This paper describes Passage+, a multimedia information presentation system for smartphones. The Passage+ gives one's path planning and route choice more diversities by displaying CG virtual objects, movies and images on the smartphone display. This work is achieved by using an Augmented Reality based on image recognition and GPS. Passage+ is an attempt to promote new discoveries by presenting alternative paths and entertaining routes. We adapted Passage+ to ACMMM's navigation system at Nara park, and collaborated with museums and cultural facilities nearby during the conference.


Data Sources and Extraction: We searched the MEDLINE database to June 2002 for "Hashimoto" or "autoimmune thyroiditis" and "encephalopathy" and examined all identified articles and articles referenced therein, including all languages. We included all patients with noninfectious encephalopathy (clouding of consciousness and impaired cognitive function) and high serum antithyroid antibody concentrations. We excluded patients if they did not meet these inclusion criteria or if their symptoms could be explained by another neurologic disorder. We recorded clinical features and the results of imaging, electroencephalographic, thyroid function, and cerebrospinal fluid studies. Data Synthesis: We identified 85 patients (69 women and 16 men; mean age, 44 years) with encephalopathy and high serum antithyroid antibody concentrations. Among these patients, 23 (27%) had strokelike signs, 56 (66%) had seizures, 32 (38%) had psychosis, 66 (78%) had a high cerebrospinal fluid protein concentration, and 80 (98%) of 82 had abnormal electroencephalographic findings. Thyroid function varied from overt hypothyroidism to overt hyperthyroidism; the most common abnormality was subclinical hypothyroidism (30 patients [35%]). Among patients treated with glucocorticoids, 66 (96%) improved.


The article examines the aspects of the travel in five allegorical plays of Calderon with mythological argument, analyzing the main elements of travel narrative and allegorical use in relation with conventions of the sacramental plays. Especially important is the structure of travel in El divino Jason and Los encantos de la Culpa organized on the story of the Argonauts and the Odyssey respectively.


In a method for the separation of pollutants from a combustion chamber of a power station, resulting flue gas stream (31) in at least one, preferably a plurality of process steps in the burning of a fossil fuel, in particular coal, in a combustion chamber, preferably (1, 2, 3), wherein in a first process stage (1), in at least one first absorber (4, 4a, 36) or flue gas scrubber flue gas scrubbing by means of the flue gas stream (31, 9, 10) supplied sodium hydroxide solution or a sodium hydroxide-containing solution is carried out as a first chemical absorbent (6) wherein at least a portion of the sodium hydroxide solution or sodium hydroxide-containing solution in this first process stage (1) outside the flue gas stream (31, 9, 10) to the place of supply this chemical absorbent (6) for flue gas stream (31, 9, 10), preferably in the circulation recycled (13), a solution is to be created, which allows a in the combustion fossil fuels, in particular coal, resulting flue gas stream in so far as to reduce its pollutant and solids content that immediately below with a sufficiently long time, a CO is carried out continuously by means of a flue gas scrubber and in the exhaust gas purification of a power plant, in particular coal-fired power station, integrated This is achieved by that the first chemical absorbent (6) during its recirculation (13) before reaching the location of ...


Harvey, Kellard, Madsen and Wohar (2010, Review of Economics and Statistics, 92, 367-377) contains data construction errors and the reported results are incorrect. This erratum provides the corrected results.


ABSTRACT In the frame of conceptual design for the long-term management of high level radioactive waste defined by Andra (France), it is assumed that carbon steel (C-Steel) overpack would be mainly affected by general corrosion. As it is widely accepted that precipitation of a corrosion product layer (CPL) can limit the corrosion rate, the aim of this work is to simulate the growth of a thick FeCO3 CPL and its impact on the evolution of the corrosion rate. We use a 1D finite element method numerical model based on the resolution of Nernst–Planck equation in free potential conditions. Two numerical models of the evolution of the corrosion rate of low alloy steel in anoxic conditions are developed. These models take into account the growth of a porous CPL assuming either a constant and homogeneous porosity or a varying and heterogeneous porosity and results are compared to experimental data. This paper is part of a supplement on the 6th International Workshop on Long-Term Prediction of Corrosion Damage in Nuclear Waste Systems.


The increasing occurrence of severe droughts and sparse rainfall due to climate change is resulting in high and costly demand for water resources. A greater understanding of uncertainties associated with the creeping occurrence of agricultural drought and proactive planning to mitigate drought impact hence needs a probabilistic assessment. This study presents the probabilistic characterization of agricultural drought, depicted by the cumulative soil moisture deficit above a threshold (Severity) and water stress in the plants (WSP‐sum) during dry periods (duration). The concept of Crop Growing Process (CGP) for specified crops is introduced and defined as a continuous flow of water from the soil through the roots of the plant to the leaves then transformed into water vapor and finally released. The CGP is a two‐state process, either a normal or subnormal state. The probability density function (PDF) of the WSP‐sum manifests the overall subnormal state of CGP over the duration by means of the failure probability estimated as the sum of two distinct parts from two independent phases. Phase1 estimates the part of the failure probability influenced by the average duration; and Phase‐2 estimates the remaining part influenced by the average severity. The phase with the smallest rate parameter determines the WSP‐sum, which indicates whether a premature end of CGP was due to drought or the CGP survived until the end of the cropping season. The predicted designed drought components for specified return periods are presented to assist in proactive drought management. The combined influence of all the drought components upon the WSP‐sum probabilistically characterizes agricultural drought, given the CGP.


The success of ab initio crystal structure solution by powder diffraction data is strictly related to the quality of the integrated intensity estimates. A new method that is able to improve the pattern decomposition step has been developed. It combines the inversion of a suitably modified Patterson map with the use of the Hamming codes [13,10] and [40,36] in order to explore more decomposition trials. The new approach has been introduced in EXPO2005, an updated version of EXPO2004, and successfully applied to a set of known organic and inorganic structures.


This article analyses the reflex of the American dream in the sets, iconology and beauty models used by Matt Weiner in his successful TV series drama Mad Men (AMC, 2007-Hoy). This TV drama has turned into an audio-visual fiction master piece that the world has acclaimed and internationally rewarded in the whole world, especially for his historical genuineness and his visual style. It turns into a perfect portrait of a grey world of executive men, where the women put the only and unique note of colour. These women are beautiful, elegant, handsome, modern, flirtatious and feminine and have the new challenge of occupying positions of responsibility in the labour world. Paradoxically, this realism and verisimilitude wake the interest up for a reality intangible and so difficult to make concrete since it is the American dream.


The ability to regulate anger facilitates harmonious interactions with strangers, colleagues, friends, and romantic partners. We review the influence of four emotion regulation strategies (i.e., cognitive reappraisal, suppression, angry rumination, and mindfulness) on subjective anger experience, cardiovascular reactivity, and aggressive behavior. All studies included a real or implied social interaction (e.g., with a fictitious participant). We included research on individual differences in emotion regulation as well as experiments that manipulated emotion regulation strategies. The evidence suggests that cognitive reappraisal and mindfulness can buffer anger-related responses in interpersonal contexts. Angry rumination perpetuates anger and aggression. The effects of suppression are mixed. Our review highlights the need for additional research into the extent to which emotion regulation strategies influence provoked anger and aggression in different interpersonal contexts.


Some neurons express a plateau of spike activity greatly outlasting a stimulus, whereas others do not. This difference could be due to differential expression of ion channels (e.g., persistent Na+, and Ca2+) or similar expression of channels that differ in their properties. We compared three Aplysia neurons with varying capacity to generate plateau potentials: B51 with self-terminating plateaus, B64 with plateau potentials that do not self-terminate, and the regular spiking neuron B8. Our results indicate the three neurons expressed outward currents IA and ID, voltage-gated Ca2+ currents ICaL and ICaR, and persistent inward INaP. The most notable difference observed was a larger IA, ID, and IKCa currents in B8, and the plateau generating B64 did not express IKCa. Computational models suggest outward currents suppress and temporally constrain the plateau potential and that inward Ca2+ currents suppress plateau potentials when coupled with IKCa.


Objective:  transforming  growth  factors  (TGFs),  the  pro-inflammatory cytokines  play  an important role in malignancy. This study was aimed to evaluate immunohistochemically the expression of TGF-β1 protein in epithelial dysplasia (ED), carcinoma in situ (CIS) and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in order to elucidate its role in oral carcinogenesis.

Material and methods: 30 cases of OSCC was investigated including well, moderately and poorly differentiated OSCC (10 cases each) that contained normal epithelium, ED and foci of CIS. They were subjected to immunohistochemistry using antibodies against TGF-β1.
Results: the expression of TGF-β1 was increased in intensity and distribution in different stages of ED and OSCC when compared to normal mucosa. In ED, TGF-β1 intensity score was weak (1+) in 8 cases (26.6%), moderate (2+) in 20 cases (66.6%) and strong (3+) in 2 cases (6.6%). In CIS, the intensity score of TGF-s1 was weak (1+) in 3 cases (10%), moderate (2+) in 17 cases (56.6%) and strong (3+) in 10 cases (33.3%). TGF-β1 expression was markedly enhanced in both OSCC cells and stromal cells. TGF-β1 score of intensity was weak (1+) in 2 cases (20%) of well differentiated and in 1 case (10%) of moderately and poorly differentiated OSCC. TGF-β1 score of intensity was moderate (2+) in 3 cases (30%) of well differentiated and moderately differentiated, and in 1 case (10%) of poorly differentiated. On the other hand, the expression score of TGF-β1 was strongly positive (3+) in 5 (50%), 6 (60%) and 8 (80%) cases of well, moderately and poorly differentiated OSCC respectively.

