Each state chooses a certain type of monetary policy, which varies depending on external conditions, the state of the national economy, the level of technical and technological development of public production, employment, income level and other factors. Restrictive monetary policy is primarily aimed at suppressing inflation and reducing the money supply; it is carried out by restricting the possibilities of lending to legal and natural persons by commercial banks; it leads to a decrease in investments, a decrease in production, an increase in unemployment, and a decrease in savings of the population. As a result, the decrease in consumer demand slows down economic development. Expansionist monetary policy, on the contrary, is aimed at expanding the scale of lending to legal entities and individuals by lowering interest rates, reducing mandatory reserve norms, and easing control over the growth rate of the money supply in circulation. Its implementation leads to an increase in the amount of loans and investments allocated to the development of production, which creates conditions for the increase in the volume of production, jobs, incomes and savings of the population. As a result, the increase in consumer demand stimulates the growth of production.
The article is devoted to monetary policy and reactions of world central banks during the pandemic. The study analyzed the Japanese government's monetary policy during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bank of England's response to Covid-19, and the Federal Reserve's policy response to the pandemic. Since the emergence of COVID-19, central banks around the world have taken emergency measures in coordination with fiscal authorities to mitigate negative effects on the economy and promote recovery. While monetary authorities have largely followed the scenario of the global financial crisis, the scope, scale and speed of the policy response to the pandemic has been unprecedented. Many central banks are turning to increasingly unorthodox approaches to monetary policy, particularly large-scale asset purchases, to boost economic growth. The central banks of Japan, Great Britain, the United States and the Eurozone have bought about $10.2 trillion worth of securities from their already large balance sheets since the outbreak, bringing their combined holdings to $25.9 trillion. The Fed has been buying $120 billion worth of securities each month, accumulating a total of $2.6 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and $5.5 trillion in US Treasuries. In addition to the current Asset Purchase Program (APP), the European Central Bank (ECB) has developed a €1.85 trillion Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program, which includes purchases of private and public sector securities.
The recovery of the Japanese economy remains fragile due to low rates of vaccination of the population and restrictions on the pandemic. The shortage of electronic components in the world can negatively affect the production of cars and their foreign deliveries. At the same time, a worrying factor is the emergence of signs of a slowdown in the Chinese economy. On April 7, 2020, the Japanese government adopted a 117.1 trillion-yen (20.9% of 2019 GDP) emergency economic relief package against COVID-19 and included the remainder of previously announced packages. Key measures included issuing cash to everyone and affected firms, tax and social security deferrals, and soft loans from public and private financial institutions. The Government of Japan announced the Second Draft Supplementary Budget for Fiscal Year 2020 on May 27, 2020.
The government has increased the amount of soft loans (interest-free and unsecured) primarily for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises affected by COVID-19. As a precautionary measure, the Parliament also approved an increase in the limit of government guarantees on capital injections in regional banks from 12 trillion yen to 15 trillion yen. On September 22, 2021, the Bank of Japan announced that it was keeping its monetary policy unchanged, but at the same time reported that the bank was carefully assessing the prospects for production and exports. The Bank of Japan maintained its assessment of the economic situation, saying that "the growth trend is strengthening, although the economy remains difficult". The bank is expected to keep the interest rate on short term deposits at minus 0.1% and on bonds maturing in 10 years at around 0%. Analysts note that this assessment was given on the eve of a change in the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Inflation is a limited phenomenon that manifests itself in a limited way in the markets for real goods and services. It can be provoked, among other things, by credit and deposit operations of commercial banks. Measures to combat inflation should be developed, as well as measures to measure it. US government debts are so large, so clearly unpaid, that the question of applying the institution of bankruptcy to individual municipalities has repeatedly arisen. Inflation-induced rise in interest rates will inevitably lead to an increase in the burden of servicing public debt. With a monetary policy aimed at targeting inflation in the region of 2%, the cost of attracting bond loans already at 7% will become the marginal value, after which a default is inevitable. The pandemic, and now its fourth wave is already underway, has objectively strengthened the trend of fencing off not only neighbors (Mexico and Canada), but also from the rest of the world.
Keywords: monetary policy, world economy, budget, money supply, national market


The high-strength leachate was treated by the advanced outside circulation UASB(upflow anaerobic sludge blanket),and the factors influencing the anaerobic digest were discussed.The experimental result showed that when COD of the influent was 17 157-33 599 mg/L,the removal rate was able to reach 85.0%-91.8%,and the COD removal had a negative relativity with volumetric loading rate;the average COD of the effluent was 2596 mg/L,but had a poor biodegradability,with an average BOD5/COD ratio of 0.1.Under the conditions of high loading rate,the reactor had a high gas producing rate,namely 0.599 m3/kgCOD,and it had a positive relativity with volumetric loading.


The paper presents a detailed analysis of a new type 12-pulse autotransformer rectifier on its working principles,input current and output voltage characteristics as well as phase-shifted transformer.Compared with the conventional 12-pulse rectifier,it has a good input and output characteristics and reduced weight,size therefore cost.Experimental results on a 9 kW prototype verify the analysis.


