Recent advances in fine manipulation have led to increased interest in both scientific research works and engineering applications. Robot manipulation at a level approaching human skills is gaining attention in both industrial and individual services. A major challenge in fine manipulation is the unavoidable uncertainties and unpredictable conditions encountered in dynamic and unstructured application environments. The employment of biologically inspired (bioinspired) embodiments in fine manipulation shows significant advantages in tackling such problems. The aim of bioinspired embodiment is to improve fine manipulation of robotic systems utilizing the knowledge gained from natural systems with biomimetic methods. Such a method includes sensing, planning, and execution. This article provides a comprehensive survey of the current state of bioinspired technologies in fine manipulation, and outlines new challenges and some potential directions.


Abstract IN RECENT years several ingredients have been reported to contain one or more unidentified factors necessary for maximum hatchability of eggs and maximum growth of chicks and poults. These findings give rise to the question of the need for such unidentified factors for egg production. Beneficial effects of unidentified factors on egg production have been reported by Wiese et al. (1948), Petersen et al. (1948), Schlamb and Winter (1948), Couch et al. (1950), Patterson and Blaylock (1953), Kurnick et al. (1955), Jensen and McGinnis (1957) and others. However, most of these were hatchability experiments with breeding hens, in many cases using heavy breeds. Skinner et al. (1951) showed that animal protein factor and fish meal increased egg production in caged White Leghorn hens. The need for zinc and molybdenum in poultry diets has received considerable attention in the work of Dannenburg et al. (1955), Morrison et al. (1955), Reid et …


With the development of the information technology and the data analysis, the traditional instruction method for the basic computer technology instruction should be improved in order to enhance the corresponding instruction efficiency. In this paper, the current problem of the computer technology instruction is discussed firstly. Then the corresponding methods that how to enhance the efficiency is proposed. Based on our conclusion, the proposed method is indeed an efficient way to achieve our instruction objective.


Asia and the sea, respectively (p. 380). There is also discussion of the 'Afghanistan Compact' crafted by the international community in 2006. The compact not only delineated the contours of external commitment on Afghanistan but also emphasised developing indigenous efforts towards state and institution building over a five-year time frame (p. 226). A collection of brilliant essays on Afghanistan, this book is useful as a handbook for scholars and practitioners – especially the first section, which condenses the crucial interregnum in Afghanistan about which the level of awareness is comparatively low. Despite being intellectually rather non-revealing, Afghanistan from the Cold War through the War on Terror is nonetheless a synergised and balanced account. It was published at an opportune moment before the scheduled pullout of international forces was due to begin in 2014. However, if it had extended the cut-off point for selected articles until 2012–2013 instead of limiting them to pre-2009, this would have further enhanced the book's relevance.


The aim of this study was to determine the effect of black cumin (Nigella
sativa) extract on SGOT - SGPT in white rats (Rattus novergicus) with type 1
diabetes mellitus (DM). Twenty five, 2-3 month old male rats were randomly
divided into five groups. Rats in negative control group were injected with
physioligical saline while the others were injected with alloxan 150 mg/kg bw to
induce type 1 diabetes mellitus. Rats in positive control group were not treated
while alloxan induced diabetec rats were treated with black cumin (Nigella sativa)
extract at the dose 5, 10, and 15 g/kg bw reopectively. Black cumin (Nigella
sativa) extract was given orally for 14 days, then rats were anasthesia with
cloroform to take blood sample examination. Data analysis using Analysis Of
Variant (Anova / Anava) ; (α = 0,05) followed by BNJ test. The results of SGOT -
SGPT examination of mice after treatment given extract of black cumin (Nigella
sativa) dose of 5 g/kg bw, 10 g/kg bw, 15 g/kg bw, showed no significant effect
on level of SGOT – SGPT.


The purpose of the study is to articulate the laity's commitment change in Christian education. Based on a statistical analysis of the results from a survey questionnaire, this study examined how laity's commitment changes through lay education processes in Korean churches. The survey responses confirm that laity's commitment was enhanced through lay education processes. This increased commitment was delineated in six ways. First, laity's commitment (sense of involvement, pride, identification, and loyalty) to their church was improved through lay education processes. Second, laity's willingness to do extra work for their church was increased through lay education processes. Third, laity's readiness to make an effort on the organization's behalf was increased through lay education processes. Fourth, laity's emotional attachment to their church was strengthened through lay education processes. Fifth, laity's concern for their church growth was increased through lay education processes. And sixth, laity's financial support to their church became more faithful through lay education processes. The research findings indicate that laity's high level of commitment contributes to their high level of ministry participation and performance in the church.


4056Background: Prevention of recurrence after curative (R0) surgery is one of the most important subjects to be resolved for gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. We have previously shown that hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) following R0 gastrectomy is effective for preventing peritoneal recurrence. However, little is known about the preventive effect of HIPEC for GI cancers on hepatic recurrence. The aim of this study was to compare hepatic or peritoneal recurrence-free survival between patients with or without adjuvant HIPEC after R0 gastrectomy for an advanced gastric cancer (GC). Methods: Patients with advanced GC who underwent gastrectomy with a curative intent in the Shiga University of Medical Science hospital between 1998 and 2012 were included in this single center, retrospective, propensity score-matched cohort study. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to evaluate the association between adjuvant HIPEC and hepatic or peritoneal recurrence-free survival. The Kaplan-M...


BACKGROUND Researchers have questioned the accuracy of retrospective measures of unintended pregnancy, which ask women whether they wanted a pregnancy before it was conceived. OBJECTIVE We investigated whether pregnant women's retrospective recollections of their preconception desires for pregnancy were shaped by intimate relationships, their own reactions, and their perceptions of their partners' reactions to their pregnancies. METHODS We used the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study, which included weekly survey interviews with 971 young women, of whom 175 experienced 203 pregnancies during the 2.5-year study period. We estimated logistic regression models of whether women's retrospective recollections of their pre-conception desires were stable, shifted positive, or shifted negative compared to their prospectively reported desires, along with formal mediation tests of potential mechanisms. RESULTS Women were more likely to remember their undesired pregnancies as desired before conception if they themselves reacted happily to the pregnancy, they were married or engaged, or they perceived their partner as reacting positively. The association with perceiving her partner as positive was mediated by her own happiness about the pregnancy.


Salaita argues that the project of Indigenous Studies is inherently comparative, citing numerous examples of productive intercultural scholarship, he explores historical, cultural, and political relationships among Native North Americans and Palestinian Arabs to illuminate some of the ways that comparison offers the potential for new directions in both scholarly and activist communities. He contextualizes this analysis with a broader discussion of the ethics of scholarship in Indigenous Studies, paying special attention to the relationship of nationalistic commitment to intercultural methodologies. As Indigenous Studies expands in both geographical scope and methodological approach, questions arise about the coalescence of multivalent scholarship into an institutionalized academic field. It appears at times that engagement with Indigenous peoples is incompatible with entrenched academic ethos. Despite the disparity between academic convention and material communal needs, Indigenous Studies has grown tremendously; its growth thus presents its practitioners with a series of critical issues. One of those issues is ethical. Or, to put it another way, we are faced now with questions about the ethical imperatives of the project of Indigenous Studies as an institutionalized enterprise. Ethical matters, of course, are crucial to all academic endeavors; it might therefore appear unduly ambitious to examine discrete ethical matters vis-à-vis a specific area study. Yet it is precisely because of the movement by Indigenous scholars toward disciplinary discreteness that we need to disengage broad academic ethics from a universalist position and apply them directly to the imperatives of doing work in Indigenous Studies. In a variety of circumstances, these ethical questions arise when we consider how it might be possible to traverse the disparity between academic convention and material communal needs. This article will focus on the ethics of intercultural work, which is increasingly becoming a methodological choice in Indigenous Studies. Indeed, the very project of Indigenous Studies is fundamentally comparative, relying as it does on more than geographical separatism, but also on a conceptual and philosophical dissociation from a host of colonialist undertakings, like neoliberalism and military occupation. Communities around the world that articulate a commitment to such a dissociation will likely find an amiable project in Indigenous Studies, and so the field is necessarily transgressive. The fundamentally comparative nature of Indigenous Studies also results from the moral and geopolitical rejection of nationhood as defined by the parameters of the postcolonial nation-state as it was imagined by the European settlers who carved borders where there were none, a rejection that at least tacitly emphasizes transnationalism. In what conditions, then, can we erase physical and intellectual borders while maintaining a steadfast communal commitment? What are the moral and political limitations of comparative work? And how ...most important, do we articulate a dynamic ethical paradigm...geared toward and appropriate for the inherently comparative nature of Indigenous Studies?


An optically transparent metamaterial absorber with polarization insensitivity and wide-angle absorption is proposed. The absorber, which consists of an indium tin oxide resistive film and a low-loss substrate, is optically transparent and conformal. By tuning the reflection response of the frequency-selective surface and the thickness of the spacer layer, the whole structure achieves an absorption of more than 97% in the range of 6.54–18.66 GHz. Numerical simulation results show that the absorber can still maintain an absorption rate of more than 85% in a wide range of oblique incidence angles from 0° to 60°. In addition, the intrinsic physical mechanism of the absorber is elucidated using the impedance matching theory and the distribution of surface currents. The ratio of dielectric loss and ohmic loss is also quantitatively analyzed. Finally, the reflection and transmission coefficients of the sample were measured in a microwave anechoic chamber, which showed a good agreement with the simulation results. This design uses a low-resistivity resistive film as a frequency-selective surface, which was rarely involved in previous studies, and provides a new idea for future design and application.


