Objective To improve the sensitivity of measurement of TSH in serum. Methods The authors developed a new enhanced chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (ECLIA), which combined luminol H 2O 2 HRP system enhanced by para iodophenol(PIP) with TSH ELISA test kit. The optimal experimental conditions of the enhanced chemiluminescence were obtained by orthogonal design and analysis of variance. Results The sensitivity of the assay was 0.01mIU/L. The intra and inter coefficients of variations were 3.95% (range 1.37%~7.43%) and 6.98% (range 3.99%~10.57%), respectively. The recovery rate was 97.57%(range 93.11%~102.48%), and there was no significant cross reaction with LH, FSH or HCG. Results of the ECLIA correlated well with those of RIA or ELISA ( r =0.94, n =35, P 0.001 and r =0.98, n =22, P 0.001). The 0.90 confidence interval of TSH for normal children by ECLIA was 0.74~8.53 mIU/L ( n =59). Circulating TSH concentrations in 17 hyperthyroids were 0.02~0.40 mIU/L, with no one in the normal range; in 16 euthyroids were all in the normal range, but concentrated on the upper limit of normal; in 16 hypothyroids the values were beyond 30 mIU/L. Conclusion The ECLIA method can discriminate hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism and euthyroidism.


In this paper, results related to the reconstruction of intra-bundle fission density profile for a 37-pin CANDU-6 bundle with the highest enthalpy deposition during a postulated large LOCA stagnation break in a Bruce B core are presented. Bruce B is a nuclear power plant in Kincardine, Ontario (Canada)), on the shores of Lake Huron with 4 CANDU reactors that are rated at about 750 MWe. The reconstruction of the fuel pin fission densities is based on steady-state, three-dimensional simulations with the Monte Carlo code MCNP for a subset of 27 out of 69 time steps during the first two seconds of the power pulse predicted for the fuel bundle at core location V13/8. Two-group cross section data libraries are generated for MCNP at each time step by the lattice depletion neutron transport code HELIOS-1.7. To include the effect of the surrounding core environment, the calculations are performed with time-dependent albedo boundary conditions inferred from a full core simulation of the transient by the nodal diffusion code NESTLE with HELIOS homogenized cross-sections. It is found that the local peaking factor (LPF) in the outer ring varies during the transient, but never exceeds its value before the transient. Inclusion of the coremore » environment increases the LPF in the outer ring. For the analyzed case, the increase is 0.72% with a relative error of 0.01% for the LPF before the transient and 0.55% (with a relative error of 0.01%) for the maximum average LPF during the transient. The latter is based on only four selected transient time points. Note that the immediate environment of the 'hot bundle' does not contain any reactivity devices or other perturbing factors. As a result, the increases observed in the LPF in the outer ring may not be representative of the situations in which 'other' core environment perturbing factors are present. To determine the effect of these factors on the LPF, further analyses of a bundle in the proximity of control devices should be carried out. (authors)« less


Recently, image captioning has attracted much attention in machine learning and computer vision. It is not only an important practical application, but also a challenging work. However, related works normally take traditional attention mechanism to tell the model where to look without considering people's intentions. In this paper, we propose a novel tags-based attention mechanism to capturing the people's intentions to generate a human-based sentence. The proposed method can automatically focus on the specific image region where the people want to focus on. The experiments are conducted on MSCOCO dataset, and the results show that our algorithm outperforms the previous methods.


Summary: Purpose: Ictal intracranial EEG recordings obtained during continuous preoperative monitoring are often used to localize the region of seizure onset for purposes of surgical resection in patients with extrahippocampal seizures. Whether interictal epileptiform abnormalities during long‐term monitoring can predict surgical outcome in this group is not established.


Using an estimated dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with banking, this paper first provides evidence that monetary policy reacted to bank loan growth in the US during the Great Moderation. It then shows that the optimized simple interest-rate rule features no response to the growth of bank credit. However, the welfare loss associated to the empirical responsiveness is small. The sources of business cycle fluctuations are crucial in determining whether a "leaning-against-the-wind" policy is optimal or not. In fact, the predominant role of supply shocks in the model gives rise to a trade-off between inflation and financial stabilization. JEL Classification Numbers: E32, E44, E52


Abstract - Some fundamental results of the modern theory of optimum experimental design are extended here to address the problem of determining the optimal measurement scheduling, encountered while estimating unknown parameters in mathematical models described by partial differential equations from observations of the underlying physical phenomenon being modelled. Special emphasis is put on measurements realized by optimal motion of spatially-movable sensors for which we generalize the approach advanced by Rafajłowicz in his seminal paper [16] to the case of minimizing a general performance index defined on the Fisher information matrix related to the parameters to be identified. Since only the measurability of the resulting trajectories can be guaranteed, we also show how to ease this inconvenience by introducing a suitable parametrization of the set of admissible solutions. In the latter case, we also detail how to adapt standard sequential numerical algorithms of optimum experimental design so that they could be employed for computation of trajectories in particular situations.


The paper studies the behaviors of synthetic jets under the excitation of cavity resonance which is produced by an isolated two-dimensional actuator. A cross hot-wire was used to obtain measurements within the velocity field. This research revealed a number of notable phenomena, such as the appearance of vortex pairs only in the vicinity of orifice exit as well as their rapid dissipation downstream. Our results of analysis of the plane velocities of the synthetic jets indicate that effective flow control can be achieved only in regions close to the orifice. It is interesting to note that a linear relationship could be obtained only by taking the logarithm of mean velocity (u-) as well as downstream distance (x) in different transverses, and by using a curve fitting then linear relations can be obtained. The slopes of synthetic jets under excitation of cavity resonance were between –7/10 and –3/5, which represents a sine wave of 160 Hz on 15 V. The original time-domain data was then converted using fast Fourier transform to the show power spectrum in order to reveal more about the flow behavior of synthetic jets. Characteristic frequencies were identified at 80 Hz and 160 Hz in the initial center of the orifice. The former frequency (80 Hz) can be attributed to the collision of the upper vortex and lower vortex of the synthetic jet. The latter frequency (160 Hz) refers to the excitation frequency of the signal source. Following the development of the synthetic jet, the excitation frequency of 160 Hz eventually disappeared downstream but the characteristic frequency of 80 Hz remained until x/H= 8. These experimental results make a valuable contribution to the further development of flow control in the future.


Abstract : There is little debate regarding the early U.S. successes during Operation Enduring Freedom. Indeed, the campaign was relatively quick with few losses and the preponderance of U.S. strategic objectives were accomplished. Likewise, there were no simultaneous attacks in the same or other theaters and post 911 threats to the U.S. homeland did not significantly challenge Army capability. Yet, despite the successes, what implications for the future should be concluded from this limited campaign? Do the results reinforce the goals of Army Transformation, specifically the logistics goals, or do they suggest development of a new paradigm? This paper examines selected logistics observations from Operation Enduring Freedom within the historical context of the Army's experiences in previous smaller-scale contingency operations, and provides implications and recommendations for the Objective Force logistics structure.


To examine the role of the superior cervical ganglin (SCG) in the blood flow to the inner ear, we conducted two experiments: unilateral ganglionectomy and unilateral electrical stimulation of the SCG. The blood flow was demonstrated by immunofluorescence with kanamycin sulfate (KM) as the tracer and anti-KM serum. Unilateral ganglionectomy had no appreciable effect on fluolescence in the stria vascularis or the macula utriculi. On the other hand, electrical stimulation reduced fluolescence in the macula utriculi, although there was no change in the stria vascularis. These results suggest that unilateral ganglionectomy has no effect on the blood flow in the inner ear, and that electrical stimulation can reduce blood flow in the macula utriculi.


Hymn playing styles can vary from country to country in addition to what is sung for Masses. This article will compare those styles and repertoire, making observations about not only the accompanying styles but also about the kind of repertoire sung.


--- Wound healing is a progressive physiological process with overlapping stages. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases tissue oxygenation, thereby increasing tissue oxygenation and the formation of H2O2 as the second messenger of the phosphorylation of tumor necrosis factor α, NOS, VEGF, and nuclear factor β -kappa. This further study aims to determine whether hyperbaric oxygen therapy can increase collagen 3, HSP 70, IL6 expression and wound healing. This study is an animal study using "pre-test and post-test design of a randomized control group". Divided into 4 groups (HBO 2.4 ATA 3x30 minutes, 10 sessions HBO 2.4 ATA 3x30 minutes, control group without HBO), each group consisted of 7 groups with 28 male rats. Excision sessions of HBO 2,4 ATA 3x30 minutes increased the expression of Collagen 3, HSP 70, IL 6 without increasing wound healing.


HE inflation rate in the United States has gone through a remarkable decline during the past three years. In the first quarter of 1980, the inflation rate, measured by movements in the GNP deflator, stood at 10.01 percent. In the first quarter of 1983, it was down to5.64 percent. This dramatic change has been attributed to a variety ofthings. Monetary policy typically is one reason given for the drop in inflation. Improving productivity and lower wage densands also have received some credit. Declines in oil prices precipitated by concessions among OPEC oil producers is mentioned as well.1


a State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China. E-mail: email@example.com b National Demonstration Center for Experimental Biomedical Engineering Education, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China. c Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering of Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China d Department of Hematology and Oncology (Key Department of Jiangsu Medicine), Zhongda Hospital, School of Medicine. Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China ‡ The two authors contributed equally to this work.