Postbuckling analysis is presented for shear deformable cross-ply laminated composite rectangular plates subjected to the combination of in-plane edge compressive mechanical loading and thermal loads due to a linearly varying temperature across the thickness. The formulation is based on the first-order shear deformation theory and von-Karman-type nonlinearity. The analysis uses a quadratic extrapolation technique for linearization and Chebyshev polynomials for spatial discretization. An incremental iterative approach is employed to estimate the critical load. The boundary conditions consisting of clamped, simply supported, free edge, and their combinations are considered. The effects of the thinness ratio, aspect ratio, lamination scheme, the number of layers, and the modulus ratio on the critical load/limit load and postbuckling behavior are studied.


This paper describes both method and first results of an indoor / outdoor 3D reconstruction application. Images are supposed to come from man-made environments. The method is based on a new cooperative segmentation designed from a rough model of such scenes. This modelisation consists of classically representing scenes by a universe composed of polyhedra, that we call general model. This allows to deduce an operating model, constituted by all the typical 3D tokens of a polyhedron: edges, vertices, plane faces. Their projections are 2D primitives as edge segments, junctions of segments, regions. Then a graph groups these features together . The segmentation principle is based on a loop of two detectors of dual image properties (homogeneity and disparity): each of them is controlled by the results of the other.


Interest in video summarization is increased recently. People are fascinated by watching sports videos, but as videos are lengthy to watch and exciting events only occupy a small segment of the video, it is needed to represent such a long video in its precise and summarized view. Shot segmentation and replay detection are important tools in video analysis and can help automate many tasks related to video processing and content creation. It is noticed that exciting events in sports videos are usually replayed. We proposed an approach to detect cricket video shot boundaries and extract replay segments from the cricket video sequence. The proposed technique is simple and computationally effective. The results show the effectiveness and usefulness of an approach.


As discussed in the previous chapter, the physical criterium of regularity of the unitary representations of the Heisenberg group corresponds to the interpretation of the generators q; p as (unbounded) observable variables, so that they must be described by self-adjoint operators. This implies that the states of the system can be described in terms of L wave functions on the spectrum of the position q (or, equivalently, of the momentum p). This amounts to assume that the states of the system have good localization properties. The aim of this section is to provide evidence that this innocent looking assumption cannot be adopted for the quantum description of some interesting physical systems. The physical reason for the lack of regularity is that some generators of the Heisenberg group may not correspond to observables and therefore they need not be described by self-adjoint operators. A typical example is when the configurations of the quantum systems cannot have L localization. For example, for a quantum particle (typically an electron) in a periodic potential (Bloch electron), by Bloch theorem the energy eigenstates, in particular the ground state, are described by quasi periodic wave function, which cannot belong to L. This means that in the representations defined by the Bloch states the "position" variable q does not exist as a (densely defined) self-adjoint operator and therefore the corresponding representation of the Heisenberg group is not regular. Another class of examples arises if one ask for a quantization of a system with a ground state characterized by the property of being the eigenstate of a canonical observable with continuous spectrum. Then, the unitary one-parameter group generated by the conjugated canonical variable cannot be weakly continuous


Introduction In the year 2000, the periodical Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association put out a special issue titled Music Librarianship at the Turn of the Century. (2) A. Ralph Papakhian's contribution to that issue, an article simply called "Cataloging," begins with an enumeration of the major developments of music cataloguing in the recent past, going on to consider each of these in more detail. (3) Papakhian begins by saying that the developments he will discuss are the results of the application of computer and networking technologies and of organisational efforts toward cooperative cataloguing in that technological environment. (4) Today, a bit more than a decade after Papakhian's article, the major looming changes in the field--the new cataloguing code RDA; a new system of genre/form and medium terms, to be used as "subjects"; and a not-yet-determined replacement for the encoding system MARC--are the results of a pervasive concern that cataloguing should be focused on the needs of the user. To be sure, we music librarians look constantly toward future technologies, if they show promise of serving us and our patrons better than the technologies of today. Technologies are so varied and so capable, compared to those available even as recently as the year 2000, however, that we are less concerned with what technology can do than we are with deciding which technology can do the best job in a given context. In addition, we examine the data we provide (in catalogue records, for instance) to discover how we might improve what we do, to allow technology to make the best possible use of our work and to enable ourselves to "work smarter," always with a view to giving users the best experience we can offer. Basing catalogue codes on explicitly stated user needs is nothing new, as Jenn Riley, echoing William Denton, points out in a recent article. (5) The full development of a conceptual model based on these needs is the new element. The needs or "User Tasks" were systematically defined in Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records or, as this report has come to be known, FRBR. (6) They were refined in the later publication Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD), (7) and the results of the two studies were incorporated into the new cataloguing code Resource Description and Access or RDA. (8) Development of Catalog Codes The Path to RDA How did the cataloguing community get to the current crossroads, with RDA poised for widespread adoption? In a paper presented at the International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of AACR2 (Toronto Conference) in 1997, Michael Gorman and Pat Oddy sketched the development of cataloguing codes from the nineteenth century until the age of AACR2. They traced the development of English-language cataloguing codes through three "ages": The nineteenth-century age of single-person codes; the twentieth-century age of the "committee code"; and the age of AACR2, the code first published in 1978. The authors pointed out that AACR2 was in fact a radical change from AACR1 and would perhaps more suitably have had a new name, rather than being called the second edition of its predecessor code. (9) Whereas Gorman and Oddy maintained that AACR2 needs only to be tweaked, not modified extensively, Tom Delsey, speaking at the same conference, pointed out logical inconsistencies in the code and features of the environment in which the code must function today that are sufficiently different from the situation in 1978, that the same set of rules cannot be expected to continue to meet needs. (10) He called for a logical analysis of AACR2 to clarify "the assumptions, principles, structures, and conventions that underlie the cataloguing code itself." (11) The results of this analysis were reported in a two-part document, which was complete by 1998. (12) The analytical technique used was derived from systems-development methods, particularly the entity-relationship model popularized in the academic community by Peter Chen and reported in his 1976 work with reference to datasets relevant to business functions. …


