Unlike in the West, engineering practice in Sub-Saharan Africa remains mired in corruption, ethical malpractice, poor ethics governance and lack of effective leadership. This situation has, and continues to, negatively impact national infrastructure, health, education, and economies across Sub-Saharan African countries. Non-ethical engineering practices continue to occur despite the existence of national ethics legislation in Sub–Saharan African countries, and despite codes of ethics underpinning business operations in most public and private sector organisations that employ engineers. This is also despite the existence of codes of conduct and ethics prescribing professional engineering practice that have been developed, and are policed, by national engineering institutions and regulators. Increasingly, engineering education providers have incorporated engineering ethics education in their curricula. However, despite this, Sub-Saharan African engineering graduates transitioning into employment still face significant difficulties in dealing with the myriads of ethical dilemmas they meet in their professional practice. In this study we set out to establish the current state of engineering ethics education in Sub-Saharan Africa, and to assess the thoughts of engineering educators and researchers in the region on how engineering ethics education can be improved.


Property forecasts are an integral part of the property investment process at the strategic, tactical and individual asset levels. This study investigates the nature, extent and patterns of disagreement and uncertainty in the forecasts of UK property investors and their advisors. In this paper, the Investment Property Forum's consensus forecasts from 1999–2004 are analysed. The study finds that property forecasting organizations tend to exhibit the characteristics of a consensus, potentially indicating a herding bias among forecasting organizations. Given high levels of agreement and high levels of error in the consensus forecasts, uncertainty in the property forecasts of the individual organizations seem to be primarily generated by common factors rather than by the individual forecasting organization itself. This is not a unique feature of property market forecasters as non‐property forecasters display similar patterns. A key source of uncertainty in the property market forecasts of capital and total returns seems to have been due to problems of forecasting yield shifts. The analysis suggests that there are inefficiencies in property market forecasts.


Implementing single-channel speech enhancement under unknown noise conditions is a challenging problem. Most existing time-frequency domain methods are based on the amplitude spectrogram, and these methods often ignore the phase mismatch between noisy speech and clean speech, which largely limits the performance of speech enhancement. To solve the phase mismatch problem and further improve enhancement performance, this paper proposes a dual-stream Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) with phase awareness, named DPGAN. Our generator uses a dual-stream structure to predict amplitude and phase separately and adds an information communication module between the two streams to fully apply the phase information. To make the prediction more efficient, we apply Transformer to build the generator, which can learn the sound's structural properties more easily. Finally, we designed a perceptually guided discriminator that quantitatively evaluates the quality of speech, optimising the generator for specific evaluation metrics. We conducted experiments on the most widely used Voicebank-DEMAND dataset and DPGAN achieved state-of-the-art on most metrics.


Based on the characteristics analysis of bore specimen and microscope of rock core of source rock,this paper analyzes the rock types of hydrocarbon source rocks in Liaodong Bay Area.It also discusses the differences of hydrocarbon generation potential in the hydrocarbon source rocks with different microscopic characteristics through the pyrolysis gas chromatography analysis of thermolysis and kerogen of source rock.The results show that the three sets of Paleogene lacustrine source rocks in Liaodong Bay Area can be divided into four kinds: massive mudstone,calcareous massive mudstone,laminated mudstone and calcareous laminated mudstone.Among the four kinds of rocks above,the calcareous laminated mudstone with more n-alkanes and n-alkenes in molecular structure show the high hydrocarbon generation potential,and the massive mudstone with more aromatic hydrocarbon and cyclic alkanes subpeak in molecular structure present the low hydrocarbon generation potential.


FDG can accumulate in the sites of both malignant and benign inflammatory/infectious processes. It is well known that increased FDG activity caused by inflammatory or infectious lesions can result in false-positive interpretation of PET images when a potential malignancy is being evaluated. However, less has been emphasized about the possibility that a malignant lesion can also be interpreted as infection when such a disorder was highly suspected. We report one such case in which a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the site of chronic osteomyelitis was mistaken as recurrent infection of the tibia.


In this paper, we describe an experiment measuring low- Q 2 elastic electron-proton scattering using a newly developed cryogenic supersonic gas jet target in the A1 three-spectrometer facility at the Mainz Microtron. We measured the proton electric form factor within the four-momentum transfer range of 0 . 01 ≤ Q 2 ≤ 0 . 045 (GeV /c ) 2 . The experiment showed consistent results with the existing measurements. The data we collected demonstrated the feasibility of the gas jet target and the potential of future scattering experiments using high-resolution spectrometers with this gas jet target.


A new continuous reduction process was studied that uses TiCl4 gas and CaCl2 melt as the starting materials[1]. TiCl4 gas is blown to the surface of the molten CaCl2, which is electrochemically decomposed into Cl2 gas at the carbon anode and Ca at the Ti cathode. The evolved Cl2 gas is extracted for conversion of TiO2 to TiCl4, as shown in Fig. 1(b). The deposited Ca is instantly dissolved into CaCl2 melt as in case of OS process, and it reduces TiCl4 gas to the fine Ti particles, which settles down in the Y2O3, MgO or stainless steel (SUS) crucible. This proposal has a potential to decrease the energy consumption in the conventional Kroll process (Fig.1(a)), where the electrolysis and the reduction are separated. The purpose of this study is experimental confirmation of the above-mentioned proposal. The reduction mechanism was firstly confirmed by the Ca reduction in the molten CaCl2, where Ca metal was artificially added. Titanium powder or its sinter was recovered from the bottom of the crucible, when the sufficient amount of Ca was added. When the concentration of dissolved Ca was less than 2 mol% at 1173 K, a part of TiCl4 gas blown to the melt was dissolved probably as TiCl3 or TiCl2 into the CaCl2 melt, and it precipitated as the lower Ti oxides, not as Ti. Fig.3 showed the identified phases by XRD. When the Ti wire as the cathode was used (Fig.4), the blown TiCl4 gas was precipitated on the cathode surface as the dendritic Ti (Fig.5(b)). Because the electrolyzed calcium reacted preferentially with the oxide crucibles, the oxygen ions combined with Ti and Ti and they formed TiO and Ti2O3. No CaTiO3 was detected, although it is an intermediate phase in case of TiO2 reduction in CaCl2 melt.


It is uncommon but possible for positron emission tomography or computed tomography to demonstrate multiple concomitant malignant tumors in one setting. In this clinical setting of synchronous malignancies, it is difficult to distinguish an unexpected benign hypermetabolic osseous process from bone metastasis. The authors present a patient with thyroid, gastroesophageal, and renal neoplasms with distal femoral bone chronic pyogenic osteomyelitis.


BACKGROUND

Expanded vermiculite is widely used in many fields, especially as an ameliorant in agriculture. Although it is known as a cation-exchanger, in a search for a new cesium adsorbent for environmental conservation, the ion-exchange behaviour of cesium on vermiculite in various grain sizes was investigated. The adsorption of cesium from artificial seawater was also investigated.

RESULTS

The effect of the vermiculite grain size was clearly identified. The preferred gain size for general use was found to be 500 µm. The amount of adsorption was low in these artificial seawater samples, however, almost similar ion-exchange behaviour was observed in both of the pure water and artificial seawater samples.

CONCLUSION

Adjustment of grain size according to the end use enables unlimited availability for application as an adsorbent of cesium. The results showed that vermiculite is a promising material for the recovery of cesium from contaminated seawater. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry


Nenets expresses property with lexical items that represent two main word classes: nouns and verbs. This study focuses on the morphological and syntactic features that are typical to adjectives in other languages and also characteristic to property words in Nenets: attributive and predicative positions, derivation, comparative construction and the formation of adverbs of manner. It argues that Nenets property words have features that distinguish them from other nouns and verbs. Furthermore, the study aims at explaining the dichotomy of Nenets property words in two words classes. At the same time, the study takes part in the discussion of the cross-linguistic universality of adjectives and linguistic categorization.


Co-precipitation method has been used to synthesize the material LiNi0.4Co0.2Mn0.4O2.Preparation and properties(morphology,density,structure and electrochemical performance)were systematically explored.Their morphology,structures and electrochemical properties were investigated comparatively.The results indicate that the particles are uniform and the tap density is 1.8 g/cm3.The material has a layer a-NaFeO2-type structure.And LiNi0.4Co0.2Mn0.4O2 has about specific discharge capacity of 150 mAh/g after 17 cycles at 3.0-4.3 V,which should be a potential cathode.


A far field set-up based on the fast and simultaneous recording of 1 million intensity ARS patterns allows both to reconstruct surface topography, and to cancel local defects in this topography.


We investigate the problem of online routing and wavelength assignment and the related throughput maximization problem in wavelength division multiplexing optical networks. It is pointed out that these problems are highly inapproximable, that is, the competitive ratio of any algorithm is at least a polynomial. We evaluate the average-case performance of several online algorithms, which have no knowledge of future arriving connection requests when processing the current connection request. Our experimental results on a wide range of optical networks demonstrate that the average-case performance of these algorithms are very close to optimal.


the basin water environmental Eco-compensation is a local policy which achieved the economical and environmental benefits balance,and the watershed harmonious develop. This paper reviewed the practice and progress in local basin water environmental Eco-compensation inland systematic in recent years. The results showed that the main problems of the basin water environmental Eco-compensation at present was the assessment factors,too many administrative intervention factors on setting the assessment sections,lack of theoretical basis on measuring the Eco-compensation standards,the disunity on Eco-compensation accounting methods based on the foundation and the subjective objective bodies of Eco-compensation was not clear through analyzing the standards and scope of the surface water Eco-compensation of all provinces.


