Prenatal diagnosis of a pregnancy with elevated maternal serum alpha‐fetoprotein identified a karyotype with a complex chromosomal rearrangement, a Robertsonian translocation and a 6q deletion involving bands q13q15. Sonography identified mild IUGR, polyhydramnios and micrognathia. The infant presented with multiple congenital anomalies, primarily limited to the head and neck, including hypertelorism, broad nose, micrognathia, cleft palate, microglossia and low‐set ears with microtia.


The various forms of Holocaust revisionism and relativization have fundamentally changed throughout the former Communist bloc in the decades since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Countries such as Lithuania and Croatia have found themselves struggling to create unifying national narratives following their independence. Ukraine, which in modern times had never been an enduring independent nation-state, found itself in desperate need of foundational myths and heroes that could bind its disparate regions into a coherent whole. To that end, the government has turned to the legacy of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and its offshoot the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). The violent and deeply antisemitic interwar nationalist movements were complicit in crimes against both ethnic Poles and Jews.


In this paper, we report on building and testing a Cr:ZnSe gain-switched amplifier pumped by a Q-switched Ho:YAG laser and seeded by a continuous wave (CW) tunable Cr:ZnSe laser. A 0.5%-doped, Brewster-cut Ho:YAG rod in an actively Q-switched, folded cavity produced 250 μJ pump pulses at 2.09 μm with pulse widths on the order of 400 ns. The seeded single-pass Cr:ZnSe amplifier exhibited output pulse energy as high as 3.8 μJ at 2.45 μm while pumped at a 10 kHz repetition rate. The gain-switched process showed a peak gain of 380 and an extraction efficiency of 1.5%. The system was tunable from 2160 nm to 2560 nm and had gain of 200 over a 400 nm range.


In the present work the binding of Cu and Zn on bovine serum proteins was studied using a tracer experiment. One dimensional BN-PAGE gels with separated bovine serum proteins after gel electrophoresis were doped with an enriched isotope copper tracer (65Cu) as a function of time (from 30 s up to 24 h). In several protein bands in 1D gel before tracer experiment metal ions (mostly Zn) were found by LA-ICP-MS. After experiments using enriched 65Cu tracer 65Cu/63Cu isotope ratios with changed isotope ratio were measured by LA-ICP-MS. The isotope ratio measurements of copper by LA-ICP-MS as a function of time indicate a fast exchange of Zn bonded on bovine serum albumin. This experimental finding demonstrates the formation of copper-binding proteins during the tracer experiments in the 1D gel. It was attempted to identify the protein bands from bovine serum proteins separated by 1D gel electrophoresis by using biopolymer mass spectrometry with MALDI-TOF-MS after excision from the 1D gel and tryptic digestion.


Thank you very much for reading speechmaking an introduction to rhetorical competence. As you may know, people have look numerous times for their favorite novels like this speechmaking an introduction to rhetorical competence, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they cope with some malicious virus inside their computer.


Since the rotor winding (RW) of the Brushless Doubly-Fed Machine (BDFM) needs to be designed to couple the magnetomotive forces (MMFs) generated by the power winding (PW) and the control winding (CW), it is difficult to control the harmonic contents in the RW of the BDFM. Based on the principles of tooth harmonic and sinusoidal winding structure, a multi-pitch unequal-turn-coil wound rotor of the BDFM is presented in this paper to reduce the harmonic contents and improve the conductor utilization ratios of the RW effectively. The steady-state performance of a 100 kW generator with proposed wound rotor is analyzed by the simulation. Simulation results are presented to show the validity of new rotor structure. It is concluded that proposed wound rotor can provide a new method for the rotor design of the BDFM.


New results of a multivariate analysis to determine the chemical composition obtained with the KASCADE detector are presented. Taking the information of the electron-photon, the hadron, and the muon detectors for an event-by-event analysis into account the energy dependence of the primary cosmic ray composition in the knee region is estimated. Bayesian nonparametric and neural network methods are used. The investigated EAS events indicate a tendency to a heavier composition above the knee.


This pilot study investigates the phonetic realisation of Estonian Swedish long close vowels comparing them with Central Swedish and Finland Swedish counterparts. It appears that in the Rickul variety of Estonian Swedish there is a distinction between only three long close vowels. The analysed vowels of Estonian Swedish are more similar to those of Central Swedish than Finland Swedish, as measured by the Euclidean distance. Further research with more data is needed to establish the exact vowel space and phonetic characteristics of Estonian Swedish dialects.


We introduce the shrinking hybrid projection method for finding a common element of the set of fixed points of strictly pseudocontractive mappings, the set of common solutions of the variational inequalities with inverse-strongly monotone mappings, and the set of common solutions of generalized mixed equilibrium problems in Hilbert spaces. Furthermore, we prove strong convergence theorems for a new shrinking hybrid projection method under some mild conditions. Finally, we apply our results to Convex Feasibility Problems (CFP). The results obtained in this paper improve and extend the corresponding results announced by Kim et al. (2010) and the previously known results.


Physical damage within fault zones has been a growing topic of interest in recent years, especially within the San Andreas fault system in southern California [Wechsler et al., 2011; Anderson, 2010; Rockwell et al., 2009; Dor et al., 2006a; Dor et al., 2006b; Wilson et al., 2005; Schulz and Evans, 1998; Evans and Chester, 1995; Rempe et al., 2013]. Specifically, pulverization damage has been identified as an important result of mechanical processes stemming from dynamic stresses during earthquake ruptures [Morton et al., 2012; Stillings, 2007; Schulz and Evans, 1998; Mitchell et al., 2011], possibly as a result of supershear rupture [Doan and Gary, 2009]. Pulverized texture is a special or unique type of brecciation, and is defined as intense subgrain fracturing of "wall rock" to the microns and tens of microns scale with little or no observable grain rotation [Wilson et al., 2005; Dor et al., 2006a; Rockwell et al., 2009], with the implication being that pulverization is the result of in situ dynamic fracturing. In this chapter, we use the term incipient pulverization for subgrain fracturing, where the fractures exhibit only minor dilation and need not penetrate to the edge of the crystal. While numerous studies have identified the occurrence of pulverization, the depth of initiation of this process has not yet been constrained. The exhumation depth on which the majority of the above studies have focused has been estimated at ~1–2 km or more [Anderson et al., 2010; Evans and Chester, 1995], if a burial depth can be Incipient Pulverization at Shallow Burial Depths Along the San Jacinto Fault, Southern California


This paper presents a high-efficiency monolithic dc-dc PFM boost converter designed with a standard TSMC3.3/5V 0.35 µm CMOS technology. The proposed boost converter combines the parallel power MOS technique with pulse-frequency modulation (PFM) technique to achieve high efficiency over a wide load current range, extending battery life and reducing the cost for the portable systems. The proposed parallel power MOS controller and load current detector exactly determine the size of power MOS to increase power conversion efficiency in different loads. Postlayout simulation results of the designed circuit show that the power conversion is 74.9-90.7% efficiency over a load range from 1mA to 420mA with 1.5V supply. Moreover, the proposed boost converter has a smaller area and lower cost than those of the existing boost converter circuits.


The fall of the feudal system was accomplished, in the principal states of Europe, at a period when the revival of learning had diffused in society a spirit of reflection, and communicated, to the better sort, some knowledge of the history of the Greek and Roman republics. As it was, in general, the kings who conducted the attack on the privileges of the feudal nobility, the principal part of the spoils had fallen naturally to their share. But the people were warlike, the nobles were still; animated with the pride of rank, of family, and of their ancient consequence, and men, in general, had begun to speculate on their rights, and were unaccustomed to perceive, with satisfaction, the whole powers of government centred in the crown.


Recent studies of hypersonic boundary-layer stability and transition on cones with sharp and blunted nosetips are presented. The experiments were carried out on a 7-deg half-angle cone at freestream Mach number 5.95. Laminar‐turbulent transition locations are measured for various flow parameters and model nose bluntness. Mean and fluctuation characteristics of the flow are obtained using constant-temperature hot-wire anemometry. The spectral content and amplification rates of natural disturbances are obtained. The method of artificial wave packets is applied to obtain detailed information on the disturbances. Data on development of both natural and artificial finite-amplitude disturbances are compared. It is experimentally shown that the wave vector of the most unstable waves of the first mode have an inclination angle of 40‐49 deg. In the frequency range of the second mode, plane waves appear to be dominant and have the highest amplification. The bluntness of the cone nosetip results in an increase of the disturbance amplification rate downstream of the entropy layer swallowing point. At the same time, nose bluntness dramatically increases the transition Reynolds number because of the strong damping of initial disturbances.


The present article explores some factors involved in the process of the transformation of the Sufi organizations calld tartgas in Egypt from the late 18th century to the first half of the 20th century. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the word "tartga" did not refer to an organization at all; rather, literally translated, it meant the "Sufi Way," which is a specific method of devotion. Actually, each tartga consisted of a number of small groups, each headed by its own shaykh; this implied that a tartga did not have to be a single unified organization. Through the institutionalization of the Egyptian tan-gas initiated in 1812, a new principle in the Sufi organizations was introduced, whereby a tartga was to be an organization headed by only one shaykh, or shaykh al -tartga. This principle created a situation which encouraged the breakup of the tartgas, since now the autonomy enjoyed by each group within the tartga was considerably restricted. In fact, we observe an explosion of emergent tartgas in the 19th century as many of these groups began to claim that they were independent "tartgas." This new principle was stipulated in the regulations issued in 1895 and in 1905, which must have aimed at the stability and continuity of the tartgas. However, this could not put an end to the recurrence of divisions. Rather, a number of khaltfas started requesting the government to appoint them as shaykhs of their own tartgas. *上 智 大 学 大 学院 外 国 語学 研 究科 地域 研 究 専攻 博 士後 期 課程 Ph. D. Candidate, Graduate School of Global Studies, Sophia University By analayzing a case of how al-Habibiyya gained independence from al-Rifa`iyya, one factor responsible for the increase in the breakup of tartgas during this period can be pointed out: the new principle in the Sufi organization that was introduced in the 19th century catered to those khaltfas who wanted to be shaykhs of their own tarfgas, and used it as the justification for their claims.