There are two related problems in the Poetics: Aristotle's contradictory statements about size, and Aristotle's confusing use of two terms for size, μέγεθος and μῆκος. I argue that both problems can be solved if we understand that Aristotle only uses μέγεθος to refer to the size of the plot in relation to the size of the larger whole, and μῆκος to refer to absolute size (number of lines, run-time, fictional time, or number of plot parts), unrelated to any larger whole.


The flow of two superposed fluids in a channel in the presence of an insoluble surfactant is studied. Asymptotic analysis in the limit of a thin lower layer is performed and a system of coupled weakly nonlinear evolution equations is derived. The system describes the evolution of the film thickness and the surfactant concentration. The two cases of asymptotically small and order one Reynolds number in the upper layer are examined in detail. The nonlocal system of nonlinear evolution equations is solved numerically by implementing accurate linearly implicit BDF schemes; numerical experiments indicate that the solutions are mostly nonlinear travelling waves of permanent form or time–periodic travelling waves. As the length of the system increases, the dynamics of the system are more complex and include quasi–periodic and chaotic solutions. Results that developed by solving the localised system and comparing with the nonlocal one, reveal that the solutions of the two systems are dynamically identical but profiles possibly have a phase difference.


By using standard CMOS processes and bulk micromaching technology, a uncooled infrared microbolometer detector based on the temperature character of the lateral polysilicon p +p -n + junction was developed. The temperature characteristic of the polysilicon p +p -n + junction's foreword bias were analyzed in detail. The theoretic expression and experimental data of the temperature rate of change of forward voltage drop were presented. The design ideas and fabrication processes were given. The temperature coefficient of the foreword voltage at a constant current is 1.5mV/K at various temperatures in the range of 284K to 253K. The responsivity and detectivity (D *) are 5.7×10 3V/W and 1.2×10 8cm.Hz 1/2 .W -1 in 3~5μm IR radiation band, respectively.


The dependency of the polymer yield on dose rate and total dose during the irradiation of glucose was investigated; the yield of polymer was found to fall off logarithmically with increased dose rate. Different types of polymer which have suffered varying amounts of radiation damage are produced under differing conditions. The effects of barium carbonate, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen on polymer yield and structure were also investigated. Polymers from certain related compounds were isolated.


PURPOSE: To easily tear a package in a specified direction by providing a plurality of fibers with equal intervals between an inner layer and an outer layer in a laminate layer, having a heat-sealable inner layer and outer layer. CONSTITUTION: A small package 10 contains end seals 12 and 14, and a fin seal 16, extending in the longitudinal direction along the small package 10 and also contains a cut 18 to facilitate unsealing. A roll of a curable casting/ splinting material 11 is placed inside the small package 10. The small package 10 is formed of a laminate sheet material 20 having an inner layer 24 and outer layers 21, 22 which are heat-sealable. A steam barrier layer 23 is provided on the inner layer 24, and the steam barrier layer 23 is preferably formed of aluminum foil. A plurality of fibers 25 are contained inside the layer 22 spaced equally, and the fibers 25 are preferably formed of a large number of fibrous glass filaments, and of relatively small diameter. At unsealing, the small package 10 is torn along one or a plurality of fibers 25 arranged inside the laminate sheet material 20 which forms the small package 10.


In the middle of the Algerian-French war, in December 1959, Sweden suddenly voted `yes' in the UN General Assembly to Algerian self-determination. This was a clear change in Swedish foreign policy. The empirical question in this article is thus: Could this change be sufficiently understood as the result of a learning process? Through a specified set of conditions and an empirical test of these conditions using the Algerian case, the theoretical aim is to improve on existing operationalizations of the concept of learning. My conclusion is, empirically, that this new orientation in Swedish foreign policy was as a result of the effect of learning. By studying the Algerian decision in a wider perspective we can begin to understand the emergence of the Swedish so-called `active policy of neutrality' during the 1960s. Theoretically, I argue that the concept of learning, specified in necessary and sufficient conditions, can be useful in explaining and evaluating why changes in foreign policy take place when they do.


Our comparative study of psychosocial, behavioural, and clinical characteristics involved 46 HIV-negative individuals with opioid dependence (HIV-IDUs), 57 HIV-positive opioid-dependent individuals (HIV+IDUs) and a control group of 90 healthy subjects (CG). All opioid dependent participants were injecting drug users (IDUs). Results reported in Part 2 are based on our analysis of the following tests: The Buss - Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI), State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), Folkman and Lazarus' Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ), Purpose-in-Life Test (PIL), Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (l6PF), WHO Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-100), and the modified Link's Stigma Scale (LINK). Our analysis demonstrated that IDUs (independently of their HIV status) showed higher results on the BDHI's subscales of assault, verbal hostility, irritability, guilt and the total score; STAXI's subscales of trait anger and anger expression-out; LINK's drug use and HIV-related stigma and discrimination; behaviour is dominated by non-adaptive coping strategies of distancing, self-control, escape-avoidance (WCQ) and the vigilance (L), apprehension (O), tension (Q 4 ) personality characteristics (16PF) compared to the control group. All participated IDUs demonstrated lower results compared to that in the control group on all subscales and the total score of the Purpose-in-Life test and lower quality of life in the domains of physical and psychological health, social relationships and level of independence, as well as the total score of WHOQOL-IOO. Coping strategies of the positive reappraisal and 'planful' problem solving (WCQ) are more rare and the personality characteristics of rule-consciousness (G), sensitivity (I), abstractedness (M), self-reliance (Q 2 ), perfectionism (Q 3) , and motivational distortion (MD) (16PF) are decreased compared to the control group. Compared to HIV-negative IDUs, HIV-positive IDUs demonstrated higher scores on the 'resentment' and 'guilt' subscales, and the overall hostility index (BDHI); 'trait anger' and 'anger expression-out' subscales of the STAXI; HIV-related stigma and discrimination (LINK) and lower scores on the reasoning (B), emotional stability (C), and perfectionism (Q 3 ) subscales of the 16PF; psychological and level of independence domains of WHOQOL-100; purpose in life, locus of control-life, and life process or emotional richness of life (PIL).


The invention discloses a tail end chain start structure of an automatic insertion machine, and aims at providing a tail end chain start structure of an automatic insertion machine, which is efficient and energy-saving and can cooperate with other structures of the insertion machine to automatically finish the whole insertion process. The structure comprises a fixing plate, wherein a motor is arranged on the fixing plate, an output shaft of the motor is connected with a start belt wheel, a belt is arranged on the start belt wheel, the belt is connected with a driven belt wheel, the driven belt wheel is connected with a divider, the divider is connected with a chain clamp start chain wheel, a clamp slot cam piece is arranged on an output shaft of the driven belt wheel, an illumination clamp slot is formed in the clamp slot cam piece, a contrast electric eye is arranged below the clamp slot cam piece, the clamp slot cam piece is rotatably arranged in the contrast electric eye, the contrast electric eye is arranged on an electric eye seat, and the electric eye seat is arranged above the motor. The structure disclosed by the invention can reliably and practically start a tail end chain of the automatic insertion machine, and is applicable to the field of LED (light-emitting diode) production.


Symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) caused by loss of dopaminergic neurons are accompanied by movement disorders, including tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia, and akinesia. Non-human primate (NHP) models with PD play an essential role in the analysis of PD pathophysiology and behavior symptoms. As impairments of hand dexterity function can affect activities of daily living in patients with PD, research on hand dexterity function in NHP models with chronic PD is essential. Traditional rating scales previously used in the evaluation of animal spontaneous behavior were insufficient due to factors related to subjectivity and passivity. Thus, experimentally designed applications for an appropriate apparatus are necessary. In this study, we aimed to longitudinally assess hand dexterity function using hand dexterity task (HDT) in NHP-PD models. To validate this assessment, we analyzed an alteration in Parkinsonian tremor symptoms, loss of dopaminergic neuron, and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of dopamine transporters (DAT) in these models. HDT latency significantly increased in NHP-PD models. In addition, a significant inverse correlation between HDT and DAT was identified, but no local bias was found. The correlation with intention tremor symptoms was lower than the resting tremor. In conclusion, the evaluation of HDT may reflect behavioral symptoms of NHP-PD models. Furthermore, HDT was effectively used to experimentally distinguish intention tremors from other tremors.


Ran is an essential GTPase protein involved in bidirectional transportation between nucleus and cytoplasm. We engineered temperature sensitive (TS) mutant alleles of Ran accessory proteins in S. cerevisiae to study the genetic interactions. For essential proteins like Ran and its accessory proteins, TS mutants give insight into gene function without knocking out genes. By creating these TS mutant strains, we will be able to study the genetic interactions between Ran point mutants and TS mutant Ran accessory proteins to closely interrogate the biophysics and mechanism of the Ran GTPase cycle and it's role nucleocytoplamsic transport.


Room-temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) is observed in the bulk Co x Ti 1 - x O 2 - δ (0.06 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) samples synthesized by the solid-state reaction method for the mixed powder of Ti and Co oxides, followed by a 500°C furnace annealing process in a 10% hydrogen-argon mixture of ambient gases. The X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and measurements of magnetic susceptibility, Χ, vs temperature, T, indicate polycrystalline Co-doped TiO 2 anatase without Co clusters was fabricated. A phase transformation from CoTiO 3 to Co x Ti 1 - x O 2 - δ occurs after the hydrogenation process. These results are strong indications for formation of oxygen vacancies near the high spin Co 2 + sites, and the formed oxygen vacancies are essential for the generation of RTFM in Co x Ti 1 - x O 2 - δ . Based on these observations, ferromagnetism in bulk Co x Ti 1 - x O 2 - δ anatase could be attributed to the exchange interaction between Co 2 + mediated by oxygen vacancies near Co 2 + sites, not being caused by Co clusters.