At the 1973 Annual Convention, the Nebraska delegation presented a resolution (No. 14) calling for "a thorough study of third-party rounds" with a report on the subject to be delivered at the 1973 Clinical Convention. ("Rounds" was intended to mean the visiting of patients by physicians.) Reference committee hearings on the subject were extensive and complex. Terms such as third-party rounds, business rounds, teaching rounds, and working rounds were bandied about, adding confusion to complexity. In any event, the reference committee requested "further study of this important subject by appropriate AMA councils or committees." So it was that at the 1973 Clinical Convention, the Council on Medical Education, and the Council on Medical Service jointly reported that "third-party rounds" is a term subject to interpretive confusion but seemingly meant to refer to teaching rounds conducted by physicians who are not actively involved in management of patients' care. The councils deemed


Purpose of reviewTo review the current knowledge on the clinical entity of metastasizing pleomorphic adenoma. Recent findingsUsing case studies, the literature continues to explore the potential to identify a chromosomal abnormality that might explain the clinical entity, and may constitute a submicroscopic malignant transformation with molecular genetic alterations. Presently there are no agreed histopathological p arameters that can identify or confirm a difference in behavior between the 'common' pleomorphic adenoma from the metastasizing pleomorphic adenoma. SummaryThe evidence supports that metastasizing pleomorphic adenoma is most likely to be an unrecognized and as yet unclassified malignant neoplasm and as such must be considered a low-grade, potentially lethal malignant disease when it presents, which may constitute a submicroscopic malignant transformation with molecular genetic alterations. Further research is required to answer the many questions.


Using a methodology that allows for endogenizing decisions to participate in World Bank adjustment lending programs, and for testing the validity of assumptions about program participation, the author studies the effectiveness of these programs in sub - Saharan Africa. He shows that adjustment programs in sub - Saharan Africa had no statistically significant effect on growth in the second half of the 1980s, compared with the first half, but they have had a significant and deleterious effect on investment. Adjustment lending has significantly improved export performance in sub - Saharan Africa, at least compared with nonadjusting African countries. The perceived increases in export competitiveness and in the efficiency of investment (supposed to be generated by reform programs) has not been sufficient to counterbalance the ensuing decline in investment and hence to restore economic growth in sub - Saharan Africa. These findings must be qualified: the methodology for classifying countries as adjusting or nonadjusting does not allow for different degrees of implementation - so, strictly speaking, the findings reflect an assessment of the effectiveness of a proxy (adjustment lending) for the adjustment programs.


The present study was designed to determine the individual and combined effects of acidified sodium chlorite (ASC) and trisodium phosphate (TSP) antimicrobial treatments. Chicken-skin samples inoculated with Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus were separately dipped into sterile tap water, 10% TSP, 0.1% ASC, 0.1% ASC followed by 10% TSP and 10% TSP followed by 0.1% ASC for 15 s at 25C ± 1. On day 0, reductions were 1.4-1.6 log for S. Typhimurium and 1.1-2.1 log for S. aureus, while they were 1.8-2.9 and 0.7-1.7 log, respectively, on day 5 of storage. Results indicated that treatment with ASC solution alone was more effective than treatment with ASC and TSP solutions combined in reducing S. aureus populations on chicken skin during the entire storage period. Similarly, treatment with TSP solution alone was more effective than treatment with ASC and TSP solutions combined in reducing S. typhimurium populations on chicken skin on days 1, 3 and 5 of storage.


Congress, the administration, and a National Research Council committee have come up with myriad ideas for creating a department of homeland security, but just what role science and technology will play is unclear.


APPRECIATION of the value of oxygen as a therapeutic agent has been rapidly increasing during recent years. In providing oxygen service, efficiency is increased by the centralization of supplies and authority.' One individual should be responsible for the general supervision of oxygen service, and a trained and conscientious assisting personnel must be available at all times to provide and maintain the service. These individuals must keep apparatus clean and in good working order and available for immediate use. They also must keep an adequate supply of gases on hand.


Wave drift loads on ships and offshore structures have been a topic of research over the past 50 years, however the linear theory which is used to calculate those has not changed. The aim of this research project is to investigate the effect of bow shape on the second order drift load. A better understanding of the difference between the actual physics and the physics included in linear theory may lead to improved calculation models and thus better accuracy of drift load predictions. The focus of the research will be on the accuracy of the relative wave elevation (RWE) contribution to the mean drift force. This is the major contributor to the drift force and the most likely component affected by the bow shape in real waves, whereas numerical methods assume infinitesimally small waves. The research question investigated in this study is: What is the effect of non-infinitesimal small relative wave heights on the relative wave elevation (RWE) mean drift component for an Aframax FPSO? The total mean drift force in head waves is a delicate balance of the fluid forces at the bow and aft of the ship. The main parameters influencing the four 'Pinkster components' are: ship motions, pressures below the mean waterline (MWL) and the RWE along the MWL. To provide an answer to the research question model tests are conducted for two hull forms. The difference in hull form is found in the bow shape above the MWL. In order to investigate the effect of the RWE on the total drift force alone, motions and pressures below the MWL should be equal for both bow shapes. The original bow shape is that of an Aframax tanker and the wall-sided bow shape is wall-sided (vertical upward from MWL). Therefore, the numerical model is equal for both hull forms and differences in results may be contributed to the difference in bow shape. The increase in RWE at the bow can be contributed to non-linear radiation and diffraction, because motions are equal for wavefrequencies of interest. The bow flare above the MWL affects the RWE due to additional wave disturbance in high waves. The difference in shape is not significant enough to affect the motions, due to e.g. non-linear buoyancy or wave loads acting on the flare. The difference in total mean QTF measured between the original and wall-sided bow could be calculated by using the actual RWE as input for the RWE mean drift component (P I). However, a significant difference between the measured and calculated mean drift force remains and is likely due to 'above MWL' effects and differences in the other drift force components. For higher waves a decrease in contribution of the bow to the mean drift force can be observed. This decrease coincides with observations of bow emergence. This is not in line with total drift force measurements, as the total mean QTF increases with waveheight. The analysis results from the stern suggest there is an increasing contribution to the total mean QTF, due to hull form above the MWL. The observation of non-linear effects, such as splashing at stern and a decrease in RWE, support this. These observations give cause to further investigate the prediction of other "Pinkster components".


In the context of a control system of chemical water treatment in a thermal power plant,this paper presented the usage of PLC with high reliablity,strong anti-interference ability to control the process of chemical water treatments,based on the analysis of production needs.This paper analyzed the chemical water production process and the structure of the system,introduced the system sequence control function realization method,and proposed a new improved method of signal interlocking function.After the system was put into operation,it was stable and reliable,and achieved the expecting application effect.


PURPOSE: Low shrinkage polyamide fiber for an uncovered air bag is capable of manufacturing textile having excellent tensile strength and tear strength. A manufacturing method thereof is provided. CONSTITUTION: Low shrinkage polyamide fiber for an uncovered air bag is obtained by the steps of: (A) preparing polyhexamethylene adipamide containing at least 85mol% of hexamethylene adipamide repeat unit and having 2.5-4.0 of relative viscosity; melt-extruding the polyhexamethylene adipamide through a spinneret at 270-320deg.C; (B) cooling and solidifying the extruded polyhexamethylene adipamide below the spinneret with cooling gas, followed by winding the undrawn yarn at 200-1000mpm of spinning velocity; (C) multistage-drawing the undrawn yarn in a total draw ratio of over 4.0 times; heating and relaxing the drawn yarn at 200-260deg.C in a relaxing ratio of 2-7%; and then winding the drawn yarn. The polyamide fiber has 3-6% of dry heat shrinkage(160deg.C, 30min.), at least 9.0g/d of strength, at least 20% of elasticity, below 0.065 of birefringent rate and 200-1000denier.


Abstract This paper contributes several results on weak KAM theory for time-periodic Tonelli Lagrangian systems. Wang and Yan [Commun. Math. Phys. 309 (2012), 663-691] introduced a new kind of Lax-Oleinik type operator associated with any time-periodic Tonelli Lagrangian. Firstly, using the new operator we give an equivalent definition of the backward weak KAM solution. Then we prove a result on the asymptotic behavior of the new operators with an arbitrary continuous function as initial condition, by taking advantage of the definition mentioned above. Finally, for a specific class of time-periodic Tonelli Lagrangians, we discuss the rate of convergence of the new operators.


The present invention relates to the detection method of content of a kind of andrographolidum Natrii Bisulfis, step is as follows: weigh andrographolidum Natrii Bisulfis reference substance and test sample is each in right amount, add water respectively and make certain density solution;Pipette samples and reference substance solution are each in right amount, inject chromatograph of liquid detection, mobile phase A phase: potassium dihydrogen phosphate;B phase: methanol, areas of peak normalization method calculates content.


This paper is based on a study of 755 Danish SMEs and further in-depth case studies of 12 of these. Its objective was to identify a model of components and relationships among the very best, most efficient, high-performing SMEs. We call these Kickass Companies. The result is a model made up of six interrelated dimensions, which together illustrate what makes up a Kickass Company: You need willpower You need to be there for your customers You strive to be the best Success is a "we thing" You need to be able to accelerate Use motivating KPIs Following these six dimensions might not be a guarantee of success, and not all components will be implementable in all types of companies. However, the empirical evidence here suggests that, if companies think along these lines of doing business, their probability of success will be higher than otherwise.


