The National Voluntary Hospital Reporting Initiative (NVHRI)—recently renamed the Hospital Quality Alliance: Improving Care Through Information—is a nationwide, collaborative effort to make the quality of hospital care more transparent to professionals and consumers. This report provides information on hospitals' decisions to participate, their early experiences, and the initiative's influence on hospital quality improvement efforts. The authors conclude that the NVHRI has generated and maintained hospitals' support because public reporting is viewed as "the right thing to do†and the NVRHI fits reasonably well with other quality initiatives in which hospitals participate. They also found signs that the NVHRI may, in concert with other initiatives, lead to better quality of care.


Fuels from renewable sources such as biodiesel or bioalchohols are getting more attention also as blending components to fossil fuels and because of their less environmental impact. Stability and physico-chemical properties of different diesel-alcohol blends were investigated by different composition. The solubility properties of the alcohols are mainly dependent on the carbon chain length of the alcohol, their water content, additives, temperature and also on the hydrocarbon composition of the diesel fuel. Bio-butanol has better physic-chemical properties than bio-ethanol and its blends with diesel fuel have proper parameters, like Cold Filter Plugging Point and High Frequency Reciprocating Rig lubricity are close to those of the base diesel fuel.


The post-Wisconsinan relative sea-level record from Atlantic Canada is used to reconstruct the morphology of late Wisconsinan age ice cover during its retreat from the Atlantic region. The proposed reconstruction has little or no grounded ice in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, an ice dome over the north shore of the St. Lawrence, and thin ice, often less than 1 km thick, over much of the rest of the area. A sensitivity analysis shows that the proposed reconstruction is not unique in its ability to account for the relative sea-level record but that the thickness of ice in any individual area of the reconstruction is unlikely to be in error by more than a factor of two. The exact position of the ice margin in some areas is not well constrained by the model; an example is in southeastern Newfoundland.The numerical model used to relate ice morphology to postglacial relative sea level assumes that the ice sheets are isostatically equilibrated at the glacial maximum and, therefore, that load changes associat...


The invention discloses a compound microorganism fermentation agent, belonging to a bacteria strain and a mixed bacteria fermentation agent in the field of microbiological feed additives. The compound microorganism fermentation agent is prepared from the following components in parts by weight: 10-20 parts of aspergillus niger, 15-20 parts of bacillus subtilis and 15-25 parts of lactobacillus plantarum, the preservation number of aspergillus niger Li-2013-03 is CGMCC No.7927. The compound microorganism fermentation agent effectively solves the technical problem of fermentation of ensilage, is simple to use and is convenient for farmers to realize large-scale application.


A technique of auxiliary liver homotransplantation in rats was developed by considering both the functional competition and unfavorable hemodynamics to which a heterotopic liver graft is exposed. Atrophy of the graft was prevented by partial hepatectomy, ligation of the common bile duct, and diversion of the portal blood from the remaining host liver. An outflow anastomosis was reestablished as proximally as possible, using a short cuff of the donor vena cava to keep the distance between the graft and the right atrium short and the venous outflow pressure low, thus avoiding congestion of the graft. Only 30% of the donor liver was used as a graft, which was provided with portal inflow only. Under these conditions the grafts hypertrophied, and about 44% of the rats survived longer than 14 months.


The conventional forest management system proposed for the Brazilian Amazon is not widely applied there (Hummel 1996). Problerns arise because 01' the heavy investment and large areas offorest needed to implement the systern. and lhe long period required for the forest to regenerate after harvesting combined with lhe low price of tirnber in local markets. As a result. formal forest management is designed for large properties where investment potential is high.


I am convinced that the contribution by Professor Shaffer in this paper and in his earlier working paper on the same subject will go down as an important milestone in our profession. The future usefulness of and respect for our profession may depend upon how well we implement the philosophic, conceptual, and organizational reorientations which he suggests. In spite of my high appraisal of Dr. Shaffer's paper I do have some critical views on it. Not only does his paper fail to provide an adequate treatment of the subdiscipline or subfield known as marketing but also in my


Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are the most common electrolyte now a day, which is usually a molten salt comprised of cationic and anionic charge, generate a neutral species having high thermal stability and exceptional chemical property. Due to these unique properties, RTILs had been used for many applications as a solvent/electrolyte for decades. There are many RTILs, which possess good conductivity, as well as an optimum electrochemical window, which, is suitable for electrochemical sensor application. Among various electrochemical sensors available in the market, the electrochemical gas sensor is a popular device for environmental monitoring. The use of RTILs to the existing technology leads us to new era of sensing where we can able to address sensitivity, stability, robustness, and ability to do multiplex array along with the fundamental behind the electrochemical gas sensor. This paper is consisted of the electrical and electrochemical properties of some popular RTILs along with its application in electrochemical sensing, with a special focus on the electrochemical gas sensor. This review will help the general audience to fabricate the next-gen electrochemical sensor using RTILs. an the terms of the Attribution which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any


This article studies a solemn discourse pronounced at the University of Valencia in 1531 after its classical sources and after its rhetorical resources. This Oratio parenetica de optimo statu reipublicae constituendo is the only known writing by Cosme Damian Cavall, the first professor of Greek at the University of Valencia. Cavall was a disciple of Elio Antonio de Nebrija and Juan Andres Strany and he was also teacher of Miguel Jeronimo Ledesma and other Hellenists from Valencia.


PURPOSE
Previous studies have found that inappropriate assessment of cancer pain can lead to inadequate pain management. To improve assessment, it may be helpful to collect real-time data in a natural environment using computerized ecological momentary assessment (cEMA). Therefore, the aim of the study was to develop a personal digital assistant (PDA) system to collect information on symptoms such as pain and mood states in patients with cancer using cEMA.

METHODS
Following a pilot study in inpatients with cancer, the second phase of the study involved patients with terminal cancer receiving home hospice care. These patients were asked to record their symptoms in a PDA (a palm-sized portable device) several times per day for a week when they took rescue medications and when an alarm sounded. At the end of the week, an interview on the usability of the device was conducted and overall response rates were calculated.

RESULTS
Fifteen patients completed the second phase of the study. Their median age was 64 years and the median survival time after the study period was 22 days. The overall response rates were 90.3% to the sound of the alarm and 80.2% after taking rescue medications. The user-friendliness of the device was rated as 8.8 on a scale of 0 (worst) to 10 (best).

CONCLUSIONS
The cEMA technique using a PDA might be applicable to patients with cancer in palliative care to evaluate symptoms in a natural setting. This system may also be useful for managing symptoms such as pain and mood states in patients with cancer.


Performance of series connected batteries is limited by the "weakest link" effect, i.e., the cell or group of cells with the poorest performance in terms of temperature, power, or energy characteristics. To mitigate the "weakest link" effect, this study deals with the design, modeling, and experimental demonstration of a smart and hybrid balancing system (SHBS). A cell-to-cell shared energy transfer configuration is proposed, including a supercapacitor bank in the balancing bus, thus enabling hybridization. Energy is transferred from each battery module connected in series to the balancing bus, and vice-versa, by means of low-cost bi-directional dc–dc converters. The current setpoints of the converters are obtained by means of a smart balancing control strategy, implemented using convex optimization. The strategy is called "smart" because it pursues goals beyond the conventional state-of-charge equalization, including temperature and power capability equalization, and minimization of energy losses. Simulations show that the proposed SHBS is able to achieve all these goals effectively in an e-mobility application and are also used to assess the impact of different hybridization ratios and cooling conditions. Finally, an experimental setup is developed to demonstrate the feasibility of the SHBS.


The stability constants of complexes of Mn++, Fe++, Co++, Ni++, Cu++, Zn++, Cd++ and UO with 5,7-dichloro-, 5,7-dibromo- and 5,7-dinitro-8-hydroxyquinoline and their corresponding N-oxides have been determined in 75 + 25 v/v dioxan + water medium at 35°C in presence of 0.20 M sodium perchlorate by pH-titration technique as given by IRVING and Rossotti. A possible explanation for the observed orders of the stability constants of the metal complex with the different ligands, and of the complexes of a particular ligand with different metal ions is also proposed.

Die Stabilitatskonstanten der Komplexe von Mn++, Fe++, Co++, Ni++, Cu++, Zn++, Cd++ und UO mit 5, 7-Dichlor-, 5, 7-Dibrom- und 5, 7-Dinitro-8-hydroxychinolin und der entsprechenden N-Oxide sind in Dioxan/Wasser-Gemischen (75/25) bei 35°C in Gegenwart von 0,20 m Natriumperchlorat durch Titration nach Irving und Rossotti bestimmt worden. Eine mogliche Erklarung fur die beobachtete Abhangigkeit der Stabilitatskonstanten der Komplexe bei Variation des Liganden und andererseits bei Variation des Metalls wird vorgeschlagen.


A review has been made of studies in diffusion coefficients values and their dependence on temperature of wheat moisturization (whole grain, scoured grain, grain kernel, endosperm, and pericarp). Experimental research was performed at temperatures between 10 oС and 98.3 oС. Values of diffusion coefficients were found by using approximated solutions to the unsteady-state diffusion equation. The values of diffusion coefficients vary over a wide range between 1.1·10 -12 m 2 /sec (at 10 oС) and 1.4·10 -10 m 2 /sec (at 98.3 oС). The relation between the diffusion coefficient and the temperature is described by the Arrhenius equation. Studies in this work were performed at higher temperatures between 105 and 140 oC. At these temperatures, wheat is cooked, and in order to determine diffusion coefficients one has to use solution of unsteady-state diffusion by the numerical grid method in an implicit scheme. This solution made it possible to take into account changing diffusion coefficient with changing temperature, as well as separation of the outer starch layers and reduction of material particles size to complete cooking. In order to compare calculation results obtained using grids method and the steady-state conditions approximate equation that is used by authors of previous works, we performed analytical solution of transient diffusion equation for an infinite plate using the method of variable separation. It has been shown that calculation results of the analytical solution are consistent with results of the grid method and are different from the results for regular mode only during the initial period. The greatest computer time consumption corresponds to analytical solution. It has been shown that diffusion coefficients during cooking can only be defined when a mathematical model is used, which is based on numerical method of solving unsteady diffusion equations. It has been established that during cooking, diffusion coefficient is substantially lower than that in case of material moisturization, and is equal to 8.273·10⁻¹²m²/s at 138 oC. This can be explained by the fact that changes in starch granules occur in course of cooking.