Abstract Forward extrusion is a manufacturing process in which the cross section of product is reduced by forcing it through the die under high pressure. Cold extrusion is most often used in the mass production of cylindrical rods or hollow tubes due to its economic advantages, although it can be used for more complex shapes of cross section. The process is accompanied by excessive amount of plastic deformation and central burst defects, the so-called chevron cracks can occur. These defects are dangerous because of their invisibility on the product's surface. Therefore, it is important to carry out computational simulations to successfully predict and prevent the central bursting. Solution of this problem is especially influenced by the die cone angle, friction and reduction ratio. In this study, the process is analysed through numerical simulations using the uncoupled ductile failure models which were calibrated and implemented into Abaqus/Explicit by user subroutine VUMAT. Obtained results are compared to experiments conducted on the carbon steel AISI 1045 and predictive potential of the criteria is discussed.


We propose cloud motion as a natural scene cue that enables geometric calibration of static outdoor cameras. This work introduces several new methods that use observations of an outdoor scene over days and weeks to estimate radial distortion, focal length and geo-orientation. Cloud-based cues provide strong constraints and are an important alternative to methods that require specific forms of static scene geometry or clear sky conditions. Our method makes simple assumptions about cloud motion and builds upon previous work on motion-based and line-based calibration. We show results on real scenes that highlight the effectiveness of our proposed methods.


Informal economy, decent work deficits and poverty in Africa -- The ILO and the informal economy -- Enabling the transition to formality: key policy areas.


Density-dependent reproductive rate may be the result of all individuals in a population suffering reduced fecundity when density increases (Lack 1954), or it may be the result of a lower proportion of individuals living in favorable places at high density (Andrewartha and Birch 1954). We used a key-factor analysis to investigate whether re- productive rate in two red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) populations was density dependent. Four k values were determined, indicating offspring mortality caused by: adult females not entering oestrus (k,), oestrous females not giving birth (k2), lactating females failing to wean offspring (k3), and mortality in litters of successful females (k4). We also investigated the effect of food availability on the different k values and tested predictions of the two contrasting hypotheses (Lack vs. Andrewartha and Birch) by examining the mechanisms of density dependence. The reproductive performance of female squirrels was monitored over 18 breeding sea- sons in a coniferous forest and over 16 breeding seasons in a deciduous forest. In the coniferous forest, annual variation in pine seed abundance only affected k4, which was only weakly related to total mortality of offspring (K). In the deciduous woodland, however, the key factors k2 and k3, which were strongly related with total K, were inversely correlated with food abundance. In the coniferous forest, only k2 was female density dependent, and breeding failure before parturition occurred primarily among floaters, which were more numerous at high density. In the deciduous forest, annual and seasonal variation in the number of floaters caused density dependence in fecundity (k,). Increased breeding failure of lactating females (k3) with high female density was positively correlated with the number of floaters and with the proportion of females occupying poor quality home ranges. We concluded that density-dependent reproduction in red squirrels can be caused by two mech- anisms: a direct density effect of more floaters at high female density, and an effect of habitat heterogeneity, with more females occupying poor territories at high densities, re- sulting in low breeding success. That reduced fecundity or breeding failure at high densities occurred mainly in female squirrels not occupying good territories, and that annual and seasonal variation in litter size of successful females was not density dependent, supported the predictions of the Andrewartha and Birch (1954) hypothesis.


I. Introduction In the summer of 1999, the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) conducted its bi-annual, nation-wide seminars for United States District Judges in Baltimore, San Francisco, and Chicago. I selected Chicago, never anticipating that, by late August, Sammy Sosa would have almost as many home runs as the Cubs would have wins.1 Following the practice of most federal judges attending FJC seminars, I carried a list of legal questions for which I had either not found an answer or had found conflicting answers. The quality of FJC seminars is such that my questions are invariably answered, if not in the formal presentations then during informal discussions with speakers or other judges. Chicago was to be no exception. One of my questions related to a sentencing issue involving the imposition of restitution. In a situation where restitution and prison were part of the same sentence, how should restitution payments be structured? The form of judgment recommended in such a circumstance had been changed in August 1996. Before then, restitution was "payable immediately," according to the suggested form. After August 1996, restitution was "due immediately." As later discussion will show, there are practical considerations favoring such wording, especially because district courts understood "payable immediately" or "due immediately" to mean "begin immediately," which simply requires defendants to start paying restitution at the earliest possible date. As appellate decisions subsequent to 1996 would hold, however, the language could also be interpreted to require full restitution to be due immediately. Such a requirement is unrealistic in most instances because defendants are seldom able to pay full restitution at sentencing. Not surprisingly, the form language fell out of favor in most federal circuits. The alternative to the full payment of restitution is restitution by installment payments. The latter approach found general acceptance in the Congress and appellate courts, with a few notable exceptions. For district courts, however, ordering installment payments at the time of sentencing presents several problems. For one thing, the defendant must serve a prison sentence first, so he will have a very limited ability, if any at all, to respond to an order requiring installment payments. Even if he does have some ability to make payments based on earnings inside the prison system, the district court has no access at the time of sentencing to information about future possible earnings. Moreover, those earnings can fluctuate. The better venue for the payment decision regarding restitution during imprisonment is with the prison authorities who can integrate such payments into the comprehensive correctional plan for the defendant. After the prison term ends, a period of supervised release begins. In most cases, this period lasts from two to five years. Again, installment payments are difficult for a district court to structure during the period of supervised release. In the first place, the court has little involvement with the defendant for the entire supervised period, unless he fails to follow the terms or conditions of his release. A probation officer is assigned to monitor the defendant's progress and is best able to assess his situation. In the second place, the defendant's earnings will almost always fluctuate during the period. Ideally, restitution payments should adjust as the defendant's earnings fluctuate. Again, a probation officer is in the best position to monitor fluctuations in earnings and to structure restitution accordingly. With other responsibilities crowding the schedules of district courts, monitoring the income changes of defendants on supervised release to adjust restitution payments is simply not possible. Other problems exist as well. The best chance for restitution to be paid is during the period of supervised release. Once a probation officer ends his supervision of a defendant, no one is available on a regular basis to encourage restitution payments. …


Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) promise a new advance in distributed computing. In MAS autonomous software agents flexibly cooperate, coordinate and compete to provide the desired function(s) of such a system. If some components of a MAS fail or do not provide the desired functionality, the system is expected to autonomously deal with this situation. It is desirable to reduce occurrences of such situations by selecting trustworthy cooperation partners before cooperating with them. This becomes even more crucial in open MAS in which arbitrary heterogeneous software agents participate. In order to monitor agent behavior and enable selection of trustworthy cooperation partners, trust management services can be applied. As there is no central control in an open MAS and it is completely distributed, these services itself have to be distributed. This paper proposes a fully distributed reputation management service for open MAS based on peer-to-peer technology.


The procedure for lower limb surgery is one of the major and long-standing operations. Surgical trauma stimulates the stress response of surgery. The surgical stress response will interfere with stress hormones including insulin. Insulin is an anabolic hormone that is important in the body and has a role in the process of wound healing. Previous studies have shown insulin levels to correlate with increased surgical stress and the type of anesthesia given. This study analyzed differences insulin levels in bupivacaine 0,125% with morphine 3 mg and to compare the analgesia effect of continuous bupivacaine 0,125% with 3 mg morphine epidural in postoperative lower extremity assessed from insulin levels. A retrospective cohort study taken from secondary data from previous studies and their medical records at RSUP Dr. Mohammad Hoesin Palembang. Statistical analysis used STATA 15 th edition. Wilcoxon showed that there was a significant difference in 0,125% bupivacaine group on insulin leves after 12 th hours postoperative (p 0.05). In this study, there was no significant difference between the 0,125% bupivacaine with 3 mg morphine on insulin levels


The biological processes that unfold during the G1‐phase of the cell cycle are dependent on extracellular mitogenic factors that signal the cell to enter a state of quiescence, or commit to a cell‐cycle round by passing the restriction point (R‐point) and enter the S‐phase. Unlike normal cells, cancer cells evolved the ability to evade the R‐point and continue through the cell cycle even in the presence of extensive DNA damage or absence of mitogenic signals. The purpose of this study was to perform a quantitative proteomic evaluation of the biological processes that are responsible for driving MCF‐7 breast cancer cells into division even when molecular checkpoints such as the G1/S R‐point are in place. Nuclear and cytoplasmic fractions of the G1 and S cell‐cycle phases were analyzed by LC‐MS/MS to result in the confident identification of more than 2700 proteins. Statistical evaluation of the normalized data resulted in the selection of proteins that displayed twofold or more change in spectral counts in each cell state. Pathway mapping, functional annotation clustering, and protein interaction network analysis revealed that the top‐scoring clusters that could play a role in overriding the G1/S transition point included DNA damage response, chromatin remodeling, transcription/translation regulation, and signaling proteins.


