OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the clinical efficiency and safety of intravenous levofloxacin in the treatment of bacterial infections at a dose of 500 mg once a day.

METHODS
Randomized, prospective, multicenter, open-label study.

RESULTS
The total effective rate of levofloxacin was 90.8% (4103/4521). The effective rates of levofloxacin in the treatment of bacterial infections of respiratory tract, urinary tract, digestive tract and gynecologic infections and infections complicated with hematological disease were 90.2% (2884/3198), 92.3% (810/878), 91.9% (203/221), 94.5% (120/127), 88.7% (86/97), respectively. The bacterial eradication rate was 80.3% (677/843). The most common adverse drug reactions were gastrointestinal disorders (3.9%, 193/4888) and local irritation (1.7%, 84/4888), which were mild and disappeared after stopping administration.

CONCLUSION
Intravenous levofloxacin with a dose of 500 mg once a day is effective and safe in treating bacterial infections with low adverse reactions.


After the fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act in 2016, criticism of the law is considerable. FOIA has failed to live up to its initial promise of peeling back the layers that too often shroud the federal government in secrecy, frustrating the news media's efforts to contribute to an informed electorate. Issues with response rates, unorganized systems and subjective interpretations of the act's exemptions are not uncommon. This article utilizes data gathered from 2008 to 2015 that indicate that across multiple metrics, FOIA has increasingly failed to provide records to requesting parties. The trends suggest that significant overhaul is necessary. Rather than prescribing more amendments that are little more than Band-Aids on a withering dinosaur, this article concludes with a detailed set of recommendations – highlighted by a crowd-sourced request database – that move far from FOIA's original paper-based model that still rests at its analog core.


This study focused on a car model for thinning the design of the door-the most significant part of the door trim- to reduce the manufacturing cost of car doors. Specifically, the modal, stiffness, and strength were analyzed through finite element analysis. Structures of doors were optimized based on the weak position of stiffness. The sampling and assembly tests were carried out on sample pieces after the panel was designed thin. It was worth mentioning that the former (sampling test) assisted in correcting the finite element analysis model, and structures were verified feasible via the latter (assembly test). According to the study, this method plays a vital role in researching the lightweight of other similar injection molded products.


Suspension systems are one of the main parts of the vehicle that provide the passenger comfort and stability, while it is difficult for conventional passive suspension systems to cope with the vibrations to which the vehicle is exposed. Air suspension systems have a dynamic character that allows good handling of the road and a comfortable ride, but in a certain area for this reason the stiffness of the air suspension must be flexibly changed. The air suspension has been developed with the inclusion of a hydraulic actuator to create an additional force that withstands the incoming vibration from the road. The pneumatic suspension system parameters, such as vertical acceleration, road holding, and vertical displacement, are improved continuously based on the controllers that have been used for nonlinear pneumatic suspension systems, fractional order proportional integral derivative (FOPID), and fuzzy logic control (FLC). The genetic algorithm is utilized to tune the controller's parameters to the nonlinear active pneumatic system's 3-DOF. A model's simulation outcomes with controllers improved the suspension performance. The proposed active pneumatic system and pneumatic suspension systems are compared when a vehicle is traveling at a speed of 72 km/h on an ISO level B road to test the ability and efficiency of the system to suppress body vibration to enhance safety and provide a comfortable ride on rough roads. According to simulation results, the improved suspension substantially lowers vertical vibrations and enhances road adaptability.


Abstract. In the current review the results of HIV surveillance in 11 administrative territories of the North-western federal region of the Russian Federation (NWFR) in 2009 are summarized. The analysis of epidemic process is based on the data of HIV cases detected in the administrative territories of the NWFR by serological screening and registered in the state reporting forms.


he subject of this thesis is ethical aspects of decision-making concerning social risks. It is argued that a model for risk management must acknowledge several ethical aspects and, most crucial amo ...


A simple procedure was developed for the laboratory production and purification of gramme quantities of T‐2 toxin. After growing at 22 °C on rice for two weeks, Fusarium sporotrichioides T‐21 produced average T‐2 toxin concentrations of 1309 mg/kg and as much as 1000 mg of crystalline product were recovered. The method described avoids long‐term, low temperature incubations. Crude culture extracts were rapidly purified in two steps by column chromatography on silica gel. The purity of the crystallized product was verified by thin‐layer chromatography using various spray reagents for detection.


The authors discuss a hybrid pyramid coding scheme for image data compression that is based on two coding techniques: subband pyramid and Laplacian pyramid. Source data are first decomposed into seven bands by subband pyramid coding. Only the lowest band is further decomposed by the Laplacian pyramid technique to reduce correlations between pixels. The advantages of the hybrid pyramid scheme are its efficiency and compactness. In the coding process, each component is PCM coded. The computer simulation results show that the quality of the reconstructed image is good up to a compression ratio of 10:1.<<ETX>>


The international success of Roberto Saviano's Gomorrah, an apocalyptic account of the Camorra, has focused attention sharply on the country's worsening problems with organized crime. Four major Mafia gangs plague the country: Cosa Nostra in Sicily, 'Ndrangheta in Calabria, the Sacra Corona Unita in Apulia, and the Camorra in Naples. Although each of the four is a distinct organization, their intersecting criminal activities have a cumulative effect in undermining the civic life of the country. Thanks to the constant attention that it receives in films and literature, Cosa Nostra has provided, according to Saviano, "the perfect media distraction for the Camorra, which has remained practically unknown" (p.154). The same might be said about 'Ndrangheta and Sacra CoronaUnita. Since its original publication in 2006, Gomorrah has become an important point of comparison for subsequent work on the entire spectrum of the criminal underworld in Italy.


generations of the South Asians of London, in whether they continue to show a genetically determined pattern of cardiovascular disease and diabetes or, being born of more affluent mothers, in whether their disease incidence comes to conform to that of other racial groups born in Britain. More work needs to be done, and particularly in countries free of the confounding effects of the social class structure of early twentieth century Britain, before the Barker hypothesis can achieve universal acceptance. It certainly should not be allowed to justify a fatalistic attitude to lifestyle improvements in adult life. If correct, however, it may lead to better targeting of lifestyle interventions, particularly in terms of diet, to those members of the population for whom they are crucial while the rest of us will be able to gorge ourselves in peace.


This paper proposes a smart frequency presetting technique for fast lock-in LC-PLL frequency synthesizer. The technique accurately presets the frequency of VCO with small initial frequency error and greatly reduces the lock-in time. It can automatically compensate preset frequency variation with process and temperature. A 2.4GHz synthesizer with 1MHz reference input was implemented in 0.35µm CMOS process. The chip core area is 0.4mm2. Output frequency of VCO ranges from 2390 to 2600MHz. The measured results show that the typical lock-in time is 3µs. The phase noise is -112dBc/Hz at 600KHz offset from center frequency. The test chip consumes current of 22mA that includes the consumption of the I/O buffers.


Epidemiology of multiple and associated injuries of the locomotor system in the regional center in the north has been studied in dynamics during 20 years (1983-2002) according to the data from 2191 case histories of injured persons with polytraumas. An increase in non-occupational traumatism by one third (p < 0,001) with a simultaneous decrease in occupational traumatism by two thirds (p < 0,001) is observed. A decrease by 45,0 % of the level of street traumatism and an increase by 39,9 % of everyday traumatism (p < 0,001) is registered.


This paper examines the role of parks and green spaces in creating social interaction and strengthening community ties. How park structure, both physical and institutional influence sentiments and the use of the spaces, the UW Arboretum and Orton Park, as a social space. The methods of research that took place included observation, interviews, surveys, and use of geotagged and associated social media data. Our results indicated that institutional structures are linked to social interaction in green spaces in Madison. The juxtaposition of the two spaces as represented in the sentiment maps offers a viewpoint on the role of size and sense of place in the creation of social spaces. The political ecology of the spaces depends on a wide variety of factors including ownership, funding, and founding principles. In Madison, the differences between seasons and occurrence of events both play a role in the amount of social interaction that takes place in the green spaces during different months of the year. PEOPLE, PARKS, AND PLACES 3


Issued as 15th and 16th Annual progress reports, and Statement of costs, Project no. G-33-645 (continued by Project no. G-33-659)


This qualitative study focuses on the implementation of the Arts and Culture programme in eight secondary schools in the Matabeleland South region of Zimbabwe. Adopting a multiple case study design the article explores, through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires District Education officers, secondary school heads, Arts and Culture Heads of Department, secondary school teachers, parents and secondary school pupils' perceptions on how effective the Arts and Culture programme is being implemented in secondary schools. The study, among other things, established that while most schools acknowledge that the Arts and Culture programme should be implemented according to Ministry specifications there is a tendency amongst schools to give attention to Arts and Culture when inter-house, inter-school and district competition dates have been announced. Findings also reveal that not all learners are given the opportunity to participate in at least two performing and two visual arts programmes in a year as stipulated by circular number 28 of 2010.Additionally, the policy on the institutionalisation of Arts and Culture was not matched with the provision of adequate materials, infrastructural facilities and manpower. The study recommends the deployment of qualified Arts and Culture teachers to secondary schools, provision of adequate support by District Education officers as well as close monitoring if Arts and Culture is to be effectively implemented.


