BRIEFING 1 2 <1032> Design and Development of Biological Assays. This General Chapter 3 Design and Development of Bioassays <1032> is one of an integrated group of new 4 General Chapters that provide guidance across several complementary bioassay topics. 5 The others include Biological Assay Validation <1033>; Analysis of Biological Assay 6 <1034>; and an as-yet unnumbered " roadmap " chapter that will include a glossary 7 applicable to General Chapters <1032>–<1034>. The group arose from one source, 8 General Chapter Design and Analysis of Biological Assays <111>, that is now official in 9 the US Pharmacopeia (USP). The partitioning of chapters to different aspects of 10 biological assays allows both greater focus and clarity and the opportunity to expand on 11 issues. As the group of General Chapters evolves, General Chapter <111> will remain 12 in modified form. Thus the entire group when completed will consist of five USP General 13 Chapters. 14 15 The Bioassay Development ad hoc Advisory Panel of the Statistics Expert Committee 16 encourages input from all interested parties regarding the proposed <1032>. USP's 17 intent is to reflect the best contemporary practices regarding the design and 18 development of bioassays. This will be achieved when members of the bioassay 19 community take advantage of this opportunity to engage in <1032>'s development by 20 responding to this In-Process Revision. Comments regarding <1032> should be sent to 21 Tina S. Morris, PhD (firstname.lastname@example.com). 24 25 1. INTRODUCTION 26 27 1.1 Purpose 28 29 General Chapter Design and Development of Biological Assays <1032> presents 30 methodology for the development of bioassay procedures that have sound experimental 31 design, that provide data that can be analyzed using well-founded statistical principles, 32 and that are fit for their specific use. 33 34 General Chapter <1032> is one of a group of five planned General Chapters that focus 35 on relative potency assays, in which the activity of a Test material is quantified by 36 comparison to the activity of a Standard material. However, many of the principles can 37 be applied to other assay systems. 38 39 This General Chapter is intended to guide the design and development of a bioassay for 40 a drug product intended for commercial distribution. Although adoption of this chapter's 41 recommended methods may be resource intensive during initial drug development, 42 early implementation may yield benefits. 43 44 1.2 Audience 45 46


A technique to approximate solution bundles, i.e., solutions of a parametric model where parameters are treated as independent variables instead of constants, is presented for Markov models. Analyses based on an approximated solution bundle are more efficient than those that solve the model for all combinations of parameters' values separately. In this paper the idea is to properly adapt low rank tensor approximation techniques, and in particular Adaptive Cross Approximation, to the evaluation of performability attributes. Application on exemplary case studies confirms the advantages of the new solution technique with respect to solving the model for all time and parameters' combinations.


Mercury contamination represents a global threat. A simple, sensitive, and rapid means of detecting trace mercury is urgently needed. Herein, we have developed a series of mercury biosensors by combining quorum sensing-based positive feedback systems with a mercury-specific operon, merR. Our results have demonstrated that the sensitivity and fluorescence intensity of the engineered E. coli cells were greatly improved thanks to the positive feedback system. In addition, by fitting the fluorescence signals to the classic Hill equation, we discovered that the responses of the engineered E. coli cells were close to ultrasensitive curves. Our work highlights quorum-sensing systems as a powerful tool in biosensor designs.

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: Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technology is a powerful spectroscopy tool which can be used to detect substances containing at least one unpaired electron. The properties of the solutions can be quickly measured by the EPR parameters of the paramagnetic probe. This review summarized the application of EPR technology in four aspects: polarity, hydrogen bonding, viscosity, and pH. Because this technology measures the local properties around the probe, it has specific advantages for samples that are difficult to evaluate by other technologies, such as opaque, heterogeneous samples, and samples with heterogeneity in the nanometer range.


This is the story of the development of an unusual hospital and health center in a rural county that had no hospital facilities. It is of interest not only because of what was achieved, but also how it was done. It is a demonstration of democratic processes at work in a county, of citizen initiative and participation with physicians in the development of a medical center, and of a co-operative effort of government and private resources.


We present a convenient genome-wide DNA G-quadruplex (G4) profiling method that identifies G4 structures from ordinary whole-genome resequencing data by seizing the slight fluctuation of sequencing quality. We identified 736,689 G4 structures within human genome, in which 44.9% of all predicted canonical G4-froming sequences were contained. We observed that some of the single nucleotide variations (SNVs) influenced the formation of G4 structures, including homozygous SNVs and heterozygous SNVs. Due to SNVs contain individual differences, the given approach is available to identify and characterize G4s genome-wide for specific individuals.


In order to gain further understanding of the pathologic processes leading to the development of facial clefts, a number of investigators have studied the frequency and type of anomalies that accompany these clefts. Greene and associates (5), in a survey of birth records from 17 states, found that 16.5% of the study population of facial clefts had an associated malformation noted on the birth certificate. This percentage is in accord with that noted in other investigations (5). That study also demonstrated that the frequency of occurrence of additional malforma-tions is not uniformly distributed among the major cleft types. The greatest percentage of additional anomalies was noted in individuals with isolated cleft palate. Lesser frequencies of additional malformations were noted in cleft lip in combination with cleft palate and isolated cleft lip individuals, in that order. Similar studies by other investigators have demonstrated the same findings regardless of the population studied or the method used to obtain the information (2, 4, 6, '7). In addition to this type of study, Drillien and associates (1) and Niswander and associates (8) studied the prevalence of malformation in relatives of facial cleft individuals. Relatives in these studies included grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings. In these analyses, both investigative groups noted a higher number of total mal-formations in relatives of individuals with cleft lip in combination with cleft palate than was observed in relatives of individuals with cleft lip alone or isolated cleft palate.


P152 The positive feedback regulation of angiotensinogen and AT 1 receptor expression in renal cortical cells by angiotensin II (Ang II) may play an important role in augmenting intrarenal Ang II formation/accumulation or in enhancing tubular reabsorptive responses in Ang II-dependent hypertension. The aim of the present study was to determine the AT 1A receptor expression in rat renal cortical endosomes and intermicrovillar clefts during Ang II-induced hypertension using flow cytometry. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with either vehicle (n=8) or chronic Ang II infusion via an osmotic minipump (n=8; 80 ng/min, s.c.) for 13 days. Rats receiving chronic Ang II infusion developed hypertension progressively over 12 days (Control: 120 ± 9 mmHg; Ang II: 191 ± 17 mmHg; p 1A receptor in isolated/purified renal cortical endosomes and intermicrovillar clefts, AT 1A receptor antibody binding curves were performed using a rabbit polyclonal antibody to the cytosolic tail of the AT 1A receptor. AT 1A receptor binding was significantly increased by 40%-60% in both renal endosomes (Control: 115.2 ± 5.4 fluorescence units; Ang II: 160.9 ± 17.6 fluorescence units, p 1A receptors in renal cortical endosomes and intermicrovillar clefts may promote trafficking of Ang II into the intracellular endosomal compartment and enhance tubular reabsorption during Ang II-induced hypertension.


The single particle levels for the heavy-ion emission process are computed. This decay mode is treated like a superasymmetric fission process. The nuclear shape parametrization is characterized by three degrees of freedom. The difficulties encountered in the microscopic determination of the energy scheme at these very large mass asymmetries are presented. Thereby, a new version of the two-center model, especially designed for very large mass asymmetries, is described. The $^{14}\mathrm{C}$ heavy-ion spontaneous emission from the parent nucleus $^{223}\mathrm{Ra}$ is treated in the frame of this model. The principal trends of the variations obtained for the energetic levels during this superasymmetric nuclear decay are discussed. Mainly, for this kind of decay mode, the levels with lower values of the angular momentum projection \ensuremath{\Omega} show more pronounced variations than those with higher \ensuremath{\Omega}. Also, a qualitative explanation for the favoring of the first excited states in the fine structure in this radioactive process is given. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.


The utility model discloses an overcurrent protection circuit and an integrated circuit. An overcurrent sampling circuit performs overcurrent sampling on an output circuit and transmits sampling current to an overcurrent protection loop; and the overcurrent protection loop performs DC level shifting on the sampling current to obtain control current, and performs negative feedback on output current of the output circuit according to the control current. By adopting the scheme provided by the utility model, the control current can be obtained through the DC level shifting, and the negative feedback is carried out on the output current of the output circuit by the control current so that the effect exerted by a field effect transistor on the sampling current triggering negative feedback in the prior art can be avoided, and the overcurrent protection accuracy is improved.


This study investigated the effect of electronic payment on customer service delivery, as brought about by problem of satisfying customers need in Nigerian banks. To achieve this, four commercial banks (United Bank for Africa, First bank, Zenith bank and Intercontinental bank) in Nigeria were studied. The study design is a survey, which focused on the population of the four selected commercial banks in Nigeria. One hundred respondents were stratified proportionately amongst customers of the selected banks with the aid of questionnaire randomly administered. Chi-square and regression analysis were employed in testing whether there is significant relationship between the level of automation banking services and improvement in delivery of services to their numerous customers in Nigeria. The study concludes that electronic payment has significant impact on the services render by the banking industry in Nigeria thereby improves customer service delivery, better management efficiency, increased profit, customer


The virtual simulation experimental teaching project of lathes and gear hobbing machines based on transmission analysis conforms to the development trend of education informatization, and simultaneously fulfills the requirements of the syllabus for teaching content and teaching objectives. The transmission system of lathes and gear bobbing machines was taken as a core to construct a virtual simulation experimental teaching project that truly meets the teaching demand of colleges and universities, cultivate students' ability to grasp and apply knowledge. In addition, technologies such as virtual reality, multimedia, human-computer interaction, database and network communication were applied to build a highly simulated virtual experimental environment and objects, help students observe machines' parts and structures from many perspectives, which cannot be done in actual experiments, and heighten students' knowledge acquisition space from a two-dimensional level to a three-dimensional one, thus greatly enhancing their learning interests and teaching effects.


