Good marketing will generate feedback. Digital marketing is one of the best ways to do marketing when there is limited space for human movement in their activities. In today's modern era, digital marketing is very important and needed by business people. But unfortunately, there are still many people who are not used to buying and selling transactions using digital. This shows the importance of educating MSMEs in using digital marketing to expand marketing reach. A broad marketing reach helps MSMEs to survive selling their products.
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In order toinvestigate the advantages of raising ducks in nets,we took raising onfloors as control in this study.The survival rate,weight gain,feed consumption,feedintake and feed weight ratio of meat ducks under the two rearing methods were determined,respectively.The results showed that the survival rate of ducks raisedin nets was 4.3 %higher than that of on floors;weight gains of whole course and in growing periods raised in nets were significantly higher (P0.05) than the control group.As far as feed consumption of whole course was concerned,the value of raisingin nets was lower,but there was no obvious difference betweenthem.The feed weight ratio of meat ducks raisedin nets (1.98) was significantly lower (P0.01) than the control group (2.14).In balance,feeding effects of raising in nets were better than that of control group (raising on floors).


We provide a statistical analysis of a tool in nonlinear-type time-frequency analysis, the synchrosqueezing transform (SST), for both the null and non-null cases. The intricate nonlinear interaction of different quantities in SST is quantified by carefully analyzing relevant multivariate complex Gaussian random variables. Specifically, we provide the quotient distribution of dependent and improper complex Gaussian random variables. Then, a central limit theorem result for SST is established. {As an example}, we provide a block bootstrap scheme based on the established SST theory to test if a given time series contains oscillatory components.


A 29‐year‐old woman presented with severe leg pain that had lasted for several weeks. During that period, she had taken painkillers in order to achieve sleep. In the week before she was admitted to hospital, she had noticed numbness and a cold feeling below her knees. There were no arterial pulsations below her groin, the skin of her legs being cold and pale. She had a history of chronic daily headache and had ingested Cafergot compound corresponding to ergotamine 2 to 3 mg daily for the previous 2 or 3 months. Angiography demonstrated severe narrowing of both superficial femoral arteries for a distance of about 5 to 6 cm and a subtotal stenosis of the right popliteal artery. After discontinuation of ergotamine, the patient's symptoms gradually disappeared within a few days. Angiography was repeated 2 days after the first examination and demonstrated regression of the spasms in the femoral arteries and reestablished flow in the distal vessels. Ergotamine tartrate can induce life‐threatening ischemia of an extremity. Discontinuation of ergotamine is usually sufficient to reverse the ischemia, however, intravenous infusion of sodium nitroprusside may occasionally be necessary to avoid limb amputation.


This paper analyzes the consequences of factory closures and the remembrance processes they generate in the population, taking as a starting point the cases of the Armour and Swift meat packing plants and The Pattent Knitting Co. spinning mill in Berisso, province of Buenos Aires. Under an articulated look around local history, I reflect on some cultural objects and experiences of remembrance from the perspective of considering these objects as carriers of feelings and emotions and understanding that they are produced and circulate in certain historical contexts among different generational groups.


Nanotechnology is enjoying an impressive growth and the global nanotechnology industry is expected to exceed US$ 125 billion by 2024. Based on these successes, there are notions that enough is known and efforts on engineered nanomaterial environmental health and safety (nano-EHS) research should be put on the back burner. However, there are recent events showing that it is not the case. The US Food and Drug Administration found ferumoxytol (carbohydrate-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle) for anemia treatment could induce lethal anaphylactic reactions. The European Union will categorize TiO2 as a category 2 carcinogen due to its inhalation hazard and France banned use of TiO2 (E171) in food from January 1, 2020 because of its carcinogenic potential. Although nanoindustry is seemingly in a healthy state, growth could be hindered for the lack of certainty and more nano-EHS research is needed for the sustainable growth of nanoindustry. Herein, the current knowledge gaps and the way forward are elaborated.


A 36-year-old man with severe Hemophilia B ( 1% Factor IX activity) presented with disabling arthritis from hemarthroses, roughly twice monthly since childhood. The patient had emigrated from Nepal where he received several blood transfusions but only 1 Factor IX infusion. While his leg length discrepancy contributed to an altered gait requiring a cane, his visible deformities and contractures of the elbows, shoulders, left hip, knees, and ankles limited his range of motion. The right hip was not involved. The left hip had virtually no internal or external rotation and limited flexion, with quadriceps atrophy and groin tenderness. On radiography, the left hip contour (Fig. 1) was dysmorphic with a widened femoral head, subchondral sclerosis and geode formation, and a remodeled acetabulum resulting in severe joint space narrowing. Knee images (Figs. 2, 3) showed obliteration of the medial and lateral joint with subchondral irregularity. The ankle, shoulder, and elbow films were similarly indicative of end-stage destruction. Hemophilic arthropathy results from recurrent bleeding into joints and is the main cause of morbidity in hemophilic patients. The multifactorial pathogenesis includes both degenerative (cartilagemediated) and inflammatory (synovium-mediated) components. The progressive deposition of iron from red blood cells in the synovial membrane is postulated to be a major trigger of chronic synovitis. Exposure of cartilage to blood leads to disturbance of the turnover of proteoglycans and to degradation of collagen, with subsequent joint destruction.