This study aims to understand the effect of product design, promotion and price toward the purchase decision of Honda BeAT motorcycle on Lamongan. The populations in this study were all buyers of Honda BeAT motorcycle on Lamongan. In this study the sample was 100 respondents selected consider buying a Honda Beat motorcycle at Honda dealers in Lamongan and at least 18 years old and data collection technique by using questioners. Validity test in this research use Pearson Correlation. Test reliability in this study using Cronbach Alpha. The analysis tool used is Multiple Linear Regression. The results of this study can be concluded that Product Design, Promotion and Price either partially or simultaneously have a significant effect on purchasing decision.


Dr. Newman referred to a case of chronic cystitis in a man of 60 years, which had resisted ordinary methods of treatment. Bacillus coli communis was found to be the organism present, and a vaccine was prepared. Injections were given every twelve days. In a week there was marked improvement, and in two months he returned to business. Another very satisfactory case was one of subacute pyelitis, due to the staphylococcus, in a boy of 17. In all, he had treated about


Abstract Steady-state permeation rates and equilibrium sorption measurements were made as a function of temperature for a series of alcohols in a polybutylene adipate polyurethan. The alcohol series included methanol; ethanol; n-propanol; n-, iso-, sec-, and t-butanol; n-pentanol, n-hexanol, and n-heptanol (all at unit activity). Calculated integral diffusivities of the various penetrants correlated well with effective penetrant size. The solubility coefficients for the various alcohols increased as the difference between the solubility parameters of the polymer and penetrant decreased for the normal alcohol series. The solubility coefficients for the branched alcohol isomers were characterized by values lower than those predicted by the correlation for the normal alcohols; possibly steric hindrance limits sorption on specific polymer sites. A detailed analysis of the system ethanol/poly(butylene adipate-polyurethan) revealed a sigmoidal increase of the diffusion coefficient with increasing penetrant conc...


The goal of deepening the comprehensive reforms in the field of education is to accelerate the modernization of educational governance system and capacity.The development of the modernization of school governance capacity, which is of great significance for the modernization of educational governance system and capacity, hinges on the establishment of modern school system. On the basis of a sound and complete legal system,the modernization of school governance capacity can be realized by the moderate use of governmental "power", the effective pooling of social "power", and the strengthening of "combined power" within a school.


São Tomé and Príncipe is an archipelago located in the Gulf of Guinea. This archipelago seems to be an important area for cetaceans, probably due to large concentrations of prey, as well as the existence of several small bays and shallow water that constitute preferred rest areas. In comparison to other areas of the world, little is known about cetacean communities in this archipelago. Boat-based surveys to record sightings of cetaceans were conducted between 2002 and 2005, which represents the first approach to study the occurrence of whales and dolphins in this tropical region. Sightings of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), pantropical spotted dolphins (Stenella attenuata), killer whales (Orcinus orca), sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) and pilot whales (Globicephala melas) were recorded. Cetaceans were found throughout a range of sea surface temperature between 24 and 29°C and a wide range of depths. Significant differences were found regarding the occurrence of some species. Humpback whales showed a preference for shallower waters between 20 and 100 m. Bottlenose dolphins occurred most commonly along the continental shelf (20 to 100 m) and pantropical spotted dolphins occurred in deep slope waters (>1000 m).


One of the development information technology and communication is the  development of telecomunication technology of Smartphone. The smartphone has the ability of functions and uses  similarly like computer. The impacts of using Smartphone to childhood  cause worriness because they are unstable enough, they have very high curiousity and influence to the effect of increasing their consumtive character. The aims of this research were to analyze the influence of using smartphone to the development of  pre school aged children at Kindergarten School and Early Childhood Education of Permata Hati Cijelag, Tomo Village, Subdistrict Tomo, Sumedang Regency. This research used quantitative method. Sampling taking in this research used nonprobability sampling by using  total sampling, the respondents in this research were pre school aged children in Kindergarten School and Early  Childhood Education Permata Hati Cijelag, Tomo Village, Subdistrict Tomo, Sumedang Regency in 2019. The research subjects  were pre school aged children in Kindergarten School and Early  Childhood Education Permata Hati Cijelag, Tomo Village, Subdistrict Tomo, Sumedang Regency as many as 30 children. Statististicstesting before data analysis gained made a normality test by Saphiro Wilk, then data distributed normally thus the next test did  independent t test  with significance p<0,05. The research result showed that there are influences of using Smartphone to the development of pre school aged children with significant score (r) = 0,02 < 0,05. The research result showed that there are influences of using Smartphone to the development of pre school aged children.


The first radical alkoxycarboxylation of aryldiazonium salts using CO gas through visible-light-induced photoredox catalysis (16 W blue LEDs) has been developed. This reaction is entirely metal-free, is carried out at room temperature with a low loading of an organic dye as a photocatalyst (0.5 mol %), and provides a wide range of arylcarboxylic acid esters in high yields. Importantly, this photocatalytic system can be successfully extended to other carboxylation reactions.


In order to improve the total clean coal production rate of the coking coal preparation plant,the paper proposed to reduce the ash content of the floated clean coal and proposed the technical route to improve the total clean coal production rate of the coal preparation plant.The middle production from the super fine crushed slime could make the inorganic mineral and the organic combustion material sully separated from the slime.The pellet flocs floatation method could be applied to separate the floated clean coal with low ash content from the slime.To keep the present total ash content of the clean coal,the heavy medium separation density properly improved and the ash content of the re-cleaned coal properly increased could reach the target to highly improve the total clean coal production rate.The test results showed that when the total ash content of clean coal from the coal preparation plant was less than 9.50%,the production rate of the re-cleaned coal could be increased from the present 69.25% to 75.79% and the total clean coal production rate of the coal preparation plant could be increased by 6.54%.


Purpose : The purpose of this study was to develop a school-based comprehensive smoking cessation program and to test its effectiveness. Method : The study design was quasi-experimental with pre and three posttests. Total 43 high school students participated in the study, 22 in experimental group and 21 in control group. To identify the long-time effectiveness of the program, participants were followed after 3 and 6 months. The program was made up total 9 sessions took 40-50 minutes for one session and was provided twice a week. To test the effectiveness of the program, nicotine dependency, urine cotinine level, self-efficacy, and stress level were used as dependent variables. Results : Nicotine dependency, self-efficacy, and stress level did not significantly changed after the program. However, urine cotinine level was significantly decreased after the program and after six month. Conclusion : The above findings indicated that the program was not effective to change self-efficacy and stress but smoking amount. Further programs need to be developed to influence on psychosocial factors such as self-efficacy and stress.


Aim We describe here an innovative scheme in general practice that provides a work-base environment for student counsellors with funding for counselling supervision and co-ordination. Background The reported mental health prevalence rate in the UK among the general population is 23%. Only 76% of the above population visit a general practitioner, and of these only 44% will be diagnosed. Patients that present depressive symptoms, for example, are not always identified, and yet there is an increased recognition of the need for early diagnosis. There is little or no National Health Service (NHS) funding for counselling services in many areas of England. The training received by general practice registrars, to appropriately assess mental health problems within a typical consultation, has been the focus of a long-standing debate. Method This study outlines the proposed counselling model and presents some preliminary feedback on the patient outcomes achieved. Results and Conclusion The provision of a training environment for counsellor students is an option for increasing access of patients to counselling under the NHS.


Topological data analysis (TDA) is the state-of-the-art unsupervised machine learning framework that can provide insight into the dataset and visualize condensed information via the topological network graph. This robust approach was never used to assess the heterogeneous MitraClip population.

 We aim to develop a TDA model that will identify prognostically-distinct phenogroups in MitraClip patients without a priori knowledge of the population and their outcomes.

 Patients who underwent MitraClip (June 2014-September 2020) at Mayo Clinic sites were identified from the institutional database for baseline and follow-up data. Thirteen variables were used for TDA. The topological network graph was created using the Python Scikit-TDA Kepler-Mapper package (v. 2.0.1), and clustering was performed at the graph level with Louvain's modularity method. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to assess the all-cause mortality endpoint of each cluster identified in an unsupervised manner. The dataset with cluster labels was also used to train a Light Gradient Boosted Machine model, and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis was applied to determine the feature importance.

 A total of 389 consecutive patients were included in the final analysis and two major clusters consisting of 384 patients were identified. The mean age was 80.3±8.7 years; 256 (65.8%) were male. The mean Society of Thoracic Surgeons Mitral Valve Replacement risk score was 9.6±6.9%. Fifty-five (14.5%) patients died during the mean follow duration (185 days). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed significant survival differences among the two clusters (HR: 2.38; 95% CI: 1.39–4.06, p=0.001; Figure 1). Clusters 1 (n=195) was associated with > mild residual mitral regurgitation and worse survival performance and was characterized with worse tricuspid regurgitation severity, a higher proportion of patients with atrial fibrillation/flutter, anterior leaflet prolapse, and mitral annular/leaflet calcification, as summarized in Table 1.

 TDA can identify distinct phenotype clusters with prognostic significance in MitraClip patients based on mitral valve morphology and clinical risk factors. This simple model can facilitate clinical risk stratification for MitraClip patients regarding procedural success and survival performance.

 Type of funding sources: None.


