A sizable piece of plaster came crashing down early yes terday morning from the ceil ing of a dormitory room in Holy Cross Hall on the Saint Mary's campus, raising ques tions once again about the safety of one of the oldest buildings at the College. No one was injured in the incident. Karie Beaudine, who lives in that room, said that she heard a cracking noise the night before the accident occured. " It just sounded like a poster falling off the wall so I ignored it," she said. " I went to bed and fell asleep. Then, about 5:30 a.m. I heard this loud crash. I opened my eyes and there was this pile of plaster lying at the foot of my b e d ." According to Beaudine, the hole left in the ceiling after the plaster fell was approximately 6 feet long, three feet wide and one inch thick. " I can see beams and floor boards now from the floor above where the plaster fell," Beaudine said. " The plaster fell in pieces so I'm sure I wouldn't have been killed or anything if it had fallen on top of me. I probably would have been hurt, though. " Beaudine said that mainten ance originally believed that the accident was caused by water leakage. " When they saw that the plaster had fallen off near the door rather than by the win dows, they decided that the accident was not due to leak age," Beaudine said. " They said they didn't understand what it was. Beaudine claimed that the cracks in the ceiling from which the plaster fell were no worse than the cracks any where else in the room. " There are worse cracks around the windows in this room than there were around the door," she said. " There are cracks everywhere in Holy/Cross. I guess I am just used to seeing them. " ' 'First maintenance offered to put in an entire new ceiling, " she said. " But that would have meant that I would have had to move out of the room for what is left of the semester. Then they said that they could put in a oew ceiling after the close of the semester. I said I would prefer this if they could guarantee no more plaster would fall. They told me that I could just stay in the room and they pulled some additional loose chunks of plaster from the ceiling." Susan Tamborini, director of Holy Cross Hall, did not seem to feel thatthere was any immediate danger to Beaudine or any of the other residents of Holy Cross. " Maintenance didn't seem to be too alarmed over the incident, so we'll have to trust their judgem ent," Tamborini stated. " The piece that fell wasn't that big. If maintenance felt that it was dangerous, they would have checked it out more closely." A statem ent from mainten ance was made through the Public R elations Office at SMC. Both maintenance and, security have been ordered not to make any direct statements to The Observer. " To the best of our know ledge, th is w on't happen again," said Tracy McAuliffe, an assistant in the office. " M ain tenance checks the buildings periodically through out the year so that this kind of accident won't occur." When Beaudine was in form ed th a t M ain tenance checked the buildings every year as a preventive measure against the type of accident she had just experienced, she re plied, ' If they say they check it and the ceiling falls, something just doesn't make sense." " I mainly called The Ob server because I think acci dents like this could be a real hazard to students, especially for those students living in the older dormitories," Beaudine said. " I just wanted to help make everyone aware of what could happen." i


The purpose of this study was to assess citratus, Eucalyptus citriodora, Lippia multiflora, Melaleuca quinquenervia biobactericide The aromatogram and antibiogram were assessed by the agar well diffusion method and the Muller Hinton disk concentration and the minim microdilution method in liquid medium. The aromatogram showed that the biobactericide


The invention relates to a Chinese medicine preparation for treating influenza. The preparation comprises the following medicinal materials in parts by weight: 6-15 parts of radix bupleurim, 10-15 parts of Scutellaria baicalensis, 10-15 parts of Codonopsis pilosula, 10-30 parts of honey-fried licorice root, 6-10 parts of Pinellia ternate, 6-10 parts of flos magnoliae liliflorae, 6-10 parts of cocklebur fruit, 6-10 parts of radix stemonae, 6-10 parts of ephedra, 3-10 parts of almond, 10-20 parts of gypsum, 6-10 parts of liquorice, 6-10 parts of the root bark of white mulberry, 6-15 parts of periostracum cicada, 5-10 parts of burdock, 6-10 parts of Schizonepeta, 6-10 parts of radices sileris, 10-30 parts of Astragalus membranaceus, 6-20 parts of honeysuckle, 6-15 parts of fructus forsythiae, four pieces of fresh ginger and 5 Chinese-dates. Beside treating common cold, the Chinese medicine preparation provided by the invention can further treat asthma, nasosinusitis, repeated fever, cough, yellow sputum, pharyngalgia, bitter taste, annoyance and vomiting, inappetence, fullness and discomfort in chest and hypochondrium, alternate attacks of chill and fever, cold in menstrual period and the like caused by cold as well as large-scale influenza caused by epidemic viruses, so that the preparation is wide in treatment range and high in cure rate.


The invention relates to a power supply sequential control device and an adjusting method for power supply time sequence delay time. The power supply sequential control device comprises a storer unit, a system starting module and an adjusting unit, wherein the storer unit comprises a delay time list containing a plurality of delay time values, and the system starting module sequentially perform a plurality of sequential states in power supply time sequences and respectively read delay time values corresponding to the time sequence states from the delay time list. When an input signal is received in a preparation period or actuation period of the power supply time sequences, the adjusting unit can adjust delay time values in the delay time list according to the input signal and restarts the computer system to enable the system starting module to perform power supply time sequences according to the adjusted delay time list.


The comparative analysis of the standard of living of the population is significant from the viewpoint of evaluation of economic changes as well as determination of the distance between countries with regard to social development. The goal of the article was to compare, using the methods of multidimensional comparative analysis (MCA), the standard of living in the countries of the European Union using a single indicator. This indicator, as an aggregated value, synthesizes the information from all variables defining a complex phenomenon, enabling a comparison of countries with regard to the standard of living. The point of departure for the research was a creation of a set of variables, divided into 8 subgroups: health care, labour market, salaries, housing conditions, education, culture and recreation, communication, environmental protection, and social benefits. On the basis of this group of variables, a comparison of the European Union countries between 2006 and 2011 was made, specifying the position of Poland, with regard to the standard of living of inhabitants and evaluation of the extent of Poland's similarity to other EU countries. The source base of the articles was information from secondary sources: Internet sites, publications on European statistics, as well as data published by the GUS (Central Statistical Office of Poland).


Current analytical methods to determine β-carotene, a naturally occurring carotenoid pigment, such as spectrophotometry or color assay lack the appropriate selectivity and sensitivity and sometimes with significant fluctuations in the obtained results. In this study, a robust reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method was developed from the photosynthetic unicellular green microalga Dunaliella salina. β-carotene extraction was performed using acetone and chloroform method (2:1 v/v). The extracted β-carotene specimens were chromatographed using a C18 chromatography column with methanol: chloroform (85:15 v/v) and 2.0 mL min flow rate. Two distinct standard curves with different concentrations (0.2-50 μg mL and 100-500 μg mL) were provided for β-carotene determination. The observed accuracy, precision and limits of detection and quantitation were quite within the satisfactory levels. The limit of detection (LOD) and quantitation (LOQ) of method were found to be 0.1 μg mL and 0.2 μg mL, respectively. The obtained values for βcarotene determination through HPLC method were in agreement with the conventional colorimetric routes (R=0.9587). The suggested analytical method might be magnificently exploited for β-carotene quantification in D. salina and also other related microalgal strains.


The use of permutations in data compression is an aspect that is worthy of further exploration. The work that has been done in video compression based on permutations was primarily oriented toward lossless algorithms. The study of previous algorithms has led to a new algorithm that could be either lossless or lossy, for which the amount of compression and the quality of the output can be controlled. The lossless version of our algorithm performs close to lossy versions of H.264 and it improves on them for the majority of the videos that we analyzed. Our algorithm could be used in situations where there is a need for lossless compression and the video sequences are part of a single scene, e.g., medical videos, where loss of information could be risky or expensive.


Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) include Ulcerative colitis (UC), an inflammatory disease of the large intestine and Crohn"s disease (CD). Ulcerative colitis is ulcers form in the inner lining or mucosa of the colon or rectum, often resulting in diarrhea, blood, and pus. The use of conventional steroids, glucocorticoids TNF-α inhibitors are found highly effective in treating IBD but their use is associated with some adverse effects. Therefore, the importance of using natural products has increased, as they have interest in discovering efficient new drugs with less adverse effects. Natural drugs are desirable for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. However, there are limited controlled evidences indicating the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicines, such as aloe vera gel, wheat grass juice, Boswellia serrata etc., in the treatment of UC. Many experimental models such as TNBS model, hapten induced colitis etc. are established for the evaluation of drugs in IBD. This review focuses on the management of IBD by using medicinal plants, synthetic drugs and methods established for the evaluation of drugs in IBD.


Abstract Indicators used in titration show well-marked changes of color in certain intervals of pH. Most of these indicators are organic dyes and are of synthetic origin. The environmental pollution caused by chemical industries in the synthesis of organic dyes had made the scientist in the developing country to enter in to an era, in which plant product serve as an alternative to synthetic products. The advantages of the plant products are local and easy accessibility, environmental friendly nature, and lower price compare to the synthetic products. Herbs are non-polluting renewable supplies of chipper products for the worlds growing population. Natural pigments in plants are highly colored substances and may show color changes with variation of pH. Curcumin isolated from Curcuma longa is as example of natural indicator used in analytical chemistry. Hence the work was carried out to study the indicator property of flowers Cassia aungostifolia Linn., Thevetia peruviana (Pers.) K. Schum and Thevetia thvetiodes (Kunth) K. Schum from ethanolic extract. It was found that the extract changes the color at different pH and can be used successfully as a compound indicator.