Using PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing techniques,the genetic polymorphism of 257 C/G mutation in THRSP gene exon 1 and its relationship with meat quality traits were studied on five cattle breeds,including Qinchuan cattle,Xianan cattle,Nanyang cattle,Jiaxian red cattle and Luxi cattle.The results showed that this mutation had led to a synonymous mutation in the 75th amino acids.The allele frequency was consistent in 5 cattle breeds.The PIC of this locus is the highest in Nangyang cattle,which belonged to moderate polymorphisms,and that of the other cattle breeds belonged to low polymorphisms.The χ2 adaptability test indicated that the polymorphic of site 257 was in accordance with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium(P0.05)in five breeds.Associate analysis showed that carcass length and loin muscle area is significantly different between AA and AB genotypes in this locus.This locus is probably a mutation that affects carcass length and loin muscle area,or tightly linked to it.It could be a candidate molecular marker for beef cattle breeding.


My life has been framed by the two-cultures debate. A scientific education, good but narrow, led me into history of science just as anxiety about specialisation opened opportunities for 'bridge' subjects, and History and Philosophy of Science seemed just that bridge. My DPhil thesis (1964), on the reception of chemical atomic theory in the nineteenth century, led to a new lectureship at Durham that involved giving courses right across the different faculties, and close, stimulating involvement with other institutions where it was also being taught and researched; with the business of examining, reviewing, editing, and publishing; with the various societies set up to promote history of science; and with scientific societies like the Royal Society, the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society of Chemistry, finding science losing public esteem, and becoming interested in their past and how it might promote understanding and enthusiasm in the present. Encounters with historians of science, technology, and medicine at home and abroad, with coal miners and with museum curators, all wrestling with very different histories, indicated that Snow's 'two cultures' were a feature especially of 1950s Britain, that cultures were deeply divided in all sorts of ways, and that the social history of science was as important as its intellectual history. So over time I found myself teaching course s, and writing, on science and religion in the nineteenth century as well as on Butterfield and Hall's 'Scientific Revolution' that had dominated the subject in the 1960s and the 'Second Scientific Revolution' that had excited young Turks of my generation. Finally, I launched a course on Two Cultures as a historical phenomenon, focussing upon science, its developing institutions, reception, and place in the culture of the nineteenth-century Age of Science.


Most information in Web 2.0 is made by users and classified by tags assigned by users. Tag-related services and research are focused on work such as automatic tagging and tag-cloud composition; however, classifying media resources and information according to tags and providing the results to users is not still up to the mark. In this paper, image resources and their tag information scattered in the web are collected and a tag-pair weight matrix is created, according to the relations and semantic similarities between tags. To overcome the problems of the existing system, a tag-pair weight matrix-based tag clustering (TBTC) algorithm was proposed to find highly related tags. The threshold used for clustering in this algorithm was studied, and an optimal threshold with high cluster cohesion was determined. Finally, as an experiment, 500 images with the keyword 'tomato' were searched from the Flickr website and highly related tags were derived from the proposed algorithm. The results of this research were examined and compared with the results of existing studies. It was found that the proposed research showed more advanced accuracy and precision than earlier methods.


Rock sequences of Cenomanian-Turonian age commonly assigned to the Indidura Formation in northeastern Mexico (Coahuila State) show distinct facies indicative of significant spatial variability over the carbonate platform. Three stratigraphic sections where selected to characterize these differences. Las Delicias section (stratotype) is composed of 10-30 cm thick beds of very-pale orange biocalcirudites, without internal primary structures. Allochems consist of abundant echinoderms, pelecypods, ammonites, and fewer planktonic foraminifera. Total carbonate (CaCO3) varies between 48% and 94%, and total organic carbon (TOC) between 0.7 % and 1.5 %. La Casita Canyon section, southeast of Las Delicias, consists of 3-30 cm thick interbeds of pale yellowish brown biocalcilutites and olive gray shales. Hand specimens show no apparent depositional internal structures, whereas abundant bioturbation appears in thin sections. Allochems consist of sparse fragments of planktonic foraminifera and radiolaria concentrated in burrows. Total carbonate (CaCO3) varies between 0.8 % and 59.3 %, whereas TOC fluctuates between 0.17 % and 5.8 %. In contrast, the Sierra de Parras section, south of Las Delicias and west of La Casita, includes a sequence with well defined rhythms. They consist of 8-200 cm thick beds of light olive gray and brownish black, to olive black shales; and 5-100 cm thick marly biocalcilutites. Both facies exhibit similar internal structures arranged in nearly even-parallel "varve-like" dual lamination (<3 mm thick). Microscopically, they include few planktonic foraminifera scattered in the dark laminae. Epifaunal remains include only sporadic pelecypods (Inoceramus). Total carbonate (CaCO3) content varies from 43% to 78.3%, while TOC is relatively high between 7.3% and 24.3%, more often higher than 20%. Microfacies in the Parras area reveal compositional differences in the laminae associated with varying abundance of microspheres or "micro-ooids" that we attribute to be of cyanobacterial origin. Laminae developed from fluctuating cycles of calcareous cyanobacteria blooms, which remained dominant throughout the sequence. Corganic–rich black shales and limestones of the Parras region further document unique paleoceanographic conditions, which were also characterized by strong dysoxic/anoxic bottom conditions and rhythmical production of cyanobacteria. These conditions contrast sharply with prevailing paleoenvironments recorded at Las Delicias and La Casita where benthic epifauna, planktonic and nektonic organisms were able to thrive. Assuming that these facies are coeval, microfacies and TOC analyses of these rocks further demonstrate distinct spatial differences between these areas.


With industrialization and urbanization developing, the situation of Nitrogen pollution becomes worse and worse in the shallow groundwater of shijiazhuang district, through sampling, assaying and experiment, we give expression and investigate to situation and reason of pollution and offer relative preventing measures.


A Load-type Commercial Motor-vehicle of Passenger Transport was studied as the research subject in researching front crash safety evaluation technology of front structure by the real car crash test methods, which is to explore the front crash safety evaluation technology suitable for china's National conditions. The results show that the Testing procedure and Evaluation will not only conducive to the carrying out of Commercial Motor-vehicles of Passenger Transport access about structural safety detection, but also played an important role in promoting the safety of the domestic bus, road transport safety, and social harmony.


Background HER2-targeted therapy provides survival benefits to HER2-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A better understanding of the clinical and genomic characterization of treatment-naïve HER2-positive NSCLC, as well as the efficacy of and resistance to HER2-targeted therapy in HER2-altered NSCLC, could promote further improvement of HER2 targeted therapy. Methods HER2-altered NSCLC patients was retrospectively included and their genomic profiles were performed by next-generation sequencing. The clinical outcomes included overall response rate, disease control rate and progression-free survival. Results Among 176 treatment-naïve patients with HER2 alterations, 64.8% harbored HER2 mutations with/without HER2 amplification, and 35.2% carried HER2 amplification only. Molecular characterization was correlated with tumor stage that late-stage NSCLC with HER2 oncogenic mutations showed a higher prevalence of TP53 mutations and a higher tumor mutation burden. However, this correlation was not found in patients with HER2 amplification only. Twenty-one patients with HER2 alterations treated with pyrotinib or afatinib were retrospectively enrolled. Pyrotinib yielded a longer median progression-free survival than afatinib (5.9 [95% CI, 3.8-13.0] vs. 4.0 months [95% CI, 1.9-6.3], P = 0.06) in these patients. Analysis of the genomic profiles before and after anti-HER2 targeted therapies identified de novo HER2 copy number gain and G518W mutation, as well as mutations involving DNA damage repair signaling, SWI–SNF complex, and epigenetic regulations as potential resistance mechanisms. Conclusion HER2-mutant NSCLC had different molecular features from HER2-amplified NSCLC, and its genomic profile was dependent of tumor stage. Pyrotinib had superior therapeutic effects than afatinib in HER2-altered NSCLC, although larger cohorts are warranted to validate it. HER2-dependent and -independent resistance mechanisms to afatinib and pyrotinib were unveiled.


A household ozone and oxygen enriched water generator is mounted to the tap of running water. A liquid-air jet pump is used to suck the ozone gas generated by three bipolar corona ozone-generating tubes. In the throat pipe of jet pump, the ozone is mixed with and dissolved in water by liquid drop movement and bubble movement to obtain high-concentration ozone and oxygen enriched water. The resultant water has health-care function of treating the dermatosis, cold, wound and constipation, and preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, calculosis, diabetes and hyperosteogeny. Said ozone-generating tube features unique structure, no outside arc and low power under 3 W.


The performance of radar anti-jamming(ECCM) to become an important parameter in modern radar,how objective and comprehensive assessment of the performance of radar equipment development and use are of concern,this paper analyzes the radar-jamming environment,build a radar evaluation index systemestablished anti-interference assessment models,the results of the assessment,and finally a brief analysis of the results.


Abstract The late-time effect of primordial non-Gaussianity offers a window into the physics of inflation and the very early Universe. In this work we study the consequences of a particular class of primordial non-Gaussianity that is fully characterized by initial density fluctuations drawn from a non-Gaussian probability density function, rather than by construction of a particular form for the primordial bispectrum. We numerically generate multiple realisations of cosmological structure and use the late-time matter polyspectra to determine the effect of these modified initial conditions. In this non-Gaussianity has only a small imprint on the first polyspectra, when compared to a standard Gaussian cosmology. Furthermore, some of our models present an interesting scale-dependent deviation from the Gaussian case in the bispectrum and trispectrum, although the signal is at most at the percent level.


