One in 13 homes in Britain is unfit for human habitation and another one in six needs urgent repairs, says a report from the National Housing Forum published this week. The report, which draws on government statistics, focuses on Britain's 19 million private homes and says that at least pounds sterling 70bn is needed to bring properties up to the standard expected by building societies for mortgage purposes. The rate of clearance of old properties is so slow - one in four is over 80 years old - that most houses will still be standing in the year 3000.

The National Housing Forum, which represents charities, local government groups, and professional …


In order to research the uniformity and volatility of thermostatic bath used on electronic thermometer verification, a method based on thermostat technical performance specifications is presented. Including the introduction of calibration device, the choice of standard device and experiment method. In the end the uncertainty analysis on the measurement of thermostatic bath uniformity and volatility is made. Experiment results show that the uniformity and volatility of this thermostatic bath are 0.0091°C and 0.0087°C/10min with the measurement uncertainty of 0.018°C, The results meet the requirements of electronic thermometer verification. It provides guarantee for the next electronic thermometer verification.


The present study investigates the failure mechanisms of industrial fiber materials 13 a custom designed fiber cutting performance test bench. The fracture morpholog 14 fibers are examined by scanning electron microscopy. The analysis reveals that fiber cutting can be 15 distinguished according to four distinct stages of fiber failure represented by shearing, cutting, 16 brittle fracture, and tensile failure, 17 processes of crack initiation, extension and fracture. The results of fractographic analysis are 18 further verified by an analysis of the blade assembly speed with respect to time over the entire 19 fracture failure process based on high 20 blade assembly speed are fully consistent. 21


Knowledge distillation has been widely adopted in a variety of tasks and has achieved remarkable successes. Since its inception, many researchers have been intrigued by the dark knowledge hidden in the outputs of the teacher model. Recently, a study has demonstrated that knowledge distillation and label smoothing can be unified as learning from soft labels. Consequently, how to measure the effectiveness of the soft labels becomes an important question. Most existing theories have stringent constraints on the teacher model or data distribution, and many assumptions imply that the soft labels are close to the ground-truth labels. This paper studies whether biased soft labels are still effective. We present two more comprehensive indicators to measure the effectiveness of such soft labels. Based on the two indicators, we give sufficient conditions to ensure biased soft label based learners are classifier-consistent and ERM learnable. The theory is applied to three weakly-supervised frameworks. Experimental results validate that biased soft labels can also teach good students, which corroborates the soundness of the theory.


Resumen en: We summarize the present status of our knowledge of the millimeter galaxy population derived from extensive (sub-) millimeter extragalactic surveys like ...


This paper emphasizes the necessity of interdisciplinary approach and suggests three basic viewpoints: absolute value-based perspective (AVBP), symbiotic value-based perspective (SVBP), virtue value-based perspective (VVBP) to understand the relationship between religion and communication in a modern society with cross-culture and diversity. The perspective centered on absolute value, inside-out sight, is one that is based on religion's unique identity and applies it to non-religious phenomena. The main concept is the absolute proposition execution of religion's absolute values.The perspective centered on symbiotic value, outside-in sight, is one that is based on non-religious, general, common ethicality and connects it to execution of the essential purpose of religion. The macro-proposition execution of symbiotic values is emphasized.The perspective centered virtue value, human-based insight, is based on human character, the original target of insight in religion, and attempts to connect this to the execution of religion's fundamental meaning. The main concept is the anthropocentric proposition execution of virtue values. Ultimately, when we consider modern society as an overlapping community where multiple cultures and religions coexist and globalization and localization run parallel, for religion to meaningfully affect human communication, each religion should preserve its identity, but effort from each religion to realistically apply this identity to create a general value for symbiotic coexistence is needed. Also, this paper suggests that the process of social execution should ultimately be understood and progressed within a broad viewpoint considering the good nature of humans reflected by the essence of religion.


Production-function analysis is applied to data from a spacing research carried out for a hybrid of Eucalyptusurophylla S.T. Blake in Brazil. A logarithmic –reciprocal equation is chosen as the bes...


"Destruction was my Beatrice!" proclaimed Stephane Mallarme who preferred sonnets to cantos. His sometime disciple, Andre Gide-who similarly eliminated the explicit and therefore the superfluous in creating his finest works-wrote to Jacques Copeau that only craftsmanship mattered and that his only aspiration was to be a worthy artisan. In his preface to The Immoralist, Gide insisted that he sought to prove nothing, only to paint well and to give his painting proper lighting. For the many admirers of that carefully balanced narrative the opening lines of Strait is the Gate have been more than a little disconcerting:


In a seminal article written more than a decade ago,1 Thomas Wälde and George Ndi argued that generous promises were being made to investors in energy projects by host governments which would not stand the test of time. The large number of energy cases that are currently pending before international tribunals may seem to confirm their doubts. However, there are grounds for taking a more positive view of the legal framework for energy investor protection. The legal mesh that surrounds investments is now usually a complex, multi-tiered one that – as the Duke Energy case illustrates – can involve the legal doctrine of the host state in ways that assist the investor's case. The framework of international investment agreements by and large appears to be one that shows a trend to contributing more to that sense of stability. Perhaps ironically, it has nonetheless underlined the continuing importance of the traditional mechanism, the stabilisation clause.


Doctors have found that priming the peritoneal area with small pieces of ovarian tissue to stimulate the growth of blood vessels before transplanting a frozen ovary can help to restore ovarian function and improve the chances of pregnancy.

One woman, who had been menopausal for two years, has had a baby after having the two step procedure. Another woman, who had lost ovarian function for eight and a half years, is pregnant.

Pascal Piver, manager of the in vitro fertilisation centre at Limoges University Hospital in France, described the procedure at a meeting of the European Society of …


1. The Life Model, Oppression, Vulnerability and Resilience, Mutual Aid, and the Mediating Function, by Alex Gitterman & Lawrence Shulman 2. Group Work Method, by Lawrence Shulman 3. Group Formation: Tasks, Methods and Skills, by Alex Gitterman 4. Healing Hearts: A Bereavement Group for Children, by Carolyn Knight 5. When the World No Longer Feels Safe: Helping Children through Mutual Aid, by Maxine Lynn and Danielle Nisivoccia 6. Pre-teens in Double Jeopardy: Supporting Developmental Growth Through a Natural Friendship Group, by Carol Irizarry and Yetta H. Appel 7. Listen to Us!: Young Adolescents in Urban Schools, by Lois Levinsky and Kathleen McAleer 8. Sharing the Hurt: Adolescents in a Residential Setting, by Alice Schaeefer Nadelman 9. No One is Alone: Groups During the Aids Pandemic, by George S. Getzel 10. Persons with AIDS in Substance Abusing Recovery: Managing the Interaction Between the Two, by Lawrence Shulman 11. Sharing Secrets: The Power of Women's Groups for Sexual Abuse Survivors, by Linda Yael Schiller and Bonnie Zimmer 12. From Victim to Survivor: Group Work with Men and Women Who were Sexually Abused, by Carolyn Knight 13. Uncovering Kindness and Respect: Men Who Have Practiced Violence in Intimate Relationships, by Dale Trimble 14. No Place to Go: Homeless Women and Children, by Judith A.B. Lee 15. Families Journey Towards Equilibrium: Children with Developmental Disabilities, by Judith Bloch, Joan Weinstein and Martin Seitz 16. Finding Our Way Back: Parenting Skills for Addictive Parent, by Beatrice R. Plasse 17. Healing Hurts: A Short-term Group for Separated, Widowed, and Divorced Single Parents, by Lawrence Shulman 18. Dealing with the Death of a Group Member: Visually Impaired Elderly in the Community, by Alberta L. Orr 19. The Group as a Source of Hope: Institutionalized Older Persons, by Toby Berman-Rossi 20. Accumulated Risk: Mutual Aid Groups for Elderly Persons with a Mental illness, by Timothy B. Kelly 21. Mutual Aid: A Buffer Against Risk, by Judith A.B. Lee and Carol R. Swenson 22. Contemporary Group Work Practice, by Varsha Pandya


SUMMARY Although high on the international forest agenda, illegal logging is often ambiguously defined and there is considerable uncertainty about its quantitative and qualitative characteristics. This obscures assessments of its social, economic and environmental impacts and precludes informed policy conclusions. Through timber export statistics, estimates of the domestic timber consumption and official harvesting records, the extent of illegal logging and its breakdown to origin, felling agents and species groups is estimated for Ghana over the period 1996–2005 based on a definition that emphasises the violation of established forest management regulations. Of the total harvest, 70% or 2.3 – 2.7 million m3 annually is estimated to be illegally cut. Chainsaw operators, who supply most of the domestic lumber demand, account for two-thirds and the export oriented timber industry account for one-third of the illegal harvest. The most valuable timber species dominate the illegal harvest and they appear to originate mostly from forest reserves, which as a consequence are seriously threatened. Eliminating illegal logging will require positive economic incentives for rural people to protect and grow timber trees. This, however, calls for fundamental reform of the timber governance system.


After 2001, the Romanian government banned international adoption ostensibly to improve domestic child welfare services. Until then, national adoption programs were not well developed. In an effort to improve the Romanian knowledge base on domestic adoption, a series of studies of domestic adoption have been conducted. Using a mixed-methods strategy, this article presents results from one study of 39 domestic Romanian adoptions. Results highlight characteristics of intact adoptions from a Romanian cultural perspective.


