Poultry as an industry was continuously growing worldwide and demands for poultry meats were markedly increasing. However, the limited use of antibiotics as treatments and as growth promoters became a serious problem due to the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Therefore, exploring other alternatives such as using feed additives like beta-glucans were widely studied and used to meet the demands of the consumers. This review focused on the different functions and effects of beta-glucans in poultry. Beta-glucans were known to have immunomodulation effects by upregulating the cytokines and other immune cells to overcome a disease. Aside from its immunomodulation effects, it can also increase the intestinal villi and crypts. Furthermore, an increase in growth performance was also observed. This evidence is promising but further research is required to properly establish the various functions of beta-glucans in poultry.


Economists' interest in the forces driving industrial growth and decline has gone through several cycles. With conventional, neoclassical theory offering little in the way of guidance, researchers have sought alternative paradigms. During a previous phase of high scholarly activity, it was thought that the evidence showed that rapid growth, retardation and stagnation of industries were the result of immutable 'laws'. Empirical and theoretical research of the past two decades has put this conclusion into question by demonstrating that the strategic behaviour of firms, especially with respect to technological decisions, is a major factor in shaping the longer–term fortunes of businesses and industries. This later research has been enriched through insights drawn from other disciplines and has made its results increasingly relevant for governmental and industrial decision–makers. Nevertheless, major gaps in our understanding of life–cycle phenomena and their causes remain.


A plan by the government of Tanzania to build a road across the northern part of Serengeti National Park prompted the present study which has assessed the diversity of large mammals along the proposed road before its construction. The data obtained will provide baseline information for subsequently monitoring of biodiversity along the road if constructed. The distance sampling method was used in which observers performed standardized surveys along a series of transects searching for large mammals. Generally, the diversity of large mammals were found to be higher inside the National park than outside the Park; Mugumu transect had the lowest diversity. Roads may affect both the wildlife and its habitat. Simultaneously the roads will be used to facilitate transportation of human and their properties. Therefore it is recommended that, the design, routing and management of the proposed road be carefully planned so as to minimize potential impacts to wildlife. Adequate signposts along the road, speed bumps,conservation education and community-based biodiversity management approaches should be considered. Further monitoring studies should be done after construction of the road to identify and document its impacts on biodiversity. Key Words: Large mammals, Diversity, Proposed road, Biodiversity monitoring, Serengeti National Park.


To investigate the clinical features and prognoses of children who develop reversible posterior encephalopathy syndrome (RPES) during treatment for nephrotic syndrome (NS).


The statistical analysis of import of pesticides in terms of quantity revealed a slow growth rate. However, the growth rates of their value were high due to increased per unit cost of the imported quantity. The imported insecticides had higher growth rates than total pesticides imported, suggesting the need of disaggregated studies. In contrast to imports, the rate of increase in production of pesticides in the country has been much higher, and its value has been growing even faster. When the analysis of growth rates is extended to quality, the picture which emerges needs a close scrutiny. The quality of insecticides imported (as judged from the area protectable) indicated increased rate of imports of low potency chemicals. However, in respect of insecticides produced in the country the rate of growth of area protectable was higher than the rate of growth in tonnage terms. As in case of imports and production, the growth rates of value of total pesticides was higher than growth rates of quality available. The growth rates of pesticides used for agriculture were higher than the total, suggesting the need of separate analysis for the two sectors, agriculture and public health. The study also revealed that the rate of increase in availability of insecticides was higher than total pesticides, indicating the need for disaggregated studies of insecticides and fungicides which have been shown to have widely different growth rates. As in case of insecticides produced in the country the growth rate of area protectable by all the insecticides have been higher than their increases in tonnage. The study thus has pointed out the need of disaggregated studies of pesticides, which is a conglomerate group of chemicals with widely different production processes and uses.


A field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2009-10 to study the effect of vermicompost and herbicides on soil health and performance of late sown wheat. Application of vermicompost @ 0.12 t N/ha and isoproturon (1.5 kg/ha) was found most effective in increasing the growth, yield and nutrient uptake in late sown wheat. Physico-chemical and biological properties of soil improved more when vermicompost applied @ 0.12 N/ha. Among various herbicides isoproturon was found less toxic on microbial population.


Howard University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Washington, DC, has a diverse student body that hails from all 50 states and from nearly 70 countries. Its students, faculty, and staff all often feel a deep sense of community. As a professor of Africana studies, for the past five years I have taught a course titled "Introduction to AfroAmerican Studies II" that focuses on both historical legacies and the contemporary issues that people of African descent encounter throughout the diaspora. Twice a week, the classroom immediately becomes a unique space featuring intellectual exchanges, cultural pride, and assertions of humanity rooted in legacies of nationwide resistance. Each class typically starts with a discussion of national and international current events, but one morning this routine changed. That morning, the students asked me if I had seen the death threat that had been posted on social media the previous night: "So I've decided. Any n***** left at Howard University after 10 tomorrow will be the first to go." I froze in horror. The rest of that day was full of tremendous tension, but, that evening, I found time to write in my journal; I remember thinking, dear God, what if we had become the breaking news topic of that day?


Myopia is increasing across the world and is a serious health problem today. Environmental and genetic factors have been implicated in myopia progression. Research has been done on pharmacological and optical treatments and many options are now available. The final choice of treatment should be made after a discussion with the parents and their child, keeping in mind that the treatment may need to be taken for a couple of years.


Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) has recently seen considerable success in playing certain types of games, most of which are discrete, fully observable zero-sum games. Consequently there is currently considerable interest within the research community in investigating what other games this algorithm might play well, and how it can be modified to achieve this. In this paper, we investigate the application of MCTS to simulated car racing, in particular the open-source racing game TORCS. The presented approach is based on the development of an efficient forward model and the discretization of the action space. This combination allows the controller to effectively search the tree of potential future states. Results show that it is indeed possible to implement a competent MCTS-based racing controller. The controller generalizes to most road tracks as long as a warm-up period is provided.


A review of the basic concept of an analytic dilution assay—one in which relative potency is defined as the ratio of the quantity of effective constituent in unit amount of test to that in the standard—indicates that such an assay is rarely achieved in practice. It is proposed that there are no invalid assays, but only invalid inferences from a set of conditions in which relative potency has been determined and found variable, to new, unknown conditions. Nonparallel log dose-response lines are then interpreted to mean that relative potency varies among other things, with response level, where relative potency is defined as the ratio of doses leading to equal responses. Formulas are given for expressing log relative potency as a function of dose or level of response (formulas 3 and 4) and for making probability statements about it (formulas 9 and 10). The methods are illustrated by reference to a non-parallel log dose-response line assay of two different corticosteroids.


Eastwood advocates the use of 'qualitative research' as a methodology which may help speech pathology find a research paradigm. This paper supports the utility of qualitative methods in general, outlines some of the safeguards required to rebut the charge that such methods may he subjective and therefore unscientific, indicates some of the kinds of uses to which qualitative research may be put, and suggests further reading for those interested in using qualitative methods.


Security is a very important requirement in networks and wireless sensor network are no exception to this. During security attack, an attacker can inject an intruder node in the network which can alter the data being disseminated or modify the data item too. So towards overcoming this issue, security protocol called Didrip was developed for flat based network which allows for distributed data discovery and dissemination. Also this protocol would allow network owners and authorized users towards disseminating the data into Wireless sensor network without having to relay to the base station. But regarding clustering approach which is most efficient one regarding energy efficiency, there is a security vulnerability i.e., checking the cluster head for vulnerability to the network. There are two most vulnerable security issues which are not addressed in existing security protocol of WSN called DiDrip including the one mentioned. The above said problems for clustering approach in WSN are overcome with Cluster-based Certificate Authority Scheme(CA). We also use a digital signature to sign all the nodes present in the network. So if any node wants to initiate a communication, it should be signed by the base station. And if a node moves from one network to another, it can start a communication by using the same sign without having to exchange key which is expected to reduce end to end delay, overhead and so. This has been simulated using ns-2 simulator.


Barrel life is probably the most important obstacle to the fielding of a railgun weapon. This paper reports the use of profile measurements, optical micrographs, hardness tests, and SEM scans to analyze the effects of aluminum armatures sliding down copper-chromium alloy rails at speeds up to 600 m/s. Data are reported for peak currents of about 14 kA/mm of bore size. Sections of rails and armatures were examined after several shots. Copper-aluminum alloys were found on the rails, and strong evidence of localized melting is found in the interior surface regions of armatures moving at maximum speeds ap 150 m/s.


FIELD: manufacture of articles with protection coatings in different branches of industry, plasma technique of applying coatings such as injection system for injecting fluidic reagent to plasma flow, apparatuses and methods for applying coatings onto substrate. SUBSTANCE: injector includes first portion 6 of duct 2 restricting flow of fluidic reagent and having such contour that inner walls of first portion of duct are parallel to first axis 9. Injector also includes second portion 8 of duct providing possibility for supplying fluidic reagent to first portion of duct. Second portion 8 of duct has such recess that inner walls of second portion diverge from first axis 9 by predetermined angle. Injector may include in addition mouthpiece protruding into plasma. Injector may be used in injection system with possibility of dismounting it out of base for working in plasma deposition system. EFFECT: uniform distribution of fluidic reagent, lowered risk of clogging ducts at long-time usage of injector. 46 cl, 9 dwg


In this paper, the synthesis and characterization of various low-molecular-mass anion-exchange displacers is described. A homologous series of displacers based on either triazine or phloroglucinol were synthesized. The displacer molecules were then characterized using the steric mass action (SMA) isotherm model and dynamic affinity lines resulting from this model. In addition to the dynamic affinity analysis, log P descriptors were calculated as well as several other molecular descriptors to characterize these molecules. The displacers were used to screen for their behavior on agarose-based Q Sepharose HP, hydrophilized poly(styrene−divinylbenzene)- (PS−DVB-) based Source 15Q, and poly(methyl methacrylate)-based ToyoPearl Super Q-650S stationary-phase materials. This work demonstrates that aromaticity/hydrophobicity is very important in increasing the affinity of displacers for anion-exchange resins regardless of their backbone chemistry. The results also indicate that a benzene ring is superior to a tria...