Efforts to tackle energy deficit have become a global challenge. Not a day passes by without global media outlets publishing on the subject of energy management and this has drawn public attention since it is not only help users to monitor and control their power consumption easily, but also reduce their electricity bill. Ghana Airport Company has been facing a challenge of paying high electricity tariffs as a result of the non-aeronautical service providers at the airport. This has cause revenue lost as a result of misuse of certain equipment's in the various departments in the company. Various scheduling models have been proposed to optimize power consumption. However, they are few solutions to prevent the blackout while optimizing power consumption. We design and implement Energy Management system (EMS) which can autonomously control the power consumption below a given threshold while negotiating electricity consumption with the smart grid system. By keeping the power consumption below a given threshold autonomously, the power demand will not exceed the available supply, therefore can prevent the blackout. Since the threshold can be negotiated with the smart grid system, company satisfaction can be increased.


The elementary concepts and the interrelated imporant results are briefly introduced.Based on this,the quality and the place of 4 body flat central configuration are studied when m 1, m 2, m 3 lie at the vertices of a isosceles triangle with base side m 2m 3 .This therem is proved.Based on it ,two inferences are given and proved if 4 points form a rhombus or a square central configurations.


The purpose of this work was to develop ethnopharmacological and biological studies of plants used in traditional medicine for the treatment of diarrheal diseases. This study results in scientific data that validates the uses of these plants in traditional medicine. Firstly, ethnopharmacological surveys were conducted with a few traditional healers from the provinces of Estuaire, Haut Ogooué and Woleu-Ntem in Gabon. Next, ethnobotanical data such as percentage of families, species, routes of administration, methods of preparation, parts used and number of plant names were analyzed and summarized. Finally, the antibacterial activities of some plants have been evaluated by diffusion and microdilution methods. Thirty-four (34) traditional healers were interviewed. A total of 90 plant species were identified during this study. They belong to 44 families, the most represented were Leguminoseae (13.33%), Apocynaceae (7.78%), Annonaceae (5.55%), Euphorbiaceae (4.44%) and Anacardiaceae (4.44%). Trees were used more (44.44%) than shrubs (32.22%), herbaceous plants (16.67%) and lianas (6.67%). The drug administration was mainly oral (84.62%) and by the anal route. Decoction and maceration were the two most used methods of preparation. Among identified plants, twenty-seven (27) plant extracts were subjected to microbiological analyzes. Plant extracts tested were active on Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Cola nitida extracts gave the best antibacterial activity against Enterococcus faecalis 103907 CIP. This study identified 90 antidiarrheal plant species and clearly shows the antimicrobial potential of several medicinal species.


In recent years, there has been a significant increase in morbidity among children and adolescents for the main classes of diseases, which may be associated with both improved diagnostics and the impact of a complex of negative factors, among which the environmental factor is of no small importance [1, 5]. To increase the effectiveness of treatment and prevention of children with various diseases living (or have lived) in areas of technogenic pollution, measures are being developed to prevent the accumulation of xenobiotics in the body, with the widespread use of drugs that reduce the degree of their toxic effect. All this is included in the system of measures aimed at reducing the intake of toxic substances into the body, compensating and restoring the functions of organs and systems impaired as a result of diseases, optimizing metabolic processes, preventing relapses, increasing the adaptation of children living under conditions of chronic exposure to ecologically unfavorable environmental factors [18].


In this performance persistence study, two questions are addressed. First, what is the relationship between past fund returns and future performance? Secondly, does a 'hot hand' fund selection system deliver economically significant returns to investors? Using a sample of Australian equity superannuation funds over the 1990s, the answers from this study are as follows: on a raw and risk-adjusted return basis the authors find evidence of mean reversion, with prior annual performance having little influence on future fund return. Selecting funds based on a persistence strategy resulted in underperformance of industry and passive returns for the retail superannuation investor over the sample period. The findings of the study have serious implications for financial planning advisers who market superannuation funds based on past performance. The results suggest that previous annual performance has little influence on future returns.


The study is dedicated to modern topic: the analysis of conditions that lead to distortion of the time and space coordinates which results from the general theory of relativity. The main goal of this research is to prove the hypothesis regarding distortion of time and space using nuclear fusion model. For this purpose the simulation instrument is used to imitate a moving proton that hits an electron of a hydrogen atom. The methodology of simulation is based upon calculation of the probabilities of elastic scattering and charge exchange of a proton with a target electron. The distortion is modeled by the functions that relate time and space logarithmically for distorted time and exponentially for distorted space. Such geometry construction is described by the Schrödinger equation using the electron wave function. Then the probability of charge exchange is calculated as the squared coefficient of this wave function in the negative side of the geometry that is divided by the sum of the squared coefficients of all the terms of the equation. Thus, the calculation result shows that the calculated probability of the charge exchange is high when the time and space are not distorted. However, when time and space are distorted it decreases, and the probability of elastic scattering is growing. The achieved result also indicates that the discrete energy levels of electrons in hydrogen atoms shift when the distortion of time and space occurs in the nuclear fusion.


The incidence of flexible daily work scheduling among workers presumably reflects employers' offering it formally as an organizational productivity-enhancing tool or less formally as a job amenity and/or discretionary employee benefit. Recent US CPS data distinguish whether a worker's flexible schedule is part of a formal workplace program. Probit regression estimation reveals that disparities among workers in their ability to influence their own starting and ending times of work derive largely from the allocation of informal flexibility arrangements according to demographic, hours of work and occupational characteristics. White-collar, long hours, private sector, salaried, nonunion jobs, parents and males have greater access to such scheduling flexibility. This advantage is gained primarily through means other than a formal flexitime plan. Policies promoting implementation of formal programs would enhance equity in access.


Abstract The theoretical foundations of the boundary integral method are considered for inviscid monochromatic internal waves, and an analytical approach is presented for the solution of the boundary integral equation for oscillating bodies of simple shape: an elliptic cylinder in two dimensions, and a spheroid in three dimensions. The method combines the coordinate stretching introduced by Bryan and Hurley in the frequency range of evanescent waves, with analytic continuation to the range of propagating waves by Lighthill's radiation condition. Not only are the waves obtained for arbitrary oscillations of the body, with application to radial pulsations and rigid vibrations, but also the distribution of singularities equivalent to the body, allowing later inclusion of viscosity in the theory. Both a direct representation of the body as a Kirchhoff–Helmholtz integral involving single and double layers together, and an indirect representation involving a single layer alone, are considered. The indirect representation is seen to require a certain degree of symmetry of the body with respect to the horizontal and the vertical. As the surface of the body is approached the single- and double-layer potentials exhibit the same discontinuities as in classical potential theory.


Recently, model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) has played an important role in transmission tomography by significantly improving the quality of reconstructed images for low-dose scans. MBIR is based on the penalized-likelihood (PL) approach, where the penalty term (also known as the regularizer) stabilizes the unstable likelihood term, thereby suppressing the noise. In this work we further improve MBIR by using a more expressive regularizer which can restore the underlying image more accurately. Here we used a spline regularizer derived from a linear combination of the two-dimensional splines with first- and second-order spatial derivatives and applied it to a non-quadratic convex penalty function. To derive a PL algorithm with the spline regularizer, we used a separable paraboloidal surrogates algorithm for convex optimization. The experimental results demonstrate that our regularization method improves reconstruction accuracy in terms of both regional percentage error and contrast recovery coefficient by restoring smooth edges as well as sharp edges more accurately.


The paper describes implementation of smart sensors (SS) at the distributed measurement systems. To the main advantages of smart sensors bleong: -- compact form with common supply and standard output signals, with good functionality at hard conditions, -- minimization and compensation of the disturb influence to measuring transducers and to the output signal (temperature influence, static characteristic non-linearity, transfer disturbing), -- local signal processing with duplex communication, function testing and data validation. Some results will be present with design, structure and properties of small displacement smart sensors with two types of optical fiber transducers. These sensors are interconnected with controllers by ILAN or WLAN with PC computers and SCADA/MMI program support that enable to reach very good functional parameters with higher flexibility, reliability, testing and maintenance.


Doubtless Mr. Mezu is at his best, and most himself, in his lead poem The Tropical Dawn. Of dawn and of a people rising to itself he produces an image that is not sensual but is powerful and simple. Not only is the "dreary night/all harmattan long" now unhinged from the sky by the dawn, but this dawn also produces "from subdued tears/uncoded wisdom." This is surely an image of Africa more in focus than any confounded in the polysyllables of the West. This is a volume to be read and felt; it is even a volume to be studied; and it is a volume to be recalled when this fine talent reaches its zenith.


