Sodium hybrid supercapacitors (Na‐HSCs) are regarded as one promising electrochemical energy storage device, because of the low price of sodium, prolonged life cycle, and high‐energy/power density. Nonetheless, the imparity between the fast capacitive reactions at cathode and the sluggish Faradaic reactions at the anode leads to an imbalance in the electrochemical reaction kinetics, limiting the development of Na‐HSCs. Therefore, it is urgent to develop suitable anode materials for performance‐enhanced Na‐HSCs. Herein, sandwich‐shell‐structured CoMn2O4/C hollow spheres are synthesized by a facile hydrothermal reaction and subsequent calcination, where mesoporous carbon hollow spheres (CHSs) serve as nonsacrificial hard templates. CHSs with numerous mesoporous channels are beneficial for the penetration of reactant ions. Therefore, CoMn2O4 nanosheets are successfully deposited on the inner and outer surfaces of CHSs, generating sandwich‐shell‐structured CoMn2O4/C hollow spheres. Benefiting from the unique design, CoMn2O4/C HSs exhibit excellent sodium storage performance, including a high‐specific capacity of 290 mAh g–1 at 0.1 A g–1 and prolonged cycling durability. A Na‐HSC assembled by CoMn2O4/C HSs anode and activated carbon cathode exhibits a high‐energy density (265 Wh kg–1) and a wide‐operating voltage range (0.01–4.0 V).


Multiple ring-enhancing lesions are one of the most commonly encountered neuroimaging abnormalities. Widely available imaging Techniques, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are used to detect these lesions. A wide range of etiologies may present as cerebral multiple ring-enhancing lesions [1,2]. On neuroimaging, these lesions appear as A study to nd the characteristic imaging ndings of various ringenhancing lesions using MR imaging Ramachandra V1, Neil Mekala I.2*, Chandra Mataparthy A.3, Chandra T.4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17511/ijmrr.2020.i02.04 1 Ramachandra V, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiodiagnosis, GSL Medical College, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India. 2* Indra Neil Mekala, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiodiagnosis, GSL Medical College, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India. 3 Anish Chandra Mataparthy, Resident, Department of Radiodiagnosis, GSL Medical College, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India. 4 T Jaya Chandra, Scientist Incharge, Central Research laboratory, GSL Medical College, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India.


Epidermoid cysts are cystic swellings occurring in patients between 2nd to 4th decades but can manifest in any age group. These are usually asymptomatic but they can cause dysphagia, dysphonia and dyspnea once increases in size.1 There are various studiesreportingpain, speech disorder, or respiratory distress due to epidermoid cyst in the oral cavity, lower lip, or upper lip.2 Giant epidermoid cysts are rare and they usually present in the scalp.


Objective To study the effect of adenovirus type 3I, 7b on the expressions of mRNA and protein of transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) in human embryonic lung fibroblast cells. Method The expression of mRNA and protein of TGF-β1 were determined in human embryonic lung fibroblast cells before and after being infected by adenovirus type 3I, 7b and in normal fibroblast cells with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and in situ hybridization. Results The mRNA and protein of TGF-β1 expression in human embryonic lung fibroblast cells increased significantly after being infected by adenovirous type 3I, 7b compared with those in normal fibroblast cells (P(subscript a)<0.01). There was no significant difference between adenovirous 3I and 7b group (P(subscript a)>0.05). Conclusion Lung fibroblast cells and TGF-β1 may play some roles in pathophysiological processes of viral pneumonia.


This work proposes a reactive supervisory control for a team of heterogeneous robots capable of autonomous navigation and cooperation in unstructured and hostile environment. The supervisor is built using classical theories of discrete event systems (DES), but it differs for its reactive capabilities. This allows to have an online evaluation and optimization for dynamic events and environments. The supervisor (high level control) interacts directly with low level control, taking into account dynamic and kinematic of the agents. The specific robotic platform includes both aerial (UAV) and ground robots but the results and applications are absolutely general.


ABSTRACT As health-related mobile apps have proliferated in recent years in USA and Australia, counsellor opinions were solicited to aid development of therapeutic apps. After being informed of the therapeutic potential of time and location-based reminders, 33 drug and alcohol counsellors from New Zealand and Australia answered an anonymous online survey. Counsellors were willing to use timed and location based reminders to assist clients with their sobriety, but were concerned about running costs. Less experienced counsellors may be less willing to use mobile technology therapeutically. Counsellors could be willing to use location services on mobile phones therapeutically, but training may be required to address concerns about privacy and the ability to engage with clients about their spatial and temporal vulnerabilities.


For thousands of years, the Chinese and many other nations around the world built defensive walls around their cities. This phenomenon is not well understood from an economic perspective. To rationalize the existence of city walls, we propose a simple model that relates the dimensions of city walls to a set of economic variables. We report an empirical analysis using hand-collected and previously unutilized data on city walls in the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (16441911) Dynasties. We find that the circumference of a city wall is positively correlated with population size in the jurisdiction and that frontier cities subject to a higher probability of attack tended to have stronger city walls. We examine the physical size distribution of walled cities in late imperial China. We find that city sizes above a certain cutoff follow Zipf's law, although the Zipf coefficient is sensitive to the choice of the cutoff point. This result complements findings in the existing literature that focuses almost exclusively on the population size distribution of cities.


Applying the Radu-Miheţ method derived from an alternative FPT, we stabilize the tri-additive Υ-random operator inequality by providing a class of stochastic matrix control functions in matrix MB-algebras. In addition, we get an estimation for permuting tri-homomorphisms and permuting tri-derivations in unital matrix MC-⋄-algebras and matrix MB-algebras.


The genetic diversity and relationships of the 10 different Medicago L. germplasms were analyzed using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers in order to provide essential information for further exploitation and hybridization. RAPD analysis demonstrated that 33 random primers produced 353 loci among which 263 were polymorphic loci, the percentage of polymorphic loci was 74.5%, and each primer produced 5~17 belts. Genetic similarity changed from 0.488 to 0.686, averaged 0.592. According to clustering analysis, we classified the 10 materials into three groups: CaoYuan Ⅰ, CaoYuan Ⅲ, Alfaking, and Daviluya were the first group, L.Yakuskayayellow, HuMeng, MengGu and XiMeng the second group, and Culuskaya the third group.


According to analysis data of N、P、K、Ca、Mg nutrition elements content of 14 high yield plant leaves of Camellia oleifera.Using the mathematical statistical method,preliminary standards of nutrition diagnosis index of high yield plants of C.oleifera were summed up,as well as the basic formula of special compound fertilizer of C.oleifera.It has important theoretical and practical significance for correctly guiding the fertilization and special fertilizer production of high yield C.oleifera.


Tables Figures Maps Abbreviations Notes on dates, contemporaneous spellings, currency and weights Preface Acknowledgements 1. The international economy and the East India trade 2. A formal theoretical model of the East India Company's trade 3. The structure of early trade and the pattern of commercial settlements in Asia 4. The evolution of the Company's trading system: operation and policy 1660-1760 5. Long-term trends and fluctuations 1660-1760 6. Politics of trade 7. Markets, merchants and the Company 8. The export of treasure and the monetary system 9. The structure of country trade in Asia 10. Export of European commodities 11. The Company and the Indian textile industry 12. The Company's trade in textiles 13. Pepper 14. Import of bulk goods 15. Raw silk 16. Coffee 17. Imports from China 18. Financial results 19. Conclusion Appendix 1. Notes on the statistical tables of the East India Company's trade Appendix 2. Time-series analysis of the East India Company's exports and imports Appendix 3. The econometric estimation of the trading model 4. The grouped list and the glossary of Indian textile types 5. The statistical tables of the Company's trade General glossary Bibliography Short titles cited in the reference notes Notes Index.


The molecular weight of ribonucleic acid separated from tobacco mosaic virus by heat denaturation of the protein has been measured by light‐scattering techniques and found to correspond to the weight of all the nucleic acid in a virus rod. The nucleic acid disintegrated rapidly at room temperature, most probably by enzymatic action.


In this paper, the q-analogue modified Laguerre matrix polynomials of three variables are introduced as finite series and Some properties of these matrix polynomials are obtained.


Objective To study and discuss the effect of clonidine on glutamate(Glu) concentration in rabbit vitreous body during acute retinal ischemic insult.Methods In all animals,acute retinal ischemia models were induced in the right eyes by increasing intraocular pressure to 120 mmHg(1 kPa=7.5 mmHg)for 45 minutes;the left eyes were sham-operated as the control group.The treatment group were injected intraperitoneally clonidine hydrochloride(0.5 mg·kg~ -1 )before ischemia.The vitreous was collected separatly on the 1st day and the 3rd day after ischemia and stored in a frozen condition (-80 ℃). Glu levels were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography.Results In the control group,the Glu concentration in right eye vitreous was (47.27±24.98)μWTB8mol·L~ -1 and (45.58±7.10) μWTB8mol·L~ -1 respectively,on the 1st day and the 3rd day after ischemia,significantly higher compared with the left eye(P0.05).While the vitreal Glu level wasn't increased significantly in clonidine-treatment group on the 3rd day after ischemia,and the concentration was (19.11±4.03) μWTB8mol·L~ -1 without statistical difference.Conclusion Acute retinal ischemic damage can result in vetreal Glu concentration increasing;while clonidine hydrochloride can prevent the over release of Glu.


This paper investigates the performance of a recently proposed on-line transformer winding short circuit fault detection approach through detailed nonlinear three-dimensional finite element modelling of windings, magnetic core and transformer tank. The technique considers correlation of instantaneous input and output voltage difference Δ V=(v1(t)-v2(t)) and instantaneous input current I=i(t) at the power frequency as a fingerprint of the transformer. The on-line measured ΔV-I locus of healthy and faulty transformer are compared to detect the internal fault. A detailed three-dimensional finite element transformer models based on the physical dimensions, parameters and magnetic core characteristics are developed and used to emulate internal winding short circuit faults and calculate the corresponding transformer ΔV-I locus. Detailed simulations and some laboratory measurements are performed and analysed to investigate the impact of winding short circuit faults on the on-line transformer ΔV-I locus.