Optimal preventive maintenance and repairmen policies for a system of machines subject to degradation with age and intermittent breakdowns and repairs are derived using optimal control theory. When this system of machines forms part of a dynamic process control system, a method of obtaining optimal closed-loop control law is indicated.


This paper presents a kind of network structure that enables the connection between vehicle ad hoc network and Internet, which based on GPRS wireless access of an embedded terminal used in vehicle communication, and the basic principle of mutual communication between the vehicle ad hoc network and Internet, and also introduced the method of wireless access use PPP protocol to access to internet. This paper also give out some keys of the technology and method in how a vehicular communication system can get the access to the internet using a GPRS module, considering the characteristic of the vehicular communication embedded platform.


The influence to Wangwei's attitude in life and literary production when he was banished to Jizhou is analyzed,which traumatized him soon after he passed the third degree candidate in the national civil service examination.


The individual acts in one way when he makes decisions through the market and in another way when there are social choices; this connotation leads us to conclude that perhaps morality is included in constitutional design, but is it necessary? A hierarchy of the preferences of individuals should lead to a social ranking, in this case, we will define moral rules in which individuals assimilate morality as a preference and we will try to elucidate whether morality serves as a guide for the design of policies and laws...


Washington Duke had left home around the time of his twenty-first birthday to take up tenant farming. The son of Taylor Duke, a farmer and respected neighborhood leader who served as captain of the local militia [2] and also as district deputy sheriff, Washington was the eighth of ten children. His basic education was gleaned from behind the handles of a plow in the rugged, rural setting into which he was born in the year 1820. As a young man, family and church exercised the most influence over him and throughout his life both his family and the Methodist faith would remain important. Years later his son, James B. Duke, remarked: "My old daddy always said that if he amounted to anything in life it was due to the Methodist circuit riders [3] who frequently visited his home and whose preaching and counsel brought out the best that was in him.


This study aims to evaluate the Teacher Professional Education Program Bachelor of Education In The Foremost, Outer And Behind program in Jakarta State University. The research of Teacher Professional Education Program Bachelor of Education In The Foremost, Outer And Behind program evaluation used CIPP model of Daniel L. Suffebeam because this approach fits the research objectives describing the Teacher Professional Education Program Bachelor of Education In The Foremost, Outer And Behind program. The instruments used were the researcher himself, interview guidance, questionnaires, and documentation. Data analysis was done in accordance with Miles and Huberman namely; data reduction, data display, and conclusion. The results found were: 1) context aspect namely: that Teacher Professional Education Program Bachelor of Education In The Foremost, Outer And Behind program had agreed with the objectives, had a strong legal basis, and needs analysis namely to assist the acceleration of government programs for equitable education; 2) input aspects namely: program plan and facilities in the form of human resources such as lecturers, Teacher Professional Education Program participants, facilities and infrastructure, funding, partnership and management were available well according to the plan; 3) process aspects, namely the implementation of the activities, including: the implementation of the evaluation process, decision-making process, learning process, and graduation process had already run well; 4) product aspects namely Teacher Professional Education Program Bachelor Of Education In The Foremost, Outer And Behind Program of Education of Physical, Health and Recreation study program of Jakarta State University had been able to improve the quality and quantity of participants, including the number of graduates. Based on the results of this evaluation, it can be concluded that Teacher Professional Education Program Bachelor of Education In The Foremost, Outer And Behind program had been implemented as well as possible but it needed improvement of facilities and infrastructure, funds, and coordination between the ministry of research and technology of higher education and Teacher Training Institute of Jakarta State University.

Keywords: Program Evaluation, Teacher Professional Education Program Bachelor of Education In The Foremost, Outer And Behind, CIPP Model, and Education of Physical, Health and Recreation.


The experimental investigation of film-cooling flow structure provides reliable data for calibrating and validating a 3D feature based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model being developed synchronously at the ETH Zurich. This paper reports on the flow structure of a film-cooling jet emanating from one hole in a row of holes angled 20 deg to the surface of a flat plate having a 45 deg lateral angle to the freestream flow in a steady flow, flat plate wind tunnel. This facility simulates a film-cooling row typically found on a turbine blade, giving engine representative nondimensionals in terms of geometry and operating conditions. The main flow is heated and the injected coolant is cooled strongly to obtain the requisite density ratio. All three velocity components were measured using a nonintrusive stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV) system. The blowing ratio and density ratio are varied for a single compound angled geometry, and the complex three dimensional flow is investigated with special regard to vortical structure.


With the great progress it has made, metrology is increasingly essential in various fields such as health, biology, food, chemistry and medicine. If we refer to etymology, "metrology" means "science of measurement". The business measurement approach should therefore fall within the realm of rigor and rationality by performing periodic calibration. By using new technologies (IT, Machine learning, etc.), work methods can be innovated by modernizing measurement techniques and by introducing the notion of intelligence. "SMART Metrology" or "intelligent metrology" is therefore required to take care of the automatic calibration and monitoring of equipment and will provide reliable and repeatable measurements, which will be verified by legal metrology. It is therefore used to create SMART measuring instruments that transform measurement results into controlled information. More and more companies are opting for Smart metrology for the simple reason that it modernizes the techniques of taking measurements introducing new concepts, in particular Big Data. This technology offers metrologists the opportunity to develop their profession, allowing them to actively participate in the compliance of measuring instruments and the reliability of measurements in the company. This paper presents a SMART platform for calibrating spectrum analyzers available in a metrology laboratory using Python programming software. This Human Machine Interface (HMI) makes it possible to communicate in real time with the spectrum analyzers, to take measurements automatically, to supervise the instrument remotely in order to carry out the calibration and verification of the equipment and to judge the conformity of the equipment.


This paper proposes a temperature measurement method using a giant magnetoresistive sensor as a sensing resistor based on Johnson noise thermometry. Experiments were performed to verify this approach. The results demonstrate the reliability of this approach with error less than 2.3% in the temperature range from 303 K to 423 K, which can enable a multifunctional spintronic sensor detecting temperature and magnetic field.


New solid supports for organic synthesis have been developed by radiolytically grafting polystyrene onto inert fluoropolymer tubes. The grafted tubes have been functionalized and utilized in two solid-phase organic reactions performed at high temperatures.


"The purpose of the research was to demonstrate possible options for the development of the Albanian economy in 2023 and to provide some advice for monetary policy in the country. The main methods used in the research were modelling, formalisation, historical and some others. The authors forecast that the Albanian economy will decelerate in 2023, based on an analysis of some key macroeconomic factors. Thus, the research forecasts the country's GDP level based on quarterly data for the last 12 years and develops a factor analysis of the country's development over the last two years using time series analysis. The main factors considered for this forecast are the inflation rate, changes in benchmark interest rates, and the level of public and private investment in the Albanian economy. Thus, this research provides new knowledge for the National Bank of Albania to develop its monetary policy based on the interest rate, inflation and public investment in the next year's budget."


The purpose of the present study was to determine the clinical significance of deep venous thrombus (DVT) in legs diagnosed by ultrasonography in patients with paradoxical brain embolism. The authors performed ultrasonography on the legs of 67 consecutive patients who were diagnosed as having paradoxical brain embolism. We compared the clinical background between DVT-positive and DVT-negative groups, and between hemiplegic-side DVT and non hemiplegic-side DVT groups. DVT were detected in 27 (40%) of all patients. Patients were significantly older in the DVT-positive group (p = 0.044). National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores on admission were worse in the DVT-positive group (p = 0.066). Time from the onset of brain embolism to performance of ultrasonography was longer in the DVT-positive group (p = 0.068). DVTs were detected in hemiplegic-side legs in 14 of 19 patients with hemiparesis. NIHSS score on admission was significantly worse in the hemiplegic-side DVT group (p = 0.018). Period between the onset of brain embolism and performance of ultrasonography was longer in the hemiplegic-side DVT group (p = 0.174). In conclusion, DVTs detected by ultrasonography may be de novo thrombi acquired after the onset of brain embolism.


In this article, we will undertake a reflection on the analytics of power in Michel Foucault. Our intention is to cover Foucault's production from the mid-seventies to the beginning of the eighties, seeking to understand the shifts or "twists and turns" through which the concept of power has suffered over time. We will try to show that it is possible to identify three moments in Foucault's research. First, when trying to move away from the traditional legaldiscursive understanding of power, he introduces an unprecedented analysis of the dynamics of disciplinary power and the micro-powers that make up the social field. This can be considered a shift, in general, in relation to the western political tradition. With the course Society must be defended we are faced with a change in the understanding of power, when identifying it as war or struggle. Finally, with the introduction of the concepts of biopower / biopolitics, Foucault is led to a great expansion of his research, focusing on concepts that were not part of his interest until then, such as, for example, the concept of State. It is in this context that the concept of government will enter Foucault's reflections. We understand that the concept of government is a refinement and, likewise, makes its analysis of power broader and more complex in order to account for the political present.