This paper focuses on recent developments in the localised characterisation of the mechanical properties of Microsystems and MEMS devices and structures. Conventional indentation techniques provide a highly powerful method for measuring the load and depth response of bulk and coated materials, but can also be used to measure the mechanical properties of very small micro-machined silicon structures. Beam structures, such as are used for accelerometers, need to be characterised in terms of the number of cycles to failure, the spring constant or the energy required to bend the beam by a required amount. Such localised testing needs to be adapted to work at various distances from the origin of the beam with a positioning accuracy of less than a micron. Initial studies have proved to be highly repeatable. A range of examples is presented which covers a range of application areas, including accelerometer beam structures, microswitches and printer head structures. The basic instrumental concepts are explained together with the modifications required for testing small structures in a localised way. In addition, the localised testing of friction and wear in MEMS devices will be covered with some examples of the technology available and how it may be applied to such small contact areas in an accurate and reproducible way.


An X-ray system is used in an X-ray CT device. The X-ray system comprises multiple user interfaces corresponding to different scan phases, and is switched among the multiple user interfaces according to a scan process. Each of the user interfaces has a navigation bar. The navigation bar includes multiple scan phase instruction texts and highlights a scan phase instruction text corresponding to a current scan phase. The X-ray system improves an existing user interface so that a current scan phase of the operation can be clearly known.


This document's purpose is, by using the social network method (SNA), to establish the differences between the process of technology transfer among regional innovation systems (SRI) of developed regions and developing regions, in order to derive policy implications for the regions of lower innovation capacity. As such, the goals of the present document are: to characterize developed and developing regions' innovation systems. Secondly, to propose a battery of policy instruments that stimulate networks and spillovers in order for developing regions to strengthen their systems of innovations.


The Revised Payment Service Directive (PSD2) is deployed in the European Union to allow Third-Party Providers (TPP), with the consumers consent, the right to access payment account information from the banks as well as to initiate payments. The communication of personal data will now not only be communicated from a bank directly to its customers, but potentially from banks to multiple third-parties before reaching the individual which puts more pressure on how to manage personal integrity and privacy. Blockchain is a technology that provides a distributed exchange network to validate transactions without the need of a trusted third party as trust is built into the technology itself. This could very well be the next technology for the financial sector to embrace. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if and how the blockchain technology can be used in order to provide a higher degree of privacy for the individual when deployed in the context of the upcoming PSD2 regulation. A blockchain experiment was performed upon which ten qualitative interviews was conducted on PSD2 and blockchain. The results indicate that there are many challenges with PSD2 but that new innovative services are expected and that blockchain as a technology is interesting. The conclusion of this thesis is that the blockchain technology could be used to increase the level of integrity and privacy for consumers if applied by a single FinTech. It would be more beneficial if the blockchain was to be applied as a service for any FinTech to use but first more research is needed in several key areas such as governance and authentication. Another observation is that PSD2 and the related directive General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) seems to be a first steps towards a new model of privacy and a first regulated step towards an open banking environment in the European Union. Key-words: Blockchain, PSD2, Revised Payment Service Directive, 2015/2366, integrity, privacy Examensarbete INDEK 2017:57 Kommer blockkedjan rädda integriteten under det nya betaltjänstdirektivet?


Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA), also known as sheep pulmonary adenomatosis and jaagsiekte, is a contagious pulmonary tumor of sheep, characterized by neoplastic proliferation of type II pneumocyte and club cells. OPA is induced by the oncogenic activity of the envelope glycoprotein (Env) of exogenous jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV). This disease is associated with significant economic losses in numerous sheep raising countries. The onset of suggestive clinical signs is often late, making difficult the early diagnosis of the disease and timely implementation of control measures on the affected farms. Further, the lack of diagnostic tests that can be performed routinely by veterinary clinicians to accurately assess infected animals (e.g., serological or others) means that the true prevalence at flock level is not known. Imaging diagnostic methods (e.g., ultrasound, X-ray and computed tomography) can be used to support the clinical diagnosis, even in pre-clinical stages in affected flocks. The diagnosis must be confirmed by PCR of nasal excretions or immunohistochemistry and PCR of tumor lesions. No vaccine for OPA has yet been developed. Thus, in this work, we review the main methods of diagnosis of OPA in order to support the clinician in the identification of the disease, avoid underdiagnosis and allow the implementation of suitable measures to prevent and control its spread.


The genus Manota Williston is shown for the first time to be present in Costa Rica, and is represented there by 27 species, all new to science: acuminata, acutistylus, arenalensis, bihamata, caribica, corcovado, costaricensis, diversiseta, eximia, fraterna, incisa, inornata, intermedia, limonensis, major, montivaga, multisetosa, parva, penicillata, planistylus, rara, rectolobata, rotundistylus, spinosa, squamulata, tapantiensis, and vexillifera. These species are described, illustrated, and keyed using characters of the male terminalia as the only tool for distinguishing closely related species. A lectotype is designated for the type species, Manota defecta Williston, and it is redescribed and the male terminalia illustrated.


The aim of this research is to reduce data for a P300 spelling system by using downsampling algorithm to reduce the sampling rate of the system. The comparison between this method and standard algorithms such as Discrete Wavelet Transforms (DWT) and Principal Components Analysis (PCA) is also discussed in this paper. While downsampling algorithm is used to reduce sampled data, Ensemble of Support Vector Machine (ESVM) is used to model and to classify the reduced data in order to predict characters. The experimental results show that the accuracy of downsampling algorithm, no-data-reduction algorithm, DWT and PCA are 97.5%, 93.5%, 96.0%, and 79.5% respectively.


The flesh lipids of gilled and impounded sardine, Sardinops melanosticta, were compared. In gilled fish, the ratios of neutral lipids to phospholipids increased with a decrease of the latter. The acid values of the neutral lipids were significantly high in dead gilled fish. There was little difference between gilled and impounded fish in the fatty acid compositions (%) of either triglycerides or neutral lipids. The phospholipid fatty acids of gilled fish showed a remarkable decrease of 20:5 and 22:6 acids and an increase of 16:0 acid. The obvious decrease of polyenoic acids in the phospholipids of the gilled fish might be due mainly to a metabolic peculiarity under excessive stress.


Plants as sessile organisms cannot walk away but have to adapt to changes in their natural environments. Light is obviously the most important external factor, being the energy source. To regulate their fitness, the photosynthetic capacity of plants must be adapted to changes in the ambient light environment. Therefore, plants have evolved a large set of photoreceptors to monitor light quality and quantity, ranging from the UV to the infrared part of the spectrum. At least three different photoreceptor classes have been identified and analyzed: (i) UV‐B receptors, primarily characterized by action spectroscopy (Wellmann, 1983); (ii) the blue UV‐A photoreceptors, cry1 and cry2 and phototropine (Ahmad and Cashmore, 1993; Christie et al ., 1998; Lin et al ., 1998); and (iii) the red/far‐red reversible phytochromes. These photoreceptors control different aspects of plant growth and development, and in this review we focus on the physiological and molecular events regulated by the most characterized plant photoreceptors, the phytochromes. In higher plants, phytochromes are encoded by a small multigene family; five genes ( PHYA–PHYE , Sharrock and Quail, 1989; Clack et al ., 1994) have been identified in Arabidopsis . Phytochromes exist as dimers composed of two 125 kDa polypeptides, each carrying a covalently linked tetrapyrrol chromophore in the N‐terminal domain and dimerization domains in the C‐terminal domain. The photosensory function of the molecule is based on its capacity for reversible interconversion between the red light‐absorbing Pr form and the far‐red light absorbing Pfr form following sequential absorption of red and far‐red light. Photosignal perception by the receptor is followed by conformational changes, and activates, through an as yet poorly understood mechanism, signaling pathways leading to changes in the expression of genes that underlie developmental responses to light (Quail et al ., 1995).

In order to finely tune their …


We consider the existence of stationary solutions to the Germano Model ‐ equations describing turbulent flow of fluids. The model comes from Large Eddy Simulation techniques yielding modified Navier‐Stokes Equations with an additional nonlocal term. On one hand this nonlocalness disturbs monotonicity, but on the other hand it is helpful for compactness arguments. Thus we combine the methods of monotone operators and smoothing properties of convolutions in passing to the limit in the approximate problem.


To make clear the impacts of leptin on immune system in different immune status, forty 8-week-old male BALB/c mice were housed under controlled surroundings. The mice comprised 5 groups. Mice were in different level of leptin by injection of exogenous murine leptin (leptin group) or anti-leptin(anti-leptin group). Mice were classified into two categories, normal state and immunosuppressive state by use of CsA, with corresponding controls. The splenocytes suspension was also prepared. IL-2, IL-4, IFN-γ and leptin in circulating blood and supernatants were measured by ELISA. In the mice with normal immune status, there was no statistical difference in the proliferation of splenocytes between the control and the leptin group. And the same results appeared in the level of IL-2 and IL-4 between these two groups with the exception of a higher level of IFN-γ in the leptin group. The proliferation of splenocytes decreased in the anti-leptin group, but there were no significant changes in the production of the cytokines. Under immunosuppression, the proliferation of splenocytes was obviously accompanied by a higher level of IL-2 and IFN-γ and a lower lever of IL-4 in the leptin group. The results demonstrated that leptin was a modulator(enhancer) of immune system. It could stimulate the synthesis of IL-2 and IFN-γ, and suppress the production of IL-4, thus making the T lymphocytes activation toward Th1 phenotype. Under immunosuppression, leptin played a functional role as a modulator on the immune system, but the situation was different in the normal immune status.


- A transformer less bidirectional grid connected converter is introduced. This bidirectional converter has a bidirectional dc-dc converter and an unfolding bridge, with a single stage power conversion. Advantages of this converter include single stage power conversion and usage of low battery voltage. Bidirectional power conversion is done by the bidirectional dc-dc converter due to its adaptive controlling functions. The grid voltage is obtained from the unfolding bridge as it converts the recti-fied sine wave into the grid voltage. The grid current is controlled with a feed forward nominal voltage compensator. Therefore the power conversion efficiency increases. By using this non-isolated topology the voltage gain in buck and boost mode can be in-creased.