A 45‐year‐old man with multiple symmetric lipomatosis suffered recurrent syncope attributed to carotid sinus syndrome caused by extrinsic compression of the carotid body by the lipomatous masses. Surgical removal reduced but did not stop syncope, which was then controlled by implantation of a DDD pacemaker.


We present a client-server framework for the development of mobile applications that use Augmented Reality (AR) to visualize geolocated data. Geo-information displays allow users to understand and respond effectively to the context in which the application is deployed. We provide a scalable and flexible architecture for the development and management of the client, the server and the data that are used by the applications. This architecture is based on the display of connected layers that represent structured information. The approach has been implemented in two case studies: the management of failures in electrical power lines, and to support hydrogeological monitoring.


The purpose of present study was to examine the comparative effect of teaching spelling through mnemonics and phonics on EFL learners' vocabulary achievement and retention. Sixty female students of a junior high school were chosen among  one hundred elementary students. To ensure the homogeneity of the students, a Key English Test was administered to all one hundred students, and a teacher–made vocabulary test was piloted with 30 students with similar characteristics to the target participants .The sixty students were divided randomly into two experimental groups, each group contains thirty students, the students in experimental group one were instructed mnemonics and the other experimental group were instructed phonics. Before treatment the teacher–made vocabulary test was administered as a pre - test and after the treatment post- test was run two times, first for vocabulary achievement, and after two weeks for retention. The design was quasi experimental. The results of the RM ANOVA indicated that there was no significant difference between the effect of phonics and mnemonics on EFL learners' vocabulary achievement, nor was there any significant difference between the effect of the two treatments on their vocabulary retention.


The theory of Medical Immunology is independent,which includes a lot of new knowledge.Optimizing resource of medical immunology,recombinating knowledge structure,building knowledge framework and leading in PBL(Problem Based Learning) teaching method help to arouse students'studying interest and elevate teaching effect.


The present invention calculates the index of the rubber tire with high precision. Rubber index calculating device measures the friction energy of the tire in a plurality of the tire input conditions to be applied to the tire, a friction energy measuring device for measuring on the basis of the shear force, and slippage amount of the tire ground surface, and of the tires and of the same material a friction energy of the samples, the friction energy of the tire in the sample input conditions, a friction energy measurement for each tire input conditions measured by the apparatus, and measurement is set on the basis of the friction energy of the tire in each of the tire input conditions measured and on the basis of the friction energy of the samples in each of the tire input conditions measured, setting the measurement conditions for measuring the wear amount of the sample, and measuring the sample amount of wear to the measurement conditions set by the wear amount measuring device, the friction of the test sample on the basis of the energy and the calculated wear amount of the tire the rubber index .


Foreign body aspiration often occurs amongst extreme age. Most of aspirated object are; nuts, nails, pins, coins, metal piece and dental appliances. Foreign body aspiration can be life threatening. Patients with foreign body aspiration may present with choking, coughing, wheezing, haemoptysis, asphyxia and even death. The symptoms and severity depend on the site of obstruction. This is a case of 9 year old boy provided the history of aspiration of white board needle. He had persistent cough but examination revealed normal vital signs. Radiological examination confirmed needle like radio opaque material in his trachea. This case report depicts the management and bronchoscope as diagnostic procedure of this case and role of X-ray and CT scan in dealing with foreign body in the tracheobronchial tree. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v12i4.16668 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 12 No. 04 October '13 Page 449-452


Adsorption of trimethyl amine (TMA) and dimethyl amine (DMA) on the nanotube form of black phosphorene (BPNT) is explored using insightful density function theory (DFT). Moreover, the global minima position of DMA and TMA molecules is ascertained on BPNT. The interaction of TMA and DMA molecules on BPNT is observed to be of physisorption type. The charge transfer indicates that DMA and TMA molecules behave as electron donor upon adsorption on BPNT. Also, the band gap of BPNT gets modulated upon the interaction of TMA and DMA molecules. Hence, the results show that BPNT can be employed as a chemi-resistor sensor to detect the presence of DMA and TMA vapors.


The strategy of "One Belt One Road" can not only promote common development and prosperity among countries, but also enhance mutual understanding and trust, strengthening all-round exchanges between countries. Based on the current situation that Chinese engineering enterprises lack experience in countries along the route, this paper mainly provides inspiration and conclusions for enterprises through the study and analysis of two cases.


Introduction: Leprosy is an age old disease affecting mankind with various clinico-pathological forms. Mycobacterium Leprae causes a chronic infectious disease known as Leprosy or Hansen's disease. It remained a major public health issue due to associated case load, morbidity and stigma attached to it. Clinical and histopathological examination along with demonstration of lepra bacilli in skin smears by Fite-faraco stain and Bacillary Index (BI) is widely used for proper classification and diagnosis of leprosy. Aim: To study the clinico-pathological features of leprosy in skin biopsies and to categorise it into various types of lesions according to Ridley Jopling classification. Materials and Methods: The descriptive study included clinically diagnosed 183 leprosy cases who underwent skin biopsy for histopathological examination from January 2017 to December 2018 at Shri Bhausaheb Hire Government Medical College Dhule, Maharashtra. All sections were stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and Fite-faraco stain. Ridley-Jopling classification was done to classify leprosy. Clinical diagnosis was in concordance with that of histopathological diagnosis. Results: A total of 183 skin biopsies were studied from patients in an age group of 11-76 years. Male to female ratio was 1.5:1 and commonest age group affected was 21-40 years. Clinically, 78 cases (42.6%) were diagnosed as Borderline Tuberculoid (BT) leprosy followed by indeterminate leprosy 34 (18.57%). On histopathological examination maximum cases had BT leprosy 64 (82.05%) followed by Tuberculoid (TT) leprosy 13 (81.25%). Fite- faraco stain was done in 71 cases and was found positive in all cases of Borderline Lepromatous (BL) and Lepromatous Leprosy (LL). Also,concordance between Bacillary Index (BI) and histopathology examination was done. The clinico-histopathological concordance was seen in 127 cases (69.39%). Conclusion: Early and accurate diagnosis by clinical and histopathological examination along with special stain is essential for proper diagnosis and treatment of the patient as well as prevention of its complications.


l Introduction* Two enumeration formulas are obtained in this paper. The first provides a solution for the counting polynomial which gives the number of dissimilar line-subgraphs of a given graph, and is a generalization of the formula due to Pόlya for the number of graphs which appears in [2]. The second serves to find the number of graphs in which a prescribed subgraph is distinguished or rooted. The special case in which a single point of the graph is distinguished is called a rooted graph [3, p. 76]. The number of rooted graphs also appears in [2]. Both of these results utilize in an essential way the classical enumeration theorem of Pόlya [4] which enables one to express the configuration-counting series in terms of the configuration group and the figure-counting series. In order that these results be self-contained, we briefly review Pόlya's Theorem, specialized to one variable. Let figure be an undefined term. To each figure there is assigned a nonnegative integer called its content. Let ψk denote the number of different figures of content k. The figure-counting series φ(x) is defined by


Using titanium butyl titanate as inorganic source and cerium triacetate as doped materials,cerium-doped TiO2 nano-composite materials were prepared by sol-gel method.Chemical composition and structure of the materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X–ray diffraction,and its photo-catalytic properties were evaluated with methyl orange as model compound.The effects of the content of cerium,the dosage of catalyst,the concentration of methyl orange and the photo-catalytic degradable time on degradation of methyl orange were investigated.The results showed that the sample particles are fine,the specific surface area of TiO2 which contains 3% cerium mole fraction is 120.2m2·g-1.Both the cerium content and the catalyst dosage had effect on the degradation efficiency.The optimum cerium mole fraction in the composite is 3% and the optimum catalyst dosage is 0.3 g/L.Increasing the initial concentration of methyl orange will decelerate solution's degradation.The increasing of illumination time is favorable for methyl orange degradation.When the time is in 20 minutes to 30 minutes,the degradation rate increased significantly.


The article presents the results of an experimental study of the problem of parental attitudes towards preschool-age children with an autism spectrum disorder (hereafter ASD). The parent-child relationship is regarded as a set of structural components: requirement of motivational, value-semantic, emotional, evaluative and behavioral. The study showed that parents of preschool children with ASD are characterized by a sense of self-sacrifice in a family situation, the suppression of the will of the child; expressed a sense of guilt toward the family; high level of family anxiety; strong custody, lack of requirements, responsibilities to the child, the mini© Кисельникова Н.В., Пимкина К.Ю., 2017.