The purpose of this section is to plan, develop and implement professional activities for association members with interests in federalism, intergovernmental relations, state and local government. Chair: Robert Agranoff, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana Univ, Bloomington, IN 47405, PHONE: (812) 855-0731 Secretary/Treasurer: Michael A. Pagano, Dept of Political Science, Miami Univ, Oxford, OH 45056, PHONE: (513) 529-2000, EMAIL: email@example.com Council: David R. Beam, Illinois Inst of Technology; Ann O'M. Bowman, Univ of South Carolina; Franz Gress, Goethe Univ; Susan B. Hansen, Univ of Pittsburgh; Joseph R. Marbach, Seton Hall Univ; Marian Lief Palley, Univ of Delaware; Alvin D. Sokolow, Univ of California-Davis; G. Alan Tarr, Rutgers Univ-Camden; Carol S. Weissert, Michigan State Univ The Best Paper Award is conferred for the best paper in the field of federalism and intergovernmental relations presented at the previous year's Annual Meeting. Committee: Robert Agranoff, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana Univ, Bloomington, IN 47405; PHONE: (812) 855-0731 The Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes distinguished scholarly contributions to the study of federalism and intergovernmental relations.


Opto-acoustic investigations of copper chloride water solution, milk, suspension of graphite particles in water and milk, and biological tissues were carried out with Q-switched Nd-YAG laser. The pressure course of the leading edge of acoustic pulse is determined by the distribution of the intensity of light in the absorbing medium. The registration of the acoustic transients both at front and rare surfaces of investigated medium was carried out. The distribution of absorption for homogeneously absorbing and micro-inhomogeneous media was reconstructed. The experimental arrangement allows the user to measure the light absorption coefficient in the range of 10 - 300 l/cm with the spatial resolution of the order of 10 microns. Absorbing particles in transparent, homogeneously absorbing and scattering media were detected. The proposed method of time-resolved opto-acoustic diagnostics possess the ability to investigate z-axial distribution of light absorption averaged in lateral directions over the laser spot. For biological tissues it is most promising to use front surface registration of acoustic transients that are well established to detect boundaries of absorbing layers.


Poverty alleviation projects are the focus of the country in recent years, in order to ensure that the PV poverty alleviation project can achieve satisfactory results, the project needs in the internal and external environment in-depth analysis. In this paper, the SWOT-PEST method was used to analyze the factors influencing the photovoltaic power generation projects in poverty alleviation areas. Based on the analysis of each element in SWOT-PEST matrix, the qualitative analysis of each element was carried out by using analytic hierarchy process (AHP). It is concluded that the economic disadvantage is the most important to other factors. In the process of project implementation, more attention to this element. For the first time, the SWOT-PEST matrix analysis method is applied to the PV poverty alleviation project, and the most important elements are found in the obtained elements, and the expected conclusions are obtained. Keywords—PV; SWOT-PEST; analytic hierarchy process


High-level design of analog systems is an open area that needs to be addressed with the emerging trend of integrating mixed analog-digital systems. Design methods compatible across the analog-digital boundaries would expedite the design process, and in this paper we address analog high-level design issues. An approach for systems-level synthesis of a class of analog systems is presented. A behavioral level for the analog domain is characterized in terms of state equations and transfer functions in the continuous and discrete domains. State-space representations are generated from transfer function specifications that exhibit system level characteristics such as controllability and observability as, well as decoupled and parallel architectures. These state-space representations are synthesized into behavioral-level, technology-independent architectures composed of analog functional components. An intermediate architecture in a circuit implementation technology is synthesized from the behavioral architecture. The various algorithmic procedures for synthesis are implemented in the program ARCHGEN. Behavioral simulation is used for architecture verification and design space exploration. >


Scientists have taken skin cells from patients with advanced heart failure and used them to create healthy, patient-specific heart muscle cells, according to results of a recent study.


Oreochromis niloticus from Qaroun and El Rayan lakes were collected and examined for the presence of pseudomonas species. The organisms were found in 30.83% of the 480 examined fish with some fish, especially during the episode of mass mortality showing, typical signs of pseudomonas septicemia; redness all over the body, abdominal swelling, eyes cloudness, scales detachment and congested gills. Culture from liver, spleen, kidneys and gills on pseudomonas agar media yielded different species of pseudomonas with morphological and biochemical characters identical to P. fluorescens biovar I, II, III, P. anguilliseptica, P. putida and P. aureginosa isolated from the same fish and other fish species of Qaroun and El Rayan lakes as well as for those recovered from other kinds of fish. The prevalence of infection revealed significant difference among four batches, it was 43.33% (April 2008), 24.44% (August 2008), 21.11% (November 2008) and 17.77% (January 2009); and the organisms were mainly isolated from liver and kidney (35 and 30%, respectively). Challenge tests revealed that P. angulliseptica was the highest pathogenic one and induced 96.66% mortality, while P. fluroscens injected groups showed 2% mortality. Antibiogram sensituity revealed high sensitivity to Avatryl and Amikicin and sensitivity to Gentamicin, Erythromycin, Novobiocin and Sulfa-trimethoprime. Three major proteins of 29 KDa, 30 KDa and 35 KDa in the whole cell proteins of pseudomonas strains. The pathogenic strains P. aeruginosa, P. putida and P. angulliseptica had 9-11 protein bands ranged from 23.4 to 100.05 KDa in molecular weight, while non-pathogenic strains; P. fluroscens biovar I, II and III showed 7-9 protein bands and of molecular weight ranged from 22 to 87 KDa. It was concluded that different pseudomonas diseases were considered Qaroun and El-Rayan lakes causes septicemia in O. niloticus and the pathogenic species include P. anguilliseptica, P. putida and P. aureginosa. Avatryl and Amikicin are the best drug for treatment of septicemia caused by the above mentioned species in O. niloticus.


This paper analysis the benefit of per hektare according to the question of existent throught different of three ecnomic factors of stand(conifer needles forest,mixture of needle and broad leaf,mixture of artifical and natural).The results are conifer needles is biggest of cost,mixture of conifer and broad leaf is better in ecological benefit and ecological benefit,the artifical and nature forest is lowest.


The paper is a part of the ship noise compatibility. It calculates by using acoustic software SYSNOISE the acoustic performance of the acoustical baffle in ship sonar hosing when the acoustic source launches directly. Then, the underwater model is test in the same condition. The calculation results are in good agreement with the experimental. Therefore, it seems feasible to use the acoustic software to calculate the sound field of sonar, and this calculation method may be extended to the sound field of other underwater models. The data reflect the effects of the acoustical baffle when the sonar launches directly, and provide basis for construction design and acoustics compatibility technique of the acoustical baffle in sonar housing.


After deregulation of insurance sector, the sector embarked on development programmes with regard to delivery, innovation in products and insurance penetration. Insurance companies have made a shift from monopolistic environment to perfect competitive environment and a positive drive towards the introduction of excellence is risk coverage. The performance of insurance companies in the light of CARAMEL (Capital Adequacy, Asset Adequacy, Reinsurance, Actuarial Issues, Management Soundness, Earning Profitability, and Liquidity) parameters .The performance of companies could be judged by different financial tools but qualitative aspect identified in CARAMEL framework has far reaching implications on the overall performance of insurance companies. IRDA has prescribed solvency measures to put in place of capital adequacy ratio in place to protect the insurance companies and their clients. Investment performance discloses the effectiveness and efficiency of investment decisions. The investment performance is negatively correlated to insolvency rate. In fact insurers are yet to report break even in their operations and it is investment income which has always come to rescue and has provided cushion for the huge underwriting losses suffered by the insurers but the recession of 2008 has affected all the companies and their the investment income has already witnessed decreasing trend. Moreover the price deregulation will put more pressure on the underwriting profitability, the effect of which has already shown its impact and in the free price regime the onus will be on the underwriting performance rather than investment income to be a successful company.


The Company Siemens Industrial Turbo Machinery AB manufactures and launches in operation among other things gas turbines, steam turbines, compressors, turn-key power plants and carries out service ...


Microstructures of specimens of solid solutions Al--Cu (2% Cu by weight), Al--Cu (4% Cu by weight), Cu-Be (2.5% Be by weight) irradiated and not irradiated by neutrons (the integral flux 2 x 10/sup 19/ n/cm/sup 2/) were investigated by the electronic microscopic method. The microhardness of these solid solutions was measured before and after irradiation. There was not observed any significant effect of the irradiation of Al--Cu specimens. In the case of Cu--Be specimens dispersion particles of gamma -secondary phase are generated in the alpha -solid mother 1iquor after the irradiation. Microhardness as a result of irradiation increased in the alpha -solid solution from 148 plus or minus 6to 490 plus or minus 35; and in gamma -phase it increased from 530 plus or minus 35 to 870 plus or minus 60. The increase of microhardness of alpha -solid solution more than three times is caused, in the main, by its decay under the action of neutron irradiation and by formation of dispersion particles of gamma -secondary phase. The increase of microhardness of gamma -primary phase is, in the main, caused by radiation damages. (auth)


AbstractOptimized task scheduling is one of the most important challenges in parallel and distributed systems. In such architectures during compile step, each program is decomposed into the smaller segments so-called tasks. Tasks of a program may be dependent; some tasks may need data generated by the others to start. To formulate the problem, precedence constraints, required execution times of tasks, and communication costs among them are modeled using a directed acyclic graph (DAG) named task-graph. The tasks must be assigned to a predefined number of processors in such a way that the program completion time is minimized, and the precedence constraints are preserved. It is well known to be NP-hard in general form and most restricted cases; therefore, a number of heuristic and meta-heuristic approaches have so far been proposed in the literature to find near-optimum solutions for this problem. We believe that ant colony optimization (ACO) is one of the best methods to cope with such kind of problems pres...


