Employing the inverse perturbation method, we have tackled the problem of optimum design of the machine tool spindle. The matrices of the FEM have been decomposed and reassembled. The perturbation parameters of the design variables are resolved explicitly out of the stiffness matrix and mass matrix. Thus, system reanalysis is reduced in the iteration process. Several methods for determining the perturbation parameters are presented


Recognizing that children's migraines don't necessarily look or act like those of adults can speed diagnosis and appropriate treatment, said Eric Pearlman, MD, PhD, during his presentation "Brain Pain: Migraine and Its Variants."


Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology Volume 2010, Article ID 853612, 4 pages doi:10.1155/2010/853612 Editorial Gene-Gene Interaction in Maternal and Perinatal Research Janet S. Sinsheimer, 1, 2 Robert C. Elston, 3 and Wenjiang J. Fu 4 1 Departments of Biomathematics and Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA 3 Division of Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA 4 The Computational Genomics Lab, Department of Epidemiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA 2 Department Correspondence should be addressed to Wenjiang J. Fu, firstname.lastname@example.com Received 23 April 2010; Accepted 27 April 2010 Copyright © 2010 Janet S. Sinsheimer et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Recent genomic research increases our understanding of the causes of complex diseases and strengthens the evidence that many complex diseases, even those with late age of onset, are caused in part by genetically induced, adverse prenatal envi- ronments. This special issue of the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology specifically examines the evidence that gene-gene interactions during early development influence human traits and diseases. Mothers largely determine the fetal environment; there- fore the maternal genotypes are expected to influence fetal development. Two types of gene-gene interactions are pos- sible during pregnancy, intragenerational interaction, and intergenerational interaction. Intragenerational effects con- cern gene-gene interactions within an individual's genome to affect their own disease outcome. Intergenerational effects lead to conflicts between a mother and her fetus in some cases and, in other cases, they lead to beneficial environments that protect against disease. Intergenerational interactions can occur between genes in a child's genome affecting the mother's phenotype or between genes in a mother's genome affecting the child's phenotype. There can also be interactions between the maternal genes and fetal genes, such as maternal-fetal genotype incompatibility, that cause changes in the mother's or the child's phenotype. Maternal-fetal genotype (MFG) incompatibility is not just a theoretical possibility. The most well-known example of this form of gene-gene interaction is Rhesus factor D- induced hemolytic disease of the newborn [1], in which a Rhesus-negative mother develops antibodies to her Rhesus- positive fetus, leading to destruction of fetal red blood cells. Gene-gene interactions have also been studied as causes of pregnancy complications such as gestational hypertension and diabetes [2], but they have rarely been studied as risk factors beyond pregnancy complications. MFG incompatibility, in particular, has been reported to play an important role in the development of a number of disorders, including preeclampsia, preterm delivery, small- for-gestational-age neonates, and schizophrenia. Although genetic conflict has been postulated as playing a role in these disorders, rigorous modeling and quantitative analysis of these gene-gene interactions have only begun recently, as a result of biotechnological developments that have made it possible to conduct these investigations. Researchers conducting genome-wide association studies (GWAS) occasionally test for intragenerational gene-gene interactions, but they seldom test for maternal genetic influences on the phenotypes—and almost never test for intergenerational gene-gene interactions. There are several reasons for these omissions. First, testing for maternal genetic influences requires that both mothers and children be genotyped. Very often, the father's genotype is also required by numerous analytical methods. This requirement increases the number of individuals who must be genotyped and also increases the number of tests conducted, which makes the study expensive. Second, it may even be impossible to obtain maternal genotypes if the disease has an adult onset. It is our contention that limiting gene discovery to single- gene analysis using unrelated individuals is a mistake. With much of the genetic architecture of complex traits left unex- plained, more investment into intergenerational gene-gene interactions is warranted. The evidence for multiple genetic influences during early development takes on a variety of forms and the eight articles chosen for the special issue reflect this variety.


A synchronous error equation for semiconductor lasers injected with external light is presented.Two chaotic systems with distributed feedback semiconductor lasers injected with external light at 1 31μm can be synchronized with little synchronous error.The chaotic synchronous system has been successfully stimulated in a long propagation distance optical fiber.The synchronous error increases with the fiber length.The synchronization is limited by the self phase modulation in the fiber.The influences of intensity and phase noises on the synchronous error are studied in different propagation distances.Both analog and digital secure communications with the system are studied by numerical simulations in the long propagating distances.It is found that the information is hidden in the chaotic signal very well both in time domain and frequency domain and the system shows the good ability of robust security and anti uncoverage.


The article presents the results of a morphophysiological assessment of rice samples by the strength of growth, as well as an assessment of the degree of development of the conducting system of the flag leaves of rice plants. The resistance of varieties to flooding is very relevant in the fight against weeds due to the deep layer of water that weeds cannot overcome. Currently, there are no zoned varieties in Russia that would meet these requirements. Therefore, the problem of creating such rice varieties is urgent, as it will reduce production costs, reduce grain losses during harvesting, improve the quality of the products obtained, and also reduce the pesticide load on the ecosystem. As a result of research, a number of studied samples revealed the potential to quickly lengthen the first leaves, overcome a large layer of water and accumulate vegetative mass. As a result of the evaluation of the conducting system of the flag leaf of rice plants, it was found that in plants with the flood resistance gene Sub1A, which stops growth under water, the conductive beams were smaller in comparison with other fast-growing samples with the AG, Sk genes. Consequently, fast-growing samples have bigger sizes of the conducting system as a resistance mechanism.


This paper presents a method to analyze the long-term performance of storage/release systems using continuous simulation. The method follows previous efforts that packaged the storage/release problem into a two-input, one-output production function analysis. The two inputs are the storage capacity and the release/treatment rate. The output of the production function typically has been in terms of some measure of pollution control provided by the system (e.g., percent suspended solids removal). We take the analysis one step further by developing the production function with the output in terms of some measure of receiving-water impact. For this paper, we develop the production function in terms of the percent of time the in-stream flow rate exceeds a critical flow rate marking the point where sediment in the receiving water would be eroded. The modeling framework uses several blocks of the U.S. EPA Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) to simulate an urban catchment, the storage/release system, and a stream. The analysis involves performing long-term simulations using SWMM, systematically altering the simulated storage capacity and release/treatment rate between simulations, and deriving the production function using spatial interpolation. After the production function is established a cost optimization procedure is applied to determine the storage capacity and release rate combination that meets the receiving water goals while minimizing cost. Application of the analysis method is demonstrated using a hypothetical storage/release system and receiving water body.


The invention discloses a shaped charge blasting device. The shaped charge blasting device comprises a blasting apparatus and an igniter. The blasting apparatus comprises a lower charge tank. The igniter is disposed at the top of the lower charge tank. An outer end surface of the lower charge tank is provided with a plurality of shaped charge rings. The top surface of the lower charge tank is provided with a supporting cylinder. An explosive cavity is disposed in the lower charge tank. The supporting cylinder is disposed in the explosive cavity. The igniter comprises a middle sleeving cylinder and an inner sleeving cylinder. An outer wall of the inner sleeving cylinder is provided with an external thread, an inner wall of the middle sleeving cylinder is provided with an internal thread, and the inner sleeving cylinder is sleeved with the middle sleeving cylinder and in threaded connection with the middle sleeving cylinder. An external surface of the middle sleeving cylinder is provided with an external thread, and an inner wall of the supporting cylinder is provided with an internal thread. The shaped charge blasting device has the advantages that disadvantages of the prior art can be overcome, and the structure design is reasonable and novel.


The purpose of the work is to develop an automated quality control system for welded joints of cable car structures designed and manufactured at the Skado LLC enterprise (Samara) in order to improve the quality of control. The analysis of requirements for welded structures and welded joints of cable cars is carried out, methods of control of welded joints are considered. A block diagram of an automated system for quality control of welded joints based on the method of ultrasonic testing has been developed. The analysis of ultrasonic sensors on phased arrays is carried out. The sensors and actuators of the system are selected. A scheme for interfacing system elements with a programmable logic controller has been developed. The structure of the system and the scheme of interfacing the system elements with the programmable logic controller are described. A method for performing control has been developed.


Ian Bauckham CBE chaired the Advisory Group on Building Character at the Department of Education. Baukham had previously advised the DfE, having led the work to update the Relationships, Sex and Health Education guidance for schools. This set out an increased focus on mental health and wellbeing.We sought to make the case for a more psychologically informed approach to character and resilience by sharing our evidence and best practice with policy makers advising government on the character and resilience agenda. Particularly we sort to encourage a wider definition of resilience from the one adopted by recent government policies, and encourage one that moved away from notions of individual responsibly.Society representatives (Helen O'Connor Clinical Psychologist and Nigel Atter) met with Ian Bauckham to make the case for positive psychology approaches within the school curriculum. They talked him through the Geelong Grammar School model of positive psychology education. We also highlighted MAC-UK's work with marginalised groups, St. Swithun's Happy Classrooms approach, which has character education at its heart and the Geelong model for positive education. Ian welcomed our briefing on Character and Resilience it also was promoted by the Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition's (200 organisations) newsletter.


Electric drive systems are currently responsible for the largest part of the electricity consumption. As the cost of energy increases, it is increasingly more important to remove the inefficient induction motors from operation. This paper proposes an energy management program that can help the plants to determine how much saving will be achieved by using more efficient motors. This paper focuses on the use of motor field efficiency estimation of motors without the removal of motor from service and without the output power measurement, and the use of motor efficiency prediction based on the manufacturer information. The motor efficiency evaluations are obtained from the equivalent circuit method. The test results indicate that this program is a tool of accurate economic analysis for the purchase scenario. As a result, it is possible to conduct on-site energy audits of existing motors in order to determine the potential savings and payback period with great confidence.


