This article explores the issues and concerns of Nepalese teachers in relation to Gaynor's (1998) three models of teacher management (administrative, grassroots and alternative), constructed in the context of decentralisation reform around the world. The article suggests that the existing teacher management policies in Nepal are problematic and controversial, embracing both the administrative and grassroots models of teacher management and maintaining both the centralised and decentralised policies of teacher selection, promotion and financing. With problems similar to those of many developing nations in Africa, decentralisation of teacher management results in growing division and hierarchy among teaching staff, and favouritism, cronyism and corruption at the local level. The lack of equitable distribution of qualified teachers across regions and schools is another concern. The article concludes that the decentralisation of teacher management is problematic particularly in the countries where a dual approach to teacher management has been adopted and where the political, economic, institutional, technical and educational systems need to respond to the specific characteristics and needs of schools and communities as a whole.


Objective
To study the effects of CTLA4-Ig on murine allergic contact dermatitis.

Methods
Mice were exposed to DNFB to induce allergic contact dermatitis and were injected with CTLA4-Ig.Ear swelling was measured 24h after antigen challenge.Splenocytes from treated mice were assayed for their ability to prolif erate in response to DNFB or FITC stimulation in vitro.

Results
Profound inhibition of contact hypersensitivity response(CHS) was shown by 69.7% in mice treated with CTLA4-Ig compared with mice treated with PBS control.CT-LA4-Ig-treated mice displayed DNFB-specific tolerance,but exhibited a vigorous immune response to FITC when re-sensitizing 14 days after the first challenge.Adoptive transfer of l ymphocytes from CTLA4-Ig-treated mice could induce inhibition of CHS in recipient mice.

Conclusion
CTLA4-Ig can inhibit CHS by blocking B7/CD28 co-stimulatory pathway,which provides a new way to suppress typeⅣ allergic reaction.

Key words:
Dermatitis,allergic contact; CTLA4-Ig


Gaussian processes (GPs) are powerful but computationally expensive machine learning models, requiring an estimate of the kernel covariance matrix for every prediction. In large and complex domains, such as graphs, sets, or images, the choice of suitable kernel can also be non-trivial to determine, providing an additional obstacle to the learning task. Over the last decade, these challenges have resulted in significant advances being made in terms of scalability and expressivity, exemplified by, e.g., the use of inducing points and neural network kernel approximations. In this paper, we propose inducing Gaussian process networks (IGN), a simple framework for simultaneously learning the feature space as well as the inducing points. The inducing points, in particular, are learned directly in the feature space, enabling a seamless representation of complex structured domains while also facilitating scalable gradient-based learning methods. We consider both regression and (binary) classification tasks and report on experimental results for real-world data sets showing that IGNs provide significant advances over state-of-the-art methods. We also demonstrate how IGNs can be used to effectively model complex domains using neural network architectures.


Objective:To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of dual-wavelength diode laser system for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia(BPH).Method:Fifty-one BPH patients were treated by transurethral dual-wavelength diode laser system from Jan.2013to Jun.2013in our hospital with method of total lobe vaporesection separately.The clinical data of the patients were as follows:the average age of the patients was(69.5± 7.3)years old;the mean prostate volume was(73.5±17.7)ml;the average preoperative international prostate symptom score(IPSS)was(20.4±7.3);the average maximum urinary flow(Qmax)was(7.2±3.4)ml/s.Firstly,between bladder neck and verumontanum,we cut three trenches with width of 0.5-1.0cm and depth to surgical capsule,which located at 5,7,12point of prostate.Then,from the point 12,we separately cut left and right lateral lobes and median lobe totally,closed to the surgical capsule of prostate.Result:The mean operative time was(51.2±19)min.During these operations,the vision was clear and there were no obvious bleeding,no complications and no blood transfusion.The mean postoperative catheterization time was 2.7(range,1-3)d. One month after the operation,IPSS score was(7.0±2.3)and Qmax was(24.3±5.6)ml/s.The above results showed significant improvement compared with preoperative condition(P0.05).Conclusion:Dual-wavelength diode laser system has excellent vaporization and hemostasis function,and can accurately resect tissue with less thermal damage.With advantages of rapid and thorough resection,less complications and high safety,the method of total lobe vaporesection separately is an ideal way for treatment of BPH by dual-wavelength diode laser.


A compound represented by the following structural formula: and salts, solvates and hydrates thereof, wherein: is a polymethylene chain, which is saturated or may contain a carbon-carbon double bond; n is 2, 3 or 4; W is O or S; R1 is an unsubstituted or substituted group selected from aryl, heteroaryl, cycloalkyl, C1-C4 arylalkyl, heteroarylalkyl or cycloalkylalkyl C1-C4 C1-C4; wherein the substituents for cycloalkyl aryl, heteroaryl and are selected from halo, hydroxy, carboxy, C1-C4 alkyl, saturated or unsaturated C1-C4 alkoxy, C1-C4 alkyl, C1-C4 haloalkyl, cyano, carbamoyl, dioxaborolan -2-yl, benzoyl, aryl C1-C4 alkyl, aryloxy, cycloalkyl and heterocycle-oxy; and further biphenyl, for heteroaryl; R2 is H, C1-C4 haloalkyl or C1-C4 alkyl; Y is an unsubstituted or substituted group selected from phenylene, naphthylene or 1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydronaphthylene; R3 is C1-C6 alkyl or C1-C6 haloalkyl; R4 is H, C1-C10 alkyl, C1-C10, or a substituted or unsubstituted benzyl; and R5 is H, C1-C4 alkyl or aminoalkyl.


This article represents a case study of a luxury hotel located in New York City. A content analysis of 220 complaints recorded in a logbook used by front desk agents during 1994 was conducted. The data were classified by guests' gender and place of residence, time of complaint, the type of complaint, the solutions to the complaints, and guests' responses to the solutions. This method provided insights into the hotel's operation and customer base, and suggested areas for future attention.


© 2012 Wei et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Insulin Insensitivity and Type 2 Diabetes and New Insights for Their Prevention and Management


INTRODUCTION Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the enabling technology for this service integration. In short, 64Kbps voice is converted into data packets and transferred over the data backbone. The savings of voice and data over a single corporate network can be considerable and the technology exists. But where does a company begin? This article reviews the enabling technologies and presents a viable private network evolution strategy that takes advantage of current technologies and standards. Savings are realized almost immediately.


Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is characterized as an injury or functional damage to the brain caused by traumatic aggression, and is still considered a public health problem. Objectives: To analyze the epidemiological profile of patients hospitalized due to TBI in the Northeast region of the country. Methodology: This is a descriptive, epidemiological study, from January 2009 to December 2019, with data from DATASUS - Ministry of Health. Results: Between 2009 and 2019 there were 299,001 hospitalizations and 30,257 deaths. With 73,133, a presentation from Bahia the highest number of hospitalizations and Pernambuco the highest number of deaths with 6,903 cases. The male gender had the highest number of hospitalizations (78.9%) and deaths (82.6%). Young adults, between 20 and 39 years old, accounted for 40% of hospitalizations and 37.5% of deaths, possibly due to sociocultural and behavioral characteristics. The highest mortality rate was registered in the elderly (21.5%). There was a predominance of brown race in hospitalizations (84.6%) and in deaths (85.5%). In the eleven-year period, there was an increase of 28% in the number of admissions by the TBI, and an increase of 94.7% in hospital costs. Only the state of Paraíba registered a reduction in hospitalizations and deaths due to TBI in the referred period. Conclusion: There is a general worsening in the region, and it is important to formulate education and health policies to reduce TBI morbidity and mortality in the Northeast region of Brazil.


The changes of curriculum planning from semester-based education systems into credit-based systems in colleges and universities in Vietnam have posed an urgent requirement for the innovation in teaching and learning activities. The main goal is to improve the quality of students. In this context, this paper presents a small research study, which is based on the feedbacks from students and alumni students about three factors, namely, the structure of student groups for each lab study section, the time for each lab study section, and the method for lab study evaluation, applied at the Faculty of Information Technology (FIT), Vinh University4. Obtained results indicate some suggestions for justifying training curriculum applied at FIT regarding such three interested factors.


Elastography is a new ultrasonic method for measuring tissuespsila elasticity. Besides many and widely acknowledged benefits, the method suffers severe limitations due to the high motion sensitivity and inter-operator dependency to the point where it provides only qualitative information, not having, until now, any real quantification means. In this paper we present an automatic segmentation method for elastographic images based on statistical techniques. First a probabilistic model is built for every pixel in the image, derived by processing a video sequence instead of a single image. The built image contains the values with highest probability for each pixel. Next a DAEM (Deterministic Annealing Expectation Maximization) method is used for automatic image segmentation. Finally a numerical quantification of tissue elasticity is provided based on the segmentation.


Social media networks have created a phenomenon on the internet that helps maintain relationships with other users. However, in recent times there are a handful of teenagers who are too obsessed with the use of social media that result in the phenomenon of social media addiction. Therefore, this study is conducted to examine the impact of social media on student's social behaviour in vocational colleges. The study was quantitative. The sample of the study consisted of 345 vocational college students. The research instrument involved a set of questionnaires that contained 41 items and used the Likert scale as a measure. The mean score analysis and standard deviation are used to see the purpose of using and the impact of social media among students. T-test is used to see the impact of social media impact on gender-based social behaviour. There are social media effects on students such as wasting time, depression and stress as students are exposed to immoral videos and pictures. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the impact of social media on students based on student gender based on t-test. In conclusion, social media has had a negative impact on the students. Thus, high awareness needs to be applied to students to curb social behaviour problems.