To improve the girl students speed and force of wu shu effectly, we use the way of fitness pratice and basic excise together. The result indicates that after the upper limbs excise of dumbbell, the proper leapfrog and 30m acclerated run, we continue to make the excise of upper limbs hand techniques and lower limbs stances and leg techniques. that can effectively help to improve the girl students speed and force.


In the word-length effect (WLE), lists of shorter words are better recalled than lists of longer words This effect is fundamental to decay-based theories of verbal short-term memory, such as the phonological loop theory (Baddeley, 1986) The WLE has been attributed to the time taken to articulate words, not their structure, a critical point in the debate between decay and interference theories However, word duration and complexity have previously been confounded In this article, we show that the traditional WLE comprises two opposed effects an advantage for words spoken more quickly (short words in terms of duration) and an advantage for words with more elements (long words in terms of complexity) We also report two interactions a disadvantage for a midlist change in duration and an advantage for a midlist change in complexity These results contradict simple decay-based theories and establish the importance of interference in short-term memory We discuss whether decay is also required


The World Alliance of Reformed Churches, which is consisted of 75 million Christians of Reformed tradition, held its 24th General Council in August 2004 in Accra, Ghana, under the theme "That all may have life in fullness" based on John 10.10. The theme was chosen because the earth community is suffering with the threat to life. The issue of "Life" is one of the most pressing theological issues in the 21st century. The Reformed Christians around the world read the signs of the time today as a global crisis of life. They recognized that the current threat to life is being accelerated by nee-liberal economic globalization, because of its nature of exclusion, erosion of nature, erosion of democracy and destruction of community, upside down of the values and promotion of mammonism. In face of this urgent situation, Christian community cannot keep silence because the situation is in full contradiction with the Gospel mandate. According to John 10.10, the Christ came to the world in order to provide all people and creation fullness of life. Threat to life is a direct challenge and contradiction to the Gospel mandate for life in fullness. In response to this urgent and pressing situation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches adopted "Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth", as it is known as the Accra Confession. The Accra Confession was a Reformed community's "Yes" to Debrecen call for progressive recognition, education, and confession(processLLS corfessionis) regarding economic injustice and ecological destruction that was made by the 23rd General Council held in Debrecen, Hungary in 1997. The Accra Confession says "No" to nee-liberalism which promotes mammonism as well as the empire which puts its power over the sovereignty of God. The Accra Confession has many significances. For the first time in the Christian history, it took the issue of life, which is not doctrinal issue, as a matter of confession. It took the poverty of my neighbour as my problem, not their problem. It also made clear that justice and unity cannot be separable issues. For the first time in the Christian history, the Southern perspective determined the world Christian community's confession. The Accra Confession challenges the Korean Church, who is suffering and struggling with the terrible consequence of neoliberal economic globalization, to seriously reflect on what it means to confess the faith in today's value system which is so dominated by nee-liberal thinking.


This paper improves upon the reference NSGA-II procedure by removing an instability in its crowding distance operator. This instability stems from the cases where two or more individuals on a Pareto front share identical fitnesses. In those cases, the instability causes their crowding distance to either become null, or to depend on the individual's position within the Pareto front sequence. Experiments conducted on nine different benchmark problems show that, by computing the crowding distance on unique fitnesses instead of individuals, both the convergence and diversity of NSGA-II can be significantly improved.


Context: Prana vidya practices (PVPs) have been found to be effective in improving intelligence quotient and performance quotient previously. This article is the sequel to previous research and investigates the effect of PVPs on the selected cognitive abilities of adolescents. Aim: To study the effect of the PVPs (Prana Vidya Practices for Consciousness Enrichment [PVPCE]), a prana visualization-based technique, on the cognitive abilities associated with (i) Six-letter cancellation task (SLCT) and (ii) Corsi block-tapping task (CBTT). Subjects and Methods: The present study was a randomized control trial carried out to examine the effect of a 5-week Prana vidya intervention on the cognitive abilities of adolescents. As an intervention, the practices of the PVPCE technique were given every day for 35 min. A sample size of 36 adolescent participants (14 boys and 22 girls) was obtained for this study. Statistical Analysis: The descriptive statistics (average value, standard deviation, and standard error of the mean) were obtained. The paired t-test for performance comparison along with Cohen's d test and repeated-measure analysis of variance between pre- and post-situations were also performed. Results: The results of the study show that in the experimental group, total attempts (TA) and net attempts (NA) of SLCT were significantly increased (P < 0.05); however, there was no significant change in the wrong attempts. In the CBTT, total scores and Corsi span also significantly increased (P < 0.05) in both the forward and backward directions. The PVPCE practices are most effective for SLCT-TA, SLCT-NA, and forward total score. Conclusion: The results suggest that PVPs (PVPCE technique) improve cognitive abilities associated with letter cancelation and block tapping tasks.