The design of cyber-physical systems is non-trivial, and often filled with tedious, error prone tasks that could be represented in a better way. Engineers often work with low-level languages such as C and C++, real-time operating systems, or straight on the metal under limited hardware constraints which requires engineers to have extensive domain specific knowledge. In this paper, we propose Triton, which is a language focused on increasing abstraction by providing high-level domain-specific features to engineers working on cyber-physical systems and IoT devices through a domain specific language (DSL). We propose dedicated code blocks to handle task scheduling at the language level, with the addition of a constraint system to handle faults, such as erroneous sensor data. Triton integrates with the Remote Method Delegation (RMD) platform to allow the developer to easily offload work to the cloud, in addition to providing native support for publish-subscribe network communications. The Triton prototype has been implemented for the JVM target, allowing for interroperability with other JVM languages and supports execution on any platform with an available JVM. Example code provided shows a clear reduction in boilerplate and a simple case-study shows the effectiveness of the proposed solution when compared with languages traditionally seen in embedded or cyber-physical systems development.


The construction and implementation of the regional public management in Pan-Beibu Gulf is necessary to the economic cooperation in the region.However,the character of this cooperation results in the specialty and complexity and various challenges or barriers here.Hence,in the process of constructing the regional public management in Pan-Beibu Gulf,we need to absorb the useful experience at home and abroad and act according to local circumstances in order to achieve innovation in the endeavor.


Inoculation of the Stetsonville, Wisconsin source of transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) into Syrian hamsters has identified two strains of the TME agent having distinct biological properties and producing disease-specific prion proteins (PrPTME) having different physicochemical properties. Although several strains of the sheep scrapie agent have been identified in Great Britain, this is the first indication that agents producing transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in the United States also are capable of producing distinct strains.


This paper discusses portfolio selection problem in fuzzy environment. In the paper, security returns are regarded as fuzzy variables. Based on credibility measure and the expected value operator a...


Background : The increasing competition in healthcare industry has caused the delivery of service quality to patients become essential. Every hospital competes to deliver the best service to its patients. As a result, it is necessary to analyze hospitalized patient satisfaction. This study discusses service quality improvement in healthcare industry by analyzing inpatient satisfaction using Multivariate Analysis and Quality Function Deployment (QFD). Objectives: The objectives of this study are to identify patients' characteristics which are significantly affect their satisfaction level, to identify service attributes and dimensions which are critical to patients, and subsequently improve those attributes. Method: The identification of characteristics and service dimensions which are significantly affect patients' satisfaction level is accomplished using Multivariate Analysis. While the critical service attributes identification is completed using Importance-Performance Analysis. Afterward, using House of Quality (HOQ), as the basis of QFD, those critical service attributes are developed into service elements. Result: Using Discriminant Analysis, the result of this study shows that patients' characteristics which significantly affect their satisfaction level are sex and occupation. The male and unemployed patients are more satisfied than the female and employed patients. Afterward, Factor Analysis brings about five new factors (service dimensions), which are the linear combinations of the original 42 service attributes. Based on the Importance-Performance Analysis, there are four service attributes which are critical to be improved which have high importance level, but low performance level. Then, using the Quality Function Deployment (QFD), the four critical service attributes are developed into service elements. The service elements with high priorities are training program, recruitment of experts, standard of information flow, online administration system, and computer as provider of information. Conclusion: Service quality improvement in healthcare industry can be analyzed more comprehensive by integrating Multivariate Method and Quality Function Deployment (QFD). The result of this study may provide contributions to hospitals in general in enhancing its service performance to achieve its patients' satisfaction. Keywords: customer satisfaction, healthcare industry, multivariate analysis, quality function deployment


Increasing Greenland discharge has contributed more than 5000 km3 of surplus fresh water to the Subpolar North Atlantic since the early 1990s. The volume of this freshwater anomaly is projected to cause freshening in the North Atlantic leading to changes in the intensity of deep convection and thermohaline circulation in the subpolar North Atlantic. This is roughly half of the freshwater volume of the Great Salinity Anomaly of the 1970s that caused notable freshening in the Subpolar North Atlantic. In analogy with the Great Salinity Anomaly, it has been proposed that, over the years, this additional Greenland freshwater discharge might have a great impact on convection driving thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic with consequent impact on climate. Previous numerical studies demonstrate that roughly half of this Greenland freshwater anomaly accumulates in the Subpolar Gyre. However, time scales over which the Greenland freshwater anomaly can accumulate in the subpolar basins is not known. This study estimates the residence time of the Greenland freshwater anomaly in the Subpolar Gyre by approximating the process of the anomaly accumulation in the study domain with a first order autonomous dynamical system forced by the Greenland freshwater anomaly discharge. General solutions are obtained for two types of the forcing function. First, the Greenland freshwater anomaly discharge is a constant function imposed as a step function. Second, the surplus discharge is a linearly increasing function. The solutions are deduced by utilizing results from the numerical experiments that tracked spreading of the Greenland fresh water with a passive tracer. The residence time of the freshwater anomaly is estimated to be about 10–15 years. The main differences in the solutions is that under the linearly increasing discharge rate, the volume of the accumulated Greenland freshwater anomaly in the Subpolar Gyre does not reach a steady state. By contrast, solution for the constant discharge rate reaches a steady state quickly asymptoting the new steady state value for time exceeding the residence time. Estimated residence time is compared with the numerical experiments and observations.


*Good-bye Back Pain, subtitled "A step-by-step guide to full back recovery," by chiropractor & author Leonard Faye DC, provides a clear and readable explanation of the major causes of back pain and the various treatment approaches currently available.*An excellent companion to Good-bye Back Pain, and a useful booklet on its own, is Larry Payne's, Healthy Back: Exercises for High-Stress Professionals. An experienced Yoga teacher who has trained with, T. K. V. Desikachar and Professor A. G. Mohan, Dr. Payne has become an expert in treating back problems using Yoga therapy.*Energize with Yoga, by Lilias Folan. Anyone who has worked with Lilias in person knows that her classes can range from the vigorously challenging to being totally relaxing. Either way, she is an empowering teacher, and the "energizing" effects of doing yoga with Lilias come as much from her joyful enthusiasm as from her impeccable yoga.


We consider an agent that seeks to make abstract predictions about the world by only distinguishing between certain features of observations. Making accurate abstract predictions of this form may not require a fully detailed model of the world, though in general it will require that the agent make some finer distinctions than those that interest it. We assume the agent has a partition of the observation space of a dynamical system induced by the features of interest. The goal of this paper is to find a minimal refinement of that partition such that a model of the refined system will make accurate predictions with respect to the features of interest. We provide algorithms and worst-case bounds on the difficulty of performing this task. Our results apply generally to all discrete dynamical systems.


Objective:To analyze and research the prevalence of breast cancer of rural women in Panyu district,and discuss the effect of early health interventions.Method:100 rural women in Panyu district were randomly selected,investigated by asking the history and the related clinical examination.They were randomly divided into experimental group(n=50) and control group(n=50),sexperimental group was given early health interventions,control group was given routine health education,summarized the prevalence and contrast analysed the awareness of knowledge about breast cancer before and after intervention.Result:100 cases were completed screening,and 21 cases(21.00%) were checked out with breast disease. Most with hyperplasia of mammary glands(19 cases,19.00%).Before early intervention,the awareness of knowledge about breast cancer and related diseases had no significant difference(P0.05).Awareness by giving early intervention were significantly higher in two groups(P0.05),especially awareness in experimental group was as high as 96.00%,improvement was better than control group(54.00%),the data of two groups were statistical difference(P0.05).Conclusion:On the basis of knowning the prevalence of rural women breast and related knowledge,that intensifing efforts to meet the needs of the health education can improve the awareness of mammary gland disease related knowledge and reduce the prevalence which has positive significance.


Objective To observe the effectiveness of sensory integration training(SIT) for children with psychological behavior problems.Methods A total of 179 children(119 males and 60 females) aging 3~10 years with normal intelligence but clinically diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) and severe sensory integrative dysfunction(SID) from the city of Zibo,Shandong Province,were enrolled in this study.The changes of psychological behaviors were evaluated after 6 months of SIT.Results The results of sensory integration including vestibular balance,sense of touch defence,proprioceptive sense,learning ability,and Conners score were significantly improved after training.Conclusion STI is an effective supporting measures for treating ADHD.


In this study of the electroretinograms of dragonflies (adults and nymphs) the objectives were to determine the number of classes of photoreceptors present in the visual system and to allocate these to particular morphological regions. There are probably five classes of photoreceptors present with peak sensitivities near 550, 530, 518, 420, and < 380 mµ. The dorsal ocelli contain two classes (518 mµ and < 380 mµ). The ventral (anterior) ommatidia of the adult compound eye contain at least two classes (near 518 mµ and < 380 mµ) and probably a third class (near 550 mµ). The dorsal ommatidia of the adult compound eye contain one class (420 mµ) and possibly another class (< 380 mµ). The compound eye of the nymph contains one class (530 mµ) and possibly another class (420 mµ).


