A quantum channel is a completely positive trace preserving map which acts on the set of operators for the Hilbert space associated with a given quantum system. Analysis of such channels is central to quantum computing and quantum information theory. We present and investigate a new class of quantum channels that includes the class of collective rotation channels as a special case. We use the phrase 'universal collective rotation channels' for this class. The fixed point set and noise commutant coincide for a channel in this class. Computing the precise structure of this operator algebra is a core problem in a particular noiseless subsystem method of quantum error correction. We apply classical representation theory of the symmetric group via Young tableaux and give a computationally amenable method for explicitly finding this structure for the class of universal collective rotation channels.


This new paper combines errors-in-variable (EIV) system with closed loop situation to consider a more complex closed loop EIV system. Consider the identification problem for closed loop EIV system, synthesis analysis is completed from the point of system identification field. Firstly, the reason about why closed loop EIV system is useful in academy and practice is explained in detail. Secondly, to identify that unknown plant, existing in closed loop EIV system with the measurement and process noise simultaneously, nonparametric estimate is proposed to be one plant estimate through our own mathematical derivation. Then statistical analysis above nonparametric estimate is studied to show the unbiased property. Thirdly, for the rational transfer function as the unknown plant, parameterized by one unknown parameter vector, the plant identification is transferred into one parameter estimate, so after reformulating the parameterized input-output relation for closed loop EIV system, least squares solution is derived to be biased. To avoid this explicit biased term, bias compensated estimate and an iterative least squares estimate are proposed to improve the overall identification performance. Finally, one practical example is to show the existence of our considered closed loop EIV system, and the detailed numerical results prove our proposed identification strategies.


The present invention relates to a video display device, and the video display apparatus includes a display panel; A lamp for producing light so that the image displayed on the display panel; And a lamp driving unit for driving the lamp; Information storage unit information is stored on the start-up time of the lamp and; If it is determined that the timing indicated by the information stored in the data storage portion comes, and a controller for controlling the lamp driving unit to the lamp is on. In this way, by reducing the waiting time by pre-view drive the watch around the lamp it is possible to improve the user's convenience. Video, display, lamps


Effects of pH (3.0−7.0) on aggregation of whey protein solution (WPS, 18%) were investigated by examination of turbidity, aggregate size, and microstructure. As expected, maximum turbidity and aggregate sizes occurred at the isoelectric point (pI 5.2) of whey proteins. Lower or higher pH than the pI resulted in a steady decrease of the turbidity and aggregate size. Microstructure analysis revealed that the WPS at pH 5.7 contained loose and irregular aggregates with 200−400 nm sizes. From the pH (5.7)-aggregated WPS, gelation was induced by heating, hydrolyzing with a protease from Bacillus licheniformis (BLP), increasing ionic strength with CaCl2, and quiescently acidifying with glucono-δ-lactone (GDL), respectively. The hardness, color, and microstructure of the gels so formed were determined. Micrographs of BLP- and CaCl2-induced gels showed aggregates similar in size and shape to the parent aggregates in the WPS. Heat- and GDL-induced gels were structured with enlarged aggregates (500 nm and 1−2 μm). S...


The risk of residential mortgage has the characteristics of potentiality and accumulation and is prone to be neglected which may result in large scale and destructive disaster once it occurs. The paper analyzs the causes of this risk and puts forward some suggestions on preventing it. 


Introduction: This review consolidates reported ethnomedical uses of B.monnieri, which are currently dispersed, on a spatial platform. Methods: The ethnic medicinal uses of B.monnieri across several local communities and ethnic groups in India were mapped on Quantum GIS 2.10.1-Pisa (Q.GIS) and Google earth. Results: The present study resulted in the spatial documentation of B. monnieri in India. The spatial database reposits ethnomedical knowledge specific to B. monnieri nurtured within one hundred and twenty one communities in fifty three locations. The plant is identified in more than twenty different vernacular names. Conclusion: Traditional knowledge mapping associated with B.monnieri in India provides opportunities for meta-analysis of ethnomedical database and heralds new possibilities in knowledge


The aim of the present study was to investigate the ability of partially hydrolysed whey proteins to microencapsulate fish oil. Microcapsules were produced by spray-drying emulsions composed of fish oil, glucose syrup (DE38) and β-lactoglobulin or hydrolysates thereof prepared using bovine trypsin or alcalase. Hydrolysis did not negatively affect encapsulation performance during spray-drying and microencapsulation efficiency was very high for all samples (99 ± 0.5%). However, enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in reduced formation of lipid hydroperoxides for all hydrolysate-stabilised microcapsules, except for the hydrolysate produced by alcalase (3% degree of hydrolysis). Hydrolysis by trypsin resulted in a more narrow molecular weight peptide profile and an increased accessibility of antioxidant amino acids.

1 Practical applications:

Whey proteins, a by-product of the cheese industry, possess excellent nutritional properties, but have limited functional and antioxidant properties in their native form. Partial enzymatic hydrolysis can significantly enhance these properties. This study showed the excellent suitability of whey protein hydrolysates as emulsifiers in spray-dried emulsions, which can improve encapsulation capacity and stabilisation of sensitive ingredients.

Partially enzymatically hydrolysed whey proteins serving as emulsifiers can increase the oxidative stability of microencapsulated polyunsaturated fatty acids.


The article critically analyzes the phenomena of globalization and consumer society as dominants in the development of modern history. The article examines the essence of a consumer society, by which the author understands the symbiosis of the world-wide mass production of goods and services, and equally large-scale mass consumption. The article critically examines the social consequences of the Western project of globalization and the consumer society, their impact on the development of modern man and society, including the education sector, and higher education in particular. The author comes to the conclusion that modern higher school (university education), under the influence of the Western project of globalization and consumer society, has turned into factories for the production of a mass educated labor force and an equally massive average educated consumer, with unified needs and consciousness subject to external manipulations.


To examine how peculiar velocities can affect the 2-, 3-, and 4-point correlation functions, we evaluate volume-average correlations for configurations that emphasize and minimize distortions for four different volume-limited samples from each of the CfA, SSRS, and IRAS redshift catalogs. We present the results as the correlation length r{sub 0} and power index {gamma} of the 2-point correlation, {anti {Xi}}{sub 2} = (r{sub 0}/r){sup {gamma}}, and as the hierarchical amplitudes of the 3- and 4-point functions, S{sub 3} = {anti {Xi}}{sub 3}/{anti {Xi}}{sub 2}{sup 2} and S{sub 4} = {anti {Xi}}/{anti {Xi}}{sub 2}{sup 3}. We find a characteristic distortion for {anti {Xi}}{sub 2}: The slope {gamma} is flatter and the correlation length is larger in redshift space than in real space; that is, redshift distortions ``move`` correlations from small to large scales. At the largest scales, extra power in the redshift distribution is compatible with {Omega}{sup 4/7}/b {approx} 1; we find 0.53 {plus_minus} 0.15, 1.10 {plus_minus} 0.16 and 0.84 {plus_minus} 0.45 for the CfA, SSRS and IRAS catalogs. Higher order correlations {anti {Xi}}{sub 3} and {anti {Xi}}{sub 4} suffer similar redshift distortions, but in such a way that, within the accuracy of our analysis, the normalized amplitudes S{sub 3} andmore » S{sub 4} are insensitive to this effect. The hierarchical amplitudes S{sub 3} and S{sub 4} are constant as a function of scale between 1-12 h{sup {minus}1} Mpc and have similar values in all samples and catalogues, S{sub 3} {approx} 2 and S{sub 4} {approx} 6, despite the fact that {anti {Xi}}{sub 2}, {anti {Xi}}{sub 3}, and {anti {Xi}}{sub 4} differ from one sample to another by large factors. The agreement between the independent estimations of S{sub 3} and S{sub 4} is remarkable given the different criteria in the selection of galaxies and also the difference in the resulting range of densities, luminosities and locations between samples.« less


A review of the literature for the past 10 years with specific references to the dropout problems of colleges and universities. There are three major approaches to the problem prevalent: (a) philosophical or theoretical, (b) descriptive studies, and (c) predictive attempts. The scope of the approaches made in these areas and a summary analysis of the results is made. No adequate solutions have yet been found and the author does not presume to suggest them. It is hoped the deficiencies shown and the promising areas of research indicated will stimulate more effort in an apparently neglected field.


In order to locate the vehicle accurately and realize the function of navigation,the two kinds of commonly used navigating and positioning technology—the GPS and the inertial navigation technology are combined.A way of simulation for the INS/GPS integration navigation system is introduced.The navigation system requirement for precision is not high,so the low-cost gyroscopes and accelerometers can be used as the inertial navigation system measurement devices.The INS/GPS navigation system uses the position and velocity combination pattern.Also the error comparison among INS,GPS and INS/GPS is given.Analysis shows that the precision of integrated navigation system is the highest of all.


Perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) are defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as mesenchymal tumors arising from perivascular epithelioid cells with myomelanocytic immunophenotype. In the kidney, they are often referred to as epithelioid angimyolipoma (AML). Most are benign but some can be malignant. Their rarity and wide differential render diagnosis challenging.

 A 56-year-old male presented with a 3-month history of flank pain. Computed tomography (CT) identified bilateral necrotic heterogeneous enhancing kidney masses, with right significantly larger than left. Initially, the patient underwent a right radical nephrectomy. On gross examination, no tumor infiltration was observed. Histology demonstrated sheets of highly atypical cells with clear cytoplasm and easily identifiable nucleoli. Areas of spindle and rhabdoid differentiation were present. The initial diagnosis was renal clear cell (RCC) carcinoma, Fuhrman grade 4, with extensive rhabdoid and focal sarcomatoid features.
 A follow-up CT demonstrated a hypodense area within the right hepatic lobe. Status post liver resection and histomorphological examination, the lesion was identical to the renal mass except for focal areas of prominent epithelioid cells with eosinophilic cytoplasm. Immunohistochemical (IHC) stains of both masses were positive for Melan-A, HMB-45, and EMA but negative for PAX8, SOX10, S100, SMA, desmin, and cytokeratin. The initial diagnosis was amended to malignant AML with hepatic metastasis.