Livers from chickens, rats, mongrel dogs, Dalmatian dogs, and man have been examined in the electron microscope in order to compare the microbodies with the known content of uricase. It is concluded that microbodies with inclusion are present in rats, mongrel dogs, and, although the inclusion generally is smaller, in Dalmatian dogs. The inclusion has a characteristic structural appearance. These species (rat, dog) have uricase. Chickens and man lack both the enzyme uricase and the microbody inclusion. This evidence and that from previously published electron micrographs in the literature on microbodies support the notion of a positive correlation between uricase and microbodies with an inclusion. It is recommended that the term "uricosome" be used for such microbodies that have an inclusion of the appearance here described. Microbodies are usually defined as cytoplasmic particles surrounded by a single membrane and having a size of 0.2 to 0.6 #. The term was introduced by Rhodin to denote certain particles in the tubule cells of the mouse kidney (1). According to Novikoff "the particles are best identified by the presence of an inner lamellated (crystalline?) body" (2). Such an inner body is not always present, however, and is absent from the material presented by Rhodin. Recently it has been shown that microbodies in the rat kidney have a crystalline inclusion, whereas those in mouse kidney do not (3). Microbodies with or without inclusions have been described from mammalian liver, hepatoma, and kidney. A suggestion as to their function comes from the work by de Duve and coworkers (4) who found that, during density centrifugation, uricase, catalase, and D-amino acid oxidase distribute themselves differently from both the lysosomal and the mitochondrial enzymes, and might thus belong to a separate class of cytoplasmic particles. The three enzymes do not become identically distributed, however; according to de Duve, this means that they "may either belong to separate particles showing very similar properties, or they are associated together in varying proportions with a single group of particles" (4). In subsequent electron microscope investigations, Novikoff (2) and Baudhuin and Beaufay (5) came to the conclusion that the particles containing "uricase and related activities" are the microbodies. This hypothesis may be tested by comparing livers from animals in which uricase is known to be present with those from animals in which uricase is absent with respect to the presence or absence of microbodies. The distribution of uricase is relatively well known among vertebrates and can be correlated, in turn, to both the phylogenetic relationships and the metabolic needs of the vertebrate classes. For a recent account of these interesting correlations the reader is referred to Baldwin's treatise (6). Uricase is known from fishes, amphibians, and


There is growing awareness of the importance of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Research into how we educate has become more robust, systematic, and rigorous. More faculty are engaged in research that develops the primary evidence to strengthen not just what we teach but also how we teach it. At many academic institutions, educational scholarship has been formalized and is used to make promotion and tenure determinations. Governing bodies use this evidence to set standards and guide decisions on certification, credentialing, and outcome-driven curriculum development. There is growing awareness of the need for rigorous evaluation of educational interventions across all stages of training and practice including for premedical, medical, and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral trainees, residents, fellows, and professionals.


Westinghouse Electric Company, a major nuclear technology firm that supplied nearly half of the 99 currently operating U.S. commercial reactors, filed for bankruptcy reorganization on March 29, 2017. The bankruptcy filing raised fundamental questions about the future of the U.S. nuclear power industry, and particularly whether four new reactors that Westinghouse is constructing for electric utilities in Georgia and South Carolina will be completed. The four reactors are the first to begin construction in the United States since the mid-1970s, and the nuclear industry had hoped they would pave the way for many more.


Abstract Background The prevalence of current/past coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in skilled nursing facility (SNF) residents is unknown because of asymptomatic infection and constrained testing capacity early in the pandemic. We conducted a seroprevalence survey (SPS) to determine a more comprehensive prevalence of past COVID-19 in Los Angeles County SNF residents and staff members. Methods We recruited participants from 24 facilities; participants were requested to submit a nasopharyngeal (NP) swab for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) PCR testing and serum for detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. All participants were cross-referenced with our surveillance database to identify persons with prior positive SARS-CoV-2 results. Results From August 18 to September 24, 2020, we enrolled 3,305 participants (1,340 residents and 1,965 staff members). Among 856 residents providing serum, 362 (42%) had current/past SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of the 346 serology positive residents, 199 (58%) did not have a documented prior positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR result. Among 1,806 staff members providing serum, 454 (25%) had current/past SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of the 447 serology positive staff members, 353 (79%) did not have a documented prior positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR result. Conclusions Past testing practices and policies missed a substantial number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in SNF residents and staff members.


ISSN: 2410-9649 Shindy et al / Chemistry International 7(1) (2021) 39-52 iscientic.org. 40 www.bosaljournals/chemint/ firstname.lastname@example.com This point of view encouraged us and directed our attention to study the solvatochromism and haolochromism (acid-base properties) of some furo [2,3-b] pyrazole cyanine dyes with the hope that a combination of the favourable properties of both pyrazole, furan and cyanine dyes may be achieved. In addition, this study shed the light on the best practical conditions when these dyes are used and/or applied as photosensitizers. Besides, this study is performed to evaluate the solvatochromic and halochromic properties of the investigated cyanine dyes to may be used and/or applied as solvatochromic and/or halochromic materials in any of the diverse and a broad area of many hetergenous fields, such as chemistry, biology and medicine. Table 1: Electronic Absorption Spectra of some furo[2,3-b]pyrazole cyanine dyes (1), (2) and (3) in pure solvents (Solvatochromism) (εmax = cm2mole-1)


For liquid methanol, the longitudinal relaxation of the OH and CH3 proton magnetic moments was found to depend on the rate of OH proton exchange between methanol molecules. This exchange dependence is explained quantiatively in terms of cross relaxation between the OH and CH3 protons resulting from the scalar interaction J(t)I·S. The good agreement obtained between experiment and theory indicates that measurement of the longitudinal relaxation rate can be used to obtain accurate values for the rate of proton exchange in methanol. In addition, for the range of rates where the longitudinal relaxation is affected, the spin—echo determination of T2, the transverse relaxation time, was found to be reliable for the CH3 proton but not for the OH proton.


Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancy in women,Breast cancer is responsible the for 15% of cancer deaths in women, making it the number-two cause of cancer death. Stem cells are basic cells of all multicellular organisms having the potency to differentiate into wide range of adult cells. Stem cells have anti inflammatory and anti caner effects.This research compare the effect of stem cells and doxorubicin on treatment of breast carcinoma aiming to future application of stem cells for its better prognosis and less side effects.


Disintegration process of aqueous surfactant solutions injected from a fan spray nozzle has been clarified. Adsorption of surfactant molecules on the liquid surface causes time-dependent surface tension referred to as "dynamic surface tension". Therefore, when a new liquid surface is formed, surface tension decreases from the value of solvent to equilibrium value with time. This relaxation time of surface tension can be critical for the disintegration process of a liquid sheet that breaks up in comparable timescale. In this study, poly(oxyethylene)(10)octylphenyl ether was used as the surfactant, and the dynamic surface tension of the surfactant solution depending on concentration was measured by oscillating jet method. The break-up length of the liquid sheet and the amplitude of flapping waves inducing the disintegration were also measured by photography and laser induced fluorescence (LIF) method, respectively. The addition of the surfactant decreased the relaxation time of surface tension, and promoted the growth of the wave. However, break-up length increases with surfactant concentration. This discrepancy may be due to surface-stabilizing effect by the surfactant molecules, which is usually seen in a soap film.


In thin film deposition processes, the deposition temperature is one of the crucial process parameters for obtaining films with desired properties. Usually the optimum deposition temperature is found by conducting several depositions sequentially in a time consuming process. This paper demonstrates a facile and rapid route of the simultaneous thin film deposition at six different deposition temperatures ranging from 100 to 1000 °C. Cuprite (Cu2O) was chosen for the study as this material is of interest for energy applications. The thin films are assessed for their crystallographic, microstructural, Raman scattering, and photoelectrochemical properties. The results show that the utilization of a step heater leads to the rapid optimization of thin film microstructures of an absorber material used in photoelectrochemistry. This results in a structure zone diagram for Cu2O. For a substrate temperature of 600 °C, an optimum between crystallinity and morphology occurs.


【We experienced a case of osteoid osteoma in thoracic vertebra accompanied with herniated nucleus pulposus during the management of back pain. A 32 year old male patient with herniated nucleus pulposus complained of back pain and radiation to right leg. Lumbar epidural block with 1% mepivacaine 5 ml was performed for pain control and it relieved the radiating pain. However patient continued to experience severe exacerated back pain at night which responded to aspirin. Therefore we performed further examination for existence of disease of the spine and diagnosed osteoid osteoma in the right pedicle of T12 vertebra. In conclusion, we recommend physicians when evaluating patients with back pain to be congnizant of possible existence of neoplastic disease of the spine and incorporate it in differential diagnosis.】


Phishing costs Internet users billions of dollars a year. Using various data sets collected in real-time, this paper analyzes various aspects of phisher modi operandi. We examine the anatomy of phishing URLs and domains, registration of phishing domains and time to activation, and the machines used to host the phishing sites. Our findings can be used as heuristics in filtering phishing-related emails and in identifying suspicious domain registrations.


Some chemical properties of natural waters in the Cairn Gorm-Strath Spey area have been investigated. Differences of ionic concentrations in twenty-four waters analyzed for pH, Na, K, Ca, Mg, HCO3, Cl, SO4, NO3, PO4 and SiO2 are interpreted in terms of variation in geology, topography, local climate and vegetation.


Landmines and other explosives are placed in war fields and other populated places which causes injuries and sometimes death to humans and also property loss. There are various types of landmines such as Antitank landmines and Antipersonnel landmines. Antitank landmines and some of the antipersonnel landmines are metal cased so these landmines can be detected using metal detectors. These landmines have to be relocated for diffusion using robotic arms. For identifying the landmine and to relocate them, without human interference, the unmanned remote controlled ground vehicle with attached robotic arm structure and model is proposed in this paper. This device is a wireless controlled ground vehicle using RF modules. The ground vehicle along with the metal detector and the robotic arm is designed and their working is explained. Operations are controlled through Arduino UNO.