Background: Silymarin, an extract from seeds of milk thistle (Silybum marianum), is known to have hepato-protective, anticarcinogenic, antioxidant and estrogenic effects. Objective: The aim of the present study was to test the effect of silymarin on passive avoidance learning in rats. Methods: This was an experimental study carried on Wistar rats in Arak University, Iran. The animals were provided with silymarin (from day 7 of gestational age to 4 weeks after birth) at 2 doses of 180 mg/kg in the experimental group 1 (Exp1) and 90mg/kg in the experimental group 2 (Exp2) while the sham group received saline and the control group with regular food and water. The memory retention and duration of step-through latency in male offsprings was determined by passive avoidance apparatus. Neuronal density in hippocampus was established by histopathological methods. Memory and learning indices were investigated by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a p value less than 0.05 was considered as significant. Findings: Both experimental groups showed significantly longer step-through latency compared to control group (p<0.05). The average number of pyramidal cells in hippocampal CA1 and granular cells in hippocampal DG were remarkably higher in Exp1 and Exp2 groups compared to control group. The difference between Exp1 and Exp2 for pyramidal cells was found to be significant (p<0.01and p<0.05, respectively). Conclusion: Silymarin produced a significant increase in learning and memory. Also, our results indicate that silymarin is a dose dependent component. These data may lay a background for application of silybin in treatment of memory impairment diseases.


The standard tracking metrics measure attributes such as position and velocity accuracy, covariance consistency, track completeness, spurious tracks, and redundant tracks. These standard metrics can be applied to a single target, and can be extended to a multiple-target scene by simply taking the per-target average. However, for quantifying tracking performance over a multiple-targets scene, standard per-target averages can be insufficient for characterizing scene-level performance. In this paper we present a family of pattern metrics which quantify how well the multiple-object track scene matches to truth at the scene level rather than at the per-target level. This paper will introduce and define three key pattern metrics: pattern accuracy, pattern consistency, and pattern containment. We will show that each of these pattern metrics provides a unique insight into system performance, and, to our knowledge, have not been previously published.


The multi-protected compounds 4 and 5 were treated with 20% iodine in methanol to give 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-D-arabinitol 1 and 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-L-xylitol 2 directly. Iodine was an efficient catalyst for deprotection of O-isopropylidene, O-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl), N-(9-phenylfluoren-9-yl) and N-benzyloxycarbonyl groups, resulting in intramolecular cyclisation.


As a non-invasive and safe source, saliva could be a blood replacement in disease diagnosis and prognosis. Saliva can manifest from minor infections to malignancies. It is easy for both patients and clinicians to collect saliva. This article describes the latest advances in saliva-related studies and future benefits in early detection of oral diseases, such as dental caries and periodontal disease, as well as other systemic disorders including malignancy. Specific guidelines and outcomes regarding the future are expected. Salivary diagnostics should be available, along with high-sensitivity and various systemic and oral disease specificity tests.


The care of older people to the end of this century and beyond presents a unique challenge to medicine and the rest of society. There is need for careful analysis and evaluation of our responses to this challenge.


The book represents a brave and forceful attempt to re-evaluate much of the legal corpus found in the HB in the light of critical and feminist theory. A. notes the patriarchal and hierarchical aspect of biblical laws and urges her readers to take the ̳other' side of interpretation into account. She calls this the need for an inclusive biblical interpretation. Such an interpretation has to start by contesting any privileging because doing so is contrary to God's ongoing work of redemption (p. 28). At the same time A. explores the negative consequences of a patriarchal and hierarchical understanding of law in Christian practice. Here she looks at the New Testament, Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Wesley, and demonstrates that, contrary to popular opinion, none of these ever abandoned the law. As a result she finds that these legal concepts still shape many Christian attitudes towards women, homosexuals and the poor. A. offers several striking avenues that allow a contemporary engagement with biblical law. A.C. HAGEDORN


Distributed systems have experienced a shift of scale in the past few years. This evolution has generated an interest in peer-to-peer systems and resulted in much interesting work. Peer-to-peer systems are characterized by their potential to scale due to their fully decentralized nature. They are self-organizing, adapting automatically to peer arrivals and departures, and are highly resilient to failures. They rely on a symmetric communication model where peers act both as servers and clients. As the peer-to-peer concepts and technologies become more mature, many distributed services and applications relying on this model are envisaged in the context of large-scale distributed and parallel systems. This topic examines peer-to-peer technologies, applications, and systems, and also identifies key research issues and challenges. Twenty-six papers were submitted to the track and we accepted six. We organized two sessions, the first devoted to the problem of query management in structured and unstructured overlay networks, the second containing a broader selection of topics.


Most of the solutions proposed to support real-time (i.e. guaranteed performance) communication services in packet-switching networks adopt a connection-oriented and reservation-oriented approach. In such an approach, resource allocation and route selection decisions are made before the start of the communication on the basis of resource availability and real-time network load at that time, and are usually kept for the duration of the communication. This rather static resource management approach has certain limitations: it does not take into account (a) the dynamicity of the communicating clients; (b) the dynamicity of the network state; and (c) the tradeoff between quality of service and network availability, thus affecting the availability and flexibility of the real-time network services. Availability is the ability of the network to accommodate as many real-time clients as possible, while flexibility is the ability to adapt the real-time services to changing network state and client demands. The authors present the dynamic connection management (DCM) scheme, which addresses these issues by providing the network with the capability to dynamically modify the performance parameters and the routes of any existing real-time connection. With these capabilities, DCM can be used to increase the availability and flexibility of the guaranteed performance service offered to the clients.<<ETX>>


Review(s) of: Artifact Classification: A Conceptual and Methodological Approach, by Dwight W. Read, Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA, 2007, 363pp, ISBN 9781598741025.


Both YAN Hui and ZI Gong in the Analects of Confucius touched the problem of human nature and natural law,but differed from each other in learning methods and realms of life.YAN Hui worshipped virtue,while Zi Gong concentrated on consulting and learning.Zhuangzi belittled ZI Gong,praised YAN Hui and discussed human nature and natural law at a deeper level.Though,on the issues of fate and life,ZHUANG Zi approved of the spiritual pursuits of Confucius and YAN Hui,he switched away from Confucianism,which believed in that an individual can improve his fate by phylanthropizing and working hard;instead,ZHUANG Zi advocated gas ontology.On the issues of human nature and history,ZHUANG Zi reflected the alienation of human being,and the humanistic ideal he re-established was quite similar to that of Confucianism,but his humanity hypothesis and erratic political concept of non-interference were evidently different from the viewpoints of four-virtue cultivation and ethic education initiated by Confucianism.


PURPOSE: A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device is provided to prevent the defective planarization of an inter-layer insulating film by performing an interlayer insulating film forming and planarization process after forming a storage node contact plug. CONSTITUTION: A conductive film for a plug is selectively etched. A plurality of storage node contact plugs(41A) is formed in a cell region. An inter-layer insulating film(42) is formed in an entire front part of a substrate. The storage node contact plug of the cell region is exposed. The planarization process is performed until a peri gate(202) in a peripheral circuit region is simultaneously exposed.


Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada (VKH) disease is a multisystem autoimmune inflammatory disorder encompassing ophthalmic, auditory, dermatologic, and neurologic manifestations. 1–3 Previous studies had shown that HIV patients had an increased risk of some autoimmune diseases including Sjögren syndrome, psoriasis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), autoimmune hemolytic anemia, and uveitis. 4 To the best of our knowledge, there have been limited reports of VKH disease in patients with HIV infection. 5 Herein, we report a case of bilateral VKH in an HIV-infected patient and discuss the clinical course and treatment.


HIV-AIDS program in Indonesia until now cannot be separated from global health initiatives carried out through various program and funding schemes. Although the financing of these global initiatives tends to decline over the years, funding for HIV-AIDS program still depends on bilateral and multilateral grants. This article examines institutional potency and constraints in the implementation of the HIV-AIDS prevention program in Makassar. Data was collected using in depth-interviews with five stakeholders and also a focus group discussion with twelve participants represented their institution as service providers and some beneficiaries. The study shows that the process of drafting local regulation (Perda) also involved NGOs and community organizations, particularly those engaged in the issue of HIV-AIDS in South Sulawesi. However, the existence of this regulation needs to be supported by technical policies at the regional level. Provincial AIDS Commission as a non-structural institution had poor power to encourage other instition under provincial government. Central government and donors still the main funding for the program. A financing support from local government is more on prevention activities. Furthermore, in some non-health institutions, they "wrap-up" HIV-AIDS issues with other activities that connected to their core business. According to their main task and function, HIV issues is not part of their business, so financial support for this activity should not be shown on their program. Several primary health cares in Makassar already had a service for HIV-AIDS program. Public health services were a routine program for health institution, while non-health institutions only involved in prevention activities and is only implemented occasionally as a part of national health ceremony. Other activities for HIV-AIDS program is implemented by NGOs through outreach program and community support. Meanwhile, the program still lacks of well-trained and skillful human resources since most of related training is held by central government, and this creates regional dependence on the central government. The strength of personalization in HIV program in Makassar is a leverage for the success of the program. Those who care about people living with HIV, will had a maximum effort in their job. However, this can be a "double-edged knife" if the those person is no longer working on a HIV program.