Objective To explore the effects of early comprehensive development guidance from 0 to 24 months on infant development. Method From January 2012 to January 2014 in our hospital birth and early development of guidance to voluntarily participate in normal full-term infant of 100 cases as observation group. Selected the same period in our hospital and were born full-term infant of 100 cases as control group. Infant in both groups were measured 6, 12, 18, 24 months time head circumference, weight, length, and detected infant serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25-(OH) D3] concentration and hemoglobin(Hb) values, Gesell Developmental Scale child development quotient(DQ) was used to evaluate infants' developing nervous system conditions. Result At the age of 6 months the differences of weight, length, head circumference, and developmental quotient of the two groups were not statistically significant(P 0.05), weight, length, head circumference, and developmental quotien of infants at the age of 6 ~ 24 months in observation group were significantly better than that in control group, the comparison between the two groups was statistically significant(P 0.05). Lack of Vitamin D in observation group infants, the incidence of iron-deficiency anemia in 0 ~ 24 months were significantly lower than that in control group, the differences between the two groups was statistically significant(P 0.05). Conclusion Early comprehensive development guidance can significantly improve the physical development of infants, promote the development of infants' neuropsychological behavior, and reduce the incidence of nutritional diseases.


A simple pressure device was developed to achieve hemostasis in percutaneous arterial procedures. It relieves the angiographer of having to apply digital pressure to the bleeding site and facilitates better-controlled and more uniform pressure. The clamp can be applied while the patient is on a stretcher and can later be removed from the angiographic room.


Fast-oopsi was developed by Joshua Vogelstein in 2009, which is now widely used to extract neuron spike activities from calcium fluorescence signals. Here, we propose detailed implementation of the fast-oopsi algorithm in python programming language. Some corrections are also made to the original fast-oopsi paper.


Objective:To discuss the endoscopic nose biliary drainage on the prevention and treatment of complication of ERCP effect.Methods:100 patients with ERCP,were randomly divided into two groups,the observation group 50 cases in endoscopic therapy after nasal bile duct drainage,50 cases of the control group after endoscopic treatment without nasal bile duct drainage.Results:The observation group ERCP postoperative hyperamylasemia was significantly lower than that of the control group(P0.05);the incidence of the acute pancreatitis in observation group was lower than that of control group(P 0.05).Conclusion:Endoscopic nasobiliary drainage can effectively prevent ERCP after surgery for acute pancreatitis and hyperamylasemia occurrence.


This thesis presents the numerical simulation and flow analysis in one passage of a propeller hydraulic turbine's runner using ANSYS CFX 11.0. A Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach without a wall-law was used to model the flow. The simulations take into account the gap at the tip of the blades. Usually, the gap is not included in the numerical simulations of the hydraulic turbine's runner. However, it allows the internal leakage flow to occur, leading to other turbulent phenomena, such as the blade tip vortex. The comparison between the numerical simulations and the experimental measurements performed in the runner of the propeller turbine's model proves that the inclusion of the gap in the simulations is essential to represent in a better way the real characteristics of the flow field in the runner. Thus, it improves the performance prediction of an axial hydraulic turbine done by numerical simulations.


The frequent emergence of drug resistance during the treatment of influenza A virus (IAV) infections highlights a need for effective antiviral countermeasures. Here, we present an antiviral method that utilizes unnatural amino acid-engineered drug-resistant (UAA-DR) virus. The engineered virus is generated through genetic code expansion to combat emerging drug-resistant viruses. The UAA-DR virus has unnatural amino acids incorporated into its drug-resistant protein and its polymerase complex for replication control. The engineered virus can undergo genomic segment reassortment with normal virus and produce sterilized progenies due to artificial amber codons in the viral genome. We validate in vitro that UAA-DR can provide a broad-spectrum antiviral strategy for several H1N1 strains, different DR-IAV strains, multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains, and even antigenically distant influenza strains (e.g., H3N2). Moreover, a minimum dose of neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors for influenza virus can further enhance the sterilizing effect when combating inhibitor-resistant strains, partly due to the promoted superinfection of unnatural amino acid-modified virus in cellular and animal models. We also exploited the engineered virus to achieve adjustable efficacy after external UAA administration, for mitigating DR virus infection on transgenic mice harboring the pair, and to have substantial elements of the genetic code expansion technology, which further demonstrated the safety and feasibility of the strategy. We anticipate that the use of the UAA-engineered DR virion, which is a novel antiviral agent, could be extended to combat emerging drug-resistant influenza virus and other segmented RNA viruses.


Marine atmosphere environment accelerates the process of chloride penetration into concrete under the coupling effect of ambient temperature and relative humidity, thereby reducing the durability and service life of concrete. This paper aims to investigate the change of water equilibrium saturation and the chloride transport properties of concrete materials in different environments. The water equilibrium saturation tests at three temperatures and five relative humidity (RH) and salt spray erosion tests at three temperatures were performed. The influence of RH and temperature on the equilibrium saturation of concrete and the influence of temperature and time on the chloride diffusion coefficient are investigated. The results show that, in the process of moisture absorption and desorption, the equilibrium saturation of concrete gradually decreases as temperature rises. At the same depth of concrete, the chloride content gradually increases with temperature increasing, as well as the chloride diffusion coefficient. However, as the corrosion time of salt spray increases, the altering of chloride diffusion coefficient becomes less. Based on the Kelvin equation, a relationship between capillary pressure and water saturation in concrete was established, and a moisture transfer model for concrete in the process of moisture absorption and desorption was derived. Further, based on the established chloride diffusion equation and heat balance equation, a model of temperature-wet-chloride coupling chloride transfer was derived. Theory model simulation results show the transfer speed of chloride under the coupling of diffusion and capillary is higher than pure diffusion in moisture in the absorption process. However, the opposite is true in the desorption process. Moreover, with the increment of saturation rate, the capillary effect on chloride transport is enhanced.


Ternary composites of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/maleated poly(ethylene–octene) (POE-g)/calcium carbonate (CaCO3) were prepared by the melt extrusion process. Crystallization behavior investigation and mechanical properties study showed that there existed a transition in both crystallization temperature (Tc) and impact strength of ternary composites. These transitions were attributed to the development of morphology, with variation of concentration of POE-g in ternary composites. The strength of interfacial adhesion also influenced the property transitions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 3361–3366, 2006


Syringe with a flexible tube connected to an injector that injects high pressure injection pressures up to 83 bars (8.3 MPa), wherein the syringe comprises a syringe barrel (2) with a connection (11) for flexible tube formed at one end (10) on the patient side and a plunger (3) guided within the syringe cylinder (2) in a forward direction (V), which is formed with sealing surfaces (302) for settled sealingly in an inner wall (13) of the syringe cylinder (2) and is designed as injection molded of two components based on thermoplastic materials with a core portion (31) of a harder plastic and a layer of coating (30) of a plastic comparatively softer applied on the core portion (31), wherein the coating layer (30) forms at least the sealing surfaces (302) and the surface (301) of piston (3 ) facing the end (10) the patient side of the syringe barrel, wherein the plunger (3) has a tip (300) with a surface (301) surrounding the piston and the piston (3) is formed in the surface (301) piston with recesses (308) on the surface (301) piston, whose volume with respect to the surface of imaginary rotation of the plunger corresponds at least to the volume of the hose attached to the hose connection (11) and sealing surfaces (302) comprise at least one sealing lip (303a) projecting in the forward direction (V) and is spaced from the surface (301) of the plunger by a clearance by way of open slot in the forward direction ( V), said lip being engageable with the inner wall (13) of the syringe cylinder (2), fulfilling that, when advancing the plunger by the injector high pressure in the forward direction (V), liquid enters the space free (304) and this liquid causes elevation ng the surface pressure of the sealing lip (303) proportional to the injection pressure on the inner wall (13) of the syringe cylinder (2).


We consider the dynamical inverse problem for the Maxwell system on a Riemannian 3-manifold with boundary in a time-optimal set-up. Using BC-method we show that the data of the inverse problem (electromagnetic measurements on the boundary) determine a C*-algebra, which has a spectrum homeomorphic to a part of the manifold. This part depends on the duration of measurements.


It is known that some with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–positive patients can remain immunocompetent for long period, maintaining their CD4‐positive T lymphocytes (CD4 cells) while suppressing HIV. However, this population became rarely seen recently since potent antiretroviral therapy (ART) became available worldwide, and the latest guidelines recommend initiating ART regardless of the status of immunity of the patients. Herein, we present a rather unusual case of HIV‐1 infection, where the patient was hospitalized for 3 years and was accidentally found to have the infection, without increasing his HIV RNA level in serum although his CD4 cells were decreased.


This paper reviews the benefits and costs of joint audits (audits in which financial statements are audited by two or more independent auditors), and ascertains the perceptions of stakeholders (Nigerian accountants, auditors, and accounting academics) as an important determining factor as to whether Nigeria's government should make joint audits mandatory. Accountants, auditors, and accounting academics were surveyed in Nigeria using a Likert-type questionnaire. Responses to the questions were analyzed using simple percentages and independent t-test statistics. Clarifications were also sought from partners of accounting firms. The study revealed little agreement among stakeholders on the desirability of mandated joint audits in Nigeria, although there was general agreement that the benefits outweigh the costs involved. The open-ended questions, and the clarifications provided by some accounting practitioners shed further light on the issues surrounding the use of joint audits in Nigeria. This study contributes to the current debate in Nigeria, on whether joint audits should be mandated, by eliciting the opinions of three important stakeholder groups. This study adds to the current literature on joint audits, and highlights avenues for further research, both in Nigeria, and in other developing countries.


Abstract : Systems of modules having individual BITs are studies for two failure-repair models: mutual independence of module states, or suspended animation (non-aging of good components during system downtime). Steady state availabilities are estimated using coherent structure techniques and empirically based estimates of BIT-related reduction in mean repair times.