Geoffrey A. Donnan MD, FRACP Stephen M. Davis MD, FRACP Section Editors:

Several factors determine outcome after an acute ischemic stroke (AIS). These include type of stroke, speed of occlusion, presence of collateral circulation, as well as comorbid medical conditions. Recanalization is important in improving outcome. The results of the large German stroke registry, the MERCI registry, the MULTI-MERCI trial demonstrate a clear correlation of arterial recanalization with improved outcome after AIS.1

The only approved therapy for improving outcome of AIS came from the NINDS intravenous thrombolysis trial in 1995 demonstrating an ARR of 11% to 13% after 3 months in achieving a modified Rankin score (mRS) of ≤1 across all groups of patients with AIS.2 Interestingly, patients treated within 90 minutes did better than those treated after 90 minutes within the 3-hour window. This difference was significant and suggests that earlier treatment is associated with a better outcome. However, when analyzed by stroke severity, the magnitude of the benefit declined with increasing NIHSS scores. Patients with NIHSS scores >20 had a ≤6% ARR in achieving mRS <1 at …


Objective: Diabetic retinopathy is a major cause of visual impairment in both developing and developed countries. The two important complications are macular edema and proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Laser treatment can reduce vision loss in both proliferative diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema. Early treatment of diabetic retinopathy study shows that immediate laser treatment reduces the risk of moderate visual loss by at least 50%. Thermal tissue damage is the main cause of many potential complications of conventional photocoagulation that may lead to immediate and late visual loss. A subthreshold diode micropulse (SDM) laser targets retinal pigment epithelium (RPE); it is maximally absorbed by the melanosomes of the RPE and underlying choroid while sparing the neurosensory retina. SDM laser minimizes chorioretinal damage as there is no thermal effect or injury despite achieving photocoagulation effects. To compare, the effectiveness of SDM laser versus grid laser photocoagulation for the treatment of clinically significant macular edema in diabetic patients. To study, the outcome and adverse effects of laser treatments in both modalities. Methods: All Type 2 diabetic patients presenting to the ophthalmology department outpatient department were screened for diffuse diabetic macular edema and 60 eyes were enrolled in the study. They were divided into two groups of 30 eyes each and randomly assigned to receive either conventional grid laser or SDM laser. A detailed clinical examination which included visual acuity, color vision, visual fields (central 10°), fundus photos, and fundus flourescein angiography were done prior to the laser treatment and at 6 weeks and 3 months follow-up. Results: Conventional grid laser caused a significant resolution of macular edema, angiographically, whereas SDM laser showed worsening at 3 months follow-up. Our study did not show an alteration of central 10° of visual field or color vision defects in both the groups, which suggest significant functional damage is not caused by both treatment modalities. We found in our study that conventional Grid laser was better at 3 months follow-up in improving/stabilizing visual acuity and macular edema (angiographically). A single sitting of grid laser is better than SDM laser in diffuse diabetic maculopathy. Keywords: Diabetic retinopathy, Diabetic macular edema, Grid laser, Subthreshold micropulse diode laser.


The study was conducted at Inner Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Xilingol Region to provide scientific basis for the restoration succession of degenerated Leymus chinensis grassland after harrowing for thirty years.The results showed that during the restoration succession for 30years,community composition increased firstly and then decreased.The increase of community composition was due to the invasion of the annual or biannual forbs during the early treatment,the decrease of community composition attributed to annual or biannual forbs gradually replaced by the perennial gramineae plants in the free competition.Community density rose firstly and then declined sharply and finally was gradually stable.The rising of community density attributed to that gramineae plants occupied more niche by proliferation,the stable community density was due to the smooth and steady succession after fierce competition.Community species diversity and evenness both decreased firstly and then was gradually stable.The decrease of community species diversity and evenness attributed to the gradual increase of dominance of gramineae plants,the stable community species diversity and evenness was due to that the population structure tended to be stable after fierce competition.Degenerated steppe of Leymus chinensis restoration succession progress for 30years can be divided into four stages:the first stage was a community of A.frigid+L.chinensis+Lower bunch grass(1year after harrowing),the second stage was a community of L.chinensis+ A.cristatum+ annual or biannual forbs(2~3years after harrowing),the third stage was a transitional community of L.chinensis+ A.cristatum+perennial forbs(4~22years after harrowing),the forth stage was a community of L.chinensis+ S.grandis+ bunch grass(23~30years after harrowing).


During the past decade much has been published in regard to the supposed danger from house flies as the disseminators of pathogenic bacteria. More or less evidence has been presented to the effect that these insects may, at times, spread a long category of infections, including, to quote the list of Purdy1 (see also Hewitt2), typhoid fever, infantile diarrhea, bacillary dysentery, cholera, tuberculosis, diphtheria, erysipelas, contagious ophthalmia, cerebrospinal meningitis, anthrax, and possibly smallpox. This evidence has recently been summarized and discussed by Chapin3 in an interesting manner. For a number of these diseases the chain of evidence is incomplete, but for infections of fecal origin, the guilt of this ubiquitous insect has been clearly estabhshed in certain instances, especially as regards typhoid fever. Hamilton,4 Ficker,5 Klein,6 and Bertarelli7 have severally succeeded in isolating the typhoid bacillus from flies caught in the neighborhood of typhoid fever cases, although the attempts of other investigators under similar circumstances have been fruitless. Hamilton, first, in 1903, was able to prove that an outbreak of typhoid fever, restricted to a certain ward of Chicago where the street sewers were inadequate and the sanitary arrangements of most of the houses were of the worst, was in large measure due to flies acting as carriers of the specific bacilli, which, in fact, were isolated from a number of flies caught in two undrained privies, on the fences and house walls, and in the room of a typhoid patient. In 1910, Bertarelli, in an investigation of 100 flies caught in a household of the better class


An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of the diet dilution on performance of broiler chickens until 42 days of age. Nutrient restriction was achieved by feeding a starter diet (CP 21.5% and ME 3,050 kcal/kg) in which the major ingredients were replaced with 25% or 50% of soybean hulls. Four treatments involved feeding the diluted diets for seven days (7-14 days of age), either continuous or split into periods with the undiluted diet (control). The treatments were: T1: control diet; T2 and T3: diluted diet (25% and 50% of soybean hulls, respectively) 7-14 days; T4 and T5: diluted diet (25% and 50% of soybean hulls, respectively) on days 7, 9, 11 and 13 alternating with T1 (on days 8, 10 and 12). The birds fed with diluted diets exhibited lower mean body weights (P<0.05) than controls. Feed conversion ratios from 0-42 days of age for restricted broilers were not different. Varying the period of nutrient restriction did not affect adversely body weight and body weight gain. There was no statistical difference in the overall mortality through 0-42 days among the dietary treatments. Compensatory growth was not observed, and this result could be associated with the pattern of growth curve exhibited by the hybrids used in this experiment.


The crisis of capitalism, or what Saul Bellow dubs "the crisis of knowledge", crystallizes the way he deconstructs and subverts the roots of modern American culture. The concepts of "darkness" and "Malheur" embody the tragic fate of capitalism and the end of history to recall Baudrillard and Fukuyama. Colin Davis relates this intellectual atmosphere to Lyotard's theory of "after knowledge" and the postmodern condition, Levinas's "after ethics" and Althusser's "after hope". Fictionally, Bellow epitomizes this cultural backdrop in modern America by addressing the decline of civility, the agony of the artist, the end of humanism and morality in a society which is dominated by the crowd of low culture to cite Williams. Conceding that the novelist identifies "darkness", "noon", "Malheur" and "capitalism" with Derrida's premises of deconstruction and Foucault's insights about episteme theory and the archeology of knowledge, it becomes then fundamental to underpin how he gives theory and philosophy an overriding role in the purification of humanism from the burden of materialism and capitalistic democracy. Special focus is on Herzog (1964), Mr. Sammler's Planet (1970), Humboldt's Gift (1975) and The Dean's December (1982) as they illustrate Bellow's gestures of deconstructing the negativity of capitalism.


The soft power of a city refers to the spiritual and cultural strengths of the city and also plays an important part in overall and competent power of the city,which influences the sustainable development of the city.On the basis of the current situation of soft power in Hengyang,this paper brings forward the corresponding measures of soft power construction to promote the comprehensive strength and integral competitiveness of Hengyang the strengthening of Hengyang City.


Multidimensional data refers to data that contains at least three attributes or dimensions. The availability of huge amount of multidimensional data that has been collected over the years has greatly challenged the ability to digest the data and to gain useful knowledge that would otherwise be lost. Clustering technique has enabled the manipulation of this knowledge to gain an interesting pattern analysis that could benefit the relevant parties. In this study, three crucial challenges in extracting the pattern of the multidimensional data are highlighted: the dimension of huge multidimensional data requires efficient exploration method for the pattern extraction, the need for better mechanisms to test and validate clustering results and the need for more informative visualization to interpret the "best" clusters. Densitybased clustering algorithms such as density-based spatial clustering application with noise (DBSCAN), density clustering (DENCLUE) and kernel fuzzy C-means (KFCM) that use probabilistic similarity function have been introduced by previous works to determine the number of clusters automatically. However, they have difficulties in dealing with clusters of different densities, shapes and size. In addition, they require many parameter inputs that are difficult to determine. Kernel-nearestneighbor (KNN)-density-based clustering including kernel-nearest-neighbor-based clustering (KNNClust) has been proposed to solve the problems of determining smoothing parameters for multidimensional data and to discover cluster with arbitrary shape and densities. However, KNNClust faces problem on clustering data with different size. Therefore, this research proposed a new pattern extraction scheme integrating triangular kernel function and local average density technique called TKC to improve KNN-density-based clustering algorithm. The improved scheme has been validated experimentally with two scenarios: using real multidimensional spatio-temporal data and using various classification datasets. Four different measurements were used to validate the clustering results; Dunn and Silhouette index to assess the quality, F-measure to evaluate the performance of approach in terms of accuracy, ANOVA test to analyze the cluster distribution, and processing time to measure the efficiency. The proposed scheme was benchmarked with other well-known clustering methods including KNNClust, Iterative Local Gaussian Clustering (ILGC), basic k-means, KFCM, DBSCAN and DENCLUE. The results on the classification dataset demonstrated that TKC produced clusters with higher accuracy and more efficient than other clustering methods. In addition, the analysis of the results showed that the proposed TKC scheme is capable of handling multidimensional data, validated by Silhouette and Dunn index which was close to one, indicating reliable results.


