Catechol and spiropyran functional groups were conjugated to a polymer backbone, allowing immobilization on polystyrene beads (PS beads). The final product was capable of stably reproducing the optical properties of spiropyran. Through the outstanding surface adhesion properties of the catechol functional group, spiropyran was immobilized on PS beads. Switchable photoluminescence in the spiropyran coated PS bead surfaces was observed depending on irradiation with either UV or visible light. The surfaces of the PS beads were morphologically examined by field emission scanning electron microscopy and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used for characterization of the constituent atoms. Furthermore, UV–Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to confirm conversion between the spiropyran (SP) and merocyanine (MC) forms through UV or visible light irradiation on SP, while fluorescent images for both SP and MC were studied using confocal laser scanning microscopy. The confocal images of the SP‐PS beads system onto MDAMB‐231 cells under UV and visible light indicate the cellular uptake by emerging color within the cytoplasm. Advancing study, the remaining catechol groups can confers adhesive properties, given by contact angle data of various coated surfaces film. These stimuli‐responsive coatings are compatible as drawing switchable photochromic material on versatile substrate shown in confocal images of propylene film. Overall, this great water solubility and biocompatibility PS beads system also showed potential as cell bio‐imaging light stimuli responsive material, and the benefits of this system can also possibly address coat able advanced material for a wide range of surface light sensor applications. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Starting with the early twentieth century, the shifts in what languages mainland Europeans have as additional languages are described and analysed. Historical events, such as World War II, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, as well as the ramifications of globalization, are taken into consideration, as are the implications of Brexit for the role English maintains as Europe's primary universal language. Declines in French, German and Russian as the first additional language are observed. Comparisons are made of the resources required for a language to challenge English as Europe's primary lingua franca. It is found that the patterns which emerge over time, with few exceptions, result in the increased importance of English in all of the Member States of the European Union. Moreover, the rise of L2 English in the European Union has caused mainland Europeans to be more likely to become bilingual rather than plurilingual, something contrary to European Union policy.


This paper will report on a large cross-sectional study of law students (1,000+ respondents) in law schools in the United States and England and Wales.


The karyotype of the neotropical Chironomus columbiensis n.sp., as observed in the salivary gland chromosomes, has the unusual chromosome arm combination AG, BF, CD, E (columbiensis‐complex). The chromosomal banding pattern is closely related to that of Chironomus anonymus (arm combination AE, BF, CD, G, pseudothummi‐complex) in the southwest part of the United States and the Antilles. The reasons for describing C. columbiensis as a new species and for associating the second species with C. anonymus is discussed. The pupa of C. anonymus is described and adults are redescribed. It can be assumed that more relationships between North and South American Chironomus species will be found.


This paper proposes a full‐bridge (d = 50%) cascaded buck topology which is a very suitable circuit for high voltage input–low voltage output applications with high output current. Benefiting from working under a large duty cycle, the proposed converter can easily achieve zero voltage switching turn‐on and turn‐off of active switches in a full bridge. Small‐signal model of this topology is analyzed through its corresponding peak current mode control. Its small‐signal transfer function is given, and the control loop design is discussed. Advantages of this topology and operation principles are analyzed. Design guidelines, drawn from this analysis, are applied on a low‐voltage (3.3 V) output voltage prototype to validate the proposed concept. © 2012 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


This is a statement by Mr. Hon Steven Ciobo, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia at the eighty-ninth meeting of the Development Committee held on April 12, 2014. He states that the growth in high income countries is slowly showing signs of improvement, but the external environment for many countries remains uncertain. The tightening of fiscal and monetary policy in the developed world remains necessary in order to restore balance following the period of post-crisis stimulus. However, this may lead to short-term volatility and, over time, tighten access to capital for many countries, including those represented in constituency. In this context, it is important for all countries to renew commitment to the reforms required to reduce vulnerabilities and spur growth.


Abstract : Composite six-hourly precipitation maps are presented for twenty extratropical cyclones in the eastern United States. The cyclones have been separated into two groups, one consisting of cyclones which developed in high latitudes and moved eastward, the other of cyclones which developed in low latitudes and moved northeastward. The life histories of the two precipitation distributions are shown in two series of composite maps. Confidence limits on the composite precipitation maxima are provided.


Poster: "ECR 2016 / C-1829 / Cloud-based Teleoncology system for interactive evaluation of new software tools through common web browsers and its application to multi-disciplinary treatment planning" by: "J. Woetzel, A. Genz, S. Bosko; Bremen/DE"


This keynote presentation explored contemporary issues of air pollution through the lens provided by history. It presents a perspective drawn from an analysis of historical, and mostly failed, attempts to manage air pollution from classical times until today. It asked the question why have we not learnt from the lesson history provides? It did so with the benefit of 2020 hindsight!


Sleep transition state is the brain cognitive state that person experiences from awake state to asleep state.Because the hypnagogic speed and insomnia happening have relations with the brain state closely it is important to researching hypnagogic course,mechanism of insomnia and relieving insomnia to real time monitor and evaluate the brain state in sleep transition process.In order to monitor and evaluate the sleep transition state under the natural sleep,the paper built the micro embedded system based on ARM micro-controller and μClinux.The system can ensure no interference in monitoring and evaluation,because it can complete independently the following operations: generating and controlling audio tone,measuring and recording the object's reaction information.


Investment castings are commonly considered to have fewer issues with inclusions (reoxidation). On one hand, this seems counterintuitive given that the pouring and gating for a typical investment casting involves metal rapidly being poured down a long, large sprue (tree) and then oftentimes filling the mold cavity with additional "waterfalls". Thus, it would seem that the increased opportunity for interaction between the molten steel and air would promote the formation of inclusions. That said, typical investment castings do offer some opportunities. Wall sections are generally thin and quick to solidify, which would limit time for inclusions to agglomerate and float up. In addition, the ceramic shell of an investment casting is sintered and provides an inert atmosphere unlike sand castings where mold-metal reaction must be managed.


Anybody knows that contamination in oil is always harmful to hydraulic and lubricating systems. Contaminants inevitably exist in the oils of hydraulic and lubrication systems and cause tribological problems. In order to prevent such tribological problems due to contaminants, various oil cleaners have been developed and applied to hydraulic and lubricating systems. They have greatly contributed to improving the reliability of the systems. Since sophisticated hydraulic systems with proportional valves or servo


The synthesis and characterization of styrene-based polymers and copolymers containing pendant tetra(ethylene glycol) and phosphorylcholine groups is reported. These polymers are obtained via radical polymerization reactions using α,α′-azobis(isobutyronitrile) as the initiator, and are developed as protective biocompatible coatings for implantable biosensors. Cell morphology studies show that none of the synthesized polymers and copolymers are toxic, and that the rate of cell growth can be tuned by changing the monomer composition. The presence of tetra(ethylene glycol) groups in the coatings lowers the protein adsorption, thereby influencing the rate of cell growth. An equally profound effect is observed when a low percentage of phosphorylcholine groups is present in the polymers. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 39: 468–474, 2001


This paper outlines a research project using conversational research as a methodology to examine values and value congruence as a part of stakeholder engagement at The Body Shop Australia (TBS). The research developed grounded hypotheses about the extent to which customers take their values shopping, about the level of value congruence between TBS and its customer stakeholders, and in the process discovered a corporate "culture of authenticity" where TBS revealed itself to be an organisation where the people 'are who they say they are'.


Malaysia's popular cult novelist Aisya Sofea is discussed vis-a-vis this essay. It defines the cult novel and the popular novel and the differences between them. The novelist is one of Malaysia's leading popular and cult novelist. She is a house hold name and her followers can be found on the internet. This essay will look into the aspects present in three of her novels which have helped her to become a cult novelist. Mainly it will focus on the gender question that is portrayed by the writer that has managed to attract her readers. The methodology used in writing this essay is textual analysis focusing on the gender question.


The last vote was counted in the 2004 presidential election and old debates began anew about the causes of low turnout of those between the ages of 18 and 24. Despite an unprecedented amount of time and effort spent on turning out the youth vote, the data suggest that only about half of the eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 24 cast a vote for president. The good news is that, indeed, this year's figures reverse a downward trend in voter turnout amongst the youth; the bad news is that every age bracket increased in voting and youth voting still lagged behind other age groups by significant margins. Scholars have once again cited evidence of political apathy and alienation among young people; they have referred to studies that reveal widespread ignorance of American politics and history in our nation's high schools and colleges. Dire predictions will continue about the bleak future of American democracy due to the ostensible lack of knowledge and interest in the American political system among our newest voters. Despite studies showing increases in volunteerism, service, and civic engagement, the low voter turnout will dominate the debate about civic education.The authors would like to thank David A. Caputo, president of Pace University, for funding PC2004.


The kinetics and energetics of chromium-sensitized neodymium luminescence of several codoped gallium garnets (YAG, YSGG, GGG, and GSGG) have been measured and interpreted in terms of microscopic physical-energy-transfer mechanisms. Sensitized luminescence in YAG and in YSGG is well described by the static energy-transfer process; a migration-accelerated energy transfer process is determined to be operative in GGG and GSGG crystals.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of three specific variables, namely: system quality, information quality, and finally information use, on the effectiveness of a human resource information system (IS) in an Iranian oil company.Design/methodology/approach – To investigate the effectiveness of a human resource IS, the paper analyzes the end‐user satisfaction based on the DeLone and McLean IS effectiveness model. A methodology is developed that follows a series of steps to calculate the effectiveness of an IS. The questionnaire is designed and refined by expert review. Data from four surveys in four different organizations in the Iranian oil industry are pooled.Findings – Results show that user satisfaction from information quality, system quality, and system use is, respectively, 0.92, 0.82, and 0.91.Therefore, the integrated human resource system in the Iranian oil company has a high degree of effectiveness. Implications of these findings are discussed along with some directions...