The dielectric permittivity (ɛ′), electric modulus (M″), and ac conductivity (σac) of pure polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and PVDF containing 3 wt.% RCl3 (R = Er or Gd) were measured. The incorporation of 3 wt.% of ErCl3 or GdCl3 within the PVDF matrix is found significantly to increase its ɛ′ and σac. All investigated samples show different relaxation processes within the studied temperature and frequency ranges. The first process is αa-relaxation, which occurs around the glass transition temperature, Tg. The second process is αc-relaxation, which is associated with the molecular motions in the crystalline region of the main polymer chain. Third is the ρ-relaxation which observed for pure PVDF at low temperatures and high frequencies. The frequency dependence of σac shows that the conduction mechanism for pure PVDF and PVDF containing 3 wt.% of RCl3 is correlated barrier hopping (CBH). The binding energy of the carriers was calculated based on the CBH model. Finally, the results obtained in this work are...


This article introduces the Special Issue on Computers and Education. The papers in this special issue focus on the potential contribution of technology to education. The involvement of educational psychologists is critical for understanding how the new technology develops and shapes cognitive functioning and intelligence, and for determining how to adapt instruction to individual differences and how to create instructional settings to realize technology's potential.


In this paper, we tried to combine the findings obtained from pedagogical analysis of serious game, which is a study of Soo-Cheol Ha [2, 3], and learning theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, situated learning, and other theories. Based on the previous research, we propose pedagogical elements of serious games based on theories and researches from models and other studies using learning theory. The suggested elements were applied on GSS(Global Startup Simulation), which is a serious game, and the results were confirmed through questionnaire evaluation of learners who are learning through it.


Ultra high frequency (UHF) partial discharge sensors are important tools for condition monitoring and fault location in high voltage equipment. There are many designs of UHF sensors which can detect electromagnetic waves that radiate from partial discharge sources. The general types of UHF PD sensors are disc, monopole, probe, spiral, and conical types with each type of sensor having different characteristics and applications. Computational modelling of UHF PD sensors using Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation can simplify the process of sensor design and optimisation, reducing the development cost for repeated testing (in order to select the best materials and designs for the sensors), and giving greater insight into how the mechanical design and mounting will influence frequency response. This paper reports on an investigation into the application of FDTD methods in modelling and calibrating UHF PD sensors. This paper focuses on the disc-type sensor where the sensor has been modelled in software and the predicted responses are compared with experimental measurements. Results indicate that the FDTD method can accurately predict the output voltages and frequency responses of disc-type sensors. FDTD simulation can reduce reliance upon costly experimental sensor prototypes, leading to quicker assessment of design concepts, improved capabilities and reduced development costs.


Second language learning requires more than memorizing rules and vocabulary detached from contexts. Language teachers have to encourage the exposure to real context to enable their students to 'acquire' the language in the same way they acquire their first language. This could entail an unconscious induction called 'analogy'. Analogy may enable language learners to create neologisms for the purpose of communicating. This could also enable them to obtain a better understanding of lexical items in context. This chapter highlights the benefits of direct exposure to neologisms in journalistic texts, which influences learners' morphological choice. Mass media in general and journalism in particular are thought to be a perfect means of learning any language in its natural context.


We explore how chromatic RFI flags affect 21-cm power spectrum measurements. We particularly study flags that are coarser than the analysis resolution. We find that such RFI flags produce excess power in the EoR window in much the same way as residual RFI. We use Fast Holographic Deconvolution (FHD) simulations to explain this as a result of chromatic disruptions in the interferometric sampling function of the array. We also use these simulations in conjunction with Error Propagated Power Spectrum with InterLeaved Observed Noise ($\varepsilon$ppsilon) to show that without modifying current flagging strategies or implementing extremely accurate and complete foreground subtraction, 21-cm EoR experiments will fail to make a significant detection. As a mitigation strategy, we find that circumventing the chromatic structure altogether by flagging the entire analysis band when RFI is detected is simple to implement and highly successful. This demands a detection strategy with a low false positive rate in order to prevent excessive data loss.


Bahar (1 973 f'7'L2Jfirst employed the full-wave approach t o t h e a n a l y s i s of electromagnetic wave propagations of mul t i layered s t ruc ture ana a i scussed tne rad ia t ion wave, l a t e r a l wave and surface wave terms. bince tiLen tilere have been a l o c of papers in whlch t h e problem of electromagnetic wave propagat ions and sca t te r ing charac te r i s t ics i n two-layered structure has been invest igated by f u l l wave niethod, bu t there 1s not enough research of t h e elec-tromagnet-ic scattering ckiaracteris cics of three-lay€red neoia , therefore the problem needs investigating. I n t h i s paper-; we w i l l d iscuss a p r a c t i c a l problem of three-layered media by t h i s method. We have employed t h e Low Frequency Approximate treatment (which is c a l l e d LFA method) i n order to deal with the formula of t h e s c a t t e r e d f ie lds properly and have obtained the radiation wave s c a t t e r e d f i e l d s of s ea su r face wi th o i l sp i l l s . Based on bierson-hoskowitz spectrum, a modified wave height spectrum of sea su r face wi th o i l sp i l l s has been brought forward, by which we can co r rec t ly eva lua te the microwave s c a t t e r i n g c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of ocean su r face with o i l s p i l l s .


Analysis and computation for asymmetric Y branch was presented.The normal modes of five-layers asymmetric waveguide were solved,and combined with individual waveguide modes so as to make quantitatively theoretical analysis on the crosstalk of asymmetric Y branch with two different shapes.The results accorded with their counterparts by BPM method fairly well.And this method has advantages in terms of the simplicity of form and the scale of application.


It is the contention of this paper that the development of Australian microanalytic simulation models will offer an especially useful tool For analyzing the effects of retirement income policy on the economic situation of the aged. In contrast to the contemporary practice of casting the impacts of policy in aggregate terms, microanalytic simulation generates data that permit addressing the more central questions of the size and distribution of retirement income. This paper describes microanalytic simulation and illustrates its application to the retirement income policy domain.


Mobile ad hoc networks are type of wireless networks in which any kind of infrastructure is not used, i.e. there are no infrastructures such as routers or switches or anything else on the network that can be used to support the network structure and the nodes has mobility. The routing is particularly a challenging task in MANETs that selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. In this paper, the performance analysis is carried out on Ad-hoc On- demand Distance Vector (AODV), Limited Hop Count AODV (LHC-AODV), Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR), Unnecessary Loop OLSR (UL-OLSR) and Destination Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) protocols using NS2 simulator. The delay, throughput, and packet delivery ratio are the three common measures used for the comparison of the performance of above protocols.


QUESTIONING THE "I" IN EXPERIENCE: EXPERIENTIAL PURCHASES FOSTER SOCIAL CONNECTION Amit Kumar, Thomas C. Mann, Thomas D. Gilovich Cornell University Research on experiential and material purchases (money spent on doing versus having) has focused on the benefits of experiential consumption in terms of consumer satisfaction and the underlying mechanisms that produce this difference. Here, we present another downstream consequence of spending money on experiences: fostering social connection. In Studies 1 and 2 we show that people feel more kinship with someone who has made the same (or a similar, but "upgraded") experiential purchase as them than someone who made the same (or a similar, but "upgraded") material purchase. In Study 3, we find that people feel more connected to others in general when they are asked to reflect on their experiential purchases. This connection is expressed in a greater desire to engage in social activities (Study 4) and participants behaviorally demonstrate social connectedness by acting more prosocially after thinking about their experiences than after thinking about their possessions (Study 5).


We develop a stochastic approach to a non de Sitter Universe in a gauge-invariant way and obtain a system of Langevin-type equations which may be considered to be renormalization group equations for the long wave parts of the scalar fields and metric. We investigate in detail the case of generalized power-law inflation that appears in the model of the deflationary exit from the inflationary stage. For this case the above system is simplified greatly, we derive a Fokker-Planck equation for the scalar field driving inflation, find its stationary solutions and solve the FP equation for a delta-function initial distribution of the field.


The main goal of this research was to compare the frequency of pain within the group of competitive junior swimmers and rowers (N=54, average age = 15,87). All of the tested have filled out the modified SEFIP questionnaire. They had to mark (for every given part of the body) observed frequency of pain. For the data analysis T-test and Bartlett test were used. The results of this research have led to a conclusion that swimmers frequently felt pain in lower back, knee and shoulder, while young rowers had the lower back and knee pain more often. Obtained results are own to the specific load at every given training session. It can be recommended to pay the attention on the warming-up, strengthening and stretching the muscles through the season.


With the rapid development of wind power and photovoltaic power generation, it has become a major trend to establish an energy system centered on high proportion of renewable energy all over the world. Intermittence and volatility are the main features of renewable generation, which has brought challenges to the security and flexibility of energy system's operation. Making full use of the regulating capacity of flexible resources can effectively adapt to the stochastic characteristics of renewable generation and improve the renewable energy accommodation capacity. Considering the advantages of flexible resources such as flexibly reformed thermal power units, gas-fired units and electrical energy storage in the aspect of flexibility regulation, a day-ahead scheduling model of integrated electricity-gas systems for renewable energy accommodation is proposed. Firstly, the flexibility of the power system is quantified by the insufficient flexibility reserve capacity, which characterizes the renewable energy accommodation capacity of the system. Then, the economy of each flexible resource is investigated from the point of the total operation cost. Finally, the factors affecting the operation cost are analyzed. Case studies demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed models.


The findings of the Survey of Aspects of Literacy (SAL) conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1996 showed that significant numbers of adult Australians may have difficulty performing everyday literacy tasks. There are many ways that government, the education sector and the wider community can respond to these findings. One of the more significant responses from educators is to examine closely a system that has allowed, and continues to allow, some groups of students to be marginalised, and to carry the effects of that marginalisation into their adult lives.