Objective: Published data obtained from in vitro and in vivo studies was reviewed systematically and analyzed critically in order to evaluate the effect of oral cavity derived stem cells (OCDSCs) on the recovery/therapy of neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) such as Alzheimer's (AD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's (HD) and Parkinson's (PD). Methods: An electronic search was accomplished. References of included articles were also searched manually. Studies were critically evaluated for suitability against inclusion/exclusion criteria and data was extracted. Bias risk evaluation of the studies and evidence synthesis were conducted. Results: Fourteen in vivo and 10 in vitro studies met inclusion criteria. PD was induced in 10 in vivo and 7 in vitro studies, while AD was induced in 2 in vivo and 4 in vitro studies. Two studies (1 in vitro and 1 in vivo) evaluated ALS disease and 1 in vivo study evaluated HD. Moderate evidence was found for in vitro studies reporting positive effect of OCDSCs on either PD or AD recovery. Strong evidence was found for in vivo studies in which PD animal models were used; while moderate evidence was found for the impact of OCDSCs on the recovery of the AD. Limited evidence was found for in vivo studies evaluating HD and ALS. Conclusion: Although studies included reported favorable data regarding the OCDSCs on NDs, they presented considerable risk of bias. Because of heterogenous study characteristics, current study recommends the improvement of standardized methods to evaluate the therapeutics effects of OCDSCs on the NDs.


This study discusses the wool fibers at low temperature(85~95 ℃),with α-bromo-acrylamide-type dyeing with reactive dye about Lanasol series,the main research of additives,pH value,low temperature dyeing fixation time process of dye uptake.The results show that: Lanasol dyes used in low-temperature dyeing process is very simple and better.Staining test at low temperature,after changing variables such as technology optimized additives,so that the wool fiber dyeing and fixation rates have improved to some extent;the same time,the process of low temperature dyeing on wool fibers in the stained single fiber fracture strength also improved.Through the optimization of additives,fastness of the fiber has also been improved.


Mr. Clayton E. Whipple, Director of Rural Education, Near East Foundation, and Educational and Extension Advisor of the Royal Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture, and Dr. A. U. Totejf, Agricultural Economist in the Institute of Agricultural Economic Research, Sofia University, deal at considerable length in this joint paper with the problem in Bulgaria and in south-eastern Europe generally. The efforts towards solution in a country where the congestion of agricultural population is great, and where the outlets into industry or by emigration are severely limited, are of special interest.


Designing Disorder is a timely revisit to Richard Sennett's first book, The Uses of Disorder. Personal Identity and City Life (1970), 50 years after its publication. Its authors, Pablo Sendra and R...


The present communication dipics the development of a reversed phase H.P.L C. for the simultaneous estimation of acidic and basic vitamins from solid dosage of polyvitamin and vitamin B-complex tablets of therapeutic and prophylactic N.F.I. The seperation of vitamins was determined at 280nm. The proposed method is advantageous over reported method, the introduction of propyl hydroxy β-cyclodextrin as an ion-pairing reagent used and found to be profound effect over other ion-pairing reagent. The proposed methods are linear accurate and precise and applicable for daily quality control routine analysis


This study investigates English speech rhythm, focusing on the variations in the length of stressed syllables in English utterances of native speakers (NAT) and Korean EFL learners (EFL). Two corpora are used to measure the duration ratio of vowels in stressed syllables and compare it between NAT and EFL as well as among EFL groups divided by three proficiency levels. The rationale for using stressed vowels is that NAT tend to lengthen stressed syllables and shorten unstressed ones while EFL do not in their English speech due to L1 interference. Thus, it is hypothesized that NAT would show the highest ratio value which would fall as proficiency levels of EFL decrease. The statistical results indicate that the ratio is useful in capturing speaker group differences. Although there is room for further investigation, this study contributes to efforts in developing auto-scoring systems of English speech by presenting a temporal feature.


For the loss factor measurement, the half-power-width method and curve fitting method are used. In this paper, two curve fitting methods based on pole-zero models are proposed. The first method is to express the measured and model frequency response functions in decibels and the parameters of the model are changed so that the model response gets close enough to the measured response by the differential iteration method. The second method is to take the distance of the two responses on the complex plane and normalize it to the amplitude of the measured frequency response function. Then, the normalized distance is minimized by the differential iteration method. These two methods have the following features: (1) They can fit the resonance and anti-resonance characteristics simultaneously. (2) They can fit frequency response functions with large loss factors to which the half-power-width method are not applicable. (3) The minimum required numbers of measurement points within the half-power-width for these methods are roughly 1/30 of the number necessary for the half-power-width method.


This paper briefly introduces the function and components of STAGE,and describes some problems in using STAGE such as the conversion of electronic map,the localization of military icon,the embedment of user model,the control of remote node,the access of initial scenario data before running,the exchange of databases and the real-time of scenario running.In the end,it offers the methods of solving the problems.


30 keV proton irradiation effects on AlInGaP cells and diodes as a new top cell for high efficiency III-V multijunction (MJ) space solar cells are presented here for the first time. New defects such as two majority-carrier (hole) traps HP1 (E/sub V/+1.57 eV, N/sub T/=3.9/spl times/10/sup 14/cm/sup -3/), HP2 (E/sub V/+1.19 eV, N/sub T/=2.6/spl times/10/sup 14/cm/sup -3/) and two minority-carrier (electron) traps EP1, EP2 (E/sub C/-0.71 eV, N/sub T/=2.9/spl times/10/sup 15/cm/sup -3/) were observed in p-AlInGaP irradiated with a dose of 1 /spl times/10/sup 12/cm/sup /spl times/2/ by DLTS measurements. In as-grown samples, the E1 trap appears in both of majority- and minority-carrier DLTS scans, and is attributed to the DX center. The change of remaining factor (V/sub OC/, I/sub SC/, FF, P/sub max/) in the AlInGaP cell with 30 keV proton fluence is evaluated. As the proton fluence increases over 1/spl times/10/sup 10/cm/sup -2/, the Pmax of the cell decreases rapidly due to the degradation in the fill-factor. At the proton fluence of 1/spl times/10/sup 10/cm/sup -2/, the short-circuit current rises above the initial value interestingly due to the depletion layer broadening with the majority-carrier removal, and is degraded gradually over 1/spl times/10/sup 10/cm/sup -2/. On comparing the V/sub OC/, I/sub SC/ in the AlInGaP cell (0.6 /spl mu/m) and InGaP cell (0.6 /spl mu/m) with proton fluence, AlInGaP shows the higher radiation tolerance than InGaP.


This paper presents an architecture for a singlechip MPEG-2 video encoder and demonstrates its flexibility and usefulness. The architecture based on three-layer cooperation provides flexible data-transfer that improves the encoder from the standpoints of versatility, scalability, and video quality. The LSI was successfully fabricated in the 0.25-μm four-metal CMOS process. Its small size and its low power consumption make it ideal for a wide range of applications, such as DVD recorders, PC-card encoders and HDTV encoders. key words: MPEG-2, video signal processing, embedded system


Objective To study nutritional attainment status of college students in university-town and evaluate the effect of nutritional health education,in order to provide scientific basis for promoting college students' nutritional health status.Methods A questionnaire was designed according to 2007 chinese citizen dietary guideline and chinese citizen health attainment basic knowledge and skill.Nutritional health education was conducted in Ningbo university-town from March to June,2008.A total of 120 students were surveyed by the questionnaire and interviewed before and after education.Results The scores of nutritional knowledge,attitude and behavior were significantly higher after education(P0.01).Most students was satisfied with nutritional attainment health education.Conclusion It is effective to conduct nutritional knowledge health education and guide healthy dietary behavior by taking public elective course.


Based on the analysis of the collapsed buildings and the still standing buildings during the Wenchuan Earthquake,the collapse mechanism of the structure is summarized and the collapse resistance potential of the structure is discussed in this paper.Through the analysis of the building collapse phenomenon,the research results show that the causes of structural collapse include the inappropriate structural scheme,the inadequate load transfer path,the missing of connecting components,the poor material property and the uncontrollable construction quality.In addition,through the investigation and analysis of the survived buildings,the keys to structural safety is summarized,such as four needs,four taboo,four strengthening,four possibilities,and the collapse resisting ability of structure are thoroughly discussed.On this basis,the safety level is analyzed and the significance of the whole structural robustness in safety is pointed out.In addition,the design principal of the collapses prevention is introduced in this paper.the research on calamity resistance and collapse-prevention design are suggested.


Method of processing plastic substrates (1) comprising a step of masking of substrate partial surfaces against undesirable coating of these partial surfaces, in which, before a coating treatment of the substrate (1) certain surface portions of the substrate using a removable, on the substrate (1) at least temporarily adhesive masking (3) are covered, characterized in that the masking (3) is applied adhesive by injection or Anextrudieren a body of a weakly on the substrate (1) plastic melt in such partial surfaces to which in further processing steps adhesively further materials are to be applied, wherein the processing temperature of the melt lower than that of the material or materials of the substrate (1), and the melt so to the material or the materials of the substrate (1) is adjusted such that the masking (3) is (after coating the substrate 1) without leaving a residue and without reducing the Adha can be pulled sion ability of the masked surface before the substrate (1) is supplied to the further processing, and wherein the substrate (1) after its primary forming in a ...