Biometrics is a rapidly developing technology, which has been broadly applied in forensics such as criminal identification, secured access, and prison security. The biometric technology is basically a pattern recognition system that acknowledges a person by finding out the legitimacy of a specific behavioral or physiological characteristic owned by that person. In this era, face is one of the commonly acceptable biometrics system which is used by humans in their visual interaction and authentication purpose. The challenges in the face recognition system arise from different issues concerned with cosmetic applied faces and of low quality images. In this thesis, we propose two novel techniques for extraction of facial features and recognition of faces when thick cosmetic is applied and of low quality images. In the face recognition technology, the facial marks identification method is one of the unique facial identification tasks using soft biometrics. Also facial marks information can enhance the face matching score to improve the face recognition performance. When faces are applied by thick cosmetics, some of the facial marks are invisible or hidden from their faces. In the literature, to detect the facial marks AAM (Active Appearance Model) and LoG (Laplacian of Gaussian) techniques are used. However, to the best of our knowledge, the methods related to the detection of facial marks are poor in performance especially when thick cosmetic is applied to the faces. A robust method is proposed to detect the facial marks such as tattoos, scars, freckles and moles etc. Initially the active appearance model (AAM) is applied for facial feature detection purpose. In addition to this prior model the Canny edge detector method is also applied to detect the facial mark edges. Finally SURF is used to detect the hidden facial marks which are covered by cosmetic items. It has been shown that the choice of this method gives high accuracy in facial marks detection of the cosmetic applied faces. Besides, another aspect of the face recognition based on low quality images is also studied. Face recognition indeed plays a major rule in the biometrics security environment. To provide secure authentication, a robust methodology for recognizing and authentication of the human face is required. However, there are numbers of difficulties in recognizing the human face and authentication of the person perfectly. The difficulty includes low quality of images due to sparse dark or light disturbances. To overcome such kind of problems, powerful algorithms are required to filter the images and detect the face and facial marks. This technique comprises extensively of detecting the different facial marks from that of low quality images which have salt and pepper noise in them. Initially (AMF) Adaptive Median Filter is applied to filter the images. The filtered images are then extracted to detect the primary facial feature using a powerful algorithm like Active Shape Model (ASM) into Active Appearance Model (AAM). Finally, the features are extracted using feature extractor algorithm Gradient Location Orientation Histogram (GLOH).Experimental results based on the CVL database and CMU PIE database with 1000 images of 1000 subjects and 2000 images of 2000 subjects show that the use of soft biometrics is able to improve face recognition performance. The results also showed that 93 percentage of accuracy is achieved. Second experiment is conducted with an Indian face database with 1000 images and results showed that 95 percentage of accuracy is achieved.


To assess whether R2* mapping with a standard Monoexponential (ME) or a Gaussian Augmentation of the Monoexponential (GAME) decay model better characterizes gradient‐echo signal decays in gynecological cancers after external beam radiation therapy at 3T, and evaluate implications of modeling for noninvasive identification of intratumoral hypoxia.


Abstract For Your Immediate Attention: Gertrude Stein, Andy Warhol and Henry Geldzahler In another essay, the author traced the impact of Gertrude Stein's classic concept of repetition with a difference, or "insistence" as she called it, on composer John Cage and Andy Warhol. In this essay, he turns to Stein's underlying strategies of attention as discussed in her popular memoirs and lectures and, moreover, as mediated by Warhol's early mentor, curator Henry Geldzahler. First Stein's celebrity-making Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933) is examined in relation to Warhol's Autobiography of Alice B. Shoe (c.1955), which homed in on their mutual love of tittle-tattle as a common measure of queer sociality. Then Picasso's (1906) and Warhol's (1980) portraits of Stein are compared, focusing on how Warhol reframed queer identity through his broader use of institutional portraiture, including, as here, photo-ID cards. Next, attention turns to Stein's characterological view of habits of attention ("bottom nature"), which Warhol brought to bear in his Screen Tests (1964–66) and related works. Finally, the article concludes with Stein's signature strategies of divided yet mutually reinforcing attention, the theme of "genius" with which she opened the Autobiography, which Warhol actualized in his diptych paintings since 1963, and his split-screen films since 1965.