Conclusion: enhanced expression of TGF-β1 could be responsible for transformation of oral premalignant lesions to OSCC as well as more aggressive tumor growth, metastasis and resistance to treatment.


The following case, because of the apparent rarity of one feature of it, was considered of sufficient interest to be reported: Cysts of the frontal sinus, particularly mucoceles, are not so very rare, but it is fairly uncommon to find an absence of a large part of the posterior or cerebral wall of the sinus. The patient, Miss M. B., aged thirty-four years, consulted the writer July 27, 1907. The only interesting point in her history is a severe fall, striking her head, when she was nine years old. She stated that she was unconscious for three days at that time. From that time she has been a sufferer from severe headaches, more intense on the left side. She is a worker in a textile mill. In 1905 she had a nasal operation, the exact nature of which she could not tell me. This gave her some relief. For a number of years she had had a discharge from the left nostril. This, she believed, followed some work on the teeth on that side. About a year before consulting the writer her left maxillary antrum had been opened through the canine fossa, and for a. time she thought she was a little better. Her physician, Dr. J. B. Ledlie, of Saratoga, who referred Miss B. to me, told me that since July, 1907, her headaches had been unusually severe, particularly on the


This paper presents the architecture and design of intra prediction circuit for H.264 decoder. There are a total of 17 operational modes in the intra prediction of H.264- nine modes for a luma block, four modes for a luma block and four modes for a chroma block. We extracted common operations included in all prediction modes and defined the common operations unit to perform those operations. The proposed circuit architecture sharing this unit in all prediction modes is systematic from the design point of view and efficient in terms of circuit size.


The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' conceptions about assessment and their actual assessment practices. The sample for the study consisted of 269 mathematics teachers in Grades 1 through 4 in a southeastern state. The teachers completed a cross-sectional, Likert-scale survey. Using chi-square to examine the relationships between grade level and teachers' conceptions and between grade level and teachers' practices, the researchers found several significant differences, transcending an indication of relationship by chance.


Summary Background Tegoprazan is a novel potassium‐competitive acid blocker for the treatment of acid‐related disorders. Aims To assess whether tegoprazan is non‐inferior to lansoprazole in terms of efficacy and safety in patients with gastric ulcers. Methods In this phase 3, double‐blind, active control, multicentre study, 306 gastric ulcer patients were randomised to one of three treatment groups: tegoprazan 50 mg, tegoprazan 100 mg and lansoprazole 30 mg once daily for 4 or 8 weeks. The primary endpoint was the cumulative proportion of patients with healed ulcers confirmed by endoscopy up to 8 weeks from treatment initiation. Symptoms and safety were assessed. Results In the full analysis set, the cumulative healing rates at week 8 were 94.8% (91/96) for the tegoprazan 50 mg, 95.0% (94/99) for the tegoprazan 100 mg and 95.7% (89/93) for the lansoprazole 30 mg groups. At week 4, the respective healing rates were 90.6% (87/96), 91.9% (91/99), and 89.2% (83/93). In per protocol analysis, 4‐week healing rates were 95.4% (84/88), 94.6% (88/93) and 92.9% (79/85) for tegoprazan 50 mg, tegoprazan 100 mg and lansoprazole 30 mg, respectively. Both doses of tegoprazan were non‐inferior to lansoprazole in ulcer healing at 4 and 8 weeks. The incidence of drug‐related treatment‐emergent adverse events did not differ among groups. The increase in serum gastrin concentration was not higher in tegoprazan‐treated patients than in lansoprazole‐treated patients. Conclusions Tegoprazan 50 or 100 mg were not inferior to lansoprazole 30 mg once daily in the treatment of gastric ulcers.


This paper shows the first analysis of the influence of the H-plane performance to the Site VSWR result. An effective model to estimate the error is presented. Measurements with four different antennas in three different test sites prove the correctness of the model. The measurement error depends on the pattern performance as well as on the chamber performance itself. Guidance to improve the reliability of Site VSWR measurement result is given. Site VSWR; Site Validation; EMC above 1 GHz; omnidirectional antennas; Precision Omnidirectional Dipole


Transition processes reflect the institutional hierarchy. Financial and monetary institutions changes seem to be the main explanatory factors of these processes. These institutions definition influences also directly macroeconomic operation and by this way others institutions. In the theory of Regulation framework, we will analyse Argentinean regime of accumulation in place under Peron and transition factors towards the current regime, which is characterized by market finance importance. Social confrontation plays here a central role as institutional evolution factor. We will see then financial and monetary institutions changes consequences on macroeconomic operation and employment. Employment becomes in the current accumulation regime the adjustment variable.


This study examines the question, of whether the pervading disappointment surrounding the practice of commercial arbitration in Sri Lanka, is due to the assimilation of court practices into commercial arbitration by the legal practitioners. Arbitration as an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) method to judicial processes was introduced with the enactment of Arbitration Act No.11 of 1995 and hailed as an effective ADR for the resolution of commercial disputes. Participants were ten senior legal practitioners involved in both court practice as well as commercial arbitration for more than ten years in Sri Lanka. The study used a phenomenological research design to explore the perspectives of ten participants. It was hypothesised that the legal practitioners involved in both court and commercial arbitration practice would have a deeper understanding of the disappointments surrounding commercial arbitration practice and why commercial arbitration has not yielded the anticipated result of efficiency in dispute resolution over court practice. The results indicated that the same practitioners in court and arbitration, bring the same attitudes and skill set practised in courts into commercial arbitration. Thus, the emerging theme is to create an attitudinal shift in the participants of commercial arbitration for the speedy resolution of disputes in comparison to formal court practice. Keywords: Commercial arbitration; Alternative Dispute Resolution; speedy resolution of disputes; attitudinal shift.


We propose two-loop neutrino mass model with gauged hidden $U(1)$ symmetry, and discuss a Majorana type of dark matter candidate that has semi-annihilation processes in the relic density as well as lepton flavor violations and muon anomalous magnetic moment. Also, we demonstrate global analysis to satisfy neutrino oscillation data, lepton flavor violations, and relic density of dark matter candidate and show that semi-annihilation modes play a crucial role in finding observed relic density.


Reconfigurable Computing, the second RAM-based machine paradigm offers drastic reduction of the electric energy budget and speedup factors by several orders of magnitude compared to using the von Neumann paradigm, now loosing its dominance. This paper advocates to introduce a dual paradigm transdisciplinary education by using Configware Engineering as the counterpart of Software Engineering. by new curricula in CS and CE for providing an integrating dual paradigm mind set to cure severe qualification deficiencies of our graduates.


City-wide GPS recorded taxi trip data contains rich information for traffic and travel analysis to facilitate transportation planning and urban studies. However, traditional data management techniques are largely incapable of processing big taxi trip data at the scale of hundreds of millions. In this study, we aim at utilizing the General Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPUs) technologies to speed up processing complex spatial queries on big taxi data on inexpensive commodity GPUs. By using the land use types of tax lot polygons as a proxy for trip purposes at the pickup and drop-off locations, we formulate a taxi trip data analysis problem as a large-scale nearest neighbor spatial query problem based on point-to-polygon distance. Experiments on nearly 170 million taxi trips in the New York City (NYC) in 2009 and 735,488 tax lot polygons with 4,698,986 vertices have demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed techniques: the GPU implementations is about 10-20X faster than the host system and completes the spatial query in about a minute by using a low-end workstation equipped with an Nvidia GTX Titan GPU device with a total equipment cost of below $2,000. We further discuss several interesting patterns discovered from the query results which warrant further study. The proposed approach can be an interesting alternative to traditional MapReduce/Hadoop based approaches to processing big data with respect to performance and cost.


Wireless Internet information search apparatus according to the present invention, the received search request from the client system via the client computer and the set Wi-Fi access link, after receiving the search request, and releases the wireless Internet access link, the received search It includes a search engine server that is to be sent the search results generated in response to the request to the client system, wherein the search request contains the mobile number that the client registered, and the search engine server identified by the mobile number to the client computer, it characterized in that the search results to be transmitted in a short message form. Wireless Internet, information retrieval, short message service, mobile communication devices, mobile phones


Based on the generating functional of the Green functions for the gauge-invariant system in higher-order derivatives field theories,the equations of the transformation properties at the quantum level have been derived.It follows that the sufficient condition which implies that there exists the quantal conservation laws,and the expressions of the quantal conserved laws are also given.Applying the results to the higher-order derivatives non-Abelian Chern-Simons theories,the quantal BRST conserved charge and other conserved charges are found,the transformation properties of the conformal transformation at the quantum level are discussed,the quantal conserved angular momentum is derived,it pointed out that fractional spin in this system may be also preserved in quamtum theories.But the connection between the symmetries and conservation laws in classical theories are not always preserved in quantum theories.


I write this editorial in the midst of some of the most rapid changing times most of us have ever experienced in our life time. The global financial crisis has caught the world and us unawares and the impact will be felt globally in a way that is hard to predict. World leaders including the newly appointed American President Obama, are grappling with a problem of unprecedented proportions and endeavoring to collaborate across the world stage. The stroke world will not be immune from a number of differing perspectives ranging from a possible change in patterns of research funding in a number of countries, to increased pressure on global health care services particularly in developing countries. Given the known association between socioeconomic status and stroke incidence we may see an unfortunate increase in stroke incidence, whether this occurs, remains to be seen because as there is little or no incidence data to determine whether the great depression triggered by the 1929 financial crisis had this effect. This edition of IJS contains a pleasing array of articles from all points of the globe; from Iran to Singapore. We have tried to include a broad spectrum of topics which will be of interest to readers from different parts of the world. Pierre Amarenco provocatively questions as to whether we are all hypostatinaemics? While, Prasad highlights the enormous implication of publication bias and how this may have an untoward effect on patients as a consequence. Other important topics touched upon include depression, a provocative article on vaccination, and our continued commitment to Clinical Trial Protocols, with the Genetics of cervical artery dissection. World Stroke Day continues to gain momentum and is recognized on October 29 each year. We have a wonderful example in this edition of a coordinated effort in four locations across India; an inspiration to everyone as to what can be achieved by working together to draw attention to the world's second most common cause of death. Our ability to alter this state of affairs should not be underestimated! We are interested to hear about World Stroke Day in your region this coming October 29, 2009, please e-mail email@example.com.