In this thesis we present the design, implementation and deployment of a building recognition system. First, we have developed a pipeline to find and retrieve relevant images containing landmarks and buildings from the Internet. Moreover, we propose an unsupervised approach to clean the noise present in the classes associated with each landmark/building. This method for mining and denoising images has been presented in the WebVision Workshop at CVPR'18. Then, we introduce the full system for the building recognition module, which has been developed using different computer vision and deep learning techniques. Finally, we propose a set of experiments that show the difficulties of working with a noisy dataset, we analyze the performance of the networks based blocks and finally we show the global results of the building recognition system.


Traditional platens of injection molding machine always have crack. In order to solve this problem, it used FEM to find out the stress and displacement distribution of the platen with ANSYS system, and optimized topologically the structure of platen. The result showed that the structure has higher strength and stiffness than original scheme.


to teach and to learn the experimen tal method is difficult. It may be more difficult than the theoretical, that is well formalized, complete etc. In con sequence, care must be taken that the experimental method is not under weighted in physics education. We think we have payed attention to this in our programme. Leading the stu dent step by step from the very be ginning, with simple experiments in the first year to real research in the last year, we believe efficiently over comes the difficulties. We think, labo ratory work is necessary in every phase of education. That is why we have a sequence of laboratory cour ses, growing with time in level and aims. It is very important also, that our students know how physics acts in modern industry, how a new techno logy arises as a teamwork of scien tists and engineers from several diffe rent fields. It is necessary to prepare the student for this teamwork. In some lectures, summed up above as ap plied physics, we try to give the stu dent some idea of physics in modern industry. We have here about 96 hours measuring techniques (3rd. until 5th. semester), 64 hours electronics (3rd. semester), 32 hours solid state elec tronics (8th. semester) and 32 hours technology for physicists (8th. semes ter) with the double aim, to give the students new knowledge for their practical experimental work, but also to show them how physics is used in various fields of technology. Espe cially in the lectures on technology for physicists, it is shown, using one suitable example (e.g. integrated cir cuits), how physics is used in the de velopment of a new product, in the different production steps, in produc tion control, and in the application of the product. It is shown how phy sics, chemistry, mathematics, material science, and several fields of engi neering have to act together, to arrive at a stable and efficient production of a modern product, and it is also shown that physics and economics in the production process are not indepen dent of one another. Very important in this connection is also the "Industrie-praktikum" at the end of the third year. The student is working for three months in an indus trial plant in the place of a physicist. He has to solve a (smaller) problem, as it would be solved by a physicist in the industry. He has to cooperate with other scientists, engineers and tech nicians, as is typical of teamwork in industry. We think that this work is very important for establishing the right understanding of the part phy sics plays in industry and for deve loping an additional motivation for the last two years, especially for the di ploma work.


The optimal relationship between healthcare provider and patient is one of trust. This therapeutic relationship is dependent on the ability of the healthcare provider to communicate effectively with the patient. Research indicates that when healthcare providers listen to patients, there is more compliance with medical regimens, patient satisfaction is increased, and physicians are less vulnerable to malpractice lawsuits. Within the last few decades, the relationship between physician and patient has been reconceptualized from a paternalistic relationship to a partnership between provider and patient. This change is demanding a shift in how healthcare providers communicate and, in particular, listen to patients. To address this need, medical organizations such as the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has emphasized improved training and competence in communication skills of physicians. Effective communication and listening also is critical to the ethical treatment of patients and their families. This paper will discuss the critical component of listening within the healthcare context.


One of the most important challenges in extreme ultraviolet lithography is the need to provide mask blanks free of defects. In order to provide experimental results on the printability of buried defects, a dedicated extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blank was manufactured using ion beam sputtering (IBS) with a nonsmoothing process. Using this kind of process, the effect of the buried defect is apparent throughout the entire multilayer stack. The disturbance generated in the multilayer, measured using an atomic force microscope (AFM), shows lateral growth and a slight vertical smoothing effect. Here we report the printability results obtained with this kind of defect. One result concerns the influence of the defect density on the printability. We show that the major effect can be attributed to local flare, which depends on the pattern density. In order to better understand the printability mechanism of this kind of buried defect, we also compared the experimental results with electromagnetic simulation.


Based on analysis of the manufacturing characteristics and status of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),this article introduced the near-infrared spectroscopy(NIRS) briefly and summarized the application of NIRS in process quality control of TCM.Finally,we prospected the future in this field.


The midpalatal suture has been long recognized as a site of growth that plays a role in widening of the palate, yet the exact nature of this growth is not clear because information about its histological structure and development is lacking.' Moreover, the interrelations between the rate of widening of the palate and the eruption of the molar teeth are uncertain. For the systematic study of the palatal complex from birth to maturity needed, the rat offers a unique opportunity. Specimens of any age are easily available, and the size of the animal is such that the entire palate and molar teeth can be sectioned, stained, and studied intact.


Character of research work is mentioned by introducing the author's research history and two of the main research topics briefly. Two aspects of the character, range of application fields, wine opener vs. water supply, and impact with different time scale, hit vs. long tail, are stated.


Economic transition is an important aspect of regional economic development, and also an important content of regional economics and economic geography study. There are great theoretical value and practical significance to study the degree of economic transition.Region economic transition index involves five aspects which are economic transition speed,economic transition breadth, economic transition depth, economic transition direction and economic transition easiness. According to these five aspects, the paper built an economic transition evaluation index system, proposed an evaluation method of regional economic transition, and took western Hunan area as an example to carry out the empirical research. The results showed that: 1) The economic transition of the western Hunan area was rapidly.Compared to 2000, it has now entered a high transition phase. But the transition index is still low, only slightly higher than the minimum value of the high level of 0.517, and the gap between the western Hunan area and the developed areas inside and outside Hunan is still evident and needs to be narrowed. 2) In terms of each subsystem, the transition speed in western Hunan area had a rapid increase in 2001-2011; the transition breadth had a downward trend; the transition depth had jumped up; the transition dimension was continuously adjusting and optimizing; and the transition easiness degree has been improved. 3) Economic transition direction system is the main factor of economic transition in western Hunan area, followed by transition depth system and transition easiness system, while the effect of transition breadth system and transition speed system also cannot be ignored.


In Japan, the number of people who require care is increasing with the rapidly growing elderly population. The number of these people was estimated to be 3,920,000 in 2005 and is expected to increase to 5,690,000 in 2015 and to 6,440,000 in 2020(1). Accordingly, the need for highfunctionality care-related apparatus is increasing, and research and development of such apparatus has been intensively carried out(2)-(6). In 2007, Tokai Rubber Industries, Ltd. started joint research and development with RIKEN into nursing-care assistant robots, and in 2009 released a robot RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance), the first-ever two-armed robot that can help transfer a person between a bed and a wheelchair. In 2011, RIBAII, an improved version of RIBA with enhanced practicality and operational safety, was released. In addition, Tokai Rubber Industries developed an active mattress with the aim of preventing pressure ulcers (bed sores) jointly with Kyushu University, and presented the prototype at the Home Care & Rehabilitation Exhibition in October 2011. Currently, Tokai Rubber Industries is conducting field tests on the active mattress and further developing its products. Large-area flexible tactile sensors with high reliability are required for the interfaces with humans for the abovementioned robots and apparatus. To meet this requirement, various tactile sensors have been proposed, studied, and developed. Such sensors include tactile sensors that employ discrete semiconductors(7), contact resistance(8), (9), conductive rubber(10), (11), piezoelectric polymers(12), and capacitance(13), (14). Our research group has carried out research and development on tactile sensors by integrating semiconductor sensors and mounting them on the soft exterior of the robot RIBA. This enabled the operation of the robot based on the human sense of touch and the detection of contact(15), (16). However, it is practically difficult to cover the entire body of the robot with such tactile sensors because semiconductor sensors, which exhibit high measurement accuracy, are expensive. Sensor sheets that employ contact resistance and piezoelectric polymers have bending flexibility but low compatibility with humans; it is necessary for humans to feel that the sensor sheets are pleasant to touch, a property exhibited by cloth and rubber. Also, fashioning such sensor sheets into complicated shapes is difficult. To solve the problems of the above-mentioned existing traditional sensor sheets, our research group has developed a capacitive soft sensor sheet made of rubber over the last few years. In this paper, we describe the principles, manufacturing method, and characteristics of the sensor sheet as well as its application to the care assistant robot RIBA-II and a mattress for preventing pressure ulcers.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
Compare treatment efficacy and objective adherence between the NightBalance sleep position treatment (SPT) device and auto-adjusting positive airway pressure (APAP) in patients with exclusive positional obstructive sleep apnea (ePOSA) defined as a supine apnea-hypopnea index (sAHI) ≥ 2 times the nonsupine AHI (nsAHI) and a nsAHI < 10 events/h.

METHODS
This prospective multicenter randomized crossover trial enrolled treatment naive participants with ePOSA (AHI ≥ 15 events/h and nsAHI < 10 events/h) or (AHI > 10 and < 15 events/h with daytime sleepiness and nsAH < 5 events/h). Polysomnography and objective adherence determination (device data) were performed at the end of each 6-week treatment. Patient device preference was determined at the end of the study.

RESULTS
A total of 117 participants were randomized (58 SPT first, 59 APAP first). Of these, 112 started treatment with the second device (adherence cohort) and 110 completed the study (AHI cohort). The AHI on SPT was higher (mean ± standard deviation, 7.29 ± 6.8 versus 3.71 ± 5.1 events/h, P < .001). The mean AHI difference (SPT-APAP) was 3.58 events/h with a one sided 95% confidence interval upper bound of 4.96 events/h (< the prestudy noninferiority margin of 5 events/h). The average nightly adherence (all nights) was greater on SPT (345.3 ± 111.22 versus 286.98 ± 128.9 minutes, P < .0001). Participants found the SPT to be more comfortable and easier to use and 53% reported a preference for SPT assuming both devices were equally effective.