On June 14-19, 2015, the IUPHAR Section of Immunopharmacology and the Cuban Society of Pharmacology, together with the Latin- American Association of Pharmacology (ALF), Finlay Vaccine Institute and other prestigious Cuban scientific institutions, organized the Congress VACCIPHARMA 2015 (3rd International Congress on Pharmacology of Vaccines), held as part of the First International Convention IMMUNOPHARMACOLOGY–VACCIPHARMA 2015 (Melia Marina Varadero Hotel, in Varadero beach, Cuba) VACCIPHARMA 2015 was organised into two large Workshops, addressing topics related to the research, development, clinical evaluation, production and quality control of Therapeutic and Prophylactic Vaccines, respectively. At the same time the Workshop on Prophylactic Vaccines was integrated by several Symposiums, focused on meningococcal, pneumococcal, enteric, tuberculosis and pertussis vaccines. About 250 delegates, including 100 international researchers from 15 countries, attended this meeting. The Congress had a remarkable Opening Session, with a Key Lecture given by the outstanding scientist Professor Dr. Shiv Pillai (United States of America), who talked about the changing views in the field of the immunology of vaccination and the challenges ahead. The aim of this review is to give an overview of the main topics discussed in the Prophylactic Vaccines Workshop, not as a complete narration of the events, but to provide an update of the latest state of the art and methodologies being applied to prophylactic vaccines with an expert commentary on the invited speakers.


System for evaluating the status of at least one process includes means for segmenting the process into a plurality of processes segments is information about each process segment of the plurality of processes segments generated by the segmentation means , one or more sensors configured to capture information comprising a plurality of samples, processing said plurality of samples for each process segment of said plurality of segments, based on the processing, at least one of said process comprising a system having a processing means arranged to provide an indication related to the state. .FIELD 1


LAHDENSIVU Degree Programme in Social Services Sociopedagogical social work Author Johanna Sällinen Year 2015 Subject of Bachelor's thesis The Service Strings of Adult Social Work's Clients


Introduction J.McKay & M.Hilton Peace: Direct Action and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 1958-62 J.Burkett International Aid and Development: British Humanitarian, Aid and Development NGOs, 1949-Present C.Saunders Women: Housewives, Workers and Citizens: Voluntary Women's Organizations and the Campaign for Women's Rights in England and Wales during the Post-war Period C.Beaumont Sexual Politics: The Sphere of Sexual Politics: the Abortion Law Reform Association, 1930s to 1960s S.Brooke Gay Rights: Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual NGOs in Britain: Past, Present and Future M.Waites Human Rights: Human Rights Campaigns in Modern Britain T.Buchanan Anti-Apartheid: The Anti-Apartheid Movement: Pressure Group Politics, International Solidarity and Transnational Activism R.Skinner Poverty: Stopping the Poor Getting Poorer: the Establishment and Professionalisation of Poverty NGOs, 1945-95 T.Evans Drugs: The Changing Role of NGOs in Britain: Voluntary Action and Illegal Drugs A.Mold Reactionaries: There was Something About Mary: The National Viewers' and Listeners' Association and Social Movement History L.Black Environmentalism: Environmental NGOs and the Environmental Movement in England C.Rootes Fair Trade: NGOs and Fair trade: the Social Movement behind the Label M.Anderson NGOs and the State: Transforming a Divided Civil Society? Governance, Conflict Transformation and NGOs in Northern Ireland, 1970-2006 A.Mitchell Democracy: NGOs and Democratisation: Assessing Variation in the Internal Democratic Practices of NGOs D.Halpin


Membrane fouling has been one of the main causes of operations problems with reverse osmosis (RO) systems. A new low fouling RO membrane element (TML20-365) has been developed to help alleviate these problems. This new low fouling RO membrane element will be advantageous for processing municipal, industrial effluent, and surface waters, which in the past have been difficult to treat with normal conventional RO elements. This new low fouling RO membrane is a cross-linked polyamide composite membrane with surface modification. TML20-365 exhibits excellent performance in reducing membrane fouling from chemical and biological sources found in wastewater effluent applications. This RO membrane shows similar or superior water permeability and separation performance over those membranes used in conventional low-pressure RO elements.


Does higher childhood IQ increase the likelihood of becoming a vegetarian later in life? Investigators analyzed data from a 1970 British birth cohort


This paper presents findings from a comprehensive experimental/analytical study of crack growth in asphalt concrete using fracture mechanics. The primary objective of this study is to provide critical information that is complementary to the viscoelastoplastic continuum damage model in modeling crack growth using finite element analysis. To simulate mode I fracture, uniaxial monotonic and cyclic tension tests were conducted on prismatic specimens with symmetric double notches. Digital Image Correlation (DIC), a noncontact, full-field displacement/strain measurement technique, was utilized to investigate the size and shape of the fracture process zone (FPZ). Irrespective of the notch size and testing conditions, the FPZ was observed to be similar in size and shape for the mixture. Also, it was found that the strain at the crack tip immediately before crack initiation is a decreasing function of strain rate. The experimental data were analyzed using several fracture mechanics theories, including the cohesive crack model and crack growth rate laws based on the stress intensity factor, K1. The cohesive crack model analysis provides the fracture energy and softening function that describe the post-peak behavior with strain localization. The analysis based on K1 shows that the specimen size has no significant effect on the crack growth rate laws. The effect of temperature is pronounced in the crack growth rate law using temperature-reduced crack speed based on K1. The time-temperature superposition principle, with the shift factor from the linear viscoelastic range, was applied to these crack growth rate laws and successfully collapsed the curves at different temperatures into a single relationship.


The quality of an information retrieval system depends largely on the satisfaction degree of users with the results obtained when executing a query, so it is essential to design processes that store the preferences patterns of each of them and vary the way in which the results are shown taking into account the specific characteristics of each user. The objective of this article was to present an algorithm for calculating the relevance of the documents provided to users, which used the variables: the user's search profile, the category of the documents and the category of the query as parameters, to customize the results provided by the search engine to the users. In addition, it used as impulse factors the degree of predominance of a search category in the user's profile and the categories to which the document belongs. To validate the algorithm, precision and recall metrics were applied to check that the results obtained are relevant to users.


Activation of 5‐HT1B receptors is thought to play an important role in the inhibitory influence of serotonin on feeding behaviour and body weight in mammals. Earlier studies have shown that 5‐HT1B‐knockout (KO) mice eat more and are heavier than wild‐type (WT) controls and that the selective 5‐HT1B receptor agonist CP‐94,253 reduces food intake in food‐deprived mice. Here we characterize the behavioural effects of both CP‐94,253 and the selective 5‐HT1B receptor antagonist SB224289 on feeding and other behaviours within the behavioural satiety sequence, and also report a c‐fos mapping study using CP‐94,253. CP‐94,253 produced a dose‐dependent suppression of food intake with a profile consistent with a selective effect on feeding behaviour. These effects were absent or reduced in 5‐HT1B‐KO mice and in WT mice pretreated with SB224289. SB224289 administered alone enhanced food intake consistent with impaired satiation; a similar effect was apparent in 5‐HT1B‐KO mice compared to WT. CP‐94,253 induced c‐fos in a range of structures previously implicated in the expression of feeding behaviour. These results suggest that the activation of 5‐HT1B receptors is an important component of endogenous satiation mechanisms in the mouse.


Invasive  alien  species  are  non-native  species  that have been introduced either through self-introduction or by man and which have subsequently become  a threat to a country's economy (e.g., agriculture and trade, infrastructure [e.g., water  supplies], human health, etc.). They may also impact biodiversity, habitat quality, and ecosystem  functions. Aquatic invasive alien species (IAS) have been documented in both Trinidad and Tobago  but generally are regarded as established or naturalised exotics, as their potential negative  impacts are not appreciat- ed fully. A site in Tobago is described, which provides a safe haven for aquatic IAS.


AbstractObservations of time usage and teachers statements were made in 175 classrooms in twenty-six high schools in Chicago. The measures of time were combined into one variable that was then tested for its association to the achievement scores of the eleventh grade class. The correlation showed that schools with higher reading achievement had a lower amount of lost time. Regression models showed that better use of time and more use of positive comments were each associated with increases in achievement. The low use of reinforcing comments by teachers and the high proportions of student time lost through absences, interruptions, and noninvolvement were cited as areas that could be affected by school policies.


An implement for installing and retrieving surface drip irrigation laterals was designed and tested. Only one worker was required to successfully operate the implement. Labor capacities increased 108% to 1.02 ha/h/worker, for installation and 16%, to 0.96 ha/h/worker, for retrieval, over existing implements. An automatic braking system eliminated tube tangling by retarding reel rotation. Tube separation, previously encountered during retrieval, was reduced by using a pair of wheels rather than the reel to pull the laterals.