Enjoying the geographical and resource advantages, Xinjiang has established a good foundation with Kazakhstan for trade. In the context of the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt, Xinjiang and Kazakhstan should seize the opportunity to further the current trade by analyzing the development prerequisites of trade facilitation and the benefits and costs in promoting trade facilitation. This paper finally proposed measures to be taken to facilitate trade in order to promote the development of trade facilitation.


The work described in this paper constitutes a further contribution to the on-going efforts by the aircraft industry worldwide to understand, predict and control jet noise generation by the modern high bypass aero-engine. In the present work the 'two-source' model, previously described by Tester et al [3] and Garrison et al [4] for buried nozzle configurations has been extended to include the effects of flight. The model is based on the hypothesis that, while the shear-induced turbulence in the mixing layer is reduced by flight, the additional turbulence driven by the mixer induced vortices remains unchanged by flight. The latter follows from the fact that these vortices depend on the velocity difference across the buried mixer (which does not change with flight). Formalisation of these concepts leads to an expression for the ratio of the intensity in flight to that observed statically for 90 to the jet axis. To predict the in-flight directivity, this basic source is attributed the directivity of a static jet of velocity (VJ – Vflight ) and a corresponding Doppler frequency shift based on the flight speed Vflight, since such a shear layer will reproduce, approximately, the effects of convective amplification and acoustic-mean flow interactions of the in-flight shear layer. Comparison of data with prediction includes an annular mixer together with low and medium penetration lobed mixers. Good agreement between data and prediction is observed in all cases, except where a nozzle based source, termed the high Mach number lift (HML), is significant at the high power condition. Garrison et al [5] are conducting an extensive CFD study, using an efficient and affordable RANS model, of the mixer flows outlined above. This is providing a vital key to rendering the approach more generally applicable and avoiding expensive aerodynamic measurement programmes. In the companion paper, their CFD calculations are benchmarked against measurements and are used to justify the noise modelling. Their CFD results also support our hypothesis that the HML source is associated with the interaction of the mixer vortices with localised patches of supersonic flow at and near the final nozzle. The CFD results show that these supersonic patches can occur due to flow turning even at sub-critical nozzle pressure ratios. The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the simple prediction methods of the original four source model have been extended to cover forced mixers both statically and in-flight. The work also shows clearly the doubly deleterious effect of strong upstream mixing. First the high frequencies are increased statically; second, they demonstrate a reduced static to flight noise decrease. We also believe that the type of approach described here, when combined with the efficient CFD approach described in the companion paper, can provide a useful way forward in jet noise prediction and optimisation for complex nozzle geometries.


In the European Union List of Wastes, the category of "mirror entry" waste refers to either hazardous or non-hazardous waste, depending on their composition and specificity. Classifying waste as hazardous or non-hazardous is essential because it influences the feasibility and economic viability of subsequent management methods. Thus, waste classification represents a challenge both for the scientific community and for the producers/holders of waste. The methodology presented in this paper describes the stages that are the basis for evaluating the dangerousness of "mirror entry" waste and the potential factors that influence the evaluation process. Three case studies that represented three types of industrial waste were selected: waste from the non-metallic minerals industry (W1), waste from glass manufacturing (W2), and waste from the iron and steel industry (W3). The case studies were characterized and evaluated according to hazardous properties and the assignment of a waste code. The W1 and W2 waste samples did not present the hazardous properties HP1–HP15 and were included in the non-hazardous waste list. The W3 waste sample exhibited five dangerous properties and was classified as hazardous waste. The assessed wastes maintain the classifications as long as there are no changes in the technological process generation and in their composition.


The composing method of James Joyce has a great influence on Jack Kerouac's.Although they lived in different times and countries,their works belong to the same school of Modernism.The former is famous for his application of "stream of consciousness" in his works while the latter is well-known for his creative "spontaneous writing" method.The paper compares and analyzes the composing methods used in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and On the Road respectively aiming at revealing Kerouac's debt to Joyce.


It has been suggested that observed differences in self-confidence between the sexes may be dependent on the context and domain of items tested. Expressed self-confidence toward financial analysis by men and women was assessed by a survey mailed to 450 professional business analysts and university professors of accounting. Respondents analyzed a set of multiyear corporate financial reports and reported their self-confidence assessments in six financial areas. Expressed self-confidence was significantly higher for men than for women.