Balsam hair dye is made of herbs,a kind of natural hair dye widely used by women of each clan in Xinjiang.The content of lead in balsam hair dye was measured through flame atomic absorption spectrometry at 283.3nm.The results of four samples show that the content of lead in natural balsam hair dye is 3.46—6.76μg/g,and the relative standard deviation of parallel experiments is 1.996%—5.707%.


As society advances,the world faces an increasingly serious problem of aging.China is no exception.The problem will bring burden to individuals,families,communities and countries,and influence the happiness of peoples'living.Therefore it is great significance to study on how to improve the health of the elderly,and to improve their life skills.This thesis adopted an experimental method and used the Qianlong Health Preserving Exercises as an intervention.Thirty senior citizens between the ages of 60 to 80 from the senior citizen department of Minzu University of China who volunteered as subjects were tested and analyzed for their morphological,physiological,lipid and life skills before and after the four months session.Post session analysis found that practicing the Qianlong Health Preserving Exercises could not only significantly improve their physical function,but the circulatory system and life skills of the elderly within the tested group,thereby improve their quality of life.Neither negative side effects nor physical injury were observable.The study indicates the relevancy of using the Qianlong Health Preserving Exercises to promote health.Consequently,we strongly recommend the use of Qianlong Health Preserving Exercises as an alternative method to promote the physical well being of senior citizens.


. We provide supplements and open problems related to structure theorems for maximal rationally connected fibrations of certain positively curved projective varieties, including smooth projective varieties with semi-positive holomorphic sectional curvature, pseudo-effective tangent bundle, and nef anti-canonical divisor.


As a link between Eastern and Western European countries East German regions represent an interesting field for regional research. Predicting the East German outmigration to West Germany and the potential migration gains from Eastern Europe is of general interest for regional policy in East Germany. Strong migration gains are expected particularly from Poland, the direct neighbour of East Germany and the sixth-largest EU country. Even in case of German internal migration, existing empirical analyses at the macrolevel do not fully reflect the significant structural differences between both parts of the country. Understanding future spatial development requires an analysis of the complex individual decision processes behind the observed aggregated inter-regional migration flows. The theory on human capital predicts that job changes between occupations require investments in occupation-specific knowledge. Thus, regional differences in occupational structure should affect income expectations for the region of destination. The thesis approximates the human capital investments required through differences in gross value added per worker between sectors and regions of origin and destination. While previous macroeconometric models of migration control for several regional determinants, they have so far neglected the effects of human capital investments. The thesis proposes a method to implement human capital as a determinant of migration flows between German NUTS 3 regions. The results indicate that expected required investments in human capital reduce regional migration ...


We report the measurement of near threshold neutral pion electroproduction cross sections and the extraction of the associated structure functions on the proton in the kinematic range $Q^2$ from 2 to 4.5 GeV$^2$ and W from 1.08 to 1.16 GeV. These measurements allow us to access the dominant pion-nucleon s-wave multipoles $$E_{0+}$$ and $$S_{0+}$$ in the near-threshold region. In the light-cone sum-rule framework (LCSR), these multipoles are related to the generalized form factors $$G_1^{\pi^0 p}(Q^2)$$ and $$G_2^{\pi^0 p}(Q^2)$$. The data are compared to these generalized form factors and the results for $$G_1^{\pi^0 p}(Q^2)$$ are found to be in good agreement with the LCSR predictions, but the level of agreement with $$G_2^{\pi^0 p}(Q^2)$$ is poor.


As part of the US JGOFS Arabian Sea Process Study in 1995, we investigated temporal and spatial patterns in microbial dynamics and production during the late Southwest (SW) Monsoon (August–September 1995) and the early Northeast (NE) Monsoon (November–December 1995) seasons using the seawater-dilution technique. Experiments were coupled with population assessments from high-performance liquid chromatography, flow cytometry, and microscopy to estimate further taxon-specific phytoplankton growth, grazing and production. Dilution estimates of total primary production varied substantially, from 7 to 423mg C l 1 d , and were generally in good agreement with rate estimates from C-uptake incubations. Both primary production and secondary bacterial production were, on average, 2.5 higher during the SW Monsoon than the NE Monsoon. Relative to the total community, photosynthetic prokaryotes contributed 23% and 53% of production during the SW and NE Monsoons, respectively. Prochlorococcus spp. production was well balanced by grazing losses, while >50% of Synechococcus spp. production during the SW Monsoon appeared to escape grazing by protists. Diatoms comprised >30% of primary production at a high biomass station during the SW Monsoon but o30% at all stations during the NE Monsoon. Growth rates of Synechococcus spp. and diatoms appeared to be limited by inorganic nitrogen concentrations, while Prochlorococcus spp., dinoflagellates and Phaeocystis spp. were not. Losses to protistan grazing were strongly correlated with phytoplankton biomass and production. Despite sufficient prey levels, protistan biomass was modest and constant across the region during both seasons. Of the larger taxa, diatoms were grazed the least effectively with only 50% of daily production accounted for by protistan grazing. Combined estimates of protistan and mesozooplankton grazing at upwelling stations during the SW Monsoon leave B10% of primary production unaccounted for and available for sinking and/or lateral advection. Similarly high rates of net production at northern coastal stations during the NE Monsoon suggest that this area also may contribute to regional export flux. r 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. *Corresponding author. E-mail address: firstname.lastname@example.com (S.L. Brown). 1 Interpretations and conclusions are those of the author and do not imply the endorsement of the National Science Foundation. 0967-0645/02/$ see front matter r 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. PII: S 0 9 6 7 0 6 4 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 4 0 1


The invention relates to a human rotavirus P[8]deltaVP8*-P[6]deltaVP8* recombinant chimeric protein, wherein the amino acid sequence of the protein is shown in SEQ ID NO.2. Furthermore, the invention provides a coding gene and a preparation method of the protein as well as an application of the protein in preparation of a rotavirus vaccine. Two segments P[8]deltaVP8* and P[6]deltaVP8* are connected in serial to be expressed into the human rotavirus P[8]deltaVP8*-P[6]deltaVP8* recombinant chimeric protein; the protein can simultaneously induce neutralizing antibodies of major P genotypes P [8], P[4] and P[6] of the human rotavirus, overcome the shortcoming of an existing vaccine which can induce the generation of an antibody only capable of resisting one genotype and greatly enhance immune efficiency; and meanwhile, the protein can avoid a potential risk that oral administration of attenuated vaccine rotavirus possibly induces intestinal invagination, and is applicable to preparation of rotavirus vaccine.


In September 2010, a sick building syndrome occurred after the relocation of three public services of Eure-et-Loir's district, France, in a renovated building in which foul odours have been perceived. The establishment of a coordination unit allowed an interdisciplinary approach including clinical, epidemiological, psychosocial and environmental investigations. Concerning the epidemiological field, a transversal study has been realised by administrating a questionnaire to volunteered officers (n = 48 out of 54). The study period was from september 2010 to september 2011. Univariate and multivariate analysis allowed studying risk factors for symptoms apparition. During the study period, 84% of the officers reported symptoms. Those were mainly distributed into three types: irritatives (63%), general (51%) and ears nose and throat symptoms (27%). Multivariate analysis showed that: agents affected by irritative symptoms were originally in good health (OR = 20,32; [2.5–162.0]; the risk for all symptoms increased with the rise of the number of hours at work (OR = [1.1–1.4] and for workers in offices with old floor lining (OR = 22,0[1.8–265.5]. The building had an inappropriate ventilation system for a tertiary use and some pollution sources have been noticed during the environmental investigations, although no emanation at a toxic level was detected. The psychosocial investigations emphasised a real suffering of the agents and a communication problem towards the events. The results allowed us to make some recommendations which are currently being applied. Since the beginning of their application, no more complaints have been reported.


Thank you for reading fundamentals of management coordination supervisors middle managers and executives. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search numerous times for their favorite readings like this fundamentals of management coordination supervisors middle managers and executives, but end up in harmful downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some malicious bugs inside their desktop computer.


To acquire the precise appearance feature of free-form curved surface, an adaptive planning strategy for sample points of free-form curved surface, which combines the principle of circular interpolation and the self-organising characteristics of material centre theorem, is presented, and a solution algorithm suitable for surface digitising is proposed. The experimental results show that the adaptive planning algorithm for sample points of free-form curved surface is simple. It makes up the distribution defects of sample points based on circular interpolation, and avoids the enormous resource consumption in solving the complex non-linear equations. The sample points could distribute well according to the surface appearance characteristics, and the distribution of sample points under the required planning accuracy can be found via iteration.


example, when an agronomist tests the effects on crop yield of the addition of chemicals to the soil, or when a pharmacologist assays drug samples to determine their potencies. In designing an experiment to measure the effects of such treatments, it is often desirable to include in the experiment a control in the form of either a dummy treatment, to measure the magnitude of the experimental response in the absence of the treatments under investigation, or some recognized standard treatment. Sometimes past experience with the control will suffice, but often this cannot be relied upon due to altered environmental conditions. Thus the agronomist may leave a few of his experimental plots untreated for comparison with the treated plots, and the pharmacologist may measure the response to a standard drug preparation of known potency concomitantly with the test samples in order to estimate the potencies of the latter. We will consider the case where the numerical results of an experiment performed to compare p treatments with a control can be sum


Companies that carry out conservatism in financial statements there are various factors, researchers suggest these factors, there are tax incentives, financial distress, and capital intensity. Research objectives are find out whether tax incentives, financial distress and capital intensity have an effect on accounting conservatism. Based on Sugiyono (2017:2), the research method is a scientific way to obtain data with certain goals and uses. Based on those research method, there are five keywords that need to be considered, scientific method, data, objectives, and uses. The type of research used by this research is quantitative research. This research was conducted by 14 food and beverage companies. In this study using secondary data. Based on the results of research, tax incentives and financial distress have a negative effect on accounting conservatism. Meanwhile, capital intensity does not affect accounting conservatism. Based on the conclusions and limitations of the research, some suggestions can provide positive benefits for increasing the research sample by using all types of companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange so that they are not limited to food and beverage sub-sector companies


This text provides a framework for the new nurse to launch a position as a leader in an environment that may be stressful and chaotic. Focusing on situations that require thinking about leadership in new and different ways, the text provides case scenarios of real-life situations for discussion. Interactive exercises help fine-tune the student's critical thinking of creative solutions that establish a pattern to carry through the first years in practice toward a career of demonstrated leadership.