The authors want to thank Tony Wong for providing the CO data of NGC 4414 and Remco Van den Bosch for fruitful discussions regarding the MGE model of NGC 4414. M.C. acknowledges support from a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), Ministerio da Ciencia, Tecnologia e Inovacao (Brazil) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion Productiva (Argentina), under program GN-2007A-Q-45. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the ESA Hubble Science Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. Funding for SDSS-III has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The SDSS-III web site is http://www.sdss3.org/. SDSS-III is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS-III Collaboration including the University of Arizona, the Brazilian Participation Group, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Florida, the French Participation Group, the German Participation Group, Harvard University, the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, the Michigan State/Notre Dame/JINA Participation Group, Johns Hopkins University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, New Mexico State University, New York University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the Spanish Participation Group, University of Tokyo, University of Utah, Vanderbilt University, University of Virginia, University of Washington, and Yale University. This research made use of Montage. It is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number ACI-1440620, and was previously funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Science Technology Office, Computation Technologies Project, under Cooperative Agreement Number NCC5-626 between NASA and the California Institute of Technology. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We acknowledge the usage of the HyperLeda database (http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr)


This work is a preliminary validation on using treelets in lieu of graphlets for the alignment of biological interaction networks. There has been considerable prior work on calculating alignments from vertex-based topological similarity measures based on local subgraph (i.e., graphlet) counts. In this work, we instead consider treelets, which are small acyclic subgraphs. As tree subgraphs can be enumerated quite quickly in parallel, we are able to consider larger subgraphs to better capture topological similarities in graph regions. We demonstrate that relative to the prior work using graphlets, our approach is more scalable and outputs similar or higher quality alignments.


URANIUM................................................................................................................... 1 What is to be done?..................................................................................................... 1 Brendan McNamara................................................................................................... 1 April 2006 .................................................................................................................... 1 URANIUM – What is to be done? ............................................................................... 2 Global Energy Requirements.................................................................................... 2 Nuclear Energies....................................................................................................... 2 Uranium Resources................................................................................................... 2 Current Nuclear Reactor Technologies. ................................................................... 3 High Temperature Reactor Technologies................................................................. 3 Reprocessing Nuclear Fuel....................................................................................... 3 Breeder Reactors....................................................................................................... 3 Thorium .................................................................................................................... 3 Fusion ....................................................................................................................... 4 What is to be Done?...................................................................................................... 4 Author.......................................................................................................................... 4 References................................................................................................................. 4


A Mobile Ad hoc Network is an infrastructure-less multi-hop wireless network. A node communicates directly with other mobile nodes within the wireless range and indirectly with nodes that are not within the wireless range of each other. Transmission power of the nodes plays an important role here. In a multi hop communication scenario, it is possible to minimize the total energy for reaching a higher distance by repeated low power transmissions. The objective of this work is to study the behavior and performance of the three frequently used MANET routing protocols with respect to different transmission power of individual nodes of the network. We have selected Destination Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) Routing Protocol, Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) Routing Protocol and Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) Protocol for this study. We analyzed the positive and negative impact of increase in transmission power of individual nodes on the performance of these routing protocols. The arrived results are more significant and can be used in the design of new power aware routing protocols.


PREVIOUS reports from this laboratory (Salter, Humm and Oesterling, 1948; Humm and Salter, 1948) have suggested that the Kober reaction, slightly modified from Venning's procedure (Venning, Evelyn, Harkness and Browne, 1937), could be applied to 6-hour samples of urine in the study of physiological and clinical problems. The question has been raised repeatedly how such chemically determined values correlate with biological assays of urinary estrogens. As emphasized by Engel et al. (1950), fluorometric determinations of urinary "estroids" indicate that urine may contain a metabolite which has no estrogenic potency, even though it registers in the fluorometric determination. It is the purpose of the present report to compare the results obtained, colorimetrically and biologically, with the same urine extracts from several distinct groups of individuals. Of special interest is the question whether the low "estroid" excretion in nutritional gynecomastia previously described by Salter, Klatskin and Humm (1947)...


As one of key technologies for the board level optical interconnection including both board-toboard and chip-to-chip, we have studied on•g90-degree optical path change•h using optical fibers with a 45-degree micro mirror. Ray trace simulation and optical coupling experiments between a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and an optical fiber with a 45-degree micro mirror were per formed. Coupling efficiency of -1.40 dB and the alignment tolerance of -20/+16 um for the fiber with -1 dB down were obtained experimentally . The ray trace simulation suggested that the lens effect of the fiber outer shape improved the alignment tolerance of •}4 pm in comparison with a waveguide having a rectangular cross-section.


The News Focus story by J. Travis ("Science by the masses" 28 March, p. 1750) describes the application of crowd-sourcing in research and development. This approach consists of gathering a mass of people to seek out new ideas or solutions, and paying profits to seekers and solvers. A related idea is crowd-funding, a bottom-up model of financing used for various purposes, from software development to political campaigns.

We suggest crowd-funding as a possible strategy to cope with the lack of investments in research, as well as to increase democratization in the sciences. Projects seeking funding could be stored in an online repository. Each project would include a description of its objectives, duration, and requested contribution. Investors (either people or funding agencies) could decide which projects to fund.

![Figure][1]

Public investing.
Allowing the public to invest in research may help alleviate the funding shortage.

CREDIT: JUPITER IMAGES

For such a service to be successful, several challenges would need to be addressed: (i) Evaluating the quality of the proposals. To assist (nonspecialist) investors in deciding the awarding of contributions (and to audit thereafter), a peer-review procedure could be used. (ii) Potential for fraud. Fraud could be prevented by implementing a reputation system ([1][2]) and by indicating the scientific track record of the proponent. (iii) Intellectual property management. Intellectual property issues could be managed by allowing proponents to choose the appropriate level of protection of their ideas—for example, by using Creative Commons licenses ([2][3]). (iv) Investor rewards. Investors could be motivated by the prospect of earning shares (for profit-making research programs) or by the acknowledgment of their contribution (for nonprofit research programs).

1. 1.[↵][4]1. P. Resnick, 2. R. Zeckhauser, 3. E. Friedman, 4. K. Kuwabara
 , Comm. ACM 43, 45 (2000).
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2. 2.[↵][6]Creative Commons ( ).

 [1]: pending:yes
 [2]: #ref-1
 [3]: #ref-2
 [4]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1. in text"
 [5]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DComm.%2BACM%26rft.volume%253D43%26rft.spage%253D45%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx
 [6]: #xref-ref-2-1 "View reference 2. in text"


This study evaluated the association between accounting information quality and systematic risk on the Brazilian stock market based on a sample of 208 firms traded on B3 S/A Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (1,675 observations) from 2010-2019. The systematic risk was measured with the beta coefficient, while accounting information quality was proxied by revenue predictability and earnings management by discretionary accruals. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and least ordinary squares multiple regressions on panel data and quantile regressions. The results showed earnings management by discretionary accruals and low revenue predictability were positively associated with systematic risk. In other words, there is evidence that the lower the accounting information quality in Brazilian firms, the greater the market risk. Our findings not only enrich the debate on the role of accounting information quality in emerging markets such as Brazil, but may subsidize investors in their decision-making by showing how accounting information quality impacts corporate risk and point to how managers can reduce systematic risk and equity costs.


Collections of adultchironomids were conductedin September2000by Suzuki, withinsectnet at the side of ChubetsuRiver,and 10 species,including5 newspecies,are recorded.In the collectionwithinsectnet at the side of SorachiRiver, 5 species,including 2 new species,are recorded.In the collectionwith light trap and insect net at Ginzan,a total of 40 species, including17 new speciesare also recorded. Althoughthe island of Hokkaidois locatedin the northmostarea of Japanand the climateis very coldin winter, the chironomid faunaare again foundto be veryrich.


SUMMARY For efficient utilisation of available farm resources and to increase the income per unit of land, seven integrated farming systems were developed and different combinations of crop, animal, fish and bird were evaluated at three locations of Eastern India, viz. Patna, Vaishali and Munger districts, to sustain productivity, profitability, employment generation and nutrient recycling for lowland situations from 2007–2008 to 2009–2010. Among the tested different Integrated Farming System (IFS) models, viz. (i) crop + fish + poultry, (ii) crop + fish + duck, (iii) crop + fish + goat, (iv) crop + fish + duck + goat, (v) crop + fish + cattle, (vi) crop + fish + mushroom and (vii) crop alone, crop + fish + cattle model recorded higher rice (Oryza sativa L.) grain equivalent yield (RGEY) (18.76 t/ha) than any other combinations, but in terms of economics, crop + fish + duck + goat model supersedes over all other combinations. The highest average net returns (USD 2655/yr) were recorded from crop + fish + duck + goat system over all other systems tested here. Higher average employment of 656 man-days/year were also recorded from crop + fish + duck + goat system because of better involvement of farm family labours throughout the year. Based on a sustainability index (SI) derived from different models, crop + fish + duck + goat system was found superior with a maximum sustainability for net returns (73.1%), apart from the addition of appreciable quantity of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium into the system in the form of recycled animal and plant wastes. The wastes/by-products of crop/animals were used as input for another component to increase the nutrient efficiency at the farm level through nutrient recycling. Results on integration of different components with crop depending upon suitability and preferences were found encouraging, and to enhance the productivity, economic returns, generating employment for farm families and maintaining soil health of the farm, the crop + fish + duck + goat combination could be adopted in the eastern part of India than cultivating the crop alone on the same piece of land under irrigated condition. Addition of organic residues in the form of animal and plant wastes could also help in improving the soil-health and thereby productivity over a longer period of time with lesser environmental hazards. The livelihoods of small and marginal farmers could be improved by their adoption of IFS technologies on a larger scale, as they provide scope to employ more labour year-round.


