Background Our aim was to assess the association of left ventricular mass with mortality and nonfatal cardiovascular events. Methodology/Principal Findings Left ventricular mass was measured by echocardiography in 40138 adult patients (mean age 61.1±16.4 years, 52.5% male). The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Secondary endpoints included nonfatal myocardial infarction and nonfatal stroke. During a mean follow-up period of 5.6±3.9 years, 9181 patients died, 901 patients had a nonfatal myocardial infarction, and 2139 patients had a nonfatal stroke. Cumulative 10-year mortality was 26.8%, 31.9%, 37.4% and 46.4% in patients with normal, mildly, moderately and severely increased left ventricular mass, respectively (p<0.001). Ten-year rates of nonfatal myocardial infarction and stroke ranged from 3.2% and 6.7% in patients with normal left ventricular mass to 5.3% and 12.7% in those with severe increase in left ventricular mass, respectively. After multivariate adjustment, left ventricular mass remained an independent predictor of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] per 100 g increase 1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14–1–27, p<0.001 in women, and HR 1.09, 95% CI 1.04–1–13, p<0.001 in men), myocardial infarction (HR 1.60, 95% CI 1.31–1.94, p<0.001 in women and HR 1.15, 95% CI 1.02–1.29, p = 0.019 in men) and stroke (HR 1.26, 95% CI 1.13–1.40, p<0.001 in women and HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.09–1.30, p<0.001 in men). Conclusions/Significance Left ventricular mass has a graded and independent association with all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction and stroke.


8276 Background: Malignant spinal cord compression (MSCC) is a devastating complication of advanced malignancy. Any delay in initiation of radiation treatment may result in a deterioration of pre-t...


The place of the press in the implementation of cultural and ideological policy of the party, the methods of its implementation at the regional level is considered.


In the ground of digital word, wireless communication system has widespread functions. The demand for wireless communication is growing day by day. All users want better quality service in scope of wireless communication. Due to high bit error rate (BER), low signal to noise ratio (SNR), limited bandwidth and high standard deviation (SD) of phase error conventional wireless communiqué systems like SISO, SIMO and MISO flops to gather the mounting demand of users. Therefore a new technique MIMO system is realized whose performance is evaluated by parameters BER, SNR and SD of Phase Error. Latest approach for increasing the performance of virtual MIMO communications within peers by ill-treatment situation with giant antenna arrays is developed. MIMO provides low BER and low SD of Phase Error with increased SNR, which forms a good feature for wireless communication system. In this paper, performance of MIMO is assessed under Nakagami-m and Rayleigh fading channels. For a wireless system BER and SD of phase error should be minimum, which is achieved in MIMO system.


Cultural right is a newkind of human right developed gradually with the continuous enrichment of human right theory,which inherently includes some contents of cultural heritage right. However,the proposition of the conception of cultural heritage right is a breakthrough and development of traditional connotation of cultural human right. As a kind of legal rights,cultural heritage right has validity both in form and content. It is a combination of rights enjoyed by certain subjects based on some kind of interests to,or certain connections with certain cultural heritage,under the premise of priority of protection. The subjects can enjoy and use the cultural heritage,benefit from it,dispose it and inherit and develop it at their own will within the limits of law. Cultural heritage right is a unity of public right and private right. The subject of it includes three dimensions of individual,group and human being; the object of it is the cultural heritage as a special resource; and the content of it includes the right to access cultural heritage,enjoy and protect it,inherit and develop it,exploit it,participate in the management of it,as well as ownership right and relevant intellectual property right,etc.


Recently, many new distributions have appeared in the literature in addition to the Maxwell-Boltzmann, for example the Tsallis and Kaniadakis distributions among others. These are said to fit certain experimental data. There has also been a trend to link these new distributions to the maximization of a generalized entropy. In this note, we try to examine the importance of energy conservation in two particle collisions and the consequences of kinematics on the derivation of the equilibrium distribution.


According to GB/T 12412-2007 "yak raw wool",yak raw wool standard samples were developed by uniformity analysis, stability analysis,certification and uncertainty analysis.The standard samples include two different colors:purple and green,each color includes three types;extra-fine,small type and rough type.The standard samples filled the gap of our country's no yak raw wool standard samples,providing a more intuitive,easier to grasp basis for the settlement of the quality of classification of yak raw wool during the section on purchasing,sales,and transferring.


University endowments evaluate their performance relative to that of their peers, which are typically defined as endowments of similar asset size. However, if endowments subject themselves to such ad hoc performance benchmarks, they may diverge from the objectives of their universities. This divergence can introduce frictions and detract the endowment from focusing on managing assets. In this work, I study the feasibility of using organic benchmarks, that is, returns indices created using peer university characteristics, as an alternative to asset size-based benchmarks. I find that organic benchmarks are beneficial especially to larger universities and that considering these benchmarks versus the traditional size-based ones has a positive impact on a variety of university characteristics. However, the weak predictive power of tracking of organic benchmarks, corroborated with some ambiguity of the predicted effects, hint to the conclusion that in creating a benchmark, a "one-size-fits-all" approach may not be best and instead organic benchmarks should be university-specific. I further document that following size benchmarks while ignoring organic benchmarks is detrimental to performance and to a set of university characteristics. In a capital appreciation horse race, $1 invested in endowments outperforming organic benchmarks in the past beats the dollar invested in past underperforming endowments. Similarly, $1 invested in endowments closely tracking an organic benchmark outperforms the dollar invested in those endowments with high tracking errors, but only for value-weighted portfolios. Organic benchmarks for university endowments


Model-driven approaches for designing software and hardware parts of embedded systems are generally limited to their digital parts. On the other hand, virtual prototyping and co-simulation have emerged as a promising research topic, but target the modeling levels when partitioning has already been performed. This paper presents a model-driven platform for the partitioning of analog/mixed-signal systems.


After the technological transformation of drive technology and frequency electronic control technology of belt conveyor at 21 District in Chaohua Coal Mine,it is able to adjust the running speed of belt conveyor according to the real-time output of coal,not only maintains a safe and reliable operation,but also achieves significant economic benefits to ensure high yield and efficiency for the whole mine.


In order to improve grafting techniques of grapefruit,and to provide a theoretical basis for grafting of grapefruit,some grafting experiments of grapefruit were carried out,from the aspects of different grafting methods,grafting periods,scion ages,scion treating methods,stock specifications and different scion cultivars.The results showed that the optimum grafting method was single bud cut-grafting,the best period in spring was the middle of January,and 0.5- and 1-year-old scions were suitable for grafting.It was little effect on grafting survival rate to conserve scions grafted within 24 hours.The grafted new shoot grew well when ground diameter of stock was above 6.00mm.The survival rates of five cultivars of grapefruit were from 87.7% to 95.7% with the single bud cut-grafting method.


The seasonal distributions of phytoplankton biovolume and chlorophyll a content were monitored for 14 months in a deep oligotrophic, high mountain lake (Redo, Pyrenees). An allomet- ric relationship of chlorophyll with biovolume was found throughout the period studied, with a corre- lation coefficient of 0.66. However, the relationship changed with season and the taxonomic composition of the phytoplankton. Both parameters showed a similar seasonal pattern, but differ- ences in space and time were observed. The chlorophyll maximum was recorded deeper and later than that of phytoplankton biovolume. While the biovolume maximum was related to an improve- ment in conditions for growth (nutrient input during column mixing periods), and reflected an increase in biomass, the chlorophyll maximum was related to changes in cell pigment content, and to spatial or successional trends in species dominance. Flagellated chrysophytes predominated at the chlorophyll maxima. Chlorophyll content per unit of phytoplankton biovolume fluctuated greatly throughout the year, depending on light intensity, temperature and phytoplankton composition. Of the main groups of phytoplankton in the lake, the dinoflagellates, which dominated the summer epil- imnion phytoplankton community, recorded the lowest pigment content per biovolume (which is consistent with their size). Higher chlorophyll contents per biovolume were found in the deep hypolimnion and during the winter cover period associated with small cells such as some species of chlorococcales chlorophytes. When flagellated chrysophytes were predominant, a broad range of chlorophyll values per biovolume was found and there was no significant correlation between the two biomass indices. These findings reaffirm the need to treat phytoplankton biomass estimates with caution, in particular when conducting primary production studies. While our results show that changes in chlorophyll content per cell occur as a photoacclimation response along a vertical profile, they also point out a component of the successional trends which appear in a phytoplankton growth phase in a lake.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of hysteroscopy (HS) in detecting intrauterine abnormalities prior to repeat embryo transfer and improving pregnancy outcomes in asymptomatic women with repeated implantation failure (RIF).


We read with great interest the article titled ''A new classification, treatment algorithm and prognosis-estimating system for sigmoid volvulus' published in November 2017, in Colorectal Disease, by Atamanalp (1). We believe that sigmoid volvulus requires a staging system for determining the prognosis and comparison of the results. We appreciate the efforts of Atamanalp for creating a staging system for sigmoid volvulus. However, we want to ask some questions about this classification and share our observations about a case. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


A theoretical model is presented for the study of the near field of light diffracted by ultrasound in an isotropic medium which becomes birefringent in the presence of an acoustic wave. Due to the interference with the sound wave, the diffracted light wave in its near field is seen to act as a quasi-monochromatic light wave which is partially polarized. The degree of coherence ins sen to coincide with the degree of polarization and can be controlled acoustically. Hence coherent laser light can be transformed into incoherent light by sending it through an isotropic material with acoustically induced birefringence. In the experimental part of the work, the non-diagonal elements of the diffracted light beam coherency matrix were measured and a good agreement with the theoretical model was obtained.