Within applications of swarm control, failing to maintain cohesion amongst the agents may lead to mission failure. We study the effect of limited sensing range of swarming agents when guided by a shepherd. A connectivity-aware approach is proposed to enhance the cohesion of the swarm. We combine a graph-based model of the flock with particle swarm optimization (assisted by DBSCAN) to improve the shepherd's performance in herding sheep (swarm members). The approach is evaluated using multiple initial swarm configurations. Simulation results on swarm sizes of 50 and 100 agents show up to 50% reduction in the task completion time and an average improvement of 25% in the success rate for low density sheep initialization scenarios and competitive results for the higher density scenarios.


Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterised by systemic inflammation, involving not only the juxta-articular bone erosion, but generalised bone loss[.1 Sex hormone activates RA disease activity and induced bone resorption, but hormone replacement therapy increases bone mass and density. The ambiguous role of sex hormone on bone remodelling is confusing in RA patients. Under the impact of sex hormone, risk factors for osteoporosis might be different at pre- and post-menopausal stage. Objectives To investigate the different clinical risk factors of osteoporosis in pre- and post-menopausal women with RA. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed during 2014 to 2017, enrolling female participants fulfilled 2010 RA criteria[.2 We recorded demographic data, risk factors for osteoporosis and blood test. Osteoporosis is defined if one of hip, distal forearm, and lumbar spine bone mineral density less than −2.5 by T-score for post-menopausal women, or less than −2.0 by Z-sore for pre-menopausal women. Data was analysed by Student's t test and Chi-square test for continuous and categorical valuables, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to detect association of osteoporosis and selected variables. Results A total of 451 participants were enrolled in the study, including 89 pre- and 362 post-menopausal women. The prevalence of osteoporosis is 14.6% and 36.7% for pre- and post-menopausal women with RA, respectively. At pre-menopause, low body weight is the only significant risk factors for osteoporosis, while old age, low body height, low body weight, positive anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (anti-CCP), previous fracture history, elevated white blood cell and platelet count, and lower calcium level are potential risk factors for post-menopausal women developing osteoporosis (table 1). Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis (table 2) showed body weight remains the leading risk factors in pre-menopausal women (Odds ratio[OR]=0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.76~0.94, P-value=0.002), while body weight and previous fracture history are significant risk factors in post-menopausal women(body weight OR=0.91, 95% CI=0.88~0.94, P-value<0.001. previous fracture OR=2.03, 95% CI 1.13~3.64, P-value 0.02). Conclusions Risk factors of osteoporosis are different in pre- and post-menopausal women with RA. For pre-menopausal women, Low body weight is a leading risk factor, while low body weight and previous fracture history are important for post-menopausal women. Without protection of sex hormone, there are Potential roles of anti-CCP and white blood cell participating in osteoporosis pathogenesis and need more survey for confirmation. References [1] Lems WF, Dijkmans BA: Should we look for osteoporosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis?Ann Rheum Dis1998, 57(6):325–327. [2] Aletaha D, Neogi T, Silman AJ, Funovits J, Felson DT, Bingham CO, 3rd, Birnbaum NS, Burmester GR, Bykerk VP, Cohen MD, et al. 2010 rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria: an American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism collaborative initiative. Ann Rheum Dis2010,69(9):1580–1588. Acknowledgements Special thanks to Dr. Tien-Tsai, Cheng for his effort to establish the RA-GIOP database. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Driving assistance is a popular research topic. Generally, two informations are necessary for a good driving: "where am I?", "where are dangerous obstacles on the road?". An approach which can precisely localize the vehicle and obstacles on the road is presented in this paper. Here, data fusion from proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensors like odometer, GPS, LIDAR, and vision as well as the knowledge of the road map allow this localization. This system is fully operational and has been tested in Clermont Ferrand city. Localization accuracy already reached, is a decimetric precision on lateral vehicle position and a metric precision on longitudinal vehicle position.


This study proposes and tests a contingency approach that identifies the most appropriate application development methodology for a given project based on three dimensions: project uncertainty, project complexity, and user's system experience.This study focuses on the system development life cycle methodology (SDLC), prototyping at three levels, and end-user development (EUD) as potential application development methodologies. It measures user satisfaction and system utilization to examine the effect of the match between the prescribed methodology and the methodology actually used.A field survey was conducted using a sample of 371 "matched pair" responses from system developers and users who independently assessed the contingency factors and success measures (except in the case of EUD). The two major hypotheses were supported, demonstrating that user satisfaction and system utilization were significantly higher for those who used the methodology prescribed for their situation than those who did not were.T...


Public demand for more transparent processes and for increased civic involvement in planning drive increased participation in watershed management (Gutman and Thompson 1996, cited in Webler and Tuler, 2001: 30). This talk discusses the context of participation in watershed restoration in the U.S. and highlights a framework for detailing and assessing the participation process for the Sand River Restoration in Aiken, South Carolina. Stormwater drains from the surrounding City of Aiken into the Sand River running through Hitchcock Woods, an urban forest of approximately 2,000 acres. The river has eroded over the past decades and has become a twenty-foot canyon despite years of debate and study. The three recent workshops led by Clemson University's Restoration Institute and Center for Watershed Excellence with participants from the Hitchcock Woods Foundation and the City of Aiken revealed some important lessons in approaching river restoration in urbanizing areas.


SUMMARY The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare project‐based teaching in two different departments where the projects were organized differently. By means of qualitative methods, data were collected to give a description of the planning of the programmes and of student responses. The most important differences found concern: the degree of structure built into the programmes; and the sequence and extent of the various periods of deductive teaching and inductive student activities. The impact of the programmes on the students is described with reference to their motivation and their perceptions of the learning outcomes. The courses differed with respect to: maintaining the motivation of the students; and the learning outcomes as perceived by the students. As the term 'project method' is often understood differently by curriculum committees and teachers (and may consequently result in different types of learning), we conclude that reference to the underlying teaching principles will give a more pr...


Within the adjustment of the structure of service industry,service industry is transiting gradually from labor-intensive to knowledge-intensive.For developed countries,knowledge-intensive service industry has become sources of economic growth and important field for the participation in international service.The concepts and classifications for knowledge-intensive service industry are in wide varieties,and knowledge-intensive service industry possesses many features that are alien to general service industries.Great efforts should be made to promote knowledge-intensive degree of regional service industry in the Yangtze River Delta.


In the paper, I have analyzed the status of English Newspapers between 1959 and 2009 that are of national importance. Reportage in English as an employable skill during the first decades post Independent India was only exclusive to the ones who had access to university education or to the ones who went abroad and returned home armed with degrees. But, since the beginning of the 21 st century, it has been considered as the dawn of Information Age in India. And along with universalization of education and vast increase in the circulation of English Newspapers, current generation of learners in schools, colleges and researchers have found scope in English as a language as strong medium of communication and as a tool for learning for the upcoming new generation of learners as well. English Language learners till today find journalism as a medium to not just read or hear from it but also contribute toward it. Keywords: English, Language, Journalism, Learner, Information.


Objective To assess the adverse reactions of concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with intermediate-advanced cervical cancer.Methods Clinical data of 398 patients with intermediate-advanced cervical cancer receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy and 152 patients receiving radical radiotherapy alone were retrospectively analyzed.The adverse reactions of two groups were compared and the risk factors were analyzed.Results The radiation cystitis and radiation enteritis rates in chemoradiotherapy group were higher than those in radiotherapy group(25.1% vs 12.5%,10.5% vs 3.3%,respectively;both P 0.05).There were no significant differences in adverse reactions of reproductive system,skin and subcutaneous tissue(P 0.05).Conclusion Compared to radiotherapy alone,concurrent chemoradiotherapy for inoperable patients with intermediate-advanced cervical cancer has higher adverse response rate.It is necessary to take early prevention to reduce the adverse response rate.


Online banking research to date is to a large extent anecdotal. Only a very limited number of studies have explored Electronic Banking in recent years. In this work an objective investigation of the issue has been conducted by manually accessing and evaluating the web sites of Spanish private and saving banks. Quality of web home pages was determined using an original Web Assessment Index, which focuses on four categories: accessibility, speed, navigability and content. A detailed report of the results arising from this investigation is presented and systematically analyzed. These findings will be useful for both researchers and practitioners who seek to understand the issues relevant to electronic banking.


Preface Acknowledgements 1. A simple model of fluid mechanics 2. Two routes to hydrodynamics 3. Inviscid two-dimensional lattice-gas hydrodynamics 4. Viscous two-dimensional hydrodynamics 5. Some simple 3D models 6. The lattice-Boltzmann method 7. Using the Boltzmann method 8. Miscible fluids 9. Immiscible lattice gases 10. Lattice-Boltzmann method for immiscible fluids 11. Immiscible lattice gases in three dimensions 12. Liquid-gas models 13. Flow through porous media 14. Equilibrium statistical mechanics 15. Hydrodynamics in the Boltzmann approximation 16. Phase separation 17. Interfaces 18. Complex fluids and patterns Appendices Author Index Subject Index.


Keratocystic odontogenic tumors (KCOT) of the maxilla that extensively enter the maxillary sinus are relatively rare. This report describes a case of KCOT arising in the left maxillary sinus that showed histopathological characteristics of aggressive biological behavior. A 27-year-old woman was referred to our clinic for evaluation of a cystic lesion in the maxillary sinus. A CT scan revealed a heterogenious soft tissue density mass that extended widely into the maxillary sinus, resulting in a thinning of the cortical bone of the medial and posterior walls of the maxillary sinus. The cystic lesion was completely enucleated via an intraoral approach under general anesthesia. Histopathologically, the cystic lesion was covered with a parakeratinized stratified squamous epithelium consisting of a few layers. Palisading basal cells with hyperchromatic nuclei, and lamination and mitosis of the nuclei were also found. The histopathological diagnosis was KCOT. Furthermore, immunohistochemical staining for Ki67 and p53 showed a high rate of positively stained cells at the stratified squamous epithelium with dysplasia. The histopathological characteristics suggested that this case of KCOT had an aggressive biological behavior. There has been no evidence of recurrence during the 11-month follow-up.