We spend nearly 1/3 of our lifetimes sleeping. A good mattress represents a significant investment for you,and,of course,it needs the best protection available. Around the global market,several mattress protector producers emerged during these years,responding t.o


Abstract : This report provides a state-of-the-art review of Systems Engineering standards and approaches as they may apply to the complex nature of military Systems of Systems. It contains an analysis of current practices and trends regarding standards and maturity models, available handbooks and guides, and the most widely used approaches. The report also discusses generic problems and issues encountered in the world of military systems including particular problems and issues that specifically apply to DND/CF context. Finally, the report provides a set of recommendations to be applied within the context of CapDEM TD in light of the knowledge acquired during the state-of-the-art review.


This paper aims to analyze the driving factors on Zoige wetland degradation and grassland desertification,identify the dominant factors which caused desertification of Zoige wetland and seek to reasonable countermeasures.Based on previous research and data collected during field investigation,the analysis showed that in the last few decades,human factors,such as rapid population growth,wetland drainage,overgrazing,and so on,influenced wetland degradation and grassland desertification obviously.However,natural factors,such as temperature increase and rainfall decrease are weaker.We come to a conclusion: the degradation and desertification in Zoige wetland is influenced by human activities and natural factors.Natural factors are the natural background,which cause large-space and large-span degradation and desertification.However,natural factors are not dominant factors at present,which only to make deterioration of the ecological environment,and wetland desertification possible.Human's intense activities in recent decades are the main factors which lead to the deterioration of the ecological environment and wetland desertification.It is necessary to formulate effective conservation and restoration measures based on the law of nature.


Sugar has played a significant part in Cuba's history, development and economy. But before sugarcane became a commodity, it was a plant. And its characteristics as a plant are the starting point for any study of its uses, technology, economics, and future. As a plant it has a number of relevant features: it is a grass that thrives in high temperatures; it is one of the most efficient collectors of solar energy that we know; it stores energy and protects itself from some diseases by a high concentration of sugar in its vegetative organs, thus harvesting sugarcane means removing the whole aboveground plant from the field. This causes it to deplete mineral nutrients more than, say, fruit trees. Thus sugarcane is a renewable resource only in the limited sense that the crop can be replanted or grow back. The underground parts sprout, giving a ratoon crop for a few years without replanting. But the soil is not by itself renewable; it requires replenishment by slow geological processes, by fertilization, or by alternative ecologically sound soil management programs.


The response to the pathogenic oomycete, Phytophthora capsici, in plants of two varieties of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), Serrano Criollo de Morelos (SCM) and Americano (AM), was studied. Both varieties developed a hypersensitive reaction and generated nitric oxide (NO) as a defence, but only SCM was able to overcome the infection by inhibiting the pathogen's growth, while AM succumbed to the disease. Bio-imaging of NO in vivo was carried out using diaminofluorescein diacetate (DAF-2DA) in conjunction with confocal laser scanning microscopy. NO-induced fluorescence was always higher in SCM than in AM tissues, and was also detected at trace level in decapitated non-infected control plants as a result of wounding. In var. SCM, the highest intensity was detected 3 days after infection in the first four sections following the necrosis zone, which corresponded to the mould invasion zone. In AM, extensive necrosis was followed by general invasion of the hyphae, accompanied by minimal NO production. These findings suggest that NO is involved in the resistance reaction against this water mould and that it is induced by the isoenzyme, nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), whose activity is qualitatively greater in the tissues of SCM. This is the first time that the involvement of NO and NOS has been reported in the defensive signalling reaction between pepper plants and P. capsici.


: In modern economic society, with the continuous development of science and technology, every individual pursues higher experiences at the spiritual level. The forms of expression of contemporary visual art are also evolving at an astonishing pace with the continuous advancement of globalization. With diverse, integrated, and innovative forms of expression, contemporary visual art has attracted increasingly widespread attention and research on a large scale. This article aimed to better promote the popularization of visual art in society, thus enabling individuals to better appreciate and understand visual art works, and gained inspiration and spiritual pleasure and enjoyment from them. It delved into the development process of traditional visual art, categorized the manifestations of contemporary visual art from multiple perspectives, and analyzed the characteristics and profound impact of different forms of visual art. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of the diverse forms of contemporary visual art in the process of social development were discussed, thus seeking the internal connection between social development, technological progress, and visual art innovation, and opening up new development directions for promoting the derivative and accepted forms of contemporary visual art. In summary, through a systematic study of the diverse forms of contemporary visual art, this article presented a unique perspective on contemporary visual art, promoting the evolution process of contemporary visual art while promoting cultural inheritance and development.


The ultra wideband (UWB) radiolocation functionality usually relies on the ability to perform a very precise estimation of the time of flight (TOF). Unfortunately, in spite of the fine performances demonstrated by the UWB systems, indoor dense multipath channels may alter the precision of the range estimate from severe blockage situations. This paper addresses the general problem of non line of sight (NLOS) errors in the specific context of UWB range estimation. Typical ranging errors due to the NLOS propagation are exhibited by deriving experimental results from real indoor VNA measurements into realistic statistical error models.


: It is a general belief that farmers lead a peaceful and healthy way of life. But nowadays modern day intensive agriculture has led to abnormal stresses and consequent depression and instability in the lives of farmers. Suicides among farmers are now common universally and occur more than in several other professions. Studies across the globe have found that farming is one of the most risky and dangerous professions. Farming includes a wide range of physical, biological, and chemical hazards that are similar across all cultures. Indian agriculture is going through a series of crises since 1990s and it is of concern that farmers are ending their lives. When money is tight, farm equipments may not be properly maintained, which increases the rate of work related accidents. The most common reasons for farmer suicides are poor returns from farming, increased cultivation costs, inadequate institutional credit, indebtedness, imperfect and high fluctuations in market prices, and financial worries. Inadequate and unpredictable rainfall, crop damage by insect pests and diseases, and livestock diseases and deaths, all contribute to the anxiety of farmers. Government agencies and non-governmental organizations should counsel farmers to deal successfully with stresses, develop positive attitude, organize rural social events for fun and frolic to promote companionship, provide off-season employment, and train farmers in skills to earn supplemental income, agricultural extension workers should help farmers to plan in advance to minimize risks and avoid large undertakings which are disproportionate to their resource base.


Internet Control Message Protocol is a protocol which is mainly used to provide information relating to errors on networked machines. Considering the few controls that IP protocol carries out, it not only allows errors to be corrected but also informs the protocols of neighboring layers of these errors. So, ICMP protocol is used by all routers, who use it to indicate an error (called a Delivery Problem). ICMP error messages are sent over the network in a datagram form, like any other data. So, the error messages themselves can be subject to errors. ICMP messages are used by the network administrators for troubleshooting the networks. Even though this protocol has many advantages, there are some of the flaws such as security, which is a major concern to be considered and to be eliminated. In this paper, we present an existing scenario and provide the authentication mechanism for ICMP messages. We also propose enhanced Packet format for ICMP message in such a way that authentication can be done. Kerberos algorithm is used for authentication mechanism which uses private key encryption method.


Icing problem has brought out a lot of damage to power system recent years and many ways dealing with this problem were proposed. RTV (room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber) was reported useless in heavy icing. Semiconducting SIR was based on RTV but the filler of carbon black was contained in rubber matrix. When it was coated on insulator surface under service voltage, a small value of leakage current will pass across the coating, and the Joule heat will melt the ice for a while. The resistance of semiconducting SIR coating on insulators has a great influence in different cold conditions. In the small climate room, a series of experiments were carried out to test the effect of anti-icing performance of insulators of different resistance. Results showed that the smaller the resistance of the semiconducting SIR coating, the better anti-icing effect obtained, and the threshold value of the coating is 0.3MΩ.


Recent experimental work and its theoretical interpretation concerned with the density effect on the energy loss of charged particles in matter is reviewed with particular reference to electrons and muons. Recent proposals that radiative corrections should result in a significant reduction in the ionization loss at very high energies are analyzed in some detail. It is concluded that such an effect has not been substantiated experimentally, and that the predicted radiative corrections are likely to be small (\ensuremath{\sim}1%).


The famous expressionistic poet Gottfried Benn (1886-1956) was the son of an evangelic priest. But he did not follow his father and never committed to the Christian church. Instead he studied medicine and became a doctor. Nevertheless the topic of God and the divine spirit was very important in many of the almost five hundred poems he published. Through all of his life Benn never ceased to contemplate about Gods, celestial beings and the belief in them. According to C. G. Jung the human being is determined to ponder upon the religious, because of its own soul. As a doctor Benn dissected the human body and never found the human soul. But in his lyrics he expressed many diverse facets of the soul and showed its experience with the absolute and the unquenchable desire for it.