We present IAS15, a 15th-order integrator to simulate gravitational dynamics. The integrator is based on a Gaus-Radau quadrature and can handle conservative as well as non-conservative forces. We develop a step-size control that can automatically choose an optimal timestep. The algorithm can handle close encounters and high-eccentricity orbits. The systematic errors are kept well below machine precision and long-term orbit integrations over 10 9 orbits show that IAS15 is optimal in the sense that it follows Brouwer's law, i.e. the energy error behaves like a random walk. Our tests show that IAS15 is superior to a mixed-variable symplectic integrator (MVS) and other high-order integrators in both speed and accuracy. In fact, IAS15 preserves the symplecticity of Hamiltonian systems better than the commonly-used nominally symplectic integrators to which we compared it. We provide an open-source implementation of IAS15. The package comes with several easy-to-extend examples involving resonant planetary systems, Kozai-Lidov cycles, close encounters, radiation pressure, quadrupole moment, and generic damping functions that can, among other things, be used to simulate planet-disc interactions. Other non-conservative forces can be added easily.


This study investigated the effect of collaborative tasks on language performance, with a focus on fluency and accuracy. Three groups of Saudi learners of English in a secondary school were given either awareness raising tasks, meaning-based activities or a combination. Quantitative data collected from 72 Saudi learners of English and then analysed to answer the research questions. The test results were analysed for speech fluency, written fluency, accuracy and lexical richness to provide quantitative measures of any improvement over the three test periods. Consideration was also given to language related episodes (LREs), i.e. pauses, repetitions and self-correction to identify changes during the interactions. The results indicated that there was an improvement in both fluency and accuracy. In addition, there is a likely significant benefit of encouraging interaction amongst peers during a task-based learning approach, particularly when there is a combination of CT and CR tasks, when compared to one task type. The findings underline the relationship between classroom interaction and practice and improvements in fluency and accuracy. This is important due to the increasing view that in the teaching of EFL, fluency is being neglected despite its importance in achieving communicative competence as Tavakoli and Hunter (2018) noted. As a result of the findings we argue that Saudi secondary school EFL classes should place a greater emphasis on TBL and interaction, combining both consciousness raising and communicative tasks to maximise the improved benefits seen in this study.


"Rural Library" is a significant project which is all planned and implemented by the government,and will be beneficial for the farmers of the whole country.The construction of "Rural Library" in Huangshi City has many problems such as insufficient stress,the lack of fund,inadequate devoting reading material,ineffective supervision system,etc.The libraries of local colleges should make use of their superiorities in talents,library collection,equipment and technology to unceasingly promote the construction of "Rural Library" to a healthy and sustainable trend.


shielding of raiIgun by conductors, is one of the best methods for decreasing inner pressure on the rails. Magnetic field which is produced by shield eddy current, neutralizes the forces pressing rails outward and prevents structure deformation. In present articIe by implementing the FE method on railgun cross section, shielding effects on the rails inductance gradient have been considered and effects of shield material and distance between rails and shield on inductance gradient have been researched.


In this paper a useful pseudo-exponential and pseudo-logarithmic circuit is proposed that offers improved performance compared to a current-conveyorbased design. The circuit employs two operational amplifiers and several resistors and mimics the exponential and logarithmic functions over predefined ranges. Control of the pseudo-functions is achieved by a single resistance, which may be digitally switched or implemented by tunable transconductors. Measured results using digitally switched resistors and commercially available components demonstrate the versatility of the circuit for audio/video applications.


A heat flow through the ocean floor of 2.81 × 10−6 cal/cm2 sec was measured during the preliminary drilling phase of project Mohole 75 km east of Guadalupe Island in the Pacific. Temperature gradient measurements were made in the hole during the progress of the drilling in the unconsolidated sediments, and the results check well with other measurements made nearby by the probe technique from oceanographic vessels. The high heat flow is consistent with the known structure and tectonic activity of the region.


Introduction There is increasing pressure to rapidly shape policies and inform decision-making where robust evidence is lacking. This work aimed to explore the value of soft-intelligence as a novel source of evidence. We deployed an artificial intelligence based natural language platform to identify and analyze a large collection of UK tweets relating to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A search strategy comprising a list of terms relating to mental health, COVID-19 and the lockdown was developed to prospectively identify relevant tweets via Twitter's advanced search application programming interface. We used a specialist text analytics platform to explore tweet frequency and sentiment across the UK and identify key topics of discussion for qualitative analysis. All collated tweets were anonymized. Results We identified 380,728 tweets from 184,289 unique users in the UK from 30 April to 4 July 2020. The average sentiment score was fifty-two percent, suggesting overall positive sentiment. Tweets around mental health were polarizing, discussed with both positive and negative sentiment. For example, some people described how they were using the lockdown as a positive opportunity to work on their mental health, sharing helpful strategies to support others. However, many people expressed the damaging impact the pandemic (and resulting lockdown) was having on their mental health, including worsening anxiety, stress, depression, and loneliness. Conclusions The results suggest that soft-intelligence is potentially a useful source of evidence. The approach taken to identify and analyze this data may offer an efficient means of establishing key insights from the 'public voice' relating to critical health issues. However, there are still various limitations to consider concerning the technology and representativeness of the data. Future work to explore this type of evidence further, and how it might formally support decision-making processes, is recommended. This project is funded by the NIHR [(HSRIC-2016-10009)/Innovation Observatory]. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.


There seems to be a prepotent pressure in education today to publish research that is qualitative. That is, there is a strong, professional expectation that any scholarly writing will not simply present the design and results of a study in quantitative terms, but will add to—or replace—quantitative presentation with description that addresses the situation, the characters, and the contextual concerns of the research. This kind of educational research—qualitative research—is often touted as being "richer," or "fuller," or as providing "thick texture." When I first heard these terms dropped into academic conversations, I thought my colleagues were talking about cappuccino or something. But recently I've discovered that I'm actually an outcaste from the academy: I'm a quantitative methodologist. I use numbers. In fact—perhaps, worst of all—my specialty is educational testing, which makes me especially repugnant. Numbers are out; rich, full texture is in. To publish in the most respected journals in my field, it is becoming increasingly necessary to wax qualitative. For example, a colleague of mine in educational psychology told me of some research she had recently submitted for publication. The manuscript dealt with the different ways that teachers collaborate with student teachers. The reviewers reacted favorably to the manuscript, but the journal editor suggested that it be revised and resubmitted. The problem? "The results of the regression analysis are presented in terms that are too 'black and white.' We need to get to know these teachers." The editor's wording was deliberate. Saying that "we need to get to know these teachers" was sending an encrypted message. My colleague understood the code though, and emended the manuscript to include snippets of the student teachers' conferences with their supervisors, exchanges between the student teachers and the students in their classroom, and rich, full description of the classroom context. The colleague further ensured that the revised manuscript would be accepted by adding material in the introduction that described her perspective (this is called "situating yourself"), and by restating her conclusions so that they didn't sound so conclusive (qualitative research deals with phenomena that are "emerging"). I suppose that I've just succumbed to the pressure by relating this incident! There has certainly been much written about the roles of qualitative and quantitative research in the social sciences. It seems like every other month or so a scholar writes something like "Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research: Which Is Better?" or "Tortured Reality: The Nexus of Numbers and Nominalism." Most of these seem awkward to me, resembling the academy's version of a Ford versus Chevy monster truck pull. There's a fair share of name-calling, too. Or, to borrow from the discourse of qualitative research, the debates have not been affirming. Quantitative researchers are cast as number-crunching, neo-know-nothing objectivists. Qualitative researchers are scorned as wild-eyed, storytelling mythmakers. I don't want to be lumped into either of those camps. But I am primarily a quantitative methodologist by education. I wonder: Was I permanently programmed to honor that tradition? Or is it perhaps some conditioning experienced during my childhood that makes me wonder about qualitative research? When I was little, my mother would ask me if I was telling the truth or "telling a story." I learned that the former was the right thing to do; sometimes I got spanked for the latter. But now, in the era of kinder, gentler research, I am discovering that I must come to lean on narratives for my voice to be heard. Fellow educational psychologist David Berliner has stated the advice directly: "We must learn to tell stories about our research" (1992, p. 143). Although I will likely remain an unreconstructed quantifier, it is becoming clear to me that I must at least take pains to genuflect in the direction of the qualitative gods. Recently, I have tried not paginating my manuscripts so that they don't appear to be overly quantitative (though I can report that most journal editors have not appreciated this good-faith effort).


In a plasma processing chamber, a method for processing a substrate is provided. The method includes supporting the substrate in the plasma processing chamber configured with an upper electrode (UE) and a lower electrode (LE), configuring at least one radio frequency power source to ignite plasma between the UE and the LE, and providing a conductive coupling ring, the conductive coupling ring is coupled to the LE to provide a conductive path. The method further includes providing a plasma-facing-substrate-periphery (PFSP) ring, the PFSP ring being disposed above the conductive coupling ring. The method yet further includes coupling the PFSP ring to at least one of a direct current (DC) ground through an RF filter, the DC ground through the RF filter and a variable resistor, a positive DC power source through the RF filter, and a negative DC power source through the RF filter to control plasma processing parameters.