Objectives: To compare the in vitro and in vivo effects of silver products on wound healing. Methods: Eight silver products were compared to determine: fibroblast function using fibroblast-populated collagen lattices (FPCLs), fibroblast viability using the Trypan Blue exclusion test, and fibroblast mitochondrial activity using the MTT [yellow tetrazolium salt; 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay. In vivo effects of 9 silver products were evaluated utilizing a rat model of contaminated wounds. Serial quantitative bacteriology was performed on tissue biopsies over a 10-day period and serial wound areas were obtained over 12 days. Results: Fibroblast cytotoxicity occurred for all of the silver products evaluated. Remaining viable fibroblasts were insufficient to allow FPCL contraction. Mitochondrial activity of the fibroblasts allowed a separation of the various silver compounds. Actisorb Silver and Silvercel had the greatest viable fibroblast activity, but less than the control. Despite in vitro cytotoxicity, all of the silver products except Contreet Foam and Acticoat Moisture Control accelerated wound healing. Conclusions: Silver-containing dressings appeared to benefit healing of the wounds. Just as in vitro bacterial analyses do not fully predict the effect of an antimicrobial in the in vivo setting, in vitro cytotoxicity tests do not fully predict the effect of an agent on wound healing trajectories. Because of the varied antimicrobial and wound healing responses among products, a careful consideration of the particular effects of individual silver-containing dressings or drugs is warranted.


INTRODUCTION: Patients may develop subclinical liver involvement during infections with Ebstein-Barr Virus (EBV) while acute cholestatic hepatitis is a much less common presentation Early investigation for EBV should be considered in patients with viral prodromes and abnormal liver function tests with no demonstrable biliary obstruction on imaging CASE DESCRIPTION/METHODS: A 62-year old female presented with a 2-week history of fever, non specific back pain and new onset jaundice She denied throat pain, new partners, high risk behaviors, or recent travel otherwise and had been told to self-quarantine from her employer given the possibility of COVID infection Initial labs showed alkaline phosphatase of 1231 U/L, ALT 170 U/ L, AST of 158 U/L, and total bilirubin of 6 mg/dL with elevated GGT Abdominal ultrasound showed cholelithiasis, gallbladder sludge and gallbladder wall thickening and MRI MRCP demonstrated no evidence of biliary pathology An abdominal CT with contrast was pursued with concern for back pain with the additional finding of splenomegaly Further viral etiologies were explored including testing for COVID-19, EBV HIV, HSV, CMV, as well as other chronic liver disease work-up of antimitochondrial antibody, anti-smooth muscle antibody, ANA and immunoglobulin levels EBV IgM antibodies were mildly elevated at 1 0 IA(ref <0 9 IA) with a negative EBV IgG and a positive anti-smooth muscle antibody (1:80 dilution) Other work-up was essentially unremarkable Liver biopsy was pursued given the possibility of seronegative PBC Liver pathology revealed prominent portal and lobular hepatitis with some non-necrotizing granulomas and rare EBV positive cells Quantitative EBV titer returned at 5060 viral copies confirming a diagnosis of EBV-associated hepatitis Supportive treatment was continued and the patient was discharged in stable condition with interval follow-up DISCUSSION: Epstein-Barr virus PCR can help identify infection early while IgM may be minimally elevated This particular case demonstrated a lack of lymphadenopathy in an older patient with acute infectious mononucleosis and a rare manifestation of elevated liver enzymes in a cholestatic pattern A positive anti-smooth muscle antibody or negative/borderline serology test in such cases may warrant liver biopsy to rule out other differential diagnoses in patients over the age of 60 but clinical history of a viral prodrome should be valued in the appropriate context to identify unusual causes of cholestatic liver injury


The invention relates to a device for counting rotations of an object in a repository, wherein a magnetic sensor (2) related to the subject measures a field associated with the repository to generate measurement signals in the rotational frequency of the object.The sensor also forms a receive antenna (2) of a wave electromagnetique.L'invention also provides a method for controlling a metering device.


The present invention includes a main body provided in the opening of the pressurized gas storage tank, a gas extraction circuit extends between the second downstream end connected to the first upstream end and a gas user, which is connected to the inside of the tank includes a filling tube, having a second downstream end connected to the first upstream end and the filling member connected to the inside of the tank includes at least one further part of the circuit takes out the filling tube together comprise a first valve, the filling tube is characterized in that it comprises a second isolated valve disposed in the first valve in series, it has been implicated in the gas filling and dispensing device. .FIELD 1


The Mars Curiosity rover carries an instrument, ChemCam, designed to measure the composition of surface rocks and soil using laser‐induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The measured spectra from this instrument must be analyzed to identify the component elements in the target sample, as well as their relative proportions. This process, which we call disaggregation, is complicated by so‐called matrix effects, which describe nonlinear changes in the relative heights of emission lines as an unknown function of composition due to atomic interactions within the LIBS plasma. In this work, we explore the use of the plasma physics code ATOMIC, developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, for the disaggregation task. ATOMIC has recently been used to model LIBS spectra and can robustly reproduce matrix effects from first principles. The ability of ATOMIC to predict LIBS spectra presents an exciting opportunity to perform disaggregation in a manner not yet tried in the LIBS community, namely via Bayesian model calibration. However, using it directly to solve our inverse problem is computationally intractable due to the large parameter space and the computation time required to produce a single output. Therefore, we also explore the use of emulators as a fast solution for this analysis. We discuss a proof of concept Gaussian process emulator for disaggregating two‐element compounds of sodium and copper. The training and test datasets were simulated with ATOMIC using a Latin hypercube design. After testing the performance of the emulator, we successfully recover the composition of 25 test spectra with Bayesian model calibration.


The pathogenesis,mechanism,classification and clinical characteristics of posterior vitreous detachment are reviewed,and the correlation between posterior vitreous detachment and high myopia is investigated.


The main subject of this paper is an analysis of the influence of changes in the air pollution caused by road traffic, due to its modernization, on the air quality in Warsaw conurbation, Poland. Using the Calpuff model, simulations of the yearly averaged concentrations of NOx, CO, PM10, and PM2.5 were performed, together with an assessment of the population exposure to individual pollutions. Source apportionment analysis indicates that traffic is the main source of NOx and CO concentrations in the city atmosphere. Utilizing the Euro norms emission standards, a scenario of vehicle emission abatement is formulated based on the assumed general vehicle fleet modernization and transition to Euro 6 emission standards. Computer simulations show a reduction in NOx concentrations attributed to emission mitigation of passenger cars, trucks and vans, and public transport buses, respectively. On the other hand, improving air quality in terms of CO concentrations depends almost exclusively on gasoline vehicle modernization. The implementation of the considered scenario causes an adequate reduction in the population exposure and related health effects. In particular, implementation of the scenario discussed results in a 47% reduction (compared with the baseline value) in the attributable yearly deaths related to NOx pollution. In spite of a substantial contribution of vehicle traffic to the overall PM pollution, modernization of the fuel combustion causes only minor final effects because the dominant share of PM pollution in Warsaw originates from the municipal sector and the transboundary inflow.


Carbonization of phenolic resin as such results in formation of non graphtisable carbon with glass like texture [1]. However, in carbon-carbon composites, matrix derived from phenolic resin gets influenced by shrinkage and thermal stresses generated during the carbonization and graphitisation process in these composites [2,3]. In addition to influencing the structure of the matrix, these stresses may, under certain conditions, affect structure of the fiber [4]. In the earlier study, composites prepared using three type of PAN based carbon fibers possessing different surface characteristics were found to make the different of type interactions with resol type phenolic resin. High strength carbon fiber composites developed columanar type texture where the fiber matrix interactions were strongest and laminar type texture was observed in case of high modulus carbon fiber composites where fiber matrix interaction are weakest [5,6]. The present investigation was undertaken to understand how the different type of interfaces influence the development of crystalline parameters, coefficient of thermal expansion and electrical conductivity in carbon-carbon composites.


Ageism, defined as "discrimination against the old on the grounds of their being old,"1 emerged as a concept in the United States in the 1960s and promptly joined racism and sexism in the rogues' gallery of social attitudes unacceptable to pressure groups. The Grey Panthers, having found their demon, fought it with commendable zeal and effect. People, it seemed, could be made to feel uncomfortable if accused of even quite recently identified discriminatory attitudes or practices. The idea of ageism is less familiar in Britain, but that should not make us complacent. Though to many an uncouth neologism, the word at least invites us to examine our prejudices, and the intended analogy with racism suggests an illuminating exercise. Would we dare translate our less amiable generalisations about elderly patients, our more exasperated reactions to them, directly into terms of colour? ("Don't you find it depressing working with black patients all the time?" "Twelve new admissions last night and only three of them white." "How can I be expected to run a teaching medical ward with all these beds blocked by, ahem, ethnic minorities?") The point need not be laboured. Perhaps some doctors are ageist, some of the time at least. Such systematic research as has been carried out on the subject, mainly among medical students, confirms that a problem exists.23 A negative attitude to the elderly?"a medical prejudice against old patients"2?is worrying simply because so many patients are old and many clinical encounters will therefore be vitiated if doctors are reluctant, ambivalent, or hostile towards them. Older patients have too many diagnoses and insufficient respect for the traditional specialty boundaries of medicine. They may offer slow and elusive histories and may have, in most cases through no fault of their own, social problems. Their proper diagnosis and management may be less than straightforward for busy doctors in general practice and in the single organ specialties, where many contributing factors, ignorance of the basics of geriatric medicine perhaps included, may combine to produce frustration, exasperation, withdrawal, or rejection. "We come to clinical medicine with humanity and after three years they have educated it out of us," observed a medical student quoted by Gale and Livesley in a 1971 study which showed that junior hospital doctors' attitudes to the care of the elderly were much less favourable than those of clinical medical students.4 Teaching hospital ageism, which can reasonably be held to account for the difference, is hard to resist but may not go on forever. The present generation of teachers is the last not widely exposed to undergraduate education in geriatric medicine,5 and recent evidence from the evaluation of such teaching efforts suggests that a better understanding of the special needs of elderly patients results in more positive attitudes towards their care.6 7


In this report we present a novel technique for a Markov prefetcher designed to hide memory latency. This prefetcher makes use of the information about previous cache misses in a memory trace and effectively predicts future misses with high accuracy and coverage rate. The analysis of the memory traces of the executed benchmarks reveals that our threshold-based prefetcher poses an optimized memory bandwidth overhead while not hurting the prefetcher coverage and effectively increasing its accuracy. Our data indicate that the average loss in coverage is 1% while the gain in accuracy is 13% and the reduction in memory bandwidth overhead is 39%. The design also achieves more than an order of magnitude reduction in mispredictions as compared to previous results.