Sweden has been a pioneer in the prophylactic treatment of haemophilia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can detect small changes in joints and can therefore give an indication of a risk of developing arthropathy.


This paper proposes a design and control method for a high-voltage direction current modular multilevel converter (HVDC-MMC) considering the capacitor voltage ripple of the sub- module (SM). The capacitor voltage ripple consists of the line frequency and double-line-frequency components. The double line- frequency component does not fluctuate according to the active power, whereas the line-frequency component is highly influenced by the grid-side voltage and current. If the grid voltage drops, a conventional converter increases the current to maintain the active power. A grid voltage drops, current increment, or both occur with a capacitor voltage ripple higher than the limit value. In order to reliably control an MMC within a limit value, the SM capacitor should be designed on the basis of the capacitor voltage ripple. In this paper, the capacitor voltage ripple according to the grid voltage and current are analyzed, and the proposed control method includes a current limitation method considering the capacitor voltage ripple. The proposed design and control method are verified through simulation using PSCAD/EMTDC.


EAP (Extensible authentication protocol) is a sort of general framework for authentication rather than a specific authentication protocol. An important consequence of this is that EAP can accommodate a variety of authentication/key-establishment protocols for different internet access networks possibly integrated to a common IP core network This paper tries a comparative analysis of several specific authentication/key establishment protocols for EAP, and suggest a strategic viewpoint toward the question: which one to un. In addition, we tried to make things clear about an intellectual property right issue with regard to some password-based protocols.


Introduction Outreach activities have been implemented to interest girls in careers in science and engineering, with emphasis on the physical and biological sciences. A patch program called "The Microscopic World" was designed for Girl Scouts in grades 1-12, sponsored by Tanasi Girl Scout Council. This program has been successful in providing hands-on science activities for girls in traditional Girl Scout troops, in large-group programs, in non-traditional Outreach groups, and at summer camp at Camp Tanasi. Over 900 girls have completed this patch program in the past four years.


Patterns provide a mechanism to express parallelism at a high level of abstraction and to make easier the transformation of existing legacy applications to target parallel frameworks. That also opens a path for writing new parallel applications. In this paper we introduce the REPARA approach for expressing parallel patterns and transforming the source code to parallelism frameworks. We take advantage of C++11 attributes as a mechanism to introduce annotations and enrich semantic information on valid source code. We also present a methodology for performing transformation of source code that allows to target multiple parallel programming models. Another contribution is a rule based mechanism to transform annotated code to those specific programming models. The REPARA approach requires programmer intervention only to perform initial code annotation while providing speedups that are comparable to those obtained by manual parallelization.


We describe in this paper the height variations of the gravity wave characteristics in the middle atmosphere, using the profiles of wind velocity and temperature collected at 20-90km altitude by means of a series of rocketsonde experiments and the MU (middle and upper atmosphere) radar during the DYANA campaign. The dominant vertical scales of the wind velocity fluctuations generally increased with altitude from 2-3km in the lower stratosphere to 10-15km in the mesosphere. The vertical wavenumber spectra of the wind velocity fluctuations, constructed in five altitude regions, showed height variations in the spectral shape, which was fairly consistent with the model spectrum based upon the saturation of gravity waves. The wind velocity variance due to gravity waves generally increased in the stratosphere, diminished just above the stratopause, greatly increased again in the lower mesosphere, and finally became nearly constant in the upper mesosphere above about 65km. The gravity waves with relatively small vertical scales were significantly weakened just above the stratopause, suggesting the important effect of the vertical structure of the static stability on the propagation characteristics of gravity waves.


There has been much hand-wringing at the thought of Donald Trump becoming US president. If, by some miracle, Trump succeeds in November, he will have his hand on the nuclear trigger. But this concern, while great political fodder, is dangerously simplistic. It presupposes there are "safe hands" when it comes to nuclear weapons. There are not.


In this paper we discuss the case in which, using the generalized Cannon's algorithm, it is possible to reduce communications in matrix multiplication. We then apply reduction of communications to the case in which we have to multiply large matrices, in particular rectangular matrices. Two strategies are proposed to solve the problem of multiplying two large squared matrices. For the case in which we have to deal with small matrices, some methods are proposed to use the entire number of processors.


Sanxi dialect is a Jianghui Mandarin island in southern Anhui province.The question-tag modal particles,used as aspect marker,are indispensable in this dialect.The paper describes the particles and their functions.


Establishing reference values of apparently healthy subjects of a geographical area in a hospital laboratory setting is important as results of subjects/patients attending the hospital can be appropriately compared. In the present study, 250 apparently healthy individuals of North Indian origin who fulfilled the inclusion criteria have been included. Subjects were further partitioned by sex and age groups. All tests were carried out by standard laboratory methods. It was observed that most of the values are similar to general reference values provided in standard text books of biochemistry. The results would serve as reference values to compare test results of majority of the subjects/patients attending our hospital for health care. It assumes importance as these are values of a reference population of a specified region.


We show that every tripartite quantum correlation generated with a Schmidt state (in particular every correlation generated with the GHZ state) can be simulated with the sending of two bits of classical communication from Alice to Bob and Charlie plus the sending of two bits of classical communication from Bob to Charlie. This extends recent results which showed that the maximal violation of Bell inequalities attainable by these correlations is uniformly bounded. For simplicity, we state and prove the result for three parties, but the generalization to the case of $n$ parties follows easily.
We also show that every $n$-partite probability distribution generated with local resources plus $c$-bits of local communication can violate a Bell inequality by at most a factor of $2^c$.


Ethylene glycol (0.75% v/v p.o. in drinking water; 28 days) induced urolithiasis was used to study the protective effect of  flavanoid rich fraction of Citrus medica Linn. (FFCM)  at three dose level (320 µg/kg; 380 µg/kg; 440 µg/kg-  28 days; p.o.) in male wistar albino rats (250-300g; n=6/group).  Cystone (750 mg/kg; p.o.) was used as standard drug. After completion of treatment period of 28 days,  24 hr urine sample and blood were collected. Various physical parameters like body weight, diuresis, pH, kidneys weight (wet and dry) were measured. Various stone forming inhibitors (Magnesium and Citrate) and promoters (Oxalate, Calcium, Phosphate, Uric acid and Urea)  were analysed in urine, serum and kidney homogenate. Renal function test (BUN and Creatinine clearance), antioxidant parameters (MDA and Catalase) and crystalluria were also evaluated. FFCM at all dose level significantly prevented EG induced changes in calcium, inorganic phosphate, uric acid, oxalate, urea, citrate, magnesium level; creatinine clearance and oxidative stress. FFCM possess anti-lithiatic activity in experimentally induced urolithiatic model (Ethylene glycol model), that can be attributed to its diuretic action, decrease in promoters and increase in inhibitors level & antioxidant potential. Key words: Urolithiasis, Citrus medica Linn., Calcium oxalate, Ethylene glycol.


The results of theoretical and experimental studies of the Stark broadening of hydrogen lines in plasmas made during the last 10–15 years are reviewed. Plasmas and the hydrogen atom are the objects in which specific features of the Coulomb interaction manifest themselves most clearly. The statistics of the Coulomb microfield produced by the ions and electrons in a plasma (with allowance for the effects of screening and ion-ion correlations) and the temporal fluctuations of that microfield are discussed briefly. The dynamics of the interaction of the plasma microfield with the radiating atom is analyzed in detail. In addition to discussing the well known approximations in the theory of line broadening—the impact and statistical approximations—considerable attention is given to the intermediate spectral region in which both those approximations break down. The possibility of describing this region is due to a specific (fourdimensional) symmetry of the hydrogen atom, which makes it possible to find accurate wave functions for the atom in the field of the charged particle responsible for the broadening. The accurate solution is used to analyze the transition from electron-impact broadening to statistical broadening in the wing of the line. Considerable attention is given to the thermal motion of the ions and the related "reduced mass effect" that manifests itself at the centers of the Balmer lines. The basic experimental results that make it possible to test the conclusions of existing theory and to discern new problems are presented. The quantum formulation of the line-broadening problem is discussed, as well as line broadening for hydrogenlike ions.


Computer-assisted instruction permits a student to work individually and at his own pace. His learning occurs by interactive dialogue with a conversational type terminal. The system comprises the following programs: tutorial, conversational, and simulation.The study describes the objectives and the characteristics of a system based on a simulation program using the file of the data-base from the Rennes Hospital. Furthermore it describes in detail the steps that the student must take and discusses the programming of the system. The recording of the various lessons is subjected to statistical analyses to make the teaching exercises better and to adapt the conversation to the behaviour of the students facing the system.L'enseignement assiste, par ordinateur, permet a l'etudiant de travailler individuellement et a son rythme. Son apprentissage se fait par dialogue interactif a partir d'un terminal conversationnel. II recouvre plusieurs systemes: un systeme tutoriel, un systeme dialogue et un systeme de simula...


The absorption of 58Co-vitamin B12 was assessed by the method of total body counting in 25 patients with frank P.A., five with latent P.A., 47 with achlorhydria but without malabsorption of vitamin B12 and 47 acid-secreting patients. A total of 192 tests was done. With or without prior stimulation of intrinsic factor secretion by pentagastrin the upper level of absorption of vitamin B12 in patients with frank or latent P.A. was 25 per cent. Taking an equivocal result to be 21-25 per cent inclusive, the total body counting method was able to distinguish P.A. patients from those with achlorhydria without P.A. with 87 per cent accuracy and one per cent error and from non-P.A. achlorhydric patients and acid secretors combined with 91 per cent accuracy and 0.5 per cent error.

