ABSTRACT This paper introduces an approach for designing products with added affective appeal. We first establish the necessity for such an approach, given the complexity of existing tools and methods, and the growing need to take into account users' affective preferences in the design process. Secondly, we expose the theoretical framework behind our approach, grounded in a transfer of tools from sensory evaluation to qualify and quantify a product's key attributes. We present the results of two studies that allowed us to assess and validate the approach by applying it to the preliminary design phase of an office chair for Steelcase, a leader in the office furniture industry. Office chairs were found to be useful vehicles as people have a prolonged and intimate sensory interaction with this product. A comparison of users' affective reactions to a group of office chairs in different sensory situations allowed us to assess the relative weight of each sense in the perception of the product. Critical product attributes were singled out by applying a free categorization approach to the group of office chairs; free categorization being the act of creating meaningful groups of products according to their perceived similarities or differences.


ABSTRACT Zhu, W.; Wang, E.; Hou, Y.; Xian, L., and Ashraf, M.A., 2018. Hybrid filtering optimization method for denoising contaminated spot images at near-sea-surface intervals. In: Ashraf, M.A., and Chowdhury, A.J.K. (eds.), Coastal Ecosystem Responses to Human and Climatic Changes throughout Asia. The presence of noise affects the visual effect of images near the sea surface and reduces the quality of the images. Thus, denoising of the contaminated spot image near the sea surface is required. The current filtering method uses a noise image as mixed model, and uses wavelet transform to denoise a spot image. However, there is a problem of missing details of images near the sea surface. Therefore, a hybrid filtering optimization method of contaminated spot image denoising is proposed. First, the feature extraction of the spot image near the sea surface is carried out, and the contaminated spot image is detected by hybrid filtering. Then the denoising of the contaminated spot image is completed according to the image detection result. Experiments show that the proposed method is practical.


Construction today is poised between a failing business model and possibly successful future ones. Using the Three Horizons approach to transformative innovation (ref 1) one can say that the first horizon, the present, is characterised by transactional approaches to procurement, cost-driven purchasing, low margins, weak productivity and innovation, poor quality and the treatment of natural, social and human capital as externalities. The second horizon consists of innovations which can improve the first one or become bridges to a third horizon of transformed approaches. Elements already visible in the second horizon include a new awareness of the outcome value of assets, rising desire and ability to embrace natural, social and human capital factors, increasing interest in collaboration and partnership, industrialisation of building production, digital information management and the addition of 'smart' sensors and analytics to the built asset. The Grenfell Tower disaster has also set in train a major realignment of regulation, requiring long-term asset information retention to allow safer stewardship of buildings. The digital twin concept is a third horizon idea which may result.


Yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thin films are obtained using both spray-pyrolysis and dip-coating. The ability of YSZ films incorporated with platinum nanospecies (Pt-YSZ) to detect oxygen is compared with that of pure YSZ thin films using a new experimental setup. With this system, the surface electrical resistance of the films as a function the oxygen content is measured at a fixed temperature. In addition, the effects of thermal annealing on the oxygen sensitivity of the films are observed. Platinum doped samples, Pt-YSZ, show different kinetics of carrier diffusion as compared to pure YSZ samples.


We establish some new criteria for the oscillation of secondorder nonlinear difference equations with a sublinear neutral term. This is accomplished by reducing the involved nonlinear equation to a linear inequality.


The present invention discloses an adjustable fixture for cable structures, including the cable head end cable head outer cable fixed at one end portion coupled to a threaded coupling with the adjusting nut on a threaded coupling portion; further comprising and fixture plate fixed coupling of two ears, and two beams pierced ear to the plate between the plates; intermediate beam is provided with two flat plate ear through the center hole for the threaded coupling portion, provided on both sides arc protrusions pressure contact; lug plate has through-slots for flat beam through the side wall through slots provided for embedding the convex arcuate portion arc recess. The invention will be traditional cable adjustment mechanism to move the fixed end, integrated into the structure adjustment ends, optimize the structure of the cable, you can save a lot of raw material and production costs, and beautiful appearance. And the design of its ear plate so as to be with tensioning mechanism fast removable structure, compact, easy adjustment, it can promote all types of cable engineering class structure, especially the structure of large diameter cable.


Queensland legislation currently defines two legally recognised forms of prostitution: sex work conducted in a licensed brothel; or, sex work conducted privately by a sole operator.Despite prostitution's legality in these contexts, it continues to be heavily controlled and
restricted by authorities, while also being rejected by surrounding communities. Such resistance towards prostitution is demonstrated in Queensland where over 200 towns with populations of less than 25,000 have been successful in applying for exemption from the development of licensed brothels in those jurisdictions (Prostitution Licensing Authority 2012). Queensland's legislative acknowledgement of prostitution as a legal act, while
simultaneously allowing small communities to reject such activity, seems somewhat contradictory. This paper will provide a theoretical examination of common community
objections to prostitution in modern society, determining whether such attitudes are applicable to communities in rural and regional Queensland towns. Additionally, this paper will incorporate an analysis of rural and urban areas via the 'gemeinschaft‐gesellschaft' dichotomy to understand the potential justification for opposing areas being subject to differential treatment under the law.


Issues have been raised about the identity challenges that seem to have characterized most tertiary institutions in Ghana especially the Technical Universities as regards the academic gown usage during academic ceremonies. The usual practice is that Institutions who do not own the gowns hire from the traditional universities whose aims and philosophies are often at variance with them and in effect results in identity crisis. The aim of this paper was to investigate the issues concerning how gowns are used in the study area and the design expectations for befitting customized gowns. To do that descriptive research with cross sectional survey was undertaken in the study area using convenience and simple random sampling techniques and data were collected from 400 respondents. The findings were that most respondents recognised the existence of the issues pertinent to the use of the academic ensembles that amount to identity challenges and admitted that these issues need to be addressed by acquiring befitting customised academic dresses. Additionally, respondents were almost unanimously in favour of the various gown components designed to portray the philosophies and traditions of the institution and its faculties, be of good quality material, exquisitely sewn and being durable. Respondents indicated the need for deans of faculties to have special academic costumes specific to their status and positions and in all, they were of the view that gowns must have an indigenous traditional touch. It is thus recommended that all academic institutions in Ghana should acquire their own academic dresses which are in tune with their philosophies and traditions and capable of visibly differentiating them from their sister institutions. This outcome will help policy makers in their quest for the appropriate academic robes for their various institutions and faculties and also whip up interest for acquiring befitting academic robes. It will as well add to the body of knowledge for the use by the academia and other interested researchers.


With the methods of field investigation and seawater sample analysis, we evaluated the quality situation of environments in Sanya Bay.The results showed that the dissolved oxygen(DO) concentration in this areas was higher, with the value ranging from 6.28 to 6.99 mg/L;while the concentrations of chlorophyll a(Chl a), dissolved inorganic nitrogen(DIN) and phosphorous(DIP), chemical oxygen depletion(COD) and Faecal coliform abundance were higher in near-shore than that of off-shore areas.In most areas of Sanya Bay, the water quality was favorable and in agreement with the national water quality criterion I;however, poorly environmental quality in some areas of the bay was also observed, with a serious abundance of paranormal Faecal coliform caused by the runoffs of Sanya River or Port.Our results suggested that both the human activities and fast city developments have reduced the water quality in Sanya Bay.


Objective To investigate the effects of mosapride on gastric emptying and plasma motilin in oral medication of glucose electrolyte solution(GES) in hemorrhagic rats.Methods SD rats were randomly divided into GES group(oral GES after sham operations),H+GES(oral GES after hemorrhage),and GES/MOS(oral GES and mosapride).About 40% of total blood volume was let from rat carotid arteries to establish models of hemorrhagic shock in all groups.GES were given GES lavage by doubling the blood loss at min 30,60,respectively.Mosapride(0.5 mg·kg-1·w·-1)was dissolved and given in the first intragastric administration.The gastric emptying rate was determined by phenol red method and plasma motilin by radioimmunity at hour 4 after hemorrhage.Results The gastric emptying rates of groups GES,H+GES and H+GES/MOS were(92.4.3±12.5)%,(62.4±11.4)% and(79.6±10.7)%,respectively,at hour 4 after hemorrhage.There was significant difference between 3 groups(P0.05).The plasma motilin of H+GES/MOS group was dramatically higher than that of H+GES(103.8±11.4 vs.72.5±14.3,P0.05),and lower than that of GES(132.3.8±24.1,P0.01)at hour 4 after hemorrhage.The plasma NO content was significantly lower in H+GES/MOS group than in H+ GES(83.2±12.6 vs.105.7±13.2,P0.01),but still higher than in GES(53.6±6.9,P0.05).Conclusion Mosapride can increase significantly plasma motilin levels,reduce NO,promote the stomach to evacuate oral solution and enhance the effects of oral rehydration in rats with hemorrhagic shock.


In a survey of male patients admitted to the four maximum security hospitals in the United Kingdom during 1972 and 1973, 26 out of 611 (4.26 %) karyotyped were found to have chromosome abnormalities. Of these, 13 (2.13 %) had a 47,XYY abnormality; 5 (0.8 %) were chromatin positive but two of these had cell lines that included an extra Y chromosome, one being a 48,XXYY male and the other a mosaic 48,XXYY/47,XYY. Eight patients with autosomal abnormalities included two with Down's syndrome and a 47,XY,+21 karyotype, two with small supernumerary chromosomes, 47,XY + mar, and two with inherited balanced translocation.


Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges around disease management, lifestyle changes, and provision of care for patients (pts) with ulcerative colitis (UC). The survey aimed to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted pts with UC and assessed overall disease management, telehealth use, healthcare experience, perceived quality of care, emotional well-being, reliance on alternative support systems, and preferences for virtual/in-person interactions with doctors. Disease management before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic: reliance on alternative support systems for management of ulcerative colitis Prior to the pandemic During the pandemic Plan to do after the pandemic Have never done or plan to do Talked openly with their doctor about how their disease impacts their life 54% 54% 44% 17% Set goals with their doctor for managing their disease 48% 46% 40% 25% Communicated with a nurse at their doctor's office between appointments 45% 40% 34% 32% Used an online patient portal to contact their doctor's office or see lab results 31% 47% 33% 32% Used social media to connect with other patients or learn about ulcerative colitis 24% 39% 27% 46% Used symptom tracking or disease management apps 23% 31% 29% 48% Relied on information from patient advocacy groups 19% 27% 22% 54% Relied on patient support groups 15% 22% 22% 59% Had virtual appointments with their doctor 13% 55% 32% 31%


PPE is necessary to protect staff and to deliver rapid and efficient care to patients contaminated with HAZMAT chemicals. Planning for HAZMAT cases includes learning about the common chemicals in the area, what resources are available to care for victims, identifying a decontamination area, and providing PPE to protect employees and other patients. A customized service can be used to meet OSHA standards and reduce costs. Ongoing training will be an important part of any HAZMAT program.


Figure 1: Our technique reduces the total number of pixel shader invocations (by 3.63× in this scene) when compared to standard per-pixel shading, resulting in a reduction of the total rendering time and power consumption. The clarity of geometric edges is preserved and the resulting image shows very few perceivable differences when observed on a high pixel-density display. The heatmap measures the number of shader invocations per 2×2 pixel block. RS: Regular Sampling. IS: Interleaved Sampling. Modeling and texturing by Glen Fox.


Abstract:Since her death on the Isle of France (Mauritius) in 1812, Harriet Newell has come to us as a martyr to the early nineteenth-century missionary movement and - more than that - as a single book: Memoirs of Mrs. Harriet Newell, published in 1814 by Samuel Armstrong of Boston. Exploring Bewell's reading and habits of allusion, our essay explores what it would mean to read Newell as her first readers encountered her: as an engaging correspondent and chronicler of missionary work, and as a travel writer.


Objective To observe the changes of expression level of matrix metalloproteinase-8(MMP-8) in periapical tissues of SD rats and to investigate the relationship between MMP-8 and the development of periapical periodontitis reinfected by Enterococcus faecalis.Methods The maxillary first molar teeth of 42 SD rats received lipopolysaccharide(LPS) and were exposed to oral environment to establish primary infected periapical periodontitis model.The rats were randomly divided into chronic periapical periodontitis group(no extra treatment),calcium hydroxide disinfection group(disinfection with calcium hydroxide paste after the root canal preparation),formaldehyde cresol(FC) disinfection group(disinfection with FC cotton ball after the root canal preparation),and periapical periodontitis reinfected by Enterococcus faecalis group(reinfection group,implantion with Enterococcus faecalis 2 weeks after FC disinfection),respectively.Six rats were respectively sacrificed at the 6th week in chronic periapical periodontitis group and calcium hydroxide disinfection group,the 2nd week of FC disinfection group and the 1st,2nd,3rd,and 4th week in reinfection group.The suppermaxilla were obtained and subjected to immunohistochemical staining in order to test the changes of integral absorbance(IA) values of MMP-8 in periapical tissue in various groups.Results The expression levels of MMP-8 in FC disinfection group(4.49±1.08)and calcium hydroxide disinfection group(14.84±2.60)were both lower than that in chronic periapical periodontitis group(27.76±2.60)(P0.01),and the expression level of MMP-8 in FC disinfection group was lower than that in calcium hydroxide disinfection group(P0.01).The expression level of MMP-8 at the 1st week in reinfection group(42.08±4.19)was higher than that in chronic periapical periodontitis group,and the MMP-8 expression levels were gradually increased at the 1st week,2nd week(61.32±5.81),3rd week(79.45±7.40),and 4th week(114.67±10.40) in a time-dependent manner,which were higher than those in the other groups,respectively(P0.05).Conclusion The expression level of MMP-8 is correlated with the progression of tissue destruction of SD rats with periapical periodontitis reinfected by Enterococcus faecalis,and the higher the expression of MMP-8 is,the worse of the course expansion is.


JavaScript,as a kind of the embeded script language,may implement the dynamic interactive effect in static HTML homepage.If applied in the test system for teaching website,JavaScript can reduce the times of communication between client and server,and improve the efficiency of test.


In December of 2019, the city of Wuhan, in Hubei province, China, became the epicenter of an outbreak of pneumonia caused by a new coronavirus, which was later designated SARS-Cov-2 by the World Health Organization, the disease caused by SARS-Cov-2 being designated COVID-19. COVID-19 was declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization on January 30, 2020.(1) COVID-19 is diagnosed by positive RT-PCR testing on nasopharyngeal aspirates or lower respiratory tract secretions (sputum, tracheal lavage fluid, or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid). However, because RT-PCR results can be delayed or false negative, chest CT has become an important diagnostic aid, being strongly recommended in suspected cases of COVID-19.(2)


On the basis of experimental data on the change in the instantaneous values of the longitudinal and transverse inductances of a synchronous reluctance machine caused by cross-magnetic saturation, the electromagnetic characteristics of the machine were determined for its various methods of frequency control (linking the change in the stator flux linkage module, longitudinal and transverse projections of the stator current with the developed electromagnetic moment of the machine). Using these characteristics, a vector control system is proposed, in which the this saturation is taken into account and the effect of iron losses on the electromagnetic characteristics of the machine is compensated.


This article focuses on migrant labors through the perspective of metropolitan media and analyzes the current situation of migrant labors reporting in TV civic news. It argues that the group was put in a disadvantageous situation in the communication ecosystem in TV civic news reporting and the group itself. This article elaborates on three aspects of criticism: stereotypes of migrant labors in TV civic news reporting; humanistic solicitude lack; superficialization of media content. In the end this article tends to carry out some strategies and suggestions.


Objective To analyze the different expression of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor(HB-EGF) in chorionic villi of the induced abortion(normal pregnancy) and spontaneous abortion early pregnancy(early abortion),and to further discuss the role of HB-EGF in the early abortion.Methods Immunohistochemistry streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase (SP) to detect HB-EGF expression of villus tissue between normal pregnancy and early abortion with women.Results Both of normal pregnancy group and spontaneous abortion group have HBEGF expression in chronic villi,HB-EGF express in villous trophoblastic cell membrane and the cytoplasm.Gray determination compared with the control group,HBEGF expression of villus tissue in spontaneous abortion group was significantly decreased(t=2.48,P=0.02).Conclusion There is a significant difference in HB-EGF expression in chronic villi between the normal pregnancy group and spontaneous abortion group.The expression level of HB-EGF in spontaneous abortion villus tissue was significantly lower than early pregnancy.The expressions of HB-EGF play an important role in spontaneous abortion.The reduction of HB-EGF in villous trophoblast cells organizations may be the one of the reasons of spontaneous abortion.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of liver stiffness in patients without liver disease using shear wave elastography and to determine the liver stiffness threshold value for identifying patients with chronic liver diseases.


AUTHOR Harriman, Marilyn Williams TITLE 2 + 2 Tech Prep Early Childhood Professions Postsecondary Curriculum Guide: An Articulated Program for Secondary and Postsecondary Students. INSTITUTION Central Texas Coll., Killeen. SPONS !1ENCY Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Austin. PUB DATE Jun 92 NOTE 716p.; For related documents, see ED 339 463 and PS 020 885. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052)


This thesis is an ethnographic study of the Asheninka, an indigenous Amazonian group of eastern central Peru. While situating the Asheninka ethnographically within Amazonian anthropology the project specifically seeks to understand the nature of Asheninka society, notions of sociality and forms of self-identification. It also examines how these forms of thought and practice shape the Asheninka's continuing interactions with Peruvian national society.
My research first seeks to understand the underlying mechanisms that help Asheninka householders to maintain their independent lifestyles. In common with other
Amazonian groups, the Asheninka are most concerned with how to achieve a peaceful existence and 'live well'. Unlike other groups, however, they believe that this is best
achieved by living apart from each other, in autonomous households. Attempting to illustrate what this means in practical terms, my thesis notes the importance of social
gatherings centred on the consumption of masato (manioc beer) in maintaining flexible links between disparate individuals and households. I argue that these gatherings, which are open to everyone (including strangers), provide the Asheninka with a bounded and defined area in which general sociality can occur without infringing on individuals' autonomy. Analysis, based on ethnographic descriptions from fieldwork, is related to wider theoretical debates centring on Amazonian notions of the person, society and relations of affinity and consanguinity.
My thesis also seeks to understand how these ideas affect the way the Asheninka interact with the rest of Peruvian national culture. It examines the Asheninka's reactions to the government's promotion of formal education, land rights and officially recognised 'Comunidades Nativas' ('Native Communities'). It also examines the reactions of Asheninka
to the timber industry and their contemporary and historical relationship with Christianity. Rather than examining the Asheninka's current situation in terms of ideas about 'cultural change' my thesis seeks to understand the intrinsic diversity and flexibility of Asheninka sociality, and to apply this understanding to the manner in which members of this group are interacting with the non-Asheninka world.