Significance Self-propagating changes in the conformation of amyloidogenic proteins play vital roles in normal biology and disease. Despite intense research, the architecture of amyloid fibers remains poorly understood. In this work, we used both segmental and specific isotopic labeling schemes in combination with dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) NMR to measure long-range interactions to distinguish between two models for the arrangement of monomers in amyloid fibers. These measurements enabled us to determine that the monomers in one variant of an amyloid form of NM do not adopt a parallel in-register arrangement. The combination of segmental and specific labeling schemes with DNP NMR enables the testing of structural models for systems for which it was previously impossible due to low experimental sensitivity. The yeast prion protein Sup35NM is a self-propagating amyloid. Despite intense study, there is no consensus on the organization of monomers within Sup35NM fibrils. Some studies point to a β-helical arrangement, whereas others suggest a parallel in-register organization. Intermolecular contacts are often determined by experiments that probe long-range heteronuclear contacts for fibrils templated from a 1:1 mixture of 13C- and 15N-labeled monomers. However, for Sup35NM, like many large proteins, chemical shift degeneracy limits the usefulness of this approach. Segmental and specific isotopic labeling reduce degeneracy, but experiments to measure long-range interactions are often too insensitive. To limit degeneracy and increase experimental sensitivity, we combined specific and segmental isotopic labeling schemes with dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) NMR. Using this combination, we examined an amyloid form of Sup35NM that does not have a parallel in-register structure. The combination of a small number of specific labels with DNP NMR enables determination of architectural information about polymeric protein systems.


Purpose: analysis of various techniques and techniques for identifying defects and vulnerabilities during certification tests. Research method: comparative analysis. Result: the conclusion is made about the relevance and priority of the study of open-source web applications. The study is given and the shortcomings of directive methods for identifying vulnerabilities and undeclared capabilities in software products are shown. The author's statistics of the identified vulnerabilities are given with detailing by classes of computer attacks, manufacturers of information security tools, programming environments and methods for identifying vulnerabilities. A comparative analysis of author's methods with known directive testing methods is given. The relevance of the implementation of the concept of developing secure software is shown. Recommendations on improving the security of software tools for information protection are given.


The topic of reprocessing medical devices labelled as single-use is something of an ethical quagmire. The only thing clear about this issue, it seems, is that it's complicated and encompasses many areas, including patient safety, fiscal responsibility and environmental stewardship.

"The reuse


The paper considers a number of pitfalls of the process of economic development in Brazil. It shows a bundle of measures which could ameliorate the country's performance. 10.0 political and economic measures are considered. The main assumption to govern the the implementation of economic policy contrasts with the common bias shown by a bunch of development economists. Here, it is claimed that the circular flow of income is a form of general equilibrium thinking, so that there is no intrinsic superiority to any particular perspective of evaluating requerisociety's value added. Thinking of fostering development by increasing
final demand by means of public investment is the traditional way to generate more surplus than wages, while honest government transfers to poor people instantly reach 100% of the target.


In recent years the processing speed of computers has increased dramatically. This in turn has allowed search algorithms to execute more iterations in a given amount of real-time. Does this necessarily always lead to an improvement in the quality of final solutions? This paper is devoted to the investigation of that question. We present two variants of local search where the search time can be set as an input parameter. These two approaches are: a time-predefined variant of simulated annealing and an adaptation of the "great deluge" method. We present a comprehensive series of experiments which show that these approaches significantly outperform the previous best results (in terms of solution quality) on a range of benchmark exam timetabling problems. Of course, there is a price to pay for such better results: increased execution time. We discuss the impact of this trade-off between quality and execution time. In particular we discuss issues involving the proper estimation of the algorithm's execution time and the assessment of its importance.


The article describes the basic tasks that must be solved to improve the efficiency of acid treatments. The elaboration of new surfactants,emulsifiers and gelling agents for such work is presented.


Children exposed to traumatic events are at increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, the true prevalence of PTSD in non-referred children has been difficult to estimate because of variance in sampling and assessment methods across existing studies of at-risk children and adolescents.


Stimuli responsive elastic instabilities provide opportunities for controlling the structures and properties of polymer surfaces, offering a range of potential applications. Here, a surface actuator based on a temperature and electrically responsive poly(N‐isopropyl acrylamide‐co‐sodium acrylate) hydrogel that undergoes a two‐step delamination and buckling instability triggered using micropatterned electrodes is described. The electrically actuated structures entail large out‐of‐plane displacements that take place on time‐scales of less than 1 s, in response to modest triggering voltages (−3–6 V). Alongside these experimental observations, finite element simulations are conducted to better understand the two‐step nature of the instability. In the first step, hydrogel films undergo delamination and formation of blisters, facilitated by electrochemical reduction of the thiol groups anchoring the film to the electrodes. Subsequently, at larger reducing potentials, the electrolytic current is sufficient to nucleate a gas bubble between the electrode and the gel, causing the delaminated region to adopt a straight‐sided blister shape. Finally, thermally induced deswelling of the gel allows the film to be returned to its flat state and readhered to the electrode, thereby allowing for repeated actuation.


Objective To evaluate the effects of Naphcon-A in reducing subconjunctival hemorrhage in LASIK. Methods 103 patients(191 eyes) with simple refractive errors were used Naphcon-A eyedrops before LASIK,107 patients(191 eyes) for control;40 patients(80 eyes) with simple refractive errors were proformed with randomized(self-controlled) comparative trial.One eyes of the patients were used for Naphcon-A before LASIK,the others for control.Subconjunctival hemorrhage were examined in postoperation and the difference of the two groups was analyzed. Results Subconjunctival hemorrhage after LASIK was found in 8.37% of eyes(16/191) in the Naphcon-A group,and in 41.89% of eyes(79/191) in control group.The difference between two groups was significant(P0.01).Group of self-controlled comparative trial:Subconjunctival hemorrhage after LASIK was found in 7.5% of eyes(3/40) in Naphcon-A group,and in 40% of eyes(16/40) in control group.The difference between them was significant(P0.01). Conclusions The ratio of subconjunctival hemorrhage in LASIK was statistically reduced by Naphcon-A.


Terahertz technology has been driven largely by applications in astronomy and space science. For more than three decades cosmochemists, molecular spectroscopists, astrophysicists, and Earth and planetary scientists have used submillimeter-wave or terahertz sensors to identify, catalog and map lightweight gases, atoms and molecules in Earth and planetary atmospheres, in regions of interstellar dust and star formation, and in new and old galaxies, back to the earliest days of the universe, from both ground based and more recently, orbital platforms. The past ten years have witnessed the launch and successful deployment of three satellite instruments with spectral line heterodyne receivers above 300 GHz (SWAS, Odin, and MIRO) and a fourth platform, Aura MLS, that reaches to 2520 GHz, crossing the terahertz threshold from the microwave side for the first time. The former Soviet Union launched the first bolometric detectors for the submillimeter way back in 1974 and operated the first space based submillimeter wave telescope on the Salyut 6 station for four months in 1978. In addition, continuum, Fourier transform and spectrophotometer instruments on IRAS, ISO, COBE, the recent Spitzer Space Telescope and Japan's Akari satellite have all encroached into the submillimeter from the infrared using direct detection bolometers or photoconductors. At least two more major satellites carrying submillimeter wave instruments are nearing completion, Herschel and Planck, and many more are on the drawing boards in international and national space organizations such as NASA, ESA, DLR, CNES, and JAXA. This paper reviews some of the programs that have been proposed, completed and are still envisioned for space applications in the submillimeter and terahertz spectral range.


By optimizing the organic layers thickness of the organic blue light-emitting devices,the luminescence efficiency is improved.The device structure is ITO/2T-NATA/NPB/DPVBi/TPBi/Alq3/LiF/Al.When the thickness of 2T-NATA,NPB,DPVBi,TPBi and Alq3 is 15 nm,10 nm,20 nm,15 nm,25 nm and 0.6 nm respectively,the better performance of the devices is obtained.The maximum luminance is 13 540 cd/m2 at the electric current density of 537 mA/cm2 and the electric voltage of 12 V.The maximum electric current efficiency of devices is 4.48 cd/A at 22 mA/cm2 and 7 V.And the turn-on voltage of the devices is lower,the devices luminance is 4.82 cd/m2 at 4 V.The chroma of devices stabilizes in blue light center district of x=0.17 and y=0.16 with the changes of the driving electric voltage and the current density in the scope with 5~12 V.


This purpose of this paper is to investigate what factors are important to consider when attempting to model information diffusion in a social network. These determining factors are put in relation to the nature of the design of some common existing models in this area, in order to get an understanding of how these factors can be translated into elements of such models. The paper assumes the point of view of the online music distribution company Spotify, and approaches model design choices with consideration of what needs they have, as well as what data they have access to. The result is a roadmap, which can be used as a foundation, by Spotify or similar companies, when developing an information diffusion model.