The study was conducted at the Wondo Genet Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia, latitude 8°25'59'', longitude 39°01'44''and altitude of 1800 m.a.s.l to determine optimal soil moisture depletion level for lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus L.). Six level of soil moisture depletion level (20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 100% of total available water of the soil (TAW) with three replication were used as treatments to evaluate the yield and yield component of lemongrass in randomized complete block design. Different level of soil moisture depletion level significantly (p


Background: The number of hypertensive patients is increasing and is one of the highest causes of death. Non-pharmacotherapeutic treatment of hypertension can use complementary therapies, one of which is scraping therapy. Objective: Aim of the study was to determine the effect of scraping therapy on pulse and blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Methods: This method was a quasi-experimental study with pretest and posttest control group design. The sample consisted of control and intervention groups, each of which was 40 people taken by consecutive sampling. Results: The control group experienced an increase in pulse, systolic and diastolic (1.05 beats/minute and 1.00 mmHg, 1.775 mmHg), the intervention group experienced a decrease in pulse, systolic and diastolic (1,525 beats/minute; 7.70 mmHg; and 5, 05 mm Hg). The control group bivariate test on pulse, systolic, and diastolic variables showed p=0.113; p=0.748; and p=0.267. Bivariate test of intervention group on pulse, systolic, and diastolic variables showed p=0.0035; p<0.001; and p<0.001. Different test of pulse, systolic, and diastolic variables showed p=0.001; p<0.001; and p<0.001. Conclusion: Scraping therapy is effective in reducing pulse and blood pressure of hypertensive patients so that it can be used as an inexpensive alternative therapy option.


The well-known backpropagation (BP) derivative computation process for multilayer perceptrons (MLP) learning can be viewed as a simplified version of the Kelley-Bryson gradient formula in the classical discrete-time optimal control theory. We detail the derivation in the spirit of dynamic programming, showing how they can serve to implement more elaborate learning whereby teacher signals can be presented to any nodes at any hidden layers, as well as at the terminal output layer. We illustrate such an elaborate training scheme using a small-scale industrial problem as a concrete example, in which some hidden nodes are taught to produce specified target values. In this context, part of the hidden layer is no longer "hidden".


The expression for stress fields in a plastically deformed polycrystalline aggregate is derived by use of two methods; the one is based on the Duhamel analogy which is used by Lin and Ito, and the other is based on Eshelby's transformation problem which is used by Kroner or Budiansky and Wu. The revised formulations yield the same result for both methods and the expression by Kroner et al. is found to be correct in a sense of 'arrangement average'. The self-consistent model proposed by Hill against Kroner et al. is examined.


The understanding and quantification of the impact caused by soil use and management on the physical soil quality are fundamental for the development of sustainable agricultural systems. The objective of this research was to quantify some physical soil properties to evaluate the physical quality of a dystrophic Red Latosol (Rhodic Ferralsol) in the northwest of the State of Parana, Brazil. Undisturbed soil samples were collected from two contiguous areas on an Experimental Farm of the State University of Maringa. One area was cultivated with annual crops under conventional tillage (disk plow and harrowing) and the other under native forest (semidecidual seasonal forest). The evaluated physical soil attributes were soil porosity and bulk density, soil water retention curve, soil resistance curve, and the least limiting water range. Results indicated significantly higher values of bulk density and lower values of soil porosity in the cultivated area. The soil water retention curve was not influenced by the soil use system, but was negatively influenced by bulk density. The soil resistance curve was influenced by the soil use system, evidenced by high values of soil resistance to root penetration under increasing drought in the cultivated soil. The least limiting water range was significantly smaller in the cultivated soil owing to the soil resistance to root penetration and air-filled porosity, which determined the lower and upper limits of soil water availability with bulk density increase. In the soil under native forest, the least limiting water range was equal to the water availability determined by the field capacity and the permanent wilting point. Soil compaction in the cultivated soil induced changes in the soil porous system, which were described by lower values of the least limiting water range than in virgin soil.


The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that Russell Kaschula's Xhosa novel, Emthonjeni (2006) (translated into English by its author as Take me to the river), can be read as a creolisation of South Africa's past essentialised cultural identities apparently with the effect to reduce their dominance and power and thus creating national harmonisation. The first part of the novel satirises the 'us/them' cultural distinctions that often result after a black family has settled in the white suburbs of the democratic South Africa. The novel shows that the arrival of a new culture and language in the monocultural and monolingual suburbs, which had been relatively complacent, static and idyllic, is seen as a threat, but it also illustrates that more contact – such as at the case at the school – and the unavoidable crossing of fences by children creates better understanding of the culture of the 'other' and promotes racial reconciliation.

Furthermore, the novel's metaphor that post-apartheid South Africans can be 'water people' and can 'become water' means that they should become one nation. Such a creolisation strategy forges national reconciliation and healing through the erasure of our past racial differences. The novel says, 'we are connected', 'we are one', because we are the same. We are all human. Such creolisation, according to Nuttall and Michael (2000:10), enforces cultural "affinities" and sees racial harmonisation as a "complex process of making connections". In the context of South African history before and after 1994, the novel espouses some form of creolisation that encourages looking beyond racial difference to the effects of creating new forms of cultural identity based on sameness, connections and affinities. Such creolisation is therefore transformative.

Nuttall, S. & Michael, C. (eds). 2000. Introduction: imagining the past. Senses of Culture, South African Culture Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


The influence of biologically active compounds ekost, emistym and riftal on wheat's grains affected by toxic funguses and mikotoxines has been studied. It has been shown that these compounds are able to restrain vegetative cultivation of phitopathogenic funguses. The best results have been obtained using riftal.


The laser fluorescence excitation spectrum of the BNe van der Waals complex, in the vicinity of the B atom 2s2p2 2D←2s22p 2P transition at 208.9 nm, is reported. A total of six partially resolved molecular bands, as well as a broad, unstructured feature to the blue of these bands, have been observed. Three BNe electronic states, denoted as C 2Δ, D 2Π, and E 2Σ+, correlate with the B(2s2p2 2D)+Ne atomic asymptote, and the observed bands are assigned as (v′,0) progressions of the C 2Δ−X 2Π1/2 and D 2Π–X 2Π1/2 band systems. Rotational analysis of the C–X bands has been carried out, and spectroscopic constants characterizing the upper and lower states determined. The onset of the continuous excitation is assigned as the energy to reach the B(2s2p2 2D)+Ne atomic asymptote. Identification of this threshold has allowed the determination of dissociation energies of the X, C, and D states. The observation of banded features in this wavelength range contrasts sharply with the continuous free←bound excitation in the...


People with physical disabilities have a high probability of suffering secondary disabilities and disability-related acute health problems. Critically, they experience difficulties in access to health-promoting services. Of importance in reducing barriers to such services is the role of funding systems. There has been little research or comment in the area of funding, and this paper attempts to redress this imbalance by providing an overview of two specific systemic barriers in the funding of health promotion for those with disabilities in Australia: the method of service reimbursement and the disparate nature of funding sources. It is clear that there needs to be a revision of health care funding systems to enable an increase in the promotion of health amongst people with physical disabilities. Two possible solutions are considered: case-management and the increased involvement of private industry. The potential benefits of this are illustrated by reference to reducing unnecessary rehospitalization. With changes occurring in the Australian health care system, e.g. the move to case-mix funding and case-management, there is the potential for people with disabilities to either lose their access to health promotion further or to capitalize on these changes to ensure improvements. Either way it is clear that those involved with health promotion need to urgently address the issues raised in this paper in a timely fashion, to ensure that beneficial changes are capitalized upon and the potential for negative impacts is minimized. Promoting the health of people with physical disabilities: a discussion of the financing and organization of public health services in Australia


Base positions of crystallography of polytypic carbide of silicon are considered. Influence of different technological factors is shown such as: temperature, maintenance of admixtures and terms of forming of crystals on polytypic composition of material. X-ray structure studies of industrial and experience carbide of silicon are undertaken. The fundamental differences of polytypic composition of the investigated materials are shown.


Computer simulation for obtaining thin film's growth process at an early stage with the proposed model of atoms with isotropic and anisotropic interactions been considered. Carrying out the procedure for analyzing the problem on the basis of the program being implemented, computer simulation of thin film growth processes has been carried out on several examples. The results of computer simulation of the growth process of thin film on a given substrate and an aggregate in a vacuum condition are shown. Some characteristic distributions of the obtained structure have been carried out to evaluate the proposed adequate model and to reflect the high complexity of thin films growth process.