The study of sea surface salinity (SSS) plays an important role in the marine ecosystem, estimation of global ocean circulation and observation of fisheries, aquaculture, coral reef and sea grass habitats. The new challenge of SSS estimation is to exploit the ocean surface brightness temperature (Tb) observed by the Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS) onboard the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite that is specifically designed to provide the best retrieval of ocean salinity and soil moisture using the L band of 1.4 GHz radiometer. Tb observed by radiometer is basically a function of the dielectric constant, sea surface temperature (SST), wind speed (U), incidence angle, polarization and SSS. Though, the SSS estimation is an ill-posed inversion problem as the relationship between the Tb and SSS is non-linear function. Objective of this study is to validate the SMOS SSS estimates with the ground-truth over the Malaysia coastal water. The LM iteratively determines the SSS of SMOS by the reduction of the sum of squared errors between Tb SMOS and Tb simulation (using in-situ) based on the updated geophysical triplet in the direction of the minimum of the cost function. The minimum cost function is compared to the desired threshold at each iteration and this recursive least square process updates the SST, U and SSS until the cost function converged. The designed LM's non-linear inversion algorithm simultaneously estimates SST, U and SSS and thus, map of SSS over Malaysia coastal water is produced from the regression model and accuracy assessment between the SMOS and in-situ retrieved SSS. This study found a good agreement in the validation with R square of 0.9 and the RMSE of 0.4. It is concluded that the non-linear inversion method is effective and practical to extract SMOS SSS, U and SST simultaneously.


Objective: Small scale survey was performed to know the infection status of Giardia lamblia among children residing in nine villages rural localities of Wadi Al-Shati province, Libya. Methods: A total of 501 stool specimens, from were examined by direct smears (normal saline and iodine preparation) and formalin-ether concentration methods. Results: The overall prevalence of Giardia lamblia was 3.1% (16 infected) and there was no significant difference between the used methods (p> 0.05). The infection was found to be synchronized with other intestinal parasites, Entamoeba histolytica /E. dispar , E. coli and with B. hominis. In general, girls were more infected (3.8% , 10) than boys (2.5%, 6). However, difference between them was not statistically significant (p> 0.05). The highest prevalence (7.4%) of G. lamblia was found among 12 to 14 years old age group and lowest (0.9%) was found among less than one year group. The prevalence of infection was associated with overcrowding of the family (p = 0.011), body waste disposal (p = 0.000), floors of homes (p = 0.000), and water supply (p = 0.043). Abdominal pain was the most common symptoms (0.75%). Conclusion: The present study offers first epidemiological attempt to report the prevalence of giardiasis among children living in different villages of Wadi Al-Shati province. This region could be classified as low prevalence area for giardiasis . However, more studies are needed in order to delineate the predictors associated with Giardia infection


Monolithic integration of semiconductor optoelectronic devices including waveguides on a single small chip is focused now.1,2 We initiated the work with a sketch of monolithic structures for heterodyne detection called optical coherent block,3 and it has been followed by refining single-mode semiconductor waveguide devices such as the Mach-Zehnder interferometer.4 Then a prototype of a monolithic integrated coherent receiver including a local oscillating (LO) laser, a 3-dB waveguide directional coupler, and pin photodetectors (PINs) has been successfully fabricated with preliminary heterodyning detection experiments.1 Figure 1 shows a schematic of the first reported device. The size is small: 0.25 mm x 4.15 mm. The device applicability seems to be fairly high on the basis of the several advantages. First, the LO laser coupled to the monolithically jointed waveguide has normally operated with reasonable linewidth of a few tens of megahertz without an isolator between them for the ordinary system experimental setup. Then the device compactness and mechanical stability could be potentially superior to the hybrid device combination up to a certain level of the coherence. However, at present, dual PINs on the chip are not operating with the balanced mixing mode because of the technological immaturity, i.e., the PINs are electrically common on the conductive n-substrate. Namely, the integration of those components on a semi-insulating substrate is a final goal for the device completion. On the other hand, high performances of the coherent transmission experiments are reported in the system when conventional discrete devices are combined. Also, a silica (or glass) waveguide coupler instead of the fiber-type coupler will emerge in near future. Consequently, three sets of the components combination are likely to be candidates for the future system implementation.


Studies involving both technical and further education (TAFE) students and university students have identified social integration, motivation and quality of teaching as important factors influencing non-completion and academic achievement. The aim of the current study was to develop and test a measurement model that captures these constructs in tertiary students. Questionnaire responses were collected from 165 TAFE marketing students and 148 university undergraduate psychology students. A three-factor independent cluster measurement model comprising latent factors for social integration, motivation and teaching was specified and tested using confirmatory factor analysis. While the three-factor model was found to fit the data well for the students from TAFE, contrary to expectations, this model was not valid for university students. The lack of congruence between the results may be partly due to the greater degree of skewness of the items comprising the motivation factor in the university cohort. A two-factor model comprising only the teaching and social integration factors was subsequently specified for the university sample and was found to have adequate fit. Further research is warranted to determine the extent to which the measure might be generalised to other tertiary student populations.


A review of "Perceived Influence of Media on What Goes on in a Communlty," by Kim A. Smith. This review is available in Journal of Applied Communications: https://newprairiepress.org/jac/vol68/iss4/6


The Third European Trainees Forum met in Copenhagen in May 1995. Twenty-nine delegates from fourteen countries came together to discuss training issues in the European context. New comers representing France, Spain and Italy joined representatives from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal. As in previous years, the Forum addressed a number of specific training topics and discussed furthering links with other European psychiatric bodies. One of the aims of the Forum is to encourage trainees in member countries to form national trainee organisations. Two years ago only four countries had done so UK, The Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark. The position has improved with the encouragement of the Forum and new national trainee organisations have sprung up in Sweden, Finland and Italy. Barriers to establish ing these often exist such as funding difficulties or structural obstacles such as in Belgium where there is a complete separation of Flemish and French-speaking psychiatric trainees. The further expansion of the Forum was discussed: contacts are being made with Austria and Iceland. Luxembourg, we were informed, has no psychiatric trainees: their psychiatrists train in Belgium. Some talk centred on the Eastern European countries, the Baltic States and Rus sia, but the general view was that it was still too early for the Forum to go beyond the confines of its current Western European membership. The Forum has established links with several other European psychiatric bodies. Representa tives of the Forum now attend meetings of the European Board for (Adult) Psychiatry and the European Board for Child and Adolescent Psy chiatry as observers. A Forum representative joined a World Health Organization consultation team travelling to Romania this Summer to comment on their newly-established five-year psychiatric training programme. Many trainees are attracted to the possibility of undertaking a portion of their training in another European country. When this does occur, it is on an ad hoc basis, dependent on the goodwill of their clinical tutor or hospital director. Financial considerations are often a strong deterrent in the less affluent European countries. At the meeting no European body could be identified that would fund or organise such exchanges. The Forum discussed the proposed minimum requirements for specialist training put forward by the European Board. The UK and Ireland still have the longest training. Three other countries (Italy, France and Spain) had training for four years and the rest five years. Our personal view is that training in the UK is among the best in Europe, particularly when hearing of the defi ciencies or vagaries of training in other European countries. Indeed, several delegates commented on the reputation of the Royal College in maintaining the standards of training in the UK and Ireland. Great interest was also shown in the recent College publication Psychiatry in Europe (1994). This year the Forum will be hosted by Portugal which will also assume the presidency for the year. Topics on the agenda are likely to include logbooks, guidelines on how to create national trainees' organisations, acquisition of teaching


This research has been done to determine the relationship between moisture content in mesocarp and kernel and palm oil development during the ripening process of fresh fruit bunches (FFB). For this purpose, Tenera oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) variety (a cross between Dura and Pisifera) on eight years old palms planted in 2003 at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Research Station were selected. Fresh fruit bunches were harvested and were divided into three regions (top, middle and bottom) where the fruits from outer and inner layers of them were removed randomly during the ripening process between 8, 12,16 and 20 weeks after anthesis. The soxhlet extraction tubes were used to the palm oil extraction. Calculation of earned data related to ripening time, oil yield and moisture content has done by MSTAT-C and Microsoft Excel computer programs. The results showed that with fruit development from 8 weeks after anthesis until the end of the ripening stage, mesocarp moisture content decreased from 86.33% to 20.86% while oil percent increased from 1.24% at 8 weeks after anthesis to 29.6% at 20 weeks after anthesis. From 12 weeks after anthesis until the end of the ripening stage, kernel moisture content decreased from 45.63% to 30.48%. The lowest kernel oil percent of 0.03% was recorded at 12 weeks after anthesis, while the highest kernel oil content of 3.21% was recorded at 20 weeks after anthesis.


Abstract Finnish vowel harmony rules require that if the vowel in the first syllable of a word belongs to one of two vowel sets, then all subsequent vowels in that word must belong either to the same set or to a neutral set. A harmony mismatch between two syllables containing vowels from the opposing sets thus signals a likely word boundary. We report five experiments showing that Finnish listeners can exploit this information in an on-line speech segmentation task. Listeners found it easier to detect words like hymy at the end of the nonsense string puhymy (where there is a harmony mismatch between the first two syllables) than in the string pyhymy (where there is no mismatch). There was no such effect, however, when the target words appeared at the beginning of the nonsense string (e.g., hymypu vs hymypy ). Stronger harmony effects were found for targets containing front harmony vowels (e.g., hymy ) than for targets containing back harmony vowels (e.g., palo in kypalo and kupalo ). The same pattern of results appeared whether target position within the string was predictable or unpredictable. Harmony mismatch thus appears to provide a useful segmentation cue for the detection of word onsets in Finnish speech.


The main problems of the OPW method are discussed including (a) consideration of core states; (b) effect of overlap of wave functions of external core states upon the band structure; (c) calculation of d-type states. The modified orthogonal plane wave method (MOPW method) of Deegan and Twose is applied in a general form to solve the problems of the usual OPW method. For the first time the influence on the spectrum of the main parameters of the MOPW method is studied systematically by calculating the electronic energy spectrum in the transition metals Nb and V.