AT A TIME when Canadians are earnestly re-fashioning the very fabric of Confederation, the opinions, claims and demands coming from the non-British, non-French segments of the population have been credited with creating another element of discord in the somewhat less than harmonious relations between the two dominant societies. For the first time in Canadian history the public have had an opportunity to hear what neither British nor French citizens of the country think about such matters as Canada's cultural and linguistic dualism and its future development and to hear their opinions regarding the 'founding partners' of Confederation. What they heard was not exactly laudatory; complaints have been many coming from some ethnic groups and those were not without a touch of bitterness. Worst of all, the demands for public financial support for the minority ethnic groups' cultural and language maintenance activities have become more insistent and have spread to more than one dissatisfied community. It is not the first time that the various ethnic groups have claimed their share of the tax money for their own specific purposes. However, they never attained the nation-wide publicity accorded them by the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism which, in addition to the British-French area of relations was asked to take 'into account the contribution made by the other ethnic groups to the cultural enrichment of Canada and the measures that shculd be taken to safeguard that contribution'. Much of what has been said by individuals and official representatives of the various associations made good headlines. What has been said deserves a study of its own and is outside the scope of the present article; here we should like to indicate the main lines of the presentations relevant to the topic. Of main interest to us are the demands articulated by those who appeared before the Commission during its hearings across Canada. They did not represent a cohesive set of claims, as some would like us to believe but a variety which ranged from calling for a sort of tri-partite nation-British, French and all other ethnic origins-to modest pleas for a greater recognition of contributions of neither French nor British Canadians to the development of the country. Disparate as their views were, there was near-consensus in asking for more or less specified financial support for their language and culture retention efforts. The response to public pronouncements was equally varied; from the 'none of that nonsense' attitude to mild dismay and surprise. Few editors went as far as one in the Kingston Whig Standard who lambasted 'foreigners' wanting to fish in the troubled Canadian waters and ended with a reminder that the current dialogue is between 'the founding nations' and outsiders should '. .. keep out of it'.'( Other editors preferred to raise the spectre of the babylonian tower of languages and of inevitable 'balkanization';


'T^HE relationships between social ade• -*■ quacy and individual equity provided in the original unemployment insurance laws have been greatly altered over the years. Legislatures have improved the adequacy provisions by uniform duration amendments, dependency allowances and the like. The legislatures have also sought to protect the equity position of the higher-paid worker by a continuing rise in the maximum weekly benefit payable. Because of improper financing, however, these increased maximums have benefitted the higher-paid at the expense of those in lower wage brackets. Furthermore, if many tax proposals currently under discussion are enacted to finance further benefit increases, the equity relationships will continue to deteriorate. This article will discuss the problem of balancing equity and social adequacy in unemployment insurance. The changes which have occurred will be reviewed, and a tax program will be proposed which would be neutral in its effects on


One of the conspicuous features of the twentieth-century West was silence. This idea could be supported by examining reflections of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Fritz Mauthner, John Cage, Samuel Beckett, Ihab Hassan, Franz Kafka, Wassily Kandinsky, Jean-Paul Sartre, Virginia Woolf, Wolfgang Iser, Jacques Derrida, and Pierre Macherey. To me, silence is not a mere theory, but rather a phenomenon from which we can get practical benefits. I believe silence is an eye, eye of knowledge. We can broaden our knowledge of the world through silence. To convey the idea that silence is an eye, I have concocted the word slence, where  has replaced the letter i and stands for the eye. This means knowledge can enable us to see, thereby acquiring knowledge of, what used to be invisible, and accordingly unknowable. In other words, through silence, we can achieve a certain type of literacy. I substantiate this claim by exploring the Horus myth, Ojo de Dios, John Cage's 4' 33", the nature of Expressionist paintings, Hinduism, thoughts of Hermes Trismegistus and Ibn al-Arabi, and practices of Mohammad, the prophet of Islam.


Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator(RTG) is the perfect power source used in the lunar and the deep space exploration,which it has no effect by the sun's rays and the other severe environments,and can supply simultaneously power and heat for space probes.The paper reviews international application history of RTG and its state of RD.For the moment,the RTG's study focuses on high efficiency and high specific power to meet with the future of deep space explorations.And the paper recommends something about the RTG's application in deep space exploration.In the end,the paper discusses on the key technologies,including the technology of the RTG's designs,thermoelectric converter technology,isotope heat sources management and nuclear safety,thermal management and power sources management.


High spectral efficiency transmission using optical differential 8-level phase-shift keying and differential polarization-phase-shift keying is presented. Both constant-amplitude formats use direct detection without active polarization control or phase locking at the receiver.


A preliminary design study has been carried out for a distributed picture archiving and communication system for the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. The study develops design equations for three layers of a picture network and examines the estimated flow of digital images between a multiplicity of picture sources, picture archives and picture viewing stations. Application of these data to the design equations leads to some preliminary conclusions. One network architecture consistent with these conclusions is discussed.


Because of the continued growth and use of a wide number of chemicals by organic chemists, any cataloging system which lends itself to simplicity and efficiency is own of great value. One such system, described below, has greatly reduced the time spent searching for reagents within the author's own laboratory.


The early development of the gonads, and the ontogenesis of the rete testis and tubuli seminiferi recti in the chicken (Gallus domesticus)


BACKGROUND Sierra Leone in sub-Saharan Africa had one of the highest under-five mortality rates in the world in 2016: 114 deaths per 1000 live births. Previous studies have mainly focused on examining individual risk factors of child mortality in the country, without examining micro and macro levels of risk factors simultaneously. OBJECTIVE This study examines the effect of household and community context on the risk of dying for children under five in Sierra Leone. METHODS We use data from the 2013 Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey (SL DHS) to estimate the probability of dying, and examine mortality determinants using discretetime event history analysis in a multilevel framework. RESULTS We find that individual child characteristics and motherand community-level factors simultaneously affect the risk of child mortality. The substantial clustering of communities with high risk of mortality identified in the Eastern region indicates that children residing in the region have a higher risk of mortality than those in other regions. Further, the results suggest the need for targeted area interventions. 1 School of Demography, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com. 2 School of Demography, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; CU Population Center, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, United States. Email: email@example.com. Liwin & Houle: The effects of household and community context on mortality among under-5-year-olds 280 http://www.demographic-research.org CONCLUSIONS We provide evidence suggesting that policymakers should focus on assisting mothers through family planning programmes to promote longer birth intervals, increased coverage of health services for mothers and children, and targeted interventions to reduce child mortality in the most affected regions of Sierra Leone. CONTRIBUTION We contribute recent evidence of determinants of child mortality in Sierra Leone from SL DHS 2013, including mother and community factors in a multilevel framework.


The annual cycle of Myotis macrodactylus seminiferous epithelium and morphological features of spermatids during spermiogenesis were observed using a light microscope. Seminiferous tubule diameters gradually began to increase from April (60-63;d;m) in the early arousal period, attained a peak in July (172-175~lm), and decreased rapidly to the size in October (70-75jum), and gradually decreased to March (48-50lhm) the next year. M. macroducylus spermatogenesis begins in April, peaks in mid summer (July) and is suspended from October to March in the next year. Spermatocyiogenesis have occurred from April to June only. Sperrniogenesis occurred from July to September. The transformation of spermatids into spermatozoa M. macrodactylus was divided into six stages. When the mating periods were finished, from October, the redundant spermatogenic cells in the seminiferous tubules were engulfed by phagocytosis of Sertoli cells, and ~hagocytosis was continually observed from November to March the next year. During the phagocytosis, the seminiferous tubule contains only Sertoli cells and sperrnatogonia. The lumen of the serniniferous tubules was opened from July to September, and closed from October to June the next year. Therefore, the male reproductive pattern of the Korean bat, M. macroductylus belong to "Pcp~strellus pattern" according to the opinion of Gustafson (1979). These results suggest that the adaptive strategy for long hibernation serves as the mechanism to regulate the breeding cycle.


In the computer vision approach, there are many problems of modeling to prevent affections of noises by sensing units such as cameras and projectors. In order to improve the performance of the modeling in the computer vision, it is necessary to develop a robust modeling technique for various functions. The RANSAC algorithm and LMedS algorithm have been widely applied for such issues. However, the performance is deteriorated when the ratio of noises increases. Moreover the computational time for the algorithms tends to increase for actual applications. In this study, a new fuzzy RANSAC algorithm based on the reinforcement learning concept is proposed for homography estimation. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated through experiments of camera homography. From the results, the method is found to be effective to improve calculation time, optimality of the model, and robustness in terms of modeling performance.


The terms "achievement gap" and "AYP" are often bandied about in this era of NCLB. But is making AYP the same as closing the achievement gap? And shouldn't we be talking about multiple achievement gaps? The authors explain the finer points of these terms that are driving so much of today's education policy. ********** FROM the halls of Congress to the local elementary school, conversations on education reform have tossed around the term "achievement gap" as though we all know precisely what that means. To some extent, of course, we do. As it's commonly used, "achievement gap" refers to the differences in scores on state or national achievement tests between various student demographic groups. And the gap that has been a long-standing source of the greatest concern is that between white students and minority students, although other groups have been brought into the picture by No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Our present urgent concern with the achievement gap has a specific objective: improved achievement for all students. We want all boats to rise, but we want those lying particularly low in the water to rise faster. Seems straightforward, right? Wrong. Trying to define and measure this gap in ways that are accurate, meaningful, and useful to policy makers, educators, and the public can be a humbling experience. As with many measurement issues, the devil is in the details. And the details here are highly consequential. The adequate yearly progress (AYP) requirements of NCLB are designed to expose achievement gaps between groups of students, ostensibly so that schools will make greater efforts to close the gaps over time. But making AYP is not the same thing as closing achievement gaps. The great hope--still far from being realized--is that, as achievement improves across all student subgroups, the gaps will diminish as well. It is important to remember that, despite being the major preoccupation of most educators and policy makers, making AYP is not an end in itself; rather, tracking AYP is a means to the dual ends of closing achievement gaps and improving the performance of all students. WHAT IS THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP? Defining the "achievement gap" is more difficult than it seems at first glance. But how we define the achievement gap and then measure it according to our chosen definition has significant implications for what we can know about it and what we can do with that knowledge. We can measure many types of gaps, even just within the realm of student performance. Historically, most studies and reports on the achievement gap have focused on differences in achievement scores between white and African American students on national tests, such as the SAT or the National Assessment of Educational Progress. However, NCLB shifts the focus down to the school level and asks how well racial and ethic subgroups in a given school are performing relative to their white peers. At the school level there are at least two kinds of gaps with particular salience for policy: the internal gap (average differences between distinct racial and ethnic groups and their white peers within a school) and the external gap (average differences between the aggregate school scores for each student subgroup in the school and aggregate scores for white students across the state). Arguably, both of these gaps are important, and both are relevant to school reform efforts. We believe that both internal and external gaps should be studied, for several reasons. Measuring the internal gap allows us potentially to identify--and learn from--schools that are accelerating the learning of minority students. This knowledge can be an important tool for focusing school improvement efforts. Measuring the external gap is necessary, however, so that schools with high proportions of nonwhite students are not excluded from analysis just because they don't have enough white students to report average scores. …