 Renal PEComa (epithelioid AML) is a rare tumor with a prevalence of 0.44%. While most are benign, some are malignant with metastatic potential. The differential diagnosis for PEComa is broad and includes more common tumors like RCC, melanoma, clear cell sarcoma, and liposarcoma. The presence of spindle and epithelioid histology with eosinophilic cytoplasm in RCC should prompt additional IHC workup (HMB45, Melan-A, SMA, and EMA) in order to exclude PEComa/AML.


A Lewis acid promoted one-step synthesis of 2(3H)-benzofuranones via an intramolecular rearrangement of the corresponding substituted 0-methoxyacetylbenzenes and coumarins is described.


Musculoskeletal disorders is an uncomfort symptom in the muscles and bones area. It start from very mild to very severe and often due to repeatedly heavy burden that received for long period. Musculoskeletal disorders in workers become an important problem because it can cause lost work time, decrease in work productivity, decrease alertness, increase the risk of accidents, and high handling costs. In tempe industry, soybeen usually washed in manual procedure and this process often causes pain in the waist, spine, and both hands of the workers. Manual soybean washing can cause working accidents and work-related illnesses. Manual soybean washing are involving muscles and bones that have damage potency to the spine. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between work posture and musculoskeletal disorders in Sanan Tempe Industrian Center, Malang. This study research design was an observational analytic with a cross sectional approach. Based on this study it can be concluded that there is a relationship between work posture and musculoskeletal disorders. The industry should organize training that gain an information and action to reduce the harm potential of wrong work postures on tempe craftsmen.

Keywords: Musculoskeletal disorders, Tempe craftsmen, Work posture


Generally, a sensing structure with high sensitivity has a small dynamic measurement range and vice versa. A simple combination method of Mach–Zehnder-interferometer (MZI) and a modal interference (MI) for salinity measurement is studied. It achieves performance with high sensitivity and a large measurement range. Here, the sensitivity of the MZI is higher than that of the MI by about two orders in magnitude. Then the MZI composed of large offset splicing single-mode fiber (SMF) structure is adopted to work for high-sensitivity measurement of salinity. While the MI is composed of a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) spliced with two SMF is adopted to extend the measurement range of the MZI structure. After a proper data processing algorithm, it can meet the requirement of salinity measurement in seawater. According to experiments and data processing results, the sensitivity of the proposed method could be up to −16602.8 nm/refractive index unit (RIU) in the range of 1.333–1.341, which is corresponding to 3.32056 nm/‰ in the salinity range of 0‰–40 ‰ at 25 °C. The proposed method could effectively expand the measurement range of high-sensitivity MZI according to the requirement, and also has the potential for multiparameter measurement.


1 Sadighha A. Etanercept in the treatment of a patient with acute generalised exanthematous pustulosis ⁄ toxic epidermal necrolysis: definition of a new model based on translational research. Int J Dermatol 2009; 48: 908– 15. 2 Meiss F, Helmbold P, Meykadeh N et al. Overlap of acute generalised exanthematous pustulosis and toxic epidermal necrolysis: response to antitumour necrosis factor-a antibody infliximab: report of three cases. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2007; 21: 681–721. 3 Cohen AD, Cagnano E, Halevy S. Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis mimicking toxic epidermal necrolysis. Int J Dermatol 2001; 40: 458–61. 4 Lateef A, Tan K, Lau TC. Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis and toxic epidermal necrolysis induced by hydroxychloroquine. Clin Rheumatol 2009; 28: 1449–52.


This paper presents an example of how demographical characteristics of patients influence their susceptibility to certain medical conditions. In this paper, we investigate the association of health conditions to age of patients in a heterogeneous population. We show that besides the symptoms a patients is having, the age has the potential of aiding the diagnostic process in hospitals. Working with Electronic Health Records (EHR), we show that medical conditions group into clusters that share distinctive population age densities. We use Electronic Health Records from Brazil for a period of 15 months from March of 2013 to July of 2014. The number of patients in the data is 1.7 million patients and the number of records is 47 million records. The findings has the potential of helping in a setting where an automated system undergoes the task of predicting the condition of a patient given their symptoms and demographical information.


We show the Portuguese transition to the euro, in the framework of political economics, by constructing a bivariate confidence index, based upon Rocha de Sousa (1998, 1999a,b, 2001). Besides we try to understand if the euro functioned as an instrument of politico-economic integration. The article has the following structure: section 1 shows the process of monetary European construction, section two illustrates the need for budget consolidation before the euro, section three illustrates the notion of monetary credibility and the construction of a bivariate politico-economic index, section four illustrates the role of ECB and of the SECB, section 5 assesses the study of euro impact on Portugal and, section 6 evaluates EMU after 10 years based upon EC (2008) and, finnally, section 7 concludes.


Whenever gender violence and schooling have been the topic of South African research, the investigations focus on African boys in secondary schools. In contrast, this paper focuses on the ways in which violence is mobilized by African schoolgirls in a working-class primary school context. By drawing on selected elements of an ethnographic study of gender in the junior years of primary schooling, the paper examines young seven- and eight-year-old girls' use of violence as a significant resource in a context of massive social deprivation and economic instability. In such contexts, violence is an important means through which some girls define, create and consolidate their femininities. In the absence of research which focuses on the violent expressions of femininity, this paper argues that within the context of persistent social and economic inequalities which mark South African society, girl-on-girl violence is an important means to secure resources and claims to power.


This study employs structural equation modelling technique to examine the direct effect of perceived external corporate social responsibility and perceived internal corporate social responsibility on employee engagement as well as the mediated link through organizational identification. Social exchange theory and social identity theory used to explain the relationships between the variables in this study. It was conducted among 1080 employees of four selected organizations in Iran which are among the main pioneers in performing corporate social activities. The test of research model shows the positive effect of perceived external corporate social responsibility and perceived internal corporate social responsibility on employee engagement. In addition, it confirms that organizational identification has a mediating role in above relationships. The results have also contributed to a better understanding of corporate social responsibility in Iran as a developing country in which corporate social responsibility has recently gained attention and thus there is still a lack of understanding about it. The findings would be useful for managers to have a better insight towards applying corporate social responsibility in line with increasing employees' identification and engagement.


A widespread problem in mechanical design courses in Taiwan results from the constraints imposed by manpower, facilities, and/or budget on mechanical design projects in the current large‐class setting. This paper presents a course model dealing with this problem. The goal is to provide students the tools and environment to experience design. This model was quite successful when implemented in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yuan‐Ze University, Taiwan, where I teach a junior‐level mechanical design course having more than one hundred students in two sections.


At the end of 2019, the COVID-19 disease emerged in the city of Wuhan, China, and caused an outbreak of unusual viral pneumonia. Being highly transmissible, this novel coronavirus disease has spread fast all over the world. COVID-19 continues to challenge most developed countries in the search for an effective strategy to either prevent infection or to avoid the spreading of the disease. While several developed countries have managed to contain COVID-19, several countries in Latin America continue to report an increase in the daily number of infected people. Ecuador, particularly, became the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the region during March and April 2020. In this context, the present study shows a simple mathematical approach to understand the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak in Ecuador (and some Latin American countries such as Brazil, Peru, and Colombia). The proposed method is based on the exponential model, discrete logistic equation, and differential logistic model using one-year data from March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021. This study presents the estimated growth rate coefficient (λ), the total number of cases (N), and the midpoint of maximum infection (t_0) as well as the variability of the λ coefficient as a function of total cases and time. The exponential model shows a high value of λ=0.185 which decreases to λ=0.014 and λ=0.056 according to the discrete and differential logistic models, respectively. An accurate value of the total number of cases of infected people was found by analyzing the number of daily cases as a function of the total of cases whose value (N~409 K) agrees with the data reported at the end of May 2021, validating the proposed approach. How to use the current mathematical approach for long-term prediction is also discussed here. Most importantly, the proposed method has two important characteristics: (i) the mathematical model is as simple as possible compared to other time-consuming approaches, and (ii) it can be used to study the effect of COVID-19 and predicts its consequences in other countries, allowing revenue new decisions against the COVID-19 disease. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-SPER-09 Full Text: PDF


In this study, the effect of window opening on the drag characteristics of a car is investigated. This additional aerodynamic drag can considerably affect the performance of a car in terms of instability, noise and fuel consumption. Using a 3D car model, the effect of window opening on the drag characteristics was numerically studied using STAR–CCM+ commercial CFD software. It was observed that the aerodynamic drag is highly influenced by the different window openings. For validation, a scaled down car model was tested in the IIUM low speed wind tunnel. The results obtained from both simulation and experimental data showed that the car with all windows open produced higher drag than a car with all windows closed. The experimental data from the wind tunnel test results was found to be in good agreement with the simulation counterpart for the determination of drag coefficient for both window positions.


226 x 182 mm. A view looking west along the Nassau waterfront from Rawson Square, showing moored fishing boats and Bahamians sitting on benches at the quayside. Photograph taken circa 1890-circa 1895.


