Background and Objective: Life saving with a high quality health care programs in the shortest duration is the mainstay of emergency department system. Frequent monitoring and quality control of this process and the satisfaction of patients are among the very important indices in hospital quality. This study was designed to evaluate the clients satisfaction in the hospitals affiliated to Golestan University of medical sciences. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on 2400 referred patients in emergency departments of different hospitals in Golestan province, northern Iran during 2006. Data were gathered by questionnaire included demographic data and questions about satisfaction of outpatients and emergencies. The Data analyzed by SPSS-15 software and chi-square test. Results: Level of satisfaction in emergency department, was reported as follow: physician attention and behaviors (86%), nursing behaviors (85%) responsibility to patients (84.1%) status of the environmental temperature (83.9%) and cleaning (81.9%). The lowest satisfaction was related to behavior of guardsman (33.8%). In emergency ward, levels of patient's satisfaction were as following: Access to telephone (49.7%) quality of the meals (47.4%) quantity of meals (44.1%) and the lowest level of satisfaction of patient was neglecting the patient's right (8.2%). Conclusion: This study indicated that more educational programs, should be arranged for the emergency units employees to observe patients right.


As the two major political parties struggle to win favour with the independents in federal parliament, Rear Vision takes a look back at the role independents have played in Australia's political history. Guests Humphrey McQueenHistorian and author Brian Costar Professor of Victorian Parliamentary Democracy and the Director of the Democratic Audit of Australia, Swinburne University of Technology. Jennifer CurtinSenior Lecturer in politics at the University of Auckland


To quantify the expected shortage of Orthopaedic Specialist Registrars (SpRs) planning careers in Spinal Surgery with one third of Specialist Spinal Surgeons due to retire in the next 3 years and to provide the needed expansion of 25% in the existing number of 175 surgeons.A postal survey of the 528 SpRs was performed with a response rate of 71%. The critical question was the post accreditation intention as either a Specialist Spinal Surgeon (greater than 70% of elective work), as a Surgeon with an Interest in Spinal Surgery (more than 30% of elective work), a surgeon doing occasional Spinal Surgery (less than 30% of elective work) or one who avoids all Spinal Surgery. This attitude could then be taken into account when analysing the training provided and the perceptions of Spinal Surgery to identify factors which could be discouraging an interest in Spinal Surgery.Sixty nine percent indicated that they intended to avoid all Spinal Surgery. Thirty five (9%) intended becoming either Specialist Spinal Surge...


Background The incidence of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) varies among different populations. In developed countries, it ranges from 5-50/100000. According to several studies, women are more commonly affected than men. In addition, RA incidence increases with age, until the eighth decade, when it begins to fall. Objectives The aim of our study is to evaluate the RA incidence in the adult population in the city of Tirana, Albania Methods The study was performed during the period of time 2009-2012 on all the patients diagnosed with RA in all the primary health care services of Tirana, Albania. The diagnosis of RA was based on the clinical signs and symptoms and laboratory tests including measurement of rheumatoid factor. The RA incidence was calculated by presuming an average denominator of 800000 inhabitants (the mean population in Tirana city during the period of study). The T test was utilized for quantitative values. The Fisher test was used for the comparison of proportions of different cohorts. Results Totally, there were identified 817 cases with RA during the four year period 2009-2012. 529 (65%) were women and 288 (35%) were men. The average age was 62.4±8.6 in men versus 62.8±7.8 in women. (P=0.19). From the overall 817 patients with RA, 78 cases were newly diagnosed. The annual incidence was 78 (newly diagnosed cases)/800000 (mean population)/4 (years of study) = 2.43/100000 inhabitants. Conclusions This study provides new evidence about the incidence of RA in Tirana city. It supports the data showing that RA increases with age in males and females and on the other hand, it is found more often in women than in men. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.5804


The diffusion of salt water from a sewage source into the flowing fresh water of the channel is discussed in the paper. Water pollution distribution along the channel length is investigated and an analytical formula is given to determine the path length of complete mixing of sewage and fresh waters. Molecular diffusion in flowing channel waters is considered.


A cryocondensation pump, cooled by forced flow of two-phase helium, has been installed for particle exhaust from the divertor region of the DIII-D tokamak. The Inconel pumping surface is of coaxial geometry, 25.4 mm in outer diameter and 11.65 m in length. Because of the tokamak environment, the pump is designed to perform under relatively high pulsed heat loads (300 W m/sup -2/). Results of measurements made on the pumping characteristics for D/sub 2/, H/sub 2/, and Ar are discussed.


Objective To assess the effect of procyanidin on early cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage in rats.Methods 60 healthy SD rats were randomly divided into 4groups:sham-operated,SAH without treatment,SAH treated with vehicle(NS),SAH treated with procyanidin(100mg/kg,q12h).SAH model was produced by injecting autologous blood into the posterior cranial fossa of rats.24 hafter SAH induction the neurologic scores were recorded and then the rats were sacrificed.Brain stems were removed and HE stained for measurement of luminal diameter and wall thickness of the basilar arteries.The expression of iNOS was determined by colorimetry.The expression of ET-1was determined by immunohistochemistry.Results Compared with SAH group,the neurologic scores of rats treated with procyanidin were significantly higher.The basilar arteries of rats treated with procyanidin were significantly thinner and the luminal diameters significantly longer.The expression of iNOS and ET-1 were significantly reduced.Conclusion Procyanidin attenuates early cerebral vasospasm and improves the neurological deficits after subarachnoid hemorrhage in rats by inhibiting the expression of iNOS and ET-1.


– Trawl surveys in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk focusing on the mesopelagic layer (200 1000 m), yielded 50 fish species belonging to 43 genera and 28 families in the Bering Sea and 48 fish species belonging to 41 genera and 23 families in the Sea of Okhotsk. The bulk of mesopelagic fish species were represented by two families, Myctophidae and Bathylagidae. Six myctophids and four bathylagids were localized in the Bering Sea, while seven myctophids and four bathylagids were localized in the Sea of Okhotsk, respectively. The body density of mesopelagic fishes decrease during the daytime (when they reside in the deep water layers) and increase during the night time (when active feeding begins). Such dynamics are related with the filling of the fish's stomach (relative density increases) and faecal discharge (relative density decreases). Such feeding habits promote the diurnal vertical migrations of mesopelagic fishes to the upper layers when the body density decreases and sinking when the body density increases. A light-rayed lanternfish specimen can transport 52 mg of food to the deep pelagic layer and excrete about 8.3 mg of faeces. Gross total transport between the ocean layers by the entire light-rayed lanternfish stock in the Bering Sea was estimated at 15,000 tons per day or 5.46 million tons annually. The magnitude of this value is noticeable in comparison with the estimates of the entire matter flux within "marine snow" (detritus, faeces and carcasses of dead animals partly-decomposed by bacteria and ciliates).


Many activities of daily living ,including fine manipulation skills, rely on vision as a primary sensory input. The visual system has the capability of combining two slightly different inputs from each eye into one image which is perceived in depth. Research suggests that the advantage of having coordinated inputs both eyes is dependent on age and motor task. The aim of this research is to examine these two factors by comparing monocular and binocular viewing in the performance of two complex manipulation tasks in normally-developing school-aged children and healthy young adults. Participants tested in the study were visually-normal children (n=34; age 6-12) and adults (n=14; age 19-38). Participants' fine motor skills were assessed under binocular and monocular viewing conditions using a peg board task with three levels of difficulty, and a bead threading task with two levels of difficulty. The main outcome measure was the total movement time (MT) to complete each task. Binocular ratio (binocular MT/monocular MT) was also calculated for each participant for both manipulation tasks to quantify the extent of binocular advantage. Results revealed that MT was significantly shorter during binocular compared to monocular viewing for the bead threading task (16%) but not the peg board task (5%). The mean binocular summation ratio showed that 9-12 year-old children had a greater binocular advantage in comparison to 6-8 years old children. Interestingly, the binocular ratio in 6-8 year-old children was closer to 1, indicating that MT during binocular and monocular viewing was similar in children at this age. These data suggest that younger children are still developing the ability to integrate binocular visual information during online control of movement. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the advantage of binocular vision for the performance of manipulation tasks is dependent on age and task complexity.


Only few data have been published on the environmental impact of pesticide degradation products on soil and groundwater. It is known that some of the degradation products of triazines, particularly those formed from N-dealkylation reactions, can be phytotoxic and more mobile than their parent compounds. In some cases it has been shown that they are present at even higher concentrations than the latter. Yet, their impact on groundwater quality is unknown since information on both environmental levels and chemiodynamic parameters are generally lacking. The conclusions of this work are that many triazine degradation products may pose a significant hazard to the quality of groundwater and that there is a need to promote and extend the production of experimental data on this topic.


Because the binding energies of nuclei are very much smaller than their rest masses, one would not have expected relativistic effects to play a significant role in nuclear structure or nuclear scattering at modest energies. Thus the nonrelativistic Schrodinger equation has until recently been the basis for almost all calculations in traditional nuclear physics. But in the past three years, the coming together of precise new data and novel theoretical approaches has made it appear that a fully relativistic treatment is indispensable for the understanding of nuclear phenomena even at low energies.


The revenue between single-price auction and multiple-price auction can not be compared by auction theory. The paper establishes a statistical empirical model and uses the data of China's treasury auction market to examine the revenue between single-price auction and multiple-price auction. The paper has three important conclusions and the single-price auction can prevent the winner's course and collusion. It is the better treasury auction for the seller.