The device (100) for controlling diffusion of a medium comprises: - a first (105) dermal electrode, configured to generate electric waves, positioned against a first user's skin, - a second (110) electrode dermal, configured to receive electric waves, positioned against a second user's skin, the second user being the first user, - a detector (115) of the value of a junction conductance parameter connecting the electrodes and - a means (120) controls configured to transmit a broadcast control of a media according to the detected value.


Background: Antimullerian hormone (AMH) is expressed only in the gonads. In male, it is secreted by immature sertoli cells and in female by adult granulosa cells of the ovary. AMH is responsible for the regression of mullerian ducts in male fetus. Absence of AMH results in development of female fetus reproductive organs and it is believed to control the formation of primary follicles. Objective: To assess AMH in early follicular phase as a predictor of ovarian reserve among females undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the Gaza Strip. Methods: In this case-control prospective study, a meeting interview was used for filling in the questionnaire. AMH was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in 162 women: 81 women undergoing IVF at Al-Basma Fertility Center in Gaza City (cases) and 81 healthy women, having at least given birth to one healthy child (controls). The number of oocytes and embryos were recorded for each female in the controls group and the occurrence of pregnancy was followed for the three months. Data were computer analyzed using SPSS statistical package version 13. Results: The AMH mean level in the cases was significantly higher as compared to the controls (3.5±2.3 ng/mL vs. 1.7±0.5 ng/mL; p=0.00). The AMH in cases was significantly decreased with increasing age (3.7±2.0, 3.6±2.4 and 2.1±2.1 ng/mL at ≤25, 26-35 and >35 years, respectively; F=2.327 and p=0.104). The total number of retrieved oocytes was inversely associated with age (12.5±4.5, 11.0±5.4 and 6.9±4.7 at age ≤25, 26-35 and >35 years, F=4.793 and p=0.011). Results showed that the ovarian response to Menotrophin (FSH 75IU, LH 75 IU) stimulation was better with younger age (<4, 4-8, 9-16 and >16 oocytes at mean age of 36.5±5.0, 30.6±5.9, 27.0±4.5 and 26.3±5.2, respectively; F=4.934 and p=0.003). There was a significant positive association between ovarian response in terms of total number of oocytes and AMH levels (<4, 4-8, 9-16 and >16 oocytes at 1.0±0.5, 2.3±1.8,


In bacteria, biogenesis of cell wall at the division site requires penicillin‐binding protein 3 (PBP3) (or FtsI). Using pull‐down, bacterial two‐hybrid, and peptide‐based interaction assays, we provide evidence that FtsW of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (FtsWMTB) interacts with PBP3 through two extracytoplasmic loops. Pro306 in the larger loop and Pro386 in the smaller loop of FtsW are crucial for these interactions. Fluorescence microscopy shows that conditional silencing of ftsW in Mycobacterium smegmatis prevents cell septation and positioning of PBP3 at mid‐cell. Pull‐down assays and conditional depletion of FtsW in M. smegmatis provide evidence that FtsZ, FtsW and PBP3 of mycobacteria are capable of forming a ternary complex, with FtsW acting as a bridging molecule. Bacterial three‐hybrid analysis suggests that in M. tuberculosis, the interaction (unique to mycobacteria) of FtsZ with the cytosolic C‐tail of FtsW strengthens the interaction of FtsW with PBP3. ftsW of M. smegmatis could be replaced by ftsW of M. tuberculosis. FtsWMTB could support formation of the FtsZ–FtsW–PBP3 ternary complex in M. smegmatis. Our findings raise the possibility that in the genus Mycobacterium binding of FtsZ to the C‐tail of FtsW may modulate its interactions with PBP3, thereby potentially regulating septal peptidoglycan biogenesis.


The genome of plants is organized into chromatin. The chromatin structure regulates the rates of DNA metabolic processes such as replication, transcription, DNA recombination and repair. Different aspects of plant growth and development are regulated by changes in chromatin status by the action of chromatin remodeling activities. Recent data have also showed that many of these chromatin associated proteins participate in different aspects of the DNA damage response, regulating DNA damage and repair, cell cycle progression, programmed cell death and the entry to the endocycle. In this review, we present different examples of proteins and chromatin modifying enzymes with roles during DNA damage responses, demonstrating that proper and fast changes in the chromatin structure are essential to maintain genome stability.


A large number of startups have a big influence on increasing online transactions, especially e-payment. However, the increase in the use of e-payments posing a number of threats and resulting in a decrease level of consumer confidence in e-payment. Therefore in 2018 Daniel proposed a Signcryption scheme based on Conic Curve Cryptography which was stated to be able to fulfill forward secrecy services that could reassure consumers, but still based on mathematical calculations. In this study the implementation of the Signcryption scheme was carried out on the e-payment system on the Android platform. Implementation is done by DRM methodology and prototyping model approach. The e-payment system built consists of an e-payment application with merchant and customer actors and a bank application with bank admin actors. Based on the results of the integration testing and system testing, it was found that the e-payment system (ePaSe) built had fulfilled the design that had been done.


The invention discloses a method for making a dynamic digital child publication by virtue of computer software. The method is characterized by comprising the following steps: creating an efficiency-improvement electronic book making project; adding a page in an electronic book; importing resource materials involved in the book page into the project; editing parameters of the materials such as dimensions, proportions, positions, rotating angles and transparency by virtue of a visual making tool; adding various complicated animation functions to the materials by virtue of the visual making tool, or/and adding a complicated interaction function to the materials; adding other multimedia contents such as pictures, sounds and characters into the page by virtue of the visual making tool; creating a new page, and repeating the third to six steps; outputting the electronic book, wherein the electronic book can be identified and read by a PC (Personal Computer), a mobile client and other clients. The method has the advantages of convenience, high efficiency and low cost.


Here, a 3-wave multivariate design and developmental cascade analysis were used to investigate pathways among adaptive functioning and externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems in a community sample of 134 children seen at 4, 10, and 14 years. Adaptive functioning in early adolescence was predicted by early childhood adaptive functioning and externalizing behavioral problems, with both effects mediated by late childhood adaptive functioning and internalizing behavioral problems; externalizing behavioral problems in early adolescence were predicted by early childhood internalizing behavioral problems with the effect mediated by late childhood externalizing behavioral problems. These developmental cascades were obtained independent of child intelligence. Strategically timed and targeted interventions designed to address young children's behavioral problems may return investment in terms of an enhanced epidemiology of adaptively functioning teens.


Fast frequency tuning of diode pumped monolithic semi nonplanar ring lasers was investigated experimentally using a piezoelectric transducer (PZT). A 0.5 mm thick PZT plate was affixed to a monolithic laser crystal with dimensions of 13 mm×14 mm×3 mm. Beat frequency between two monolithic lasers was observed to check the frequency tuning effect. When the modulation frequency was lower than 100 kHz and the frequency tuning amplitude was 5 V, a widened beat signal could be observed, which gave a PZT tuning coefficient over 1 MHz/V. If the modulation frequency was much higher, such as higher than 100 kHz, the beat signal became unstable and shifted obviously. The shape of the beat signal changed too. Thus the PZT response bandwidth was near 100 kHz for a stable laser frequency tuning.


This article is based on scientific and theoretical conclusions that in the concept of national policy the national idea is regarded as an important link in the substantive meaning of relations between nations, peoples and states. The article also discloses the classification of the transfer of national values to the future generation, which are the spirit of the nation.


'Automotive Materials' is a core course in the Master of Engineering (International Automotive Engineering) Program. The course content focuses on niche areas in component design including alternative materials. Each topic is presented in relation to a particular application. Formal lectures are combined with materials and manufacturing selection case studies where the properties of materials are discussed in the context of particular applications. The present case study focuses on the materials and process selection for an automotive application in particular vehicle roof-rack. Students working in groups chose different vehicles equipped with different types of roof-racks. The use of a computer based materials and process selection methodology was demonstrated and the experiences of the students were discussed.


The objective of this study was to clarify the factors causing underdevelopment of husks in malting barley. Materials were grown under six different excess soil moisture treatments combined with shading treatment or low (high) temperature treatment during the husk-size-determination period, i.e., from flag leaf emergence stage to heading stage, when the length and width of lemma and palea rapidly increased. The degree of excess soil moisture treatment was expressed by I (flooding condition) -VI (good soil moisture condition). The growth of lemma and palea were inhibited with the degree of soil moisture treatments (VI→I), and were extremely inhibited by the excess soil moisture treatment combined with shading treatment or low temperature treatment. The growth of kernel in IV∼VI plots, in which the damage were little, were not inhibited. But those in I-IV plots were inhibited with the degree of soil moisture treatments. The husk underdevelopment, which resulted in the exposure of caryopsis through lemma and palea, was severe in IV and V plots under all treatments, and was occured when excess soil moisture was combined with shading and/or low temperature, because of the unbalance between husk and kernel sizes.


