TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. THE SUPREME COURT MODIFIES THE JURISPRUDENCE OF 35 U.S.C. [section] 285 A. Octane Fitness B. Highmark II. THE HISTORY OF ENHANCED DAMAGES IN PATENT CASES III. THE HISTORY BEHIND THE CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE STANDARD OF PROOF FOR WILLFULNESS DETERMINATIONS A. The Federal Circuit Era B. The Pre-Federal Circuit Era C. The Federal Circuit Likely Adopted an Incorrect Standard of Proof D. The Standard of Proof for Willfulness in Other Contexts is Preponderance of the Evidence E. The Punitive Nature of Treble Damages Does Not Support the Use of the Clear and Convincing Evidence Standard of Proof F. Statutory Adoption Does Not Support the Clear and Convincing Evidence Standard of Proof IV. SECTION 284 ENHANCED DAMAGES DETERMINATION IS AN ISSUE OF FACT A. The Factual Predicate of Whether the Infringement was Willful Is a Pure Question of Fact 1. The Bard Court Failed to Engage in the Necessary Seventh Amendment Analysis B. The Discretionary Award of Enhanced Damages Is an Issue for the Jury V. THE IMPLICATIONS OF LOWERING THE EVIDENTIARY STANDARD FOR WILLFULNESS AND PUTTING THE RELATED DISCRETIONARY QUESTIONS IN THE HANDS OF THE JURY A. The Potential Change in Litigation Tactics B. Potential Changes as to the Likelihood and Size of Enhanced Damages CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION The Supreme Court's recent decisions in Octane Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc. (1) and Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Management Systems, Inc. (2) significantly modified the jurisprudence for determining whether a patent lawsuit is "exceptional," thus qualifying the prevailing party for attorney's fees under [section] 285 of the Patent Act. (3) These two decisions addressed the Federal Circuit's multiyear jurisprudence on the appropriate standard of proof (4) for exceptional-case determinations under [section] 285 and their proper characterization as either a question of fact or law. In discussing [section] 285, the Supreme Court did not mention [section] 284, the damages provision of the Patent Act that provides for the recovery of "damages adequate to compensate for the infringement" (5) and increased damages for willful infringement. (6) Courts have historically treated the discretionary-damage awards of [section] 284 and [section] 285 similarly, often citing precedent concerning one section in the application of the other. (7) The reasoning in Octane Fitness and Highmark suggests that current Federal Circuit [section] 284 jurisprudence should be modified. (8) Specifically, willfulness need only be proven by a preponderance of the evidence (as opposed to clear and convincing evidence), and is a question of fact entirely for the jury. This article also concludes that there is a Seventh Amendment right to have the jury perform the discretionary adjustment of damages under [section] 284. Finally, this article considers the implications of these modifications to [section] 284 jurisprudence. I. THE SUPREME COURT MODIFIES THE JURISPRUDENCE OF 35 U.S.C. [section] 285 A. Octane Fitness In Octane, the Supreme Court revised the application of 35 U.S.C [section] 285, a fee-shifting provision for patent litigation to be applied in "exceptional" cases. (9) The parties in Octane were manufacturers of exercise equipment. (10) ICON sued Octane for patent infringement, but lost on summary judgment for non-infringement. (11) Octane then moved for attorney's fees under [section] 285, but the district court, applying existing Federal Circuit jurisprudence, declined to award fees because ICON's claim was not "objectively baseless" or "brought in subjective bad faith." (12) The Federal Circuit affirmed and declined to "revisit the settled standard for exceptionality." (13) The Supreme Court reversed the Federal Court's decision, finding that the "objectively baseless" and "brought in subjective bad faith" requirements were inconsistent with the statute. …


The workshop was held at the National Institutes of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, on October 4 and 5, 1991. Twenty-four investigators attended from England, Germany and the United States. The topics discussed included: Genome sequence analysis using computer assisted detection of open reading frames, splice sites and hexamer patterns, direct exon identification using trapping of internal and 3` exons, and a recombination based system, cDNA library construction and screening, including the use of normalization and subtraction procedures, Alu and splice donor site PCR from hybrid cell lines, and microdissection clones as probes, use of labeled CDNAS as probes to screen lambda and cosmid libraries, and sequencing of random cDNAs.


he Oxford Raddiffe Hospitals NHS Trust provides an overseas nurses adaptation programme that is widely regarded as 'gold standard'. Its programme offers a model of excellence in the structure, content, and processes that constitute effective adaptation for overseas registered nurses.


This paper presents a 3.2 Gb/s low-power clock and data recovery (CDR). The improved architecture using two half-rate gated voltage-controlled oscillators (GVCOs) shared between frequency presetting and data recovery modes is presented to remove the LC-tank voltage-controlled oscillator in a cascaded CDR. Moreover, using the proposed active inductive loading technique instead of the on-chip inductor reduces the power consumption and area in high-speed operation. This CDR circuit has been designed in TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS technology. It consumes 22.5 mW from a 1.8-V supply and occupies an active area of 0.26 mm2. The peak-to-peak and rms jitter of the recovered clock are 95.6 ps and 12.1 ps for a 3.2 Gb/s 27-1 PRBS, respectively.


Interview duration is an important variable in web surveys because it is a direct measure of the response burden. In this article, we analyze the effects of the survey design, respondent characteristics, and the interaction between these effects on interview duration. For that purpose, we applied multilevel analysis to a data set of 21 web surveys on political attitudes and behavior. Our results showed that factors on both levels, the individual and the survey level, had effects on interview duration. However, the larger share of the variation in interview duration is explained by the characteristics of the respondents. In this respect, we illustrate the impact of mobile devices and panel recruitment on interview duration. In addition, we found important relationships between the respondents' attitudes and how a web survey is designed: Highly motivated respondents spent significantly more time answering cognitively demanding questions than less motivated respondents. When planning a survey, not only the number and formats of questions need to be taken into account but also the expected sample composition and how the participants will respond to the design of the web survey.


Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 371 is located in Areas 11 and 18 of the Nevada Test Site, which is approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Corrective Action Unit 371 is comprised of the two corrective action sites (CASs) listed below: • 11-23-05, Pin Stripe Contamination Area • 18-45-01, U-18j-2 Crater (Johnnie Boy) These sites are being investigated because existing information on the nature and extent of potential contamination is insufficient to evaluate and recommend corrective action alternatives. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a corrective action investigation before evaluating corrective action alternatives and selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible evaluation of viable corrective action alternatives that will be presented in the Corrective Action Decision Document. The sites will be investigated based on the data quality objectives (DQOs) developed on November 19, 2008, by representatives of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection; U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office; Stoller-Navarro Joint Venture; and National Security Technologies, LLC. The DQO process was used to identify and define the type, amount, and quality of data needed to develop and evaluate appropriate corrective actions formore » CAU 371. Appendix A provides a detailed discussion of the DQO methodology and the DQOs specific to each CAS. The scope of the corrective action investigation for CAU 371 includes the following activities: • Move surface debris and/or materials, as needed, to facilitate sampling. • Conduct radiological surveys. • Measure in situ external dose rates using thermoluminescent dosimeters or other dose measurement devices. • Collect and submit environmental samples for laboratory analysis to determine internal dose rates. • Combine internal and external dose rates to determine whether total dose rates exceed final action levels (FALs). • Collect and submit environmental samples for laboratory analysis to determine whether chemical contaminants are present at concentrations exceeding FALs. • If contamination exceeds FALs, define the extent of the contamination exceeding FALs. • Investigate waste to determine whether potential source material is present. This Corrective Action Investigation Plan has been developed in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order that was agreed to by the State of Nevada; U.S. Department of Energy; and U.S. Department of Defense. Under the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, this Corrective Action Investigation Plan will be submitted to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection for approval. Fieldwork will be conducted following approval of the plan.« less


Background: Perioperative pain is prevalent and poorly treated. Apart from that it makes the recovery from surgery
unpleasent, pain often remains as a residual side effect of surgery, even though the tissue healing is complete. An essential
observation is that tissue injury and the resulting nociceptor barrage initiates a cascade of events that can indelibly alter pain
perception. Preemptive analgesia is the concept of initiating analgesic therapy before the onset of the noxious stimulus so as
to prevent the nociceptor barrage and its consequences. However, anticipated clinical potency of preemptive analgesia,
though has firmly grounded in the neurobiology of pain, has not been yet realized. As data accumulates, it has become clear
that clinical studies emulating those from the laboratory and designed around a relatively narrow definition of preemptive
analgesia have been largely unsupportive of its use. Nevertheless, preemptive analgesic interventions that recognize the
intensity, duration, and somatotopic extent of major surgery can help reduce perioperative pain and its longer-term sequelae.
surgeons spend a lot of time treating the pain of lower abdominal surgery.
Methods: A total number of 48 consecutive patients who were going to undergo elective lower abdominal surgery. Were
randomly assigned in two groups of 24 each. In one group the patients received an injection of 0.5 % bupivacaine in the
planned skin for incision just before lower abdominal surgery, and in the other group, they received an equal amount of 0.5%
bupivacaine after the surgery had been done. Pain was objectified by a numerical visual pain score, in the 24 hours following
the lower abdominal surgery.
Results: There were no differences in postoperative pain scores on the visual analog scale (VAS): In groups 1and 2, VAS at
hour 4 were 6.37±1.13 versus 6.29±1.19; At hour 8 were 5.54 ± 1.17 versus 5.37±1.09; and at hour 12 were 4.5 ± 1.31
versus 4.45 ± 1.1 respectively (P-value was not significant). There was not any difference between the main of morphine
consumption between the two groups: at 12 hours, they were 11 ±3.5 versus 11.5 ±3.63; and at 24 hours, they were
17.87±5.88 versus 18.29 ±5.85 (P-value was not significant).
Conclusions: The administration of local anesthesia prior to starting surgery does not appear to have any advantage over
its postoperative administration in patients undergoing lower abdominal surgery.
Keyword: analgesia, bupivacaine, preemptive, postoperative.