Structured Transaction Definition Language (STDL) is a standardized, block-structured, high-level language that provides a development environment for writing portable, distributed transactional, and nontransactional applications. It has been mapped to the major TP monitors and is compatible with DCE. STDL's common API for distributed TP provides both portability across different TP monitors and enhances productivity through the usual benefits of high-level languages augmented with automated IDL/monitor call generation. STDL meets its design requirements in production use today.


Background: Perception of postoperative pain varies. It depends on the type of surgery and the individual involved, which is influenced by race. Postoperative pain, in general, is inadequately managed in developing countries. This study prospectively reviewed the challenges of postoperative pain management in our center, the incidences and other options available for effective postoperative pain management. Methods: Following hospital ethics approval and informed consent, a 5-year prospective review of postoperative pain management was carried out on 3623 patients operated in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital under subspecialty of general, maxillofacial, orthopedic, and obstetrics and gynecology surgeries, from January 2013 to December 2017. Following the enlightenment of patients about numeric pain score scale, pain scores of the patients that met the inclusion criteria were determined 24 h postoperatively through a predesigned questionnaire. Numeric pain scale was used to ascertain pain intensity and the level of satisfaction following postoperative pain management. The surgeons' and the anesthetic review, as well as the anesthetic chart of the 3623 patients managed, were studied. The incidence of the degree of pain scores was calculated for the different patient's populations. Techniques of anesthesia were also computed. Data were analyzed using Chi-square statistical package. Results: High rate of severe pain incidences was observed. Out of the overall 3623 patients managed within the study period, 42.1% (1525) of the patients reported severe pain. About 43.8% (1587) of patients had moderate pain and only 14.1% (511) of the patients recorded mild pain. Most of the patients [56.1% (2033)] had general anesthesia, while 41.5% (1503) had regional anesthesia. Around 2.4% (87) of the patients had both general and regional anesthesia. Conclusion: Postoperative pain is inadequately managed. There is need for the policymakers to provide intensive intervention on postoperative pain management by considering adequate supply of strong opioids regularly. More so, knowledge of the anesthetists and physicians involved in postoperative pain management need to be improved and updated, especially on the techniques for managing postoperative pain.


This article immerses the reader in the descriptive analysis of the main characteristics of human behavior, functionality and brain activity during reading, thanks to the knowledge offered by neuroscience. It begins by publicizing the most relevant aspects of neuroscience, then dealing with its involvement in the educational field through Revista Internacional de Apoyo a la Inclusión, Logopedia, Sociedad y Multiculturalidad. Volumen 7, Número 1, enero 2021, ISSN: 2387-0907. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17561/riai.v7.n1.6 93 neuroeducation and neurodidactics. Likewise, the reader learning process, access routes and cognitive processes involved are exposed in detail. It continues, with the exhibition of the reading areas, and ultimately, it explains how reading occurs. By way of conclusion, various implications of neuroscience in the educational treatment of the teaching and learning of reading are presented. In short, it reflects the way in which neuroscience reveals the possibilities of the human brain in reading tasks, and the ability of this science to work together with educational sciences and thus improve various learning processes.


SARS-CoV-2 has emerged as a world public health threat. Herein, we report that the clinical approved auranofin could perfectly inhibit the activity of 3-chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease (Mpro or 3CLpro) of SARS-CoV-2. Gold cluster could significantly inhibit 3CLpro of SARS-COV-2. Phenyl isothiocyanate and Vitamin K3 could well suppress the activity of 3CLpro. For Mpro inhibition, IC50 of auranofin, Vitamin K3, phenyl isothiocyanate, gold cluster are about 0.51μM, 7.96μM, 10.13μM, 1.61μM, respectively. These compounds may be with potentials for treatment SARS-CoV-2 virus replication. Especially for FDA approved auranofin, it is an anti-inflammation drug in clinic, thus it may with strong potential to inhibit virus replication and suppress the inflammation damage in COVID-19 patients. Gold cluster is with better safety index and well anti-inflammation in vitro/vivo, therefore it is with potential to inhibit virus replication and suppress the inflammation damage caused by COVID-19 virus. As Au(I) ion is active metabolism specie derived from gold compounds or gold clusters in vivo, further computational studies revealed Au ion could tightly bind thiol group of Cys145 residue of 3CLpro thus inhibit enzyme activity. Also, phenyl isothiocyanate and Vitamin K3 may interact with thiol group of Cys145 via Michael addition reaction, molecular dynamic (MD) theory studied are applied to confirmed these small molecules are stable in the pocket and inhibit Mpro activity.


Background. We have reviewed the literature concerning vaginal recurrence in endometrial cancer with emphasis on prognostics and therapeutic results. Compared to the overall outcome of recurrences (11‐17 per cent survive more than 3‐19 years) the survival rate of strictly vaginal recurrence appears significantly higher (up to 60‐70 per cent survive more than 5 years). However, the prognosis deteriorates significantly in cases where recurrences prove to be more widespread. Other factors towards predicting a poor outcome are high age, high stage, high grade, detection of papillary carcinoma, rapid recurrence, location to the lower part of vagina, large tumorsize, and previous radiation.


A reliable and economic operation of the transmission grid in a deregulated electricity market can only be obtained by appropriate incentives for the parties involved. Therefore, a cost reflective transmission pricing system is a prerequisite. At the Budapest PowerTech '99 Conference a transmission tariff system derived from the postage stamp tariff was proposed, taking into account the requirements of the Belgian law and the characteristics of the Belgian grid. The basic postage stamp consists of an individual cost component, a demand component and an energy component. Two characteristic elements that may be added are the way outlyers are charged for reactive power, and the grid quality charge (GQC). Outlyers for reactive power are generators not taking part in reactive power regulation or consumers exceeding the power factor limitations. The grid quality charge is a node and time dependent surplus or reduction of the basic postage stamp rate, based on whether or not extra generation or demand in a node reduces losses, alleviates congestion, and increases reliability and stability. In the paper, the practicality of calculating the GQC based on the superposition principle is checked on a 15-node test network. The superposition principle is extended to include congestion. The need for charging outlyers is also discussed.


Many modern microeconomic theory textbooks similarly conclude that the bilateral monopoly equilibrium price and quantity are theoretically indeterminate given the usual assumptions of the theory of the firm; they usually state that additional assumptions about bargaining power or firm behaviour are required for a determinate solution. The past literature on bilateral monopoly generally supports the textbook position with respect to price but not with respect to quantity. For example, von Stackelberg (1952, 182–9) and Fellner (1947, 523–8) argued that quantity is determinate at the joint profit maximizing level for bilateral monopoly between profit maximizing firms which employ "all or none" offers; price, however, must still be determined by relative bargaining power which is unspecified.


Eurocode 7 defines a characteristic strength for an ultimate limit state analysis with specified partial factors and related codes specify how the characteristic strength should be determined from laboratory tests on samples. The note discusses how designers might choose between peak, critical state and residual strengths and how they might determine values from tests on samples of different quality class.


Apps on mobile devices like smartphones have become the core of the digital life of consumers. Apps are used for shopping or communicating in social networks and are gaining more and more attention in enterprises as an enabler for agile process optimization. The increase in the number of mobile Apps has greatly contributed to social capital and e-commerce worldwide. However, there is a lack of evidence in examining the impact of privacy, fulfillment, perceived Apps channel service quality and relative benefits of Apps channel selection. Hence, this chapter aims to propose a research proposal in the determinants and the factors influencing App channel selection. It is essential to build an understanding of concepts of social enterprise regarding the Apps marketing and to design an empirical based research to cultivate an understanding in terms of the perceptions and practices of Apps enterprises within the context of marketing. The significance of this research is to provide undergraduate researcher a guideline in proposing a research and forming strategic marketing and tactical decision-making when defining the roles of Apps channel.


Background: According to the ICMR – INDIAB study, there are 62.4 million people living with diabetes in India. Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a progressive disease and hampers the quality of life of the patients due to micro and macrovascular complications. The aim of this study was to systematically identify and reporting the prevalence of diabetic vascular complications and risk factors affect on these complications among diabetic patients in Palakkad. Methods: A prospective study was conducted for study period of six months (December 2016 to May 2017) among 308 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients at Karuna Medical College and Hospital, Diabetic centre, Quality clinic-Palakkad. All patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, age range 29 to 89years, were screened for diabetic vascular complications. Results: The majority of patients 167 (54.2%) did not achieve target of HbA1c levels ≤ 7.0%. In this study most of the diabetic patients 56(18.18%) had macrovascular complications and out of those 37 (12.01%) had coronary heart disease, only 19 (6.16%) had cerebrovascular disease and 259 (84.09%) had microvascular complications. Conclusion: In conclusion, prevalence of diabetic complications was high. In this study we saw the prevalence of diabetic complications was higher in elder people, longer duration of diabetes associated obese patients. WORLD JOURNAL OF PHARMACY AND PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES SJIF Impact Factor 6.647 Volume 6, Issue 7, 1552-1560 Research Article ISSN 2278 – 4357 *Corresponding Author


– Improving your company's ability to execute its strategy requires increase alignment, greater agility and a singular clarity regarding the desired outcomes. This paper aims to describe how the SAP Design Services Team uses design thinking and its principles to improve the organization's ability improve its ability to execute strategy and even evolve the way SAP identifies and defines its strategic vision., – This paper examines both the value of the design thinking approach as well as the organizational practices employed to insure its success., – The study has found a number of best practices for the development of artifacts to make strategies tangible, as well as the organizational requirements for the wide spread adoption of design thinking as an approach for the entire organization. Applying the principles of design thinking the Design Services Team has developed the means to analyze, refine and convey business strategies in the form of artifacts or prototypes. While demonstrating what the final offering will be from a customer's point of view, these objects also express the strategic planning as well as external market forces and risks within their narrative. Going beyond traditional communication channels this approach not only expresses the vision and intent behind the strategy but also an eventual end‐state; in short this method allows everyone across the organization to understand the real meaning of your strategy by knowing what success will look like when its achieved., – By reexamining both how they identify and develop their strategies as well as how those strategies are communicated and refined in implementation, organizations can increase their effectiveness and decrease time to execution. Today most strategies are conveyed as broad visions that lack any specifics regarding how the goals are to be achieved allowing it to be disintegrated at the point of execution. Combining the aspirational message with tangible examples of the end‐state makes the message and the mission clear and actionable.


