The characteristic features of the incident seismic motions are modified once the wave field encounters changes in the propagation medium. The contact between soil and air and between the earth crust and layers of the surface soil's deposits, are clear examples of such changes. The modifications experienced by the incident motion are usually known as local site effects and are the result not only of changes in the medium mechanical's properties, but also of the contact interfaces' geometry. This article focuses mainly in the latter cause of site effects. To address the problem the BEM technique is used for the most complex cases, since it allows to model the exact field's conditions, for the analytical considerations of the radiation conditions, while for simple yet illustrative cases the problem is tackled via the ray theory.


This article reviews women's quest to access land, property, and housing by inheritance and succession from their deceased father's or husband's estate and judicial responses thereto. It submits that tradition or custom-based gender differentiations are discriminatory against women on grounds of sex and are, as such unconstitutional. The problem has been the absence of a legal and policy framework empowering women and granting them explicit right to land in their capacity as citizens with full legal capacity as envisaged by both the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW: 1979); and the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol, 2003). The article also analyses the high illiteracy level that has made most women ignorant of the existing legislations and courts judgments which have recognised their rights to inheritance of real properties in Nigeria. The article finds that Nigeria through judicial activism is currently empowering women to access and inherit land, though more efforts are still needed to total liberate and enforce the rights of women to customarily inherit property.


With short-range optical communication links emerging in many
fields of applications, the design of appropriate low-complexity
transceivers has posed a major challenge in recent years. Since
state-of-the-art coherent transceivers are less favorable due to
their high complexity, simpler and more cost-efficient solutions
are needed.
Noncoherent transceivers using intensity modulation (IM) at
the transmitter and direct detection (DD) at the receiver have
become prominent, as they provide reduced complexity, cost
and power consumption. Generally, the use of simplified hard-
ware components entails performance penalties, which need
to be compensated by signal processing routines.
Starting from the Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation (NSE), we
consider a short-reach optical link, with chromatic dispersion
(CD) being the only impairment. We continue with a suitable
system model for a noncoherent IM/DD system and notice that
the removal of CD can be reformulated as a phase retrieval
problem, which is well studied in various scientific areas. Finally, we will compare the performance of different equalizers
for phase retrieval based on their achievable rates.


This study aims to determine the application of self-management techniques to reduce the aggressive behavior of students in public senior high school 1 Segeri. This research uses experimental method, with One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design research design, with a population of 298 students scattered from all classes X public senior high school 1 Segeri and sample research as many as 30 students using the sampling "Simple random sampling" or as much as 10% of the total population. Instrument used questionnaires and analysis techniques using t-test. The results showed that the application of Self Management techniques can reduce the level of aggressive behavior of students in public senior high school 1 Segeri.


This paper presents a set of coins recovered during diving activities in front of Sao Juliao da Barra (Oeiras) fortress and that are now deposited in Direccao Geral do Patrimonio, Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (National Museum of Archaeology) and Museu de Marinha (Marine Museum). From this set of 507 coins, the authors could classify 119 coins and only 25 of the classified coins are Portuguese. This set came from a shipwreck or most probably several shipwrecks that happened in Lisbon's inlet mainly during the seventeenth century. The majority of the studied coins, both Portuguese and Spanish can be dated between 1620 and 1700. The Spanish set of coins most of it in silver, were coined in Bolivia (Potosi), Mexico (Mexico city) and Peru (Lima) has "reales de a ocho", "de a cuatro", "de a dos" and "de a uno" and its metrological study demonstrates that the silver valorization during Philip IV reign also applied in the colonial mints of Spanish America.


The process analysis,layout design,and die structure of multi-position progressive die contact with shrapnel have been introduced in the text.By use of side-blade,lead screw and stripper plate guide to fixed pitch mold,position and guide,the procedures such as cutting the scrap,punching,cutting off,bending,falling off material can be completed at the same time.By taking the strip as material,the material has been fed by automatic feeding device.The die can be produced automatically,which is suitable for the large batch of production.It greatly reduces the labor intensity and improves the productivity.


This paper systematically analyzed the causes of over-current in motor controller,built the platform of the electronic control based on TMS320LF2407A DSP,and established the current detection,sampling,over-current hardware protection circuit and over-current software protection strategy.With these,the system effectively solves the problem of over-current in motor controller,and proposes some suggestions on how to reduce the over-current fault of motor controller.


Significance In plants the hormone jasmonic acid (JA) is synthesized in response to attack by pathogens and herbivores, leading to activation of defense responses. Rapidly following JA accumulation the hormone is metabolized, presumably to prevent inhibitive effects of high JA levels on growth and development. The enzymes that directly inactivate JA were so far unknown. Here, we identify four jasmonate-induced oxygenases (JOXs) in Arabidopsis that hydroxylate jasmonic acid to form inactive 12-OH-JA. A mutant that no longer produces the four enzymes hyperaccumulates JA, exhibits reduced growth, and is highly resistant to attackers that are sensitive to JA-dependent defense. The JOX enzymes thus play an important role in determining the amplitude and duration of JA responses to balance the growth–defense trade-off. The phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA) is vital in plant defense and development. Although biosynthesis of JA and activation of JA-responsive gene expression by the bioactive form JA-isoleucine have been well-studied, knowledge on JA metabolism is incomplete. In particular, the enzyme that hydroxylates JA to 12-OH-JA, an inactive form of JA that accumulates after wounding and pathogen attack, is unknown. Here, we report the identification of four paralogous 2-oxoglutarate/Fe(II)–dependent oxygenases in Arabidopsis thaliana as JA hydroxylases and show that they down-regulate JA-dependent responses. Because they are induced by JA we named them JASMONATE-INDUCED OXYGENASES (JOXs). Concurrent mutation of the four genes in a quadruple Arabidopsis mutant resulted in increased defense gene expression and increased resistance to the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea and the caterpillar Mamestra brassicae. In addition, root and shoot growth of the plants was inhibited. Metabolite analysis of leaves showed that loss of function of the four JOX enzymes resulted in overaccumulation of JA and in reduced turnover of JA into 12-OH-JA. Transformation of the quadruple mutant with each JOX gene strongly reduced JA levels, demonstrating that all four JOXs inactivate JA in plants. The in vitro catalysis of 12-OH-JA from JA by recombinant enzyme could be confirmed for three JOXs. The identification of the enzymes responsible for hydroxylation of JA reveals a missing step in JA metabolism, which is important for the inactivation of the hormone and subsequent down-regulation of JA-dependent defenses.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the complex and shifting relationship between the Anglo American Corporation (Anglo) and the South African State ("the State") as reflected in Anglo's annual reports. Design/methodology/approach - This paper builds on research on the role of annual reports in ideological conflict. To examine the ongoing relationship between Anglo and the State, the authors read all the annual reports published by Anglo American from 1917 to 1975, looking for instances in which the corporation appeared to be attempting to address, criticise, compliment, or implore the State. Findings - During the period under study, despite the apparent struggles between the South African State and Anglo American, the relationship between the two was primarily symbiotic. The symbolic confrontation engaged in by these two behemoths perpetuated the real, physical violence perpetrated on the oppressed workers. By appearing to be a liberal opponent of apartheid, Anglo was able to ensure continued investment in South Africa. Social implications - The examination of decades' worth of annual reports provides an example of how these supposedly neutral instruments were used to contest and sustain power. Thereby, Anglo could continue to exploit workers, reap enormous profits, and maintain a fiction of opposition to the oppressive State. The State also benefited from its support of Anglo, which provided a plurality of tax revenue and economic expansion during the period. Originality/value - This paper provides insights into the ways the State and other institutions sustain each other in the pursuit of economic and political power in the face of visible and widely condemned injustices. Although they frequently contested each other's primacy, both benefited while black South African miners suffered.


The utility model discloses a pinhole cover internally-buckled rubber combined bottle cap which consists of a pinhole cover, a rubber plug and a bottle cap body, wherein the rubber plug is covered on a bottom mouth of a medicine bottle; the inner end surface of the bottle cap body is covered on the rubber plug, and the surface of an inner cavity of the bottle cap body is provided with a locking block which is connected with the edge of the bottle mouth by blocking and buckling; the upper end surface of the bottle cap body is provided with a pin hole which is covered with the pinhole cover; the pinhole cover is provided with a concentric circular ring boss, the outer circumference of which is provided with a groove; the outer circumference of the rubber plug is provided with a step, and the lower surface of the rubber plug is provided with a circular ring convex rib and a cone-shaped circular truncated cone; the internal diameter of the pin hole of the bottle cap body is the same as the external diameter of the circular ring boss, and the pin hole is internally provided with a ring-shaped boss which is matched with the groove; and the inner cavity of the bottle cap body is provided with the convex rib which is blocked and connected with the step. The pinhole cover internally-buckled rubber combined bottle cap has simple structure as well as reliable connection and sealing, can realize sterile assembly operation, and is low in manufacturing cost.


A finite‐element microstructure analysis code was used to model the geoacoustic properties of shallow marine clay sediments in Eckernfoerde Bay which has been the subject of an intensive geoacoustic and geotechnical study (Coastal Benthic Boundary Layer—Special Research Program). Uniaxial strain and pure shear were applied to two‐phase microstructure models with generalized, periodic plane‐strain boundary conditions to generate anisotropic bulk and shear moduli. Analyses were carried out on two length scales: clay microfabric (μm) and gas‐filled inclusions (mm). The clay microstructure was modeled as a random lattice of Illite platelets with a density and porosity equivalent to average values observed in shallow Eckernfoerde Bay sediments. Saturated and dry framework moduli were calculated and the effective medium velocities were compared with observed velocities. The analysis suggests that shear wave propagation in these sediments is not supported by the framework structure but by differential compressio...