The paper presents a review of studies about the visible-light-promoted photodegradation of the contaminants and energy conversion with sensitized photocatalysts. Herein we studied mechanism, physical properties, and synergism effect of the sensitized photocatalysts as well as the method for enhancing the photosensitized effect. According to the reported studies in the literature, inorganic sensitizers, organic dyes, and coordination metal complexes were very effective sensitizers that were studied mostly, of which organic dyes photosensitization is the most widely studied modified method. Photosensitization is an important way to extend the excitation wavelength to the visible range, and therefore sensitized photocatalysts play an important role in the development of visible light-responsive photocatalysts for future industrialized applications. This paper mainly describes the types, modification, photocatalytic performance, application, and the developments of photosensitization for environmental application.


Objective To report the incidence, predictors for development, impact on mortality, and impact on pre-existing neurological conditions of neurological immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in a large clinical cohort. Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are associated with irAEs. Although neurological complications have been described, little is known about risk factors for their development and their impact on mortality. The impact of ICIs on pre-existing neurological conditions is also not well understood. Design/Methods Patients who received ICI between January 2013 and December 2018 were identified using a tertiary cancer center registry. Patient demographics, cancer characteristics, treatment type, and concurrent oncologic therapy were summarized using descriptive statistics. Patients with neuro-irAE were compared to those without neuro-irAE during the study timeframe. Odds ratios from univariable and penalized multivariable logistic regression models were calculated to identify potential predictors for developing a neuro-irAE. The impact of a neuro-irAE on overall survival was estimated by Kaplan-Meier and multivariable Cox proportional-hazard models. Results Overall frequency of neurological irAEs was 2.3% (28/1228). Peripheral nervous system complications such as myasthenia gravis, myositis, and neuropathies were the most frequent (53.6%). Melanoma, younger age, prior chemotherapy, prior resection, CTLA-4 ICI exposure, and combination ICI exposure had significantly higher odds for developing a neuro-irAE (p <0.05), but these findings were not statistically significant in the multivariable models. Those with a neuro-irAE had greater survival at 3 years compared to those without a neuro-irAE (69% vs 55%, p = 0.004), but after adjusting for patient and cancer characteristics, this effect was no longer statistically significant. Relapse rate of pre-existing neurological condition after exposure to ICI was 15.4% (2/13). Conclusions Neuro-irAEs are rare and are not associated with an increase in mortality. Potential predictors for the development of neuro irAEs are younger age, melanoma, prior chemotherapy and resection, CTLA-4, or combination ICI exposure. Relapse of a pre-existing neurological condition was uncommon.


We consider an evolutionary model of social coordination in a 2x2 game where two groups of agents prefer to coordinate on different actions. Agents can pay a cost to learn their opponent's type: conditional on this decision, they can play different actions with different types. We assess the stability of outcomes in the long-run using stochastic stability analysis. We find that three elements matter for the equilibrium selection: group size, the strength of preferences, and the information's cost. If the cost is too high, agents never learn the type of their opponents in the long-run. If one group is stronger in preferences for its favorite action than the other, or its size is sufficiently large compared to the other group, every agent plays that action. If both groups are strong enough in preferences, or if none of the group's size is large enough, agents play their favorite actions, and they miscoordinate in inter-group interactions. When the cost is sufficiently low, agents always learn the type of their opponent in the long-run. Therefore, they always coordinate. In inside-group interactions, agents always coordinate on their favorite action. In inter-group interactions, agents coordinate on the favorite action of the group that is stronger in preferences or large enough.


Unusual symptoms are seen in the leukemias and anemias of childhood. The following case differs markedly from the pictures of classic leukemia of the skin. REPORT OF A CASE History .—B. C., a white girl, aged 2 years, whose parents were healthy, had whooping cough at the age of 1 year, after which she suffered from frequent attacks of bronchitis. Her mother stated that shortly after birth she noticed on the back of the infant's neck two small lumps which became larger, until at 1 year of age each had attained the size of a dime. On Dec. 15, 1928, a diagnosis of nevus was made and excision was advised. The lesions were hard, freely movable, painless and flat, like buttons in the skin, and the color of a bruise. There was no palpable adenopathy, and the child appeared in good health, though everybody remarked on her "pasty" color.


Bregma Materials Solutions Inc., 114 – 116 Research Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 3R3, Canada; Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, 203 Engineering Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA; Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2216 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada; and Department of Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A9, Canada. *Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


ABSTRACT It is well known that flowers use scents to attract pollinators and that these fragrances are composed of a mixture of different chemical compounds, many of which form the basis of perfumes and colognes we use today. An examination of fossil flowers in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber and mid-Tertiary Dominican amber revealed a range of secretory tissues in the form of nectaries, glandular trichomes, eliaphores and osmophores. These tissues most certainly secreted liquids and volatiles to attract pollinators, just as they do in modern flowers. The morphological similarities of secretory tissues found on fossil flowers dating back to 100 mya to those of their present day descendants suggests that ancient and modern flowers may have produced similar essences, including those used in the production of today's perfumes and colognes.