Abstract: An outlook on the status of security performance in light of intelligence focuses on the business aspects and needs of organizations. The security plan needs to be integrated with the business and should be developed in collaboration with different groups within an organization. Organizations need to have a culture that embraces security and intelligence. Security performance is one of the top concerns of modern businesses. Companies must look at the underlying causes of their problems in order to fix them. A good cybersecurity posture is often measured by a lack of data breaches. Lack of specific metrics, however, may be an indication that a company does not have a strategic mindset. Attacks and malfunctions are extremely costly. Detection involves identifying suspicious behaviors and alerting the appropriate personnel. An important challenge in detecting suspicious activity is finding the right balance between false alarms and coverage. An effective security program must be able to mitigate attacks while reducing false alarms. The growing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) is creating a new kind of cybervulnerability. Developers often overlook AI security, leaving it open to attack by adversaries. Attacks can take the form of basic manipulations and probes or adversarial AI. As the number of computer systems increases, so do the risks they pose to the security of data and systems. This article examines the importance of security performance, the role of the cloud, machine learning-based security models, and incident response. We also look at the importance of a security model that incorporates intelligence. Finally, this report also identifies five critical areas in which Intelligence attacks pose a high risk to organizations.


The leachabilities of technetium and nitrate wastes immobilized in cement-based grouts have been investigated. Factors found to affect the leachabilities include grout mix ratio, grout fluid density, dry solid blend composition, and waste concentration. 10 refs., 7 figs., 3 tabs.


Stem cell-based tissue engineering is an emerging tool for developing functional tissues of choice. To understand pluripotency and hepatic differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) on a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold, we established an efficient approach for generating hepatocyte-like cells from hepatoblast cells. We developed porous and biodegradable scaffold, which was stimulated with exogenous growth factors and investigated stemness and differentiation capacity of mESCs into hepatocyte-like cells on the scaffold in -vitro. In animal studies, we had cultured mESCs-derived hepatoblast-like cells on the scaffold and then, transplanted them into the partially hepatectomized (PH) C57BL/6 male mice model to evaluate the effect of gelatin scaffold on hepatic regeneration. The 3D culture system allowed maintenance of stemness properties in mESCs. The step-wise induction of mESCs with differentiation factors leads to the formation of hepatocyte-like cells andexpressed liver-specific genes, including albumin, hepatocyte nucleic factor 4 alpha (HNF4α), Ki67 and cytokeratin 18 (CK18). In addition, cells also expressed Ki67, indicating cells are proliferating. The secretome showed expression of albumin, urea, creatinine, alanine transaminase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST).. However, the volume of the excised liver which aids regeneration has not been studied. Our results indicate that hepatoblast cells on the scaffold implanted in PH mouse indicates that these cells efficiently differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells and cholangiocytes, forming hepatic lobules with central and portal veins, and bile duct-like structures with neovascularization. The gelatin scaffold provides an efficient microenvironment for liver differentiation and regeneration both in-vitro and in-vivo. These hepatoblasts cells would be a valuable source for 3D liver tissue engineering/transplantation in liver diseases.


The synthesis, X-ray crystal structures, and the study of the solution behavior of the palladium(II) allyl complexes [Pd(eta(3)-1R(1)-C3H4){FcCH=N-CH2-(CH2)(n)-NMe2}][PF6] {with Fc = (eta(5)-C5H5)Fe(eta(5)-C5H4), R-1 = H, and n = 2 (4) or 1 (5) or R-1 = Ph and n = 2 (6) or 1 (7)} are described. The structural studies of 4, 5, 6, and 7 showed that the allyl ligands were bound to palladium(II) in an eta(3)-fashion and the ferrocenyl-Schiff bases behaved as neutral (N,N') bidentate ligands. As observed for other Pd complexes of ligands 1 and 2, the imine conformation of the ligand in the complex strongly depends on the length of the hydrocarbon chain between the two nitrogen donors: compounds 4 and 6 exhibited an anti-(E) conformation, whereas the syn-(Z) form is observed in 5 and 7 Fe-57-Mossbauer spectra (in the solid state) and electrochemical studies based on cyclic voltammetry of 4, 5, 6, and 7 are reported. These studies reveal that the proclivity of the iron(II) toward oxidation is affected by the nature of the substituent R-1 of the allyl group {H (in 4 and 5) or Ph (in 6 and 7)}. Compounds 4 and 5 have been tested in the palladium(II) allylic alkylation of (E)-3-phenyl-2-propenyl (cinnamyl) acetate using sodium diethyl 2-methylmalonate as the nucleophile. In all cases the formation of the trans-(E) isomer of the linear product (9) was strongly favored versus that of the branched derivative (10). The stoichiometric reactions of the palladium(II) allyl intermediates [Pd(eta(3)-1-Ph-C3H4){FcCH=N-CH2-(CH2)(n)-NMe2}] [PF6] {with n = 2 (6) or 1 (7)} with the nucleophile have been studied. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of these systems have allowed us to rationalize. the structural differences as well as the regioselectivity of the catalytic and stoichiometric reactions.


By the use of double hidden layered BP artificial neural network a mathematical model of relationship between wear rate of screw-nut pair and sliding speed is established.This model can be used in the accurate calculation of wear rate of screw-nut pair and worm-worm wheel pair,and can be applied quite conveniently to tribology programming as well.By adopting the L-M rule,the learning and training of neural network carried out in this paper enable the network a quicker convergence and a less error.The output result of network possesses extreme conincidence compared with the result of experiment.This neural network can provide an effective calculation means for personnels of engineering design while doing their tribology design.


This project "Real Baby - Real Family" is a project aimed at expressing love and family ties utilizing Virtual Reality system (VR). In this paper, we described the version presented at the International collegiate Virtual Reality Contest (IVRC 2016). It reports system design and implementation, user evaluation during exhibition, and future possibilities. The single player version of "Real Baby" exhibited at the IVRC 2016 preview was made up of three main elements. The first element is a holdable baby mock-up without using HMD. The second is a generator of baby face based on a user's 2D facial image. The third elements consists of a visual, vocal, and haptic feedback as well as event generation. In the future, we are hoping to examine alternative expressions of "love in family ties" with this project. Supplementary materials related to this article can be found online at "https://youtu.be/Gy_XrWfl4RE"


The secondary wavelets of Huygens-Fresnel' principle are showed by δ function,solving the problems of Collins diffraction integral,deducing the formula of the intensity distribution of multi-slit diffraction.


This article aims to report the experience with the elaboration and execution of an interdisciplinary project for classes of the 2nd year of integrated high school, in the view of the teachers involved in the process, having as a generator theme the experience of rafting (extreme sport). The experience is configured as qualitative and descriptive, with the locus of experience being the technical courses in a secretariat integrated to the high school of IFMT - Campus Cuiaba Cel. Octayde Jorge da Silva. The subjects were students enrolled in the two 2nd year classes of the 2019 school year, totaling 76 students involved. The presentation of the data followed the paths taken in the pedagogical sequence constructed and executed, being constituted from the collective elaboration of an interdisciplinary project, the development of the contents for each discipline involved, the challenges for the execution of the project, the experience of rafting and the interdisciplinary evaluation.


To the Editor: We read with interest the letter by Baumgartner and Clark that points to an important omission of the growing body of research linking household air pollution (HAP) with subclinical indicators of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk including blood pressure, carotid atherosclerotic plaque, and arterial stiffness in our recent review "Targeting Household Air Pollution for Curbing the Cardiovascular Disease Burden: A Health Priority in Sub-Saharan Africa." We are delighted to know that this review is already a topic of scientific discussions. We particularly welcome Baumgartner and Clark's information on up-to-date studies linking HAP to important subclinical indicators such as carotid atherosclerotic plaques and arterial stiffness. However, as clearly stated in our paper, we aimed to highlight the direct evidence of the important role of HAP in the occurrence of CVDs and indirect evidence from epidemiologic and mechanistic observations linking cardiovascular events with exposures to other air pollutant mixtures that have been more extensively studied, with an emphasis on sub-Saharan African countries where the highest rates of major CVDs and death are observed. The relationship between HAP and modifiable traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure was therefore out of the scope of our review; this relationship could be discussed within a specific review given the escalating body of epidemiologic and clinical evidence on the topic. Indeed, we reviewed the relationship between HAP and CVD including coronary heart disease and stroke, but not the relationship between HAP and cardiovascular risk factors, which is largely demonstrated as well and, hence, needs to be addressed in a whole article. With respect to our objective, we concluded that there is a link between HAP and major adverse cardiovascular events. However, we could not confirm whether this association is causal or not. Nonetheless, we speculated that HAP, which shares several common aspects with cigarette smoke exposure and ambient outdoor air pollution, is likely also causally associated with CVD through the same pathophysiological mechanisms. While we acknowledge that the growing body of research evaluating the association between HAP and subclinical indicators of cardiovascular risk push forward our understanding of the role of HAP in the development of CVD and the triggering of acute cardiac events, direct evidence of this role remains highly needed. In particular, whether HAP affects only intermediate outcomes such as blood pressure or also directly impacts the occurrence of cardiovascular events is still to be elucidated. HAP has been postulated as one of the major nontraditional risk factors that may independently account for the significant proportion of cardiovascular events––10% to 25% incidence of coronary disease––that is unexplained by traditional risk factors. Along this line, a recent study suggested that traditional cardiovascular risk factors (eg, high blood pressure and diabetes) alone cannot explain the huge burden of CVD in lowand middle-income countries. Taken together, direct mechanistic evidence from robust epidemiological and clinical research linking HAP and major CVDs and death (and not merely extrapolations from studies of HAP and intermediate outcomes) is still largely warranted to identify whether HAP directly affects the development of CVD.