Aiming to find out how students of French for Reading Knowledge dealt with bilingual dictionaries (BD), as well as assess BD functionality, level I and II students of these courses were required to answer a questionnaire. The assessment tool consisted of three parts: the first contextualized the student's point of view towards learning French and the BD used; the second intended to assess whether or not the dictionary was functional, through the interpretation of small texts and questions about lexicon, syntagms, anaphoric procedures, among others, which could be a problem to students; the third asked for an opinion towards the required task and BD used. Results showed there were gaps between lexicographic dictionaries and students' real needs.


Introduction. The problems of realizing the right to life are relevant to varying degrees in all countries of the world. Their importance can hardly be overestimated, since the preservation of a full-fledged family, society and the state as a whole depends on their solution. The article examines the problems associated with abortion, surrogacy, the development of biotechnology, death penalty, and analyzes the legislative experience of various states and Russia in these areas. The purpose of the study is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the problems arising in connection with the realization of the right to life and its possible restrictions. In the course of studying the problems, both general scientific and special legal methods were used: historical and dialectical methods, methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as the comparative legal method. Theoretical analysis. Russia (RSFSR) was the first country in the world to legislate in 1920 to allow abortion. According to the author, artificial termination of pregnancy solely at the request of a woman (without taking into account medical and social factors) causes irreparable harm to society, especially given the difficult demographic situation in modern Russia. In addition, this does not correspond to the guiding thesis of responsibility to future generations, enshrined in the preamble to the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In the context of realizing the right to life, each state faces a problem related to death penalty. Can a state, where the right to life is guaranteed, take the life of criminals? Apparently, each state should decide this issue based on the extent to which a particular crime poses a threat to society, a threat to life and health of people. Results. In our opinion, in countries with liberal legislation in relation to abortion, such as Russia, it is necessary to prohibit abortion at the request of a woman, since in this case the woman's desire violates the right to life of an unborn child. The state should protect the right to life from the moment of conception, not birth, but this is a long process that should lead to an extensive interpretation of Part 2 of Art. 17 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. In addition, Russia needs to pay attention to the legislative experience of Germany and France in relation to surrogacy. In these countries, the legislator has clearly substantiated why surrogacy is in fact a crime against the family. In these countries, surrogacy is criminalized. Also, with the development of biotechnology all over the world, the problems of IVF and cryopreservation of human embryos are acute. This problem can also be solved at the level of legislation by allowing IVF only to married couples (man and woman) who cannot give birth to a child, and by limiting the number of fertilized eggs to a minimum, so that later the issue of destroying unclaimed embryos is not resolved. In general, it seems that in a mature society that wants to develop and tries to prevent the destruction of its state, it is necessary to protect the right to life by all possible legislative methods.


ABSTRACT Autophagy as a means of cell killing was first advanced by Clark's phenotypic description of 'Type II autophagic cell death' in 1990. However, this phenomenon later came into question, because the presence of autophagosomes in dying cells does not necessarily signify that autophagy is the cause of demise, but rather may reflect the efforts of the cell to prevent it. Resolution of this issue comes from a more careful definition of autophagy-dependent cell death (ADCD) as a regulated cell death that is shown experimentally to require different components of the autophagy machinery without involvement of alternative cell death pathways. Following these strict criteria, ADCD has been validated in both lower model organisms and mammalian cells, highlighting its importance for developmental and pathophysiological cell death. Recently, researchers have defined additional morphological criteria that characterize ADCD and begun to explore how the established, well-studied autophagy pathway is subverted from a survival to a death function. This Review explores validated models of ADCD and focuses on the current understanding of the mechanisms by which autophagy can kill a cell. Summary: A review of recent findings that demonstrate autophagy-dependent cell death in various contexts and begin to elucidate molecular mechanisms that render autophagy a lethal process.


Progressive cardiac disease can lead to heart failure in adults due to permanent loss of cardiomyocytes. In contrast, the early aged mammalian neonatal heart in rodents and, most recently, porcine models exhibits significant tissue renewal of beating cells after injury (2, 8, 11). Despite the insufficient regenerative response of the adult heart to disease and damage, an emerging consensus supports the proliferative capacity of a subpopulation(s) of cardiomyocytes during development into mammalian adulthood (2, 6). The nature of cardiomyocyte proliferation has been informed by study of prenatal cardiac development, interspecies comparisons with lower vertebrates, surgical injury, and the neonatal cardiac regenerative mouse model. Neonatal mice restore damaged ventricular tissue by a variety of insults (apical resection or vessel ligation) over several weeks by transient proliferation of cardiomyocytes, similar to phenomena in zebrafish. This robust regenerative response in early aged neonates is suppressed just a few days after birth, and injured hearts follow an adult phenotype of permanent fibrosis and loss of cardiac physiology (2, 8, 11). Deep genome sequencing has identified modulators of the tissue regeneration and cardiomyocyte proliferation activity, including gene programming downstream of environmental factors, such as oxygen tension and paracrine signaling from the epicardium and immune cell activity. For example, expression patterns of microRNAs (miR-590, miR-199a, and miR15) and immune cell secretome (M2 and regulatory T cells) indicate developmental remodeling of the epigenetic and transcriptome landscape is correlated with postnatal silencing of fetal pathways associated with cardiac regeneration (3, 5, 10). A report by Wodsedalek and colleagues (7) recently published in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology builds on a previous study that identified interleukin (IL)-13 as a novel pathway for inducing cell cycle activity in cultured neonatal and adult cardiomyocytes through IL-13 receptor and IL-14 in the STAT3/6 signaling axis (Fig. 1) (3, 7). IL-13 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine secreted primarily from T helper (Th)2 cells and is known to play a significant role in regenerative wound healing in other tissue types. In the previous study, a comparative RNA-seq screen was conducted to identify critical signaling nodes for proliferative plasticity by profiling stages of maturation in the mouse heart and correlated synthetic induced pluripotent stem cardiomyocytes to compare with stages of putative dedifferentiation in the actively healing neonatal heart with surrogate cultured primary cardiomyocytes. To validate the screen, cultured neonatal and adult rat cardiomyocytes were treated with recombinant (r)IL-13 and exhibited increased cell cycle activity, as assessed by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation, Ki-67 staining, phosphorylated histone H3 (pH3) staining, and cell count in the dish (3). Wodsedalek et al. (7) provided a followup study that used next-generation transcriptome sequencing and a IL-13 transgenic knockout (KO) mouse model to investigate the role of IL-13 signaling in cardiac regeneration. In the IL-13 KO model, unoperated hearts, as characterized, have fewer cell cycling cardiomyocytes at postnatal day 8 accompanied by increases in expression of the hypertrophic marker Nppb and increases in the nuclear size of cardiomyocyte nuclei (Mef2 nuclei), which are indicative of hypertrophy compared with wild-type controls. Hypertrophy was also supported by increased distance between nuclei in the tissue. To test the role of IL-13 in the cardiac proliferative response to injury, as previously observed in the neonatal heart, the authors used the apical resection model in neonatal mice as a tool. At 3 wk postinjury, IL-13 KO mice exhibited impaired regeneration. Specifically, tissue repair was grossly limited in IL-13 KO neonatal mice compared with agematched day 1 wild-type control mice when characterized for regional deposition of fibrotic tissue. In addition, left ventricular diameters at systole and diastole were increased in KO mice compared with wild-type mice at 21 days after resection. IL-13 KO resected hearts also exhibited a larger cross-sectional area of cardiomyocytes. In rescue experiments, administration of rIL-13 increased cardiomyocyte cell cycle activity [pH3 /cardiac-type troponin T2 (cTnnt ) cells] in IL-13 KO mice after 1 wk. RNA-seq confirmed that exogenous delivery of IL-13 stimulated progrowth ERK1/2 and Akt activation, likely downstream of the IL-13 STAT3/6 signaling axis. Interestingly, wild-type animals injected with rIL-13 showed a trend toward decreased cycling cardiomyocytes (pH3 /cTnnt cells), although this did not reach statistical significance. These findings begin to suggest an intriguing switch between hypertrophic signaling and hyperplasia via extracellular cytokine signaling of IL-13 (7). Further investigation will need to determine whether the timing of administration, pleiotropic IL-13 activity, and altered cell interactions can provide a better understanding of these findings. A growing body of work revisits the role of immune cells in the process of wound healing and regeneration (10). IL-13 is an Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: S. E. Senyo, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106 (e-mail: email@example.com). Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 316: H262–H264, 2019; First published November 21, 2018; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00718.2018.


The impact of small-area residential characteristics on the development of coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular risk factors is well established. Evidence is so far lacking on the predictive value of large-area residential characteristics for cardiovascular risk.

 In CHD patients, we aimed to study the predictive value of large-area residential characteristics beyond patients' individual characteristics for the control of major cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking).

 Patients hospitalised for coronary events or interventions from 16 European countries were interviewed and examined for risk factor control (EUROASPIRE V survey). Based on patients' postal codes, we merged individual patient data with large-area residential data routinely provided by Eurostat for NUTS regions (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics). We selected patient characteristics recorded at hospitalisation (2015–16) and socioeconomic characteristics of their residential NUTS 2 and 3 regions (2015–16) to predict risk factor control at interview (2016–17). We developed risk prediction models using multi-level logistic regression: 1) baseline models (BMs) with patient data only and 2) extended models (EMs) with patient data (level 1) and large-area residential data (level 2). We employed multiple imputation to overcome sparse data and internally validated results using cross-validation. We used the c-index corresponding to the area under the curve as performance measure to assess the discriminative ability of prediction models.