Aims:  This study evaluated the effect of temperature (0–38°C) and water activity (aw: 0·87–0·99) on the lag phase prior to germination and the percentage of germination over time for Monilinia laxa, Monilinia fructicola and Monilinia fructigena.


The cell parameters, electronic structures, formation enthalpies and reaction enthalpies of LiNH2 and Li3AlN2 were investigated using plane-wave pseudo-potential method based on density function theory. The results show that the calculated cell parameters are in agreement with the experimental ones. The interactions between Li—N and Al—N are strong ionic bonds in Li3AlN2. The interaction between N and H is strong covalent bond and the interaction between Li and N is strong ionic bond in LiNH2. The calculated reaction enthalpies are -23.7 and -55.3 kJ/mol, respectively, which are in agreement with the experimental ones.


The purpose of this study is to examine phonetic interactions in early Spanish/English bilinguals to see if they have established a representation for the Spanish palatal nasal /ɲ/ (e.g., /kaɲon/ cañón 'canyon') that is separate from the similar, yet acoustically distinct English /n+j/ sequence (e.g., /kænjn̩/ 'canyon'). Twenty heritage speakers of Spanish completed a delayed repetition task in each language, in which a set of disyllabic nonce words were produced in a carrier phrase. English critical stimuli contained an intervocalic /n+j/ sequence (e.g., /dɛnjɑ/ 'denya') and Spanish critical stimuli contained intervocalic /ɲ/ (e.g., /deɲja/ 'deña'). We measured the duration and formant contours of the following vocalic portion as acoustic indices of the /ɲ/~/n+j/ distinction. The duration data and formant contour data alike show that early bilinguals distinguish between the Spanish /ɲ/ and English /n+j/ in production, indicative of the maintenance of separate representations for these similar sounds and thus a lack of interaction between systems for bilinguals in this scenario. We discuss these discrete representations in comparison to previous evidence of shared and separate representations in this population, examining a set of variables that are potentially responsible for the attested distinction.


Recently, mobile indoor robots have been intensively studied. When such mobile robots are operated, it is necessary to generate their trajectory automatically. In this study, a system which automatically generates the target trajectory avoiding obstacles in the indoor environment by real-time optimization is developed. Conventional artificial potential field method directly generates force which leads vehicles, however, it sometimes cause steep change of moving direction. To resolve this problem, we generate an optimal obstacle avoidance trajectory indirectly by real-time optimization based on modified artificial potential field. To deal with the tracking error and its convergence, we introduce time-state control form and transform this problem into a tracking control problem. The trajectory is represented by a reduced order polynomial function to minimize the computational cost. Experiments using omnidirectional vehicle verify the advantage of this method.


Abstract We examined the ploidy of feral grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella captured from open waterways of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Using flow cytometry, we determined the ploidy of blood and gonads (when mature ovaries or testes were present) to elaborate upon several issues associated with stocking grass carp, namely, escapism, illegal stockings, and the reproductive potential of triploid grass carp. During a 3-year period (1994–1997), ploidy was determined for 11 of 16 feral individuals, 2 of which were diploid (18%). In the survey, we detected gonadal development in one diploid female, three triploid females, and one triploid male. Flow cytometry analysis revealed multiple ploidy in the gonadal tissue of both sexes of triploids. This is the first examination of gonad ploidy in feral triploids, and we provide evidence that although some triploid grass carp may produce gametes, viable offspring would be produced only under extremely unlikely conditions.


: Acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB) attributed to malignant colorectal lesion presents an endoscopically demanding task to manage due to multiple contributing factors. This ranges from an array of compounding issues such as tumour friability, neovascularization and coagulopathy arising from either medical comorbidities or pharmacological medications. We present a challenging case of malignant rectosigmoid colonic tumour bleeding in the setting of COVID-19 infection at its highest level in our country where all resources were severely stretched and strained. A 58-year-old man admitted for stage 3 COVID-19 pneumonia had been complaining of intermittent hematochezia for 1 month. Relevant blood investigations revealed a hemoglobin count of 5.1 g/dL with normal coagulation profile. Index colonoscopy demonstrated a bulky, circumferential rectosigmoid colon tumour with significantly narrowed (3–4 mm) luminal opening. As there was no bleeding, no endoscopic intervention was forthcoming. Staging computed tomography (CT) scan done the following day, confirmed a large but localized rectosigmoid colon tumour measuring 5 cm in length with no signs of bowel obstruction. Owing to hospital restrictions in place during the pandemic, he was unable to undergo definitive surgical intervention when he rebled 10 days later. This was complicated with hemodynamic instability which warranted an urgent endoscopic treatment with argon plasma coagulation (APC). This timely intervention was successful in buying sufficient time for him to recover from COVID-19 pneumonia and subsequently undergo surgery. The final overall diagnosis was pT3N0M0 moderately differentiated colonic adenocarcinoma. Though APC has limited role in the management of bleeding colorectal cancers due to high rebleeding rates, its' temporizing hemostatic benefits may still be of use when other modalities are unavailable. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about various disruptions in our routine endoscopic practices. Aside from delays in timely diagnosis and definitive intervention, endoscopic practices alongside performance are equally affected by resource limitation which is highlighted in our case.


Introduction: Road accidents, with motorcycle accidents comprising a major fraction of them, are the second most important cause of death in Iran. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of head and face injuries in motorcyclists who had an accident and to find out relationship between helmet use and frequency of these injuries and hospitalization costs of these accidents. Materials and Methods: Data in this retrospective descriptive-analytical study was collected from "Form 92", a registration form of motorcyclists who had accidents and were hospitalised in the Azahra Hospital in 2010, including hospitalization period, treatment costs, severity of injuries, and time of the accident (n = 1626). Of the injured motorcyclists registered in Form 92 during the last three months of the year, 125 cases were randomly selected and interviewed by phone in relation to wearing a helmet during the accident. Data was analyzed by descreptive tests and Phi & Cramer's correlation coefficient using SPSS 11.5 (α = 0.05). Results: Accidents by motorcycle comprised 31% of all the registered motor vehicle accidents. The frequency of motocycle accidents was higher in October and among 21-25 year-olds. The mean period of hospitalization was 4.3 days and the mean of hospital costs was about 9,000,000 Rials. The frequency of head and face injuries was 51% among all the injured motorcyclists, with 22% among those wearing a crash helmet and 78% among those not wearing a crash helmet (r = 0.267, p value = 0.009). A total of 35% of motorcyclists reported wearing crash helmets. Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, motorcycle accidents impose a lot of costs on peple and the community. Use of a crash helmet can significantly reduce the frequency of head and face injuries more than three folds. Key words: Accident, Cost control, Crash helmet, Traffic.


A method for delivering permeant substances transdermally into a membrane of an animal includes forming a least one delivery opening in the skin tissue, with the at least one delivery opening having a mean opening depth of between about 40 and about 90 microns.


Surfactants used in pharmaceutical products have several advantageous properties; they improve drug absorption and dissolution, and protect active molecules. However, adverse effects are also observed during the application of different surface active agents which necessitates the investigation of registered surfactants and novel absorption enhancer candidates.
Cremophor RH40 and EL are widely used excipients in oral and intravenous drug formulations. Studies indicate that Cremophors, especially EL, have toxic side effects, but few data are available on endothelial and epithelial cells which form biological barriers and are directly exposed to these molecules. In our investigation human intestinal epithelial and vascular endothelial cells were treated with Cremophor RH40 and EL in clinically relevant concentrations and their toxic effect was monitored by several methods. Cremophors caused concentration- and time-dependent damage in both epithelial and endothelial cells. Endothelial cells were more sensitive to surfactant treatment than epithelial cells, and Cremophor EL was more toxic than RH40 in both cell types. Our results support and complement the previously experimentally described toxic effects of Cremophor EL which may be related to the clinically recognized side-effects of medicines containing Cremophor EL. Sucrose fatty acid esters are increasingly investigated as novel excipients in pharmaceutical research and some of them are registered in Pharmacopoeias both in the European Union and in the United States. Several studies documented their advantageous properties but few data are available on their toxicity profile, mode of action and efficacy on intestinal epithelial models. Three water soluble sucrose esters, palmitate (P-1695), myristate (M-1695), laurate (D-1216), and two reference absorption enhancers, Tween 80 and Cremophor RH40 were tested on human Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells. Sucrose esters in non-toxic concentrations significantly reduced resistance and impedance of cells, but not reference surfactants. All excipients increased permeability for drugs and fluidized plasma membrane, but did not visibly open tight junctions. Tween 80 but not sucrose esters inhibit P-glycoprotein. Our data indicate that in addition to their dissolution increasing properties sucrose esters can enhance drug permeability through both the transcellular and paracellular routes but this effect is unrelated to P-glycoprotein inhibition.
The presented results demonstrate the differences between the cellular actions of various non-ionic surfactant excipients, which can be important for the development of new pharmaceutical formulations and drug delivery systems.