We conjecture that the Higgs potential can be significantly modified when it is in close proximity to the horizon of an astrophysical black hole, leading to the destabilization of the electroweak vacuum. In this situation, the black hole should be encompassed by a shell consisting of a "bowling substance" of the nucleating new phase bubbles. In a binary black hole merger, just before the coalescence, the nucleated bubbles can be prevented from falling under their seeding horizons, as they are simultaneously attracted by the gravitational potential of the companion. For a short time, the unstable vacuum will be "sandwiched" between two horizons of the binary black hole, and therefore the bubbles may collide and form micro-black holes, which will be rapidly evaporated by thermal emission of Hawking radiation of all Standard Model spices. This evaporation, being triggered by a gravitational wave signal from the binary black hole merger, can manifest itself in observations of gamma rays and very high energy neutrinos, which makes it a perfect physics case for multi-messenger astronomical observations.


The development of Service-Oriented Systems has gained a considerable momentum as a means for building distributed applications and business processes. It emphasizes the loosely coupled construction of services from independent providers over the network. As a consequence, the dependability of such systems strongly depends on their ability to self-adapt to changes in its execution environment, such as unreachable component services, or changed delivered QoS. In this paper, we propose a two-stage approach to realize a self-adaptive SOA system, aimed at the fulfillment of dependability requirements. Specifically, we divide the adaptation process into two stages, proactive adaptation and reactive adaptation, to implement self-protecting and self-healing respectively, and provide a methodology driving the system adaptation. To bring this approach to fruition, a prototype system A-ServiceMix is developed by extending Apache ServiceMix.


Fifty years ago, animal models studied in the lab were highly diverse, and biological insights were derived from experiments in many species. However, the pursuit of mechanistic explanations in organismal biology led to a shift in the species most commonly studied. The advent of genetic manipulations and economies of scale promoted the consolidation of research into fewer species (eg, Drosophila melanogaster, Mus musculus, Danio rerio, Caenorhabditis elegans). As a result, the tremendous variety of evolutionary adaptations across species provided insights into ultimate causes of evolution, but their proximate mechanisms have been understudied in recent decades. Within the last decade, developments in genome modifications have enabled functional genetic studies in a wide variety of species. This special issue combines papers derived from a symposium organized at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology conference in January 2023 in Austin, Texas. The symposium entitled "Neuroethology in the age of gene editing: New tools and novel insights into the molecular and neural basis of behavior" was convened to catalyze the transfer of knowledge and skills from researchers who have applied genome modification technologies in new model organisms to scientists who would like to bring these approaches to their own research programs. We highlight this work here, and suggest how the future of biological knowledge will be informed by these powerful experiments.


Due to the impact of quarantine measures against COVID-19, the quality of education in the country's schools has decreased. This issue is relevant and is on the agenda from the administration of the Head of State to university rectors and teachers, school principals and educators, students and their parents. Most of the participants in the discussion believe that too little money is allocated to the school. This article examines the impact of government spending on education and on students' academic achievements. According to the literature review, it was revealed that an increase in financial support for secondary schools from the state will lead to an increase in the quality of education. To solve these research questions, we used a correlation analysis between student academic performance and government spending, and household spending. On the basis of the selected variables, a correlation analysis was carried out by the method of rank correlation of the relationship between student performance and the amount of state funding for education. The study concluded that the success of students in education is influenced by non-financial factors, such as educational standards and appropriate teaching methods. At the same time, a paradoxical situation has been revealed, almost every year the government increases annual spending on education in secondary schools, but student academic performance is constantly falling. In addition, there was no strong statistical relationship between student performance and the amount of State funding for education. Therefore, the question arises about the effectiveness of the use of allocated public funds for education.


Microsurgical post operative vascularity of flap-finger is a difficult issue. No ideal method is available till date. By studying ratio of flap to fingertip blood glucose level we can reach to a conclusion for salvage of congested flap whether non surgical or surgical intervention is required.
We present a study based on this method in 31 cases are found promising results.
Keywords: Microsurgery, Free flaps, Blood glucose level.


For ATM networks we derive the bounds formulas for the asymptotic tail distribution in a queue whose arrival process is a superposition of general periodic Markov sources. Note that we make no assumption for the structure of the general periodic Markov sources except that the underlying Markov chains are irreducible. The periodic source model in this paper is thus rather general. Taking initial state conditions of the periodic sources into account, we construct a superposed arrival process. Contrary to the previous works, this implies that the periodic sources are not independent. We also provide examples to investigate the efficiency and the accuracy of our bound formulas.


Examination of a large number of samples from the 1967 Irish wheat crop indicated departures from the normal relationship between α-amylase activity as determined by dextrinogenic and by viscometric methods. Comparison of falling numbers and amylograph maxima indicated that these two methods could not be used as equivalent alternatives for the prediction of a-amylase behaviour. Studies on a series of flour samples covering a wide range of amylase activities showed that differences between the autolytic methods examined were associated with starch properties. Gelling properties at maximum temperatures were found to influence amylograph maxima while susceptibility of the starch to enzyme attack in the early gelatinisation stages was responsible for differences in falling numbers. There was close association between starch pasting viscosities and susceptibility to mechanical damage during milling.


The Voting Rights Act of 1 965 serves as the most significant piece of civil rights legislation passed by Congress. Over the years, many civil rights litigants have used the act as a defense against electoral-structural barriers. These barriers include, but are not limited to, atlarge elections and multimember districts. The removal of such barriers on the grounds that they prevent minorities from electing the candidate(s) of their choice, however, can sometimes prove problematic for minority women. Indeed, women have been found to perform better in multimember districting schemes when compared to single-member districting schemes (King 2002; Hogan 2001). Here, our focus in not so much directed at testing whether electoral structure leads to descriptive representation for women, or by extension, whether it works to dilute the minority vote. Rather, we are primarily interested in examining whether the election of minority and women legislators results in progressive legislation for their constituents. We also explore whether legislators who represent multimember districts are more likely to introduce progressive bills. Here, we borrow from Richardson, Russell and Cooper (2004), who find that those legislators who serve in multimember districts are more likely to engage in legislative "extremism," as they term it. More specifically, their study found that multimember districts tend to produce more ideologically-extreme legislators when compared to singlemember districts. Using this framework, we conduct an exploratory analysis to determine whether legislators representing multimember districts are also more likely to sponsor ideologically-extreme, such as progressive, bills. Progressive bills are simply defined as those that are introduced for the purpose of ameliorating social, political, and economic inequalities along such lines as race, class and gender.There has been extensive research conducted on the impact of the Voting Rights Act in eliminating structural barriers to voting. While prior research has found women enjoy greater electoral success in multimember districts, research examining black descriptive-representation has pointed almost exclusively to the creation of majority-black single-member districts (see, e.g., Parker 1990). Darcy, Hadley, and Kirksey (1993) contend that diis increase, however, has benefited black men, while limiting the success of black women. These findings point us in the direction of research assessing the intersection of race and gender. Again, the primary focus of this analysis is not descriptive, but, more importantly, substantive, representation. Specifically, we investigate whether inter-group differences exist between black women and white women, as well as between black women and black men, when considering bill sponsorship. In taking advantage of the intersectionality research, we join scholars who recognize the fact that multiple categories can work simultaneously to impact one's life chances and outcomes, as opposed to working independently and separately (Chavez 2006, 80).Historically, the literature examining legislative representation based on race and gender has treated the two categories as mutually exclusive. In other words, the respective literatures (i.e., race or gender) typically lump black men and black women together and black women and white women together. This approach fails, however, to examine the intersection of race and gender, particularly as it relates to black women. Often fighting from the bottom of the socioeconomic stratum (Browne, 1999; King 1988), black women face a "double disadvantage" of both racism and sexism. As a result, their experiences should lead them to sponsor bills that confront both of these injustices. In fact, according to Simien (2005), the potential for dual discrimination among black women serves to accentuate the racial identity of black women. As a result, black women legislators should be even more likely to advance legislation pertaining to racial interests. …


This study investigated the potential effects of CEO gender and ethnicity on crisis communication efforts in Japan. Literature on how Japanese perceive male/female and Japanese/non-Japanese leaders was examined, followed by a discussion of three major mechanisms through which gender and ethnicity can influence audience perceptions: (1) ingroup bias, (2) role congruity considerations, and (3) shifting standards and expectations. A 2 (crisis response) × 2 (CEO gender) × 2 (CEO ethnicity) between-subjects experimental design was employed to assess the impact of CEO gender and ethnicity on audience perceptions of the CEO and the organization in crisis. Results showed no negative effects of deviating from the stereotypical image of a male Japanese CEO. Rather, both being female and non-Japanese positively influenced perceptions of the CEO. However, only the effect of CEO ethnicity was reflected in judgements of organizational reputation.


Abstract This article aims to address how to ensure a two-way 'dialogue' across 'the West/non-West distinction' in international studies. To this end, I first discuss three different approaches to dialogue, the Socratic, the Habermasian, and the Weberian, and clarify what kind of thing dialogue should be if it is to overcome the 'West-non-West divide' and transform the current 'Western-centric' IR into a global discipline. I argue that dialogue should be understood as reciprocal feedback from different perspectives for mutual learning. In order to achieve this goal (i.e. mutual learning), I call for an 'instrumentalist' approach to dialogue. To elucidate this point, I offer an empirical illustration. The focus here is on dialogue as mutual learning between Western-centric IR theory, more specifically constructivism, and the indigenous experience and knowledge of East Asia.