Blog attracts users involved by providing a personalized information release platform and presenting a wide range of contents. Writing and browsing Blog has become the Internet's new fashion,which promotes the development of Blog search service. However the most up-to-date Blog search services only provide keyword-based matching,lacking automatic extraction of user interests and further interest-related Blog recommendation. This paper describes the design and implementation of an interest mining and recommendation system Blog-digger. The system adopts interest mining technology and can automatically identify the use's interests and recommend interest-related Blog initiatively. Experimental results show that the system is effective.


Immunoglobulin class switch recombination occurs at frequencies of up to 10%/cell/generation in activated murine B‐lymphocytes. We analysed cH gene rearrangements and switch recombinations from active and inactive IgH loci of B‐cells activated in various ways and immortalized by cell fusion. Although about half of the IgM+ cells show rearrangement of c mu genes, the deletion of c mu is a rare event. Half of the IgG3+ and IgG1+ cells show rearrangement of c mu genes on the inactive IgH locus and the other half of the IgG+ cells have deleted c mu from both IgH loci by switch recombination. This recombination is directed to the same switch regions on both IgH loci in 60‐80% of all cases. Interleukin 4 may play a critical role in programming murine B‐lymphocytes for specific switch recombination.


Objective To study the resistance level of clinically isolated Pseudomonas aeruginosa to disinfectants and to know the correlation between antibiotics-resistant P.aeruginosa and resistance to disinfectants.Method The paper disc diffusion method and suspension quantitative germicidal test with standard strain of P.aeruginosa for comparison were used to carry out laboratory observation.Results Among 30 strains of P.aeruginosa,the resistance rate to β-lactam compounds(penicillins) was 100% and that to chloromycetin was 90%.The resistance rate to carbapenems was the lowest,being 19.67%.The killing logarithm values of 30 strains of clinically isolated P.aeruginosa exposed to the disinfectant solution containing bromogeramine 400 mg/L for 7 min were 5.00 accounted for 43.33% and the killing logarithm values of the standard strain of P.aeruginosa exposed to the disinfectant solution containing bromogeramine 400 mg/L for 7 min were 5.00,which was eligible.The clinically isolated P.aeruginosa strains showing killing logarithm 5.00 after exposure to chlorine-containing disinfectants containing available chlorine 200 mg/L for 7 min accounted for 10% and there were still some strains showing ineligible disinfection,while the killing logarithm values of standard strains exposed for 3 min were 5.00 which was eligible.The clinically isolated P.aeruginosa strains showing killing logarithm values 5.00 after exposure to iodoine 75 mg/L for 7 min accounted for 16.67% and some strains showed ineligible disinfection,while the killing logarithm values of the standard strains after exposure for 5 min were 5.00 which was eligible.Conclusion The clinically isolated P.aeruginosa strains which had high rate of resistance to antibiotics and multi-drug resistance showed same levels of resistance to bromogeramine as the standard strains,while their levels of resistance to iodophor and chlorine-containing disinfectants were slightly higher than those of the standard strains.


Abstract Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a peroxisomal disorder which leads to the accumulation of very long-chain fatty acids in all tissues. Age at onset of symptoms vary depending on the phenotype severity. It can present with progressive symptoms of neurological defects and/or primary adrenal insufficiency. We report a case of 31 yo man diagnosed in childhood with ALD and treated with hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone who eventually developed resistant hypertension due to secondary hyperaldosteronism. He was diagnosed with ALD at 9-year-old and have received an allogenic hematopoietic cell graft 4 years later. After transplantation, he developed a bronchiolitis obliterans which was treated with high dose of glucocorticoids for 3 years. In 2014, at first evaluation with our team, he was on hydrocortisone 10mg/m2 and fludrocortisone 0.05 mg daily. Fludrocortisone was started at 14 yo for a clinical suspicion of mineralocorticoids deficiency. At that time, the patient was normokaliemic (3.8 mmol\L), his aldosterone was, 2 days apart, 245pmol/L lying down and 68 pmol/L (N 138 - 413) sitting, his renin activity was 0.11 ng/L/s (N 0.14 - 0.31) and no orthostatic hypotension was documented. In July 2015, high blood pressure (BP) was noticed, and fludrocortisone was decreased at 0.05 mg every other day. However, his BP continued to increase progressively, thereby fludrocortisone was discontinued in June 2018. Thereafter, amlodipine 10 mg daily, hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg daily and terazosin 2 mg daily were progressively introduced. Even with those three anti-hypertensive drugs his BP wasn't controlled (190/100 mmHg) and he also developed persistent hypokalemia (3.0 - 3.3 mmol/L). Furthermore, significant aortic atheromatosis was described on abdominal computed tomography. In that context, his serum aldosterone/renin ratio was measured. The aldosterone was 632 pmol/L (N < 350) and the renin mass was 93.4 ng/L (N 3 - 16). An assessment of renal arteries was done by doppler ultrasonography, which was compatible with a hemodynamically significant right renal artery stenotic lesion. The patient had never smoke, had no diabetes (HbA1c 5.1%) or dyslipidemia (LDL 2.02 mmol/L). Based on the diagnosis of secondary aldosteronism, spironolactone was introduced in June 2020. Spironolactone was titrated to 37.5 mg daily and BP significantly improved with values around 136/75 and potassium return in normal range (3.8 mmol/L). This interesting case illustrates 1) the persistence of a functioning zona glomerulosa in some patient with ALD and the possible development of secondary hyperaldosteronism in response to renovascular disorder and 2) the particularly high burden of atherosclerosis in this young patient, without classic risk factor, raises questions on the effect of the metabolic defect of ALD itself on the development of atheromatosis.


Payment system data are available with virtually no time lag and could therefore help in tracking the evolution of GDP in real time. Using data from the Spanish national system for retail payments, we compare the performance of GDP nowcasts against that of alternative indicators. The main result is that payment system data can make a significant contribution to nowcasting GDP and they can also improve the performance of simple models that are currently based only on purchasing managers indices (PMIs).


We show that the dual of the cone of divisors on a complete Q-factorial toric variety X whose stable base loci have dimension less than k is generated by curves on small modifications of X that move in families sweeping out the birational transforms of k-dimensional subvarieties of X . We give an example showing that it does not suffice to consider curves on X itself. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000) Primary 14C20 · Secondary 14M25


This paper examines affinity chromatography (AC) as an alternative tool for the determination of protein‐ligand interactions for the particular case in which the ligand is the same protein. The methodology is less labor‐intensive and more sample‐efficient than traditional methods used to measure the second virial coefficient ( B22), a parameter commonly used to evaluate protein‐protein interactions. The chromatographic capacity factor ( k′) was studied for lysozyme and equine serum albumin for a wide range of experimental solution conditions such as crystallizing agent concentration, protein concentration and pH. Parallel experiments using AC to determine k′ and static light scattering (SLS) to determine B22 showed that the two parameters were highly correlated. Two different column volumes (∼1 and ∼0.1 mL) were tested and gave essentially the same values for k′, showing the feasibility of miniaturization.


The second of three articles contrasts new regulations with existing legislation with regard to VDU use and laws for health and safety. Shows that there is little new to be added but the regulations are made much clearer.


The integration of uncertain power resources is causing more challenges for traditional load modeling research. Parameter identification of load modeling is impacted by a variety of load components with time-varying characteristics. This paper develops a deep learning-based time-varying parameter identification model for composite load modeling (CLM) with ZIP load and induction motor. A multi-modal long short-term memory (M-LSTM) deep learning method is used to estimate all the time-varying parameters of CLM considering system-wide measurements. It contains a multi-modal structure that makes use of different modalities of the input data to accurately estimate time-varying load parameters. An LSTM network with a flexible number of temporal states is defined to capture powerful temporal patterns from the load parameters and measurements time series. The extracted features are further fed to a shared representation layer to capture the joint representation of input time series data. This temporal representation is used in a linear regression model to estimate time-varying load parameters at the current time. Numerical simulations on the 23- and 68-bus systems verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed M-LSTM method. Also, the optimal lag values of parameters and measurements as input variables are solved.


The development of a control strategy for direct dynamic end-point control of a manipulator based on position estimates obtained from endpoint mounted sensors is presented. The feasibility of using an extended Kalman filter algorithm for relative position estimates based on task object feature locations extracted from images obtained from an end-point mounted camera has been studied. An experimental system has been constructed and the position estimation and control strategy implemented to test the performance of the design. Tests have demonstrated the successful operation of the control strategy developed and have also demonstrated the feasibility of using an extended Kalman filter for relative position estimates at a sample rate of 61 Hz.<<ETX>>


We report three patients with presacral lesions, a mucocele, and abscess, and a recurrent rectal adenocarcinoma respectively. The ultrasonographic findings are described with emphasis on the transperineal approach.


Design requirements for next generation hardware are in process at NASA. Anthropometry requirements are given in terms of minimum and maximum sizes for critical dimensions that hardware must accommodate. These dimensions drive vehicle design and suit design, and implicitly have an effect on crew selection and participation. At this stage in the process, stakeholders such as cockpit and suit designers were asked to provide lists of dimensions that will be critical for their design. In addition, they were asked to provide technically feasible minimum and maximum ranges for these dimensions. Using an adjusted 1988 Anthropometric Survey of U.S. Army (ANSUR) database to represent a future astronaut population, the accommodation ranges provided by the suit critical dimensions were calculated. This project involved participation from the Anthropometry and Biomechanics facility (ABF) as well as suit designers, with suit designers providing expertise about feasible hardware dimensions and the ABF providing accommodation analysis. The initial analysis provided the suit design team with the accommodation levels associated with the critical dimensions provided early in the study. Additional outcomes will include a comparison of principal components analysis as an alternate method for anthropometric analysis.