Mass-exchange units are ubiquitously used in industrial facilities. A mass exchanger is any direct-contact mass-transfer unit that employs a mass-separating agent (MSA) or a lean phase (e.g., a solvent, an adsorbent, a stripping agent, an ion exchange resin) to selectively remove certain components (e.g., pollutants, products, byproducts) from a rich phase (e.g., a waste, a product). Examples of mass-exchange operations include absorption, adsorption, stripping, solvent extraction, leaching, and ion exchange. Appendix 2, Modeling of Mass-Exchange Units for Environmental Applications, provides an overview of the principles of modeling, designing, and operating individual mass-exchange units.


Many student do class reservation for their own problem in the class either the lecturer or the student itself that do the reservation. In president university class reservation become one of the important system that exist in the university organization system to service of unanticipated extra schedule for the sake of class session. No wonder in one day so many student do the class reservation but wasting time because of complicated process of the reservation and also manual process that annoying especially for student. The university have computerized system for everything process in the university but not this simple one yet important.  Many student always wasting time for only booking one class room that disturbing their activity because of the manual paper administration. The academic still use paper and find manually when they want to search empty room or checking room of some lecturer, because of this there happen so many times of miss information and communication that caused by negligance of the staff. We cannot hope them to do everything perfect because human can do some wrong too because of imperfectness that is why we need another solution for this to solve the problem.


We introduce a rapid, quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI) technique to resolve and measure multiple fluid phases in porous media. Liquids are resolved on the basis of their NMR spin-spin (T{sub 2}) relaxation times, and their intensities are corrected via attenuation analysis. The spatially resolved and corrected NMRI intensities are normalized to yield fluid saturations. In-situ saturation measurements are presented for three immiscible (oil and water) displacements in the same Berea sandstone core. NMRI and effluent recovery methods were compared. T{sub 2} of the displacement fluids were observed to be sensitive to displacement conditions.


Nuclear triage addresses the beneficial, as well as the debilitating, effects of ionizing radiation in survivors of a disaster such as a nuclear accident, explosion, or bomb. Based upon abundant evidence, reviewed briefly below, it is estimated that exposed persons outside the blast area will benefit from the residual radiation of a dirty bomb. Nuclear triage requires considerable education and a change in current concepts for the medical profession, health physics people, and the general public.


Research the specific applications of rolling shutter of CMOS image sensor with CMOS image sensor. First, this paper introduces the principle and characteristics of global shutter and rolling shutter of the CMOS imager, it analyzes the impact of rolling shutter on measurement precision of the imaging system based on CMOS imager. Imaging experiment is taken to test the analyses of the rolling shutter. Then, an original method for computing instantaneous 3D pose and velocity of fast moving objects using a single view is presented. It exploits image deformations induced by rolling shutter in CMOS image sensors. Finally, a general perspective projection model of a moving 3D point is presented. A solution for the pose and velocity recovery problem is then described. Results indicate that some aberrations appear in faith, and the aberration degree has close relations with some parameters of CMOS imager like integration. After experiments can minimize error in the case of moving objects by the pose and speed parameters, the calculation error is under 2.5 percent. Experimental results with real data confirm the relevance of the approach. The resulting algorithm enables to transform a CMOS low cost and low power camera into an original velocity sensor.


This work presents a study about video transmission in wireless systems. The applied methodology aims to prove the existence of a direct relationship between BER and quality loss (PSNR loss) on video streams in OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division) systems. The results were obtained from simulations, developed in MatlabTM environment, and, measurements in real scenarios, held on university campus and inside the research laboratory in an controlled environment. From the comparison between simulated and measured data it was possible to prove the relationship between BER and PSNR loss, which led to the formulation of an empirical Cross-Layer Model with exponential characteristic. The modeling has obtained a RMS error and standard deviation close to 1.65 dB when compared to simulations. Moreover, its validation was performed from data obtained from real-world scenarios, which were not used to adjust the parameters of the proposed equation. This Cross-Layer model does not depend on the type of channel or coding in FEC (Forward Error Correction), allowing future integration with commercial or open-source network planning softwares.


Introduction Randomized complete blocks design is probably the most popular experimental design in ecological studies, because it controls in a powerful way the environmental heterogeneity. For a univariate response (e.g. number of species, total biomass) the results of experiments set in randomized complete blocks are evaluated using a two-way ANOVA without interactions. The interaction mean square is used as the error term – the denominator in the calculation of F -statistics. In the following tutorial, you will use the program CANOCO in a similar way to evaluate the community response (i.e. a multivariate response of the species composition of the vegetation). The example is based on an experiment studying the effect of dominant species, plant litter and moss on the composition of a community of vascular plants, with special attention paid to seedling recruitment. In this way, some of the aspects of the importance of regeneration niche for species coexistence were tested. The experiment was established in four randomized complete blocks, the treatment had four levels and the response was measured once. The experiment is described in full by Spa ckova et al. (1998). Here is a simplified description of the experiment. The experiment was established in March 1994, shortly after snowmelt, in four randomized complete blocks. Each block contained four plots, each with a different treatment: (1) a control plot where the vegetation remained undisturbed; (2) a plot with the removal of litter; (3) a plot with removal of the dominant species Nardus stricta ; and (4) a plot with removal of litter and mosses. Each plot was 2 m × 2 m square.


The analysis of the basic features of the generalized Kildal model had been presented for the semiconductors without the center of symmetry and with one main crystal axis. It had been proved, that the Kramers' degeneration survives only along and against of the direction of the main crystal axis and at point Γ ( 0 = k ) within this model under the condition of the absence of the center of symmetry, as rule. The Kramers' degeneration is possible everywhere, although only for the band of the heavy holes like within Kane's model, even under the previous condition, but only if casually takes place the special relation between parameters. The typical set of solutions within this model consists of one conductivity band ( 0 ≥ ε ) and of three valence bands ( 0 ≤ ε ). Each of them contains two spin subbands. The additional conductivity band would be possible in principle, but only under special condition ( 0 < δ ), which is the obligatory but not enough condition.


Collision point and relative intensities of pulses in a passively mode-locked laser were optimized to generate a strong and almost linear chirp. We achieved 267 fs pulses with 661 W peak power using only quadratic phase compression.


Oral cosmetic use of an effective amount of hesperidin or one of its derivatives, chosen from its aglycone forms, its chalcone forms, its glycosylated forms and its methylated forms, as well as its sulfated or glucuronidated forms that are found as metabolic products in the blood flow as a skin firming agent.


Linitis plastica hypertrophica is the rather fanciful name given by Dr. William Brinton in 1854 to a condition of the stomach in which there is great thickening of the walls at the expense of its lumen, due to a fibrosis involving principally the submucous, but to a lesser degree all the coats except the mucosa. The interlacing strands of fibrous tissue, which resemble in appearance coarse linen, suggested the name to Brinton. Two forms of the disease are recognized, one localized, the other diffuse. In the localized form the pathologic change is limited to a certain area of the stomach, usually the pyloric region, although the indurated plaques may occur anywhere in the wall. The diffuse form involves the entire stomach, which is most often shrunken but may retain the normal size or may be dilated. The wall is rigid, and thickened to six or eight times its normal size.


The purpose of this work is to provide the algorithm for the identification of typical consumption patterns, the research of behavioral models based on daily activity and seasonal indicators (season, month, weekdays and weekends), characteristic of a particular consumer category and its operation modes. Selection of the optimal power consumption group for consumers based on real consumption profiles (given by smart meter measurements over a certain time period) facilitates the distribution company to rationalize its costs, as well as optimize the strategic and production planning of electricity purchases.


The invention relates to a unit comprised of a motor and a radial piston pump, whereby the motor has a rotating rotor with a motor shaft (3) for driving the piston of the piston pump. In addition, an eccentric component is fastened to the motor shaft (3). The invention is characterized in that the motor shaft (3) and the eccentric component (5 and 6) are produced as bent sheet metal components. The bent sheet metal components result in a lighter weight construction of the shaft-eccentric component unit, and economical manufacturing methods can be used in order to produce said unit.


Wang Xiang-fu's short stories are of characteristic of focusing on the description of common people's life.In A Wedding Ceremony,the author uses his writing styles of involvement and contrast to disclose the essence of ordinary life and thereby remind us that in the course of building the new socialist countryside the burden is heavy and the road is long.


Cross sections and angular correlation parameters for scattering within the 1s, 2s, 2p channel space in the electron-hydrogen problem are calculated at 50, 54.4, 100 and 200 eV. The integral equations for the momentum-space formulation of the problem are solved with a numerical accuracy of approximately 1%. Discrete and continuum channels outside the reaction space are explicitly taken into account by computing the corresponding optical potentials and adding them to the coupling potential. Exchange terms are calculated at all stages. Relative elastic cross sections, absolute inelastic cross sections, total reaction cross sections, and angular correlation parameters up to 60 degrees agree with experiment.