The Internet was created as a best effort service, however, there is now considerable interest in applications which transport time sensitive data across the network. This project looks into a novel network router architecture, which could improve the Quality of Service guarantees which can be provided to such flows. This router architecture makes use of virtual machine techniques, to assign an individual virtual routelet to each network flow requiring QoS guarantees. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of this virtual routelet architecture, a prototype router was created, and its performance was measured and compared with that of a standard router. The results suggest promise in the virtual routelet architecture, however, the overheads incurred by current virtual machine techniques prevent this architecture from outperforming a standard router. Evaluation of these results suggests a number of enhancements which could be made to virtual machine techniques in order to effectively support this virtual routelet architecture.


In an attempt to account for differences in the biologic behavior of Epstein-Barr virus in different primate species, we studied lymphocyte surface markers on primary and transformed cells. Among primary leukocytes, the distribution of cells with characteristics of bone-marrow-derived cells (B cells) was similar in humans, wooly monkeys, and cotton-top marmosets. However, after transformation by Epstein-Barr virus, cells from each species were characterically different. Transformed human umbilical cord cells expressed the complement receptor; monkey cells exhibited both this receptor and the receptor for IgG Fc (EA7S); and marmoset cells did not have either surface marker. We measured the transformation efficiency of human and marmoset leukocyte subpopulations enriched or depeleted in cells with the complement receptor. In both species the highest efficiencies of transformation were found in populations with the greatest numbers of cells with the receptor. The data therefore suggest that, in all species, a cell with the complement receptor is susceptible to transformation but that this receptor is not expressed on transformed marmoset cells. Thus, in Epstein-Barr virus-induced transformation it is necessary to distinguish between transformation of growth properties (immortalization) and transformation of cell surface properties.


The composition,process flow,economic indexes and main characteristics of sludge low-temperature vacuum drying system were introduced.The drying of sludge from 98% water content to below 30% could be achieved in the system.The project demonstration demonstrated that the system had technical advantages in drying of sludge from WWTP.The sludge reduction and innocuity could be achieved at the source.


This paper presents the tools that are essential for controlling a defense robot in a teleoperation system via internet using the virtual reality concept. In the process of controlling a defense robot based on remote access the most important criteria affecting the performance of robot is the delay time. This paper allows us to overcome the catastrophe of error that occurs during the operation of defense robot via internet. By utilizing the virtual reality concept the delay time across the defense robot can be minimized in an efficient way so that the defense robot performance can be improved to a certain extent. We implemented our work by conducting teleoperation experiments in different environment. The experimental result does go hand in hand with the above architecture.


The onset of macro-crack initiation in metals is characterized using anisotropic damage. The formulation is for problems where the assumption of small elastic strains is valid (Figure 1). A coupled model of damage and plasticity is used to numerically simulate macro-crack initiation in a center cracked thin plate. The plate is subjected to in-plane uniformly distributed tensile load. A very fine finite element mesh is used to discretize the plate. The stresses and damage are shown in the form of contour lines around the crack tip of the plate.


In this paper we construct a class of iterated function system and study the profile curves of fractal surface generated by the constructed.We prove the invariant set which is the graph of fractal interpolation functions with discontinuous points.Then we give the relationship between the box-counting dimension of FIS and the dimension of its Profile curves by counting them.


Abstract : The MCM Evaluation Board is a 6" by 6" test fixture designed for evaluating the HSAD9 MCM, a completely self contained ADC multichip module that digitizes incoming differential analog signals to 12 bit resolution at a 213 Msps maximum sample rate. Data is output through a 50 pin D connector with LYDS logic levels. The MCM Evaluation Board functions very similarly to the AMAD19 12 bit ADC Breadboard. Its circuitry is very similar as well, with the major components that were once on the Breadboard now packaged on the HSAD9 MCM. The MCM is comprised of five major circuit blocks: the AMAD19 custom GaAs HBT circuit, a Calibration FPGA, a non-volatile Ram, two octal, 8 bit DACs, and reference generation circuitry.


Artists are known to manage low income and work insecurity by holding multiple jobs. Through an
analysis of interview data, this study explores the narratives of 20 visual artists in Sweden regarding
breadwinning work. Positive and negative experiences of such work are analyzed in relation to
the artists' work behavior and identity as either 'bohemian' or 'entrepreneurial.' Breadwinning work
may be seen by artists as either enabling autonomy from the market or hindering the construction
of a professional identity, depending on these behaviors/identities. However, conditions such as low
wage, temporary contracts, and low control over work hours ultimately decides artist's experiences
of breadwinning work. This article adds to the existing knowledge on artistic labour markets
by highlighting the role of multiple job holding in mediating between an understanding of the
bohemian art for art's sake artist role and the entrepreneurial role of the artist.
 NB 'The endnotes 7 and 8 have switched places, where endnote 7 should belong to the text of endnote 8 and vice versa'


For a dynamical system, if only the qualitative state (x(k)) of the state x(k) is available, we cannot predict the state trajectory uniquely due to ambiguity in the predicted state trajectories. A stochastic automaton is proposed as a qualitative model for such dynamical systems. We estimate the probability transition matrices of the stochastic automaton using a novel approach. We show that a qualitative model thus obtained serves as a useful tool for analysis and simulation. Based on the quali- tative model we propose to design a qualitative controller. Result of the proposed model is compared with those of an existing model. Copyright c ∞ 2006 Yang's Scientific Research Institute, LLC. All rights reserved.


This paper disusses the condition for realizing Sell-Posture Changing Motion (SPCM) . With a proper combination of a compliant joint and a position-controlled joint, a link system has the capability of changing its posture while maintaining contact between inner link and environment over an angular displacement at the position-controlled joint, The series of these motions is so-called SPCM. The condition for realizing SPCM depends on many factors, such as the object's shape where the link contacts, the frictional coefficient at the point of contact, link posture, the compliance of the system and so on. While we have obtained a sufficient condition leading to SPCM in our former works, this condition normally provides the severer condition than the actual one. After proving that a pure thcoretical approach never provides the necessary and sufficient condition, we have examined how actual SPCMs stop. Through experiments, we newly found an interesting coatact force behavior, namely, it shoots up after a particular link configuration and an SPCM stops after this force behavior. After analyzing the mechanism of this characteristic, we propose a new control strategy which suppresses the increase of contact force and contributes to extending the link posture leading to SPCM.


Multiple myeloma (MM), a terminal cancer of bone marrow plasma cells, affects about 35,000 people yearly, and kills 13,000. The KaLwRij mouse model spontaneously develops pre-malignant myeloma disease (MGUS) and is receptive to myeloma development. In the C57BL/6 mouse model, chronic intermittent hypoxia allows lethal engraftment of malignant myeloma cells. Our central hypothesis is that myeloma susceptibility in both models is modulated by the sympathetic nervous system and beta-adrenergic receptor activation. 8 - week old C57BL/6 female mice were exposed to either propranolol, isoproterenol, or saline for 6 weeks. At week 2, mice were injected with either 5TGM1/GFP+ (MM) cells or saline. Heart rate and heart rate variability were collected using MouseOx and LabChart Pro to monitor expected drug effects. All animals were monitored for terminal paralysis. Bone marrow and spleen cells were harvested for qPCR analysis to quantify 5TGM1 cell proliferation. C57BL/6 mice did not have decreased survival when treated with isoproterenol, but propranolol was protective against CIH-induced MM susceptibility. Propranolol did not increase survival in KalwRij mice. In order for Multiple Myeloma to progress in the CIH mouse model, β2-adrenergic receptor activation is required but is not sufficient. This experiment can be used to understand the role of sympathetic nervous system stimulation and its contribution to MM engraftment and growth. Supported by NIH 1R56HL152365. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.


Belonging to the technical field of development, application and production of health textile fiber fabrics, the invention relates to multi-functional nano-biological composite active material healthcare and rehabilitation patient clothes, which are nano-biological healthcare patient clothes made of a nano-biological composite active material. With the multiple functions of releasing biological waves and trace elements to improve human body microcirculation, regulate biological waves and element balance in human body, spontaneously generating negative ions and radiating far infrared rays, regulating human body acid-base balance and internal secretion, efficiently blocking ultraviolet rays, shielding electromagnetic waves, playing a magnetic therapy role, efficiently inhibiting bacteria, killing bacteria, preventing mites, killing insects, improving human body internal environments and the like, can prevent cross infection of hospitalized patients, enhance the body immune function, improve the disease resisting ability, and promote health, so that with the patient clothes, the patients can rehabilitate under the state of a high negative ion concentration.


Fractures of femur in pediatric age group is mainly age dependent .Treatment below 5 years mainly conservatively, by cast or traction plus casting due to good healing capacity and remodeling .Above 17years were skeletal maturity is achieved interlocking nailing is standard treatment. But in age groups 6-14 years treatment is controversial .There are number of treatment modalities likes casting, traction followed by casting external fixator, plating ,elastic nailing, ,inter locking nailing with entry portal other than pyriform fossa. Because in this age group remodeling capacity is less and displacing muscle forces are high, requiring accurate reduction and maintenance This is prospective study of 22 patients with single isolated femoral diaphyseal fractures in age group of 6- 14,With transverse, short oblique and minimal comminuted fractures are treated with titanium elastic nails. results are evaluated by radiological union, weight bearing , return to school, any complications ,patient satisfaction , and flynn's scoring criteria Titanium elastic nailing is a simple operative procedure which can be done by closed method minimal incision, with minimal blood loss, less complications and high patient satisfactory rate.