Hydroxyapatite(HAP) scaffold and hydroxyapatite/chitosan(HAP-CS) composite scaffold mixed with chitosan were prepared using three dimensional printing(3DP) manufacturing technology.And HAP-CS scaffold was modified with Collagen TypeⅠ. Properties of the prepared scaffolds have been studied through compressive strength experiment,porosity measurement,micro morphology observation,hydrophily and alkaline phosphatase(ALP) activity experiment. The results demonstrated that CS could result in a 74.5% improvement of compressive strength of HAP scaffold,while the porosity of scaffold was not decreased. The hydrophily of HAP-CS scaffold modified with Collagen Type Ⅰ was significantly enhanced. ALP activity experiment results indicated that Collagen Type Ⅰcould improve the ossification ability of cell on the HAP-CS scaffold. Excellent structural properties and biological activity have been observed from the HAP-CS scaffold modified with Collagen TypeⅠ,which could be used for the research of bone defect repair.


The near-IR, visible and UV regions of the absorption spectrum of naphthalene anion (C10Η-8) are studied in terms of full optimized reaction space multiconfiguration self-consistent field method applied with Dunning's double-zeta basis set including polarization and diffuse functions on the all 'hydrogen atoms. Computed Franck-Condon activity of the all (nine) totally symmetric vibrations in the seven low-energy transitions is discussed and compared to the available experimental data. The assignment for some electronic transitions in the visible part of the naphthalene anion absorption spectrum is corrected on the base of full optimized reaction space multiconfiguration self-consistent field computations. We have argued that two (overlapping) bands at 21700 cm -1 and 26800 cm -1 are due to 1 2B1 5 —> 1 2Au and 12B15 --^ 22A" transitions rather than to the short-axis and long-axis polarized ones as was suggested in an earlier semiempirical treatment. An experimental method appropriate to verify this result is proposed.


Apparently spurred by the decisions emanating from the Roberts Court, several recent books present highly critical evaluations of the Supreme Court's historical record. One of those books is Erwin Chemerinsky's The Case Against the Supreme Court, which accuses the Court of an institutional failure: the failure to protect vulnerable groups from repressive electoral majorities, from powerful interests, and from official abuses of power. The indictment includes decisions dealing with slavery, free speech, Equal Protection, the rights of employees and consumers, criminal prosecutions, and the political process. This sorry historical record leads Chemerinsky to ask whether, from a historical perspective, the Supreme Court has done more harm than good, so that the country would have been better off without it. This article examines this provocative question, the answer to which leads to some important insights about the judiciary and its power of judicial review.


Hybrid seven bar actuator is a typical planar parallel robot. It remains with position control following system. Position control accuracy of system determines the profile accuracy of hybrid actuator. According to the characteristics of the hybrid seven bar actuator, incorporating the grey prediction, repetitive control and the conventional PID control, a design method of the Grey prediction Repetitive PID control algorithm (GRPID) is presented for the first time. The hybrid control algorithm can estimate unsure parameters and disturbance of system using grey prediction, and compensate control in terms of the prediction results, and this may improve control quality and robustness of repetitive control for controlling periodic motion. The simulation results show that this algorithm has better performances than that of the conventional repetitive control system. It indicates the control method has better application effect for hybrid actuator taking on a characteristic of periodic motion.


AbstractDifferent in situ and laboratory tests are commonly used to determine the nature of salts and to improve the comprehension of degradation mechanisms. Although laboratory tests are more accurate, in situ tests yield faster results and require a significantly lower budget. This study aimed at collecting data on nine case studies of buildings (26 sample's analysis) showing salt induced damage and assessing the potential of diagnosis techniques. Two in situ (test strips and a spectrophotometer-field kit) and three laboratory techniques [X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)] were carried out. The results showed the importance of collecting samples from different materials and locations. It is concluded that the combination of a thorough description of the areas affected by salt damage, a survey of the building's history, the consideration of its surrounding environmental conditions, and simple in situ tests is a useful and straightforward diagnostic tool. A...


In this paper, we initiate the study of some annihilator conditions on polynomials which were used by Kaplansky [Rings of operators. W. A. Benjamin, Inc., New York, 1968] to abstract the algebra of bounded linear operators on a Hilbert spaces with Baer condition. On the other hand, p.p.-rings were introduced by Hattori [A foundation of torsion theory for modules over general rings. Nagoya Math. J. 17 (1960) 147-158] to study the torsion theory. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the near-rings with Baer condition and near-rings with p.p. condition which are somewhat different from ring case, and to extend a results of Armendariz [A note on extensions of Baer and P.P.-rings. J. Austral. Math. Soc. 18 (1974), 470-473] and Jondrup [p.p. rings and finitely generated flat ideals. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 28 (1971) 431-435].