The optimization of the Downlink (DL) scheduling in wireless systems that utilize Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) requires knowledge of the Channel State Information (CSI) for each user and subchannel at the Base Station (BS). This requires a prohibitively high amount of channel resources in Uplink (UL). We focus on the problem of CSI feedback by UL Random Access (RA). Our method relies on the proposed concept of variable collision protection, where the probability that a certain feedback information experiences a collision depends on the importance of that CSI. In the proposed scheme, feedback success probability is higher for the CSI with better quality, as it is more likely to be used by the scheduler. Analytical and simulation results show that our proposed scheme provides an excellent trade–off between system performance and the amount of feedback overhead.


[Problem] To provide a card capable of improving external appearance, and a card production method. [Solution] A card (1) is provided with: a module substrate (30); a lower layer (10) and an upper layer (50) arranged above and below the module substrate (30), the layers having an outline larger than the outline of the module substrate (30); and thickness adjustment layers (11, 51) for adjusting the thickness in a substrate outward region (S1), the thickness adjustment layers being provided between the lower layer (10) and the upper layer (50) and to the substrate outward region (S1) further outward than the outline of the module substrate (30), and being provided by printing to at least one layer among the layers that form the card (1).


Necrotizing fascitis is a progressive, rapidly spreading infection affecting mainly deep fascia and may cause necrosis of skin and subcutaneous tissues. Spreading of it may lead to shock, multi organ failure and eventually death. METHODS: In this study, we have evaluated prevalence of predisposing factors, clinical, distribution of tissue involvement and mortality rate in 100 patients of necrotizing fascitis at our Hospital between 2008 and 2010. RESULTS: Prevalence of this disease was higher in males than females with the rate of 2.6:1. Diabetes mellitus 44.0% was the most common predisposing disease followed by trauma and acquired immunodeficiency disease. Genital region was the most common site of involvement followed by lower limbs. Nonspecific erythema was the main dermatological manifestation. The most common organism was Enterococcus faecalis and mortality rate was 35.0%. CONCLUSION: Necrotizing fascitis is an infectious disease with high mortality rate and frequently with non-specific skin and general manifestations. High suspicion, surgical debridement and judicious use of 3rd generation cephalsporins can be effective in decreasing the rate of morbidity and mortality.


The subject of this Bachelor Thesis is the current issue of the unique music education in Venezuela which unfortunately hasn´t been discussed yet in detail in the Czech Republic. On the background of basic facts on Venezuela the Thesis is trying to provide an overview of objectives, development and current status of the project El Sistema and its impact on Venezuelan society and on the world of classical music. The Thesis includes a comparison with the Czech system of music education and portraits of leading musicians and ensembles arising from the El Sistema. The Bachelor Thesis is aspiring to be a theoretical ground for comparative studies and thinking, as well as for initiating a discussion on the possible implementation of a similar project in the Czech Republic. Key words: music education, Venezuela, El Sistema


This paper briefly reviews the research on the new agrochemical of multiple amino acids, namely, Homodemycine (HDE), its main components, and its physical and chemical properties. Numerous tests of the chemical carried out on animals and on plants in the fields have proved this product to be highly effective and low-toxic. It does not cause defomities and mutation in animal embryos. It is safe to use and does not pollute the environment. As it poses no hazards, it is an ideal agrochemical for the production of vegetables, fruit and grain.The technique involved in the production of HDE is simple. Raw material is easily accessible. The application of HDE not only prevents of crops and Curesres diseases but also stimulates the growth of crops and increases the yields. Furthermore, economically, production of this chemical is profitable.In this paper the fungicidal mechanism of HDE is also briefly described.


In human leukemia and solid tumors cytogenetic analysis provides critical information of diagnostic and prognostic importance. Frequently however, the unambiguous characterization of all aberrant chromosomes is difficult using conventional chromosome banding techniques alone. We have developed a novel approach, termed spectral karyotyping (SKY), based on the hybridization of 24 differentially labeled human chromosome painting probes that allows the simultaneous color identification of all human chromosomes. This genome scanning method combines Fourier spectroscopy, CCD-imaging, and optical microscopy to visualize the hybridization of differentially labeled chromosomes painting probes. One of the most important analysis algorithms is the spectral-based classification algorithm that enables multiple different spectra in the image to be identified and highlighted in classification-colors. This allows assignment of a specific classification-color to all human chromosomes based on their spectra. This algorithm assumes that the (reference) spectrum of each chromosome has been measured and stored in a reference library in the computer


Severe infections are a leading cause of morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality for patients with rheumatic diseases. In a recent clinical trial in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) – associated vasculitis (AAV), for instance, over 20% of participants had ≥ 1 serious infection over 44 months (1), and in a recent giant cell arteritis trial, up to 12% of participants had a serious infection over 12 months (2). Several factors in fl uence the risk of severe infection, including patient age, the immunologic target(s) of the treatment, the presence of end-organ damage related to the rheumatic disease (e.g., lung or kidney disease), and the patient ' s comorbidities. Preventing Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) is of particular interest for rheumatologists. PJP is often severe among patients with rheumatic diseases, with mortality rates exceeding 40% (3). Prophylaxis with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) has been associated with reduced mortality in this population (4,5). Acknowledging this, the recent American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/Vasculitis Foundation (VF) guideline for the management of AAV conditionally recommends prophylaxis to prevent PJP in patients receiving rituximab or cyclophosphamide treatment (6).


Inclusion has a high priority in education policy all over the world and teachers must be able to handle in practice increasing student diversity and the demands for creating an inclusive learning ...


Abstract Two high-resolution (1 km grid) numerical model simulations of the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica, are used to study the role of the ocean in the mass loss and grounding line retreat of Pine Island Glacier. The first simulation uses BEDMAP bathymetry under the Pine Island ice shelf, and the second simulation uses NASA IceBridge-derived bathymetry. The IceBridge data reveal the existence of a trough from the ice-shelf edge to the grounding line, enabling warm Circumpolar Deep Water to penetrate to the grounding line, leading to higher melt rates than previously estimated. The mean melt rate for the simulation with NASA IceBridge data is 28 ma–1, much higher than previous model estimates but closer to estimates from remote sensing. Although the mean melt rate is 25% higher than in the simulation with BEDMAP bathymetry, the temporal evolution remains unchanged between the two simulations. This indicates that temporal variability of melting is mostly driven by processes outside the cavity. Spatial melt rate patterns of BEDMAP and IceBridge simulations differ significantly, with the latter in closer agreement with satellite-derived melt rate estimates of ~50ma–1 near the grounding line. Our simulations confirm that knowledge of the cavity shape and its time evolution are essential to accurately capture basal mass loss of Antarctic ice shelves.


In this article I use the concept of 're‐agenting' to explore and explain the role of non‐state agencies, principally private companies and business entrepreneurs, as key instruments in the government's transformation of the school system in England. Their role takes both for‐profit and not‐for‐profit forms. The outsourcing to private companies of the implementation of government education policies and the delivery of educational services to schools and local authorities has created a profitable market. Equally significant is the growing involvement of the private sector in schools through the sponsorship of specialist schools and Academies on a non‐profit basis.


We review Ill-Nitride optoelectronic device technologies with an emphasis on recent breakthroughs. We start with a brief summary of historical accomplishments and then report the state of the art in three key spectral regimes as follows: 1) Ultraviolet (AIGaN-based avalanche photodiodes, single photon detectors, focal plane arrays, and light emitting diodes); 2) Visible (InGaN-based solid state lighting, lasers, and solar cells); and 3) Near-, mid-infrared, and terahertz (AIGaN/GaN-based gap-engineered intersubband devices). We also describe future trends in Ill-Nitride optoelectronic devices.


The Austrian school of economics is generally considered an anti-war school. The Austrian view is not derived from a religious or class-based ideological viewpoints, but instead derives entirely from the school's fundamental economic tenets. This paper examines the writings of Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich A. Hayek as they relate to war and the causes of war.


During the progress of preparation nanocrystalline TiO 2 by sol gel, a few parameters influence the characters of nanocrystalline TiO 2. By controlling hydrolysis pH, we can get different particle diameter and phase nanocrystalline TiO 2 powders. In this paper, we primarily discuss the condition of the transformation from anatase phase to rutile phase and the trend of D hkl with pH. The X ray diffraction analysis results show that the transformation from anatase phase to rutile phase of nanocrystalline TiO 2 is connecting with the hydrolysis pH. The morphology, size, composition of TiO 2 were studied by means of TEM and XRD.


Zhihar means that a husband equates his wife with his mahram in matters relating to sexual relations. As the husband said: "To me you are like my mother". The husband's speech towards his wife is based on the intention to forbid his wife, then zhihar for him falls. Zhihar is haraam according to the agreement of ulama. This is based on the word of Allah found in QS. Al-Mujadalah verse: 3. A person who has persecuted his wife, then he may not intercourse with his wife, until he has paid the prescribed kafarat. The zhihar kafarat includes freeing a slave or obliging to fast for two consecutive months or obliged to feed sixty poor people. In this journal, the writer intends to describe how the Islamic viewpoint is if husband and wife intercourse is carried out during the kafarat period? What are the sanctions for a husband who intercourse with his wife before the zhihar kafarat is completed? Library research (library research) is chosen by the writer in dealing with this problem. The Ulama have agreed that if the intercourse is carried out before the husband completes his zhihar kafarat, then the relationship is haraam and for this violation there is no additional sanction for him, it is enough to pay the kafarat as prescribed. Keywords : Kafarat, Zhihar, Islamic Law


Abstract: A sensitive and specific enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for Cholecystokinin octapeptide sulfate (CCK‐8S) has been developed using N‐terminal specific antibody for CCK‐8S. In this assay CCK‐8S coupled with poly‐L‐Glu (CCK‐poly‐Glu), which is adsorbed on a solid phase, competes with CCK‐8S for the binding sites of rabbit anti‐CCK antibody, and the complex of the immobilized antibody and CCK‐poly‐Glu is measured using goat anti‐rabbit immunoglobulin G conjugated with horseradish peroxidase. The total time for completion of the assay is <24 h. Near 50% bound levels, the intraassay coefficient of variation is 5.2‐6.2% and the interassay coefficient of variation is 5.9–8.5%. This assay is sensitive enough to detect 9 pg of CCK‐8S, and the data from rat brain regions using this ELISA are very similar to the data from those using radioimmunoassay (RIA). Therefore, this ELISA is simpler and more rapid in comparison with conventional RIA. In the preliminary experiments, we applied this method for determination of CCK content in the brain regions of adult rats treated with 6‐hydroxy‐dopamine or in newborn rats subjected to anoxia, and showed that this system is applicable to detection of changes of endogenous CCK content.