The objective of this research is to study the existence of the attributes (dimensions) of the learning organization in Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza from its employees' point of view. A modified version of the theoretical framework of learning organizations developed by Watkins and Marsick (2003) is used in this research because it provides a clear definition of the construct of "learning organization" from an organizational culture perspective. This framework consists of a (43) item questionnaire that evaluates the following attributes (dimensions) of the learning organization: continuous learning opportunities, dialogue and inquiry, collaboration and team learning, collective vision, capture and share learning as well as environmental connection. The questionnaire was distributed to (325) employees who were randomly selected from Al-Shifa hospital's employees. The statistical analysis of the questionnaire, using the Mean, Standard Deviation and T- Test, indicates that the dimensions of the learning organization did not exist in Al-Shifa hospital from its employees' point of view. The research concluded that to become a learning organization, Al-Shifa hospital needs to promote all the dimensions of the learning organization (i.e., continuous learning opportunities, dialogue and inquiry, collaboration and team learning, collective vision, capture and share learning as well as environmental connection).


Organic small molecules like ammonium halide salts (AHSs) are widely used to suppress the non-radiative charge recombination of solution-processed halide perovskite films with defective surface and unfavorable energy levels for enhanced photovoltage, but more often than not at a cost of enlarging the band gap of perovskite materials, which limits the light absorption and thus, the photocurrent density. In addition, there is still a lack of fundamental understanding and visual characterization of the surface and bulk composition change upon subsequent surface treatment with heterogeneous ingredients. Herein, we report and identify that AHS soaking treatment enables the formation of δ-FAPbI3 on the surface of the perovskite film for defect passivation functions, thus reducing the interfacial recombination loss and increasing photovoltage. Meanwhile, the AHS molecules diffuse and alloy with the bulk perovskite material to reduce the band gap, red-shifting the absorption region and thus increasing the photocurrent. Blade-coated perovskite solar cells (PSCs) prepared via AHS treatment achieved a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.9% with a high open-circuit voltage (Voc) up to 1.18 V under AM 1.5G sun illumination, which is remarkably higher than the pristine PSCs without any treatment (19.2%), and outperforms other blade-coated PSCs, regardless of their perovskite compositions. Surface treatment of perovskite films with functional, organic small molecules is a promising strategy for rational composition management and favorable gradient distribution, which are beneficial for realizing efficient and stable PSCs.


Abstract : Mesothelioma therapy is a highly fatal disease that has poorly effective therapy with dose-limiting side-effects. Low expression of the CDK4/CDK6 inhibitor p16INK4a has been demonstrated in up to 90% of mesothelioma tumors. The objective of this application as a next step in the pursuit of this long term goal is to identify stabilized peptides that will mimic the interaction between p16INK4a and CDK4/6. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that protein-protein interactions can be replicated or disrupted by stabilized peptides that have been identified via the identification of pharmacophores of small peptides that interact with CDK4/6. The specific aims are as follows. (1) Determine structure-function relationships of overlapping peptides derived from p16INK4a that inhibit the activity of CDK4/6 and identify stabilized peptides that inhibit CDK4/6. (2) In vitro functional studies will be used to evaluate bioactivities of stabilized peptides. (3) In vitro ADME studies studies to evaluate the cell permeability, delivery, and efficacy of stabilized peptides.


The creep-behavior of commercial steels during the process of metallurgical changes were studied by the anisothermal bend-test. As the specimens, SUP-3, SUJ-2, SEH-3, SCM-5, SKH-2, SKD-4, 0.02%C and high carbon rail-steels which had been variously heat-treated or cold-worked were used. The results were as follows:(1) The hardened steel showed an abnormally large creep during the process of tempering. The higher the temperature of testing, the larger the creep.(2) The magnitude of such creep was proportional to the applied stress and had a closer relation with the hardness variation during the process than with the hardness itself.(3) Except for steels which contained special elements such as W, the higher the carbon content, the larger the creep.(4) The magnitude of such creep was affected by the austenitizing treatment before hardening. The lower the austenitizing temperature and the shorter the holding time, the larger the creep at the temperature above about 500°C.(5) In the hardened-tempered steel, such creep appeared during heating at the temperature which was higher than that at which it had been tempered.(6) In the slack-quenched steel, such creep appeared during heating at the temperature which was near and above Ar' temperature.(7) In the steel which had been quenched from the temperature lower than Ac1, for example 700°C, such creep was recognized to a certain extent as well.(8) The annealed steel did not show such abnormally large creep.(9) The thermal recovery of such creep was recognized during re-heating in the unloaded condition.(10) The cold-worked steel showed such creep during the process of recovery and recrystallization.(11) The creep of steel increased sharply during the process of A1 and A3 transformations. The creep of austenite immediately after A1 transformation was larger than that of austenite at the same temperature during the process of cooling after heating to a higher temperature.(12) The relation between such abnormally large creep and the frequent climbing of dislocations during the process of metallurgical changes was considered.


The paper addresses the problem of the technological standard and innovations in Russian manufacturing companies. It is based on the most recent firm level data. The analysis shows that the industry is seriously segmented in this respect. Empirical analysis proves that the technological standard and innovations are closely linked to productivity growth and competitive stand of enterprises. In turn they depend on company size, quality of management, finances of the firm. The innovation activity is higher than expected, though only a minor portion of firms targets international market, few innovate nation-wide. We discuss that opposing technological upgrade to product innovation and adapted products to originally designed ones is misleading. In real business these processes are interrelated, happen consistently, almost always require in house development. In the end some policy advice based on the results of the study are provided.


The Fe3+ and N–doped 3SnO2/TiO2 composite thin films and undoped films coated on glass fibers were prepared by sol–gel and dip–coating methods. The films were calcined at 600°C for 2 hour and characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS and XPS. The photocatalytic activity of the coated glass fibers was determined by means of degradation of a methylene blue (MB) solution and humic acid (HA). It was found that the optimized 20N/3SnO2/TiO2composite films exhibit a high photocatalytic activity and HA could be rapidly removed from water. The main factor affecting the HA degradation of 20N/3SnO2/TiO2 films is quantity of glass fibers loading, irradiation power of UV lamp and flow rate of water.


Micromachined tunable VCSELs are particularly useful for wavelength division multiplexing applications because of their large continuous wavelength tuning range without mode-hopping. We have achieved 26 nm single mode continuous wavelength tuning with threshold current density as low as 550 A/cm/sup 2/. By reverse biasing the laser, we can obtain a tunable resonant cavity photodetector with simulated linewidth less than 2 nm. Narrow linewidth tunable photodetectors are particularly useful in extending the wavelength separation between WDM channels beyond those offered by other techniques.


Mathematics of Steve Armentrout - a review (S. Singh) Bing's dogbone space is not strongly locally simply connected (S. Armentrout) a program for the Poincare Conjecture and some of its ramifications (V. Poenaru) on the foundation of geometry, analysis and the differentiable structure for manifolds (D. Sullivan) a conformal invariant characterizing the sphere (A. Banyaga and J-P. Ezin) spaces of holomorphic maps from CP1 to complex Grasmann manifolds (D.E. Hurtubise) sets with lie isometry groups (H. Movahedi-Lankarani and R. Wells).


Purpose of the study: to describe the composition of the microbiota of the initial sections of the small intestine in patients with severe necrotizing acute pancreatitis. Objectives of the study: 1. Determine the composition of the microbiota of the initial sections of the small intestine upon admission to the ICU; 2. Determine the differences in the composition of the microbiota of the initial sections of the small intestine, depending on the timing of the onset of the disease. Introduction. Disturbance of intestinal homeostasis is a leading factor in the pathogenesis and progression of systemic inflammation in patients with severe acute pancreatitis. The development of systemic complications occurs due to both mesenteric hypoperfusion and dysregulation of intestinal motility, and the destruction of the intestinal barrier, with the translocation of bacterial bodies and their substrates. Which increases the risk of developing POI and increasing mortality. With the advent of methods for high-throughput sequencing of microbiome samples - for example, in the 16S rRNA format - the possibilities for studying the structure of microbial communities have significantly expanded. In this regard, there is more and more evidence of the relationship between the state of human health and microflora inhabiting various parts of the body. Materials and methods. The study included 7 patients with a diagnosis of severe necrotizing acute pancreatitis (6 men, 1 woman), the mean age was 54.1 {+/-} 14.4 years. The patients were divided into two groups. Group 1 (n = 4) included patients admitted 2-4 days after the onset of a pain attack. Group 2 (n = 3) - patients admitted no later than 24 hours from the onset of the disease. The bacterial composition of jejunal wash samples was studied using 16S RNA sequencing. The severity of the condition was assessed using the integral scales APACHE II, SOFA, SAPS II. In patients of the main group, APACHE II was 22 {+/-} 2.83 points (18; 24), SOFA - 6.8 {+/-} 0.5 points (6; 7), SAPSII - 32.9 {+/-} 6.4 points (24.7; 40), in patients of the comparison group, APACHE II is 18.0 {+/-} 3.7 points (12; 22), SOFA - 4.0 {+/-} 2.6 points (2; 7), SAPSII - 24.4 {+/-} 5.0 points (20.9; 30.1). Material was collected at the time of installation of a sterile multifunctional intestinal catheter for Treitz's ligament, no later than 12 hours from the moment of admission to the ICU. At the time of sampling, patients were not receiving antibiotic therapy. Results. A more severe course was associated with a reduced representation in the microbiome of the species Nesseria mucosa and Parvimonas micra inhabiting the mucosal layer, as well as Megasphaera micronuciformis. The share of Streptococcus genera (S. rubneri / parasanguinis / australis species) and Actinomyces and a number of genera from the Enterobacteriaceae family in such patients, on the contrary, was higher.