This paper presents the comparison of results i.e., (compressive strength of cement) by the experimental study and Regression model to evaluate the possibility of utilizing the hylam powder as a partial replacement in cement mortar. The remarkable increase in the production of hylam and its disposal in an ecofriendly manner is increasingly becoming a matter of global concern. Hylam powder is a waste produced from hylam sheets at the time of fabrication (Cutting, Making holes and polishing process) is used as a partial replacement in cement. A total 63cement cube were casted and tested for 3,7& 28days of seven mortar mix (i.e. 0%, 3%, 5%, 7%, 10%, 13% & 15% of Hylam powder was replaced by weight of cement). The results show that incorporation of the hylam powder yields to the increase of strength at the age (28 days) in comparison with that of a control mortar.


AIM To study the course of percutaneous absorption and pharmacokinetics of meloxican(Mel) gel which used in skin of rabbit. METHOD To use high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) detect the concentrations of Mel gel in rabbit serum. RESULTS Mel gel(3 75, 7 5, 15 mg·kg -1 ) three groups' concentration curve coincided with first order absorption two compartmental model. The main pharmacokinetics parameters of Mel gel were: T max 1 h, C max (1 42±0 38) mg·L -1 ,AUC 0~24 (5 95±1 47); T max 1 h, C max (2 30±0 71) mg·L -1 , AUC 0~24 (12 98±5 08); T max (1 2±0 45) h, C max (6 15±1 47) mg·L -1 , AUC 0~24 (22 16±6 52). CONCLUSION Mel gel has fast and good transdermal absorption. In range of 3 75~15 mg·kg -1 , the course of pharmacrokinetics has linear relation.


Baoji xishan wine song is spread in shaanxi treasure chicken Chen cang breaks out of the mountain west JiuLing an art form.It is short,the lyrics straightaway and catchy melody.The prosperous and strong,MinGeFeng local climate humid,residence,particular geographical position were scattered.Early in the local people,it plays hospitality,pressing drinks upon them and healthy life,drinking,entertainment,communication function.Now,because it has a reason,many endangered.


Treatment of 1,4-diazacyclohexan-2,5-dione 1 with bromine in carbon tetrachloride has yielded 1,4-diaza-3-bromo-2,5-dioxocyclohexane 2 and 1,4-diaza-3,3-dibromocyclohexane-2,5-dione 7. The reaction of 2 with carbamides/thiocarbamides has produced 6-oxo-oxazolo[4,5-b] piperazine 5 /2-substituted imino-6-oxo-thiazolo[4,5-b] piperazine 6. Compound 7 on combination with carbamides/ thiocarbamides is transformed to 1-oxo-2-substituted imino-3,5,8-triaza-3H,5H,8H,7-dihydro-6,9-dioxo-spiro [3.5] nonane 9 and 1-thia-2-substituted imino-3,5,8-triaza-3H,5H,8H-7dihydro-6,9-dioxo-spiro [3.5] nonane 9. The structures of the synthesized compounds have been confirmed by IR, 1 H and 13 C NMR spectral data analyses.


The aim of the present study was to evaluate the physical and chemical properties of five Algerian unifloral types of honey. Several physical parameters of honey, such as pH, moisture content, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, color intensity  and total sugar content, were measured. The mean pH, moisture content, EC and water insoluble solids of Algerian honey were 4.41± 0.58, 15.3 ± 1.5%, 0.324± 0.116 mS/cm and 0.141± 0.065%, respectively. The mean color was 81 ± 72 mm Pfund. The majority of honey samples test results (moisture content, electric conductivity and acidity) levels were within the acceptable range of world honey standards. Keywords : Apis mellifera, biochemical characters, unifloral honey, physical characteristics


The very fact that during NATO bombardment of Kosovo and Metohija, ammunition with depleted uranium (DU) was used is of considerable importance in the case of an increased number of malignant diseases in the post-war period. This research refers to the period of time from 1997 to 2008. The pre-war period has been taken into consideration in order to compare numbers of the diseased in the period before the use of ammunition with DU and the period after its use. This research was carried out on 30.000 patients hospitalized, during the stated period, in seven wards of Health Centre in Kosovska Mitrovica.


Sophora tomentosa family Fabaceae, is a world-wide subtropical and tropical species with buoyant seeds that is distributed in coastal sites of five continents including remote islands and atolls. It may occur in pioneer strand vegetation, in coastal swamps, on the margins of mangrove habitats, and in semi-stabilized secondary dunes. Sophora tomentosa is a shrub with alternate, pubescent, odd-pinnately compound leaves, an unspecialized floral structure, and a legume that is constricted between the seeds. It tolerates low soil nutrients and high substrate temperatures. Seeds are toxic and contain numerous alkaloids. This species has a minor role in coastal geomorphology, but may be used as a sand-stabilizer in protected secondary dunes. It has horticultural value in coastal landscaping.


An ophthalmic viscosurgical device is a helpful adjuvant in a multimodal approach for performing cataract surgery in patients with intraoperative floppy iris syndrome, according to three surgeons.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the related factors that may influence the effect hearing aid for sensorineural hearing loss patients.

METHOD
Sixty cases with moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss were selected. Audiological measurements were performed before and after hearing aiding. Factor analysis was carried out.