In this paper, an active RIS assisted multiple-input single-output system is studied, and we focus on enhancing the achievable secrecy rate of legitimate user in the presence of an eavesdropper (Eve). Different from the most existing studies that the active RIS is equipped with an independent power source, we consider a more fairness setting that the transmitter (Tx) and RIS share the same power source. And given imperfect channel state information (CSI) between RIS and Eve with bounded estimation error, a complicate non-convex robust secrecy rate optimization problem is formulated. To solve this problem, we adopt an efficient alternating optimization algorithm in combination with successive approximation and line search algorithm to jointly optimize the optimal beamformer at Tx, the optimal amplification and phase shift coefficient at RIS. Numerical examples show that the secrecy rate performance returned by the proposed algorithm for the active RIS case outperforms the benchmark scheme for the passive RIS case. Furthermore, the performance gain is significant by allocating only a small fraction of the total power to active RIS.


Based on the earlier works concerning the formula of the change in the axial depth of a bed in a diameter-invariable rotary kiln,the formula of axial depth of bed in a diameter-variable kiln was deduced to adapt to the diameter enlargement at kiln inlet and the turn-down rigs set on the kiln lining.Then,the formulae of mean residence time of solids in both diameter-invariable and diameter-variable kilns were deduced,where several factors were taken into account,such as the inner diameter,total length,discharge dam height,axis inclination and rotation speed of kiln mass feed rate of solids,and the particle diameter and dynamic angle of repose of solids.Cold-state experiments were carried out on a laboratory rotary kiln to verify the formulae proposed,and the results showed that calculated results of the residence time of solids are basically in agreement with the experimental values,with no correction coefficient required beause of small errors.


Metropolis-Monte Carlo simulation is made to investigate autocorrelation of conformation energy and tangent vectors of minicircles(less than 500 base pairs) with flexible hinges.Direct conformation information and topology of minicircle containing flexible hinges are demonstrated.It provides powerful support for the existence of flexible hinge.


Causal inference plays a vital role in diverse domains like epidemiology, healthcare, and economics. De-confounding and counterfactual prediction in observational data has emerged as a prominent concern in causal inference research. While existing models tackle observed confounders, the presence of unobserved confounders remains a significant challenge, distorting causal inference and impacting counterfactual outcome accuracy. To address this, we propose a novel variational learning model of unobserved confounders for counterfactual inference (VLUCI), which generates the posterior distribution of unobserved confounders. VLUCI relaxes the unconfoundedness assumption often overlooked by most causal inference methods. By disentangling observed and unobserved confounders, VLUCI constructs a doubly variational inference model to approximate the distribution of unobserved confounders, which are used for inferring more accurate counterfactual outcomes. Extensive experiments on synthetic and semi-synthetic datasets demonstrate VLUCI's superior performance in inferring unobserved confounders. It is compatible with state-of-the-art counterfactual inference models, significantly improving inference accuracy at both group and individual levels. Additionally, VLUCI provides confidence intervals for counterfactual outcomes, aiding decision-making in risk-sensitive domains. We further clarify the considerations when applying VLUCI to cases where unobserved confounders don't strictly conform to our model assumptions using the public IHDP dataset as an example, highlighting the practical advantages of VLUCI.


One of the methodological objectives of this study was to develop and evaluate methods for extrapolating the impact of new technology from the areas in which experimental or field trial data exist to other locations. In Section 1, we describe the use of the concept of geographic equivalence to provide first order approximations of zones of adaptation or areas where the geographic similarities would allow one to predict the results of using the new technology. In Section 4, we describe the use of the ACT and EPIC to compute predicted yields based on biophysical considerations with results summarized in politically defined areas. In this section, we describe two case studies in West Africa which were used to estimate regional impacts of new sorghum and peanut technology. We modeled the extrapolation of the sorghum production system described in Section 4 for Mali for other areas in Mali (past where experimental data were available) and in Senegal and Burkina Faso.


The correlation of several properties published in the technical literature and the influence of their structure was investigated for 103 wood species. A good correlation exists between the density and the physical-mechanical properties. To illustrate the investigation the significant divergency of some wood species from the general tendency (for example impact strength or swelling) is described and attributed to particular wood structures.


Offshore wind power is spreading rapidly, even in zones where exploitation was considered unprofitable so far. Connection of offshore wind farms to the transmission network presents some challenges that needs be addressed. This paper investigates the effectiveness of exploiting generator power factor control for reactive power exchange regulation. The technical and economical feasibility of this control strategy is assessed and compared with centralized voltage/reactive regulation control. Investigations are carried out on a 300-MW offshore wind farm.


Mechanical stimulation affects cell behaviors (proliferation, orientation, migration and differentiation) in vivo, and a lot of models of experiments on mechanical stimulation in vitro have been reported. The development of control technique on cell is important in the field of regenerative medicine. Recently, skeletal myoblasts have been applied for cardiac repair. In the previous study, C2C12 (mouse myoblast cell line) made orientation perpendicular to the streamlines in the donut shape flow channel. In the present study, C2C12 has been cultured in the Couette type of the shear field between the rotating disk and the stationary culture plate to study quantitatively the effect of shear stress (for 24 hours, < 2 Pa) on orientation of myoblasts in vitro. The time lapse image of myoblasts shows that C2C12 tilts perpendicularly against the flow direction at the wall shear stress of 2 Pa and that C2C12 tends to migrate to the lower wall shear stress region of 0.4 Pa.


AbstractThe goal of this research was to use and to validate different quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays to quantify the pertinent microbial populations in full-scale anaerobic d...


A series of theoretic analyses and geometric nonlinear finite element calculations of the corrugating arch shell structure and the non corrugating arch shell structure are presented in the paper. It has been shown that the stability carrying capacity of the non corrugating arch shell structure is higher than that of the corrugating arch shell structure.


Ostracode  assemblages  of  the Lower  and mMiddle Carboniferous  boundary  interval  in  the Muradymovo section are characterized. This is a reference section for the base of the Bashkirian stage of Russia as it has been stratigraphically subdivided based on four groups of fossils (foraminifers, conodonts, ammonoids, ostracodes). The Pseudoparaparchites celsus Zone, characterizes the Yuldybaevian regional Horizon of the Serpukhovian (Lower Carboniferous). Fellerites gratus Zone and the Beds with Limnoprimitia cf.  arcuatа characterize  the Bogdanovkian  regional Horizon of  the Bashkirian  (Middle Carboniferous). The Pseudoparaparchites celsus Zone (Assemblage I) includes 28 species of 24 genera. The Fellerites gratus Zone (Assemblage II) includes 48 species of 38 genera. The representatives of Kirkbya, as well as the genera Polytylites, Amphizona, Kellettina, Editia account for the peculiarity of this assemblage in the Muradymovo Section. The Beds with Limnoprimitia  cf. arcuata  are  characterized by Assemblage  III,  including nine species of seven genera with the index species. The Fellerites gratus Zone ostracode assemblage has been found  three meters  above  the base of  the Bashkirian Stage drawn based on  the  first  appearance of  the conodont marker species Declinognathodus noduliferus (Ellison et Graves, 1941).


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop identification system for fiber optic connectors in passive distribution cabinets. The system should have alternative power supply and wireless communication unlike the identification systems commercially available, which will make the system fully autonomous.

Design/methodology/approach

Detailed project and realization of real demonstrator of fully autonomous identification system. After the realization of the demonstrator, its optimization was performed.

Findings

It is possible to build fully autonomous identification system which requires 15.6 mJ energy to perform one cycle of identification process. Moreover, it is possible to use the alternative power method to supply this system.

Originality/value

Fully autonomous identification system of fiber optic connectors with alternative power supply and wireless communication.


We aims to examine the determinants of visitors' positive word-of-mouth (WOM) in a web-based virtual reality contemporary art exhibition. We also examines the effects of 3 realms of experience (entertainment, esthetic, escapist) on emotional arousal, how this emotional arousal affects memory and positive word-of-mouth, how memory affects positive word-of-mouth and how age moderate all of the paths. We examined a total of 297 visitors and was conducted through an online survey focusing on Chinese users of ages 20-49. The analysis results showed that entertainment and esthetic have an effect on emotional arousal, but escapist did not. The results also showed emotional arousal has an effect on memory and positive WOM. Memory did not affect positive word-of-mouth. Finally, age has a moderate effect on all the paths, except for the path form escape towards emotional arousal and memory to positive word-of-mouth. The theoretical implications of this study are meaningful exhibition research. While, it also will be helpful to segment the web-based virtual reality art exhibition visitors by dividing into 3 groups (20s, 30s, 40s) and to provide marketing and operation strategies.


