, reducing the quality of bone and therefore, increases and fractures, osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease of the elderly, affecting both sexes, producing significant impact on quality of life and survival of these individuals. There are several risk factors for osteoporosis enumerated by the specialized literature, as highlighted to heredity (presence of osteoporosis or osteoporotic fracture between the ancestors and the side), older age, against early menopause and Asians and white. It should be noted that women, compared to men, have four times more likely to have osteoporosis. The individuals of Asian origin are twice as likely to develop this disease, when compared to the Caucasian and four times more than the blacks individuals. The absorption of calcium declines with age, leaving the individual more susceptible to osteoporosis. However, the problem of calcium deficiency in osteoporotic patients can be corrected by the administration of vitamin D, which facilitates calcium absorption. Therefore, the elderly should be advised to have an adequate diet rich in calcium, which undoubtedly contribute to the prevention of osteoporosis and in promoting quality of life. At this stage of life, to achieve good health, the best way is a diversified power, which is inside a balanced diet with the correct levels of calcium and vitamin D.


In this paper by means of orthogonal array design,the effect cf ethanol concentration,time,ratio of solid to liquid and temperature on the extraction rate of Zizyphus Jujuba pit total saponins was discussed.The total saponins content was analyzed by colorimetric method.The optimal parameters for extracting total saponins of Zizyphus Jujuba pit at 0.91% is were as follows: ethanol concentration 70% and ratio of solid to liquid 1:15 by the 2 h extraction at 70℃.


Background/Aims: Multifidus muscle is an important contributor to low back pain as it atrophies and is inhibited during the first episode of low back pain. This study aims to compare the effectiveness of lumbar stabilisation exercise with treadmill walking on multifidus muscle activation, pain intensity and functional disability among people with chronic mechanical low back pain. Methods: Individuals with chronic mechanical low back pain were randomised into two groups: Group 1 (n=25) performed lumbar stabilisation exercises following the McGill protocol; and Group 2 (n=25) followed the modified Bruce treadmill walking protocol. Participants walked or exercised three times a week for 8 weeks. Pain intensity (measured using a visual analogue scale), functional disability (using the Oswestry Disability Index Questionnaire) and amplitude of multifidus muscle activation (using a surface electromyography machine) were assessed at baseline and at the end of week 8. Data were analysed using descriptive statistic...


INTRODUCTION The myleproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are a closely related group of clonal stem cell hematologic blood disorders characterized by an increase in one or more cell lines of the bone marrow. The proliferation of red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs) or platelets is usually mature in morphology. The MPNs have overlapping clinical features but different etiologies. The original name of these disorders was the myeloid proliferative disorders or MPDs proposed by William Damashek in 1951;1 they were renamed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2008 to "myeloproliferative neoplasms"2 due to new findings. The 2008 WHO classification of MPNs has added new entities, including chronic myelogenous leukemia, Philadelphia chromosome-positive (CML); chronic neutrophilic leukemia (CNL); polycythemia vera (PV); primary myelofibrosis (PMF); essential thrombocythemia (ET); chronic eosinophilic leukemia, not otherwise specified (CEL/NOS); mastocytosis; and myeloproliferative neoplasm, unclassifiable (MPN-U). The identification of numerous molecular mutations such as the "breakpoint cluster region/Abelson fusion 1 (BCR/ABL1) mutation, Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) mutation, (JAK2), myeloproliferative leukemia virus oncogene homolog (MPL) and others,, has contributed to the further understanding of the genetic complexity of the MPNs. The current classification of the MPNs is based on clinical presentation, pathologic descriptions, histological information, and genetic mutations. The genetic mutations or molecular markers have become essential for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of these disorders. The MPNs are characterized by a hypercellular bone marrow due to unregulated cell proliferation. Usually one cell line is increased, but all may be elevated. The classification is based on which cell line is…


The CPSU's policy of accelerating our nation's social and economic development, a policy approved by the Twenty-seventh Party Congress, is making increasing demands on socialist labor discipline. Its further strengthening in all links and at all levels of the national economy is an important condition to the successful development of Soviet society. The Political Report to the Twenty-seventh CPSU Congress noted the need for the maximum mobilization of all our reserves for economic growth, particularly those that do not require large expenditures but that produce an early and appreciable effect; among them is the strengthening of organization and discipline.


BULLARD, R. L. Education in Cuba. Educa. R. 39:378-84. (Ap. 'Io.) BURGERSTEIN, LEO. Co-education and hygiene with special reference to European experience and views. Pedagog. Sem. 17:1-15. (Mr. 'io.) The main problems of schoolroom sanitation and school work. Pedagog. Sem. I7:I6-28. (Mr. 'io.) . Some remarks on the relations of body and mind. Pedagog. Sem. 17:29-39. (Mr. 'io.) CLIPPENGER, WALTER G. Some vitalizing aspects of modern education. Relig. Educa. 5:67-78. (Ap. 'io.)