Through the revision of environmental and social impacts generated by the construction of hydroelectric centrals in the country determined by the impacts studies, those expressed by the communities and they identified by the evaluation with Tremarctos tool, was established that the implications of construction of those works incur social threats such as displacement, change of demographic dynamic, local and regional economy and, finally constitute further damage than benefits for those who directly receive consequences. Additionally, it generates irreversible effects for the ecosystems and their components in the long term.


The conditions and mechanism of getting rusty about iron can of battery are introduced.By stimulating the production and storage environment,the rust and antirust experiments were carried out.It was considered that the measures,such as spreading the cut of iron can with antirust oil,decreasing the pollution in production process,reducing environment humidity and controlling temperature,could be taken to prevent the iron can from rusting.


This paper describes a Python-based "Mathematical Software" class that was conducted at the University of Ilorin (Ilorin, Nigeria) in November-December 2017. Unlike previous classes at the university, the class was activity-based, with brief instructional talks by the instructor interspersed with periods where students worked exercises. Before the class, a preliminary workshop was conducted to train graduate students in Python: the workshop's purpose was to initiate a "learning pyramid", whereby a smaller group of trained students would provide in-class assistance to less advanced students, thereby increasing interactivity while improving their own competency. This paper describes the class in more detail, assesses the strengths and weaknesses of this approach, and evaluates the potential of this instructional model as a template for other computer science classes in Nigeria.


The formula was studied for shear plane for the dynamic changes in the paper and find out the improved method of direct shear test,so that more accurate results of shear experiments can be obtained.During the trial project,for the direct shear test box up and down in relative movement and the effective shear area is gradually decreased in the practice,this paper employs mathematical analysis methods,and strive to explore exact formula of the direct shear test.As a result,the improved theoretical formula was deduced.In oder to verify the correctness of theoretical analysis,this paper takes a different soil samples and test soil samples in ensuring the conditions exactly the same circumstances,the values of the testing of soil shear strength before and after the improvement has been comparatively analyzed,the results show that the original test method to a large extent,overestimated the soil shear strength indicators,sticky cohesion error decreased as much as 28.3%;internal friction angle decreased by as much as 26.2%.The improved formula,clear and simple,has a certain practical significance.


Dr. Keriazes recently described the misuse of the p value, or statistical hypothesis testing, when comparing baseline characteristics between groups. In her discussion, I fear she has inadvertently missed an important point of consideration—study design. In studies where subjects are assigned to treatment groups via random allocation, we would expect the groups to be "balanced" with respect to baseline characteristics, at least from a statistical standpoint. As Dr. Keriazes correctly noted, the use of p values to compare these baseline characteristics is inappropriate in randomized studies from a philosophical standpoint. (Senn provides a more detailed discussion.) Unfortunately, Dr. Keriazes fails to mention that testing for differences in baseline characteristics between groups is appropriate and necessary when conducting nonrandomized studies. In the absence of random allocation, imbalances in baseline characteristics between study groups can be an important source of confounding that may bias study results. I raise this issue of study design because it is particularly important to "Julie" and other residents. Previous reports have noted that randomized studies accounted for only 17.6% of residency presentations at the Southeastern Residency Conference in 1981, 1991, and 2001 and only 6.3% for the Western States Conference from 1995, 2000, and 2005. This suggests that most residency research projects involve nonrandomized studies where the assessment and management of baseline imbalance is an important methodological issue to consider. Having worked with health-system and community pharmacy residents, I fully understand that the goal of residency training is not to produce researchers. It is, however, important to ensure that these practitioners and emerging scholars understand study design differences and their implications so they can be prepared to address with confidence questions that may be raised by reviewers, readers, or others in the research and practice communities.


The use of suture in anastomosis presents some theoretical disadvantages that they would be avoided by using sutureless intestinal anastomosis. The biofragmentable ring idealized by Hardy et al.(1985), is composed by polyglycolic acid and barium sulfate. It is constituted by two identical components that are coupled, not returning to the original position after its occlusion. This ring suffers desintegration in 2 to 3 weeks, and is eliminated with evacuation. This device allows a sutureless anastomosis by the compression of intestinal walls. The purpose of this prospective and randomized study was to compare the clinical and endoscopic results in eletive and low risk colonic anastomosis accomplished with biofragmentable anastomosis ring and with non absorbable suture. MATERIAL: Thirty-six patients were stratified in two groups of 18 that were denominated Group I (biofragmentable anastomosis ring) and Group II (non absorbable suture). The average age for Group I was 36 years and for Group II was 42. The most frequent surgical indication in both groups was reconstruction of the intestinal flow after colostomy. All patients were submitted to biochemical blood tests, nutritional and surgical risk evaluation. The statistical analysis used for comparison between groups demonstrated that they were homogeneous. RESULTS: Comparative analysis of the intraoperative period parameters revealed that the anastomosis with biofragmentable anastomosis ring is faster ant there are no significant differences regarding intraoperative complications rate, period of ileus, time to reintroduce the oral diet, mortality and long term folloow-up. The incidence of anastomotic leak was higher in the Group I . The endoscopic analysis demonstrate no difference because there was the same results for both groups . There was a significant higher incidence of exposed suture in suture anastomosis when compared to biofragmentable anastomosis ring. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that the biofragmentable anastomosis ring allowed the accomplishment of colon anastomosis more quickly, and regarding clinical complications, similar to the use of non absorbable suture. This anastomosis method presented the inconvenience of determining higher incidence of anastomotic leak while as advantage it established presence of exposed suture in the anastomosis in smaller percentage.


In order to study flow characters of Y-type narrow-gap energy dissipater,taking Simutasi Hydropower Station as the prototype,we conducted 3D numerical simulation of the flow characteristics of Y-type narrow-gap energy dissipater by means of standard k~e two-equation turbulence model and fractional volume of the fluid(VOF) model.The location of the free water surface along the spillway,the water jets shape,nappe shapes at different elevations,the pressure on sidewalls and bottom plate are obtained and compared with the test values.The results show that the precision of this simulation is satisfactory,which can reveal the internal flow condition of Y-type narrow-gap energy dissipater.It provides a reliable basis for the design and optimization of Y-type narrow-gap energy dissipater.


We present both a theoretical and experimental study of the magneto-optical spectra induced with intensity-modulated resonant laser light that synchronously pumps and detects the metastable $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ atoms in the presence of a quasistatic magnetic field. We extend previous work and derive complete analytical expressions for the resonance signals by taking into account arbitrary magnetic-field directions and arbitrary light polarizations. The analytical results are derived by solving the Liouville equation using the irreducible tensor formalism on the assumption of low light power. We discuss the potential application of the derived analytical results in constructing and optimizing a dead-zone-free all-optical atomic magnetometer.


In the several decades after their arrival in the New England states in the late 1780s, Methodists were the objects of a wide variety of attacks, some of them mutually contradictory. Their preachers were accused of being pickpockets, horse thieves, and sexual predators, while on the other hand some converts were mocked for their excessive moral seriousness. They were suspected alternatively of being agents of the English crown, spies for the French government, and Jeffersonian radicals. Further, to some it seemed that their episcopal form of government and ecclesiastical tribunals functioned as a sort of shadow government undermining the political institutions of the nation. They were attacked for their Arminian theology, in defense of which they vigorously condemned Calvinist doctrine. They were mocked as enthusiasts and fanatics whose preachers, pretending to an immediate divine calling, inflamed the passions of their listeners and whose gatherings degenerated into bedlams of disorder, confusion, and moral scandal. They were disturbers of churches, transgressing parochial boundaries, sowing disorder, and fracturing the covenant relationship between minister and flock, all of which recalled memories of the upheaval accompanying the awakenings of the 1740s. They were unlearned rustics not fit to instruct people in divinity, but they were also sly enough to worm their way into the hearts and minds of people by shrewdly hiding their true intentions and prejudicing their hearers against the standing ministers.


The so-called theory of stellar orbit diffusion along the Galactic radius is analysed. It is shown that, at present, there is no strong chemical evidence that the Sun was born about 2 kpc closer to the Galactic centre than its current location in the Galaxy. A new mechanism for large and rapid radial wandering of a star due to resonant interaction with the Galactic spiral density waves at the corotation is considered. The influence of spiral arms and the corotation resonance on the evolution of chemical pattern of the Galactic disc is discussed.


APACIC++ is a Monte–Carlo event–generator dedicated for the simulation of electron–positron annihilations into jets. Within the framework of APACIC++ , the emergence of jets is identified with the perturbative production of partons as governed by corresponding matrix elements. In addition to the build–in matrix elements describing the production of two and three jets, further programs can be linked allowing for the simultaneous treatment of higher numbers of jets. APACIC++ hosts a new approach for the combination of arbitrary matrix elements for the production of jets with the parton shower, which in turn models the evolution of these jets. For the evolution, different ordering schemes are available, namely ordering by virtualities or by angles. At the present state, the subsequent hadronization of the partons is accomplished by means of the Lund–string model as provided within Pythia. An appropriate interface is provieded. The program takes full advantage of the object–oriented features provided by C++ allowing for an equally abstract and transparent programming style.


To enable you to remain competitive in future, you must already start to focus your company on the task of meeting the challenges that are emerging from development trends stretching back over several years and which are becoming more apparent all the time. These trends are leading to increasing levels of complexity, dynamism and uncertainty in the corporate environment. This paper is an attempt to highlight these technological and structural developments, frequently referred to as megatrends: changes of a fundamental nature with far-reaching implications for the economy and society with attendant opportunities and threats to industry. One focal point of this paper will therefore be the fundamental developments in the microelectronics sector and their wider implications, which will necessarily lead to a consideration of the technologies of IT and telecommunications. Another aspect receiving attention here will be the problems facing industry in the wake of structural change of this magnitude as well as the key measures adopted to enable industry to cope with these problems successfully. This will demonstrate that structural change is not due solely to the increasing level of globalization of world business. Indeed, it will be shown that other significant influencing factors are to be found in the trend moving us from an information society to a knowledge society, and in the transition from an industrial society to one based on services.