The formation of Shaolin Wushu is the result of longtime accumulation and evolution. It has the close connection with the external cultural factors of Chinese of Buddhism; moreover it is the direct product of internal cultural factors of integration of Dhyana and Wushu. The Chinese of Buddhism enables the Shaolin temple to accept the Wushu and creates the Shaolin Wushu comprehensively on the basis of a thorough understanding of various schools. Furthermore it makes Shaolin Wushu shine upon Confucianism of "neishengwaiwang"through developing from protecting the temple to benefiting society and dedicating itself to serving country, hence achieving a high reputation in the world. The integration of Dhyana and Wushu embodies their internal congruity and interaction between them.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences, needs, and satisfaction of participation in lifelong education for the elderly in Chungcheongnam do in 2016. The Survey of Lifelong Education in Chungnam Province was conducted with a total of 4,108 copies of survey data of the interviewees in Received (June 16, 2017), Review Result (June 30, 2017) Accepted (July 7, 2017), Published (September 30, 2017) 32263, Chungcheongnam-do Institute for Lifelong Education, River 58, Hongbukmyeon, Hongseong, Chungcheong Province, Korea email: email@example.com (Corresponding Author) 31962 Dep. of Health and Welfare, Hanseo Univ. 46, Hanseo 1-ro, Haemi-myun Sesan-si, Chungnam-do, Korea email: firstname.lastname@example.com * 본 연구는 2017년 충청남도평생교육진흥원 중점연구과제 중 일부로 연구되었음 A Study on the Participation Experience, Needs and Satisfaction of Lifelong Education of the Elderly in Chungnam Province Copyright c 2017 HSST 736 August 2016, using face to face interviews with the subjects, using gender, age and region specific sample. The results of this study are as follows: First, 35.0% of the elderly in Chungnam participated in lifelong education. Second, physical, mental and social health motivation was higher than occupational achievement. Third, as a constraint on lifelong education, the most respondents answered that they were not confident in their learning because of their health or age, and lack of time or lack of time was an important constraint on lifelong education programs. Fourth, the participation of lifelong education is higher than that of current lifelong education participation. The fifth, the elderly who are willing to participate in lifelong education, And the time to spare. Sixth, the elderly who have participated in lifelong education had a satisfactory lifelong education satisfaction score of 4.23 out of 5. Finally, experience, needs and satisfaction of lifelong education were significantly different according to the background variables of the elderly in Chungcheongnam do.


BACKGROUND
Reliance on biomass for cooking and heating exposes many women and young children in developing countries to high levels of air pollution indoors. This study investigated the association between household use of biomass fuels for cooking and acute respiratory infections (ARI) in preschool age children (<5 years) in Zimbabwe.

METHODS
Analysis is based on 3559 children age 0-59 months included in the 1999 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS). Children who suffered from cough accompanied by short, rapid breathing during the 2 weeks preceding the survey were defined as having suffered from ARI. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of suffering from ARI among children from households using biomass fuels (wood, dung, or straw) relative to children from households using cleaner fuels (liquid petroleum gas [LPG]/natural gas, or electricity), after controlling for potentially confounding factors.

RESULTS
About two-thirds (66%) of children lived in households using biomass fuels and 16% suffered from ARI during the 2 weeks preceding the survey interview. After adjusting for child's age, sex, birth order, nutritional status, mother's age at childbirth, education, religion, household living standard, and region of residence, children in households using wood, dung, or straw for cooking were more than twice as likely to have suffered from ARI as children from households using LPG/natural gas or electricity (OR = 2.20; 95% CI: 1.16, 4.19).

CONCLUSIONS
Household use of high pollution biomass fuels is associated with ARI in children in Zimbabwe. The relationship needs to be further investigated using more direct measures of smoke exposure and clinical measures of ARI.


For coal-seam with spontaneous liability and high methane content,methane content could not reduce to under state standard after air quantity adjustment,methane drainage,and fire prevention by balance pressure.Therefore,drilling field of coal-seam with spontaneous liability was designed again;methane in empty roadway was drained.Mechanical model was set up and FLAC was applied to analyzing stress state of bore-hole.Drainage design projection for empty roadway was confirmed and drainage effect and smooth mining was ensured.Methane and coal spontaneous combustion was prevented and safety mining was ensured.


Abstract Economic derivatives markets offer exciting new risk diversification opportunities for individual investors. Mostly in the form of small denomination binary options, these markets trade contracts on consumer inflation, currencies, median real estate prices, gas at the pump, and retail-oriented indicators. The research into the role of these markets for individual investors is in its infancy. This paper provides a review of the current state of knowledge and sketch out three broad avenues of further worthwhile inquiry: economic derivatives as alternatives to traditional stock indexing, the viability of the markets in light of limited trading motives and small probabilities, and modeling difficulties inherent in pricing unhedgeable underlying events. © 2007 Academy of Financial Services. All rights reserved. JEL classification: G11; G12; G13; H55 Keywords: Economic derivatives; Prediction markets; Factor model; Binary option 1. Introduction Individual investors are going to bear more risk of funding retirement. In the past, social security and defined benefit plans provided a large safety net for their needs. Future retirees' well being will be a result of their own financial decisions on asset allocation and security selection in their 401-K plans and taxable accounts. Hiring professional advisors will not change the fact that the amount of wealth they end up with will be more uncertain than in the past, as more of it will be subject to market performance, and less will be guaranteed. This has profound implications. The main objective of retirement saving is to reach by the retirement age the level of wealth equal to the present value of the income stream drawn over the actuarial retirement period. The calculation of the goal amount takes into account the lifestyle of the retiree, inflation projections, and family circumstances. The problem is that although the target is fixed (think: strike price), the strategy to achieve it is not, as it involves investment in risky assets (think: underlying). In the "ownership society" where investors are on their own, the final shortfall or excess becomes a random variable with a very large variance, because the portion of the income subject to market fluctuations is large. One way to reduce the risk of the savings shortfall is to eschew stock investing for fixed income strategies combined with equity options. Sharpe argues for individuals not to own stocks but target income funds or principal-protected investments. Bodie (2001) advocates that defined benefits plans and individuals should only own inflation-indexed securities and long-term options on the general stock market. As Sharpe (2006) explains, the problem is even more complicated. Retirement saving combines two types of risks: investment risk and insurance risk. Investment risk has to do with the market risk of asset values held in a portfolio. Insurance risk has to do with personal risks of being sick or facing life and property perils. It is the combination of the two that determines the final level of wealth achieved. Traditionally, investment risk has been dealt with through rational asset allocation and sound investment selection. Insurance risk has been dealt with by purchasing life and hazard policies. Now there may be a third way: economic derivatives. The objective of this paper is to set a broad research agenda on economic derivatives and prediction markets in the context of their appeal to individual investors. Section 2 catalogs the history of the market. Sections 3 and 4 are the key sections of the paper. They survey the literature, develop important directions of inquiry, and sketch out opportunities for much needed theoretical and empirical work. In Section 3 discusses economic derivatives as risk space-completing alternatives to traditional indexing. In Section 4 tackles the viability of the economic derivatives markets: the motives for trading, the role of informed and uninformed traders, and the predictive power of these markets. …


Objective To investigate the application of improved percutaneous dilational tracheostomy in critically ill patients. Methods A retrospective analysis of 212 critically ill patients with tracheotomy were made,the patients were divided into modified percutaneous tracheostomy group( modified PDT group,125 cases) and percutaneous tracheostomy group( PDT group,87 cases). The mean duration of the procedure,operation charge,the mean size of tracheostomy tube,blood loss,the length of scar,complications were compared. Results There was no significant difference in operative time,blood loss,recovery time,complications between the two groups,but the charge was less in modified PDT group than that in PDT group( P 0. 01). Conclusion The modified percutaneous dilational tracheostomy is fast,has few complications and minimally invasion,and can significantly reduce patients' charge. It is worthy of popularization and application.


The hypothesis advanced in this paper is that Mark applies the motif of secrecy to the understanding of the parables in order to alter their eschatological reference. When Mark interprets the parables explicitly, he does so in such away as to support the overall imminent apocalyptic stance of his gospel. Our point of departure is Mark 4.10–12, one of the most contentious elements in the New Testament, which remains today a challenging crux for scholars. The text runs (RSV): And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables. And he said to them, 'To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again and be forgiven,'


The importance of a knowledge search for green innovation has been recognized, but our understanding of the influence of green search is still unclear. We used 198 Chinese manufacturing data to sort the influential mechanism of green search on green innovation based on resource-based theory, information processing theory, and transaction cost theory. We also explored the intermediate role of green control (i.e., output and behavior control) between the two dimensions of green search (i.e., search breadth and depth) and green innovation (i.e., exploratory and exploitative innovation). The results show that the diversified green information searched from outside must be controlled through the behavior process and results in improving the quality of existing green products and developing new green products. A continuous and deep search for green knowledge can achieve the results of green innovation by setting goals and monitoring processes. When Chinese manufacturing enterprises are searching for knowledge to produce green products, they must pay attention to the supervision and control of the knowledge integration process and results to ensure the effective utilization and transformation of knowledge.


Adult educators in America have never seemed to me to give Comenius his proper recognition as a patron saint of the movement, in spite of his unswerving devotion to the ideal of making all knowledge available to all men regardless of their age, language, or social class. Several factors have contributed to this neglect. First, much of his most relevant work lies locked up in Latin, since even such English translations as exist are now several centuries old and are definitely rare books. As a result, the materials bearing on adult education are not readily available to workers in the field while the books most familiar


Boron‐centered radicals have received growing interest. Recently, two groups reported density functional theory investigations (GGA‐PW91 and B3LYP) on a hexa‐atomic boron‐oxide radical, B5O, which has led to great discrepancies on the type of low‐lying structures. In this article, we not only explore the energetics of doublet and quartet B5O isomers at high electron‐correlated levels (CCSD(T)/6‐311+G(2df), CCSD(T)/aug‐cc‐pVTZ, and G3B3) but also investigate the isomerization and fragmentation stability of the low‐lying B5O isomers. All the high‐level studies consistently show that the B5O radical possesses a belt‐like ground structure 201 in doublet electronic state followed by isomer 202 with an exocyclic BO moiety at around 3.0 kcal/mol. Kinetically, 201 and 202 are separated by a considerable barrier of about 20 kcal/mol. Thus, the two isomeric forms of B5O radical should be very promising for isolation in laboratory. However, the other four isomers reported recently are all kinetically unstable toward conversion to 201 and 202. The high thermodynamic and kinetic stability of 201 and 202 might make them as important building cores in the growth of boron‐oxide clusters. This results would also help deeply understand the oxidation and doping mechanism of pure boron clusters. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011


For meeting the demands of3D roll forging die design,a method based on middle3D blank model has been introduced to distribute and calculate deformation and to determine sectional dimensions and longitudinal di-mensions through building middle blank model which has been realized by Solidworks,hence higher quality and ef-ficiency of design of roll forging die.