Pentagastrin stimulation did not improve the separation between achlorhydric patients with and without P.A. but raised the lower limit of retention of vitamin B12 from 24 to 44 per cent in the acid secreting patients.

The method of total body counting is recommended as a method of assessing vitamin B12 absorption.


y: Objective: To investigate the relationship between prognosis of mature women human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection and zinc conbined traditional Chinese medicine,in order to explore the role of zinc in clinical therapeutic effectiveness of mature women HCMV infection. Methods: Atomic Absorption Photometry was used to determine the content of serum trace element zinc and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to screen serum HCMV specific antibodies (IgG and IgM) in 900 mature female, The SPSS 11.5 for win was used statistic analysis. Results: The serum content of zinc in HCMV-IgM(+) group is significantly lower than HCMV-IgM(-) group(t=-13.29 P0.01 ). There was positive correlation between the clinical therapeutic effectiveness of mature female HCMV infection and the serum content of zinc ( χ2 =17.43 P 0.01). Conclusion: The levels of zinc in serum play an important role in the infection and clinical therapeutic effectiveness of mature women HCMV infection. The clinical therapeutic effectiveness would decline when the serum content of zinc is lower than 0.70.


A missile is a self-propelled precision-guided munition system, as opposed to an unguided selfpropelled munition, referred to as a rocket. Missiles have four system components: targeting and/or missile guidance, flight system, engine, and warhead. Missiles come in types adapted for different purposes: surface-to-surface and air-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, air-to-air missiles, and antisatellite weapons. All known existing missiles are designed to be propelled during powered flight by chemical reactions inside the engine. Missiles are sturdy, well-constructed machines. But, because of their size, weight, and bulk, they are not that easy to handle nor are missiles indestructible. Most missile damage is, unfortunately, a result of carelessness and poor handling practices. To reduce the possibility of damage, missiles are shipped, stored and handled with special equipments. Approved containers, canisters, and handling equipments provide maximum missile safety with minimum handling by personnel. The missile container used previously was of lid type (suitcase) containers. This type of container has large contact area at the closing region. So it is very important that the manufacturer has to take extreme care in producing this container without any warpage at the closing region. Else there will be a leakage of gas from the gap developed due to warpage. Therefore the manufacturing becomes more complex and more expensive. INTRODUCTION MISSILE: Basically any object thrown at a target with the aim of hitting it is a missile. Thus, a stone thrown at a bird is a missile. The bird, by using its power of reasoning may evade the missile (the stone) by moving either to the Left, right, top or bottom with respect to the flight path (trajectory) of the missile. Thus, the missile in this case has been ineffective in its objective of hitting the bird (the target) . Now, if the stone too is imparted with some intelligence and quick response to move with respect to the bird, to overcome aiming errors and the bird's evasive actions and hit it accurately, the stone now. Becomes a guided missile. The incorporation of energy source in a missile to provide the required force for its movement (propulsion), intelligence to go in the correct direction (guidance) and effective maneuvering (control) are mainly the technologies of guided missiles. They help in making a missile specific to a target, that is, they determine the size, range and state of motion of a missile. Missile An object which is forcibly propelled at a target, either by hand or from a mechanical weapon. The major components of a missile are: Guided missiles are made up of a series of subassemblies. The various subassemblies form a major section of the overall missile to operate a missile system, such as guidance, control, armament (warhead and fusing), and propulsion. The major sections are carefully joined and connected to each other. They form the complete missile assembly. The arrangement of major sections in the missile assembly varies, depending on the missile type. The guidance section is the brain of the missile. It directs its maneuvers and causes the maneuvers to be executed by the control section. The armament section carries the explosive charge of the missile, and defusing and firing system by which the charge is exploded. The propulsion section provides the force that propels the missile.


Owning more than 50 million daily active users, Sina Weibo offered a large amount of direct or indirect raw data and is selected as the data source of this study. In this paper, A new scheme on data capture is developed, which is based on the specified keywords provided by demand. It mainly focuses on how to use web crawlers to grab data during the specified time and verified by Sina Weibo data. KEYWORD: Sina Weibo; Web crawlers; data grabbing; keyword searching International Conference on Social Science, Education Management and Sports Education (SSEMSE 2015) © 2015. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 1489 After analysing each interface of Sina Weibo, we find that none of them provide a function searching Weibo by keywords or by specified time period. In addition, Sina Weibo API also sets up some restrictions like accessing frequency. As a result, in this article we do not use Sina Weibo API to crawl data.


The study is focused on the challenges of material resource management among social studies lecturers in Nigerian Universities. The study population is one thousand eight hundred and fifty five (1855). The sample size comprises one hundred staff, one hundred and twenty students, and forty internal material resource managers were randomly selected from secondary schools in Delta and Bayelsa States. A 20 item questionnaire was drawn for the study. This was validated by experts and a test for reliability was conducted using the test- retest method. With the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient, the reliability test was established at 0.89. The questionnaire was personally administered by the researcher with some research assistants. Two research questions and one hypothesis were formulated for the study. The mean (x) and z-test were used in analyzing the data. The findings show that the appointment of an internal material resource manager is appropriate and that material resource management in schools should not be the sole responsibility of the school administrator. The role of the school administrator differs considerably from the material resource manager. Plausible recommendations were made.


.Therefore, infection of central lines remains a major clinical concern, especially in paediatrics patients, who have relatively morevulnerable immune systems and therefore a concomitant higher morbidity and mortality.In view of this, an audit of sepsis incidence in all children receiving PN at the Children's Hospital for Wales, Cardiff, was performed tocompare sepsis incidence with available figures from the literature to benchmark performance, as well as to introduce changes if deemednecessary.The case notes of all PN cases (except neonates) in 2006–2007 were obtained from pharmacy records and reviewed for indications andPN duration. Electronic results reporting systems were used to review biochemical and microbiological results. Sepsis during PN wasdefined as 'likely' if the CRP level exceeded 50mg/l, and was proven by positive blood cultures


The aim of this study was to identify interaction mechanisms among particles in the hydration of pozzolan cements. To this end, chemical, physical, mineralogical and electrokinetic analyses of samples were conducted. Furthermore, free surface energy components were defined by Van Oss, Chaudry and Good equations and the contact angle values of samples were determined by using the thin layer wicking method. The results show that the addition of water turns solid–air interfaces into solid–liquid interfaces (wetting), while attraction and repulsion take place depending on the electrical charges on particle surfaces. While total surface energy and components of particles seek to attain balance as a result of wetting, hydration and pozzolanic reactions occur.


Apoptosis is central for the maintenance of health. In the immune system, apoptosis guarantees proper development of immune cells and shutdown of immune reactions by the coordinated elimination of activated immune cells. Limitation of the life span of granulocytes is important, as overactivation of these cells is associated with chronic inflammation and collateral tissue damage. Consequently, targeted induction of granulocyte apoptosis may be beneficial in the course of respective immune disorders. Anti-inflammatory drugs such as glucocorticoids and monoclonal antibodies against IL-5Rα exert their function in part by triggering eosinophil apoptosis. Agonistic antibodies targeting Siglec-8 or death receptors are tested (pre)clinically. Moreover, a new class of inhibitors targeting antiapoptotic BCL-2 proteins shows great promise for anticancer treatments. Because of their specificity and tolerable side effects, these so-called BH3 mimetics may be worthwhile to evaluate in inflammatory disorders. Here, we review past and recent data on pharmacological apoptosis induction of granulocytes and highlight respective therapeutic potential. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Volume 63 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


The use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to achieve excellent photocatalytic antibacterial properties have attracted considerable attention. However, insufficient visible light absorption and rapid electron-hole recombination are two crucial issues for...


V. A. Vavilin X. Qu L. Mazéas C. Duquennoi T. Bouchez Cemagref, UR-HBAN, Parc de Tourvoie, Antony cedex F-92163, France E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com V. A. Vavilin Water Problems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 3 Gubkina, Moscow 119333, Russian Federation E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com X. Qu P. He Tongji-University, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, 1239 Siping road, Shanghai 200092, China M. Lemunier Suez-Env, CIRADE, 38 avenue Jean Jaures, 78440 Gargenville, France J. M. Mouchel UMR Sisyphe, University P&M Curie, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France Similar evolution was obtained for the stable carbon isotope signatures d CH4 and the modelpredicted relative rate of aceticlastic methanogenesis during mesophilic methanization of municipal solid wastes. In batch incubations, the importance of aceticlastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis changes in time. Initially, hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis dominated, but increasing population of Methanosarcina sp. enhances aceticlastic methanogenesis. Later, hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis intensified again. A mathematical model was developed to evaluate the relative contribution of hydrogenotrophic and aceticlastic pathways of methane generation during mesophilic batch anaerobic biodegradation of the French and the Chinese Municipal Solid Wastes (FMSW and CMSW). Taking into account molecular biology analysis reported earlier three groups of methanogens including strictly hydrogenotrophic methanogens, strictly aceticlastic methanogens (Methanosaeta sp.) and Methanosarcina sp., consuming both acetate and H2/H2CO3 were considered in the model. The total organic and inorganic carbon concentrations, methane production volume, methane and carbon dioxide partial pressures values were used for the model calibration and validation. Methane isotopic composition (d CH4) evolution during the incubations was used to independently validate the model results. The model demonstrated that only the putrescible solid waste was totally converted to methane.