Objective To Observe the clinical effect of combined therapy of Chinese and Western medicine in treatment of chronic renal failure. Methods Fifty cases were randomly divided into two groups. 18 cases in control group were treated with Western medicine routine treatment, while 32 cases in treatment group were given Chinese medicine water decoction on the basis of control group. Clinical curative effect, Ccr, Scr and BUN of the two groups were compared. Results After treatment, the total effective rate was 87.10% in treatment group, 61.11% in control group. In changes of Ccr, Scr and BUN, the treatment group was better than those of control group, there was significant difference ( P 0.05). Conclusion Combined therapy of Chinese and Western medicine in treatment of chronic renal failure is effective, it can significantly improve renal function.


Objective To investigate the cognition and behavior related to lifestyle diseases among hospital medical personnel,so as to provide evidence for better health education. Methods One hundred and forty-three hospital medical personnel were surveyed by using the self-designed questionnaire. The subjects included 80 males and 63 females,with an age range of 23-58 years old and an average age of 33. 0 ± 7. 8 years old respectively. They were surveyed on the general information,such as profession,educational background and medical history; knowledge about lifestyle diseases; behavior related to lifestyle diseases; and education about lifestyle diseases. Results The rate of correct responding to most questions was over 60%. It was found that 50. 35% of the participants had physical exercises less than 3 times weekly. The majority of the subjects had physical examination once a year and most of them occasionally or never had their blood pressure examined. The participants with disease history had the initiative to have their blood pressure examined and 74. 13% of them never had their blood glucose monitored voluntarily. They hoped to obtain related knowledge about lifestyle diseases through multiple approaches. Conclusion Hospital medical personnel is a population susceptible to life-style diseases. They have a better knowledge about lifestyle diseases,however their behavior still needs to be improved. Health education is an important strategy for preventing lifestyle diseases.


Purpose: Rivaroxaban is a novel, oral, direct Factor Xa inhibitor in advanced clinical development for the prevention and treatment of thromboembolic disorders. RECORD3 was a phase III trial conducted to compare the efficacy and safety of oral rivaroxaban with subcutaneous enoxaparin for the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients undergoing total knee replacement (TKR).

Method: In this randomized, double-blind trial, patients received rivaroxaban 10 mg once daily (od), or enoxaparin 40 mg od. Enoxaparin was initiated the evening before surgery, and rivaroxaban 6–8 hours after surgery; therapy continued for 10–14 days. The primary efficacy outcome was the composite of any deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), and all-cause mortality. Secondary efficacy outcomes included major VTE (the composite of proximal DVT, PE, and VTE-related death) and symptomatic VTE. Major bleeding was the primary safety outcome. Other safety outcomes included any on-treatment bleeding and hemorrhagic wound complications (the composite of excessive wound hematoma and surgical-site bleeding).

Results: A total of 2531 patients were randomized; 2459 were eligible for inclusion in the safety population and 1702 for the modified intention-to-treat population. The incidence of the primary efficacy outcome was significantly reduced with rivaroxaban compared with enoxaparin (relative risk reduction 49%, p<0.001). Major VTE occurred in 1.0% and 2.6% of patients receiving rivaroxaban and enoxaparin, respectively (relative risk reduction 62%, p=0.016). The incidence of symptomatic VTE was significantly lower in the rivaroxaban group than in the enoxaparin group (p=0.005). Major bleeding rates were 0.6% and 0.5% in the rivaroxaban and enoxaparin groups, respectively, and rates of any on-treatment bleeding were 4.9% and 4.8%, respectively. The incidence of hemorrhagic wound complications was 2.1% in the rivaroxaban group and 1.9% in the enoxaparin group.

Conclusion: Rivaroxaban was significantly more effective than enoxaparin for thromboprophylaxis after TKR. Importantly, the incidence of bleeding was low and similar in both groups. This is the first trial to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of a fixed, unmonitored regimen of an oral, direct Factor Xa inhibitor – rivaroxaban – for thromboprophylaxis after TKR.


In projects of geosynthetically reinforced soil, the design tension values are obtained by considering a global reduction factor on the standard strength value for the reinforcement. This reduction factor is usually subdivided in partial factors, so they may take into account the independent effects of mechanical damage, biological degradation and creep deformations. In reinforced masses, the reduction factor due to mechanical damage is most important and may contribute for a significant reduction of the material's ultimate strength. This paper presents results of pullout tests carried on with mechanically damaged geogrids. Two different geogrids were used in this experimental program. Damage was imposed artificially by physically rupturing a few selected grid elements. The objective of these tests consisted in the influence study of the mechanical damage in the geogrids behavior. The pullout tests were executed under different conditions of relative density. The results indicat that the influence of the damage increases with the relative density of the soil, and suggest that the damage should be investigated from confined tests, taking into consideration the soilgeogrid interaction.


A new type of Coulomb gas is defined, consisting of arbitrary numbers of point charges of two species executing Brownian motions under the influence of their mutual electrostatic repulsion. Being a generalization of a model of identical particles introduced by Dyson as a dynamical system describing non-equilibrium state of various random matrix ensembles, our system gives an exact mathematical description of the Brownian motion of charges of magnitudes $ Q_1 $ and $ Q_2 $, such that $ \beta Q_1 Q_2 = 1 $ on the line or circle, where $\beta$ is an inverse temperature of the gas.


Jan Keene's book 'Understanding Drug Misuse: Models of Care and Control' develops a conceptual framework to give an overview of drugs misuse problems and the solutions and interventions used to treat them. The broad framework comprises three themes – 'dependence', 'health-related harms' and 'social harms', and these themes become the overall structure of the book under which medical, psychological and social approaches to drug misuse are explained and critiqued. The views and beliefs of drugs users are also included to illuminate their perspectives and experiences. The book does not deal with specific types of drugs that might cause problems, or types of problem drug user populations, but instead it takes the standpoint that any drug can create dependency. Therefore, the issues and themes being explained, such as coping and control strategies, cognitive interventions, harm minimization approaches and social support interventions are applicable to the users of any drug whose use might become excessive or chaotic. The main content of the book is structured in a way where the introductory chapter clarifies the terms and contentions, and gives a historical overview of how the dominant theoretical models, policy and practice have unfolded overtime. The three main themes are then presented as conjoined chapters consisting of qualitative interview data drawn from drugs users, followed by a chapter that collates the existing treatment models and approaches, knowledge and research. These supporting chapters include reference to a wealth of literature and evidence from international studies. Chapters 2 and 3 cover issues of 'dependence', how it is understood, and the different approaches devised to tackle it, such as the abstinence approach, the substitution drug approach and the use of cognitive behavioural interventions. Chapters 4 and 5 cover health-related drugs use risks, such as HIV, Hepatitis C and the complications stemming from injecting behaviour. The harm minimization philosophy that emerged from the 1980s as a solution to drugs health harms is analysed. Chapters 6 and 7 examine the social harms caused through dependent drugs lifestyles, such as enhanced social exclusion, unemployment and crime involvement and the way interventions through criminal justice agencies have been devised. The last two chapters provide guidance to drugs work professionals in what to consider when working with clients and centre on motivation to change, relapse and after-care issues. Each chapter breaks the information down under headings and sub-headings, which in the main assists to structure what is a vast use of literature on understanding drugs misuse, drugs treatment and models of intervention. On occasions though, one questions the difference between the materials contained under the marginally different sub-headings. This is especially the case in the qualitative data chapters where the flow of the narrative becomes disjointed from the use of the many sub-headings. These chapters then become my overall criticism of the book. The use of the quotations illustrating drugs users' views, beliefs and perspectives are presented as a string of quotes with little explanation of the context surrounding the responses. The data gives some unique insight into the complex physical and social features of drug dependence which in turn compounds the challenges they face in achieving drugs free lives, or a manageable level of drugs involvement, but in contrast to the other chapters, the data chapters come across as incomplete, and in need of more connection to the book's overall objective. The book deals with numerous themes connected to drugs dependence, health-related harm and social harm, both from drug users' perspectives and the professional and practice solutions, and one might have been forgiven for wondering how this could be achieved given the complex and unique nature of individual drug users' problems and the multitude of treatment, health and social support responses. Yet, the author clearly has an extensive knowledge of this field


The Central Middle East—comprising of Syria, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan—is in need of a legal foundation defined by a constitutional umbrella that governs it as a whole. This is a proposed broad structure of such legal foundation that serves regional legal and economic needs and includes recognition of human rights. The need for such restructuring is evident from the persistence of regional conflict and instability. Conflict and instability have been constants in the region in general and certainly in the listed five states. The issues include political instability, terrorism, continuous threats of fundamentalism, and pervasive disregard to human life and human rights. Israel has had strife with all the four neighboring peoples and states. Meanwhile, political instability either reigns or undermines each of these neighboring states. This article does not attempt to argue the correctness or fairness of what manifested in the first half of the 20th century; it does, however, argue that the political structure and how it continues to be is part of the reason for the conflicts and the instability. * Member and practicing attorney with the Maryland State Bar. I am in debt to Dean John C. Brittain, Professor of Law and former Acting Dean with the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, and colleague Patricia Shnell, for their support, assistance, and invaluable advice, without which this research and manuscript would not have been completed. I must acknowledge the Pace International Law Review editing team, in particular Ms. Emily Golban, for their tireless work.