Asymptotic relations are obtained for the number PA(n) of partitions of the integer n into summands from a set A of integers. The set A is subject to certain conditions; however the only arithmetic condition is that A have property Pk of Bateman and Erdös. A conjecture of Bateman and Erdös concerning the *th differences of p^(n) may be verified using these asymptotic relations. 1. Let A = {a0, a,,. .. } be an infinite set of monotonically increasing integers. Let us say, as do Bateman and Erdös [1], that A has property Pk if and only if: If we remove an arbitrary subset of k elements from A, the remaining elements have greatest common divisor unity. If k < 0 then any set A has property Pk. In [2] we considered the number PA(n) of partitions of the integer n into summands from A when A has property Pk for all k > 0. In this section we consider this problem when A has property Pk but not Pk + X. In the next section we investigate a conjecture of Bateman and Erdös concerning the fcth difference of pA (n). Finally in the third section we point out that a condition we assumed in [3] in order to determine the asymptotic behaviour of the moments of partition distributions is unnecessary. For the sake of completeness we now state some definitions which are given all in [2]. Let A(u) denote the number of elements of A which are < u. Let fA be defined by /»= Le-TM. aGA Let properties (I) and (II) be defined as in [2]. It is sufficient here perhaps to state that both these properties hold when any one of (i), (ii) or (hi) below hold (see [2] ). (i) Hm (log a"/log v)HJSL (log a"/Iog v) > ^, (") 5 =¿ÍgL °g °&a" exists and s > 0, logy Received by the editors December 6, 1974. A MS (MOS) subject classifications (1970). Primary 10J20. 37g Copyright © 1976, American Mathematical Society License or copyright restrictions may apply to redistribution; see http://www.ams.org/journal-terms-of-use


Thymus and bursa were removed from Peking ducks after they were butchered to isolate lymphocytes from the thymus and bursa by Ficoll method.Then the cell suspension were flowed through the Nylon Wool column to get the thymus lymphocytes(T-C) and bursa lymphocytes(B-C).Part of cells was used to extract the membrane proteins. Then SDS-PAGE was used to analysis membrane protein ingredient . The complete T-C,B-C and their membrane protein were used as the ELISA antigens respectivly.The first antibodies were rabbit antiserum against duck T-C and rabbit antiserum against the light chain of duck Ig respectivly.The results showed that there are some common ingredient in surface of T-C and B-C of Pekin duck,and T-C have the ingredient that like the light chain of Ig. Furthermore,B-C owned more common ingredient than that of T-C.


Derivative of 2, 6-diisopropylphenol (propofol) was prepared by coupling with 9-hydroxy-11-Z-octadecenoic acid (isolated from seed oil of Holarrhena antidysenterica) with the C1-α-hydroxy function of 2, 6-diisopropylphenol. The coupling reaction between fatty acid and propofol was carried out by dicyclohexylcarbodiimide in the presence of catalytic amount of dimethylaminopyridine to produce quantitative yield of the desired product. Spectroscopic studies confirmed the formation of the desired product. The compound was then investigated for its invitro anticancer activity against a panel of solid human tumor cell lines including HeLa, MCF-7 and HL-60(human leukemia) cells. Its cytotoxicity was also determined against non-cancerous mammalian cells (VERO cells) for comparison. The analog was cytotoxic against all cancer cell lines whereas no effect was observed against normal cells. The compound was also screened for its antimicrobial activity against E. coli, S. aureus and S. albus. The compound show good antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. albus.


Transformer and its variants achieve excellent results in various computer vision and natural language processing tasks, but high computational costs and reliance on large training datasets restrict their deployment in resource-constrained settings. Low-rank approximation of model weights has been effective in compressing CNN models, but its application to transformers has been less explored and is less effective. Existing methods require the complete dataset to fine-tune compressed models, which are both time-consuming and data-hungry. This paper reveals that the features (i.e., activations) are low-rank, but model weights are surprisingly not low-rank. Hence, AAFM is proposed, which adaptively determines the compressed model structure and locally compresses each linear layer's output features rather than the model weights. A second stage, GFM, optimizes the entire compressed network holistically. Both AAFM and GFM only use few training samples without labels, that is, they are few-shot, unsupervised, fast and effective. For example, with only 2K images without labels, 33% of the parameters are removed in DeiT-B with 18.8% relative throughput increase, but only a 0.23% accuracy loss for ImageNet recognition. The proposed methods are successfully applied to the language modeling task in NLP, too. Besides, the few-shot compressed models generalize well in downstream tasks.


Water is one of the scarce resources which is very important for the development for humankind hence efficient allocation is needed. The demand for domestic water as elsewhere is increasing as time goes according to records. This study was about the economic efficiency of domestic water allocation in Moshi Rural District, the case of Kirua-Kahe area. There were three specific objectives in this study which are to evaluate the domestic water allocation of Kirua-Kahe Water Project in Moshi Rural District, to determine the domestic water allocation efficiency in Kirua-Kahe Water Project and to examine the effectiveness of Kirua-Kahe domestic water allocation in Moshi Rural District. The findings show that Kirua-Kahe uses Gravity water supply and Pumping system. Gravity water supply system has 8 working intakes, 2 boreholes. The Pumping water Supply system consists of 15 small pumping schemes being pumped from boreholes and 1 spring. From the sampled villages, the findings also show within the family female members were mostly concerned with water usage. Until January 2015, Kirua-Kahe Gravity had a total of 5 403 customer connections and 401 customer connections for Kirua-Kahe Pumping. Customers are Public, Homes, Social Institutions and Commercial connections. Pricing is used for consumers as contribution for the sustainability of the project. The economic efficiency was carried out based on analysis of usage and collection efficiency and all constraints and optimality conditions were satisfied. Further research is needed to design service delivery models, technological innovations and education.


This paper shows how relational databases can be used to define a bridging mechanism between relational database and OWL ontology. We demonstrate on a simple yet completely elaborated example how mapping information stored in relational tables can be processed using SQL to generate RDF triples for OWL class and property instances. This technology provides the means to use relational database as a powerful tool to transform relational data to Semantic Web layer.


Machine tool vibration is the main reason resulting in machining quality of parts. In this paper, a magneto-rheological damping device for CNC milling machine was developed. On the basis of structural design, by using fuzzy control algorithm, vibration reduction device is studied based on the machine tool system of magneto-rheological dampers. Finally, a satisfied result is obtained. By analyzing the result, the feasibility of the vibration-control system and the algorithms is proved.


The article is showing ways of entering private health insurance into the Polish system of the health care. Relating to conditioning for functioning of the health care and principles every country should accept as a result of the social agreement concerning financing and functioning of the health care universal purposes standing before the health care in every country were presented. Next for Poland statistical data on public and private funding of the health care in relation to macroeconomic conditioning were presented. A proposal of ways of solving the issue to include the private funding in the form of commercial insurance in the financing mechanism of the health care in Poland is the most important part of the article.


This study concerns the behaviour of composite-to-steel bolted connections and was carried out as part of a programme to develop a composite materials transmission shaft for railway propulsion at high torque levels. The basis of the study was to embed various types of steel insert into flat composite plate specimens then perform tensile/compressive fatigue tests on the bolted assemblies. Inserts were incorporated during the hot-press manufacturing cycle of the specimens. Fatigue testing was carried out under constant load conditions at a frequency of 10 Hz. Three types of insert geometry were devised ; a simple tube of length equal to the specimen thickness, a tube with a wide circumferential groove on the outer diameter and a tube with an outer circumferential ridge in the middle of the height. A fourth type of specimen, with no insert, was used as a reference basis. All specimens were gripped between flat steel plates for the tests. The results showed that under the chosen test conditions the simplest configuration (no insert) performed best, the load being entirely transmitted by friction. The simple tube geometry showed a reduction of about 16 % compared to the reference while the grooved and ridged specimens where reduced by 50 and 58 % respectively. These results have lead to the definition of a new insert assembly that uses friction for transmitting the working loads and can protect the composite against any over-load. This design is being currently evaluated. Advances in Composite Materials and Structures VII, C.A. Brebbia, W.R. Blain & W.P. De Wilde (Editors) © 2000 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISBN 1-85312-825-2


The psychological wellbeing of individuals with a brother or sister with a chronic illness or condition is at a unique risk. There is a need to further consider the impact on sibling psychological wellbeing from their own perspective within the family unit in order to build a holistic understanding of sibling's need for support. This thesis includes 10 chapters. The 1st chapter provides a review of the existing literature on sibling psychological wellbeing along with an introduction and overview of the thesis. The 2nd chapter is a systematic review and meta-analysis that synthesises 17 studies and 1,264 participants to consider the effectiveness of support offered to siblings. Chapter 3 introduces a large qualitative research project involving siblings with a brother or sister with cystic fibrosis and their immediate families. The results of the large qualitative study are presented in Chapters 4 to 7, and a family level multiple casestudy analysis in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 increases the depth of understanding of these findings by presenting a mixed methods analysis using the qualitative results and quality of life measures from the siblings and their immediate families. Chapter 10 describes how the results from Chapters 2 to 9 fit within the scope of existing research and theory, and identifies how best to support siblings. Results of this thesis suggest that the evidence of effectiveness of sibling support is inconsistent and measures used may lack the necessary sensitivity. Although siblings generally did not identify a large impact on themselves, it was clear from both the qualitative analysis and the mixed methods study that many siblings used avoidance coping mechanisms. When it became more difficult to avoid their brother's or sister's health condition siblings felt an impact to a greater extent. Interventions may be best targeted at siblings during stressful times.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to establish and test a model of the image differentiation positioning strategy in the airline industry. This study is based on the schema, which is defined as "a stored framework of cognitive knowledge that represents information about a topic, a concept, or a particular stimulus, including its attributes and the relations among the attributes" (Aggarwal & McGill, 2007, p. 470). The objectives of the study are: (a) to compare the differences between two models (schema plus tag model and subtyping model) of the schematic process; (b) to identify the relationship between the image differentiated positioning strategy and the schematic process; and (c) to assess how the schematic process influences future consumer behavior (attitude and purchasing behavior). Results showed that the airline's image differentiated positioning strategy had a positive effect on future consumer behavior through the schema.