Objective To explore the neurovirulence and pathogenicity of an attenuated strain of vaccinia virus(VG9),which was derived from vaccinia virus strain Tian Tan(VTT) by three cycles of plaque purification.Methods The vaccinia virus strains of VG9 and VTT were respectively used to infect weanling/suckling mice by intracerebral(ic) inoculation,nude mice by intraperitoneal injection and rabbits by intradermal injection.The inocu-lated animals were observed and compared for their morbidity,mortality or dermal necrosis.Results The vaccinia virus strain VG9 was 100-fold and 18-fold less virulent than the parent strain,VTT,respectively in weanling mice and suckling mice by evaluating the icLD50(lethal dose,50%) value.Although the icLD50 of the two strains appeared to be similar in rabbits,there were more rabbits developed illness in the group with VTT virus inoculation than in the group with VG9 virus inoculation.The icPD50(50% pathogenic dose) value of the strain VTT was 32-fold less than that of strain VG9.Moreover,severe necrosis was observed in the rabbits intradermaly inoculated with 6.63 lg PFU of VTT virus.However,only slight necrosis was induced with 7.54 lg PFU of VG9 virus.Conclusions The attenuated vaccinia virus of strain VG9 showed less virulence than the virus of strain VTT had in laboratory animals through different routes of inoculation.The results suggested that the lower human adverse reaction might be expected by VG9 vaccine than by VTT vaccine.The attenuated virus of strain VG9 should be more suitable than strain VTT as a vector for the development of HIV and other novel recombinant vaccines.


Pingbei Oilfield is typical oil reservoir with low permeability,low porosity and low pressure.To achieve benefit-driven development,the author advocates starting with optimizing design decreasing the spending on a single well by less than one million Yuan to ensure input-output balance and higher return of investment and,in addition,being careful with well spacing with perfect well pattern blocks taking conventional directional development and injection-production pattern,whose reserves are hard to draw out in a regular way and whose edge is not perfect,taking horizontal well development.


[Objective] The experiment was conducted to explore the physiological and ecological mechanism of the planting method of Double-row interlaced thin-planting(SHJC) increasing maize production.[Method] Zhengdan 958's agronomic traits and photosynthetic characteristics of three planting method under high density were compared to discuss maize development characteristics and yield increasing mechanism of SHJC.[Result] The maize of SHJC showed obvious superiority,and its root quantity and weight increased obviously.SHJC planting method altered growth environment of roots between plants,and dry matter accumulation was high;its daily change of photosynthesis showed two-peak curve,and the time when getting to the maximum photosynthetic rate was early,and maize population relative intensity of every layer was lower than that of the other planting method,could fully utilized sufficient light and its yield was high.[Conclusion] The study provides a theoretical references and new ideas for maximum yield research of maize and other crops in China.


. Software process improvement is the goal of many organizations that aim at achieving better product quality and market recognition through international organizations official appreciation. Being aware of this fact, Electoral System Department of the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court realized importance of implementing procedures in order to standardize software development in all its electoral systems development units. This article presents an experience report on this process improvement program implementation that culminated in the maturity and capability model CMMI level 2 evaluation after a six months work period. Resumo. Melhoria processo software tem uma meta instituições busca qualidade do mercado vindo avaliações oficiais órgãos internacionais. Ciente dessa realidade, a Coordenadoria Eleitorais


This paper presents research currently being conducted in Central Queensland, Australia to understand conflicts between coastal zone resource users and the associated sociocultural and political issues surrounding coastal zone management. Conflict occurs between stakeholders in the coastal zone over values, conservation and development trade-offs, access, and resource use rights. Decisions are currently made within a multi-stakeholder framework where there is limited understanding among stakeholders of each groups values and aspirations, and few, mechanisms for negotiation, or to ensure transparency of decisions and feedback on consultation. This paper reports on the contribution of stakeholder analysis and social mapping to conflict management and findings from their application. As it is applied here, stakeholder analysis and social mapping have been successful participatory tools used to document and feed back the values, interests, attitudes and aspirations of stakeholders. Understanding stakeholder conflict is essential in progressing a whole catchment approach to decision-making that secures the cooperation of a diverse range of social groups.


Pi of the Sky is a system of wide field-of-view robotic telescopes designed for observations of short timescale astrophysical phenomena, especially for prompt optical GRB emission. The apparatus was designed for autonomous operation, follows the predefined observing strategy and adopts it to the actual conditions, monitoring a large part of the sky with time resolution of the order of 1 - 10 seconds and range 12m-13m. Observation strategy and system design was successfully tested with a prototype detector working in 2004-2009 at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, and moved to San Pedro de Atacama Observatory in March 2011. In October 2010 the first unit of the final Pi of the Sky detector system, with 4 CCD cameras, was successfully installed in the INTA El Arenosillo Test Centre in Spain. Simultaneous observations from locations in Chile and Spain allow a systematic search for optical transients of cosmological origin. Accurate analysis of data arising from a wide-field system like Pi of the Sky is a real challenge because of a number of factors that can influence the measurements. We have developed a set of dedicated algorithms which remove poor quality measurements, improve photometric accuracy and allow us to reach uncertainties as low as 0.015– 0.02 mag. Three more units (12 CCD cameras) are being prepared for installation on a new platform in INTA, aiming at a total coverage of about 6400 square degrees. Status and performance of the detectors is presented.


A number of efficiency-based vendor selection and negotiation models have been developed to deal with multiple attributes including price, quality and delivery performance which is treated as important bid attributes. But some alternative vendor's preferences of attributes are difficult of quantitative analysis, such as trust, reliability, and courtesy of the vendor, which are considered to be crucial issues of recent reaches in vendor evaluation. This paper proposes a buyer-seller game model that has distinct advantages over existing methods for bid selection and negotiation, the fuzzy indexes are used to evaluate those attributes which are difficult of quantitative analysis, we propose a new method that expands Talluri (2002) and Joe Zhu (2004)'s method and allows which the elements composing problems are given by fuzzy numerical values, An important outcome of assessing relative efficiencies within a group of decision making units (DMUs) in fuzzy data envelopment analysis is a set of virtual multipliers or weights accorded to each (input or output) factor taken into account. In this paper, by assessing upper bounds on factor weights and compacting the resulted intervals, a CSW is determined. Since resulted efficiencies by the proposed CSW are fuzzy numbers rather than crisp values, it is more informative for decision maker.


The organosilicon modified acrylic/LDH emulsion was prepared from acrylate,organosilicon-monomer(as monomer for polymerization),as well as nanolayered double hydroxides and emulsifier etc with emulsion polymerization methods.The samples prepared were characterized by XRD,TEM,physics and flame-retardancy capabilities testing.Results show the samples is nanocomposion.LOI is 25.6.The composition have excellent flame-retardancy,strengthening and toughing with general capability remarkably improved.


In this article we characterize all two-parameter count distributions (satisfying very general conditions) that are partially closed under addition. We also find those for which the maximum likelihood estimator of the population mean is the sample mean. Mixed Poisson models satisfying these properties are completely determined. Among these models are the negative binomial, Poisson-inverse Gaussian, and other known distributions. New count distributions can also be constructed using these characterizations. Three examples of application are given.


The classical Gray and Wyner source coding for a simple network for sources that generate a tuple of multivariate, correlated Gaussian random variables $(Y_1,Y_2)$ is re-examined using the geometric approach of Gaussian random variables, and the weak stochastic realization of correlated Gaussian random variables. New results are: (1) The formulation, methods and algorithms to parametrize all random variables $W : \Omega \rightarrow {\mathbb R}^n $ which make the two components of the tuple $(Y_1,Y_2)$ conditionally independent, according to the weak stochastic realization of $(Y_1, Y_2)$. (2) The transformation of random variables $(Y_1,Y_2)$ via non-singular transformations $(S_1,S_2)$, into their canonical variable form. (3) A formula for Wyner's lossy common information for joint decoding with mean-square error distortions. (4) The methods are shown to be of fundamental importance to the parametrization of the lossy rate region of the Gray and Wyner source coding problem, and the calculation of the smallest common message rate $R_0$ on the Gray and Wyner source problem, when the sum rate $R_0+R_1+R_2$ is arbitrary close to the joint rate distortion function $R_{Y_1, Y_2}(\Delta_1, \Delta_2)$ of joint decoding. The methods and algorithms may be applicable to other problems of multi-user communication, such as, the multiple access channel, etc. The discussion is largely self-contained and proceeds from first principles; basic concepts of weak stochastic realization theory of multivariate correlated Gaussian random variables are reviewed, while certain results are developed to meet the requirement of results (1)-(4).


Summary

A method has been developed for isolating equine sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and measuring calcium uptake by modifying methods previously established in rat and rabbit muscle tissue. Excisional biopsies were used to obtain muscle samples from the gluteal muscles of 10 Quarter Horses. Sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles were isolated through homogenisation and differential centrifugation. Calcium uptake into the vesicles was monitored spectrophotometrically using a calcium probe, antipyrylazo III. An enzyme linked optical assay was employed to assess Mg++ -stimulated, Ca++ -stimulated and total ATPase activity in the isolated SR vesicles. The present results provide a system for obtaining SR microsomes and measuring calcium uptake in the isolated vesicles in a relatively short period of time. High intensity sprinting decreased calcium uptake and Ca-ATPase activity of SR vesicles in horses.