Properties of solar twins at kiloparsec distances from the local standard of rest are compared to solar twins within 100 pc of the Sun. They have a velocity distribution closely similar to that of the nearby twins in addition to closely matching T eff, log(g) and [Fe/H]. The new twins are a kpc distant from Earth, and closer to the Galactic center. Additionally, they may be significantly older than nearby twins, and thus are useful for spectroscopic comparison with solar twins, in the search for fine structure constant variation.


According to many contemporary metaphysicians, we ought to theorize in terms of grounding because of its promise to explicate the idea of reality having a layered structure. However, a tension emerges when one combines the layered structure view with the view that higher-level facts are not reducible to lower level facts. This tension emerges from two problems. The first problem arises from the fact that grounding explanations entail true universal generalizations. In order to satisfy this constraint, we will face serious pressure to make sure the entities involved in the grounded facts are appropriately connected to the entities involved in the grounding facts, otherwise the generalizations associated with those grounding claims will come out false. However, ensuring the appropriate connections seemingly leaves no way for the non-reductivist to fully squeeze out reference to higher-level entities as we descend the levels of ground. This threatens the result that some higher-level facts must be taken as fundamental, which the non-reductivist cannot accept. I'll argue that we can resolve the tension by taking the connections at issue to be essentially true. We can call this view essentialist non-reductivism. One significant upshot of the argument is that we can see not only that essentialist non-reductivism successfully resolves the tension, but that in principle no better solution could be offered.


Background: The demand for interprofessional collaboration continues to grow due to changing priorities of the health care system.  The benefits of interprofessional collaboration are well documented; however, the methods of collaboration are often unclear and often difficult to put into practice.  While there is a growing number of studies on the impact of interprofessional collaboration in settings such as inpatient, intensive care units, and acute care, there are limited documented cases regarding the interprofessional management of a physical therapy patient in the outpatient orthopedic private practice setting.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the reflections of a physical therapist and an athletic trainer in their experience with interprofessional collaboration, describe the barriers they have experienced that make interprofessional collaboration challenging, and to offer solutions to these barriers.  The barriers discussed in the paper include limited knowledge of and respect for other professionals' skill set, high-productivity work environments, medical hierarchy, overlapping bodies of knowledge, discrepancy between professional reasoning, territorial behavior, and ineffective communication.
Discussion: It appears that contextual factors, such as community in which the professionals practice, the healthcare setting, and the practice environment, have a far less important impact to successful collaboration than the professionals' attitudes and investment in the collaborative efforts.
Conclusion: Collaboration between a PT and an AT can lead to power struggles and suboptimal patient care if these barriers are not overcome and collaboration may be necessary to provide the highest quality of patient care.


The present invention, motion sensor, to a method for specifically producing the rotational speed sensor for the wheel rotation of a motor vehicle. In this case, the integrated circuit; an (IC 11) and the connection cable (28) and electrical subassembly provided with a (10), covering surrounds the plastic injection molded body by injection molding of plastic. In the method of the present invention, an electrical subassembly (10) in a first injection molding process, is supported by the position fixing the insert in an injection molding machine (30) (42), an electrical subassembly (10) at least partially covering surrounds the plastic injection molded body by injection molding of plastic, and subsequently removing the position fixing insert (42), the final injection in the range of the side opposite to the said stationary insert (42) instead the second core for forming the covering body (58) (44), after which the rest of the cover portion of the electrical subassembly (10) and / or connecting cable (28), a second injection molding injection molded under formation of the final contour in the process.


A composite graphite material which is configured of an adhesive (A) that is formed of a carbon material and/or a graphite material having low crystallinity, a flake graphite material (B) and a spheroidized or generally spheroidized graphite material (C), and which is characterized in that: at least a part of the flake graphite material (B) is adhered to the graphite material (C) in the form of projections, with the adhesive (A) being therebetween; the content of the adhesive (A) is 0.1-20% by mass; the content of the flake graphite material (B) is 0.05% by mass or more but less than 30% by mass; the content of the graphite material (C) is 99.8-50% by mass; and the composite graphite material has no fractured surface. A method for producing the composite graphite material; a negative electrode material for lithium ion secondary batteries, which uses the composite graphite material; and a lithium ion secondary battery.


Over the last few years, due to various climatic, anthropogenic, and environmental factors, a large amount of submerged heritage has been unearthed and exposed to deterioration processes in the Bay of Algeciras. These impacts can be more severe in shallow waters, where the cultural heritage is more vulnerable to natural and human-induced impacts. This makes it urgent to document cultural heritage at risk of disappearing using different techniques whose efficiencies in the archaeological record need to be determined and compared. For this purpose, we have documented a shipwreck in the Bay of Algeciras using two techniques: photogrammetry and a multibeam echosounder. The photogrammetric method consists of obtaining a 3D model from numerous photographs taken of an object or a site. The processing software creates three-dimensional points from two-dimensional points found in the photographs that are equivalent to each other. Multibeam echosounders are capable of providing side scan imagery information in addition to generating contour maps and 3D perspectives of the surveyed area and can be installed in an unmanned surface vehicle. As a result, we have obtained two 3D visualisations of the shipwreck, i.e., digital copies, that are being used both for the analysis of its naval architecture and for its dissemination. Through the comparison of the two techniques, we have concluded that while a multibeam echosounder provides a detailed digital terrain model of the seabed, photogrammetry performed by divers gives the highest resolution data on objects and structures. In conclusion, our results demonstrate the benefits of this combined approach for accurately documenting and monitoring shipwrecks in shallow waters, providing valuable information for conservation and management efforts.


The present invention discloses a method of high-pressure and high-pressure waterway waterways impermeable annular impervious curtain, belonging impermeable rock, and in particular is impermeable rock in the field of the processing environment for high head. The present invention is directed to the shortcomings of the conventional high voltage needs to be set hanging curtain watercourse upstream underground powerhouse processing method in the construction of the reinforced concrete lining on the inside of the high pressure watercourse Surrounding rock completed; respectively Surrounding the outer periphery of the high pressure waterway laid solid rock junction impermeable grout holes and grouting holes; then using a pressure 0.3Mpa ~ 0.5Mpa be impermeable grout and surrounding rock consolidation grouting; Finally, the filling pressure is greater than 2.0MPa chemical grouting fine cement, grout seepage hole surrounded improve rock barrier properties, reduce the high-pressure leakage waterway, thus achieving the purpose of the curtain hanging canceled. This method is reasonable process layout design, simple structure, easy to operate, saves much more than the construction cost.


The Third International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics, and Thermodynamics (HEFAT 2004) was hosted in Cape Town from June 21–24, 2004. The conference was a follow-up to HEFAT 2002, which had been hosted in April 2002 at Skukuza in the Kruger National Park, South Africa; and HEFAT 2003, which had been hosted in June 2003 next to the Victoria Falls in Zambia. There was consensus at both HEFAT 2002 and HEFAT 2003 about the need for an annual heat transfer engineering conference in Africa. More than 300 manuscripts were received and peer reviewed, of which approximately 200 were accepted and compiled into a proceedings document. Through this large number of papers, a meaningful forum has been created for scientists to discuss the latest developments and keep abreast of state-of-the-art technology in heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and thermodynamics. As a result of the success of the three HEFAT conferences in Africa, it was decided to host a fourth conference, HEFAT 2005, in Cairo, Egypt, from September 19–22, 2005. This issue of Heat Transfer Engineering is a special issue covering the HEFAT 2004 conference. It contains six papers that were presented on this occasion addressing several topics:


In previous work we described a modular static analysis based on access permission annotations, which describe the ways in which a reference can be aliased, for preventing the improper use of object protocols in concurrent programs. That system was based on atomic blocks, a mutual exclusion primitive not yet in wide use. Now we extend that system to programs written using synchronized blocks, which are in wide use today. This system can verify concurrent programs without any concurrency-specific annotations.


Interferon responses in the nasopharyngeal epithelium are critical to prevent severe COVID-19. Epithelial cells alone are unable to stop SARS-CoV-2 growth, but sufficient early interferon can be provided by non-epithelial cells or a co-infecting virus. Autoantibodies block early interferon, enhancing the risk of severe COVID-19.


The origins of the Criminal Code Ordinance of 1936 (hereinafter, CCO) have never been fully explored. The Supreme Court of Israel has indicated that specific provisions were derived from Ottoman law, or were modelled upon an English statute, or based upon a common law doctrine. No one, however, has attempted to describe comprehensively the history of the CCO, and those who have touched upon the subject have usually contented themselves with general statements: a. The local legislator drew most of the offences included in the Criminal Code Ordinance from the well of English law. b. Everybody admits that the provisions of the Palestine Criminal Code Ordinance relating to manslaughter and murder were not derived from one source, but include different ideas and pieces of ideas that were taken, a little here and a little there, from different legal systems—English, French, Ottoman, or French in Ottoman clothing, as it existed until 1936. Before us is a mosaic of different colours composed into a single picture. As to this there is no disagreement … What is not so clear and certain is the identity of the concrete source of each of the bricks of the building that comprise the 'collective' legislation.


$r$ where $k$ denotes the curvature (defined up to a sign) of $c$ . We want to extend this proposition to immersed hypersurfaces which are contained in a domain with regular smooth boundary in a Riemannian manifold in terms of mean curvature. In this paper we investigate the problem stated above in the case where ambieant spaces are homogeneous Riemannian manifolds. Theorem 1.1 is the main theorem of this paper which is an extension of the proposition stated above. In order to prove Theorem 1.1 we need to study a quasilinear elliptic partial differential equation of second order. It will be carried out in Section 2. We think that the results obtained there is useful for studies of hypersurfaces in a Riemannian manifold. The complete $pr\ovalbox{\tt\small REJECT} f$ of Theorem 1.1 will be given in tection 4. In the latter half of Section 4 we study some properties of minimal hypersurfaces in a homogeneous Riemannian manifold. In the last section we generalize the results obtained in [6].