With a view to measuring the joint effects of nonlinearity and asymmetry on bivariate associations, this study presented Pearson correlation as an equivalent simple regression model for two standard Gaussian random variables. Based on this equivalence relationship, correlation model was formulated under some mixture of skew-normality and nonlinearity assumptions. Subsequently, the adequacy of proposed model was evaluated in a comprehensive simulation study. Estimated correlation values from the proposed technique were compared with those from some three commonly-used techniques of Pearson, Spearman and Kendall. Empirical findings showed that in all mixtures of levels of skewness and degrees of nonlinearity, the proposed gave correct values of: For varying levels of skewness and nonlinearity, the three other methods gave correct correlation coefficients only for Kendall's, in particular, did not give correct values for any degrees of nonlinearity and levels of skewness.


is true. Charge: It offends common sense to say that Caesar's birth was a cause of his death. Response: e assertibility conditions of causal claims are affected by conversational context. Even if () is true, in normal contexts it will be uninformative, or misleading, or not a suitable answer to the sorts of questions we are interested in. And general pragmatic principles explain why it would offend common sense to assert even true sentences that are uninformative, misleading or not topical. So it is no mark against a theory of causation that it predicts that () and certain other odd sounding sentences are true. is response, prominent in the work of Lewis (a, –; , ), Bennett (, –), and others, is based on the plausible idea that some distinctions made in natural language need not—indeed, should not—be re ected in metaphysics. Natural language does distinguish between Caesar's birth and Brutus's stabbing, with respect to being a cause of Caesar's death, but perhaps our metaphysics of causation should not. If we pursue this line, as I thinkwe should, thenwemust askwhich natural language distinctions do constrain our metaphysics, and how. ese questions are especially important for distinctions that are sensitive to features of conversational context, because we should not inadvertently impute the effects of such context sensitivity to our metaphysics. is paper starts by arguing that ordinary causal talk is far more sensitive to conversational context than has been recognized to date. I then formulate a principle that helps characterize that context sensitivity. I argue that this principle explains why some putative overgenerated causes are never felicitously counted, in conversation, as causes, and I argue that a plausibly strengthened version of the principle explains at least some of the oddness of 'systematic causal overdetermination.' ese explanations are a natural extension of the line that Lewis, Bennett, and others take with (): when we are confronted with linguistic data that threaten to make trouble for our metaphysics, we try to give a plausible explanation of the data that does not require any changes to our metaphysics. When we are successful, we are not obligated to change the metaphysics. e linguistic explanations of () and many other examples are oen seen as a boon to metaphysics—a


With the integration of large-scale renewable energy and various new types of loads, the stochastic fluctuation characteristic of the power has seriously affected the secure and stable operation of interconnected power grids. In addition to active power fluctuations of AC tie-lines that have been studied in the past, the problem of dynamic fluctuation of bus voltage is also increasingly prominent. Firstly, the typical power fluctuations of electric railway traction load, smelting load, and wind power generation in modern power systems are presented and the accompanying voltage fluctuations are analyzed. Secondly, the dynamic fluctuation mechanism and distribution characteristic of the system voltage under special forced oscillation and generalized forced oscillation are studied. It is found that when the periodic disturbance induces a special forced oscillation, the voltage fluctuation has the same mode information compared to the power angle fluctuation. And it also has obvious peak characteristics near the natural frequency. When the stochastic disturbance induces generalized forced oscillation, the voltage fluctuations can be decomposed into proportional and resonant components according to its frequency domain characteristic. Finally, the above conclusions are verified by the simulation results of an IEEE 4-generator 2-area system.


S A concrete extension of analyses of scientific method and social study already undertaken in the pages of this journal and elsewhere, the present article will endeavor to clarify certain long-standing preconceptions in classical and neo-classical economic doctrine which still persist and which, in the light of 20th century methodology, can be given no other label than that of pseudo-scientific.' These preconceptions revolve primarily about the ideas of "value," "cost," "utility," and "price," which ideas have suffered little change to the present day and which even early writers recognized as being vague and ambiguous.2


Requests for E-mail system in Chengdu-Deyang-Mianyang region's networked manufacturing system are analyzed according to its practical command. Especially, its security is discussed deeply. Some familiar technology for the security of E-mail system is introduced. The software architecture and its configuration process for the E-ma il system of networked manufacturing system are presented.


The invention discloses a ground sliding type flexible end assembling system which comprises a vehicle body conveying system, a welding system, end assembling clamps, an integral assembling system, a clamp storage system and a clamp switching system. The clamp storage system comprises a plurality of parallelly-arranged bidirectional sliding rails, storage positions for storing the end assembling clamps are formed on the bidirectional sliding rails, the clamp switching system comprises a left sliding table conveying track and a right sliding table conveying track, clamp conveying tracks respectively led from two sides of the integral assembling system to the left sliding table conveying track and the right sliding table conveying track, sliding tables running on the left sliding table conveying track and the right sliding table conveying track and conveying mechanisms capable of dragging the end assembling clamps located on the bidirectional sliding rails and the clamp conveying tracks, wherein the left sliding table conveying track and the right sliding table conveying track are led to two sides of the integral assembling system through two ends of each bidirectional sliding rail. The ground sliding type flexible end assembling system is more flexible in end assembling clamp switching mode, a switching period is shortened, meanwhile occupied area is decreased, and accordingly the random clamp switching demand during multi-vehicle-type production is met.


This paper presents a design and implementation techniques to construct a universal microcontroller board based on realtime measurement and control applications. It is not only designed for realtime applications, but is also designed for supporting many modern WiFi devices that utilize TCP/IP protocol over internet networks. It means the proposed system fully supports many Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. Furthermore, it can also be used for computer based monitoring and control applications and many other industrial applications, including Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoTs) as well. In addition, the universal microcontroller board is designed for flexibility of use, meaning the users can custom the board to reduce and expand their applications. The system is composed of all necessary components including analog and digital input/output ports, WiFi communication based on TCP/IP. The realtime operating system (RTOS) and communication protocol drivers, e.g., UART, I2C, and SPI, are also embedded in the microcontroller firmware. The system is evaluated and examined in web-based realtime monitoring to prove that it can be used in IoT based realtime applications. The experimental results show that the proposed system appropriately exchanges data over internet networks to web-browser with high speed data transfer rate as expected.


It is greatly to be regretted that it is as yet not possible to present to this committee a comprehensive report upon the physical effects of premature toil, based upon a thorough and scientific investigation. Many persons express surprise at learning that up to this time no such study has been made. In the course of a recent effort to improve the child labor law of this state, a discussion developed between the committee and a group of manufacturers objecting to certain of its provisions, the committee seeking to show that ten hours of work daily must be considered injurious to the


The author presents results from two of his graduate students from an ongoing research project into the effectiveness of a stormwater wetland BMP (Best Management Practice) (Fig 1). The first thesis (Dotts, 1999) examines the calibration and performance of a hydrologic model in recreating recorded storm events from both the stormwater wetlands and the wetlands stream, while the second (Mullock 1999) examines the nutrient removal effectiveness of the stormwater wetland basin.


We studied the breeding activities of Bokermannohyla nanuzae at an Atlantic Forest site in southeastern Brazil from August 2010 to April 2012. We described courtship behaviour, acoustic parameters of calls, egg clutch features and the egg-laying site, and characterized the reproductive mode. We recorded calling males and gravid females almost year-round, except for a few months in the dry season. We observed the interaction of five male–female pairs that exhibited stereotyped behavioural sequences including visual and tactile signals. We identified three different types of calls that we considered as the advertisement call and two types of courtship calls. Egg clutches were placed in rocky crevices with water or in streamside puddles, among rocks, that would be likely to be flooded as stream water level raises, which characterizes a reproductive mode different from the one previously recognized for this species. The breeding biology of B. nanuzae is complex, with elaborate courtship behaviour and signalling.


The Jacobi formula for the derivative of the determinant of a matrix has been well known for a long time. For the antisymmetric and symmetric tensors powers, norms of their first derivatives had been calculated in [7] and [5] respectively. Recently, Bhatia and Jain [8] have derived three formulas for higher order derivatives of the determinant each of which is a generalisation of the Jacobi formula. After that, Jain [10] has also calculated higher order derivatives for the antisymmetric tensor powers. In the same spirit, here we obtain derivatives of all orders for the symmetric tensor powers. To obtain these, we first calculate the derivatives of the permanent function. We also evaluate the norm of the derivatives of the symmetric tensor powers and give a bound on the norm of the derivatives of the permanent function. As corollaries, we derive higher order perturbation bounds for these functions. Let φ : M(n) → C be a differentiable map. The derivative of φ at a n × n complex matrix A is the linear map Dφ(A) : M(n) → C whose action at X ∈ M(n) is given by :–


INTRODUCTION
Anti-CD3-immunotoxin (alpha-CD3-IT) promotes allograft tolerance in nonhuman primates owing to efficient depletion of sessile and circulating T cells. Common side effects of vascular leak syndrome, hepatotoxicity, and nephrotoxicity have limited tolerability of other immunotoxins. We report on preclinical studies of alpha-CD3-IT-related side effects.

METHODS
Normal rhesus monkeys received a kidney transplant and alpha-CD3-IT alone (on day -to +2) or in combination with brief peritransplant adjunctive immunosuppressive therapy. Some received donor CD34+ cells. Blood chemistries, complete blood count, weight, liver, and kidney biopsies were examined for immunotoxin-related changes. Five spontaneously diabetic primates also received alpha-CD3-IT, three of whom had a pancreas islet transplant.