 Data from 2562 CHD patients in 16 countries could be linked to 60 NUTS 2 and 121 NUTS 3 regions by postal codes. Median time between hospitalisation and interview was 14 (range 6 to 28) months. BMs included 34 patient variables, covering demographic, socioeconomic and clinical characteristics, and EMs additionally included 11 regional socioeconomic variables concerning gross domestic product, income, education, occupation, population density, and health care. For blood pressure control, BMs and EMs showed validated c-indices ranging from 0.71 to 0.73 and from 0.73 to 0.77, respectively. Analyses for cholesterol control yielded c-indices ranging from 0.69 to 0.70 in BMs and from 0.71 to 0.73 in EMs. For smoking cessation, the c-indices ranged from 0.80 to 0.84 in BMs and from 0.83 to 0.84 in EMs.

 Prediction models based on CHD patients' individual characteristics showed a high discriminative ability regarding the control of major cardiovascular risk factors. Further consideration of large-area residential characteristics provided an additive predictive value, markedly increasing the discriminative ability of prediction models for blood pressure and cholesterol control. Socioeconomic characteristics of CHD patients' residential regions can thus help identify patients requiring more intense risk factor management.

 Type of funding source: Foundation. Main funding source(s): German Heart Foundation


Introduction: Breast synovial sarcoma is extremely rare, with few cases described. It corresponds to 6–9% of soft tissue sarcomas and is more frequent in extremities (80%), trunk (8%), and abdomen (7%) in young adults. It usually does not affect the breast. Objectives: To report a rare case of monophasic breast synovial sarcoma and provide data for the global literature. Method/Case report: G.S.B., 97 years old, presented a 7 cm nodule in the left breast and negative axillary nodes. Ultrasound (US) revealed a heterogeneous nodule of 6.0 x 5.5 cm, BI-RADS 5. She did not have mammography. Core biopsy showed spindle cell neoplasm. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) indicated mesenchymal lesion, without differentiating stromal components of fibroepithelial tumor from the mesenchymal lesion. Rapid growth with ulceration and tumor bleeding were identified. Urgent mastectomy showed a malignant neoplasm of spindle cell pattern and high grade, with 12 cm, involved lateral margin, and 19 negative axillary lymph nodes. IHC of the surgical specimen indicated monophasic synovial sarcoma. Before the wide excision, she had a rapidly progressive recurrence in the sternum, making it non-resectable. During radiotherapy (RT), local progression was identified. She has been receiving chemotherapy (CT) with ifosfamide and adriamycin. No evidence of distant disease was found after 9 months of diagnosis. Results/Discussion: Synovial sarcoma corresponds to approximately 0.06% of all breast neoplasms, originating from their mesenchymal tissue, with variable epithelial differentiation. The term synovial sarcoma is inadequate, deriving from its frequent juxta-articular location. Its incidence is approximately 1.5 per 1 million individuals, with a mean age of 32 years and a male:female ratio of 1.2:1. The main histological subtypes are: classic biphasic and monophasic. Translocation t(X;18) (p11.2; q11.2) and expression of SYT/SSX gene fusion are present in more than 95% of cases. IHC shows an intense expression of vimentin and CD99, and focal of Bcl2, EMA, CKAE1-AE3, actin, and desmin, as well as negativity for S100, cytokeratins, hormone receptors, myosin, and caldesmon. The differential diagnosis is made with other spindle cell entities, such as fibromatosis, solitary fibrous tumor, myofibroblastoma, metaplastic carcinoma, and other sarcomas. Synovial sarcoma has a moderate response to chemotherapy with anthracyclines. The treatment includes wide surgical resection and RT. Metastases occur in about 50% of cases and are present at diagnosis in 16% to 25%; they are more frequent in the lung (75%), regional lymph nodes (15%), and bones (10%), tending to late recurrence and metastases. The 5-year disease-free survival is 60%. Conclusion: The heterogeneity of the disease and its low incidence hinder prospective studies addressing therapeutic options with better long-term results.


We describe the 3D‐QSAR‐assisted design of an Aurora kinase A inhibitor with improved physicochemical properties, in vitro activity, and in vivo pharmacokinetic profiles over those of the initial lead. Three different 3D‐QSAR models were built and validated by using a set of 66 pyrazole (Model I) and furanopyrimidine (Model II) compounds with IC50 values toward Aurora kinase A ranging from 33 nM to 10.5 μM. The best 3D‐QSAR model, Model III, constructed with 24 training set compounds from both series, showed robustness (r2CV=0.54 and 0.52 for CoMFA and CoMSIA, respectively) and superior predictive capacity for 42 test set compounds (R2pred=0.52 and 0.67, CoMFA and CoMSIA). Superimposition of CoMFA and CoMSIA Model III over the crystal structure of Aurora kinase A suggests the potential to improve the activity of the ligands by decreasing the steric clash with Val147 and Leu139 and by increasing hydrophobic contact with Leu139 and Gly216 residues in the solvent‐exposed region of the enzyme. Based on these suggestions, the rational redesign of furanopyrimidine 24 (clog P=7.41; Aurora A IC50=43 nM; HCT‐116 IC50=400 nM) led to the identification of quinazoline 67 (clog P=5.28; Aurora A IC50=25 nM; HCT‐116 IC50=23 nM). Rat in vivo pharmacokinetic studies showed that 67 has better systemic exposure after i.v. administration than 24, and holds potential for further development.


The invention relates to a method for monitoring and correcting a display of an image, especially a warning message in a display area (40) of a display device (100), in particular for a motor vehicle, said image data associated with a predetermined set of pixels of the display area (40) wherein at least a part of the image data is replaced with substitute image data when an error of one or more predetermined types is determined to be, with the inclusion of monitoring data by a data monitoring module (10) of the display device (100) checks for errors. The invention further relates to a data monitoring module (10) for a display device (100) which is adapted to perform the inventive method.


It has been known that engineering plastics including ABS and HIPS resin for Air-conditioner's blade are very sensitive to the temperature changes. Therefore, in this paper we investigated the effect of temperature by tensile test and the degradation of air-conditioner's blade by the twisting fracture test.


Morphology control of gold nanocrystals was successfully carried out via a modified polyol process using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a surface regulating biopolymer. By combining a small amount of AgNO3 as an additive, BSA yielded regular Au octahedrons, cubes, and higher polygons owing to the underpotential deposition of Ag species onto {100} facets. Unexpectedly, a uniform tetrahexahedral morphology that had high-index facets of {740} and {210} on the surface was formed at a relatively high concentration of AgNO3 with BSA, and was due to the coordination power of BSA to a gold surface weaker than that of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone). The resulting gold polyhedrons were aggregated after the synthesis because of the partial denaturation of BSA, but the simple surface exchange with 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid enabled a stable dispersion in aqueous solution.


Civic leadership capactiy can be enhanced. That is the main finding of a study conducted by the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies (Rutgers University-Newark), titled Growing Leaders to Enhance Civil Society: Assessing the Contributions of Leadership Newark. The study, released in January of this year, is based on a representative sampling of Leadership Newark (LN) alumni. The two main stakeholder groups—the Community Leaders and the Community Leadership Initiative Partners—found that Leadership Newark, a nonprofit organization devoted to furthering the economic, social, and political growth of the city of Newark, NJ, has achieved a strong level of success in preparing individuals in the public, private, and non-profit sector for civic leadership.


An irrigation simulator was developed for small plot irrigation and chemigation research. The simulator was designed as a linear move system to simulate water rates (2.5 to 25 mm) of any section of a center pivot system. Water rates are selected by a combination of nozzle orifice diameter, nozzle spacing, water pressure, and transport velocity. Metering pumps inject liquid chemical treatments into two manifolds that carry water and treatment to two 4.6-m spray boom sections located in tandem on a 10.7-m truss. The system successfully chemigated plant nutrients, herbicides (pre- and post-emergence), fungicides, insecticides, and nematicides to a wide variety of crop species. The data were invaluable for determining preliminary information for chemigation research on center pivot systems.


The far‐infrared spectra of 2‐cyclopenten‐1‐one and its 5‐d1 and 5,5‐d2 derivatives have been recorded and analyzed. Each molecule has a ring‐puckering series of bands characteristic of mixed quartic–quadratic potential energy functions. The fundamental puckering frequencies were observed at 94.4, 89.0, and 84.9 cm−1, respectively, for the d0, d1, and d2 species. In addition to the main puckering series for each molecule, side bands arising from the ring‐twisting excited states were also observed. Bands resulting from ring‐twisting transitions from various puckering states were observed for all three species in the 280–290 cm−1 region. The data demonstrate that the molecular skeleton is planar. A two‐dimensional potential energy function of the form V=a1x41 +b1x21+a2x42+b2x22 +cx21x22, where x1 and x2 are the ring‐puckering and ring‐twisting coordinates, was determined. For all three isotopomers, this gives rise to calculated frequencies which are in excellent agreement with the observed values. The inter...


The paper covers the relevant problem of forming future engineers' nonlinear thinking by mathematics means, in particular, by means of fractal geometry. The necessity to study fractal structures is justified. The author discusses fractal geometry problems in the process of geological structures study by means of analytical and IT resources.


Objective To explore the characteristics of arrhythmia found in dynamic electrocadiogram(DCG) in elderly patients above 60.Methods 500 cases of DCG arrhythmia were analyzed.Results Among the 500 cases,arrhythmia were detected 983 times.Atrial arrhythmia was found most(64.09%),the next was ventricular arrhythmia(24.92%) and the third was sinus bradycardia(4.98%).Conclusion Arrhythmia is an important factor causing the death of elderly people and should be diagnosed early and be treated in time.


There is increasing recognition that cancer survivors require continued care, beyond diagnosis and treatment. They are at increased risk of second and recurrent cancers, treatment related side-effects, other co-morbid health conditions, as well as psychological and social difficulties. However, current care is suboptimal and does not adequately meet the needs of this vulnerable population. In this paper, the principles of optimal survivorship care are discussed, including: prevention and detection of new cancers and recurrent cancer; surveillance for cancer spread, recurrence or second cancers; interventions for consequences of cancer and its treatment and; coordination between specialists and primary care providers. Barriers to achieving optimal care are discussed and recommendations made for improving survivorship care.