Because the international market favors RMB upvaluation,the massive international floating capitals wells up into the Chinese market,in which China′s real estate markets are the favorable domains.This phenomenon enables many real estate companies to obtain the massive international funds.Started with RMB upvaluation and the real estate economy relations,the influence for the real estate enterprise which the management brings is figured out according to the qualitative analysis of RMB upvaluation.The corresponding countermeasure is proposed.


The present study examined the effect of group labels on helping behavioral intentions towards displaced people in Germany. Specifically, it examined whether activating different social categories to refer to displaced people triggers different helping intentions (e.g., autonomy-oriented helping, dependency orientated helping, opposition to helping), and if these effects occur via perceived intergroup threat and warmth and competence stereotypes. Participants (N = 304) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (refugee vs. migrant vs. economic migrant) and read fabricated case vignettes, featuring a displaced person who arrived in Germany recently. Results showed that, as predicted, the use of different group labels affected the helping orientations of host society members, as well as, the stereotypes they held. No significant label effects were found for intergroup threat. While the label refugee evoked dependency-oriented helping intentions and triggered paternalistic stereotypes, the label economic migrants increased opposition to help, decreased help affirmation and evoked envious stereotypes. Practical implications to strengthen peaceful intergroup relations between host society members and newcomers are discussed.


This paper examines the rationale for regulating packaging waste and finds two goals that survive careful analysis: saving the social costs of waste disposal and reducing pollution from the manufacture of the packaging materials. We find that source reduction has reduced the disposal of soft drink packaging waste more than either mandatory deposit-refund programs or household recycling. The benefits of packaging reduction justify some well-run recycling programs but they do not justify mandatory deposit-refund programs. We suggest two policies that will promote efficient packaging waste reduction.


Using calculated values of the cosine invariants and the concept of orthogonal classes of phases, a procedure for decisive enantiomorph selection is described. The method, which is strongly dependent on a study of invariants of special type, facilitates the evaluation of an initial set of phases and provides a broad base for subsequent phase extension by one of the tangent techniques. Three applications of this new procedure are cited.


Rice seeds were germinated and grown in culture medium with 2μCi/ml 3H-BU. After various periods of culture, nucleic acid was extracted by modified STS method and 3H-BU incorporation was measured. A steady increase in this incorporation into RNA and DNA was found. However, 3H-BU integration in DNA of stem meristem was very low, resulting in about I per cent of incorporated 3H-BU. Levels of RNA and RNA in 3H-BU-grown seedlings followed the same pattern as the controls. Additional aminopterin, on the other hand, induced reduction in 3H-BU incorporation into DNA and severe inhibition of root elongation. When seeds were treated with AP and BU, either alone or along with aminopterin, seedling growth was reduced by approximately 20 per cent in AP and by 40 per cent in BU. In the M2 generation, different types of mutants were segregated at the frequency of 10-^3-10-^2. Partrcularly of chlorophyll mutants about 60 per cent was "strrata" with albino-sectorial stripe. Finally, it was concluded that in rice AP and BU could induce mutations, using the procedure of comparatively short culture of seeds in the medium with these analogues.


High cycle fatigue behaviors of 0Cr21Mn17Mo2N0.83 high nitrogen stainless steels at forged and solid solution state were investigated. High cycle fatigue tests were carried out up to 107cycles at a stress ratio R=0.1 and frequency of 70Hz on specimens using a high frequency fatigue machine. Fatigue fracture surfaces of specimens that in the high cycle fatigue tests were observed using a scanning electron microscope for revealing the micro-mechanisms of fatigue crack initiation and propagation. The results showed that the fatigue limit of test alloys at room temperature is 865.25 MPa (as-forged alloy) and 736.10MPa (solid solution alloy), respectively. The micro-fatigue fracture surface of the test alloys included three representative regions. These regions are fatigue initiation area, fatigue crack propagation area and fatigue fracture area. Fatigue cracks of the test alloys initiate principally at the precipitates, inclusion or uneven stress concentration sites of alloy surface, and propagate along the grain boundary. The fatigue striations of fatigue crack propagation area are very clear. The fatigue fracture of test specimens show the rupture characteristics of quasi cleavage and dimple fracture. The room temperature fatigue properties of as-forged alloy are generally higher than that of the solid solution high nitrogen stainless steel according to the S-N curves fitting results.


Objective To investigate nutrition-related knowledge attitudes and behavior among college students and to provide evidence for nutrition education and promotion.Methods Totally 1 896 students were randomly selected from 13 schools in Shihezi University.Nutrition-related knowledge,attitudes and behaviors were investigated.Results Average nutritional knowledge score was(3.28±1.82),with girls(3.70±1.75) higher than boys(2.96±1.81);Han(3.17±1.79) higher than the minority(2.62 ±1.70);students learned nutrition-related courses(3.76±1.92) higher than those unlearned(2.99±1.70).There were significant differences among different majors in knowledge(P0.05).TV,network was the main way for college students to obtain nutritionrelated information.About 76.2% of all students were interested in nutrition,while only 4.6%(88 /1 896) of them had no interest.More than half(58.4%) of college students ate breakfast everyday.Conclusion Nutrition-related knowledge is not enough among college students,which varies significantly in gender,ethnicity.


Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma (PXA) is
usually a low grade astrocytic tumor. However, some cases show significant
mitotic activity (5 or more mitosis per 10 High Power Field) and/or necrosis.
These tumors are described as pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas with anaplastic
features and display increased risk of recurrence. We aimed to evaluate histopathological,
immunohistochemical and molecular features of PXAs with anaplastic features, by
reporting three primary cases displaying recurrence. Histopathologically we
observed rhabdoid-like monomorphic atypical tumoral cells with increased
mitotic activity, vascular endothelial proliferation and necrosis.
Immunohistochemically, astrocytic and neuronal components displayed different
specific staining properties. In 2 cases p53 was immunopositive. We detected
BRAF V600E mutation in 2 cases and p16 mutation in one case, by fluorescence in
situ hybridization (FISH) method. Anaplastic pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma
(APXA) is a rare tumor. We have presented 3 primary APXA cases displaying all
characteristic histopathological features. Two of these cases were immunopositive
for p53. Therefore, we think that this marker may not be so useful in
differentiating APXA from glioblastoma (GBM). Two of our three cases display
BRAF V600E mutation, which is compatible with the literature.


Summary
Studied was the reproductive activity of Trachelyopterus galeatus using microscopic analyses of gonads and biological indices. To evaluate the reproductive biology of T. galeatus, which is an important species in the Jequitinhonha River basin, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 254 males and 372 females were captured between May 2012 and April 2013 from the Irape Reservoir using gillnets with meshes of various sizes. Average total length of males was 13.3 ± 2.1 and 14.3 ± 2.3 cm for females. Females were more abundant than males (1.4 females:1 male) in all total length classes. The reproductive peak of T. galeatus occurred between November and February, when the biological indices related to reproduction were highest and the physical-chemical water parameters were most favourable for reproduction in this Neotropical environment. Trachelyopterus galeatus reproduces throughout the year and is a partial spawner.


The decomposition of ammonia in the MOCVD growth of GaN has been assisted by the use of strong illumination. Epitaxial growth was successful at 700oC and ammonia flow rates as low as 50 sccm.


This study is focused on modeling to predict the flexural behaviors of FRP-confined concrete structural members. For compressive behaviors of confined concrete by FRP jackets, the hypoelasticity-based constitutive law of concrete has been presented under the basis of three-dimensional stress states. The strength enhancement of concrete wrapped by FRP jackets has been determined by the failure surface of concrete in tri-axial states, and its corresponding peak strain is computed by the strain enhancement factor that is proposed in the present study. The behavior of FRP jackets has been modeled using the mechanics of orthotropic laminated composite materials in two-dimensional stress states. To compare the previous models, the newly proposed model is a nonlinear load path-dependent confinement model of FRP-confined concrete. To be based on the three-dimensional constitutive law, an algorithm for the prediction of flexural bending behaviors of FRP-confined concrete structural member has been presented using the nonlinear fiber cross-sectional approach. The predicted models have been compared with several bending tests. It shows that the proposed model is able to adequately capture the flexural behavior of FRP-confined concrete structural members as well as the estimations of the axial and lateral responses of the sections.


of Main Thesis Title of Thesis Learning Algorithms for Classification in Imbalanced Data Environments Phonetically in Japanese Hiragana ぐえん まいん ひえん Name: NGUYEN MANH HIEN Abstract on the Content of the Applicant's Thesison the Content of the Applicant's Thesis Conventional learning algorithms often cannot provide satisfactory performance when classifying imbalanced data, because they assume a balanced class distribution underlying the data. This dissertation deals with the class imbalance problem in both static and dynamic learning environments. In static environments, the whole training set is known in advance, and the construction of a classification model is performed only once. To deal with class imbalance, this dissertation proposes a new over-sampling method that can help to better refine the decision boundary of support vector machines (SVM). The underlying idea is a novel strategy of over-sampling based on both interpolation and extrapolation, each of which may be more appropriate for specific locations of the borderline minority instances. The experimental results on some benchmark UCI data sets indicate that the method achieves better performance than standard SVM as well as other over-sampling methods. In dynamic environments, however, the training instances continuously arrive in the form of data streams, and therefore imposing challenges that do not exist in static environments, such as the need to incrementally update a model with new training data, and to deal with concept drift (i.e., the data distribution is changing over time). This dissertation proposes several new methods, including (1) two online sampling methods that can incrementally learn from imbalanced data streams, and (2) two methods that can effectively handle data streams with both concept drift and class imbalance, based on reusing some of the past minority instances. The experimental results on simulated as well as real-world data streams confirm the improvement of our methods over previous methods. In addition, this dissertation conducts a comparative study of sampling methods on imbalanced data streams, from which a number of new and useful insights are drawn, such as the influence of training set size on the relative performance of sampling methods.