Thus, the multiformat camera, though often taken for granted by the radiologist, is a complex device. Like all other radiologic equipment, its use is facilitated by knowledge of the function and limitations of its various components.


The study by Shaw, P.H. et al (This Bulletin) has described the effect of 3 kinds of treatment on one kind of social problem - social phobia. The present study compared the effect of 2 treatments on another kind of social problem - social inadequacy (the two studies were carried out in parallel so that comparisons could be made between them).


We report an 88 year-old male with a history of multiple non-melanoma skin cancers who presented for Mohs micrographic surgery with a biopsy proven infiltrative and nodular basal cell carcinoma located on the right posterior ear. During Mohs surgery, frozen sections revealed a typical nodular BCC on stage 1.   However, on stage 2, frozen section showed nodular aggregates of regular cuboidal cells with pale cytoplasm with areas mimicking multi-nucleated giant cells. Deeper permanent sections were consistent with BCC with adnexal differentiation. This histopathological presentation of basal cell carcinoma is uncommon and we sought to report the clinical and pathological features of this case.


At the end of 2002, the Italian data protection Authority held an international Conference on the relationship between data protection and enterprise (Privacy: Cost to Resource). A book collecting the contributions presented at the Conference is to be published in a few weeks. I believe it may be useful for the discussion in this Session to outline some considerations contained in the Foreword to this book, which I was honoured to edit.


In this paper we choose "PIC", which is the initial of"2010 International Conference on Progress in Informatics and Computing" as our sample, use what we call a dynamic model for handwriting. We demonstrate how the model can be fitted to the writing of a particular individual using repeated samples of their printing. We also investigate how well the model separates one person from another. At last, we pick out that a differential equation is a useful means of modeling this time-varying behavior. The paper gives some suggestion of computer's simulating persons' handwriting


Criminal law, constitutional rights and medical ethics (not forgetting common sense) can at times contradict each other, putting medical professionals on the spot.
This article is based on a case study discussed on the HIV Policy & Ethics Discussion Forum: http://groups.google. com/group/policy-ethics. Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine Vol. 9 (2) 2008: pp. 6-10


Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) has unlimited solubility in water at physiological temperatures over a wide range of polymer molecular weights but phase separates from aqueous solution with increasing temperature at a lower critical solution temperature (LCST). We examine the potential origins of this LCST behavior by applying recent advances in information theory modeling of hydrophobic hydration, supported by molecular simulation, and the Flory−Huggins theory of polymer solutions. We find that attractive interactions between PEO monomers and water provide the driving force for the unlimited mutual solubility at ambient temperatures. However, it is the intrinsic hydrophobicity of the PEO monomer that drives phase separation with increasing temperature. We also calculate the local densities of water oxygens and hydrogens around the ether oxygen and the carbon groups of the PEO monomer. Water structure around the carbons is found to be essentially equivalent to that for methane in water, while water structure a...


he ultimate mission of this study is to draft a curriculum of topics and to ]propose innovative teaching methods for the main core of engineering programs ,into the next century. At this stage, however, we are presenting scores of issues that concern our community at large, hopimg that a major undertaking will be initiated. Although this study is brioad in scope and inevitably cannot be disassociated from pertinent issues in basic sciences and humanities, no direct attempts to address Ihe latter topics are made at the moment. Due to the nature of this project, this document is the culmination of a group study; and we expect that there would be additional discussions among members before


Objective: To investigate whether intraluminal administration of oxygenated perfluorocarbons (PFCs) protects the enterocyte from acute ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Materials and Methods: Twenty rabbits were divided in 4 groups: sham-operated controls (group A), acute I/R (group B), acute I/R plus infusion of oxygenated PFCs 30 minutes before ischemia (group C), and acute I/R plus infusion of oxygenated PFCs 30 minutes before reperfusion (group D). Serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and mucosal disaccharidase activity were examined. Intestinal biopsies were obtained for electron microscopy study. Results: Group B CPK mean values are 3495.2 ± 157.35 and 4855 ± 350.21 U/L. Group C: 2674.6 ± 265.87 and 3231 ± 232.30. Group D: 2382.2 ± 102.90 and 3217.6 ± 185.61 at 120 and 180 minutes (P < .05). At 180 minutes, maltase and sucrose values were 33.63, 51.88, 8.45, and 19.91, and 17.99, 22.87, 6.62, and 14.24 µmol/min per g for groups A, B, C, and D, respectively (P < .05). Histopathology showed the least cellular deterioration in PFC groups. Conclusion: Oxygenated PFCs protect the enterocyte during bowel I/R.


A mathematical problem of considerable interest is to approximate a continuous function f(t), t ∈ [0, 1], based upon samples f(ti), i = 1, . . . , n. We do not observe f(ti) directly, but only in the presence of correlated zero mean noise {ǫ(t1), . . . , ǫ(tn)}, which we assume throughout to obey a multivariate Gaussian distribution. The data are {(t1, y(t1)), . . . , (tn, y(tn))}, where y(ti) = f(ti) + ǫ(ti), for i = 1, . . . , n, and our objective is to extract the signal f from the data using an estimator f̂ with low integrated mean squared error (IMSE), defined as


America has always taken pride in being the land of opportunity, a country in which hard work and sacrifice result in a better life for one's children. Economic growth has made that dream a reality for generations of Americans, including many people who started out poor. The quarter century following World War II was a golden era for the U.S. economy, as high-and low-income families shared the benefits of substantial economic growth. But storm clouds began to gather in the 1970s. In particular, computer-driven technological changes favoring highly educated workers, plus demographic shifts such as the rise of single-parent families, have produced sharply growing income gaps among families. In the past, America's public schools have responded well to the challenges of a changing world. Indeed, America's world leadership in education has fueled much of its prosperity and made the 20th century the "American Century" (Goldin & Katz, 2008). But technological changes, globalization, and rising income inequality have placed great strains on the decentralized American approach to public education. We are constantly reminded that the math, science, and language skills of our children and young adults lag far behind those of children in other countries. In international rankings, our college graduation rate has fallen from first to 12th. In this article--the first of two appearing in consecutive months--we describe the origins and nature of growing income inequality and some of its consequences for American children. We document the increased family income inequality that's occurred over the past 40 years. An increase in income disparity has been more than matched by an expanding gap between the money that low-and high-income parents spend on enrichment activities for their children. Most distressingly, increasing gaps in academic achievement and educational attainments have accompanied the growth in income inequality. Differences in the reading and math achievement levels of low-and high-income children are much larger than several decades ago, as are differences in college graduation rates. What accounts for these widening gaps? Drawing from the first part of our recent book, Restoring Opportunity: The Crisis of Inequality and the Challenge for American Education (Harvard Education Press and the Russell Sage Foundation, 2014), we explain that the evidence supports pathways operating through both families and schools. In addition to growing differences in the resources spent by poor and rich families on their children, declining real incomes for low-income families have affected maternal stress, mental health, and parenting. Rising residential segregation by income has led to increasing concentrations of low-and high-income children attending separate schools. Peer problems, geographic mobility, and challenges in attracting and retaining good teachers have made it difficult to provide consistently high-quality learning experiences in schools serving a large proportion of low-income students. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Next month's article draws from the second part of Restoring Opportunity to describe ideas based on proven policy approaches that will enable the country to make progress on the enormous task of restoring the educational opportunities that children from low-income families need if they are to lead productive and fulfilling lives. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] Widening gaps Based on U.S. Census Bureau data, the left-hand bar in each set of bars in Figure 1 shows the average income in a particular year (in 2012 dollars) for children at the 20th percentile of the nation's family income distribution. This means that, in a given year, 20% of children lived in families with incomes below that level, while 80% had incomes above it. In 1970, the dividing line was drawn at $37,664. The middle bar in each set shows the average family income in a given year at the 80th percentile of the distribution, which was about $100,000 (in 2012 dollars) in 1970. …


The variation finite element method(FEM) using the pseudo-potential function was presented for the simulation of transonic rotational flows. As known, there isn't potential function in the transonic rotational flows with shock waves. But in order to preserve the computational simplicity of the potential function, one general function-the pseudo-potential function-was introduced by Liu Gao-Lian of Shang-Hai University. Liu has shown that the pseudo-potential function retains almost all advantages of potential function and removes its restriction to flow potentiality, while providing a new physically self-consistent and computationally simple flow potentiality, while providing a new physically self-consistent and computationally simple flow model and allowing for the vorticity generated just behind shocks. Moreover, a family of variational principles for the pseudo-potential function was also established by Liu. On the other hand, the artificial density approach was implemented in this paper to improve the solution convergence and to capture the shocks effectively. The reasonable and satisfied results presented showed that the current method is effective and robust for simulation of transonic rotational flows.