Refractory status epilepticus (RSE)-that is, seizures resistant to at least two antiepileptic drugs (AEDs)-is generally managed with barbiturates, propofol, or midazolam, despite a low level of evidence (Rossetti, 2007). When this approach fails, the need for alternative pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic strategies emerges. These have been investigated even less systematically than the aforementioned compounds, and are often used, sometimes in succession, in cases of extreme refractoriness (Robakis & Hirsch, 2006). Several possibilities are reviewed here. In view of the marked heterogeneity of reported information, etiologies, ages, and comedications, it is extremely difficult to evaluate a given method, not to say to compare different strategies among them.
Pharmacologic Approaches Isoflurane and desflurane may complete the armamentarium of anesthetics,' and should be employed in a ''close'' environment, in order to prevent intoxication of treating personnel. c-Aminobutyric acid (GABA)A receptor potentiation represents the putative mechanism of action. In an earlier report, isoflurane was used for up to 55 h in nine patients, controlling seizures in all; mortality was, however, 67% (Kofke et al., 1989). More recently, the use of these inhalational anesthetics was described in seven subjects with RSE, for up to 26 days, with an endtidal concentration of 1.2-5%. All patients required vasopressors, and paralytic ileus occurred in three; outcome was fatal in three patients (43%) (Mirsattari et al., 2004). Ketamine, known as an emergency anesthetic because of its favorable hemodynamic profile, is an N-methyl-daspartate (NMDA) antagonist; the interest for its use in RSE derives from animal works showing loss of GABAA efficacy and maintained NMDA sensitivity in prolonged status epilepticus (Mazarati & Wasterlain, 1999). However, to avoid possible neurotoxicity, it appears safer to combine ketamine with GABAergic compounds (Jevtovic-Todorovic et al., 2001; Ubogu et al., 2003), also because of a likely synergistic effect (Martin & Kapur, 2008). There are few reported cases in humans, describing progressive dosages up to 7.5 mg/kg/h for several days (Sheth & Gidal, 1998; Quigg et al., 2002; Pruss & Holtkamp, 2008), with moderate outcomes. Paraldehyde acts through a yet-unidentified mechanism, and appears to be relatively safe in terms of cardiovascular tolerability (Ramsay, 1989; Thulasimani & Ramaswamy, 2002), but because of the risk of crystal formation and its reactivity with plastic, it should be used only as fresh prepared solution in glass devices (Beyenburg et al., 2000). There are virtually no recent reports regarding its use in adults RSE, whereas rectal paraldehyde in children with status epilepticus resistant to benzodiazepines seems less efficacious than intravenous phenytoin (Chin et al., 2008). Etomidate is another anesthetic agent for which the exact mechanism of action is also unknown, which is also relatively favorable regarding cardiovascular side effects, and may be used for rapid sedation. Its use in RSE was reported in eight subjects (Yeoman et al., 1989). After a bolus of 0.3 mg/kg, a drip of up to 7.2 mg/kg/h for up to 12 days was administered, with hypotension occurring in five patients; two patients died. A reversible inhibition of cortisol synthesis represents an important concern, limiting its widespread use and implying a careful hormonal substitution during treatment (Beyenburg et al., 2000). Several nonsedating approaches have been reported. The use of lidocaine in RSE, a class Ib antiarrhythmic agent modulating sodium channels, was reviewed in 1997 (Walker & Slovis, 1997). Initial boluses up to 5 mg/kg and perfusions of up to 6 mg/kg/h have been mentioned; somewhat surprisingly, at times lidocaine seemed to be successful in controlling seizures in patients who were refractory to phenytoin. The aforementioned dosages should not be overshot, in order to keep lidocaine levels under 5 mg/L and avoid seizure induction (Hamano et al., 2006). A recent pediatric retrospective survey on 57 RSE episodes (37 patients) described a response in 36%, and no major adverse events; mortality was not given (Hamano et al., 2006
Verapamil, a calcium-channel blocker, also inhibits P-glycoprotein, a multidrug transporter that may diminish AED availability in the brain (Potschka et al., 2002). Few case reports on its use in humans are available; this medication nevertheless appears relatively safe (under cardiac monitoring) up to dosages of 360 mg/day (Iannetti et al., 2005). Magnesium, a widely used agent for seizures elicited by eclampsia, has also been anecdotally reported in RSE (Fisher et al., 1988; Robakis & Hirsch, 2006), but with scarce results even at serum levels of 14 mm. The rationale may be found in the physiologic blockage of NMDA channels by magnesium ions (Hope & Blumenfeld, 2005). Ketogenic diet has been prescribed for decades, mostly in children, to control refractory seizures. Its use in RSE as ''ultima ratio'' has been occasionally described: three of six children (Francois et al., 2003) and one adult (Bodenant et al., 2008) were responders. This approach displays its effect subacutely over several days to a few weeks. Because ''malignant RSE'' seems at times to be the consequence of immunologic processes (Holtkamp et al., 2005), a course of immunomodulatory treatment is often advocated in this setting, even in the absence of definite autoimmune etiologies (Robakis & Hirsch, 2006); steroids, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), plasma exchanges, or intravenous immunoglobulins may be used alone or in sequential combination.
Nonpharmacologic Approaches These strategies are described somewhat less frequently than pharmacologic approaches. Acute implantation of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been reported in RSE (Winston et al., 2001; Patwardhan et al., 2005; De Herdt et al., 2009). Stimulation was usually initiated in the operation room, and intensity progressively adapted over a few days up to 1.25 mA (with various regimens regarding the other parameters), allowing a subacute seizure control; one transitory episode of bradycardia/asystole has been described (De Herdt et al., 2009). Of course, pending identification of a definite seizure focus, resective surgery may also be considered in selected cases (Lhatoo & Alexopoulos, 2007). Low-frequency (0.5 Hz) transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) at 90% of the resting motor threshold has been reported to be successful for about 2 months in a patient with epilepsia partialis continua, but with a weaning effect afterward, implying the need for a repetitive use (Misawa et al., 2005). More recently, TMS was applied in a combination of a short ''priming'' high frequency (up to 100 Hz) and longer runs of low-frequency stimulations (1 Hz) at 90-100% of the motor threshold in seven other patients with simple-partial status, with mixed results (Rotenberg et al., 2009). Paradoxically at first glance, electroconvulsive treatment may be found in cases of extremely resistant RSE. A recent case report illustrates its use in an adult patient with convulsive status, with three sessions (three convulsions each) carried out over 3 days, resulting in a moderate recovery; the mechanism is believed to be related to modification of the synaptic release of neurotransmitters (Cline & Roos, 2007). Therapeutic hypothermia, which is increasingly used in postanoxic patients (Oddo et al., 2008), has been the object of a recent case series in RSE (Corry et al., 2008). Reduction of energy demand, excitatory neurotransmission, and neuroprotective effects may account for the putative mechanism of action. Four adult patients in RSE were cooled to 31_-34_C with an endovascular system for up to 90 h, and then passively rewarmed over 2-50 h. Seizures were controlled in two patients, one of whom died; also one of the other two patients in whom seizures continued subsequently deceased. Possible side effects are related to acid-base and electrolyte disturbances, and coagulation dysfunction including thrombosis, infectious risks, cardiac arrhythmia, and paralytic ileus (Corry et al., 2008; Cereda et al., 2009). Finally, anecdotic evidence suggests that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-air exchange may induce some transitory benefit in RSE (Kohrmann et al., 2006); although this approach was already in use in the middle of the twentieth century, the mechanism is unknown.
Acknowledgment A wide spectrum of pharmacologic (sedating and nonsedating) and nonpharmacologic (surgical, or involving electrical stimulation) regimens might be applied to attempt RSE control. Their use should be considered only after refractoriness to AED or anesthetics displaying a higher level of evidence. Although it seems unlikely that these uncommon and scarcely studied strategies will influence the RSE outcome in a decisive way, some may be interesting in particular settings. However, because the main prognostic determinant in status epilepticus appears to be related to the underlying etiology rather than to the treatment approach (Rossetti et al., 2005, 2008), the safety issue should always represent a paramount concern for the prescribing physician.
Conclusion The author confirms that he has read the Journal's position on issues involved in ethical publication and affirms that this paper is consistent with those guidelines.


BACKGROUND
The death after liver transplantation (LT) was most commonly caused by HCC recurrence. Golgi protein 73 (GP73), a type II Golgi membrane protein, has been proved to be a better serum marker for HCC.

OBJECTIVE
This study aims to clarify the relationship between serum GP73 levels and tumor recurrence as well as survival of HCC patients after LT.

METHODS
Between November 2003 and July 2008, serum samples from 60 liver transplantation patients and 72 healthy individuals were collected. ELISA and microparticle enzyme immunoassay were used to measure serum GP73 and AFP levels. Patient survival was analyzed using log-rank test along with Kaplan-Meier method. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was utilized to analyze the diagnostic value of serum GP73 levels. Cox regression was utilized to analyze prognostic factors with multiple variables.

RESULTS
Serum GP73 concentrations in HCC patients were much higher than that in healthy controls (P<0.001). Patients with lower serum GP73 levels at LT-6Month had better overall survival and recurrence-free survival than those with higher serum GP73 levels. ROC analyzing results showed that higher serum GP73 levels at 6 month post-LT could significantly predict mortality (P=0.020) as well as HCC recurrence (P=0.001) after liver transplantation. Multivariate analysis revealed that serum GP73 levels at LT-6Month was an independent predictor of good prognosis (P=0.002).

CONCLUSION
Serum GP73 levels could be used to predict tumor recurrence and survival in HCC sufferers after LT.


Combining local features and global features of the curve,a noval method on polygon approximation of planar curve using heuristic simulated annealing was proposed.The problem of polygon approximation was formulated as one of minimizing cost function.The optimal solution was found using simulated annealing algorithm,and local features were introduced as prior knowledge into the algorithm in heuristic manner to accelerate its convergence. Compared with the conventional methods based on local features or global features,the experimental results show the algorithm obtained better approximating effect and spaced running time.


The experience of cancer is highly stressful and potentially traumatic. We assessed the presence of Post‐Traumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) in long‐term cancer survivors and their caregivers, while examining the association between PTSS and clinical, demographic and psychological variables in the long term.