Certain phytochemicals, such as the stilbene, resveratrol (RES, found in red grapes and berries), and the triterpenoid, ursolic acid (UA, found in waxy berries and herbs such as rosemary and oregano), have antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory and antiproliferative effects. Two human‐derived cell lines, hTERT‐RPE with a nonmalignant phenotype derived from retinal pigment epithelium, and ATCC CRL‐11147 derived from a malignant skin melanoma, were used as in vitro models of photooxidative stress produced by exposure to the broadband output of a 150 W Hg vapor arc lamp at an irradiance of 19–26 mW cm−2. In untreated cells, UV–VIS broadband light exposure produced a loss of proliferative ability, an activation of NF‐κB and an increase in protein carbonyl adducts at 24 h postexposure. Pretreatment of the cells with RES or UA at 1–2 μmsignificantly reduced the amount of phosphorylated NF‐κB at 24 h postexposure. RES pretreatment reduced the burden of light‐induced protein carbonyl adducts by up to 25% in exposed cells. UA treatment markedly increased the sensitivity of melanoma cells to UV radiation, while conferring some photoprotection to RPE cells. These observations indicate that phytochemicals modulate the cellular response to photochemical stress by interacting with specific cell‐signaling pathways.


sibility of poor tissue viewing at the edges of the 2 cover slips and where the 2 slides meet, which could require slight manipulations and the mounting of additional sections so that the deep margin will overlap enough that the edges of the slide are clean and viewing of complete sections is possible without "messy" edges. Slides are stabilized for viewing and to prevent tearing by applying cover slips to the slides. The slides do not have to be separated for storage.


The formation of biobanks in the structure of scientific and treatment and diagnostic institutions with prospects for interregional integration is a fundamental link in monitoring and predicting diseases of various origins, creating and testing highly effective diagnostics, and developing novel therapeutic agents.Aim. To describe standard operating procedures and principles for the formation of bioresource collections (BRC) in medical institutions with biobanking.Material and methods. The data of scientific and practical biomedical projects using BRC obtained from patients with genetic, multifactorial and infectious diseases in St. Petersburg and Surgut are presented. As of September 2022, the BRC collected on the basis of the Pediatric Research and Clinical Center for Infectious Diseases of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency includes biosamples from 1619 patients, and the BRC collected in the Medical Institute of Surgut State University includes biosamples from 450 patients and healthy individuals of different sex and age. The selection of biosamples from apparently healthy individuals and patients with various diseases can serve as a strategically important resource for future research in terms of etiology, epidemiology, the development of regulatory environment and scales, innovations in the development of diagnostic approaches and treatment of the Russian population.


Objective To investigate the effect of acute ischemia on hyperpolarization-activated nonselective inward current(If) in isolated sino-atrial node(SAN) pacemaker cells(PCs) and to explore its mechanism.Methods The enzymatically isolated SAN PCs from rabbit were divided into three groups,the PCs in group Ⅰand groupⅡ were perfused with ischemic like solution contained 5.4 or 10 mmol/L KCl respectively,the PCs in group Ⅱ were perfused with Tyrode solution contained 10 mmol/L KCl.The PCs were first exposed to normal Tyrode solution(control) and then to experimental solution for 5~8 min after If was stable,followed by washout with normal Tyrode solution again.A perforated whole-cell patch-clamp techniques were used to record If.Results If at diastolic potentials(-60 to-70 mV) was not altered significantly in group I.If increased significantly at all test potentials(-60 to-110 mV) in group Ⅱ and group Ⅲ.Conclusions The acute ischemia can enhance the If of isolated sino-artial SAN Pcs from rabbit,which may due to the higher extracellular K.


The diagnosing methodology, on one hand, should allow liberation of the main elements for elaboration of the survey and, besides that, for thorough research in case of abnormalities and, on the other hand, should neglect the accidental elements which do not have an utility to the studied field. This double necessity drives the analyst's efforts in eliminating the difficulties of diagnosing method, which should avoid two possible limits, that is: performing a very analytical and expensive survey when compared to the information it provides or elaborating a too global survey, which can cause some omissions, among which some important issues for the final consideration and for the action plans which are to be set can be lost. Therefore, only a rigorous activity diagnosis method can convince the study beneficiary as to the competence and value of the specialist expert called and of the fact that the result of analysis does not include a multitude of useless, unessential information.


Blood is the main component of human body. Blood is composed of Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells, Platelets and other artifacts. Blood is considered as the main source of identifying various diseases like Malaria, Anemia, and Leukemia etc. In these diseases the main region of interests are the blood cells. The main focus in these diseases is to carefully check the blood cells because these cells in one way or another are either attacked by the parasites or some disorder in their shapes, sizes and colors. These features of blood cells have fundamental importance in the study, because different disorders result in different diseases. Due to the challenges in the light microscopy the digital images produced are noisy and need proper processing, that the features like size, shape, color and internal features like nucleus its size and color (WBC) of the various blood cells are clearly studied. This work mainly focuses on the enhancement of contrast in the YCbCr color for algorithms like KNN and K-means Clustering as because in the YCbCr color space the enhancement results in different colors for Malarial Parasites, WBCs nucleolus and other artifacts. Hence, it is easy for grouping these regions into different classes. This work is the start of a complete automatically diagnosis of Malaria, Anemia and Leukemia.


The active glycoprotein MTSGS1 from the mycelium of T. matsutake has antitumor activity in vitro . Low dose of MTSGS1 can inhibit cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis by inhibiting cell conversion from S to G2M state. MTSGS1 inhibits S 180 cell multiplication in vivo , the antitumor ratio is 65% at 50mg/(kg.d). The spleen weight and index increase markedly. The results show that MTSGS1 has obvious antitumor activity in vitro and in vivo.


Now, Toyota's top quality control expert shows managers in any business how to improve quality and cut costs using his management techniques. Used successfully by companies worldwide--these techniques have already been proven to increase productivity and dramatically improve quality in administrative, marketing, service and technology-related functions, as well as on the manufacturing floor.


Organophosphorus complexones are a new group of highly effective complex-forming compounds capable of binding metal ions in aqueous media. The principal trends in the development of studies on the synthesis and properties of organophosphorus complexones are discussed and methods for the modification of their structures and their most interesting applications are indicated. The bibliography includes 130 references.


The research aims to assess the urban expansion of Ulaanbaatar city spatially and temporally by using remotely sensed data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Despite the city covers 0.03% of Mongolian territory, 68% of the population resides in Ulaanbaatar. These high rates of urbanization origins several environmental and health problems (e.g. the highest rate of air pollution in the world). The dispersion and expansion of urban areas calculated using the urbanization intensity index and Shannon's entropy-based on USGS Landsat TM and ETM+ imageries (Landsat Multispectral Scanner with bandwidth 0,5 -1,1 µm and 60 m resolution; Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus with 30 m resolution and bandwidth 0,45-2,35 µm). The urbanization intensity index and Shannon's entropy value increase indicates that urbanization is at a higher rate by 1990- 2017 and demonstrating urban sprawl's rapid increase has transformed from low density -dispersed to medium density- leapfrog spatial expansion.


Abstract Objective Acute tonsillitis represents a significant proportion of admissions to ENT departments nationally. Given current hospital pressures, it is vital to look for safe alternatives to admission. This study explores the safe management of patients in an ambulatory medical unit, without the need for admission. Methods A retrospective review of 48 patients' notes was carried out. Following the development and implementation of a guideline for acute tonsillitis, a prospective re-audit of 41 patients was carried out, measuring length of stay, overnight admissions and re-admissions. Results The rate of overnight admission following implementation of the guideline fell from 0.75 to 0.29, and average length of stay dropped from 19.2 to 9.5 hours. There were two re-admissions in each cycle of the audit, which represents a non-significant increase. Conclusion The tonsillitis guideline has significantly reduced admissions and length of stay. Re-admissions remain low, demonstrating that this is a safe and cost-effective intervention.


The Food Stamp Program is a central component of American policy to reduce poverty and hunger. The program's main purpose is " to permit low-income households to obtain a more nutritious diet. .. by increasing their purchasing power " (Food Stamp Act of 1977, as amended). The Food Stamp Program is the largest of the domestic food and nutrition assistance programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service. During fiscal year 1997, the program served about 23 million people in an average month at a total annual cost of nearly $20 billion. The average monthly food stamp benefit was just over $170 per household. This report presents estimates that, for each state, measure the need for the Food Stamp Program and its effectiveness in 1994. Specifically, the estimates of the number of poor people, the poverty rate, and the number of people eligible for food stamps measure the severity of economic deprivation in every state. The estimated food stamp participation rates measure, state by state, the program's performance in reaching its target population as of January 1994. The estimates presented in this report were derived using Bayesian shrinkage estimation methods and data from the Current Population Survey, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the decennial census, and administrative records. The shrinkage estimator for food stamp eligibles, for example, averaged sample estimates of eligibles in each state with predictions from a regression model. The predictions were based on observed indicators of socioeconomic conditions in the states, including levels of participation by state residents in government means-tested programs, such as the National School Lunch Program and the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. The shrinkage estimates derived are substantially more precise than direct sample estimates from the Current Population Survey or the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the best sources of current data on household incomes. Shrinkage estimators improve precision by " borrowing strength, " that is, by using data from all the states to derive each state's estimate and by using not only sample survey data but also census and administrative data.