The powder formulation of Metarhizium anisopliae was applied by spraying method onto the rotting heaps of oil palm residues under the leguminous cover crops. The M. anisopliae infected all stages of Oryctes rhinoceros. At eight months after treatment (MAT), the application of product at rates of T1, 0.2 g (2.2 x 10 7 spores) and T2, 0.4 g (4.4 x 10 7 spores) m -2 heap was significantly reduced (P 0.05) with the control at all times of data recording. Although infection can occur on larvae and adults, but the percentage was low, ranging from 0% - 0.6% at five MAT and 1.7% and 2.5% at eight MAT.


An analytical model is described in which the time‐averaged charge of adsorbed particles is a function of the energy of transition between atomic and ionic states, as in a thermally ionized gas. This relation is used to determine the dipole moment of the adsorbed layer, including the effect of depolarization by adjacent charges. An expression is obtained which relates the emission properties to the temperature, degree of surface coverage, and basic properties of the substrate and adsorbate. Through estimation of the atom adsorption energy, a relationship is obtained which gives a good correlation of most available data for the emission properties of surfaces immersed in cesium vapor.


Contents: International Climate Regime, its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the Link to Rural Development - Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry Projects under the CDM - Carbon Sequestration Projects and the Framework of 'Payments for Environmental Services' - Carbon Mitigation and Developmental Benefits of Forestry Projects - Case Study in Tanzania - Agricultural Household Survey - Adoption of Carbon Farming - Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Representing Farmer Decisions - Asset-based Project Impacts.


One embodiment of the present invention, discloses a balloon catheter employing a coaxial double lumen design reinforced operable to be used with large diameter guide wire. In certain embodiments, at least one of the lumens is formed of a multilayer, one tubular element in one of the layers acts partially to provide radial reinforcement to the tubular element. In another embodiment of the present invention, the distal portion of the outer lumen is engaging or secured to a portion of the inner lumen. The proximal portion of the balloon is attached to the distal portion of the outer lumen, the distal portion of the balloon is attached to the distal portion of the inner lumen.


The latest achievements about the abiotic degradation of chlorinated organic compounds were summarized in this paper.These achievements include reductive dechlornation by zero-valent metal,redutive dechlorination by combined metals,reductive degradation by ferrous compounds,reductive dechlorination by H_(2)and catalyzer,mechanochemical dechlorination etc.The special application and some issues of these methods were discussed as well as.


Abstract Objective: Orexin-A is involved in numerous physiological functions, such as feeding behavior and energy balance. Yet, the associations among the orexin system, weight changes and the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia patients remain uncertain, especially in inpatients with chronic schizophrenia (CS). The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the orexin-A levels, body mass index (BMI) and clinical symptoms of CS inpatients. Methods: Altogether, 324 inpatients were enrolled in our study. The clinical symptoms of all inpatients were measured using a 30-item Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and then we calculated the BMI of each subject and tested the orexin-A levels by ELISA methods. Results: The orexin-A levels of the CS inpatients in the obesity group (1.24 ± 1.45 ng/ml, n = 52) were significantly higher than those in the non-overweight group (0.85 ± 1.18 ng/ml, n = 176) and the overweight group (0.97 ± 1.15 ng/ml, n = 96). Spearman's correlation analysis showed that higher BMIs were associated with higher plasma orexin-A levels and fewer negative symptoms. Furthermore, the multiple regression analysis indicated that the orexin-A level could be a contributor to BMI (F = 30.21, p < 0.001). However, there was no correlation between plasma orexin-A concentrations and clinical symptoms in our research. Conclusion: A higher plasma orexin-A level may be a factor influencing the BMI of inpatients with CS, and fewer negative symptoms seem to be correlated with higher BMI, but the causality among BMI, orexin-A and clinical symptoms of schizophrenia requires further clinical research.


In continuous-time wavelet analysis, most wavelet presents some kind of symmetry. Based on the Fourier and Hartley transform kernels, a new wavelet multiresolution analysis has been proposed. This approach is based on a pair of orthogonal wavelet functions and can be named as the Fourier-like and Hartley-like wavelet analysis. In this paper we carry a preliminary investigation about potentials applications for the Fourier-like wavelet analysis on signals derived from power systems to illustrate the behavior of such wavelets


Remote user authentication is one of the most important mechanisms to verify the legitimacy of users. However, most of the related works are insecure and costly. This paper presents a novel remote user authentication scheme with key agreement based on elliptic curve cryptography. In the proposed scheme, each user is given a smart card and allowed to freely choose and update his password, where the smart card stores sensitive personal information for user authentication. It is unnecessary for the remote system to maintain any table for authenticating users. Based on the security assumptions of solving the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem and reversing the one-way hash function, the proposed scheme can achieve privileged insider attack resistance, forgery-attack resistance, remote system impersonation attack resistance, key agreement, and key confirmation.


Education is one of the important basic needs in present scenario.The instrumental role of education can be fully realized only if the education imparted in schools is if a desired quality. The investigator tries to explore the status of RTE Act implementation to improve the quality of elementary education in Davangere district, Karnataka state. The status of implementation of RTE Act is analysed by availability of infrastructure satisfaction level among parents. From the findings it is concluded that there are misconceptions about RTE Act especially among parents. The irony is that this is despite the fact that most of the parents have little or no awareness about the provisions of the RTE Act. This is indicating in the preference that RTE should repealed. The levels of satisfaction are higher in rural areas compare to the urban areas. There is an urgent need of intervention to improve the implementation of RTE Act regarding in its all aspects.


This work reports a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study of both hydrogen and deuterium on two different kinds of ferrofluids. One of them is a colloidal suspension of surfacted magnetic grains dispersed in a mixture of light and heavy water. The second one is an ionic ferrofluid composed by positively charged magnetic grains of Co–Fe2O4 dispersed in the same solution of water. A model of the local magnetic field distribution in the interstitial (bulk) water is worked out in order to account for the broadening of the NMR spectra observed in both samples.


In this study, a leaf-like Cu2O/CuO mixed phase nanosheets array was successfully prepared by anodization. XRD, EDS, and XPS analysis confirmed the formation of Cu2O/CuO mixed phase nanostructures....


An approach is described for determining the hot-electron-limited voltages for silicon IGFET's of small dimensions. The approach was followed in determining the room-temperature and the 77°K hot-electron-limited voltages for a device designed to have a minimum channel length of one micron. The substrate-hot-electron limits were determined from a verified empirical model. The channel-hot-electron limits were determined empirically from measurements of the injection current as a function of voltage and from long-term stress experiments. For the one-micron design considered, the channel-hot-electron limits are lower than the substrate-hot-electron limits. The maximum voltage, VGS=VDS, is 4.75 V at room temperature (25°C) and 3.5 V at 77°K. More details of the voltage limits as well as the approach for determining them are discussed. An example of a circuit designed to operate within these hot-electron voltage limits is also discussed.


Defects of bone have captured the imagination of reconstructive surgeons for millennia (Wagels, Rowe, Senewiratne, & Theile, 2013). The earliest attempts at bone reconstruction date back to 2000 BCE when Peruvian priests implanted metallic plates to reconstruct the contour defects of religious trephination (Sanan & Haines, 1997). Calvarial defects remained the focus of bone reconstruction for some time. In 1668, Jobs van Meekeren reported the use of dog bone graft by a Russian surgeon to reconstruct the calvarium in a soldier (van Meekeren, 1682). The graft healed too well, and the man was subsequently ostracized from his religious community because of the perceived impurity of the xenograft. Experimentation with non-vascularized bone graft, both autologous and allogeneic, followed throughout the 19th century until it was fully appreciated that preservation of a blood supply to bone prevented resorption and improved the likelihood of bone healing (Curtis, 1893). And so the scene was set, as surgeons, biologists, and immunologists recognized that in order to preserve the structural integrity of bone, it should retain a blood supply and be harvested from an autologous source (Sparks et al., 2017). Autologous vascularized bone transfer has since evolved in parallel with other advances in reconstructive surgery including bone handling, fixation, and microsurgery (Ostrup & Fredrickson,1974; Taylor, Miller, & Ham, 1975) leading to the higher rates of union (Berggren, Weiland, & Dorfman, 1982; Weiland, Phillips, & Randolph, 1984), resistance to resorption (Arata, Wood, & Cooney, 1984; Klein, Stevenson, Shaffer, Davy, & Goldberg, 1991), and biomechanically superior outcomes (Weiland et al., 1984) that are enjoyed today, even in the setting of complex defects (Taylor, Corlett, & Ashton, 2016). Our aim is to reflect on the evolution of vascularized bone transfer, its key pioneers, the changing indications for its use and progress in understanding the patterns of blood supply to bone.


It is a pleasure to address an issue that is, I believe, of pressing global importance-encouraging trade in a protectionist world. It is an issue of pressing importance to my province of Saskatchewan and to my country of Canada. It is a subject that I believe is increasingly receiving the attention of leaders in government, business, and academia. Most recently, I attended the National Governors' Association at Traverse City, Michigan, where the issues of trade in a rapidly changing global and interdependent marketplace were prominent in discussion. As readers will be aware, Canada and the United States are well advanced in negotiations for a renewed bilateral trading arrangement between our two countries under which Canada will seek "the


A photo-Fenton process using a local iron oxide as a natural catalyst was compared to Fenton and UV/H2O2 advanced oxidation processes for degrading crystal violet (CV) dye in aqueous solutions. The catalyst was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectrum, X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. The optical properties proved that the catalyst represents a good candidate for photocatalytic activity. The impact of different parameters (catalyst dose, initial CV concentration, initial H2O2 concentration, pH) on the photo-Fenton efficiency was evaluated. A photo-Fenton process operated under UVC light irradiation, at spontaneous pH, with 1.0 g/L of catalyst and 30 mg/L of H2O2 was the most effective process, resulting in 98% CV dye removal within 3 h. LC-MS and ion-chromatography techniques were used to identify demethylated organic intermediates during the process. Furthermore, a regeneration study of the catalyst showed its stability and reusability (after three treatment cycles, CV dye degradation decreased from 94% to 83%). Finally, the photo-Fenton process was tested in the treatment of real textile wastewater, and the effluent was found to be in compliance with standards for industrial wastewater disposal into sewerage.