The technical solution relates to the field of information technology, it is designed for mobile telecom operators and service providers that provide access to the Internet, as well as the devices users with an internet connection. The technical result from the use of this technical solution is to improve the safety of the user of the Internet related to a particular age and sex group, by assessing the level of threat provided content. This solution can be formed as a fixing device child's interests and assessing the level of threat the child on the Internet, comprising the combined total tire data: determination unit child's interests and assessing the level of threat provided content on the Internet, capable of collecting the visited resource information in said network processor reads and executes the machine instructions (programs) from the permanent storage of data blocks temporarily storing data, persistent data storage unit, Representing a permanent memory unit temporarily storing data representing a random access memory providing temporary storage of data block interaction with network devices, which is a switch, and provides an interface to other network devices operating on the first (physical) and second (channel) OSI model levels, adapted to receive and transmit data from external devices via electronic messaging supply circuit Cpd nennuyu with the power supply. All of these elements are in a structural design.


The possibility of sound amplification in a semiconductor subjected to an external temperature gradient is discussed. It is shown that for kl≪1 and short‐circuited samples, the temperature gradient threshold for amplification varies inversely proportional to (kl)2.


The crystal structure of synthetic ellisite, Tl3AsS3, has been determined hv means of 3d-counter data. The space group is Cl"-R3m with arho = 5.9967(6) A, = 105.88(1)°, Ζ = 1 (ah" = 9.5707(5) A, chei = 6.9888(4)A. The structure was solved by a 3d-Pattersonfunction and a full-matrix least-squares refinement with anisotropic temperature factors and anomalous dispersion to an /{-value of 5.8 % for the observed reflections. The Ή atom is surrounded by three S atoms in a trigonal-pyramidal arrangement at distances between 3.048 A and 3.095 A (mean: 3.063 A) and by two additional S atoms at a distance of 3.444 A. The As atom shows the usual trigonal-pyramidal coordination by the S atoms (As—S = 2.227 A). The structure is built up by the threedimensional network of the Tl-polyhedra together with the As-pyramids.


In this nole, dedicated to Professor Joseph H. Eberly on the occasion of his 70th birthday, I recount the beginnings of the simulations of an atom or a molecule in a strong laser field by numerically integrating the Schrodinger equation in one spatial dimension. The underlying ideas of one-dimensional simulations and a few present-day spinoffs are briefly discussed.


The invention relates to a fault diagnosis apparatus and method for detecting faults in a fuel vapor treatment system (40). The fuel vapor treatment system (40) has a fuel tank (9), a memory (33) containing an adsorbent for adsorbing in the fuel tank (9) formed fuel vapor, one with the memory (33) connected to and communicating with the atmosphere air conduit (37) a first conduit (31) for connecting the memory (33) to the fuel tank (9), a second line (32) for connecting the memory (33) and an intake system (2) of an internal combustion engine (1), a vent closing valve (38) for opening and closing an air passage (37) and into the second conduit (32) provided purge control / regulating valve (34). The purge control / regulating valve (34) and the vent shut-off valve (38) to be closed when stopping the motor (1) is detected, and it is based on the during a predetermined detection period of time after the closing of the purge control / regulating valve (34) and the vent closing valve (38) in the fuel vapor treatment system (40) sensed pressure determined or detected whether in the fuel vapor treatment system (40) there is a leak or not. The determination or detection of leaks in the fuel vapor treatment system (40) is inhibited when the difference between the layer of gas temperature and the ambient temperature after the stop of ...


This paper argues forensic programs should be structured to recognize the importance of communication between students and their family members. Previous research has shown students experience greater success when they have satisfying communication with their parents. The data presented in this study demonstrates that forensics activities affect interaction between students and their families. Forensic directors should incorporate mechanisms for fostering communication with students' family members in their programs. The paper concludes with a discussion of strategies for forensic directors to use in pursuing this objective. The forensics family has long been an issue of great importance for intercollegiate competitors. For many, the forensic family is a reference to the closeness experienced between competitors and the coaching staff, teammates, and students from other schools (e.g. Wambolt & Reiss, 1989; Hobbs, Hobbs, Veuleman, & Redding, 2003). However, more recently interest in the forensics family has referred to the actual family of forensic educators (Gilstrap & Gilstrap, 2003) and family relationships (parents, siblings, grandparents) of student competitors. Jensen (2003) previously noted that the relationship students' have with their parents, while critical, is often secondary to the relationships they develop with their team and on the circuit. This article will argue the family relationships of competitors are critical to the well-being of the student and forensic programs should recognize the need to help maintain and foster those relationships. Suggestions for maintaining that focus will be offered. Following a brief rationale for an organizational focus on the forensic family, and the suggestion of a guiding organizational framework, results will be presented from a study which sought to determine competitors' perceptions of how forensic training affected their interactions with their par8 -----------------------------------------------------------------------Fall 2006 ents. A family-oriented systems theory approach will then be offered as a means for guiding programs toward an organizational and structural focus or the forensic family. Importance of Family in Forensics Williams and Hughes (2003a, 2006) have investigated the relationship between forensic competition and competitor's communication with their family members. Williams and Hughes' study of intercollegiate forensics competitors suggests students' perceptions of their parents' knowledge of forensics is related to their ability to communicate satisfactorily with them. The authors even suggest satisfying communication with parents may lead to competitive success in forensics. Williams and Hughes (2006) note similar relationships have been found among student athletes. According to Gransk-og (1992) there is a correlation between athletes who report satisfying communication with their parents and those who feel a stronger sense of being integral to the team and performing better. Williams and Hughes (2006) also reported forensic competitors tend to come from more socio-oriented families than concept-oriented families. Concept-oriented families are those that tend to be more rules-oriented, and family interactions are guided by family structure. Socio-oriented families will be more adaptable to circumstances and more likely to employ negotiation instead of strict rules orientation. There is little room for doubt that a student's level of satisfaction and success in college can be helped or hindered according to their relationship and communication with family members. It stands to reason, therefore, that an activity that can be as time-consuming and attention-monopolizing as forensics should recognize the importance family relationships can play in that students forensic participation and overall well-being during their collegiate years. Forensics organizations and programs should strive to foster and maintain healthy communication between students and their families. Organization and program structure should reflect this concern. A family-oriented systems structure for forensics programs and organizations is advocated here. Early theoretical explanations of organizational processes framed organizations as "containers" apart from and relatively unaffected by influences outside of the organization (Goldhaber, 1993). Furthermore, these theories typically compared organizational processes with machines with replaceable parts and scientifically predictable outcomes (Miller, 2003; Jablin, Putnam, Roberts, & Porter, 1987). However, contemporary organizational communication scholars "believe that organizations do not behave in predictable and machinelike ways," but are affected by forces both outside and inside the organization (Miller, 2003, p. 71). In other words, research suggests that organizational processes are highly dynamic and are influenced by environmental factors. This systems approach reframes organizations as Fall 2006--------------------------------------------------------------------------9 "networks of individuals pursuing multiple goals by creating and interpreting messages within complex networks of interpersonal and task relationships" (Conrad & Poole, 2002, p. 320). Systems approaches to the study of organizational behavior now dominate much of the organizational communication literature. A growing proportion of this research examines organizational pressures on members' family processes such as time spent away from family (Pitt-Catsouphes, Kossek, & Sweet, 2006). This has been shown to influence loss of productivity and diminished employee satisfaction on the organizational side as well as low reports of marital satisfaction, marriage and family conflict management on the personal side. These analyses exclusively feature the workplace as the organization and married adults and their respective families as the relationships being influenced (i.e., children, spouses). However, little research has applied an organizational systems approach to the study of college student organizations and the influence of such participation on students' family processes (i.e., relationships with parents and siblings). Much of the literature on college student families focuses on how family connections predict student retention, academic performance, and general reports of college satisfaction (Chermin & Goldsmith, 1986; Consolvo, 2002). Yet, little attention has been given to the influence of participation in student organizations on family relationships. One such student organization, where the members' participation has been shown to affect members' family communication and organizational performance is the collegiate forensics team (Williams & Hughes, 2003b; 2006). As Williams and Hughes (2003b) argued, "we should explore the relationship between forensic competition and the effect, if any, on competitors' interactions with their families" (p. 31). To help explore the role of family communication in forensic organizations and test the need to implement a family-oriented systems structure to forensics programs, a survey was constructed to assess the student view of how forensic participation affected their communication with parents. Participants were 76 male and 86 female (N=162) forensic students. The following self-perceived socioeconomic levels were reported: lower (16.7%), middle (66%), and upper (18%). European Americans comprised 80.2% of the respondents with Asian/Pacific Islander (6.8%), African American (4.3%), Hispanic (1.2%), Alaskan Native (0.6%), American Indian (0.6%), and other (4.9%) comprising the rest of the respondents. Participants averaged 2.63 years in intercollegiate forensics participation at varying level of involvement. Upon receiving human subject's approval, surveys were administered during the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament and via an on-line survey. The instrument asked for input regarding demography, events participated in, level of participation, and perceptions of parents' involvement in forensics as well as questions regarding family communication behaviors and family communication satisfaction. 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------Fall 2006 The results reported here are from two open-ended questions which asked "Can you think of any (up to three) specific instances, or general ways, you forensics participation has benefited your communication with one or both parents?" "Can you think of any (up to three) specific instances, or general ways, your forensics participation has hindered your communication with one or both parents?"