This paper proposes a mathematical model for the volume of distribution and kinetics of tracer dilution in the mammalian extracellular fluid system. Analogy to certain simple mechanical and electrical physical systems suggests an exponential decay formulation for the time course of tracer distribution, y = A(1−e −Bt) + Ct. This hypothesis is supported by the successful optimal curve fitting of the model to experimental data on35SO4and thiocyanate distribution in the extracellular fluid. Nonlinear regression analysis is performed by computer, utilizing techniques devised for exponential functions. The parameters of the equation suggest a correspondence to and an interpretation of the descriptive physical properties of the extracellular fluid system as discerned by tracer dilution.


Neuro Degenerative Diseases include Parkinson Diseases, Huntington Diseases, Ataxia, Myoclonus and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis are medically, Hereditarily, pathologically fluctuated and are described by its symp-toms and execution of motor impairment. In this study, the data samples are of 15 subjects with PD, 20 subjects with HDdisease, 13 subjects with ALS and 16 subjects of healthy or fit persons. The database is composed a one minute recording of Force Sensitive Resistor (FSR) Signal. For feature deduction 2-level wavelet Decomposition is done using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). The acquired features were evaluated using the means of 10-trials for fivefold cross-validation (FFCV) in LDA with a Random Forest classifier (RFC). For NDD localization. The Random Forest Classifier gives the better outcome contrast with SVM and QB ordinary classifiers. The experimental proves that the accuracy, sensitivity and the Specificity of the proposed system is highly accurate and efficient than the previous method. The percentage of the proposed method is 98.24%, 97.92% and 96.78% as each.


Since two different types of side channel attacks based on passive information leakage and active fault injection are independently considered as implementation threats on cryptographic modules, most countermeasures have been separately developed according to each attack type. But then, Amiel et al. proposed a combined side channel attack in which an attacker combines these two methods to recover the secret key in an RSA implementation. In this paper, we show that the BNP (Boscher, Naciri, and Prouff) algorithm for RSA, which is an SPA/FA-resistant exponentiation method, is also vulnerable to the combined attack. In addition, we propose a new exponentiation algorithm resistant to power analysis and fault attack as well as the combined attack. The proposed secure exponentiation algorithm can be employed to strengthen the security of CRT-RSA.


The dynamics of a nanosecond discharge with an extended hollow cathode in argon is studied and the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) in a plasma column is calculated. The issues of the formation of the EEDF in the discharge column and inside the cathode cavity are considered. The conditions of the validity the two-term approximation of the EEDF in the plasma column are analyzed and the appropriate evaluations are given. Keywords: hollow cathode, pulse discharge, argon, electron energy distribution function.


A lumped mass model with six degrees of freedom for the vertical vibration of four roller hot strip rolling mill stand was proposed, while its natural frequencies were calculated by MATLAB software. The numerical calculation results were proved more accurate through field vibration test. This vertical vibration model can be applied for dynamic simulation and structural dynamic modification with important theoretical and practical significance in mastering the vibration characteristics of four-roll mill, avoiding vertical self-excited vibration and improving production efficiency.


Fixed rates per case spell tighter budgets and a greater need for appropriate test use. Lab computers are your lifeblood, the author says, as they will help increase revenues from outpatient testing, reduce costs, and provide information on test use. This article is published in the proceedings of the January 1984 Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences.


Emergence of peer-to-peer lending has opened an appealing option for micro-financing and is growing rapidly as an option in the financial industry. However, peer-to-peer lending possesses a high risk of investment failure due to the lack of expertise on the borrowers' creditworthiness. In addition, information asymmetry, the unsecured nature of loans as well as lack of rigid rules and regulations increase the credit risk in peer-to-peer lending. This paper proposes a credit scoring model using artificial neural networks in classifying peer-to-peer loan applications into default and non-default groups. The results indicate that the neural network-based credit scoring model performs effectively in screening default applications.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect and safety of ulnar osteochondroma resection, ulnar minimally invasive osteotomy, external fixation and ulnar lengthening in the treatment of forearm deformity of metaphyseal extension of ulna.

METHODS
From August 2005 to December 2013, there were 20 cases of ulnar metaphyseal sequelae, including 15 males and 5 females, aged from 7 to 13(10.00±2.34) years, the course of disease ranged for 6 to 11(8.10±1.52) months. The clinical manifestations were shortening of the affected forearm and bending to the ulnar side. The postoperative evaluation included pain, activities of daily living, orthopedic effect and the range of motion of wrist, elbow and forearm. The radiological evaluation included ulnar length, radial joint inclination angle and wrist epiphysis growth.

RESULTS
All patients healed without infection. The only operation related to complications was ulnar lengthening, including 1 case of nonunion, 2 cases of ulnar lengthening callus fracture and 1 case of temporary radial nerve palsy. All patients were followed up for 4 to 7.5 years, with an average of (6.03±1.33) years. There were statistically significant differences in changes of wrist radial deviation, ulnar deviation, forearm pronation and supination in all cases (P<0.05). Radiological evaluation parameters (ulnar variance, radial joint angle, wrist slip) were improved, and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05). The modified Green and O'Brien wrist function scores at the last follow-up were significantly different from those before operation (P<0.05). The clinical effect of wrist joint was significantly different from that before operation (P<0.05). The Mayo elbow function scoreat the latest follow-up was significantly different from that before operation (P<0.05). The clinical effect of elbow joint was significantly different from that before operation (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION
Ulnar lengthening is not beneficial to prevent the development of long-term deformity. Simple resection of osteochondroma of distal ulna is beneficial to prevent the development of deformity. Patients with limited rotation of wrist joint and forearm and strong demand for improvement of appearance can be actively treated.


This paper proposes a new frequency-domain pre-coding algorithm for the downlink multi-user MIMO system in a frequency-selective fading channel, where each user is equipped with multiple antennas. The proposed algorithm is based on the minimum sum-mean-square-error (Min-SMSE) criterion, which is able to eliminate both the multi-user and multi-antenna interferences, resulting in an improved bit error rate (BER) performance. Compared with the traditional optimal Min-SMSE algorithm, the proposed algorithm can reduce the computational complexity through simplifying the iterative and power allocation processes. Furthermore, the theoretical BER and ergodic sum-rate are derived in detail. In addition, we define and analyze the complexity of the pre-coding algorithms. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm compares favorably with the optimal Min-SMSE and traditional block diagonalization (BD) algorithms in the sense of the ergodic sum-rate due to the approximately equal power allocation. The BER performance of the proposed algorithm is close to that of the optimal one and much better than that of the BD algorithm in both the uncorrelated and correlated channels. Moreover, the computational complexity of the sub-optimal Min-SMSE algorithm is significantly less than that of its optimal counterpart, especially in the low SNR region.


We give description of the system of estimation of the real investment projects on economic and financial criteria. The system is sent to the increase of efficiency of projects on the stage of feasability study. Conducted functional decouplig of the system, certain informative copulas between functions, models and methods of realization. Exposition is accompanied by a through example.


A Cd2+-imprinted silica gel sorbent was prepared by surface imprinted method with Cd2+ as the template,3-[2-(2-aminoethylamino)ethylamino]propyl-trimethoxysilane as the functional monomer,silica gel as the support,and epichlorohydrin as the cross-linking agent.The adsorption properties and selective recognition ability of the imprinted sorbent were studied by equilibrium-adsorption method.The results showed that the maximum static adsorption capacity of the imprinted sorbent was 30.8mg/g,the adsorption equilibrium could be reached in 20min,there was no influence of pH values in the range of 4-8 on the adsorption capacity of the imprinted sorbent,and the imprinted sorbent could be used repeatedly and indicated high selectivity for Cd2+ even in the presence of the other metal ions.


The utility model discloses a destacking and entrucking conveying device for bagged materials, wherein a destacking conveyer and an entrucking conveyer are rotatably arranged on an underframe. One end of the destacking conveyer, which is close to the entrucking conveyer, is served as a destacking output end. The other end of the destacking conveyer is served as a destacking input end. One end of the entrucking conveyer, which is close to the destacking conveyer, is served as an entrucking output end correspondingly matched with the destacking output end so as to realize the transition conveying of bagged materials. The other end of the entrucking conveyer is served as an entrucking output end. The destacking and entrucking conveying device further comprises a first lifting support unit and a second lifting support unit. The first lifting support unit is used for driving the destacking conveyer to rotate around the rotationally matched part thereof with the underframe so as to adjust the height of the destacking input end. The second lifting support unit is used for driving the entrucking conveyer to rotate around the rotationally matched part thereof with the underframe so as to adjust the height of the entrucking output end. Due to the adoption of the destacking and entrucking conveying device, both the entrucking and the destacking are convenient in operation. The destacking and entrucking conveying device can be adapted to different entrucking heights and also can be adapted to different stacking heights.


Short range three-dimensional imaging radar has wide application prospects, but high resolution high resolution requires a large number of antenna elements in traditional planar array 3D imaging radars. In this paper, In this paper, the Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with a linear antenna array is used to solve this problem. The MIMO technology is used to achieve azimuth high resolution, the SAR technology is used to obtain elevation high resolution, the FMCW technology is used to get range high resolution. These methods can effectively reduce the antenna elements in 3D imaging systems. Compared to the conventional methods, the proposed method requires a smaller number of antenna elements. It is demonstrated through simulations and experience.