OBJECTIVE
To determine if horses before undergoing anesthesia for surgical correction of colic would have lower plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) concentrations than healthy horses undergoing anesthesia for arthroscopic surgery, and would not increase their plasma AVP concentrations in response to anesthesia and surgery.

DESIGN
Prospective clinical study.

SETTING
University teaching hospital.

ANIMALS
Fourteen horses with colic and 8 healthy horses.

INTERVENTIONS
Horses with colic underwent anesthesia and surgery for alleviation of colic, and healthy horses underwent anesthesia and surgery for arthroscopy.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Plasma AVP was measured perioperatively in horses with colic and in healthy horses. Before anesthesia, and 30 and 60 minutes after induction, horses with colic had greater median plasma AVP concentrations than control horses (P<or=0.001); thereafter during anesthesia differences in AVP concentrations between the 2 groups were not significant. In the control group, plasma AVP concentration increased during 120 minutes of anesthesia; no such increase occurred in colic horses.

CONCLUSIONS
Compared with healthy horses, horses with colic had higher preanesthesia plasma AVP concentrations that did not increase further in response to anesthesia and surgery. Exogenous AVP is associated with decreased splanchnic perfusion in a variety of animal species and, therefore, could be detrimental to horses with colic. Thus, it may be inappropriate to use exogenous AVP in support of blood pressure in anesthetized horses with colic. Further studies are warranted to define appropriate indications for the use of AVP in horses with colic.


N Simonnot, C Vuillermoz, F Vanbiervliet, M Vicart, P Chauvin Doctors of the World – Médecins du Monde International Network, 75018 Paris, France INSERM, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMRS 1136, IPLESP, ERES, 75012 Paris, France Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com Background Since 2006, the the Doctors of the World – Médecins du Monde (MdM) International Network Observatory has been conducting multicenter surveys in Europe among vulnerable people – the vast majority of whom are immigrants – who make use of its national programs, in order to describe their social and health-related characteristics and the obstacles to access to care, with the goal of informing the public authorities and European institutions and bringing about positive changes. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional analysis of routine data collected from 23,341 patients who came to MdM clinics in 26 cities in 11 countries in 2014 (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom). Of them, 8849 were women, 437 of whom were pregnant. Results Nearly all of the pregnant women who visited the MdM clinics were foreigners, half of whom did not have a residency permit. More than half of the women interviewed in Europe had inadequate housing, 62.9% considered their dwelling harmful to their health, and nearly all of them were living below the poverty line in their host country. A third had no one to turn to in case of need. More than half had not had access to a prenatal follow-up (54.2%). Only half of the pregnant women knew their HIV status, and 14.3% were HIV-positive. Discussion The analysis of the face-to-face data from these women with multiple health vulnerabilities, together with an examination of the current national legislation, shows how much work still needs to be done to ensure a systematic prenatal follow-up for all pregnant women, and for their unborn children, in accordance with WHO recommendations. Key messages Many poor migrant pregnant women lack of ante and post natal care in Europe Doctors of the World – Médecins du Monde (MdM) International Network Observatory plea for a true universal access to ante and post natal care all over the EU 90 European Journal of Public Health, Vol. 25, Supplement 3, 2015


Introduction: Since topical anesthetics alone seldom provide adequate analgesia for laser resurfacing procedures, injectable forms of anesthesia are often required. However, their application is uncomfortable for the patient. In this study, it is investigated whether microneedle application would enhance the efficacy of topical anesthetics. Methods: Forty-seven patients participated in the study. Topical anesthetic agent EMLA was applied to the whole face of the patients. Microneedle treatment was applied to one side of the face with a roller-type device. Whole-face carbon dioxide laser resurfacing therapy was carried out then. The pain that patients experienced was assessed by using visual analog scale (VAS) method. VAS scores of two sides of the face were compared by using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: The mean of VAS score of the microneedle treated side was 2.1 ± 1.1 while that of the untreated side was 5.9 ± 0.9 and this difference was statistically significant (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the Z-value is − 5.9683 and the p-value is < 0.001). Summary: This study revealed that microneedle application, with a roller-type device, is a safe and easy procedure in providing sufficient anesthesia for facial laser resurfacing without the need for supplementary nerve blocks or injections.


Summary is 85.9℃. Oil bearing area of Pilot test well group is about 0.43km 2 , OOIP is 16×10 4 t. Based on core analysis result, Fuyu reservoir's physical property is poor due to the experience of intense diagensis, average porosity is 14.5%, average air permeability is 0.681×10 -3 μm 2 , it belongs to ultra-low permeability reservoir. Crude oil density is 0.815t/m 3 , freezing point is 33℃, wax content is about 25.6%.


with in meaningful ways that spanned theological, rhetorical, aesthetic, and political contexts. Drawing on a broad range of sources, especially Latin authors of the early Roman Empire and their 'reception' in English authors of the Renaissance, he takes us on a tour of approaches to variety. First, he shows how different authors approach it in different ways. His most developed discussion here focuses on Pliny the Younger, and his portrait of Pliny espousing and explaining the 'variety of the second-rate' is as endearing as it is interesting. Pliny writes: 'As it is better to do one thing with distinction rather than several things indifferently, so it is better to do several things indifferently if you cannot do one thing with distinction. Realizing this, I exercise myself in various kinds of intellectual pursuit because I am not sufficiently confident of any' (Ep. 9.29.1, trans. Fitzgerald, p.86). On the previous page, Fitzgerald has suggested that we might feel 'anxious sympathy' for this man, who has quite a lot in common with us! His second approach to variety focuses on literary subjectivities and the use of lists. If anyone thought lists were nothing more than putting down one thing after another, then this chapter will be an eye-opener to the range of literary ways of constructing subjectivity through different forms of list. Finally, he turns to the role of variety in the book, in particular the miscellany. This is an excellent, original, critical contribution to the discussion of miscellanism that has been gathering momentum over the past couple of decades. Fitzgerald takes a broad approach to what counts as a miscellany: he includes both poetry collections and prose literature. But rather than letting the generic character become obscured by such diversity, he draws out a number of formal characteristics that are typical of these works. He suggests that our problem in discussing miscellanies has been our own inability to respect variety for what it is. Variety is primarily about Classical literature in Latin and its reception in English. The latter sometimes involves discussion of Christian material. This is handled with limited success. The comparison between Hopkins and Lucretius, for example, goes to such lengths to explain the distance and difference between these two poets that the comparison itself is somewhat enervated. Again, in discussing ancient rhetors' expectations of their audience, he asserts that most of them— for example Cicero—did not anticipate variety in their audience, but that this is not the case with the Younger Pliny or the Christians. This raises more questions than it answers. Such elements of unevenness in Fitzgerald's discussion are often associated with his lack of interest in historical analysis, which allows him to bundle together authors and texts from different cultures with very little explanation. Variety is a welcome and exciting book, notwithstanding a few ragged edges. It opens up a new area of discussion, and invites us to take a more literary and aesthetic approach to issues of variety that may have fallen beneath our regard. It maps out some of significant lines for reflection, and points the way for further research.


To determine the possible detrimental effects of multiple methotrexate doses has on the ovarian reserve and to determine the beneficial effects of dehydroepiandrosterone supplementation. The rats (n:24) divided into three groups; Group 1: control group, Group 2: dehydroepiandrosterone and methotrexate group (6mg/kg dehydroepiandrosterone dissolved in 0.1 ml sesame seed oil subcutaneously for ten days and 1mg/kg intramuscular methotrexate at the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th days) and Group 3: methotrexate group (1mg/kg intramuscular methotrexate at the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th day). The groups compared in regards to their histopathological ovarian damage scores and AMH values. It established that multiple methotrexate applications had a considerable effect on reducing vascular congestion in the ovarian tissue. Both in groups 2 and 3 AMH values found to be significantly lower. When this decline in the ovarian reserve examined comparatively; while both the group 2 and 3 reported having a considerable and continuous reduction in the AMH levels correlative to the control group; the primordial, primary and total follicle counts shown to stay statistically the same in the group 2 (p<0.0167). The dehydroepiandrosterone supplementation, while did not have a significant effect on reducing ovarian damage induced by methotrexate, also was not shown to provide any considerable increase in AMH levels. However, prolonged usage of dehydroepiandrosterone by contributing to the antral follicle pool considered promising in increasing the AMH levels conceivably


PURPOSE: to relate task performance of expressive vocabulary with the deviation severity, the age range and the reference values of the vocabulary testing used. METHODS: the sample was made up of 17 subjects with phonological deviation, with ages ranging between 3 years 5 months and 8 years 2 months. They were divided into four groups, based on the PCC analysis and classification regarding the severity grade according to Shriberg and Kwiatkowski (1982). This result allows for classifying the deviation into: severe, moderately-severe, medium-moderated and medium. The Test for Young Children ABFW - Vocabulary was applied. An analysis took place for correlation among age, severity grade for the phonological deviation and reference results of the vocabulary testing. RESULTS: children with minor phonological deviation severity obtained better results than the others, despite the majority of these results not being significant. Younger children showed lower performance than expected. CONCLUSIONS: it is possible to think that the severity of phonological deviation may influence the performance of children in this sample in the expressive vocabulary test.