On the basis of a thorough compilation of the results of measurements of marine aerosols and precipitation, the total sulfur deposition into the oceans is estimated to be 180–350 Tg S yr−1. From this amount, 120–250 Tg S yr−1 is attributed to sea-salt sulfur, while 60–100 Tg S yr−1 is attributed to 'excess sulfur' By assuming that 10% of the produced sea salt is transported onto the continents, it is concluded that the annual production rate of sea-salt sulfur is about 130–275 Tg S yr−1, several times higher than those fluxes used in the global sulfur budgets up to now.


The electricity industry has undergone significant change since privatisation in the 1990s. Most recently the industry regulator Ofgem has introduced the new Revenue = Incentives + Innovation + Outputs (RIIO) regulatory regime. Under RIIO a key part of managing safety and reliability is health indices (HIs) and criticality indices (CIs). The combination of health and criticality will present asset managers with the insight required to improve the management of asset risk. This paper explores these developments sharing the experiences and learning gained in working with the new regime to develop an 8 year £3 billion investment plan. (6 pages)


The development of computers in the past two decades has resulted in the changes of education in enterprises and schools. The advance of computer hardware and platforms allow colleges generally applying distance courses to instruction that both Ministry of Education and colleges have paid attention to the development of Distance Learning. To improve the quality of distance learning and students' learning effectiveness in the investigated universities, quantitative survey with SPSS19.0 is applied to analyzing data in this study, in which Factor Analysis, Reliability Analysis, Regression Analysis, and Analysis of Variance are utilized for organizing and analyzing data. About 600 college students in Department of Public Administration are proceeded questionnaire survey, and 472 valid copies are studied. The research findings show that 1.Distance Learning appears significantly positive effects on Curriculum Instruction in Learning Effectiveness; 2.Distance Learning presents notably positive effects on Technological Media in Learning Effectiveness; 3.Distance learning reveals remarkably positive effects on Curriculum Management in Learning Effectiveness; and, 4.demographic variables appear notable effects on the correlations between Distance Learning and Learning Effectiveness.


In this work, we present an efficient method for computing in the Generalized Jacobian of special singular curves. The efficiency of the operation is due to representation of an element in the Jacobian group by a single polynomial.


The author of this article discusses language situation in East Slavic countries since the late 80's to the present day, attempts a comprehensive comparison of the linguistic situation, analyzing the factors that affect it, and showed signs of language situations inherent to East Slavic countries. Issues of language situation and policy are relevance in our time, especially in Belarus and Ukraine. The sociolinguistic studies of language and trends in linguistic situation are based of factual material, the results of questionnaires, statistical analysis of language functioning in these states/ The studies give extremely valuable material for understanding the social and political processes and trends of linguistic situation in the past, present and possible future development. For several decades preceding the collapse of the USSR, the language situation in the republics largely determined the policy of Russification, which was source of current widespread Russian languages, along with the indigenous population. This proximity of the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian languages of the same Slavic group, promoting interference led to the creation of Belarusian and Ukrainian mix-languages. The emergence of new states and the process of "constructing national identity" in the first years of independence in the former Soviet republics had a significant impact on the linguistic situation. In Ukraine policies designed to protect the Ukrainian language from Russification, in Belarus president Aleksandr Lukashenka keeps going russificationing processes. Since the last Soviet census in 1989 lowered percentage of Russian population in Belarus. By results of 2009 census in Belarus Belarusian population accounted for 83,7% (in 1989 - 77,9%), the Russian population accounted for 8,3% (in 1989 - 13,2%), but growth the percentage of Russian-speaking population (62,8% in 1999, 70,2% in 2009) and the population for whom the Russian is mother language (31,9% in 1989, 41,5% in 2009). In Ukraine also lowered percentage of Russians (22,1% in 1989, 17,3% in 2002) and lowered the percentage of population, who treat Russian as mother language (32,8% in 1989, 29,6% in 2001). In Belarus are two state languages: Belarusian and Russian, but if they are equal in theory, in practice the situation is entirely different. Russian language is dominant, and almost all the cities and eastern villages are Russian, Belarusian was completely superseded by Russian and trasyanka, but is still in western villages and small towns. Russian captured practically whole space of media, culture, science and is the language of institutions. Dramatically fell numbers of books, newspapers, magazines, which are publishing in Belarusian. In Ukraine the situation of native language of the nation looks better. Despite the regular pressures from the side of Russian-speaking population, Ukrainian language is the state language. Russian language usually prevails in most cities of Ukraine (except Western), and in some (especially the East) is strictly dominant. TV and radio broadcasts are carried in most Russian, as most books and periodicals printed in Russian. Some progress is observed only in the administrative and business and educational sectors. The main driver of change in the linguistic situation in Belarus and Ukraine is the language's policy in all spheres of public life. Next up is the communicative power of language, scope and usage, and prestige level of language, and the number of speakers and place of their living. Especially important is the presence of this language in the media, science and culture, language education of children, and also important is attitude and wish to assimilate language by speaker.


The understanding of intermolecular interactions on asphaltene nanoaggregates has important implications over the petroleum industry. Here, we investigated the aggregation of asphaltene and resin using a hierarchical approach that combines Density Functional Theory (DFT) with dispersion corrections and molecular mechanics (MM) calculations. From molecular models already established in the literature for specific types of asphaltene (A) and resin (R) molecules, we employed MM simulations to calculate the potential energy surface to obtain the best conformations for the possible dimers A-A, A-R, and R-R, as well as the relevant combinations of trimers A-R-A, A-A-R, and A-A-A, which have been further relaxed by the DFT calculations. Indeed, the formation of the dimer A-A is energetically more favored with respect to A-R and R-R mainly due to the enhanced effect on the intermolecular interaction of the aromatic region of A. In this context, the trimers have shown to be almost 3 times more stable than the dime...


The invention relates to a cooling system, comprising a case, a mainboard arranged on the case, a cooling element arranged on the case and a plurality of connectors which are arranged on the mainboard and are used for being inserted and connected with external connecting cards; wherein the connectors are arranged on the mainboard side by side, and one ventilation channel is formed between every two adjacent connectors; the cooling element is arranged at one end of the connector and is over against the ventilation channel; each connector comprises a socket and two joints extending upward from the two ends of the socket, the socket is provided with a slot, each joint comprises a body and a boss which is formed by approaching and extending along the direction of the slot, the section of the boss is trapezoidal, and at least one of the left and right sides of the boss is a bevel, so as to form a guide structure. The cooling system of the invention not only can improve the cooling effect of external connecting card but also improve the cooling effect of the case.


the "physical and symbolic boundaries of cultural selfhood" (83). The author affirms that the very act of reading Stone Speaker's epigraphic vignettes about an era gone by "assumes the function of ritual remembrance of the dead" (86). But, she adds, when the vignettes become historical narrative, Dizdar "turns the physical absence of the deceased into a haunting allegorical presence of soliloquies" (125). Buturovic closely examines selected poems, inviting the reader to participate in the ritual act, and she offers interpretations of the dualist teachings she finds imbedded in the texts. One of many such opportunities she convincingly offers is Dizdar's blending together of stone voices and footsteps in the eight-line poem "Kolo" (round dance), in which the rhythm of the dance "is captured as the rhythm of life on earth, a routine leading to liberation" (116), as Bogomil soteriology and dualist tensions teach. Texts examined and interpreted by the author, it must be noted, are beautifully rendered by Francis R.Jones, who in his introduction to the book's bilingual appendix explains his approach to meeting the problems presented by Dizdar's "numinous verse." The author returns in chapter 4 to Dizdar's attempts to fuse die regional and die national consciousness "by assigning to the stecak a distinct topographic relevance and making it both consanguine and contiguous with contemporary Bosnian identity" (128-29). Nowhere does the author better capture now-partitioned Bosnia's temporal, cultural, spatial, and psychological in-betweeness than in the poem "Rain" in which ancestral voices warn: "We need to learn again / to listen to the rain the rain / We need to unstone ourselves and eyes straight to walk / unwavering through the city gate / We need to uncover the lost paths / . . . We need to meet our own hearts again / that fled so long ago" (142). Buturovic ends her book by restating her belief that Mak ("Poppy") Dizdar's verse making and myth making, which poetically animate the landscape's medieval stillness, are primarily directed at reconnecting Bosnia's multiethnic, multinational population with "the medieval abode" (164). And, I might suggest, perhaps with the ancient psalmist who can hear die speechless, wordless voice, not of any nation's, but of the Creator's sacred space. The author's tightly woven multidisciplinary approach to Dizdar's place in literaryhistorical imaginings of Bosnian—or any other—contested national space and "selfhood" is itself a rich tapestry of conflicting theories and ideas.


In 2023, the number of elderly Hajj pilgrims has increased significantly due to the accumulation of the Covid-19 period and priority policies. A total of 67,199 elderly Hajj pilgrims have become priority records as Hajj pilgrims who must receive special treatment. This research aims to explain, understand and discover how elderly Hajj pilgrims express themselves as individuals who are carrying out the Hajj pilgrimage and build an intimate relationship with the crew member accompanying him. The paradigm used in this research is Post Positivism with a qualitative approach using the case study method. In the research used theory is self disclosure with indicators of 5 dimensions, namely amount, valency, accuracy, Intention and Intimate and intimacy theory. The findings in this research are that self-disclosure carried out by elderly Hajj pilgrims and flight attendants forms a close, protective family relationship.