(3); Bibliographical Society (London); Bibliographical Society of America (3, 4); Book Auction Records; Book Block; Brick Row Book Shop; H. M. Fletcher; Goodspeed's; Bennett Gilbert; Historic New Orleans Collection; H. P. Kraus; D. & E. Lake; Harry A. Levinson; Li braries and Culture: Journal of Library History; Maggs Bros.; Martayan Lan; Howard S. Mott; Kenneth Nebenzahl; Oak Knoll Books; Renaissance Books (1, 2); Ludwig Rosenthal's Antiquariaat; Robert H. Rubin; Rulon-Miller Books; Shagbark Press (2,3); Stone House Press; W. Thomas Taylor; Trebizond Rare Books; George H. Tweney (1); The Veatchs; University Press of Vir ginia (1) algren, nelson: Tibbetts, "Further Adden da to Bruccoli, Nelson Algren," 214-17 Allen, Sue, review of Douglas Ball, Victori an Publishers' Bindings, 240-41 Alston, Sandra (ed.), assisted by Karen Evans, A Bibliography of Canadiana,


Facing the embarrassing situation of TCM,the author reflects the violence of science and envisages the sadness of self in TCM from the perspective of phenomenology.Enlightened by Grounded Theory to explore the philosophy,instrument and methods in TCM research which is quite different from that of western medicine to accomplish the self-actualization of TCM.In the last part guided by I-Ching he proves his views.


A vexing problem involving nonassociativity is resolved, allowing a generalization of the usual complex Mobius transformations to the octonions. This is accomplished by relating the octonionic Mobius transformations to the Lorentz group in ten space–time dimensions. The result will be of particular interest to physicists working with lightlike objects in ten dimensions.


Surface micro-structure measurement is significant for precision manufacturing. However, existing stylus profilometer is inefficient, and sparse line-scan measurement can't support accurate surface description. To improve the reconstruction performance, we propose a high-accurate reconstruction method with sparse line-scan measurement based on attention mechanism. We first arrange the sparse-line measurement in the 2D matrix and crop as patch region. Then we utilize transformer to construct semantic relationships between patches and assign new weights to each patch to accurately model the structural relationships of target region and perform feature extraction, where the self-attention can enhance the description of local details while cross-attention will interact with global information. Finally, a fully connected network as a decoder is adopted to reconstruct accurate surface details with complete geometric representation. We refer to this model as Prosformer. Furthermore, we simulate a larger-scale surface micro-structure dataset to drive the training process and measure micro-structures to valid Prosformer. Experiments show proposed method can effectively restore complex surface details.


The paper discusses the calculation of the ultimate load-carrying capacity of composite steel-concrete beam.And the reasonably simplified formula with practicability which can be used to design external prestressed steel-concrete composite beam is provided through testing.At present,there is only allowable stress approach in code of bridge,so the paper has a great practicability.


In North America, American Indians and First Nations have often been at odds with archaeologists over the status of their relationships, about who should have control over research designs and research questions, the interpretation of information about past cultures, and the ways past cultures are represented in the present. While the influence of the voice of Indigenous Nations in the discipline has risen, in many ways their voices are as stifled now as they were in the 1960s. This paper gives an American Indian perspective on the current practice of archaeology in North America and offers suggestions for improving relationships.


Background: The presence of anaemia in pregnancy is one of the serious public health concerns across the globe especially in developing countries like Ghana. This study assessed pregnant women's knowledge on factors influencing aneamia in pregnancy in a low-income district of Ghana. Methods: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study. Data was collected using a pretested questionnaire. 112 pregnant women seeking antenatal care were recruited using systematic sampling technique in the Wassa East district of Ghana. Data were cleaned and entered into SPSS version 22 and analysed into descriptive statistics. Results: Majority of participants; 72.3% did not know the causes of anaemia in pregnancy. Pregnant women (27.7%) indicated nutritional deficiency as a common cause of anaemia; 18.7% of them could identify appropriately at least one sign of anaemia in pregnancy with 28% asserting that pregnancy-related anaemia can affect labour, despite 72% indicating that anaemia could cause maternal mortality. The reasons for irregular ANC attendance included; perceived non importance of ANC (18.8%), financial difficulties (17.9%), health facility inaccessibility (18.8%) and time constraints (44.5%). There was a strong association between knowledge level on the cause of anaemia in pregnancy and the educational level of pregnant women (p=0.005 chi square = 50.289). Conclusions: Lack of knowledge on the importance of antenatal care and financial constraints were among the reasons leading to a surge in anaemia amongst pregnant women in the district. Health providers should incorporate services which enable pregnant women to access valuable information on anaemia prevention in pregnancy.


The article presents current and future developments in German mine control room technology and discusses the needs of the international market. It focuses on data collection in the production areas, information treatment and visualisation and the creation of a decision making basis for employees and management. At a time when operating costs and performance levels are coming under increasing pressure it is crucially important to achieve a sustained improvement in occupational safety, transparency and efficiency and to have in place a uniform reporting system for the different organisational levels. The development of an integrated software system that uses modern software architectures, but at the same time can be installed on a modular basis, is the key to achieving these objectives. Today's control room technology must also include user-friendly applications that are easy to understand and provide support for the workforce above and below ground. These individual objectives are not mutually inconsistent but in fact complement and build on each other.


Provide the new synthetic technology for producing pure phase aluminosilicate zeolites and the catalyst comprising mutually pure zeolite and metallic combination, and the method using it.


Abstract : The goal of this project is to fully develop Banach space methods for kernel-based machine learning that extend the Hilbert space framework of regularized learning. We proposed to study Reproducing Kernel Banach Spaces (RKBS) by the semi-inner-product, develop the theory of vector-valued RKBS with applications of RKBS to manifold learning, study frames and Riesz bases for sequence spaces, and construct RKBS with the l1-norm known to enforce sparse solutions. We will also explore classification algorithms that are mathematically rigorous while rooted in human cognitive principles for categorization. Our execution plan include three specific topics (Aims) 1. Apply RKBS theory to Orlicz space, to perform convergence analysis, and to study Shannon sampling schemes; 2. Work out vector-valued RKBS, and study s.i.p with l1 norm; 3. Develop frames and Riesz bases for Banach spaces, and extend analysis and synthesis operators.


Mushrooms are macro-fungi which may be epigeous or hypogeous and many of them are edible in nature. As these are fungal organisms, their cultivation requires a specific and scientific knowledge. Nowadays, mushroom cultivation has become a multimillion dollar industry in many countries of the world. The total mushroom production in world amounts to US$ 25.00 billion (Wasser et al., 2000). India ranks at 4th position in terms of mushroom production (Anonymous, 2016 a). Mushroom production in World has been estimated at 10.790859 million MT and in India it is estimated to be International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 6 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com


Technological advances are now being found in everyday, one of them is an android smartphone. Android can be used to control motor speed without using cables with the help of microcontroller, motor driver and bluetooth module. In this study the autors designed and performed static analysis on the framework an android-based lawn mower using Autodesk Inventor. This grass cutting machine consists of several components, that is: framework, battery, microcontroller, motor driver, relay 5v, bluetooth module and others. The design result of an android-based lawn mower have a whole dimension with length = 298.89mm, width = 334.88mm and high = 241.02mm.  After static analysis is carried out on the framework obtained results: Displacement minimum 0 mm and displacement maximum 0.0909735 mm, Safety factor minimum 1.93351 and safety factor maximum 15.


e19035 Background: Identification in lung adenocarcinomas (LACs) of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations is the single most important predictor of clinical response and outcome using EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). We evaluated the accuracy of EGFR mutation-specific antibodies in LACs and showing different molecular settings and detected on cytology and histologic samples. Methods: 111 LACs diagnosed on cytology (21 cell blocks), biopsy (58 cases) and surgical resections (32 cases) were selected for the study. All cases were previously investigated by Sanger sequencing and/or pyrosequencing (EGFR exons 18 to 21; KRAS exon 2) and ALK status by Immunohistochemistry (IHC)/FISH. IHC using EGFR mutation-specific antibodies (clone 6B6 for delE746-A750 and clone 43B2 for L858R; Cell Signalling Technologies, Danvers, MA) were tested using an automated immunostainer (Benchmark, Ventana Inc, Tucson, AZ). Cases were quoted as positive when at least 2+ staining was present in at least 5% of tumor ...


Research in the field of multisensory perception shows that what we hear can influence what we see. We hypothesize that this is also true for the perception of risk. We conduct three laboratory studies to test our hypothesis, using judgments of financial asset risk ("volatility") as a testbed. We document findings consistent with the idea that the presence of ambient sound impacts the perception of risk and that an important element of this impact is a hardwired association between auditory volume and visual instability. We discuss how our findings suggest that the presence of ambient sound has mixed consequences for human performance in contexts of judgment and decision-making under uncertainty across domains (e.g., financial, medical, and military decision-making), and how they raise new questions for future research.


Nowadays, more and more the subjects related to the activities of internal control, mainly in the public sphere, have undergone constant transformations, with a view to the strengthening of supply-demand relations of goods and services for society, the fight against corruption , the search for better standards of performance of the public area, due to the growing social control over the management of the public sector, in this way there is a search for more efficient and effective administrative controls. With this, the internal audit activity can be used as an important tool for administrative control. Mainly because the audit activity's vision is based on business risks and corporate governance practices. This research had the objective of analyzing internal auditing practices and the opportunities for improvement of these practices in the perception of internal auditors of the Brazilian Navy (MB), carried out by the Center for Internal Control of the Navy (CCIMAR). In order to achieve this objective, we sought to identify internal audit practices in the literature; to know the audit practices performed in the Brazilian Navy, and its proximity to the mandatory elements of the International Professional Practices Framework of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), in which the body responsible for exercising the technical supervision function of the System of Internal Control of the Federal Executive Branch, the Ministry of Transparency and Comptroller General's Office (CGU) has been relying on the respective opportunities for improvement. The method used for this study was the case study, with the collection of information through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that the auditors pointed to training, audit preparation, adequate planning for all phases of the audit, implementation of a quality assurance program, material adequacy, human resources and access to corporate systems as well as the possibility of adding value to the audit activity as the greatest opportunities for improvement in the practices of the internal audit activity. It was concluded that the internal audit practices adopted by MB are satisfactory, since CCIMAR adopts 72% of the 18 practices listed by the IIA regarding the requirements of the attributes related to the Performance and Attribute Standards. And the results of the study revealed that in the perception of internal auditors there are 24 opportunities for improvements in internal audit practices that can be implemented for excellence in governance and management of the internal audit activity.