Orientation: Recently, the importance of blind spots, derailments and failures of leaders have been in the spotlight. Enhancing their levels of self-awareness is one of the steps leaders can take to avoid derailment. While it promotes self-awareness and decreases leadership blind spots, feedback is also considered one of the most effective tools available to modify behaviour. Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to explore the individual characteristics that will enhance or impede the feedback received from others so as to bring about behavioural change and increased levels of self-awareness. Motivation for the study: The aim of this theoretical article was to consider various conceptual frameworks and literature in an endeavour to illustrate how leaders' self-schemas might explain the underlying reasons why some leaders are more likely to receive, integrate, assimilate and act on the feedback, while others are not, based on how they see themselves in relation to others. Research design, approach and method: A literature-based method was utilised for this study in order to provide a critical analysis of the available literature and illustrate the different theoretical perspectives and underpinnings. Practical/managerial implications: Leaders who are more likely to consider feedback and/or ask for feedback from others seem to be less prone to develop a blind spot and will therefore have a more accurate view of themselves. Those who have an over-rating of themselves are unlikely to have an accurate view of themselves. In an attempt to 'protect' this inflated view, such individuals will be less open to negative feedback, as it may challenge their own perspectives and opinions they hold of themselves. Individuals who hold an overly negative view of themselves are more likely to reject positive feedback and less likely to request or accept positive feedback as it may contradict the viewpoint they hold of themselves. They may however be more open to negative feedback that may 'support' their negative view of themselves. Contribution: This article provided some suggestions as to why leaders may be less willing to accept and integrate feedback into their self-schemas as well as how to develop their levels of self-awareness in order to benefit from feedback.


Organizational creativity, in the model that follows, is subcategorized according to the type of creativity demanded by the industry in which a firm competes. Industries that demand the constant creation of new products are referred to as creativity-centered while others, which benefit from creative refinements to current services, are referred to as creativity-enhanced. Creativity is further subcategorized according to whether a given industry or market demands aesthetic or technological creativity. The two dimensions are combined in a four-quadrant model yielding four types of firms described as Technical Artists, Artists, Inventors, and, more broadly, Distributors and Adaptors. Implications for organizational structure and inter-organizational relationships are then discussed.


The escalation of violence committed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas against noncombatant civilians triggered a shift in the theoretical orientation of scholars who study Colombia's political economy. While previous explanations emphasized the sociopolitical "grievances" underlying guerrilla activities, recent explanations emphasize the "greed" motive, including guerrilla involvement in Colombia's illegal narcotics trade. In this article, the author posits an alternative explanation using Charles Tilly's theories of state formation to explain FARC activities in Caquetá, Colombia. Drawing from a longitudinal data set that documents the war making, state making, extraction, and protection activities of the FARC between 1975 and 2007, in addition to historical sociological methods, the author finds that increases in FARC repression stem from the growing militarization and paramilitarization of the region, which pressured the FARC to extract resources from the local population in a way that no longer served that population's legitimate protection interests.


Clinical trials suggest between 30–50% of depressed patients have an inadequate outcome to antidepressant pharmacotherapy. Among the approaches to improve outcome has been augmentation with antipsychotic medications. We aim to investigate the efficacy and tolerability of augmentation with quetiapine in depressed patients with a partial response to antidepressants.


This paper aims to develop three-dimensional fundamental thermo-elastic solutions for an infinite/half-infinite space of a two-dimensional hexagonal quasi-crystal, which is subjected to a point heat source. Starting from the newly developed general solution in terms of quasi-harmonic potential functions, the corresponding fundamental solutions are derived by means of the trial-and-error technique. Six appropriate potential functions involved in the general solution are observed. The present fundamental solutions are applied to construct boundary integral equations governing the contact problems. Numerical calculations are performed to show the distributions of the thermo-elastic coupling field variables in a half-space subjected to a point thermal source.


In this article we introduce the $\mathbb{N}-$decorated plactic monoid of type $C$, denoted $Pl^\mathbb{N}(C_n)$, via a finite convergent presentation $ACol$, with generating set $ACol(C_n)$ consisting of admissible columns, and an element $\epsilon$. By Squier's coherent completion theorem, this presentation is extended into a coherent presentation by identifying a family of generating confluences, i.e. generating $3-$cells. Here the generating $3-$cells are critical branchings on words of length $3$. We adapt the notions of crystal structure to $ACol(C_n)^\ast$ , and show that the shape of $3-$cells is preserved by the action of Kashiwara operators. Thus we reduce the study of the coherent presentation to only describing the generating $3-$cells whose source is a word of highest weight. We then introduce combinatorial objects called $C-$trees which parameterize the words of highest weight in $ACol(C_n)^\ast$. The $C-$trees allow for simplifying calculations with the insertion algorithm in type $C$, as introduced in by Lecouvey, and we prove that the generating $3-$cells in $ACol$ are of shape at most $(4,3)$. As a consequence, we show that the column presentation of $Pl(C_n)$, as introduced by Hage, has generating $3-$cells of shape at most $(4,3)$. This contrasts the situation in type $A$, where the $3-$cells in the column presentation of $Pl(A_n)$ are of shape at most $(3,3)$.


Although an estimated 80% of what people learn comes through visual information processing, two-thirds of children in the United States do not receive any preventive vision care before starting elementary school, according to Joel N. Zaba, MA, OD. Here is Dr. Zaba?s complete white paper on the subject.


As the result of promoting notification of the plan for environmental risk reduction measures for the large-scale disasters to a given size or larger factories and business establishments, the plans have been submitted from all of the 482 target entities during fiscal years of 2014 - 2016 . In order of handling amount of designated chemical substances in Osaka prefecture, chemical industry, petroleum and coal products industry, and warehousing business were ranked in classifying by industry, and Toluene, Xylene, and Benzene by substance. Handling amount of chemical substances were about 5 , 000 - 30 , 000 times as large as those of release amount, and they were the largest at the area of Senshu and Sakai-City where industrial complex of oil and chemical factories has been located in the coastal area.


Parents are expected to advocate for their children in a multitude of situations. It begins early with navigating their children's physical and emotional well-being. They come to rely on their children's physicians, their family, and the informal network of friends facing similar circumstances to help them steer safely through the early days of parenthood. They read all there is to read on the vast array of parenting subjects, seeking answers on how to avoid making mistakes. When it comes to their children's education, parents play a key role as first teacher, supporter, and advocate. Parents make choices about how and where their children will be educated, and children thrive best when their parents are closely tied to their educational experience. But what happens when life throws parents a curve ball? How do they navigate the waters when their child is diagnosed with autism? Specifically, how do they advocate to ensure that their child, like every other child, gets an education that prepares them for their life and future livelihood? And how can schools help them become effective advocates for their children? For parents living with children diagnosed with autism, advocating for their child presents a new reality in parenthood, often unexpected and with more questions than answers. Once they have passed through the various stages of denial and sadness, questioned the experts, and finally accepted the reality of the challenges their child will face, they have to get busy. Time is of the essence, and advocacy for a child living with autism within the public school system requires that parents have a very specific set of skills. Public schools and educators have a responsibility to help every child succeed, and this includes children with autism. While communication between teachers and parents is always important, it may take on even more significance for parents of children with autism. Such children whose parents advocate for them have a built-in advantage in schools, but it takes more than this. Educators must work closely with the student and their family to make sure that everyone is on the same page and that they are together a strong team for the child. Parent advocates Sabra Townsend is a Philadelphia mother of a 14-year-old son who has autism and attends public school. As an advocate and activist for her child and for all children with autism, Townsend has successfully combined her passion for children with autism with the pragmatism required to navigate the public education system and get things done. "People think they know what you're going through with a child on the autism spectrum. Remember that your child is your child before the autism diagnosis and after. They're still the same kid," she said. Her pragmatism is evident when she says that, even in states with ample funding for services, "you still have to be prepared for arguments and battles and advocacy." Children with special needs are entitled to certain services as a matter of law but not all school districts provide what's legally required, Townsend said. Parents need to know how to effectively do Internet research so they can strengthen their hand. They shouldn't automatically assume that the school is against them. "You have to become an informed advocate for your child," Townsend said. "It's the case of the squeaky wheel." In 2003, a group of parent volunteers in Philadelphia working to support their children's education started a group called Autism Sharing and Parenting. With the help of some small grants, this 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization presents practical, hands-on information to parents. They don't dumb it down, but they do try to explain some of the big "research words." A play therapist is provided during parent meetings so kids can get more than just child care and parents can focus on meetings. The Center for Autism and Related Disorders, a national organization that promotes the Applied Behavior Analysis treatment, honored Townsend with its Small Miracles Award this year. …


Combining the compression and noise-filted capability of wavelet shift, this paper studies an approach of establishing a more concise non-parameter model in the process of FIR-model identification.This paper presents detailed wavelet compression technology that is popular in the theory of modern control, and apply it to the identification of FIR model, describes the realization process, and obtaines the expected result. The result of computer simulation indicated that this technology could compress the parameters of model structure, reduce the amounts of mathematics operation in the model identification, and make model identification online possible.


In this paper,we have studied the crystal growth of a new piezoelectric material Langasite using the czochralski method.Polycrystal material can be made by melting the well mixed powder of Ga2O3?La2O3 and SiO2 in stoichiometric composition.The seeds by inserting Pthead into the melting in the Pt crucible heated with the RFheating were obtained.We also studied the temperature gradient,translation speed and rotation speed suitable to the crystal growth.The crystals in 50 mm×140 mm size have been grown piezoelectric properties were measured.