Introduction: upper limb function is considered challenging barrier for children with cerebral palsy hindering their activity levels and participation in play activities at home, school or other contexts. The aim of this critical review is to gain a deeper understanding of how the different physical therapy interventions could be beneficial in terms of functional outcomes either when used separately or combined with each other's and provide summary of dosing reported for each. Method: A literature search was conducted using electronic databases for health research; Embase, Cochrane, Pedro, Science Direct and Clinical Key. 16 papers where selected meeting the aim of the review and the criteria of work (randomized control trials. systematic reviews, meta-analysis) and critically reviewed. Findings: recommended dosing in literature was: for CIMT dosing 60 hours over 10 days and 6 hours per day for 15 days, for HABIT 6 hours per day for 15 days and 6 hours per day for 3 weeks, for Strength Training is 6-10 per set, and the intensity (load) is increased to 85% 1RM. While, goal directed training dosing to be effective should exceed 30-40 hours per week and Virtual reality to be more than 1080 minutes over 4 weeks.


The energy dissipating capability of bolted joints in a small satellite was investigated using Finite Element (FE) analysis. It was found the energy dissipating capability of the bolted joints operating in the microslip region was quite low. The idea of using viscoelastic layer in the bolted joints was introduced to improve the energy dissipation. There are some good constitutive models for viscoelastic materials. However, they cannot be used to model the viscoelastic layer in the satellite because the dimension of the joints and the layers are too small. A spring dashpot joint model was created and extended into the non-linear domain to overcome this problem. Experiments were carried out on different viscoelastic materials. The results were used to determine the properties of spring dashpot systems. Different formulations of stiffness and damping were investigated and optimised to fit the numerical results to the test data. Good correlation was obtained between the models and the data. The spring-dashpot joints were used in a simple satellite model to investigate the effect of joints on the satellite response. This damping design was quite effective in decreasing the response of the satellite structure when it experienced harsh environments like launch.


This paper is part of the research on the interlinkages between insurers and their contribution to systemic risk on the insurance market. Its main purpose is to present the results of the analysis of linkage dynamics and systemic risk in the European insurance sector which are obtained using correlation networks. These networks are based on dynamic dependence structures modelled using a copula. Then, we determine minimum spanning trees (MST). Finally, the linkage dynamics is described by means of selected topological network measures.


Objectives: Tremor is a common disorder causing abnormal movements, it is defined as, "rhythmic, in-voluntary movements of a part of the body against ones own volition.". The purpose of this study is to report the effects of Korean Medicine (Acupuncture and herbal-medication) for oromandibular tremor resulting from Deficiency Syndrome.Methods: We treated 6 patients suffering from oromandibular tremor who received hospital treat-ment in DongEui Medical Center from March to June in 2015.Results: After the treatments, oromandibular tremor decreased or disappeared. And some other ac-companying symptoms were improved.Conclusions: These results suggests that Korean medical treatments (Acupuncture and herb-medi-cation) might be effective for treating oromandibular tremor resulting from Deficiency Syndrome.Key Words: Oromandibular tremor, Jaw tremor, Orofacial dyskinesia, Korean medicine, Deficiency syndrome.


Although time is a property of events and objects in the real world, conventional relational database management systems (RDBM's) can't model the evolution of either the objects being modeled or the database itself. Relational databases can be viewed as snapshot databases in that they record only the current database state, which represents the state of the enterprise being modeled at some particular time. We extend the relational algebra to support two orthogonal aspects of time: valid time, which concerns the modeling of time-varying reality, and transaction time, which concerns the recording of information in databases. In so doing, we define an algebraic language for query and update of temporal databases.
The relational algebra is first extended to support valid time. Historical versions of nine relational operators (i.e., union, difference, cartesian product, selection, projection, intersection, $\Theta$-join, natural join, and quotient) are defined and three new operators (i.e., historical derivation, non-unique aggregation, and unique aggregation) are introduced. Both the relational algebra and this new historical algebra are then encapsulated within a language of commands to support transaction time. The language's semantics is formalized using denotational semantics. Rollback operators are added to the algebras to allow relations to be rolled back in time. The language accommodates scheme and contents evolution, handles single-command and multiple-command transactions, and supports queries on valid time. The language is shown to have the expressive power of the temporal query language TQuel.
The language supports both unmaterialized and materialized views and accommodates a spectrum of view maintenance strategies, including incremental, recomputed, and immediate view materialization. Incremental versions of the snapshot and historical operators are defined to support incremental view materialization. A prototype query processor was built for TQuel to study incremental view materialization in temporal databases. Problems that arise when materialized views are maintained incrementally are discussed, and solutions to those problems are proposed.
Criteria for evaluating temporal algebras are presented. Incompatibilities among the criteria are identified and a maximal set of compatible evaluation criteria is proposed. Our language and other previously proposed temporal extensions of the relational algebra are evaluated against these criteria.


1. DStretchI developed DStretch in 2005. It is a computer program that enhances digital photos of rock art using a JPL algorithm called decorrelation stretch. The original algorithm does not work well on rock art, but I soon learned how to modify it to improve performance at rock art sites. It proved very quickly to be of great utility to rock art researchers and enthusiasts. At some painted sites the effect is amazing. Details of the paintings become visible for the first time. The meaning of pictogram sites may have been lost, but due to DStretch the artistic skill of the painters can now be appreciated. This was very exciting, but there was a problem: to see the amazing results you had to bring your photos back to the computer to see the enhancements. Having the enhancements available at the site has proved to be very important. It allows for photographs that correctly frame the pictograms. Often part of a pictogram was missed in a photo simply because it could not be seen. More importantly, often a site which seemed to be just a collection of faint stains would turn out to be a complex painting. Interpretation remains difficult, but patterns and motifs can now be recognised. Doing this at the site can lead to better comprehension of the painted s intentions (Fig. 1).2. In the fieldIn this article I will document the efforts I have made to use DStretch to view enhancements while at a rock art site.Putting DStretch onto a laptop is one solution to this problem, but there are issues with this. Laptops typically do not have screens that are easily visible in full sun. It is clumsy to move the images from camera to laptop. ImageJ (the host program for DStretch) does not have sophisticated image browsing capabilities. Despite this, laptops have been used by me and other researchers to make enhancements in the field, but I wanted a better solution.By 2008 a new visualisation mode appeared. A group of enthusiasts called CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) determined a way to install their own software in certain Canon cameras. I was able to modify their software to display DStretch enhancements in the LCD display after a button press. The enhancements were not the same as the computer DStretch, but were good enough for the field. One drawback is they can not be saved. At first the cameras to which DStretch could be ported were point and shoot with only medium image quality. Nevertheless, they proved to be extremely useful, notably on a trip to Tanzania 1 made in 2009. I encountered sites with beautiful, complex paintings done in red. Figure 2 shows the Canon PowerShot A720 point and shoot camera I used on that trip at the site Masange A13. The photo in Figure 2 was made with a separate Sony camera that I used for high quality photos. Figure 3 shows a DStretch YRE enhancement of the Sony photograph typical of what was revealed in the A720 LCD.In 2012 CHDK for the Canon G1X camera became available. This camera has excellent image quality, and it has RAW mode. RAW mode is very useful since jpeg compression can destroy the colour information used by DStretch. …


To meet rigorous high sustained bandwidth demand and exploit the data level access parallelism, a new architecture of DMA controller aiming at multimedia applications is proposed in this paper. Through analyzing the characteristics of video data transfer, we customize four shared channels with block address-conversion algorithm to adapt to many regular memory-access patterns. Furthermore, in order to transfer plenty of macro blocks whose addresses are not consecutive, channel descriptor model is applied into the design, which provides the most flexibility in managing the system's transfers. Besides, the design can also perform boundary extension, priority arbitrage and parameter prefetching as well as data rearrangement process. The proposed design is implemented in H.264/RVC encoder chip by SMIC 65nm technology with a clock frequency of 250MHz and 23.6K equivalent logic gates. Experimental results show that the customized design performs around 2~4 times faster than traditional DMA controller, and the lower ratio of setting time to transfer time proves that the burden of the processor is reduced significantly.


Mutual authentication mechanisms can be used in Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) systems to preserve the confidentiality of the RFID tags.In this paper,a passive attack is presented on a mutual RFID authentication protocol——ULAP(Ultra Light-weight Authentication Protocol),which is designed to resist passive attack.The attack shows that after eavesdropping a few numbers of round communication(expected number is 10),all the secret of the tag can be deduced.Therefore,ULAP can not resist passive attack.


ABSTRACT Lung cancer causes a high mortality rate in the world than any other cancers. That can be minimised if the symptoms and cancer cells have been detected early. One of the techniques used to detect lung cancer is by computed tomography (CT) scan. CT scan images have been used in this study to identify one of the lesion characteristics named ground glass opacity (GGO). It has been used to determine the level of malignancy of the lesion. There were three phases in identifying GGO: image cropping, feature extraction using grey level co-occurrence matrices (GLCM) and classification using Naïve Bayes Classifier. In order to improve the classification results, the most significant feature was sought by feature selection using gain ratio evaluation. Based on the results obtained, the most significant features could be identified by using feature selection method used in this research. The accuracy rate increased from 83.33% to 91.67%, the sensitivity from 82.35% to 94.11% and the specificity from 84.21% to 89.47%.


A unique personal account of the establishment of an indigenous Irish theatre. By using personal reminiscence, correspondence, and notes written at the time of the events described, Lady Gregory has produced a book whose exceptional quality lies in its immediacy of impact.