Apatite is a common accessory mineral,having a high Sr-Nd content and a low Rb content.The precise determination of micro-area Sr-Nd isotopic composition for apatite will provide important geochemical information for discussing the details of the geological process.Laser Ablation Multi-collector Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry(LA-MC-ICPMS) technique has the characteristics of rapid analysis,high analytical precision and high spatial resolution,and is particularly suitable for Sr-Nd isotopic analysis of a large quantity of fine-grained apatite samples.The precise deduction of isotopic interference and calibration of instrument mass bias are crucial for in-situ analysis to obtain Sr-Nd isotopic ratio.In this article a method is described,which adopts LA-MC-ICPMS and combines with the newly published method for deduction of interferences,like Kr,Rb,divalent ions of REEs and calcium-containing polymer for Sr isotopes,Sm for Nd isotopes.The calibration of instrument mass bias is carried out,and the in-situ Sr-Nd isotopic analysis approach for apatite is established.The test results of Durango apatite standard,Apatite 1 and PE show that Sr-Nd isotopic composition of apatite sample with high Sr-Nd content can be accurately determined.The specific results are consistent with literature or the measured values by Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry(TIMS) within error.The measurement precision of Sr isotopes is 0.015%(2SD),and that of Nd isotopes is 0.005%(2SD).The established method is applied for Sr-Nd isotopic analysis of Durango apatite standard,Apatite 1 and PE(laboratory standard),respectively.The analysis results indicate that the Sr-Nd isotopic compositions of the three apatite samples are basically consistent,and can serve as ideal reference samples for in-situ Sr-Nd isotopic analysis.


The details of the 5th annual 'Picture This Film Festival', 6-10 February 2006 are reported. The short film, Mercury Stole My Fire (2005) drew its inspiration from a prolonged and unusual experience that many people urged her to write a book about, but she wanted to produce something more like a poem.


In the light of historical sources, it is possible to take the historical foundations of the Türk presence in the Eastern Black Sea Region much deeper. In the Middle Ages, the information about the Türk presence in the eastern Black Sea comes to light with the Seljuks reaching Anatolia. With the contact of the Seljuks to the Caucasus and Eastern Anatolia, Georgian and Armenian sources in the region begin to talk about the Seljuks. Likewise, the Byzantines, who ruled Anatolia, and the Arabs and Assyrians, who were closely interested in the region, kept important records about the Türk activities in the region. When the sources of Medieval History are examined, there are important records about the activities of the Seljuks in the Çoruh tribes of the Eastern Black Sea Region and around Kelkit. However, the information about the Türks who reached the eastern Black Sea coasts was initially in the dark. In the following period, important information can be obtained about the Türks in the Eastern Black Sea valleys and coasts with the help of historical sources. These sources, on the other hand, are mostly about the struggles of the Türk political organizations in the Kelkit Basin and the Türk beys, who made the north of the Eastern Black Sea mountains their home, with the Empire of Trabzon.


We construct C -algebras for a class of surfaces that are inverse images of certain polynomials of arbitrary degree. By using the directed graph associated with a matrix, the representation theory can be understood in terms of "loop" and "string" representations, which are closely related to the dynamics of an iterated map in the plane. As a particular class of algebras, we introduce the "Henon algebras," for which the dynamical map is a generalized Henon map, and give an example where irreducible representations of all dimensions exist.


The 1950s and early 1960s are often understood as a golden era of popular music in Finland. Forms of light entertainment music that dominated the charts have been consid- ered as cultural expressions deeply reflecting local and national identities. At the same time, new styles invaded Finland, such as rock'n'roll, Latin rhythms, Italian entertain- ment music and somewhat later pop and rock, influencing music production and indicating a new kind of mass appeal for non-domestic music styles and cultures. Instead of retelling the triumph of Finnish light entertainment music, iskelma (schlager), or mapping the foreign influences - tasks that have been typi- cal of Finnish music historians during the past twenty years - this paper deals with how the notions of national and international were construed in popular music and the discussions surrounding it. Using interdisciplinary meth- ods of cultural history, this is approached from two angles. First, what were the discourses of musical appropriation and syncreticism, like the adoption of US country music and its im- ageries by Finnish performers? The second angle focuses on the competence of Finnish popular music to function across cultural di- vides. As the transnational flow of music styles and star images became evident, the world also seemed more open to Finnish artists and music to enter. The article argues that the internationalisation of Finnish pop music meant a new modern sense and construction of a national popular music.


Architectural wrapper can be considered as a building protecting shield that climate conditions are making releasing or retaining heat what generate discomfort. 80% of Colombian territory is characterized by high temperatures. Ecoenvolventes group has used fluid dynamics simulations to analyze the flows behavior inside simple confined spaces. It has taken San Andres Island, Colombia, as case study. The object of study is a single volume floor; it is looking for passive conditions of comfort despite social housing budgetary limits, by applying an efficient and economical passive ventilation solution. Ten models are presented and analyzed and compared to benchmark prismatic, directly on the ground.


Real-time monitoring and control on construction site is a growing field and still in its infancy. Managing project information during the construction phase is an important task yet difficult task, currently; however, the construction industry relies heavily on written reports to document site conditions, which requires good writing skills and unbiased judgments. Manual monitoring of construction sites is costly and error prone. A persistent problem in construction is to develop the as-built actual physical progress schedule of construction scene. Consequently, this study addresses Digitalizing Construction Monitoring (DCM) model for monitoring and evaluating the physical progress of the project. A pilot survey was carried within Malaysian Construction Industry to investigate the common methods and processes of project progress evaluating and monitoring and utilization of existing computer based application system for monitoring project progress performances. The research reported in this paper focuses on the issue related to digitalizing the project progress monitoring and proposing prototype software, which integrate the AutoCAD drawings and digital images. User can retrieves the project information in form of images and by using photogrammetry techniques every detail of building should be precisely documented to obtain reliable measurement from photographs and simulated with CAD drawings to develop the physical progress report. By introducing the DCM at the construction phase it allows the resident engineer, project manager, construction manager, and site manager to develop the physical progress report of construction and helps in decision making. This system bridge the gap for monitoring and controlling the construction work by implementing the information technology techniques.


The adiabatic invariant nature of black hole horizon area in classical gravity suggests that in quantum theory the corresponding operator has a discrete spectrum. I here develop further an algebraic approach to black hole quantization which starts from very elementary assumptions, and proceeds by exploiting symmetry. It predicts a uniformly spaced area spectrum for all charges and angular momenta. Area eigenvalues are degenerate; correspondence with black hole entropy then dictates a precise value for the interval between eigenvalues.


Abstract Fossil woods and arborescent vegetations of mediterranean regions during the Tertiary. - A tentative reconstruction of Tertiary arborescent vegetation around the mediterranean based exclusively upon paleoxylologic data is suggested. Particular emphasis is given to North Africa, Sardinia and the French Massif Central. Maps, compiled for each stage, are presented and discussed. By means of certain indicatory taxa, an attempt is made to detect the first appearance of temperate or mediterranean elements in the different regions and to trace their relationship with thermophile species. The penetration into Europe of African elements by way of land bridges such as Sardinia is also evoked.


This study investigates how related variety in the regional employment mix affects the innovation output of a region. Departing from the idea of recombinant innovation, previous research has arguedthat related variety enhances regional innovation as inter-industry knowledge spillovers occur more easily between different but cognitively similar industries. This study combines a novel dataset and related variety measures based on network theory, which allows a more nuanced perspective on the relationship between related variety and regional innovation.The principal novelty of the paper lies in employing new data on product innovations commercialised by Swedish manufacturing firms between 1970 and 2013. In this respect, it allows a direct measure of regionalinnovation output as compared to patent measures, usually employed in similar studies. The second contribution of this paper is that we employ network-topologybased measuresof related variety that allowus to measure relatedness as the recombination rather than direct flow of knowledge. We argue that this measure comes closer to the notion of innovation as spurred by recombination and show that this measure is a superior predictor of innovation activity.


The (001) surface of the hexagonal hydroxyapatite HA [Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2 , layer group P 3] is simulated with the slab approach by fully optimizing (cell size and internal coordinates) two models, respectively 6 A and 14 A thick, in a fully ab initio periodic approach. The B3LYP hybrid functional and a Gaussian basis set of polarized double zeta quality and pseudo potentials for Ca ions only have been adopted, as encoded in the CRYSTAL03 computer program. Both slab models are cut out of the optimized structure of the hexagonal HA bulk phase ( P 6 3 space group). Because the (001) surface derived from the hexagonal HA shows ferroelectricity due to the orientation of the OH groups, the convergence of the E surf with the slab thickness (until a thickness of about 60 A) has been studied at B3LYP level on slabs whose geometry has been optimized using the GULP program with a recently developed shell-ion model potential. Structural and electronic features are addressed and a comparison between results for the considered slabs is carried out with respect to the: i) surface energy, E surf ; ii) geometrical relaxation; iii) band gap, field across the slab and Mulliken analysis; iv) electrostatic features in close proximity of the surface; v) harmonic/anharmonic OH vibrational features. The same procedure has been adopted for non-ferroelectric slabs derived from the HA monoclinic phase (bulk belonging to the P 2 1 / b space group). E surf for hexagonal HA increases slightly, as a function of the slab thickness, from 1.080 J/m 2 (doublelayer) to 1.107 J/m 2 (nonalayer), showing that the OH ferroelectricity imparts an instability of ≈0.003 J/m 2 for each added layer (7 A thick). For the non-ferroelectric HA monoclinic phase, E surf converges to 1.337 J/m 2 within 1.0 −4 J/m 2 already for the doublelayer. It is shown that the OH ferroelectricity does not prevent the formation of a (001) slab of thickness of at least 10 nm, a fact relevant for technological applications. The HA doublelayer slab is suggested as a proper model of the HA (001) face to study adsorption processes relevant to understand the role of hydroxyapatite surface in biological processes.