RESULT
The unaided hearing level (UHL), Speech perception thresher (SPT), speech recognition thresher (SRT), speech recognition score (SRS) and aided hearing level (AHL) have notable influence on the effect of hearing aid fitting. The most comfortable level (MCL), age, education period, hearing loss duration and aided duration also have some influence on the results.

CONCLUSION
Hearing aid is not only a hearing compensating tool, it also has some therapeutic effect as well.


The differential cross sections for elastic pp scattering at energies 648 and 992 MeV were measured in the momentum-transfer range 2 x 10/sup -3/< Vertical Bar t Vertical Bar <10/sup -2/ (GeV/c)/sup 2/. The scattered and recoil protons were recorded in the experiment simultaneously. The data are analyzed jointly with our earlier results in the energy range 500--1000 MeV. The ratio of the real and imaginary parts of the spin-independent forward-scattering amplitude is determined and agrees well with the results of dispersion-relation calculations. However, the obtained contribution of the spin-dependent amplitudes to the differential cross section is much lower than the calculated value.


This thesis explores the area of urban planning practices examining the rapid urban growth in Riyadh. The research was motivated by the fact that Riyadh continues to suffer from rapid uncontrolled urban growth, with resultant problems in its infrastructure. These problems are associated with the urban planning path failures, both in terms of the discourses and the practices. As result, the urban plan did not help to control the city growth. The research firstly analyses the driving forces that influence urban planning, focusing on three issues as the main reasons for ongoing expansion: planning law, planning structure, and how planning relates to energy discourses in Saudi Arabia. Secondly, it evaluates spatial planning practices revealing four themes for developers and planners to consider: settlement patterns, urban design, land use patterns and transport. Thirdly, by revealing the mechanisms underlying the planning environment it demonstrates how the structures in place affect urban planning practices. Finally, based on the literature review and the findings of the empirical chapters and interviews with those who work in urban planning the thesis offers an understanding of planners' practices, how they contribute to continued unsustainable growth and, offers policy recommendations for a more sustainable planned future for Riyadh and other cities in Saudi Arabia.


The article aims at presenting the most recent developments and trends in information extraction from Synthetic Aperture Radar SAR data.


This paper presents an application specific reconfigurable architecture based on coarse-grain FPGA for real-time parallel particle filters. The architecture consists of a set of heterogeneous arithmetic units and buffer banks, where their interconnections are reconfigurable at the hardware level. The proposed architecture separates fixed and reconfigurable units for high-throughput realization. We compare potential throughput of the design with that of commercial FPGAs and DSPs. The proposed architecture is implemented in 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS process.


Abstract The 2007–08 financial crisis exposed and exacerbated the debt pathologies of the West. This paper examines whether the new global debt relations that have been generated by this crisis have transformed global power politics, changing the way in which the global South and the global North interrelate and interact. To do so the paper analyses the G20 advanced and emerging economies, examining a number of key indicators related to debt, indebtedness and financial leverage. This research leads to two main findings. First, the crisis has indeed given rise to new global debt relations. As a result, any reforms in the post-crisis global political economy will take place in an environment that favours the rising powers. Second, the USA maintains its capacity to control the parameters of this new global debt politics and economics, but cannot directly impose the terms of a solution to the existing 'global/hegemonic imbalances' on the rising powers.


Based on the structural theory of general systems, this paper revises the defini tion of brittleness presented by Pro. Jing Honghzhang, and proves that bittlenes s is the common property of all general systems. Accrording to the mathematical analysis of the structural model of general systems, it is pointed out that the main factors that result in brittleness occurring of general systems include the disturbed intensities of random factors on the systems, interconnection intensi ties of the systems and their distributions. In adeition, the results show that if brittleness evolutional entropy of the systems is not zero, the evolutional r esults become uncertain.


The aim of this paper is to develop an expert system that could aid medical practitioner to effectively diagnose and treat Staphylococcus aureus infections disease on a human. The objective of the research includes to develop an expert system for quick diagnosis and detection of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria on human skin, a system that aids in accurate treatment of staph infectious diseases by doctors, helps in quick decision making in the hospital, improves accuracy in drug prescription, and a system that will bring about computerized storage process, and to enlighten the knowledge workers on how to implement a computer based decision support systems and importance of it in the health care. The research was motivated due to delay in diagnosis and identification of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria and the fast rate at which infectious disease is spreading, delay in treatment of these bacteria, increase of guess work by health practitioners leading to delay in decision making and lack of electronic storage facility in the hospitals. Top down approach was used in the system design of this research while adopting expert system as the methodology and the programming language used was Java and database design used was MySQL. The result after design was a computerized standalone application that assists health practitioners (Doctor's) in quick identification, diagnosis, prescription and treatment of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria on human skin. The expert system will facilitate quick decision making in the clinic.