The utility model provides a four-connection-rod independent rear suspension frame of an automobile. The four-connection-rod independent rear suspension frame of the automobile comprises a rear wheel support pillar, an auxiliary frame and a guide mechanism. The guide mechanism comprises an upper control arm, a lower control arm, a longitudinal swing arm and a lower bearing arm, wherein the upper control arm, the lower control arm and the lower bearing arm are respectively connected between the rear wheel support pillar and the auxiliary frame through rubber lining sleeves, one end of the longitudinal swing arm is connected with the rear wheel support pillar through a rubber lining sleeve, the other end of the longitudinal swing arm is connected with an automobile body through a rubber lining sleeve, the upper control arm and the lower control arm are parallel in a transverse plane of the automobile, an included angle exists between the longitudinal swing arm and the transverse plane of the automobile, the lower bearing arm is further vertically provided with a spring and a shock absorber, the shock absorber is located at the outer side of the spring, and the shock absorber and the spring are respectively connected with the automobile body through rubber lining sleeves. The four-connection-rod independent rear suspension frame of the automobile enables the variation of a camber angle and a toe-in angle of wheels at the outer side to be not big by determining the appropriate length and relative positions of guide rods and further guarantees the steering performance of the automobile.


Autonomous and self-driving cars represent a certitude for the near future and it is expected to be safer, time saving and to bring in environmental benefits. The road infrastrucuture still embeds traffic signs that have to be recognized with high accuracy by the sensorial system mounted on an autonomous car. This paper deals with a new Traffic Sign Recognitions system based on a pretrained neural network for general objects and retrained for a large number of traffic signs collected in real environment under different metrorological conditions. The proposed Traffic Sign Recognition system is able to classify signs in new scenarios with more than 96% accuracy.


Nontariff barriers have become one of the key issues in agricultural trade policy and trade negotiations. Laws and regulations of a country, in addition to being directly protective, often give administrators wide leeway for interpretation which results in restrictive trade flows. The domestic agriculture of most developed countries is protected by one or more of the following: quantitative restrictions, licensing requirements, variable levies, export subsidies, minimum import prices, import calendars, state trading, mixing regulations, health and sanitary regulations, and standards and labelling. Ultimately, nontariff barriers must be negotiated like tariffs and other protective devices.


Simple Summary Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare disease and accounts for about 5% of thyroid carcinomas. In contrast to other thyroid cancers, MTC can be detected by calcitonin (Ctn) measurement in blood samples. However, the interpretation of Ctn values is difficult since reference values for Ctn are sex-specific, assay-dependent, and can also be elevated in benign thyroid diseases and certain extrathyroidal conditions. Here, we report on the results of Ctn screening in 12,984 adult patients with thyroid nodules from our nuclear medicine practice. The Ctn values were elevated in 207 (1.6%) patients. Further clarification was possible in 124/207 cases, of which MTC could be ruled out in 108 cases. In 16/12,984 patients, MTC was confirmed. Thus, the extrapolated MTC prevalence is 0.14% in our patients. We thus recommend Ctn screening even in patients with very small thyroid nodules. High quality standards in pre-analytics, Ctn measurement, and the interpretation of data must be ensured. Abstract Background: We provide an update on calcitonin (Ctn) screening for the early detection of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and present the results of a large single-center analysis evaluating sex-specific cut-off-levels and long-term courses. Methods: A total of 12,984 consecutive adult patients (20.1% male and 79.9% female) with thyroid nodules who had undergone routine Ctn measurement were retrospectively analyzed. Patients with confirmed suspicious Ctn values were referred for surgery. Results: Ctn measurements were elevated in 207 (1.6%) patients, with values below twice the sex-specific reference limit in 82% of these cases. Further clarification was possible in 124/207 cases, of which MTC could be ruled out in 108 cases. Histopathological assessment confirmed MTC in 16/12,984 patients. Conclusions: Our extrapolated MTC prevalence of 0.14% is significantly lower than that described in early international screening studies. The stimulation test can usually be dispensable when using a decision-making concept based on sex-specific basal Ctn cut-off values. Ctn screening is recommended even in patients with very small thyroid nodules. High quality standards in pre-analytics, laboratory measurements, and the interpretation of data must be ensured, as well as close interdisciplinary cooperation between medical disciplines.


Ten contributors approach Tissot and his art from a variety of theoretical positions and disciplines to arrive at fresh and often startling insights. Looking at and beneath Tissot's seductive surfaces, they attempt to identify and decode the artist's subtexts, issues of gender, class and ancillary topics as voyeurism, fetishism and spiritualism.