Purpose: The rapid distal falloff of a proton beam allows for sparing of normal tissues distal to target organs. However proton beams that aim directly towards critical structures are avoided due to concerns of range uncertainties, such as CT number conversion and anatomy variations. We propose to eliminate range uncertainty and enable prostate treatment with a single anterior beam by detecting the proton's range at the prostate‐rectal interface and adaptively adjusting the range in vivo and in real‐time. Materials and Methods: A prototype device, consisting of an endorectal liquid scintillation detector and dual‐inverted lucite wedges for range compensation, was designed to test the feasibility and accuracy of the technique. Liquid scintillation filled volume was fitted with optical fiber and placed inside the rectum of an anthropomorphic pelvic phantom. Photodiode‐generated current signal was generated as a function of proton beam depth, and the spatial resolution of this technique was calculated by relating the variance in detecting proton spills to the penetration depth. The relative water‐equivalent thickness of the wedges was measured in a water phantom and prospectively tested to determine the accuracy of range corrections. Treatment simulation studies were performed to test the potential dosimetric benefit in sparing the rectum.Results: The spatial resolution of the detector in phantom measurement was 0.5 mm. The precision of the range correction was 0.04 mm. The residual margin to ensure CTV coverage was 1.1 mm. The composite distal margin for 95% treatment confidence was 2.4 mm. Planning studies based on a previously estimated 2mm margin on 27 patients showed a rectal sparing up to 51% at 70Gy and 57% at 40Gy relative to IMRT and bilateral proton treatment. Conclusion: We demonstrated the feasibility of our design. Use of this technique allows for proton treatment using a single anterior beam, significantly reducing the rectal dose.


The results of upgrading heavy crude oil with a density of 0.9857 g/cm3 and a sulfur content of 3.6% wt. are presented. In an environment of superheated steam in the temperature range 355-375°C and pressures up to 14 MPa in the presence of iron-modified natural aluminosilicates. The use of modified aluminosilicates containing oxides of iron, aluminum and silicon in the process of upgrading heavy oil led to a twofold decrease in the content of resinous-asphaltene components in it. In addition, the upgrading process led to an increase in the content in light fractions, boiling up to a temperature of 300°C, of the converted oil of branched alkanes with a high octane number, as well as to a decrease in oil viscosity by 60%.


In the absence of any real understanding of ordinary recombination it may seem gratuitous to invoke an even less comprehended event to be known as illegitimate recombination. Yet there are reassociations of nucleotide sequences that apparently do not fit into the framework of classical recombination. These invite attention to yet another attribute of DNA. General recombination (Chapter 7) involves alignment of genetic homologues (DNA molecules in lower organisms, chromosomes in eukaryotes) and rejoining of material from corresponding segments of two genetically marked parents to give end products whose nucleotide sequences are the same as those in the "parent" molecules, except for the markers. Physical breakage and rejoining of DNA are involved (Taylor, 1965; Meselson, 1967). The process is relatively frequent and extremely accurate in that no losses are incurred. It depends on substantial nucleotide-sequence homology, but its frequency can be modified by the few differences in sequence introduced as genetic markers (Yanofsky et al., 1964; Norkin, 1970). Included under general recombination are examples of unequal crossing over that result from asymmetric pairing between homologues containing duplicated segments (see Hershey, 1970). Another order of genetic event is grossly perceived as rare, haphazard, and not obviously dependent upon genetic homology. In higher organisms its effects are visible as inversions, deletions, and translocations of parts of chromosomes. In bacteria and bacteriophages it is detected as new juxta-positions of genetic markers, some of which have recently been correlated with rearrangements in DNA made visible in the electron microscope (Hradecna and Szybalski, 1969; Fiandt et...


Research and development (R&D) have been conducted to determine the feasibility of the handout, to learn about the improvement of students 'symbolic language skills after using the handout, and to know the students' responses to the handout. The subjects of this study were students of class XI IPA 1 of SMA Negeri 1 Binangun, with data collection techniques using observation, interviews, questionnaires, tests, and documentation. The data obtained in the form of qualitative and quantitative data, while the data analysis with percent values, Percentage Agreement, and normalized gain. Based on the results of the study obtained a mean score of validation results by three validators of 3.53 with good criteria so that the LAPS-Heuristic handout with multi representation is feasible to be used in physics learning with a little revision. The average implementation of learning by using data analysis techniques Percentage Agreement of two observers by 97% with very good criteria. The test results of students' responses to the use of the multi-representation LAPS-Heuristic handout states that the handout is included in either criterion with a score of 3.42 or expressed as a percentage of 85%. The use of the multi-representation LAPS-Heuristic handout can improve the students' symbolic language abilities by obtaining a normalized gain value of 0.73 which is included in the high criteria. Thus, Logan Avenue Problem Solving (LAPS-Heuristics) Handout Loaded Multi Representations to Improve Symbolic Language Ability of Class XI Students can be categorized well and fit for use as alternative teaching material in high school physics learning that is able to improve the symbolic language skills of students.


K. Toyota1,2, J. C. McConnell1, A. Lupu1, L. Neary1,†, C. A. McLinden2, A. Richter3, R. Kwok4, K. Semeniuk1, J. W. Kaminski1, S.-L. Gong2, J. Jarosz1, M. Chipperfield5, and C. E. Sioris2 1Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2Air Quality Research Division, Science and Technology Branch, Environment Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 3Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany 4Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA 5School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK †Now at Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), Brussels, Belgium


Growing concerns on climatic changes and rapid depletion of fossil fuels results in immediate action to accelerate the clean energy generation using renewable energy resources. Alternative input from solar energy for daily needs is one such platform which has immense potential and is universally accessible with least environmental effects. The proposed system deals with a solar powered source connected to utility with a grid interfaced inverter using adaptive DC link technology which reduces the overall power loss in the whole system. This methodology stands over the constant DC link technology. This project operates with a three-phase grid-coupled solar photovoltaic (SPV) system which includes a two-stage operation. The first stage deals with a boost converter which accomplishes the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) using Incremental Conductance (InC) technique which is more easier and accurate. The output of the boost then feeds the DC link capacitor which is made adaptable to grid voltage variations. The second stage consists of a voltage source converter (VSC) which enact as a PV inverter and delivers the power to the grid via boost converter. The proposed strategy was designed for a 20 kW SPV system and was simulated in MATLAB Simulink 2017b.


The classical definition of arithmetical mean can be transferred to a group (G, +) with the property that for any y∈G there is a unique x∈G such that x + x = y (uni-2-divisible group). Indeed we define in G a commutative and idempotent operation ∇ that recalls the classical means, even if (G,+) is not commutative. Afterwards in section 3 we show that, by means of the commutative and idempotent operation ∇ usually associated with an autodistributive Steiner triple system (G,L), we can endow any plane of (G,L) of a structure of affine desarguesian (Galois) plane.


Abstract Planning for the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Heritage Coast, a 58‐km stretch of some of the finest cliffed scenery on Britain's east coast, is nearing completion in 1982 and has taken 10 years of planning work. Delay has resulted from necessary coordination among many planning authorities on such issues as the boundaries of the Heritage Coast and its status within the statutory Development Plan system. This report shows the complexity of coastal management planning even when there is general agreement on the need to protect an important coast resource.


Brand Ambassador is one of the marketing communication strategies in the form of promotion through humans to increase brand core value. Brand Image is the perception and trust in the consumer's mind towards the brand that can increase brand loyalty. Consumers may decide to use a product or service based on the person giving them influence. Consumers are more likely to choose and be loyal to a good brand they already trust rather than trying a new brand. Brand loyalty owned by the company aims to increase brand value by maintaining consumers not to switch to other brands. This research aims to determine how much influence Stray Kids brand ambassadors and Shopee's brand image towards Shopee's brand loyalty. This research used quantitative methods with causal type. The sampling technique in this study used non-probability sampling type purposive sampling. The sample used as many as 166 respondents from the population with an unknown size of Shopee users among Stray Kids fans. The data analysis used in this study includes correlation coefficients, multiple linear regression tests, T-tests, F tests, and determination coefficients. The results showed that brand ambassador 'Stray Kids' had a positive and significant influence on Brand Loyalty, with an increase of 0.118. Shopee's brand image has a positive and significant influence on Brand Loyalty with an increase of 0.553. 'Stray Kids' brand ambassador and Shopee brand image simultaneously influence brand loyalty by 57.9%. The remaining 42.1% were influenced by factors not discussed in the study.


More than 40 years after Cassis de Dijon, the mutual recognition in the field of goods is still a failure. The promise of this principle for ensuring both market access and regulatory diversity has not been kept. Therefore, today, businesses rarely rely on mutual recognition to sell their products in another Member State. In an attempt to stimulate this procedure further, the European Union legislator tried to simplify the procedures to be followed by businesses and public administrations through Regulation 2019/515. This article argues that, although the Regulation creates more legal certainty, it fundamentally fails to address the underlying problem of lack of trust that has stalled mutual recognition in the past.


The explosive growth of the World Wide Web, and the resulting information overload, has led to a miniexplosion in World Wide Web search engines. This mini-explosion, in turn, led to the development of ProFusion, a meta search engine. Educators, like other users, do not have the time to evaluate multiple search engines to knowledgeably select the best for their uses. Nor do they have the time to submit each query to multiple search engines and wade through the resulting flood of good information, duplicated information, irrelevant information, and missing documents. ProFusion sends user queries to multiple underlying search engines in parallel, retrieves and merges the resulting URLs. It identifies and removes duplicates and creates one relevance-ranked list. If desired, the actual documents can be pre-fetched to remove yet more duplicates and broken links. ProFusion's performance has been compared to the individual search engines and other meta searchers, demonstrating its ability to retrieve more relevant information and present fewer duplicates pages. Future developments include analyzing the documents for improved ranking, automatically submitting queries to the most appropriate search engines, and modifying ProFusion to be an information filtering and dissemination system.