The invention relates to wine brewed by taking black grain as a raw material, in particular to black grain wine with functions of food therapy and health care. The black grain wine is prepared from the black grain and auxiliary materials through conventional brewing technology, and is prepared by screening and purifying the black grain respectively, and performing the conventional technology such as raw material crushing, material mixing, pasting by cooking, cooling, mixing of fermented grains, pit entry for fermentation, wine steaming and the like; and the black grain is black sorghum, black rice, rye, black corn and black bean. The black grain wine has the advantages of warming the center, promoting circulation of qi, enriching yin and nourishing kidney, strengthening spleen and warming liver, improving eyesight and activating blood, reducing cholesterol in the blood, promoting digestion, and preventing constipation.


The simultaneous occurrence of two separate non-traumatic diaphragmatic hernias is extremely rare. We report a case of an old man with two diaphragmatic hernias (Morgagni and Hiatal hernias) and we also review the clinical and imagiologic features (Radiographic and Computed Tomography) of Morgagni and hiatal herniation.


The impact of channel estimation errors on the performance for two-hop multi-relays assisted am-plify-and-forward(AF) cooperative communication systems was investigated.Closed-form expressions of the average symbol error rate,as well as the diversity gain under different channel estimation quality orders for both opportunistic re-laying(OPR) and all-participate relaying(APR) schemes were derived.Average signal-to-noise-ratio(SNR) gap ratio is investigated for the two types of cooperative communication systems,which lead to a conclusion that the OPR scheme is more susceptible to channel estimation errors than the APR scheme.Numerical results verify the theoretical analysis.


Donald Wilson PRAKKEN: Studies in Greek Genealogical Chronology. Pp. 113. Privately printed (Lancaster Press, Lancaster, Pa.), 1943. Paper. MR. PRAKKEN has done a useful piece of work by a systematic study of the Greek concept of a 'generation' of men, yevcd, from Homer and Hesiod to the historians who used it in order to establish an agreed chronology for the early periods of Greek history. After a chapter on 'The Generation in Early Greek Literature' (Homer, Hesiod, and the Lyric poets), he has three more on Herodotus, Thucydides (in the Archaeologia and the notes on the Greek colonization of Sicily), and Ephorus, in which he concludes that Herodotus used for certain early dates Hecataeus' generation of 40 years though he himself said that three generations covered 100 years, that Thucydides' figures in the Archaeologia are probably based on a 40-years generation, and that Ephorus probably used one of 35 years. What one misses is a discussion of Hecataeus' figure; and what made Ephorus decide on 35 years? Did he use the known dates of Spartan kings, for example, for the 200 years or so before his own time ? And what one could have done without are the pages about the composition of Thucydides' Archaeologia, the Spartan constitution (with reference to Thuc. i. 18. 1), and the date when Ephorus wrote, which are largely irrelevant to the author's purpose, and, as separate discussions, are inadequate.


This study, aimed to determine the competitive position of the forest products industry in Turkey between 2001 and 2017 using the revealed comparative advantage approach. One of the three product sectors of the forest products industry (wood and articles of wood, wood charcoal;sector 21) was examined at the level of product subgroups. This sector was found to be far from the desired position in terms of competition. When the sector was analysed by sub-group, especially the product subgroups 4411, 4413 and 4415 had a competitive position. Moreover, it was found that the trend in Turkey's imports of wood and wooden articles was not high. However, imports under specified product groups were above the general level of imports in Turkey.


Hashimoto's encephalopathy is a rare disease of a presumable autoimmune aetiology. It has been shown that patients with this disease have high levels of anti-thyroperoxidase autoantibodies both in blood and cerebrospinal fluid. Specific astrocyte binding of anti-thyroper-oxidase autoantibodies suggests a role of these autoantibodies in the Hashimoto's encephalopathy pathogenesis. In this study the binding of anti-thyroperoxidase with various regions of mice brain after intracerebroventricular stereotaxic injection was assessed. The results re-vealed no specific immunopositive labels in various brain structures of the mice which were subjected to the intracerebroventricular stereotaxic anti-thyroperoxidase injection. Direct application of human polyclonal IgG with high anti-thyroperoxidase titer on brain sections of intact mice demonstrated the same results. Apparently, absence of immunopositive staining in brain structures in the experiment can be explained by single administration of polyclonal IgG which may not contain enough of antibodies with this specificity. Further investigation of anti-thyroperoxidase binding with brain tissue in conditions of repeated intracerebroventricular administration is required.


Modelling thermal behaviour of battery packs in pure electric vehicles (BEVs) is one of the most demanding tasks in powertrain design activities. The complexity is given by the need of considering several aspects like internal geometry, cooling circuit, etc. for which the standard approach based on equivalent circuit model seems not to be adequate. The aim of this paper is instead to demonstrate how it is possible to maintain the equivalent circuit model approach, by making minimal changes and by using data from vehicle CAN network. Then, the model can be used to correctly achieve battery pack temperature under different realistic use conditions.


DENG Xiaoping's view on socialist democratic politics is the consistence,the development and the innovation of the Marxist democratic theory.Deng stated the relationship between the democracy and the socialism,the democracy and the rule of law,the democracy and the political reform,the democracy and the stability,the democracy and the party's leadership,the democracy and the dictatorship,democracy and centralization.Deng's view on socialist democratic politics has characteristics of inheritance and creativity,coordination,nationality,times and openness,it has laid a solid theoretical foundation for the construction of socialist democratic politics with Chinese characteristics,and it has been enriching and developing continuously in contemporary China.


The antioxidative activities of 41 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines were determined and selected.The antioxidative substances were extracted from Chinese herbal medicines by 70 percent ethanol and omni ruptor.The spectrophotometric method was used to study the antioxidant activities of medicinal herbs by DPPH and FRAP methods.The results show that these kinds of medicinal herbs including Polygonum multiflorum,Rheum pamatum,Epimedium grandiforum,Crataegus tifiga,Paeonia lactiflora,Cornus officinalis have strong antioxidant activities.When the concentration is 10 mg/mL,the extracts from these six herbs reduce at least 70% of DPPH and the FRAP value of antioxidative capacity is more than 200,and the others have weaker antioxidative activity.


Several series of experiments were made in the spring of 1910 in order to ascertain whether the sex ratio in the toad can be altered by subjecting the eggs to different environmental conditions at or before the fertilization period. Lots of eggs fertilized in various solutions of alcohol (.13 per cent. to 2 per cent.), as well as those fertilized with sperm from the right or from the left testicle of three different males, all gave practically normal sex ratios as the proportion of females ranged from 46.92 per cent. to 55.64 per cent. Three batches of eggs from two different females were fertilized out of water and kept in a moist chamber for several hours. Each batch of eggs gave an unusual excess of females, the proportion of females varying from 60.86 to 70.83 per cent. Mature eggs from another female were subjected to the action of a 2.5 per cent. solution of salt or of cane sugar for ten minutes and then fertilized in tap water. In each case 70 per cent. of females was obtained. In this series of experiments, as well as in the preceding one, it is probable that the eggs lost water during the fertilization period or at least were prevented from absorbing water during this time. Seven lots of eggs from four different females were fertilized in solutions of hydrochloric or of acetic acid, the strength of the solutions varying from .OI per cent. to .0025 per cent. In every instance the percentage of females obtained was from 10 to 20 per cent. lower than that which is probably normal for the species. Lots of eggs from the same females fertilized in alkaline solutions (NH40H or NaOH) of the same strength gave proportions of the sexes within the range of probable normal variations in the sex ratios of different lots of individuals.


Many factors, including changes in the family, drug abuse, high technology, crime, population shifts, and television are changing schools. These forces have already had an impact on the counselor's job or will have an impact in the future. Counselors should be prepared for these social changes and manage them better than their predecessors in the 1960's did. An inadequate response will maintain the status quo. Appropriate responses include: (1) identifying problems facing young people and informing the public; (2) outreach to the community; (3) greater research and evaluation; (4) creating super-counselors who perform more tasks than counselors in the past; and (5) viewing counselors as educators also. School counselors should engage in skill building activities. Professional organizations should give assistance to counselors. University programs should offer a fine education and recognize current social forces. Counselors should use computers and other means to free themselves from recordkeeping burdens. Students wanting to work in school counseling should study counseling in a program which emphasizes school counseling. The best help to young people will be provided by counselors who are aware of current and future trends. (ABL) ********************************1.************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Counseling 2 At the Crossroads: in .0 C\I CM Ls-I Obstacles, Opportunities And Options


Liquid crystal polymer segments with hydroxyl end group PET/60PHB were synthesized by in situ acetylation method in which the PET oligomer,p hydroxy benzoic acid and a little amount of EG were used.Then the liquid crystalline block copolymers PET/60PHB b PC were prepared by using LCP segment PET/60PHB obtained as a macromonomer and ester exchange synthetic technology of PC.The liquid crystalline block copolymers were also characterized by the aids of determination of inherent viscosity,DSC,polarizing microscope,X ray diffraction and FTIR etc..It is found that when the inherent viscosity of PET oligomer is 0 05~0 07dL/g,Ac 2O/PHB(mol/mol)=1 3,EG/PET(mol/mol)=0 06,the hydroxyl terminated LCPs PET/60PHB with light colour,good solubility and liquid crystalline properties can be obtained.The liquid crystalline block copolymers with high inherent viscosity and good liquid crystalline properties can be synthesized with above LCPs as a raw material through melt copolycondensation.It is indicated that the liquid crystalline block copolymers are nematic,but the texture of liquid crystalline state of the block copolymer is quite different from either the pure LCPs PET/60PHB or the mixture of PET/60PHB and PC.Furthermore,the analysis method of end group of LCP PET/60PHB is also established.