We evaluate the spin density oscillations arising in quantum spin Hall quantum dots created via two localized magnetic barriers. The combined presence of magnetic barriers and spin-momentum locking, the hallmark of topological insulators, leads to peculiar phenomena: a half-integer charge is trapped in the dot for antiparallel magnetization of the barriers, and oscillations appear in the in-plane spin density, which are enhanced in the presence of electron interactions. Furthermore, we show that the number of these oscillations is determined by the number of particles inside the dot, so that the presence or the absence of the fractional charge can be deduced from the in-plane spin density. We show that when the dot is coupled with a magnetized tip, the spatial shift induced in the chemical potential allows to probe these peculiar features.


We present two hybrid algorithms for image reconstruction based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Kaczmarz's algorithm. We compared these hybrids with Kaczmarz's original algorithm, pure PSO and Genetic Algorithms. We found that both our hybrid algorithms offer good solutions and one of them offers a nearly perfect solution. The article is structured in six sections. The first section contains a short description of the problem we tackle. Sections two, three and four describe the algorithms we compared. Section five contains results of our comparison, and section six contains ideas about future work. 1. IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION The problem we tackle comes from the field of Computerized Tomography (CT), and has large applicability in various fields like medicine, transportation, geology, or remote vision. Consider a planar cross-section of a body that is being scanned with some type of ray (or beam). For exemple, X-rays or infrared beams are used in medicine imaging, while electromagnetic beams are used in electromagnetic geotomography. The body's attenuation of rays in every point of the cross-section has to be reconstructed. We'll call image (or picture) this unknown function of two variables with real nonnegative values. The fundamental model in the finite series-expansion approach may be formulated as follows: a cartesian grid of square picture elements, called pixels, is introduced into the region of interest so that it covers the whole picture that has to be reconstructed. The pixels are numbered from left to right and top to bottom, from 1 to n (see 1.1). We assume that the ray attenuation takes a constant uniform value xj throughout the j th pixel, for j=1,2,…,n. We also consider that each ray is a straight line between a source and a detector. Ray sources are located on the left hand side of the cross-section, and ray detectors are on the right hand side. Each source-detector pair denoteds a ray. Let m be the number of rays.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Intact neurocognition and early cognitive recovery during abstinence are important for substance use treatment outcome. Yet, little is known about them in the largest group of treatment seekers today, individuals with polysubstance use disorders (PSU). This study primarily contrasted PSU and individuals with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) on neurocognitive and inhibitory control measures and, secondarily, measured changes during abstinence in PSU. Method: At one month of abstinence from all substances except tobacco, 36 PSU and 69 AUD completed neurocognitive assessments of executive function, general intelligence, auditory–verbal learning/memory, visuospatial learning/memory/skills, processing speed, working memory, fine motor skills, and cognitive efficiency. The groups were also assessed on inhibitory control measures of self-reported impulsivity, risk-taking, and decision-making. Seventeen PSU repeated the assessments after approximately four months of abstinence. All cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses included smoking status as a possible confound. Results: At baseline, PSU performed significantly worse than AUD on auditory–verbal memory and on an inhibitory control measure of impulsivity. Polysubstance users showed trends to worse performance than AUD on general intelligence, auditory–verbal learning, and a decision-making task. Between one and four months of abstinence, PSU showed significant improvements on several neurocognitive and inhibitory control measures. Conclusions: Polysubstance users exhibit distinct differences in neurocognition and inhibitory control compared to AUD. Between one and four months of abstinence, neurocognition and inhibitory control improve in PSU. This neurocognitive recovery in some domains of abstinent PSU is influenced by smoking status. These results underscore the clinical value of select methods to augment neurocognitive recovery in PSU through appropriate interventions.


Manggala Subdistrict is one of 14 subdistricts in Makassar City. The area of Manggala sub-district is 24.14 km2 or 13.73% of the area of Makassar City. Manggala sub-district consists of 8 villages namely Bontoala, Bangkala, Batua, Borong, Manggala, Tamangapa, Biring Romang and Antang. The purpose of this STIBA Makassar Real Work Lecture (KKN) batch IV is a form of community service which is a pillar of the Tri Dharma of Higher Education. The method of implementing community service programs begins with mapping the problems and needs of the community using SOAR. After the analysis is carried out, a work program that is appropriate and needed by the community is prepared. Work programs that have been successfully implemented include: Socialization and Gathering, Clean Saturdays in Manggala District, Makassar City, Book Review "Ramadankan Your Life", Social Service in Manggala District, Makassar City, Tahsin and Tajwid Teaching Activities, 7 Days Daurah Activities to Memorize Al-Quran Qur'an, Kindergarten/TPA Teaching Activities, and Arabic Halaqah Activities. All of these programs have been running well and have shown initial results in accordance with the KKN objectives that have been proclaimed.


advantageous. The two ..;-;-..~XAW details here united are _ _0 Mr. Walsham's most excellent handle, and, as found in the American pattern, a round block of ^ r steel from which projects 11 the pin. This is held in positionwithin its socket, ; . z during the formation of a good groove, by a bolt runningthrough it. When its work is ended the pin ,1 w \ with its block is discarded for the remainder of the


"The heart of the psychology of religion is the psychology of prayer, especially petitionary prayer…. Down through the centuries, believers have considered prayer the primary religious resource available to them for effecting a connection between themselves and God."


Many studies have been done on expert-rated crowdsourcing contests but few have examined crowd-rated contests in which winners are determined by the voting of the crowd. Due to the different rating mechanisms, determinants for winning may be different under two types of contests. Based on previous studies, we identify three types of winning determinants: expertise, submission timing, and social capital. Our initial investigation, based on 91 entries of two contests in Zooppa, supports that those variables play different roles in winning crowd-rated contests than in winning expert-rated contests. Specifically, past winning experience in crowd-rated contests predicts future success in crowd-rated contests, while past winning experience in expert-rated contests predicts future success in expert-rated contests. We discover a U-shaped relationship between the submission time and winning in both types of contests. Social capital elevates the probability of winning a crowd-rated contest only if the social capital is sufficiently high.


The malaria parasite harbors two [Fe–S] biogenesis pathways of prokaryotic origin–the SUF and ISC systems in the apicoplast and mitochondrion, respectively. While the SUF machinery has been delineated, there is little experimental evidence on the ISC pathway. We confirmed mitochondrial targeting of Plasmodium falciparum ISC proteins followed by analyses of cysteine desulfurase, scaffold, and [Fe–S]‐carrier components. PfIscU functioned as the scaffold in complex with the PfIscS–PfIsd11 cysteine desulfurase and could directly assemble [4Fe–4S] without prior [2Fe–2S] formation seen in other homologs. Small angle X‐ray scattering and spectral studies showed that PfIscU, a trimer, bound one [4Fe–4S]. In a deviation from reported complexes from other organisms, the P. falciparum desulfurase‐scaffold complex assembled around a PfIscS tetramer instead of a dimer, resulting in a symmetric hetero‐hexamer [2× (2PfIscS–2PfIsd11–2PfIscU)]. PfIscU directly transferred [4Fe–4S] to the apo‐protein aconitase B thus abrogating the requirement of intermediary proteins for conversion of [2Fe–2S] to [4Fe–4S] before transfer to [4Fe–4S]‐recipients. Among the putative cluster‐carriers, PfIscA2 was more efficient than PfNifU‐like protein; PfIscA1 primarily bound iron, suggesting its potential role as a Fe2+ carrier/donor. Our results identify the core P. falciparum ISC machinery and reveal unique features compared with those in bacteria or yeast and human mitochondria.


SUMMARY New bivariate survival function estimators are proposed in the case where the dependence relationship between the censoring variables are modelled. Specific examples include the cases when censoring variables are univariate, mutually independent or specified by a marginal model. Large sample properties of the proposed estimators are discussed. The finite sample performance of the proposed estimators compared with other fully nonparametric estimators is studied via simulations. A real data example is given.


Increasing cell survival in stem cell therapy is an important challenge for the field of regenerative medicine. Here, we report theranostic mesoporous silica nanoparticles that can increase cell survival through both diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. First, the nanoparticle offers ultrasound and MRI signal to guide implantation into the peri-infarct zone and away from the most necrotic tissue. Second, the nanoparticle serves as a slow release reservoir of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)—a protein shown to increase cell survival. Mesenchymal stem cells labeled with these nanoparticles had detection limits near 9000 cells with no cytotoxicity at the 250 µg/mL concentration required for labeling. We also studied the degradation of the nanoparticles and showed that they clear from cells in approximately 3 weeks. The presence of IGF increased cell survival up to 40% (p<0.05) versus unlabeled cells under in vitro serum-free culture conditions.