The traditional method of palm oil fruit ripeness grading requires manual human observation imposing time consumption. This paper describes the work to determine best frequency gritted for capacitive ripeness grading. To find the ripeness, the frequency response of ripe and unripe fruitlet in between capacitive plates is evaluated. Parallel plate that is connected to resistor in series is used as the sensor. The function generator is used to give a sinusoidal wave frequency or known as Vin that gives input from 20 kHz to 300 kHz and the oscilloscope is used to obtain the output reading which is the difference in value of the Vpp. From the result, it is observed that there is difference between ripe and unripe fruitlet also the frequency of 100 kHz and below shows that the reading can be differentiate between fruitlet. After the frequency past the 100 kHz the reading is hard to differentiate before at one point the graph will become static even the weight of each fruitlet is difference.


Increasing demand of high data rate applications at low cost, wireless communication is the key area of research, the solution to this problem is orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Multiple access and forward error correction (FEC) technique like OFDM with low density parity check (LDPC) and low density signature is the best choice over classical OFDM. This paper proposes joint sparse graph OFDM using low density parity check coding by combining joint sparse graph OFDM transmission techniques. The different low complexity transceiver structure joint multiuser detection and FEC decoding and shown numerical. In this paper propose JSG OFDM using LDPC coding that achieves significantly better BER (bit error rate) performance than JSG OFDM for several different system configurations. Keywords— OFDM, Joint Sparse Graph, LDPC.


In examining post-war south korea, we cannot but be struck by the rapid decrease of farm work and the dizzying increases in urban production and petty-entrepreneurial work over the course of a single generation. It is remarkable, for example, that from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s the farming population declined by almost 50 percent. Indeed, South Korea is an exemplar in the development industry and a popular example in the annals of development studies (Amsden 1989). Sociologists, however, have reached little consensus about the meaning of these structural transformations and the nature of their effects on individual and familial trajectories. In consideration of the reorganization of the labor market, even some of the most basic numbers are debated because analysts do not agree on how to characterize and classify post–Korean War jobs.


A short bibliography is given at the end of the book. Dr. Brown has undoubtedly written a clear and attractive volume which compares favourably with many that have appeared lately on the same subject; but the very multiplicity of these works implies how important is the personal factor of the physician in psychotherapy, for one achieves success by one method and another by another, and there is no psychological equivalent of the universal sterilizer dreamt of by the old physicians. With regard to the scientific psychological aspect of the book, it is doubtfiul if the animistic attitude and dynamic theory of emotion are really as helpful as they at first appear. They certainly lead to the most wonderfuilly confused thinking on the part of some workers in the field of psychotherapy. As Lloyd Morgan puts it, physical science has just learnt not to mix up God with its chemical formule, and it is time psychology learnt the same lesson. There almost certainly is an Elan Vital, Libido, God, call it what you will, who is the author and director of the universe;, but with this psychology has nothing to do; her part is to elucidate the laws of nature in the psychic plane as physics elucidates the laws of nature'in the physical plane. R. G. GORDON.


example urine or sputum. However when an invasive procedure is used on a patient and only scanty material obtained, such as spinal aspirate or endometrium, the inclusion of an animal test may be a valuable additional diagnostic aid. In particular, GPI of cerebrospinal fluid can be especially helpful when acid fast bacilli are not found on direct microscopy but the clinical observations, as well as the biochemical and cytological findings on the fluid, favour a diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis. A positive test in these circumstances confirms the diagnosis but when culture and animal tests are both negative this will allow the diagnosis to be reconsidered after at worst six weeks of chemotherapy. The advantage of GPI in these few patients has, we believe, usually depended more on the scanty nature of the sample than on inadequate culture technique. Experience with numerous other samples examined by microscopy and culture alone (mainly sputum or urine) has shown close correlation between clinical and laboratory findings; after decontamination material has been cultured on Lowenstein-Jensen medium, pyruvate egg medium and into Kirschner enrichment medium and strains of M tuberculosis of both human and bovine type have been isolated satisfactorily by this means. In addition, with very small samples it is also worthwhile adding Kirschner enrichment medium to an apparently empty or almost empty specimen container or washing through the aspiration needle with this medium to permit growth of very scanty bacilli adherent to the container or needle surface. By use of the tuberculin test, knowledge of the BCG immunisation history, and by selection of "at risk" patients (as for example those with a history of contact, or with a past history of pneumonia or pleurisy around the menarche4) many inessential animal inoculations can be avoided. Culture of samples from more than one sitefor example, urine and endometrium, may also assist in establishing the diagnosis without need to resort to guinea-pig inoculation. The answer to the question, "Is guineapig inoculation ever justified for the diagnosis of tuberculosis?" must be, for the United Kingdom, that it is rarely justified but is nevertheless valuable for the selected "problem" situation. The decision to perform a guinea-pig test can usually be determined by discussion between microbiologist and clinician. For this purpose few animal houses are now needed and those that remain will provide facilities for other tests (especially virus, toxicity, and some pathogenicity tests) for which animal inoculations still remain essential. CA MORRIS BW BARTON* Public Health Laboratory, The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Shrewsbury *Public Health Laboratory, The Northern General Hospital, Sheffield


Abstract The skull of the nodosaurid Niobrarasaurus coleii (Mehl) is redescribed as the result of the discovery of additional material, including the partially crushed braincase. The bone surface shows moderate remodeling, but not to the point of sutural obliteration. The snout section suggests a long, narrow skull more similar to Pawpawsaurus than the broader Edmontonia. Nevertheless, the skull differs from other nodosaurs in the ornamentation of the bone surface and trapezoidal outline of the occipital condyle in posterior view.


The project starts from the need to better know African mortality, which, the authors claim, has been hampered by the lack of reliable data. Coale and Demeny, UN, or Ledermann model life tables do not include input data from sub-Saharan Africa. INDEPTH model life tables are now available to fill this gap. They are built on empirical life tables from 17 research projects in 10 countries for the period 1995–99. There is no map of the sites, but it would have been helpful, as most of them are villages. These 17 life tables are regrouped into five groups, then reduced to two, according to the Rs in pairwise Brass' logit relationship:


A self-organizing map is described. It is called the force directed self-organizing map (FDSOM), and can be used in VLSI cell placement with various constraints on connection and dimension, such that the total wire length and area of the resulting placement are minimized. This procedure combines ideas from force-directed relaxation and the self-organization algorithm proposed by Kohonen. It is particularly suited for such a self-organization problem when those (input) sample vectors are not easily available. A proof of convergence for this model is given. With this property, it can be used in CAM or any other computational task. The experimental results obtained are quite encouraging. All these processes are convergent in a reasonable number of iterations. It is found that the proposed approach is competitive with state-of-the-art algorithms, and uses fewer nodes and connection weights.<<ETX>>


The failure damages of granite under cyclic fatigue load were caused by the propagation and coalescent of cracks at mesoscale, so it was helpful to understand the mechanical behaviours of rock by quantitatively investigating on meso-damage of granite. Stress amplitude of 10 MPa and sine wave cyclic loads with five different frequencies of 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 1 Hz were adopted as dynamic disturbance. Then, the microtest (SEM) is carried out to study its fractography morphology and the meso-structural images of marble were processed by regional growing theory based on image processing technique. The meso-damage information of granite microcracks was obtained from SEM images. Quantitative analysis of meso-damage characteristics under cyclic fatigue load wase made from angle, length, width and area. The results showed that with the frequency of cyclic load increasing, the dispersion of microcrack growth azimuth value increased and the average of microcrack growth azimuth value fluctuated in the range. It is great helpful for seismic response analysis of the nuclear power factory in Chang Jiang.


The purpose of this qualitative research study was to monitor pre-service teacher candidates' progression and implementation of the learning community philosophy along with classroom management strategies. The study took place during their final semester of clinical practice. Data were collected from self-reports, surveys, university supervisor observations and informal post-observation conferences. Findings include a discrepancy between candidates' self-efficacy perceptions and actual ability to implement these concepts. Researchers discovered a progression, over the course of the semester, of competency in classroom management strategies associated with the development of the learning community. Classroom management strategies which the pre-service teachers implemented are also reported.


The increase in the number of tobacco-caused deaths over the last 50 years is one of the most tragic developments in the modern history of medicine. The most common cancers globally are stomach cancer, with 669,400 cases diagnosed each year, and lung cancer with 660,500 new cases yearly (/). Those rates are not stable, however; lung cancer is actually overtaking gastric cancer. This is the situation for a mainly self-induced, avoidable—in other words, preventable—disease. To win the war against cancer, we must first win the battle against tobacco. A study of cancer mortality trends between 1960 and 1980 in 28 industrialized countries, conducted by the United Nations' World Health Organization (WHO), showed that the age-adjusted mortality rate for men increased by 19% in that period. Lung cancer mortality increased by 76% for men and 135% for women (2). Over the last 20 years, mortality rates from lung cancer in women increased more than 100% in Japan, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom; more than 200% in Australia, Denmark, and New Zealand; and more than 300% in Canada and the United States (3). A WHO survey of smoking prevalence between 1975 and 1986 in 65 countries showed that, of the 30 countries with the highest rates, 21 were "developing" and nine were "developed" nations. It is estimated that one of three males above the age of 15 smokes cigarettes in developed countries, and one of two in developing countries. The rates for females are lower, but they are rising rapidly in developing countries. For years to come, cancer mortality is expected to increase in nearly all regions of the world, owing to a general increase in the age of the populations and an increasing use of tobacco. Cancer incidence is increasing globally, in spite of the enormous body of knowledge accumulated in cancer control over the last 40 years. The earlier-mentioned WHO analyses revealed the limited impact of treatment on overall mortality from common cancers and, consequently, the urgent need for strengthening preventive measures, especially tobacco control. Nothing would have greater impact today on cancer worldwide than the effective application of current knowledge about cancer control. Existing knowledge is best implemented through national programs that set the right priorities and strategies for use of available resources (4). Methods have already been