CONCLUSIONS
Treatment with SPT resulted in non-inferior treatment efficacy and greater adherence compared to APAP in ePOSA suggesting that SPT is an effective treatment for this group.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
Registry: ClinicalTrials.gov; Title: The POSAtive Study: Study for the Treatment of Positional Obstructive Sleep Apnea; Identifier: NCT03061071; URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03061071.


Considering the target of an operating effectively transportation system, we propose here a novel methodology for integrated lane-changing and ramp metering control that exploits the presence of connected and partly automated vehicles. In particular, we assume that a percentage of vehicles can receive and implement specific control tasks (e.g., lane-changing commands). A novel approach is designed to robustly maximise the throughput at motorway bottlenecks employing a Linear Quadratic Integral (LQI) regulator in combination with an anti-windup scheme, based on a simple Linear Time Invariant (LTI) model. The method is evaluated via simulation experiments, performed on a first-order, multi-lane, macroscopic traffic flow model, also featuring the capacity drop phenomenon, which allows to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed methodology and to highlight the improvement in terms of traffic efficiency.


Content-addressable memory (CAM) has been a critical component in pattern matching and also machine-learning applications. Recently emerged CAM that is capable of delivering multi-level distance calculation is promising for applications that need matching results beyond Boolean results of ?matched" and ?not matched". However, existing multi-level CAM designs are constrained by the bit-cell device discharging current mismatch and the strict timing of sensing operations for distance calculation. This fact results in the challenge of further improving the accuracy and scalability towards higher-resolution and higher-dimension matching. This work presents a multi-level CAM design that is capable of delivering high-accuracy and high-scalability search, which is immune to the discharging device mismatch and needs no strict timing for result sensing. The inherent enabler is the charge-domain computing mechanism. This work will present the operating mechanisms, the circuit simulation, and content-matching evaluation results, showing the promise towards high reliability, high energy efficiency, and high scalability.


Catchment division constitutes the foundation for urban water flood forecasting but represents a technically challenging task. The accurate division of catchments is significant for precisely forecasting urban waterlogging. However, existing catchment division methods usually lead to produce results that do not accurately reflect the actual land-use distributions. In recent years, most research has been performed in smaller study areas (less than 10 km2), in residential areas, parks and campuses, and usually focused on a single landscape type. However, for large highly urbanized areas with complex land uses, due to the spatial heterogeneity and complexity of such areas in terms of building, traffic network and hydrology, etc., there is few studies on sub-catchment division. Moreover, the division results by using existing method usually have deviate with the actual land-type distributions. To address the above-mentioned issues, a sub-catchment division method was here proposed that accounts for land-use types and flow directions, and it is suitable for large urban areas by introducing an auto-adaptive threshold adjustment in a novel algorithm. First, the study area is divided into first- and second-level (FL and SL, respectively) catchments according to the macroscale features such as natural landforms, canals, and pipe network. Second, an amended DEM (Digital Elevation Model) and flow direction data are used to divide the SL catchments into third-level direction-based (D-B) catchments. Finally, a novel land use-based algorithm is proposed to divide the D-B catchments into the "smallest" catchments (S-catchments). A large-scale area (44 km2) in Dongying City of China was employed to validate the proposed method. The experiment showed that the proposed method is suitable for subcatchment divisions in large regions and can ensure that the subcatchments are consistent with the actual distribution of land uses and runoff directions.


The paper studies the size of the clutch and morphometric features of eggs, the growth and development of chicks of the great tit. Their dependence on many factors regulating the number of individuals and influencing the formation of the population as a whole is shown. The impact of exogenous factors on birds is perceived differently, due to their heterogeneity, which subsequently manifested itself in the ratio of large and small clutches, and a decrease in their number.


In the article the question of how Ukrainian linguist Zen using folklore to explore dialects of
Transcarpathia
Keywords: dialectology, folklore, dictionaries, linguistic atlas.


In the present study, nutritive soil modifier (hereinafter abbreviated as NSM) was applied to three kinds of acid soils with different characters. An indoor soil incubation experiment was conducted and a greenhouse soil pot experiment was conducted with corn plants(Zea mays L.). The major results showed,when the native potassium content in the soil was high , NSM could improve potassium adsorbed and prevent potassium from losing; when the native K content in the soil was lower, NSM could activate potassium and increase potassium availability in the soil; NSM could improve the nutrient environment of soil hence to increase the uptake efficiency for potassium, leading to a better growth of the maize plants.


ABSTRACT Measuring the frequency at which brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) interact with chew cards is a cost efficient way to identify the presence of possums, particularly when at low densities following population reductions. The effectiveness of a new combined olfactory and visual lure, Lure-itTM Spray and Blaze (LISB, Connovation Ltd), was evaluated against the standard flour/icing sugar lure (FIS). A total of 154 alternately lured chew cards were set in a 50 m × 50 m grid over 48 ha of regenerating forest. Possums were detected by 41.0%, 62.1% and 70.5% of chew cards baited with FIS, aniseed laced LISB and cinnamon laced LISB cards, respectively. LISB lures scented with cinnamon or aniseed were significantly more likely to detect possums than FIS lures (odds ratios 3.42 and 2.36, respectively). There was no such difference between cinnamon or aniseed scented lures. Lure-it Spray and Blaze has the potential to increase possum detection rates during surveillance operations.


F OR most of its history, the United States has supported it:; peacetime defen!->e establishment on a volunteer basis. However, within most of the lifetime of most living Americans, pe:i�etime military conscription has been the accepte,! practice. ' The United States returned to its traditional peaeetime praetiee when, on 27 ,January 107:l, Secretary of De fense Melvin R. Laird announced that the armed forces henceforth wou Id depend exelusively ou rnlunteer sol diers, sailors, airmen and marines. This termination of more than three decades of military conscript.ion came after nearly a decade of study by the Department of Defense I DOD I and other interested parties. The decision lo move to an all-vol u nteer force ( A VF J was made prior to 27 March 1969 when President Nixon appointed an advisory eommis sion on an all-volunteer armed force under the chairmanship of The Hou amble Thomas S. Gates Jr., former secretary of defense. The President's statement announcing the formation of the commission charged it with de veloping " ... a comprehensive plan for eliminating conscription and mov ing to,Vard an all-volunteer armed force." 1


bacteria, whichinhabit hotspring microbial mats.Theprobes were usedtoinvestigate thenatural distribution ofSSU rRNAsfromthesespecies inmatsofYellowstone hotsprings ofdifferent temperatures andpHsas well as changes inSSUrRNAdistribution resulting from1-week insitu shifts intemperature, pH,andlight intensity. Synechococcus lividus Y-7c-s SSUrRNAwas detected onlyinthematofa slightly acidspring, fromwhichitmay havebeeninitially isolated, or whensamples froma more alkaline spring were incubated inthemore acid spring. Chloroflexus aurantiacus Y-400-fl SSUrRNAwas detected onlyina high-temperature matsamplefrom thealkaline OctopusSpring or whenlower-temperature samplesfromthismat were incubated atthe high-temperature site. SSU rRNAsofuncultivated species were more widely distributed. Temperature distributions andresponsestoinsitu temperature shifts suggested that some oftheuncultivated cyanobacteria mightbeadapted tohigh-, moderate-, andlow-temperature ranges whereas an uncultivated ChloroJlexus-like bacterium appearstohavebroadtemperature tolerance. SSUrRNAsofalluncultivated species inhabiting a 48to51°COctopus Spring matsite were mostabundant intheupper 1mm andwere notdetected below a 2.5to3.5-mmdepth, a finding consistent withtheir possible phototrophic nature. However, theeffects oflight intensity reduction on these SSUrRNAswere variable, indicating thedifficulty ofdemonstrating a phototrophicphenotype inlight reduction experiments. Theuse ofsmallsubunit (SSU)rRNA as a markerfor