Background: Scaling up HIV prevention, treatment and care services may face a number of constraints. Project constraint is a barrier to full potential. Objectives: This study assessed the constraints to effective delivery of HIV prevention, treatment and care services and made recommendations for improvement in resource-limited settings. Methods: In a cross sectional study, study-specific questionnaires were self-administered to 90 out of 104 health workers providing HIV services and 150 out of 200 HIV-positive patients in seven public health facilities in Edo State, Nigeria. Participants were selected using simple random sampling. Chi square was used for inferential statistics; and P values were two-tailed at 95% confidence interval. Results: Of the health workers, 59.2% were males, 39.4% aged 31–40 years old, 22.5% doctors, 14.1% pharmacists, 15.5% laboratory scientists, 33.8% nurses, 7.0% record officers, and 7.0% administrators. Of the clients, 55.2% were females, 39.7% aged 31–40 years old; majority (40.5%) had accessed services in the facilities for 1–3 years and 29.3% accessed for 3–6 months prior to this study. Major constraints reported by health workers included inadequate health workforce (24.5%), lack of government ownership (14.9%), lack of incentives/staff motivation(13.8%), and poor working conditions(12.8%); whereas clients reported inadequate health workforce(41.4%), long waiting time (21.4%), stock-out or inadequate supply of drugs, reagents and materials (7.1%). Stigmatization by health workers was reported by 17.6% of clients. Major recommendations by health workers for improvement included recruitment of additional health workforce (36.4%), improved working conditions (15.2%), good staff motivation/incentives (15.2%); whereas clients recommended recruitment of additional health workforce (54.3%), reduced waiting time (13.0%) and improved working conditions (7.6%). However, there was no association between effective delivery of HIV interventions and staff motivation (P=0.0571). Conclusions: The major constraints reported were inadequate health workforce, lack of government ownership and poor working conditions. Recruitment of additional health workforce and improved working conditions were the major recommendations for improved delivery of quality of HIV interventions.


The joint burial of primary power and telephone distribution cables with no deliberate separation is known as random separation. After extensive tests, the Joint Edison Electric Institute- Bell System Subcommittee to Study Buried Distribution Systems recommended random separation between telephone cables and certain types of primary power cables having bare neutrals in direct contact with the earth and protected by devices capable of clearing faults within prescribed time-current limitations. There has been favorable experience with over 18 million trench feet of random construction serving more than 200 000 dwelling units. The National Electrical Safety Code and state regulations have been revised to permit random separation.


Based on the four different types of success ethics described by De Vitis–Rich (1996), a questionnaire was created and used in a representative sample (N = 1007) of the contemporary Hungarian society to gain understanding of the dominant social representation of success achievement two decades after the fall of the iron curtain. Results showed that none of the four distinct types of historical American ethics could gain sole dominance, but a specific blend of success ethics characterizes the national public thinking, with the vast majority of respondents belonging to a cluster best described by strong belief in immoral success achievement and low confidence in hard work-based goal attainment. At the same time, a relatively slow movement towards a more proactive approach to success perception was detected by comparing the results of two earlier researches in Hungary, but having powerful social capital and wellfunctioning connections still holds the first place on the list of success factors.


Under the trend that digital becomes the inevitable way of human life,digital media become the master of mass media,micro media reading environment becomes the necessity of social development,classics exist in digital form that becomes the inevitable trend.Digital media provides human with a dynamic and complementary,quickness,universality,interactivity,no regional world. Micro media environment provides the material premise and inner spiritual and cultural power for further implementation of free and comprehensive development. In this context,the libraries put forward strategy ideas to solve the crisis of classic reading and explore the mode of promoting classic reading,and will help promote the improvement of humanistic quality.


This study was designed to explore Adult Basic Education (ABE), Adult Secondary Education (ASE), and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers' experiences with professional development. The study sought to determine whether adult learning principles were evident in the facilitation of professional development activities. The study instrument was administered online to members of the Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE), with a total of n=348 respondents to the survey. The survey consisted of demographic questions, questions related to professional development experiences, and an open response question. The majority of respondents were teachers/instructors (n=232, 66.7%), held a master's degree (n=187, 54.4%), and did not have adult education certification/licensure (n=205, 59.1%). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was utilized to identify adult learning principles that were perceived by ABE, ASE, and ESL teachers who attended professional development. Seven factors emerged to explain 67.11% of the total variance among 32 items on the instrument. The first factor in the exploratory factor analysis indicated that during professional development, ABE, ASE, and ESL teachers learned new skills and strategies for working with adult learners that were applicable to their classroom instruction. The other factors had fewer items and were less defined. To describe how the learning environment impacted ABE, ASE, and ESL teachers' professional development experiences, a one-way between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. Results indicated no statistically significant difference among the groups. To compare perceptions of facilitator skills and abilities that impacted ABE, ASE, and ESL teachers' professional development experiences, a one-way between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. Data analysis indicated differences existed between ASE and ESL groups on two items.


Scopolamine, applicable without severe side effects as a transdermal therapeutic System ('ITS), has a pronounced postoperative antiemetic effect. In one publication there was found even a 50 % reduction of emetic symptoms compared with placebo. In this study TTS-Scopolamine was compared with a Single dose of 7,s mg Droperidol in a group'of 40 Patients undergoing cholecystectomy under standardised balanced anesthesia. After cholecystectomy patients are very much inclined for postoperative nausea and vomiting since it is an abdominal operation and it is more often necessary in women than in men. In this randomized. one-side-blind studv the antinausea and antiemetic effect of transdermal Scopolamine was insufficient and significantly less than with Droperidol. In the Droperidol-group there were 45 % of patients without emetic symptoms, in the Scopolamine-group only 1 5 %. Vomiting occured in 25 % of patients in the Droperidol-group and in 50% of patients in the Scopolamine-group. Unfavourable CNS-side-effects could not be found either with transdermal scopolamine or with Droperidol. . .


Background: Wearing of face-masks remains one of the most prominent non-pharmaceutical pre-ventive interventions against transmission of COVID-19 virus and other infectious diseases. In this study, we evaluated facemask ownership and handling patterns during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ekiti State, located in southwestern Nigeria.
Methods: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey among residents above age 18, within three Local Government Areas (Ado-Ekiti, Oye-Ekiti, and Ikole-Ekiti) in the State. Five hundred fifty-three respondents consented to the study procedures and completed the close-ended question-naire shared via social media. Data obtained were entered into Microsoft Excel Software and sub-sequently analyzed in SPSS 20.0 software for basic descriptive statistics. The association between variables was also examined using chi-square tests and the significant level was set at 95%.
Results: Findings showed an ownership rate of 98.1%. Over half of the respondents, 305(57.5%), wore face-mask regularly 305 (57.5%), while 170(32.1%) occasionally wore masks and 55 (10.4%) rarely wore masks. Furthermore, majority of the respondents 470 (90.2%) wore facemask appropriately to cover both nose and mouth. However, about one-third of the participants 123(29.5%) wore facemask under their nose, covering only their mouth. Majority of the participants 308 (60.0%) touch their face and mask intermittently, and only 291(56.0%) clean their hands after removing their masks.
Conclusion: This study highlights the need for increased awareness on proper handling of face-masks to curtail transmission of COVID-19 virus, or other airborne infections..


High-level synthesis (HLS) of field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based accelerators has been proposed in order to simplify accelerator design process with respect to design time and complexity. However, modern HLS tools do not consider dynamic memory allocation constructs in high-level programming languages like C and limit themselves to static memory allocation. This paper proposes a dynamic memory allocation and management scheme, called Hi-DMM, for inclusion in commercial HLS design flows. Hi-DMM performs source-to-source transformation of user C code with dynamic memory constructs into C-source code with the dynamic memory allocator and management scheme developed in this paper. The transformed C-source code is amenable to synthesis by commercial tools like Vivado HLS. Relying on buddy tree-based allocation schemes and efficient hardware implementation of the allocators, Hi-DMM achieves  ${4\times }$  speed-up in both fine-grained and coarse-grained memory allocation compared to previous works. Experimental results obtained by including Hi-DMM with Vivado-HLS show that dynamic memory allocation of FPGA memory resources can be achieved at a much lower latency with minimal resource overhead, paving the way for synthesis of dynamic memory constructs in commercial HLS flows.


The role of computer technology in the world of cinematography is getting widely. One of the supporting technologies is Machinima. Machinima is a system that uses 3D graphics rendering technology real time to produce a virtually cinematic product. In the process of making a cinematic product like a film, the camera positioning play an very important role. In the real world there is a director who will directing the cameramen to place the camera manually according to specific view point and behavior. This research proposes an intelligent multi behavior of cinematographic camera where the camera will be place automatically in accordance a behavior directorial style. By doing the appropriate camera positioning then a film will have different impact to audience. For positioning of the camera will be based on fuzzy logic. This research proves that an artificial intelligence engine for camera can be made for positioning the camera based on director's style. From the test result is obtained that the system can implement multi behavior cameras in machinima using fuzzy logic.


Serum copper and ceruloplasmin levels were determined simultaneously in 93 women comprising 3 different groups: 30 healthy ambulant women (mean age 24.1) 54 healthy women using oral contraceptives (mean age 23.9) and 9 women (mean age 24.4) who were being treated with the "pill" and showed clinical and laboratory signs of cholestasis. Serum copper and ceruloplasmin levels were checked through blood analysis. A high correlation between these levels was found in health women (r equals 0.74). There was a significant increase (p less than .001) in serum copper and ceruloplasmin levels found in the woman taking oral contraceptives 216 mcg percent and 60 mcg percent respectively. In the patients showing clinical and laboratory signs of cholestasis the rise in the copper and ceruloplasmin levels was beyond the determined ranges for women using oral contraceptives. Different relationships exist between the serum copper and ceruloplasmin levels in the 3 groups. Increases in serum copper and ceruloplasmin levels in subjects taking the pill as compared with controls were judged "remarkable". The increase for the serum copper levels in the cholestasis cases was due partly to an increase of the copper built into ceruloplasmin and partly to a retention of free copper in the bile ducts. It is speculated that the increased copper and ceruloplasmin levels in women using oral contraceptives is related to changes in the liver caused by hormonal change.