We propose a systematic optimization method for two commonly used display devices, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display and liquid crystal display (LCD), for virtual reality (VR) headsets. An optical simulation model for the VR system is established, and three performance metrics, namely total light efficiency (TLE), field color gamut coverage, and field color non-uniformity, are proposed as the optimization objectives. For the RGB (red, green, and blue) OLED display, the microcavity structure is optimized to suppress the field color unevenness while maintaining a high TLE and large field color gamut coverage. For the direct-lit LCD, the optimization is from the viewpoint of entire VR system. A two-dimensional patterned prism film is implemented in the backlight unit to locally modulate the radiation pattern of the LCD. Thus, the vignetting effect in the VR system is alleviated and the TLE is further enhanced by 40%. After optimizing the OLED display and LCD, their pros and cons in the VR systems are analyzed. Our optimization method is proven to be effective for designing a proper display panel for VR systems. © 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement


Objective To supply applied anatomical data for the safety of sacrocolpopexy.Methods Detailed dissections of the presacral space were performed in 16 adult female cadavers after injection of different color perfusate into the inferior vena cava and iliac artery.Observe and measure the composition of presacral space,the presacral space and the distance around the main structure.Results The location of the median sacral vessels were various,43.75% through the midpoint of sacral promontory while 56.25% through the midline of sacrum.The location of the first transverse veins were great various.The normal group(Ⅰtype)constituted 73.33%,located on the first transverse lines of sacrum.The group of variation(Ⅱtype) occupies 26.67%,located 10mm below the sacral promontory.The height of sacral vertebral,the distance of anterior sacral foramina,the space between presacral transverse veins was declining from S1~S5(P0.05).The distance between median sacral vessel and the anterior sacral foramina was declining from S1~ S5(P0.05);At the level of sacral promontory and the first anterior sacral foramina,the vessel which nearest to the median sacral were the right internal iliac vein.Conclusion The presacral space of S1 has the largest avascular zone,which is the relatively safe area of fixation position for sacrocolpopexy.The relative safety area is a rectangle which upper bound is 10mm under sacral promontory and lower bound is 40mm under with 15mm in width,which rectangle is(30mm×15mm).


The complex [(dmcb)(2)Ru(dppz)](PF(6))(2) shows unexpected luminescence in water implying fundamentally different excited state relaxation pathways than are typically observed for complexes of this kind.


In this paper, backtracking algorithm is adopted to the pheromone updating rule to resolve the basic Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm's shortcoming of easily falling into local optima. When the pheromone accumulated to the backtracking point on the tour, pheromone will be backtracked in the improved algorithm. The improved algorithm not only solves the ACO algorithm in excessive accumulation of pheromone problems, but also has better global search ability and convergence speed, which increase the quality of the solution space by using the information of the previous iterations' ants. Finally, the improved algorithm is applied to the Traveling Salesman Problem(TSP), and the simulation results show that it is much better than basic ACO algorithm in many aspects, such as the optimal iterations, the average and the optimal solution etc.


FIELD: physics. SUBSTANCE: contact lens according to the invention consists of an optical zone, a lens periphery, a first and a second thickened zone on the lens periphery, wherein the first and second thickened zones lie asymmetrically about each other, wherein the thickness of each of the thickened zones linearly or nonlinearly increases, starting from the upper part of the zone to the maximum value, and then linearly or nonlinearly falls towards the lower part of the zone. EFFECT: design of contact lenses which are better held in the required position on the eye compared to traditional stabilised lenses. 18 cl, 5 dwg


The ability to manipulate the activity of interneurons with optogenetic tools offers the possibility of interfering with diseases caused by altered neuronal inhibition and synchrony, including epilepsy and schizophrenia. To develop vectors for therapeutic approaches, targeting optogenetic constructs to interneurons is therefore a key requirement. We investigated whether the interneuron‐specific promoters glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD)67 and cholecystokinin (CCK) allowed targeted lentiviral delivery of opsins to interneurons as a whole, or specifically CCK+ interneurons.


In recent years,the emergence of entrepreneurship education attracts the attention of scholars and teachers. This article analyzes the background,target,course setting and teaching method of entrepreneurship education. It also concludes, based on entrepreneurial series courses, that entrepreneurship education will bring something innovative to our traditional administrative education and,to some extent, it will compel the administrative education to change from training functional professional managers to cultivating human resources with entrepreneurial characteristics such as innovativeness,creativeness,and rational risk-taking.In brief,we suggest that entrepreneurship education give the direction for the reformation of traditional administrative education.


Women in general seem to have a complicated relationship with their bodies and their body image. A small percent of the female population develop a serious pathological eating pattern which is char ...


Introduction W.Tadd Continental Philosophy and Nursing Ethics S.Woods & L.Sandman PART ONE: EDUCATION Teaching Ethics in Nursing: M.Arndt The Case for International Ethics Education: D.L.Dickenson Ethics Education: Does it Make for Ethical Practice? A.van der Arend & M.Smits PART TWO: RESEARCH Philosophical Inquiry as Nursing Research S.Edwards Research Ethics Committees and the Nurse's Role A.van der Arend PART THREE: MANAGEMENT Allocation of Resources: Issues for Nurses P.A.Scott Quality Assurance- an Ethical Responsibility? R.Tope & M.K.Koskinen Nursing Leadership and Management: Organisational and Cultural Perspectives A.P.Young


The dynamics of the higher education access is one of the challenges that Europe has to face regarding education and labour market challenges. Romania has to deal with the expansion of higher education with its particularities. Regardless the specificities, expansion of higher education in Romania and in European countries, the number of higher education graduates have a constant upward trend at EU level. The population of graduates in Romania face the most dramatic developments: the number of graduates almost triples between 2003 and 2008, when it reached a peak due to the overlapping of the last generation pre-Bologna and the first generation Bologna followed by a veritable collapse in 2011 and 2012. According to European statistics, such catastrophic changes have not happened in any European country, even in crisis conditions. In this paper we investigate the evolution of higher education graduation in Romania comparatively with the European level rates. We highlight the fast expansion followed by contraction noted for most domains of study in Romania, nonetheless the most accentuated for economic sciences. Investigating the factors that influence this evolution we could neither support nor fully reject the impact of demographic decline of young population in Romania, nor the decline in graduation rates of secondary level education. These results are affected by the high percentage of non-traditional students in Romania, students that graduated high-school or have had other studies before 1990. These people wanted to complete their studies according to their occupation or in order to have access to better jobs, with better salaries. Also the adoption of the Bologna reform influenced the apparition of a peak in higher education graduation in 2008-2009. In the final section we focus on the evolution of number of students and graduates of Economic Studies from University of Oradea, proving that the same trends as at national level are present. However, in order to better understand future trends such an analyses should also integrate information regarding employability of graduates depending on domain or field of study (evolutions of the labour market), information at institution level such as endowments and prestige, international migration of secondary school graduates. Understating such trends at both national, field and institution level are bound to better prepare universities to face future challenges.


One of the most important problems in wireless sensor network is to develop a routing protocol that has energy efficiency. In wireless sensor networking, power consumption is important aspect. Therefore it is essential to have routing protocols be designed with energy saving in mind. Energy saving, energy efficiency, energy balance are important technologies to prolong service life of wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we improve LEACH routing protocol by suggesting a new routing algorithm. It improves the LEACH routing protocol in several aspects and constructs clusters on the basis of radio radius and distance between cluster heads. Simulation result shows that this algorithm can balance energy nodes consumption, improvement delay and prolong the network's life time.


The invention features methods for detecting cancers, especially lung cancer and/or esophageal cancer, using over-expressed gene; CDCA5, EPHA7, STK31 or WDHD1 compared the normal organs. Also disclosed are methods of identifying compounds for treating and preventing cancers, based on the over-expression or the biological activity of CDCA5, EPHA7, STK31 or WDHD1 in the cancers, especially the interaction between EPHA7 and EGFR. Also, features are a method for treating cancers by administering a double-stranded molecule against CDCA5, EPHA7, STK31 or WDHD1 gene. The invention also features products, including the double-stranded molecules and vectors encoding them, as well as compositions comprising the molecules or vectors, useful in the provided methods.


Dengue virus (DV) is known to replicate in the brain tissue of mice when injected intracerebrally. However, other organs and tissues do not easily support the replication of DV. We have reported that a highly mouse-adapted strain of DV caused acute lethal infection in mice even when injected intraperitoneally (ip), and that host responses to DV infection, i.e., antibody production and mononuclear cell infiltration in the infected brain, were different in athymic nude (nul nu) mice and in their heterozygous littermates (nu/+) (6). Viral replication was detected not only in the brain but also in other organs and tissues of both kinds of mice. In this paper we present additional data, particularly on the morphological aspects such as localization of DV in the infected mice. DV type 1, Mochizuki strain (7), in the form of the supernatant of suckling mouse brain homogenates, was used. Four to six-week-old male Balbjc-nu/nu and nul+ mice were procured from Japan Clea Co., Ltd. Each mouse was inoculated ip with 107•0 to 107•8 plaque-forming units (PFU) of DV. At fixed times thereafter, each mouse was bled and the organs were removed. The organs were then divided into two or more portions, which were used for virus titration and histological examination, including hematoxylin-eosin (HE), periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), and indirect fluorescent antibody (FA) stains as well as electron microscopic (EM) observation. Figure I shows the growth curve and concentration of virus in the brain, skeletal muscle and heart of infected nu/nu mice. The virus was first clearly detected 4 days after infection, increased in amount and reached maximum titers at the time paralysis appeared. In the paralyzed mice, the highest virus titers were found in the brain (ca. 108 PFUIg), and the second highest in the skeletal muscle and heart (ca. 104 PFUIg). Our previous findings that the virus concentration in the heart of nu/nu mice was higher than in nul+ mice (6) were repeatedly confirmed. Lymph node, lung, liver, spleen and kidney also contained virus, although the titers varied from one sample to another. In our previous experiments it was not certain whether the virus content in the lymph node and spleen were of the same level or not, but the present studies clearly indicate that the infected lymph node had a higher concentration of virus than the spleen (Fig. 2).