Introduction/Objective: This study aimed to explore the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase subunit 2 (CKS2) in tissues and cells in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the function mechanism of CKS2 in NSCLC cell growth and tumorigensis. Methods: After transfecting NCI-H2170 cells with short-hair RNA (shRNA), an shCKS2 gene-silencing model was established. The cells were divided into a shRNA group and shNC group. For overexpression cell lines, we used the same method to establish the NCI-H2170-CKS2 cell lines. Cell Count Kit-8 assay and colony formation assay were used to determine cell viability and cell growth, respectively. Propidium iodide staining was used to determine cell cycle progression. The mRNA expression of CKS2 and protein expression of CKS2, p21, p53, and PTEN were determined by RT-qPCR and Western blotting, respectively. The expression of CKS2, p53, and Ki67 in tissues was determined by immunohistochemical stain. The in vivo tumorigenesis assays were used to determine the ability of CKS2 in tumor growth. Results: The results of RT-qPCR and Western blotting assay revealed that CKS2 upregulated expression in NSCLC tissues and cells. The results of the CCK-8 assay revealed that the shRNA group exhibited significantly lower cell viability and foci formation than the empty plasmid group, while CKS2 overexpression induces cell growth and cell cycle progression. The result of nude mice suggested that CKS2 knockdown expression suppressed tumorigenesis in the in vivo animal model. Conclusions: Our study suggests that CKS2 could be a biomarker in the progression and prognosis of NSCLC.


Optimising the technical and economic requirements to obtain a yarn with the appropriate twist level for sustained yarn quality and usage is of paramount importance. This paper describes the concepts and development of a rule-based expert system to establish the optimum linkage between the yarn twist factor and end-use of a yarn and determine the appropriate twist for the particular yarn.


The digital revolution is expected to surpass all previous economic transformations in scale, scope, and complexity. Digital technologies are making electrical grids more connected, more reliable, and sustainable. Several efforts have been made to revamp the electric grid and modernize century-old systems. In the near future, we expect to see a revolution in power grind monitoring with incredible results through artificial intelligence and big data, drones, among others. The business opportunity for using drones in the energy sector is impressive, although very few companies have joined in its implementation. The drone allows the safe remote overflight of high voltage power lines. They can be deployed to detect, inspect, and diagnose the defects of the power line infrastructure. In this article, we provide the state of the art of using drones in smart grid monitoring. We demonstrate and propose an architecture based on Faster R-CNN for detecting ice accretion on power lines. Finally, we shed light on opportunities and future trends of these emerging technologies that can guide future research directions.


Foreword Braulio Dias (Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity) Foreword Olivier De Schutter (United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food) Preface Emile Frison (Director General, Bioversity International) and Barbara Burlingame (Principal Officer, Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO) Introduction: Agricultural Biodiversity, Diverse Diets and Improving Nutrition Danny Hunter (Bioversity International) and Jessica Fanzo (World Food Programme - WFP) Part 1: The State of Agricultural Biodiversity and Nutrition - Overviews, Models and Themes 1. Harnessing Biodiversity: from Diets to Landscapes Fabrice DeClerck (Bioversity International) 2. Overview of Agricultural Biodiversity and its Importance to Nutrition and Health Vernon H. Heywood (School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading) 3. The Role of Livestock and Livestock Diversity in Sustainable Diets Irene Hoffmann and Roswitha Baumung (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - FAO) 4. Valuing Aquatic Biodiversity in Agricultural Landscapes Matthias Halwart (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations -FAO) Part 2: Creating an Enabling Environment 5. Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa - Delivery Mechanisms for Mobilizing Agricultural Biodiversity for Improved Food and Nutrition Security Herve B. D. Bisseleua and Amadou Ibra Niang (The MDG Centre - West and Central Africa) 6. Sustained and Integrated Promotion of Local, Traditional Food Systems for Nutrition Security Ifeyironwa Francisca Smith (Lanrify Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Consulting Inc.) 7. Linking Biodiversity and Nutrition: Research Methodologies Roseline Remans and Sean Smukler (The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the University of British Columbia) 8. Successes and Pitfalls of Linking Nutritionally Promising Andean Crops to Markets Michael Hermann (Crops for the Future) 9. Biodiversity's Contribution to Dietary Diversity: Magnitude, Meaning and Measurement Peter R. Berti (HealthBridge) and Andrew D. Jones (Cornell University) 10. "Opening a can of Mopane Worms?" : Can Cross-Sectoral Partnerships Leverage Agricultural Biodiversity for Better Quality Diets? Margaret McEwan, Gordon Prain (International Potato Center - CIP) and Danny Hunter (Bioversity International) Part 3: Case Studies: Agricultural Biodiversity and Food Based Approaches to Improving Nutrition Case Study 1. Traditional Foods of the Pacific: Go Local, a Case Study in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia Lois Englberger and Eminher Johnson (Island Food Community of Pohnpei) Case Study 2. The Role of Integrated Homegardens and Local, Neglected and Underutilized Plant Species in Food Security in Nepal and Meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Roshan Pudasaini (LI-BIRD), Sajal Sthapit (LI-BIRD), Rojee Suwal (LI-BIRD) and Bhuwon Sthapit (Bioversity International) Case Study 3. Diversity of Indigenous Fruit Trees and their Contribution to Nutrition and Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa: Examples from Kenya and Cameroon Katja Kehlenbeck, Ebenezar Asaah and Ramni Jamnadass (World Agroforestry Centre - ICRAF) Case Study 4. Fish Diversity and Fish Consumption in Bangladesh Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted (The WorldFish Center) Case Study 5. The Introduction of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) in Mozambican Diets: A Marginal Change to Make a Major Difference Jan Low, Ricardo Labarta, Maria Andrade, and Mary Arimond (University of California Davis) Case Study 6. Diversifying Diets: Using Indigenous Vegetables to Improve Profitability, Nutrition and Health in Africa C. Ojiewo, A. Tenkouano, J. d'A. Hughes and J.D.H. Keatinge (AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center) Case Study 7. Diversifying Diets: Using Agricultural Biodiversity to Improve Nutrition and Health in Asia Jennifer Nielsen, Nancy Haselow, Akoto Osei and Zaman Talukder (Helen Keller International) Case Study 8. Minor Millets in India: A Neglected Crop goes Mainstream Nadia Bergamini, Stefano Padulosi (Bioversity International), S. Bala Ravi (MSSRF, India) and Nirmala Yenagi (University of Dharward, India) Case Study 9. Local Food and Dietary Diversity: Farmers Markets and Community Gardens in Melbourne, Australia Kelly Donati, Christopher Taylor and Craig Pearson (University of Melbourne) Case Study 10. "Please Pick Me" - How Incredible Edible Todmorden is Repurposing the Commons for Open Source Food and Agricultural Biodiversity John Paull (University of Oxford) Case Study 11. Cultivating Health with Leafy Vegetables in Coastal Tanzania Petra Bakewell-Stone (University of Kent) Case Study 12. The Food Acquisition Programme in Brazil: Contributions to Biodiversity, Food Security and Nutrition Catia Grisa and Claudia Job Schmitt (Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro - CPDA/UFRRJ)


The Kingdom of Bhutan overs an area of approximately 46,500 square kilometers. The Kingdom is bordered by the Tibetan region of China and the Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Bhutan has never been colonized. During the 17th century, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594-1652) further consolidated the country, established a theocracy and gave Bhutan a distinctive adminstrative system and a code of law. As a global hot-spot of biodiversity, Bhutan is blessed with a rich diversity of plant genetic resources created through its unique geography, climate and centuries of crop evolution and selection by the Bhutanese peasants. However, there should not by any room for smugness and complacency or a sense of de facto achivement. As global experiences testify, it does not take long for th biological resources to disappear with increasing population and concomitant environmental degradation and diminishing resource base. It is vital to ensure that the natural wealth of biodiversity is conserved for all times to come. At the same time, conservation cannot be isolated from meaning ful evaluation and utilization, since the basic rationale for conservation is the sustainable exploitation for the welfare of the present and future generations.


Mt. Longhushan, a scenic spot located in Jiangxi Province, China, is famous for its beautiful and characteristic Danxia landform, long-history Taoism and mysterious cliff tomb. In recent years, the tourism resources, especially geological landscape have been developed greatly and tourists increases unprecedentedly. However, the tourism management in Mt. Longhushan still lags behind the development of the new technology, such as management combining with Geographic Information System (GIS). In this study, the application of GIS to the tour management and development is discussed and a tour geographic information system (TGIS) is developed based on MAPGIS. TGIS is a modern management method in tourism geographic information for comprehensive collection, dynamical analysis and application.


With pumice as the additive agent used in cement composite soil . In order to test the mechanical performance of the composite cement soil, the unconfined compression resistance and freezing and thawing cycle test were done in the lab with different additive quantity(2%,4%,6%,8%,10%), different cement content(4%,8%,12%,16%,20%), different number of freezing and thawing(5,10,15,20,25), The results show that the strength of the composite cement soil are significantly increase with increasing cement content, before and after freezing-thawing the strength loss and mass loss are increase with increasing freezing-thawing number and cement content.


Reaction of copper(II) complex 1X supported by the tridentate bis(pyridylmethyl)amine ligand containing m-substituted phenyl groups at the 6-positions of the pyridine rings (LX) with H2O2 in the presence of triethylamine (NEt3) in acetone generates a copper(II)−alkylperoxo species 2X [2-hydroxy-2-hydroperoxypropane (HHPP) adduct]. The alkylperoxo intermediate 2X undergoes an efficient aromatic ligand hydroxylation reaction, producing a phenolate complex 4X via another intermediate 3X. Kinetic studies on the aromatic hydroxylation process are reported together with spectral characterization of 2X.