In rescuing the universalist vision which marked the origins of the most lucid doctrine of International Law, the process of humanization contributes to the construction of the new jus gentium of the XXIst century, oriented by the general principles of law. This process is enhanced by its own conceptual achievements, such as, to start with, the acknowledgement and recognition of jus cogens and the consequent obligations erga omnes of protection, followed by other concepts disclosing likewise a universalist perspective of the law of nations. In the domain of the safeguard of human rights, the objective character of the obligations of protection, the character of ordre public of the operation of the mechanisms of protection, the convergence on individual and collective interests in certain cases, are altogether elements bringing us closer to the actio popularis, as from the concept of obligations erga omnes.Keywords:actio popularis; human rights; international law; jus cogens; jus gentium; obligations erga omnes


A subgroup H of a finite group G is said to be SS-quasinormal in G if there exists a subgroup B of G such that G=HB and H permutes with every Sylow subgroup of B.In this paper,some conditions for a finite group to be p-nilpotent are given using SS-quasinormality of some abelian subgroups with prime power order,and several known results are generalized and improved.


The present invention provides a reliable means to collect information about the video monitoring of the monitoring target, the monitoring system and a monitoring system construction method. For video monitoring apparatus according to the present invention, a monitoring target track based on the video from overlooking the camera and the image from the concerned camera, based on the position of the monitored object, tracking information the event information and the monitoring target object of interest concerns the camera is switched.


The Institute of Religious Iconography of the State University of Groningen appropriately chose, for the first issue of its Annual, to honour Professor Th. P. van Baaren, the successor of G. van der Leeuw in the chair of History of Religions at Groningen. The guiding idea of the Annual is outlined in the introduction, which emphasizes the importance of not neglecting visual images and other symbolic forms of expression in the study of religions. Appropriately, the volume is richly supplied with 132 illustrations occupying 53 pages. Though the contributions mostly reflect the influence of Levi-Straussian structuralism, the plea made in the introduction also echoes that made by Marcel Jousse in his (posthumous) L'Anthropologie du geste (Paris, 1974—8), though without mentioning him. The theme chosen for Vol. I, ' Commemorative figures ', can offer rich material for either conception of anthropological study of religions ; but commemoration has so many forms and aspects that it may be difficult to give coherent unity to a collection of occasional essays, particularly when, as in a Festschrift, some freedom must be allowed to contributors to write on what they choose.


This is the first article in a series of two dealing with the engineering and economic considerations, which are crucial for the design of a heat transfer plant. In this article, considerations show the selection criteria for thermal oil heat transfer plants are addressed.


This paper describes a refinement-based approach to show that a native Java Card API function fulfills its specification. We refine a native function from its informal specification (by Sun) through several intermediate models into a low-level model which is very close to its C implementations. We formally prove the correctness of the refinement steps between two adjacent levels. The low-level model is sufficiently detailed such that its correspondence to the C implementation can be informally checked. This work provides a framework to enforce the security of the native code by formal analysis and can be generalized to verify a complete implementation of the Java Card platform.


The increasing complexity of a manufacturer's environment is driving the evolution of the industrial management mindset towards a new post-industrial management paradigm. More and more it is becoming critical for a manufacturer's competitiveness and survival to continuously assess and align its core competitive capabilities with its contextual environment. For managers it is important to have a clear understanding of both the industrial and post-industrial paradigms in order to design more effective strategies to evolve from an industrial to a post-industrial organization. In this paper we use the Human Activities Systems formal model (HAS) to analyze the scope and content of the industrial and post-industrial paradigms. Suggestions for self-assessment and for manufacturingenvironment alignment are given.


With the interconnection of the SNCF and RATP systems for providing fast services in the Ile de France (suburban services around Paris), it has become necessary for both undertakings to compare their technologies and pool their experience. This article describes the studies carries out on the behaviour of materials under fire conditions so that the smoke aspect (denseness and toxicity) can be integrated with the combustion aspect. These studies have led, for each type of material, to a dual fire-smoke classification being made which enables proper consideration to be given to the type of the rolling stock and its allocation to specific services. Apart from the laboratory tests, it is necessary for other far-reaching tests to be carried out in order to improve the behaviour of materials under fire conditions. The authors give details of the experiments furthered both in France and elsewhere (Japan, USA, Sweden,...) as well as of the halfscale tests made in the 27 cubic metre tank owned by the RATP. It seems that the steps now being taken internationally to define accurately the choice of the fire model and the general conditions for this type of test must be continued so that the results obtained can be used easily in practice. Technical collaiboration between the SNCF and the RATP has produced good results and enabled both undertakings to strengthen their position in the field of fire prevention.


This paper introduces a new concept of rigidity and its first example applications for stabilizing transient processes in power systems. By definition, a rigid system maintains a close-to-original state despite passing disturbances or smoothly transforms into a new state if the disturbance is permanent; it also responds to faults and disturbances with a smooth monotonous or minimum oscillatory behavior. Rigidity implies a stable behavior pattern of the controlled system for at least a specified group of finite disturbances over certain pre-set observation period. But stable systems are not necessarily rigid systems because they may be poorly damped and/or exhibit excessively oscillatory responses. In contrast to stability, rigidity has a simple and convenient mathematical description. It provides an objective function that can be optimized along the transient trajectory to obtain effective stabilizing control impacts. Rigidity can be pursued by both preventive and on-line control actions. Several different controls can be robustly selected in coordination for a variety of operating conditions, controlled variables, and uncertainties. The proposed rigidity criterion can be easily computed by using the output files of any standard transient simulator. Theoretical suggestions along with the first numerical tests are presented for the judgment of the power system community aiming further discussions, developments, and testing.


The block design task, a standardized test of nonverbal reason- ing, is often used to characterize atypical patterns of cognition in individuals with developmental or neurological conditions. Many studies suggest that, in addition to looking at quantitative differences in block design speed or accuracy, observing qualitative differences in individuals' problem-solving strategies can provide valuable information about a person's cogni- tion. However, it can be difficult to tie theories at the level of problem-solving strategy to predictions at the level of ex- ternally observable behaviors such as gaze shifts and patterns of errors. We present a computational architecture that is used to compare different models of problem-solving on the block design task and to generate detailed behavioral predictions for each different strategy. We describe the results of three different modeling experiments and discuss how these results pro- vide greater insight into the analysis of gaze behavior and error patterns on the block design task.


This paper employs the data of 30cities to construct a panel error correction model and analyzes the effect of land supply modes on housing prices by testing the Granger causality relationship between housing prices and land prices.It arrives at the following conclusions : firstly,the historical information of housing prices has a significant effect on land prices,and there is obvious expectation effect that developers estimate land value according to the expectation of housing prices;secondly,in the long term,the enforcement of land bid,auction and listing system strengthens the interaction between housing market and land market;the increase in housing prices leads to the increase in land prices,but the increase in land prices cannot provide an explanation of the increase in housing prices.


Periodic first-principles density functional (DFT) calculations have been performed to give an understanding of the active site and mechanism for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO by NH3 over V2O5 in the
 presence of gaseous oxygen. Two synergetic functional groups, i.e. dual vanadium sites, have been found on the V2O5(010) surface: the hydroxy group (V–OH) containing vanadyl oxygen for the formation of NH4+ species, and the VO group for the activation of the NH4+
 formed. The results have revealed that NH3 is adsorbed preferentially on the Bronsted acid, and the NO hardly combines with the surface lattice oxygens to form NO2, but rather gaseous NO interacts with the pre-adsorbed NH4+ species to release N2 and H2O. This study suggests that the catalytic process of the SCR reaction follows an Eley–Rideal type mechanism.


Valve assembly self-expanding substitution (411) that it is configured for implantation within a venous lumen, including the valve assembly a self-expanding stent (425) and a plurality of flexible elements (731), each flexible element (731) shaped to cooperate with at least another flexible to let unidirectionally vascular fluid through the valve assembly (411) and to prevent retrograde flow of the vascular fluid through the valve assembly (411) element, wherein the stent ( 425) includes a bulbous zone (L1).


Background Quality of care incentives and reimbursements for cardiovascular testing differ between insurance providers. We hypothesized that there are differences in the use of guideline‐concordant testing between Medicaid versus commercial insurance patients <65 years, and between Medicare Advantage versus Medicare fee‐for‐service patients ≥65 years. Methods and Results Using data from the Colorado All‐Payer Claims Database from 2015 to 2018, we identified patients eligible to receive a high‐value test recommended by guidelines: assessment of left ventricular function among patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction or incident heart failure, or a low‐value test that provides minimal patient benefit: stress testing prior to low‐risk surgery or routine stress testing within 2 years of percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Among 145 616 eligible patients, 37% had fee‐for‐service Medicare, 18% Medicare Advantage, 22% Medicaid, and 23% commercial insurance. Using multilevel logistic regression models adjusted for patient characteristics, Medicaid patients were less likely to receive high‐value testing for acute myocardial infarction (odds ratio [OR], 0.84 [0.73–0.98]; P=0.03) and heart failure (OR, 0.59 [0.51–0.70]; P<0.01) compared with commercially insured patients. Medicare Advantage patients were more likely to receive high‐value testing for acute myocardial infarction (OR, 1.35 [1.15–1.59]; P<0.01) and less likely to receive low‐value testing after percutaneous coronary intervention/ coronary artery bypass graft (OR, 0.63 [0.55–0.72]; P<0.01) compared with Medicare fee‐for‐service patients. Conclusions Guideline‐concordant testing was less likely to occur among patients with Medicaid compared with commercial insurance, and more likely to occur among patients with Medicare Advantage compared with fee‐for‐service Medicare. Insurance plan features may provide valuable targets to improve guideline‐concordant testing.


We introduce an approach to compute stresses in structures in which grain structures are important. The approach is a hybrid of continuum representations and 3D 'grain-continuum' (GC) models; i.e., models in which grain boundaries are represented and tracked. Stresses due to temperature changes in 3D IC vias are used as to demonstrate our approach. We focus on determining how large the GC region needs to be; that is, how much the computations can be simplified.