The objective was to determine the effect of feeding a high docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) diet during the suckling and/or the weaning period on immune system development and function in offspring. Dams were randomized to one of the two nutritionally adequate diets: control diet (N=12, 0% DHA) or DHA diet (N=8, 2.2% DHA). Diets were fed to dams throughout the suckling period and then pups were randomly assigned to one of the two diets for the weaning period. At 6 weeks, immune cell phenotype and cytokine production by mitogen‐stimulated splenocytes were measured. Regardless of the weaning diet, pups fed the DHA diet during suckling had higher interleukin (IL)‐10 production by splenocytes stimulated with Concanavalin A (Con A, P=0.04) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS, P=0.06) vs. the control diet. Feeding a DHA diet at weaning resulted in a lower production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α in ConA‐stimulated splenocytes (P<0.01) and of IL‐1β and TNF‐α in LPS‐stimulated splenocytes (P<0.01) vs. the control diet. Feeding DHA during both periods was associated with higher proportion of total CD27+ cells (P<0.03). Our findings suggest that feeding a DHA diet during the suckling period had a programming effect on the ability of the offspring's cells to produce the regulatory cytokine IL‐10 which may contribute to the reported lower risk for atopic diseases associated with DHA intake during lactation. However, the major modulating effects occurred while DHA was fed during the weaning period with a higher proportion of mature B cells and a lower production of inflammatory cytokines which suggests beneficial effects of supplementing DHA in the weaning diet. Supported from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.


To the Editors: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Infection is thought to occur predominantly in early childhood through horizontal transmission. Clearance of infection at a young age is uncommon; most infected children remain chronically infected and at risk for HBV sequelae. HBV immunization protocols in Africa are based on data obtained in the pre-HIV era showing that perinatal transmission was rare. However, the immune paresis associated with HIV infection may increase HBV infectivity in pregnant women. HIVHBV–coinfected patients may be more likely to be HBeAg seropositive, have higher HBV viral loads, are less likely to clear infection, are more likely to reactivate, have a higher risk for HBeAg seroreversion, and are more likely to have occult HBV infection than monoinfected patients. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and character of HBV infection in HIVinfected pregnant women attending a large tertiary hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, in order to determine whether HIV increases the risk of HBV transmission from mother to child. The participants in this study were HIV-infected pregnant women who attended Tygerberg Hospital for their delivery between July 2008 and October 2009 and who had residual plasma samples stored in the Division of Medical Virology, Tygerberg. Epidemiological data collected on these women included age, parity, CD4 count, antiretroviral treatment status, complications at delivery and infant birth weight. Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Stellenbosch Health Research Ethics Committee. The samples were anonymized and then tested for HBsAg and anti-HBc on the Abbott AxSYM (Abbott, Chicago, IL). Low level HBsAg reactivity was confirmed by neutralization (Diasorin, Saluggia, Italy), and if confirmed positive, the samples were tested for HBeAg and anti-HBe by Abbott AxSYM (Abbott, Chicago, IL). HBV viral load testing, genotyping, and sequence analysis using DNASTAR (version 9) were performed as described previously. Data were analyzed using Statistica (StataSoft Inc, version 9). We compared all variables between HBsAg sero-positive and sero-negative women using x2 tests for categorical variables and t tests for continuous variables. We log-transformed the absolute CD4 counts and HBV viral loads for analysis. A total of 1661 HIV-infected women attended Tygerberg Hospital for their antenatal care between July 2008 and October 2009. Of 219 samples stored at the Division of Medical Virology, 17 had insufficient volume for further testing. The remaining 202 samples identified the women who were included in the study. Their median age was 28 years (interquartile range: 24–32 years). Their median CD4 count was 198 cells per microliter (interquartile range: 117–329 cells/mL), and 96/202 (47.5%) of the women were on combination antiretroviral therapy (ART). Twelve samples reactive for HBsAg were confirmed positive on neutralization resulting in a HBsAg prevalence in this population of 5.9%. Five of the HBsAgpositive samples also contained HBeAg, the remainder all contained anti-HBe. Of 10 samples available for HBV viral load testing, six had viral loads greater than 104 IU/mL and four of six had viral loads greater than 106IU/ml. Sequencing was successful on eight of these samples; seven were genotype A1, and 1 genotype D. No significant surface or polymerase gene mutations were detected. No significant association was found between CD4 count and HBsAg status (P = 0.36), HBV viral load (P = 0.34) or HBeAg (P = 0.21) status. Seven of the 12 HBsAgseropositive patients were on ART, and the remainder were unbooked pregnancies (ie, presented to medical services in labor). All 12 delivered at term with no complications. Of 178 HBsAg-negative samples with sufficient residual sample for further testing, 75 (42.1%) were found to contain anti-HBc. This study presents clinical and virological data regarding HBV infection among HIV-infected pregnant African women. Although the sample size is small and may be subject to sampling bias, it suggests that a proportion of women in a South African community are at risk of transmitting HBV infection perinatally to their babies and developing the complications of HIV-HBV coinfection. The HBsAg prevalence among these patients is similar to that in another sample of antenatal women in South Africa among whom the prevalence of HBsAg was 6.2%, and that of anti-HBc positivity was 37.3%. Few studies report on HBeAg status in African cohorts. HBeAg seropositivity has been reported to be associated with HIV infection, Oshitani et al. reporting 25% HBeAg positivity in HIVinfected versus 12.3% in HIV-uninfected women. This association is important for pregnant women because the risk of vertical transmission is greater in women who are HBeAg positive. In sub-Saharan Africa, routine HBV immunization is commenced at 6 weeks of life, too late to prevent infection from exposure at delivery. HBeAg-seropositive chronic HBV infection is usually associated with a high viral load, which increases risk of transmission, but HBe antigenaemia may add additional risk because it may induce chronic infection in neonates. HBeAg is a small secreted antigen, which induces unresponsiveness of helper T cells to HBeAg and HB core antigen. The immune tolerance induced by HBeAg continues for years during the persistence of HBe antigenaemia. HBeAg-seropositive children are more likely to have higher viral loads and are therefore more likely to transmit virus to others. The pregnant women in this study who were coinfected with HIV and HBV had low CD4 counts, a high prevalence of HBeAg seropositivity, and high HBV viral loads, confirming This article was funded by Wellcome Trust, Poliomyelitis Research Foundation and NHLS K-funding. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.


The management revolution in the private sector in the 1980s and in the public sector in the 1990s has systematically overturned long-time assumptions that had become tantamount to laws Human resou...


A steel-batten ribbed cable dome structural system is proposed. By replacing the upper flexible cables with semi-rigid steel battens, rigid roofing materials were conveniently installed overhead via non-bracket or less-bracket technology. Additionally, an 8 m diameter test model was designed, and a 'ω' shaped less-bracket consequent hoist-dragging system was adopted. Finally, the test model was tested under symmetric and asymmetric uniform loading arrangements, while a finite element model was established to verify the test values. The results indicate that the measured values are basically consistent with the finite element values. In the early steps of hoisting and dragging, the structure establishes a prestress, accumulates stiffness, and found its internal force balance, while the entire structure keeps a "ω" shape to guarantee stability. As the internal forces of the components increase, the structure turns from "ω" to "m" and finally reached its designed shape. With increasing symmetric uniform load, the internal forces of the cables decrease, the bending stresses of the steel battens increase, and the steel battens remain in the elastic stage. Under an asymmetric uniform load, the high loaded area is displaced downward, and the low loaded area behaves upward, twisting the overall structure.


Objective:To assess diagnostic value of MRI and discuss the correlation of mental harm and MRI features of hippocampal region in Alzheimer disease (AD).Methods:30 cases with AD and 30 age/sex matched healthy volunteers as the control group (CG) were examined on the same Philips Gyroscan Intera 1.0 unit.Hippocampal height,width of the temporal horn and volume of the hippocampus and amygdala were quantitated by linear and/or volume measurement,hippocampal T 2 relaxation time was also measured,and all of them were clinically examined in mentality.The correlation of mental harm and MRI features of hippocampal region were analyzed.Results:The width of the temporal horn,the hippocampal height,and the volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala showed significant differences between AD and CG (P0.01),they had obvious correlation with MMSE and WMS (P0.01);there was no significant difference between the linear measurement and the volume measurement to quantitate the hippocampus and the temporal horn in diagnosing AD (P0.05),and hippocampal T 2 relaxation time did not show significant difference between AD and CG (P0.05). Conclusion:Linear measurements of the hippocampus and temporal horn are useful method and atrophy of the hippocampus and amygdala and widening of the temporal horn are sensitive parameters to diagnose AD.Hippocampal T 2 relaxation time doesn′t show significant difference between AD and CG.


Salt stress has become a major problem in the tomato planting process, of which peroxidase (POD) activity is an important parameter reflecting the antioxidant capacity of plants. In order to explore the dynamic changes of catalase in leaves under different concentrations of NaCl stress, it is necessary to establish a rapid detection technology for changes of POD activity in micro-areas of leaves. In this study, a total of 139 microscopic images were obtained under different concentrations of salt stress (0 g/L, 1 g/L, 2 g/L, 3 g/L) in the spectral range of 400–1000 nm. Regions of interest were extracted according to the reflectance of the samples, and the model was established by combining POD activity. Various spectral pre-treatment combined with partial least-squares regression models was compared to original spectrum combined with partial least-squares regression model. The characteristic wavelength was extracted by four methods, and partial least-squares regression (PLSR) and principal component regression (PCR) were established according to the characteristic wavelength. The results show that multiple scattering correction (MSC) is optimized as the pre-treatment method. The partial least-squares regression model based on the interval variable iterative space contraction method is the best, and the coefficient of determination and root mean square error of prediction set (RMSEP) are 0.66 and 18.94 U/g·min, respectively. The results show that it is feasible to detect the peroxidase activity in tomato leaves by micro-hyperspectral imaging combined with stoichiometry.