It is known that the intensity of metabolic processes largely depends on the realization of their interrelationships, with a positive correlation with the growth, development and realization of productive qualities of the individual. It is important to note that it is impossible to increase the metabolic intensity against the background of depletion of antioxidant resources. Thus, the transovarian use of glutathione at optimal concentrations led to an increase in aerobic glycolysis and a tendency to activation of transamination enzymes, within reference values, intensification of mineral metabolism, which plays an important role in the maintenance of homeostasis. The fixed changes obviously were more positive for dynamically developing organism, as the received youngsters had not only higher viability during all period of embryogenesis, but also quality on a number of indicators. At the same time, it is important to note a fixed tendency to a certain depletion of protein and lipid metabolism in the absence of differences in body weight of the chickens from the experimental and control groups, which obviously points to the need for additional administration of glutathione at a later period of embryogenesis and requires further investigation. It is an important fact that the same trend was recorded when using the biostimulant in the embryogenesis of quail.


Two Taiwanese republics have been mentioned in this paper, namely, the Republic of Taiwan (ROT) and the Republic of Taiwan (ROT). The ROT briefly existed in 1895, and the ROT is yet to be created. Two Chinese republics have also been discussed, the Republic of China (ROC), which was created by Dr. Sun Yat‐sen in 1912, and the Republic of China (ROC) or Zhonghuagongheguo, which may be created by the Chinese Communists with the blessings of Deng Xiaoping. If Beijing, indeed, changes its national title from the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the ROC, Taipei's formal ties with other capitals may have to come to an abrupt end. Such a move will also shatter the hope of those Taiwan independists in creating a new country in Taiwan or frustrate those who are for the Taiwanization of the ROC. However, it will also mean the "end" of Communism in China, if one does not believe in Marxist Utopia.


The study we are conducting involves the analysis of information security levels achieved by energy providers operating in the North Arctic Region. We look into whether the energy providers' current information security levels meet reliability standards and determine what further actions may be needed for upgrading information security in the context of the digital transformation that the world community is undergoing. When developing the information security systems for electric energy providers or selecting the protection means for them, we are governed by the fact that the assets to be protected are process technologies. While information security risk can be assessed using different methods, the evaluation of the economic damage from these risks appears to be a difficult task. The most probable and harmful risks we have identified when evaluating the electric energy providers' information security will be used by us as variables. To provide the evaluation, it is necessary to calculate the costs relating to elimination of the risks identified. The final stage of the study will involve the development of an operation algorithm for the North Arctic Region's energy provider's business information protection security system – a set of information security services, and security software and hardware.


Non-determinism features make the testing o f a concurrent program not repeatable. Specification-based reproducible testing is a promising technique that may give the tester more control over the environment of concurrent testing. With a given test case, the crucial part of the test scenario which contributes to achieving the control on the execution path are input events and path constraints in terms of synchronization events. The problem considered in this thesis is to generate a significant set of path constraints automatically from the design specification in terms of design abstract under the assumption that monitors are the key mechanism to handle the synchronization events. In addition, as a considerable feature, formal methods have been applied in the implementation tool to construct the path constraints.


The Main Accelerator display system for the Fermilab accelerator gathers charge data and displays it including processed transfer efficiencies of each of the accelerators. To accomplish this, strategically located charge converters monitor the circulating internal beam of each of the Fermilab accelerators. Their outputs are processed via an asynchronously triggered, multiplexed analog-to-digital converter. The data is converted into a digital byte containing address code and data, then stores it into two 16-bit memories. One memory outputs the interleaved data as a data pulse train while the other interfaces directly to a local host computer for further analysis. The microprocessor based display unit synchronizes displayed data during normal operation as well as special storage modes. The display unit outputs data to the front panel in the form of a numeric value and also makes digital-to-analog conversions of displayed data for external peripheral devices.


In Indonesia, tax is an obligation that must be paid by every citizen. One type of income tax collected by the government originating from the APBN/APBD is Income Tax Article 22. This study aims to analyze the accounting treatment of Income Tax Article 22 at the North Minahasa Education Office. The data analysis method used in this research is a qualitative descriptive method. The results of the study show that the calculation of Article 22 Income Tax on the purchase of goods has been carried out properly in accordance with Minister of Finance Regulation Number 34/PMK.010/2017, for the recording of Article 22 Income Tax has been recorded correctly and in accordance with generally accepted principles. The deposit of Article 22 Income Tax has been carried out on time and the Article 22 Income Tax reporting has not been delayed so that it complies with applicable regulations.


With few exceptions, economic development in the African states has generally been elusive and the people in sub-Saharan Africa remain among the poorest in the world. From 1970 to 1990, GDP per capita in sub-Saharan Africa grew in real terms by only US$80 and the region's aggregate GNP per capita was only US$340 in 1990.1 In terms of annual percentage change, the region registered a 1.8 percent annual growth from 1970-77, an annual decline of 3.0 percent from 1978-84, and an annual increase of 2.4 percent from 1985-90. However, for the entire period of 1970-90, growth was statistically insignificant.2 During the period 1980-92 the annual growth rate of GNP per capita in subSaharan Africa was recorded as -1.83.3


The anticipation of puberty has crucial role in production rate of a herd by reducing the entry age of reproduction in animals, and even in herds undergoing breeding season, the fact that before coming into puberty increases the prospect of presenting the highest quality of semen and females, larger cyclical regularity, improving the reproductive performance early in the first season. The age of puberty is directly related to genetic factors, nutritional status pre-weaning and post-weaning management and even within the lineage of this breed. This genotype-environment interaction makes the age puberty highly variable between races and environments. This review will discusses some aspects of sexual precocity selection of male cattle in a tropical environment.


In this article we study the homogenization, of a particular example, of degenerate elliptic equations of second order in the setup of viscosity solutions. These results are an attempt to extend the corresponding results of Evans [8] to degenerate situations.


Thick-film capacitive pressure-sensitive chip has many advantages,such as wide operation temperature range,corrosion-resisting,strong anti-overload ability,and the slow hysteresis.It is especially suitable for measurement of oil tank liquid level.The chips comprised of two substrates synthesized into one firmly,this substrate is made of 96% Al2O3.The below substrate both elastomers,but also movable electrode of capacitor;the above one is a fixed electrode which can bear operational amplifier and signal conditioning circuit.and pressure range from 0 to 100 kPa,the capacitive is about 30 pF,accurate to 1.5% linearity,and operation temperature is-40 ℃ to +125 ℃,zero thermal shift is less than 200 ppm/ ℃.


Objective To construct the prostatic specific promoter used to induce the gene therapy aiming at androgen independent prostatic carcinoma and evaluate the activity. Methods Through two steps of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), androgen response elements (AREs) in rPB were replaced by synthetic retinoic acid response elements (RAREs). Then the modified rPBs were connected with the plasmid. The activity was evaluated. Results Constructions were confirmed to be successful by electrophoresis and gene sequencing. Conclusion Modified rPB should be the prostatic specific promoter which can induce the gene therapy aiming at androgen-independent prostatic carcinoma controlled by retinoic acid. After being constructed, the modified rPBs were used to confirm our ideas about the experiment design and the capability inducing the gene expression of different modified rPBs was compared.


We present a highly complete sample of broad-line (Type 1) QSOs out to z ∼ 3 selected by their mid-infrared colors, a method that is minimally affected by dust reddening. We remove host-galaxy emission from the spectra and fit for excess reddening in the residual QSOs, resulting in a Gaussian distribution of colors for unreddened (blue) QSOs, with a tail extending toward heavily reddened (red) QSOs, defined as having E(B − V) > 0.25. This radio-independent selection method enables us to compare red and blue QSO radio properties in both the FIRST (1.4 GHz) and VLASS (2–4 GHz) surveys. Consistent with recent results from optically selected QSOs from SDSS, we find that red QSOs have a significantly higher detection fraction and a higher fraction of compact radio morphologies at both frequencies. We employ radio stacking to investigate the median radio properties of the QSOs including those that are undetected in FIRST and VLASS, finding that red QSOs have significantly brighter radio emission and steeper radio spectral slopes compared with blue QSOs. Finally, we find that the incidence of red QSOs is strongly luminosity dependent, where red QSOs make up >40% of all QSOs at the highest luminosities. Overall, red QSOs comprise ∼40% of higher luminosity QSOs, dropping to only a few percent at lower luminosities. Furthermore, red QSOs make up a larger percentage of the radio-detected QSO population. We argue that dusty AGN-driven winds are responsible for both the obscuration as well as excess radio emission seen in red QSOs.


Overview Severe weather events occurred on October 31,2014 when 1.04 " of rainfall fell on Pismo Beach in a 24-hour period. A cold front and light showers moved over San Luis Obispo County on Nov. 13, and on Nov. 19, about 1/10 " fell on the Pismo Coastal area. Relative to the span of our study, low barometric pressure was observed around Nov. 1 and Nov. 10 to 11 (Fig. 1). B 82.731 biology 117 Figure 1. Meteorological data for the Pismo area November 2014 (weatherunderground.com).