We use an experimental setting to investigate the impact of investor engagement and management attitudes on the reporting and performance of climate change management. Our results show that engaged companies were more likely than the control group to improve both their climate change reporting and performance, and that management recalcitrance significantly impeded improvement but did not eliminate the effectiveness of engagement. The study contributes to the understanding of the role of shareholder activism in advancing environmental, social and governance issues by offering evidence from non-confrontational engagement by a relatively small institutional investor and by highlighting the role of management. The study offers evidence to institutional investors that relatively small investment institutions can effectively engage with firms and change management practice without necessarily embarking on costly or time consuming programmes. The results also have implications for targeting engagement for maximum effectiveness and for the design and implementation of policy and regulation to promote better carbon management.


of the thesis Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the most lethal gynecological malignancies; this lethality is attributed to late diagnosis, rapid advancement and heterogeneous nature of tumor, which imparts chemoresistance and aggressive post therapeutic recurrence. Understanding of molecular tumor behavior that influences gene and protein expression and their effects on cellular functions during EOC progression could pave the way for improvement in disease management. Hence, the present study was undertaken to – (a) identify aberrant epigenetic changes that alter the transcriptional status of target genes during EOC progression, and (b) explore the possibility of applying these changes in predictive assessment of epigenetic drugs. Whole genome promoter DNA methylation patterns of an in vitro progression model of EOC [a pair of cell lines earlier established in the lab that included immortal, pre-transformed cells (A4P), and transformed cells derived from A4P (A4T)] were analyzed for identification of differentially regulated genes through DNA and histone methylation. Promoter hypomethylation emerged as a distinctive feature of EOC progression contrary to hypermethylation in other cancers. Correlations between the methylome and transcriptome assigned functional relevance to differential methylation during progression. Further comparison with the methylomes and transcriptomes of grade-wise segregated serous ovarian adenocarcinoma samples available with TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) provided a clinical relevance to the study. Overlapping the A4 and TCGA datasets thus identified a common association of 5 hypoand 3 hypermethylated genes with pre-transformed / early grade, and 15 hypo and 2 hypermethylated genes with transformation and malignant high-grade disease. Bisulfite genomic sequencing and quantitative PCR of 6 genes confirmed CYC1, POGK, MAL, and MEST as hypomethylated and upregulated, while FBN1 and


Objective: Reactive delusional disorder (DD) (with a precipitating factor) has been postulated to differ clinically from nonreactive DD and to show a better prognosis. Our study tests this hypothesis in a sample of patients with persistent DD (International Classification of Diseases,10thRevision) or DD (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) followed during a period of more than 10 years. Method: As part of a long-term study on DD, 19 patients with DD and a stressful life event preceding the onset of the disorder were compared with 24 DD patients without such a life event. Diagnoses, social and biographical data, life events, and outcome were assessed by a semistructured interview and validated rating scales. Personality features were assessed by the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and by the Inventory of Clinical Personality Accentuations. Results: Patients with reactive DD tended to be somewhat younger but showed otherwise little differences to patients with nonreactive DD. In particular, there were no differences in the course of the disorder. However, patients with reactive DD were significantly more often in a stable relationship and showed higher values on neuroticism and more pronounced dependent and borderline personality accentuations in dimensional personality measures. Conclusions: Reactive DD was not found to have a better prognosis than nonreactive DD. However, the results suggest an increased vulnerability for interpersonal conflicts in these patients.


Over decades the usage of the charge compensation principle for power devices has improved the performance and efficiency of typical applications in almost all voltage classes like power supplies, converters and drives. Different types of charge compensation concepts were applied to various device structures like the superjunction compensation, the field plate compensation and the dynamic compensation in form of bipolar electron-hole plasma. For each voltage class, unique technologies have been developed to adjust and optimize drift zone length, doping concentrations and avalanche robustness, leading to a large variety of different vertical and lateral power device technologies. In this paper, laterally monolithic-integrated multi-transistor cascodes are presented as highvoltage MOSFET transistors for a large range of breakdown voltages from 20V to multiple hundred volts.


Igdir Province is situated in the Eastern Anatolian Region of Turkey. Wild edible plants and their utilization methods have not been previously documented there. This study was conducted during an ethnobotanical survey of Igdir Province from 2007 to 2012, in the period from May to October, when plants were in their flowering and fruiting periods. There were 210 interviews carried out in 78 villages. This study provides information about 154 wild plant taxa belonging to 27 families that have been used as foodstuffs, spices, or hot drinks. Seventeen wild edible plants were recorded for the first time during this study. Eight endemic species were reported as used for their edibility, and new local names for plants were also recorded. The cultural importance index was calculated for each taxon. The most culturally important species are Mentha longifolia , Falcaria vulgaris , Polygonum aviculare , Rosa canina , Crataegus azarolus , Capsella bursa-pastoris , and Malus sylvestris . This study presents the richest heritage in terms of the diversity of wild edible plants ever recorded in Turkey.


Adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH)-secreting pancreatic-neuroendocrine-tumors are extremely rare.  They present a significant peri-operative management challenge because of the tumor's extensive vascular involvement as well as excess hormone production resulting in electrolyte and metabolic disturbances.

A 49-year-old male presented for resection of his ACTH-secreting pancreatic-neuroendocrine-tumor involving the pancreatic head and many major vessels. Pre-operative assessments showed increased serum cortisol, low serum ACTH, negative 24-hour urine 5-hydroxyindoleacetic-acid, and no suppression with 1mg dexamethasone. Pre-operatively, he had ectopic Cushing's syndrome, type two diabetes mellitus, hypokalemia and thrombocytopenia for which he was treated with insulin, intravenous potassium, and platelets. He was given octreotide at the beginning of surgery. The 10-hour procedure involved both general and vascular surgery. There was eight liters of blood loss and the patient required significant transfusions. At the end of surgery, he remained ventilated due to the duration of surgery and amount of blood loss. Post-operatively, he did well, but he developed adrenal insufficiency secondary to removal of his ACTH-secreting tumor and was discharged home on hydrocortisone.

This case highlights the role of anesthesiologists as the peri-operative physician in maintaining homeostasis in these complex patients. It also shows the importance of pre-operative tumor characterization, carcinoid crisis prophylaxis, and a multi-disciplinary approach to the management of these rare tumors.


PURPOSE: A magneto resistance sensor and a sensing cell array using the same are provided to separate components of a peripheral material into electrical components varying according to a magneto resistance value using a plurality of magneto resistance sensors having different characteristics each other. CONSTITUTION: A MTJ(Magnetic Tunneling Junction) device(21) is formed with a free magnetic layer(18), a tunnel junction layer(19) and a fixed magnetic layer(20) where a sense word line voltage is applied. A magnetic material(17) is formed on an upper part of the free magnetic layer and forms magnetic field according to a magnetic bonding with the free magnetic layer. A switching device is formed on a bottom of the fixed magnetic layer of the MTJ device, and outputs a current sensed in the MTJ cell to a sense bit line. The magneto resistance sensor has different magneto resistance value according to its peripheral material formed in the magnetic field and thus the current being output through the switching device has different values each other.


The first article on the subject, which appeared in the August issue of Industrial and Commercial Training, described the development of a training course in BEA for Passenger Services Staff. The aim of this training is to improve personal service. Its most important element is role‐playing of typical interactions between staff and passengers; these are recorded on video‐tape and replayed for viewing and discussion. A good deal of reading, thinking and research was done before and during the training development. Visits were made to the training centres of several airlines, in Britain and the USA; research workers in both countries were also consulted. Five relevant views of the subject will be examined. These are: • the concept of social skill — Michael Argyle • the analysis of verbal behaviours — Neil Rackham • T‐group training — particularly the research by Cary Cooper and Henry Odie for the Hotel and Catering ITB • transactional analysis — work in Pan American Airways and American Airlines • applied learning in management training — by Mel Sorcher and Arnold Goldstein of Syracuse, USA A reading list giving references to these ideas and authors is given at the end of the article. The intention here is briefly to describe these views, evaluate their relevance to Customer Service Training generally, and show how they have influenced the philosophy and the design of the BEA training. Naturally, more weight will be given to one view than to another in the analysis that follows, but it should be emphasised that there is no intention to choose nor to reject any particular theory or training development. The different approaches are often complementary, each provides insight into the problems of human interaction.