RESULTS
The main side effect of alpha-CD3-IT, vascular leak syndrome, was entirely prevented by adjunctive immunosuppressive therapy. Renal and liver function tests and biopsies revealed a lack of nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity. All had transient weight loss (14+/-5%). Without infusion of donor CD34+ cells, 97% had full weight recovery. Of those given donor CD34+ cells, 50% were euthanized for wasting.

CONCLUSIONS
Side effects of alpha-CD3-IT are manageable and should not prevent therapeutic application.


The present study examined the relation between self-reported academic dishonesty and attitudes towards dishonest academic behaviors in 244 college students. Analysis suggested that self-reported academic dishonesty and approval of academic dishonest behaviors were positively correlated.


Seven herbicides (Balan, Eptam, Butyrac, Buctril, Basagran, Pursuit, and Poast) at two rates each and 11 combinations were compared with a non-treated control for weed control in seedling alfalfa on the Bill Sigman Ranch and Dennis Gant Farm near Prineville, Oregon in 1987. Eptam + Balan combination gave good control of major broadleaf weeds (lambsquarters, pigweed, and shepherd's purse) at each location. Each herbicide alone was weak on shepherd's purse. Balan and Eptam each in combination with Butyrac, Buctril, and Basagran gave acceptable control of the broadleaf weeds. Buctril + Butyrac also gave good broadleaf control.


Objective The performance of Shaanxi hospitals from 1997 to 2000 is assessed by using a DEA model augmented with investment constraints.Methods The overall efficiency of hospitals in use of variable factors is decomposed into technical and allocative efficiency scores.It is also discussed that the semi-parametric STLS regression is more relevant than the classical Tobit analysis in testing DEA estimate of efficiency.Results About 0.624 billion Yuan,i.e.,7.71% of the budget,could be saved if all hospitals had run at their optimal level.264 DMUs are found of almost ideal size while the others are either too small or too large.Conclusion The augmented DEA model can improve underestimation of traditional model for hospitals' effciency.In general Shaanxi hospitals were quite efficient but the sizes of most hospitals are to be optimized.


Using a case study of BP the authors explore the management of the relationship portfolio using a technique developed by Deloitte Consulting.


Marine production forecasting in fisheries is a crucial factor for managing and maintaining fishery resources. Thus this paper aims to generate a forecasting model of total marine production. The most generally method of time series model is to generate the most optimal single forecasting model. But the method could induce a different forecasting results when it does not properly infer a model To overcome the defect, I am trying to propose a single forecasting through multiple time series model. In other word, by comparing and integrating the output resulted from ARIMA and VAR model (which are typical method in a forecasting methodology), I tried to draw a forecasting. It is expected to produce more stable and delicate forecasting prospect than a single model. Through this, I generated 3 models on a yearly and monthly data basis and then here I present a forecasting from 2006 to 2010 through comparing and integrating 3 models. In conclusion, marine production is expected to show a decreasing tendency for the coming years.


Iwao Nakatani, deputy chairman of the government's Economic Strategy Council, joined Sony Corp.'s board on June  after resigning from his full professorship at Tokyo's state-run Hitotsubashi University. Nakatani had applied earlier this year to the National Personnel Authority for permission to take up Sony's offer. This was a perfect opportunity for the mandarins to show a change of heart. But they rejected his request, citing regulations that bar public servants from running their own companies or serving on the boards of profit-making firms. Prime Minister Obuchi and the Education Minister spoke up in Nakatani's defense, but to no avail. So Nakatani will teach part-time at Hitotsubashi and consult at several startups. —Irene M. Kuni, ''Memo to Japan: Set Your Academics Free,'' Business Week, July , 


Objective The aim of this study was to assess the success and the complication rates of transpancreatic sphincterotomy in achieving cannulation of an inaccessible bile duct. Methods A retrospective study of all consecutive ERCPs performed at our institution from July 1,2005 to July,2006 was analyzed to identify all cases in which transpancreatic sphincterotomy was performed . This less well-described pre-cut technique involves initial cannulation of the pancreatic duct with a "traction-type" papillotome with pancreatic giude-wire placement and then incision toward the bile duct. It was reviewed to assess cannulation success and complications. Results 1576 ERCPs performed in the period, Of which deep cannulation of bile duct was performed in 879 cases. 30 had a transpancreatic pre-cut sphincterotomy. Successful cannulation of the bile duct was achieved in 28 of the 30 patients (93.3%) in initial ERCP. Successful rate of cannulation of the bile duct was 96. 7% in second ERCP. ERCP post-pancreatitis occurred in two patients and was mild. There were no hemorrhage, perforation and procedure-related deaths. Conclusion In case of difficult common bile duct cannulation, transpancreatic sphincterotomy appears to be an effective and safe technique.

Key words:
Oddi's sphincter;  Cholangiopancreatography, endoscopic retrograde ;  Pancreatitis


Like elsewhere in Senegal Casamance comprising the southern part of the country is concerned with female genital mutilation (FGM). For a number of years the Regional Committee against Female Genital Mutilation has worked with ENDA Tiers-Monde a nongovernmental organization based in Dakar to increase awareness against the practice. The nurse-midwife who heads the regional committee explains the different educational activities undertaken by her committee. The committee director believes her organization's anti-FGM message is well received by women. The committee's awareness efforts continue with the goal of making everyone equally aware of FGM's negative consequences. The Regional Committee against Female Genital Mutilation helped develop a national action plan to eradicate FGM in Senegal as well as a regional women's development plan. Senegal needs to coordinate its activities to at least assess the current FGM situation and better target eradication measures.


This paper discusses the non-satiability assumption, i.e. the more is better assumption, embedded in classic unconstrained utility maximization and discusses the proposition that constrained utility maximization results in greater overall utility and welfare. The paper frames common economic phenomenon from the constrained utility maximization principle. Then it discusses examples from computational optimization problems where constrained utility or optimization results in far superior and higher utility solution in terms of predictive utility than greedy optimization of utility maximization.


The utility model relates to a water-spraying weaving machine with double warp beams, in particular to an upper-placed type water-spraying weaving machine with double warp beams. The machine mainly comprises let-off mechanisms, a shedding mechanism, a weft-insertion mechanism, a beating-up mechanism and a reeling mechanism, and is characterized in that two sets of let-off mechanisms are provided, a warp beam of one set of the let-off mechanism is placed below the water-spraying weaving machine, and another warp beam of the other set of the let-off mechanism is upwards placed on the lower warp beam in parallel. The utility model relates to the water-spraying weaving machine with the double warp beams, and solves the weaving problems that two wards with different characteristics have totally different warp tensions, and single warp beam can not bear a large number of warps. The structure with the upper-placed type warp beams enables a machine to occupy less area, and more machines can be placed in a manufacturing shop with the same area, therefore, the cost is saved, the production volume is increased and the defects in the prior art are made up.


Palma is an ancient Mediterranean city full of history in its urban scene. The massive tourism transforms Palma in a place where the presence of the natural relationship between people, the city and the sea has disappear. The concept of mobility conducted the urban planning of Palma to an urban design made for and from the use of private vehicle. That breaks the symbiosis of the city, especially at the waterfront.


During its 20-year history, the risk assessment paradigm found in the National Research Council's (NRC's) report Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process, known as the "Red Book," has served a variety of purposes for organizations in the public and the private sector. Familiar examples include risk assessments for specific chemicals, generic guidelines and concept papers, and tutorials for science professionals as well as the general public. In the mid-1990s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) applied the paradigm to reconfigure and revitalize its environmental research program. In a two-phase, multi-year process, the EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) undertook a massive reorganization that included restructuring twelve disparate laboratories into a unified five-unit system aligned with the risk assessment/risk management paradigm. As the reorganization took shape, the laboratories devised a paradigm-oriented approach to prioritizing environmental research: ORD evaluated proposed research projects in terms of relative data needs in each of the analytical fields in the NRC paradigm—hazard identification, exposure, risk characterization, and risk management. The resulting research program established scheduling and budgeting priorities that were consistent with EPA's priorities and aligned with the risk assessment/risk management paradigm. Non-science factors such as congressional mandates, programmatic priorities, and feasibility considerations also have critical roles in the overall prioritization process.


Proposed a method and discussed the procedure for forming the structure of lightweight retaining wall. The method is based on the some new energy principles. Considered some examples for design of retaining walls. The construction of resulting structure is based on new technology.


The use of electro-rheological (ER) fluids is relatively new in engineering applications.
ER fluids can change from liquid to solid-like gel under an electrical field, and this
change takes place within milliseconds. The change is reversible once the electrical field
is removed. This thesis is an experimental investigation to deal with three particular
engineering applications of ER fluids. The first application is improving the vibration
control characteristics of a conventional tuned absorber using an ER fluid as the working
fluid of the absorber. The second application is to demonstrate the same ER fluid's ability
to couple two discs for power transmission. This concept is similar to the operation of a
clutch or direct coupling device between rotating machinery. The third application is of
more exploratory type. It deals with switching the shape of an airfoil in flight between
two different profiles. The purpose of such switching action is to exploit different
aerodynamic properties of two different profiles, ultimately leading to a simple design for
improved flight safety.


Introduction: COVID-19 is a new respiratory infection caused by the coronavirus, which the World Health Organization (WHO) declared as a global epidemic in 2019. All the information obtained about this virus was different in children than in adults. Case Presentation: The case investigated in this study was a 10-year-old boy with hemoptysis and gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding in his post-COVID-19 recovery phase. Conclusions: COVID-19 can have a variety of presentations and complications beyond the classic respiratory symptoms and fever. This case is important and shows how COVID-19 can be life-threatening.


Systems combining turbo codes with decision directed feedback synchronisers have been suggested as a way to improve tracking performance of the receiver at low E/sub s//N/sub o/. In this work the operation of such schemes for the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard is investigated and the limitations that bound their performance are analysed. It is shown that these systems are possible with restrictions imposed on the interleaver size of the turbo code system.