Exercise in the heat leads to physiological alterations that reflect mainly on the cardiovascular system. The physiological strain index (PSI) uses heart rate (HR) and rectal temperature (Tre) to evaluate the cardiovascular strain and lately it has been brought up on the literature. However, few studies used the PSI to evaluate its response following dehydration and rehydration protocols. Thus, the aim of the present study was to verify the effect of rehydration proportional to fluid losses during prolonged exercise in the heat on hydration status, PSI and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) in healthy subjects. Ten volunteers performed two sessions of exercise in heat. The first with fluid restriction until subjects reach 2% of body mass (BM) reduction. The second with rehydration proportional to fluid losses of the first. HR and Tre were monitored during the entire exercise protocol in order to calculate PSI. Subjects also reported their RPE. BM, urine specific gravity (USG) and urine color (UC) were measured to evaluate hydration status. Results demonstrated greater PSI in the fluid restricted trial compared to the rehydration trial from 45 minutes of exercise (p<0,05), and that differences remain significant until the end of the protocol. RPE also presented significant differences between trials (p<0,001). Rehydration strategy was effective to maintain hydration status and attenuate the increase on PSI and RPE, which has important implications for sports, especially those with more than 45 minutes.


Reaction of 2,2'- dilithio (or dibromomagnesio) - 1,1'- binaphthyl with 2 eqiv. of (N, N - diethylamino) phenylchloroborane, or quimolar amounts of diethylaminodichloroborane, followed by hydrolysis and chelati on with N, O - bidentate ligands, afforded the unexpected (2 -binaphthyl)phenylboron chelates Ⅱ or bis( 2 - binaphthyl) boron chelates Ⅳ respectively, instead of the expected 1,1'- binaphtyl - 2,2'- bis (phenylboryi) chelates Ⅰ or dinaphthbborole derivatives Ⅲ. These evidences show that the only one M- C bond in 2,2'-dimetallized 1,1'-binaphthyl participates in the nucleophilic reaction with aminochloroboranes and another M - C bond loses its transarylation activity. The reaction mechanism in connection with a possible 7 - membered ring transition state was describedion.


The preparation of ordered porphyrin monolayers on the solid surfaces was pursued by noncovalent bonding. Four kinds of self-assembled monolayers (SAM) that carried pyridine moieties were construct...


In the last decade, the transition away from coal and to fossil gas and biomass in the U.S. has had a major influence on greenhouse gas emissions, especially from electricity generation. However, the effect of this transition on the public health burden of air pollution is not well understood. We use three reduced complexity models (RCMs) and emissions inventory data to reconstruct the changes in health impacts due to PM2.5 exposure from stationary fuel combustion sources in the U.S., from 2008 to 2017. In 2008, the health impacts of air pollution from stationary sources was largely driven by coal combustion. By 2017, the contribution of coal has dropped precipitously, and the health burden of stationary air pollution sources is shared among a mixture of source types and fuels—largely gas and biomass in buildings and industry, and the remaining coal-fired electricity generation. Nationwide, in 2017, health impacts of biomass and wood combustion are higher than combustion of coal and gas individually. Industrial boilers had the highest emissions and health impacts, followed by residential buildings, electricity, and then commercial buildings. All three RCMs indicate that biomass and wood are the leading sources of stationary source air pollution health impacts in 24 states, and that the total health impacts of gas surpass that of coal in 19 states and the District of Columbia. We develop a projection method using state-level energy consumption data for 2018 and show that these trends likely continued. The RCMs had high agreement for 2008 emissions, when sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants were the predominant air pollution source. However there was substantial disagreement between the three RCMs on the 2017 health burden, likely due to pollutants less well-characterized by the RCMs having a higher proportionate share of total impacts.


Among all components of the engine, the pistons are probably the one subjected to the widest range of stress and temperature. Therefore selection of the proper material on the piston in varied temperature is very important. A satisfactory piston material must fulfill many, often conflicting, requirements. It is exposed to a range of static and dynamic stress with a wide range of temperatures from sub-zero to about 350 o . This paper describes the research results of strength properties of eutectic and hypereutectic aluminium - silicon alloys comprise some nontraditional alloyed elements, as Co, Cr, Mo and higher contents of Ni, Cu. The strength properties of these silumins are shown in representative strength - temperature, hardness - temperature, strength - alloying element contents, hardness - alloying element contents curves. The researches were conducted with eutectic and hypereutectic alloys in which Si and Mg contents were set at constant level but Cu, Ni contents were changed from 1% to 4.5%, but Co, Cr, Mo contents were varied from 0% to 1%. The tensile strength of siluminium increases if the Co, Cr, Mo contents growths to about 0.4% - 0.6%. The best results of strength properties were obtained when the silumins contain about 4% Cu, 4% Ni and 0.5% Mo. The tested elements forms multimetalic compounds which set on boundary of grains, which are rounded in shape and increase the strength properties of silumins.


Inthis research, calculation cost and accuracy for our distributed memory parallel algorithms of the explicit and semi-implicit MPS(Moving Particle Simulation) methods are compared. Inour method, mesh based domain decomposition by ParMETIS is adopted. Generically, the calculation cost and accuracy forthe explicit method is low and the calculation cost and accuracy for thesemi-implicit method is high. We will compare the difference between theexplicit and semi-implicit MPS method in the some problems and conditions, quantitatively.


The optical excitation function method has been used in a crossed atom and electron beam arrangement to measure the electron impact cross section of the copper 4{sup 2}P {yields} 4{sup 2}S resonance lines (324.8, 327.4 nm) from threshold (3.8 eV) to 8 eV. Relative experimental cross section data are normalized at an energy of 1000 eV with respect to first Born theory that includes the 4{sup 2}S {yields} 4{sup 2}P resonance transition with an oscillator strength of 0.652 and cascading from the (3d{sup 10}nd){sup 2}D states with n = 4, {hor_ellipsis}10. The measured Cu 4{sup 2}S{sup 4} {yields} 4{sup 2}P cross section is compared with recent theoretical calculations in close-coupling approximation. Very good agreement is found with the ten-state close-coupling theory of Scheibner.


Abstract Introduction Lymphatic function and inflammation are two related concepts that have been neglected in heart failure. All of the symptoms of heart failure, hence, compensatory mechanisms can be related to overwhelmed or dysfunctional lymphatic function. Lymphatics are responsible for tissue homeostasis controlling approximately 12 litres of fluid. These thinwalled valved pumping systems are also intimately involved in immunity, control of inflammation and lipid and nutritional transport. Repair of damaged tissues by cellular transport explain its many functions. The aim is to review the role of lymphatic function and inflammation in congestive heart failure exacerbations. Hypothesis Inflammation is the cause of decompensated heart failure, and lymphatics and their reaction to environment are the primary mediators. This concept is consistent with a new model of disease-regeneration balanced by degeneration with inflammation (lymphatic function) serving as the fulcrum. Evaluation of the hypothesis The pharmacology of lymphatic function in the context of heart failure is lacking. A new term 'lymphangiontrope' is introduced and is defined as an intervention that improves the function of lymphatics by increasing amplitude and frequency of lymphangion contraction. The known pharmacological effects on lymphatic function is presented here, and new performance parameters and interventions directed toward improvement of lymphatic function, inflammation, and regeneration are proposed, allowing patients to compensate for cardiac dysfunction. Conclusion The lymphatic system represents a peripheral therapeutic target for improving heart failure symptoms.


We present the transimpedance amplifier with an automatic bandwidth compensation technique for free space optics. The proposed topology includes a TIA which features a bandwidth control input and a replica bias circuit to sense the active device DC parameter variations. A photo detector model and the front-end structure, TIA with an automatic bandwidth compensation circuit have been simulated. The results show that the design minimizes the bandwidth spread when a variation parameter is considered.


As a flow-sensing organ, the lateral line system plays an important role in various behaviors of fish. An engineering equivalent of a biological lateral line is of great interest to the navigation and control of underwater robots and vehicles. A vibrating sphere, also known as a dipole source, can emulate the rhythmic movement of fins and body appendages, and has been widely used as a stimulus in the study of biological lateral lines. Dipole source localization has also become a benchmark problem in the development of artificial lateral lines. In this paper we present two novel iterative schemes, referred to as Gauss–Newton (GN) and Newton–Raphson (NR) algorithms, for simultaneously localizing a dipole source and estimating its vibration amplitude and orientation, based on the analytical model for a dipole-generated flow field. The performance of the GN and NR methods is first confirmed with simulation results and the Cramer–Rao bound (CRB) analysis. Experiments are further conducted on an artificial lateral line prototype, consisting of six millimeter-scale ionic polymer–metal composite sensors with intra-sensor spacing optimized with CRB analysis. Consistent with simulation results, the experimental results show that both GN and NR schemes are able to simultaneously estimate the source location, vibration amplitude and orientation with comparable precision. Specifically, the maximum localization error is less than 5% of the body length (BL) when the source is within the distance of one BL. Experimental results have also shown that the proposed schemes are superior to the beamforming method, one of the most competitive approaches reported in literature, in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency.