The synthesis of a wide variety of chiral oxazolidine-2-selones from readily available 2-oxazolines has been accomplished in one step with yields ranging from 82 to 98%. A mechanistic investigation of the formation of these selones has indicated the presence of intermediate anions which have been characterized by 13 C and 77 Se NMR spectroscopy. X-ray crystallographic data suggest the chiral selones exists as dimeric pairs or networks linked by unusual selenium hydrogen bonds. These chiral reagents exhibit extraordinary 77 Se chemical shift sensitivity and are useful for the detection and quantitation of chirality at remotely disposed chiral centers


In order to explore intrapsychological force-dynamic interaction, this study, adopting Talmy's (2000a) force-dynamic framework, examines (i) how force is manifested in verbs of refraining in Hakka, and (ii) the correlation between the semantic content FORCE and the syntactic manifestation. From examinations of these verbs, three general points become clear. First, two major force-dynamic patterns are involved in the intrapsychological domain, an ONSET CAUSATION pattern (force of refraining in the blocking part > force of resistance in the desiring part), and an ONSET DESPITE pattern (force of refraining in the blocking part < force of resistance in the desiring part). Furthermore, in the intrapsychological domain, verbs of refraining can be divided into physical suppression and psychological repression. Finally, the correlation between the semantic component FORCE and its syntactic manifestation is demonstrated by the potential mode, verb-copying constructions and also adverbs of duration, evaluation and judgment, and the resultative complements. In adopting these verbs to study the intrapsychological force-dynamic interaction, this study modifies Talmy's framework and also provides a fine-grained analysis for verbs of refraining in Hakka.


been nearly 16 months since your TV cut to black— with Meadow hustling toward the diner and Tony chomping on Jersey's best onion rings. And then there was silence, and an obligatory roll of credits. And we were left, mouths agape, to sit with existential thoughts on the concept of closure and the ticking seconds of our lives—a mood more typically inspired by Shakespearean drama than cable television. Then again, as New Yorker editor David Remnick once wrote, "The Sopranos defied Aristotelian conventions." So, really, are you over it? It's okay if you're not. But David Chase (WSC '68), creator and executive producer of HBO's eight-year-long, 86episode cultural phenomenon, has moved on. At the ripe age of 63, he just signed his first contract to write, direct, and produce a feature film—fulfilling the life-long dream that started in the same New Jersey town, North Caldwell, that Tony calls home (assuming he's still alive, that is). Chase wrote a few screenplays in the 1980s that were never made, but his current star power helped ink a deal last spring with Paramount CEO Brad Grey, a former Sopranos co-executive producer. While the journey to the big screen may have taken longer than Chase hoped, he'll have unusual control for a f ir s t-t ime writer/ director. "I'm not complaining," he says. "Since I've got some heat off the show, people are more interested in what I have to say." Die-hard Sopranos fans should keep their expectations in check,


A 41-year-old female was diagnosed with ocular malignant melanoma in May 2020. In August 2021, she presented with hepatic metastases affecting both lobes with lesions measuring up to 12 mm in diameter. Transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) with fotemustine was started in September 2021. Twelve days after the first course, the patient presented with vague abdominal pain and elevated liver enzymes. Computed tomography scan revealed subacute cholecystitis with perforation and suspicion of pericholecystic abscess. An emergency cholecystectomy was performed. Subsequent second and third TACE courses were uneventful. Eight days after the completion of the fourth course, the patient was readmitted with nausea, vomiting, and epigastric pain. An upper endoscopy revealed a large ulcerated lesion, extending from the corpus to the duodenal bulb (Figure 1). The clinical differential diagnosis included a primary gastric cancer versus metastatic melanoma. Multiple biopsies were obtained. The patient is currently well with conservative treatment.


Two target genes,a dominant genic male sterility gene(Ms)and a restoring gene(Rf),were transferred respectively to the double-low-content rapeseed cultivar "Huyou 15" by crossing and backcrossing,and then the two lines were crossed so as to blend Ms gene with Rf gene.By means of selfing,sib mating and test cross,the selfed progeny with the genotype of 1 MsMsrfrf∶2 MsMsRfrf∶1 MsMsRfRf was obtained,whose fertility segregation ratio was 3∶1.At last by sib cross combination a homozygous two-type sterile line "HY15AB" including MsMsRfrf and MsMsrfrf two genotypes was obtained,and its sib cross always showed a fertility segregation ratio of 1∶1.


An electronic-component transportation device in which there is minimal adhesion of an electronic component to a housing member due to static electricity. This invention is provided with: a housing member (11) having cavities (11b) for housing electronic components; an electronic component feed mechanism (12) for feeding the electronic components so that contact is made with the housing member (11); and a movement means (13) for moving the housing member (11) in a predetermined movement direction (M) relative to the electronic components. Recess parts (11c) for reducing the area of contact with the electronic components are provided in regions, of the main surface (11a) of the housing member (11) on the side at which the electronic components are fed, in which the cavities (11b) are not formed.


An uncommon lesion was diagnosed in a 1-year-old female toco toucan (Ramphastos toco albogularis) based on microscopic examinations. Necropsy, histopathology and molecular diagnosis were carried out. At necropsy, possible granulomatous myocarditis was diagnosed in the bird and was confirmed as shown by histopathology. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) revealed an unspecific trematode species as the causative agent. Research on parasitic granulomatous myocarditis in toco toucan has been rarely reported. Therefore, it should be considered during differential diagnosis of avian granuloma cases.


It is well known that Japanese-speaking learners of English sometimes erroneously alternate between transitive and intransitive verbs. For example, such sentence as "A traffic accident was happened", which Japanese L2 learners of English typically write, is ungrammatical. Here, an intransitive verb happen is used as a transitive verb erroneously. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what kind of verb triggers intransitive/ transitive alternation error and to analyze the cause of the error in the framework of generative grammar. On the basis of the previous studies on the alternation error, we built up two contrastive hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that L2 learners of English use the passive voice in sentences whose subject is a "patient", and they use intransitive verbs in sentences whose subject is an "agent". The second hypothesis is that Japanese-speaking learners assume that unaccusatives are transitives, which is originally proposed by Chiba (1999). We elicit the Japanese native speakers' meta-linguistic analysis of the usage of verbs, argue that once Japanese-speaking learners acquire the verb usage, they tend to follow it regardless of the subjects, thereby supporting the second hypothesis.


In this work,glycerin,zinc oxide were used as raw material,a high pressure synthesis method was adopted to obtain zinc glycerin;stearic acid and magnesium hydroxide were used as raw materials and one-step method was adopted to get magnesium stearate.Infrared Spectroscopy was used to characterize the structure of magnesium stearate.Zinc glycerin and magnesium stearate were used as heat stabilizers for polyvinyl chloride(PVC).The conductivity technology and the aging method were adopted to examine the thermal stability of the respective performance.It was found that the optimal thermal stability was achieved with the mass ratio of Zinc Glycerolate and Magnesium Stearate to be 1∶ 1.


The invention discloses a quality-monitoring and fault-diagnosing method for cold-punching mold. The method comprises the following steps: placing two acoustic emission sensors on an upper template and a lower template of the cold-punching mold respectively; inputting vibration signals of the mold into a preamplifier connected with the acoustic emission sensors through the acoustic emission sensors; inputting the vibration signals into a data acquisition card connected with the preamplifier to perform A/D conversion; and inputting the converted vibration signals into a computer connected with the acquisition card to perform analysis and diagnosis. By adopting a fuzzy diagnosis method based on a fuzzy possibility theory, the method has the advantages of remarkably shortening fault diagnosis time and improving fault diagnosis efficiency.


This study was conducted to determine the soil fertility status of the Agricultural Research Station, Tandur of To identify the soil sampling points, GPS device was used and collected total of 60 soil samples on grid-based method at a depth of 0–15 cm. The collected samples were analyzed for pH, EC, OC, N, P 2 O 5 , K 2 O, Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn status by following standard methods in the laboratory of Regional Agricultural Research Station, Palem, PJTSAU, Nagarkurnool District of Telangana, and Arc-GIS software was used further to prepare soil fertility maps. Around 37.5% of samples fall in neutral pH, whereas 62.5% samples were found as moderately alkaline reactions and entire farm soils were non-saline. Among the analyzed soil samples, 37.29% samples were in low organic carbon content, and rest of the samples i.e., 62.71% have medium organic carbon content and total samples were low in available N content (< 280 kg ha -1 ). The analyzed farm samples were medium to high in available phosphorus and potassium (28.67 & 71.33 % of P 2 O 5 and 16.96 & 83.04 % of K 2 O respectively) content. In contrast, the micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe & Mn) exceeded their sufficiency level and suggested for amelioration measures to enhance research efficacy in the farm and to build future research strategies based on the determined soil fertility status.


In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), it is frequently found that more than one syndrome of a patient are recognized in clinical practice, which has its own symptoms and signs. While, most algorithms are used to solve issues of syndrome diagnosis that only focus on one syndrome. Therefore, we proposed a hybrid intelligent syndrome diagnosis (HISD) model. Methods. The HTSD model combined feature selection methods to select the significant symptoms and signs corresponding to syndromes of CHB, and combined probability-classification methods to obtain the main syndrome and accompanying syndromes. The model was carried on 664 records of CHB. Results. 16 features were selected for the syndrome of Damp Heat in the Liver and Gallbladder (DHLG), 20 features were selected for the syndrome of Liver qi Stagnation and Spleen Deficiency (LSSD) and 13 features were selected for the syndrome of Yin Deficiency of Liver and Kidney (YDLK). The lowest average accuracy was 80.52% using logitboost, whereas the accuracy of HISD was 85% for unrecognized cases of CHB. Conclusion. Our method extracts the relevant symptoms and signs for each syndrome, recognizes the main syndrome and accompanying syndromes, and improves its recognition accuracy.