Carbamoylcobalt(III) salophen compounds, such as 4, are sources of carbamoyl radicals under either thermal or photolytic conditions. Generation of N,N-dimethylcarbamoyl radicals, e.g.5, in the presence of trapping agents such as diphenyl disulfide or 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yloxy radical 7 afforded the expected amido derivatives, e.g.6 and 8, respectively. These radicals 5 also underwent oxidative intermolecular addition to styrene; the thermal process gave the E-cinnamide 10 exclusively, whereas under photochemical conditions a 1:1 mixture of E- and Z-cinnamides, 10 and 11, respectively, was obtained. A series of N-alkenyl-N-alkylcarbamoylcobalt(III) salophens have also been prepared (i.e.14, 33 and 43), and are shown to be suitable precursors for the synthesis of β-,γ- and δ-lactams through the 4-, 5- or 6-exo-trig-modes of cyclisation of the corresponding intermediate carbamoyl radicals. The products of these cyclisations, N-alkyl-3-lactamidomethyl radical (i.e.16, 34 or 46) are trapped by the cobalt(II) salophen to give the corresponding alkylcobalt(III) salophens (e.g.16→17). Although these alkylcobalt salophens appeared to be stable at temperatures ⩽40 °C, under the thermolytic conditions for radical generation that were usually employed (110 °C) dehydrocobaltation occurred, and the unsaturated lactam was formed. Results concerning the introduction of side-chain oxygen functionality at the product radical centre in tandem with the carbamoyl radical cyclisation are also presented. Computer-generated molecular modelling calculations supporting the novel 4-exo-trig-cyclisation of 15 are discussed.


Nanocomposites ribbons of 89wt%Cu-10wt%Ni-1%wtAl2O3 were produced by chemical route synthesis of nanoparticles and thermomechanical processing. The nanoparticles synthesis procedure is reported elsewhere [1]. While the metallic constituent of CuNi is a solid solution, the ceramic Al2O3 are dispersed nanoparticles. The present study reports the microstructural evolution of different steps of the processing: from nanoparticles to cold pressed pellets and, finally, ribbons. The final products of CuNiAl2O3 composites were obtained after cold rolling the pellets down to ribbons reaching 40%, 60% and 80% reductions in thickness.


The invention discloses a Schiff base metal manganese complex and a preparation method and application thereof.The method includes the steps of making salicylaldehyde and aniline react to obtain N-phenyl salicylaldehyde imine, making N-phenyl salicylaldehyde imine react with sulfamic acid and sodium carbonate with urea as the catalyst to obtain sulfo salicylic aldehyde, making sulfo salicylic aldehyde react with cyanide urea to obtain sulfo salicylic aldehyde condensation cyanide urea ligand, and coordinating ligand with metal manganese salt to obtain the Schiff base metal manganese complex.Sulfo salicylic aldehyde condensation cyanide urea ligand obtained through the technical scheme has excellent water solubility; the metal manganese complex obtained by coordinating ligand with metal manganese salt has high capacity for catalyzing peroxide hydrogen decomposition and producing many bleaching activity components; the complex further contains amido bonds or like amido bonds and cyano groups, so hydrogen peroxide decomposition can be accelerated to produce bleaching activity substances; due to cyano groups of short carbon chains, peroxide hydrogen decomposition can be easily catalyzed by the Schiff base metal manganese complex, the complex can be applied for bleaching peroxide hydrogen of fabric at low temperature, and the processed fabric has the advantages of being high in whiteness and excellent in capillary effect.


In this paper we extend the size efficiency model of Maindiratta(1990), which is distinct from scale efficiency of DEA, then we use the extended model and the data of year 2006--C2009 to evaluate the size efficiency of Chinese commercial banks. Our study reveals that almost a half of Chinese commercial banks should consider changing their business strategy to make efficient use of resources, so that to gain a higher efficiency.


We examine the behavior of Cattaneo-Christov heat flux model for two-dimensional incompressible flow of Eyring Powell fluid passed over an exponentially stretching sheet. Mathematical formulation is performed by assuming boundary layer approximation. Cattaneo Christov heat flux model is applied to analyze the heat transport phenomenon. Thermal relaxation time is envisaged on the layer induced due to boundary. The governing Partial Differential equations are converted into Ordinary differential equations by the appropriate use of similarity transformation. Shooting approach is used to tackle the obtained boundary layer equations. The effects of obtained similarity parameters are plotted and discussed. Computation results reveal that fluid temperature is directly related with thermal relaxation. The comparison of results, in present situation, between Fourier's law of heat conduction and Cattaneo Christov heat flux model show that the temperature and the boundary layer (thermal) thickness are smaller in Cattaneo Christov model.


: Background and aim: Acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD), due to its debilitating nature, entails irreparable consequences on individual socioeconomic life. Treatment with conventional medicines not only imposes costs on the patient but also is associated with many side effects. Considering the importance of complementary medicine in nursing and the existence of evidence based on the antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory effects reported for thyme and low cost and complications of the plant extract, this study was conducted to determine the effect of T. vulgaris inhaling on arterial oxygen saturation and heart rate in patients with AECOPD. Materials and methods: The present randomized clinical trial was performed on 60 patients with AECOPD referred to Emergency Department of 22 Bahman Hospital in Gonabad, Iran, in 2016. The patients were selected according to inclusion criteria using convenience sampling and were randomly assigned to two groups of 30 (control and intervention). The intervention group received 1% T. vulgaris inhaling as much as 5 ml for 15 minutes through inhaling treatment mask, and the control group used distilled water inhaling for the same amount and duration with inhaling treatment mask. The arterial oxygen saturation and heart rate of the patients were collected and recorded via a portable finger pulse oximeter before and after the intervention by a researcher who was blind to the intervention. The data were analyzed by SPSS 22 using independent t-test and paired t-test with a significant level of less than 5%. Results: According to the obtained findings, the two groups had no difference in demographic and clinical variables (P>0.05). After the intervention, the mean arterial oxygen saturation (P = 0.01) and heart rate (P = 0.001) showed statistically significant differences between the two groups. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that T. vulgaris inhaling is effective on the levels of arterial oxygen saturation and heart rate in patients with AECOPD. Emergency care nurses can consider these results in the care of patients. However, the use of this approach requires further research.


Metallurgical equipment is subjected to severe working conditions and the components suffer from various types of physical damages such as abrasion, corrosion and crack. Advanced surface engineering technologies and resistant coatings on the damaged surface can improve surface properties, extend service lives, reduce maintenance costs and improve product quality in the metallurgical industry. This paper introduces remanufacturing technologies, including electroplating, overlaying welding, thermal spraying and laser surface cladding and their applications in the metallurgical industry, and analyzes the development tendency and prospect of remanufacturing technologies.


Fluidic nanochannels with a characteristic dimension of ∼280 nm were fabricated and designed as a leak assembly, where the nanochannels were formed on silicon wafers and enclosed with Pyrex® glass. The geometric dimensions were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, and the gas flow conductance of He and other heavy gases (N2, O2, and Ar) was measured, and its uncertainty estimated, by the difference method. The results indicated that the measured flow conductance values were 45% less than the calculated flow conductance values. For helium, molecular flow was shown to occur at pressures ranging from vacuum to atmospheric pressure. As a consequence of the well-defined geometry, the prediction of flow conductance could be achieved for various gas species.


Objective : Oriental medical treatment may be possible or effective in patients with facial palsy and hearing disturbance caused by traumatic disorder Methods : The authors observed objectively improvement state of patient that treated by acupuncture, herbal medicine Results : 1. A Facial nerve travel long and narrow bone canal in temporal bone. so slow progressive palsy is caused by nerve swelling and impedimental blood circulation in bone canal, if bruise happens. 2. A patient with traumatic facial palsy, acupuncture, herbal medicine(Igigeopung-tang, Boicyangwitang etc.), electro acupuncture are effective to improving symptoms. 3. Despite acupuncture treatment is taken, hearing disturbance is not improved. 4. In general, everyone consider surgical operation first of all, in the case of having traumatic facial palsy. Though this case, the author are thought that can attempt access of Oriental medical treatment without doing surgical operation.


While many efficient proposals exist for solving the single-pair shortest-path problem, a solution that sees the algorithmic solution in combination with efficient data management has received considerably smaller attention. This work proposes a data management approach for efficient shortest path computation that exploits road network hierarchies and allow us to minimize the portion of the network that is kept in main memory.
 The proposed approach is insensitive to network changes as it does not rely on any pre-computation, but only on given road network properties. In that we specifically target large road networks that exhibit a high degree of change (e.g., OpenStreetMap). Extensive experimental evaluation shows that the presented solution is both efficient and scalable and provides competitive shortest-path computation performance without requiring a preprocessing stage for the road network graph.


. Lifts are the essential means of vertical transportation. Recently, lifts installed in the high-rise buildings are long travel, thus the lift ropes are becoming longer. The natural period of the high-rise buildings is longer than that of the conventional buildings [1]. In addition to the lift rope becomes longer, the natural period of the lift ropes become longer. Accordingly, the natural period of the lift ropes gets closer to the natural period of the building. Consequently, the lift ropes might be entangled with the equipment of wall when the lift ropes vibrate due to an external force, such as a strong wind and earthquake. Furthermore, secondary accident such as containment of passengers and lift service stop may occur. In the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, 2015 cases of problem such as the catch and the damage of lift ropes have been reported [2]. Operation of lifts after earthquakes are required for the security of the refuge course. Accordingly, the analytical method for comparative evaluation is investigated in this study. Furthermore, a method to prevent a catch by vibration reduction of the lift ropes is investigated. In the previous research, it was confirmed that the division of the lift travel is effective for reducing the response of the rope. When the lift travel was equally divided, the displacement of the upper lift became larger than that of the other lift. Accordingly, the effectiveness of the division ratio of lift travel was examined in this report. We investigated the catching of the lift rope using the finite difference analysis and risk assessment. As the result, the displacement of the upper lift was decreased by the division ratio. The probability of catching rope of the upper lift is reduced. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the risk of the catching rope reduces in probabilistic risk assessment.