The issues related to implementation of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in the fixed and mobile environments are being investigated for a variety of commercial and military applications. Specific issues are the effects of disadvantaged links associated with bandwidth, latency, and traffic asymmetries, high bit error rates, quality of services, and security requirements on network operation. We set up a 'TCP/IP and Mobile IP Networks Testbed for Mobile Platforms', which allowed us to simulate a wide range of network topologies such as asymmetric satellite links, mobile IP links, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11B wireless local area networks (WLAN). In this paper, the segmented TCP (i.e., TCP Splitting) performance with SkyX™ Gateways is described over asymmetric satellite links. Compatibility test of mobile IP mobile clients (mobile nodes) software is performed with mobile agents (home and foreign agents) software. Finally, the mobile IP network/router mobility currently under development will be also briefly described.


In Sweden, ethnic residential segregation has been a problem associated traditionally with the largest metropolitan areas of the country. In recent years, however, growing attention has been paid t ...


How does land ceiling legislations may affect capital investment and industrialisation in the Indian states? Theoretically, land ceiling legislations lead to increased land fragmentation, irrespective of whether it is implemented effectively or not, thereby increasing the transactions costs of acquiring land from more sellers, thus inducing firms to invest less in capital. Arguing that ceiling size, as laid by successive ceiling legislations in the Indian states depending on the choice of food/cash crops or soil fertility of a plot, is truly exogenous to the outcomes of interest, our estimates using state-level panel data, ceteris paribus, lend support to our key hypotheses: states with smaller ceiling size tend to have (i) lower investment in fixed and total capital-output ratio; (ii) lower investment in total capital; and also (iii) lower pace of industrialisation, conditional on our controls. Possible policy recommendations include digitisation of land records and local rather than `national' consent clause that can lower transaction costs of land acquisition. JEL Classification: E22; O13; O14; Q15;


Cybercrime is emerging as a serious threat. Worldwide governments, police departments and intelligence units have started to react. Initiatives to curb cross border cyber threats are taking shape. Indian police has initiated special cyber cells across the country and have started educating the personnel. This paper is an attempt to provide a glimpse on cybercrime in India. This paper is based on various reports from news media, news portal and other web based survey reports etc.


Objective: To investigate the aspiration of saliva itself in bedridden patients with brain lesion using the response of radionuclide salivagram, and its association with patient characteristics and clinical factors. Method: Thirty two patients (21 men and 11 women) in bedridden state with brain lesion were performed the radionuclide salivagram. sulfur colloid (1.0 mCi in a drop of saline) was instilled into patients' tongue with supine position. The sequential images were obtained at first 5 minutes and 10 minutes interval for 1 hour, and evaluated the presence of saliva aspiration as the entrance of tracer into major airways or lung parenchyma. The characteristics of patients and the states of cooperation, drooling, tracheostomy, and method of feed were also assessed. Results: Seven out of 32 subjects exhibited positive response of saliva aspiration by radionuclide salivagram. Men, uncooperative, and anterior drooling was significantly associated with positive finding of salivagram (p


1. A method of determining air flow at the inlet of the internal combustion engine equipped with the air intake system, wherein said system comprises valve means for controlling said air flow, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: Implementation of the first and second algorithms for determining the first and second air flow rates at the inlet of said engine and! selecting the first or second air flow value based on a predetermined selection criterion. ! 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the selection of the first or second air flow rate is performed based on the air pressure inlet valve means and the air pressure at the outlet valve means. ! 3. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the selection of the first or second air flow rate is performed based on the ratio between the pressures at the inlet and outlet valve means. ! 4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the selection of the first or second values of the air flow includes: selecting a first air flow rate in case where a ratio between the pressures at the inlet and outlet valve means is lower than a preset threshold value; or ! selecting a second value of air flow when the ratio between the pressures at the inlet and outlet valve means is higher than a preset threshold value. ! 5. A method according to claim 4, characterized in that the preset threshold value is between 0.9 and 0.95. ! 6. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the implementation of the first algorithm includes: determining the ratio between the pressures on WMOs


A major concern with addressing the negative externalities of gasoline consumption by regulating fuel economy, rather than increasing fuel taxes, is that households respond by driving more. This paper exploits a discrete threshold in the eligibility for Cash for Clunkers to show that fuel economy restrictions lead households to purchase vehicles that have lower cost-per-mile, but are also smaller and lowerperformance. Whereas the former effect can increase driving, the latter effect can reduce it. Results indicate these households do not drive more, suggesting that behavioral responses do not necessarily undermine the effectiveness of fuel economy restrictions at reducing gasoline consumption. Jeremy West Department of Economics Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Mass. Ave, Bldg E17-231 Cambridge, MA 02139 email@example.com Mark Hoekstra Department of Economics Texas A&M University 3087 Allen Building 4228 TAMU College Station, TX 77843 and NBER firstname.lastname@example.com Jonathan Meer Department of Economics TAMU 4228 College Station, TX 77843 and NBER email@example.com Steven L. Puller Department of Economics Texas A&M University 3046 Allen College Station, TX 77843-4228 and NBER firstname.lastname@example.com


The SUN gene, located on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) chromosome 7, controls elongated fruit shape. The extremely elongated fruit shape and lack of seeds when SUN is overexpressed resemble the parthenocarpic fruits caused by auxin overproduction. To better understand its role in regulating plant growth, we studied the effects of SUN on vegetative plant parts using Near Isogenic lines (NILs) that differ at sun locus and SUN overexpressing lines in both wild tomato S. pimpinellifolium accession LA1589 and cultivated tomato Sun1642. Our results show that, in addition to fruit shape, SUN also underlies morphological variations in cotyledon, leavf and vascular structure as well as non-fixed directional twisting of stem and leaf rachis. Moreover, overexpression of SUN leads to a magnified effect of this gene on plant morphology. SUN overexpressors also display reduced rhizogenesis in response to exogenous auxin. The observed phenotypes suggest that SUN may play roles in auxin response and/or transport.


This study tackles the considerable role played by the slave trade in Oman (between 1822-1873). It also shows the direct relation between this trade and the active role played by the British government in suppressing this trade, which was supported by the law decreed by the British Parliament in 1807. This law declared the abolition of the slave trade considering in illegal in all ports under British jurisdiction and decreed a punishment of exile to all persons involved in this trade. In these circumstances Oman became one of the countries concerned and interested to work and cooperate with the British authorities to end this trade. This was shown in a number of treaties such as the treaty of 1822, 1839, 1845 with the Imam of Oman Sayyid Said bin Sultan and the treaty of 1849 with the Governor of Sohar, Sayyid Saif bin Hamud. These treaties gave the British Government, as represented by its fleet in the Indian Ocean the right to check, inspect and confiscate any Omani ship found involved in the slave trade. This research also illustrates the role of the Omani government in enforcing these treaties by pursuing and bringing to court all those who were found guilty practicing this trade. One of the main subjects discussed during the period of study is the number of ships involved in this activity, the number of slaved carried by these ships and the legal measures taken against the owners of these ships. Both British and Omanis worked together to find effective ways and means to stop this trade. Finally this study depended on a number of British documents both published and unpublished as well as other European sources.


"Japanese Ronin" in the history of modern Sino-Japanese relation is the "outcasts" that nurtured in Japan's Romanticism in Meiji Period.They have affected the formulation and implementation of Japanese government's policies since the Sino-Japanese War in 1894;during the Revolution of 1911 in China,they played a positive role;ever since the May 4th movement,they have been inclined to support Japan's expansionist policy.Before Japan's invasion to China on a large scale,they have completely transformed into the accomplices,flunkies and pawns of Japanese imperialism.


Abstract Background: Hypercalcemia is a common complication of advanced malignancy, affecting up to 30% of cancer patients through various mechanisms (1). Hypercalcemia has rarely been described in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), with fewer than ten case reports as of 2018 (1,2). We describe a case of calcitriol-mediated hypercalcemia in a patient with GIST. Clinical Case: An 80-year-old woman with a history of metastatic GIST and nivolumab-induced type 1 diabetes and thyroiditis presented with dramatic progression of metastatic peritoneal disease and new severe hypercalcemia with acute kidney injury. On hospital admission, calcium (Ca) was 15.1 mg/dL (8.6-10.3 mg/dL), ionized Ca was 1.98 mmol/L (1.09-1.29 mmol/L), and creatinine was 2.56 mg/dL (0.6-1.3 mg/dL, baseline 1.8 mg/dL). She was treated with IV fluids and 45 mg of IV pamidronate with initial Ca improvement to 10.7 mg/dL over the next 48 hours. Additional workup showed that 25-hydroxyvitamin D was 18 ng/dL (20-50 ng/dL), PTH was 9 pg/mL (11-51 pg/mL), PTHrP was 3.1 pmol/L (0.0-3.4 pmol/L), and calcitriol was elevated to 172 pg/mL (19.9-79.3 pg/mL). Prior chest/abdomen/pelvis CT scans had not shown bony metastases or granulomas. After stopping IV fluids, Ca rose to 12.2 mg/dL the next day. Prednisone 20 mg daily was started which stabilized Ca levels and lowered calcitriol to 17.4 pg/mL after two weeks. She also began a new regimen of cabozantinib. Prednisone was tapered to 10 mg daily and she continues to maintain normal Ca levels with the addition of home health IV fluids three times a week. Conclusion: GIST tumors are a rare cause of hypercalcemia of malignancy. Although hypercalcemia of malignancy is most often due to tumor-secreted PTHrP or bony metastases, a small percentage of cases are mediated by excess calcitriol production. There is a growing number of case reports, including this case, to suggest that calcitriol-mediated hypercalcemia is the most common cause of hypercalcemia in GIST tumors (2-4). Glucocorticoids may be used to decrease calcitriol production and help maintain eucalcemia. Definitive therapy for hypercalcemia in these patients involves decreasing tumor burden by treatment of the underlying malignancy (3). References: (1) Stewart AF. Clinical practice. Hypercalcemia associated with cancer. N Engl J Med. 2005;352(4):373-9. (2) Hart T, Sinitsky D, Shamsiddinova A, Rohatgi A. Refractory hypercalcaemia secondary to localised gastrointestinal stromal tumour. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2018;100(6):e136-e138. (3) Hygum K, Wulff CN, Harsløf T, et al. Hypercalcemia in metastatic GIST caused by systemic elevated calcitriol: a case report and review of the literature. BMC Cancer. 2015;15:788. (4) Barbaryan A, Bailuc S, Poddutoori P, et al. Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Induced Hypercalcemia. Case Rep Oncol Med.2017;4972017.