One of studies that plays a role in human identification in disaster and crime is forensic odontology. There are several methods of identification in forensic odontology, one of the alternative methods is cheiloscopy which is used to identify lip print pattern. Lip print pattern is identical in each person, lip print can identify gender and human race. Mentawai ethnic is a part of Proto-Melayu race which dominates Mentawai island district area. Familial relationship in Mentawai ethnic is patrilineal the tribe is derived from father's tribe. This study aimed to compare the shape of lip print pattern between Mentawai original ethnic and Mentawai mixed ethnic. This study is a descriptive study with cross-sectional approach. The samples in this study were 16 pairs of Mentawai ethnic and 16 pairs of mixed Mentawai ethnic, the sample were selected using purposive sampling method. Lip print in study models were marked using colour pen, and the shape pattern of lip prints were observed and measured according to Suzuki and Tsuchihashi classification. Results of this study showed that there are differences in the pattern of lip prints between Mentawai ethnic and mixed Mentawai ethnic. Mentawai ethnic has dominan type of lip prints is type I, type II, and type IV while mixed Mentawai ethnic has dominan type of lip prints is type IV, type I, dan type III. The conclusion is there is a difference pattern of lip prints due to racial factors.


BACKGROUND
A foot ulcer is a severe complications of diabetes, and patients' cultural backgrounds can greatly influence how they manage this condition.

AIM
To explore the experience of people of the Batak Karo ethnic group in Indonesia in diabetic foot ulcer treatment.

METHODS
This was a phenomenological study where a purposeful sample of 10 people with diabetic foot ulcers participated in in-depth interviews. Data analysis was thematic using Van Manen's hermeneutic approach.

RESULTS
Five themes emerged from the study data: beliefs about health disorders; physical, psychological, social and spiritual changes; traditional treatments; cultural beliefs; and seeking health services.

DISCUSSION
People in the Batak Karo ethnic group strongly believe in supernatural powers and magic, and take part in a variety of traditional ceremonies to treat diabetic foot ulcers. They also use traditional treatments, including herbs. Nurses treating different ethnic groups, such as the Batak Karo people, should be culturally aware and competent to provide adequate care for them.


In this paper, a new adaptive cross-coupling control(CCC) method with an improved contour error model is proposed to maintain contouring precision in high-speed nonlinear contour machining. The proposed method utilizes variable controller gains based on the instantaneous curvature of a contour and the feedrate command. The proposed method is evaluated and compared with the conventional CCC for nonlinear contouring motion through computer simulations. The simulation results show that the proposed CCC improves the contouring accuracy more effectively than the existing method.


The invention relates to a fault preventing and intelligent repairing method and device for a network management system. The device comprises a fault detection module, a fault prevention module and a fault repairing module; and the method comprises the following steps of: setting corresponding early warning thresholds, fault thresholds, early warning repairing policies and fault repairing policies for system parameters related to faults in the network management system in advance; after monitoring, if the system parameters related to faults are more than or equal to the corresponding early warning thresholds and less than the corresponding fault thresholds, generating early warning messages, finding the corresponding early warning repairing policies and repairing the early warning; through monitoring, if the system parameters related to the faults are more than or equal to the corresponding fault thresholds, generating fault messages and reporting fault warning; and according to the fault messages, finding the corresponding fault repairing policies and repairing the faults. By adopting the fault preventing and intelligent repairing method and device which are disclosed by the invention, fault occurrence probability of the network management system is reduced to the greatest extent, and fault repairing speed is improved.


Regional economics can not perfectly resolve the problem of economic area formation's theory mechanism.As a key to economic area formation,Economic Function District is very important and the Mechanism of economic function district formation is a necessary object of study.From Thunen's agricultural location theory to Krugman's New Geography Economics,almost all scholars regard homogeneous spaces as a study premise.That makes the aggregation point become a random and enormous chance.In many industrial cases,economic function district will bring about,whose performances are relative dispersions between industries,highly concentrated in one industry,and industry space distance keep pace with their degree of economic link.Langfang must take the opportunity,step on the juice economic function district's formation and promote regional economy.


The microstructure of an AICu4Mg1Ag alloy reinforced with 15 vol% A1 20 3-Saffil fibers was investigated by analytical transmission electron microscopy and compared to the microstructure of the unreinforced alloy. The investigation results show that the composite matrix is enriched in Si as a consequence of the interfacial reaction between the Mg from the alloy and the Si02 from the fiber and fiber binder. The presence of Si in the composite matrix modifies the characteristic precipitation state of the monolithic Al-alloy: in the peak aged T6-temper, the phases Q + S' are substituted by a fine and homogeneous precipitation of e' plates, and a new type of rod-shaped precipitates. On overageing, these rod-shaped precipitates can be classified into two categories: precipitates containing Al, Cu, Mg, and Si (possibly a Q-phase precursor) and Si precipitates that act as nuclei fore'. ~: 7999 Kluwer Academic Publishers


Recently wireless power transfer (WPT) has received special attention due to the increasing need for autonomous devices to implement concepts such as the Internet of Things (IoT). This work deals with the design of a dual-band power amplifier for wireless power transfer. The ISM frequency bands of 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz were selected as they are typically used in far-field WPT systems. Among the available technologies for the design of circuits operating at the microwave and millimetre wave frequency bands stands the Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) technology that combines the advantages of a bulky metallic waveguide such as low-losses and high isolation and microstrip technology such as ease of fabrication and reduced fabrication cost. This work combines the concept of Composite Right/Left-Handed (CRLH) unit cells and SIW technology for the implementation of an efficient power amplifier. A 10 W RF power GaN HEMT transistor from Cree was selected for the design. The simulated results showed a PAE of 55% and a gain of 14 dB at 2.4 GHz and a PAE of 36% and a gain of 9.7 dB at 5.8 GHz.


This study aimed to illustrate the mechanism of inferior grain plumpness in rice. A field experiment with 0, 90 and 180 kg ha1 N spike fertilizer application in the stage of rice young ear differentiation was carried out in 2005 and 2006 on the farm of Henan Agricultural University, Henan Province, China. Two varieties (indica and japonica rice) were used to study the periodical changes of basal and neck internode bleeding intensity, soluble sucrose in bleeding, daily change of bleeding intensity and the relationship between the bleeding intensity and soluble sucrose of neck internode with grain plumpness in the grain filling stage. The results showed that the changes of bleeding intensity between the basal and neck internodes were obviously different. The bleeding intensity in the basal internode reached the maximum value in the fifth day after anthesis and presented the drop tendency afterwards. The bleeding intensity of the neck internode appeared two peak values in the fifth and seventeenth days after anthesis. There was a valley value in the eleventh day after anthesis on average. The average bleeding intensity in the neck internode was higher under zero N lever than high N level. The daily change of bleeding intensity in the neck internode was low in the daytime and high at night, which reduced with rising N fertilizer application. Correlation analysis showed that there existed significantly positive correlation or highly signification between inferior grain plumpness and the bleeding intensity of neck internode in the 10, 15, 25, and 35 days after anthesis for the japonica, but not for the indica rice. The relationship between solublesucrose in the bleeding of neck internode and inferior grain plumpness showed highly significantly positive correlation, while that of the basal internode was not notable. It indicated that the relationship between bleeding in the neck internode and the inferior grain plumpness is close. The bleeding intensity of neck internode can be used as a index for measuring inferior grain plumpness. Therefore, increasing the bleeding intensity of neck internode by regulating N application can improve the inferior grain plumpness.


We derive the precise conditions under which over- or under-compliance can take place under imperfect information about the care levels chosen by both injurer and victim in a tort litigation. The conditions identified turn out to be more complicated than are usually presumed in the literature. A correct evaluation requires us to consider both the pure uncertainty effect as well as the feedback effect. Properly done, the overall effects of uncertainty on care levels are always indeterminate, depending on various factors such as costs of care, the size of expected accident loss, the degree of dispersion and bias of the judgment error distribution.