The utility model discloses an automobile cruise control device, comprising an instrument panel of an automobile, wherein a main control module of a single chip microcomputer is mounted in the instrument panel; and a speed sensing module, a display module, a control panel and a throttle valve driving module are connected with the main control module of the single chip microcomputer. According to the automobile cruise control device disclosed by the utility model, the main control module outputs voltage signals to control the torque of a direct-current motor; and by balancing with a moment of a spring device, the variation of a throttle percentage is realized, the travelling speed of the automobile is automatically adjusted, and the cruise control of the automobile is realized.


Nasal valve collapse is one of the causes of nasal obstruction and must be considered in patients with nasal obstruction. There are several surgical procedures available to treat nasal valve collapse. Spreader grafts can be used in the treatment of nasal valve collapse by widening the internal nasal valve angle and maintaining the widened angle. However, this procedure requires sufficient amount of cartilage harvested from the nasal septum. Especially, in cases of secondary rhinoplasty or some primary nasal surgery with thin septal cartilage, it is difficult to harvest an appropriate amount of cartilage from the septum. Here, we describe an effective technique for using septal cartilage and TnR Nasal Mesh® (T&R Biofab Co., Ltd) for spreader grafts with appropriate thickness in nasal valve collapse.


Objective To investigate the combining effect of the recombined human endostatin(endostar) and paclitaxel on the proliferation and apoptosis of human esophageal carcinoma Eca-109 cells. Methods MTT was used for detecting inhibitory rates of different concentrations of endostar and paclitaxel of monotherapy and combination therapy on the Eca-109 cells at 48h;the shape changes of those cells were observed under the optical microscope; flow cytometry method was used for the detection of apoptosis rates of different groups after stained with Annexin V/PI at 48h;RT-PCR was used to detect the different expression of mRNA for apoptosis related genes(Bcl-2, Bax, p21 and p53) among different groups at 48h. Results The half inhibitory concentration (IC50) at 48h of endostar and paclitaxel on the Eca-109 cells were 276.6627μg/ml and 3.8789μg/ml. Inhibition rates of the endostar group,paclitaxel group, the concurrently medicated group, the endostar followed by paclitaxel group and the paclitaxel followed by endostar group were (33.62±2.30)%, (49.14±1.45)%, (56.29±0.71)%, (41.88±1.23)% and (51.48±0.98)%. The cell inhibition rate of endostar and paclitaxel medicating concurrently was higher than other groups(P0.05). Under optical microscope, those medicated cells had typical apoptotic morphological changes. The apoptosis rates of endostar group, paclitaxel group, the concurrent group, endostar followed by paclitaxel group and the paclitaxel followed by endostar group were (8.78±0.19)%, (13.82±0.15)%, (18.88±0.29)%, (11.37±0.24)% and (14.88±0.34)%,respectively. The differences among the groups and compared with the negative control group were all statistically significant(P0.05). Compared with the control group,the endostar group and two sequential groups significantly decreased mRNA expression of Bcl-2,and the paclitaxel group also reduced the mRNA expression of Bcl-2. The three ways of drug combination all presented a decreasing mRNA expression of Bax. Every group could decrease the expression of p21. Sequential medication groups reduced the expression of p53. Conclusion Endostar in combination with paclitaxel can synergisticly induce apoptosis of the human esophageal carcinoma cell, and the mechanism may be related to the reduced expressions of antiapoptosis genes.


Agricultural intensi�cation leads to a strong homogenization of landscapes. Plots have become larger, boundaries of �elds straight, and land plots have been cultivated more intensively. Field copses, ruderal areas and hedgerows were removed. As a result, most of these small-scale habitats located at the edges of �elds have disappeared. Thus, many potential habitats of plant and animal species have been destroyed, and the permeability of the landscape decreased during the past decades. Landscape homogenization consequently impacts biodiversity and reduces species richness and abundance of many taxa. In this study, we surveyed changes of land cover and landscape con�guration on a eld-by-eld basis, based on historical (1953) and recent (2018) aerial and satellite images. We further compiled data of butter�y diversity for the same time periods and region. Our data show signi�cant decrease of �eld copses over the past decades. The landscape structure changed towards rather homogenous �elds with straight boundaries among single land plots. The expected number of species per sample unit of an assumed species decreased signi�cantly. Particularly butter�ies relying on oligotrophic and xerothermic grasslands decreased, as well as sedentary specialist species. In contrast, the proportion of ubiquitous and mobile generalist species increased. This underlines the general trend of faunal homogenization and the loss of specialized and sedentary species, in the wake of landscape homogenization.


The kinetics of hyperbranched A 2 + B 3 systems is discussed theoreticaly with respect to the development of the 7 different structural units, the degree of branching, DB, and the monomer sequences considering the adjacent groups of a structural unit. For A 2 + B 3 systems, the comonomer ratio, the relative rate constants and the process conditions have an influence on the resulting structure as shown by numerical simulations. With increasing A:B ratios f A/B , the degree of branching will be increased. Also the relative reaction rate constants have a strong impact on the distribution of structural units, especially when the reaction rate constants for the pathway of the B 3 monomer are changed. On the other hand, differences in the reaction rate constants for the pathway of the A 2 monomer do not have any, influence on the degree of branching. The simulation indicates that slow addition of either both monomers or just the B 3 monomer has the strongest effect, on the resulting DB. In all cases, the conversion is a critical issue to obtain high moecular weight products.


We present a phenomenological approach in terms of two coexisting macroscopic order parameters correponding to the superconducting and the insulating states relevant to the high. temperature superconducting ceramics. On using the mean field approach we discuss the electrodynamical responses and from the fluctuations of the order parameters we obtain results for the electrical conductivity, which is shown to possess anomalies as in the granular materials.


into their own hands. Those who are not jogging or mastering the intricate movements of T'ai Chi are consuming unprecedented amounts of whole bran, herbal teas, and assorted other "natural" substances in their quest for a healthy body. The intensity with which such regimens are pursued suggests that, for many, a healthy and vigorous body has become an end in itself rather than a means of pursuing other life goals. This new health consciousness manifests itself in forms ranging from the sensible and even puritanical to the frankly bizarre, but they can all be considered part of a larger movement-holistic health. The terms "holistic health" and "holistic medicine" bring together very different theories and practices, but all who call themselves holistic healers share the notion that health is a positive state of functioning and not just the absence of symptoms or disease. While many of the concepts promoted by holistic medicine have ancient roots, the variety of practitioners makes it difficult to find any generally agreed-upon definitions, concepts, or practices. The central guiding principle, however, is that the individual-not the medical care system, not society-is responsible for the development and maintenance of health.' The holistic health movement has grown rapidly over the past decade, gathering adherents in its journey from the benevolent shores of California to the more skeptical enclaves of the Northeast. The diverse range of holistic practitioners reflects this journey: among them are segments of the now-faded counterculture; others are adherents of traditional healing practices like acupuncture; and still others use a variety of healing methods derived from psychologically and biochemically based theories, including meditation, massage, biofeedback, special diets, and esoteric forms of exercise. This latter group-perhaps due to its aura of scientific explanation and widespread publicity in magazines like Psychology Today and Human Nature-seems to be achieving for the whole movement a degree of legitimacy in the eyes of the public as well as the medical establishment. Even a past president of the American Medical Association, not known for its espousal of


In this article, the authors present finite element analysis and approximation of Burgers'‐Fisher equation. Existence and uniqueness of weak solution is proved by Galerkin's finite element method for non‐smooth initial data. Next, a priori error estimates of semi‐discrete solution in L ∞ ( 0 , T ; L 2 ( Ω ) ) norm, are derived and the convergence of semi‐discrete solution is established. Then, fully discretization of the problem is done with the help of Euler's backward method. The nonlinearity is removed by lagging it to previous known level. The scheme is found to be convergent. Positivity of fully discrete solution is discussed, and bounds on time step are discovered for which the solution preserves its positivity. Finally, numerical experiments are performed on some examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of the scheme. The proposed scheme found to be fast, easy and accurate.© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 33: 1652–1677, 2017


Research Background: The interpretation and representation of music via colour, form, and movement has been central to abstract animation since the invention of cinema. Animated representations in a live performance context have presented challenges to animators from Oskar Fischinger's Raumlichtkunst of 1926 until the present day.
Research Contribution: Advancements in 3D and 2D animation software and hardware drive experimentation into new techniques and creative approaches to creating animation for live performances. Shaping the Curve represents a series of animation experiments aimed at exploring and evaluating the creative possibilities afforded in the latest iterations of a selection of animation software (Autodesk Maya MASH plugins, and Red Giant Trapcode suite for Adobe After Effects) in the context of the visual representation of music in a live performance.
This project makes an important contribution to the wider discourse of designing effective abstract animation to music. It provides further points of discussion and inspiration for animation practitioners and theorists as they continue to seek visual solutions to musical conundrums.
Research Significance: The Melbourne International Saxophone Festival is Melbourne's premiere world-class saxophone event, run annually by Melbourne Saxophone. Behind this organisation are renowned international saxophone performers and academics who are dedicated to furthering and showcasing saxophone performance and education. Screening at MISF, in front of an audience comprising primarily of musical professionals, forms an opportunity to prompt insightful discussion across the musical and animation disciplines, inciting further creative ideas and collaborations.