The first thing for China to enter the WTO is that the government should enter it first. To keep pace with the requisition of the WTO, the supervision function of government must be modified and adapted. The author explains the main points of the functions' modification and adaptation of the government by analysing the high concentrated management system in railway department which is so called "half-militarization", then put forward some challenges that faced by the government when China enters WTO and also gives some suggestions to improve and perfect the management function of the government by combining the requirement which is raised by the principles of WTO.


Train and subway noise unfortunately often turns out to be part of the show in theaters and cinemas of large cities, as the history of rail lines construction, or simply the urban planning, brought them close together. This paper aims to submit and discuss a few case studies, involving both rehabilitation and new construction projects, that feature cinema and performance facilities located near underground and suburban lines, main lines, or even high‐speed lines. Those case studies, which range from real success to total failure, outline the architectural and technical context of the situation and discuss the sound and vibration levels measurements, as well as the technical solutions that were applied to the construction. It turns out that in rehabilitation projects, while the client may be willing to improve the acoustics, structural limitations can often be encountered, while in new projects there often is a need to convince the client of the importance of vibration control.


The concept for alloy design of Nbbased hydrogen permeable membrane is applied to NbWMo ternary system. The alloying effects of tungsten and molybdenum on the solubility of hydrogen, the resistance to hydrogen embrittlement, the hydrogen permeability and diffusivity are investigated in a fundamental manner. It is found that the addition of tungsten and molybdenum into niobium decreases the hydrogen solubility. As a result, the resistance to hydrogen embrittlement improves and higher hydrogen pressures can be applied to the NbWMo alloy membrane. It is shown that the designed Nb5mol%W5mol%Mo alloy membrane with single solid solution phase exhibits excellent hydrogen permeability together with strong resistance to hydrogen embrittlement. In addition, it is found that the alloying of tungsten and molybdenum with niobium enhances the hydrogen diffusivity. In fact, the activation energy for hydrogen diffusion decreases in the order, pure Nb > Nb5mol%W > Nb5mol%W5mol%Mo.


OBJECTIVE To explore the correlation between hands pollution and nosocomial infection,and to raise measures to keep hand hygiene.METHODS To evaluate the condition of hand pollution and hand washing,the relationship between hands pollution and nosocomial infection,and measures to improve hand hygiene.RESULTS Most nosocomial infections were transmitted by the hands pollution,bacteria of which were thought to be the main microbial population of nosocomial infection.Handwashing was considered to be the most important intervention to prevent nosocomial infections.However,the present studies indicated that there was not enough handwashing practice among the medical personnel,lacking the consciousness of the importance of hand cleaning,misunderstanding the standard hand cleaning steps,like the length of washing time and the choose of hand disinfectant,and inadequately providing the hospital condition for cleaning work,all these played an important role in declining the efficiency of hand disinfection in hospital.Medical workers could achieve their goal through the improving of the above aspects of work.CONCLUSIONS Hands pollution is closely related to nosocomial infection.Handwashing can reduce nosocomial infections.


Since the implementation of the new curriculum,there have been different understandings of the judgment of "a good class" in the physical education curriculum,for which there are the following the reasons: the physical education curriculum is lacking in basic stipulations;such judgment is precondition neglectful,overly subjective;the development of the physical education discipline is immature.In the author's opinion,the judgment of "a good class" should be made in terms of curriculum objective,teaching content selection,teaching method application,teaching effect etc.,on the basis of clarifying the type of class.


In Finnish art history, the period around the turn of the 20th century has been considered to be particularly significant for the formation of a national identity, and it has therefore come to be known as the 'Golden Age' of Finnish art. According to the commonly held historical narrative, artists in late nineteenth-century Finland, which at the time was an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire, shared a patriotic mission that led to a blossoming of the arts. This narrative construction has become so well-established that its origins in the cultural debates of newly independent Finland in the 1920s and 1930s have faded out of sight. This article identifies some of the mechanisms of active and passive remembering and forgetting that have generated the myth of the 'Golden Age'. The analysis is guided by perspectives created in the field of cultural memory studies that emphasize the role of remembering and forgetting in the construction of historical narratives. A brief overview of the vibrant cultural exchange between Finnish and Russian artists of the period is given in order to exemplify the richness of historical phenomena that has largely remained under the shadow of the powerful myth of the 'Golden Age'.


PURPOSE: To provide a subscriber's line interface circuit for providing a regulated current to a telephone subscriber through an improved method for reducing electric energy required for operation while maintaining a stationary current. CONSTITUTION: A current for a telephone subscriber 14 flows from a switch mode current source (current source) 32 to a resistor 54 and a hybrid transformer 38 and is supplied from a terminal 34 and further passed from a terminal 36 to the hybrid transformer and a resistor 56. The current for the telephone subscriber is regulated by a negative feedback control loop composed of the current source, resistors 54 and 56 and current sensor 60. The current sensor adds voltage drops at both the terminals of respective resistors and applies a signal SAMSIG proportional to this sum of voltage drops to the current source. In response to SAMSIG, the current source increases/decreases the output current. COPYRIGHT: (C)1992,JPO


The present invention relates to a device (100) for Olnotversorgung an internal combustion engine (1), in particular an internal combustion engine (1) in a steady-state operation, an engine test bench or the like, having an oil supply line (10) for supplying for the Brennraftmaschine (1) conditioned oil (11) from an oil supply device. According to the invention a storage container (12) is provided which can be filled via a branch line (13) with oil (11) from the oil supply pipe (10), wherein the reservoir (12) by means of a Notversorgungsleitung (14) fluidically connected to the internal combustion engine (1) connected and wherein in the Notversorgungsleitung (14) a pump (15) is adapted to the Olnotversorgung the internal combustion engine (1) from the reservoir (12) is switched on.


: The development of the course "Sensor and Detection Technology" is a course based on intelligent information technology. In the teaching process of the course "Sensor and Detection Technology" in higher vocational colleges, the combination of theory and practice is emphasized, the development of integrated courses is emphasized, and systematic teaching practice is carried out. Based on this, this paper takes the project-based teaching of "sensor and detection technology" as the teaching method, guided by projects, to develop students' independent exploration ability, cultivate students' innovation awareness, mobilize students' subjective initiative and innovation creativity in the project process, and vigorously promote the integration and development of "sensor and detection technology" classroom teaching.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report a research which is conducted to examine the power of computer aided design (CAD) in achieving agility in traditional organizations.Design/methodology/approach – The CAD model of the knob of an electronic switch was developed. This model was shown to the team of executives. The theoretical and practical knowledge provided by them were utilized to design new ten CAD models of the knob. The reactions of the executives about these new models were gathered and analyzed.Findings – The creation of a CAD model of an existing product is found to be a useful input for evolving new models in an agile manner. It is found to be an easy task to gather the theoretical and practical knowledge for achieving design agility through the visualisation of CAD models.Research limitations/implications – This paper is conducted on only one component manufactured by an electronic switches manufacturing organization. Although it appears to be a limitation of this paper, the nature o...


AbstractThe effect of boron on the hardenability of steels depends on the contents of such elements as aluminium, titanium, nitrogen, and boron and on the austenitising temperature. An attempt has been made to calculate the solubility of boron in the presence of aluminium, titanium, and nitrogen in steels. Three systems, Ti–B–Al–N, Ti–B–N, and B–N, were derived according to the thermodynamic state of each steel and the soluble boron contents were calculated. It was found that the maximum boron factor was achieved at 0·0004–0·0005% soluble boron. The fact that aluminium content in the range 0·018–0·050 wt-% investigated in this study has little effect on the boron hardenability factor can be explained from the results of the thermodynamic calculation.MST/1025


An ad-hoc network is a collection of mobile hosts forming a temporary network on the fly, without using any fixed infrastructure. Quality of Service (QoS) is currently an active research in ad-hoc networks. QoS is the performance level of a service offered by the network to the user. The goal of QoS provisioning is to achieve a more deterministic network behavior, so that information carried by the network can be better delivered and network resources can be better utilized. A wireless Ad-hoc network consists of wireless nodes communicating without the need for a centralized administration, in which all nodes potentially contribute to the routing process. The fluctuations in channel quality affect the QoS metrics on each link and the whole end-to-end route. The interference from non-neighboring nodes affects the link quality. The idea of such networking is to support robust and efficient operation ad-hoc wireless networks in which all nodes potentially contribute to the routing process. Wireless channel fluctuates rapidly and the fluctuations severely affect multi-hop flows. As opposed to the wired network, the capacity of the wireless channel fluctuates rapidly due to various physical layer phenomena including fading and multi-path interference. In addition, background noise and interference from nearby nodes further affect the channel quality. In ad-hoc networks, the end-to-end quality of a connection may vary rapidly as change in channel quality on any link may affect the end-to-end QoS metrics of multi-hop paths. The commonly used QoS metrics are delay, bandwidth, jitter and throughput. The challenge faced by wireless networks is the constantly varying physical layer properties of the channel. For the efficient use of a multi-rate physical layer, an Opportunistic Auto Rate algorithm can be used which is very close to the MAC layer. It improves the throughput of the channel in the presence of multi-rate links in ad-hoc networks. An absolute QoS guarantees is difficult to provide, the relative QoS guarantees can be provided by service differentiation. However, to provide differentiated services, the 802.11 protocol needs to be modified and it proposes three ways to modify the DCF functionality of 802.11 to support service differentiation. It reduces packet delay to improve the system performance. KeywordsQuality of Service, ad-hoc networks, Opportunistic Auto Rate algorithm.