Purpose. In order to effectively educate medical students who can practice as a medical doctor in the 21C, we proposed educational goals and items of biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB), based on the paradigm shift of medical practices, and accompanied by progression of biomedical sciences. Methods. To understand the present status of medical education of BMB-related subjects in the 41 Korean medical colleges, the Educational Committee of KSMBMB posed questionnaires to the medical schools. The state of medical education in the 70 American medical schools and Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) was also evaluated by internet search, focused on the curriculum and the assigned hours for BMB-related subjects. The Committee also prepared learning objectives of BMB-related subjects. Results. New learning objectives determined by the Committee of KSMBMB comprised 32 chapters with 342 items, which were proposed as the essential items to be learned by medical students in the 21 century. The objectives include new knowledge to practice and apply the tools of molecular medicine, which will be prevailing in medicine. Conclusion. The Educational Committee of KSMBMB suggested new learning objectives of BMB-related subjects, which might be essential for medical students who want to be a medical leader in the sphere of biotechnology as well as medicine.


This study investigated the effects of a tool designed for supporting the online collaborative performance of learners carrying out complex learning tasks. Appropriate collaborative cognitive activities may be evoked by structuring the whole learning task into phases and providing congruent external representations for each stage (i.e., representational scripting). It was hypothesized that this combination would lead to increased individual learning and better results for the collaborative task. In groups, 47 secondary education students worked on a complex business-economics problem in four experimental conditions, namely one where groups received task-congruent representations for all stages and three where they received one of the representations for all three phases (task-incongruent). The results indicate that groups that received task-congruent representations in a phased order scored higher on the collaborative task, though this did not result in increased individual learning.


Much of the discourse in the bioethics literature on what is often called "cesarean delivery on maternal request" has focused on balancing respect for patient autonomy with attention to the short- and long-term risks of this procedure to maternal and neonatal well-being. And while there has been some analysis of the social and economic costs inherent in performing cesareans, much of the clinical and ethical analysis has concluded that, given the degree of risk to the mother and neonate from a primary or single repeat cesarean delivery, there is sufficient justification for pregnant women to request and obtain this procedure from obstetricians willing to meet such requests. However, these same analyses often caution that physicians should not offer these elective cesareans to all women, but only to those who initiate the request. This paper analyzes recommendations that do not promote universal access to these procedures and concludes that such a policy is ethically unjustifiable, as it treats women who do not inquire about such procedures differently. Depriving appropriate candidates—for example, healthy women who are good surgical candidates and desire only one or two children—of information about elective cesarean delivery is a form of undue influence on women's decision-making.


The invention discloses the technology of a high-protection lamp with heat dissipation enhanced by graphene, and belongs to the technical field of LED illumination. The high-protection lamp is technically characterized in that 3 COB light source small modules 2 are connected in series and fixed to a support 3 to form a 240-degree wide-illumination light source. A power supply driver 6 is arranged in the support 3 to form an integral support. The bottom of the support is fixed to a heat dissipation bottom shell 5 and soaked in sealed cooling liquid 9. The cooling liquid is formed by doping dimethyl silicone oil into graphene. Graphene is also added to a light-transmitting PC cover material, and the heat dissipation performance of PCs is enhanced. The surface of the heat dissipation bottom shell is coated with heat dissipation efficiency increasing paint which is mainly prepared from waterborne hydroxy acrylic resin and graphene. By means of the lamp, adverse effects of water, fog, moisture and the like in the outside world on the lamp are effectively isolated while heat dissipation is enhanced, and the safety protection performance is outstanding.


Collateral circulation of the heart consists of complex systems,1)2)3)4) among which, possible routes for a compensatory collateral circulation are 1) interarterial coronary anastomoses, 2) extracardiac anastomoses and 3) reversal of blood flow from cardiac cavities into myocardium.Extracardiac anastomoses are small in caliber but large in number and so collectively that they would be significant anastomoses. Surgical procedures have been tried to accelerate the development of extracardiac anastomoses. On the possible repair of the ischemic myocardium by venous blood from the right heart by the reversal blood flow from cardiac cavities into myocardium, there are some questions because of low oxygen content in the venous blood.


Widespread occurrence of second-generation problems, such as over-mining of soil nutrients, decline in factor productivity, reduction in profitability, lowering of groundwater tables and build up of pests including weeds, diseases and insects has been reported during post-green revolution era in most of the intensively cultivated, high-productivity, cerealbased production systems, which are threatening their sustainability. The research results during the last 2 decades have clearly established that these adverse impacts of green revolution technologies may be mitigated through an appropriate choice of alternative crops and cropping systems, which are efficient user of resource base (land, water, light and energy), economically more remunerative and environment-friendly. An adoption of well-designed situation-specific alternative cropping systems along with appropriate method of cultivation could minimize the occurrence or intensity of diseases and insect pests, including weeds, considerably. These are also helpful in conservation of the soil resource, improvement of soil health and protection of the environment by minimizing nitrate leaching, besides improving nutrient and water-use efficiencies. System-based integrated nutrient management, integrated pest management and resource conservation technologies such as, zero tillage, furrow-irrigated raised bed, and ridge or bed planting are some of the new technologies deserving immediate focus. The suggested strategies of immediate concern are complementary intensive intercropping systems under limited water availability, quantification of on-farm impacts of diversification options on productivity, stability, profitability, soil health, water and nutrient-use productivity development of sustainable production models using computer software, organic farming systems, focus on system-based integrated resource management, development of site-specific precision input management and resource-conservation Technologies, appropriate policies for multi-disciplinary research through inter-institutional and or inter-organizational collaborative programmes, and development of appropriate decision-support systems for'diversification options and resource-use optimization under variable scenarios.


Results are presented from three different applications of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in problems of environmental interest. In one case, LIBS is applied in the on-line control of the nickel recovery process, by monitoring the nickel content of molten ferronickel slabs, in a laboratory scale experiment. In a second case, LIBS is used in the identification of polymer materials, and on the basis of spectral features, criteria are proposed for the distinction among different types of plastic materials. Also, in preliminary experiments, the use of LIBS with respect to the detection of heavy and toxic metals in paints and the possibility of performing depth profile analysis of multiple paint layers is examined.


In work analysesed the vegetative maintenance of warm activity on a basis of the parameters of heart rate variability. The interrelation is revealed between features of mechanisms vegetative of regulation and time of motor reaction at skiers, with which help it is possible to carry out the forecast.


Translation criticism should be objective,impartial and comprehensive.And it should be based on a substantial theory in order to make it rational."Tess of the D'Urbervilles" translated by Zhang Guruo has caused a great impact in translation filed.Some scholars praised it,but some others denounced it.Combined with functionalism teleology,the gains and losses of this translation work are discussed in this paper from synchronic and diachronic aspects.


The Social Security Board is progressively implementing the new law. In April 2014, the SSB started the implementation of the new contribution and benefit levels for the existing benefits (medical care, sickness, maternity and work injury) as well as the collection of contributions for the new family benefits. The main objective of the present report is to provide a picture of the SSB operations and assess the way basic social security functions are conducted at the moment. It aims at understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the SSB in relation to the application of the new social security schemes established by the new Social Security Law, 2012. The final objective of the report is to identify the threats and opportunities for the evolution of the SSB and propose concrete recommendations for
the improvement of the schemes design and implementation.


Abstract Among numerous material used as ion exchangers, porous glasses show a high affinity toward cesium ions. This affinity depends on the pore diameter and the presence of an alkaliborate phase. Materials exhibiting extremely high selectivity of cesium adsorption are obtained from glass of 62.7% SiO2, 26.9% B2O3, 6.6% Na2O, and 3.5% Al2O3 by fast cooling of a crude glass mixture in water and then by leaching with water at 90°C for 1 to 4 h. The selectivity factor of cesium adsorption in relation to sodium exceeds 50.


OBJECTIVE
The aims of this study were to estimate the value a population-representative sample places on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) through willingness to pay (WTP) and to assess the effects of individual characteristics on WTP for ECT.

METHODS
A German population-representative sample of 518 was presented with a hypothetical health loss scenario of depression and was asked to indicate WTP for ECT. Probit and quantile regression were used to estimate the effects of individual characteristics on the probability of stating a positive WTP and on the amount of money respondents were willing to pay.

RESULTS
Two thirds of respondents stated that they had no knowledge about ECT. Most (56.5%) respondents indicated zero WTP for health gains through ECT treatment. Mean WTP was &OV0556;5201 ($5612); median WTP was &OV0556;1000 ($1079). Respondents' monthly household income had a significant effect on the probability of stating a positive WTP. Assessing WTP above zero, income showed a significant positive effect, whereas a higher score of depressive complaints showed a significant negative effect on the amount respondents were willing to pay.

CONCLUSION
Knowledge about ECT treatment is particularly low in the German public.


Silicone gel is widely used to encapsulate power electronic modules. The weakness of the electrical insulation is surface discharges initiated at the gel-substrate-electrode triple junction and the subsequent formation of cavities; so called electrical trees. The propagation characteristics of cavities under high frequency and fast rise time voltages, which are typical waveforms formed in power electronic modules, have not been fully understood. Thus, in this research, the influence of frequency, rise time, and polarity on electrical treeing under repetitive voltage impulses are investigated. The results show that discharge tracks under positive impulses have filamentary shapes, and discharge tracks under negative impulses have spindle-shapes. The cavity length increases with the frequency and is especially long when the rise time is short under high frequency. This indicates the importance of understanding the cavity propagation characteristics under actual voltage waveforms in power electronics modules.