Irregular array redistribution has been paid attention recently since it can distribute different size of data segment to processors according to their own computation ability. It's also the reason why it has been kept an eye on load balance. In this work, we present a two-phase degree-reduction (TPDR) method for scheduling HPF2 irregular data redistribution. An extended algorithm based on TPDR is also presented. Effectiveness of the proposed methods not only avoids node contention but also shortens the overall communication length. To evaluate the performance of our methods, we have implemented both algorithms along with the divide-and-conquer algorithm. The simulation results show improvement of communication costs.


Abstract A submodule N of a right R-module M is said to lie over a direct summand of M if, there is a decomposition with and . In this paper, a right R-module M is called a Dual-Utumi-Module (-module) if for any two proper submodules A and B of M with and A + B = M, there exist two summands K and L of M such that A lies over K, B lies over L and Dual-U-modules are strict generalizations of quasi-discrete, pseudo-discrete, and dual-square-free modules. In this paper several characterizations of -modules are provided which in turn are used to show that the class of -modules inherits some of the important features of the aforementioned classes of modules. For example, if is a -module with then M is quasi-projective and discrete. As an immediate application, a ring R is right perfect iff every quasi-projective right R-module is a -module. It is also shown that if M is a -module whose local summands are summands, then where Q and P are factor-orthogonal, Q is P-projective and dual–square-free, is a direct sum of pairwise non-isomorphic indecomposable modules, is quasi-projective and discrete with , and C is isomorphic to a direct summand of . In particular, every quasi-discrete module has such a decomposition.


Aims:  This study was carried out to evaluate the presence of Shiga toxin‐producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and E. coli O157:H7 in shellfish from French coastal environments.


Severe infection with COVID-19 disease can be associated with respiratory failure, kidney disorders, and in more advanced stages, organ failure and death. Unfortunately, there is currently no definitive cure for this disease, and damage to the immune system caused by inflammatory storms leads to widespread and varied complications that make an early diagnosis of the disease difficult. Therefore, eliminating or inhibiting the production of factors involved in inflammatory storms can be effective in improving the clinical condition of patients. According to specialized studies on the role of hemoperfusion in inhibiting advanced levels of COVID-19 disease, the present study was performed to investigate the use of hemoperfusion as a potential treatment option for this disease.


Serious concerns on privacy protection in social networks have been raised in recent years.When an adversary uses some types of background knowledge to conduct an attack,an individual's privacy may be threatened.In pioneer work,node disclosure and edge disclosure were studied.However,there is little effort to deal with sensitivity disclosure.To address it,sensitivity disclosure was formally defined and theoretically analyzed.Taking into account all these disclosures,three level privacy protection was proposed,and k-s graph was presented as the solution.To generate k-s graph,k-salgorithm is both theoretically correct and experimentally effective.


Because of huge usage of data, necessity of the Data leakage prevention is growing day by day. Data Leakage Prevention system decided that particular data (confidential or non-confidential) is permitted to access or not. In Data leakage Prevention, time stamp is very important for giving permission to access a particular data, because in a particular period of time the data is confidential after the time stamp the same data could be non confidential, here we developed an algorithm for data leakage prevention with time stamp.


The processes of radiation defects formation and evolution have been simulated in cubic dielectric crystals by the computational method of cellular automata. If suppose that the defects concentration as a parameter, which characterizes a system state, reaches some critical value at the irradiation process, in this case there would be collective effects in the system that lead to self-organization phenomena and demonstrate a formation of one-type defect clusters. The fractal theory is used to detect synergistic effects and described the spatial and temporal transformation of defect structure in a crystal.


We study how the filamentary pattern of the cosmic web changes if the true gravity deviates from general relativity (GR) on a large scale. The f(R) gravity, whose strength is controlled to satisfy the current observational constraints on the cluster scale, is adopted as our fiducial model and a large, high-resolution N-body simulation is utilized for this study. By applying the minimal spanning tree algorithm to the halo catalogs from the simulation at various epochs, we identify the main stems of the rich superclusters located in the most prominent filamentary section of the cosmic web and determine their spatial extents per member cluster to be the degree of their straightness. It is found that the f(R) gravity has the effect of significantly bending the superclusters and that the effect becomes stronger as the universe evolves. Even in the case where the deviation from GR is too small to be detectable by any other observables, the degree of the supercluster straightness exhibits a conspicuous difference between the f(R) and the GR models. Our results also imply that the supercluster straightness could be a useful discriminator of f(R) gravity from the coupled dark energy since it is shown to evolve differently between the two models. As a final conclusion, the degree of the straightness of the rich superclusters should provide a powerful cosmological test of large scale gravity.


Physical activity (PA) is associated with multiple health-related benefits among the general population and adults with chronic diseases like Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) [1]. As known, AS affects primarily enthesis and can lead to loss of function and decreased mobility.The aim of this study was to explore the PA levels of adults with AS and to examine associations between PA, sociodemographic characteristics, immunological features, disease activity and treatment type.Cross-sectional clinical and laboratory data were collected on 68 AS patients. BASDAI (Bath ankylosing spondylarthritis disease activity index) and BASFI (Bath ankylosing spondylarthritis functional index) were calculated. Physical activity was measured using IPAQ-SF (International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form). Its items record the time spent on physical activity of three intensity levels (vigorous, moderate and walking) as well as the time spent on sitting (referred to as sedentary in this study) in the past week. Both continuous (expressed as metabolic equivalent of task (MET)-min /week) and categorical (3 levels proposed: low, moderate and high level of PA) scores of IPAQ-SF were determined. Sedentary time (median) was reported in minutes/week. A p value < 0.05 was considered significant.Cross-sectional clinical and laboratory data were collected on 68 AS patients. BASDAI (Bath ankylosing spondylarthritis disease activity index) and BASFI (Bath ankylosing spondylarthritis functional index) were calculated. Physical activity was measured using IPAQ-SF (International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form). Its items record the time spent on physical activity of three intensity levels (vigorous, moderate and walking) as well as the time spent on sitting (referred to as sedentary in this study) in the past week. Both continuous (expressed as metabolic equivalent of task (MET)-min /week) and categorical (3 levels proposed: low, moderate and high level of PA) scores of IPAQ-SF were determined. Sedentary time (median) was reported in minutes/week. A p value < 0.05 was considered significant.Our study proved that physical activity in people with AS decreased with age and activity disease with a concomitant increase in sedentary activity. Given the risks of developing secondary chronic disease as a result of low levels of physical activity, physical exercise should be recommended as part of comprehensive AS care.[1]Conigliaro P, Triggianese P, Ippolito F, Lucchetti R, Chimenti MS, Perricone R. Insights on the Role of Physical Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Drug Dev Res. 2014;75:S54–6.None declared.


This special issue presents four studies on the intimate relationship between sound and medicine, the body and music in the nineteenth century. The aim of this collective study is to explore the many connections between medical science and music (i.e., composition, performance and reception), whereby the body becomes the locus for both professions at a timewhen the sciences and the arts went beyond external realities to define a hidden or unseen inner reality – a vision that is at the heart of Romanticism. Before the nineteenth century, medical science was based on observable symptoms, such as fever, blotchy skin, discharge, as well as those articulated by the patient, including nausea and dizziness. Aided greatly by the devastating effects of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars on the population of Europe, medical knowledge changed profoundly with the old classification system coming under heavy criticism for a lack of precision. This taxonomic discourse from an earlier generation was successively replaced in the first half of the nineteenth century with the practice of anatomical pathology, a new diagnostic approach defined by direct engagement with the body. To understand the inner realities of the body, therefore, one had to interact with the diseased part or limb, forcing the physician to go beyond mere sight and supposition and use more intimate diagnostic tools such as palpation (examination through touch), percussion (tapping on the skin), and mediate auscultation (hearing within the body). With this new 'sensual' turn in medical practice of the nineteenth century, sound is now interpreted, analysed to reveal an intimate relationship to health and well-being, be it the high "sawing" sound of a tubercular patient near death or the dull, low sound of a fluid-filled organ. This diagnostic understanding of sound, a way to understand the inner health of the body, is related to the physical act of music making as well as the resultant sounds one hears in the music of the nineteenth century. For example, French composer and former medical student Hector Berlioz was so fascinated with recent anatomical research on the central nervous system that he sought to incorporate the same communicative force between mind and body into his own conducting techniques and their application to the orchestra, where one can hear in the body of the orchestra the inner thoughts of the composer.


PURPOSE:To use the intra-file access right in accordance with the level of secrecy by performing the coding and ciphering operations with use of an error correction code, a ciphering technique and a cihper key and then processing the information with the decoding and deciphering operations. CONSTITUTION:A ciphering means 3 ciphers each part with use of a ciphering technique and a cipher key in accordance with the level of secrecy of each part and then codes each part with use of an error correction code accordant with the secrecy degree of each par. At the reception side, a date production/ information processing means 1 receives the data and the file information or calls these data and information out of an auxiliary memory 9 to check a password and the cipher key. When this check succeeds, a decoding means 5 performs a decoding operation with use of the error correction code accordant with the level of reliance. Then a deciphering means 6 performs a deciphering operation with use of the ciphering tequnique and the cipher key accordant with the secrecy level. Furthermore the means 1 processes the information as necessary.