This research aims to investigate to what extent students and professors at the University of Jordan use information technology in teaching and learning French. It also intends to evaluate the effect that IT tools have on the teaching/learning of this language at the Department of French at this university. The study sample was confined to (90) third-year students majoring in French. Another sample included all (8) professors in the department. The research method utilized two questionnaires, one for the professors and the other for students. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, and highlighting means and frequencies. The findings revealed that technology is used by the majority of students for such tasks as using online dictionaries, getting information for their projects and assignments and doing power point presentations. These activities play a part in developing their learning of the language. The findings also showed limitations in their interaction with native-speakers, use of social media, movies, and songs in the target language. As for the professors, the answers revealed that information technology is not often used in their courses. And when used, it is limited to e-mails or power-point presentations.


This study was conducted to investigate ICU nurses` perceptions of communication difficulties, the importance of and satisfaction with communication with doctors, other nurses, patients, and family, as well as to explore communication barrier with patient families. Methods: Investigators developed a 15-item communication perception questionnaire and 58-item communication barrier questionnaire. Communication barrier included 4 domains: nurses, family, environment, and patient condition. A total of 151 ICU nurses with a minimum of one year of ICU experience participated. Results: ICU patients (3.38±0.73) were the most difficult group to communicate with, followed by family (3.32±0.72), senior nurses (3.25±0.74), doctors (3.21±0.68), and nurse colleagues (2.64±0.73). Doctors (4.61±0.53) were the most important group to communicate with, followed by nurse colleagues (4.52±0.54), patients (4.49±0.58), senior nurses (4.44±0.55), and family (4.43±0.61). Satisfaction with communication was the highest with colleague nurses (3.60±0.68), then senior nurses (3.37±0.74), family (3.18±0.71), patients (3.09±0.75), and doctors (3.06±0.83).The total score of the communication barrier was 2.83±0.52, where each domain was scored as follows: patient condition 3.13±0.74, nurses 2.83±0.60, environment 2.81±0.66, and family 2.76±0.57. The ICU nurses reported that communication was difficult due to ``sudden deterioration in the patient`s condition``, ``being too busy``, ``a noisy environment``, and ``information not being shared between family members.`` Significant differences were noted by age, clinical experience, and marital status of nurse respondents. Conclusion: The findings indicated that development of a protocol on communication between nurses and doctors as well as development of an educational program on communication skills are necessary.


The position and role are essential concept of network structure. The position of actors is embedded among the structure of network, and the role of actors is presented between positions. We argue that the position is generated by the result of actors ' behavior, and the existence of position will re-shape the mode of behavior of actors. Hence, the relationship of position and role is closely connected to the two reciprocal perspectives inherent from actors' interaction, and shall be defined by each other. In contract to past literature, this paper analyzes the network structure by both position analysis and role analysis. This paper captures the definition of position and role by the concept of Anderson et al. (1998), and extents these to be as the technological embeddedness and the technological application, respectively. To exam the correlation between position and role, we use the QAP method. The result of this research found that there are 4 positions in the structure of technological network and their mutual relationship of each role have been discussed. The author also discussed some theoretical implication.


The present study is focused on the improvement of cohesion properties of interface betweenplasma-sprayed coatings and substrate by a laser cladding technique(LCT). Within the laser-clad layer,there exists a gradient distribution in chemical composition and mechanical performance, which has beenconfirmed by SEM observation and micro-hardness measurement. The residual stress due to mismatches inthermal and mechanical properties between coatings and substrate can be markedly reduced and smoothedout. To examine the microstructure changes and crack propagation in the coating and interface duringloading, an experimental test has also been conducted on three-point bending samples in an SEM with aloading equipment installed. The experimental results have shown clearly that the interface cohesion canbe improved with LCT pretreatment, and the capability of the interface to withstand the shear stress aswell as to resist micro-cracking has been enhanced, and analysis on distribution of shear stress at interfaceunder loading has been conducted using ANSYS FEM code.


Abstract : Proteomic methods developed through the support of this grant have been used to describe a previously unknown relationship between the pulse width of infrared laser light (l540nm) and the degree of post-exposure corneal wound healing. Using standard histologic methods, in vitro exposure of corneal tissue to nanosecond pulse widths appeared less damaging when compared to millisecond pulse widths. However, using MMP-2 immunohistochemistry to detect subtle stromal remodeling, we discovered a markedly increased tissue response to nanosecond exposures when compared to millisecond exposures. This finding is important to the AFOSR mission because it demonstrates that significant tissue changes associated with wound healing can occur in the cornea following exposure to nanosecond pulse widths that are not detectable using standard histologic techniques. Tissue engineering methods developed through the support of this grant were used to produce organotypic corneal models that reduced the number of experimental animals necessary to conduct laser-tissue interaction studies. Through tissue engineering, our research group developed a validated experimental model to document the marked proliferative response of corneal tissue to low fluence 1540 nm laser radiation.


Abstract We applied environmental stresses, namely dehydration, pruning and bending, to woody taproots of Fraxinus ornus L. in order to: (i) identify a method that could be applied in routine studies of lateral root development from a secondary structure; and (ii) carry out anatomical investigations to identify the tissue involved in the recruitment of lateral root mother cells (LRMC). We found that all three methods induce the formation of new lateral roots from a woody parental root. However, bending stress considerably reduced the zone of the woody parental root (the curvature) for analysis when studying the process of emission of a new lateral root. The trace left by a new lateral root in the taproot secondary xylem forms a V-shaped insertion zone that starts in contact with a growth ring and enlarges toward the periphery. This type of insertion zone suggests that the vascular cambium is the tissue-source of initials that produce the root primordium of a new lateral root. In the case of root bending, the emission of a new lateral root occurs also in the convex side of the curvature and is preceded by the formation, at the same site, of a small amount of reaction wood. Thus, reaction wood and lateral root emission are two aspects of the same response mechanism to bending. Consequently, anatomical and cytological studies of lateral root formation should focus on this part of the woody taproot. By peeling off the bark at this site, one has direct access to the underlying living tissues and can thus investigate lateral root formation also at a biochemical and molecular level.


The counter-pressure cylinder (02) engages e.g. four transmission cylinders each in contact with a form cylinder (04). Several collections of small cylinders with drive motors (14,16) form moistening cylinders (08) and color inking cylinders (07). Motors (09) with gear drives (11) turn the counter-pressure cylinder. The printer has connections (17) to the power supply network and a control computer (21).


To overcome the disadvantage of photoperiod sensitivity of F1 hybrids derived from Hua 1A,Longtepu B,the maintainer line of an elite CMS line Longtepu A with good combining ability,high outcrossing rate and photoperiod insensitivity in its F1 hybrids,was chosen to cross with Hua 1 B(fine grain quality,but most of the F1 hybrids derived from its CMS line are photoperiod sensitive).The young panicles of F1 plants were cultivated through anther culture.In the H2 generation,single plants with desired traits were selected to make hybridization with T78A.After that,the pedigree selection and successive backcrossing methods were used in the breeding program and the new CMS line Hua 2 A was developed.Hua 2 A shows stable male sterility,high outcrossing rate,good grain quality and no photoperiod sensitivity in its F1 hybrids.It was technically identified by the Science and Technology Department of Fujian Province in July,2008.Its hybrids such as Hua 2 You 86(Hua 2 A/Minghui 86) show high yielding ability,good grain quality and suitable maturity,indicating a good prospect in commercial production.


The Sound Flinger is an interactive sound spatialization instrument that allows users to touch and move sound. Users record audio loops from an mp3 player or other external source. By manipulating four motorized faders, users can control the locations of two virtual "sound objects" around a circle corresponding to the perimeter of a quadraphonic sound field. Physical models that simulate a spring-like interaction between each fader and the virtual sound objects generate haptic and aural feedback, allowing users to literally touch, wiggle, and fling sound around the room.


Transitions, such as the one from the Upper to Late Palaeolithic in Europe, are episodes of cultural and demographic change, which raise questions about possible causal connections between environmental changes and human behaviour. The workshop The Upper-Late Palaeolithic Transition in Western Central Europe. Typology, Technology, Environment and Demography, organised by the Collaborative Research Centre 806, focused on discussing and disentangling these aspects. Experts from seven European countries reported the current state of knowledge and recent research on typology, technology, ecology, and population dynamics during the Upper to Late Palaeolithic transition (14,700 – 13,500 calBP) in north-western Europe. The presentations concerning the methods of palaeodemography included examples from the European Palaeolithic and Neolithic.


Typically, some regions of an image are more relevant for its perceived quality than the others. On the other hand, subjective image quality is also affected by low level characteristics, such as sensor noise and sharpness. This is why image rescaling, as often used in object recognition, is not a feasible approach for producing input images for convolutional neural networks (CNN) used for blind image quality prediction. Generally, convolution layer can accept images of arbitrary resolution as input, whereas fully connected (FC) layer only can accept a fixed length feature vector. To solve this problem, we propose weighted spatial pooling (WSP) to aggregate spatial information of any size of weight map, which can be used to replace global average pooling (GAP). In this paper, we present a blind image quality assessment (BIQA) method based on CNN and WSP. Our experimental results show that the prediction accuracy of the proposed method is competitive against the state-of-the-art image quality assessment methods.