In reconstructing a framework of architectural and design theory to be relevant to education and built environment and design in the Islamic world and which is capable to give rise to architectural and built environment form and design, there is a need to take a closer look at the values, revisiting the theories, trends and past tendencies in the past movements of architecture. As these theories are mainly rooted in Western architectural developments of the past, a reassessment of these theories in the light of fundamental Islamic values is deemed necessary. Such analyses and discourse will enable us to 'deconstruct' or analyse these theories through an alternative value system. As a whole, current theories of architecture are steeped in Western philosophies. These theories include past civilizational developments, artistic trends, tendencies, movements and technological achievements of their past eras. Within the framework of current architectural theory which dominate architectural history education, design theory, perspectives in mainstream architectural references, books and sources of architectural knowledge; architecture of the Islamic world and its ideas are not integrated as the mainstream development. Hence the architecture language and design that governs and influences the main stream architectural education and schools of thoughts with prevalent styles and trends are devoid of the Islamic world architectural contribution and its worldview. A reconstruction and development of a tawhidic value-laden discourse and theory is not possible without taking into account a revisiting and then a reconstructing of perspectives of these Western theories and histories. The aim of this paper is to look into trends on Western design, architectural movements and history such as the Arts and Crafts movement, the Modern Movement, critical regionalism, post modernism and de-constructivism, so as to unearth and analyse the values behind them. The analyses made through sieving the jargon and terms based on Islamic values can be identified and discussed while those absent of such values can be highlighted. Such de-construction and re-analysis is necessary before the re-construction of architectural thoughts, theories and principles based on the tawhidic paradigm can begin.


''The Age of Newton'' is an intensive course in mathematics (calculus), mechanics, optics, and astronomy directed mainly toward nonscientists. Although it introduces the subjects in a consciously historical context, it is a course in—not merely about—science and mathematics. The course is divided into a central lecture series, at which guest lecturers may participate, a series of topical tutorial lectures, and four workshops or laboratories, one each in mathematics, mechanics, optics, and astronomy. Original sources, notably Newtons's Optics and Galileo's Two New Sciences, are used as far as practicable. Special apparatus was built to allow the performance of the experiments described by Newton and Galileo, in addition to modern experiments with air tracks, spectroscopes, lasers, and the rotating room.


The interest for free space laser beam propagation has recently increased due to several experiments. These experiments have shown that optical links through the atmosphere can be effectively established, regardless of the several deleterious negative effects of refractive index fluctuations. The most deleterious effect is the scintillation which, consequently, has been widely investigated. However, it has not been reported yet what influence a ground profile has on scintillation values. In this paper we show theoretical results of the ground impact on scintillation, for a laser link between aircraft and mountain top; Antelope peak Nevada. The link was investigated for a specific mountainous profile of the ground for path lengths of 50 km and 200 km. The theoretical analysis shows that, if a low value is assumed for the Rytov variance (weak turbulence condition), then the presence of high peaks or mountains along the propagation path could have a remarkable impact on scintillation because the scintillation saturation effects do not occur; if the Rytov variance assumes medium-high values (moderate-to-strong turbulence conditions), then the scintillation index will be close to the saturation regime. Therefore the scintillation will be slightly affected by the mountains along the path, both for the plane wave model and the Gaussian beam wave model.


The network ideological and political education is a new field.It is an important component of the ideological and political education of colleges and universities.Innovate the operating mechanism of the network ideological and political education,highlight its target,effective and times ' characteristics.Then we can strengthen and improve the function of the ideological and political education.


Effective analyses of performance for detection schemes that optimally decode digital data in the presence of intersymbol interference have been slow in coming. Recently, however, Forney has given an upper bound on the bit error probability for maximum-likelihood sequence estimation. Starting from a standard geometrical framework, we give a much simplified derivation of this upper bound. Our derivation places the validity of this important bound more in evidence in that the concepts of whitened matched filter and error event are not introduced.


In order to investigate the size effect on the kinetics of the gaseous reduction of iron ore, two kinds of iron oxide pellets of different diameters were reduced with CO-CO 2 gas mixture. Results were analysed using two models, Ishida-Wen's model and the unreacted-core model. From the analysis of the former model, the intraparticle diffusivity through the product layer D s , the intraparticle diffusivity in the reactant zone D so and the chemical reaction rate constant based on volume k v were not changed with the particle diameter while Thiele's modulus Φ and the effectiveness factor E f were changed. From that of the latter model, the intraparticle diffusivity through the product layer D e was not varied with the particle diameter, while the interface chemical reaction rate constant k c was varied. Further investigation revealed that k c was affected by the diffusion resistance through the product layer, that is, D s and the particle size as well as the intra particle diffusivity in the reactant zone and the reactivity.


The objectives of this study are: 1) to describe the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful organizations with regard to culture and its changes. 2) Describe the approach to internal and external variables of organizational elements that can be studied and can be used to predict organizational effectiveness. 3) Describe how the new form of organization, with regard to the concept of cultural strength. This study uses a qualitative approach examining cultural phenomena conducted through field studies and literature studies. Data were collected using literature study techniques and documentation studies. Secondary data source used. Data were analyzed using qualitative data analysis approaches and techniques. From the discussion it can be concluded that: 1) The characteristics of a successful organization have a strong and unique culture, including those that can enhance the organizational subculture. Organizations that fail have different work cultures, and past cultures prevent organizations from adapting to changing environments. 2) The internal variable approach assumes that culture is one of the organizational elements that can be studied and can be used to predict organizational effectiveness. Likewise, the external variable approach considers culture as a force outside the organization, such as a larger national cultural norm. 3) In the new organizational form, the concept of cultural power becomes very important. For example, we now see many "virtual" organizations with social networks, whose members rarely interact face-to-face and apply their culture to cyberspace. Even in this virtual organization, when groups make rules about position, or when members of certain organizations develop strength and status through interactions, it is also interesting how to shape the culture of the interactions.


As an emerging human-computer interaction HCI technology, recognition of human hand gesture is considered a very powerful means for human intention reading. To construct a system with a reliable and robust hand gesture recognition algorithm, it is necessary to resolve several major difficulties of hand gesture recognition, such as inter-person variation, intra-person variation, and false positive error caused by meaningless hand gestures. This paper proposes a learning algorithm and also a classification technique, based on multivariate fuzzy decision tree MFDT. Efficient control of a fuzzified decision boundary in the MFDT leads to reduction of intra-person variation, while proper selection of a user dependent UD recognition model contributes to minimization of inter-person variation. The proposed method is tested first by using two benchmark data sets in UCI Machine Learning Repository and then by a hand gesture data set obtained from 10 people for 15 days. The experimental results show a discernibly enhanced classification performance as well as user adaptation capability of the proposed algorithm.


Two new configurations realizing canonical first-order current-mode all-pass sections (APSs) using a single third generation current conveyor (CCIII) are given. Using each configuration, two types of first-order all-pass filters can be derived giving rise to four distinct circuits for APS, three of which are novel. Each APS employs only a single CCIII and a minimum of passive components: one resistor and one capacitor. The circuits are suited for MOS implementation. The SPICE simulation results for frequency response as well as transient response are incorporated to verify the theory.


In order to provide the scientific basis for wind power plants construction of Hexi Corridor,the distribution and evolution of the vertical shears and turbulences of low- level in gale days were analyzed by using the wind speed data from 14 observation towers from September 2009 to August 2010. The results showed that annual mean vertical shear indexes of wind speed in gale days during 2009- 2010 were from 0. 092 to 0. 158 in Hexi Corridor,which was less than that of the national standard with 0. 143. The vertical shear indexes of low- level wind speed over the heights of 10- 30,10- 50 and 10- 70 meters in gale days were smaller than those in non- gale days. The vertical shear of low- level wind speed was big,while that of the upper- level wind speed was small. The annual mean turbulence intensity over 10,30,50 and 100 meters was 0. 11 during 2009- 2010 in gale days,and was about half in non- gale days. Furthermore,the non- uniformity of wind speed reduced as the wind speed increased in gale days,and the wind directions tended to steady.


The SA-6T arc ion plating system was employed to fabricate TiN coatings on the polished high-speed steel substrate W18Cr4V.When the other parameters were fixed,the effects of negative bias applied to the substrate on the structure and mechanical properties of the films were investigated.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) was adopted to observe the surface morphology,and X-ray diffraction(XRD) was used in characterizing the microstructure of the films.Deposition rate was determined by thickness that was measured by the XP-2 profiler.Hardness and adhesion strength of the films were measured by the nano-indenter and multifunctional tester,respectively.The results show that the as-deposited TiN films are crystalline and tend to be(111) preferred as negative bias increases,and the thickness(i.e.deposition rate since the time used was the same) increases at first then decreases,and reaches the maximum at negative bias of 100 V.The optimized mechanical properties can be obtained at negative bias of 200 V.


It is estimated that more than 85,000 prosthetic heart valves are implanted annually in the US and ~275,000 worldwide. Although current heart valve replacements have extended the lives of many patients, there is to date still no ideal alternative. Pediatric applications, in particular, pose unique problems because current valve replacement options are unable to accommodate somatic growth of the patient. Since its inception, the tissue engineering paradigm has garnered widespread attention as a means to recapitulate native tissue structure, composition, and mechanical function in a controlled and reproducible manner by combining engineering and life science principles. Before fully functioning tissue surrogates can be developed for clinical use, many complex biological, chemical and mechanical aspects of native tissues must be addressed. Furthermore, contemporary literature lacks a consolidated approach, instead, presenting a wide variety of scaffold materials, cell sources, and mechanical conditioning regimes in efforts to restore native tissue function. These challenges coupled with the paucity of structurally based, finite deformation framework constitutive models hinders our understanding of engineered tissues and their ability to perform as tissue surrogates.
The focus of this dissertation is to elucidate the effects of large deformation mechanical stimuli on the development of engineered leaflet tissues. With our ability to incorporate viable cells distributed throughout the scaffold via concurrent electrospraying and electrospinning of poly (ester urethane) urea (PEUU) fiber scaffolds, we are provided a unique, controllable platform to: (1) characterize the mechanical behavior of electrospun PEUU and cellular response to global deformation, (2) assess our ability to create functional cell integrated surrogates via dynamic culture, and (3) develop a generalized finite deformation framework than can be used to gain an understanding of how the evolving extracellular matrix phase contributes to the construct gross mechanical behavior. We contend that much can be learned about the mechanical modulation of functional tissue from electrospun PEUU scaffolds since they capture aspects of native tissue microstructure and exhibit the ability to endure large deformations while recovering completely. It is our hope that these studies will guide the emergence of new materials and processing methods to develop functional pulmonary valve (PV) tissue surrogates which serve a predominantly biomechanical function.