Ocular morbidities are considered a major contributor of disabling conditions in both low and high resourced countries. The overall global burden of eye diseases is estimated at 61.4 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) which accounts for 4% of total Disability Adjusted Life Years. There have been strong institutional collaborations on attaining Vision 2020-right to sight, which is a global initiative aimed at reducing preventable level of blindness has enhanced institutional collaboration in fight against blindness. Some eye problems that affects people quality of life but do not result in blindness have been ignored in favor of those causing visual impairment. The residents of Mathare slums in Nairobi County, Kenya, seeking care at medical camps, were subjected to an objective eye examination aimed at ascertaining ocular morbidity patterns, causes, and distribution. A descriptive community-based cross-sectional study design was employed. The study persons were patients over ten years who presented with eye-related constraints at the medical camps. The period of study range was between October and November 2022. Results were displayed using descriptions and visualization techniques after data was imported into Excel 2010 for analysis. Results on the pattern indicated a majority of respondents (34.44%) were diagnosed with conjunctiva diseases. This was followed by 30.29% being diagnosed with refractive errors, 11.62% with the cornea, and 8.30% with lens diseases. On distribution, Conjunctiva disease (34.44%) affected most of the respondents, and the majority of these respondents (19.5%) aged between 10 and 20 years affirmed to have atopic Conjunctivitis. A refractive error also commonly affected 30.29% of the participants, with Presbyopia (7.46%) comprising the highest form of refractive error. Cataracts (7.05%) and dry eye syndrome (6.22%) were more evident among patients aged above 40 years. Most of the respondents (43.5%) were found to have pathologies resulting from developmental causes, followed by allergies (24.1%) and refraction errors (10.4%). Hypertension was the most common comorbidity in Mathare slum affecting 12.4% of the respondents; this was followed by peptic ulcer disease (5.4%), diabetes (4.6%), arthritis (2.5%), and lastly, HIV (0.41%). Results showed that ocular Morbidity in the Mathare slum was not associated with determinants like house structure material, number of house rooms, household population, and cooking energy source. It is recommended that health institutions within the Mathare slum and similar contexts be fully equipped with essential eye medications and integrate eye health education in the health facilities. Physical exercise, healthy eating, and medical approved supplements are also recommended to help prevent metabolic disorders and improve age-related eye disorders. Clinical control of existing comorbidities will aid in reducing some eye diseases like cataracts and diabetic retinopathy.


Hypothesis / aims of study Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common problem and is associated with a variety of symptoms. Traditionally, low back pain (LBP) has been described as a symptom of POP. The prevalence of LBP in a population with POP is unknown. Despite the frequent association of LBP and POP in gynecology textbooks, there has only been one study evaluating this association. Heit et al [1] reported no such association in a case-control study, controlling for age and prior prolapse surgery. The aim of this study is to determine if there is a correlation between low back pain (LBP) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP) by assessing for any change in LBP after surgical correction of POP. We hypothesized that surgical correction of POP would lead to improvement in LBP.


The phosphorescence emission spectra and lifetimes of the thiocyanate salts of K+, Ba2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Pb2+, and Ag+ have been measured. The converse absorption process has also been detected and studied. It has been established, as a result of these studies, that the lowest‐energy excited state of the thiocyanate ion is of ···(π)3(π*)1; 3Σ+ nature in the linear NCS− ion. The 240‐mμ transition of NCS−, previously assigned as a charge‐transfer‐to‐solvent (ctts) transition, has been detected in all thiocyanate salt solutions and in gaseous HNCS. This absorptive transition has been reassigned as a ···(π)3(π*)1;1Σ− ← ···(π)4;1Σ+ transition of the isolated ion. This transition possesses some intramolecular charge‐transfer nature and should be expected to exhibit the solvent effects previously adduced as evidence for its supposed ctts nature. A third transition has been detected at 197 mμ in HNCS gas and is tentatively assigned to the transition ···(π)3(π*)1;1Δ ← ···(π)4;1Σ+. A number of other topics are also bro...


Infrared imaging detection has been widely applied in many critical applications in defense systems, and the IR simulation has already become one of the major subjects studied today. The equivalence problem of the IR radiation object simulation was discussed for the function test of the medium -long wave infrared sensor in the infrared warning and tracking equipments. According to these equipments requirement, the short -range equivalence of the IR object was analyzed and calculated. The designed IR objects were discussed that they should have the properties such as high temperature, large IR window, high efficiency of infrared radiation and high accuracy of temperature control. It was provided that the dimension of the IR window should be designed changeably,and the measurement of IR window would be limited through replacing the beam balustrade sheets. Therefore, the medium -long wave IR radiation object simulation can be achieved to meet the demands of manufacturing application on the function test of the medium-long wave infrared warning and tracking equipments.


A study of the mechanical and rheological properties of linear and branched polycarbonates blends is presented. Phase separations of the blends were checked through DSC and SEM, and, subsequently, mechanical and rheological properties were investigated. Phase separations were not observed in the blends. The mechanical properties were examined through tensile, flexural, and impact tests. All the mechanical properties of the blends were relatively independent of the compositions. For study of the rheological properties, melt viscosity, storage and loss moduli, and melt tension of the blends with various compositions were examined at various temperatures. The dependence of the viscosity on the molecular weight was also studied. As the content of branched polycarbonate increases, the dependence of the viscosity on the molecular weight and the shear thinning behavior became more marked. Melt tensions were also increased as the branched polycarbonate content increased in the blends for all tested temperatures. In this study, the blend systems which have same mechanical properties but different rheological properties can be obtained through blending of linear and branched polycarbonates. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 80: 1814–1824, 2001


This paper presents secondary voltage control of power grid using identification of voltage stability index and voltage control areas. Unlike, the traditional secondary voltage control in North America performed directly by switching capacitor banks and other reactive power sources, in the proposed approach generators are chosen first to perform secondary voltage control. The participation of generators in secondary voltage control increases the utilization of reactive power capability of generators as well as decreases the requirement of additional reactive power sources. To perform the control, the power grid is divided into voltage control areas using reactive power sensitivity method. A new technique of secondary voltage control with stability index is presented using vulnerability test considering all buses instead of just the pilot bus. The method is implemented on IEEE 39 bus system for secondary control when subjected to a disturbance and the simulation results are presented.


A field experiment was conducted during the Rabi season of the year 2017-18 on potato with variety Kufri Ashoka to test the recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) levels (0, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150%) with two organic manures (vermicompost 5 t/ha and mustard oil cake 2.5 t/ha) at research farm of Tirhut college of Agriculture Dholi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar. The experiment was carried out in randomized block design (RBD) with twelve treatments and replicated thrice. The soil of experimental plot was Entisols, sandy loam in texture under low available in N, P and K with pH 8.3. Among the yield, nutrient uptake and available nutrient in soil after harvesting of potato were recorded higher with the application of treatment T11 - 150% RDF + 5.0 t/ha vermicompost which was significantly superior over T1 - absolute control, T2 - 100% RDF, T3 - 50% RDF + 5.0 t/ha vermicompost, T4 - 50% RDF + 2.5 t/ha mustard oil cake, T5 - 75% RDF + 5.0 t/ha vermicompost and T6 - 75% RDF + 2.5 t/ha mustard oil cake but was statistically at par with treatments, T7 - 100% RDF + 5.0 t/ha vermicompost, T8 - 100% RDF + 2.5 t/ha mustard oil cake, T9 - 125% RDF + 5.0 t/ha vermicompost, T10 - 125% RDF + 2.5 t/ha mustard oil cake and T12 - 150% RDF + 2.5 t/ha mustard oil cake.


Advances in computational power have lead to many developments in science and entertainment. Powerful simulations which required expensive supercomputers can now be carried out on a consumer personal computer and many children and young adults spend countless hours playing sophisticated computer games. The focus of this research is the development of tools which can help bring the entertaining and appealing traits of video games to scientific education. Video game developers use many tools and programming languages to build their games, for example the Blender 3D content creation suite. Blender includes a Game Engine that can be used to design and develop sophisticated interactive experiences. One important tool in computer graphics and animation is the particle system, which makes simulated effects such as fire, smoke and fluids possible. The particle system available in Blender is unfortunately not available in the Blender Game Engine because it is not fast enough to run in real-time. One of the main factors contributing to the rise in computational power and the increasing sophistication of video games is the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Many consumer personal computers are equipped with powerful GPUs which can be harnassed for general purpose computation. This thesis presents a particle system library is accelerated by the GPU using the OpenCL programming language. The library integrated into the Blender Game Engine providing an interactive platform for exploring fluid dynamics and creating video games with realistic water effects. The primary system implemented in this research is a fluid simulator using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics technique for simulating incompressible fluids such as water. The library created for this thesis can simulate water using SPH at 40fps with upwards


Inter-organisational collaboration in the human services is challenging because of the multiple and complex nature of the inherent potential sources of conflict. In this paper, a conceptual framework is advanced for assessing the sources of conflict at five levels of analysis: (i) inter-organisational; (ii) intra-organisational; (iii) inter-professional; (iv) inter-personal; and (v) intra-personal. While yet to be systematically tested, this conceptual framework may assist practitioners, managers and policy makers in the human services to enhance collaboration across organisational and sectoral boundaries.


We review the three types of laser beams - Hermite-Gaussian (HG), Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) and the newly discovered Ince-Gaussian (IG) beams. We discuss the helical forms of the LG and IG beams that consist of linear combinations of the even and odd solutions and form a number of vortices that are useful for optical trapping applications. We discuss how to generate these beams by encoding the desired amplitude and phase onto a single parallel-aligned liquid crystal display (LCD). We introduce a novel interference technique where we generate both the object and reference beams using a single LCD and show the vortex interference patterns.