In The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein provides a critical and timely reminder of the history of segregation in the United States for all who have forgotten and those who never knew. As William Jul...


Credit card deception is a term used when someone  credit card is used by some unauthorized person to buy supplies or services. Use of credit cards for online purchases has considerably improved due to the increase and quick growth of E-Commerce and it caused a sudden increase in the credit card deception. Credit card deception is a wide-ranging term for robbery and deception committed using a credit card as a fake source of funds in a given transaction. The credit card holder regularly has trouble reasserting control over the card, because generally they don't find out instantly, and the owner must distinguish genuine purchases from illegal in a reliable manner.  Cases of deception associated with it are also growing as credit card and becomes the majority popular mode of payment for both online as well as regular purchase. Deceptive connections are scattered with authentic connections and simple pattern matching techniques are not often adequate to distinguish the deceptions exactly in real life. In order to reduce the bank losses, execution of proficient deception discovery methods has thus become important for all credit card issuing banks. Various recent methods based on Artificial Intelligence have developed in determining a variety of credit card deceiving transactions. A variety of techniques are used in credit card deception discovery mechanisms which are evaluated by each methodology based on certain design criteria.


The utility model discloses a pipe clamp structure of a PVC drainage pipe. The pipe clamp structure of the PVC drainage pipe comprises two semicircular clamps which are combined mutually and oppositely. The two ends of the semicircular clamps are provided with fixation lugs which are folded outwards respectively, the semicircular clamp end faces of the inner sides of the fixation lugs of one of the semicircular clamps are provided with grooves, and the semicircular clamp end faces of the inner sides of the fixation lugs of the other semicircular clamp are provided with bosses matched with the grooves. The semicircular clamp end faces of the inner sides of the grooves and the inner sides of the bosses are provided with sealing grooves respectively, and sealing strips are arranged in the sealing grooves in a clamping mode. The fixation lugs are provided with mutually-corresponding positioning and locking holes respectively, and the abutting faces of the fixation lugs are sawtooth-shaped end faces which are mutually staggered and oppositely combined respectively. The pipe clamp structure of the PVC drainage pipe is reasonable in structural design, through matching of the grooves and the bosses and the structures of the sawtooth-shaped end faces, matching and positioning of a pipe clamp can be facilitated when the pipe clamp is used, manual operation is convenient and fast, time and labor are saved, and stability of the pipe clamp structure is good; due to the structures of the sealing grooves, the close fit degree of the two semicircular clamps can be increased, and the whole structure is firm.


This paper presents inductance simulators using the voltage differencing differential input buffered amplifier (VD-DIBA) as an active building block. Three types of inductance simulators, including floating lossless inductance, series inductance-resistance, and parallel inductance-resistance simulators, are proposed, in addition to their application to the 4th order elliptic lowpass ladder filter. The simple design procedures of these inductance simulators using a circuit block diagram are also given. The proposed inductance simulators employ two VD-DIBAs and two passive elements. The complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) VD-DIBA used in this design utilizes the multiple-input metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor technique in order to achieve a compact and simple structure with a minimum count of transistors. Thanks to this technique, the VD-DIBA offers high performances compared to the other CMOS structures presented in the literature. The CMOS VD-DIBAs and their applications are designed and simulated in the Cadence environment using a 0.18 µm CMOS process from Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company (TSMC). Using a supply voltage of ±0.9 V, the linear operation of VD-DIBA is obtained over a differential input range of −0.5 V to 0.5 V. The lowpass (LP) ladder filter realized with the proposed inductance simulators shows a dynamic range (DR) of 80 dB for a total harmonic distortion (THD) of 2% at 1 kHz and a 1.8 V peak-to-peak output. In addition, the experimental results of the floating inductance simulators and their applications are obtained by using VD-DIBA constructed from the available commercial components LM13700 and AD830. The simulation results are in agreement with the experimental ones, confirming the advantages of the inductance simulators and their application.


Introduces the development of the on-site checking instrument, Bluetooth technology and PDA, and describes the application of on-site checking instrument by using Bluetooth and PDA with bar code scan.


Epigenetic therapy with a hypomethylating agent is becoming the standard of care in some intermediate and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The DNA-targeted hypomethylating agent, decitabine (DACOGEN, Janssen Cilag Farmaceutica S.A. and Eisai Inc.), has been approved for patients (pts) with intermediate-1 (INT-1), intermediate-2 (INT-2), and high-risk MDS in Argentina. An alternative regimen with decitabine 20 mg/m 2 IV over 1 hour once daily for 5 consecutive days repeating every 4 weeks, permits its use in the outpatient clinic. Clinical and hematological response and safety were analyzed retrospectively for pts with all FAB subtypes of MDS who had received this dosing regimen at 17 centers in our country between July 2007 and June 2008. Inclusion criteria were: ≥18 years of age; de novo or secondary MDS; and International Prognosis Scoring System (IPSS) score ≥0.5. Exclusion criteria were: diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or other progressive malignant disease. Patients with prior therapy were not excluded. The primary endpoint was overall response, assessed by IWG 2006 criteria. Thirty-eight pts were enrolled: median age 67 years; 71% male and 29% female. The diagnosis was de novo MDS in 34 pts (89%) and secondary MDS in 4 (11%). The median time from diagnosis to first dose of decitabine was 7 months. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status scores were 0 (21%), 1 (47%), 2 (26%) and 3 (5%). IPSS scores were INT-1 (50%), INT-2 (8%), and high-risk (42%). Cytogenetic abnormalities were found in 37% of pts. FAB classification was: RA (21%), RARS (8%), RAEB (18%), RAEB-T (24%) and CMML (29%). A median of 3.5 cycles (range, 1–8) were given. Dosage had to be reduced in 7 pts (18%) due to comorbidity and cytopenias. Overall improvement rate in the intent-to-treat population was 45% (Table), including: 9% complete response (CR), 5% marrow complete response (mCR), 5% partial response (PR) and 26% hematological improvement (HI). Two pts (5%) had stable disease. Four pts (11%) were non-evaluable for response. Most pts had their first hematological response by cycle 2 and their best response by cycle 4. The mean ± SD time to best response was 2.7±3 months. No differences in clinical and hematological response were observed between pts with INT-2/High compared to INT-1 (8/19 and 9/19, respectively); red cell and platelet transfusion requirements resolved during the first 2 cycles in 13/16 and 7/8 pts, respectively. Overall improvement rates were similar in pts with more and less than 1 year since MDS diagnosis (9/18 and 8/20, respectively). Overall survival was 71% during the observational period (up to 11 months). The most frequent adverse events were neutropenia without fever (47%) and with fever (21%), especially during cycle 2, and thrombocytopenia (23%). This study showed prompt clinical activity for an alternative 5-day dosing schedule of decitabine in the outpatient setting and an overall improvement rate of 45%, with an initial response by cycle 2, the best response by cycle 4, and acceptable tolerability. Table. Response to 5-Day Decitabine Dosing Schedule


. We show that the classic Verlinde numbers on the moduli space M ( r, d ) of rank r and degree d semistable vector bundles over a smooth projective curve can also be regarded as Segre numbers of natural universal complexes over M ( r, d ) .


with coefficients in a differential field ^ (ordinary or partial) ; here 2 is any subset of the differential polynomial algebra & = ${yi, • • • , yn} over 5\ Denote the set of all solutions of this system by 3 (2 ) . We seek a measure of the size of 3 (2 ) . The analogous question for systems of algebraic equations (i.e. for affine algebraic geometry) has a satisfactory answer in the notion of dimension. In the classical literature, where ^ consists of meromorphic functions on some region of complex w-space, the solution is said to depend on a certain number d of arbitrary functions of m variables; if d = 0 then the solution is said to depend on a certain number of arbitrary functions of w 1 variables; and so on. Of course, except in certain special cases, what this means (how these numbers are defined) is not made precise, and general results are therefore wanting. The Ritt theory (see [l]) contains the beginning of a general answer to the question (when SF is of characteristic 0). First 2 is replaced by the perfect differential ideal a generated by 23; this is harmless since 3 (2 ) =30*). Then a is expressed as the intersection of its components, a = piH • • • Hp r ; since 30*)=3( l> i )^ * ' * ^S($r), the question is reduced to the case in which S is a prime differential ideal p of Ö-. Finally, one takes a generic zero rj = (rji, • • • , rjn) of p, and computes the differential transcendence degree d(p) of the differential field extension (̂77) of SF; d(fi) is called the differential dimension of p, or of 3(p)> a n d is the "correct" definition for what is classically called the number of arbitrary functions of m variables in the solution of the system P = 0 ( P £ p ) . Moreover, if p' is another prime differential ideal of d subject to the inclusion pCp ' (or, equivalently, to the inclusion 3(p) D3(p ' ) ) then d(p) È^d(p') ; however, when the inclusions are strict the inequality need not be so. This shows that d(p) is not a sufficiently fine measure of the size of 3(t0In what follows we present another measure, which is sufficiently fine, and describe its relation to d(fi) and some of its other properties; it is vaguely reminiscent of Hubert 's "characteristic function" for


The performance of a reversible pump turbine with S-shaped (dQ11/dn11>0) characteristics is of great harmful to the transient processes such as start-up and load rejection. When working point transition is required, then process in turbine mode must be fast, efficient and reliable. Especially during start-up, the machine must operate at a stable speed close to the no-load condition (i.e. close to the runaway characteristic) in a large operating head range while not involving a special stabilizing technique and all synchronized guide vanes are open slightly. When pump turbine operates in "S" zone, two direction flow phenomena such as turbine direction and pump direction exist in the flow passage together and the pump direction flow is responsible for "S" zone. Many vortexes are formed because the interaction between turbine and pump flow, furthermore, the vortex cause energy loss and discharge fluctuation. In order to improve the "S" characteristics of model pump-turbine and improve the safety margin of prototype pump-turbine, a criterion which can be used to justify whether pump turbine operates in the "S" zone is proposed. The criterion is the guide vane outflow angle at runaway working point. For example, there are two schemes A and B, when the guide vane outflow angle is bigger on A scheme than on B scheme, the S-shaped curve is improved. When the guide vane outflow angle is larger than runner blade installed angle at leading edge (high pressure side), the "S" zone will be removed from operation zone. How to explain this phenomenon? In fact, when the guide vane outflow angle increases, the flow discharge increase, so the main flow at turbine direction covers the main passage and the instability source such as pumping effect is suppressed, finally the S-shaped is optimal.