The permanent improvement of the nuclear environmental monitoring systems and the involved procedures is essential in order to fulfill the regulations in a continually changing regulatory environment, in terms of the recent technical requirements and newest monitoring methods. Considering the necessity of optimization, a holistic examination was started to revise the operation of the environmental monitoring system at the KFKI Campus and configure a reliable system that is able to ensure optimal functioning.


The self-organizing map (SOM) has become a valuable and widely-used tool for diverse applications in engineering, business, and numerous other fields. The value of the SOM lies in its ability to learn and summarize a data set, clustering the data and performing a regression upon it. This regression is intended to preserve in the SOM lattice some of the structural relationships of the data on which the map has been trained. The preservation of data structure in mappings such as the SOM is the focus of this dissertation.
In preparation for the primary thrust of this document, several topics are discussed. These include a general introduction to the SOM to present terminology that will be used, and an examination of the various ways that SOM quality has been judged, particularly with respect to the way a mapping preserves and represents relationships in the data on which it is trained. Another important part of this preparatory discussion concerns what has been expected of the SOM, what has not been expected, and what can and cannot reasonably be expected. This in turn leads to a clarification of terms and an introduction to the notion of topography preservation as a worthwhile goal for mapping algorithms such as the SOM.
The main body of the dissertation follows, with a proposal of six original algorithms for modifying or replacing the SOM in an effort to achieve the goal of topography preservation. The variety of these algorithms serves to illustrate the ambiguity that is inherent in the definition of topography advocated here. The usefulness of topography preservation as defined herein is further supported by a chapter describing four original illustrative applications. These demonstrate a breadth of practical uses for mappings that exhibit the quality of topography preservation.


A THz Coherent Undulator Radiation (THz-CUR) source has been developed at the Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University. A photocathode RF gun and a chicane bunch compressor are used for generating shortbunch electron beams. In the previous study, it was found that the space charge effect was strongly degraded the beam quality such as the bunch length and energy spread at the high bunch charge condition, around 160 pC. This beam degradation resulted in the reduction of the highest frequency and the maximum intensity of THz-CUR. To mitigate the space charge effect for improving the performance of THz-CUR source, we have investigated the dependence of the electron beam quality on the parameters of laser (pulse width and transverse size) by using a numerical simulation code GPT.


This work provides an innovative understanding of MIM capacitor degradation behavior under a wide range of constant current stress (CCS) conditions. It was found that capacitance degrades with stress, but the behavior of the degradation strongly depends on the stress current density. At high stress levels, the capacitance increases logarithmically as the injection charge increases until dielectric breakdown occurs. At lower stress conditions, the degradation rate is proportional to the stress current, and reverses after a certain period of time. A metal-insulator interlayer is observed to explain this reversal phenomenon.


In collaboration with Guido Pintacuda and co-workers, Bruker BioSpin presents three basic 1H-detected pulse programs ('pulprog') that allow initial protein backbone assignment under fast MAS[3] : 1. hNH: 1D and 2D, Figures 1A and 3, pulprog: hNH2D.dcp 2. hCαNH: 1D-3D , Figures 1B and 4, pulprog: hCaNH3D.tcp 3. hCONH: 1D-3D , Figures 4 and 6B, pulprog: hCONH3D.tcp Introduction to Proton Detection in Biological Samples under Ultra-Fast Magic Angle Spinning


This paper examines the applicability of the Impor- tance-Performance (I-P) Scale in the evaluation and marketing of activity programs in geriatric settings. The I-P analysis involves as- sessing client expectations and agency performance on various at- tributes of a program. The scale is flexible and easy to develop and implement. It provides information useful in making decisions con- cerning program improvement and resource allocation. An example of the evaluation of an activity program is provided in this paper.


Tree-based models such as decision trees and random forests (RF) are a cornerstone of modern machine-learning practice. To mitigate overfitting, trees are typically regularized by a variety of techniques that modify their structure (e.g. pruning). We introduce Hierarchical Shrinkage (HS), a post-hoc algorithm that does not modify the tree structure, and instead regularizes the tree by shrinking the prediction over each node towards the sample means of its ancestors. The amount of shrinkage is controlled by a single regularization parameter and the number of data points in each ancestor. Since HS is a post-hoc method, it is extremely fast, compatible with any tree growing algorithm, and can be used synergistically with other regularization techniques. Extensive experiments over a wide variety of real-world datasets show that HS substantially increases the predictive performance of decision trees, even when used in conjunction with other regularization techniques. Moreover, we find that applying HS to each tree in an RF often improves accuracy, as well as its interpretability by simplifying and stabilizing its decision boundaries and SHAP values. We further explain the success of HS in improving prediction performance by showing its equivalence to ridge regression on a (supervised) basis constructed of decision stumps associated with the internal nodes of a tree. All code and models are released in a full-fledged package available on Github (github.com/csinva/imodels)


With the rapid development of urban traffic, forecasting the flows of crowd plays an increasingly important role in traffic management and public safety. However, it is very challenging as it is affected by many complex factors, including spatio-temporal dependencies of regions and other external factors such as weather and holiday. In this paper, we proposed a deep-learning-based approach, named STRCNs, to forecast both inflow and outflow of crowds in every region of a city. STRCNs combines Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network structures to capture spatio-temporal dependencies, simultaneously. More particularly, our model can be decomposed into four components: Closeness captures the changes of instantaneous flows; Daily influence detects the changes of daily influence flows regularly; Weekly influence reacts weekly patterns of influence flows and External influence gets the influence of external factors. For the first three properties (Closeness, Daily influence and Weekly influence), we give a branch of recurrent convolutional network units to learn both spatial and temporal dependencies in crowd flows. External factors are fed into a two-layers fully connected neural network. STRCNs assigns different weights to different branches, and then merges the outputs of the four parts together. Experimental results on two data sets (MobileBJ and TaxiBJ) demonstrate that STRCNs outperforms classical time series and other deep-learning-based prediction methods.


Freeze concentration (FC) is a subzero temperature solute concentration procedure, favoring the retention of high quality compounds such as food ingredients and biological materials. It is known that modeling solute inclusion in the ice layers or ice crystals formed in a convective environment requires the solute distribution coefficient function. The fluid flow velocity, ice-growth rate and solute concentration are influential on this function. Some literature has reported certain expressions of the function, which are relatively complex. Here, an explicit format of this function has been derived for single solute system, and found to be satisfactory in correlating a wide range of experimental data on sucrose solutions for both the controlled flow layer crystallization process (flow in between two cooling plates) as well as the falling film crystallization process. This expression has captured the fundamental aspects of mass transfer, and it is relatively simple which should be very useful for correlating FC parameters and for simulating the layer FC processes. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 1334–1344, 2015


The extension of the photoactive wavelength region of TiO2 photocatalysts into the visible region is desirable for popularizing TiO2 photocatalysts into practice. Among all the strategies to modifying TiO2, the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was report to be able to induce visible-light activity for bare TiO2. However, the activation mechanism of this cheap and convenient proposal for the photocatalytic activity improving of TiO2 was still not completely understood. In this work, commercial available P25 TiO2 was used to verify the sensitization effect of H2O2 surface modification. Remarkably, the RhB photocatalytic degradation over P25 TiO2+H2O2 sample is efficient and nearly 60% of the dye is completely removed after 210 min under visible light irradiation, which indicates the excellent photocatalytic performance of hydrogen peroxide treated P25 TiO2. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was employed to determine the electrical conductivity and photogenerated charge separation character of P25 TiO2 with or without H2O2 surface modification. Our results clearly support the commercial application of H2O2 activated P25 TiO2 as efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst.


This paper proposes a new variable frequency zero voltage switching (ZVS) control method for boost converter operating in boundary conduction mode (BCM). The intended method keeps the converter in BCM despide of the load and input voltage variations. This is done by changing switching frequency in a certain specified range. The proposed method can guarantee circuit performance in BCM via zerocrossing detection of the inductor current and changing the switching frequency. In addition, with a slight modification in control structure, it is possible to achieve a fully ZVS in all cases. This converter control is carried out in analog form without using microprocessors which, compared with the digital one, has less noise, cost and processing challenges in high frequency applications. Simulation results obtained from applying the proposed method on a GaN-based synchronous boost converter in two different switching frequency ranges (100KHz and 1MHz) are indicative of the proposed strategy advantages. doi: 10.5829/ije.2020.33.11b.14


A study of energy consumption patterns, energy conservation opportunities, and economic return in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG) was conducted in 1982 for the Smithsonian Institution, Office of Design and Construction. This study was but one part of the Smithsonian's program to improve energy efficiency in all their buildings. In the study, existing conditions and operation patterns were determined, opportunities for energy conservation were identified, energy conservation measures were analyzed for energy and economic return, and implementation recommendations were made. Potential savings of 57.2% in energy consumption and 63.4% in annual energy costs were identified, yielding a Savings-to-Investment Ratio (SIR) of 6.9 and a simple payback period of 2 years. This paper describes the study, along with its conclusions and recommendations.