Using spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, we have determined that the X-ray emitting gas in the rich cluster A2256 is nearly isothermal to a radius of at least 0.76 h −1 Mpc, or about three core radii. These data can be used to measure the distribution of the dark matter in the cluster. We find that the total mass interior to 0.76 h −1 Mpc and 1.5 h −1 Mpc is (0.5 ± 0.1 and 1.0 ± 0.5) × 10 15 h −1 M ○ . respectively where the errors encompass the full range allowed by all models that we have fit to our data. Thus the mass appropriate to the region where we have spectral information is well determined, but the uncertainties become rather large upon extrapolating beyond that region


This document Volume 2 -- Research Reactor Job Analysis: Implementation includes the Preliminary Task Lists for Reactor Operators (ROs) and Senior Reactor Operators (SROs) and guidelines for their application by individual research reactor facilities. The guidelines cover the following activities: (1) assemble working panel, (2) review systems/components, (3) review tasks, (4) review job boundaries of RO and SRO, (5) identify priority tasks, (6) assemble training review panel, and (7) document individual RO and SRO training.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to form good cutting qualities in glass-epoxy material for opening flexible areas of rigid-flex printed circuit boards (PCB) by ultraviolet (UV) laser cutting. Design/methodology/approach – The cut width and cut depth of glass-epoxy materials were both observed to evaluate their cutting qualities. The heat affected zone (HAZ) of the glass-epoxy material was also investigated after UV laser cutting. The relationships between the cut width and the parameters of various factors were analyzed using an orthogonal experimental design. Findings – The cut width of the glass-epoxy material gradually increased with the increment of the laser power and Z-axis height, while cutting speed and laser frequency had less effect on the cut width. Optimal parameters of the UV laser process for cutting glass-epoxy material were obtained and included a laser power of 6W, a cutting speed of 170 mm/s, a laser frequency of 50 kHz and a Z-axis height of 0.6 mm, resulting in an average cut wi...


This paper presents a fast real-time software implementation method for the grayscale morphological function processing (FP) opening and closing. The proposed method utilizes a basis matrix composed of structuring elements. It is shown that opening and closing can be accomplished by a local matrix operation in real time rather than the cascade operation (erosion/dilation followed by dilation/erosion), which requires large amount of delays and memory storage for the intermediate erosion/dilation outputs. A bit-serial implementation architecture for the grayscale morphological FP operators is presented. The proposed implementation architecture employs a bit-serial approach that allows grayscale morphological operations to be decomposed into bit-level binary operation units for the p-b grayscale signal. It is shown that this realization is simple and modular in structure and thus is suitable for VLSI implementations.


The failure rate of components of electrocentrifugal oil pumps (ECOP) of various types operating in Western Siberia is considered. The labor resources in ECOP maintenance may be optimized by means of mathematical programming. The possibility of using various algorithms of queue theory to optimize the ECOP maintenance schedule is analyzed.


The MODIS image is a good indicator of Land surface temperature (LST) on the interface analysis in order to characterize areas. The latest decades has registered the attraction of much attention through the LST at large-scale (Roy et al., 2014; Vlassova, Pérez-Cabello, Mimbrero, Llovería, & García-Martín, 2014; Wang, Liang, & Meyers, 2008; Zorer et al., 2013) and the advancement of earth and environmental sciences in the desertification monitoring so as in the monitoring of LST evolution (Hillger & Clark, 2002a, 2002b). One of the major driving forces causing many extremes of soil anomalies whose in recent years that many regions have undergone is the terrestrial global warming (C et al., 2013; Committee, 2015; Tol, 2009). Based on meteorological stations data, many studies have quantified the global temperature of the earth (Coumou, Robinson, & Rahmstorf, 2012; Frangou, Ladle, Malhado, & Whittaker, 2010; Rahmstorf & Coumou, 2011). Then several phenomena and climate extreme have been recorded during 2011–2015 and the probability increased by a factor of ten or more, in the case of some extreme high temperatures (World Meteorological Organization, 2016a)(World Meteorological Organization, 2016b). Only temperature anomalies have concerned most analysis(Report, 2018; Weber et al., 2014). The Inner Delta of Niger (IDN), in central of Mali, through desert regions represents one of the hot areas of the African plate (Friese, 2010; Mao, K et al., 2017). Inner Delta of Niger, is part of a large geological structure (Continental Terminal, Precambrian, Quaternary) that have played several roles since the Pan-African Orogeny and may present a risk of current activities (Inger, Dione, Jarosewich-Holder, & Olivry, 2006), (El Abbass et al., 1993). Certain portions of the region are superimposed on an area of positive gravity anomalies (Svensen et al., 2003). The parallelism between the gravity and structural directions is particularly marked between Tombouctou, Faguibine and the Nara Trench (Chudeau, 2018; Zwarts, Van Beukering, Kone, & Wymenga, 2005). In April 2001, has been receiving reports about increased thermal activity in Tombouctou area (Svensen et al., 2003). Hot fumaroles and magmatic rocks whose the upper part of a hydrothermal system has been observed and considered as volcanic activity (Villatte, 1973). This study focuses specifically on multitemporal analysis of LST by a set of processes while also


Abstract Most scholars assume that 1 Timothy 3.16b is a hymn, or a fragment of a hymn, belonging to another context. However, Furley (1995) points out that even the ancients had difficulty categorising their poetic materials. 1 Timothy 3.16b has no metre and neither praises God nor asks him for benefits, which are the usual indicators of a hymn. This article argues that 1 Timothy 3.16b was written by the writer for insertion into the letter, and it was intended to be used in his congregation as a bulwark (1 Tim 3.15) against his opponents. 1 Timothy 3.16b more closely resembles an epigram, normally written to accompany an epiphany of a god.


The debate might be as old as human mankind: conflicts of generations concerning manners, civility and adequate social behavior. A famous quote, allegedly by Socrates, which states that youth misbehaves and disrespects the elders, may come to mind (Patty and Johnson 1958, 277). Yet the ongoing surge of interest in the social analysis of the study on manners, conduct, and civility may even go a step further than solemnly concentrating on questions of accepted behavior. For example, Norbert Elias and his seminal study on the process of civilization (Elias 1994) may be worth mentioning opposing him to a mere behavioral point of view in such books as Paul Fussel's portrait of class and its status systems (Fussel 1983). Concerning a more detailed interest especially with a focus on American contexts ranging from the colonial period to the present time, the essays in Civilizing America: Manners and Civility in American Literature and Culture, edited and introduced by Dietmar Schloss, offer a considerable wide range of aspects on the subject of manners and civility. Their point of view is not only a behavioral or historical one but these different essays offer approaches to perceptions of manners during various eras in American culture by looking into political, religious and especially literary texts. Presenting the book as the result of a conference held in the year 2004 in Heidelberg titled "Civilizing America: Manners and Civility as Categories of Social, Cultural, and Literary Analysis", the various analyses thus provide investigations into the idea of the civilization process in the United States. The question of "manners, customs, rituals, and traditions, the instrument that give rise to civilization", however, is not only of relevance on a personal level but needs to take into consideration the shift that the personal is also the political. Thus, "the progress of a society was measured in terms of how far it had advanced in the process of civilization – 'civilization' measured in terms of the refinement of manners", explains Schloss in his introduction (xi). Civility and civilization thus were understood as instruments of feudal societies, namely the Old World, to dominate the culture of the New World, a pressure "that the United States was advanced enough to do away with the Revolution" (xi). Crucial to the examination of manners and civility therefore are the questions whether manners can only be seen as a particular feature of Old World aristocratic societies so that they may have


Back-side etching of the entire silicon substrate under part of the drift region of a SOI power device was first proposed by Udrea and Amararunga (2004) and experimentally reported by Udrea et al. (2005). This technology concept enables high voltage devices to be embedded in a thin silicon/oxide membrane resulting in very significant improvements in breakdown ability and switching speed. This paper presents new results from advanced membrane high power devices and fully functional power ICs. Furthermore, record switching speeds for the LIGBT are reported. The feasibility of realising superjunction structures (3D Resurf) with breakdown capability in excess of 700V using this technology are also demonstrated


Sixty-four cases were randomized into three groups and treated by Chinese herbs, and/or western medicine, and/or external compression, the total effective rates were 81.08%, 66.67% and 41.67% respectively.


This editorial refers to 'Influence of high cardiovascular risk in asymptomatic people on the duration and cost of non-cardiovascular sick leave: results of the ICARIA study', by E. Calvo-Bonacho et al ., doi:10.1093/eurheartj/eht156

Numerous research projects have been performed during the last decades with the aim to improve the outcome of acute coronary syndrome. Much less effort has been put into optimizinmg the follow-up procedure after an acute life-threatening event such as myocardial infarction. Short- and long-term sickness absence after an acute myocardial infarction is associated with substantial costs for society. We also know that a long sickness absence makes it more difficult for the patient to return to work. There are no clear guidelines as regards the optimal duration and degree of sick leave with this condition, and scientific data guiding doctors are extremely sparse. Furthermore, sick listing practices for heart patients vary considerably among countries. This may be due to various factors, e.g. different sickness insurance systems, labour market conditions, and sick listing traditions among physicians. In Finland and Sweden, about half of patients were available to the labour market 2 years after a myocardial infarction.1,2

Sick leave is used daily by many practitioners. The measure is very costly for society and for most individuals as well. Sickness absence is a complex phenomenon. The three major disease groups in both long-term sick leave and early retirement are musculoskeletal diseases, psychiatric diseases, and cardiovascular (CV) diseases, and the occurrence and course can be influenced by a range of factors, such as age, gender, demographics, physical and mental health, type of work, and personal and organizational factors. Despite widespread consequences of sickness absence, scientific research in this area is quite scarce, partly theoretical, and conceptually …


Research skills are fundamental to the building of the evidence basis of professional practice, are at the core of lifelong professional learning and are the keys to discovery, innovation and knowledge transfer. Research competency is thus increasingly recognised as an important educational goal for graduates in many professions. This paper describes a flexible program, adaptable to any professional course of study that allows students to engage in meaningful, scholarly and authentic research. Students are supported to undertake a research activity that spans the research continuum from development of a research question through to dissemination of findings, and strategic points in-between. Disciplines Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details Weston, K. M., Mullan, J. R., Rich, W. C., Crowther, S., Bushnell, J. A. & McLennan, P. L. (2017). Graduating work-ready professionals: Research competency as a critical curriculum component. Curriculum and Teaching, 32 (1), 25-44. Authors Kathryn M. Weston, Judy Mullan, Warren C. Rich, Shelley P. Crowther, John A. Bushnell, and Peter L. McLennan This journal article is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/4967


Zenodotus of Ephesus, the first director of the library of Alexandria, gives his name to the European open archive of research data, thanks to the CERN in Geneva


The research for this paper was made possible in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and grants from CUSO and OXFAM Canada.