We will describe a method and a device for acting upon the body of a living being with extracorporeally generated shock waves, in particular acoustic shock waves. The effect of the shock waves in the applied target area of the body is measured by means extracorporeally arranged receiver, which receive the acoustic signals, which generate the cavitation bubbles caused in the fabric by the shock waves. The measured cavitation can be used for controlling and regulation of the dosage of the shock waves. When using focused receivers a spatial scanning of the cavitation effect is possible, whereby the focus of the shock wave controlled scanning the tissue structure and the pressure field of the shock waves can be measured.


Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) play an important role in supporting motorists and first responders to handle major incidents, hazmat spills, security measures and other emergency operations. Increasingly, technology advancements and applications are providing invaluable integration opportunities to interconnect safety, maintenance, ITS, traffic operations, facilities, and transportation equipment programs to maximize available resources and achieve efficiency in transportation operations. This research focuses on one of the prominent ITS systems: Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) operations. Using real time incident management operations data and ITS operations data, an attempt is made to develop DMS Operations Evaluations Models (DOEMS) that are capable to quantifying the operations value of DMS and their complementing ITS surveillance and detection systems, such as CCTV, Safety Service Patrol (SSP) and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems. The I-95 corridor in the state of Virginia is selected as the study corridor. Operations data from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) on DMS and ITS detection systems and incident management is analyzed to accomplish four key research objectives: a) To collect, extract and evaluate real time operations data from VDOT DMS and incident management operations programs and identify the factors contributing to the successful operation of DMS for the duration of incidents and events occurring on the I-95 study corridor b) To develop analytical models to determine measurable influence of incident detections in successfully disseminating messages on DMS and c) to quantitatively determine the measurable influence of DMS messages on operation of the I-95 study corridor during incidents and events and d) To develop guidelines on application of these quantitative DMS evaluation models that transportation engineers can effectively use and perform DMS evaluations at other DMS locations. The DMS operations evaluation models developed for the I-95 study corridor has provided initial meaningful and conclusive results. The logistic regression analyses modeling methods that developed in this research are appearing to be prudent and capable to quantitatively describe the role the DMS play in incident management. Two DOEM1 and DOEM2 models developed are proving to be capable of realizing the research objectives to quantitatively determine the measurable influence of the detection system on DMS operations. Subsequently the models are able to quantify the potential influence of lack of DMS messages dissemination during primary incidents on the occurrence of secondary incidents on the segments of I-95 study corridor. The DMS evaluation framework developed in this research work is expected to assist transportation engineers in the prioritization, selection and implementation of operations and technology integration strategies.


Abstract Participants in the emerging church tend to avoid describing it in ways that might suggest it is a formal or coherent 'movement', preferring to think of it as an 'amorphous friendship' or a 'conversation'. The cynic might suspect that such fuzzy language reflects an attempt to avoid criticism by refusing to articulate clear positions. Those inclined to generous readings will accept that the conversation is still young, experimental and evolving. Even those of us who lean toward the latter view, however, often find that the fluidity of structure and breadth of conversation that is celebrated among these emerging Christians makes it very difficult to get a handle on what is happening. It is all the more difficult, then, to provide thoughtful analysis and critique. Nonetheless, the conversation (and even more so the practice) contains interesting and hopeful elements and, as such, it deserves to be discussed and evaluated with constructive critique and gracious encouragement.


Previous research regarding the oral language competence of learning disabled children has begn found to define inadequately the subjects of such study. In addition, both standardized tests and imitative tasks have been the focus of the methodology employed in the majority of such research. The study which will be reported was designed to explore descriptively the differences-in the oral language production of learning disabled children in comparisot to normal children through observable spontaneous conversational interaction. Contrary to the results of previous studies which have been generalized to the entire population of learning disabled children, this investigation suggests that auditory and visual prOcessing deficits may contribute differentially to the oral language competence of learning disabled children. Emphasized throughout will be the positive value of such a methodology asthat of single-subject research in an effort to better identify and differentiate subgroups within the learning disabled population. The Communicative Competence of LD Children The Communicative Competence of Learning Disabled (LD) Children: A Single-Subject Approach Itjs a widely held notion that children with learning disabilities may-exhibit language and communication deficita (e.g., Crui-kshank, Bentzen, Ratzeburg, & Tannhauser, 1961; Myklebust, 19544 Wiig & Seme , 1976, 1980). Early literature in both psychology and linguistics (e.g., M. E. Smith, 1933, reprinted in Bloom, 1978), as well as literature which was to form the basis of the field of learning disabilities (cf. Wiederholt, 1974), further supports this suggestion. Agreement has also been reached as to the significant role which language plays in academid achievement (e.g., Cruickshank et al., 1961; Lindfors, 1980; Hyklebust, 1954). Studies concerning the language deficits of the learning disabled population (e.g., Rosenthal, 1970; Wiig & Semel, 1973; Wiig, Semel, & Crouse, 1973; Vogel, 1974; Wiig & Semel, 1974; Parker, Freston, & Drew0975; Semel & Wiig, 1975; Wiig & Roach, 1975; Wiig & Semel, 1975; Wiig, Lapointe, & Semel, 1977) were inspired, in part, by this realization regarding the link between language development and academic proficiency. In addition, recent research reported by Bloom (1979), Blank, Gessner, and Esposito (1979), Donahue, Pearl, and Bryan (1980), Bryan, Donahue, and Pearl (1981a),-and Donahue (1981) continues to lend credence to the notion that children diagnosed as learning disabled may display dif,iculties with the development of language and communication skills. Studies concerning the communicative competence of the learning disabled have suggested that the language deficits exhibited by this population The Communicative Competence of LD Children


Introduction: Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. According to the guidelines of International Diabetes Federation, patients need to be given appropriate medical treatment, the purpose of which is to achieve the compensation of the disease and the treatment of its complications. The aim of this study was to analyze the consumption and expenditure per day of oral antidiabetic medicines in Ukraine during 2014–2016. Materials and Methods: Study of drug consumption was conducted using anatomical therapeutic chemical/defined daily dose (ATC/DDD) methodology by calculating such figures as utilization in DDD, DDDs per 1000 inhabitants per day, and expenditure per DDD. Results and Discussion: The consumption rates of DDDs/1000 PD of monoantidiabetic drugs fluctuated from 11.57 to 15.45 DDDs/1000 PD, and for combined antidiabetic drugs, it was changed from 1.02 to 1.11 DDDs/1000 PD during 2014–2016. The structure of consumption in Ukraine 2015–2016 shows increasing in consumption of biguanides (51.21%), sulfonylureas (74.57%), repaglinide (91.67%), liraglutide (40%), pioglitazone (33.3%), and dapagliflozin (35%). The analysis of expenditure per DDD shows that the most affordable unit of DDD was agents that contain pioglitazone, metformin, sulfonylureas group, and combined drugs. Conclusion: Nationwide trends in antidiabetic agents' utilization were analyzed in Ukraine during 2014–2016. It has been established a slight decreasing of A10B group agents' consumption in the period of 2014–2015. In 2016, there was a tendency to increase the value of DDDs/1000 PD.


Initiation experiment of Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN) and Hexanitrostilbene IV(HNS-IV) explosives by laser driven flyer plate is conducted. By using an optimum selection of 5μm Al flyer and φ0.5×0.3 metal barrel, the explosive samples of about 1μm mean grain size and 90% theoretical maximum density(TMD) in a metal case are detonated successfully. The PETN has a much lower critical firing laser energy than HNS-IV, which is in accordance with the electrical slapper exploding practices. The much lower critical firing laser energy of the explosives makes it possible for safe transmission of laser by a fiber optic line with the core diameter no more than 600μm, and in turn makes it possible for the use of optical detonation technique in multipoint synchronous initiation of warheads.


Tourism in Mexico is important because it generates economically significant effects on growth. Using quarterly data on international tourist arrivals to Los Cabos (at), the real exchange rate (rer) and gross domestic product (gdp) in Mexico, we apply co-integration analysis to demonstrate two aspects: a) at least one co-integration vector between domestic product (gdp) in Mexico and the rer and at, we obtain inelastic elasticities for both variables (positive and negative, respectively); and, b) a long-run stable relationship between gdp and at.


Food scientist are actively involved to improve the quality of wheat through composite flour technology by supplementing wheat flour with other grain flours. Barley grains are outstanding source of total dietary fibers (TDF) and offers remarkable quantity of active ingredients for health elevation and disease prevention. Purposely, the current research work was designed to improve the nutritional potential of wheat chapattis by including barley flour 10%, 20%, 30% along with the addition of functional blend (Methi powder and garlic paste) 2%, 4%, 6% levels respectively. Wheat and barley composite flour were analyzed for its chemical, mineral, antioxidant and total dietary composition. The supplementation of barley flour and functional blend into wheat flour enhanced the mineral. Addition of barley flour and functional blend increased total phenolic in composite flour 0.41 (control) to 0.69 mg GAE.100g-1 and DPPH from 20.95 - 23.82%. Total dietary fiber in composite flour varied form 3.11% (control) to 7.69% (30% barley flour with 6% functional blend). Total dietary fiber in chapattis ranged from 6.04 (control) to 8.21% (30% barley flour with 6% functional blend). 30% supplementation of barley flour and 4% addition of functional blend presented better sensory response of the prepared chapattis. All the outcomes revealed that nutritionally rich chapattis should be incorporated in daily diet to explore the dietary worth of barley.