Casualties in Malaysian road networks in 2012 for traffic accident include over 6000 fatalities in a year according to the survey obtained by Royal Malaysian Police. In addition, traffic accident has become a major social-economic problem in Malaysia and it is considered as main cause of death. The main question for road safety authorities is often how to determine accurately the location and sections of the risky roadway locations. Traditionally, the simple risk measures such as observed accident counts, rates, costs and other similar methods were used but unfortunately these measures have several shortcomings. Alternatively, stastical modeling approach relate to traffic safety are used for identification of hazardous locations. A generalized linear modeling technique such as Poisson regression model and Negative Binomial model was found to be insignificant in explaining and handle over dispersion which due to high amount of zeros thus Zero Inflated model was introduced to overcome the problem. Study area of the research work will be selected at Johor federal road as the number of fatal accidents in Johor is alarming and recorded among the highest accident happen in Malaysia. This research is interested in using R stastical programming to specify the regression relationship. The methods are relatively new method in hazardous sites or sections analysis and can produce a probabilities identifying of the hazardous locations.


438 Background: Nonadherence to prescribed medications occurs frequently in patient with breast cancer (BC) and can affect BC outcomes as well as outcomes for comorbid conditions. We implemented a process to screen for medication adherence in the electronic health record (EHR) in an urban outpatient BC clinic. Methods: Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) methodology was used to implement a screening process for medication adherence for all patients seen in the outpatient breast oncology clinic. At check-in (via the patient portal or clinic based kiosks), patients were asked to complete an EHR adherence screener. Two PDSA cycles were completed. During cycle one (2/16/22-5/17/22), patients were asked if they received ≥1 prescribed medication; if yes they were asked to complete the questionnaire (y/n); if yes a 3-item questionnaire was used to screen for adherence to all medications over the prior 7 days. Adherence was defined as 3 of 3 responses "none of the time" to "I have missed my medicine;" "I have skipped a dose of my medicine;" and "I did not take a dose of my medicine." During cycle two (5/17/22-6/5/22) the screener was simplified. Patients were no longer asked to complete the survey; and the survey was modified to 1-item "I did not take a dose of my medicine", adherence was defined as response of "none of the time". We evaluated response rate and self-reported non-adherence rate. Results: During PDSA cycle 1 (2/16/22-5/17/22), 2840 visits occurred and 722 (25%) responses were received; 80% noted prescription of ≥1 medication, 38% agreed to complete the survey; and 87% reported adherence to all prescribed medications while 13% reported non-adherence. During PDSA cycle 2 (5/17/22-6/5/22), 512 visits occurred and 172 (33%) responses were received. Of those, 73% reported prescription of ≥1 medication; of those 66%-reported adherence to all prescribed medications, 21% reported non-adherence, and 17% preferred not to answer. Conclusions: This EHR screener is a simple and scalable tool to rapidly screen for medication adherence. Up to a quarter of patients who completed screening reported non-adherence. Further tools are needed to assess adherence among patients who lack access to the patient portal or clinic kiosk, or are uncomfortable checking in with these mechanisms. Future interventions are necessary to further screen potentially non-adherent patients and for interventions to improve adherence once vulnerable patients are identified.


To meet the increasing clinical needs for 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25OH-D3) detection, developing an efficient and accurate high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method for plasma 25OH-D3 quantitation is important. Since 25OH-D3 is an endogenous compound, the lack of a plasma blank increases the difficulty of accurately quantifying 25OH-D3. Selecting a method suitable for clinical monitoring among various methods for endogenous compound quantification is necessary. Methyl tert butyl ether (MTBE) was chosen for the sample treatment in a liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) protocol. Water as a blank matrix, 5% human serum albumin (HSA) in water as a blank matrix, surrogate analyte and background subtraction were designed to address the problem of a deficiency of a plasma blank. Four liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods were fully validated to verify the advantages and limitations due to regulatory deficiencies for endogenous compound validation. All four methods met the criteria and could be used to monitor of clinical samples. Overall 30 human plasma samples were quantified in parallel using the four methods. The difference between any two methods was less than 12.6% and the total relative standard deviation (RSD) was less than 5.2%. Background subtraction and 5% HSA in water as a blank matrix may be better choices considering data quality, matrix similarity, cost and practicality.


Collagen protein was produced through papain enzymatic hydrolysis using squid skin as material. The influence of enzymatic hydrolysis conditions such as squid skin concentration, enzyme concentration, hydrolysis time, pH value, and temperature on the extraction yield of collagen protein were studied systematically. The results showed that the optimal conditions were: enzyme concentration 1%, the ratio of solid to solution 1:10, time 8h, temperature 40℃. Under these conditions, the best value extraction yield is 11.01%.


Future global crisis and conflicts in littorals will require aerial platforms, including helicopters, with enhanced anti-submarine capabilities in order to counter the increased submarine threat. The design and manufacture of new aircraft with enhanced capabilities is highly expensive and time consuming. A mid-life upgrade of existing platforms with new on-board systems is generally the preferred option for enhancing mission capability. The pre-upgrade design analysis process is intricate and iterative. An intelligent, knowledgebased software tool that ensures speed and accuracy needs to be developed. This paper describes "Intelligent Decision Support System" a Software tool in development, to simulate the preupgrade design analysis process.


Recent advances in the fields of robotics and automation have spurred significant interest in robust state estimation. To enable robust state estimation, several methodologies have been proposed. One such technique, which has shown promising performance, is the concept of iteratively estimating a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), based upon the state estimation residuals, to characterize the measurement uncertainty model. Through this iterative process, the measurement uncertainty model is more accurately characterized, which enables robust state estimation through the appropriate de-weighting of erroneous observations. This approach, however, has traditionally required a batch estimation framework to enable the estimation of the measurement uncertainty model, which is not advantageous to robotic applications. In this letter, we propose an efficient, incremental extension to the measurement uncertainty model estimation paradigm. The incremental covariance estimation (ICE) approach, as detailed within this paper, is evaluated on several collected data sets, where it is shown to provide a significant increase in localization accuracy when compared to other state-of-the-art robust, incremental estimation algorithms.


The invention relates to a metal antirust compound containing oil-soluble polyaniline and application thereof. The invention is characterized in that the antirust compound comprises, expressed in mass percentages, 5 to 30% of oil-soluble polyaniline, 10 to 40% of dodecenylsuccinic acid and 40 to 80% of barium petroleum sulfonate. When the antirust compound provided by the invention is added into a lubricant base oil or/and mineral spirit, the antirust compound has good dissolvability and realizes phase-free separation, a solution system is uniform and stable, a lubricant anti-rust oil, or a solvent dilution type anti-rust oil not containing a film forming agent or a hard-film anti-rust oil can be prepared, and the formed anti-rust oils have the advantages of a small total addition amount, low viscosity and a good antirust effect, in particular, protruding salt mist prevention performance; when the total addition amount of the antirust compound is within 9%, antirust periods of the prepared lubricant anti-rust oil, the solvent dilution type anti-rust oil not containing a film forming agent and the hard-film anti-rust oil under a salt mist condition are greater than 6 d, greater than 11 d and greater than 31 d, respectively, and antirust periods the above-mentioned anti-rust oils under damp and hot conditions are all greater than 60 d.


The invention provides a method for carrying out USB (Universal Serial Bus) mapping on ergonomics equipment on the basis of a remote desktop protocol. The method comprises a remote computer and a local computer and comprises the following steps: connecting the ergonomics equipment into the local computer to carry out communication with a USB mapping client side module, and creating virtual ergonomics equipment on the local computer; using a USB mapping technology to intercept the operation track of the ergonomics equipment to capture the track information of the ergonomics equipment, and transmitting the track information to the virtual ergonomics equipment to simulate and execute the operation track; and utilizing a remote desktop protocol technology to transmit the track information, then, transmitting the practical operation track to the remote computer, and using the ergonomics equipment inserted on the local computer on the remote computer. The remote computer uses the ergonomics equipment inserted on the local computer.


In the present study, bast kenaf natural fibres were alkali-treated to determine the effect of treatment on the physical properties of natural fibre-reinforced biocomposites. Both unsaturated polyesters and bio-polyester resins were used as matrices. Other resin systems were studied as well, including a resin made with low VOC, fatty acid-derived reactive diluents. After all the biocomposites had been fabricated via compression moulding, it was observed that the incorporation of alkali-treated fibres in the biocomposites decreased the flexural and thermo-mechanical properties of the biocomposites. It was also observed that mercerizing the kenaf aided in reducing the moisture absorption by 30% and increasing the compressive strength by ∼30% compared to that of the untreated biocomposites. The property changes were believed to be the result of crystallinity changes in the kenaf as a result of the treatment.