Upper-body disabled people can benefit from the use of robot-arms to perform every day tasks. However, the adoption of this kind of technology has been limited by the complexity of robot manipulation tasks and the difficulty in controlling a multiple-DOF arm using a joystick or a similar device. Motivated by this need, we present an assistive vision-based interface for robot manipulation. Our proposal is to replace the direct joystick motor control interface present in a commercial wheelchair mounted assistive robotic manipulator with a human-robot interface based on visual selection. The scene in front of the robot is shown on a screen, and the user can then select an object with our novel grasping interface. We develop computer vision and motion control methods that drive the robot to that object. Our aim is not to replace user control, but instead augment user capabilities through our system with different levels of semi-autonomy, while leaving the user with a sense that he/she is in control of the task. Two disabled pilot users, were involved at different stages of our research. The first pilot user during the interface design along with rehab experts. The second performed user studies along with an 8 subject control group to evaluate our interface. Our system reduces robot instruction from a 6-DOF task in continuous space to either a 2-DOF pointing task or a discrete selection task among objects detected by computer vision.


Surface change due to reactive ion etching of In0.53Gas0.47As epitaxial layers with CF4+O2 plasmas is investigated using photoluminescence techniques. Under low self‐induced bias voltages, a point defect layer is generated, while under high self‐induced bias voltages, a thin structure disorder is observed along with the point defect. This disorder region is shown to be significantly recovered by a 410 °C thermal annealing.


Abstract Social marketing has been applied in a variety of health education settings and has produced encouraging results. As the awareness and application of social marketing increases among practicing health educators, the link between social marketing and traditional behavior change theory becomes more critical. Because behavior change theory and social marketing are complementary, the challenge facing health education is how to make behavior change theory a useful and essential component of social marketing. This article describes the relationship between behavior change theory and social marketing practice. It is proposed that social marketing is the framework to which theory can be applied, resulting in programs that are theory-driven, consumer-focused, and potentially more effective. This integration of behavior change theory and social marketing can be achieved in four areas: planning, understanding consumer behavior, guiding formative research, and evaluating success. The added value of theory to an already promising framework like social marketing that replaces paternalistic, top-down approaches with consumer-based interventions should be compelling to all health educators.


The present invention provides an antiviral spray for preventing epidemic influenza and its preparation method. It is an extract preparation made up by adding 14 Chinese herbal medicines including ligusticum root, dahurian angelica root, ledebouriella root, notopterygium, schizonepeta, asarum herb, chastetree fruit and agastache, etc. in ethyl alcohol solvent and soaking them. Said invented medicinal spray possesses the functions of sterilizing, bactericide, resisting virus, promoting circulation of the blood and dispelling wind, freeing orifices and arousing the brain and refreshing air, so that is can effectively prevent and cure viral epidemic influenza and wind damage common cold.


This paper is concerned with the spectral approximation of variationally formulated eigenvalue prob- lems posed on curved domains. As an example of the present theory, convergence and optimal error estimates are proved for the piecewise linear finite element approximatio n of the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of a second order elliptic differential operator on a general curved three-d imensional domain.


An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary betaine on egg production, estradiol, progesterone, and melatonin secretion in laying hens. Seventy two ISA-Brown laying hens were placed into individual cage and fed four different levels of betaine (0, 300, 600, 1,200 ppm) in diets for four weeks. Basal diets were mainly mixed with corn-soybean and contained 2,800 kcal/kg ME and 16% CP. Dietary supplementation of betaine showed significantly higher (p<0.05) egg weight and daily eggmass than controls, but did not have consistent influence on the egg production. The serum estradiol was statistically different in betaine treatments compared to that of control (p<0.05). No significant changes in serum progesterone concentrations were observed by the addition of betaine in diets. Serum melatonin concentrations also increased with betaine supplementation in diets (p<0.05). The results of this study indicate that the dietary betaine may contribute to increase daily eggmass, serum estradiol and melatonin concentration in laying hens.


2,3-Dihydro-2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl-2,3-dehydrogenase (B2,3D) catalyzes the second step in the biphenyl degradation pathway. The nucleotide sequence of Comamonas testosteroni B-356 bphB, which encodes B2,3D, was determined. Structural analysis showed that the dehydrogenases involved in the bacterial degradation of aromatic compounds are related to each other and that their phylogenetic relationships are very similar to the relationships observed for dioxygenases that catalyze the initial reaction in the degradation pathway. The bphB sequence was used to produce recombinant active His-tagged B2,3D, which allowed us to describe for the first time some of the main features of a B2,3D. This enzyme requires NAD+, its optimal pH is 9.5, and its native M(r) was found to be 123,000, which makes it a tetramer. These characteristics are very similar to those reported for the related enzyme cis-toluene dihydrodiol dehydrogenase. The Km value and maximum rate of metabolism for 2,3-dihydro-2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl were 73 +/- 16 microM and 46 +/- 4 nmol min-1 microgram-1, respectively. Compared with the cis-toluene dihydrodiol dehydrogenase, B2,3D appeared to be more substrate specific since it was unable to attack cis-1,2-dihydroxy-cyclohexa-3,5-diene.


Participants In all, 8326 women participating in 47 randomised controlled trials of medications and therapies to control menopausal symptoms .............................................. Interventions (1) Transdermal estradiol and progesterone (2) Oral estradiol and progesterone (3) Isoflavones (4) Black cohosh (5) Chinese herbal medicine (6) Multibotanicals (7) Acupuncture (8) Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (9) Serotonin– norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors ..............................................