Example embodiments provide a method and apparatus for transmitting a data frame according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the frame overhead data, improve the transmission efficiency. The method comprises: according to the data transmission direction information frame indicating data transmission station, to distributed systems ToDS bit values and FromDS bit values from the distributed system; obtaining the destination information corresponding to the data transmission direction address (DA) and / or the source address SA; information for determining the DA for carrying and / or address fields SA, according to the data transmission direction; according to the data frame header, a frame body, and receiving address RA, the data frame to determine the frame check sequence FCS; transmitting to a receiver comprising the ToDS, the FromDS, the address and the FCS field of the data frame. The data transmission direction information by using the address field of the data frame carrying only DA and / or SA, to reduce header overhead and improve transmission efficiency, and can be completed in the presence of the transmission of data frame forwarding.


Bis-, tris- and tetrakis E-2-butenyl (crotyl) derivatives of calix[6]arenes and bis- and tetrakis- derivatives of calix[8]drenes were prepared from the parent calixarene with E-2-butenyl bromide, in the presence of basic catalyst. FT-IR, UV-VIS, 1 H- RMN, 1 3 C-RMN and MS investigations confirmed the product composition and structure.


The company encounters problems where the dividend policy is high and affects the low value of the firm. The purpose of this research is to analyze and prove empirically profitability and debt policy to company value. The population in this study are 130 manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange and the number of samples matching the criteria of 10 companies. Data analysis technique in this research is Gradual Linear Regression and Path Analysis. Based on the results of the analysis, the profitability has a positive effect and the debt policy has a negative and insignificant effect. While profitability to firm value have negative and not significant influence and debt policy have positive effect not significant. Dividend policy has a positive and significant effect on firm value and is able to mediate profitability and debt policy to company value. Keywords: Profitability, Debt Policy, Dividend Policy and Corporate Value


The utility model provides a potato cleaning machine, which belongs to the field of cleaning machines. A cleaning cage of the potato cleaning machine is arranged in a water tank; a feed hole and a discharge hole are arranged on the cleaning cage; a central shaft is arranged in the cleaning cage and can rotate axially; two ends of the central shaft are fixed on the cleaning cage; and a plurality of mixing teeth are fixed on the central shaft in a staggered way. Waste water passes through a permeable plate, sludge falls on the permeable plate, and the water is pumped back to the top end of the water tank through a water pump and a water pipe. The potato cleaning machine can be specially used for cleaning potatoes and is convenient, quick and clean, and convenient to disassemble and clean; and the waste of water resources is reduced.


A chemical route from PTFE to amorphous carbon nanospheres in supercritical water. YANG, X. G., LI, C., WANG, W., YANG, B. J., ZHANG, S. Y., and QIAN, Y. T. Chemical Communications, 2004, 342–343. Advances in hollow polymeric nanospheres. LIU, P., TIAN, J., LIU, W. M., and XUE, Q. J. Progress in Chemistry, 2004, 16, 15–20. An improved method of microencapsulation and its evaluation to protect Lactobacillus spp. in simulated gastric conditions. CHANDRAMOULI, V., KAILASAPATHY, K., PEIRIS, P., and JONES, M. Journal of Microbiological Methods, 2004, 56, 27–35. An investigation on the formation mechanisms and preparation of monodispersed ureaformaldehyde (UF) polymer/SiO2 composite microspheres. GUO, R., YU, J. G., ZHAO, L., and ZHAO, X. J. Acta Chimica Sinica, 2004, 62, 493–497. An optical chemical sensor based on swellable dicarboxylate functionalized polymer microspheres for pH copper and calcium determination. SHAKHSHER, Z. M., ODEH, I., JABR, S., and SEITZ, W. R. Microchimica Acta, 2004, 144, 147–153. Anti-mycobacterial immunity induced by a single injection of M-leprae Hsp65-encoding plasmid DNA in biodegradable microparticles. JOHANSEN, P., RAYNAUD, C., YANG, M., COLSTON, M. J., TASCON, R. E., and LOWRIE, D. B. Immunology Letters, 2003, 90, 81–85. Application of the LyoCell microencapsulation technology to protect antitumor drugs from in vivo degradation. GRAY, L. M., SCHREINER, S., and ANDERSON, D. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, 2003, 135-INOR. Applications of optical tweezers and microspheres for the micromanipulation of biomolecules and cells. GALLET, F. Annales de Biologie Clinique, 2004, 62, 85–86. Assessing the safety of microparticle-based glomerular gene delivery using a class comparison of DNA microarrays from ischemic or microparticle-injected kidneys. NAHMAN, N. S., BRINGARDNER, A., BHATT, U. Y., and SFERRA, T. J. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 2003, 372A. Assisted self-assembly of nanoparticles into hollow microspheres. MURTHY, V., CHA, J. N., STUCKY, G. D., and WONG, M. S. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, 2003, 596-INOR. Biodegradable triblock copolymer microspheres based on thermosensitive sol-gel transition. KWON, Y. M., and KIM, S. W. Pharmaceutical Research, 2004, 21, 339–343. Cationic PLG microparticles: a potent delivery system for DNA vaccines. BRIONES, M., SINGH, M., TURK, M., GUEVARA-PATINO, J., WOLCHOK, J., and O'HAGAN, D. Journal of Investigative Medicine, 2004, 52, S150. Cationic stearylamine-containing biodegradable microparticles for DNA delivery. KUSONWIRIYAWONG, C., ATUAH, K., ALPAR, O. H., MERKLE, H. P., and WALTER, E. Journal of Microencapsulation, 2004, 21, 25–36. Chain of metal nanospheres may create brilliant points of light. [ANON]. Laser Focus World, 2004, 40, 11. Circulating platelet microparticles in patients with antiphospholipid antibodies. HUNT, B. J., O'MAHONY, A., and PARMAMR, K. Blood, 2003, 102, 4165. Clinical efficacy of microencapsulated Timothy grass pollen extract in grass-allergic individuals. TEPAS, E. C., HOYTE, E. G., MCINTIRE, J. J., and UMETSU, D. T. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, 2004, 92, 25–31. Comparison of a multiplexed fluorescent covalent microsphere immunoassay and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for measurement of human immunoglobulin G antibodies to anthrax toxins. BIAGINI, R. E., SAMMONS, D. L., SMITH, J. P., MACKENZIE, B. A., STRILEY, C. A. F., SEMENOVA, V., STEWARD-CLARK, E., STAMEY, K., FREEMAN, A. E., QUINN, C. P., and SNAWDER, J. E. Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, 2004, 11, 50–55. Control of encapsulation efficiency and initial burst in polymeric microparticle systems. YEO, Y., and PARK, K. N. Archives of Pharmacal Research, 2004, 27, 1–12. Controlled hydrophobic/hydrophilic chitosan: colloidal phenomena and nanosphere formation. YOKSAN, R., MATSUSAKI, M., AKASHI, M., and CHIRACHANCHAI, S. Colloid and Polymer Science, 2004, 282, 337–342. j. microencapsulation August, 2004, vol. 21, no. 5, 581–589


ADAIR Linda S., POLLITT Ernesto & MUELLER William H. The Bacon Chow study: effect of nutritional supplementation on maternal weight and skinfold thicknesses during pregnancy and lactation. ADRON J.W. see WALTON M.J., COLOSO R.M., COWEY C.B., ADRON J.W. & KNOX D. The effects of dietary tryptophan levels on growth and metabolism of rainbow trout (Salmo guirdnerz]. ALLINSON M. see HACKETT A.F., RUGG-GUNN A.J., ALLINSON M., ROBINSON C.J., APPLETON D.R. & EASTOE J.E. The importance of fortification of flour with calcium and the sources of Ca in the diet of 375 English adolescents. ALLINSON Marion see HACKETT Allan F., RUGG-GUNN Andrew J., APPLETON David R., ALLINSON Marion & EASTOE John E. ANDERSEN L.M. see BATTERHAM E.S., MURISON R.D. & ANDERSEN L.M. Availability of lysine in vegetable protein concentrates as determined by the slope-ratio assay with growing pigs and rats and by chemical techniques. ANDERSON Douglas M.W. see MCLEAN Ross Alasdair H., EASTWOOD Martin A., BRYDON William G., BUSUTTIL Anthony, MCKAY Linda F. & ANDERSON Douglas M.W. A study of the effects of dietary gum arabic in the rat. APPLETON D.R. see HACKETT A.F., RUGG-GUNN A.J., APPLETON D.R., EASTOE J.E. & JENKINS G.N. A 2-year longitudinal nutritional survey of 405 Northumberland children initially aged 11.5 years. APPLETON D.R. see HACKETT A.F., RUGG-GUNN A.J., ALLINSON M., ROBINSON C.J., APPLETON D.R. & EASTOE J.E. The importance of fortification of flour with calcium and the sources of Ca in the diet of 375 English adolescents. APPLETON David R. see HACKETT Allan F., RUGG-GUNN Andrew J., APPLETON David R., ALLINSON Marion & EASTOE John E. BACH KNUDSEN K.E. see EGGUM B.O., BEAME~ R.M., WOLSTRUP J. & BACH KNUDSEN K.E. The effect of protein quality and fibre level in the diet and microbial activity in the digestive tract on protein utilization and energy digestibility in rats. BAILEY Clifford J. see FLATT Peter R. & BAILEY Clifford J. Dietary components and plasma insulin responses to fasting and refeeding in genetically obese hyperglycaemic (oblob) mice. BARR H. Gillian & MCCRACKEN K.J. High efficiency of energy utilization in 'cafeteria'and force-fed rats kept at 29". BARRY T.N. & DUNCAN S.J. The role of condensed tannins in the nutritional value of Lotuspedunculutus for sheep. 1. Voluntary intake. BARRY T.N. & MANLEY T.R. The role of condensed tannins in the nutritional value of Lotuspedunculutus for sheep. 2. Quantitative digestion of carbohydrates and proteins. BATTERHAM E.S., MURISON R.D. & ANDERSEN L.M. Availability of lysine in vegetable protein concentrates as determined by the slope-ratio assay with growing pigs and rats and by chemical techniques. BEAMES R.M. see EGGUM B.O., BEAMFS R.M., WOLSTRUP J. & BACH KNUDSEN K.E. The effect of protein quality and fibre level in the diet and microbial activity in the digestive tract on protein utilization and energy digestibility in rats. The effect of vitamin E and oxidized fish oil on the nutrition of rainbow trout (Sulmo guirdnerz? grown at natural, varying water temperatures. BENDER David A. & TOTOE Lena Inhibition of tryptophan metabolism by oestrogens in the rat: a factor in the aetiology of pellagra. BEZWODA W.R. see GILLOOLY M., BOTHWELL T.H., CHARLTON R.W., TORRANCE J.D., BEZWODA W.R., MACPHAIL A.P., DERMAN D.P., NOVELLI L., MORRALL P. & MAYET F. Factors affecting the absorption of iron from cereals. BLACKBURN N.A. see JARJIS H.A., BLACKBURN N.A., REDFERN J.S. & READ N.W. The effect ofispaghula (Fybogel and Metamucil) and guar gum on glucose tolerance in man. BOTHWELL T.H. see GILLOOLY M., BOTHWELL T.H., CHARLTON R.W., TORRANCE J.D., BEZWODA W.R., MACPHAIL A.P., DERMAN D.P., NOVELLI L., MORRALL P. & MAYET F. Factors affecting the absorption of iron from cereals. Sugars-eating habits of 405 11to 14-year-old English children.