With the development of deep water wells and geothermal wells, it is still a challenge to accurately predict heat transfer in wellbore modeling. Bottom Hole Circulating Temperature (BHCT) is a significant parameter for cement design, which may cause cement displacement problem or failure due to inappropriate temperature evaluation and prediction. Even though computer simulators and correlations had been developed to match with field measurement data, it is still unconvincing or too sophisticated for field utilization. In this study, a simplified simulator was presented to dynamically calculate wellbore temperatures. For verification, a state-of-theart large scale Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) wellbore model had been developed and numerical simulations had been conducted to investigate heat transfer during cementing process. Multiple phases were involved including mud, spacer, cement and displacement fluid, whose rheological models were all treated as Yield Power Law (YPL) with different physical and thermal properties. The simulation results included the BHCT evolution with time and wellbore temperatures at end of cementing job. The proposed simulator was verified by providing comparison of simulation results from the developed simulator and CFD solver. Because of the large scale of this CFD model, it was able to realize the near wellbore formation cool-down effect at the end of the cementing job. An offshore field case with multiple geothermal gradients was used to validate the proposed simulator. At the end, with the proposed simulator, sensitivity analysis of BHCT with the influences of pump rate and number of injected bottom-ups for pre-job operation was also presented to improve the understanding of heat transfer in wellbore and near wellbore region, also to identify practical guidelines and solutions to optimize cementing design. This study presented here not only serves to verify and validate the proposed simulator used for engineering purpose, but also illustrated what the capabilities of the new CFD model are, and what could be achieved in the very near-future in better simulating and thereby planning for complex cementing scenarios such as offshore wells and geothermal wells. Introduction It has long been known that temperature during circulation and after cement placement is one of the most important parameters for the design of a slurry and the success of cement jobs. BHCT is influenced by the following parameters: circulation time, circulating rate, fluid inlet temperature, geothermal temperature (including the sea), wellbore geometry including (pipe, hole dimensions, well deviation, presence of riser), sea depth and currents, fluid densities and thermal properties. The normally used American Petroleum Institute (API) correlations had been realized that it did not consider important parameters affecting the temperature evolution, especially in offshore well operations (Wedelich et al., 1987, Guillot et al, 1993). The reason is that API correlation used the True Vertical Depth (TVD) and a single temperature gradient (computed from the Bottomhole Static Temperature (BHST)) to make the estimations. However, it didn't include factors such as circulation rate and time, temperature of the injected fluid and sea temperature and currents. Computer thermal simulators had been developed to fill this gap. However, the validation of simulator models is difficult or unconvincing, as there always exists a set of input parameters that can match observed temperature on a particular well but not all other wells. Goodman et al. (1988) developed improved circulating temperature correlations for various cementing scenarios. The correlations were developed from wellbore thermal simulators' results and compared to field measurements. Guillot et al. (1993) proposed a numerical simulator for calculating cementing temperature, which had been created and used in a cementing software. This model selected API database wells to allow a proper validation. A minimal data set consists of the description of well geometry, flow rate, inlet temperature, type of fluid pumped, BHST, fluid density, fluid rheology and time at which the measurements were performed. However, there was no information concerning formation type, well deviation or the presence of multi-geothermal gradients was available. So, in their study, formation type was assumed to be sand for all cases, and wells were assumed vertical, and a linear geothermal gradient. The outcome included wellbore fluid temperature, and surrounding formation temperature as function of depth and time. As result, sensitivity of formation type to temperature prediction was small. In Calvert and Griffin's (1998) study, two simulators were used to compare circulating temperature with API prediction. The results of simulation with drill pipe in hole showed the inaccuracy of using API schedules in deep water. The simulators were also used to calculate circulating temperature when circulating with casing in the hole. AADE-19-NTCE-004 CFD Analysis and Model Comparisons of Circulating Temperature During Cementing Job Yanfang Wang, Louisiana State University; Hu Dai, Pegasus Vertex, Inc. 2 Wang, Y. and Dai, H. AADE-19-NTCE-004 Nowadays, the application of CFD tool for simulation had been widely used from mechanical, chemical to petroleum industries. CFD modeling technique has been used in recent years to unravel the dynamic behavior of fluid movements with reference to cementing (Chen et al., 2014; Xie et al., 2015; Karbasforoushan et al., 2016; Durmaz et al., 2016; Enayatpour and Eric van Oort, 2017). Heat transfer problem in wellbore modeling also involves fluid flow dynamics behavior and plays a significant role in the planning of cementing design. However, there is very limited literature associated with prediction of wellbore temperature for cementing operations using CFD simulation tools. Tarom and Hossain's (2012) study proposed a practical method through development of a simplified semianalytical model to apply for predicting temperature profile along the wellbore. For verification of their proposed model, their study carried out numerical simulations through ANSYS Fluent to simulate heat transfer in wellbore with multiple layers. The simulated case was a transient case of 2-D wellbore which surrounded by different layers of tubing, casing, cement sheaths and formation. This study threw light on the capabilities of CFD package, e.g. Fluent, to simulate wellbore fluid flow and heat transfer between wellbore fluid and its surroundings. In this study, a simplified dynamic temperature modeling technique was proposed and has now been embedded in cementing software, CEMPRO, for oilfield applications. For validation, a 2-D wellbore model with the whole wellbore cross section was developed and simulated using ANSYS Fluent flow modeling software. Some simulation results including BHCT with time, and wellbore temperatures (temperature inside casing, annulus temperature between casing and formation) at the end of cementing job. Sensitivity analysis was also carried out by the proposed model to reveal the evolution of BHCT with time, provide guidelines for circulation operations or cementing design purposes. Wellbore Thermal Simulator Description The proposed simulator was fulfilled by solving a series of energy equations including inside casing, on casing wall, on inner string wall, in stationary annulus, interface of wellbore and formation and formation itself. In stationary fluid, walls, cased hole sections and formations, conductive heat transfer in radial direction was occurred. And convective heat transfer was occurred in inner string/pipe, annulus and outside pipe or riser above mudline. Gauss-Seidel iterative method was used to solve these equations. The energy equation inside annulus in forward operation with two different fluids was expressed as Eqn (1): [(ρ1V1C1+ρ2V2C2)Ta,j] N+1 −[(ρ1V1C1+ρ2V2C2)Ta,j] N ∆t = 2πrID(UIDh1 + UIDh2)(Ta−1,j N+1 − Ta,j ) − 2πrOD(UODh1 + UODh2)(Ta,j N+1 − Ta+1,j−1 N+1 ) + ρ2q2C2Ta,j+1 N+1 − ρ1q1C1Ta,j N+1 (1) For the energy equation inside drill pipe in forward operation, Eqn (2) gave: [(ρ1V1C1+ρ2V2C2)Ta,j] N+1 −[(ρ1V1C1+ρ2V2C2)Ta,j] N


This paper presents an adaptive collaborative speed controller for a permanent magnet direct-current (PMDC) motor. The proposed scheme beneficially combines the control efforts of a proportional-integral (PI) controller and a linear-quadratic regulator (LQR) via a weighted summing module. Initially, the weightages of the summing module are kept fixed. They are optimally tuned and tested via the particle swarm optimization algorithm. In order to synergize the controller combination, these weightages are adaptively modulated as well, using hyperbolic secant functions of the error dynamics of the motor's angular speed. The adaptive combination renders significant enhancement in the transient response, steady-state response, input-energy consumption, disturbance rejection, and variable load-torque handling capability of the motor. The adaptive-weighted controller is tested against the PI controller, the LQR, and a fixed-weighted collaborative controller via 'hardware-in-the-loop' experiments. The experimental results are presented to validate the robustness of the adaptive controller.


Endemic "non‐venereal" syphilis has various colloquial names in the regions between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, in Rhodesia, Betchuana, and elsewhere. Not infrequently the same colloquial names are indiscriminately applied to other dermatoses. Race, climate, nutrition and unknown factors are blamed for clinico‐morphological as well as epidemiological phenomena, but many more experimental investigations are necessary for elucidation.


Previous studies on Ghana's school feeding programme have largely taken a quantitative approach in assessing and analyzing its impact on increases in enrolment, attendance, retention, short-term health and nutritional benefits. This study employed qualitative instruments, using a semi-structured interview guide and observation checklists on five pupils in one school Yikpee D/A Primary School in order to fill the gap in the quantitative studies as well as look at the views of older students on the School Feeding Programme. The results showed that older pupils often came from poor and illiterate families,-whose parents were peasant farmers and that for those children, their decisions to enroll in school were informed by a desire for gainful employment, escape from farming and the ability to read and write in the future. It was also revealed that it was not the food per se that attracted these children to school; but the fact that the school was viewed to be a welcoming place for learning and opportunity for them to achieve their future goals. Although the pupils were in favour of the feeding programme, they wished it stopped because it distracted their attention in class. The study has thus put forward some policy recommendations on the school feeding programmes which include the need to seek the views of target beneficiaries on whether, where and when to implement the programme as a policy intervention before final decisions are made to cover all neighbouring schools. © 2015 Elixir All rights reserved. Elixir Edu. Tech. 86 (2015) 34990-34994 Educational Technology Available online at www.elixirpublishers.com (Elixir International Journal)


Development of a free piston engine linear generator was investigated for use as an auxiliary power unit for a hybrid electric vehicle. The main focus of the program was to develop an efficient linear generator concept to convert the piston motion directly into electrical power. Computer modeling techniques were used to evaluate five different designs for linear generators. These designs included permanent magnet generators, reluctance generators, linear DC generators, and two and three-coil induction generators. The efficiency of the linear generator was highly dependent on the design concept. The two-coil induction generator was determined to be the best design, with an efficiency of approximately 90 percent.


Health monitoring systems are becoming subjects of major interest for the jet engine industry, as they enable to detect abnormalities in the behavior of an engine in order to schedule a maintenance action in advance. These systems often rely on experts knowledge and are therefore limited by our capacity to transcribe this knowledge algorithmically. The need to detect automatically more delicate phenomena and the fine characterization of such phenomena lead to another approach, the data mining, which consists in studying a vast sample of measurements to detect characteristic patterns or connections which were not previously taken into account. Expert knowledge is a key element to perform a good diagnostic but data mining is seen as a complementary approach to perform diagnostics. Still, some problems remain. Indeed, the first difficulty is a very practical problem of data selection and handling. Secondly, through the large number of acquired variables, we are confronted with difficulties which stem from the dimension of the problem. Since we are eager to perform tests efficiently, the number of measurements compels us to study only subsets of available data at each stage, if possible without losing too much information. And finally, we come to the question of the algorithms to be used to highlight outstanding phenomena. Consequently, we present here the standardized database system used and the checks made before every analysis. We then focus on links between the variables, which do not only prove themselves to be full of lessons to be learned but also allow us to study separately several independent subproblems rather than a single more complex one. These links are analyzed thanks to statistical methods, and an unsupervised classification is performed on computed values. Later, we show how variables likely to represent at best the data are selected and tested.


Objective:To analyze the protective epitopes of Antigen 85B(Ag85B)of M.tuberculosis,and investigate the potential use of Ag85B as vaccine for the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis,expression recombinant of mature Ag85B was constructed.Methods:Ag85B gene was amplified with PCR,inserted into pUC18 and then sequenced.The cloned Ag85B was seperated and inserted in the downstream of PL promotor of expression vector pBV220.The SDS PAGE and Western Blot were used to identify the recombinant protein.Results:Both cloning and expression recombinants of Ag85B were obtained.DNA sequencing indicated that cloned Ag85B gene was similar to that reported previously.The mature Ag85B was expressed at high level(25%~30% of total bacterial protein)in E.coli.Conclusion:The cloning and high level expression of Ag85B in E.coli provide basis for future study on the preventive and therapeutic vaccine of tuberculosis.