The relevancy of height, weight, and age of football players to the scores of a football match— exemplified by the FIFA Futsal 2004 world cup championship Abstract: The research is to study the football players' height, weight, and age in relation to the scores of a football match. The purpose of the research is to: (A.) analyze the difference of height, weight, and age from sixteen countries; (B.) analyze the difference of height, weight, and age among the teams of the eight countries and Chinese Taipei; (C.) analyze the difference of height, weight, and age among the teams of the four countries and Chinese Taipei; and (D.) analyze the prediction of the ranks according to the height, weight, and age of the four countries. The research is handled through: 1. The result o the analysis of the height, weight, and age of the sixteen countries shows: It doesn't reach the prominent level in matters of the difference in height, weight, and age. In short, the teams that show prominent difference exist in Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Australia and Paraguay. 2. The result of the analysis of height, weight, and age of the eight countries and Chinese Taipei shows: In height, there is not much difference among Chinese Taipei and eight countries. Therefore, the difference is not prominent. 3. The result of the analysis of height, weight, and age of the eight countries and Chinese Taipei shows: The prominent level is reached in terms of height, weight, and age among the four countries and Chinese Taipei. However, only the team of Chinese Taipei shows great difference from the top four countries. As a result, it shows all the more the importance of body type selection. 4. The effect of the analysis towards the prediction of ranks according to the height, weight, and age of the four countries shows that there id prominent relevancy in height. Nevertheless, it doesn't show as much importance as in weight and age. Key Wards: Futsal, football, height, weight, age.


Purpose: Patients with hormone-sensitive breast cancer who have responded to tamoxifen (TAM) may receive additional benefit from a second endocrine agent after progression or relapse after TAM therapy. Fulvestrant (FVT; Faslodex; i.m. injection, ICI 182,780; AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Wilmington, DE) was developed as a selective antagonist of estrogen. In postmenopausal women, FVT is reported to inhibit the proliferative effects of estrogen on sensitive tissues and has no apparent measurable estrogenic activity. In this report, we describe the data and analyses supporting marketing approval for FVT by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Experimental Design: The FDA review of 16 clinical trials and 6 pharmacokinetic trials, as well as preclinical pharmacology and chemistry data, are described. The bases for marketing approval are summarized. Results: Toxicology studies in the mouse, rat, and dog showed minimal toxicity except for antiestrogenic effects. Because of FVT aqueous insolubility, an i.m. formulation, given at monthly intervals, was selected for clinical studies. Pharmacokinetic studies demonstrated sustained concentrations with monthly injection. In in vitro studies FVT was extensively metabolized, primarily by hepatic cytochrome P450 3A4. Phase I studies showed minimal toxicity, and the maximal dose (250 mg) was limited by FVT solubility. In two Phase III trials, 851 patients were randomized to either 250 mg FVT i.m. monthly or to anastrozole (ANZ) 1 mg p.o. daily. Ninety-six percent of patients had received TAM previously for early (adjuvant treatment) or advanced breast cancer. Response rates (RR) were 17% for both FVT and ANZ study arms in the North American trial, and were 20% versus 15% for FVT versus ANZ, respectively, in the European trial. There were no observed differences between study arms with respect to time to progression or survival. The most common FVT adverse events reported as potentially treatment-related were injection site reactions and hot flashes. Conclusions: FVT was approved on April 25, 2002 by the FDA for the treatment of hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women with disease progression after antiestrogen therapy. The recommended dose is 250 mg i.m. monthly as a single 5 ml injection or as two concurrent 2.5 ml injections into the buttocks. Approval was based on results of two randomized trials comparing response rates and time to progression of FVTand ANZ-treated patients. Complete prescribing information is available on the FDA website. Introduction Since the discovery by Beatson (1) in the 19 century that ovarectomy could cause a reduction in breast tumor size, hormonal manipulation has become a cornerstone in the treatment of hormone-sensitive breast cancer (2). TAM (Nolvadex; Astra Zeneca), a nonsteroidal antiestrogen first synthesized in 1963, originally failed as a fertility agent but was subsequently noted to have activity against breast cancer (3). In 1977, TAM was granted United States marketing approval for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer based on tumor responses. TAM has been shown subsequently to reduce the incidence of relapse as well as the occurrence of contralateral breast cancer in patients after surgery for localized disease (4). The reduction in contralateral new tumors led to a study that demonstrated that TAM reduced the risk of invasive breast cancer in women with ductal carcinoma in situ and for the reduction in breast cancer incidence in high-risk women (5). After demonstration of safety and efficacy, TAM was granted marketing approval by the United States FDA for these supplemental indications. When disease progresses after an initial response to hormonal therapy or recurs after adjuvant therapy, subsequent endocrine therapy may provide benefit. Several classes of hormonal agents have demonstrated efficacy in this setting. Progestins were initially used but have side effects of weight gain, edema, and heart failure (6). AIs reduce estrogen production in postmenopausal women by inhibiting the aromatase enzyme, which converts androgens to estrogens. AG was the first AI evaluated for the treatment of breast cancer. A nonselective inhibitor of steroid synthesis, AG was shown to have activity in relapsed metastatic breast cancer but required concomitant corticosteroid administration (7). More selective AIs were developed to inhibit the conversion of androstenedione to estrone Received 3/3/03; revised 5/20/03; accepted 5/21/03. 1 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Food and Drug Administration, HFD 150, 1451 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. E-mail: email@example.com. 2 The abbreviations used are: TAM, tamoxifen; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; AI, aromatase inhibitor; AG, aminoglutethamide; LZ, letrozole; AZ, anastrozole; FVT, fulvestrant; ER, estrogen receptor; TTP, time to progression; MA, megesterol acetate; RR, response rate; PgR, progesterone receptor; CI, confidence interval; PS, performance status. 4309 Vol. 9, 4309–4317, October 1, 2003 Clinical Cancer Research


The invention discloses an online softening annealing method applicable to 1Cr17Ni2 stainless steel cold-drawn wires. According to the method, a mode of adding protective gas into a tubular furnace is utilized for conducting online softening annealing on the 1Cr17Ni2 cold-drawn wires, and temperature in the tubular furnace is lower than phase transformation point temperature AC1 of steel wires. That is to say, the steel wires subjected to drawing and unwinding through an unwinding device are sequentially subjected to two-stage cleaning, drying, online softening annealing, staged cooling and winding. When the method is utilized for conducting softening annealing on the 1Cr17Ni2 cold-drawn wires in time, cold-machining stress can be eliminated, hardness can be reduced, and a good foundation can be laid for subsequent cold deformation. The method is an improvement on a traditional softening annealing heat treatment technology, when the method is used for producing the 1Cr17Ni2 cold-drawn wires, the advantages that the annealing hardness is low, the surface quality is good, the technology is simple, acid cleaning is not needed, and pollution is reduced are achieved, and the actual production requirement of 1Cr17Ni2 martensitic stainless steel cold-drawn wires is met.


 Understand the importance of correct logistics and transport management for international trade.  Analyze these 4 modes of transport and their characteristics as well as the transport documents required for each mode of transport and how to complete them.  Understand the functioning of marine transport, documents required for sea freight and how to complete them.  Familiarizing the student with different types of packaging, packaging materials, the use of pallets and containers, packing marks, modes of transport and packaging, and the criteria to be used when selecting an appropriate packaging for particular shipments.


In this article, a linearly polarized 4‐element linear array in Ku band is presented. The single element consists of a circular microstrip patch capacitively coupled to a printed slot‐end WR‐51 waveguide. A corporate waveguide feeding network at H‐plane is designed, which is composed of bends, T and Y‐junctions. An optimization process with septums and irises is performed to get the best possible matching coefficient. An antenna prototype has been manufactured and measured. A maximum gain of 12.6 dBi, up to 91.6% radiation efficiency and 13% bandwidth (16 to 18.3 GHz) has been experimentally achieved.


The pelvic floor in females is required for various functions which include parturition, urination and urinary continence, defecation and faecal continence, pleasure and sexuality. Pelvic floor functions are controlled by the central nervous system and could be impaired due to anatomical injury or neurological dysfunction. Pelvic floor dysfunction is also referred to as pelvic floor disorders or pelvic floor weakness. Pelvic floor dysfunction is manifested as urinary incontinence (UI), faecal incontinence (FI), and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). The prevalence of PFD is estimated to be in the range of 12 to 42% and increases with age. PFDs are usually associated with a high number of pregnancies and heavy lifting. The tendency to develop PFDs increases with age due to the weakening of pelvic floor muscles mostly after the age of 55 years. With the advancement of age, the probability of pelvic floor dysfunction, particularly urinary or faecal incontinence increases. Among various risk factors of pelvic floor dysfunction, pregnancy and childbirth are considered to have a major ABSTRACT


Smashed Tetra Pak was extrusion molded by plastic wood extrusion technology and its plate was used to make pallet.ANSYS software was used to analyzed mechanical properties of specified pallet under the static load-bearing and lifted by Forklift.The data was from Linpai report such as elastic modulus,and bending strength.The results showed that the plate don't crack under 1.1t load.It was concluded that the plate can meet the requirement of practical application.


The emergent trend of depicting sitting politicians and heads of state in mainstream British drama and film is considered through a reading of David Hare's play, Stuff Happens (2006), and Stephen Frear's film, The Queen (2006). These are seen as contemporary dramatisation(s) of the erosion of the gap between the public and private lives of the protagonists: private lives can now be the subject of plays or films only when and because public personas have been diminished. No longer held in high regard, the 'proximity' of public figures enables the dramatisation of private scenes which would have previously been unthinkable.


We study random linear network coding for time-division duplexing channels for sharing information between nodes. We assume a packet erasure channel with nodes that cannot transmit and receive information simultaneously. Each node will act as both a sender of its own information and a receiver for the information of the other nodes. When a node acts as the sender, it transmits coded data packets back-to-back before stopping to wait for the receivers to acknowledge the number of degrees of freedom, if any, that are required to decode correctly the information. This acknowledgment comes in the header of the coded packets that are sent by the other nodes. We study the mean time to complete the sharing process between the nodes. We provide a simple algorithm to compute the number of coded packets to be sent back-to-back depending on the state of the system. We present numerical results for the case of two nodes sharing data and show that the mean completion time of our scheme is close to the performance of a full duplex network coding scheme and can outperform full duplex schemes with no coding.