In this paper, we propose a novel framework of analyzing the internal micro-structure of steel materials. Our framework consists of destructive imaging and geometric computing techniques. Imaging is based on a high-precision sectioning tool, and optical imaging with sub-micrometer resolution. We adapt geometry processing methods for segmented multi-material volumes to obtain the structural features. We use our framework to image inclusions and cracks of ball-bearing steels. Our analysis indicates an interesting relationship between the concavity of inclusion shapes and crack initiation.


for the American Astronomical Society Meeting 203, #22.11 Early Galactic Science Results from the Infrared Array Camera for SIRTF Megeath, S. T.; Allen, L. E.; Carey, S. J.; Deutsch, L. K.; Hora, J. L.; Fazio, G. G.; Forrest, W. J.; Marengo, M.; Melnick, G. J.; Patten, B. M.; Pipher, J. L.; Reach, W. T.; Smith, H. A.; Stauffer, J. R.; Willner, S. P. Abstract Observations of galactic sources with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) during the inorbit check-out and science validation phases of SIRTF will be presented.Observations of galactic sources with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) during the inorbit check-out and science validation phases of SIRTF will be presented.


To determine the role and mode of inactivation of the p16 and p15 genes in human esophageal tumors, we examined alterations and expression of the α and β forms of the p16 gene, 5′ CpG island methylation of p16 exon 1α, and alterations of the p15 gene in 30 esophageal squamous‐cell‐carcinoma cell lines. Of 30 such cell lines examined, 28 (93%) showed aberrations of the α form of the p16 gene: 18 homozygous deletions, 6 point mutations and 4 hypermethylation. Methylation was exclusively observed in cell lines with the wild‐type α form. Of the 6 point mutations, one was observed in exon 1 α, one in the splice acceptor site of intron 1 and the remaining 4 were in exon 2. In the β form, 18 homozygous deletions and 3 point mutations in exon 2 were detected, but no point mutation was found in exon 1 β. All mutations in exon 2 gave rise to premature termination codons in the reading frame of the α transcript, while no non‐sense mutations were observed in the reading frame of the β transcript. Among 12 cell lines without homozygous deletions of the α and β forms of the p16 gene, the expected wild‐type β transcript was observed in 8 cell lines, whereas only one cell line expressed the expected wild‐type α transcript. Homozygous deletions of the p15 gene were observed in 16 cell lines (53%), and no point mutations were detected. Twelve cell lines had alterations only in the α form of the p16 gene, while none showed aberrations exclusively in the p15 gene. Taken together, these results indicate that inactivation of the β form of the p16 gene and the p15 gene are not so frequent as that of the α form of the p16 gene in ESC cell lines, suggesting that aberration of the α form of p16 gene is the primary target of 9p loss in ESC. Int. J. Cancer, 70:437–442, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


An easy, rapid, cheap and reliable spectrophotometric method has been developed by modifying published methods for formic acid and methanol, to monitor blood methanol levels within the latent period of methanol intoxication.

The calibration curve was linear between 5 and 200 mg L−1 (y = 0.069, x = 0.036, r = 0.997). The detection limit was 5 mg L−1. The CV values at 100 and 200 mg L−1 were 6.22%±0.55 and 6.89%±1.51 and 1.97%±0.17 and 6.86%±1.43 for within-run and between-run precisions, respectively. The average recovery was 97.53%± 9.35 for concentrations of 100 and 200 mg L−1.

The method in the present study can be used to detect methanol levels in methanol intoxication, and also fulfils the needs of clinical and toxicology laboratories to detect and monitor the potential hazards arising from exposure to methanol.


Black cotton soils have frequently subjected alternate swelling shrinkage, which gives differential settlement to buildings. In this study Tea Waste (TW) used as partial replacement of black cotton soil with proportions of 2.5 %, 5 %, 7.5 % and 10 %. Soil sample behaviour was observed by Compaction test, California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test, Liquid limit test, Plastic limit and specific gravity Test. The Maximum dry density and Optimum moisture content were decreased when proportion of Tea Waste is increases. When Tea Waste (TW) is mixed with the expansive soil, the Plastic limit and liquid limit decreases by mixing tea waste, which decreases plasticity index. Addition of Tea Waste resulted in appreciable increases in the CBR of the soil and got maximum @ 5 % Tea Waste (TW) with soil. CBR value was increased by 7.68 % at 5 % Tea Waste with soil.


Supported and stable inorganic crystals in nanometric size, such as PbS or other quantum dots, are very desired materials in the form of thin films for the application in technological areas. Herein, an approach to the growth of PbS crystals in poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) ultrathin film covalently immobilized in the polyethylene (PE) surface is described. The method used allows the obtaining of materials with different shapes and sizes by the adjustment of experimental variables. The more homogenous composites with the smallest particles were obtained at pH 6 due to the slower removal of Pb2+ ions from PAA ultrathin film. Hence, the PbS is formed in situ inside of PAA. A direct relationship between Pb2+ and thioacetamide (TAA) concentrations was observed by the analysis of the composite morphologies. More homogenous composites with the smallest particles were obtained in the lowest Pb2+ condition and the highest TAA concentration condition or in the intermediate Pb2+ condition and the lowest TAA concentration condition.


AbstractCathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors are associated with the possible emission of bremsstrahlung radiation produced by electrons striking the monitor screen. Because of the low dose rate, accurate dosimetry is difficult. In this study, the dose equivalent (DE) and effective dose (ED) to an operator working in front of the monitor have been calculated using the Monte Carlo (MC) method by employing the MCNP code. The mean energy of photons reaching the operator was above 17 keV. The phantom ED was 454 &mgr;Sv y−1 (348 nSv h−1), which was reduced to 16 &mgr;Sv y−1 (12 nSv h−1) after adding a conventional leaded glass sheet. The ambient dose equivalent (ADE) and personal dose equivalent (PDE) for the head, neck, and thorax of the phantom were also calculated. The uncertainty of calculated ED, ADE, and PDE ranged from 3.3% to 10.7% and 4.2% to 14.6% without and with the leaded glass, respectively.


Internet technology is a major enabler for collaboration in customer-oriented processes; in this case a corporate CRM infrastructure for tourist destinations. Besides this crucial technological driver, the need for an increased customer-orientation in marketing activities through the utilization of knowledge about customers forces a change in marketing communications. This adaptation is required in a context of increased competition among tourist destinations and augmented problems of smalland medium tourism enterprises (SMTE) in handling customer-oriented processes in an electronic environment. By implementing a cooperative CRM initiative, a lacking motivation to cooperate of SMTE and technical interoperability of existing information systems, have to be considered as impedimental factors. Cooperation in CRM between tourism organizations and service providers requires coordination on strategy, processes and systems. In the current model of collaboration in marketing campaigns, the service providers and the destination management organization determine a common understanding about the strategic objectives and their roles in the destination network. From a process perspective, it is defined how the involved actors are planning, executing and analyzing marketing campaigns. These processes are supported by an inter-organizational CRM infrastructure, consisting of analytical, operational and collaborative system components.


Lignocellulose fractionation to chemicals and biofuels often requires severe conditions and consume high energy. Although some of these pretreatment processes are nowadays developed at pilot scale, they are not always cost effective, and they are responsible for environmental impacts. Recently, mechanocatalysis pretreatment emerged as a promising technology for the activation and deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass. In particular, these dry processes have the potential to limit the use of solvent and the production of liquid effluents. In this study, we propose an innovative one-pot eco-friendly approach based on the combination of dry chemical and vibro-ball-milling (VBM) for biomass activation, coupled to enzymatic conversion without an external source of heating, and without the assistance of any organic solvent. NaOH activation coupling to VBM fractionation for 10, 30, and 60 min was compared to H3PO4, H2O2, betaine, and betaine-Cl activation. NaOH-VBM-10 min appears more effective in sugar prod...


A modern diesel engine is capable of running efficiently with low exhaust gas emissions over a wide operating range. This is thanks to techniques such as turbocharging, EGR, charge air cooling and ...


The runoff and runoff process of Eucalyptus plantations natural watersheds were studied to provide guidance for scientific evaluation of water conservation capacities of Eucalyptus plantations, compared with the Pinus massoniana forest natural watersheds. The runoff volume of Eucalyptus plantations and P. massoniana forest natural watersheds were continuously monitored using the small watershed runoff monitoring method and the automatic data collection devices from August, 2013 to December, 2015, and effects of heavy rainfall and continuous rainfall on the runoff process were studied. Results show that the annual runoff coefficient of Eucalyptus plantations natural watershed were 0.046, and 55.8% lower than P. massoniana forest (0.104), with the difference being significant (P<0.01). The runoff duration, time lags, maximum runoff of rainfall, and runoff depth amounts caused by a heavy rainfall process (amounting to 65.5 mm) between the two kinds of forest watershed were significant different, those of Eucalyptus plantations were 8.5 h, 25 min and 2.69 mm, respectively, while those of P. massoniana forest were 18.4 h, 55 min and 5.52 mm, respectively. Eucalyptus plantations natural watershed produced only 4-days runoff, and runoff depth amounted to 3.8 mm with a 7 days continuous precipitation process of rainfall with 125.0 mm, while P. massoniana forest produced continuously 13-days runoff, and the runoff depth was 10.1 mm. In conclusion, water conservation capacity of Eucalyptus plantations is obviously lower than P. massoniana forest.


Based on the investigation on the spontaneous combustion of coalfield outcrop(SCCO),analyzed factors of influencing thermal draft pressure caused by the fire using seepage movement equation,gas state equation and heat transfer etc.The contribution of the depth of combustion point,the pitch of coal bed,seepage,topography and wind to fire-heating air pressure were got.After investigation,the physical model of SCCO was built.Using stream capillary and gas energy equation,the calculation formula of fire-heating air pressure was got under the condition of topography and wind.