Keeping pace with the global advancement and tracking the development of other countries is very important for Bangladesh, also monitoring the less developed regions is needed to take necessary development steps. To facilitate that, we have created a system which classifies Human Development Index of 186 countries. Using various machine learning algorithms we were able to forecast the Human Development Index of those regions till 2025 which will be updated every year. As south Asian countries are quite similar to Bangladesh in terms of health, economy, education, we have emphasized more on these countries. In the first part, we have tested different time series analysis models, AutoRegressive(AR) model,Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average(ARIMA) model, Weighted Moving Average(WMA) model, and Prophet model for forecasting. The Mean Absolute Percentage Errors(MAPE) were 0.04% for AR, 0.18% for WMA, 0.04% for ARIMA, and 0.32% for Prophet model. In the second part, we have tested K-means and hierarchical clustering algorithms to group values of HDI indicators (gross national income, life expectancy, expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling ), where the four labels are 'low' which indicates countries with lower HDI, 'medium' denotes countries which are still developing, 'high' specifies countries which are moderately developed and 'very high' represents the countries with the highest HDI. In the variance calculation, values found for K-Means was 0.0125 and hierarchical clustering was 0.00752 respectively.


Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of acute periapical lesions in patients with pSS. Methods: Integrated data of hospital patients was used. Data from the corresponding diagnosis codes for pSS and acute periapical abscess was retrieved by searching the appropriate query in the database. The patient population analyzed was mixed, presenting with different disease conditions including periapical abscesses without sinus. The different diagnoses were coded using the international coding systems ICD 10. Diagnosis was made by calibrated dentists in a hospital setting based on clinical examination and imaging data. Patients with ICD 10 diagnosis code of acute periapical abscess were recorded and the prevalence of acute periapical abscesses in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome were compared to the prevalence in the total hospital patient population. The odds ratio (OR) for the prevalence of acute periapical abscesses and its association with pSS were calculated with a 95% confidence interval and the statistical difference between the groups was assessed. Results: The odds ratio (OR) for the prevalence of acute apical abscesses and its association with pSS were calculated and analyzed statistically. The prevalence of periapical abscesses in patients with pSS was 1.87% as compared to 0.58% in the general patient population of the hospital. The OR was 3.11 and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.0001). Conclusions: Under the conditions of this study, it appears that the prevalence of acute periapical abscesses is significantly higher in patients with pSS.


Reservoir characterization involves the determination of the distribution of petrophysical properties, for optimum reservoir production. This study uses an integrated three-dimensional (3D) seismic and wireline log dataset from four wells, to assess the reservoir quality of sandstones of a field in the Coastal Swamp Depobelt, Niger Delta. Detailed petrophysical analysis revealed two main reservoirs (CH1 and CH2), which are relatively laterally continuous and show varying porosity and permeability values. In reservoir CH1, calculated porosity (ɸ) ranges from 0.210 to 0.264, permeability (k) ranges from 0.69 mD to 9.67 mD, net-to-gross (NTG) ranges from 0.374 to 0.698, volume of shale (Vshale) ranges from 0.12 to 0.20, while water saturation (Sw) ranges from 0.09 to 0.45. In the CH2 reservoir, results of the petrophysical analysis show that ɸ ranges from 0.210 to 0.290, k ranges from 1.41 mD to 27.93 mD, NTG ranges from 0.129 to 0.925, Vshale ranges from 0.12 to 0.25, while Sw ranges from 0.15 to 0.34. Structural analysis revealed that two-way and three-way fault-dependent closures are the main trapping styles in the study area. The faults dominantly trend NE-SW, dip southerly, and tend to compartmentalize the reservoir, as suggested by the variations in static hydrocarbon-water contact across fault blocks. Root mean square amplitude extractions show that areas with high amplitude have good reservoir quality and are hydrocarbon-bearing. On this basis, two prospects (Y and Z) were identified within the mapped reservoir units. Understanding variations in petrophysical properties is important as it serves as a key input in modeling hydrocarbon reservoirs.


A device (1) for paying in cheques (2) comprises means (14a, 14b) of receiving at least one cheque, logical processing means (33) controlling access to the receiving means (14a, 14b) and means (9, 8, 7) of recognizing a deposit account. The device comprises means (9, 8, 7) of recognizing the cheque or cheques (2) inserted into the receiving means, the cheque receiving means (14a, 14b) comprising a housing (15) with an opening for inserting cheques (2) and a second opening arranged to contain a removable receiving container (18), and the device comprises data storage means (34, 35, 36) associated with a determined receiving container in which the logical processing means (33) store associations between the data identifying a deposit account and the data identifying the cheque or cheques paid in. The device preferably has two removable storage devices, one of which may be an RFID device associated with the receiving container.


REAP‐HP study (Real‐world practice and Expectation of Asia‐Pacific physicians and patients in Helicobacter Pylori eradication) was the pioneer study investigating the expectation and preference of physicians across Asia‐Pacific in H. pylori eradication in 2015. This study is the first follow‐up study of REAP‐HP in Taiwan.


CEOs of rural hospitals know that integrating their services is essential to survival. What's not clear is whether the steps many are now taking--hiring primary care doctors and partnering with other hospitals--will secure their future. Results from an H&HN survey on rural integration.


ABSTRACT Objective To estimate the pattern of alcohol consumption among homeless people in a Brazilian capital city. Method It applied a previously validated form to obtain data and for alcohol consumption, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test instrument in people living on the streets, in the period from August 2018 to February 2019 recruited by convenience. The study met the ethical aspects. Results The sample was composed of 125 homeless people. There was a predominance of males, 107 (85.6%), aged over 30 years. Of the participants, 85 (68%) had a pattern of alcohol consumption classified as probable dependence, related to Sexually Transmitted Infections and use of other drugs. Only eight (6.4%) had low risk consumption. Conclusion The pattern of alcohol consumption in this population is high risk. It highlights the need for the development of interventions, especially the educational, aimed at harm reduction and self-preservation of health and referral of cases to specialized health care.


The ultimate capacity of a novel type of piled foundation called an "impression" pile has been investigated using centrifuge modelling techniques. The name derives from the small discrete impressio...


LIDOCAINE is a local analgesic drug that is often used in dogs and cats, and also in other domestic, wild, exotic and laboratory animals. It is used in a variety of ways: topically, by local infiltration, by epidural injection, by nerve block, or by intravenous injection into a peripheral vein to provide limb analgesia. In human beings, lidocaine has been used intravenously in low doses to reduce the pain associated with the injection of some intravenous agents (Nolan 2000). Lidocaine also has an anti-arrhythmic effect, and is used for the acute control of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmia in dogs and cats (Lunney and Ettinger 1995). In equine medicine, it is also used in the treatment of postoperative ileus (Malone and others 1998). Lidocaine has significant side effects: the most common sign of intoxication is seizure, while bradyarrhythmia and conduction disturbances are more rare (Lunney and Ettinger 1995). Muscle tremor is a common clinical sign of lidocaine intoxication in horses (Meyer and others 2001). The approximate maximum dose by infiltration before toxic signs become apparent is not known with any certainty, although Hall and others (2000a) have quoted it to be 6 to 10 mg/kg in dogs. According to Skarda (1998), the convulsive toxic dose of intravenously administered lidocaine in conscious dogs is 11 to 20 mg/kg and the lethal dose is 16 to 28 mg/kg. Lidocaine in biological samples has been analysed by immunoassay (Elin and others 1997, Liu-Allison and others 1997), reversed-phase liquid chromatography (Manna and others 2002), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) (Ohshima and Takayasu 1999). This short communication describes a study to describe lidocaine intoxication in dogs, to determine the total toxic dose of lidocaine and serum lidocaine concentrations that resulted in clinical signs of intoxication, and to record the effects of lidocaine on the cardiovascular system. It was hypothesised that lidocaine intoxication is common because the therapeutic and toxic doses are similar. The study was approved by a legal committee; 19 dogs were studied, three males and 16 females aged between three and 60 months (mean [sd] 19·3 [16·3] months), and weighing between 2·2 and 24·8 kg (14·5 [7·9] kg). During the experiment, the animals were placed in sternal recumbency on the table, and a standard microclimate was maintained in the room. Emotional reassurance (gentle restraint, petting and talking) was provided by the handler throughout the whole procedure. Food was withheld for six hours before the study. The health of the dogs was determined by means of a clinical examination. The dogs' blood pressure was measured by an oscillometric method using a cuff width of 40 per cent of the circumference of the metacarpus, and the heart rate was measured at the femoral artery. An oscillometric manometer was used (Neonatal model BC 203 NC automated sphygmomanometer; Air-shields). An electrocardiogram (ECG) was also recorded (Ultraview 1050 anesthesia monitor; Spacelabs Medical). An intravenous catheter (20, 22 or 24 G) was inserted into the cephalic vein, and a 3·5 ml blood sample was taken from the catheter (BD vacutainer SST II Advance 3·5 ml). For drug administration, a syringe pump (SEP 11S; Ascor) was used. The syringe was connected to the intravenous catheter by means of an extension line. An initial dose of 4 mg/kg lidocaine (Lidokain 2 per cent; Belupo) was administered intravenously, followed by a constant-rate infusion at a dose of 0·3 mg/kg per minute. After the lidocaine was administered, the following parameters were measured at 10-minute intervals until a toxic effect was observed: the systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressures, heart rate and ECG. Blood samples were taken at 10minute intervals from another limb, from the cephalic vein or the lateral saphenous vein, using a needle. A toxic effect was determined when a muscle tremor was seen, and the infusion of lidocaine was immediately discontinued. The total dose administered (that is the toxic dose) was recorded, and the systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressures, heart rate and the ECG were recorded again. A final blood sample was then taken. A saline infusion was administered, and the dog was monitored for the next hour. After centrifugation, a minimum of 1 ml serum was removed and frozen at –70°C. Lidocaine in the serum was analysed by GC-MS. Statistica 5.0 for Windows was used for the statistical analysis (Statsoft). Shapiro Wilks' W test was used to determine the distribution of the lidocaine concentration measurements and the distribution of heart rate and blood pressures. Analysis of variance and Duncan's test were used to compare between age groups. Significance was set at P<0·05 for all tests. The mean (sd) serum lidocaine concentration 10 minutes after the initial administration of lidocaine as 2·4 (0·6) μg/ml, and after 20 minutes it was 2·7 (1·0) μg/ml. The mean serum lidocaine concentration at the time of observation of toxic effect (LTC) was 2·7 (1·1) μg/ml. The mean time from the beginning of lidocaine administration to the observation of a toxic effect was 24 (13·6) minutes, and the total toxic dose of lidocaine was 11·1 (4·1) mg/kg. Six of the dogs (31·58 per cent) were three to five months old, six (31·58 per cent) were seven to 23 months old, and seven (36·84 per cent) were 24 to 60 months old. To determine whether there was any age-dependent variation in the parameters, the data were broken down by age; the mean (sd) values for dogs in the three age groups are shown in Table 1. Before the administration of lidocaine, the mean (sd) was 136·7 (15·1) bpm; on observation of the toxic effect it was 129·4 (24·8) bpm. The mean systolic blood pressure before the administration of lidocaine was 113·3 (12·3) mmHg, and at the observation of toxic effect it was 82·6 (8·5) mmHg, this decrease was significant. The corresponding mean diastolic blood pressures were 75·8 (13·8) mmHg and 85·9 (13·7) mmHg, respectively, and the overall mean blood pressures were 94·6 (8·4) mmHg before the administration of lidocaine and 91·9 (14·4) mmHg, upon observation of toxic effect. During the study, no changes in ECG parameters (P-wave duration, P=R interval, R-R interval and Q-T interval) were observed that were considered to be outside the normal range. The LTC in the present study (2·7 [1·1] μg/ml) was significantly lower than in the only other published LTC in dogs, 8·21 (1·69) μg/ml (Wilcke and others 1983). This difference could be explained by different modes of lidocaine administration (rapid v slow rate of administration) or the use of a different sign to indicate the time when toxic effects began (muscle tremor in the present study; the toxic extension phase in the study of Wilcke and others [1983]). In cats, the mean highest serum concentration of lidocaine after intravenous regional anaesthesia was 3·10 (1·11) μg/ml; signs of intoxication were not observed (Kushner and others 2002). In human volunteers, muscle fasciculations Veterinary Record (2007) 160, 374-375