A 66-year-old woman with a remote history of mitral valve replacement (mechanical bileaflet valve) due to rheumatic heart disease presented with symptoms consistent with infectious endocarditis. Subsequent blood cultures grew Staphylococcus lugdunensis. A transesophageal echocardiogram demonstrated large vegetations on the atrial aspect of the mitral valve, with a Doppler derived mean pressure gradient of 13 mmHg (Fig. 1 and Video 1). Appropriate i.v. antibiotics were initiated and a surgical consultation was obtained. A second transesophageal echocardiogram was performed 6 days later after she developed acute respiratory failure secondary to pulmonary edema, requiring mechanical ventilation (Video 2). This examination revealed a significant increase in size of the mitral vegetations, with the largest measuring 2.2 cm in maximum dimension, with new complete obstruction of one mechanical leaflet, and with dense spontaneous echo contrast secondary to prosthetic mitral valve obstruction. She subsequently underwent urgent open heart surgery and redo mitral valve replacement with a bioprosthetic valve. Valve obstruction due to large vegetations occurs rarely with infectious endocarditis and is more common with prosthetic (in comparison with native) valves (1, 2, 3). Serial transesophageal echocardiography imaging was helpful in diagnosing this life-threatening complication.

Video 1
Initial transesophageal echocardiogram reveals a large vegetation on the atrial aspect of the mechanical mitral valve. Download Video 1 via http://dx.doi.org/10.1530/ERP-15-0017-v1.

Download Video 1


In 21st century, one of the prominent learning tool in the education industry is highlighted as Educational games (EG). There are many ways in which the literature describes its importance in the current generation. In addition, the learning environment, the rules embedded in the game, the theoretical aspects on which the game is built, and the learners/subject-matter experts; all play a crucial role in EG. Hence, this requires a projecting need of understanding the relationships that allows an enhancement in the learning objectives for learners while interacting through the game environment. Although, relationships are vaguely dispersed in literature; understanding the need to interrelate other concepts of game environment with learner's expectations, and how the elements of game environment interact throughout the play is essential. Therefore, this article highlights the proposed multi-domain framework for game developers to effectively map the game elements while extracting implicit vaguely supported relationships based on game environment domain and learner's concepts through a systematic literature review. Consequently, this article explains on twelve (12) implicit relationships in perspective of game environment domain and learners. They are validated through qualitative interviews with eight (8) gamebased learning experts. Subsequently, the results are interpreted in relevancy with all domains of proposed framework by applying interpretive hermeneutic approach, and using NViVO software to obtain the themes, sub-themes, and coding strategy was adopted to code the expert's response with each relationship and its elements. The findings conclude twelve (12) explicit relationships between game environment domain and the learner's relationships; for game developers to guide them through the development phase of EG.


This paper examines whether regional currency premiums explain foreign stock returns in a multifactor global asset pricing model for four different geographical regions. In the model, the regional currency premium is the spread between the return of a portfolio of currency investments from a given region and the average global currency return. The estimation is performed by adding the regional currency premium to a global four‐factor model that includes momentum and the Fama and French factors (market, size, and book‐to‐market factors). Tests of the model's ability to explain both the time series and the cross section of stock returns show that currency risk premium improves the fitness of global factors in explaining domestic returns, although models with domestic factors still outperform the model with global factors and currency risk. The results indicate that the regional currency premium factor captures dimensions of risks not captured by the Fama and French and momentum factors.


The macroeconomic environment is an important determinant of firm performance. Nevertheless, many firms are simplistic in the approach they use to identify, analyze and create strategies for managing the vital relationship between intrinsic competitiveness and macroeconomic fluctuations. Few firms disclose this information to outside stakeholders, which means they are prevented from understanding the intrinsic performance. We analyze the effects of the implementation/development of IFRS/IAS 1 on voluntary macroeconomic information disclosure with a focus on information content and market determinants. We base our analysis on a sample of the 100 largest public European firms in the period 2000-2009. We find that the trend of disclosure quality is positive but the overall level of information is still insufficient. The introduction and development of IFRS has little impact on macroeconomic information disclosure quality. The main drivers of the disclosure of voluntary macroeconomic information are found to be corporate governance and cross-listing.


Objective To find a complete and effective oral-nursing method apply to OETT patient to prevent infection. Methods 80 OETT patients were randomly devided into two groups . Observing group included 40 patients who were given oral nursing by rush-cleaning with electro-toothbrush and oxygenated electrical water. Contrast group included 40 patients who were given traditional oral nursing . The number of oral bacteria , fungus infections were analysed after nursing between the two groups, combined halitosis, stomatitis and stomatocace have significant difference or not. Results The numbers of bacteria before oral nursing were insignificant (P0.05) . The number of bacteria after oral-nursing was significantly lower in observing group than that in contrast group (P0.01). The number of bacteria disappeared in observing group was larger than in contrast group (P0.01) .While , the incidence of occurring with combined halitosis, stomatitis and stomatocace have significant difference (P0.05). Conclusion Oral nursing by rush-cleaning with electro-toothbrush and oxygenated electrical water is completive and effective in inducing the number of bacteria and preventing oral infection.


Demand and desire for tourism with various incentives for the purposes of recreation, pilgrimage, and business, are increasing in the entire world with an incredibly speed. The rise of income levels, increased leisure time, changes in attitudes toward new concepts of life and the needs to international communication require that tourism to be developed. In terms of tourism attractions, Iran is considered as one of the world's most important tourist countries. The variety of attractions such as historical, natural, cultural, rural, and urban attractions around the land are the proof of this claim. In this regard, taking into consideration natural tourism potentials as well as positive and negative function of these attractions in health affairs and preserving the beauty of human life could encompass an important dimension of tourism by medical approach. In this regard, ornamental and medicinal plants and realizing their properties in maintaining health and welfare of the citizens of a community could have a greatest role in attracting tourist to the country. In the present study, having conducted a case study with analytical-descriptive approach on Fars province of Iran and doing extensive library and field study; while identifying and introducing plant species, especially ornamental and medicinal plants of the region, it is attempted to analyze multiple angles and functional aspects of these plants in maintaining community health and welfare, especially tourists, to attract tourists to this province.


Resources & links to aid in your study of History at SHGC. Topics studied in Yr 7 History @ SHGC


Recent studies demonstrate that pro‐inflammatory cytokines (PICs, i.e. IL‐1β, IL‐6 and TNF‐α) in retinal tissues are likely involved in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). In this report, we particularly examined contributions of hypoxia inducible factor subtype 1α (HIF‐1α) to the expression of PICs and their receptors in diabetic retina.


This article discusses the problems of teaching computer graphics and shape modeling in large and distributed classes using visual cyberworlds—shared information worlds on the Web. Cyberworlds allow for providing personal mentoring to the students with different cultural and educational backgrounds. The Virtual Campus of Nanyang Technological University is such a cyberworld, which is being used for teaching computer graphics and shape modeling. A part of this cyberworld is the Virtual Shape Modeling Laboratory. It is used by the computer graphics students for designing geometric shapes defined with analytical formulas. Augmenting the existing ways of electronic education with cyberworlds appears to be useful which was proved by the final exam results and overall attitude of the students.


This paper introduced the development of Dynamic Vehicle Test(DVT)-the advanced vehicle test and diagnostic method.Also introduced whole process of DVT according to the product assembly and gave some actual case to explain the advantage of DVT,which can check out the malfunction for the vehicle quickly and conveniently, and it can assure the assembly quality and improve the safety characteristic before vehicles shipping out.


Purpose – This paper aims to theorise the concept of corporate brand covenant.Design/methodology/approach – Christian theology is drawn on to define and identify the source of the notion of covenant. Similarly, a review of the literature on the meaning and management of corporate branding is presented. Following a thorough review of the literature, the notion of a corporate brand covenant is conceptualised and discussed. This is firmly supported by a semiotic deconstruction of a corporate advertisement from HSBC.Findings – Six important findings emerged from the study. The first is the Christian theological insight into the notion of covenant. This finding drew the attention of corporate branding academics to the source of this phenomenon. Second, a total of six cardinal principles (initial scenario; a covenanter, a covenant and a covenantee; the covenant is binding on all parties; the covenant is perpetual; the covenant is irreversible; the covenant stems from God and is then handed on to man) were propo...


A new 150 MHz CRT Preamplifier (Preamp) with keyed (time and level controlled) overlay of one video signal on another video signal. The main applications of this circuit are in advanced TVs, projection TVs and computer monitors which simultaneously display a conventional video image signal combined with graphics overlay.


These surveys aim to monitor small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to financing and to provide key information on small businesses lending condition to the business community, lenders, policy makers and academics.


In recent years,with a jumping increase in the number of graduates,the demand for them has been experiencing a fast change,and the contradiction between graduate's supply and demand is also becoming more and more obvious.Meanwhile graduates' employment psychology and their employment channels have caused the society's great concern.Therefore,great efforte should be taken to readjust specialities,cultivate their skills,strengthen employment guidance and so on.