The article presents arguments in favour of implementing the discipline «Computer Graphics» when educating the future teachers of Fine Arts. The study analysed the principles of designing the content of the discipline through various creative programs of higher education; the content of educational programs in the leading educational institutions of the country. The article describes the rationale and features of implementing the discipline "Computer Graphics" in the Volga State Orthodox Institute. The authors developed and presented the content of this discipline, based on the principles of combining technical skills in the field of computer graphics, knowledge and skills in the field of fine arts, the basics of design and the prospective use of computer graphics in the framework of pedagogical and artistic activities. The article describes the results of the discipline implementation: the introduction of an innovative component in classical art education, increasing the level of computer literacy, mastering the basic skills of working in related professions by students, and the possibility of subsequent independent implementation of educational programs in the field of computer technology.


In order to study the effect of Ginkgo biloba leaf on preservation of orange, fresh "Shatang" -1 -1 -1 orange were stored at 16oC after dipping in extract concentration of 25 g l , 12.5 g l and 6.25 g l , with sterile water as control group. The weight loss, firmness, soluble solids contents, titratable acid contents, Vitamin C contents, flavonoid contents and total phenol contents of orange were measured every 2 days during storage period.


Following an initial discussion of the general nature of interpretation in contemporary psychology, and social and natural science, relevant views of Charles Taylor and Thomas Kuhn are considered in some detail. Although both Taylor and Kuhn agree that interpretation in the social or human sciences differs in some ways from interpretation in the natural sciences, they disagree about the nature and origins of such difference. Our own analysis follows, in which we consider differences in interpretation between the natural and social sciences (psychology in particular) in terms of Ian Hacking's use of Elizabeth Anscombe's conceptualization of actions as intentional acts under particular descriptions. We conclude that both Taylor and Kuhn are correct to point to differences in interpretation between the natural and social sciences. We also argue that in psychology, such interpretive differences, contra Kuhn and pro Taylor, are qualitative rather than quantitative. They arise from the nature of persons as self-interpretive, reactive beings who act under socioculturally sanctioned, linguistic descriptions. The actions of psychological persons may display qualitative differences over time and across contexts as these descriptions, including social scientific and psychological findings and interpretations, change. In contrast, even when descriptions in natural science change, such changes do not spawn changes in the self-interpretations and intentional actions of the focal phenomena of natural science. We also make the point that much current confusion surrounding interpretation in science arises from the unwarranted tendency of some commentators to treat interpretation as subjective, in ways that ignore the objective grounding of interpretation within regulated social practices, including scientific practices sanctioned by scientific communities.


A system for installing a powered device such as a pump and electric motor in a downhole tube, comprising a power line 52 disposed along a production tube 1 which terminates in a first wet connect 10 power connector, an orientation means 14 disposed in the vicinity of the first power connector and a powered device including a second power connector. The powered device is lowered down the production tube and oriented by the orientation means so that the first power connector means and second power connector means engage to connect the powered device to the power line. In another embodiment, the system comprises a power line disposed along a production tube, terminating in a first power connector, and a powered device including a second power connector, one or both of the connectors being radially displaced such as by a saddle 11 following a keyway 53 as the powered tool is lowered such that the connectors are aligned for engagement. Other aspects include annular electrical contacts covered by a sliding sleeve, deformable packers with electrical conduit paths, and systems for removing liquid from a borehole, such as dewatering.


In this paper we would like to introduce an efficient variant of Bitonic sorting that can be used with sorting large arrays in distributed computing environment. The problem of sorting a collection of values on a mesh-connected distributed-memory computer using our sort algorithm is considered for the case where the number of values exceeds the number of processors in the machine. In this setting the number of comparisons can be reduced asymptotically if the processors have addressing autonomy (locally indirect addressing), and communication costs can be reduced by careful placement of the data values.


Although the use of games and game elements other than pure entertainment has been studied in several academic fields, studies on completely gamified courses for foreign language learning in secondary schools are still scarce. This exploratory research paper contributes to a better understanding of the affordances of mobile gamification in Foreign Language (FL)/L2 education, specifically in the context of a Dutch secondary school. A technology-assisted mobile gamified language course for A1 German as an FL (GFL), called MISSION BERLIN, was developed, implemented, and evaluated. The students assumed the role of secret agents on a six-week mission to Germany's capital, using the official Moodle app on their own devices. A total number of 45,003 student's interactions (clicks) with the Moodle software were recorded and analysed, including the total number of individual interactions and the times when the clicks were made. In addition, the way how students collected the coins was analysed, making it possible to identify students' playing patterns and to explore different student actions.


Rebecca Armstrong has convincingly shown that the words tortusque per herbam | cresceret in uentrem cucumis (Virg. G. 4.121–2) lead the reader of Georgics 4 to expect a snake, only to be surprised by the bathetic climax which reveals it to be a cucumber.1 This interpretation gains substantial support from an earlier reader, who signalled his apprehension of Virgil's suggestion by means of imitation. Columella, in his 'fifth Georgic' on horticulture, supplies the gap left for later authors by the invitation in the time-pressed Virgil's praeteritio.2 This is his description of the gourd and the cucumber (10.378–80, 389–92):


With this issue of The Journal, new hands take the helm [Editor Edward B. Shuttleworth resigned and J.E. Morrison took over]. The hand which launched it upon the seas of journalism at a time when pharmacy had no legal standing in Canada, and which has since steered it through calms and hurricanes some of which would have wrecked vessels less strongly built, now resigns his charge to other hands. During the thirty years of its existence The Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal has assisted at the birth of the many pharmaceutical associations of this country, and has seen them grow from puny weaklings, struggling with many foes, to the lusty powerful organizations of today, and we will be pardoned if we say that the growth and strength of our associations are in a great measure due to the strenuous battle fought by this journal to secure recognition of the rights of the pharmacist. When pharmacy was in a state of chaos, when we might say pharmacy as such had no existence in this country, when our associations were still in the womb of the future, this journal was founded for the purpose of fostering pharmacal education and organization, and we have succeeded in our efforts. Today our provincial associations are second to none, and the condition of pharmacy in Canada compares favorably with that obtaining in any other part of America.


This paper addresses a preliminary study of perishable inventory management (PIM). The aim is the development of a robust and efficient control algorithm tacking into account the stock deterioration and its replenishment subject to a delay from a remote supply source and reacting significantly faster to the consumer's demand, which is considered as unknown disturbance. Here, instead of model-based control strategies, through a continuous, local identification of the level variations a model-free control that does not need any prior knowledge of the supply chain behaviors is proposed. The developed control policy permits to take into account both the transportation losses which could appear between the suppliers and the final customers and accounts for decay of goods stored in warehouse (perishing inventories) preventing from exceeding the facilities capacities.


End_Page 939------------------------------Tectonically active continental margins include transform, protoceanic-rift, and subduction settings. Shelf-slope breaks in these settings tend to be transient in time and space. Wrench and fault-block systems feature irregularly shaped basins and uplifts that have abrupt vertical movements and facies changes. Subduction systems form elongate basins and ridges in response to the interplay of tectonics and sedimentation. Because of the nondepositional character of narrow, tectonically controlled shelves, shelf-slope breaks commonly are expressed as unconformities separating shallow-marine/nonmarine and slope/basinal deposits. Alternatively, shelf and basinal deposits may be separated by a biostratigraphically compressed interval, including glauconite and phosphorite, which represents the clastic-starved shelf-slope break. Subtly expressed shelf-slope break deposits of active margins commonly are masked by abrupt sedimentation in adjoining areas along with abrupt facies migration. Consequently, bracketing deeper and shallower marine facies is the usual key to locating ancient shelf-slope breaks. Basinal facies are distinctive in many wrench and fault-block systems, with two common sedimentary motifs: (1) ponded submarine-fan deposits displaying little proximal-to-distal facies segregation, and (2) clastic-starved sections of laminated (commonly biogenous) sediment reflecting anoxic conditions in isolated silled basins. These facies, together with slump-dominated slope facies, adjoin shelf-slope break deposits. Variable geometries characterize subduction-controlled shelf-slope breaks, but generally, ancient deposits overlie highly deformed, deep-marine components (trench-slope and trench sediments) and are overlain by relatively undeformed fore-arc deposits. Underlying deposits may have exotic sources and may contain recycled materials. Overlying deposits consist of predominantly land-derived components. End_of_Article - Last_Page 940------------


In order to meet our coal mining subsidirary transportation equipment development needs,WC5R coal mine flameproof locomotive trackless rubber wheel command vehicle was designed and developed,and the design principle and the overall structure were introduced.


The first layer (3m) is multi-layer body is partially formed (100) manufacturing method and are described multilayer bodies produced (100) by the manufacturing method. In a manufacturing method, the first concavo-convex structure section showing a diffractive (4) is formed in said first region of the replication layer of the multi-layer body (3), rugged structure portion in the replication layer (3) the replication layer in the first region and the second region (3) but is not formed, the first layer of (3m) grant, or confer a photosensitive layer on the first layer (3m), or , a photosensitive washing mask applied as a replication layer in the first layer (3m), so exposing the photosensitive layer or the washing mask through the first layer (3m), the photosensitive layer or the washing mask, different exposure by the first rugged structure portion in the first and second regions is performed, the first layer (3m) is either is not in the second region is during the first region, or , is not in the first region and the exposed photosensitive layer or washing mask as a mask layer which is in the second region It is removed using. .FIELD 1


Consider a biped evolving in the sagittal plane. The unexpected rotation of the supporting foot can be avoided by controlling the zero moment point or ZMP. The objective of this study is to propose and analyze a control strategy for simultaneously regulating the position of the ZMP and the joints of the robot. If the tracking requirements were posed in the time domain, the problem would be underactuated in the sense that the number of inputs would be less than the number of outputs. To get around this issue, the proposed controller is based on a path-following control strategy previously developed for dealing with the underactuation present in planar robots without actuated ankles. In particular, the control law is defined in such a way that only the kinematic evolution of the robot's state is regulated, but not its temporal evolution. The asymptotic temporal evolution of the robot is completely defined through a one degree of freedom subsystem of the closed-loop model. Simple analytical conditions, which guarantee the existence of a periodic motion and the convergence towards this motion, are deduced.