We present image edge detection using the total variation functional and morphological methods. First, we derive the total variation functional from first principles and vector gradient method. The total variation functional is then minimized using the Euler-Lagrange optimization method. The steady state equation which results from the minimization of the total variation functional is then used as an anisotrpic filter on images. While the total variation method has proven to be a better edge detector than the Marr-Hildreth method, it also segments the image into regions delineated by strong edges. To achieve results similar to the Marr-Hildreth method, we apply morphological considerations. We develop new operations based on erosion, dilation, opening and closing to achieve morphological edge detection of total variation filtered images.


A method for manufacturing a polarizable laminated film of the present invention includes a stretching process for stretching a laminated film comprising a first polyvinyl alcohol resin layer, a base film and a second polyvinyl alcohol resin layer, and a dyeing process for dyeing. In the dyeing process, in case a time for the first polyvinyl alcohol resin layer contacts a dyeing solution is T1 and a time for the second polyvinyl alcohol resin layer contacts the dyeing solution is T2, a ratio of a contact time difference calculated by a below equation is included within a range of ±4%. Ratio (%) of contact time difference = (T1-T2)/{(T1+T2)/2}×100.


The Lapela Tower is the only remaining element of a medieval castle built in the meridional bank of Minho River and dismantled by the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century. An archaeological intervention made in the perimeter of the ancient wall discovered the medieval foundation and, beyond it, evidential proofs of roman's ceramic construction, probably connected with a fanun or caponae.


Many efforts have been undertaken to develop a successful vaccine to contain the catastrophe since the COVID-19 outbreak. Early in December 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine program was initiated, and it significantly reduced transmission and mortality. However, there are cases of cardiac complications like myocarditis that have been encountered in several individuals after administrating the COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, this present work aims to describe four cases of Myocarditis in the existing literature review. A literature search was carried out using Scopus, Science Direct, PubMed, and other renowned databases for high-quality recent individualized case reports of individuals having myocarditis after receiving the vaccine, research papers, case series, and review articles with no language restriction. The findings from the four cases and rigorous literature review revealed that myocarditis is one of the adverse reactions after COVID-19 vaccination which comes with initial symptoms of chest pain and fever which can further execrate if ignored. However, the use of symptomatic relief and anti-inflammatory non-steroidal drugs have4 been noted to be effective in managing myocarditis induced by COVID-19 Vaccinations.


Introduction Martin Peterson 1. Why all the fuss? The many aspects of the Prisoner's Dilemma Ken Binmore 2. How I learned to stop worrying and love the Prisoner's Dilemma David Gauthier 3. Taking the Prisoner's Dilemma seriously: what can we learn from a trivial game? Daniel M. Hausman 4. Prisoner's Dilemma doesn't explain much Robert Northcott and Anna Alexandrova 5. The Prisoner's Dilemma and the coevolution of descriptive and predictive dispositions Jeffrey A. Barrett 6. I cannot cheat on you after we talk Cristina Bicchieri and Alessandro Sontuoso 7. Prisoner's Dilemma cannot be a Newcomb Problem Jose Luis Bermudez 8. Counterfactuals and the Prisoner's Dilemma Giacomo Bonanno 9. The Tragedy of the Commons as a Voting Game Luc Bovens 10. The role of numbers in Prisoner's Dilemmas and public good situations Geoffrey Brennan and Michael Brooks 11. The inner struggle: why you should cooperate with people you will never meet again Martin Peterson 12. Prisoner's Dilemmas, intergenerational asymmetry, and climate change ethics Douglas MacLean 13. Prisoner's Dilemma experiments Charles Holt, Cathleen Johnson and David Schmidtz 14. The lesson of the Prisoner's Dilemma Paul Weirich Bibliography Index.


Purpose - This editorial seeks to reflect on seven contributions to this Design/methodology/approach - The paper employs a literature-based analysis and critique. The paper is primarily a discussion paper. Findings - This editorial draws together the themes of papers in this Research limitations/implications - The practical and research issues explored in this, and the other papers, in this special theme section, it is hoped, will invoke more critical perspectives on accountancy, assist scholars in theory development and application, and influence growth in reflective academic studies in this area. Originality/value - This editorial discusses the contributions to this


The invention relates to an apparatus for spray coating an object (13) with a hot-melt adhesive (S), having a first nozzle (10) and a second nozzle (11), wherein the first (10) and the second nozzle (11) are arranged so that a from the first nozzle (10) exiting the first melt stream (ST1) and one from the second nozzle (11) exiting the second melt stream (ST2) pointed in a angle (α) meet, so that a spray fan (SF) is formed, and wherein a temperature hold means (8, 12, 14) for holding the first and second nozzles (10, 11) is provided on a predetermined desired temperature in the range of 120 ° C to 250 ° C.


Value pluralism is the idea that legitimate human values and goals are many, often incompatible, and not reducible to any single overarching principle or Good. Value pluralism is probably the central idea—you could say the single overarching idea—in the work of Sir Isaiah Berlin, the English philosopher and historian of ideas. Berlin's theme is that individuals, and societies as well, have ideals and aspirations that conflict, and that therefore cannot all be fully realised. Thus a society cannot have perfect equality and perfect liberty because some people will exercise freedom to differentiate themselves, and hence to make themselves unequal to their fellow citizens. Equality or freedom may be at odds with other values as well, such as tradition, or the desire for


From this research, we report on the performances of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells device simulation of the carrier concentration and thickness of CdS buffer layer which were respectively varied from 1012 to 1020 cm−3 and 10 nm to 100 nm, to find out an optimum thickness of around 40–50 nm of high-efficiency CdS buffer layer, the optimum of carrier concentration is found to be 1017 cm−3 revealed the best efficiency of 18.20%.


Organic Computing is beginning to provide computer systems with organic and biological properties. We believe these systems will benefit from user interfaces that integrate the user more tightly with the system and optimize the way the user absorbs information. To this end, we propose gaze-contingent interactive displays that monitor and guide the user's gaze to make interaction with the system more effective and enjoyable. A vital prerequisite for such a system is the ability to predict one or several salient locations that the user is likely to attend to in a dynamic display, with the goal of then modifying the display to influence the user's direction of gaze. In this paper, we present a structure-tensor-based saliency measure and a novel algorithm for extracting salient locations from saliency maps by using the mechanism of selective lateral inhibition. We assess the quality of the extracted locations by comparing them to the locations actually attended by test subjects.


One of the primary challenges to interplanetary human travel is mitigation of radiation exposure. As fast transit with LENR driven or conventional nuclear electric (NEP) or thermal propulsion (NTP) may be imminent, time and level of radiation exposure composing ALARA (As Low as Reasonably Achievable) must be ascertained rapidly and precisely. Since acute physiological effects are difficult to detect, and chronic effects on crew health are delayed and potentially trans-generational, improved detection technologies will be game-changing and an essential element of the crew health monitoring and environmental protection toolkit. Secondary Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) induced neutrons are an additional hazard. The dose equivalent Q factor, which weighs an absorbed radiation dose against its biological effect, ranges from Q=1 for x-rays, gamma rays and betas to Q=5 for thermal neutrons and Q=10 for fast neutrons and alpha particles. Since neutrons only have a < 11 minute half-life, they are constantly produced by fast charged particles or photons shattering atoms terrestrially, in planetary atmospheres and on planetary surfaces. Figure 1 shows the terrestrial spallation neutron spectra orginating from atmospheric GCR interactions.The effect is more pronounced on Earth in aircraft and in spacecraft including the International Space Station (ISS) and soon NASA's Lunar Gateway habitat. 95% of GCR are > .5 GeV/nucleon protons and alpha particles. The Earth's magnetic field reduces GCRs reaching the Earth and the Solar magnetosphere similarly reduces them throughout the solar system. Unfortunately, Figure 2 shows the relationship between solar maxima and GCR minima within the Earth's magnetosphere and probably beyond. Neutron diagnostics include BF3 and 3He counters, SSNTD and scintillator neutron spectrometers [2] as we have used in LENR/LCF research. However, since the Q value varies with energy, neutron spectroscopy, or at least an energy range, is necessary. Real-time measurements provide an awareness of immediate danger in space and record the heavy ion and secondary neutron doses and their current and future biological effects requiring countermeasures.[3] Once these have been characterized, mitigation strategies can be adopted ranging from spacecraft magnetic shielding against GCR to deploying regolith overburden. Fast travel is necessary! [4]


The reaction is general and is applied to a wide range of aromatic and heteroaromatic mesylates and aromatic and heteroaromatic trifluoroborates tolerating many functional groups.