The paper surveys the spatial co-ordinates that frame the imaginary geography of Shakespeare's romances, which map out a conventionalised visual representation of an increasingly fragmented world, torn apart by religions, political, linguistic, social and cultural differences. How do these particular plays address and paraphrase the English Renaissance drama's interpretation of the world beyond English shores and of the others that inhabited those spaces? If the romances emphasise final union through initial dislocation and dissension, do they typify a particular Jacobean interpretation of topography and stage world? Inspecting briefly the reception of Shakespeare's romances in Romania during the past decades, the focus will shift on the reversed cultural perspective, by examining the way these plays contributed to the formation of individual and group identities in an equally antagonist social and political milieu.


Introduction. An array of memristive elements can be used in prospective neural computing systems as a programmable resistance (analog multiplication factor) when performing operations of analog vector multiplication, discrete in time. To form the required resistance, the memristor should be subjected to a programming procedure. This article discusses conventional programming schemes and proposes a new versatile programming scheme for memristor elements.Aim. To identify or develop an optimal programming scheme for memristors by analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of existing methods.Materials and methods. The programming procedure can be carried out using either SET or RESET, depending on a different direction of movement according to the volt-ampere characteristic of the memory and its transfer to a particular state. The programming process is controlled in the LTspice circuit modeling program.Results. Typical programming schemes of memristors were analyzed; advantages and disadvantages of existing methods were revealed. A new versatile circuit based on a variable resistor was proposed. The circuit was simulated both under a fixed resistance of the variable resistor and when varying the memristor resistance values within their permissible range.Conclusion. In comparison with the RESET mode, the SET programming mode provides for a greater linearity of variations in the memristor resistance. The use of a circuit based on a variable resistor and a bipolar voltage source allows programming of any type and eliminates the need for recommutation of the memristor. The simulation results confirm the feasibility of the proposed method. The proposed circuit can be complemented not only with a comparator, but also with an ADC. This will provide the possibility of selecting various means for measuring the memristor resistance both during programming and for the purpose of monitoring the memristor resistance at the end of the procedure.


Calculations of individual effective dose per annum have been made from the activity concentrations of dominant gamma-emitting radionuclides from uranium and thorium decay chains in ore, solid waste (spoil heap) and soil samples collected from Adassedakh and Hadal Auatib gold mines in Ariab (Eastern Sudan). Measurements were performed using a high-resolution gamma spectrometer. Independent of location, the data show that the activity concentration for 226 Ra and 232 Th increases in the order: soil > spoil heap > ore. This order basically confirms that the activity levels in the spoil heap are low relative to natural background (i.e. soil samples), and thus the expected contribution in enhancement of natural background radiation is correspondingly low. The concept of concentration ratio (CR) has been applied to quantify the degree of accumulation of radionuclides in the solid waste (heap). The calculated CR values revealed that 232 Th is most accumulated while there is no accumulation of 40 K. The absorbed dose rates in air at a height of 1 m as estimated using DRCF from activities of 241 Pb, 214 Bi, 212 Pb, 228 Ac, 208 Tl and 40 K ranges from 6.6 to 32.3 nGy.h -1 (Adassedakh), and 2.2 to 26.1 nGy.h -1 (Hadal Auatib). The principal contributors to the total dose rate are 40 K, 214 Bi and 228 Ac which generate almost 90%. The corresponding annual effective doses fall within the range: 0.04-0.20 mSv.y -1 for Adassedakh and 0.01-0.16 mSv.y -1 for Hadal Auatib. Although, these estimates do not include the internal radiation burden due to inhalation of radon and its decay products, the values obtained are insignificant relative to the dose limit specified for occupational exposure of any worker.


Table top soft x-ray lasers (SXRL) producing pulses with energies from 1 to 100 μJ at repetition rates of up to 100 Hz, and with wavelengths ranging from 6.85 to 46.9 nm [1,2,3] have enabled the implementation of photonic application testbeds that are paving the way to scientific research and technological innovation. In particular, the SXRL high pulse energy coupled with the ability to focus the laser beam to 100 nm diameter spots offer unique opportunities to ablate solids at the nanoscale with a single laser shot [4]. These characteristics have enabled the implementation of nanoscale SXRL ablation mass spectrometry [5] and SXRL nanomachining [6].


The AIDS pandemic and "denialism" is an international issue and South Africa is a flash point case study. "Mortal Combat" is a history of AIDS policy in South Africa. It exposes the strategy and tactics of AIDS denialists and focuses on the struggle for antiretrovirals to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to extend the lives of people living with AIDS.


Thermodynamic relationships between enthalpy of mixing and excess entropy, and partial enthalpy of solution and partial excess entropy in solid solutions of binary alloys have been derived based on the free volume theory. Using the above relations, excess entropy and excess Gibbs energy of solid solutions in Ag-Au, Ag-Pd and Au-Pd binary alloys have been calculated from enthalpy of mixing, and compared with the literature values.