New demands of how to bucld up and perfect the tax system in the institutions of higher learning have been raised when facing the problems of multi-investors and profit-making under the condition of market economy.Therefore,towards the tax system there,we must understand the recent situations,study the theory,pay attention to the policy and plan for it so as to promote the development of multi-investors,improve the profit and gain a continuous development.


As a counterpart of the well-known generalized Wick theorem by Bais et al. in 1988 for interacting fields in two dimensional conformal field theory, we present a new contour integral formula for th...


Objective: To determine the in vitro biogas production and fermentative characteristics of diets for fattening lambs containing 20% chipile or crotalaria at 30 or 40 d of regrowth.Methodology: The treatments were whole diets containing 20% crotalaria with 30 d (T1) or 40 d of regrowth (T2), as well as 20% chipile with 30 d (T3) or 40 d of regrowth (T4). In vitro gas production was measured at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h and the following elements were determined: kinetic estimators (A, b, k), dry matter (DMD), organic matter (OMD), neutral detergent fiber (NDFD), and acid detergent fiber (ADFD) degradation, metabolizable energy (ME), and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). The experimental design was completely randomized.Results: Regarding the accumulated biogas production, T4 presented higher production from 2 to 24 h, T3 and T4 higher at 48 h, and T1 higher at 72 h. Kinetic estimators showed that T1 was higher in A and k and T4 was higher in b. T2 presented the lowest DMD, OMD, NDFD, ADFD, ME, and SCFA.Study Limitations: Scale production of chipile, aimed to obtain a greater biomass volume, is limited since it has not been domesticated yet.
Conclusions: Sheep diets containing 20% chipile or crotalaria with 30 d of regrowth have proven to be an alternative for the manufacturing of whole diets for the intensive fattening of lambs in the tropics.


This paper presents five different auxetic warp-knitted spacer fabrics and discusses their energy absorption under uniaxial tension through integrals of stress on strain. Structures of auxetic fabrics are designed based on rotating hexagonal models and knitted for experimental tests, including Poisson's ratio tests and tensile tests. Results show that energy absorption of auxetic warp-knitted spacer fabric is mainly determined by its structural deformation capacity and yarn loading capacity, between which the yarn loading capacity of fabrics plays the dominant part in energy absorption, while the structural deformation capacity, which is affected by Poisson's ratio, has relatively little influence. With equivalent yarn loading capacity, the energy absorption of fabrics with negative Poisson's ratios are relatively better.


We present here several mechanical or physical systems in equilibrium, consisting of repeatable elements, in which deterministic chaos may occur. The simplest is the following: a system of rigid rods in a plane, connected by elastic joints, loaded by a force. Some other systems are the following: 1) a system of rigid rods with vertical loads, 2) a system of rigid dipoles in an external dipole fields, 3) the Frenkel-Kontorova dislocation, 4) a deformable elastic rod loaded by concentrated moments.


Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) is a medical imaging technique that uses two different energy levels of X-rays to provide more detailed information about the composition of tissues and materials within the body. DECT technology is still relatively new but different applications have been developed for the urological field. For example, it can be used to analyze the composition of stones to determine whether they are likely to be made up of calcium oxalate, uric acid, or other minerals. This information can help guide treatment decisions, as different types of stones may require different approaches to treatment. The availability of iodine maps helps the differentiation between benign and malignant tumors of the urinary tract, including the bladder, kidneys, and ureters. The iodine maps generated by DECT can provide information on tumor vascularity, which can help in staging and determining the aggressiveness of the tumor. DECT can assess blood flow in the kidneys and detect vascular disorders such as renal artery stenosis or aneurysms. This can be critical for early detection and management of these disorders, which can reduce the risk of renal failure and improve outcomes. DECT is a valuable tool in the urological field that can provide clinicians with detailed and accurate information for the diagnosis and treatment planning of various urological conditions. In this narrative review, we propose an overview of the possible application of DECT in the field of urological diseases.


Patients with cervical osteochondrosis were successfully treated with Deshembinskoe Lake [correction of Deshembinskaya] sapropel mud in combination with exposure to magnetic field. The details of this treatment regimen are described. Combination of pelotherapy with effects of the magnetic field proved beneficial for patients with cervical osteochondrosis.