The White-Tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) has been a key species for projects on study and conservation of large raptors in Tatarstan, which has been continuously carried out since 2011. The main monitoring studies were carried out in the upper part of Kuibyshev and Nizhnekamsk reservoirs, where large population groups have been formed since the end of the 20th century. Protected areas were the main monitoring plots. Currently, the section "Raptors of the World" of the web GIS "Faunistics" contains data on 210 White-Tailed Eagle breeding territories in Tatarstan. Research in the 20th and 21st centuries formed the basis (about 23%) of this database (Karyakin, 1992; 1994; 1997; Barabashin et al., 2002; Korepov, 2004; Pavlov, 2005; Korepov, 2006; Nikolenko, 2006; Korepov et al., 2013). But about 3% of the territories that were identified during this period have been empty for a long time, as breeding territories and nests were not found there over the past 13–15 years of observations. Remaining breeding territories were identified after 2010, and most of them we classify as occupied by White-Tailed Eagle. On some of them, there was a change of nests and, accordingly, displacement of breeding territories, and the number of breeding pairs varied in different years on some monitoring plots, even in protected areas, such as Volga-Kama Nature Reserve and "Nizhnyaya Kama" National Park. This may be due to the conditions of a particular season, and, in part, the long formation of new pairs after bird deaths. The frequent change of nests that were located near the former breeding territories is probably also associated with the change of birds in a pair. In general, the tendency of successful breeding on no more than 50% of breeding territories continues in recent years. There are no changes in fertility rates, with broods stable at 1–3 nestlings. Additionally, calculations were carried out to determine the start of egg laying based on determining the nestling age, mainly by the wing length (Helander, 1981) and deduction of the average incubation period of 37 days. The timing of egg laying for 2018–2023, just as for 2011–2016 (Bekmansurov, 2019), maintained a wide range from February 23 to April 3, but the peak of egg laying shifted from the first half of March to its second part. We used a smaller sample in calculations (n=65, 55% of the previous sample), which may affect overall results and conclusions. Nevertheless, the shift in main timing of egg laying could be associated with change in wintering conditions in and near White-Tailed Eagle natal area, since observations have shown that in winter, many territorial individuals did not move from breeding territories far and for a long time. To level out errors in calculations, we divided indicators into groups, and the March indicators were divided into 6 groups by 5 calendar days. Yet a common error is found in both old and new data, associated with the incubation period of 37 days. Thus, a video camera installed in White-Tailed Eagle nest showed that the incubation period for a single egg this season was 35 days, with it being laid on the night of March 24–25 and hatching on the night of April 28–29. It is unknown exactly how many pairs have differences in egg incubation time, but it is likely that an adjustment of an incubation period is necessary to level the calculations of breeding dates. We continued to ring nestlings, but in smaller numbers than previously, and mainly on more accessible nests. We are yet to receive direct evidence that ringed birds have bred, but photographic observations of ringed adult birds in the natal region suggest their nesting. 14 nestlings were tagged with trackers in Volga-Kama Nature Reserve and "Nizhnyaya Kama" National Park before leaving the nests (five nestlings in 2018, four in 2019, four in 2021, one in 2022). They confirmed the general southwestern direction of migration that was previously identified by colored tags and specified the wintering sites in an area between the Middle and Lower Volga, Lower reaches of Don and water reservoirs in Ukraine. Wintering sites in Kazakhstan and Trans Urals were identified as well. Five birds moved to wintering sites for over 1000 km (1360 km maximum). Two birds moved to the closest wintering sites, 285 and 508 km away. Two birds demonstrated the maximum territorial connections with distances of 1860 and 1890 km between the extreme points of wintering sites and further migrations. Of the birds tracked during the first autumn migration, three (21.4%) dropped out of study, two of them died at a distance of 610, 1009 km from the nests, and one bird was found sick at a distance of 501 km. One bird (7.14%) died during the second autumn migration 508 km away, another (7.14%) died during the third wintering at a distance of about 1080 km from the nest. The reasons for the death of these birds remain unknown. One bird died from a gunshot wound after return from the third wintering near the natal area at a distance of about 250 km from the nest. Contact with two birds (14.28%) was lost, possibly due to a tracker malfunction. Currently, tracking is carried out for three birds born in 2018, one – in 2021, one – in 2022. None of the three five-year old birds took part in breeding, but all of them lived in the natal region during the breeding season. Modernization of bird-hazardous overhead power lines continues in Tatarstan. Modernization program focuses on ensuring the protection of birds from electric shock, not only in nesting areas, but also near rural areas, where birds are concentrated around rural settlements, livestock farms, grain flows, and especially in places where meat products are disposed of, which attract White-Tailed Eagle in winter. In recent years, it was planned to build a complex of wind power plants in Tatarstan, at least at five sites located off the banks of the Kama and Volga, near the concentration of White-Tailed Eagle breeding territories. We hope that arguments for moving construction sites to safer places will be taken into account, as well as the need for more bird-friendly wind turbine technologies.


The purpose of this work is to investigate the problem of solutions to the time‐fractional Navier‐Stokes equations with Caputo derivative operators. We obtain the existence and uniqueness of the solutions to each approximate equation, as well as the convergence of the approximate solutions. Furthermore, we present some convergence results for the Faedo‐Galerkin approximations of the given problems.


In this issue we have plenty to stimulate and arouse discussion. In six editorials, we range between the tantalising finding of a causal association between suicide rates and the political complexion of government and the complexity of public health issues relating to molecular epidemiology and environmental cancer.

See pages 722–731

Our gallery focuses on traditional healers in the Americas, and reminds us that part of the legacy of the colonial period— and now of the new colonial era of globalisation—has been to undermine capacity as represented by traditions that have built on observation down the generations, and in substituting a narrow Western-reductionism have often distorted priorities to the disadvantage of the people. Hope, in this case, comes from the Andes.

See page 733

One year on from the atrocity at the …


Due to the logarithmic compression of the echo envelope by clinical ultrasound systems, Nakagami distribution can be more general to described the statistics of speckle and be used to design an unsharp mask filter to adaptively reduce speckle. This paper provides a novel adaptive speckle suppressing anisotropic diffusion(ASS-ANDl) method for medical B-scan ultrasonic images. The unsharp mask filter is evolved and combined with anisotropic diffusion method by introducing coefficient of variation based on local statistics of speckle. Performance of the new method has been tested on the ultrasonic images experimentally, we demonstrate that ASS-AND1 approach outperforms the conventional anisotropic diffusion(ANDl) in reducing speckle and preserving useful details.


The non-ferrous SMAs (shape memory alloys) have, normally, two problems that hinder the use in industrial scale: the natural aging and grain growth. The first degrades the memory effect, while the second, observed during the alloy's mechanical processing, modifies the phase transformation temperatures. Thus, the study of recrystallization kinetics is important for enabling the control of hardened state as a function of treatment time without allowing the exaggerated grain growth. The objective of this study is to determine the recrystallization kinetics in different SMAs (Cu-14Al-4Ni, Cu-12Al-0.5Be and Ni-42Ti), based on an empirical law of J-M-A (Johnson-Mehl-Avrami), as well as their activation energies for grain growth process according to the empirical Arrhenius law.Quantitative evaluations of the grain growth kinetics over a wide range of indicated DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) temperatures have been performed. The results show that the alloy less susceptible to aging in temperatures below the recrystallization peak is the Ni-42Ti, because it presented the highest activation energy, followed by the Cu-14Al-4Ni. The equations that describe the recrystallization kinetics follow the empirical law of J-M-A. The recrystallization kinetics accompanied by hardness variation was an important tool, working as an advisor for selection of treatment time as a function of temperature.


Kazuo SUGIMOTO (Nagoya City University,Graduate School of Economics) The purpose of this research is to estimate how many career consultants should be required in Japan.The so-called career consultants generally shall consult with working people who face a turning point of their career process such as job incompetence,internal replacement or promotion.They also shall encourage both students and unemployed people to get jobs with psychological and technical support. In 2002 the Ministry of Health,Labor and Welfare(MHLW)declared that 50,000 consultants should be created in Japan within next five years.Organizations as schools,companies,public employment bureau and private human business seem to require career consultants.However,up to now the MHLW has not reported such definite number required for each organization. This report is the first research to estimate the career consultants'number required in Japan.The required number shall be altogether 85,000,a far larger number than MHLW announced.


Personal care products (PCPs) are a class of compounds which consist of consumer products marketed for direct use primarily on the human body. These products exclude prescription and over the counter pharmaceutical products which are intended to have documented physiological effects (Daughton and Ternes, 1999), and with the exception of neutraceuticals and food supplements, PCPs are generally not intended for ingestion. There are thousands of chemicals that are constituents of PCPs. These are diverse and are used as active ingredients or preservatives in cosmetics; skin care, dental care and hair care products; soaps and cleansers; insect repellents; sunscreen agents; fragrances; and flame retardants. Many of these PCPs are used in very large quantities, and often at dosages and frequencies larger than are recommended.


This paper presents experiments on morphological inflection using data from the SIGMORPHON-UniMorph 2022 Shared Task 0: Generalization and Typologically Diverse Morphological Inflection. We present a transformer inflection system, which enriches the standard transformer architecture with reverse positional encoding and type embeddings. We further apply data hallucination and lemma copying to augment training data. We train models using a two-stage procedure: (1) We first train on the augmented training data using standard backpropagation and teacher forcing. (2) We then continue training with a variant of the scheduled sampling algorithm dubbed student forcing. Our system delivers competitive performance under the small and large data conditions on the shared task datasets.


Physical protection is one of the important ways to stabilize organic carbon in soils. In order to understand the role of soils as a carbon sink or source in global climatic change and carbon cycles and properly manage soils as a carbon sink, we ought to know how many organic carbon (OC) in a given soil could be protected. By a density fractionation approach and ultrasonic technique, each soil sample was divided into three fractions: free light fraction (free-LF), occluded fraction (occluded-LF) and heavy fraction (HF). The obtained fractions were analyzed for total OC content, carbohydrate content and recalcitrant OC content. The results showed: (ⅰ) In the whole soil profile, dominance of OC consistently decreased in the following order: HF, free-LF, occluded-LF. This suggested that OC in soils were mostly protected. From 0-10 to 60-80 cm horizons, the OC in free-LF decreased from 25.27% to 3.72%, while OC in HF they were increased from 72.57% to 95.39%. The OC in occluded-LF was between 2.16% and 0.89%. (ⅱ) Organic carbon recalcitrance in free-LF was similar to that in HF, and was even higher than that in HF below the surface horizon. This suggested that free-LF was not always the most fresh and non-decomposed fraction. OM quality of HF was higher than that of free-LF in the surface 10 cm below, namely the protected OM had higher quality than free OM in these horizons.


We present a novel optical trap structure for the confinement of a freely mobile quantum dot to a sub-diffraction-limited volume. We examine the optical forces on a single quantum dot, under excitonic resonance conditions, in the presence of resonantly enhanced electric fields in the near-field of a suitably engineered metal nanostructure. A numerical scheme to calculate the electromagnetic force on a quantum dot using an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) FDTD code combined with microscopic material equations is employed. Numerically derived forces on a single quantum dot are presented and it is shown that the dot may be confined in the proposed structure.


We consider the stability of solutions of variational problems with respect to perturbations of the integrand, raised by Ulam in [21]. In this paper we prove some results concerning Ulam's problem by using the theory of wellposedness. We consider the notion of wellposedness introduced in [23] and we deal with perturbations of the integrands related to variational convergence. Moreover some criteria to obtain variational convergence of sequences of non-convex integrals are given.