Formulas for anisotropic stereology of fibre and surface processes are presented. They concern the relation between second-order quantities of the original process and its projections and sections. Various mathematical tools for handling these formulas are presented, including stochastic optimization. Finally applications in stereology are discussed, relating to intensity estimators using anisotropic sampling designs. Variances of these estimators are expressed and evaluated for processes with the Poisson property.


On May 19, 1999, during eight days the space microgravity experiment in Chinese "SJ-5" satellite was first completed by Nation Microgravity Lab of Institute of Mechanics and fruitful data have been achieved. The space microgravity experiment used the multi-layer facility made by NML. The NML has used thermoelectric cooler (TEC) by Tianjin Institute of Power Sources (TIPS) as thermal control device which supplied more than thirty kinds of different temperature gradient for liquid pool facility. The maximum temperature difference of liquid pool came about 40/spl deg/C, the temperature of one side was 90/spl deg/C. The paper describes the structure of the liquid pool unit, introduces the design considerations, the technology and screen method of TEC, gives the performance and test data of two types of TECs. The experiment has been proven that the design of the TEC is reasonable. The TECs have excellent performances and are high reliable electronic devices for space, applications.


Rats exposed to 2.45GHz of non-ionizing radiation exhibit behavioral changes with increased brain expression of apoptotic caspase 3. Pathophysiology. 2017 Nov 14. pii: S0928-4680(17)30052-4. Varghese R, Majumdar A, Kumar G, Shukla A. "It can be concluded that the exposure to non-ionizing radiation of 2.45 GHz caused detrimental changes in rat brain leading to learning and memory decline and expression of anxiety behavior along with fall in brain antioxidants. The exposure triggered the gene expression of caspase 3 which plays a major role in the apoptotic pathway. The chronic impact of non-ionizing radiation needs to be thoroughly evaluated in humans so that combative steps can be taken." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29153770


Summary

1. The hydrological regime is important to the distribution of benthic organisms in streams. The objective of this study was to identify relationships between hydrological variables, describing the flow regime, and macrophyte cover, species richness, diversity and community composition in Danish lowland streams.

2. We quantified macrophyte vegetation in 44 Danish streams during summer by cover, species richness and diversity. Flow regime was characterized by 18 non-intercorrelated variables describing magnitude, frequency and duration of low and high flow events, timing or predictability of flow and general flow variability.

3. We found support in the stepwise multiple regressions analysis for our expectation that macrophyte cover is lowest in streams with high flow variability and highest in streams with long duration of low flow and low flow variability. We found support for the intermediate disturbance hypothesis as there were significant quadratic relationships between species richness and diversity as functions of disturbance frequency. There was poor discrimination in a detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) analysis of macrophyte community composition between four twinspan groups separating streams with different hydrological properties. Moreover, we did not find any relationship between the presence of disturbance-tolerant species and hydrological disturbance, suggesting that plant community composition developed independently of stream hydrology.


The ever increasing expenditure on information systems (IS) has been accompanied by an increasing demand to measure the business value of the investment. There has been much debate in the literature over appropriate measures to determine this value. Of the many evaluation methods that have been proposed by researchers, only the various forms of cost‐benefit analysis have gained wide acceptance among practitioners. However, before appropriate measures can be devised, a clear definition of what is to be measured and an understanding of the dimensions of "IS business value" are necessary. The aims of this research paper, therefore, are first to highlight the complexity of the "IS business value" picture and second to bring some clarity to the complex problem of determination of "IS business value". These aims are addressed by first defining the construct of interest and, second, by deriving its dimensions. It is posited that an "IS business value" evaluation methodology should include measures for each of these dimensions in order to tap all the aspects of value contribution.


Applying visual recognition algorithms in surface defect detection has aroused increasing interest in industries. Despite the compelling speed advantages over manual detection, many algorithms fail to inspect defects from tail classes, especially where one defect dominates while the others have a few instances. One reason is that most of those computer vision models are proposed for class-balanced datasets while surface defects on industrial products often follow long-tail distributions. Existing studies alleviate this problem by simply adding synthetic data to the tail classes or manually adjusting weights. Herein, we propose: 1) a transformer embedded backbone structure to extract more representative features from the targets; 2) a 3-grids coordinate loss for predicting targets with multi-scale to reduce the targets miss rate. Our system can detect different kinds of surface defects at 125FPS, achieve 9.8% higher mAP and 3-22% higher AP of tail classes than YOLOv4 on long-tailed magnetic tiles datasets. Besides, our experiment on steel plates dataset shows that the effectiveness of our system is not limited to a certain industrial scenario, making it useful for a wide range of automated inspection tasks.


State-level implementation of standardized testing for making important decisions has serious implications. Because of high-stakes consequences of the test results, the assessments need to satisfy technical psychometric standards. The Spanish version of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) is a state-mandated exam designed for Spanish-speaking students that has not been adequately evaluated for psychometric qualities. Three replicated studies were conducted using classical validation methodology to analyze psychometric properties of the TAKS exam for English language learners. Concurrent validity coefficients ranged from .52 to .78 and predictive validity coefficients ranged from .47 to .68 in reading and mathematics respectively. Theoretical expectations were verified by the multitrait-multimethod and factor analytic methodology. The study provided evidence of adequate construct validity for the Spanish version of the TAKS for assessing reading and mathematics achievement for elementary level English language learners.  Although best practices in testing do not encourage high-stakes decisions based on a single measurement, the Spanish version of the TAKS demonstrated sufficient psychometric qualities for use as one indicator of achievement for elementary Spanish-speaking students.


The phenomenon "hypo-coercivity," i.e., the increased rate of contraction for a semi-group upon adding a large skew-adjoint part to the generator, is considered for 1D semigroups generated by the Schr\"odinger operators $-\partial^2_x + x^2 + i{\gamma} f (x)$ with a complex potential. For $f$ of the special form$ f (x) = 1/(1 + |x|^\kappa)$, it is shown using complex dilations that the real part of eigenvalues of the operator are larger than a constant times $|\gamma|^{2/(\kappa+2)}$.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the well‐known Falkner‐Skan equation. This equation appears in the modelling of various phenomena in physics and engineering.Design/methodology/approach – The He's variational iteration method which is a very efficient tool for solving different kinds of problems, is employed for solving this problem.Findings – Some other approaches are introduced to compare the efficiency of the new procedure. Several test examples are given to show the advantages of the present method over other existing techniques.Originality/value – In this paper, a new and efficient technique is proposed to solve the Falkner‐Skan equation.


Different guidelines recommend different follow-up intervals, usually 3 or 6 months, for stable hypertensive patients. Given the important role that


Gebeshuber et al . (2003) presents the first AFM study on living diatoms in ambient conditions. The AFM experiments for this study were performed in 1999 in Santa Barbara, and were presented at several international conferences. However, there is later work on AFM on living diatoms, which was published earlier than our paper (Crawford et al. , 2001; Higgins et al. , 2002; 2003a,b). The authors are sorry that they were not aware of this work and therefore did not cite it, and emphatically apologize to the authors for this omission.


Abstract The structure of a new distorted pyrochlore with low symmetry in Bi2O3-ZnO-Nb2O5 system were investigated. The powder diffraction pattern of the distorted pyrochlore with low symmetry was indexed by the successive dichiotomy method. With a criterion for evaluating the reliability of the indexing, the structure of the distorted pyrochlore was identified as a monoclinic pyrochlore.


The most consistent effects of 0.2 mM L‐ascorbate on monolayer cultures of rabbit articular chondrocytes were a diversion of incorporated radiosulfate into a pericellular matrix and enhancement of cell proliferation. Only with certain batches of fetal bovine serum (FBS) was there a cell‐for‐cell increase of proteoglycan synthesis. These actions increased as the cell inoculum rose from 0.5 to 2 × 105 cells/T25 flask. Maximal effects of ascorbate and D‐isoascorbate were found over a range of 0.05–0.02 mM. L‐Dehydroascorbic acid was less effective than either, and no stimulatory action was exerted by L‐cysteine, glutathione, dithiothreitol, methylene blue, or phenazine methosulfate. Ascorbate increased the hypro:pro ratio of newly synthesized proteins. β‐Aminopropionitrile (1 mM) reduced the proportion of [3H]hydroxyproline and [35S]O4‐proteoglycans in the ascorbate‐supplemented matrix 31 and 7%, respectively. In corresponding electronmicrographs, the number of pericellular filaments was reduced. We conclude: (a) Ascorbate has a general anabolic effect on chondrocytes in culture and enhances matrix assembly through mechanisms other than its redox function; (b) deposition of proteoglycans in the matrix is not simply the result of mechanical entrapment by allysine‐ or hydroxyallysine‐derived cross‐linking of collagen; and (c) contradictory reports on the subject result from variations in the serum employed, inoculum density, and concentration of ascorbate.