The early diagnosis of these diseases is required to start as soon as possible the correct therapy for the patients affected. However, the end-stage heart failure is common and HTx could be offered to selected patients, especially if affected by light chain cardiac amyloidosis, to allow to perform the autologous stem cell transplantation after the cardiac transplant. Considering the Fabry disease patients, the enzyme recombinant therapy is also mandatory after HTx to avoid potential release of the systemic disease on the donor graft.


The invention discloses a disc-type modified membrane sheet which includes a modified PVDF membrane, a supporting and flow-guiding net and a modified PVDF membrane which are laminated vertically and successively and pressed into a disc-type structure. The membrane sheet also includes a mounting through hole penetrating the modified PVDF membranes and the supporting and flow-guiding net in the center of the disc-type structure. The periphery of the two modified PVDF membrane layers are pressed into an integrated and sealed structure. Each modified PVDF membrane is composed of a PVDF base membrane and a composite modifying coating on the surfaces of the PVDF base membrane. The membrane sheet is high in flexibility and is not liable to deform when being bent. The surface of the membrane sheet is smooth, so that water flow turbulent effect on the surface is improved and concentration polarization is reduced. Meanwhile, the hole in the membrane sheet is in a porous sponge net-like structure, so that the membrane sheet is greatly improved in anti-plug and anti-polluting performance. The surface of the membrane is subjected to electric potential treatment through the modifying agent, so that the membrane is better in hydrophilia, is strong in membrane layer adhesion force and is not liable to separate and strip off.


One hundred and three suprabenthic hauls in the Seine Estuary were taken on a marine to fresh water gradient with a modified Macer-GIROQ sledge during 1996 to collect Benthic Boundary Layer fauna. Two main species assemblages were identified along the salinity gradient: (1) a marine assemblage located in the downstream part of the estuary dominated by amphipods and mysids such as Schistomysis spp. and Gastrosaccus spp.; (2) an estuarine assemblage essentially dominated by the mysid Neomysis integer, recorded along the salinity gradient with maximal abundance observed between 15–10 psu. The decapod Palaemon longirostris and the goby Pomatoschistus microps were located in the upstream part of the estuary where they presented maximal abundances. Some species used the estuary during juvenile development such as the mysid Mesopodopsis slabberi (Van Beneden, 1861) and decapod Crangon crangon. Although the morphological characteristics of the Seine Estuary (weak estuarine area and important dredging) are different than other major European estuaries such as Gironde, Westerschelde and Ems, the longitudinal distribution of the demersal community presented similar patterns in all sites. Nevertheless, monthly sampling permitted to determine the seasonal location and abundance changes of the demersal assemblages in the Seine estuary. Marine assemblages presented maximal densities during summer and autumn while estuarine species were most abundant during spring and summer. Longitudinal changes of main demersal species during an annual cycle showed an increase of spatial distribution along the salinity gradient for marine and neritic species during spring and summer with a penetration of species in the estuary. The abundances of both assemblages were very high (annual mean >5000 ind 100 m−3) whereas the biomass of the estuarine assemblage was very important (annual mean ≅38 g ash-free dry weight 100 m−3).


Infrastructural development in agriculture will directly help achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the least developed countries (LDCs) as the majority of the population in these regions depend on agriculture. This study presents the case of Nepal, one of the LDCs and suggests the establishment of a urea manufacturing plant for improving agriculture productivity and fulfilling the SDGs of zero hunger, no poverty and decent work, and economic growth. Herein, in the context of Nepal, we have reviewed: (i) the status of SDGs of Nepal, (ii) agricultural productivity associated with usage and supply of urea, (iii) technologies associated with urea production, (iv) the feasibility of establishing a urea plant based on the raw material availability and sustainability and (v) the opportunity for economic and technological development. The hydropower-powered electrolysis and CO2 capture from cement industry flue gas were determined to be the strategically feasible and sustainable pathway for urea production and consequently, the fulfillment of SDGs in the context of Nepal. A detailed project study on the economics of the electrolysis-based urea manufacturing process is recommended to foster a sustainable development national plan for Nepal. Although this report highlights the various aspects of urea production in Nepal, this study can be useful for other LDCs dependent on agriculture to achieve SDGs.


Abstract: The development of ecotourism as supporting contextual learning is an attempt to foster an attitude of environmental awareness. Ecotourism development integrates: forest conservation, the panoramic beauty, the potential local wealth, the potential local culture, and the participation of rural communities. The concept of development: learning process, the principle of conservation, community development, and evaluation. The strategy to make it happen participation of local communities, public education, environmental and cultural conservation, ecotourism experts, infrastructure, and promotion. The challenge is consistency in the development of all the parties concerned. If ecotourism successfully, it as a support for contextual learning to cultivate an attitude of concern for the environment so that the life of a harmonious, balanced, harmony and improve the local economy. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */
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If the optic glands are removed from mature male octopuses, the weight of the testis and its ducts decline. Spermatophore production eventually ceases after five or six weeks. The effect of the operation is most marked in the case of large animals. If the glands are activated by removing the source of their nerve supply in the subpedunculate lobe of the suprapesophageal brain, testis and duct enlargement follows enlargement of the glands themselves ; the number of spermatophores found in the male ducts doubles within a month of the operation. Castration of the animals is not followed by a change in the weight of the male ducts, indicating that the optic gland secretion affects the state of the ducts directly rather than through the testis. Octopus vulgaris Cuvier and O. cyanea Gray were used in the experiments.


The invention discloses a partial jet flow small circulating ratio pipe casing type high temperature waste heat steam boiler. The partial jet flow small circulating ratio pipe casing type high temperature waste heat steam boiler comprises a boiler cylinder and a pipe casing type evaporation heat exchanger which are vertically arranged; the boiler cylinder and the pipe casing type evaporation heat exchanger are arranged in a horizontal type; the boiler cylinder and the pipe casing type evaporation heat exchanger are connected through an ascending pipe assembly and a declining pipe assembly; the boiler cylinder is connected with a water inlet connecting opening formed in the pipe casing type evaporation heat exchanger through a high temperature high pressure water pipe; a high temperature high pressure water pump is arranged on the high temperature water pipe. The partial jet flow small circulating ratio pipe casing type high temperature waste heat steam boiler has the advantages of being small in circulating ratio, efficient and energy saving, long in service life, small in occupied space, benefited to site installation and original facility reconstruction and reasonably utilizing high temperature flue gas waste heat in the chemical engineering field.


Correspondence: Diego Pérez de Arenaza Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Many medical, political and social events have multiple causes, many of them related to each other. Multivariate analysis is a statistical tool to determine the relative contribution of different causes to a given event or outcome. Clinical researchers need this type of analysis, since diseases have multiple causes and prognosis is usually determined by a large number of factors. This type of analysis will be applied in two clinical scenarios by means of two examples.


It is now a little more than eight years since Professor Harper issued the first part of his large and comprehensive work on the Assyrian letters which were found in the famous Royal Library at Nineveh and are now preserved among the collections of the British Museum, where they form a valuable and extremely important section of cuneiform literature. The idea of publishing a complete set of epistolary texts was a good one, first because they were of great historical importance, and secondly because the publication of one section of Assyrian literature in a complete form would enable the student to make himself master of a set of grammatical rules and idioms, which could not be studied from the stereotyped narrative of Assyrian annalistic texts. Professor Earper's work is already very well known among Assyriologists and not a few Semitic scholars in general, so we have no need to weary our readers here with any prolonged series of details concerning it. It will be sufficient o say that the present part is the fifth of the series of the valuable texts which he has edited, and that it is in no way inferior in point of general interest to its four predecessors. Professor Earper is to be congratulated, not only on having secured an excellent subject upon which to work, but also on having recognized its true importance and on the careful way in which he has set out to do justice to it. Many will remember the time when students, such as Professor Delitzsch, Mr. Samuel Alden Smith, and others, edited small, well-written letter-texts; and in the early days of scientific Assyriology their fellow-students received their publications with thanks, notwithstanding the fact that they lacked arrangement, classification, andl system. Letter-texts have always been favorite objects of study,


3-Dimensional images are popular in these days, especially on the field of 3-dimensional movie theater, video and so on. In the process of making 3-D film and editing, the control of depth information is very important. There is no quantitative measure for this control because it depends on the personal characteristics of 3-D viewing. Therefore, it is difficult to make quantitative measure for representative cases.