Toenhance the humanityeducation for our student nurses,in recent years,our col-lege has done innovation on humanity courses by increasing its proportion,enhancing the penetration of humanity education into other courses. We have strengthened the cultivation of humanity emotion bypaying attention to the development of recessive courses and constructing the fantastic humanity environment by the means of practical activities.


There appears to be a growing opinion in North America that hysterectomy is an acceptable solution for a wide range of gynecologic and other disorders. In 1975 hysterectomy was one of the most common major surgical procedures performed in the United States. It has been equally popular in Canada; between 1964 and 1971 in Saskatchewan the number of hysterectomies increased by 72.1 %. Concern about this situation and the wide disparity in the frequency of this operation between different centres in Saskatchewan induced the minister of health to request that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan set up a committee to study the problem.


In this paper, we propose a game theoretic approach to tackle the problem of the distributed formation of the hierarchical network architecture that connects the nodes in the uplink of a wireless multi-hop network. Unlike existing literature which focused on the performance assessment of hierarchical multi-hop networks given an existing topology, this paper investigates the problem of the formation of this topology among a number of nodes that seek to send data in the uplink to a central base station through multi-hop. We model the problem as a hierarchical network formation game and we divide the network into different hierarchy levels, whereby the nodes belonging to the same level engage in a non-cooperative Nash game for selecting their next hop. As a solution to the game, we propose a novel equilibrium concept, the hierarchical Nash equilibrium, for a sequence of multi-stage Nash games, which can be found by backward induction analytically. For finding this equilibrium, we propose a distributed myopic dynamics algorithm, based on fictitious play, in which each node computes the mixed strategies that maximize its utility which represents the probability of successful transmission over the multi-hop communication path in the presence of interference. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm presents significant gains in terms of average achieved expected utility per user up to 125.6% relative to a nearest neighbor algorithm.


Hemispheric asymmetry in 14 left- and 14 right-handed persons shown tachistoscopically presented emotional stimuli to left and right visual fields was examined using a forced-choice, reaction-time paradigm in which subjects were asked to identify positive and negative faces. Neutral faces were included within the two-alternative forced-choice paradigm. Reaction time and response-bias measures were recorded. Analysis indicated differential lateralization for left-handed and right-handed subjects with respect to neutral affective stimuli. While right-handed subjects' perceptions of neutral stimuli remained consistent across visual fields, left-handed ones identified neutral stimuli as more positive (happy) when presented to the left visual field and negative (angry) when presented to the right visual field. Implications for differential lateralization patterns among left- and right-handed adults are discussed.


Debodinance, E., Maljaars, J., Noens, I.,&Van den Noortgate, W. (2017). IntervenBons for toddlers with auBsm spectrum disorder: A metaanalysis of single-subject experimental studies. Research in Au-sm Spectrum Disorders, 36, 79-92. Kaiser, A. P.,&Roberts, M. Y. (2013). Parents as communicaBon partners: An evidence-based strategy for improving parent support for language and communicaBon in everyday seTngs. Perspec-ves on Language Learning and Educa-on, 20(3), 96-111. Kent-Walsh, J., Murza, K. A., Malani, M. D.,&Binger, C. (2015). Effects of communicaBon partner instrucBon on the communicaBon of individuals using AAC: A meta-analysis. Augmenta-ve and Alterna-ve Communica-on, 31(4), 271-284. King, M. L., Takeguchi, K., Barry, S. E., Rehfeldt, R. A., Boyer, V. E.,&Mathews, T. L. (2014). EvaluaBon of the iPad in the acquisiBon of requesBng skills for children with auBsm spectrum disorder. Research in Au-sm Spectrum Disorders, 8(9), 1107-1120. Logan, K., Iacono, T.,&Trembath, D. (2017). A systemaBc review of research into aided AAC to increase social-communicaBon funcBons in children with auBsm spectrum disorder. Augmenta-ve and Alterna-ve Communica-on, 33(1), 51-64. Meder, A. (2012). Mobile media devices and communica-on applica-ons as a form of augmenta-ve and alterna-ve communica-on: An assessment of family wants, needs, and preferences (Doctoral dissertaBon, University of Kansas). References Including parents within AAC intervenBons can be successfully achieved with a quick training to extend the AAC intervenBon to home. Moreover, the very early results of this ongoing study suggest that it could increase outcomes of interven7ons for children with ASD, especially regarding the generaliza7on toward untrained pictograms and communica7on partners. Therefore, this work urges professionals to support parents of children with ASD, instead of just idenBfying preferred items, to choose appropriate tools and conduct the intervenBon to be successfully implemented at home. Conclusion – Take home message We conduct a technology-based AAC intervenBon inspired by the PECS protocol similarly to King et al. (2014), in a changing criterion single-case experimental design. We added measures for parents to the original protocol followed by the children. Par-cipants. 7 families and their child with ASD, from two geographical sites: a medico-educaBonal insBtute in Saint-Malo (France) and in an area around Liège (Belgium). Material. A technology-based soluBon – named Tiwouh has been used to support the present intervenBon. This tablet applicaBon proposes pictogram-based communicaBon boards enhanced with speech-generaBon. Interven-on. Afer a brief training, parents were to take the role of alternaBvely communicaBon partner and physical guide during each session. Method Clinical research demonstrated the relevance of including parents as intervenBonists for children with AuBsm Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Notably, conduc-ng interven-ons at home could represent a success factor for children with ASD to help generalize learnings (Debodinance et al., 2017). In the field of AlternaBve and AugmentaBve CommunicaBon (AAC) intervenBons, a meta-analysis reported the high effecBveness of communicaBon partner training on a range of outcomes measures: frequency of communicaBve acts, social interacBons, communicaBve iniBaBons, etc. (Kent-Walsh et al., 2015). However, parents were only included in 4 on 30 AAC intervenBons for children with ASD reviewed (Logan et al., 2017). Authors reported that parents are usually solicited only to idenBfy preferred items to increase the moBvaBon towards communicaBon. Objec7ve. This work aims to 1) document parents' needs for AAC intervenBons and 2) measure the impact of including parents as communicaBon partners within an AAC intervenBon for children with ASD. Context


This study of an anthropogenically vibrant Sikkim Himalayan watershed shows rapid land cover changes within it. The area is a typical environmentally fragile terrain undergoing tremendous pressure on its natural resources. Considering the watershed as basic resource unit, the impacts of development are noteworthy. Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS 1A/1B) data have been used in this study along with other collateral information for deriving land cover change dynamics. The variations over a period of four years on the classified land covers were determined. At level I, the land covers are forest, agricultural land, waste-land, water bodies and built-up land. At level II, forest has six, agricultural land has three and waste-land has two subclasses. Interpretations have been done using optical bands of IRS/LISS II sensor with good spectral resolutions in visible to near infra-red range and spatial resolution of 36.25 meters. Multidate single band as well as normal false color composite (FCC) scenes have been used. Ground-truth studies were done with suitable ground control points (GCPs). Remote sensing technique has been found cost-effective and less time consuming. This has provided much needed information for developmental planning in such a mountain environment. Sustainable development and environmental conservation strategies are perceived to be worked out faster and precisely for such inaccessible and difficult terrain taking cue from the land cover change dynamics.


Software reverse engineering provides a reliable protection for software maintenance,reuse,and innovation,however it has no mature theory and methods.This paper introduces the basic concepts of software reverse engineering,mainly research static analysis and dynamic analysis which are commonly used in software reverse analysis,then introduce the application of two methods in real-time embedded control system for the automobile,and compare two methods,lays a solid foundation for developing and further studying of software reverse engineering.