(57) ABSTRACT A clustering apparatus and method that can be used when synchronizing phase and frequency using a hybrid system of network assisted global navigation satellite system (AGNSS) and timing packet. A clustering apparatus for controlling timing is to determine a best master having a higher master slave quality level among potential masters that can provide a timing packet based on a neighbor list provided by a server. The clustering apparatus organizes a cluster having linkabil ity between the best master and at least one slave. The clus tering apparatus performs synchronization between the best master and said at least one slave for each cluster.


Background: Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim is a commonly used drug in a variety of clinically indicated scenarios, but it is not without side effect. Case-reports have stated that adverse reactions secondary to Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim can present very early in the course of treatment, especially in patients who have a higher predisposition. Thus, the burden is placed on the clinician to be wary of these side effects and be able to recognize them in the correct clinic scenario. Objective: To discuss the risk of developing cholestatic hepatic dysfunction secondary to treatment with sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim. Methods: We present the history, physical findings, laboratory investigations, and clinical course of a 47-year-old African-American female who developed cholestatic hepatic dysfunction after treatment with sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim for pyelonephritis. Results: Drug-induced liver injury is a rare complication of sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim therapy and only 20% of cases are secondary to cholestatic hepatic dysfunction. Our patient, who had been on sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim for 7 days for pyelonephritis, presented to our hospital with a clinical picture consistent with hepatic injury; her laboratory investigations were noteworthy for an elevated white blood cell count, platelet count, and elevated transaminases, along with alkaline phosphatase levels greater than 2 times the upper limit of normal. Promptly following the discontinuation of sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, our patient improved clinically and her liver enzymes down-trended during the course of her hospital stay. She returned to normal at her 4 month follow up, thus confirming the diagnosis of cholestatic hepatic dysfunction secondary to sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim. Conclusion: Cholestatic hepatic dysfunction is a form of drug-induced liver injury and a rare complication of sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim treatment. The majority of cases resolve following discontinuation of the offending medication. However, a small percentage of patients may progress to liver failure and ultimately require liver transplantation. Clinicians should be aware of these risks to avoid delaying the discontinuation of sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim.


The increased cost of electrical energy and increased demand for efficient production of manufactured goods make it imperative that we examine the basic machine in all manufacturing processes. The basic machine common to all manufacturing processes today is the electric motor. In its simplest definition, an electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. How much does it cost to operate a motor? The cost is a product of the inefficiency of the motor and the dollars of electrical energy converted. The factors which affect motor efficiency are reviewed together with considerations in having motors rebuilt to retain or improve their efficiency. All burned-out motors should be screened prior to rewinding to identify those that should be replaced. The screening technique and repair procedure will be reviewed.


In this paper, we study the amplitude control and Hopf bifurcation anti-control of the Newton- Leipnik system. Firstly, the amplitude controlling is performed by the self-designed nonlinear controller. And then by choosing appropriate control parameters of washout-filters controller we complete the Hopf b- ifurcation anti-control of system. At last, the numerical results are presented to illustrate the correctness of our results.


The article is devoted to the systematization of various music Internet media on the basis of the con-cept of Network society in the context of the dramatic changes the world music industry has been exposed to in recent years. The author refers to fundamental researches, particularly those by V. Benjamin, M. Castells, M. McLuhan, as well as to current journalistic publications on the given subject. By using these materials, the author suggests his own version of the music Internet media classification based on the criterion of their communicative functions, and identifies some new scientific problems arising in this regard. These questions include assessment of a resource's effectiveness, risks of manipulation that threaten audience's perception, working out approaches to content analysis of music media. A communicative potential that a resource can realize on the Web is chosen as the main criterion for the classification; a representative site, service, social media, press (mass media) and online encyclopedia are the basic types in the classification. A brief analytical description of the Pitchfork magazine as of a success-ful media project is given. Some general effects, such as combination of text and multimedia content with inclusion of offline activities, are considered by the example of Pitchfork . Contemporary mass media present audio compositions as well as appropriate text and visual have been analyzed in the aspects of web communications and 'streaming economy'. Contacts be-tween actors in the industry, including listeners, are getting diverse, interactive, flexible and saturated with data. The author notes some opportunities and challenges which are triggered by these changes, e. g. target-ing in content and risks of manipulations. On the whole, processes exposed in particular resources are of scientific and practical interest. The paper emphasizes the necessity of researches on music journalism taking into account its intensive integra-tion with adjacent areas of mass communication. Moreover, the mythologization of artists' images is noted as one of the most promising subjects for further analysis.


Solid formulations and their use in maintaining gastrointestinal health. The present invention relates to a solid formulation for oral administration as a solid comprising polyethylene glycol and an additional solid such as mannitol. The formulation may be used to prevent gastrointestinal disorders such as constipation belly in healthy subjects. In some embodiments, the solid formulation is chewable or suckable.


FEAR OF AN OATH: PIETY, HYPOCRISY, AND THE DILEMMA OF PURITAN IDENTITY MAY 2001 JOHN M. LUND, B.A., SUSQUEHANNA UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT PH. D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Barry J. Levy Despite the fact that Puritans viewed themselves as honest embodiments of God's Word, they were routinely condemned as consummate liars, dangerous sharpers, and seditious malefactors. The perception of Puritans as hypocrites and tricksters began in Elizabethan England and gained wide currency during the Stuart monarchies. The disreputable attributes attached to Puritans followed them across the Atlantic when they settled New England. Throughout the seventeenth century the stigma of dishonesty and deceptiveness tainted perceptions of the Puritan plantations. By the eighteenth century, the English speaking world universally held New Englanders in low repute. Like their Puritan forebears. New Englanders during the decades prior to the Revolution were seen as deceptive, dishonest, and crafty. In Old England, Puritans created a cultural identity based upon privileging oaths as a sacred form of discipline and this preoccupation with oaths played a major role in generating their reputation for dishonesty and hypocrisy. They antagonized their neighbors by attacking the popular vernacular habit of swearing low-grade oaths. Worse still, they lied or found ways of lying to circumvent the oaths mandated by the crown and church to enforce religious conformity. Their reaction against English state oaths made them enemies of the crown and church and led them into exile on the Continent or in New England. In New England, Puritans created a civil and ecclesiastical polity complete with its own loyalty oaths which substituted the English oaths of allegiance. These innovations enraged the home government and generated


In The Giaour Byron experiments with a style of poetry that both gratifies and resists his readers' expectations. Reflecting on how readers seized the biographical hints of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and interpreted the hero of the poem as a figure of the poet, Byron invites similar biographical inferences in The Giaour. Yet he also turns the interpretive distortions that such inferences produce into a theme of the poem. The fragmentary form of the poem, for instance, invites readers to fill in the gaps of the story according to their preconceptions about Byron's work, while the scenes of reading in the poem emphasize how these preconceptions cover up significant omissions, obscure unexpected details, and exclude alternate possibilities. Signaling the beginning of an important stage in Byron's rhetorical relationship with his audience, The Giaour denies any hermeneutic privilege to personal intimacy with the poet and presents every image as subject to the limits of interpretation.


The secretion of PYY by endocrine L cells of the terminal gut is under the control of nutrients, the autonomic nervous system and hormones. Catecholamines, and the non-specific (cid:1) -adrenergic agonist isoproterenol induce PYY secretion from rat isolated colon or ileum. Because (cid:1) 3-adrenergic receptors now appear to mediate many of the e ff ects of catecholamines in the gastrointestinal tract, we investigated the involvement of (cid:1) 1-, (cid:1) 2-, and (cid:1) 3-adrenoceptor stimulation in PYY secretion from the isolated, vascularly perfused rat colon. Infusion of 10 (cid:1) 6 M isoproterenol induced a transient increase in PYY secretion (from 36 (cid:2) 4 to 87 (cid:2) 20 fmol/2 min; n =7, P < 0·05), that was abolished by a previous infusion of the (cid:1) 1- and (cid:1) 2-adrenergic blocker (and partial (cid:1) 3-agonist) alprenolol (10 (cid:1) 6 M). The (cid:1) 1-adrenergic agonist dobutamine and the (cid:1) -2 agonist terbutaline also (both at 10 (cid:1) 5 M) significantly stimulated PYY secretion, from 29 (cid:2) 1 to 79 (cid:2) 12 fmol/2 min and from 19 (cid:2) 1 to 73 (cid:2) 13 fmol/ 2 min respectively ( n =7, P < 0·05). Neither of the (cid:1) 3-adrenergic agonists tested (BRL 37 344 (10 (cid:1) 5 , 10 (cid:1) 6 M) and SR 58 611A (10 (cid:1) 6 M)) significantly stimulated PYY secretion, thus confirming the exclusive involvement of (cid:1) 1- and (cid:1) 2-receptors in (cid:1) -adrenergic agonist induced hormone secretion.


The extrapallial fluid (EPF), the fluid component of the shell-forming system of molluscs, has been examined for its effect on the rate of CaCO3 crystal formation in vitro. The medium was an artificial inorganic extrapallial fluid supersaturated with respect to CaCO3. EPF of the bivalves Crassostrea virginica and Mercenaria mercenaria strongly inhibited CaCO3 crystallization in high dilution. The inhibitory material had negatively charged groups as indicated by the removal of inhibition subsequent to passage through a DEAE-Sephadex column and the restoration of inhibition in material eluted from the column with 2.0 M NaCl. Polyaspartic and polyglutamic acids with COO- groups also inhibited crystal formation whereas polyamino acids lacking those groups and free amino acids were without effect. The inhibition by the acidic polyamino acids suggests that polypeptides known to be present in EPF are one possible cause of inhibition of crystal formation by EPF. Mg present in EPF was also strongly inhibitory. The...