A graph G with vertex set V and edge set E is called (a; b)-choosable if for any assignment of lists L(v) of colors to the vertices v of G with jL(v)j = a it is possible to choose subsets C(v) L(v), jC(v)j = b for every v 2 V such that C(u) \ C(v) = ; for all uv 2 E. In 1979, Erd} os, Rubin and Taylor raised the conjecture that every (a; b)-choosable graph G is also (am; bm)-choosable for all m > 1. We investigate the case b = 1, presenting some classes of (a; 1)-choosable graphs for which (am; m)-choosability can be proved for all m.


The directions of improving of mixture formation system for thermal pulse equipment are considered. Based on established by international standards qualimetric parameters of precision parts edges the requirements to dosing accuracy of fuel mixture components are formulated for precision thermal pulse treatment. An overview of the methods for gas mixture generating with a high-precision component ratio was examined, its features, advantages and disadvantages were reviewed with regard to thermal pulse equipment were considered. For solving the specified problem the critical hole method as the most promising method is proposed to apply.


Teaching biology is an exciting profession. There are few things more satisfying than seeing enthusiasm in the faces of our students as they explore and make sense of the natural world around them. But teaching biology well is a difficult task. I know. I started my career in the biology classroom. And based on the successes and challenges that I experienced, I left the high school classroom with the commitment to improve the preparation of future science teachers. I want teaching biology well to become the rule rather than the exception. I want students to have the opportunity to do science rather than merely memorize the content of science created by others. Not that teaching teachers is any easier than teaching students. In fact, my time as a university science educator and the director of the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University (NAU) has made me even more vividly aware of the complexity of teaching. If reforming science teaching was as simple as placing exceptional teachers in instructional settings with students, we would have realized the vision of reform long ago. But it's not that simple. To help all students experience science content that is rigorous, filled with opportunity to engage in scientific exploration, built within a community of learners, and linked to the world around us, more parts of the teaching equation need to be addressed. Science teaching is part of a system. Schools are made of subsystems, including departments, athletic teams, and academic-interest and service clubs. These subsystems all compete for student (and teacher!) time and attention. Schools are also impacted by other systems. Curriculum materials, school policies, accountability measures, and personal beliefs and actions all influence schools and have bearing on resource allocation and classroom practice. Recognizing science education as part of a system is critical if we hope to change the way science is taught. When the systems and subsystems work at cross purposes, it is difficult to accomplish any goal. When the systems and subsystems work in concert, however, there is a synergy of effort. The resulting accomplishments are greater than the resources invested, so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In working with teachers and schools today, I am acutely aware how infrequently educational systems work together to support exemplary science teaching. Realistically, this shouldn't be surprising. To bring systems into alignment takes forethought and an investment of time, resources, hard work, and belief that the desired change will positively impact students. On my more cynical days, I often label the effort involved in fostering such change as "job security." There is certainly more than enough work to go around for everyone for a long time! But on my more optimistic days, I know that the challenges of reform represent opportunities to seek a synergy of effort with others; to advocate and influence change, one teacher and one school at a time. Colleges and universities are part of the system of schooling. Through academic programs, higher education provides teachers with science content knowledge, instruction in science teaching methods, and programs that result in teacher certification, in-service enrichment, or advanced degrees. But higher education alone cannot tackle the issue of science education reform. It takes many groups with similar commitments to share in the work with us. It takes partners who can combine their insights, energies, and resources with ours to accomplish these goals. For us, BSCS has become that partner. What does it mean to be in a partnership? There are at least four elements that are critical to success: common vision, strategic resource allocation, complementary support, and continuous learning. I would like to use a current professional development/ research project to illustrate the power of the BSCS/NAU partnership in meeting the needs of science teachers and learners and show how we can together accomplish more than we could have individually. …


This is an obituary for Prof. James Bailey of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a distinguished expert in versification studies, an explorer of Russian folklore, and a scholar known for his coining a frequently quoted synonym for a linguo-statistical method to the study of verse: "the Russian method." KEYWORDS: James Bailey (1929—2020), obituary.


Simple Summary Biliary drainage leads to bacterial biliary contamination, but there are few studies on the impact of fungal biliary contamination after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). This retrospective multicenter study identified two groups: bacterial contamination only (B+, n = 154; 75%), and bacterial and fungal contamination (BF+, n = 52; 25%). An extended duration of preoperative drainage (62 vs. 49 days; p = 0.08) increased the risk of fungal contamination, but there were no differences between the two groups in relation to specific or infectious postoperative complications. According to this study, there is no argument to recommend the use of anti-fungal treatment as a prophylactic treatment during PD preceded by biliary drainage. Abstract (1) Background: preoperative biliary drainage before pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is associated with bacterial biliary contamination (>85%) and a significant increase in global and infectious complications. In view of the lack of published data, the aim of our study was to investigate the impact of fungal biliary contamination after biliary drainage on the complication rate after PD. (2) Methods: a multicentric retrospective study that included 224 patients who underwent PD after biliary drainage with intraoperative biliary culture. (3) Results: the global rate of positive intraoperative biliary sample was 92%. Respectively, the global rate of biliary bacterial contamination and the rate of fungal contamination were 75% and 25%, making it possible to identify two subgroups: bacterial contamination only (B+, n = 154), and bacterial and fungal contamination (BF+, n = 52). An extended duration of preoperative drainage (62 vs. 49 days; p = 0.08) increased the risk of fungal contamination. The overall and infectious complication rates were not different between the two groups. In the event of postoperative infectious or surgical complications, the infectious samples taken did not reveal more fungal infections in the BF+ group. (4) Conclusions: fungal biliary contamination, although frequent, does not seem to increase the rate of global and infectious complications after PD, preceded by preoperative biliary drainage.


Genome-scale metabolic networks have been successfully used to understand a wide range of organism's physiology from Escherichia coli to Homo sapiens [4]. However, despite their interest, individual genomes remain difficult to extract from their natural environment, which seriously limits our ability to model the metabolism and metabolic interactions within natural ecosystems. The capacity to use alternative omic sources, such as metagenomic data, is therefore highly desirable for metabolic network reconstructions, in particular at the scale of a whole microbial community if one is interested to better understand bacterial consortia behaviors.


The invention discloses a novel laser confocal microscopic endoscope with high resolution, a telescopic image transmission system is used for replacing optical fiber bundles or a single optical fiber, the laser is coupled into a tissue in vivo, a reflected light or a fluorescent signal is coupled into a detector in vitro, a fluorescent image with high resolution and contrast is obtained, meanwhile an endoscope probe diameter is reduced; a confocal scanning mechanism is arranged in vitro, the high performance confocal scanning is obtained, meanwhile the dimension of the endoscope probe can not be increased, and the confocal scanning mechanism is compatible with an existing hard tube endoscope, thereby implementing the high-performance histopathology diagnosis in vivo.


With alignment of Information Systems (IS) strategy with business strategy, organizations can fully
realize full potential of information technology (IT) resources. We view IS leadership as a core enabler to
lead IS unit to contribute to organizational performance. Using upper echelons theory, we look at the
effects of two characteristics of an IS leader, transformational leadership and gender, on IS unit's
teamwork capability and how this capability, in turn, affects the realization of IS unit's strategy. We also
investigate how the effect of teamwork capability on IS strategy realization is contingent on IS strategy.
The results show that transformational IS leadership is effective in enhancing an IS unit's teamwork
capability, which in turn significantly influences the realization of IS strategy to the extent the IS unit
seeks to create systems that enable the organization to be flexible.


The change in electrical resistance of thin Ag, Au, Ti, and W films was studied following energetic A+ ion bombardment. There is an initial reduction in film resistance (for all materials) during bombardment, which is attributed to removal of surface contaminant gas. The resistance then increases to a quasiequilibrium value, which is believed to be due to introduction of radiation damage to the films, and finally the resistance increases rapidly as the films sputter and thin.