Agriculture is a confirmed path to success. No region of the world has developed a diverse, modern economy without first establishing a successful foundation in agriculture. Food security is an enduring critical challenge in Ethiopia. The 2015 El Nino drought is one of the strongest droughts that have been recorded in Ethiopian antiquity. The study aims to evaluate the impacts of climate change and fertilizers applied on barley yield per hectare from 1987 to 2017 using an autoregressive distributed lag to cointegration approach. The mean barley yield was 11.47 quintal per hectare. The Long run bounded test for cointegration among the variables show signal of a long-run relationship with a short run among climate change, fertilizers applied and barley yield per hectare. Based on the value of adjusted R2, the explanatory variables explained almost 76% of the variation in the yield of barley. In the long run estimates every 1% rise in current average dap decrease the yield per hectare of barley by 28.76% at citrus paribus and a 1% rise in current precipitation and rainfall increase the yield of barley by 2.768% and 0.41% respectively keeping the effect of one variable to the other constant. The speed of adjustment is -0.381557 which is highly significant indicating the speed of the adjustment back to the long run equilibrium after a short run shock.


The aim of the study was to show the differences in the game statistics related to the service in professional and junior category in three surfaces and to determine statistical differences during the game regarding both categories. A total of 269 individual Grand Slam tennis matches (Australian Open, Wimbledon and Roland Garros) were selected on three different surfaces (hard court, grass and clay). The data was collected from the official websites of the tournaments. A total of 10 variables were analyzed in professional category and 7 in junior. Absolute players obtained higher values (p <0.05) of aces, aces per set, percentage of 1st Services and points won with 1st and 2nd Service and committed fewer double faults per set than juniors in all surfaces. It is concluded that the increase in performance in the variables related to the service plays a decisive role in order to achieve a professional status.


The present invention relates to a 2-substituted 3-aryl-methanone 6- (5-methyl-2-phenyl-oxazole-4-ethoxy) benzofuran compounds; said 2-substituted-3 aryl methanone 6- (5-methyl-2-phenyl-oxazole-4-ethoxy) benzofuran compounds of the formula: compared with the prior art, the present invention starting from 3-substituted phenyl ketone and an aromatic ring center furan, benzofuran in 6 is introduced (5-methyl-2-phenyl-4-yl) ethoxy, to give the novel compound, and to establish and optimize the preparation of a compound, and novel antibacterial compound screening assays were prepared, part of the new compounds prepared by preliminary tests in vitro antibacterial confirmed to have excellent broad spectrum antibacterial activity, can be used for the preparation of novel antibacterial drugs.


Contemporary economics stands implicated in the triumph of possessive individualism. In viewing the individual as nothing but a utility-maximizing consumer, economic theory offers apologetics for the self-interested tendencies that imperil personhood. Managerial capitalism reifies the acquisitive urges embedded in contemporary economics. As the defects of managerial capitalism become apparent, escape seems impossible. This mental barrier persists because economics is not an evolutionary science. An economy is always in the process of becoming, and yet economic theory denies this "becoming" to consumers whose tastes and preferences are assumed to be unchanging—and none of our business. The escape requires an evolutionary economics that recognizes the individual as constantly engaged in a process of experiencing life and necessarily adapting to it. In that dynamic process, individuals are also crafting their own future. An evolutionary economics can help light the way as societies seek escape from the grip of possessive individualism.


The human exposure issue and the impact over Different types of tissues in case of (short or even long term) exposure to radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMF) should be definitely taken into consideration. The here presented paper proposed a study over the values of specific absorption rate (SAR) in case of human exposure to a far electromagnetic field source, considering various types of exposure situations. The SAR values for 10 g of tissue have been determined by simulations with CST Suite Studio software, using a 3D model of the human body proposed by the authors. The determined SAR values were also compared with those recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation protection (ICNIRP) and IEEE Standards for Safety Levels (2005). Additionally, a convergence study has been done over the SAR values obtained by simulations for assumed scenarios.


or improved in a weekend by most any computer science student. The genius lay in conceiving of it in the first place. Therein is the real and profound challenge of technology: to under stand what we are doing so funda mentally and thoroughly that we can distill it to something so simple that even a computer can perform it. In designing and choosing sys tems for our office, I am constantly asking myself: What is it that we really do? After 25 years, I'm still coming up with new answers. Here is my checklist for explor ing what w do as family lawyers. I think of this list as the bedrock assumpt ons that we should exam ine regularly before we get too caught up the daily toil of serving our clients.


This chapter focuses on the constitutional implications of the UK's membership of the European Union and the constitutional implications of its exit from the EU (or 'Brexit'). The chapter examines how EU law was accommodated within the UK legal system during the period of the UK's membership of the EU, and in particular considers the consequences of the primacy of EU law for the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. The chapter also considers the extent to which lessons learned about the UK constitution as a result of EU membership will remain relevant now that the UK has left the EU.


In this note, we study deformations of a non-uniform real hyperbolic lattice in quaternionic hyperbolic spaces. Specially we show that the representations of the fundamental group of the figure eight knot complement into PU(2,1) cannot be deformed in $PSp(2,1)$ out of PU(2,1) up to conjugacy.


We present a novel framework for socially competent pedestrian navigation based on understanding pedestrians' intentions and planning intent-expressive robot motion. We model pedestrians' intentions as combinations of intended topological routes and intended destinations. The core of this approach is a novel topological representation of a pedestrian scene, based on braid groups. This representation is used as a basis for the development of an online navigation algorithm, designed according to conclusions of recent psychology studies on action interpretation and sociology studies on human pedestrian behavior. Simulation results demonstrate the potential of our approach for use in real world pedestrian environments.


Cite this article as: Chandran K, Lekha T, Giridhar A, Neena R. Utility of multimodal imaging in the detection and follow-up of retinal astrocytic hamartomas in a young girl with tuberous sclerosis complex. Indian J Ophthalmol 2022;70:2725-7. This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‐commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.


Author Yayra Asare Title Evaluating the Automated Clearing System at Ghana's Port: Its Impact on Imports and Exports Year 2017 Language English Pages 56 + 3 Appendices Name of Supervisor Satu Lautamäki Ghana has one of the most important ports in the West African sub-region. Its contributions cannot be overemphasized. The ports have become a major contributor to Ghana's economy. Given that Ghana's goal is to become the gateway to West-Africa, port services and processes will need to satisfy the needs of customers, businesses, importers and exporters. In 2002, Ghana introduced the port automation in Tema port as a mechanism to ensure efficiency and a paperless system. The purpose of the study was therefore to examine the automated clearing system at Tema port in Ghana and assess its impact on cargo clearing. This research will addressed the problems and found out the challenges related to the custom clearance operations, as well as suggested possible solutions to reducing these problems to improve the services at the ports. The case study design based on the quantitative research approach was relied on for this research. It was found out that a well-established system of cargo clearing was put in place and widely advocated to all the stakeholders involved in the industry. However, it was also discovered that port automation has had a minimal impact on the duration of cargo clearing cargo because of the constant demands for hardcopies of documents already submitted online. It is therefore recommended that there should be a mechanism put in place which will not require the various stakeholders to submit hard copies of documents that have already been submitted electronically at the port. The study also recommends various stakeholders such as CEPS and other regulatory agencies with regards to port operations and custom clearance procedures to be given the necessary orientation about procedures involved in clearing goods at the port.


Measures of young children's social development are needed in the Multi-Tier System of Supports (MTSS) approach to early childhood. In 2004, we reported initial development of an observational measure of infants' and toddlers' social skills designed for early educators, the Early Social Indicator (ESI). Here, we report preliminary findings on the ESI's feasibility, sustainability, and sensitivity to growth in social engagement based on a large, multiyear sample of children in one early childhood program that agreed to pilot the measure. Results indicated that ESI use by program staff was sustained over a 5-year period. Program staff were reliable coding a range of children's positive and negative nonverbal and verbal social skills. However, staff were not reliable when coding the target of a child's social response when it was not the Adult play partner (i.e., the Peer, or Nondirected target). Results documented sensitivity to growth over time, dynamic patterns of change within and across key skills consistent with the typical course of social development, and moderation by children's home language and Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) status. Implications are discussed.


Objective To evaluate production sites for cantonese-style mooncakes in completion of works food hygiene and safety control facilities,and to provide technical basis of quality supervision departments for the health examination.Methods Based on the general evaluation method,hygiene survey and engineering analysis of health was carried out in completion of production sites.Indicators of process water,trial production and workshop illumination,the total air bacteria were detected and evaluated.Results In production sites,the layout and equipment arrangement, disinfection and sanitation of the set were in accord with the national related regulation.The values of working surface illumination in 12 sites were 226-554 lx with the qualified rate of 100%;4 examined the total air bacteria were 14 cfu/ plate with qualified rate of 100%,a water sample for the production and 2 conventional trial-production products met the standards;but freezing cold blast of air purification device for products was not set.Conclusion Food hygiene and safety control measures are bascial in line with the hygiene regulation,and control effect achieves the requirement of standards;but freezing cold air supply for products must be improved.


This article reports on a study of the psychosocial adjustment to age-related macular degeneration of 30 elderly persons by comparing the responses of subjects with this condition to those from age- and sex-matched controls on four psychosocial scales: life satisfaction, daily hassles, social support, and self-esteem. The subjects with the condition reported significantly poorer life satisfaction and greater stress, perhaps as a result of poor social support.


Research into styles in psychology (from the 1950s to the 2000s) has undergone a kind of life cycle − from styles being widely studied to those falling into oblivion. Further constructive study of this problem requires creation of new R&D (research and development) programs, generalization of the experience gained in various schools of thought. The paper aims to provide a historical and theoretical analysis concerning the results of research on the phenomenon of «style» in Russian psychology; the research subject is the phenomenon of style (individual style of activity, styles of activity, styles of business communication). Hypotheses: 1. Regular reproduction of the same standard approaches in research and development does not promote constructive progress in the study of a scientific problem. 2. The study of the phenomenon of «style» based on the model of business communication styles allows us to emphasize several aspects in the evolution and functioning of style that were not distinguished when studying styles on other models (educational, sports, work). The article critically analyzes the history and results of studying the problem of style (individual style of activity, styles of activity) in Russian psychology (particularly within the Perm school), the use of the concept of «system» in Russian psychology, attitudes towards scientific opponents, trends in R & D within one school of thought, etc. The conditions for further constructive studies of the phenomenon of style are discussed (using new models that contribute to the discovery of new properties of style, making it possible not to attribute but to study its systemic properties as a unique psychological system; raising questions about the place and role of different styles in the processes of a phenomenon's formation–development–functioning– disintegration, about the unity and difference of styles in the «chain» of their manifestations, about their structural and functional unity, about the self-similarity of their organization, etc.). Use of the model of business communication styles is believed to contribute to solving relevant scientific problems.