Objective To investigate the influence of traditional Chinese medicine on nutritional status and function of immune in post-esophagectomy patients with esophageal carcinoma.Methods 70post-esophagectomy patients in our hospital were randomly divided into 2 groups:a control group (35 cases)and a observation group (35 cases).The control group were treated with postoperative nutrition programs of our hospital,while the observation group were treated postoperative nutrition programs combined with Chinese traditional medicine group in order to observe and analyze the nutritional status and the function of immune at preoperative and 7 days treatments.Results The TP/ALB/IgG/CD3+were (54.5±18.3)g/L and (50.5±11.8)g/L,(36.3±11.7) g/Land (32.8±12.2)g/L,(8.7±3.1)g/L and (7.5±2.8)g/L,(75.4±12.8)% and (70.1±12.9) % in the observation group and the control group respectively,showing significant difference (P<0.05).The CD4+/CD8+ were (2.5±0.8)and (2.1 ±0.6)in the observation group and the control group respectively,showing significant difference(P<0.05).Conclusion The nutritional status and function of immune in post-esophagectomy patients with esophageal carcinoma were declined.Rational application of traditional Chinese medicine assisted the nutritional status and function of immune in post-esophagectomy patients with esophageal carcinoma.

Key words:
Esophageal carcinoma;  Nutritional status;  Function of immune


Sciatica is a type of neuropathic pain and commonest variation of low back pain. It is known by a range of terms in the literature, such as lumbo sacral radicular syndrome, radiculopathy, nerve root pain and nerve root entrapment or irritation etc. The intense leg pain may be accompanied by neurological changes of muscle weakness and wasting, sensory changes in the nerve root distribution. There may be intra-spinal, intra-pelvic and extra-pelvic causes compressing the nerve and producing inflammation.
In Unani medicine the term "Irq-un-Nasa" is used to describe such pain that initiates from lower back and radiates up 4,5 to knee or ankle joint posterolaterally. Most of the Unani scholars have mentioned it as a subtype of Wajaul Mafasil.
The most common cause is the infiltration (nufooz) of abnormal homours in the fluid of hip joint, such as Ghair tabayi Balgham, Safra or Dam or admixture of Balgham and Safra, such infiltration for a prolonged period result into Tahajjur-e-Mafasil and even Irq-un-Nasa. Whenever the nerve becomes weak due to any reason the susceptibility for
the accumulation of any morbid matter is increased. There may be sue mizaj damwi/ safravi/ balghami/ saudawi as active cause of Irq-un-Nasa. By now it is understood that this is the disease of nerve, and it is diagnosed and managed accordingly.


Currently, hepatitis B virus (HBV) re‐infection after liver transplantation (LT) can be almost completely suppressed by the administration of HBV reverse transcriptase inhibitors and hepatitis B immunoglobulins. However, after transplantation, there is no indicator of HBV replication because tests for the serum hepatitis B surface antigen and HBV‐DNA are both negative. Therefore, the criteria for reducing and discontinuing these precautions are unclear. In this study, we examined the serum HBV core‐related antigen (HBcrAg) and intrahepatic covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) in order to determine if these could be useful markers for HBV re‐infection.


The integration of P2P and SIP is widely used in multimedia communication,which can resolve the problem of single-point failure in traditional SIP based network.Neverthelessl,ots of security problems appear because of the lack of ef-fective authentication.Most present P2P-SIP system authentications try to adopt peers'real ID,which can not meet the de-mand of anonymity of peers.In this paper,an anonymous authentication policy named as DHB based on Diffie-Hellman algo-rithm is proposed to cope with this problem.At the initialization stage of algorithm,DHB uses PIAC to generate peers' pseudonymous name.At the authentication stage,peers'shared information and improved Diffie-Hellman algorithm are used to make certification between peers.The theoretical and experimental analysis shows that DHB is safe and effective,which can resist man-in-middle attack and key guessing attack.


The recent influx of herbal mixtures in Nigeria today is gradually becoming alarming. It remains a major concern in the society especially if the right approach is used. Experts believe that the knowledge on herbal therapy is usually obtained from an implicit knowledge of an expert which is transcribed to document-based for reusable purposes. Nowadays, lack of a collaborative herbal therapy system and a massive introduction of different kinds of herbal mixtures in the market today remain a concern for deliberation. This study was designed as a result of lack of communicable herbal therapy platform in Nigeria and secondly, self-imposed solutions to health challenges. The concept of collaborative, user-friendly problem solving software was designed for the study, a package named Herbal Therapy Knowledge Management System (HTKMS). In this study, herbal experts provide expert analysis and solutions to ailments (problems) using the formidable approach of Case-Based Reasoning Model. Case forms, questionnaire and interview were used to gather information from herbal experts and users. Knowledge on Ailments causes and solutions gathered were represented using Entity Relationship Diagram. Case-Based Reasoning technique was adopted for information retrieval from herbal corporate memory (Case Forms) while cases not found were redirected to a collaborative forum for further discussion by herbal experts. Communication among the users (patients) and herbal experts were based on the principles of server-client network. The system was coded using PHP, HTML and CSS. The results of quantitative analysis of the questionnaire developed for the study showed that herbal experts strongly agreed that they diagnose patients manually (Mean Score: 1.90; Std Dev: 0.657), that they proffer solutions from personal experience and presumption (Mean Score 2.90; Std Dev: 0.852), they strongly agreed that they often do not seek for information from practicing colleagues or from a media (Mean Score: 1.85; Std Dev: 0.671) and lastly, they depended naturally on roots, stems, leaves and shrubs for herbal solutions as contained in their "account book" (Mean Score: 1.85; Std Dev: 0.745). Conclusively, the study was able to produce collaborative and reusable software which focused majorly on producing a more organized and reusable herbal knowledge for users.


In the older literature there was much speculation as to the connection between alcoholism and endogenous psychoses (Bonhoeffer 1901, Kielholz 1905, Stocker 1910 and others). And as late as 1928 L. Binswanger was still of the opinion that alcohol addiction is a symptom of a psychopathic constitution or a mild or severe psychosis. Wolfensberger (1923) assumes the existence of a schizophrenic "cerebral disposition" as the pre-condition for the occurrence of an alcoholic hallucinosis. A connection between schizophrenia and alcoholic hallucinosis is also assumed by Pohlisch (1927 b), Bleuler (1937), Meggendorfer (1940) and others. Bowman and Jellinek (1942 b) account as "symptomatic drinkers" inter alia the type of "schizophrenic drinker", persons with early general paresis and "the manic-depressive drinker". They consider that schizophrenia should be suspected if violent drinking begins before the age of 20 years. In manic-depressive patients alcohol abuse is supposed to be symptomatic and to appear either during the manic or the depressive period. Figures for the frequency of psychoses among alcoholics are rare in the literature. Pohlisch (1933) has from among 371 chronic alcoholics 3 cases with "endogenous depression". H. Binswanger (1935), in an examination of 174 patients with pathological intoxication, found 7% with schizophrenia, imbecility or epilepsy. Floch f1947), who examined 276 imprisoned abnormal drinkers, found 1.5 % schizophrenics and 1.4% who were paretic and early paretic.


The publication reviewed here (genitourinary medicine) was written by two London-based clinicians: Simon Barton, clinical director of St Stephen's Centre, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, and Antony Newell of the Mayday Genitourinary Centre. Each section is simple to read and easily understood. The accompanying pictures are informative, yet simple enough to be modified by the clinician in the light of each patient's individual circumstances. Shading is in tones of red which, together with the back text, seems to work well enough on most photocopiers. It is always difficult to write a manuscript that helps patient understand what may happen to them in the future, yet does not pre-empt the actions of individual clinicians. On the whole, the information presented here is general enough for this not to be a danger. Nevertheless, critics could argue that prepared material like this leaves little room for local modification. is remarkably complete, ranging from anatomy, through common and less common infections, to the principles of contact tracing. If the other books in the series are similarly complete, then, at this competitive price, they merit a viewing, especially by clinicians keen to educate their patients without having to resort to paper and pen themselves.


A new small dimensions amplifier is developed in the paper. This kind of main amplifier's founction includes not only filter and shaping, but also the value of wave peak. The main amplifier's integral time have fourth kind. They are 0.5us, 1us, 2 us, and 3 us. The amplificatory multiple include ×10 and ×100. The peak value can be held in 6 us (that enough for the time of ADC later). It also features low cost, small dimension and excellent performance.


(Phenylaminomethyl)trimethoxysilane (= α-amino-siloxane) was treated with various isocyanates to obtain a series of siloxanes having urea moieties (= α-urea-siloxanes). Their hydrolysis-condensation reactions were monitored with 29Si NMR, to reveal that they exhibited much higher reactivity than a urea-siloxane derived from [3-(phenylamino)propyl]trimethoxysilane (= γ-amino-siloxane). When compared with the derivation of the γ-amino-siloxane into the corresponding γ-urea-siloxane, those of the α-amino-siloxane into the corresponding α-urea-siloxanes were accompanied by much larger shifts of the 29Si NMR signal toward a higher magnetic field. These results suggested that the location of the urea moiety in the α-urea-siloxanes was favorable to its intramolecular coordination to the silicon atom to exhibit its "neighboring group participation" that promoted transformation of the tetravalent silicon center into the pentavalent one, which is more electrophilic to make the siloxanes more susceptive to undergo the hydrolysis and condensation reactions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 6654–6659, 2008


We investigate the structure of light nuclei using a bare nucleon-nucleon interaction. The tensor and short-range correlations are treated with the tensor-optimized shell model (TOSM) and the unitary correlation operator method (UCOM), respectively. In TOSM, the 2p2h states are fully optimized to describe the large tensor contribution and also the corresponding high-momentum components. We use the AV8' interaction and show results for the excitation energy spectra and the radial properties of He and Li isotopes.