Introduction Modern Europe has rural roots, even today, as much as 90 per cent of Europe (EU25) consists of rural areas in which half of the population lives. The different challenges that rural areas face range from restructuring the agricultural sector, r emoteness, poor service provision and depopulation to population influx and pressure on t he natural environment, particularly in the rural areas close to urban centres. Taking into acc unt the significant changes and challenges in rural areas and the economic and organizational adv antages of towns, it can be expected that towns will become increasingly important for (inter )national policy makers, especially related to the decentralization of rural policies. The aim of this study is to contribute to the under standing of the contemporary function of towns in the rural economy: How important are small and medium-sized towns to local households and firms. And, how strong are town-hinterland interactions these days? Apart from showing a general picture of town-hinterland interactions, we ill focus more specifically on local households and local firms. For a large part of the analyses in this thesis, da ta erived from the European Union research project 'Marketowns' has been used. In this project , the flow of goods, services and labour between firms and households in a sample of 30 smal l and medium-sized towns in five EU countries has been measured. The participating coun tries reflect the varied conditions of the both existing and the enlarged European Union, viz. Fran ce, Poland, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the UK.


they had single fixed symptoms, the illness showing a fluctuating intensity, and because there was evidence of a good basic personality, as shown by their ability to carry on with their work despite their illness. With the final analysis of the results it has been possible to distinguish further prognostic criteria. Those helped most were frequently between 30 and 50 years of age. Body-build seemed particularly important. By far the best results were obtained in those of athletic build. These tolerated the treatment well, while the asthenic and the pyknic, especially the young obese patient, were not helped. They proved particularly sensitive to the injections and became easily frightened. The treatment was certainly contraindicated in patients whose anxiety was overt in nature. Such people complained of palpitations, breathlessness, diarrhoea, vomiting, and frequency of micturition. Many of them showed a marked emotional immaturity, and a tendency to project their symptoms typical of so many of those suffering from anxiety hysteria. Table II shows the poor results obtained in this group. The chief response noted when treatment was successful was a gradual lessening of tension-the emotional component of the phobia or obsessive thought decreased, and it became less troublesome. Schizoid patients showed an improvement in rapport and sometimes reported an increased clarity of thought. The benefit alcoholic patients derived from the treatment was in keeping with the fact that they often have an obsessive personality; indeed, their drinking is often of a compulsive nature. They are usually tense individuals experiencing a great deal of subjective anxiety. It might be argued that the typical patient who has shown a good response to treatment is basically the person of good personality and body build who does well with any form of non-specific therapy. Such patients have good driving personalities; they have mastered various stresses successfully, and they are able to contain their anxiety. But many of them present notoriously difficult problems from the point of view of treatment, and their illnesses may last a long time. It has been our experience that these patients are usually untouched by psychotherapy, E.C.T. makes them worse, and the use of sedatives may result in a build-up to undesirably high and prolonged dosages. A small number of such patients were given injections of normal saline in the same way as other patients were given acetylcholine. No response occurred until acetylcholine was substituted for normal saline. It seemed, in fact, that acetylcholine was often able either to shorten the attack or to produce a more complete remission of symptoms. Our results in this respect were therefore found to confirm those reported by Lopez Ibor (1952). Summary and Conclusions


Contrary to trends in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the prevalence of coeliac disease in the 1990s appears to be increasing. Guidelines are suggested to improve case retrieval in epidemiological surveys of coeliac disease. The recorded prevalence will increase further with greater recognition of subclinical forms detected by simple screening tests. At present immunoglobulin (Ig) A reticulin and endomysium antibodies are probably the best screening blood test Small intestinal biopsy remains the most effective procedure for the diagnosis of coeliac disease but 'false antibody-positive' subjects should be followed-up to consider latent coeliac disease. Careful epidemiological studies and screening programmes followed by prompt treatment may help to reduce further malignant complications of coeliac disease in the small bowel.


Purpose: This study was done to identify the risk factors influencing suicidal ideation in Korean elders. Methods: Data from the Korean national health & nutrition examination survey 2007 collected by the Korean Center for Disease Control were analyzed using x2 test and t-test. Result: Differences in suicidal ideation according to individual factors were as follows: gender, education status, recognition of stress, experience of depression, and smoking. Differences in suicidal ideation according to health related factors were as follows: subjective health status, EQ-5D (EuroQoL-5 Dimensions), and restriction of activity. Differences in suicidal ideation according to family related factors were as follows: spouse, and status of dietary life. Conclusion: The findings suggest that board intervention programs should be provided to prevent problems of suicidal ideation. It is also recommended that programs be developed that can help control the variables identified in this study along with follow up study to verify the model.


An experimental investigation on square high-strength concrete short columns confined with aramid fiber-reinforced polymer (AFRP) sheets is carried out in this study. Nine plain concrete specimens and 54 wrapped concrete specimens were tested under monotonic axial compressive loading. The specimens were grouped by three different grades of concrete strength. In each grade, some specimens were partially wrapped and others were fully wrapped, and the amount of wrapping AFRP sheets was varied also. Based on the experimental results, the regression formulas for strength and strain are obtained. The experimental results demonstrate that two types of axial stress-strain curves were observed depending on the form of AFRP wrapping, and the strength and ductility of the columns were increased when fully wrapped AFRP sheets, while only the strength was increased when partially wrapped AFRP sheets.