This study describes the in vitro anthelmintic activity of aqueous extracts (AE), ethyl acetate extracts (EE), flavonoid fractions (FF) and saponin fractions (SF) obtained from sisal waste (Agave sisalana) against gastrointestinal nematodes of goats. The activity of these extracts was evaluated by performing inhibition of egg hatch (EHA) and larval migration (LMI) assays. The EC50 results of the EHA corresponded to 4.7, 0.1 and 0.05 mg/mL for EE, EA and FF, respectively. The SF fraction showed no ovicidal activity. The percent efficacies that were observed for the LMI were 50.3, 33.2 and 64.1% for the AE, EE and SF, respectively. gave sisalana


In the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector, the availability of sufficient product inventory on the delivery vehicle is directly related to the accuracy of the sales forecasts. Insufficient accuracy of the estimations leads to loss of income and increases secondary costs such as transportation and labor costs. In the current situation, sales forecasts are based on the sales personnel's delivery route, knowledge, experience, and relationships. Since the knowledge and experience of the personnel are not brought into the institutional memory, this information is lost with the personnel change, and the new person needs to develop their own experiences about the route. Currently, the sales forecasting accuracy rate is calculated as 70%. It has been determined that a daily loss of 15% on a product basis and a total of 5% daily occurs. In the study carried out within the scope of this research, advanced analytical and machine learning methods that can capture the dynamics of the FMCG industry and analyze the extensive data formed effectively are studied to increase the accuracy and consistency of sales forecasts. Within the scope of the research, machine learning models to be used for sales forecasts were developed using artificial neural networks methods. We evaluated the models' performance according to the recall, precision, and accuracy metrics based on the route, point of sale, and product. It was determined that the artificial neural networks performs well for sales forecasting. Using the artificial neural networks in the experimental study, we achieved an average of 5% revenue increase for the three route groups selected as pilots. The sales forecast accuracy rate increased from 78% to 82%.


Abstract The purpose of many real world applications is the prediction of rare events, and the training sets are then highly unbalanced. In this case, the classifiers are biased towards the correct prediction of the majority class and they misclassify a minority class, whereas rare events are of the greater interest. To handle this problem, numerous techniques were proposed that balance the data or modify the learning algorithms. The goal of this paper is a comparison of simple random balancing methods with more sophisticated resampling methods that appeared in the literature and are available in R program. Additionally, the authors ask whether learning on the original dataset and using a shifted threshold for classification is not more competitive. The authors provide a survey from the perspective of regularized logistic regression and random forests. The results show that combining random under-sampling with random forests has an advantage over other techniques while logistic regression can be competitive in the case of highly unbalanced data.


Objective To observe the functional repairing effect of the co-transplantation of NgR gene silencing cells and PLGA stent in the injured spinal cord of rats. Methods Totally 72 healthy adult female Wistar rats established as the T9 hemisection model of spinal cord injury. They were then randomly divided into the PLGA group,the BMSCs plus SCs plus PLGA group and the NgR gene silencing cells plus PLGA group, 24 rats in each. The corresponding complexes were implanted into the spinal cord defect. Motor function tests were done at 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks later, and HE staining and immunofluorescence were preformed to observe the survival and distribution of the PKH-26 labeled BMSCs at the 4th week. Results After 4 weeks, the scores of posterior limbs of rats were higher in the NgR gene silencing cells plus PLGA group and BMSCs plus SCs plus PLGA group than the PLGA group(P 0.01),especially the NgR gene silencing cells plus PLGA group. The number of neurons and PKH-26-positive cells in the PLGA group, BMSCs plus SCs plus PLGA group and NgR gene silencing cells plus PLGA group were 0, 34.43±9.78, 69.58±8.15 respectively (P0.01). Conclusions BMSCs plus SCs plus PLGA transplantation can promote the functional recovery of rat hind limbs after SCI. This effect may be synergistic to NgR gene silencing.


The Manuscript in 1844 of Youth Marx has been regarded as a self-contained and steady discourse system,so the thought position and text value of The Summary on Mill have not been scientifically recognized up to now.Through comparison,we can see an internal humanism development from Gattungs to Socialization.The Summary on Mill had the two philosophical discourses as logical upper limit and lower limit.Existed as a bridge of different thoughts in The Manuscript in 1844, it advanced the sublimation of young Marx's philosophical thoughts.


"The central theme of the article is that the current 'change in the organisation conditions of work' is resulting in the boundaries of the employment relationship becoming more unclear, which also affects the relationship between 'work' and 'life'. Workers affected by this are increasingly being forced to be responsible for structuring their own work and therefore also for the entire organisation of their everyday life. A possible consequence of this in the long-term is also a fading of the boundaries of the social state of worker leading more in the direction of an individualised 'worker-manager', which will have lasting effects on the qualification level and training of workers. The background to the ideas are findings and theses from a sociological research project on the change in the everyday life-style of people in employment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))


The objective of this study was to reveal the population structure of shortfinned eel, Anguilla bicolor, that inhabit in Indonesia water. The genotypes of seven microsatellite DNA were analysed for 180 specimens collected from 10 representative location where two subspecies have been found. Analysis with seven microsetallite loci showed Expected (He) and observed (Ho) heterozigosities of each locus range range from 0,594 to 0,921 and from 0,250 to 1,000 respectively. Significant deviation from H-Wequilibrium were detected in 26 out of 70 cases which AjTR 04 and Aro 63 locus were more informative demonstrated with the higher average number of alleles. Whereas the genetic divergence and genetic distance between A. bicolor was from 0,20% to 5,52% and 0,241 to 0,869 respectively. Key word; Microsatellite, A. bicolor bicolor, A. bicolor pacifica, population structure and tropical eel.


Marketing managers are interested to know more about consumers' purchasing intention in order to increase their new or current products or services' selling. Thus, the related information in terms of consumers' intention can be important in marketing decision makings. Several factors are effective on the consumers' intention. This study aimed to search the effective factors on consumers' intention for buying cosmetics and health products in Tehran city. In this study a descriptive-survey method is used. Accordingly, situational, psychological, personal, socio-cultural, marketing mix and many other factors were covered and the gathered data was analyzed by 22end version of SPSS software. Statistical population includes all consumers of the products in Tehran city. The applied sampling method was random and the statistical population was infinitive, so the sample size determined up to 410 people. The data was gathered via questionnaire, with five-option` likert spectrum which included 34 items (main and demographic). Validity and reliability criteria were at least in acceptable range. Among 410 questionnaires, 394 were filled and returned to researcher. Data analysis was done in two levels of descriptive as well as inferential. Results showed significant affect of all the four factors on the consumers' intention to buy cosmetics and/or health products in Tehran city.


To the Editor:

We read with great interest the recent article by Dr Stuhlinger et al1 dealing with the relationship among asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), homocyst(e)ine, and endothelial function in young healthy adults, patients with peripheral arterial disease, and older healthy adults. The results of their study demonstrated that experimentally induced hyperhomocyst(e)inemia increased plasma ADMA, an effect that was temporally related to a decline in endothelial vasodilator function. Dr Stuhlinger et al1 proposed that ADMA might have a causal role in endothelial dysfunction because there was a significant inverse correlation between plasma ADMA and flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery.

Several studies have already reported that endothelial function was strongly influenced by estrogen status and was restored by estrogen replacement therapy in postmenopausal women.2 In a separate series of the study, Dr Stuhlinger and colleagues3 showed that inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability …


The concept of the university in the twenty-first century is hopelessly impoverished. It is 'impoverished' in the limited range of ideas that have come to be associated with the university. Characteristically, the ideas currently in circulation confine themselves to extending and endorsing contemporary emerging forms of the university. It is also 'hopelessly impoverished' in that the idea of the university is largely now without hope. Where it seriously engages with contemporary institutional forms assumed by universities, thinking and debate about the university can sometimes adopt critical tones but takes on a shrugging-of-the-shoulders attitude, a sense that there is no alternative. Ideas about the university have closed in, therefore. This closure is largely self-imposed. A necessary condition of an opening of ideas of the university is a recovery of the imagination. Through the creative use of the imagination, feasible utopias can be gleaned. However, such utopias, even if feasible, are not in themselves a sufficient condition of the formation of credible ideas. Such legitimation can be derived from subjecting creative ideas of the university to criteria of adequacy: five criteria of adequacy are identified, which can be seen to act as discriminators, sorting efficacious ideas of the university from non-efficacious ideas. One idea, that of the ecological university, is tested against the five criteria and can be seen in turn to gain intellectual and practical warrant. It is further argued that the five criteria of adequacy will not unduly eliminate creative ideas but rather can act to help in the generation of additional ideas of the university.


Cardiac involvement is an important cause of mortality in patients with Churg-Strauss syndrome. The typical cardiac presentation of Churg-Strauss syndrome includes pericarditis, myocarditis, and cardiomyopathy. Endomyocardial fibrosis has rarely been described in patients with Churg-Strauss syndrome. We experienced a patient with Churg-Strauss syndrome who exhibited exertional dyspnea and endomyocardial fibrosis visualized as delayed enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). After glucocorticoid treatment, the patient's symptom resolved, and the eosinophil count decreased to normal. Nine months later, the delayed-enhanced lesion on the cardiac MRI nearly disappeared. Here, we report a case of endomyocardial fibrosis in a patient with Churg-Strauss syndrome with a literature review.


This paper produces an algorithm of the shortest path in traffic net and gives its realization with computer. The results show that this algorithm is effective.


Summary form only given. We present data designed to show material defect levels pertinent to p-i-n MQW modulators. We do this by forming extremely-large modulators with 5x5 mm active areas. We then measure the reverse leakage current. Our wafer was grown by MBE on a semi-insulating substrate.