Two main types of negotiation processes can be distinguished, distributive and integrative. While the distributive process consists primarily of concession making, the integrative process involves both concession making and a search for mutually profitable alternatives. Thus the meaning of "flexibility" is not always the same: in distributive negotiations, it means "readiness to make concessions"; in the integrative negotiations setting, it means in addition "readiness to engage in the search process." Computer simulations suggest that the distributive process is faster but that the integrative process is potentially more productive in that it can increase the chances of an agreement. In order for integrative negotiation to fulfill its potential, however, the search engaged in must be joint, and during the search, the adversaries must interact face to face. Distributive negotiation can also be made more productive by having the adversaries interact face to face, under conditions that emphasize their similarities.


This research is motivated by the phenomenon of vocational school graduates who are unemployed, and many students do not know their future goals. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between career guidance perceptions and work motivation in class XI students of vocational high school (SMK) in Sidoarjo. The method used in this research is quantitative with a correlational approach. The data collection technique in this study used a psychological scale with a Likert scaling model, namely the career guidance perception scale and work motivation scale. The population in this study were 64 students of class XI SMK TPI Gedangan Sidoarjo. Determination of the research sample using total sampling, so that the research sample was taken from the total population, as many as 64 students. Data analysis was carried out using Spearman's Rho Product Moment correlation technique using the SPSS 25 for windows program. The results of data analysis showed a correlation coefficient of 0.996 with a significance of 0.000 <0.05, meaning that there was a positive relationship between perceptions of career guidance and work motivation.


We present results of a detailed investigation of the temperature dependence of the spatial string tension in SU(2) gauge theory. We show, for the first time, that the spatial string tension is scaling on the lattice and thus is nonvanishing in the continuum limit. It is temperature independent below [ital T][sub [ital c]] and rises rapidly above. For temperatures larger than 2[ital T][sub [ital c]] we find a scaling behavior consistent with [sigma][sub [ital s]]([ital T])=(0.136[plus minus]0.011)[ital g][sup 4]([ital T])[ital T][sup 2], where [ital g]([ital T]) is the two-loop running coupling constant with a scale parameter determined as [Lambda][sub [ital T]]=(0.076[plus minus]0.013)[ital T][sub [ital c]].


The purpose of this study was to employ cognitive mapping and behavioral mapping strategies in conjunction, using the behavioral data to lend both credence and elucidation to the cognitive mapping findings. Cognitive maps of a university campus were collected from 104 students enrolled in an undergraduate psychology class. We predicted that both observed and reported behavior patterns in the environment would be directly related to those spatial areas which were emphasized or excluded in the cognitive maps and to subjective distortions in mapping. The study's findings provided strong support for the proposed hypotheses.


Bessarabian sedimentary rocks contributed much to the filling of the arcuate foreland basin, extending in front of the Eastern Carpathians. In this foreland basin, during the Bessarabian, a nearshore marine depositional environment developed in what is called today the Romanian-Moldavian border region. The depositional environment deepened towards the east from brackish beach, through shoreface to upper shelf deposits. The continental impact on the depositional environment was almost negligible and is only detectable by isotope studies of the carbonate cement of the siliciclastic rocks. The redox conditions fluctuated around Eh = 0 depending upon the local environment. The diagenetic alteration was rather moderate, with temperatures of near-ambient conditions. The pore water solutions had a pH ≥ 7 (≈ 9). Most of the carbonate, including the minor amounts of aragonite, is of biogenic origin. The mineralogy of Bessarabian sediments indicates a great variety, of source rocks lithologies, comprising mainly high-grade metamorphic paragneisses, granitoids, ultramafic and mafic magmatic rocks, manganiferous metasomatites and meta(saprolites). Provoked by the late Neogene tectonic movements in the East Carpathians, five units, comprising three terranes, one nappe and one massif which are listed in order of decreasing intensity of erosion of the hinterland, contributed to the debris of the siliciclastic rocks during the Bessarabian: Tulghes Terrane, Bretila Terrane, Wildflysch Nappe, Rebra Terrane, and Ditrău Alkaline Massif.


A cover for a display and a display having the same are provided to manufacture cover members through extrusion, thereby significantly reducing manufacturing time in comparison with cover members manufactured through press processing. A side wall part covers each side of a display. A support part is bent from the side wall part, and covers an edge of one side connected with a side of the display. Cover members(10,30,50,70) include a coupling part formed in the side wall part or the support part. Fastening members(20,40,60,80) are respectively inserted into the coupling parts of two cover members at the edge of the display, and fastens the two cover members.


The invention attachment means (116, 118, 120), the present invention relates to a longitudinal beam of the vehicle having, mounting means for attaching the front unit is substantially the X- and Y- direction of the vehicle for the front unit 106 It is produced. Car, the front unit, longitudinal beams


Abstract BACKGROUND: DICER mutation is a known tumor driver involved in pleuropulmonary blastoma ,renal tumors, masses in the thyroid and ovary and multiple other manifestations. Brain tumors are considered to be a rare manifestation of germline DICER mutation. Currently, brain imaging is not included in the standard follow up of patients with DICER germline mutation, and data re the prevalence of somatic DICER mutations in brain tumors is limited. AIMs: evaluation of prevalence of DICER mutations in a large cohort of rare/relapsed brain tumors. METHODS: over the last year all patients with tumors lacking curative standard therapy in Israel were sent for next generation sequencing,. Molecular evaluation was done using either panel based evaluation (ONCOMINE/Foundation) or whole exome and whole transcriptome (INFORM consortium). Epidemiological data as well as clinical outcome were provided by the treating physician. RESULTS: Between April 2021 and January 2022 one hundred twenty nine samples were sent for molecular analysis, 58 of them were brain tumors. Six patients had DICER associated malignant tumors , 33% of them were brain tumors . One patient with pinealoblastoma was diagnosed with a highly metastatic disease associated with a very grave prognosis. CONCLUSION: brain tumors are an important group among malignant DICER associated tumors. Surveillance may lead to early detection which may be associated with a better outcome.


Partial Transmit Sequence (PTS) is an attractive and pragmatic technique for reduction of Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system, however it demands an exhaustive search over all possible combinations of allowable phase factors, resulting in larger computational complexity. In this paper the search for optimal phase factor is expressed as a combinatorial optimization problem and is effectively solved using the proposed algorithm assisted PTS method. The proposed algorithm performs a parallel direct search and generates candidates comparable to that of Optimal – PTS (OPTS) but with reduced search complexity. The simulation performed on a OFDM signal with 1024 sub carriers justifies that the proposed algorithm with reduced computational complexity when compared to O-PTS and achieves significant PAPR reduction performance.


The text of this article includes the issue of social integrity of the inflow population from other districts of Poland in the area of the Prussia Upper Silesia, included into the Polish state on the map. The chronological frames are indicated with the time of existence of the II Republic of Poland. The aspect of social integrity covered the issues connected with process of including different social groups with into Upper Silesia society and as a result of obtaining the possibilities, rights and services by them available only for local population. This process was not an obvious thing as it often meant the necessity to waive its identity by one or both parties understood as values, standards, traditions, customs, right, views, even the language.  A complex process of social integrity  was one of the most distinctive difficulties in this region.


We thank Liguori et al. [1] for sharing their interesting study about patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and their tendency towards lower bone mineral density (BMD) in the lumbar spine and femur compared with control subjects matched for age, body mass index and physical activity. The researchers defined "osteopenia" as a T-score value < −1 sd and "osteoporosis" as a T-score value < −2.5 sd. They also suggested that OSA could be detrimental to BMD, resulting in osteopenia and osteoporosis. However, there are some concerns with this study. To better understand the effect of OSA on bone health, fracture rate might be a more useful marker than BMD http://ow.ly/h2vv3018gIg


It is a critical task to teleoperate a robot in a partially known or unstructured environment without any assistance. In this paper, local implicit surface based virtual fixtures are generated real time in a point cloud augmented virtual environment for operation guidance. The point-set implicit local surface method is modified to accomplish local forbidden region virtual fixtures. The robot-centered potential force field model is applied for the guidance virtual fixture generation. The resultant force generated from both forbidden region virtual fixtures and guidance virtual fixtures are fed back in real time to the human operator through a haptic device. With assistance from the guidance force, human operators can implement obstacle avoidance tasks efficiently. The experiment results show that the proposed method is effective for robot teleoperation.


The revised building standard law established in 2007 confused building confirmation application process in building work places. This cause of the confusion is related to the strict examination duty ruled by the revised law. In this paper, the contents of the strict examination were analyzed, the work rate was measured, and the working time was measured. Furthermore two techniques to make the examination process more efficient were proposed. One is an effective technique in strict examination, and another is an outline examination. In the outline examination the work rate is small, however a building confirmation application can't be judged exactly. In contrast, in strict examination work rate is heavy, however a building confirmation application can be judged more exactly. Both examination methods have different concept, however using both methods in coordination can make the examination process more effectively. In the previous paper, the strict examination process was shown, and in this paper outline one is mainly discussed.


It has been suggested that child safety discourses are creating an environment in which safety from abuse defines every act of adult-child touch as suspicious, resulting in adults who work with children being positioned as 'risky' and child-related settings becoming no-touch zones. Research on the impact of these discourses on coaches is limited and there have been few attempts to theorize coaches' behaviours to better understand how child safety concerns impact on their practice. Focusing on coaches' avoidance of child touch, this paper uses a Foucauldian perspective to explore coaches' embodied disciplinary and emancipatory responses to child protection discourses in competitive youth swimming. It also discusses the implications of coaches' apprehension about child touch on swimming practice and young athletes.