Several varieties of regular and surfactant-templated alumina aerogels and xerogels were synthesized. The problems associated with retention of textural properties were greatly reduced through surfactant-templated sol-gelsynthesis pathways for alumina and subsequent removal of the solvents and templates from the gel network by a technique that involves a supercritical drying method. For the first time, Surfactant-Templated Alumina Aerogel (STAA) was made and showed remarkable thermal stability and gave specific surface area of as high as 1000 m 2 /g for as-synthesized STAA and up to 600 m 2 /g for calcined STAA. Extent of removal of surfactant was determined using FTIR. Furthermore, NiO/Al 2 O 3 catalysts were prepared by co-precipitating the active metal and support. Nitrogen adsorption desorption isotherms (NAD) were used to follow the evolution of the extraction of the pore solvents and templates and to follow the textural properties and XRD was used to follow the morphological properties and the structural phase change for the synthesized gels. SEM-EDS is utilized to study dispersion of nickel on alumina.


Fast capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled to either electrochemical detection modes or mass spectrometry is a powerful tool for applications like metabolomics or monitoring of fast rate reaction kinetics. Mostly microchip electrophoresis (MCE) has dominated the research on rapid electrophoretic separations since the technique emerged in the early 1990's. However, the use of short pathway conventional capillaries is starting to gain more interest. The well-characterized fused silica capillaries can add unique features to the field of fast rate CE separations. In the first part of this thesis the capabilities of both conventional CE and MCE for conducting fast and efficient electromigrative separations have been evaluated first hand with either commercially available devices or lab-developed setups offering novel and unique properties.

Firstly, the coupling of MCE with the microextraction technique headspace-single drop microextraction (HS-SDME) was used to monitor the biodegradation process of seafood samples. Five volatile, short-chained aliphatic amines were determined using a His/MES buffer (His/MES ratio of 80:20 at pH 6.6) as background electrolyte (BGE). The separation of the analytes was carried out in a 8.7 cm long separation channel of a PMMA microchip integrating thin-film gold electrodes for capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C4D). A number of characteristics of extraction and determination of target species were optimized and applied to shrimp samples. The compounds were separated within less than 30 s at a field strength of 0.4 kV/cm. The proposed method is simple, quick, presents low levels of waste, works with small sample quantities and is suitable to quantify aliphatic amines in seafood samples like shrimp or fish from where they are naturally developing upon biodegradation.

Secondly, it was an aim to investigate the comparably new CE detection technique of capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C4D). It is an emerging and increasingly mature detection mode for CE or MCE. C4D offers nearly universal detection for charged species and, as the name suggests, no contact with the solutions occurs and hence electrode fouling or unwanted electrode reactions are a minor issue. Apart from the practical experiences gained with MCE-C4D in the previously mentioned project a deeper understanding of C4D was strived for. Two tubular C4D cells with varying proportions have been investigated under focus on their principal analytical features under non-separation and separation conditions in conjunction with liquid chromatography (LC). Furthermore, the properties of the tubular cells were compared to the characteristics of a previously tested thin-layer detection cell. Using a theoretical model, the experimental findings were set in comparison to calculated values. This allowed to a certain degree the modelling of the complex behaviour of C4D detection in combination with LC. Furthermore, the tubular cells were used for the HPLC separation of a model system of organic acids. In comparison to the thin-layer cell, the tubular cells are superior regarding the determined analytical characteristics.

In the next part of the work, the possibilities of achieving highly efficient and very fast (less than 10 s) CE separations on vertically aligned short pathway capillaries with amperometric detection (AD) were investigated. Utilizing a homemade experimental setup it was possible to separate electroactive substances in a non-aqueous BGE in 3s. Extraordinarily high field strengths of up to 3 kV/cm and capillaries of varying inner diameter (ID, ranging from 5 to 50 µm) as short as 4 cm were essential for achieving very fast separations. Furthermore, all parameters regarding the optimal use of AD in this system were investigated and successfully optimized. The vertical alignment allows for construction of titer-plate based devices for true high through-put applications. A sample throughput of theoretically up to 200 separations/hour could be shown.

Based on the experiences with CE on short pathway capillaries and the work with a portable MCE device a novel portable CE device with corresponding control software was developed and constructed. The device features very small overall dimensions (12 x 12 x 24 cm), light-weight (5 kg) and full portability for in-field operation. Furthermore, it enables dual electrochemical detection (ECD) and can be easily coupled to a mass spectrometer. A miniaturized high-voltage source delivers voltages for electrokinetic injection and separation of up to 8 kV. The vertically aligned separation capillaries can be varied in length from 4 to 15 cm and hence application of field strengths as high as 2.6 kV/cm is possible. The autosampling injection unit allows for a high throughput of samples. The power needed to run the device can be drawn completely from 12 V battery packs or a car battery.

In the second part of the thesis, the goal was investigate the CE injection technique of capillary-batch-injection (CBI). So far, the injection efficiency, meaning the ratio of injected sample to actually needed sample volume to perform an injection, in CE is rather poor (10-3 to 10-6). Therefore, an optimized method to carry out fast capillary electrophoresis (CE) with ultrasmall sample volumes (less than 10 nL) was developed. Furthermore, a protocol for quantitative preconcentration of trace compounds in small sample volumes by evaporation of solvent was elaborated and applied to complex sample matrices.

Extremely small sample drops (500 pL) were used to perform a CE injection. An experimental setup comprising a thermoelectric element with cooling unit and a corresponding temperature control device that enables freezing and unfreezing of very small sample volumes was developed. Using sharp-tapered injection capillaries and the precise positioning motors of the CBI-setup, the sample uptake and almost 100% efficient injection of ultrasmall samples into funnelled separation capillaries was successfully achieved. Highly efficient CE-TOF-MS separations of a model system consisting of cyclic nucleotides and nucleotides were done in 23 cm short capillaries (25 µm ID) in less than 50 seconds.

Lastly, a novel way to perform comprehensive 2-D separations was developed by coupling high performance ion chromatography (HPIC) and CE via a modulator unit. The presented system showed for the first time the coupling of IC with CE via a novel microprocessor-controlled modulator. Basically, the two most important techniques for ion separation are coupled via an interface and the complementary nature of their principles can be used to achieve separation of complex bioanalytical or environmental samples. Enhanced overall speed and powerful detection and sensitivity in combination with MS are one of many advantages this system has to offer. Samples comprising nucleotides and cyclic nucleotides were subjected to the system and it could be shown that IC x CE delivers highly efficient separations in cases where the individual separation methods failed to resolve the compounds. All in all, the combination resulted in a strong increase in peak capacity due to the high separation efficiency of CE and due to the orthogonality of IC and CE.


The study is based on the teaching and learning strategies Molefi Senior Secondary School in Botswana adopts to support students who are blind. The objectives of the study were to describe and explicate the teaching and learning strategies the school adopts to support students who are blind and project ways for improving the practices. The study made use of the school community and stakeholders as its respondents. The interviews, documents and observations were used to collect data. The data was broadly analysed using descriptions. The research study established that there are a variety of pedagogical practices used to support students in the teaching and learning processes to accommodate students who are blind. It is recommended that the school casts its net even wider to embrace more key stakeholders like parents. The school should further consider more participatory and exploratory teaching and learning styles. The use of access technology could cultivate self-confidence, self-esteem and promote more interactive and independent student learning. This could further make students even more proactive in the teaching and learning processes.


For the safety analysis of nuclear reactors vapor pressure data of stainlesss steel are required up to temperatures exceeding 4000 K. In analogy to the classic boiling point method a new tech~ique was developed to measure the high-temperature vapor pressuresof stainless steel and other metals from laser vaporization. A fast pyrometer, an ion current probe and an image converter camera are used to detect incipient boiling from the timetemperature curve. The saturated-vapor pressure curves of stainless steel (Type 1.4970), being a cladding material of the SNR 300 breeder reactor, and of molybdenum are experimentally determined in the temperature ranges of 2800-3900 K and 4500-5200 K, respect~ ively. The normal boiling points of iron, nickel, titanium, vanadium and zirconium are verified. Besides, spectral emissivity values of the liquid metals are measured at the pyrometer wavelengths of 752 nm andjor 940 nm. Hochtemperatur-Dampfdrücke von Edelstahl Nr. 1.4970 und von einigen reinen Metallen aus Laser-Verdampfungsexperimenten


In its various active and passive forms, RFID technology has spread widely across numerous industries, with growing opportunities for active RFID as part of wireless sensor networks.


This article analyzes the manifestations, characteristics, and significance of multi-slice spiral CT for diffuse lung disease, and evaluates the diagnostic value of multi-slice CT multi-directional reconstruction for diffuse lung disease. After performing multi-slice spiral CT examination
 on the patient and collecting relevant data, the characteristic multi-slice CT imaging findings of diffuse lung disease were determined by statistical analysis. Diffuse lung disease is representative in multi-slice spiral CT image imaging manifestations of the disease include multiple disseminated
 small nodules, multiple voids, ground glass shadows, and lung consolidation. And analyze the correlation of image performance, and then use statistical methods to analyze and evaluate the value of multi-slice spiral CT characteristic images in the diagnosis of diffuse lung disease, and analyze
 the characteristics of these characteristic multi-slice CT image appearances. The use of high-resolution CT to screen the characteristic CT imaging findings of the same research object, and then to perform a statistical analysis of the diagnostic differences with multi-slice spiral CT, further
 confirmed the importance of multi-slice CT for diffuse lung disease Diagnostic value. Studies have shown that multi-slice CT imaging technology is of great significance in the evaluation of diffuse lung diseases.


Permutation arrays under the Chebyshev metric have been considered for error correction in noisy channels. Let $P(n,d)$ denote the maximum size of any array of permutations on $n$ symbols with pairwise Chebyshev distance $d$. We give new techniques and improved upper and lower bounds on $P(n,d)$, including a precise formula for $P(n,2)$.