The mobile device sector has grown over the past years. Most of us have a smartphone or tablet carrying with us every day. But the advanced mobility also requires special security enforcement as the devices store a lot of sensitive data and can be easily stolen or lost. Developers for the iOS platform have to pay attention to avoid common pitfalls when developing applications. Buffer overflows, format string vulnerabilities, SQL injections, Cross-Site Scripting, data leakage or theft are security issues which can happen if user input has not been sanitized correctly. This paper is meant to point out common mistakes in the iOS app development by showing Objective-C and Swift source code. Furthermore, it introduces the reader to the principles of reverse engineering so that third party applications can be audited for those bug classes.


1. The optimized combined process for producing a ready for transportation by pipeline, or refining raw materials and dry, solid subjected to thermal effects of a heavy asphaltenes process fluid with a high asphaltene content materials, said method comprises the steps of: (a) preheating process the fluid in the heater to the design temperature; (b) moving the preheated process fluid into the reactor and provide an optimal th asphaltene conversion in the process fluid within the reactor to produce a first stream rich in asphaltenes, subjected to thermal stresses fractions (fractions) and the second vapor stream; (c) share a second vapor stream to the third stream of non-condensed vapor, and a fourth flow lighter liquid hydrocarbon ( ); (d) provide a deasphalting fraction of the first stream rich in asphaltenes, subjected to thermal stresses, with a solvent extraction process, to form a fifth stream cha heavy deasphalted oil (DAO) and sixth asphaltene stream concentrated; (e) the heavy mixed DAO fifth stream and liquid hydrocarbon stream to produce a fourth ready for transportation by pipeline, or refining raw materials; and (f) sixth separated stream concentrated in the asphaltene installation inertial separation at the seventh stream of dry solid asphaltene solvent and eighth stream for reuse in sposobe.2. A method according to Claim. 1 as a continuous process in which the reactor is the sole reactor Terme


The evidential value of footstep identification conclusions in the stage of criminal investigation is discussed. After the review of different views, it is proposed that the conclusions acquired by different methods and for different types of footsteps have different evidence values for criminal investigation and criminal trials. It is hoped that our opinion could serve for reference judicial organizations in evaluating footstep identification conclusions.


A precise method for the determination of the increment of the  basal area using the PressIer bore. Refering to  previous research showing that the basal area of the corsica pine could be  characterized by an ellips, we present in this paper a precise method for the  determination of the increment of the basal area. In this method we determine  the direction of the maximum diameter, we measure this diameter and we take a  core in one of the points of tangency of the caliper with the measured tree.  The determination of the diameter perpendicular to the maximum diameter  finishes the work wich is to be done in the forest. From the classical  measurements effectuated on the core and from the measured diameters we can  then determine the form (V) and the excentricity (e). Substituting these two  parameters in the formula 2 or 2', we can also calculate the error of a  radius measured on the core with respect to the representative radius, This  error with them allow us to correct the measured value of the minimum or the  maximum radius and we will be able to do a precise determination of the  increment.


OBJECTIVES
To design an improved Oral lichen planus (OLP) scoring system, which can be widely applied.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
A new scoring system which taken reticulation, hyperemia and ulceration (RHU) into account, named as RHU scoring system, was designed for OLP patients' management. The patients were also scored for the REU (reticulation /erythema /ulcer) scoring system, physician global assessment (PGA), numerical rating scale (NRS) and Oral Health Impact Profile-14(OHIP-14). The reliability and validity analysis were utilized to assess the RHU scoring system. We further applied the RHU scoring system to examining the treatment outcomes of topical dexamethasone sodium phosphate and general hydroxychloroquine hydrochloride among OLP patients.

RESULTS
Forty-eight OLP patients from two medical centers were recruited. This new scoring system has reliability with internal consistency index Cronbachα 0.49. The Pearson correlation of RHU score with PGA and REU score were 0.891 and 0.675(p<0.05) respectively, reflecting satisfactory standard validity. A 10% change in RHU score was used as the disease condition evaluation standard, reflecting satisfactory discriminating validity(t=-5.821, p<0.001). During follow-ups, scores of all scales decreased at each re-visit. The drop between each visit of OHIP-14 fluctuated compared with the RHU system and NRS.

CONCLUSIONS
As a semi-quantitative score system, the RHU scoring system can reflect the severity of OLP patients with hyperemia and ulceration lesions more accurately and sensitively compared with other score systems, which provides the potential to be widely used.


We design a structure consisting of Ag strip pair arrays embedded in the background material to achieve localized surface plasmon resonance. Numerical simulation shows that one of the transmission dips of the structure is very sensitive to the background materials, which can be used to achieve high performance sensors.


Pulmonary hypertension frequently complicates acute respiratory distress syndrome (1), related to high airway pressures (2), hypoxia, and hypercapnia (3, 4). Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) improves oxygenation and reduces hypercapnia, facilitating lower airway pressures, and could thus decrease pulmonary hypertension and reduce right ventricular afterload. We therefore studied the effect of initiating venovenous ECMO on mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), cardiac index (CI), and mixed venous oxygenation (Sv O2). Thirteen consecutive patients admitted to the Erasmus MC with acute respiratory failure treated with venovenous ECMO were included and studied for the first 6 hours after initiation. Before cannulation, a pulmonary artery catheter (777HF8; Edwards, Irvine, CA) was inserted. Heart rate, mean arterial pressures, peripheral oxygenation, mPAP, and CI were recorded just before initiation of venovenous ECMO (baseline) and at 30 seconds as well as 1, 3, 5, 10, and 15 minutes and 1 and 6 hours after initiation of venovenous ECMO. CI was measured continuously (Vigilance II monitor; Edwards). In six patients, Sv O2 measurements were available. All parameters were normally distributed. The effects of venovenous ECMO on hemodynamics and Sv O2 at each point were tested, using generalized estimating equations in all patients, at all points, with the baseline values as covariates. The association between mPAP and Sv O2 was tested with generalized estimating equations in six patients during the first 15 minutes. Values of the first blood gas after initiation of venovenous ECMO were subtracted from the values of the last blood gas analysis before venovenous ECMO and were defined as "D." The associations among DPaO2, DPaCO2, and DmPAP were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. All data are expressed in mean6 SE unless otherwise stated. Eleven men and two women (age, 586 3 yr) were included. All patients were diagnosed with pneumonia (seven bacterial, five viral, and one culture negative). Two patients were on the waiting list for lung transplantation. Baseline mPAP of these chronic patients was 26 and 43 mm Hg before initiation of venovenous ECMO. Three patients were treated with the Quadrox PLS oxygenator (Maquet, Rastatt, Germany); the others were treated with an iLa-Active system (6 XLung oxygenator and 4 NovaLung oxygenator; NovaLung, Heilbron, Germany). The NovaLung oxygenator does not have a heater, as the priming volume is low. In all other systems, ECMO blood flow was heated to 378C. One patient received a jugular 31-Fr double lumen cannula; all others received a 25or 29-Fr femoral cannula with a 19or 21-Fr reinfusion jugular cannula.


Objective:To investigate the effects of amlodipine besylate combined with telmisartan on morning blood pressure surge(MBPS)and blood pressure variability(BPV)in elderly patients with essential hypertension.Methods:A total of 48 elderly patients with essential hypertension were treated with amlodipine besylate(5 mg/d)combined with telmisartan(40 mg/d)for 4 weeks.And24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring(ABPM)was performed before and after treatment.The differences of MBPS and BPV before and after treatment in patients were analyzed by using self-control study.Results:In elderly patients with essential hypertension,compared with before treatment,24 h mean systolic blood pressure,24 h mean diastolic blood pressure,daytime mean systolic blood pressure,daytime mean diastolic blood pressure,nighttime mean systolic blood pressure, nighttime mean diastolic blood pressure,MBPS,24 h systolic standard deviation,24 h diastolic standard deviation,24 h systolic coefficient of variation and 24 h diastolic coefficient of variation were lower after treatment.The differences were significant(P 0.05).Total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol after treatment were lower than before treatment and the differences were significant(P0.01).Conclusions:Amlodipine besylate combined with telmisartan can effectively reduce blood pressure,MBPS and BPV in elderly patients with essential hypertension.