— High temperature is one of the most detrimental effects that cause important changes in concrete's physical, thermal and mechanical properties. Despite numerous advantages accrued to High Strength Concrete (HSC), it may experience damages such as cracks and spallings as in the case of Normal Strength Concrete (NSC). The addition of pozzolan such as Rice Husk Ash (RHA) as partial replacement of cement in concrete is a well known method for improving the strength and durability of NSCs because of the interface reinforcement. In this study, RHA as a partial replacement material in HSC at high temperature to prevent spallings and improve thermal and physical properties were investigated. The Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was partially replaced by 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% to produce grade 50N/mm 2 concrete cube and disc samples. Concrete was first made without supplementary cementitious material, which served as the control, concrete. The cubes and disc were cured for 28, 56 and 90 days and the hardened concrete was thermally treated at 25 0 C (control), 200 0 C, 400 0 C, 600 0 C and 1000 0 C for 2hours. The physical properties, such as cracks/ spalling, weight, and thermal properties such as thermal conductivity, specific heat and thermal diffusivity and mass loss were conducted on the hardened samples and compared with the control. The results showed that the addition of 5% RHA in OPC led to improvement in physical and thermal properties of the concrete when exposed to elevated temperature up to 400 0 C.


Abstract : Considerable interest has been expressed in defining and exploring the use of military civic action as a counterinsurgency measure as well as an avenue for achieving broader social and economic improvements in underdeveloped nations. This Guide is directed particularly to meet the on-the-scene orientation and reference needs of U.S. military personnel actively engaged in civic action. It discusses civic action theory and principles, and provides or refers to related background material.


We present an analysis of Sauveterrian microlithic backed points from sites located in the Trentino region of the north-eastern Italian Alps: Pradestel, Lago delle Buse & Colbricon. Experimental arrows were produced, hafted and shot into an animal target. The results of this study indicate that these points may have been "ineffective" for the hunting of medium to large-sized prey, such as ibex, red deer, bear, or wild boar. We propose that Sauveterrian microliths can rather be correlated with the hunting of small forest prey such as roe deer, marmot and other animals with thick fur. An alternative hypothesis for the hunting of large game is also proposed. Key-words : Sauveterrian, Backed points, Hunting, Experimental archaeology, Italy, Mesolithic. Projectile weapon elements from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Neolithic (Proceedings of session C83, XVth World Congress UISPP, Lisbon, September 4-9, 2006)


objective The term 'giant prolactinoma' can be used for tumours larger than 4 cm in diameter and/or with massive extrasellar extension. Cabergoline (CAB), a long‐lasting dopamine agonist (DA), safe and well tolerated, is effective in normalizing PRL levels and inducing tumour shrinkage in micro‐ and macroprolactinomas. The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CAB also for giant prolactinomas.


In the focus of the attention are the problems of the creative work of an outstanding writer from Trieste, a representative of the Slovenian national minority in Italy Boris Pahor. This Slovenian, who celebrated his 105 th birthday in 2018, was born in the multinational and multicultural Trieste at the time when the city was still a part of Austria-Hungary, then survived three European dictators of the 20 th century: Mussolini, Hitler and Tito. During his long creative life (Pahor's literary debut took place in 1948, the last novel was published in 2012), the writer has created a collective image of the Trieste Slovenian, making extensive use of his autobiographical motifs. The heroes of his works, representatives of the Slovenian diaspora in Trieste, have different names and professions, but all of them defend their right to freedom and ethno-cultural originality. The experience of concentration camps was the basis of his autobiographical novel "Necropolis" (1967). This work is ranked with the works by A. Solzhenitsyn, P. Levi, J. Semprun and I. Kertész. This is one of the most vivid literary evidence about the Nazi death factory in the time of World War II in the modern European prose. In the context of the Slovenian literary paradigm, Pahor's creative individuality is es- pecially unique, because his poetics is not connected with the national literary tradition, he was guided by Italian neorealists, first of all V. Pratolini, as well as by E. Hemingway, J. Dos Passos, and W. Saroyan.


Fresh strawberry fruits from 9 wild strains and 41 cultivars were anlayzed for sugar composition and evaluated by the principal component analysis. 1. Sucrose, fructose, and glucose are the major sugar components of strawberry fruits. The differences in content and compostion of sugars among strawberries were examined. Forty-one cultivars were classified into 4 groups by the principal component analysis. Cultivars, such as 'Toyonoka' in Group 1 contain a high percentage of fructose and glucose and high content of total sugar ; such as Group 2 included 'Kogyoku', which possesses a high percentage of sucrose ; Group 3 amplified by 'Nyoho' is intermediate between Group 1 and 2 ; whereas Group 4 cultivars, such as 'Kaho' has a high percentage of fructose and glocose, but low total sugar. In wild strawberries, Fragaria vesca with the exception of 'White' and F. Chiloensis is characterized by a sugar compostion with nearly equal percentages of sucrose, fructose and glucose. F. Virginiana is characterized by a small amount of total sugar and a low percentage of sucrose. 2. Sugar content and vegetative characteristics in 41 cultivars revealed that total sugar content correlates positively with plant height, leaf area and soluble solid content. Fructose or glucose content correlates negatively with the number of days from flowering to harvest. Consequently, we conclude that sugar content is an important factor in breeding high quality, sweet strawberry cultivars.


Freight carriers within urban areas are increasingly being required to arrive at customers within designated time windows within the framework of just-in-time transportation. This paper evaluates the performance of a probabilistic model developed using stochastic programming to determine the optimal routes for the local delivery problem. The probabilistic model uses information relating to the variability of travel times as part of its formulation. Simulation was used to compare the performance of the probabilistic model with that of the forecast model. Although the performance of both models was similar when travel time conditions were good, the probabilistic model performed much better in congested conditions. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD E202211.


Hydrolysis apparatus for discontinuous hydrolysis of laboratory samples (31) with a sample container (1) closable, which is provided with a connection for acid, one for washing water and for gas (4, 5 , 6) and in which a siphon (15) extending to the bottom of the container (13) is arranged.


This paper presents a novel multi-Gb/s multi-mode LDPC decoder architecture and efficient design techniques for gigabit wireless communications. An efficient dynamic and fixed column-shifting scheme is presented for multi-mode architectures. A novel low-complexity local switch is proposed to implement the dynamic and fixed column-shifting scheme. Furthermore, an efficient quantization method and the usage of a one's-complement scheme instead of a two's-complement scheme are explored. The proposed decoder achieves very high throughput with minimal area overhead. Post layout results using TSMC 65-nm CMOS technology shows much better throughput, as well as better areaand energy-efficiency, compared to other multi-mode LDPC decoders. & 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Beginning in the second half of the 2015 season, home run rates began to rise, hitting an all-time high in 2017. This same period saw a rash of pitcher blisters—no small matter, as MLB rules consider a blister an injury, requiring a player to go on the Injured List.i After a small drop-off in home runs in 2018, a new ball was introduced in 2019 that produced even more offense, topping the 2017 home run record by 11%. 2019 also marked the first year that the Major League baseball was used in Triple-A, where the change was so dramatic that home runs increased by 60%. Then, at the start of the 2019 MLB postseason, the ball changed again—this time deadened, producing a sudden drop in offense.


3047 Background: A considerable fraction of lung cancer patients raise diagnostic challenges requiring invasive procedures with a certain risk of complications. Therefore, new diagnostic tools are of major interest. Aberrant methylation of the HOXA9 gene occurs in almost all malignant lung tumors and HOXA9 methylated DNA (meth-ctDNA) is shed into the circulation. The present study aimed at a prospective investigation of the possible diagnostic value of HOXA9 meth-ctDNA in bronchial lavage (BL). Methods: Patients enrolled were referred from the general practitioner suspecting lung cancer. The diagnostic package according to national guidelines includes chest and abdominal CT scan, bronchoscopy, relevant blood tests, and histopathological or cytological verification. Twelve ml liquid was collected at bronchoscopy for analysis of meth-ctDNA based on ddPCR technology according to our published method. The analysis was performed blinded to the clinical data and compared to the final diagnosis. Results: Eighty-nine patients were consecutively included from the 1 November 2018 to 31 January 2019. Fifty-six patients (62.9%) were diagnosed with lung cancer and 33 (37.1%) with a variety of benign diseases. Meth-ctDNA was found in 42/56 of the patients with a malignant tumor, sensitivity = 75.0% (95%CI=61.6-85.6%), whereas 31/33 of the patients without cancer were negative, specificity = 93.9% (95%CI= 79.8-99.3%). Table summarizes the results. The false negative samples were mainly from patients with peripheral tumors. The two false positive patients included one patient with Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia and one with unspecific nodule. Conclusions: The presence of meth-ctDNA in BL has a high sensitivity and specificity. If validated, the analysis represents a valuable adjunct in the diagnosis of lung cancer. Potentially, it could save the patients from numerous examinations with potential harmful risks and ensure a fast diagnosis. The relation between meth-ctDNA and final lung cancer diagnosis (N= 89). [Table: see text]


Due to unexpected network interconnection growth, the security of technological and information infrastructures is becoming difficult to be managed and controlled. In addition, security is becoming more and more crucial for an organisation's information systems operation. The management of an organisation has to establish rules and regulations in order to face the threats that its information systems face. The network manager is obliged to enforce the regulations that senior management addresses. We propose a framework that a network manager could use in order to effectively enforce security policies. In addition, we present a scalable security management architecture suitable for TCP/IP networks. The communication of systems' logical components is based on the use of the SNMP protocol. Finally, the system includes facilities for collecting and efficiently storing raw and aggregate historical security management information in a temporal database for off-line analysis.


This paper explores the definition and features of national strategic high technology,summarizing the strategic high technology and its industry becoming the focus of international competition.Further,judging from the successful experience of developed countries,five rules are summed up as follows: governments attaching great importance,making technological prediction,increasing investment in science and technology,creating an ideal environment,and carrying out the cooperation of enterprises and institutes and governments.