Background It is to be determined whether people infected with SARS-CoV-2 will develop long-term immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and retain long-lasting antibodies after the infection is resolved. This study was to explore the outcomes of IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in four groups of individuals in Wuhan, China.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study on the following four groups who received both COVID-19 IgM/IgG tests and RT-PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2 from February 29, 2020 to April 29, 2020: 1470 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 from Leishenshan Hospital, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, and Wuhan No. 7 Hospital, 3832 healthcare providers without COVID-19 diagnosis, 19555 general workers, and 1616 other patients to be admitted to the hospital (N=26473). COVID-19 patients who received IgM/IgG tests <21 days after symptom onset were excluded. Results IgG prevalence was 89.8% (95% CI 88.2-91.3%) in COVID-19 patients, 4.0% (95% CI 3.4-4.7%) in healthcare providers, 4.6 (95% CI 4.3-4.9 %) in general workers, and 1.0% in other patients (p all <0.001 for comparisons with COVID-19 patients). IgG prevalence increased significantly by age among healthcare workers and general workers. Among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, presence of IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 was not associated with most disease severity, presence of comorbidities, treatment received, and clinical characteristics. We identified 24 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and multiple COVID-19 antibody tests who lost previously detected IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2ConclusionsIgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in infected people may become undetectable overtime.


A novel randomized pulse position PWM based on voltage space vectors is proposed. In the method, the positions of the zero voltage vectors are randomly changed, and then two PWM modes with low switching losses are selected randomly. The realization scheme based on the microcontroller 80C196KC is presented.


The cellular junctional architecture remodeling by LAP-Hsp60 interaction for L. monocytogenes (Lm) passage through the epithelial barrier is incompletely understood. Here, using the gerbil model, permissive to internalin (Inl) A/B-mediated pathways like in humans, we demonstrate that Lm crosses the intestinal villi at 48 h post-infection. In contrast, the single isogenic (lap─ or ΔinlA) or double (lap─ΔinlA) mutant strains show significant defects. LAP promotes Lm translocation via endocytosis of cell-cell junctional complex in enterocytes that do not display luminal E-cadherin. In comparison, InlA-mediated transcytosis occurs in enterocytes displaying apical E-cadherin during cell extrusion and mucus expulsion from goblet cells. LAP hijacks caveolar endocytosis to traffic integral junctional proteins to the early and recycling endosomes. Pharmacological inhibition in a cell line and genetic knock-out of caveolin-1 in mice prevents LAP-induced intestinal permeability, junctional endocytosis, and Lm translocation. Furthermore, LAP-Hsp60-dependent tight junction remodeling is also necessary for InlA access to E-cadherin for Lm intestinal barrier crossing in InlA-permissive hosts.


Objective: To investigate the martial arts students and ordinary students of the visual evoked potential differences in different grid stimulation.Method : In healthy male volunteers school 63(Martial arts 33,ordinary students 30),using NDI-200(poseidon)recording and analysis of subjects in different box under the stimulation pattern reversal visual evoked potentials N75,P100,the N145 latency,inter peak latency and inter peak value. Results : Compared with the general line,martial arts students in the visual evoked potential latencies in different box tests have different degrees of shortening and medium box at the N75,P100 latency,there was significant difference(P0.05);Martial arts students VEP inter peak in between with box tests have different degrees of shortening,as a large box-stimulated PRVEPs the N145-N75 inter peak,there was significant difference(P0.05);martial arts students in the visual evoked potentials P100-N75 peak to peak,which in box-stimulated significant differences(P0.05),large box stimulation there is a very significant difference(P0.01).Conclusion : After a long period of martial arts training to the students in the visual evoked potentials N75 and N145 and P100-N75 latency between ordinary people more significantly shortened,P100-N75 inter peak value increased significantly.


Vietnam has been following an open-door policy regarding foreign direct investment (FDI) since the early 1990s. FDI plays a major role in the Vietnam economy.It has been a latecomer in Southeast As ...


HE 16th International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE 2000) was held in San Diego, California, from 29 February through 3 March 2000. As the first major database conference of the new millenium, it marked the threshold of a new database era with a proliferation of exciting data-intensive, network-centric applications, and increasing penetration of database technology into the software infrastructure of cyberspace. The conference technical program reflected this, covering topics ranging from data mining and knowledge discovery to XML, e-commerce, and mobile computing, while also capturing advances in traditional and still critical engine-technology. The 287 submissions for the ICDE technical program required us to be very selective, but also resulted in an outstanding program. We accepted 41 research papers. In addition, 24 submissions were accepted for poster sessions. The technical program also included industrial sessions, panels, demos, and tutorials. The keynote addresses, by Jim Gray on "rules of thumb" and Dennis Tsichritzis on the "art of computer research" were thought-provoking highlights. Thanks to the active encouragement and cooperation of Farokh Bastani, editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Data and Knowledge Engineering, we were chartered to bring the best of the ICDE 2000 technical contributions to this special section of TDKE, ensuring that these fine contributions are widely available in an archival journal. This special section contains the six contributions selected as the best papers of ICDE 2000. We solicited extended versions from the authors, to provide full, thorough, and archival quality presentations. The extended papers were then reviewed a second time and we are convinced of their outstanding technical strength and presentation quality. This special section leads off with the paper selected for the ICDE 2000 Best Paper Award. This paper is "Automating Statistics Management for Query Optimizers" by Surajit Chaudhuri and Vivek Narasayya. It addresses the often neglected but pragmatically important area of automating system administration. The specific problem investigated is how to automatically select the columns of a relational database to maintain in histograms. An elegant solution is devised for choosing those columns that are essential to effective query optimization, and the solution is experimentally studied. The second paper, "A Foundation for Conventional and Temporal Query Optimization Addressing Duplicates and Ordering" by Giedrius Slivinskas, Christian Jensen, and Richard Snodgrass, develops a general algebraic framework that includes powerful aggregation and sorting constructs that integrate conventional and temporal query processing. The framework is sufficiently flexible to enable it to accommodate different architectual approaches to the support of temporal functionality. Our special section would be incomplete without papers from the increasingly important field of data mining. The first data mining paper, "DEMON: Mining and Monitoring Evolving Data" by Venkatesh Ganti, Johannes Gehrke, and Raghu Ramakrishnan, won the ICDE 2000 Best Student Paper Award. It addresses the problem of incremental mining where the underlying data gradually changes over time and it proposes "incremental" mining algorithms that exploit this gradual evolution for increased efficiency. The incremental approach is applied to a range of problems including discovery of association rules and clustering. The other mining paper, "Finding Interesting Associations without Support Pruning" by Edith Cohen, Mayur Datar, Shinji Fujiwara, Aristides Gionis, Piotr Indyk, Rajeev Motwani, Jeffrey Ullman, and Cheng Yang, reconsiders association rules, e.g., on market baskets or web traffic logs. The new insight, motivated by these discovery applications, is that requiring a minimum support is counter-productive. But, removing this requirement interferes with pruning the search space. The paper develops a family of randomized algorithms that find the most interesting rules, regardless of support, with probability converging to one. Our final two papers fall into the area of spatial and multimedia data management. The first one, "Multiple Similarity Queries: A Basic DBMS Operation for Mining in Metric Databases" by Bernhard Braunmueller, Martin Ester, HansPeter Kriegel, and Joerg Sander, aims at improving the performance of similarity queries, e.g., finding the k nearest neighbors of a given data object, on spatial and multimedia


Objective: This article discusses the relevance between the Coxsackie virus and Hemorheology. Methods: He-morheology index of 55 viral myocarditis patients with positive coxsackie virus-IgM (CoxV-IgM)were determined, and compared the hemorheology index with negative CoxV-IgM control group. Results: The OD average value in 55 patients with positive CoxV-IgM group was 0.769. The viscosity of blood in patients with positive CoxV-IgM group were high obviously than control group, p0.01. And the OD value in patients with positive CoxV-IgM group appeared obvious r-elevance (r=0.874). Conclusions: The relevance between viral myocarditis caused by Coxsackie virus and hemorheology index were obvious. It may improve the function of cardiac musculus and treat viral myocarditis through by the method of promoting blood flow and removing blood stasis.


Melioidosis is an infection that causes high morbidity and mortality. Predisposing risk factors include diabetes mellitus (DM) and immunocompromised state. We report a case of septic shock secondary to bacteremia caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei in a patient who is supposed to be previously healthy and subsequently diagnosed with DM and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. He completed 17 days of intravenous antibiotics followed by a 12-week course of oral trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. We postulate that G6PD deficiency could be a risk factor for melioidosis.


In imaginary defense a person mistakes an imaginary unlawful act for a real one,therefore implements justifiable defence against the unlawful infringement,causing damage to other innocent people.The actor should bear the liability according to the law,which is based on state of subjective knowledge and damage caused by the defensive act.


The obtain of TDOA is critical in SOPLAT. Concerning additive noise shortcomings of TDOA estimation using traditional mathmetical tool of second-order statistics of signals,take advantage of three-order or high-order statistics to estimate the TDOA of signal. The biggest advantage of this method is that it can restrain Gaussian noise(white noise and Colored noises)effectively. Thus it can be applied to TDOA estimation of lower SNR signal. In the end the validity was proved using Matlab simulation.