The paper investigates nonlinear eigenvalue problem for a vertical homogeneous rod loaded with its own weight only. The critical length of the rod, for which the rod loses its stability, is found by use of bifurcation theory. Dependence of maximal deflections of the rods on their lengths is given.


Cellulosomes are multi‐enzyme complexes that orchestrate the efficient degradation of cellulose and related plant cell wall polysaccharides. The complex is maintained by the high‐affinity protein–protein interaction between two complementary modules: the cohesin and the dockerin. In order to characterize the interaction between different cohesins and dockerins, we have developed matching fusion‐protein systems, which harbor either the cohesin or the dockerin component. For this purpose, corresponding plasmid cassettes were designed, which encoded for the following carrier proteins: (i) a thermostable xylanase with an appended His‐tag; and (ii) a highly stable cellulose‐binding module (CBM). The resultant xylanase–dockerin and CBM–cohesin fusion products exhibited high expression levels of soluble protein. The expressed, affinity‐purified proteins were extremely stable, and the functionality of the cohesin or dockerin component was retained. The fusion protein system was used to establish a sensitive and reliable, semi‐quantitative enzyme‐linked affinity assay for determining multiple samples of cohesin–dockerin interactions in microtiter plates. A variety of cohesin–dockerin systems, which had been examined previously using other methodologies, were revisited applying the affinity‐based enzyme assay, the results of which served to verify the validity of the approach. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract : This final report presents progress achieved during a three and one-half year postdoctoral research project to determine the optimum technique factors for screen-film mammography. This work project has analyzed the effects of mammography film, processing conditions, and technique factor selection (target-filtration, kvp, and resultant film optical densities) on image contrast and low-contrast lesion detection. New methods of evaluating film, processing, and technique factors were developed, leading to new quality control tests and a simple set of rules for optimizing technique factors in screen-film mammography. These rules were applied to approximately two dozen clinical sites involved in the Colorado Mammography Advocacy Project (CMAP). Improved technique factors were recommended and the resulting improvement in image quality at CMAP sites has been evaluated.


When we refer to locomotion in Virtual Reality (VR) we subtend a vast and variegated number of investigations, solutions and devices coming from both research and industry. Despite this richness, a consolidated methodology for evaluating the many locomotion techniques available is still lacking. The present paper extends a previous work in which authors performed a user study-based comparison between two common locomotion techniques, i.e., Arm Swinging, and an omnidirectional treadmill with a containment ring. In the study, users were engaged in a realistic immersive VR scenario depicting a fire event in a road tunnel. Remaining adherent to the previously defined methodology, the current work widens the comparison to consider two other locomotion methods (keeping results obtained with the former technique above for reference purposes), namely, a different treadmill constraining the user through a top-mounted independent support structure, and Walk-in-Place, a technique which allows the user to move in the virtual environment by performing a natural marching gesture by exploiting two sensors placed on his or her legs.


The article presents an algorithm of dissecting pancreatic ductal tumours. The algorithm will enable us to prospectively evaluate prognostic factors of the disease including resectability of pancreatic cancer, stage of disease, cancer cell differentiation, tumour biology, perineural and/or vascular invasion. This will allow us to develop an interdisciplinary approach to treating pancreatic ductal tumours.


This study has been conducted with the purpose to examine the marketing effects of waiting lines on the customer- and brand experience. Our ambition has been to describe how the waiting line can be ...


Tomatoes in Ethiopia are conventionally grown in an open field during dry periods using irrigation. Rain fed tomato production in an open field was considered difficult mainly because of disease attack leading to complete destruction of tomato plants since rain contact with the foliage favors development and spread of diseases. Seasonality of production and fluctuations in the supply of fresh tomatoes leading to market glut during in season and shortage during off season was also reported in many countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Nepal and India. Rain fed tomato production in an open field is however successfully demonstrated with the use of appropriate integrated disease management (IDM) practices. Multiple strategies of using cultural, physical, mechanical, biological and chemical options help to limit development and spread of diseases. Control measures include the use of resistant varieties, seeds free from pathogens, seed treatment, improved drainage, proper sanitation, keeping cultivated fields clean and free from weeds and other foreign material that can serve as host for the pathogens. Appropriate field bed preparation, spacing, fertilization and destroying infected plants and throwing them away from the field are also vital. Site selection is an important initial step for IDM where well drained soil is preferred. Tomatoes benefit from crop rotation. Growing tomato in a field planted the previous season with tomato, pepper, eggplant, or other solanaceous crop should be avoided. Ridging and staking are also crucial specifically to drain excess water and to avoid foliage and fruit contact with the soil, respectively. It may also be critical to apply preventive and curative fungicides. Spraying fungicides namely, Agrolaxyl (3 kg/ha) and Ridomil Gold Mz 68 WG (3kg/ha), interchangeably at seven to ten days interval depending on the weather condition and disease incidence were found effective in mitigating the development of foliar fungal diseases at Woreta in Ethiopia. Scouting to monitor for plant disease symptoms and analysis of every hour weather conditions should be seriously considered, otherwise, tomato plants that appear healthy this morning or evening would be completely lost the other morning or evening for diseases such as late blight spreads very fast wiping away plants within a short time.


Introduction Optimal placental blood flow is essential for adequate materno-fetal nutrient exchange and a successful gestation. In maternal diabetes the placenta is often large with abnormal vascular development. To date, it has not been possible to study placental blood flow in detail, but MRI potentially provides such a technique. Aims To compare blood flow within the placenta in diabetic and control pregnancies using MRI. Methods Six women with diabetes and six controls had MRI scans at 24–26 weeks. A 1.5 T Philips Achieva MRI scanner was used. The IVIM sequence was respiratory gated, standard diffusion pulsed spin echo sequence acquired with five transverse slices encompassing the placenta at 12 b values, repeated five times. Analysis was performed to calculate the fractional moving blood volume (f, range 0–1) in each voxel of the entire placenta. Results The mean value of f in the two groups was similar; control (0.37) and diabetic (0.34). The women with diabetes had wider distributions of f with a lower mode (0.26 vs 0.32, p=0.04) and a borderline increased fraction of voxels with very high perfusion (f >0.8) at 4.1% vs 2.5% in controls (p=0.06). Conclusions We have for the first time antenatally demonstrated a difference in the distribution of placental blood flow in women with diabetes using MRI. It is possible that the high velocity blood flow observed in some intervillous spaces is of pathological significance. MRI provides a potentially valuable tool for the investigation of placental blood flow.


Since the discovery of the hepatitis C virus in 1989, many epidemiological data have been acquired, especially in Europe. Treatments have showed substantial improvement over the past 25 years and have taken a great leap forward with the development of the direct antiviral agents (DAAs). However, the burden of hepatitis C remains important in Europe with more than 5 million individuals living with HCV in the European Union. The peak of highest incidence occurred between 1970 and 1990 in most countries through transfusion, unsafe care and development of intravenous drug use. Transmission among intra-venous drug users is still an issue in most European countries, providing the majority of the new cases of HCV infection. Due to the chronic state of the viral infection and the usual slow progression of the liver disease, the peak of prevalence occurred around 2010, but the peak of complications, such as decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma is still to come in most of the European countries.1 The risk of cirrhosis is usually estimated at 10 to 20% in 20 to 30 years of HCV infection evolution,2 higher in men than in women, but this risk increases in case of comorbidities such as excessive alcohol consumption, diabetes, obesity, HBV or HIV coinfection. The risk of decompensated cirrhosis can be estimated at 2 to 3% per year and that of hepatocellular carcinoma at 1 to 4% per year, also depending on the presence of comorbidities. In the next future, the challenge will be to identify infected people and treat with new effective treatments all patients at risk of developing complications, with the objective of decreasing the disease burden. Large discrepancies exist in Europe between countries in terms of knowledge of the disease burden, rate of infected people screened and access to treatment. All these factors play a major role on the expected evolution of the HCV epidemics. In countries where drug use has been the major risk factor of transmission, where screening and access to treatment are at a low level (e.g. England), the risk of decompensated cirrhosis, HCC and liver transplant will still increase in the coming years. By contrast, in countries where transfusions have played a large role in the diffusion of the epidemics, where screening and access to treatment


A persistent data structure, also known as a multiversion data structure in the database literature, is a data structure that preserves all its previous versions as it is updated over time. Every update (inserting, deleting, or changing a data record) to the data structure creates a new version, while all the versions are kept in the data structure so that any previous version can still be queried. Persistent data structures aim at recording all versions accurately, which results in a space requirement that is at least linear to the number of updates. In many of today's big data applications, in particular, for high-speed streaming data, the volume and velocity of the data are so high that we cannot afford to store everything. Therefore, streaming algorithms have received a lot of attention in the research community, which uses only sublinear space by sacrificing slightly on accuracy. All streaming algorithms work by maintaining a small data structure in memory, which is usually called a sketch, summary, or synopsis. The summary is updated upon the arrival of every element in the stream, thus it is ephemeral, meaning that it can only answer queries about the current status of the stream. In this article, we aim at designing persistent summaries, thereby giving streaming algorithms the ability to answer queries about the stream at any prior time.