The main source of the ionization of the Earth's atmosphere is the cosmic radiation that depends on solar activity as well as geomagnetic activity. Galactic cosmic rays constitute a permanent radiation background and contribute significantly to the radiation exposure inside the atmosphere. In this work, the cosmic-ray-induced ionization of the Earth's atmosphere, due to both solar and galactic cosmic radiation during the recent solar cycles 23 (1996–2008) and 24 (2008–2019), was studied globally. Estimations of the ionization were based on the CRAC:CRII model by the University of Oulu. The use of this model allowed for extensive calculations from the Earth's surface (atmospheric depth 1033 g/cm2) to the upper limit of the atmosphere (atmospheric depth 0 g/cm2). Monte Carlo simulations were performed for the estimation quantities of radiobiological interest with the validated software DYASTIMA/DYASTIMA-R. This study was focused on specific altitudes of interest, such as the common flight levels used by commercial aviation.


We propose one-dimensional Multi-Method codes (1-D MM codes) in spectral amplitude coding (SAC) optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) networks. The mathematical results and simulation analysis show that the MM codes in terms of the bit-error-rate (BER). The numerical results demonstrate that the 1-D MM codes outperform the existing 1-D approaches in terms of BER, and the data transmission rate can achieve 2.5 Gbps.


Freeform surface is very common in the shape design of industry products. Its quality is a key to reverse engineering. It is mainly evaluated from the precision and fairness which are studied. First the precision optimization is carried out by two steps: rough modification and fine adjustment according to the Least squares-based evaluation technique through control points repositioning and weight points adjusting respectively. Second the fairness which contradicts the precision is optimized form two aspects of local fairness and global fairness. In order to satisfy local fairness bad points are adjusted first and then for the global fairness a technique based on Wavelet theory is adopted. Finally, a computation program is developed with Visual C++ & OpenGL and some examples are dealt with by the methods. The results verify that the proposed methods are valid.


Thanks to the rapid development of fiber optic sensors, the arrival of distributed sensors makes continuous and dense measurement possible for real structures. The distributed fiber optic sensors could provide a very high number of sensors along one single fiber, which is of great significance for structural health monitoring, especially for the detection of the damage position. However, the accuracy of data measured from fiber optic distributed sensors, such as strain and displacement etc., are sometimes not as accurate as those obtained from traditional fiber optic sensors such as fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) and strain gauges. In this paper, to enhance the accuracy of static strain data measured from distributed fiber optic sensors, an extended kernel regression (EKR) method is applied to combine the distributed sensor measurement with those from four FBG sensors. These provide quite accurate static strain data; the strain values at locations where the FBGs are absent can therefore be predicted by the EKR method, which uses the data from distributed fiber optics as a biased model. The static experimental activities have been carried out in a laboratory, using a cantilever beam structure under different static loads.


Except tobacco farming, tobacco barn owners move to different income sources such as other crop cultivation and non-Agricultural activities due to clear differences in the living status. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the determinants of flue cured barn owner's income diversification and share of income sources to total household income at Galewela, Polonnaruwa and Mahiyanganaya in Sri Lanka. The study drew a sample of 302 flue cured barn owners through random sampling technique from the three different regions and the data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Herfindhal diversification index and Censored Tobit regression. The results indicate that the level of income diversification among the flue cured tobacco barn owners in Sri Lanka depicted by the inverse of Herfindhal index is 3.02. According to Herfindhal index, the highest income diversification is observed in Mahiyangana area while the lowest income diversification is observed in Galewela area. The age of the barn owner, experience in tobacco cultivation, land ownership of the barn owner, total land availability (leased and tenure), capital goods ownership (tractors), tobacco specific resource endowment (number of barns), and distance to the nearest town were the major determinants of income shares from different sources of activities.


The sulfur-less vulcanization of EPDM and the associated desulfurization reactions with tetramethylthiuram disulfide (TMTD) were studied by pyrolysis-gas chromatography (Py-GC) with a sulfur selective flame photometric detector (FPD) and a mass spectrometer (MS). TMTD proved to cause sulfur-less vulcanization, leading to vulcanizates with mono- and di-sulfidic crosslinks in the presence of zinc oxide. Furthermore, it was found by Py-GC/MS that TMTD decomposed into sulfur S8 along with carbon disulfide (CS2) and tetramethylthiuramthiourea (TMTD). These results suggested that TMTD should take part in the crosslinking with accompanying desulferization during sulfur-less vulcanization. Based on these observations the mechanisms of the sulfur-less vulcanization of EPDM rubber with TMTD are discussed.


A qualitative comparative study of the bacterial flora of the vagina and cervix of 90 non-pregnant women of reproductive age (18 35 years) Calabar was undertaken. The study revealed that both aerobic and microaerophili organism as well as the strictly anaerobic bacteria constitute the microflora of the lower genital of this group of women. Of the 90 women sample, Lactobacili were the most frequent isolated organism in both the cervix and vagina , occurring in 62.2% and 75.6% of the sample respectively. Proteus species were the least in incidence, occurring in only 4% of either the cervical or vaginal specimens. The following pathogenic organisms were isolated in both the vagina and cervix. Escherichia coil, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Clostridium species and Beta-haemolytic streptococci. In general, the same types of organism were isolated in both the cervical and vaginal sample, although the incidence in the two sources varied. Key Words: Bacterial flora, vagina, cervix, non-pregnant women, reproductive age.
[Trop J Obstet Gynaecol, 2004;21:49-51]


The configuration design of redundant thrusters determines the position and orientation of the thrusters on the spacecraft during the designment of the control system of the spacecraft.The context is focused on the configuration design of redundant thrusters which can be actuated both by the orbit control system and the attitude control system.The mission and constraints of the designment are analyzed firstly,and then a configuration of redundant thrusters is proposed to meet the requirements.The thrusters are positioned on the diagonal of the top and bottom surfaces of the satellite to avoid the other payloads,and are oriented to maximize the volume of the attainable sets of the force and torque of the configuration with its two installation angles meeting the equality constraint deduced in the paper.A simulation example is finally given to validate the feasibility of the thruster configuration.


One of the basic assumptions underlying Bell's theorem is the causal arrow of time, having to do with temporal order rather than spatial separation. Nonetheless, the physical assumptions regarding causality are seldom studied in this context, and often even go unmentioned, in stark contrast with the many different possible locality conditions which have been studied and elaborated upon. In the present work, some retrocausal toy-models which reproduce the predictions of quantum mechanics for Bell-type correlations are reviewed. It is pointed out that a certain toy-model which is ostensibly superdeterministic—based on denying the free-variable status of some of quantum mechanics' input parameters—actually contains within it a complete retrocausal toy-model. Occam's razor thus indicates that the superdeterministic point of view is superfluous. A challenge is to generalize the retrocausal toy-models to a full theory—a reformulation of quantum mechanics—in which the standard causal arrow of time would be replaced by a more lenient one: an arrow of time applicable only to macroscopically-available information. In discussing such a reformulation, one finds that many of the perplexing features of quantum mechanics could arise naturally, especially in the context of stochastic theories.


Objictive To explored the change of serum leptin and clinical significance of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients before and after insulin pump treatment.Methods Before and after intensive treatment,41 cases of newly diagnosed T2DM patients with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion pump insulin(aspart) were detected the changes of serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP),leptin and fasting plasma glucose (FPG),postprandial 2h blood glucose (2h PG).Results Shortly after treatment in patients with near normal blood glucose,serum hs-CRP,leptin significantly decreased(P both0.01),those without hypoglycemia.Conclusion Short-term insulin pump therapy could reduced blood glucose in patients with newly diagnosed T2DM,serum hs-CRP and leptin levels,with good blood glucose control and anti-inflammatory effects.


CAD techniques are applied to the design progress of products' packing with various designing software.And in an actual designing example,this article raises effective measures to the distortion from plane label to three dimensional label and to the problems in transforming the datum during different software.This methed avoids unnecessary duplicated work in traditional packing design,makes the design more reasonable and effective,and improves the designing effects.


We show that over a perfect field, every non-semisimple finite tensor category with finitely generated cohomology embeds into a larger such category where the tensor product property does not hold for support varieties.


Li0.97K0.03FePO4 and Li0.97K0.03FePO4/graphene composites were synthesized by carbothermal reduction method using acetylene black as carbon source. The structure and electrochemical properties of the prepared materials were investigated with X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, galvanostatic charge and discharge and electrochemical impedance spectra tests. The results indicated that K doping improves the cyclic stability of samples, the addition of small amounts of graphene results in better electronic properties on sample. Li0.97K0.03FePO4/graphene showed discharge capacity of 158.06 and 90.55 mAh g-1 at 0.1 C and 10 C, respectively. After the 50 cycle test at different rates, the reversible discharge capacity at 0.1 C was 158.58 mAh g-1, indicating the capacity retention ratio of 100.32%.


G. Darbo [Rend. Sem. Math. Univ. Padova, 24 (1955) 84– 92] used the measure of noncompactness to investigate operators whose properties can be characterized as being intermediate between those of contraction and compact operators. In this paper, we apply the Darbo's fixed point theorem for solving infinite system of linear equations in some sequence spaces.


Signal space diversity (SSD) is a well-known technique providing excellent performance gain over fading channels. This paper investigates the system design of bit-interleaved coded modulation with iterative demodulation and SSD (BICM-ID-SSD). It demonstrates that within SSD the average mutual information (AMI) between the signal after rotated constellation mapping and that before the soft demapper varies with the rotation angle. Therefore, a new criterion for searching the optimal rotation angle by maximizing such AMI is proposed. Based on this criterion it is shown that the optimal rotation angle is not relevant to the labeling, and 45-degree is found to be the optimal or near optimal rotation angle for square quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) at low to moderate code rates. Furthermore, the procedure of BICM-ID-SSD system design could be divided into two independent steps: 1) determining the optimal rotation angle based on the above criterion, and 2) choosing well-fitted labeling and outer channel code with the aid of extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) charts. Analysis and simulation results show that the proposed system exhibits a near-capacity performance, meanwhile being robust over both additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and Rayleigh fading channels.