The RMS current of low voltage fault arc is often less than the operating current of the heat relaese, which results in failure of the traditional circuit protection device.By simulating the fault arc phenomenon in low voltage electrical line,the fault arc current was collected with the help of current sampling device.Based on analysing the current wave characteristics and using HCMAC neural network to judge the three comprehensive evaluations criterian,mean,slope,and the wavelet transform frequency coefficients of fault arc current,it effectively overcomes the limitation of a single criterion.The simulation results show that with this method the fault arc characteristics can he effectively identified,and the accuracy of fault arc identification is improved.


The purpose of this study is to reveal the relationships among explanatory style,dispositional optimism and psychological well-being(depression and the satisfaction with life).The results showed as follows:(1) Explanatory style had a` significant negative correlation with dispositional optimism and satisfaction with life,a significant positive correlation with depression.Dispositional optimism had a significant negative correlation with depression,a significant positive correlation with satisfaction with life;(2)On internality of explanatory style,optimist and pessimist had not significant differences on low,middle,and high controllable level events;On stability and globality of explanatory style,the pessimist had more pessimistic explanatory styles than the optimist when facing middle and high controllable level events,although they had not significantly different explanatory styles when facing low controllable level events;(3)Dispositional optimism was a mediated variable which could mediate the relationship between explanatory style with depression,the relationship with satisfaction with life.


The group of planar (or flat) pure braids on $n$ strands, also known as the pure twin group, is the fundamental group of the configuration space $F_{n,3}(\mathbb{R})$ of $n$ labelled points in $\mathbb{R}$ no three of which coincide. The planar pure braid groups on 3, 4 and 5 strands are free. In this note we describe the planar pure braid group on 6 strands: it is a free product of the free group on 71 generators and 20 copies of the free abelian group of rank two.


Absorbent lactide polymer film is disclosed. Thin film is made from polylactide absorbable polymers have been engineered to be relatively slowly absorbed by the body as time passes in order to attenuate the negative potential side effects. Membrane, as a very small thickness, for example, is formed to be approximately 0.010mm~ about 0.300 mm. The membrane can be viscosity characteristic is extruded from a relatively large polylactide polymer can be pre-molded with a relatively thick portion, it may be stored in sterile packaging.


For a given positive integer $n$, how long can the process $x \mapsto n\text{ }(\text{mod } x)$ last before reaching $0$? We improve Erd\H{o}s and Shallit's upper bound of $O(n^{\frac{1}{3}+\varepsilon})$ to $O(n^{\frac{1}{3}-\frac{2}{177}+\varepsilon})$ for any $\varepsilon>0$.


It is shown that compact bodies project out strands of concentrated dark matter filaments, henceforth simply called hairs. These hairs are a consequence of the fine-grained stream structure of dark matter halos, and as such constitute a new physical prediction of ΛCDM. Using both an analytical model of planetary density and numerical simulations utilizing the Fast Accurate Integrand Renormalization algorithm (a fast geodesics calculator described below) with realistic planetary density inputs, dark matter streams moving through a compact body are shown to produce hugely magnified dark matter densities along the stream velocity axis passing through the center of the body. Typical hair density enhancements are 107 for Earth and 108 for Jupiter. The largest enhancements occur for particles streaming through the core of the body that are mostly focused at a single point called the root of the hair. For the Earth, the root is located at about 106 km from the planetary center with a density enhancement of around 109 while for a gas giant like Jupiter, the root is located at around 105 km with an enhancement of around 1011. Beyond the root, the hair density precisely reflects the density layers of the body, providing a direct probe of planetary interiors.


Abstract Summary As the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles have become widely accepted in the proteomics field, under the guidance of ProteomeXchange and The Human Proteome Organization Proteomics Standards Initiative, proteomics public databases have been providing Application Programming Interfaces for programmatic access. Based on generating logic from proteomics data, we present Patpat, an extensible framework for searching public datasets, merging results from multiple databases to help researchers find their proteins of interest in the vast mass spectrometry. Patpat's 2D strategy of combining results from multiple databases allows users to provide only protein identifiers to obtain metadata for relevant datasets, improving the 'Findable' of proteomics data. Availability and implementation The Patpat framework is released under the Apache 2.0 license open source, and the source code is stored on GitHub (https://github.com/henry-leo/Patpat) and is freely available. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


The current world is more and more globalized, with the competence level enhancing day by day and the enterprises having to be prepared to give positive answers to the questions proposed to them. Being prepared to face different kinds of situations is the biggest challenge of their leaders. An action taken in any part of the world will bring enormous consequences in a short period of time. The velocity in which information comes and the way it is analysed and processed will separate the survivors from the losers. Changes happen continuously, demanding of the enterprise frequent revaluations of the trends of the market and its positioning. The alternatives are many and imprecise towards an obviously uncertain future. The more knowledge an enterprise has about the competitiveness determining factors, the higher is its possibility of being right. It is necessary to interpret those factors to participate of the rival environment in favourable conditions, which means filtering all those information, focusing on the ones that really have impact on your business. The importance and relevance of the theme "Results Improvement" are related to the reality of the industrial enterprises and their difficulty on keeping themselves competitive in a globalized environment. This theme will reinforce that the option for the institutionalization of result methodologies can be a profitable way to the enhancement of the competitiveness of those industrial organizations. Our intention is to demonstrate that together with a politics of collaborators' participation in the process of work, the institutionalization of methodologies focused on results can explain why some organizations survive and others fail or have to link themselves to others. This association of variables described below, can be determining for the enterprise success, as we live in the era of knowledge, of the information velocity, of the details … and the ones who can better associate those variables will have a competitive advantage in relation to the other players.


Amylases have found applications in juice processing, starch processing, desizing of textiles, paper sizing, detergent additives, bread improvement, utilization of waste biomass for valuable products, treatment of waste water and other fermentation processes including malting barley and bakery industries. In the present investigations, amylase producing thermophilic bacterial strain M13 was isolated from spent mushroom compost. M13 isolate produced amylase activity of 61.35 IU after 72 h of incubation period at a pH of 9.0 and temperature of 45°C. It was identified as Bacillus subtilis M13 by using 16S rDNA sequence analysis and deposited in NCBI gene bank (KY962809). Further, the application of extracted amylase was evaluated for apple and kiwi juice yield and clarification as well as for the preparation of buns. An application of 1 and 0.75 per cent of amylase yielded 60 and 55 per cent apple and kiwi juice and enhanced their color, taste, flavour and overall acceptibility. Whereas, 1.25 per cent of amylase resulted in the maximum leavening activity (2.15 ml/h), loaf volume (177.43 cm) and crumb grain (0.145%) of dough. Sensory characteristics of dough viz., color, taste, flavour and overall acceptibility were also enhanced at 1.25 per cent of amylase.


65 Medical students participated in the study. Control (n = 24) vs. simulation group (n = 41) The students exposed to the otoscopy simulation tool demonstrated a statistically significant increase in diagnostic accuracy. There was no difference in the time taken to complete the mock examination between the two groups. However, there was a statistically significant inverse relationship between the time taken to complete the examination and the diagnostic accuracy (R = -0.337, P = 0.006).


The activity of some clotting factors of human blood after incubation at 37 degrees C with Vipera berus venom (400 microgram/ml of plasma) has been measured. Factor V, initially, is activated by venom, but rapidly its activity decreases, becoming lower of that of controls and it exhausts oneself almost fully after 2 hours. Changes in the prothrombin and fibrinogen activity by venom action have not been noted.


The objectives of this study were (1) to describe the learning steps of triangular material using a problem-based learning model (2) to describe the problem-solving skills of class VII students of the Yogyakarta Institute of Indonesia Junior High School in triangular material, after learning using problem-based learning. This type of research is design research. The research instruments used were field notes and learning outcomes test sheets. Field notes are used to describe the steps of problem-based learning while the learning outcomes test sheet is used to see students' problem solving skills according to NCTM. Method of collecting data is in the form of documentation and test results. Data analysis techniques carried out are data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion. This research was conducted in March 2019. The research subjects were 20 seventh grade students of the Yogyakarta Indonesian Institute Junior High School. The results of this study are in the form of a description of the implementation of a problem-based learning model in triangular material and the analysis of problem solving skills of seventh grade students of the Yogyakarta Indonesian Institute Junior High School after the learning outcomes test. Based on the results of the learning process description, the steps of the problem-based learning model in the triangular material at Indonesia Institute of Yogyakarta Junior High School at the first and second meetings were carried out according to the design made by the researcher. For analysis of problem solving skills, in the number one problem, students have reached 4 indicators of problem solving skills according to NCTM. Whereas in question number two, students have reached 3 indicators of problem solving skills according to NCTM.


In the process of seed drying and storage, bambang lanang seed will face deteriorated process. Seed deterioration is the process of deteriorated seed in view of viability that changed the entire of seed including physical, physiological even chemistry that will decrease the seed viability. The aim of this research was to determine changes in seed viability and biochemistry content of bambang lanang seed at various levels of drying and storage methods. The experimental design used in this research was completely randomized design patterned with 2 factors, namely: drying time factor (0, 24, 48, 72, hours) and save method factor (0 week / control, 2 weeks + ambient room, 2 weeks + refrigerator, and 2 weeks + DCS) The results obtained are: (1) The rate of drying and storage methods significantly affect the value of moisture content, germination percentage, and biochemistry content (fat, carbohydrate, protein) bambang lanang seed, (2) The longer the drying and after storage, would lead to a change of viability (moisture content and germination percentage) and biochemistry content (fat, carbohydrate, and protein) bambang lanang seed at various levels of drying and storage methods, namely the declining value of the levels water and germination, increased levels of fat and protein, and decreased levels of carbohydrate in bambang lanang seed, and (3) Bambang lanang seed wich was stored in ambient room has better viability compared to the seed stored in DCS and refrigerator.