The invention discloses an optical-thermal double-solidified baikeding for a tinplate and a coating method thereof. The optical-thermal double-solidified baikeding comprises the following materials in parts by weight: 20-30 parts of polyurethane acrylate resin, 5-8 parts of epoxy acrylate resin, 30-50 parts of rutile titanium dioxide, 15-25 parts of activated monomers, 3-6 parts of photoinitiators, 2-4 parts of thermal initiators, 2-5 parts of pigment wetting agents, 0.5-1.5 parts of adhesion promoters, 0.5-1 part of substrate wetting agents, 0.3-0.5 part of leveling agents and 0.3-0.5 part of defoaming agents. According to the method, the baikeding is obtained by utilizing optical-thermal double solidification. The optical-thermal double-solidified baikeding disclosed by the invention has the advantages of completeness in solidification, high solidification efficiency, energy conservation, environment friendliness, good paint film friability, good impact force resistance, high adhesive force and high-temperature boiling resistance, and thus a product is more reliable and convenient when in use and has good production application prospect.


Large petroleum resources in deep sea, and huge market demands for petroleum need advanced petroleum extraction technology. The multiphase pump, which can simultaneously transport oil and gas with considerable efficiency, has been a crucial technology in petroleum extraction. A numerical approach with mesh generation and a Navier-Stokes equation solution is employed to evaluate the effects of gas volume fraction on energy performance and pressure fluctuations of a multiphase pump. Good agreement of experimental and calculation results indicates that the numerical approach can accurately simulate the multiphase flow in pumps. The pressure rise of a pump decreases with the increasing of flow rate, and the pump efficiency decreases with the increasing of GVF (the ratio of the gas volume to the whole volume). Results show that the dominant frequencies of pressure fluctuation in the impeller and diffuser are eleven and three times those of the impeller rotational frequency, respectively. Due to the larger density of water and centrifugal forces, the water aggregates to the shroud and the gas gathers to the hub, which renders the distribution of GVF in the pump uneven. A vortex develops at the blade suction side, near the leading edge, induced by the leakage flow, and further affects the pressure fluctuation in the impeller. The obvious vortex in the diffuser indicates that the design of the divergence angle of the diffuser is not optimal, which induces flow separation due to large diffusion ratio. A uniform flow pattern in the impeller indicates good hydraulic performance of the pump.


The advances in communication networks and web technologies, in conjunction with the im-proved connectivity of test and measurement devices make it possible to implement e-learning applications that encompass the whole learning process. In electrical engineering, it means not only lecture, tutorial, quiz and simulation, but also practical labwork for training with real-world devices that are controlled remotely. To make e-labs attractive, they should be easily implemented and accessed on the web by a client. This keypoint raises technical issues that are discussed in this paper. Nonetheless pedagogical issues are equally important. Here, to foster student motivation, a game-like scenario embedded in a learning management system is proposed.


Selected pairs of phases in the system, not in equilibrium, were brought into contact and the transport between them was evaluated from the changes in volumes with time. The results showed the rate determining factors to be the extremely slow absorption of compounds into the solid acid layer and of water into the surfactant inverse micellar solution. The former factor was referred to the protracted process of modifying the crystalline structure and the latter to the minute diffusion coefficient of the inverse micelles. In the same manner the contact between the lamellar phase liquid crystalline phase and a solid solution of the surfactant in the acid led to the formation of two inverse micellar solutions of different composition separated by a liquid crystalline layer instead of the expected aqueous liquid and one inverse micellar solution, which appeared first after significantly extended times. The equilibration was significantly retarded by the slow diffusion of acid molecules through one of the liquid layers.


This paper tests the hypothesis of 'commodity currency' on the nuevo sol and, more generally, identifies the drivers of Peru's equilibrium real exchange rate using a cointegration analysis. The results show that export commodity prices do not have a statistically significant impact on Peru's real effective exchange rate, suggesting that the nuevo sol is not a commodity currency. The paper provides empirical evidence that large profit repatriation and foreign exchange intervention have effectivelly insulated Peru's real exchange rate from the impact of commodity price shocks. Peru's equilibrium real exchange rate is found to be driven mostly by productivity and government consumption.


Seeking consultation commences with the recognition that seeking consultation is itself an ethical duty to the client. The chapter recommends three types of consultation, including ethical consultation, clinical consultation, and legal consultation. Ethical consultation occurs best when it is regularly scheduled, part of an ongoing relationship, and nurtures the professional's own ethical growth. Clinical consultation can be used for ongoing supervision, understanding the connection between emotional and academic problems, staying current with clinical theory and interventions, recognizing the need for self-care, and managing clinical concerns. Legal consultation can assist with understanding constitutional rights of due process and equal protection, federal statutes such as the Every Student Succeeds Act or Individuals with Disabilities Act, state statutes, administrative regulations, and case law, such as the Tarasoff duty to protect and Jaffee v. Redmond. It ends with a discussion of the relationship between law and ethics and provides guidance regarding civil disobedience.


This thesis focuses on contentment of inhabitants with social politics in Pardubice. It defines social politics and social services and tries to characterize certain social services which take effect in the area of the territorial city afterwards. In addition to that the thesis contains a questionnaire survey used for gathering information from the public and from the users of those social services. The survey's goal is to find out the contentment of the respondents with social politics in Pardubice.


The effects of daily intraperitoneal injections of alpha-tocopherol (30 mg/kg per day) and synthetic antioxidant IHFAN-30 (30 mg/day) in rats were compared during low-level ionizing radiation (10 days, dose rate 5 mGy/h, total dose 1.2 Gy). There were analysed: (1) amplitude of population spike of hippocampal slices; (2) endogenous phosphorylation in vitro of hippocampal synaptic proteins in the presence of cAMP; (3) formation, manifestation and reduction of food-procuring reflex. The findings showed that antioxidants made some correction of the functional state of hippocampal slices and cAMP-dependent phosphorylation system activity in brain cells from irradiated animals. No influence on training and memory functions was detected.


structure of the supercritical motions and their stability. i. We consider an infinite horizontal cylinder of square section filled with two different immiscible fluids. The interface of the fluids passes through the middle of the cavity and is assumed to be horizontal and not deformed; thermocapillary effects on it are not taken into account. All the walls of the cavity are rigid. The horizontal boundaries are maintained at constant different temperatures (heating from below); the temperature changes in accordance with a linear law along the vertical boundaries. The system of equations of free convection for the upper (first) and lower (second) fluid has the form (the coordinate origin is placed at the center of the square, the x axis is horizontal, and the y axis is vertically upward)


Mining is one of the leading sectors of the Brazilian economy and as any other anthropogenic activity it generates residues that impact the environment directly. The Osamu Utsumi Mine, which belongs to the Nuclear Industries of Brazil (INB), operated from 1982 to 1995 with the activities of mining and metallurgical treatment of the uranium ore. Since then the INB has as a main environmental problem, the generation of acid mine drainage from wastes having its pH around 3. The chemical treatment of this acid water incurs an extremely high cost and generates a precipitate that is rich in some metals, including uranium. This precipitate has been disposed of in the mine opening and has caused an overload of chemical pollutants and radioactive elements in a place that was not planned to receive this volume of residues and does not meet the necessary condition for the construction of a repository. The content of uranium in the precipitate is approximately 0.25% - similar to the content of the metal found in the ore in the Caetite Mine (BA) - around 0.29%. The recovery of this uranium from the precipitate would generate a total of 150 tons of U3O8. In the present study an alkaline leaching process was carried out aiming at recovering the uranium from sludge samples disposed of for over 20 years. Sodium carbonate and bicarbonate were used as the leaching agents. The experiments were carried out by varying the concentrations of the leaching agents, extraction time and the solid percentage. The other parameters such as temperature, particle size and agitation were kept constant. The results showed that the recovery of the uranium can reach 100% in 24 hours. The uranium concentration in the solutions is around 250 mg.L -1 when using 10% of solids. Preliminary results showed that the recovery of uranium from the sludge would be a feasible practice. The conversion of an environmental liability into a valuable product is one of the most important objectives of this work.


The utility model discloses an alarm device, and particularly relates to alarm for infusion in the field of medical treatment. The alarm for infusion plays a role in security alarm, and comprises two connecting plates, a circuit board, a chip with a capacitance change detection function, a battery, a signal prompter and a switch. The two connecting plates are connected into a whole through a connecting mechanism, wherein corresponding positions of contacting surfaces of the two connecting plates are respectively provided with an arch-shaped groove; one connecting plate is provide with the circuit board and the chip with the capacitance change detection function, wherein an induction point of the chip with the capacitance change detection function is arranged on the position, tangent with the arch-shaped groove of the connecting plate; the battery and the chip with the capacitance change detection function are connected with the signal prompter through the circuit board and further connected with the switch. The alarm for infusion has the advantages of being convenient to use, reasonable in design, and the like.


To increase the cohesiveness of cooked pork stuffing. Methods: The effects of cooked pork stuffing with chitosan and konjac gum were studied by texture profile analysis (TPA) and sensory test. And a optimization of formulation of cooked pork stuffing with konjac-chitosan gum was obtained by the orthogonal test. Results: Konjac gum can increase the cohesiveness of cooked pork stuffing significantly. Chitosan not only increased the cohesiveness of pork stuffing, but also inhibited the reproduction of microorganism. Conculsion: The optimization of formulation of cooked pork stuffing is:fat 30%,konjac gum 1.0%,chitosan 0.2%,water 20%, and the preservation of lotus root with meat was better under this condition.