Fourth-order many-body perturbation (MP4) theory calculations are reported for the static dipole polarizability of hydrogen chloride. The R/α0 dependence of the dipole moment (μ z /ea 0), the longitudinal (α zz /e 2 a 2 0 E -1 h) and transversal (αxx/e 2 a 2 0 E -1 h) components of the dipole polarizability tensor is quite well approximated by where R e/a 0 = 2·408645 and −0·4 < (R − R e)/a 0 < 0·4.


: Language plays a critical role in Islamic preaching (dawah). The language used by a dai (a person who gives dawah) in his preaching comprises a range of illocutionary acts which convey different meanings and is designed to produce an effect and impact onto his jamaah (congregants). Until today, there has been no research conducted to describe the types of illocutions of a dai when he preaches. Particularly, the type of assertive illocutionary act. According to that finding, the present study attempts to propose the types and subtypes of assertive illocutions of dai when he preaches. The method of this research is descriptive qualitative. The data of this research are dai speeches in the forms of words, phrases and sentences when he is preaching in the City of Medan. The data were collected using observation method supported by notetaking technique. The collected data were then analyzed using contextual analysis method and identity method with paraphrase technique. The results of the study highlight that the type of assertive illocutions of the dai is based on his belief in the truth of Quran proposition, hadith and ijma' or agreed opinions amongst the ulama (Islamic scholars) and the opinion of the dai himself. The types will then have different meanings, among others the sub-type of explaining, sub-type of predicting, sub-type of asserting, sub-type of proving, sub-type of suspecting, sub-type of approving, sub-type of concluding, sub-type of denying, and sub-type of telling and sub-type of establishing.


This paper discusses in detail, the benchmark test system for network-based intrusion detection systems(NIDS) we developed. The system designs a new network attack description language called NADL1.0 which can describe all the network attack activities in a unified way to form the database of test scripts. Furthermore, the system simulates the attacking host, sacrificed host and background traffic host based on the synthesized architecture to realize the real creation of attacking sessions and its fusion sending with background traffics.


Background: In nondiabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome, acute hyperglycemia is associated with adverse outcome. Whether this association is due merely to hyperglycemia as an acute stress response or whether longer-term glycometabolic derangements are also involved is uncertain. It was our aim to determine the association between chronic hyperglycemia (hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and outcome in nondiabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome. Methods: This observational study included consecutive patients (n=47) without known diabetes mellitus admitted with acute coronary syndrome (STEMI, NSTEMI, UA). HbA1c was measured on admission. The main outcome was MACE (major adverse cardiac events including death, cardiogenic shock, arrhythmia, heart failure). The patients were divided into 2 groups according to their HbA1c level (group 1 HbA1c 5.7%). Results: There was no significant difference between baseline characteristics of both groups but complications were seen in higher number cases with HbA1c >5.7%. No significant difference in mortality was found. On multivariate logistic regression analysis HbA1c >5.7% was found to be an independent predictor of MACE. Conclusions: There was no significant difference between baseline characteristics of both groups but complications were seen in higher number cases with HbA1c>5.7%. No significant difference in mortality was found. On multivariate logistic regression analysis HbA1c>5.7% was found to be an independent predictor of MACE.


Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures have attracted significant attention because of their widespread applications in nanoscale devices. In the present work, we investigate the electronic structures of germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure in response to normal strain and an external electric field by using the first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). The results demonstrate that the germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure behaves as a metal in a [−1, −0.6] V/Å range, while it is a direct semiconductor in a [−0.5, 0.2] V/Å range, and it is an indirect semiconductor in a [0.3, 1.0] V/Å range. Interestingly, the band alignment of germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure appears as type-II feature both in a [−0.5, 0.1] range and in a [0.3, 1] V/Å range, while it shows the type-I character at 0.2 V/Å. In addition, we find that the germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure is an indirect semiconductor both in an in-plane biaxial strain range of [−5%, −3%] and in an in-plane biaxial strain range of [3%, 5%], while it exhibits a direct semiconductor character in an in-plane biaxial strain range of [−2%, 2%]. Furthermore, the band alignment of the germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure changes from type-II to type-I at an in-plane biaxial strain of –3%. The adjustable electronic structure of this germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure will pave the way for developing the nanoscale devices.


This paper introduces the framework and flow of CBR-based and RBR-based NC programming system,and expounds how to construct knowledge base and reasoning machine in RBR system,and the method of case representation,case retrieval,case modification in CBR system.


We present an analytical expression for the heat conductance along a harmonic chain connecting two identical reservoirs at different temperatures. In this model, the end points correspond to Brownian particles with different damping coefficients. Such analytical expression for heat conductance allows for direct comparison with experiments in mesoscopic chains as well as validates the ballistic nature of the heat transport in one-dimensional quantum systems. This implies in the absence of a Fourier law for classical and quantum harmonic chains.


While the community college's policy of open admissions often seems incompatible with public perceptions of educational quality, these colleges can build on their dominant image of being comprehensive to project a distinctive image of quality in the twenty-first century.


Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) although can present as metastatic disease in almost one third of cases, it presenting as solitary bone lesion as primary sign and symptom is rare event accounting for 0.7%-2.5% only. Bone metastasis mostly presents as bone pain due to lytic lesion or rarely as fracture of axial bone. In this case report we present, RCC presenting as dislocation of shoulder joint of contra lateral side, to our best knowledge is first reported case of RCC presenting as dislocation of contra lateral shoulder joint.


This article considers the capabilities of machine learning algorithms in the problem of anomaly detection, analysis of their effectiveness in simultaneous processing of several telemetric data streams. A variant of constructing an algorithm using the Hierarchical Temporal Memory for the development of the power plant digital twin of a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle is considered. In terms of their basic characteristics (geometric, weight) such aerial vehicle is considered correspond to the light aircraft class. In particular, a modification of the algorithm for analyzing of telemetric information received from sensors of the on-board measurement system is considered.


This book will investigate the ambiguities and diverse strands of thought that have gone to make up the idea of 'God' familiar to the West and its relation to debates about 'the sacred' in Religious Studies. It will then go on to explore the way in which the notion of the divine is constituted in Classical Hindu Thought, drawing on depictions in the Upanisads.


PURPOSE: To effectively use an idle disk space on a network by each computer device. CONSTITUTION: With respect to the logical volume which manages physical disks 101c, 102c, 102d, etc., provided in computer devices 101 to 103 connected through a network bus 100 as logical disks, the object of a physical volume in the logical volume is extended from physical disks in the same computer system to, for example, physical disks of another system through the network bus 100. COPYRIGHT: (C)1993,JPO&Japio


@PACESconsulting @projunicorn I don't trust any of the #edtech standards boards. The vocabularies around #OER secretive, messy, more talk than implementation and the

Everyone talking


Traffic congestion problem is rising day-by-day due to increasing number of small to heavy weight vehicles on the road, poorly designed infrastructure, and ineffective control systems. This chapter addresses the problem of estimating computer vision based traffic density using video stream mining. We present an efficient approach for traffic density estimation using texture analysis along with Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier, and describe analyzing traffic density for on-road traffic congestion control with better flow management. This approach facilitates integrated environment for users to derive traffic status by mining the available video streams from multiple cameras. It also facilitates processing video frames received from video cameras installed in traffic posts and classifies the frames according to traffic content at any particular instance. Time series information available from various input streams is combined with traffic video classification results to discover traffic trends. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61350-056-9.ch011


In the article is described one of the concepts how to mass produce the complex-shaped part prepared as a prototype in manual way without the analytical and dimensional characteristics. The technology selection for production of the parts listed above in specific plant conditions is influenced by several requests as are for example material and shape of the part, number of parts, types of available machines, etc. The base for problem solution can be the computer aid, NC machines and modern equipments that are used within the method Reverse engineering. It is the process of obtaining a geometric CAD model from 3D points acquired by scanning existing object. Presented concept of data digitizing enables the automation of the production, so it can considerably decrease the economic cost and greatly affect the efficiency of the part manufacturing.


and that the first principles of artistic creation are the first principles of all change" (xii). The new philosophy of creation considers value categories as co-ordinate with structural categories, defining creation as "the interplay between the forms of value and structure"( p. I07). It is thus Platonic, viewing reality as a complex of being and becoming, in which that which becomes is a new synthesis of eternal forms or universals. Whether or not a process may be conditioned by the nature of its ingredient materials and still freely embody purpose is the age-long issue of rational creativity. Stallknecht believes that contemporary philosophy of creation has solved the problem. It is, he writes, "the first of all the attempts ince the days of Plato and Aristotle to pass successfully between the Charybdis and Scylla of chaos and determinism" (p. 27). The most serious defect of Stallknecht's work (and the criticism applies also to Whitehead's thought which along with that of Bergson is here treated at length) is the ambiguity of his concept of value. Creation is defined as "the interplay between the forms of value and of structure," and is said to be always "a movement toward an ideal" (pp. I07, io8). The ideal is "intensification," "the enrichment of being," "concentration," wealth of meaning or significance" (p. I34). "The form of value" toward which creative process works is "deiformity, or autonomous will" (p. I07). Value is clearly conceived as objective, but is it real for mind or constituted by mind? Intensification and concentration might also suggest what John Laird calls "natural election." It is significant that, although constant reference is made to moral freedom and aesthetic concentration, there is scarcely a mention of beauty, and no consideration at all of intrinsic value, or that which ought to be.