Accessory proteins and nicotinic receptors Acetylcholine was the first neurotransmitter identified, and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) were the first neurotransmitter receptors isolated. Recent studies have identified a multitude of molecules and mechanisms that regulate nAChRs in different tissues. In a Review, Matta et al. discuss these discoveries and their implications for the cell biology and medicinal pharmacology of nACHRs. Many accessory factors promote the assembly and function of diverse nAChRs. Some factors are small molecules, some are proteins, some control receptor biogenesis, and some regulate channel gating. These protein chaperones and auxiliary subunits elucidate the pharmacological and physiological processes regulated by acetylcholine. Science, abg6539, this issue p. eabg6539 A Review explains that accessory subunits regulate nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in a wide range of tissues. BACKGROUND One hundred years ago, experiments on beating frog hearts identified acetylcholine (ACh) as the seminal neurotransmitter. Sixty years later, fractionation of the eel electroplax isolated nicotinic ACh receptors (nAChRs) as the first purified ion channel. We now appreciate that a family of nAChRs are differentially expressed in numerous tissues, including the brain, skeletal muscle, white blood cells, and cochlear hair cells. Paralleling this wide distribution, nAChRs mediate diverse physiological functions, including cognition, muscle contraction, immunomodulation, and sound discrimination. Neuronal nAChRs also account for the psychoactive and addictive properties of tobacco and are the primary genetic risk factors for lung cancer. Therapeutically, nAChRs provide pharmacological targets of approved medicines for cardiovascular and neurological disorders. Nicotinic AChRs comprise multiple subunits whose molecular folding and surface trafficking involve complex and tightly regulated processes. As nAChRs often require tissue-specific factors for functional expression, many subtypes fail to create receptor channels in recombinant systems. Our limited understanding of nAChR assembly has impeded basic research and drug development. ADVANCES Studies in the 1970s found that smokers have increased nAChR density in the brain owing to receptor stabilization by nicotine—a process that likely contributes to tobacco addiction. Recent applications of proteomics, genetics, and expression cloning have identified a bevy of partner proteins and metabolites essential for nAChR function. These accessories act at multiple steps in nAChR biogenesis. Within the endoplasmic reticulum, chaperones mediate nAChR subunit folding and assembly. Other factors then promote nAChR trafficking to the plasma membrane. Finally, auxiliary subunits associated with surface nAChRs modulate channel activation. These chaperones and auxiliary subunits include both nAChR-specific regulators and more pleiotropic factors. On the one hand, NACHO (a neuronal endoplasmic reticulum–resident protein) serves as a client-specific chaperone for neuronal nAChRs. By contrast, transmembrane inner ear protein contributes to both hair cell nAChRs and mechanosensitive channels, which modulate cochlear amplification and transduce sound waves, respectively. Interplay between nAChR accessory components can further regulate receptor distribution and function. OUTLOOK Discovery of these molecules and mechanisms is transforming basic and translational science concerning nAChRs. Inclusion of appropriate chaperones during protein production is enabling structural studies of nAChR subtypes. Accessory components are also permitting biophysical studies of nAChR channel properties. Furthermore, understanding mechanisms that control trafficking and subunit composition is defining roles for nAChRs in biological processes and disease. This research also provides therapeutic opportunities. The dearth of pharmacological agents for certain nAChRs results from challenges in recombinant expression of many receptor types. The ability to express complex nAChR subunit combinations in cell lines "unlocks" them for the chemical screening that initiates drug discovery. Auxiliary subunits can themselves provide pharmacological targets. Furthermore, drugging chaperone pathways may benefit myasthenia gravis and other diseases associated with aberrant nAChR levels. Despite being the archetypal neurotransmitter receptor, much remains unknown about nAChRs. The identification of molecular partners and elucidation of regulatory mechanisms provide a cell biological renaissance and can suggest avenues for treating diseases associated with nAChR dysfunction. Accessory proteins assist nAChRs and drug discovery. Throughout the body, nAChRs are differentially expressed in neurons, myocytes, leukocytes, and cochlear and vestibular hair cells. An array of nAChR chaperones and auxiliary subunits (inset) mediate endoplasmic reticulum folding and assembly, intracellular trafficking, and plasma membrane activation. The recent identification of receptor accessories enables drug discovery for these nAChRs, which provide compelling targets for neurological, psychiatric, immunological, and auditory disorders. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) acts in part through a family of nicotinic ACh receptors (nAChRs), which mediate diverse physiological processes including muscle contraction, neurotransmission, and sensory transduction. Pharmacologically, nAChRs are responsible for tobacco addiction and are targeted by medicines for hypertension and dementia. Nicotinic AChRs were the first ion channels to be isolated. Recent studies have identified molecules that control nAChR biogenesis, trafficking, and function. These nAChR accessories include protein and chemical chaperones as well as auxiliary subunits. Whereas some factors act on many nAChRs, others are receptor specific. Discovery of these regulatory mechanisms is transforming nAChR research in cells and tissues ranging from central neurons to spinal ganglia to cochlear hair cells. Nicotinic AChR–specific accessories also enable drug discovery on high-confidence targets for psychiatric, neurological, and auditory disorders.


The Acebuches metabasites constitute a slice of oceanic crust located at the Variscan suture between the Ossa Morena and the South Portuguese zones (Iberian Massif). The emplacement of the metabasites onto the accretionary prism was associated with the activity of the southern Iberian shear zone. Careful measurements of the fabrics and structures related to this shear zone show consistent kinematic criteria pointing to the presence of a simple shear component, with an oblique predominantly left‐lateral sense of displacement. The data are consistent with existing models of triclinic or oblique shear zones considering coeval simple shear and pure shear components. These models provide a satisfactory explanation of the observed spatial variations in the foliation, lineation and fold hinge data. The kinematics of other shear deformations, older and younger than the southern Iberian shear zone, have also been established. These results offer new insights into the tectonic evolution of this suture of the Variscan belt, and show how complex transpressional strains can arise during oblique crustal deformation associated with the motions of tectonic plates.


Low autocorrelation is an important prerequisite of Boolean functions when used as combiners in stream ciphers. In this paper, we investigate the autocorrelation of two classes of semi-bent functions constructed by Charpin et al.. We give all the autocorrelation coefficients of these semi-bent functions and prove that they have not correlation immune. Our results show that, although these semi-bent functions have good nonlinearity, they have high autocorrelations. The cipher constructed by these semi-bent functions can be prone to differential-like cryptanalysis, and they can not resist correlation attacks. These potential weakness have to be considered before we deploy them in applications.


Detection of vehicles in a pedestrian pathway is important for the safety of pedestrians. Existing methods examine the entire frame for feature extraction and detect vehicles. However in real-time surveillance, analyzing the entire frame is computationally complex. To reduce the computational complexity, this paper proposes an efficient vehicle detection scheme. Using defined range approach, the background is subtracted and foreground blobs obtained from the background subtraction, the probability of the blobs in which the presence of the vehicles is expected is identified by a statistically computed predefined area criterian. These identified blobs within the defined range are taken as the Region of Interest (ROI). The Haar features are extracted from these ROI and then provided to Cascaded Classifier, which is trained apriori to detect vehicles. The proposed scheme is implemented using OpenCV, tested in real-time and found to give faster and better detection rate compared to existing method.


Rex Dawson was a biochemist whose research interests were wide and many, but almost all of them focused on phospholipids. He was fascinated by their metabolism; by the metabolism of their catabolites; by their structure and how this impacted on the phospholipases that degrade them; by the way in which cells synthesize and transport them; by how one group of phospholipids, the phosphoinositides, contribute to cell function; by how rumen bacteria saturate the fatty acids that are part of phospholipids and how these bacteria use remarkable tricks of lipid biochemistry to maintain their membrane integrity. To all these aspects, and others, he made fundamental contributions to our knowledge that, taken together, transformed the way we understand how phospholipids govern membrane biology. As publications secretary to the Biochemical Society he helped the society through a critical time of its existence. He never ran a large research group, preferring to work with his faithful technicians and one or two visitors or students at a time. Most who met him found his quiet and modest demeanour hid an insatiable curiosity and enthusiasm for science; those who really knew his work stood in awe of his achievements.


The title compound, C16H14Cl2N2O2, is a Schiff base compound, derived from the condensation of 5-chlorosalicylaldehyde and ethane-1,2-diamine in MeOH. The molecule lies about an inversion centre at the mid-point of the C—C bond of the ethylenediamine unit. Intramolecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds contribute to the planarity of the aromatic imide units of the molecule.


Hybrid meetings are challenging. They require interface solutions that support communication between both co-located and remote team members. However, recent research on extended reality points to interesting new directions for the future of these meetings.


In this paper, a supplier-retailer logisticsystem for multi-item is investigated as a two-echelon environment. There is asingle location in each echelon; the unique supplier at the first echelon has to replenish the retailer's warehouse at the second echelon. A model minimizing the total cost of purchasing, ordering, inventory, variable and fixed transportation costs is developed. Multistage shipment with a specific number of vehicles is allowed in the model. An iterative solution algorithm for the model is proposed. Also, the model is extended to the case of variable vehicle capacity. Computational results verify the proposed model as well as the efficiency of the algorithm.


Substantial non-Arrhenius behavior has been previously observed in the low temperature reaction between the hydroxyl radical and methanol. This behavior can be rationalized assuming the stabilization of an association adduct in the entrance channel of the reaction, from which barrier penetration via quantum mechanical tunneling produces the CH3O radical and H2O. Helium nanodroplet isolation and a serial pick-up technique are used to stabilize the hydrogen bonded prereactive OH··CH3OH complex. Mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy are used to confirm its production and probe the OH stretch vibrations. Stark spectroscopy reveals the magnitude of the permanent electric dipole moment, which is compared to ab initio calculations that account for wide-amplitude motion in the complex. The vibrationally averaged structure has Cs symmetry with the OH moiety hydrogen bonded to the hydroxyl group of methanol. Nevertheless, the zero-point level of the complex exhibits a wave function significantly delocalized over a bending coordinate leading to the transition state of the CH3O producing reaction.


The empirical turn in the study of deliberative democracy raises a problem: deliberative democracy's conceptual premises are in tension with those of the social scientific approaches often used to study it. If deliberation is to function as a source of political legitimacy, we must treat citizens as intentional agents capable of reasoning. In contrast, modernist social science characteristically employs forms of explanation that bypass intentionality. Deliberative democrats thus risk theoretical inconsistency when they attempt to study deliberation using the techniques of modernist social science. The danger is that when deliberative democrats rely on modernist social science, they at least implicitly reinforce a fallacious belief in expertise at the expense of a more dialogic and democratic ethos. The concepts and the practical aims of deliberative democracy seem, therefore, to require a more interpretive social science.