New Public Management reemphasized performance measurement in the public sector organizations to manage services and improve performance. The literature highlights the use of different performance ...


http://dx.doi.org/10.21276/IJRDPL.227 8-0238.2017.6(6).2800-2805 ABSTRACT: The most common disease nowadays is diabetes. In a fast-changing world, many means to treat diabetes naturally are explored by experts and clinicians today. Continuing use of insulin and other oral hypoglycemic agent creates undesirable side-effects, consequentially, unrestrained increase in blood sugar as well as complications associated with heart diseases; diabetics may have to face. To evade such glitches, herbal medications has superior advantages. As an alternative of using allopathic formulations, it is thus, gainful to use ayurvedic preparations for healthier regulation of diabetes mellitus. Current research was thus taken on to explore the antidiabetic and antioxidant activities of crude extracts and pure compound obtained from the bark of Anthocephalus cadamba. The methanolic extract exhibited promising antidiabetic and antioxidant activity. Grounded on these results, the methanolic extract was fractionated on a silica gel column chromatography in a bioassay-led fractionation resulting in one known isolate, cadambine showing potent anti-diabetic activity, more than that of the positive control, glibenclamide. The results indicated that Anthocephalus cadamba methanolic extract (ACME) and the isolated compound (Cadambine) are potential natural agents to control diabetes. Alloxan significantly induced hyperglycemia; Oral administration of test samples for 14 days caused a significant decrease in blood glucose levels. The possible mechanism by which ACME mediated its antidiabetic effect could be by potentiation of pancreatic secretion of insulin from existing β-cells of islets in the extract treated animals. ⇑ Corresponding author at: Himanshu Pratap Singh, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Sam Higignbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad211007, India Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


The investigation of transitional flow past a sphere at the free surface is a challenging problem due to a complex interaction between the free surface and evolution of the boundary layer and resultant separation on the sphere's surface. An increased knowledge about the fluid phenomena around bluff bodies would be of benefit to the design of offshore structures and ships' bulbous bows. In this paper, experiments conducted in a towing tank environment are presented for a 225mm-diameter sphere towed at the free surface across the diameter based Reynolds number range 1.6 x105 < Re < 3.8 x105. Measurements of the total resistance using a bespoke dynamometer are combined with above-water photographs to provide further insight. An abrupt change in flow regime was observed as speed increased to reach Re ~ 3.5 x105. The bow breaking wave grows until transition occurs into a smooth flow over the top of the sphere. This change in flow condition resulted in a 60% decrease in total resistance. This paper considers why this drag crisis phenomenon takes place around Re ~ 2.6 - 3.6 x105, which is similar to single-phase flows. The inertial effect of the free surface deformation as opposed to the influence of the laminar to turbulent boundary layer transition is investigated.


DNA-TEMPLATED NANOMATERIALS Héctor Alejandro Becerril García Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Doctor of Philosophy Nanomaterials display interesting physical and chemical properties depending on their shape, size and composition. Self-assembly is an intriguing route to producing nanomaterials with controllable compositions and morphologies. DNA has been used to guide the self-assembly of materials, resulting in: (1) metal nanowires; (2) metal or semiconductor nanorods; (3) carbon nanotubes; and (4) semiconductor, metal or biological nanoparticles. My work expands the range of DNA-templated nanomaterials and develops novel ways of using DNA to pattern nanostructures on surfaces. I have performed the first synthesis of silver nanorods on single-stranded DNA, an attractive material for localizing DNA-coupled nanostructures through hybridization. I have demonstrated an ionic surface masking protocol to reduce ~70% of non-specific metal deposition (a pervasive problem) during electroless plating of DNA with silver or copper. I have designed and constructed discrete three-branched DNA junctions as scaffolding for self-assembling three-terminal, individually-gateable nanotransistors. I have labeled


PARP inhibitors in metastatic prostate cancer: a systematic review

Background. Poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors provide a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. They act on the homologous recombination DNA repair mechanism. In metastatic prostate cancer, 20-25% of the patients harbour a homologous recombination repair deficiency. This review investigates the current evidence for the use of PARP inhibitors in clinical practice.

Methods. The databases MEDLINE, CENTRAL and EMBASE were searched, as well as the clinical trial registries EudraCT and Clinicaltrials.gov. Randomised controlled trials with PARP inhibitors were included. The outcomes of interest were: overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), adverse events and quality of life. The data were analysed according to Cochrane methodology.

Results. Three controlled trials were included, all in a castration-resistant setting. Five phase 2 trials were excluded; these data are presented in a narrative form. One study of olaparib in monotherapy versus enzalutamide or abiraterone found a benefit in OS and PFS in patients with a BRCA1, BRCA2 or ATM mutation, though not in patients with other HRD ('homologous recombination deficiency') mutations. Two studies investigated a PARP inhibitor in combination with abiraterone versus abiraterone in monotherapy. The combination with olaparib showed a modest PFS benefit, whereas the veliparib combination showed no OS or PFS benefit.

Conclusion. At present, the role of PARP inhibitors is limited to BRCA1, BRCA2 and ATM mutation carriers. Combination therapy with other agents could provide a synergistic advantage and is being researched. Fourteen ongoing trials meet the inclusion criteria and will clarify the role of PARP inhibitors in the treatment of prostate cancer.


Abstract
Aim we aimed to study the association between food insulin index and biochemical parameters with the odds of developing NAFLD in adult Iranians.
Background: Hyperinsulinemia may play an important role in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), due to the relationship between insulin response and body fat accumulation.
Methods: A case-control study of 169 NAFLD patients and 200 healthy adults aged 18-55 years were conducted. Dietary data were collected using a validated 168- items quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Food insulin index (FII) was calculated by dividing the total insulin load by total energy intake (kcal / day). Total insulin load (ILoverall) was also calculated using a standard formula.
Results: Mean age of study participants was 43.9 ± 5.9 years. Patients with NAFLD were significantly associated with higher body mass index, levels of liver enzymes, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL), total cholesterol, and fasting blood sugar (FBS) compared to the healthy subjects. (P < 0.05) The highest tertiles of FII was associated with higher odds of NAFLD (OR=1.4, 95% CI:0.88-2.48, P for trend<0.001) and obesity (OR=2.33, 95% CI: 0.97-5.75) compared to the lowest tertiles. The potential confounders for the association were controlled.
Conclusions: We found that adherence to a diet with a high FII was associated with greater odds of NAFLD and overweight or obesity. Additional studies are required to better understand this association.
Key words: Insulin; Biochemical Processes; Obesity; Chronic Diseases; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease


Background: Leptospirosis is a zoonotic infection with high mortality rates. The incidence of leptospirosis is more during floods. The aim of the study was to find the difference in clinical profile of leptospirosis during post flood and non-post flood periods.Methods: This was a cross sectional observational study comparing the clinical profile of leptospirosis patients admitted in Government Medical College Ernakulam, Kerala during the post flood period of 2018 with that of non-post flood period. The data with respect to clinical features and investigations were retrieved from the hospital records.Results: Out of the 42 patients studied 15 were from the post flood period and the rest 27 patients were from the non-post flood period. The mean age in the post flood group was 40 years and that in the non-post flood group 43 years. Myalgia, icterus and calf tenderness was significantly higher in the post flood group. The mean platelet count was significantly lower in the non-post flood period (p value=0.011). Mean serum urea and total bilirubin were significantly higher in the post flood group compared to non-post flood group (p value=0.001). Cardiac complications were seen only among the post flood group.Conclusions: The clinical profile and complications were different in leptospirosis patients during post flood and non-post flood periods. These findings help the treating physicians to formulate different approaches in treating patients during the post flood and non-post flood period.


Microarray technology has made it possible to simultaneously measure the expression levels of large numbers of genes in a short time. For the analysis of microarray data, clustering techniques are frequently used. So in this study, in cases where classical clustering analysis is insufficient to analyze data, fuzzy c-means algorithm and Gustafson-Kessel algorithm, which are improved to supply with advancing alternative statistical methods, are used. Firstly, the number of the optimum cluster was decided since the number of the cluster was not known at the beginning. Then, validity indexes and elbow criterion are applied to find the optimal number of clusters for both algorithms. It is seen that for both algorithms, the elbow was situated in the c=3 position as a result of the experimental result. At the end of the study, it is graphically stated that the fuzzy c-means algorithm is getting better clusters for the colon cancer dataset .


Subtitle: Wireless Internet at truck stops is fiercely competitive, but it's more common than ever, and some highway locations even offer free service.


This paper presents a novel approach to creating 3D facial animation using a sketch-based interface where the animation is generated by interpolating a sequence of sketched key poses. The user does not need any knowledge of the underlying mechanism used to create different expressions or facial poses, and no animation controls or parameters are directly manipulated. Instead, the user sketches the desired shape of a facial feature and the system reconstructs a 3D feature which fits the sketched stroke. This is achieved using a maximum likelihood framework where a statistical model in conjunction with Hidden Markov Models handles sketch detection, and a hierarchical statistical mapping approach reconstructs a posed 3D mesh from a low-dimensional representation.


Abstract Both Marxists and phenomenologists have a critical attitude toward religion. For the phenomenologist critique means clarification of meaning; for the Marxist it means the emancipation of men and women from the quasi-natural forces of opaque and ossified traditions, from irrational authorities, and from the ideology which but-tresses unjustifiable dialectical contradictions in civil and socialist society. Marxists such as Georg Lukacs, Max Horkheimer, and Leszek Kolakowski apply ideology critique to the dimension of religion. Lukacs acknowledges not only reactionary, but also progressive aspects in the Catholic and Protestant form of Christianity. For Horkheimer, complete emancipation from faith in a power independent from history and at the same time determining it belongs to the most primitive intellectual clarity and veracity of modern humanity. But Horkheimer continues to read the Bible. He observes and suffers deeply from the immeasurable gap between the moral norms and values which Europeans have acknowledged since the introduction of Christianity and the behaviour of the European Christians, which is the difference between Christian theory and practice. Kolakowski finds the antagonism between the philosophy of the priest and the philosophy of the jester in all spheres of human life, including religion. The priest eternalizes and guards the absolutes acknowledged at certain times in certain societies. The jester, on the other hand, continually questions what societies consider ultimate and doubts everything "given" in any social formation. Finally Horkheimer sums up the whole Western Marxist theory of religion in his assertion that the concept of God kept alive the idea that there are other norms besides those to which the finite world considered as nature, society and history gives expression. The concept of Infinity preserves an awareness of the finality of human life and of the inalterable aloneness and abandonment of humanity. Horkheimer cannot affirm any philosophy or politics which does not also embrace a theological moment. Theology is the hope and the longing that the injustice which characterizes the world as society, state and history today may not have the last word.