While online courses are not new, the challenges they create for communication educators remain significant. The purpose of this study is to identify those issues communication educators confront in teaching one type of online communication courses, asynchronous courses that include course delivery, information transaction, and communication via the Internet. The authors discuss the importance of this dynamic form of course delivery to the new generation of students, the Millenials, as they permeate higher education institutions.


The following study investigates the statistical nature of crack jumps during fatigue of Inconel 718. In-situ measurement in atmospheric air of the crack length at several loading and temperature conditions was conducted using a direct current potential drop (DCPD) method. Both annealed and heat-treated Inconel 718 samples were investigated. For a single sample, the normalized change of crack length was confirmed to not be a random process. This finding is significant in highlighting the time history features, which could be used in training machine learning models for the fundamental understanding of oxidation and the prediction of crack initiation and growth.


The effect of environmental factors, including temperature and water activity, has a considerable impact on the growth dynamics of each microbial species, and it is complicated in the case of mixed cultures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe and analyze the growth dynamics of Fresco culture (consisting of 3 different bacterial species) using predictive microbiology tools. The growth parameters from primary fitting were modelled against temperature using two different secondary models. The intensity of Fresco culture growth in milk was significantly affected by incubation temperature described by Gibson's model, from which the optimal temperature for growth of 38.6 °C in milk was calculated. This cardinal temperature was verified with the Topt = 38.3 °C calculated by the CTMI model (cardinal temperature model with inflection), providing other cardinal temperatures, i.e., minimal Tmin = 4.0 °C and maximal Tmax = 49.6 °C for Fresco culture growth. The specific growth rate of the culture under optimal temperature was 1.56 h−1. The addition of 1% w/v salt stimulated the culture growth dynamics under temperatures down to 33 °C but not the rate of milk acidification. The prediction data were validated and can be used in dairy practice during manufacture of fermented dairy products.


Oils of the Gulf of Mexico slope typically show higher sulfur contents, higher metal contents, and lower API gravities than do oils of the Gulf shelf. These properties result in increased costs of production, transportation, and refining, thereby diminishing their value. In contrast to shelf oils, many of which are derived from lower Tertiary shale source rocks, the sources of slope oils are thought to be of Mesozoic age. Since deeply buried source rocks have not been encountered during drilling on the slope, we focus on detailed geochemical characterization of the slope oils to infer their origin. Biomarkers suggest variable clastic-starved source facies containing marine kerogen, such as marls and carbonates. Higher sulfur contents and lower API gravities are thought to correlate with increasing carbonate content of the source facies and milder thermal maturity histories. Carbonate-sourced oils from the Upper Jurassic Smackover and Lower Cretaceous Surmiland trends show some similarities but are not strong analogs.


The objective of this study is to investigate the backscattering characteristics of ice covering Lake Saroma observed by Sentinel-1 C-band SAR data. In-situ observation measuring snow depth and ice thickness was conducted at more than 100 sampling points on Lake Saroma in February 2019. We also tried to apply interferometric SAR data analysis for the data pair acquired during the period from Feb.11 to Mar.7. The C-band SAR backscattering coefficients in both VV and VH have the maximum values at 30 to 35 cm of the ice thickness, and the relatively significant correlation found in the east part of the lake. We also find that the phase difference presumably caused by a tidal change in several areas surrounded the lake. In the relatively thick ice area, the coherence decreases with ice thickness, which is caused by the dominant scattering mechanism change.


Collaborative bandit learning has become an emerging focus for personalized recommendation. It leverages user dependence for joint model estimation and recommendation. As such online learning solutions directly learn from users, e.g., result clicks, they bring in new challenges in privacy protection. Despite the existence of recent studies about privacy in contextual bandit algorithms, how to efficiently protect user privacy in a collaborative bandit learning environment remains unknown. In this paper, we develop a general solution framework to achieve differential privacy in collaborative bandit algorithms, under the notion of global differential privacy and local differential privacy. The key idea is to inject noise in a bandit model's sufficient statistics (either on server side to achieve global differential privacy or client side to achieve local differential privacy) and calibrate the noise scale with respect to the structure of collaboration among users. We study two popularly used collaborative bandit algorithms to illustrate the application of our solution framework. Theoretical analysis proves our derived private algorithms reduce the added regret caused by privacy-preserving mechanism compared to its linear bandits counterparts, i.e., collaboration actually helps to achieve stronger privacy with the same amount of injected noise. We also empirically evaluate the algorithms on both synthetic and real-world datasets to demonstrate the trade-off between privacy and utility.


This paper presents the details of the nonlinear principal component analysis of climate data. Topic discussed include: connection with principal component analysis; network architecture; analysis of the standard routine (PRINC); and results.


This paper, which is based on literature indexed in SSCI and CSSCI related with female entrepreneurship from 1995 to 2015, compares the high-frequency author, research institutions, cited literatures' co-occurrence networks by using social network analysis so as to analyze multidimensional forces on researches in China and worldwide. The study shows that there are also some differences in China and worldwide among influences of high frequency authors, corporations among institutions, research topics, research methods, theoretical foundation and influences of high certainty literatures. The research trend of Chinese women entrepreneurship is following the trend of the world, but it also shows its own characteristics and personality. Furthermore, international research organizations or institutions of high frequency or high centrality have formed agglomeration phenomenon. In addition, scholars indexed by SSCI are more inclined to adopt the positivist research paradigm, and the vast majority of articles are empirical papers. In aggregate, the research direction is closely associated with circumstances.


Conservationists rely heavily on support from sectors of the population that want wildlife and wild places protected, but for whom it is not a priority. Support for conservation is widespread but not deep and seems to be weakening. This must be changed. Some of the obstacles are material—such as, fewer people have spent any part of their childhood immersed in nature. But many of the obstacles to deepening support among various constituencies rests with conservationists' prejudices: a belief that if people know the facts they will do the right thing; that truth by itself can overcome propaganda; that people are persuaded to act by argument. The evidence runs contrary to these assumptions. People are motivated by their needs and emotions; most political action is not the result of conscious decision processes; people respond to information encoded in symbols and stories, both religious and secular, to which they have been socialized; ritual and organization are more important than belief in motivating and sustaining political action. Conservationists, by using these findings and becoming more adept at understanding and speaking within the framework of existing mythologies and symbolic systems, can become more effective at mobilizing key constituencies.


Abstract : In response to the fleet operational requirement for covert hand-over between two P-3 patrol aircraft engaged in maritime surface/subsurface surveillance, trade-offs were addressed between two separate communication systems designed for such service - the first based on millimetre-wave technology, the other on electro-optical technology. Under the most ideal interception conditions, millimetre-wave and electro-optical technologies give comparable performance levels and both restrict communication to significantly lower maximum detectable range than do present uhf communication techniques.


Objective To investigate the performance of spectral CT in visualization of pancreatic vascular network compared with conventional polychromatic CT.Methods Forty-seven patients without pancreatic lesions were randomly divided into spectral CT group(n=27)and VCT group(n=20).A total of 11groups of monochromatic images ranging from40keV to 140keV at an interval of 10keV were generated.CNR,signal intensity ratio(SIR),signal to noise ratio(SNR)and image noise were compared.A 5-score classification system was used to evaluate the performance of CT images in visualization of pancreatic vascular network by two observers blindly.Results The best energy level for displaying the vascular network by spectral CT was 50—70keV.The inter-observer agreement for the image scores between two observers was at moderate to good level(Kappavalue 0.403—0.843).Noise of 70keV images reduced compared with that of 40—60keV images(P0.05).Compared with polychromatic images,CT value,CNR,SIR and SNR of gastroduodenal artery on70keVimages increased by 29.06%,58.07%,22.22%and 31.28%,respectively.The vascular network visualization and distinct display rate of 70keV were both higher than those of polychromatic images(P0.05).Conclusion Compared with polychromatic CT,spectral CT can improve visualization of pancreatic vascular network.


Improper placement of pictures or inaccurate shooting angle will cause the angle of graphics in the photos to tilt. In order to pursue the high reliability and high recognition rate for subsequent operations such as feature extraction, graphics matching and character recognition, it is necessary to correct the tilt graphics in the photos in advance. This paper uses opencv library to process the tilt graphics in four steps, that is, enhance the graphic feature preprocessing, edge detection, find the maximum edge contour of the graphics, rotate and correct the graphics, and finally achieve the effect of correcting the graphic. Among them, the calculation the final deflection angle of the minimum circumscribed rotating rectangle of the contour is a key to the success or failure of the overall processing.


A recently developed site–site intermolecular potential for UF6, featuring exchange, dispersion, and electrostatic terms, is used to calculate minimum energy structures of homogeneous UF6 clusters up to the decamer. The structures of mixed (UF6)2–Arn clusters are also calculated by adding appropriate interaction terms. The IR spectra corresponding to the determined cluster structures in the region of the ν3 vibrational mode of the monomer (at 627.724 cm−1) are calculated using a second-order line shift formalism, treating the anharmonic intramolecular force field and the intermolecular potential as a perturbation. The leading interaction mechanism responsible for the line shifts of the ν3 mode is found to be the electrostatic one (implicitly the resonant dipole–dipole coupling). The theoretical spectra are shown to satisfactorily describe the peaks around 623, 632, and 640 cm−1 found in the recently measured Fourier transform IR spectra in a continuous supersonic Laval nozzle flow and attributed to the cl...