Utilizing the technique of Green functions, the states of the linear‐chain Heisenberg ferromagnet with a single substituted impurity are studied in the linear spin‐wave approximation. The most important features are the appearances of localized states outside the spin wave band and resonant states in the band. For a ferromagnetically coupled impurity, the problem has been extensively treated. An approximate spin‐wave analysis for the antiferromagnetically coupled impurity yields ground state energies up to 50% higher than those obtained in an exact solution of single‐spin deviation states for the case of impurity spin ½. Allowing arbitrary host and impurity spins, exchange constants, and Lande factors, and an external magnetic field of arbitrary magnitude, we obtain the exact single‐spin deviation states. This is achieved by using the fully aligned state as the state of no excitations. Because the spin‐deviation excitation energies are negative for states below the spin‐wave band for an extended range of ...


We present two cases of childhood and one case of adult Lymphomatoid papulosis (LyP), an entity which is commonly misdiagnosed and poorly described in the paediatric dermatology literature. Clinically and histologically, the features of LyP in children can mimic insect bite reaction, with prominent dermal neutrophils and eosinophils. However, CD30 immunohistochemical staining of atypical lymphocytes within a mixed inflammatory infiltrate should point to the diagnosis of LyP. There is no consensus to guide management of childhood LyP due to its rarity and largely unknown natural course. We discuss our experience with LyP in two children who are blood related and one adult case. Although none of our cases have experienced malignant transformation to date and life long monitoring is advocated.


The separation of alkaline phosphatase (EC 220.127.116.11) isoenzymes by means of polyacrylamidc disc gel electrophoresis is described. The electrophoretic quantitation of the alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes and the ratio of bone-type fraction/liver-type fraction gives more clinical information than the heat-inactivation method. It is demonstrated that the described electrophoretic method together with the determination of y-glutamyl-transpeptidase (EC 22.214.171.124) and S'-nucleotidase (EC 184.108.40.206) is a reliable and a satisfactory method in the routine hospital laboratory for the differentiation of bone and hepatobiliary diseases.


This research focuses on the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and bureaucracy.
FDI's importance stems from its crisis-resistant nature as investment type and from being a country's main channel of capital stock, technology and know-how inflows. FDI flows into a country are known to depend on traditional determinants such as Gross National Income levels and Openness to Trade. Soft aspects such as Democracy and Property Rights are increasingly significant and should not be overlooked as they are strong sources of competitive advantage on global capital markets. Among these Bureaucracy has never been taken into consideration as a FDI determinant. Making use of the large amount of past research this paper combines different measures of Bureaucracy in the attempt to create a comprehensive variable able to describe this traditionally vague and difficult to measure concept. A selection of prominent governmental indicators, ranks and scales are aggregated into one solid proxy for bureaucracy. Different tests are then carried out over a panel of 57 countries in order to determine the best analysis technique for assessing the weight of the proxy in a classical FDI equation. Although the originality of the constructed bureaucracy variable is aimed at overcoming meaningless estimations, this paper's main obstacle results to be the methodology itself that hinders a solid analysis and leaves little room for inference.


The San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness' newspaper, the Street Sheet, is one of the nation's longest-running homeless newspapers. The Coalition's unique "business model" has served as an example for other "street newspapers" worldwide. In this model, homeless persons are entrusted to sell the newspaper on the street, keeping most of the profits for themselves. Using ethnographic data and document analysis, this essay frames the newspaper's vending interactions as performances of a contested "authentic" homeless identity that both transforms the stigma of homelessness into a "selling point" and reinforces the stigma associated with homelessness, ultimately positioning the stigma of homelessness as a souvenir of the Other.


Introduction iabetic macular edema (DME) is the leading cause of visual loss in patients with diabetes mellitus, and it frequently leads to irreversible changes in visual acuity. DME is caused by excessive vascular permeability, which leads to leakage of fluid and plasma constituents, such as lipoproteins, into the retina. This then causes retinal thickening. The Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) showed that focal laser photocoagulation is beneficial in the treatment of clinically significant macular edema, reducing the rate of moderate visual loss by 50%. However, only 3% of patients improved by ≥3 lines of vision by the end of the study. Intravitreal triamcinolone acitonide (IVTA) injection has proven effective in improving vision and reducing macular thickness in DME, both as an initial treatment and as a second line therapy after unsuccessful laser therapy. However, its effect is temporary, and a number of side effects have been reported. Consequently, its therapeutic value remains unclear.


In his genre-defining book titled "Leadership", James MacGregor Burns made striking mentions of 'qualities of leaders' and since then i.e., for past few decades, it is being discussed and understood that a leader's qualities and his character will make a greater difference to his effectiveness. According to Burns, civilization depends on 'transforming leaders' i.e., not only problem solvers but those who could help the society to a higher level of morality and motivation. Some writers on Leadership say that leaders are those who not only 'do things right' but are also seen 'to do the right thing'. In that case, which type of leaders would necessarily be counted on for doing the right thing? Lee Iacocca who is a domineering charismatic battler; Highly performance oriented ruthless leaders like Jack Welch; Proponents of 'Servant Leadership 'styles like Max De Pree of Herman Miller; Darwin Smith, CEO Kimberly- Clark who is a quiet stoic and is lauded by Jim Collins in his book 'Good and Great'; people like Attila the Hun whose leadership secrets have been collected with time? According to Mintzberg [1], leaders share one personality trait in common, a passion to lead. But each of the above styles of leadership have their own and multiple advocates and acolytes. The field of Leadership does not have a dearth of experts or sophistication of approaches but there is still no consensus on which style of leadership is the most effective. Even though individual qualities of leaders do matter, the effectiveness of leadership is increasingly believed to depend on the situational and context factors in which the leaders are working. Research of 160 CEOs shows that leadership is driven not so much by what someone is like inside but by what the outside demands [2]. It is essential to consider temporal changes in patterns of leader behaviour and dynamics of the task undertaken by them when conceptualizing the effectiveness of their styles


We review the potential of compact diode laser based systems for Terahertz (THz) technology. We discuss different concepts for two color lasers for generating continuous wave THz radiation by photomixing and demonstrate a femtosecond diode laser based system for time domain THz sampling. Finally, we present a compact multi modal diode laser based terahertz spectroscopy system. Our configuration enables fast switching from continuous wave difference frequency generation to broadband THz emission enabling a sophisticated data analysis like much more complex time domain spectroscopy (TDS) systems.


Purpose This study aimed to elucidate the quality of life of older adults/patients with degenerative lumbar diseases (ODLs) and analyse its association with some of their health-related perceptions. Materials and Methods This mixed-methods study consisted of a questionnaire survey and an in-depth interview, which was designed within this study. ODLs were recruited from January 12, 2017 to June 27, 2018. The independent sample t-test and grounded theory coding method were employed for data analysis. Results Of the 125 participants who returned valid questionnaires, 18 were included in the in-depth interviews. ODLs' quality of life was associated with the following health-related perceptions: "life barriers", "subjective health status", and "treatment outcomes" across the domains of physiology, psychology, social relations, and environment. Conclusion Our findings indicate that ODLs' quality of life is associated with their health-related perceptions. Thus, to improve older adults' quality of life, more attention should be paid to enhancing non-medical factors such as their health-related perceptions.


Since 2006, the role of international opportunity recognition became an emergent research stream in international entrepreneurship. Following the definition of international opportunity recognition, the initial international opportunity recognition is defined as follows: The way an entrepreneur discovers the opportunity to exchange products and services with a new or existing partner in a new international market for the first time.  In this study, we perform an in-depth literature review on the international opportunity recognition concept, and we suggest future lines of research in this topic.


This article presents the results of conformity assessment of the implemented labor protection management system on the example of an enterprise engaged in the production of soft drinks. According to the results of the analysis, in General, the effectiveness of the implementation and functioning of the labor protection management system at the enterprise is estimated as «high». The results obtained on the basis of the Methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of the labor protection management system indicate that the implemented labor protection management system is applicable at domestic enterprises, and the effectiveness assessment in the form of an audit, in turn, will allow timely identification of shortcomings or violations in the labor protection management system at enterprises. The article is based on the results of research on the topic: "Development of scientific and methodological bases for ensuring safe work in priority sectors of the economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan».


Transmission at 560 Mbit/s has been demonstrated using single-mode fibre and LEDs at 1300 nm. Surface-emitting, edge-emitting and super-radiant LEDs were used to transmit over maximum distances of 4.5 km, 15 km and 25 km, respectively. At 140 Mbit/s, the corresponding distances achieved with the same set of LEDs are 7.5, 35 and 50 km. respectively.