Objective To investigate the pathological basis of blood stasis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with carotid atherosclerosis, and to observe the effects of puerarin on blood theology and cell adhesion molecules. Methods Eighty cases with blood stasis syndrome of T2DM patients with carotid atherosclerosis were randomly divided into treatment group and control group. All patients were given conventional diet control and conventional treatment of DM. puerarin was additionally injected in the patients of treatment group for 15 days. Blood theology, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were detected before and after treatment. Results When compared with control group, blood theology, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and hs-CRP in treatment group were significantly decreased (all P<0.01). Conclusions Puerarin can improve the blood stasis hemorheology of T2DM patients with carotid atherosclerosis and blood stasis, and regulate the express of immune cell adhesion molecules, effectively prevent or delay the genetate and development of T2DM with carotid atherosclerosis.


Neural interfaces are aimed at creating an intimate contact with neural cells, either to stimulate the nerves or to record neural signals. This would allow the development of effective neurocontrolled artificial devices. Multipolar intraneural electrodes are developed to selectively control different muscles. In particular, the new Transversal Intraneural Multichannel Electrode (TIME) is able to selectively stimulate different muscle groups with different active sites. In order to assess the potential improvements of multipolar stimulation with TIME electrodes, a simulation study has been carried out by combining a Finite Element/NEURON model of the rat sciatic nerve together with a genetic algorithm to find the best current configuration for a tripolar stimulation. The results show that a modest improvement of selectivity can be achieved by using multipolar stimulation.


This research aims to test the immune effect of the purified and concentrated porcine parvovirus inactivated vaccine.The average amount of the porcine parvovirus was increased from 10~(4.7) TCID(50)/mL to 10~(6.5)TCID_(50)/mL by applying the microfiltration/ultrafiltration tubular ceramic membrane system to purify and concentrate the porcine parvovirus vaccine cells liquid.Next,the purified concentrated porcine parvovirus virus was inactivated by formaldehyde and passed the test.Then it was used to produce the water-in-oil inactivated vaccines along with the injectable mineral white oil.In accordance with the quality standard of viral inactivation vaccine for Porcine Parvovirus,the immune effect tests have been done.The result show that;the removal rate of impure protein in porcine parvovirus virus liquid is about 71.6% .All three groups of the produced inactivated vaccine meet the standard.After 63 days immunization,the porcine parvovirus antibody level(HI)in immunized pigs is:9.62 log_2 dilution ratio in average for purified and concentrated inactivated vaccine and 8.78 log_2 dilution ratio for conventional vaccines respectively.The difference is significant(P 0.05).The test shows that:the immune effect of inactivated vaccine with inactivated virus liquid membrane purification process was significantly better than the normal vaccines without the purification.


In the diffusion sampler, the coefficient of diffusion of a gas in air and the geometry of the tube were treated separately. The diffusional flux through the tube was calculated using JA = D(A/L)c and for electrical current through a conductor I = E/R where I = current (C/s), E = potential difference (V), and R = resistance (ohms). Resistance to diffusional flux was expressed as L/A. The similarities between Fick's law and Ohm's law were concentrated on; a series of NO/sub 2/ samplers were modified. The total resistance to diffusion of the two tubes in series (L/sup 1//A/sup 1/) was calculated from the relationship: (L/sup 1//A/sup 1/ = L/sub 1/-L/sub 2//A/sub 1/ + L/sub 2//A/sub 2/) where L/sub 1/ and A/sub 1/ are length and cross-sectional area of tube 1, and L/sub 2/ and A/sub 2/ are length and cross-sectional area of tube 2. In all cases A/sub 1/ was 0.713 cm/sup 2/, L/sub 1/ was 7.10 cm, and A/sub 2/ was 0.079 cm/sup 2/. The quantities of NO/sub 2/ captured by the samplers in each of three runs were shown as percent of the amount captured by the unaltered (L/sub 2/=O) samplers. Actual quantities of NO/sub 2/ capturedmore » and relative diffusional fluxes predicted from tube dimensions are included. Linear regression analysis comparing experimental values with those predicted from A/sup 1//L/sup 1/ gave the following results for runs 1, 2, 3, and average, respectively: slope 0.995, 1.007, 0.993, and 0.999; intercept -0.07, -1.59, 0.06, and -0.52; correlation 0.999 in all cases. Thus, the results fit the theory well within limits of accuracy of the test systems, and demonstrate that diffusional resistances in series, like electrical resistances, are additive. 1 figure, 1 table. (DP)« less


INTRODUCTION
PTSD is associated with comprehensive disruption of several neurobiological regulation mechanisms and with a disruption in the parasympathetic-sympathetic balance. This can be measured with the heart rate variability (HRV).

METHODS
A systematic review in PubMed using the keywords "hrv" or "heart rate variability" and "PTSD" or "posttraumatic stress disorder" was performed.

RESULTS
Overall 15 original studies were identified. In most cases a significant relationship of PTSD for reduction of HRV was demonstrated (9 studies) or, respectively, a reduction by trends was shown in 3 studies. Limitations were discussed.

DISCUSSION
In spite of the limitations, most of the studies have shown a relationship between PTSD and HRV. However, an assessment of this potential marker as a supplement for clinical diagnosis and therapy follow-up in patients with PTSD seems to be premature on the basis of the data obtained so far. Further research is required.


The country bunny attains the exalted position of Easter Bunny in spite of her responsibilities as the mother of twenty-one children. "It is difficult to believe that this very modern feminist tale was originally written in 1939. A gem of a fantasy in which kindness and cleverness win out over size and brawn." -- Learning Magazine


In work presented the results of research the algorithms of experimental data visualization, which obtain in the simulation of materials. The algorithms study was carried out on the example of the complete cycle for calculating the properties of an ideal diamond crystal. The calculation of crystal lattice properties was carried out using a software package for materials simulation. The obtained experimental data were analyzed using program REM_Viewer in which have been realized the algorithms of data visualization.


Glycolipids play important roles in the biology of prokaryotes and eukaryotes, including humans, and although theyare found on the cell-membrane surface of all eukaryotic cells, not much is known a ...


Superconducting fault current limiters (SFCL) are designed to protect the electrical grid from faults that result from lightning strikes, downed power lines and other system interruptions. The rapid increase of impedance of the SFCL reduces the short current in the circuit. Several coreless constructions of inductive SFCLs have been tested. The space between the windings is the thick of the polyimide film kapton insulation to increase the coupling and reduces the leakage reactance. Both primary and secondary windings have been immersed in liquid nitrogen. The presented solutions reduce the size and the weight of the device. A few limiters based on HTS 1G and HTS 2G tapes has been described, tested and compared.


Abstract In 2012 the UNESCO World Heritage Committee added to its World Heritage List the 'Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the subak system as a manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy'. Barely a year later, UNESCO had become sufficiently concerned about reports of various problems that it advised the Government of Indonesia of these concerns. Through ethnographic study of the initial implementation of the listing, this article reveals problems of uncontrolled development, and disputes over the allocation of benefits to local communities, and challenges to effective governance. It focuses on two key locations of the site, offering an analysis of problems, their causes and effects. Beginning with the premise that the gulf of understanding between the global World Heritage system and local communities often creates a range of unintended consequences, this article reveals the many 'awkward engagements' that have emerged 'on the ground' in Bali as local agencies of government are left to their own devices to manage the World Heritage site.


An ultra-low energy KHz timer/oscillator circuit suitable for heavily duty cycled systems is presented. The proposed oscillator design utilizes a 3-stage ring topology made of CMOS Schmitt trigger delay cells biased with sub-nA currents. To extract a maximum delay per stage, high and low threshold voltages of the delay cells are set at supply and ground potentials, respectively. An ultra low power non-overlap buffer circuit that consumes less than 500 pA current and provides faster transition times of


Kenaf (Hibiscus Cannabinus L.) that belongs to the family of Malvaceae is abundantly grown in Malaysia since 2006 to replace tobacco plantation as it is inexpensive, easy to grow, and biodegradable. The use of kenaf as adsorbent is seen as an attractive and innovative method, and it has been used for various adsorptions. Adsorption is a promising technology that has the ability to capture carbon dioxide (CO2), the predominant contributor of global climate change. Inspired by the established and well–known amine–based absorption process of carbon capture and storage technology, the development towards new adsorbent by introducing amine functional group has been studied. Therefore, this study explores the potential of modified kenaf as adsorbent by incorporating amine functional group on the surface and investigates the CO2 adsorptive characteristics of amine–modified kenaf adsorbent using pressure swing adsorption system (PSA). The preparation of amine–modified kenaf was conducted via the incipient wetness impregnation technique. The physical and structural characteristics of amine–modified kenaf were determined via micromeritics 3 flex, field emission scanning electrons microscopy, energy dispersive x–ray, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analyzer. The results show that the types of amine, amine loading concentration, and impregnation time affect the physical and structural properties of kenaf and thus affecting the capability for capturing CO2. Screening of various types of amines via PSA revealed that tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) has recorded the highest CO2 adsorption (0.914 mmol/g). Further examination on amine loading divulged that kenaf to TEPA ratio of 1:2 presents the highest CO2 adsorption (2.086 mmol/g) with 5 hour impregnation time. To examine the utilization of amine–modified kenaf adsorbent in PSA system, pressure bed, adsorption time, and feed flowing rate were evaluated. The result revealed that these parameters affect the gas adsorption of amine–modified kenaf adsorbent. The regeneration study had shown that kenaf adsorbent could sustain the repeated adsorption/desorption cyclic operations. This study also found that physical and chemical adsorption occurred during the adsorption of CO2 on raw kenaf and amine–modified kenaf. Thus, amine–modified kenaf adsorbent has high potential to be used as low–cost CO2 agro–based adsorbent hence inducing towards innovative material in the field of gas adsorption.