The simulation of rotating electrical machines with skewed slots by means of a multi-slice FE model is studied. Particular attention is devoted to the ensuing skew discretization error. As an alternative to the commonly adopted uniform distribution of the cross-sections along the shaft, a Gauss distribution is proposed. The application to a squirrel-cage induction motor under various working conditions shows that the latter distribution produces a considerably smaller discretization error. The calculation results are also compared to experimental data.


Summary: Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a neurotransmitter that has been identified in epicardial coronary arteries. To evaluate the direct effect of VIP on coronary hemodynamics and blood flow, graded doses of VIP (0.01, 0.03, 0.10, and 0.30 μg/min) were infused into the left coronary artery of 7 patients at the time of diagnostic cardiac catheterization for chest pain syndromes. None of the patients had coronary stenoses >50% during subsequent angiography. Coronary sinus VIP concentrations increased during each infusion (22 ± 28 pg/ml at baseline to 109 ± 22 pg/ml at 0.30 μg/min; p < 0.05), but arterial VIP was elevated (39 ± 29 pg/ml) only at the maximal dose of 0.30 μg/min. During all dosages of VIP, heart rate, right atrial and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, and the heart rate × blood pressure product did not change. Moreover, neither mean aortic pressure nor left ventricular peak + dP/dt changed significantly at doses <0.30 μg/min; at 0.30 μg/min, mean aortic pressure decreased (97 ± 15 to 90 ± 15 mm Hg; p < 0.05) and LV peak + dP/dt increased (1,621 ± 230 to 1,801 ± 226 mm Hg/s; p < 0.05). Compared to baseline, the arterial-coronary sinus O2 content difference and myocardial O2 extraction diminished progressively at the 0.03, 0.10, and 0.30 μg/min doses of VIP (118 ± 12 ml O2/L vs. 94 ± 15, 70 ± 9, and 61 ± 26 ml O2/L, respectively, and 0.64 ± 0.05 vs. 0.53 ± 0.10, 0.38 ± 0.06, and 0.34 ± 0.15, respectively). In the absence of hemodynamic alterations indicating a substantial variation in myocardial oxygen demand, these changes imply an increase in coronary blood flow and confirm that VIP has a direct effect on the coronary vasculature. These data support the concept that VIP may have a physiological role in the regulation of coronary resistance in man.


Ifaminister were able to choose only three books for his library, he should choose a Bible, a hymnal, and a concordance. If a concordance k to serve its purpose as a necesSary tool for Bible study it should be tased on the particular vemion of the Bible which is being studied. This applies to the Bible in its original languages as well as in ancient and modem translations Ideally, therefore, each new translation of the Bible should be accompanied by its own concordance to the Scriptures.


In reflecting on how to retrieve the foundations of Anglican spirituality in our postmodern era, I write specifically as an outsider / insider in relation to the Anglican tradition. As an English Roman Catholic, I am an "outsider." However, I am also something of an "insider," because alongside my Roman Catholic mother was my Anglican father, from a socially respectable, Low Church Protestant, "Matins" background. As I grew up I had to come to terms with the fault lines of four hundred years of painful religious history running through my own family and, indeed, through myself. Nowadays, for younger Anglicans and Roman Catholics, this history may feel rather alien and very remote. Unless you have known it firsthand, it is difficult to enter into the intensity of experience that comes from living in a world where people on both sides of the Anglican-Roman Catholic divide feel themselves still to be active participants in a battle that began centuries before. I am sure we would all prefer to think that, in our more irenic and postmodern era, this has utterly changed. In so many ways it has. Yet, sadly, there are places where, if you scratch the surface, the dark fear of "the other" still lurks. Perhaps we wish that we could bypass this history as an inconvenient burden (I will return to the subject of history and tradition later). However, all of us, Anglican and Roman Catholic, have to come to terms with our whole history if our sense of identity is to be healthy. Only then will we be capable of making real space for those who are "other" rather than continuing to fear and marginalize them. These days, the theme of "otherness" is a critical issue as those of us in Western cultures struggle to come to terms with other cultures and religions that feel alien and threatening. Facing "otherness" on a global scale may be the greatest challenge of our times, but the ability to deal with it will depend a great deal on whether we have learned to handle more immediate experiences of "otherness" in family, social, and ecclesial contexts. Engaging with "otherness" has a certain edge when we turn to the question of the fundamental ethos of Anglican spirituality-- particularly its sources.1 I am going to take it that it was really during the long reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), with her decision to promote her father's vision of a national church, that the main seeds of a distinctive Anglican spiritual tradition are to be found. For Elizabeth, as for her father Henry VIII, the defining characteristic of the church before all others was that it was to be the church of the nation-hence "established church," or the church "by law established." That began as an essentially legal concept associated with royal authority and emerging nationhood rather than a theological, let alone spiritual, concept-a concept hedged around by penalties if you denied the validity of the royal headship of the church enshrined in the Act of Supremacy. This legal base gradually broadened into a social vision of the indivisibility of the English Commonwealth (to be a member of the nation was to be a member of the church and vice versa) and then, even more slowly, into a number of distinctive spiritual values. From the start there was a tension. On the one hand, the Church of England sought to be a church of the nation that embraced everyone and abolished "otherness" internally. Yet there were always those, whether the Catholic recusant or the Calvinist purist, who rejected this form of inclusiveness because, from their perspectives, it actually excluded vital features of doctrine or church order. What is clear is that the reformed Anglican tradition did not begin as essentially confessional, primarily concerned with establishing doctrinal purity, although there were those, including some of Elizabeth's bishops, who wanted the church to be more explicitly Calvinist. Nor was the tradition essentially experiential, defined by a common religious experience, especially one of conversion. …


The invention provides a sol composition comprising an oil and an organomodified clay mineral contained in the oil which mineral has a flaky particle structure having a mean thickness of 0.1mum or below and a mean length of 0.5 to 50mum; oil-base gel compositions; and W/O emulsion compositions. The organo-modified clay mineral in a state transformed into the flakey particles from aggregates exerts excellent oil-thickening and-gelling effect when used simultaneously with a nonionic surfactant. Further, the organomodified clay mineral having a flaky particle structure is also excellent in the emulsion stabilizing effect on W/O emulsions, which makes it possible to reduce the amounts of the organomodified clay mineral and nonionic surfactant used and thereby provide low-viscosity and stable W/O emulsions. Furthermore, the use of an oil having COOH/OH groups makes it possible to form an emulsion composition which is lowered in the viscosity while keeping the emulsion stability, thus giving emulsions which have low viscosity and excellent emulsion stability and are extremely excellent in feelings in use such as spreadability and freshness.


Abstract Stainless steel (SS304) is a widely used material in underwater nuclear applications due to its superior corrosion resistance and high strength. Along with these superior properties, the application demands neutron absorption and high wear resistance under dynamic operations. The ceramic reinforcements help to enhance these properties of metal alloy with a suitable composite design. The present work deals with the development of high wear-resistant and radiation (nuclear) tolerant boron carbide (B4C)–SS 304 composite material. SS304 metal matrix with 0–5 vol% of B4C ceramic reinforcement is produced by powder metallurgy technique. The presence of reinforcement was confirmed with X-ray diffraction analysis. Properties such as density, hardness, and water absorption are measured. A pin-on-disc tribology study is conducted to evaluate the coefficient of friction and wear of developed compositions at a sliding distance of 200 m, contact load of 10 N, and sliding speed of 1 and 5 m/s under dry lubrication conditions. The lowest density of 2.96 g/cc was noted for 15% B4C-reinforced composite as compared to the density of SS304 metal matrix (5.71 g/cc). The water absorption capacity of the composite was increased with percentage reinforcement, and it was found 62% higher than the unreinforced matrix. The hardness of composite increases with B4C particle reinforcement and maximum microhardness of 153 HV was measured for 15 vol% reinforced composites. Wear and coefficient of friction decrease with an increase in the percentage of B4C particles. At 15 vol% of B4C in the composite, lowest wear (1.91 mm3@1 m/s and 2.51 mm3@5 m/s) and COF (0.021@1 m/s and 0.042@5 m/s) were observed. This suggests that the developed composite can be effectively used in low-pressure–high-speed nuclear applications.


OBJECTIVE To determine the relative bioavailability and bioequivalence of atenolol tablet in healthy male volunteers.METHODS In a randomized two-period cross-over study,a single oral dose of 50mg atenolol tablet(test and reference preparation) were given to 22 healthy male volunteers.The concentrations of atenolol in plasma were determined by HPLC-fluorescence method.The pharmacokinetic parameters of the two preparations and the relative bioavailability of atenolol were calculated with statistical analysis.RESULTS The relative bioavailability of atenolol in test were 100.6%±33.0%.There were no significant difference with the pharmacokinetic parameters between test and reference preparation(P0.05).The 90% confidence interval of AUC_(0~t) was 90.72%-111.86%,and C_(max) was 87.48%-117.29%.CONCLUSION The two preparations are bioequivalent.


This paper gives an overview of the models of financing research at universities in Flanders, Belgium. The Flemish government installed parallel mechanisms to distribute financial means for scientific research at the universities: research is supported via the allocation of block grants to the universities based on specific interuniversity allocation keys on the one hand and via project-based funding allocated on competitive basis by public funding agencies on the other hand. The composition of the allocation key of both the Special Research Fund and the Industrial Research Fund and the impact of the research performance-based parameters of these allocation keys on the research policy of universities and on the peer-reviewed assessment of the quality of research proposals submitted to the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders, one of the Flemish public funding agencies, are discussed.