Information dissemination as the sole functionality driving the current Internet trend has been of keen interest for its manageability. Information Centric Network (ICN) proposed as a new paradigm shift to mitigate the predicted traffic of the current Internet.However, caching as an advantageous building block of ICN is faced with the challenges of content placement, content replacement and eviction.The current practice of ICN caching has given birth to the problems of content redundancy, path redundancy and excessive wastage of bandwidth.This study analyzes the intelligence in cache content management to palliate the gross expenses incurred in the ICN practice.The use of the current factors in previous studies in recency and frequency in content usage play delicate roles in our study. Replacement strategies are agreed to influence the entire cache-hit, stretch and Network diversity.


Over the past decades, the growing labour force participation of mothers has rendered the Belgian personal income tax system increasingly outdated. Especially the 'marital quotient' system - that allows spouses with monetary income to transfer part of their tax base to a spouse without monetary income - is no longer a tax allowance that compensates childcare efforts. It rather has become a subsidy to older cohorts for their past childcare efforts. As an alternative, we model in this article a system that is geared towards the effective care trajectories of nowadays parents. We thereby follow earlier ideas of Hilde Bojer, Patricia Apps and Ray Rees to reflect care efforts in the tax base of individuals. Following Bojer, we propose a system that incorporates a socially grounded amount of childcare time in household income, and simulate this with the Belgian microsimulation model MISIM. The amount relates to the number and age of children and can either be procured through childcare services or self-provision. In the proposed system both market- and self-provided care result in a similar ubsidy. We elaborate a monetary estimate of self-provided childcare on the basis of the detailed information of time use in the Flemish Family and Care Survey (2004-2005). For discussion we provide an overview of potential drawbacks and advantages and evaluate the redistributive impact of the simulated alternative.


We are witnessing a considerable growth in number and density of powerful mobile devices around us. Such devices like smartphones and tablets are our everyday companions. If not already at hand, they often wait in our bags and pockets to provide us with a ubiquitous computing (UbiComp) experience. However, most of these devices are still blind to the presence of other devices and performing tasks among them is usually tedious due to the lack of guiding principles. This thesis closes with the gap as mentioned above by investigating in the design and evaluation of spatial and cross-device interactions. As a central theme, presented research fundamentally grounds on embodied practices by exploiting users' pre-existing practical knowledge of everyday life for human-computer interaction. These embodied practices are often applied subconsciously in our daily activities, which unfolds new — yet unexplored — potentials for fun and joyful UbiComp experiences. Within this thesis, research is approached through both deductive and inductive reasoning. It begins with a brief history of UbiComp and its overarching vision. Contradicting opinions on this vision are discussed before leading over to recent theories and believes on embodied cognition and models on human spatial memory. This theoretical background eventually thrives arguments for yet unexplored and hidden potentials for spatial and cross-device interactions. Then, the application domain is narrowed down to academic libraries and knowledge work activities. In field studies at the Library of the University of Konstanz, the following two main knowledge work activities, and resonating issues are identified: literature & bibliographic search and reading & writing across documents. Together with the theoretical background the found issues are transformed into potentials for future knowledge work. Thereby, two fully functional research prototypes, Blended Shelf and Integrative Workplace, were implemented to explore the problem space further and to derive research questions covered in this thesis. The research questions are tackled through controlled experiments and implementation of low-cost enabling technology. In the first experiment, the optimal size of a spatially-aware peephole display is studied. As a finding, a relatively small tablet-sized peephole display serves as "sweet-spot" between navigation performance,


The effect of an anticoccidial vaccine on broiler chickens challenged at 21 st day of age with 6.0 x 10 4 E. acervulina; 5.0 x 10 3 E. maxima; and 4.0 x 10 4 E. tenella sporulated oocysts/bird, was evaluated. Four groups of 20 chicks each, one day old, were randomly assigned to: 1) unvaccinated, unchallenged control (UUC); 2) unvaccinated, challenged control (UCC); 3) vaccinated, challenged (VC); and 4) vaccinated, unchallenged (VU). All birds were weekly weighed. At 7 days post-challenged (PC), weight gain % (WG), intestinal pH (IpH), gut weight (GW), intestinal IgA concentration (IgAC), gut lesion score (GLS), oocyst output (OO) and percentage of specifi c coccidia species (SCS) in feces were recorded. At 14 and 26 days, gastrointestinal passage time (GPT) was measured. At 21 days of age, body weight from groups VC (544.8 ± 105) and VU (504.9 ± 88) were lower (P < 0.05) than group UUC (615.6 ± 100). At 28 days, group UUC was the heaviest (923.3 ± 126), and with the highest WG (49.97%). Group UCC had the lowest WG (24.60%), and at 26 days, it had the lowest GSF (212.4 ± 31), different (P < 0.05) from group VU with 43.81% of WG and 158.4 ± 52 for GSF. Both, IpH and GW did not differ among groups. The lowest IgAC was seen in ceca from group UUC. Group UCC had the highest GLS, whereas groups UUC and VU had the lowest GLS. Group VC showed higher GLS for E. maxima and E. tenella than groups UUC and VU. At 28 days, group UCC elicit higher OO; however, group VC showed higher OO than groups UUC and VU. At


Viewgraphs on the Transfer Orbit Plasma Interaction Experiment (TROPIX) are presented. Objectives of this research are (1) to map the charged particles in Earth's magnetosphere from LEO to GEO at high inclinations; (2) to measure plasma current collection and resulting shifts in vehicle electrical potential from LEO to GEO across range of orbital inclinations; (3) to study spacecraft interaction with plasma environment using solar electric propulsion (SEP) thrusters as plasma contactors; (4) to measure array degradation over mission duration; (5) to evaluate the potential of various microelectronics, spacecraft components, and instruments for future space missions; and (6) to demonstrate SEP technology applied to a flight vehicle. An overview of TROPIX is presented.


The paper presents some new requirements and trends concerning applications of amperometric biosensors and some practical problems for the environmental monitoring. The goal of this work was to build and study an amperometric potentiostat suitable for use in environmental monitoring. The amperometric potentiostat is an interface circuit which can adapt the biosensor for detection of pesticides in actual water samples. A rapid, simple, and sensitive amperometric potentiostat for direct total micro analysis measurement was developed. The large purpose of our work is creation of fast chemical test-systems with quite enough low detection limits and enough high selectivity. This paper presents some experimental studies of this apparatus.


Objective approaches to craft specialization founded in systems theory are obsolete and should be replaced by more fine-grained approaches capable of dealing with human agents, social practice, and meaning. All craft production, not just specialized production, is equally interesting and important for understanding the operation and change of past societies. Agents made, exchanged, and used a variety of objects in daily practice, and these had different meanings and values that affected social relationships, personhood, and social reproduction. This chapter reconsiders the role of things in the unfolding of everyday experience and in the production of meaning and being.


Abstract Conservation planning for protected species often relies on estimates of life‐history parameters. A commonly used parameter is the instantaneous maximum population growth rate (r max) that can be used to limit removals and design recovery targets. Estimation of r max can be challenging because of limited availability of species‐ and population‐specific data and life‐history information. We applied a method proposed by Neil and Lebreton, originally developed for birds, to loggerhead turtles. The method uses age‐at‐first‐reproduction and adult survival to estimate r max. We used a variety of datasets and matrix population models to confirm an allometric assumption required by the method, and to generate estimates of age‐at‐first‐reproduction and adult survival. A meta‐analysis was applied to parameters from reported growth curves, which were then combined with the size distribution of neophyte nesters to derive estimates of age‐at‐first‐reproduction. Adult survival rates were obtained from an existing matrix population model. Monte Carlo simulation was then used to combine the estimates of the allometric coefficients, age‐at‐first‐reproduction, and adult survival to obtain a probability distribution of approximate r max values. Estimated annual maximum population growth rates averaged 0.024, with a mode of 0.017 and a 95% highest density interval of 0.006–0.047. These estimates were similar to values reported by others using different methods and captured the variability in positive, annual change estimates across nesting beach sites for the northwest Atlantic loggerhead population. The use of life‐history parameters has a long history in wildlife and fisheries management and conservation planning. Our estimates of r max, while having some biases and uncertainty, encompassed values presently used in recovery planning for loggerhead turtles and offer additional information for the management of endangered and threatened species.


Nowadays, in order to constrain the behavior that the big shareholder illegally holds the interest of the middle small scale shareholder, independent director system is introduced. However, this corporate governance mode is hard to achieve the corporate governance's objective-maximization of shareholder wealth. The key to achieve this object is to develop the fund industry, optimize the stockholder's structure, and form a balanced-structure of rights.


A planar coil of multiple loops connected in series and in parallel is proposed for wireless power transfer (WPT). The current direction in each loop is mixed in forward and in reverse. The proposed coil gives uniform mutual inductance and enables simple impedance matching for free-positioning WPT.


In this paper, we present numerical and experimental results on Ultra-wide band (UWB) imaging comparing multi-step quantitative and single-step qualitative image reconstruction algorithms. Two quantitative schemes have been evaluated involving two different ways of calculating the gradient. In the first case, the gradient is calculated using the adjoint state method, while the second algorithm uses the central difference method aided by Broyden's technique for gradient updating. Meanwhile, the qualitative algorithm is radar based, and utilizes an enhanced version of the delay and sum which combines focusing quality, and multiply pair to identify significant scatterers. The methods and procedures were tested using both simulation and experimental phantoms. Results of detecting millimeter scaled targets for each algorithm are compared and discussed.


This paper probes into some problems existing in current teachers' performance evaluation system in higher vocational college,and advances some corresponding solving countermeasures.