Material continuously or intermittently to a method and system for acoustic processing the material using a continuous process the material can flow to the acoustic processing outside the / chamber which is exposed to the focused acoustic energy. Method and system, while operating at an acoustic energy source is relatively high power output can be configured to permit continuous processing over a long period of time. Processing chambers may include features such as acoustic window and / or the chamber walls, the acoustic wall is reflected acoustic energy, one or more secondary focusing zone acoustic reflective material or functions to form a It may include gas / wall interface. Processing system configuration related to the arrangement of the processing chamber with respect to the acoustic source and coupling medium, material flow path, and the other is provided.


In this study, static loading tests and numerical analyses of the composite beam strengthened by multi-stepwise thermal prestressing method were carried out to evaluate the prestressing effect of the thermal prestressing prestress and the sectional effect of the installed cover-plate on the increase in the load-carrying capacity of composit beam. From this study, the strengthening method using multi-stepwise thermal prestressing method (TPSM) can be applied to reduce the deflection of the composite beam as well as to strengthening the composite beam by inducing the prestress in case of the occurrence in the large deflection by the insufficiency of the section properties of the composite beam. because of the expectation of the increase in the yield load and the sectional properties of the composite beam.


Background: The hook test is a sensitive and specific tool that has been previously described for diagnosing distal biceps tendon ruptures in an efficient, cost-effective manner. However, its application in postoperative evaluations after surgical repair of distal biceps tendon ruptures is not documented. Hypothesis/Purpose: We hypothesized that the hook test result returns to normal at some point postoperatively after distal biceps repair. This information could be used in decision making during follow-up examinations with both normal and abnormal findings. Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 3. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed records of distal biceps repair. Between July 1, 2003, and July 1, 2016, a total of 56 patients underwent distal biceps repair and also had clear documentation of the results of the hook test during the postoperative period. Hook test results consisted of "intact," "abnormal," or "absent." The timing of the return to a normal hook test result was recorded. Results: Overall, 51 of 57 (89%) repairs were documented to have the hook test result return to "intact." The test result returned to intact by a mean of 10 weeks after surgery (range, 2 weeks to 15 months). The biceps tendon was intact according to the hook test at the 4-month follow-up in 45 of the 51 patients (88%) in whom it ultimately returned. The hook test result was abnormal in 5 repairs in 5 patients with only a short-term follow-up, ranging from 2 to 7 weeks postoperatively. One patient with an abnormal hook test result at 2 weeks postoperatively underwent revision and was confirmed to have a partial tear of the biceps insertion. His hook test result returned to intact 3 months after revision repair. Conclusion: The hook test result returns to normal in patients who undergo distal biceps repair in the primary and revision settings with adequate follow-up. The vast majority of patients have a normal hook test result by 4 months postoperatively. An abnormal hook test result at 4 months postoperatively may indicate a failed repair and should prompt further investigation.


We compare two functionals defined on the space of continuous functions with compact support in an open neighborhood of the zero section of the cotangent bundle of a torus. One comes from Viterbo's symplectic homogenization while the other from the Calabi quasi-states due to Entov and Polterovich. In dimension 2 we are able to say when these two functionals are equal. A partial result in higher dimensions is presented. We also give a link to asymptotic Hofer geometry on T^*S^1. Proofs are based on the theory of quasi-integrals and topological measures on locally compact spaces.


This paper presents a new algorithm named PF-AMCMC based on Maximum KullbackLeibler distance(abbreviated as MKLD)criterion.This algorithm can adaptively choose the number of particles and at the same time select the implementation moment of MCMC movement,and reduces the computational complexity under conditions guaranteeing the accuracy of state estimation.The results of computational experiments and a GPS/DR integrated navigation simulation experiment show that the improved particle filtering methods proposed in this paper have a better performances for state estimation than other approaches.


The present invention using a eunpom widened than the silver contact area at the same weight is by generating ions, increase the amount of generation of FIG silver ions in relatively small costs the to greatly improve the sterilization and jeonghwaryeok large treating silver hot It relates to a manufacturing apparatus. According to the invention, the water tank 10 to store water, are installed inside of the water tank 10 are respectively connected to the positive electrode tab 17 and the negative electrode tab 20, radius edge portion of at least any one and an extended portion 35 extends outward are formed a pair of electrodes 30, is made of sponge shape having pores therein by a silver and a eunpom 40 is coupled to a peripheral portion of said electrode (30) , it is interposed between the washer member 50 of the conductive contacting the at least one end of the eunpom 40, the washer member 50 and the extended portion 35 of the electrode 30, the eunpom 40 and the electrode 30, the hot water producing system, characterized in that the silver is configured is provided by a conductive spring 60 for elastically supported so as to maintain the energized state.


We highlight new results on the localization number of a graph, a parameter derived from the localization graph searching game. After introducing the game and providing an overview of existing results, we describe recent results on the localization number. We describe bounds or exact values of the localization number of incidence graphs of designs, polarity graphs, and Kneser graphs.


Embedding register-pressure control in software pipelining heuristics is the dominant approach in modern back-end compilers. However, aggressive attempts at combining resource and register constraints in software pipelining have failed to scale to real-life loops, leaving weaker heuristics as the only practical solutions. We propose a decoupled approach where register pressure is controlled before scheduling, and evaluate its effectiveness in combination with three representative software pipelining algorithms. We present conclusive experiments in a production compiler on a wealth of media processing and general purpose benchmarks.


INTRODUCTION: Malaria parasitaemia and anaemia are municipal health predicament affecting children with high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, investigating the prevalence of malaria parasitaemia and anaemia associated with malaria is of great important. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted between March and October 2019 from primary school pupils in 5 selected communities in Enugu North Local Government Area of Nigeria. Blood samples were collected from the participants whose parents gave their consent to take part in the study. Thick blood film stained with geimsa was examined to detect malaria parasite. Heamoglobin concentration (Hb) was done using a portable haemocue analyzer. RESULTS: Five hundred and fifty-seven pupils participated in this study. Prevalence of malaria parasitaemia, anaemia and anaemia associated with malaria parasitaemia observed were 65.5%; 37.0%; and 29.1% respectively. There was a significant negative association between malaria parasitaemia, density count and Heamoglobin concentration (Hb). The mean Hb of those infected by malaria parasitaemia and anaemic differed from that of pupils not infected. Association between malaria parasitaemia and anaemia in this study posed a very significant public health menace in the study area.


Background and aim Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the frequent causes of hospital admission, whereas hyponatremia (HN) is a common electrolyte abnormality in hospitalized patients and is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Mean platelet volume (MPV) may be a useful predictor for the diagnosis of CAP but not in disease severity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate serum levels of sodium and MPV in a child with CAP. Patients and methods This is a case–control study that has been carried out in a Malawi General Hospital. The total (100) participants included in the study were classified into two groups as follows: group I which is the case group included 50 children with clinical and laboratory evidence of pneumonia ranging from 1 month to 3 years. Group II which is the control group included 50 children (apparently healthy control) who attended for nonchest problem or serious medical condition. Serum sodium levels, hemoglobin levels, MPV, platelet count, total leukocyte count, and C-reactive protein were done to all children. Results HN was present in 82% of patients with CAP (41 out of 50). Patients with CAP had lower MPV than their healthy counterparts (7.11±0.42 vs. 9.14±1.04 fl; P<0.001). There was a statistically significant negative correlation between the grade of respiratory distress and the level of serum sodium and a positive correlation between the grade of respiratory distress and MPV (P<0.001). Conclusion HN is common among hospitalized children with CAP and MPV may be a useful predictor for the diagnosis of CAP.


Highly cross-linked imidazolium-based ma- terials, obtained by radical oligomerization of bis- vinA salts in the presence of 3-mercap- topropyl-modified silica gel, were used as supports for palladium catalysts. Thanks to the high imidazoli- um loading these materials were able to support a high amount of the metal (10 wt%). Such materials were characterized by several techniques ( 13 C magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, the Bru- nauer-Emmett-Teller technique, X-ray photoelec- tron spectroscopy, and transmission electron micros- copy). The palladium catalysts displayed good activi- ty allowing the synthesis of several biphenyl com- pounds in high yields working with only 0.1 mol% of palladium loading at 508C in ethanol/water under batch condition. Moreover, a flow apparatus, to opti- mize the efficiency of the isolation of the pure prod- ucts and minimize waste (E-factor), was investigated. For the first time the palladium catalyst and base (K2CO3) were placed in two separate columns allow- ing an easy recovery of the products with very low E-factor values (< 4). Waste production was reduced by over 99% compared to classic batch conditions. Because of the high Pd loading only 42 mg of cata- lysts were employed in the Suzuki reaction between 160 mmol of 4-bromotoluene and 180 mmol of phe- nylboronic acid. No loss in activity was observed.


Abstract Metal-organic framework MIL-125(Ti)-NH2 was prepared and coordinated with salicylaldehyde and NiCl2·6H2O to create a heterogeneous catalyst for ethylene polymerization. The structure of the products was characterized by a variety of physical methods, such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption. The catalytic performance of MIL-125(Ti)-NH2-Sal-Ni was also investigated. The results showed that the reaction temperature, Al/Ni molar ratio, and ethylene pressure influenced on the catalytic activity and product selectivity. Under optimal reaction conditions, the catalytic activity of MIL-125(Ti)-NH2-Sal-Ni for ethylene oligomerization could reach 5.90 × 104 g·(mol Ni·h)−1 using cyclohexane as the solvent and MAO as the co-catalyst; the main products were C4 and C6. In addition, MIL-125(Ti)-NH2-Sal-Ni had good catalytic stability and recycling, which could be reused at least twice without significant loss of activity. Moreover, based on the evaluation of catalytic performance, the catalytic ethylene oligomerization mechanism of MIL-125(Ti)-NH2-Sal-Ni was also deduced.