The first paragraph of the introduction in the letter by San Juan et al. (2020), the corresponding author accepts the similarity and assumes the responsibility. This was done inadvertently and with no aims of duplicating the text but, due to the coincidence, the legitimate authorship of the paragraph belongs to Dr. Abrahams. We apologize for the inconvenience and wish to emphasize that this mistake does not affect to any of the results nor the conclusions published in the letter.


Abstract : Grazing incidence x-ray reflectivity has been employed to investigate ultra-thin films of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) grown with an S-bend filtered cathodic vacuum arc. The results indicate that x-ray reflectivity can be used as a metrological tool for thickness measurements on films as thin as 0.5 nm, which is lower than the range required for carbon overcoats for magnetic hard disks and sliders if they are to reach storage densities of 100 Gbits/in(exp2). The density of the films was derived from the best-fit to simulated reflectivity profiles from models for the structural parameters. In such thin films, the x-rays are reflected mainly at the film substrate interface, rather than the outer surface, so that the film density is derived from analysis of the oscillations of the post-critical angle reflectivity.


Large eddy simulations were conducted to simulate the flow in compound meandering channels whose main channel sinuosity was 1.381. Then, the floodplain vegetation was generalized using the momentum equation coupled with the drag force formula. The mean flow pattern, secondary flow, coherent structure, turbulence characteristics, and lateral mass and momentum transport with and without floodplain vegetation with relative depths ( Dr) of 0.3–0.5 were studied. Results showed that the floodplain vegetation enabled the flow of the main channel to be more concentrated. The maximum average velocity in the cross section of the main channel increased by 100% and 30% when the relative depth was 0.3 and 0.5. Under the influence of floodplain vegetation, the secondary flow cell transformed greatly with the change in relative depth. When Dr < 0.3, the vegetation caused the vortex center of the secondary flow to move closer to the concave bank side, and the secondary flow distribution presents a flow pattern not flooding the floodplain. When Dr > 0.3, the spatial change in the secondary flow was not obvious. In addition, the floodplain vegetation did not change the large-scale vortex that was separated from the boundary layer of the convex bank side. Meanwhile, the floodplain vegetation increased the overall turbulence intensity, turbulent kinetic energy, and Reynolds stress of the main channel, and it increased the range of lateral mass exchange of the inbank flow and the mean and turbulent transport flux of each cross section.


The regulation of specific gene expression in response to changes of nutrition has become a major focus of modern nutritional research, owing to the emergence of techniques of molecular biology that have allowed the cloning of a number of genes involved in the regulation of carbohydrate and fat metabolism. It has been shown that major (glucose, fatty acids, amino acids) or minor (iron, vitamins) dietary constituents participate, in conjunction with many hormones, in the regulation of gene expression in response to nutritional changes (1-4). When we initiated the investigations summarized below, our long-term objectives were (a) to identify plasma hormones and substrates that signal to liver, muscle, adipose, and placental cells that the nature of alimentation has changed, and (b) to understand, at a molecular level, each of the events that intervened between the binding of the hormone to its cellular receptor, the uptake and metabolism of substrates, and the altered expression of specific enzymes or nutrient transporters. Two different experimental models will be discussed: (a) the fetus of a diabetic mother who receives a large amount of glucose through the placenta, and (b) the nutritional transition from the high-carbohydrate, low-fat environment of the fetus to the low-carbohydrate, high-fat environment (milk) of the suckling rat.


A single-end fault location method for single-phase nonmetallic grounding faults of transmission lines in a double terminal system is studied and proposed. First, the reason for the poor accuracy of the single-end fault location method in case of single-phase nonmetallic grounding faults is analyzed theoretically, and the necessary conditions for the single-end accurate fault location are put forward. Second, under the necessary conditions of the single-end accurate fault location, according to the topology of fault component networks, the calculation method of the single-end accurate fault location of transmission lines in a double terminal system is studied. Moreover, the influence of line capacitance is considered in this fault location method, and a simple expression for calculating the fault distance is obtained. Finally, the transmission line with a single-phase nonmetallic grounding fault is modeled in PSCAD; therefore, the correctness and the ability against transition resistance of the new single-end fault location method are verified by simulation.


Whether investments in health in developing countries are economically valuable depends on the state of economic development within the country. If the economy is stagnant public health measures will lead to overpopulation and only increase the prevailing poverty. However if the development is rapid enough the age composition of a growing population will aid the economy. Health programs should therefore be integrated into a system of social economic and educational reform. 90% of health expenditures go to curative services while only 10% is available for preventative measures in developing countries. This needs to be changed along with the colonial system of health administration that emphasizes hospital services. Public services the health profession voluntary organizations and the public need to be brought together in the planning of health systems. For family planning to be sucessful in countries such as India there is a basic need for a health infrastructure that can maintain and expand services.


Although it is well established that adult daughters spend more time giving assistance to their parents than do sons, the sources of this gender gap are not well understood. This paper asks: To what extent can this gap be explained by structural variation, especially the different rates of employment and kinds of jobs that women and men tend to hold? Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 7,350), the paper shows that both employment status and job characteristics, especially wages and self-employment, are important factors in explaining the gender gap in the help given to parents, and that these operate similarly for women and men. Key Words: caregiving, employment, gender, intergenerational, social support, work. Over the past couple of decades, a growing body of literature in a number of different fields finds a gender gap in help to kin: Women spend significantly more time giving help than do men. More specifically, most of this literature suggests that women are more likely to assist their own parents and, when married, more likely than their husbands to provide help to their spouse's parents (e.g., Allen, Blieszner, & Roberto, 2001; National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 1997; Stone, Cafferata, & Sangl, 1987; Walker, 2001; for an exception concerning help to parents-in-law, see Lee, Spitze, & Logan, 2003). Women's preponderance as providers of assistance to parents has been well documented but remains largely unexplained. To explain this difference between women and men, we can turn to broad theories developed to account for gender gaps in other kinds of family work, both in and outside the home. In their explanations of gender gaps in family work, many theories focus on the structural forces that operate in adult life (e.g., Epstein, 1988; Gerson, 1993; Risman, 1998). Though variously defined, these structural factors are typically understood as an array of material, objective, and external constraints and opportunities (Hays, 1994; Rubinstein, 2001). Structural explanations for the gender gaps in family work often emphasize the constraints and opportunities generated by the different employment experiences of women and men. Because men are more likely to be employed and, when employed, to have more lucrative and time-consuming or satisfying jobs than women, their jobs pull or push them away from family responsibilities (Gerson; Risman). When women have the same employment conditions as men, they will give the same amount of help as men; that is, once we take into account such different employment experiences, the structural model suggests, gender as a dichotomy is neutralized and will yield little independent effect. Alternative theories assert that structure cannot fully account for the gender gaps in family work. Some of these theories attribute gaps to an essential gender dichotomy rooted in biology (for reviews, see Epstein, 1988; Marini, 1990; Udry, 2000). Another set attributes them to psychological differences between women and men created by early socialization (Chodorow, 1978, 1999; Gilligan, 1982; Witt, 1994). Still another traces them to cultural factors that operate in adult life (Brines, 1994; Greenstein, 2000; Potuchek, 1997; West & Zimmerman, 1987). All of these alternative theories, irrespective of whether they focus on biology, early socialization, or cultural differences, assert that even when adult men and women are located in the same structural positions-more specifically, hold the same jobs-they differ in the amount of family work they do. According to these theories, we would expect a gender gap to exist even between women and men who are employed in the same kinds of jobs. We also would expect similar employment experiences to shape the help given to parents in different ways for adult women and men. This article seeks to determine how much of the gender gap in the amount of help given to parents is tied to distinctively structural forces, especially employment and its conditions, that operate in adult women's and men's lives. …


quired to sustain a minimally adequate standard of living. It is still pervasive in our society and affects more than 13% of the population (over 32 million people). The American public customarily perceives poverty as a metro2 problem. However, the poverty rate has been higher in nonmetro than in metro areas since 1959, the first year for which poverty data are available using the official government definition (USDA). Further, according to the 1992 U.S. Bureau of the Census, poverty rates continued to be more severe in nonmetro areas than in metro areas. The 1992 nonmetro poverty rate was 16.8%; 2.9 percentage points higher than the metro rate of 13.9% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Geographically, the South3 continues to have the highest poverty rate, 16.9% in 1992. Moreover, the South continues to have the highest nonmetro black poverty rate, around 40%, and over 90% of poor nonmetro blacks reside in the South. The census data also indicate that each population group (female head of household, married couples, related children, whites, blacks, Hispanic, and elderly/aged) had a higher poverty ate in nonmetro areas in 1992 than in metro areas; the increases in poverty rates since 1973 have been unevenly distributed across all groups. For instance, since 1987, the poverty rate for nonmetro female heads of households


AIM To establish a RP-HPLC method for the determination of pemetrexed in human plasma.METHODS The chromatographic separation was performed on Kromasil C18 column(250 mm × 4.6 mm,5 μm)with a mobile phase of 50 mmol·L-1 sodium phosphate(pH = 3.35)-acetonitrile(84 ∶ 16,V/V).The flow rate was 1.0 mL·min-1 and the detection wavelength was 250 nm.RESULTS The calibration curves of pemetrexed in plasma were linear in the range of 1-100 mg·L-1(r = 0.999 9)and 10-1 000 μg·L-1(r = 0.999 7).The limit of quantitation was 5 μg·L-1.The absolute recoveries were 53.9%-60.8% and the relative recoveries were 97.2%-105.0%.The intra-day and inter-day RSDs were all less than 10%.CONCLUSION The method is rapid,simple and accurate,and is suitable for the study of pharmacokinetics of pemetrexed in human plasma.