According to the Constitution No. 28 in 2009 the rural and urban property taxes becomes one of the taxes policy managed by the local government. Dumai local government had just started to implement this rural and urban property taxes policy since January 2013. Dumai local government is an city- level region that has great potential considering the tax economic activities is quite complex . The amount of tax arrears could become potential challenges for the local government of Dumai. This study would describe about the constraints encountered by the local government of Dumai in optimizing the ruraland urban property tax revenue, explaining about the strategies implemented, as well as finding out the level of effectiveness of property tax revenue as the local taxes. It was a descriptive type of study, using interview and documentation record in collecting the data. Purposive technique was used as a basis for selecting the informants, while the data was analyzed by using qualitative and quantitative methods. The results indicated that since the policy of tax revenue was relatively new the problems encountered by the local government of Dumai was in the management, the application of SISMIOP provided by tax Directorate General "Direktorat Jenderal Pajak" could not be implemented well, restricted number of facilities and infrastructure, and lack of human resources capabilities to provide the services. Dumai city government to seek optimization through four things: increasing public awareness , Improved service quality , improving the quality of human resources and the effectiveness of voting


COVID-19 caused a significant shift in learning and teaching that impacted nearly every aspect of life. With the physical closure of classrooms, many school systems and teachers found themselves suddenly developing curriculum and instructional plans that could be delivered remotely, and most of these curriculum plans were administered online while students attended remotely from home. Technology is key and central to a distance learning environment. For this reason, it is vital to understand the teachers' perceptions about using technology. His/her attitude then influences the intention to use and this leads to the actual use of LMS and tools. The current study was a portion of a larger study investigating K-12 teachers' perceptions and attitudes during the pandemic of COVID-19. The authors explored responses that were gathered from open-ended questions. Examining teacher perceptions of advantages and disadvantages of online learning settings that emerged as a result in the shift to online instruction.


SUMMARY The world today is in a state of turmoil. Such an opening statement hardly surprises anyone any more. This 'crisis' also affects the discussion in the scientific field. Today's social sciences appear more interested in the impact and effects of aspects of the so-called 'superstructure' of society than in previous times. Though most social scientists reckon that the concepts of power, culture and ideology are essential for an understanding of the social reality, the concepts are often not defined and therefore interpreted in different ways. This is mainly because of the multidimensionality of these concepts. Thus this article focuses on these important concepts in view of new sociocultural and anthropological interpretations of their use in intercultural and cross-cultural communication research. In Servaes (1989b) we briefly discussed definitions of power, ideology, and culture that contribute to this new interpretation of the superstructure. We particularly focused on the German scholar Jurgen Ha...


s of Australasian PhD theses The isomorphism semigroup of a group Ian Maurice Kirkwood The isomorphism semigroup 5_ of a group G is the set of all u isomorphic mappings between subgroups of G . The main work done in chis thesis has been to investigate what happens when two groups have isomorphic isomorphism semigroups. Let G and H be groups such that S_ and ST, are isomorphic. GH Then it follows readily that G and H are lattice isomorphic. Hence, some results on lattice isomorphism can be used; in particular, those of Baer [/]. Suppose, in particular, G is a periodic abelian group, and H is a group. Rottlaender [2] showed that even if G and H are lattice isomorphic, they need not be isomorphic. However, what happens in the case when 5_ and Sr, are isomorphic? (j ti THEOREM 1. If G is a periodic group, and H is a group such that 5_ and £" are isomorphic, then G and H are isomorphic. Let G be a periodic group and let H be a group such that G and H are lattice isomorphic. According to Theorem 1, we cannot deduce that 5_ and ST, are isomorphic. (If they were, then we could also deduce that Lr a G and H were necessarily isomorphic, contrary to Rottlaender's result [2].) A class of pairs of groups, G and H , are provided along these lines; that is, G and H are lattice isomorphic, but Sn and S are not isomorphic. This construction turns out to be a generalization of Received 30 September 1976. Thesis submitted to Monash University, March 1976. Degree approved, August 1976. Supervisor: Professor G.B. Preston. 147 148 Ian Maurice Kirkwood Rottlaender's result [2]. How does this generalize to non-periodic groups? According to Baer [/, Theorem 13.1], if G is an abelian group with a pair of independent elements, and H is a group which is lattice isomorphic with G , then G and H are isomorphic. Consequently, the only case that needed to be investigated was when G was of torsionfree rank 1 (that is, G is not periodic, but no pair of torsionfree elements are independent). A further restriction placed on G in the thesis was to make G a splitting group (that is, G can be written as the direct product of a periodic and a torsionfree group). THEOREM 2. Let G be a splitting abelian group of torsionfree rank 1 , such that G = G x F(G) , where F(G) is the subgroup of periodic elements of G ; and let H be a group. Then Sn and S are isomorphic if and only if the following conditions are satisfied: (i) F(G) and F(H) are isomorphic; (ii) H is an abelian group of torsionfree rank 1 ; (iii) there is a multiplicative automorphism <JJ on Q , the rationals, such that A: \\> induces a multiplicative automorphism on Z , the integers, B: there is a non-identity element g. of G. , an element h of H , and a subgroup H of H such that for any rational number r , g exists in G if and only if h exists in H , C: if x is the order of some element of F(G) , and m, n are integers, then m = n (mod x) if and only if mji = n\j) (mod x) , D: if x is the order of each of a pair of independent elements in F(G) , and if m is an integer, then mp = m (mod x) . A consequence of Theorem 2 is the following: The isomorphism semigroup of a group 149 THEOREM 3. Let G be a locally cyclic, torsionfree group, and let H be a group. Then the following statements are equivalent: (i) Sp and S,, are isomorphic; (ii) G and H are lattice isomorphic; (Hi) H is a torsionfree, locally cyclic group, and there is a permutation ip on the set of primes such that for some non-identity element g of G , and some element h of ti , there are rational numbers r, s such that g exists in G if and only if h exists in E [where r = p and s = (pi|j ) ) for every prime p and every integer m . Theorem 3 provides a fairly simple criterion for determining when two torsionfree abelian groups have isomorphic isomorphism semigroups, and when they are lattice isomorphic. Some algebraic structure of the isomorphism semigroup was also briefly covered. In particular, Green's relations were discussed and characteri zed. References [/] Reinhold Baer, "The significance of a system of subgroups for the structure of the group", Amer. J. Math. 61 (1939), I-**. [2] Ada Rottlaender, "Nachweis der Existenz nicht-isomorpher Gruppen von gleicher Situation der Untergruppen", Math. Z. 28 (1928), 61*1-653.


By definition, civil liability (responsibility) means that there is civil liability (responsibility) wherever a person is liable for damages. Civil Liability (responsibility) Law Adopted on April 26, 1960, has no definition of liability (responsibility) and the liability (responsibility) of the individual is subject to the will or fault of any natural or legal person, whether public or private. Therefore, everyone is responsible for their own actions and behaviors, and organizations and legal entities are no exception. Banks also have civil liability (responsibility) as a legal entity for their continuous interaction with natural and legal persons and if they cause loss or damage to persons, and they shall be liable for damages. Banks may, in some cases, cause damages to customers during their interaction with their customers by issuing internal bylaws and regulations. To this end, banks also have criminal and civil liability (responsibility) as legal entities. The present research was conducted through a library-documentary approach, which evaluated in the field of bank's civil and criminal liability (responsibility) with the Cheque holder. The results indicated that the bank is required to pay the Cheque holder, issue a notice of non-payment, observe due date, and so on. The present study deals with library research and studies in this field.


Esophagogastric junction cancer has been increasing recently. As a result, opportunities to perform transhiatal lower mediastinal lymphadenectomy are also increasing. Laparoscopic surgery is useful because the operating field of this site is too deep and narrow to perform laparotomy. But the anatomy of this area is not sufficiently clarified, and since there are few structures as landmarks, it is difficult to set the range and depth of lymph node dissection.

 We have been verifying anatomically and embryologically the infracardiac bursa (ICB) identified as a closed lumen between the esophagus and the right crus of the diaphragm during an operation. We standardized the procedure of transhiatal lower mediastinal lymphadenectomy setting several landmarks including ICB.

 In transhiatal lower mediastinal lymphadenectomy, it is possible to do a precise lymphadenectomy by setting several landmarks including the ICB and standardizing each procedure on the ventral side, dorsal side, and both sides of the esophagus. In the case of advanced cancer which invades organs around the hiatus, it is difficult to perform routine dissection by using the infracardiac bursa or the dissectable layer. Understanding of the anatomy of this area will support the safe and precise lymphadenectomy.

 In this presentation, we will show the procedure of transhiatal lower mediastinal lymphadenectomy using the ICB as a landmark.

 All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


The invention relates to an operating parameter monitor for an integrated circuit. An integrated circuit 2 is provided with one or more monitoring circuits 14, 16, 18, 20 in the form of ring oscillators 22. These ring oscillators 22 include a plurality of tri-state inverters 24, 26, 28 containing a current-limiting transistor 42 operating in a leakage mode. The leakage current through the transistor 42 is dependent upon an operating parameter of the integrated circuit 2 being monitored. Accordingly, the oscillation frequency FOSC of the ring oscillator 22 varies in dependence upon the operating parameter to be measured.


This article explores the importance of teachers' conceptions of student learning. In the first part, we focus on the teacher conceptions that stimulate process-oriented instruction. In the second part, we present the results of empirical research on teachers in Slovenian border areas. The principal aim of the research was to determine to what extent the teachers' conceptions of student learning are process-oriented (contrary to traditional orientation), and whether there are any differences between teachers who graduated from different faculties and those that were educated in different teacher education programs.