SMEs had shown little growth and failure in many places. To examine why SMEs failed to grown as expected however, needs a detail empirical investigations. Based on thisrealitythe present study aimed at establishing the determinants of the growth of SMEs using 258 SMEs. The study adopted explanatory research design with quantitative method of data gathering using survey strategy. The finding shows thatorganizational determinants namely, strategy, management capability, human resource capability and marketing capability were significantly determine the growth of SMEs. The study revealed that access to finance, legal and regulatory factors, technological capability, infrastructural facility and working premises were environmental determinants that positively affect the growth of SMEs. Furthermore the study proved that, personal factors are significantly and positively influence the growth of SMEs. More over from the three dimensions of growth determinants, organizational determinants adversely affect the growth of SMEs.The study concludes that the growth of SMEs is multitude and complicated and determined by personal, organizational and environmental determinants. Policy makers advised to give due attention for these factors while they design and implement policy and strategic plan concerned with SMEs whereas future researchers recommended to consider additional factors that influence the growth of SMEs and conduct longitudinal studies in the future if possible.


We study the effects of realistic dephasing environments on a pair of solid-state single-photon sources in the context of the Hong-Ou-Mandel dip. By means of solutions for the Markovian or exact non-Markovian dephasing dynamics of the sources, we show that the resulting loss of visibility depends crucially on the timing of photon detection events. Our results demonstrate that the effective visibility can be improved via temporal postselection, and also that time-resolved interference can be a useful probe of the interaction between the emitter and its host environment.


The paper discusses the security mode in the Bluetooth information baseband transmission——link level enforced security. It analyses and implements the key management,key generation and initialization, and the algorithm of encryption and authentication. In conclusion the author put forward his view on Bluetooth security.


Spontaneous idiopathic intestinal intussusception, a very rare process in adults, presents with unspecific clinical manifestations of which abdominal pain is usually preponderant. Because many clinicians are unfamiliar with the condition, they fail to diagnose it early, and the subsequent negative course often requires intestinal resection. We describe a patient with this problem, and stress that the information provided by imaging techniques is often sufficient for a rapid, unequivocal diagnosis.


Since discovering the technique of computer matching several years ago, government managers have been invoking this computer tool in the attempt to root out waste and fraud in their programs. Is computer matching an indispensable tool for government administrators? Or a trampling on individual rights? In the following articles, two experts debate the pros and cons.


The objective of the present thesis is a better understanding of the structure, variability, energetics and heating mechanisms of the upper solar atmosphere. I have used observations in the extreme ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum obtained with various instruments onboard SOHO. Most of these observations were obtained with the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) and the Solar Ultraviolet Measurement of Emitted Radiation (SUMER). For one study I also used observations from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) and the ExtremeUltraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) onboard SOHO and from the Soft xray Telescope (SXT) onboard Yohkoh. In Chapter 1 I introduce the basic terminology and phenomena of the physics of the solar atmosphere, including abrief description of the chromosphere, transition region, corona, loop models and heating mechanisms. The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part I study the brightness variability of the quiet Sun for spectrallines formed at different temperatures, from the chromosphere to the corona. The temporal and spatial variations may represent the fluctuations in the heating rate. The empirical study of these variations in fine structures observed in the solar atmosphere may provide us with useful clues related to the heating mechanisms. In Chapter 2 I study brightness variations of solar features at three different temperatures sampled simultaneously in chromospheric, transition region and coronallines using CDS. Here I find that the relative variability is independent of intensity and strongest in the transition region 0 V line. In Chapter 3 I extend these studies to a larger set of lines observed simultaneously and cospatially with both CDS and SUMER. The results of Chapter 2 are confirmed and extended. I also found a very tight relationship between net Doppler shifts and relative brightness variabilities of the selected lines (correlation coefficient


A development method of GIS is introduced, which uses object-oriented technology with VC6.0 development tools of Microsoft. And the GIS can be runned under the windows of client/server pattern. The system is composed of three subsystems which are drawing system, databases management system and query and analysis system. The position of the drawing element and the relative data are queried each other by using the GIS. The system has implemented no seam bond of drawing system and MIS.


The phenomenon of semantic shifts in the lexical meaning of a word in the language system is known as enantiosemy. Notwithstanding an increased attention to the problem of enantiosemy by scholars (Benkovičová (1993), Böhmerová (1997), Traugott (2006), Liberman (2009) et al.) there is still no generally accepted definition of enantiosemy. Our research is motivated by the necessity to determine its status in linguistics.

The objective of the paper is threefold: to clarify its niche in language structure; to decompose the lexical meaning of the enantiosemes, and differentiate its types in discourse. The discourse analysis proves the influence of discourse register on the shifts of the semantic meaning components in the lexical meaning of the referred units.

The enantiosemy is the coexistence of apparently contradictory components in the word lexical meaning (Traugott, 2006), cf.: it constitutes a special form of ambiguity (Gambarara, 2013). We define the enantiosemy as a lexical category that is based on the semantic component opposition in the lexical structure of the word. The following types of enantiosemy are singled out: lexical; semantic; phraseological; evaluative; and stylistic or ironic.

Enantiosemy is based on the existence of the two opposite meanings in one lexeme that appear in the circle of a language unit. It arises from semantic shifts when the semantic meaning of a lexeme splits with the formation of two opposite meanings. Analysis of enantiosemy reveals some analogous groups in the sense of relation of opposition. And due to the coexistence of opposite components (negatively-marked and positively-marked) in the semantics of place name it can be viewed as enantiosemic unit and the shift between components according to the discourse register is shown. The status of enantiosemy among related linguistic phenomena is determined in the paper.


Recently, there has been a growing attention to employ evolutionary algorithms (EAs) in addressing dynamic optimisation problems (DOPs) due to its significance in real world applications. The most notable challenge when solving DOPs is that the objective should not only attempt to seek the global optimum by an efficient way, but be able to keep track the optimal solution during the environmental changes. Thus, several mechanisms have been developed for EAs in order to improve the search performance of the algorithm in accommodating the dynamic changes such as by increasing the diversity of the population. Among these strategies, the multi-population mechanism has been found beneficial for EAs for DOPs. Dynamic travelling salesman problems (DTSPs) are categorised under DOPs. In the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP), a salesman wants to distribute items sold in different cities starting from his home city and returning after he visited all the cities to his starting city again by optimising his time and tour efficiently. However, in the DTSPs, it is more challenging to consider the traffic delays that may affect the route of the salesman and change the time planned beforehand. Therefore, the salesman will optimise his time again and find a new alternative route to avoid long traffic delays. The presented work aims to build upon the state of the art research methodologies for the DTSPs with traffic factors, where in order to cope with the dynamic behaviour, a multi-population approach is applied to harmony search algorithm that mimics the musical process of trying to find a state of harmony. Moreover, a multiple pitch adjustment rate (PAR) strategy is proposed since PAR assumed to be the moving rate from one city to the nearest city in the TSP. The performance of the proposed multi-population HS algorithm is verified on two variations of DTSPs with traffic factors, i.e., random and cyclic traffic delays. Based on different DTSP test cases, the experimental results show that the proposed approach is able to obtain competitive results when compared to the bestknown results in the scientific literature.


To understand the role of vitamin E in the treatment of arsenical melanosis and keratosis, the buccal cells of 19 patients, 14 arsenic exposed controls and 13 healthy volunteers were collected for the estimation of vitamin E both before and after supplementation with vitamin E (200 IU, caplet) daily orally for 20 weeks. The vitamin E levels in the buccal cells of patients were significantly low in comparison to healthy volunteers (healthy vs patients: 17.2  ±  4.4 vs 12.3 ± 6.1 mg/mg of protein; p=0.012). These low level of vitamin E in patients returned toward normal levels following supplementation with vitamin E for 20 weeks (p=0.044). The vitamin E levels in serum of patients were also low (healthy vs patients: 18.9 ± 4.4 vs 10.2 ± 2.6  mg/mL; p=0.000). Supplementation with vitamin E overcomed the low levels of vitamin E in serum. The cholesterol levels in buccal cells and serum of patients were significantly low in comparison to healthy volunteers (buccal cells of healthy vs patients: 24.5 ± 14.1 vs 10.3 ± 9.8 mg/mg of protein; p=0.005; serum of healthy vs patients: 153.5 ± 22.8 vs 125.3 ± 37.0 mg/dL; p=0.012). After supplementation of vitamin E, there was no significant change in cholesterol levels in both buccal cells and serum of patients. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjp.v8i3.14954 Bangladesh Journal of Pharmacology Vol.8(3) 2013 236-241


--Recently, high utility pattern (HUP) mining is one of the most important research issues in data mining due to its ability to consider the non binary frequency values of items in transactions and different profit values for every item. On the other hand, incremental and interactive data mining provide the ability to use previous data structures and mining results in order to reduce unnecessary calculations when a database is updated, or when the minimum threshold is changed. This paper proposes three novel tree structures to efficiently perform incremental and interactive HUP mining. This propose two algorithms, namely utility pattern growth (UP-Growth) and UPGrowth+, for mining high utility itemsets with a set of effective strategies for pruning candidate itemsets. The information of high utility itemsets is maintained in a treebased data structure named utility pattern tree (UP-Tree) such that candidate itemsets can be generated efficiently with only two scans of database. The first tree structure, Incremental UP Lexicographic Tree (IUPL-Tree), is arranged according to an item's lexicographic order. It can capture the incremental data without any restructuring operation. The second tree structure is the IHUP Transaction frequency Tree (IUPTF-Tree), which obtains a compact size by arranging items according to their transaction frequency (descending order). To reduce the mining time, the third tree, IHUP-Transaction-Weighted Utilization Tree (IUPTWUTree) is designed based on the TWU value of items in descending order. Extensive performance analyses show that our tree structures are very efficient and scalable for incremental and interactive HUP mining.