Over several decades, wave gears have been intensively used in engineering and instrumentation, providing high quality characteristics, that is, kinematic accuracy, backlash error, efficiency, torsional stiffness, etc. The process of cutting teeth on round work parts of flexible gears cannot provide adequate accuracy. Therefore, it is important to estimate the possibility of increasing the accuracy of flexible gears by changing the manufacturing technology of flexible wheel teeth. This paper analyses the influence of the flexible wheel manufacturing technique on the kinematic accuracy of the wave gear. Experimental studies of the kinematic accuracy are performed. The effect of manufacturing technique of the flexible wheel and manufacturing errors of wave gear elements on the kinematic accuracy of the wave gear is investigated. It is shown that the kinematic accuracy of the wave gear with flexible wheels cut in the deformed state is higher than that for the wave gear with wheels manufactured in the undeformed state. The results of the study will be useful for manufacturing high-precision kinematic gears.


Summary. Human volunteers were given orally 0, 50 or 1000 mg of tetracycline/day for the 4 days preceding and the 5 days following ingestion of 1–2 x 106 cells of tetracycline resistant Escherichia coli strain x-314 of bovine origin. Of those receiving 0, 50 or 1000 mg of tetracycline/day, 9/13, 5/9 and 12/13, respectively, excreted the organism at least once during the 25-day sampling period. Significant differences were not observed between subjects receiving 0 or 50 mg of tetracycline/day with respect to the length of time the coliform was recovered from faeces, or the maximum proportion of the total coliforms found to be E. coli x-314. Those receiving 1000 mg of tetracycline/day shed E. coli x-314 for longer periods and the latter's contribution to the coliform population was greater than in those subjects receiving 0 or 50 mg of tetracycline/day. It was concluded that 1000, but not 50 mg, of tetracycline/day taken orally potentiates the establishment of a tetracycline resistant E. coli in the enteric tract of man.


In recent years artificial intelligence techniques have been extensively applied to. real world problems. Two common characteristics of the problems amenable to heuristics are: their large search space that makes exhaustive search practically impossible; and for most applications the need to find a near-optimal solution instead of exact in a reasonable and cost effective time frame. Most of the problems throughout the design of Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) circuits are combinatorial, which implies a huge search space. Furthermore the sheer number of components makes exhaustive search impossible. One of the common problems in this area is routing the terminals in the layout in a reasonable amount of time. Until very recently, manual routing was the most reliable way of doing routing. As the scale of integration grows, manual routing becomes practically impossible. There has been lots of research and studies on how automated routing can successfully replace manual routing. The purpose of this thesis is a to find an automated method that helps find a good solution to this problem in a reasonable amount of time.


The present paper introduces the most typical form of business communication, including the main phases of business meetings. Among the many existing models, the author has chosen one that is the most widespread in this country, known as the eight-phase model. She describes that model by drawing a parallel between its phases and the well-known factors of classical rhetoric: the tasks of the orator and the main parts of an oratory. The aim of the paper is to draw the reader's attention to the fact that it is worthwhile and useful to describe modern business communication in terms of our knowledge of ancient rhetoric


A coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM is being developed for use in seasonal forecasting. As part of the development work, a number of experiments have been made to explore some of the sensitivities of the coupled model system. The overall heat balance of the tropics is found to be very sensitive to convective cloud cover. Adjusting the cloud parameterization to produce stable behaviour of the coupled model also leads to better agreement between model radiative fluxes and satellite data. A further sensitivity is seen to changes in low-level marine stratus, which is under-represented in the initial model experiments. An increase in this cloud in the coupled model produces a small improvement in both the global mean state and the phase of the east Pacific annual cycle. The computational expense of investigating such small changes is emphasized. An indication of model sensitivity to surface albedo is also presented. The sensitivity of the coupled GCM to initial conditions is investigated. The model is very sensitive, with tiny perturbations able to determine El Nino or non-El Nino conditions just six months later. This large sensitivity may be related to the relatively weak amplitude of the model ENSO cycle. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0870.1994.t01-3-00004.x


Controlling for possible treatment effects, medication, E bias, and constancy of fixation, schizophrenic patients were found to have a smaller figural aftereffect than a nonschizophrenic group. Earlier reports of displacement of the T figure toward the I figure in schizophrenic patients were confirmed. 10 of the 11 Ss who did not maintain constant fixation were schizophrenic patients. This finding was discussed in relation to reports of a smaller figural aftereffect in this type of patient.


If the region of interest (ROI) is set within the picture of image and video and the high quality is provided in ROI compared to Non ROI, then overall subjective picture quality can be increased. ROI extracted by the color camera only increases the calculation complexity and reduces the extraction accuracy. In this paper, we use depth camera to set the ROI and calculate the object distance from camera, then propose a method that the different picture quality is controlled by depending on the distance of an object. That is, we apply a high quantization step size to the far object, but relatively a low quantization step size to the close object, so better picture quality can be provided. Simulation results show that applying the differential quantization step size to the distance of objects by the proposed method can improve the subjective picture quality.


Al2O3 /Ni-Mn nano-composite was produced by pulse electrodeposition.The superplasticity tensile and superplasticity bulging test were carried out under different temperature and strain rate.The results show that,the largest elongation is 530% under superplasticity temperature of 500 ℃ and strain rate of 1.67 × 10-3 s-1.Al2O3 particles refine the grains and toughen the material;when heated,Al2O3 particles suppress the grain growth.The biggest relative bulging height,which is defined as dome apex height over the die inner radius,is obtained in the gas bulging test,it is 1.616.


Objective To explore the effects of perinatal exposure to low-dose tributylin chloride(TBTCl) on the quality of sperm in the male offspring mice in adolescence.Methods A total of 20 SPF health adult KM mice were given TBTCl(0,1,10 and 100 μg/kg,respectively,five mice each group) by gavage from the 6th gestation day until the end of lactation(21 days of age);the control mice received an equal volume of corn oil as vehicle(1 ml/kg).The males were examined daily at the same time of day starting on postnatal day(PND) 28 for completion of preputial separation(PPS) and the age in day of PPS was recorded.On postnatal day(PND) 49,the epididymis was separated for the sperm court and calculating the rate of sperm malformation.Results Compared with the control group,the sperm count decreased significantly in 100 μg/kg group,the abnormal rates of sperm significantly increased in all TBTCl-treated groups(P0.05,P0.01,respectively).A decreasing trend in the sperm count and an increasing trend in the rate of sperm malformation were observed following the TBTCl dose increasing.Though the age of PPS was slightly delayed,there was no significantly difference between the TBTCl-treated groups and the control.Conclusion Perinatal exposure to low-dose TBTCl can decrease the quality of sperm in the male offspring mice in adolescence.


This paper analyses Bill Clinton's skillful use of metaphor in 1996 Acepptance Address. Dole's Acceptance Address contained a suggestion that he would be a bridge to an earlier time of tranquility; essentially a bridge to the past. Two weeks later Clinton proposed that he would help build a "bridge to the future," rejecting Dole's "bridge to the past." Clinton's metaphors effectively functioned as frames for favorably interpreting himself and his agenda--as well as for unfavorably interpreting Dole and his agenda.


This paper deals with the setup of numeric calculations to estimate the plume of natural draught cooling towers. The incorporation of several physical effects and boundary conditions and possible ways of measuring or estimating them will be introduced also. Finally, a best practice guide and a checklist are offered to ease up future simulations for customers and their contractors.


The authors report a new case of cerebral malignant rhabdoid tumour in an eight year old girl. The diagnosis was confirmed on immunohistochemical and ultrastructural examinations showing cytoplasmic perinuclear inclusions composed of whorled filaments of vimentin. Base on a review of six cases reported in the literature, they analyse the clinical, histological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural features of this exceptional central nervous system neoplasm. Different histogenetic hypotheses are discussed.


A monolithic photoreceiver is described, which combines a vertical cavity optical amplifier (VCSEL) optical preamplifier (VCSOA) with an RTBT optical converter in a totally monolithic approach, thus enabling low SWaP and multi-use capabilities. The optical amplifier is capable of optical gain as high as 15 dB and noise figure as low as 4-6 dB. The optical converter has sensitivities of -32.5 dBm at 2.5 Gb/s and BER of 10/sup -9/, that are comparable to or better than APD and PIN diode photoreceivers. The monolithic photoreceiver, resulting from integrating the optical amplifier and optical converter, is capable of sensitivities approaching -47 dBm at a BER of 10/sup -9/ and a bit rate of 2.5 Gb/s. The monolithic photoreceiver can be applied to imaging ladar and remote sensing for maximum ranges as high as 220 km and resolution as low as 25 cm.


One of the most challenging and risky operations for spacecraft is to perform proximity Rendezvous and Docking (R&D) autonomously in space. To ensure a safe and reliable operation, such a mission must be carefully designed and thoroughly verified before a real space mission can be launched. This paper describes the control strategy for achieving high fidelity contact dynamics simulation of a new, robotics-based, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) R&D simulation facility which uses two industrial robots to simulate the 6-DOF dynamic maneuvering of the two docking satellites. The facility is capable of physically simulating the final approaching within a 25-meter range and the entire docking or capturing process in a satellite on-orbit servicing mission. The paper discusses the difficulties of using industrial robots for HIL contact dynamics simulation and the proposed robot control strategy for dealing with these difficulties.Copyright © 2012 by ASME