Background: Neonates and in particular preterm neonates belongs to the most vulnerable population. A neonatal intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a highly specialized unit that provides high quality skilled care to critically ill new newborn, premature or low birth weight babies. Apart from facilities for continuous clinical and biochemical monitoring, NICU management involves the use of wide range of medications. Irrational prescription of drug is common in clinical practice, important reason being lack of knowledge about drug prescription. Developing countries have limited funds available for health care and drugs so it becomes very important to prescribe drugs rationally. The present study was done to find out the drug utilization pattern and improve the rational use which aids in the improvement of neonatal care.  Methods: The study was retrospective study in NICU of tertiary care hospital attached to MIMS, Mandya for a duration of 6 months. Data extraction sheet were used to collect the information regarding demographic details, maternal and delivery details, indication for admission, final diagnosis and medications administered. Data collected were evaluated for the category of prescribed, based on World Health Organization Anatomical Therapeutic Committee (WHO classification system and were analyzed using SPSS. WHO drug utilization core indicators were also evaluated.Results: Among 400 neonates admitted in NICU during the study period, 53.7% were males and 46.2% were females. There were 29.7% preterm born neonates. The maximum number of neonates were admitted in early neonatal period (87.25%). Neonatal sepsis (37.9%) and Birth asphyxia (11.6%) were the most common indications for admission. The total number of drugs prescribed was 1428 and the average number of drugs per neonate was 3.57. Preterm (<37weeks) and low birth weight (<2.5Kg) were exposed to significantly higher number of drugs. The most frequently prescribed therapeutic class of drugs was anti-infectives (60.36%), followed by drugs of central nervous system (7. 84%). Among the anti-infectives, the most commonly prescribed drugs were Ampicillin (59%), followed by gentamycin (42.5%). High end antibiotics like carbapenems, colistin's and linezolid were used in less than 5% of cases.Conclusions: Drug use in neonates should be minimal and focus on the importance of therapeutic treatment guidelines establishment in hospital to control the over usage of antibiotics.


The paper inquires into the nominal phenomenon in cooperation signature for Chinese scientific papers and points out its defect. At last, the methods of resolving this problem are given.


A new version of stochastic complexity for a parametric statistical model is derived, based on a class of two-part codes. We show that choosing the quantization in the rst step according to the Fisher information is optimal and we compare our approach to a recent result of Rissanen 10]. Application to robust regression model selection is presented.


With the rapid increase in the number of clinical trials in myopathy over the past decade, there is an increasing need for clinical scales to reflect patient's clinical status. This article outlines the process of identifying possible measures. Detailed consideration has been given to key measures of muscle strength, function, and disability. As well as the usual assessment of the validity and reliability of the measures, three key characteristics were identified as necessary to the assessment of clinical scales used in health care: 1) the type of scale; 2) the clinical significance of the property being measured; and 3) the mathematical properties of the data. Consideration of such aspects facilitates the choice of clinical scales and the interpretation of data. J Korean Neurol Assoc 39(2 suppl):15-23, 2021


A fractured neck femur presenting beyond three weeks is referred to as a neglected fracture. The current literature is silent about neglected Basicervical fractures. The latter behave more like an intertrochanteric fracture and thus are less prone to complications like non-union and avascular necrosis. We report a case of an adult male of 42 years of age presenting with a 10-month-old history fracture neck of the left femur following high energy injury. We treated the fracture with isolated closed-reduction and internal fixation with PFNA II, as the fracture was basicervical. We have achieved a union in six months of surgery. The patient had an excellent functional status one-year follow-up.


9‐(Dicyanovinyl) julolidine (DCVJ) is a fluorescent probe, which binds to a unique site on the tubulin dimer and exhibits different properties that are dependent upon its oligomeric state (Kung & Reed, 1989). DCVJ binds to tubulin, the tubulin‐colchicine complex, and the tubulin‐ruthenium red complex equally well, but binds tighter to the ANS‐tubulin complex than to tubulin alone. The energy transfer studies indicate a small amount of energy transfer with colchicine, but a significant energy transfer with ANS. It was shown previously that ruthenium red binds near the C‐terminal tail region of the α‐subunit. Ruthenium red causes major quenching of fluorescence of the tubulin‐DCVJ complex, suggesting proximity of binding sites.


The rac-lipoato (lip-) complexes [Zn(lip)2(H2O)2] (1) and [Cd(lip)2(H2O)2] (2) were obtained in good yields from solutions of sodium lipoate and the respective metal nitrate in methanol/water. 1 and 2 form pale yellow, moderately light-sensitive crystals. Both compounds were structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. 1: C2/c, a = 39.958(6), b = 5.360(1), c = 10.794(1) Å, β = 95.76(1)°, Z = 4, wR2 = 0.150 (all data). 2: C2/c, a = 38.200(2), b = 5.472(1), c = 11.179(1) Å, β = 92.72(1)°, Z = 4, wR2 = 0.090 (all data). The metal ions are hexacoordinated by the oxygen atoms of two chelating carboxylate ligands and two aqua ligands. The crystal structures are very similar but not isotypic. They are layer structures, in which the complexes within a layer are interconnected by a network of hydrogen bonds. Adjacent layers have contacts via the 1,2-dithiolanyl rings of their lipoato ligands. Crystals of 1 and 2 decompose on exposure to visible light or ultraviolet radiation in the 280-390 nm range. Photopolymerization by formation of intermolecular S-S bonds is very probably involved. Furthermore, the infrared spectra reveal the transformation of COO- into COOH groups


The authors review three examples of how fluorescence spectroscopic techniques have been employed to elucidate structural features of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor from the electric organ of Torpedo californica. The instrumentation and most relevant fluorescence methods utilized for these studies are briefly discussed. The examples reviewed are as follows: (1) the measurement of the average distance between the two acetylcholine binding sites on the receptor and the noncompetitive inhibitor binding site in the central ion channel, (2) the measurement of distance between fluorescently labeled snake (alpha) -toxins bound to the same membrane-associated receptor oligomer and bound to the adjacent receptor oligomers, and (3) the relative orientation of snake (alpha) -toxin with respect to the central ion channel and the plane of the lipid membrane into which the receptor is embedded.


Employee satisfaction is a parameter used to measure of the extent to which employees are pleased with their particular jobs and working environment. Continuously improving the spirits and self-confidence among employees can be of incredible benefits to any organization, given that happy employees are anticipated to put in more energy and time, take less leave of absence, and remain dedicated to the company. There are a number of factors that improve or sustain high employee satisfaction, which sensible employers thrive to implement. This objective of this study is to determine the level of employees'job satisfaction and to investigate the effect of gender on employees'job satisfaction. Important factors that have an impact on job satisfaction are supervision, relationship with co-workers, rewards, work condition, and opportunities for promotion. Data for this research were gathered from employees of four 5 rated-star hotels in Iran. The illustrative evaluation executed to decide the grade of employees'job satisfaction. Furthermore, independent sample t-test was utilized to empirically test relationship between employees'job satisfaction and their gender. Findings suggest that employees are moderately satisfied with their job and there is no significant difference in between male and female employees'job satisfaction.


This research project was designed to study the determinants of leadership development in rural women. The first phase of the study involved individual interviews with women recognized as leaders within a rural community. Each of the 25 rural women leaders interviewed was raised on a farm or in a community with a population smaller than 2,000. The second phase of the study was administered via Survey Monkey to 133 women using a modified version of the Review of Personal Effectiveness with Locus of control (ROPELOC) instrument, which included the key domains of interest and was expanded to include additional questions focusing on unique challenges to leadership among women living in rural communities. The project used leadership-related community groups as an entry point to identify women across rural Kansas for the survey. The results from these two methods identified six themes: lifelong learners, bias and discrimination, self-efficacy and overcoming barriers, community influence and social capital, leadership mentors, and expression of leadership.


BACKGROUND: Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) outperform warfarin in vascular and bleeding events in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Yet, effects of DOACs on congestive heart failure (CHF) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) remain less explored. METHODS: Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, a nationwide retrospective cohort study was conducted. The study matched 5,683 non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) edoxaban patients with 11,366 warfarin patients, and 703 NVAF with cancer (NVAF-C) edoxaban patients with 1,406 warfarin patients. Vasular and non-vascular outcomes, with focuses on CHF and AD, were compared between the edoxaban and warfarin users. RESULTS: Edoxaban significantly lowered adjusted hazrad ratio (aHR) of all-cause mortality, hospitalization for gastrointestinal bleeding, and CHF (0.37, 0.74, and 0.26, respectively, in NVAF; 0.39, 0.67, and 0.31, respectively, in NVAF-C, all p < 0.05), compared to warfarin. Edoxaban was associated with significantly lower aHRs of acute myocardial infarction, peripheral artery disease, venous thromboembolism, pulmonary embolism, and AD (0.71, 0.48, 0.55, 0.20, and 0.66, respectively; all p < 0.05) in NVAF patients versus warfarin. However, edoxaban had higher aHR of hospitalized bleeding (1.19, p = 0.002) than warfarin in NVAF patients, but not in NVAF-C patients. CONCLUSIONS: Edoxaban demonstrated lowered CHF risks in both NVAF and NVAF-C patients, and reduced AD occurrence in NVAF patients versus warfarin. These findings advocate for edoxaban's use in AF cases.


Using electron paramagnetic resonance we have been able to identify a new oxygen‐related donor defect in the Si substrate of bonded and etchback silicon‐on‐insulator structures. This axially symmetric donor is preferentially aligned along the [100] direction, and resides close to the Si/SiO2 interface. It is tentatively suggested that the donors result from the nonoxidizing anneal received by the wafers during the bonding process.


Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The pepper is cultivated in Brazil, United States, Mexico, Italy, Japan and India. Pepper plays an important role in the economic growth of these countries. The objective of this research work is to evaluate the effect Nitrogen and potassium on the growth of sweet pepper plants. The characteristics of growth such as weight, length and diameter are analyzed.


From the Archives: This interview was conducted during Shirley Geok-lin Lim's visit to Flinders University in September 1994 and first published in the CRNLE (Centre for Research in the New Literatures in English) Reviews Journal in 1995. We are republishing it with Professor Lim's permission, and with a postscript from Dr Nor Faridah Abdul Manaf to bring it up to date.
1995 Introduction: I first started reading Professor Lim's work in her role as a well-known critic of Malaysia and Singapore Anglophone writings, although she was better known as a poet. My brief encounter with Professor Lim during her visit to the CRNLE in conjunction with CRNLE's International Conference in September 1994, was both delightful and inspirational. To me, Professor Lim represents the many invisible tough and strong women in Asia particularly in Malaysia. She has gone through many conflicts and contradictions in her search for identity as a woman.


This chapter is a review of those reactions of compounds containing labile amino groups in which a carbon-carbon bond is formed by amine replacement as, for example, in the alkylation of diethyl malonate by 1-dimethylamino-3-butanone. Attention has been given primarily to reactions of amines prepared by the Mannich reaction (Mannich bases), but for comparison, analogous reactions of simpler quaternary ammonium salts have been included.

Keywords:

carbon-carbon alkylations;
amines;
ammonium salts;
cyanide;
replacements;
active methyl groups;
active methylene groups;
indole;
quaternary salts;
organometallic compounds;
related reactions;
experimental conditions


In this paper, we study the fundamental principles of natural statis- tical physics. We derive the Schrodinger equations by solving the varia- tional problems for the energy functionals of the physical systems. We give the many solutions of the natural statistical physics. At last we give several unsolved problems of the natural statistical physics. As for the precise, we refer to the references at the end of this paper.


The design of a simple CMOS operational-amplifier-based multiplier/divider is presented. The 2 operational amplifier and 6 MOSFET transistor circuit simultaneously achieves four-quadrant multiplication and division. Applications of the new circuit in analog signal processing are discussed. The multiplier/divider circuit is insensitive to MOS intrinsic parasitic capacitances. It is sensitive to operational amplifier finite unity-gain bandwidth. This sensitivity may be mitigated using the configurability property of the circuit. Experimental results are provided to support some of the theoretical claims.<<ETX>>


An outlier has a significant impact on data quality and the efficiency of data mining. The outlier identification algorithm observes only data points that do not follow clearly defined meanings of projected behaviour in a data set. Several techniques for identifying outliers have been presented in recent years, but if outliers are located in areas where neighbourhood density varies substantially, it can result in an imprecise estimate. To address this problem, we provide a 'Relative Density‐based Outlier Factor (RDOF)' algorithm based on the concept of mutual proximity between a data point and its neighbours. The proposed approach is divided into two stages: an influential space is created at a test point in the first stage. In the later stage, a test point is assigned an outlier‐ness score. We have conducted experiments on three real‐world data sets, namely the Johns Hopkins University Ionosphere, the Iris Plant, and Wisconsin Breast Cancer data sets. We have investigated three performance metrics for comparison: precision, recall, and rank power. In addition, we have compared our proposed method against a set of relevant baseline methods. The experimental results reveal that our proposed method detected all (i.e., 100%) outlier class objects with higher rank power than baseline approaches over these experimental data sets.


Wet-etched pattern sapphire substrate (PSS) has been employed to improve the epitaxy of GaN-based LEDs. It was found that the crystal quality and performance of LEDs improved with decrease in c-plane areas of PSS. However, further decrease in bottom c-plane areas makes epitaxy of GaN film very difficult. In this research, the evolution of bottom c-plane was investigated through a systematic study. It was found that epitaxy difficulty might be due to the appearance of 6C facets {41318} and the disappearance of bottom c-plane. © 2013 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/2.022309jss] All rights reserved.


Healthcare sector has large amounts of data that require careful analysis in order to improve the medical service offered to the patients. Semantic data mining can play an effective rule in analyzing such amounts of data. In this paper, we propose a framework for association rule extraction based on ontology semantics. In the proposed framework, traditional medical datasets are represented using web ontology language. The medical dataset is transformed into an ontology of the form of triples (subject, object, predicate), and SPARQL is used to query the generated ontology. The Apriori algorithm is used to generate the association rules. Intensive experiments have been conducted to measure the quality and significance of the resulting association rules under different scenarios using different support and confidence values. The obtained results have shown that ontology-based Apriori algorithm is much better than the traditional Apriori algorithm. The rules generated using both algorithms have been compared in terms of several performance metrics including the number of frequent items, the number of generated rules, the computation time, the memory consumption, and the average confidence of the generated rules. The different performance metrics revealed the superiority of the proposed semantic Apriori algorithm (the ontology-based Apriori) compared to traditional Apriori algorithm.


As the primary barrier in the gut, intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) are positioned to promote tolerance and immunity against pathogens. MHCII is highly expressed on IECs, however MHCII expression on epithelial cell subsets is largely unexplored. Goblet cells (GCs) are specialized epithelial cells that have critical role in barrier maintenance and immunity. GC can form Goblet cells associated passage (GAPs) and deliver luminal antigens to lamina propria (LP) antigen presenting cells (APC) to induce adaptive immune responses. Here, we report that MHCII is highly expressed on small intestinal GCs as compared with other IECs and colon IECs, which do not form GAPs in the steady state. Moreover, expression of coinhibitory and costimulatory molecules by GCs was higher when compared with other IECs. Interestingly, flow analysis and quantification of MHCII on CD45.2 +MHC-II −/−donor-derived leukocytes showed MHCII acquisition by donor-derived small intestinal lamina propria (siLP) APCs 7 weeks after BM-transplant into CD45.1 +recipients. Indeed, carbachol, which induces GAPs formation resulted in increased MHCII acquisition by CD45.2 +MHC-II −/−donor-derived siLP MNPs. Furthermore, selective deletion of MHCII on GCs, resulted in a significant reduction of transferred dietary antigen specific OT-II +CD45.1 +CD4 +T cells in mLN in a model of oral tolerance. Bulk RNAseq analysis on the small intestine of mice with GC deletion of MHCII revealed an expansion of B cell responses and significant increase in IgA+ cells in Peyer's patches. This data suggests that GC expression of MHCII has a role in antigen-specific responses to luminal antigens and in regulating intestinal homeostasis.
 Supported by grants from NIH


In MREIT, we reconstruct cross-sectional resistivity images of a subject. Injecting currents through surface electrodes, we measure internal magnetic flux density using MRCDI technique. Current density can be obtained from the magnetic flux density data. For resistivity image reconstruction algorithms, we need a three-dimensional forward solver computing voltage, current density, and magnetic flux density within the subject. Given injection currents as boundary conditions, the three-dimensional forward solver described in this paper calculates voltage and current density using FEM. Then, it computes the induced magnetic flux density within the subject using the Biot-Savart law.


The localized interface optical-phonon modes lying in a minigap of AlAs-GaAs superlattice with structural defects consisting of ternary mixed-crystal AlxGa1-xAs are studied in the dielectric continuum approximation. We find that three localized interface optical modes appear in each frequency minigap for certain structural parameters. Two of them are antisymmetric with respect to the center of the defect layers and display interesting features significantly different from those in the structure with a binary crystal defect layer. However, the third mode with symmetric property shows similar behavior as that in the structure with a binary crystal defect layer.


Purposes: The purposes of the study were to 1) compare the pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength, and exercise endurance before and after fling resection; 2) compare the percentage of impairment in pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength, and exercise endurance for patients with different extent of resection; and 3) investigate the determinants of hospital stay and the impairment in pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength, and endurance. Methods: Thirty-nine consecutive patients who had lung resection without major complications at the National Taiwan University Hospital served as the subjects of the study. Each of the subjects took a complete pulmonary function test (PFT) that includes measurements of VC, MVV, FVC, FEV1, FEV1/ FVC, PEF, maximal inspiratory and expiratory mouth pressure (M I P and M EP) before surgery and before discharge (13.2±6.3 days after operation)﹒ In addition, 26 of them took walking tests for 3 minutes before and after surgery, respectively, Results: The results of the study demonstrated that the patients had significant reductions in lung volume, flow, respiratory muscle strength, and distance walked after thoracic surgery by the averages of 30-40%, 50%, 4-7%, and 26 %, respectively. Patients who underwent more than lobectomy had longer duration of chest tube drainage than patients who underwent less than lobectomy. However, patients who underwent less than lobectomy had higher percentage of impairment in PEF than the other patients. Significant correlations included the relationship of hospital stay with duration of chest tube drainage and impairment of PEF (r= 0.87 and 0.38, respectively), impairment of PEF with duration of chest tube drainage (1'=0.32), while none of the changes in MIP, MEP, or walking distαnee were correlated. with other variables. Conclusion: After lung resection, patients still have significant impairments in PFT after using the extent of resection as the correction factor. Their MlP, MEP, and walking ability were also reduced. The length of hospital stay highly correlated with the duration of chest tube drainage.


Transient tests for nuclear power plants are performed during so-called start up test in advance of their commercial operation. Through these tests, plant stability, power control characteristics and transient responses to various trips of equipment could be demonstrated. Six typical tests conducted at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant No. 1 of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. have been chosen in order to compare the test data with analytical results obtained by the authors. All available plant data have been incorporated into our analyses to obtain a strict comparison.