) has been prepared previously. Its preparations [1-4] however, are usuallymultistep reactions, and most of the sequences necessitate the use of KCN. There has been a report thatphenylglyoxal 2,2-dimethylacetal can be reacted with cyanomethylidenetriphenylphosphorane [5,6]. Inthe following, it is noted that the commercially available phenylglyoxal monohydrate can also be useddirectly in a Wittig reaction with


The influence of the interface morphology upon the electron–hole transport in intrinsic In0.53Ga0.47As/InP quantum structures was investigated by scanning the photoluminescence intensity profile on the sample surface. The results suggest that the carrier diffusion is very sensitive both to the roughness of the interfaces and the presence of finite-width terraces. It was found that the carrier density profile shows asymmetric diffusion normal to the terraces whereas it shows symmetric expansion along the terraces. Simulations of the asymmetry in the carrier density profile using a non-Fickian diffusion equation described by the Levy statistics show a excellent agreement with the experimental data.


There is a widespread concern that the medical profession is itself sick. This is represented in professional disillusionment and demoralisation, an increasing inclination to consider leaving the profession, and the ill-health of its practitioners in terms of their mental health, marriages and use of drugs and alcohol (British Medical Association, 1992). These trends have been attributed, at least in part, to protracted job stress and dissatisfaction, which may in turn be a major determinant in the quality of health care (Caplan, 1994). Although these issues have been cautiously acknowledged for some time, the concept of 'burn-out' has provided an opportunity for more open acceptance and creative debate.


Abstract Background The Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the delivery of healthcare around the world. We assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital presentations, reperfusion treatment and outcomes in a comprehensive stroke centre. Methods In this observational study seven months of retrospective data from February 2020 (at the beginning of the pandemic) were compared to data collected for the same time frame in 2019. Results There was a transient reduction in stroke presentation only at the beginning of the wave of COVID-19 community transmissions in Sydney. There were significantly more haemorrhagic strokes in the COVID-19 period (n = 66, 15.4 % vs n = 95, 21.5 %, P = 0.02) and baseline stroke severity was higher (NIHSS median 3 vs 4, P = 0.049). Similar proportions of ischaemic stroke patients received reperfusion therapy in the two time periods (IV thrombolysis [n = 51, 17.3% vs n = 52, 17.9%, P = 0.838]; and ECR [n = 38, 12.9% vs n = 46, 15.9%, P = 0.30]). The time from presentation to stroke bed admission was significantly shorter during the COVID-19 period (median 295 vs 260 minutes, P = 0.031). Three-month follow-up Modified Rankin Score was 2 (median) in both periods (P = 0.92). Conclusion There was no change in stroke presentations overall during the 2020 COVID 19 pandemic time period with the exception of the first phase of the pandemic. Baseline stroke severity scores were higher. There was no a difference in the degree of disability at three-month follow-up.


This study aimed to examine the trend of performance of De La Salle Lipa (DLSL) education graduates in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET). Quantitative trend analysis employed on the data collected from records officially released by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) for the years 2011 to 2015 revealed that the performance of both elementary and secondary education passers were significantly higher than the national passing rates and showed a significant relationship between the graduates' English proficiency and their LET- General Education performance. When grouped according to their profile, there were significant differences in the education graduates' performance in terms of the year LET was taken, their GPA, and results of English Proficiency and Culture Fair Intelligence Tests but not in terms of their field of specialization. These results were considered in proposing a syllabus incorporating the strategies to further improve the program offerings of the Education Department particularly in terms of curriculum development, recruitment and selection of qualified students, continuous professional training for faculty, and more intensified LET review for the education graduates. Findings of the study showed that DLSL is eligible to qualify as a Center of Development in Teacher Education in the area of instructional quality.


Mathematical modeling is critical and crucial in a variety of fields, including medicine, physics and economics. This paper uses mathematical modeling to analyze coronavirus data in Iraq, specifically in Karbala province. Our basic idea involves applying two approaches using software. The first is to apply the SIR model to obtain forecasts for the spread of the corona epidemic over the entire year, using November 2021 data from Karbala province as a starting point. The second direction is to use the Euler approach to predict the development of the pandemic and finally, optimization techniques have been introduced for the spread of the coronavirus and methods to prevent its spread. © 2023 Author(s).


OBJECTIVES Type 2 diabetic patients are at high risk of CHD and sudden death. This cardiovascular risk can be partly attributed to low levels of HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C). The B2 allele of the CETP TaqIB polymorphism has been repeatedly reported to be associated with high HDL -C levels in both healthy and type 2 diabetic subjects, but its association with CHD is unclear. We investigated the association of the CETP TaqIB polymorphism with coronary heart disease (CHD), and sudden death in particular, in a prospective cohort of type 2 diabetic patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The CETP TaqIB polymorphism was genotyped in 3124 type 2 diabetic subjects with high cardiovascular risk: the DIABHYCAR study. We used Cox regression analysis to estimate the impact of the TaqIB SNP on the CHD events (myocardial infarction or sudden death) during follow-up. RESULTS The incidence of CHD was higher in B1B1 homozygotes than in B2 carriers (P = 0.02). This effect was mainly due to sudden death: hazard ratio (B1B1 vs B2+) = 1.51 [95% CI = 1.05-2.18]. Although the B1 allele was associated in a dose-dependent fashion with lower HDL-C (P < 0.001), the association with sudden death persisted after adjusting for multiple risk factors, including HDL-C levels. CONCLUSION In type 2 diabetic patients, the CETP TaqI B polymorphism is a good genetic predictor of cardiac mortality. This association is partly independent of the effect on HDL-C levels. Abbreviations: CHD: coronary heart disease DBP: diastolic blood pressure HDL-C: high density lipoprotein-cholesterol CETP: cholesteryl ester transfer protein CRP: C-reactive protein MI: myocardial infarction SBP: systolic blood pressure SNP: single nucleotide polymorphism UAE: urinary albumin excretion


The laser-driven rocket in which remotely generated laser power is used to heat propellant belongs basically to the class of specific-impulse limited propulsion systems if difficult missions are considered. It was previously established that trip time reaches a minimum as specific impulse is varied for payload transfers from low earth orbit to synchronous orbit and return via laser-driven rocket propulsion, the computations being based on the perigee-propulsion laser drive described by Minovitch (1972). The present study shows that such minimum occur for all missions and that optimum specific impulse is primarily determined by the mission difficulty. More generally, this optimum specific impulse maximizes payload kinetic energy achievable with a fixed jet power and propulsion time. A formula relating propulsion time parameter to payload ratio is obtained for estimating mission capabilities of laser-driven rockets.


The growing presence of electronic anesthesia record keeping and perioperative informatics systems is contributing to a database of valuable information that can significantly improve patient care and patient outcomes. Efforts such as the National Surgical Quality Improvement Project and the Surgical Care Improvement Project have analyzed quality measures that directly correlate to patient outcomes. Several of these quality indicators are influenced by the performance of anesthesia providers' activities in the perioperative period. These programs promote timely administration of preoperative antibiotics. One of their guidelines states that preoperative antibiotic should be given within an hour prior to surgical incision. Surgical site infections are the most common postoperative complication. Reducing postoperative complications can reduce health care costs, and postoperative morbidity and mortality rates. The purpose of this project was to utilize an electronic feedback mechanism to improve anesthesia providers' documentation of timely preoperative antibiotic administration. Electronic feedback reminders in the form of screensaver dashboards displaying updated departmental timely antibiotic percentage metrics for the day, the past week, and the past month were displayed for 16 weeks. Text messages were delivered once a week for 6 weeks showing an anesthesia providers' prior average one week on time antibiotic along with an equivalent department on time average. The measures were effective in improving the documentation of timely antibiotic administration. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION The goal of improving patient care in the hospital should be pursued constantly by those in the health care field. Interventions aimed at improving the type of treatments delivered, the patient's safety while staying in the hospital, and better selection and timing of pharmacologic therapies, have been implemented in many hospitals with this goal in mind. Over the past decade, a national surgical quality initiative called the National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (NSQIP) was tasked to measure and improve the quality of patient care on a national level. New discoveries were made concerning the correlation of data collected such as timely preoperative antibiotic delivery, normothermia maintenance, and euglycemia. When performance of these measures improved, postoperative morbidity and mortality decreased (Doenst et al., 2005; "History", 2006; Kurz, Sessler, & Lendhardt, 1996). With the growing presence of electronic anesthesia information systems (AIS), it is now possible to harness the readily available data and provide feedback to providers and organizations. Today's AIS' harvest anesthetic data including: patient physiologic data, medication administration doses and timing, surgery duration, and staff utilization. These data can be easily compiled and reviewed for analysis. The final step in closing the loop is to make this process more rapid and provide feedback to the provider who generated the data in a meaningful way. The provision of meaningful feedback may have the potential to motivate improvement or continued excellent performance (Franklin, Rosenbaum, Carey, & Roizen, 2006).


Maria Villela Petit, Time in Hopi Language and Culture ; Study of the writings of B.L. Whorf, Helmut Gipper and others permits a consideration of the concept of time in the language and culture of the Hopi. More generally, the "case" of the Hopi reveals significant aspects of a cosmic apprehension of time that is essentially religious and nonparametrical.