We study the diffractive properties of metallic photonic crystals in the homogenization regime. It is shown that for a H || polarized field, the metallic crystal has an anomalous behaviour: it behaves like an artificial dielectric material with a current on its boundary. Numerical computations are given showing the practical use of the theoretical results.


ABSTRACT The present study built on previous research to explore the development of e-business education in North America. Data was collected from college and university web sites on master's and bachelor's e-business programs. Findings suggest that the number of both types of e-business programs is increasing. The proportion of technical e-business courses in such programs also appears to be growing. This may reflect a move toward balanced treatment of technical and nontechnical e-business course content.


Titanium dioxide (TiO2) based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) doped with reduced graphene oxide, rGO also known as graphene were fabricated at concentrations of 0.01 wt.% . The performance of TiO2/graphene based DSSC and TiO2 based DSSC were studied using electrolytes; PAN-based gel electrolyte. The thin films were characterized using several characterizations such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and current-voltage (I-V) measurement. The micrograph images obtained by SEM demonstrated that the thin films are highly porous. The XRD characterization showed that the crystalline particle of thin films is an anatase state and high percentage of carbon composition can be determined using EDX analysis. Through I-V characteristic, the current density Jsc, open circuit-voltage Voc, fill-factor FF, and efficiency η of the TiO2-based DSSC were 0.196 mA/cm2, 0.44 V, 0.496 and 0.043% respectively. I-V characteristic showed an increase in values for rGO/TiO2 based DSSC such as Jsc = 1.177 mA/cm2, Voc = 0.66 V, FF = 0.656 and η = 0.509%. The addition of rGO concentration has improved the efficiency of DSSC while the use of electrolyte gel can sustain the stability of the cell.


Introduction: It has recently been demonstrated in a meta-analysis that patients with a history of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and atrial fibrillation have a reduced risk of ischemic stroke (IS)...


SUMMARY Networks of business cooperation in rural localities, can be as critical as other traditional factors to promote competitiveness. Such is the case of Sinaloa's municipalities of Esquinapa and El Rosario, specializing in the cultivation and commercialization of mango. However, among the investigated farmers of that localities, still prevail cooperation networks that depend of family and neighborhood relationships, which are of low intensity, limited geographical scope and poorly diversified. Moreover, most of them reach a weak level of insertion into networks, which partly explains their low business competitiveness. To deal this problem, we propose to consider various territorial factors that could contribute to maintaining the economic viability of rural communities such as the investigated.


The invention discloses a wafer cutting device. The wafer cutting device comprises a wafer bearing platform, an L-shaped telescopic support, a wafer fixing frame, an idler wheel and a cutting knife, wherein the cutting knife is fixed to the top end of the L-shaped telescopic support, the wafer bearing platform is connected to the middle of the L-shaped telescopic support and is covered with an adhesive film, the wafer fixing frame is arranged on the wafer bearing platform and is used for fixing a wafer to be cut, the idler wheel is installed on one side of the wafer bearing platform and is used for exerting pressure on the wafer to be cut after the wafer to be cut is cut through the cutting knife, and thus the wafer to be cut is divided into a plurality of crystal grains. According to the wafer cutting device, cutting and separating are integrated, cost is reduced, and time is saved.


This is a study of hydrophobic constituents from Emilia sonchifolia(Linn.)DC..The constituents were analysed with capillary gas chromatography and GC-MS,respectively.More than 30 compounds were obtained and 27 of them were identified.All compounds were first identified from this plant.


Metaphor in the English business discourse is considered as means of conceptualizing the ideas about economic realities. The metaphorical phrases and expressions in the texts of the thematic area of "Finance and Economics" are analysed. The sources of the texts were British weekly «The Economist», the BBC News website and CNNMoney.com (2012-2015 time horizon). The author relies on the theory of J. Lakoff and M. Johnson. It is shown that metaphors are an important communicative tool for the transfer of specialized information. Examples taken from authentic economic texts demonstrate the use of metaphorical language to conceptualize economic realities. Among the most common conceptual metaphors in the economic discourse depending on the source sphere, i.e. the vector of association, there are the following basic models: "Economy is a Human body (its health and illness)", "Economy is a War / Sports", "Economy is Nature & natural forces", "Economy is a Machine" and others. It is proved that metaphor in business discourse is the instrument through which it is possible to understand the financial and economic phenomena. Attention is paid to the difficulties of translation of metaphorical language units.


A self-consistent theory of freezing developed by the author (J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 62 (1993) 4316) is applied to systems interacting through inverse-power potentials. The theory is based on the idea of the thermodynamic perturbation approach and consists in a generalization of the modified weighted-density approximation of Denton and Ashcroft (Phys. Rev. A 39 (1989) 4701). The results of applications are in good agreement with the simulation data and usefulness of the theory is confirmed for systems interacting through soft-core or long-ranged potentials. Both theoretical and numerical comparisons between the present and other similar approaches are also made.


The structure of creams consisting of paraffin, water, cholesterol and different cetylalcohol-polyoxyethylene (POE)-ethers was investigated. The content of paraffin in these mixtures was varied


In this chapter, the author discusses two different methodological areas which seem to be crucial for the transformation of scientific positivist malestream into critical scientific feminist Historical-Jesus research. The author has suggested a social-movements-for-change model as an alternative to Millennialism that allows one to reconstruct the movements gathered in Jesus' name that inspire political-religious change rather than spiritualizing and de-politicizing them. Social-scientific Historical-Jesus study would become more rather than less scientifi c and objective if it would engage critical feminist questions and methodologies. Critical feminist Jesus studies bring to the conversation their insistence on a hermeneutics of suspicion that scrutinizes the ideological frameworks and political functions of research in the discourses of domination as well as their engagement of a hermeneutics of re-construction that places wo/men in the center of attention. Keywords: Critical Feminist; Historical-Jesus; ideological frameworks; scientific positivist malestream


Like many other European Germans living beyond Germany's borders, 1933–45, the German minority in Denmark supported the Nazi regime and its policy of territorial expansion. But unlike most German minorities of Europe, the Germans in Denmark avoided post-war deportation or forced assimilation. Able to stay in their native region, the minority reconstructed their civic life over the next 25 years. The minority regarded education as vital for securing the group's long-term survival. The success of re-building schools, however, did not leave the minority unchanged. Over time, the identities that were constructed and communicated in the new schools changed as much as the society which surrounded them. The article explores this identity transformation through analysing the process whereby the education system was reconstructed, 1945–1970. The article shows that children and youths of the German minority in post-war North Schleswig attended schools that gradually replaced majority-minority hostility and national separatism with transnational inclusion.


INTRODUCTION: Percutaneous kidney biopsy is a safe method widely used in the diagnosis and management of renal diseases. The aim of our study is to evaluate the factors associated with the risk of bleeding associated with the procedure in imaging-guided percutaneous kidney biopsies. METHODS: Patients who were referred to our interventional radiology clinic between May 2018 and December 2019 and who underwent ultrasound-guided percutaneous kidney biopsy were retrospectively scanned. Patients above 18 years old who had pre-procedure ultrasound imaging and post-procedure pathology information were included in the study. Pediatric patients under 18 years old and transplanted kidney biopsies were excluded. RESULTS: A total of 107 patients were included in the study. 57 of the patients were male (53.3%) and 50 were female (46.7%). The mean age of the patients was 47.8 ± 15.5. The mean Hb value of the patients before the procedure was 11.2 ± 1.7 mg / dl, while the mean Hb value after the procedure was 11.1 ± 1.7 mg / dl. The median Hb drop in patients was 4.2%. In statistical analysis, there was no significant difference between hemoglobin values before and after the procedure (p = 0.864). No significant correlation was found between the decrease in hemoglobin values and patient age (p = 0.406), kidney size (p = 0.814), parenchymal echogenicity (p = 0,175) and parenchymal thickness (p = 0,254). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Ultrasound-guided percutaneous kidney biopsy is a method that can be used safely in the diagnosis of kidney diseases. Although there is a risk of bleeding, this risk is minimal with appropriate evaluation before the procedure.


We used Design Probes (DP) as a communication tool supporting designers to learn about users, collecting selfdocumentation data from children and parents about their everyday chronic disease management. DP are also applied as alternative strategies to perform ethnographic study in a domestic environment and to elicit inspirational data for the design of an educational interactive eBook for newly diagnosed children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Eight probe activities were designed for children between the ages of 812 years who have diabetes and their caregivers, which were then distributed to seven families. The main issue discussed in this paper is the adaptation of the DP to the users (children and parents) and the results produced by participants who used them.


The two 65 m2 electrostatic precipitators corresponding to the finished product system in No.1 Sintering Workshop can not meet the dedusting requirements for increased production capacity of sintering machines.As a result,the environment of sieve compartment is worse and we are actively looking for the solutions.With the situation of great cost pressure and financial strain as well as the existing equipment,some measures for management,piping layout and optimizing dust collection points are adopted with scientific analytic demonstrations,with which the working environment of sieve compartment has been greatly improved.


To achieve behavior change in our lives for several specific goals towards better well-being, various types intervention systems have been proposed. However, because of humans' bounded rationality, such explicit information provision for the users do not always reach their attention, thus fails the needed information for the behavior change. This paper propose new concepts "behavification" with which information system bypasses the user's cognitive, attentional and perceptive system by not notifying him/her and modifies the system behavior to directly influence the user's behavior under user's explicit advance permission. Through a series of group discussion and survey sessions with 19 participants, we investigated how the potential behavification users see its appropriateness to different application categories, killer application scenarios, and design guidelines and rationales for a behavification system to support such scenarios. We found total 58 application scenarios and propose 3 guidelines "advance user permission", "multi-modality" and "integration with real-world action/actuation."