Semantic collocation is the tendency for lexical words to occur together.It is constrained by the syntactic structure and semantic cohesion between its lexical items.Besides conventional semantic collocations,there are also unconventional semantic collocations whose semantic combination is far beyond people's conventional cognitive sense.They are pervasive in all types of writing and considered to be the focus of rhetorical and metaphorical expressions which could be a real difficulty in Natural Language Understanding.In this paper,the characteristics of unconventional semantic collocations and their psychological triggering process are first analyzed and an example-based model is then proposed to automatically discover unconventional semantically collocated word pairs.The experiment is carried out on Chinese verbal collocations.The precision is 81.5% and recall is 80.7%.The experimental results show that the example-based model is effective in detecting unconventional semantic collocations.


[Objective] The research aimed to make clear the residual dynamics of kresoxim-methyl in strawberry and soil.[Method] Two dosages of solution diluted at 3 000 times and 2 000 times were applied in Tianjin,Jilin,Nanjing and Kunming in 2007~2008,the degradation dynamics and final residue of dry 50% kresoxim-methyl suspending agent in strawberry and soil were tested.[Result] The half-life of kresoxim-methyl was 6.4 d in strawberry and 12.6 d in soil in Tianjin area;the half-life of kresoxim-methyl was 8.3 d in strawberry and 16.2 d in soil in Jilin;the half-life of kresoxim-methyl was 5.2 d in strawberry and 8.3 d in soil in Nanjing;the half-life of kresoxim-methyl in Kunming was 6.3 d in strawberry and 12.3 d in soil.The kresoxim-methyl residues in strawberry were all lower than 1 mg/kg for interval of 3,5,7 and 14 d after pesticide application.[Conclusion] The rule of reasonable use of 50% kresoxim-methyl DF in strawberry was:spraying on strawberry for 3 times by the drug solution diluted at 3 000 times and the safety interval time was 3 d.The recommended value of the highest residue limit was 1 mg/kg.


This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of episodic and seasonal transportation control measures for ozone in two areas of Illinois. During the 1995-2000 period, twelve ozone alert days were issued in the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area (GCMA), and five ozone alert days were issued in the Saint Louis Metropolitan Area in 2000, in anticipation of exceeding the 1-hour standard of 0.12 ppm. In July 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) revised the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone from 0.12 ppm to 0.08 ppm, and changed the standard from a 1-hour averaging time to an 8-hour averaging time. The 8-hour ozone standard has not been implemented yet by USEPA. Episodic and seasonal controls target emission reductions when those reductions are most valuable, during an "ozone episode" and "ozone season." Thus, episodic and seasonal control measures are expected to be more cost-effective than most fixed emission control measures, which reduce emissions on a continual basis throughout the year. A nationwide survey was conducted to find the most favorable, politically and economically, existing episodic and seasonal control programs. Based on the survey results, several episodic and seasonal control programs were identified as potentially effective and selected for further analysis. The analysis presented evaluates selected episodic and seasonal control measures for their cost-effectiveness and identifies the most cost-effective episodic and seasonal control measures.


Background: Stress among adolescents in Western societies is becoming an issue of increasing concern and the global trend of adolescents' health shows a gradual deterioration that is independent of ...


A thin film multi-track head which has a density of 267 TPI and 37 tracks has been developed. It has a substrate of Ni-Zn ferrite, five-turn signal lines in two layers and a one-turn bias line in a groove common to all tracks. The isolated pole piece is composed of Sendust-sputtered film which has good magnetic properties. High-temperature glass bonding between the head and the guard substrate has markedly improved reliability. Recording and crosstalk characteristics of this new head were studied using Co-γ oxide tape and high coercivity metal particle tape to determine the applicability of this head to a digital audio tape system.


A paired-sample t test was calculated to compare the mean hours of laboring patients who used the peanut ball to the mean hours of laboring patients who did not use the peanut ball. The mean for the time in hours for patients using the peanut ball was 10.56 (sd = 6.26) and the mean for patients not using the peanut ball was 10.38 (sd = 5.66). No significant difference from use to non use of the peanut ball was found (t(88) = 0.67, p >.05). • Preliminary results demonstrate that there is no significant difference between laboring patients using the peanut ball and those not using the peanut ball • There is currently not enough data to make a definite conclusion since this is preliminary data and there are still 180 participants remaining in the study • Limitations to the study and unforeseen at the beginning of the project was that both the patients using the peanut ball and those not using the peanut ball were required to be repositioned every 45 minutes and this may have had unintentional consequences. Importantly, nursing care and practices for both groups required improved nursing care and attention to repositioning patients. • There is still a need for further studies of the use of the peanut ball to understand the effects of use on decreasing the length of first and second stage labor Background


1665 Objectives: To assess the diagnostic performance of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) using fluorine-18 fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) for N- and M-staging of cutaneous melanoma. Methods: This is a retrospective and blinded study of 250 consecutive patients (105 women, 145 men; aged 58±16 years) who underwent FDG-PET/CT for staging of cutaneous melanoma at different time points in the course of disease. Whole-body FDG-PET/CT was performed 101±21 minutes post injection of 371±41 MBq FDG. Diagnostic accuracy for N- and M-staging was determined for CT alone, PET alone, and PET/CT. Results: PET/CT detected significantly more visceral and non-visceral metastases than PET alone and CT alone (98.7%, 88.8%, and 69.7%). PET/CT imaging thus provided significantly more accurate interpretations regarding overall N- and M-staging than PET alone and CT alone. Overall N- and M-stage was correctly determined by PET/CT in 243 of 250 patients (97.2%; 95% CI, 95.2% to 99.4%) compared to 232 patients (92.8%; 95% CI, 89.6% to 96.0%) by PET and 197 patients (78.8%; 95% CI, 73.7% to 83.9%) by CT. All differences were significant. Accuracy of PET/CT was further significantly higher than that of PET and CT for M-staging (0.98 versus 0.93 and 0.84) and significantly higher than that of CT for N-Staging (0.98 versus 0.86). Change of treatment according to PET/CT findings occurred in 121 patients (48.4%). Conclusions: The diagnostic performance of FDG-PET/CT for N- and M-staging of melanoma patients suggests its use for whole-body tumor staging, especially for detection or exclusion of distant metastases.


The paper reveals the solution to the problem of preventing rock frost penetration given that the rock is insulated by a heat-insulating coating.


In case of a disaster, planning for pedestrian evacuation from buildings is a major issue since it threatens human lives. To cope with this problem, evacuation plans are developed to ensure efficient evacuation in minimum time. These plans can be very sophisticated according to the complexity of the evacuation environment. This advocates the use of architectures such as Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) to develop the evacuation plans before happening of a real accident. Since developing an evacuation plan using MAS requires considerable effort, finding more efficient approaches is still an open problem. This paper introduces a new approach, based on the model-driven principles, to support developing evacuation plans. The approach includes utilizing a graphical editor for designing evacuation models, automatic generation of the evacuation plan code, as well as running the generated code on a MAS platform. We evaluated our approach using a case study. The results show that our approach provides elevated speed, less effort, high abstraction level, and more flexibility and productivity in developing emergency evacuation plans.


Part 1 Part I. Introduction to Issues in Economics Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 The Role of Markets: Production, Consumption, Distribution, Specialization and Exchange Chapter 4 The Economic Role of Governement Part 5 Part II. Microeconomic Issues Chapter 6 Households and Markets Chapter 7 Theory of Costs and Theory of the Firm Chapter 8 Classification of Market Structure and The Degree of Competition Chapter 9 Why Has Income Distribution Become Less Equal Over the Last 30 Years? Chapter 10 Regulation and Deregulation Chapter 11 Why are Farmers Doing so Poorly Despite All the Money Spent on Farm Programs? Chapter 12 Education: What's Wrong With Our School Systems? Chapter 13 Environmental Economics: Does Saving the Environment Require Slower Economic Growth? Chapter 14 Economics of Health Care System: Can the System be Reformed? Chapter 15 International Trade and Exchange Chapter 16 The Recent Corporate Scandals: To Who Are Corporate Executives Accountable? Part 17 Part III: Macroeconomic Issues Chapter 18 Measuring Economic Activity Chapter 19 Aggregate Supply and Demand Chapter 20 Business Cycles Chapter 21 The Federal Reserve and the Money Supply Process Chapter 22 Macroeconomic Policy: Stabilization, Growth and Inflation Chapter 23 The US and the Rest of the World: Goods Markets, Financial Markets and Money Markets Chapter 24 The Role of Financial Markets Chapter 25 Banking and Financial Services: Are Fewer and Bigger Banks Better? Chapter 26 Social Security: Is the System Going Broke? Chapter 27 Growth, Development and Globalization


The multi-mode pushover analysis procedure IRSA (Incremental Response Spectrum Analysis) is introduced recently to enable the twoand three-dimensional nonlinear analyses of buildings and bridges in a practical manner. It is essentially based on a piecewise linear Response Spectrum Analysis (RSA) procedure applied at each incremental step of a nonlinear analysis. The well-known equal displacement rule is utilized in practical applications to scale modal displacement increments using smoothed response spectra. P-delta effects are considered in IRSA on a rational basis, replacing the intuitive approach governing the current practice. Application of IRSA to three-dimensional pushover analysis of a building is presented.