Synthetic diamond custom colors different from human or animal keratin (dead or alive). Procedure for manufacturing. The present invention seeks to provide a process for making large single crystals of diamond of different colors from carbon from the keratin contained in the ectoderm of many living beings, in particular human and mammals among others, being possible to extract carbon from a human being by cutting a lock of hair and subsequent carbonization, subsequently subjecting it to a process of high pressure and temperature.


Student research report documenting an explorative research in adapting Contextmapping techniques for mapping user's experiences to child participants. The research topic was exploring children's fears through generative techniques.


Groundwater is one of water resources that can be exploitated to supply human being basic need becauseof its quality and quantity. Groundwater overexploitation can give negative impact to environmentalequilibrium. Human activities such as groundwater overexploitation, civilization problems, coastreclamation and industrial area developments can give groundwater problems in urban area. Groundwaterproblems that can be happened such as surface flooding, sea water intrusion, land subsidence andgroundwater pollution as the impact of human activities. Mitigations that can be conducted to minimizenegative impact of groundwater overexploitation are by technical and nontechnical programs


The Recruitment of Psychiatrists Every teacher of psychiatry bears a dual responsibility. Not only must he inculcate the essential principles of his subject into medical students, irrespective of their eventual choice of career within medicine, but he must also help recruit into psychiatry a sufficient number of doctors to develop the psychiatric services of tomorrow. Moreover, the quality and personal attributes of these recruits must be such as to do credit to the profession.


This paper gives out a new method to judge the cooler's margin,i.e.the method of cooler's temperature of cooler wind.This paper also gives a precise cooler calculation method for abnormal operation condition,i.e.the cooler's operation point calculation,and gives a comparison between old and new method calculation.


........................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. vii List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. viii Intro ............................................................................................................................................... 1 Geologic Setting............................................................................................................................ 5 Previous Experimental Work ...................................................................................................... 12 Methods....................................................................................................................................... 16 Results ......................................................................................................................................... 20 Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 27 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 32 References ................................................................................................................................... 34 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................. 39 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................. 50 Appendix C ................................................................................................................................. 55


In this article,authors introduce the application of pipe drilling technology combining with rotating drill technology.The experience of the project forwards a good example for our country coastal area and the areas with similar geological conditions.


The study of border in South Asia is a recent phenomenon compared to North America and Europe borderlands. The India–Myanmar borderland is such a region where very few footsteps have fallen as it h...


In this paper, a novel readout scheme for the one-transistor one capacitor (1T-1C) DRAM will be introduced. The scheme depends on charging the bitline as well as the cell-storage capacitance to a certain level and comparing the charging current with a reference current to disclose the stored data. The factors affecting the sense margin will be discussed. The proposed readout scheme will be verified with simulation using the 45 nm CMOS technology. The proposed scheme achieves 80% and 67% reductions in the average read-cycle time and the average power-delay product, respectively.


Microscopic simulation is becoming commonplace for the analysis of transportation facilities. There are numerous computer simulation programs to choose from, so it is important to determine which programs will provide useful results and for what specific analyses these various simulation programs are best suited. One of the newer simulation programs available to transportation professionals is Trafficware's SimTraffic. The program is easy to use and offers capabilities similar to the FHWA developed CORSIM. User friendliness and relative ease of use is resulting in a fast growing group of SimTraffic users. However, the questions transportation professionals have been asking for the last few years are "Should we be using SimTraffic" and "Can we trust the results from SimTraffic".


We performed to prepare white-cell-poor blood components using automatic device, which was made up a optic sensor detecting the interface of red cells and plasma, a sensor weighing the plasma and huffy coat fraction, and three clamps connecting these sensors. This device was enable to separate 400ml whole blood into packed red cells, plasma and huffy coat fraction involved the platelets within about 3 minutes. White cell contamination in packed red cells was 59±19×107 with recovery of 24±4% of the original value, and the lymphocytes in the white cells were only 3±1×107 (2±1% of the original value).White cell contamination of platelet concentrate was below the threshold of white cell detection by the microscopic observation (less than 100 cells per μl of concentrate). These results suggest that this automatic device was enable to introduce the procedure for preparation of white-cell poor blood components as a routine operation in blood center.


An acceleration cueing simulation device is disclosed for applying sustained, as well as dynamic, acceleration forces to a trainee pilot as he operates an aircraft simulator. The acceleration cueing device comprises a pair of Helmholtz coils for generating a uniform magnetic field; an aircraft control device for generating a control data signal which is responsive to simulated flight maneuvers performed by the trainee pilot; and a computer system for producing a plurality of digital logic signals which are in response to the control data signal. The plurality of digital logic signals, when converted to analog signals, will energize a plurality of coils which are embedded in a suit and a helmet worn by the trainee pilot. When the trainee pilot is within the magnetic field generated by the Helmholtz coils, the coils embedded within the suit and the helmet provide a plurality of simulated acceleration forces which are exerted upon the trainee pilot.


This paper seeks to study how a school discipline such as history has been required to put its knowledge in context, including its central knowledge (without which school matters lose their identity) as well as methods and the reasons for which this has been done. Putting knowledge in context, which is seen as a way of producing curriculum meaning from the pupils' points of view, is associated with curriculum coherence. Nevertheless, putting knowledge in context has often been put into practice in very technical ways (related to the 'what for?' question) or associated with ethnical purposes, with very little accordance to multiculturalism ideals. Thus the purpose of this study is to examine ways of putting knowledge in context, as Portuguese legal frameworks are recently requiring this change. With regards to empirical methodology, we will focus on eighth grade history teachers' learning proposals. This research was conducted by educational observations among a professional sample. Evidence from the study suggests that pupils' achievement was always (in every dimension) considered good or very good but curricular contextualization practices are not as common as we would have assumed.


The catalyst layer for a fuel cell includes a catalyst nanoparticle, a perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomer, a. The catalyst nanoparticles have a core of palladium or palladium alloy, and atomically thin layer on the outer surface of the palladium or palladium alloy core, the. PFSA ionomer has an equivalent weight of greater than or equal to about 830. Also described unitized electrode assembly.


In this paper, we discover a new noncommutative algebra. We refer this algebra as the constant term algebra of type $A$, which is generated by certain constant term operators. We characterize a structural result of this algebra by establishing an explicit basis in terms of certain forests. This algebra arises when we apply the method of the iterated Laurent series to investigate Beck and Pixton's residue computation for the Ehrhart series of the Birkhoff polytope. This algebra seems to be the first structural result in the area of the constant term world since the discovery of the Dyson constant term identity in 1962.


From Triga owner's conference; Aibuquerque, New Mexico, USA (25 Feb 1974). An analytical model has been developed which combines the nuclear and thermal characteristics of the Annular Core Pulse Reactor into a solution describing both the neutron kinetica of the reactor and the temperature behavior of a fuel-moderator element. The model describes both pulse and steady-state operations. (auth)


....................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 Clinical Question ............................................................................................................ 1 Background and Significance/Problem Statement.......................................................... 3 Evidence of Problem/Local Need ................................................................................... 4 Purpose of the Project ..................................................................................................... 5 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................... 6 Doctor of Nursing Practice Essentials ............................................................................ 6 CHAPTER II – REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................................... 8 Synthesis of Literature .................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ................................................................................. 15 Procedures/Methods ...................................................................................................... 16 Analysis......................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER IV – RESULTS .............................................................................................. 17 Discussion of Results .................................................................................................... 17 vii CHAPTER V – SUMMARY ............................................................................................ 20 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 20 Barriers .......................................................................................................................... 20 Future Directions .......................................................................................................... 21 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 21 APPENDIX A – Literature Matrix ................................................................................... 23 APPENDIX B – Doctorate of Nursing Essentials ............................................................ 25 APPENDIX C –Data Collection Table ............................................................................. 26 APPENDIX D Logic Model ........................................................................................... 27 APPENDIX E SWOT ..................................................................................................... 28 APPENDIX F – IRB Letters of Approval ........................................................................ 29 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 31


There is a negative perception about "grading on a curve," because of the feeling that the cohort strength may skew the final grades one way or another. However, given the difficulties in ensuring absolute uniformity in assessment across the years, especially when taught and assessed by different instructors under different settings, grading on a curve may be a necessary evil. Once we accept this type of statistical moderation as the last line of defense in standardizing the final scores so that student cohorts from different terms or sections or schools may be compared, we have to implement it well. In this paper, we present the practice of grading on a curve as form of statistical moderation, and a moderation tool to achieve the objective behind the standardization of grades, the strategy and principles behind its implementation and our experiences with it.


Males and females frequently sustain distinct symptoms during ischemic events and subsequent inflammatory events. The inflammatory events include significant complement activation, neutrophil infiltration and significant cytokine secretions. The past literature suggests that complement activation may include a sex-linked protein. Therefore, we hypothesized that complement activation may vary by sex during intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury. We subjected male and female mice to 30 min intestinal ischemia followed by 15, 30, 60 or 120 min reperfusion. Additional mice of each sex was subjected to sham surgery. Intestinal sections were stained and complement initiation pathways and time points of deposition determined. Complement regulatory molecules were also examined. Initial results suggest that males expressed more C1q compared to females, while females expressed more MBL than males. In addition, complement regulators varied by sex. Our data demonstrate that complement initiation and regulation differ between sexes during intestinal IR. These response differences in intestinal IR provide insight into the sexual dimorphism of ischemic intestine diseases and may aid in the development of sex-specific therapies that reduce intestinal injury.