Background and Aims : Staff turnover is one of the key managerial issues in the health sector. Health managers may prevent staff turnover and job displacement using quality of working life. This study was aimed to develop a relationship between the quality of working life and turnover intention among a hospital staff under the auspices of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods : The present cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014. The study population included all staff members in the hospital, and a total of 126 subjects were selected through stratified random sampling. Data were collected using the Walton's quality of working life questionnaire consisting of 32 questions as well as 3 questions about staff turnover. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients and multiple regressions. Results: Based on the findings of this study, a significant relationship between quality of working life and staff turnover. Constitutionalism and integrity were significant predictors of staff willing to leave. Conclusion : Quality of working life can significantly affect employee turnover. Therefore, in order to maintain and retain qualified and skilled workforce, hospital management should prioritize supportive management and supervision, justice and fairness in the organization. Trying to make the fairly payment system, consistency and balance between work and other aspects of life could also improve the quality of working life for hospital staff. Key words : Turnover intention, Quality of working life, Health workers, Teaching Hospital


To study the effect of quasi-DC discharge plasma on the cold flow field, under the low equivalent ratio of ethylene and air in the combustor of scramjet, a quasi-DC discharge plasma model crossed the front wall of the cavity has been settled. Under the different plasma actuation intensity, the effect of plasma on combustion chamber temperature, pressure distribution, cavity drag force characteristics and mass exchange rate of the cavity are numerically studied. The results showed that, the quasi-DC plasma improved the temperature in the cavity obviously. Due to the plasma "cutting" effect on the shear layer, the impact of the shear layer on the rear edge of the cavity has been weakened. With the increasing of the plasma actuation intensity, the drag force of the cavity decreases slightly, meanwhile, the mass exchange rate of the cavity increases remarkably.


(1977). Predicting Reading Ability through Language Experience: The Lazdowski Sample Survey (LSS) Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Western College Reading Association: Vol. 10, Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Conference of the WCRA. Personalizing Learning Systems: Ecologies and Strategies, pp. 165-169.


In Korea, various medical big data are available for use in clinical research. More data are expected to be released and used with the increasing social interest in big data. To initiate research using medical big data, it is important to understand the characteristics of data that are suitable for down-stream research. In this review article, we suggest possible research based on published research studies. (Anesth Pain Med 2017; 12: 9-14)


Abstract In this research work, three different types of nano-composites based on EPDM/NBR blend (70/30 wt.%) have been prepared: one type including Cloisite 20A in EPDM phase, the other one containing Cloisite 30B in NBR phase and the third type consisting of Cloisite 20A in EPDM and Cloisite 30B in NBR phases simultaneously (called EN-xAB). XRD and TEM techniques showed intercalated or exfoliated structures for all types of nano-composites. According to SEM results, the most roughness of the surface was observed at EN-xAB nano-composites. Cure characteristics of the samples showed that the lowest scorch and cure time and highest crosslink density was devoted to EN-xAB samples. Comparison of mechanical properties of the nano-composites showed that the best properties were found in the samples consisted of both types of organo-clays simultaneously.


gressed? Lessons learned from diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and inflammation. J Am Geriatr Soc 2013;61:845–846. 5. Viscogliosi G, Andreozzi P, Ettorre E, et al. Arterial aging impacts on the risk of late-life depressive and cognitive disorders. Is it time for prevention? Geriatr Gerontol Int 2014;14:227–228. 6. Sheline YI, Pieper CF, Barch DM et al. Support for the vascular depression hypothesis in late life depression: results from a two site prospective antidepressant treatment trial. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2010;67:277–285. 7. Pan A, Keum N, Okereke OI et al. Bidirectional association between depression and metabolic syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies. Diabetes Care 2012;35:1171–1180. 8. Valkanova V, Ebmeier KP. Vascular risk factors and depression in later life: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Biol Psychiatry 2013;73:406– 413. 9. Fazekas F, Chawluk JB, Alavi A et al. MR signal abnormalities at 1.5 T in Alzheimer's dementia and normal aging. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1987;149:351–356. 10. Nasreddine ZS, Phillips NA, B edirian V et al. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment. J Am Geriatr Soc 2005;53:695–699.


Due to the increase in globalization, communication between different countries has become more and more frequent. Language barriers are the most important issues in communication. Machine translation is limited to texts, and cannot be an adequate substitute for oral communication. In this study, a speech recognition and translation system based on embedded technology was developed for the purpose of English speech recognition and translation. The system adopted the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) and Windows CE operating system. Experiments involving English speech recognition and English-Chinese translation found that the accuracy of the system in identifying English speech was about 88%, and the accuracy rate of the system in translating English to Chinese was over 85%. The embedded technology-based English speech recognition and translation system demonstrated a level of high accuracy in speech identification and translation, demonstrating its value as a practical application. Therefore, it merits further research and development.


The hazardous ill effects of heavy metals on the environment and public health is a matter of serious concern. Biosorption is emerging as a sustainable effective technology. Heavy metals in water resources are one of the most important environmental problems of countries. The intensification of industrial activity and environmental stress greatly contributes to the significant rise of heavy metal pollution in water resources making threats on terrestrial and aquatic life. The toxicity of metal pollution is slow and interminable, as these metal ions are non bio-degradable. The adsorption capacity of Xanthium Pensylvanicum towards metal ions such as Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, Ni, Co and Fe, was studied. The adsorption capacity was performed by batch experiments as a function of process parameters (such as sorption time and pH). Experimental results showed that the removal percentages increasing of metal ions at pH=4, initial concentration of metal ions 10 mg/L, and after 90 min of shaking was: Zn < Cd < Cu < Pb < Ni < Fe < Co.


The upscaling from small scale academic reactors to large industrial processes typically suffers from a large change in surface-to-volume ratio. A promising approach is the general avoidance of surfaces as in levitated droplet techniques. However, up to now, no mass spectrometric interface for online reaction monitoring in levitated droplets has been provided.

As model reaction the photoinitiated thiol-ene coupling between N-boc cysteine methyl ester and allyl alcohol was studied. A droplet of 5 µL reactand solution was provisioned into an acoustic trap aligned lateral to the MS inlet. Contactless sampling by laser ablation (LA) is followed by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) postionization. The latter is needed to address non polar reaction partners.


Information that is fit for purpose, secure, available, and accessible, and complies with applicable laws and regulations, enables staff to make everyday decisions and assists the Department to realise its strategic objectives.


Introduction: Candidiasis is the most prevalent opportunistic infection in Acquired Immuno deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The prolonged and/or recurrent treatment of Candidiasis that results in alteration of profile of Candida species necessitates customizing the antifungal therapy regimen. This study aimed to identify the profile of candidal species in HIV-positive children and adults. Further the colonization of these species was assessed for their antimicrobial sensitivity. Materials and methods: Ten ml saliva was collected from HIV-positive children (n=30) and adults (n=40) and 100μL was cultured on CHROMagarTM followed by identification, counting of species after 48 hours, and antimicrobial sensitivity using the automated VITEK®2 antimicrobial susceptibility testing system. Results: More numbers of HIV-positive children than adults exhibited Candida colonization. The predominant species identified was C. albicans either alone or in combination with C. glabrata, C. tropicalis or C. krusei. An increased proportion of C. glabrata was seen in children whereas the adults showed increase in colonization by C. tropicalis. Assessment of antibiotic resistance showed C. krusei and C. glabrata to be resistant to fluconazole and partly resistant towards Amphotericin B. Conclusion: Higher colonization observed in children may be attributed to the relatively less developed immunity and higher viral load. Multidrug treatment regimens may have caused the changing profile of species from C. albicans to non-albicans. Resistance to fluconazole is attributed to a difference in affinity of the target enzyme and active efflux of fluconazole by the organisms.


We consider families of non-colliding random walks above a hard wall, which are subject to a self-potential of tilted area type. We view such ensembles as effective models for the level lines of a class of (2+1)-dimensional discrete-height random surfaces in statistical mechanics. We prove that, under rather general assumptions on the step distribution and on the self-potential, such walks converge, under appropriate rescaling, to non-intersecting Ferrari-Spohn diffusions associated with limiting Sturm-Liouville operators. In particular, the limiting invariant measures are given by the squares of the corresponding Slater


This paper uses personal tragedy theory and social
model to interrogate two contextual narratives depicting how disability
manifests and is made to manifest in labeled bodies. In the analysis,
disability discourses provide a lens through which to understand how disability
is done in everyday life, and in different
socio-cultural contexts. It reveals how bodies are made to disappear and dys/appear when confronted with social
normative constructs of the dominant class. Domba's
transplanted kidney, as well as the bodies of the segregated students enlisted
to Room two zero two of an Ontario school
remains both sites of oppressive subjectivity, spaces of contradictions and negotiations
at which we learn how bodies relate with the world, and following this
relationships the bodies are changed, providing means for these bodies to speak
back to the world. Coming to terms with this theorizing helps us to visualize
Domba's body and those of the students living with learning disabilities as
sites of political and socio-cultural struggle aimed at establishing supremacy
and dominance, and as a corporeal reality in which bodies and commodified body
parts simultaneously represent symbols of subjective hegemony of the dominant
social class, and a platform for interrogation, negotiation and assimilation
between the two social structures.