Experiments on 30 dogs were performed to study the effect of intraperitoneal irrigation with 5-fluorouracil on the morphology of the pancreas and on the hemopoietic organs. The drug was administered to the abdominal cavity via a catheter in a dose of 5 mg/kg bw for 2, 3 and 5 days. Morphological study revealed no dystrophic or necrobiotic processes in the pancreas, spleen and bone marrow of the animals.


Tax compliance is defined as degree to which a taxpayer complies (or fails to comply) with the tax rules of his country. For example: by declaring income, filing a return, and paying the tax due in a timely manner. In tax compliance research, there has been a significant shift in research paradigms, from an emphasis on enforcement to approaches that stress cooperation. The taxpayers' attitude on compliance may be influenced by many factors, which eventually influence taxpayer's behavior. The present research paper concludes social and psychological conditions, including attitudes and moral beliefs about tax evasion's propriety, as antecedents of tax compliance. Besides attitudes, personal norms are important determinants of tax compliance. Behavioral intentions are determined also by subjective norms. The present paper offers a "slippery slope framework" as a way of integrating of various social and psychological aspects into a unified framework. We conclude with recommendations that can improve compliance, based on this unifying framework. Primary data has been collected from the 100 people working in Delhi and NCR selected by convenience sampling. A self-structured questionnaire using 5 Point Likert Scale has been administered to the sample group to investigate the psychological factors under study. The Statistical Tests used are Standard Deviation and t-test etc. Data has been analyzed with the help of Statistical Package of Social Science.


Parathyroid (PTH) exploration surgery carries the risk of developing post-operative thyroiditis due to vigorous manual manipulation of the thyroid gland during surgery. Post-operative thyroiditis has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. However, it remains underreported. Here, we describe a case of post-operative transient thyroiditis in a 33-year-old male who developed 3 days after parathyroidectomy for PTH hyperplasia. We review the limited literature regarding this interesting entity.


The aim of this study is to examine the two aspects of space and discourse on modernization of 〈Bunryegi〉. 〈Bunryegi〉 has been appraised as the novel which expresses it real and alive with fine language and the excellent power of expression the humble living scenes of the peasant society that is severed from the issues of the times. However, 〈Bunryegi〉 finally gets the appropriate literary status beyond the existing judgement when it's evaluated exposing the discourse on modernization as the historical process related to the real peasant lives examining the multi-layered structure of meaning of the text. 〈Bunryegi〉 only in the layer of speech has the spatiality separated from the times in which no the recognitions of reality is seen. And the main discourse of this novel in the space separated from the history is 'the tragedy and the fatalism of the lives'. But, concerning the meaning of this text in the another deep layer, 〈Bunryegi〉 is definitely in the space of modem historical background. The discourse in this deep layer makes the history live inside of the text through disclosing the limping modem times such as the severe oppression, exploitation, and exclusion, and so called the discontinuation of the normal communication that is the result of the wrong modernization. It also composes the discourse on strong deny over the wrong modem times by pursuing the new world which exit from the conflicting reality. In short, 〈Bunryegi〉 is the remarkable peasant novel. Because the text creates the powerful negative discourse against the wrong modem times by making it live the reality of peasant society in crisis of ruin and break-up resulted from the wrong process of modernization in Korea and pursuing the new world which exit from the conflicting reality.


Background and Purpose: Ethnic differences have been reported between Asians and Whites in the prevalence of certain stroke subtypes. However, it is unknown if such differences exist with respect to manifestations of cerebral small vessel disease. We compared the prevalence of white matter lesions [WML], lacunes, and microbleeds between Han Chinese and White Australian individuals randomly selected from their respective populations. Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging (1.5 Tesla) was performed on participants of the Shanghai Aging Study (n=321, mean age 69±6 years) and Tasmanian Study of Cognition and Gait (n=397, mean age 72±7 years). A single expert rater recorded measures of WML, lacunes, and microbleeds. We compared lesion prevalence between age- and gender-matched subgroups from the two study population. Among all subjects (n=718), we used multivariable logistic regression to examine if ethnicity was associated with the presence of these lesions. Results: The prevalence rates of confluent WML, lacunes, and microbleeds among Chinese and Whites were 37% vs. 34% (p=0.09), 29% vs. 34% (p=0.24), and 9% vs. 11% (p=0.59), respectively. Subgroup analysis among age- and gender- matched subjects confirmed that confluent WML was more common among Chinese (38.5%) than Whites (28.4%, p=0.01). In multivariable regression, Chinese had a higher risk of confluent WML (odds ratio 1.53, 95% confidence interval 1.04-2.24, p=0.03) independent of other risk factors, but no differences were seen for lacunes and micro bleeds. Conclusion: In this population-based cross-national comparison, Chinese had a greater risk of moderate-to-severe WML than white Australians, but had a similar risk of lacunes and microbleeds.


. In this note we prove that for each n different from I and 3 there exists an a.ntichain on n points with period 2 under the operator tc max.


In this report, we have investigated lanthanum cobalt iron (LaCo1-xFexO3) perovskite nanoparticles synthesized by combining metallic nitrates, deionized water, and citric acid by using sol-gel method and subsequently calcinated at 400 °C for 1h and 900 °C for 7h, respectively. The formation of single-phase perovskite structure is a series of LaCo1-xFexO3 (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1). The crystal structure, mean particle, and morphology properties of the prepared LaCo1-xFexO3 perovskite oxide nanoparticles were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The perovskite structure has shown special performance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic activity in alkaline medium. As the combined valence transition metal oxides are rising capable candidates for bifunctional electrocatalysts, the electrochemical performance of the LaCo1xFexO3 catalyst was thoroughly investigated. Koutecky-Levich results on the ORR polarization curves of all compounds shows that the four-electron pathway is favorable on these perovskite oxides. In this paper, we report B-site Fe doping in perovskite structure is a sufficient strategy to improve ORR and OER catalytic activity for application in metal-air batteries.


PDO has utilized successfully the Ultra high resolution LWD resistivity images in well "X" (a heavily fractured and complex heterogeneous carbonate formations) for fracture identification in real time to identify the fractures zones that contributed to the drilling mud losses and design completion to isolate those fractures zones and selecting a proper perforation zones away from the fractures. On the other hand, having different depths of investigation can help to analyses invasion, to provide inputs for petrophysical formation evaluation, and to differentiate between features that appears near wellbore deep in the formation. After drilling, geological interpretation was performed utilizing memory data which has better sampling and data density. The interpretation included full structural borehole features identification such as (structural dip computation by picking bed boundaries intersected while drilling), detailed fractures characterization to identify type of fractures (conductive, resistive), morphology and geometry of each fractures (continuous, discontinuous), fractures density, and distribution along the logged interval. Minor faults were also identified from the images. The geological interpretation of the high resolution resistivity images revealed the presence of a few major conductive fractures that were possibly enhanced by drilling and a large number of partial discontinuous conductive and resistive fractures were also seen. Using latest software technology in the office while on the job in real-time helped both petrotechnical and well placement engineers to better image log interpretation and to visualize the data in 3D. Successful introduction of the Ultra high resolution LWD resistivity images in the right fit applications opened another door on solving reservoir issues and needs bearing in mind for drilling environments that become more challenging. Theory After drilling, geological interpretation was performed utilizing memory data which has better sampling and data density. The processing of the raw Ultra high resolution LWD resistivity images (UHRI*) in well "X" was done in the Schlumberger Petro Technical Services Centre, Muscat. Following processing chain is used to process and interpret UHRI* dataset into Techlog software were UHRI* static and dynamic normalized images produced. All dips and fracture identification is performed using static images with Techlog software. Well "X" is a horizontal well with a maximum deviation of approximately 91.3o. From the processed and normalized UHRI* images different types of fracture and faults were identified. According to fracture morphology fractures may be conductive and non-conductive. Conductive fractures appear to have continuous/discontinuous conductivity and full/partial circumferential geometry. Non-Conductive fractures appear to have continuous/discontinuous resistive/white, appearance and full/partial circumferential geometry, see Table 1.


The threat of atomic war, the necessity of rebuilding the world so as to make such a war impossible and to prepare the country to meet it if it comes, have received scarce, if any, attention by the platform builders and convention orators in Chicago. Senator McMahon seemed to be the only American statesman of note who thought (and kept saying) that this is the most important problem confronting Americans in the present generation. As chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, he was in a position to know what he was speaking about. The positive way in which he spoke of the hydrogen bomb as if it were an accomplished fact represents, to our knowledge, the first authoritative assertion of the success of the thermonuclear weapon project. As such, it is a statement of enormous implications.Senator McMahon was not satisfied with reminding Americans of the threat; he also offered a two-point program to overcome it. First, he suggested that America must build hundreds of hydrogen bombs to pr...


The effects of the thermal annealing induced diffusion on the photoluminescence (PL) of a GaAs∕GaInAs∕GaAs∕GaInNAs∕GaAs quantum well (QW) structure grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy are studied. The PL experimental results in conjunction with the numerical quantum-mechanical modeling that predicts the changes in the QW confining potential with group-III atomic diffusion, have been used to obtain the values for diffusion coefficient. The activation energies of GaInAs∕GaAs QW (ED,GIA) were found to be between 0.49to0.51eV, while that of GaInNAs∕GaAs QW (ED,GINA) showed comparable values of between 0.6 to a 0.67eV, as annealing time increases from 10to30s. The ED,GIA and ED,GINA values are attributed to the same interstitial diffusion mechanism.