Background— This study compares posttransplantation outcomes of survival and morbidity among recipients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods and Results— The United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) provided deidentified patient-level data. Primary analysis focused on 20 412 first-time heart transplant recipients aged ≥18 years who underwent transplantation between January 1, 1995, and December 31, 2005. To determine severity of DM, DM recipients were stratified by their aggregate number of diabetes-related complications (DRCs), including pretransplantation history of renal failure (serum creatinine=2.5 mg/dL), peripheral vascular disease, cerebrovascular accident, and severe obesity (body mass index ≥35 kg/m2). Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to compare time to event. Although posttransplantation survival was significantly better (P<0.001) among patients without DM (median survival 10.1 years) than among those with DM (9.0 years), survival did not differ (P=0.08) between those without DM (10.1 years) and those with uncomplicated DM (0 DRCs; 9.3 years). Among those with DM, survival was worse with each additional DRC: 0 DRC, 9.3 years; 1 DRC, 6.7 years; and ≥2 DRCs, 3.6 years. Although acute rejection and transplant coronary artery disease–free survival did not differ between groups, renal failure and severe infection-free survival were worse in those with DM and were inversely related to the number of DRCs. Conclusions— Posttransplantation survival among patients with uncomplicated DM was not significantly different than that among nondiabetics. However, when stratified by disease severity, recipients with more severe diabetes had significantly worse survival than nondiabetics. Therefore, although DM alone should not be a contraindication to heart transplantation, given the critical shortage of transplantable organs, maximal benefit may be achieved by exploring alternative treatment options in patients with severe DM. These include use of high-risk transplant lists and destination therapy.


Dear editor, We read the paper by Cui et al. [1] demonstrating prolonged heterogeneous liver enhancement on contrast-enhanced ultrasound, with great interest. These findings could be of major clinical importance if the potential mechanisms underlying the pharmacokinetics of the second generation ultrasound contrast agents "in vivo" can be identified. However, there are several issues that will have to be addressed to fully understand the relevance of these results. As described by authors, prolonged heterogeneous liver enhancement (PHLE) appears to be a rare observation with a prevalence of approximately 0.13% [1]. Given that this study had a retrospective character, it is possible that the described incidence of PHLE is underestimated. While the exact mechanism of this phenomenon has not yet been elucidated, authors concluded that patients who received high-dose (or multiple) injections of UCA (ultrasound contrast agent) are more likely to develop this phenomenon [1]. The methodology applied by the authors may raise some concern. The delayed ultrasound scanning was neither scheduled nor performed in all studies included in the present studies [2–6]. It is likely that that the reported PHLE cases were investigated as a result of the postponed follow-up after the main examination and unexpected long lasting microbbubles visibility. Our own findings investigated the PHLE phenomenon in a prospective study utilizing ultrasound with an intravenous contrast agent containing sulfur hexafluoride in 137 children (83 male, 54 female; mean age 10.2 ±6.0 ; range 0–18 years) (unpublished study; personal experience). In our study, to visualize potential persistent concentration of microbubbles we performed additional scanning approximately 30–40 minutes following the end of each CEUS (contrast enhanced ultrasound study). Given that there is no available data regarding the sulfur hexafluoride pharmacokinetics following an intravenous application in children and whether the microbubbles gas is completely resolved, we performed an additional visualization of the liver, spleen and big vessels to assess the safety and well-being of children. From our study cohort, three cases demonstrated prolonged visibility of sulphur hexafluoride which occurred both in the liver and in vena cava inferior at 3, 4 and 6 hours post contrast administration Based on our findings, the incidence of prolonged visibility of UCA appears to be higher that the prevalence presented by Cui et al., accounting for approximately 1.5 %. This observation suggests that further investigators should be aware of, and be prepared for the PHLE phenomenon. Furthermore, it should be noted that for a better understanding the importance of UCA pharmacokinetics and PHLE phenomenon prevalence, the accurate methodology needs to be introduced in clinical studies. The studywas financed from themeans of the National Science Centre granted on the basis of the decision No DEC-2012/ 05/B/NZ5/01554.


Abstract Cardium lamarcki Reeve, earlier considered a variety of C. edule L., is a brackish water species, known from Danish waters (Petersen, 1958), the Baltic Sea (Petersen, 1958 and Koli, 1959) and Holland (Jutting, 1943). According to Petersen, who separated the two species, C. lamarcki lives in localities with a salinity of 5 to 250/00. The lowest salinity, at which it has been found in the Baltic, is 4.5 to 50/00 (Koli, 1961). Therefore it does not live at the inner end of the Gulf of Finland or in the Bothnian Bay.


Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to heart failure. Our recent work revealed that genes in mitochondrial biogenesis and quality control, such as the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma coactivator-1α(PGC-1α) and mitochondrial transcription factor A(TFAM), are downregulated in a rodent model of heart failure. Here, we apply CRISPR/Cas9 technology as a transcriptional activator to target sequences upstream of the start site to promote transcription of PGC-1α or TFAM. Since cardiomyocytes are difficult to transduce, we developed an adenoviral gene delivery system for expression of the CRISPR/Cas9 activating complex and a targeting gRNA to modulate expression of any gene of interest in differentiated cardiomyocytes, with our initial focus on activating the metabolic gene program. We use nuclease-dead Cas9 (ndCas9) fused to an activation domain VP64 and guide RNAs for activation of target genes. Proof-of-principle evidence was obtained by activating a cyclic AMP response element (CRE)-driven luciferase reporter gene and activation of endogenous CRE-regulable genes (PCK1 and PGC-1α). Next, we constructed ndCas9-gRNA adenoviral vectors to target PGC-1α and TFAM in the rat genome to determine if transcription of these genes can be increased. Functional effects of viral gene transduction in H9C2 cells and neonatal rat ventricular myocytes are assessed by determining mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA)/genomic DNA ratio, and mtDNA quantity by picogreen labeling.

 Results:
 We have successfully upregulated the luciferase gene and endogenous CRE-regulated gene PCK1 in the same reporter cell line with ndCas9-VP64, as evidenced by significant increases in mRNA and protein expression levels. We have constructed and delivered adenoviral vectors with ndCas9 that are efficiently expressed by the host cells (NRVMs and H9c2 cells) and showed increased expression of PGC1a and TFAM in H9c2 cells. Importantly, an increase in mtDNA copy number was evoked by TFAM activation. For the first time, we show that the CRISPR/ndCas9 system can be used as a powerful tool for modulating transcription of native genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis in cardiac cells, opening the door to developing novel therapeutic approaches for heart failure


This paper investigates Chinese learners' use of subjunctive markers(S-markers) in different types of clauses.The data used is a collection of 40 argumentative compositions.It is found that the use of S-markers is significantly influenced by clause types.In conditionals,more appropriate S-markers are used in the subordinate clauses than in the main clauses,which in turn use a higher rate of appropriate S-markers than single clauses.The smallest number of appropriate S-markers is found in subordinate clauses of non-conditionals.The author argues that the property of learner's use of S-markers signifies the inter-lingual state of learners' language system.


Gersdorff ef al.l) reported that 2-propynylrethrin (I) [2methyl-4-oxo-3-(2-propynyl)cyclopent-2-enyl ( ± )-cis, fraws-chrysanthemate] with a triple bond instead of a double bond in the side chain ofallethrin (III) is only 64% as toxic as III to houseflies. However, our experiments2) proved that I has over 1.5 times the killing activity of III and over twice the knockdown activity of III against both houseflies and mosquitoes. Although there are a few patents3a>c) including the syntheses of 4-hydroxy-3methyl-2-(2-propynyl)cyclopent-2-enone (II), an alcohol moiety of I, no example has been disclosed. Only one


This study explores relationships between measures of style of information processing and readiness for self-directed study and failure of identified gifted students to achieve at a level commensurate with their measured intellectual abilities. The subjects were 148 identified gifted students (grades 4-7) classified by their teachers according to achievement level (below expectations, at expectation level, above expectations). Subjects were administered Torrance and McCarthy's "Your Style of Learning and Thinking" and Guglielmino's "Readiness for Self Directed Learning." Three-way analyses of variance revealed significant main effects for the three achievement groups on the Right and Integrated Style scales but not on the Left Style scale and self directed learning readiness. Low achievers scored high on the Right Scale and low on the Integrated Scale.


Currently open spaces of an apartment housing complex are considered in Korea as a negligible live place that only contributes to enlarge its construction capacity of an apartment without taking its effects on the living quality into account. This trend reduces outdoor playing activities of the children who are the main users of open spaces and consequently has a negative influence on the child's growth. Therefore it is a imminent problem that we should provide open space utilizing plans on the basis of the study upon the types of the children's playing activities within the residential environment. The study purpose is finding about an outside activity of the child takes any influence according to an apartment disposition format.


In this book, Professor Julien Chaisse, a renowned scholar in the field of international economic law and China-expert, focuses on one of the countries which are proactively (re)shaping our understanding of the international order: the People's Republic of China (PRC or China). This edited book presents, in a comprehensive, accurate and organized manner, the gradual definition of the China's investment strategy. This book's scope includes reflections on the international investment regime, taxation, national economic reforms, mediation, competition law and anti-monopoly law, State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), corruption, and the highly-debated China's Belt and Road initiative (BRI) (object of another book edited by Professor Chaisse). Most of the leading legal scholars and professionals who contributed to the book are based in Asia and working on a daily basis on issues relating to China. This diverse group succeeded in offering different, relevant and innovative contributions. The question that the book attempts to answer is whether China is aligned with the dogmas of international investment and trade law. China's involvement in the global context is in partial contradiction with the national situation, which formed the basis for many commentators' critical views of China's accession to the WTO as a risk to the multilateral trading system in the long term. Did this accession lead to free trade or the end of market-based reform of the national economy? Environmental protection or market domination of the environmental industry? Aid for development or aid for resources?


Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) have been studied intensively for the application of desirable magnetic field sensors. However, a serious issue to realize highly sensitive MTJ sensors is reduction of magnetic noise at magnetization transition region. The main source of the magnetic noise is fluctuation of domain wall. Superparamagnetic free layer is a promising candidate to reduce the noise, because there are no domain walls in principle. It has been reported that ultra-thin CoFeB free layers suppressed the enhancement of noise due to its superparamagnetism 1) . However, there are no systematic reports on the noise property in highly sensitive MTJs with superparamagnetic free layers. In this work, we have systematically investigated the noise property of MTJs with superparamagnetic free layer. The stacking structure of MTJ films was Si/SiO2-sub/Ta(5)/Ru(10)/Ta(5)/CoFe(2)/IrMn(10)/ Co75Fe25(3)/Ru(0.9)/Co40Fe40B20(2)/MgO(1.25)/Co40Fe40B20(1.58)/Ta(5)/Ru(5) (in nm). The films were deposited by magnetron sputtering (Pbase < 3.0 x 10 -6 Pa). MTJ devices with the size of 40 x 80 μm 2 were fabricated by standard photolithography and Ar ion milling. The MTJ devices were annealed at Ta (380 and 385 o C) in high vacuum for 1 h applying magnetic field of 10 kOe. The MR properties were measured at RT by using the DC four-probe method. Fig. 1 shows TMR curves and noise voltage in the MTJs with sensitivity of 0.7 %/Oe and 7.9 %/Oe. Both TMR curves showed a superparamagnetic behavior. In the MTJ with sensitivity of 0.7 %/Oe, The noise was drastically reduced at the magnetization transition region. On the other hand, the MTJ with sensitivity of 7.9 %/Oe showed the noise enhancement at the transition region. As a result, we obtained the higher detectivity of 10 -3 Oe at 0.1 Hz in the MTJ with the low sensitivity of 0.7 %/Oe, The obtained detectivity is the highest among MTJs with superparamagnetic free layers. This work was supported by the S-Innovation program, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Gratitude Program in Spintronics (GP-Spin). 1) J. M. Almeida ,et al., J. Appl. Phys. 105, 07E722 (2009) Fig. 1 TMR curves and noise voltage in the MTJs with the sensitivity of (a) 0.7 %/Oe and (b) 7.9 %/Oe. 第63回応用物理学会春季学術講演会 講演予稿集 (2016 東京工業大学 大岡山キャンパス) 19p-P1-65


This study was aimed at analysing factors influencing acceptance and adoption of farmer education and irrigation technology for sustainable food production as a means of ensuring food security in rural settlement of Katsina State – Nigeria. It provided insight on the underlying socio-economic factors influencing farmer's decision to adopt education and irrigation technologies in the study area. A structured questionnaire was administered for selected farmers. Results obtained revealed that 94% of farmers were small holders with low level of education indicating that farming in the study area is highly dominated by traditional farming system that results in lower yields. It also indicates 87% of farmers were within the economic active age of 20 – 50 years. Farming experience, fragmented land holdings and poor extension services were directly related to the acceptance farmer education and adoption of irrigation technologies. The study concluded that training and educating small-scale small scale farmers that form the bulk of farming community in Nigeria are viable solutions to securing household food security, diversification of source of income and reducing rural poverty


The utility model relates to an anti-loosening device for a jacking beam of a climbing rack for a self-elevating tower crane. The anti-loosening device comprises a jacking beam (1), a support plate (2), tank-shaped boxes (3), straight pin shafts (4) and handles (5), wherein the tank-shaped boxes are welded below the pin shafts at the two ends of the jacking beam, and the handles are arranged in U-shaped grooves of bottom plates of the tank-shaped boxes; and through holes are arranged on the support plate, and the straight pin shafts are inserted into the through holes. When the anti-loosening device is used, the pin shafts are pushed out or retracted by the handles so as to achieve the anti-loosening purpose. The device is simple in structure, is safe and reliable, and is easy to popularize.


This paper describes the approach and algorithms used to generalize the paired ratio comparison matrix technique to use information inherent in multiple estimates, multiple reference projects, and estimator range information to generate estimated effort and size distributions.


Background and objective: Many studies have highlighted the psychological benefits of natural outdoor environments and cultural heritage sites for visitors. However, few studies have investigated the combined impact of natural outdoor settings and cultural heritage sites considering contextual factors such as gender, age, time of day, and period on visiting patterns. This study aims to identify the impact of cultural landscapes on visiting patterns, focusing on the open public spaces of Gyeongbok Palace, Seoul.Methods: A mixed-method approach was used to examine the association between cultural landscape elements and visiting patterns. Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses were employed to assess how the cultural landscape affected visiting patterns from 2019 to 2021, considering the impact of COVID-19 social distancing policies. An on-site visit observation and analysis of previous case studies were conducted to further investigate the impacts of cultural landscape elements on visitors' behavior patterns.Results: The findings indicated that the cultural landscape played a role in shaping visitors' behaviors and revealed significant variations in visitation patterns based on visitors' age and the day of the week. A strong positive correlation was observed between teenagers and weekday visits, especially in 2020 when COVID-19 restrictions were in place and students were taking online classes. Furthermore, the results showed a noticeable increase in correlation scores in 2021 compared with those in 2019, supporting the notion of heritage sites serving as healing and relaxing places for people to enjoy as they age.Conclusion: The study findings provide an empirical basis for studying cultural heritage assets and other natural outdoor environments as a type of cultural landscape to enhance visitor satisfaction and provide positive benefits to visitors. It highlights the importance of preserving and promoting cultural landscapes as integrated systems of natural and cultural resources, which can be applied to heritage policies and management strategies.


As a first-year medical student, you could count on the simplicity and elegance of the thyroid axis, because all its details had apparently been elucidated. Hypothalamic thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) promoted the synthesis, release, and glycosylation of pituitary thyrotropin, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which in turn acted on the thyroid follicle, leading to the synthesis and release of thyroid hormones (T4 and T3). Furthermore, precise control of the axis was maintained by thyroid hormone negative feedback at both the hypothalamic and pituitary levels (Figure (Figure1).1). Now, a new pituitary hormone, termed thyrostimulin, may change our established view of this axis.

Figure 1

The role of thyrostimulin in the thyroid axis and periphery. Thyrostimulin, a heterodimeric glycoprotein hormone, is synthesized in the pituitary and other peripheral tissues. It is suggested to act in a paracrine fashion at these sites. A role for thyrostimulin ...

TSH, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and chorionic gonadotropin (CG) are a family of heterodimeric pituitary and placental glycoprotein hormones that share a common α subunit (1). Their biological specificity at either the thyroid or the gonad is conferred by a unique β subunit that is noncovalently linked to the common glycoprotein α subunit. All of these hormones have been purified by classical means, and their biological activities established by in vivo assays.

Nakabayashi et al. in this issue of the JCI (2) describe a novel heterodimeric glycoprotein hormone containing two unique subunits, which they term A2 and B5. These investigators identified A2 and B5 in a homology search of the human genome (GenBank). In a nearly simultaneous paper in another journal, the same group describes orthologs of these subunits found in diverse species (3). A2 and B5 share only modest amino acid similarity with the related glycoprotein hormone subunit family members, but they contain all of the cysteine residues required to form the characteristic cysteine knot structure found in these and other growth factors, including PDGF and TGF-β.

The authors show here that A2 interacts strongly with FSH-β, CG-β, and B5 in a yeast two-hybrid assay (2). After determining that the A2/B5 pair can stimulate cAMP production via the TSH receptor, Nakabayashi and colleagues pursued the thyrotropic activity of A2/B5 in greater detail.


The plant SABATH gene family is a group of O-methyltransferases (O-MTs), which belongs to the S-adenosyl-l-methionine-dependent methyltransferases (SAM-MTs). The resulting reaction products of SABATH genes play an important role in various processes of plant development. In this study, a total of 30 SABATH genes were detected in Salvia miltiorrhiza, which is an important medicinal plant, widely used to treat cardiovascular disease. Multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analyses showed that SmSABATH genes could be classified into three groups. The ratios of non-synonymous (Ka) and synonymous (Ks) substitution rates of 11 pairs paralogous of SmSABATH genes revealed that the SmSABATH genes had gone through purifying selection. Positive selection analyses using site models and branch-site models indicated that SmSABATH genes had undergone selective pressure for adaptive evolution. Functional divergence analyses suggested that the SmSABATH subgroup genes were divergent in terms of functions and positive selection sites that contributed to a functional divergence among the subgroups that were detected. Tissue-specific expression showed that the SABATH gene family in S. miltiorrhiza was primarily expressed in stems and leaves.


This paper explores "drug price over expensive" and its marketing solving approaches. It is a reasonable approach that is canceling government control price policy instead of a market decide drug price. It is needed to control "double monopoly" with their marketing behavior: broking the marketing monopoly by the public hospitals in order to establish an adequate competition surrounding.


Traditional terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THZ-TDS) can provide a broadband spectral response of the measured object and has been widely used. Notwithstanding, for applications that require real-time quantitative detection such as security inspection, more attention should be paid to the terahertz response around the absorption characteristics of the sample. Terahertz frequency domain spectroscopy (THz-FDS) using frequency modulation continuous wave can better meet the real-time requirements of security applications. In this paper, an analytical method is established to achieve accurate prediction of molar concentration for organics. The absorption coefficient spectra of samples with different molar concentrations are obtained by using traditional THz-TDS in a wide frequency range, and then the THz-FDS based on photomixing technology is applied to locking a narrow band range near the absorption peak for rapid quantitative analysis. The scheme was verified by taking α-lactose monohydrate as an example, and the results showed that the mean square error of concentration prediction was only 0.025 under the interference of water vapor environment. It may shed light on terahertz rapid quantitative detection of organic compounds in realistic security scene.