There is no reliable method currently available to predict malignant potential of pheochromocytoma based on conventional histology or genetic, molecular or immunohistochemical markers. Metastasis suppressor genes affect the spread of several cancers and, therefore, may provide promise as prognostic markers or therapeutic targets for malignant pheochromocytoma. We hypothesized that the downregulation of metastasis suppressor genes in malignant pheochromocytoma may play a role in malignant behavior. We applied quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (QRT‐PCR) to 11 metastasis suppressor genes. These genes are known to be involved in the regulation of important cancer‐related cellular events, such as cell growth regulation and apoptosis (nm23‐H1, TIMP‐1, TIMP‐2, TIMP‐3, TIMP‐4, TXNIP and CRSP‐3), cell–cell communication (BRMS‐1), invasion (CRMP‐1) and cell adhesion (E‐Cad and KiSS1). The study included 15 benign and 10 malignant pheochromocytomas. Six metastasis suppressor genes (nm23‐H1, TIMP‐4, BRMS‐1, TXNIP, CRSP‐3 and E‐Cad) were downregulated significantly in malignant compared to benign pheochromocytoma (p < 0.05, Mann‐Whitney U‐test). We applied a non‐linear rule using median malignant value (MMV) as a threshold to use metastasis suppressor genes to distinguish malignant from benign samples. After cross‐validation, the non‐linear rule produced no errors in 10 malignant samples and 3 errors in the 15 benign samples, with an overall error rate of 12%. These results suggest that downregulation of metastasis suppressor genes reflect malignant pheochromocytoma with a high degree of sensitivity. Thus, we conclude that altered function of these metastasis suppressor gene pathways may play an important role in the malignant behavior of pheochromocytoma. Published 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The excitonic ground state in a quantum dot shows a size- and shape-dependent two-fold splitting due to exchange interaction. By tuning the splitting q-bit emission from the exciton or entangled photon emission from the exciton/biexciton cascade are possible.


With the fast-paced industrial and Techni revolution, smart nations are emerging with the idea of integrating the developing technologies, like IoT and CPS, to make communications and networks easier and closely interconnected. With increasing technology usage globally, the UAE envisions transitioning into a global smart nation by innovating and deploying world class disruptive technologies for the better connectivity digitally. However, the frequency of cyber threats has also increased drastically with this ever-evolving technology. For a nation like UAE that is transforming into a digital nation at a rapid speed, while still having stakeholders with poor cybersecurity practices, UAE stands as a strong target for attacks by malicious hackers. With cyber-attacks becoming the top most concern globally, especially in the Middle East, UAE has built certain strategies to combat the evolving issue of cybersecurity. In this paper, the authors suggest that just as the collaboration of the key stakeholders – government, academics, industry and society – depicted under the Quadruple Model is needed to develop an innovative and creative nation, so is their coordination required to protect that nation from the potential cyber threats. In light of this theory, the four key stakeholders of the UAE are analyzed for their cybersecurity practices, initiatives and coordination to prove UAE's commitment towards becoming the most cyber resilient nation in the world.


he aims of the research are: (1) to analyze effects of stock ownership structure by insider ownership and institutional investor on debt policy and dividend policy at the public companies in Indonesia, (2) to obtain empirical evidences that control mechanism through stock ownership by the insider ownership and the institutional investor will decrease the problems of agency, which then minimizes the cost of agency.The samples of the research which included 66 manufacturing companies registered at the Jakarta Stock Exchange. The samples were taken by using a purposive sampling technique.The hypotheses were then tested by means of a simultaneous analysis of Two Stage Least Square.The results of the research show that (1) the insider ownership has a significant effect on the debt policy and, there is a substitutional or negative causal relation between the insider ownership and debt policy; (2) he institutional investor does not have a significant effect on the debt policy, and there is not any substitutional relation between the institutional investor and the debt policy, but the institutional investor has a negative effect on the insider ownership


Purpose: There is limited research relating to effects of creatine monohydrate (Cr) supplementation on military-based fitness tests. This study aims to determine whether an eight day Cr supplementation regimen would affect the performance of military-based fitness tests utilising muscular strength, muscular endurance, anaerobic performance and aerobic fitness. Participants: In a double-blind randomised independent group design study, 18 males (Mean±SD: Age = 20.89±1.23 years, Height = 178.28±8.15 cm, Mass = 85.26±19.75 kg) were matched by the pre-test performance then randomly assigned to Cr and placebo groups before an eight day supplementation regimen. 1) Cr group (Daily dose: 4x5g Cr + 1g maltodextrin). 2) Placebo group (Daily dose: 4x6g maltodextrin). Method: All participants completed four military-based fitness tests pre- and post-supplementation in a set order assessing different fitness components. 1) Static lift strength test (muscular strength) involving three maximal effort repetition; force (N) recorded 2) Water can carry (muscular endurance), which involved walking continuously at set pace (1.5 m.s-1) whilst carrying two 20kg water cans until exhaustion; distance covered (m) recorded. 3) Weighted multiple sprints (anaerobic performance) consisting of five maximal 30m sprints wearing a weighted vest (15kg); sprint times (s) recorded. 4) A multi-stage fitness test (aerobic fitness) which involved running between two lines 20m apart until exhaustion to a signal from an audio compact disc; number of shuttles completed were recorded and used to estimate 2.4km run time (min:s) and VO2 max (ml.kg-1.min-1). Indicators of Cr uptake (body mass and total body water) were measured pre- and post-supplementation. Results: A significantly larger change was reported for muscle strength in the static lift strength test between the groups, with the Cr group's (23.99±11.60%) muscle strength increasing significantly more than the placebo group's (5.80±10.31%) (p 0.05). Body mass and total body water did not change significantly between the groups following supplementation (p>0.05). Conclusion: An eight day Cr supplementation regimen improved the performance of the military fitness test which assessed muscle strength but not muscular endurance, anaerobic performance and aerobic fitness. Body mass and total body water were also not affected. Future research should examine the effect of Cr supplementation on military fitness tests with a resistance training program.


Abstract—The article presents two mathematical models of the interaction between a rotating shaft and an incompressible fluid. The mathematical model includes both the journal bearings and the axially traversed hydrodynamic sealing gaps of hydraulic machines. A method is shown for the identification of additional effects of the fluid acting on the rotor of the machine, both for a linear and a nonlinear model. The interaction is expressed by matrices of mass, stiffness and damping.


Invitation from the Congregation B'nai Israel inviting members to a Golden Jubilee celebrating Rabbi Henry Cohen's fifty years of service to the synagogue.


Written by a painter, grounded in the baroque, who yet became the great master of satiric rococo . . . throws a sharp light on the stylistic problems of the age. Moreover, it is the first work in European literature to make formal values both the starting-point and basis of a whole aesthetic theory. It is a cardinal post-Renaissance aesthetic treatise, a novel and original attempt to define beauty in empirical terms.2


In the present post-Fordist epoch, the region has emerged as a strategic site for socioeconomic governance. The region today is viewed as a key centre in processes of capital accumulation and (re)production and it occupies an important position in regulating social life. Yet, little is known about the spatial representations held by people about the regions in which they live. This article aims to contribute to fill this gap, by exploring two interrelated issues: what people mean by region and how they relate their sentiment of regional identity to the regional administrative space to which they belong. The study relies on focus group discussions and individual interviews administered in four West European regions. The empirical research suggests that the region is constructed by people as a geographically ambiguous reference and that their sense of regional identity is not necessarily directed towards the region as an administrative space. This challenges the correspondence between function (governance) and identity theorized by the literature on the institutionalization of regions.


four-vessel cotyledon12, which is also amenable to photocoagulation by laser, or an artifact of the surgical preparation of the placenta. The surgical pathology findings of Taylor et al.'s lab, including their previous report of the existence of only a single AV anastomosis in twin–twin transfusion syndrome13, are clearly at odds with the bulk of the scientific literature14,15 and are certainly not supported by the overwhelming clinical experience on the laser management of twin–twin transfusion syndrome by the most reputable centers worldwide. 5. Taylor et al. question the reason for selecting patients with an anterior placenta. This had to do with the technical characteristics of the ultrasound catheter. The transducer was mounted on a catheter in such a way that it requires the instrument be placed parallel to the vessel. This can be best accomplished in anterior placentae. The validation of the transducer performance characteristics were done with flow phantoms by the ultrasound company before the release of the catheter for clinical or experimental use.


The difficulty as well as the significance of the direct generation of metal enolates of α-CF 3 -ketones cannot be easily understood by chemists unfamiliar with fluorine. In sharp contrast to the great success in non-fluorine, hydrocarbon chemistry, fluorine chemistry has long been overshadowed. Metal enolates of carbonyl compounds are synthetically important in carbon-carbon bond forming reactions. However, the metal enolates of fluorinated carbonyl compounds have been severely limited to α-F metal enolates. α-CF 3 Metal enolates have generally been recognized as unstable and difficult to prepare because of the facile β-M-F elimination. However, we have developed a direct generation and synthetic application of α-CF 3 metal enolates. Therefore, the present results regarding the direct generation and synthetic use of metal enolates of α-CF 3 -ketones might be recognized as a paradigm shift to the general use of metal enolates in fluorine chemistry.