IN THE DELUGE of books on spirituality that have flooded the market in recent years, it is rare to find one with a balance of good scholarship and creative spiritual practice. John Endres, S.J., and Elizabeth Liebert, S.N.J.M., have managed to do just that with this superbly crafted resource for praying the psalms. They bring to this study a wealth of personal, practical wisdom from their years of experience teaching and leading retreats centered on the spirituality of the psalms. The book is an ideal resource for church study groups and retreats. It is organized around various genres of the psalms, beginning with psalms of lament, then moving through psalms of thanksgiving, praise, repentance, and wisdom. There is a helpful introductory chapter on the characteristics of Hebrew poetry and the various genres within the psalms, followed by another chapter that explores creative, contemporary forms of praying the psalms—including lectio divina, art play, and body movement. The book's ecumenical appeal is enhanced by reflections from a broad spectrum of commentators on the spirituality of the psalms, from Athanasius and Calvin to Kathleen Norris and Pope Paul VI. A final chapter on the christological context of selected psalms invites us to pray the psalms "in, with, and through Jesus" (pp. 210-35). A Retreat with the Psalms engages head, heart, and hands in creative and playful ways that press beyond an analytical approach to Bible study and plumb the depths of human experi ence through praying the psalms. It is well orga nized, written in a style easily accessible to the non-specialist, and full of creative, practical ideas that stimulate the intellect and satisfy the soul.


The Dynamic Property Analysis about rear door on the car is based on the establishment of Finite Element Model of a rear door,for model analyzing about Rear Door is taken under free state,and torsion stiffness,vertical sag stiffness under the four conditions.By analysis,they can provide the theoretical basis for choosing the better project and optimizing the structure of the project.


Career development is viewed as a somewhat elusive, reciprocal process whereby personal abilities, potential, and interests coalesce with a variety of social, educational, economic, and cultural influences in shaping one's behavior and life course. For the majority of individuals, the process is characterized by a goodness of fit among personal philosophies, talents, and interests with rather well defined, although gradually evolving vocational, occupational and work para-


The W1 W4 class of almost Hermitian manifolds (in accordance with the Gray — Hervella classification) is usually named as the class of Vaisman — Gray manifolds. This class contains all Kählerian, nearly Kählerian and locally conformal Kählerian manifolds. As it is known, Vaisman — Gray manifolds are invariant under the conformal transformations of the metric. A criterion in the terms of the configuration tensor for an arbitrary six-dimensional submanifold of Cayley algebra to belong to the Vaisman — Gray class of almost Hermitian manifolds is established. The Cartan structural equations of the almost contact metric structures induced on oriented hypersurfaces of six-dimensional Vaisman — Gray submanifolds of the octave algebra are obtained. It is proved that totally geodesic hypersurfaces of six-dimensional Vaisman — Gray submanifolds of Cayley algebra admit nearly cosymplectic structures (or Endo structures). This result is a generalization of the previously proved fact that totally geodesic hypersurfaces of nearly Kählerian manifolds also admit nearly cosymplectic structures.


Objective: To investigate the effect of age in semen parameters( volume, pH, liquefaction time, viscosity, sperm concentration, sperm motility and morphology). Methods: A total of 100 semen samples were analyzed according to WHO 2010 standard criteria at a private laboratory center in Kavala.The samples are analysed from 2014 to 2016. Results: Analysis of the semen parameters shows that only volume has statistically significant raise with age (p=0,023) but this relationship is not very strong (r=0,227). PH, liquefaction time, viscosity, sperm concentration, motility and morphology do not show any change (p>0.05) as the age grows. Conclusions: In this study, age has no influence in semen parameters except of volume which raised a little.


Abstract : This research examines joint education at the primary education levels (pay grades 01-03) within our four military services by using the CJCS's OPMEP as the baseline document. It first provides an understanding of the CJCS's joint education requirements at the primary education level and then reviews the actual need for that education by examining related studies, position papers or articles from key leaders within the upper echelon of the military education community. The research uncovered few comments that failed to support the need for some type of joint education at the primary/junior officer education level. Finally, the research discusses if or how the services are providing Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) at their primary level schools and whether that joint education supports the requirements of the OPMEP and the proposals provided in a recent JPME 2010 Study- Requirements Team Report. Based on the research provided in this study, the United States Army and Marine Corps are the only services that are either in the developmental phase or possess an existing JPME program for the primary education level. Based on sources within Air University and the Naval Education and Training Command, the United States Air Force and Navy are not providing their junior officers with formal joint education that is either in accordance with the OPMEP or preparing junior officers for JTF duties. While minimum joint matters are discussed throughout their curricula, no formal joint education programs exist at their primary level institutions. Based on the findings in this study, the author recommends that J7 reemphasize joint education at the primary level and continue to require each service to review and report on their existing programs and develop corrective actions as deemed necessary by each service chief.


The Upper Turonian index ammonite Prionocyclus germari is a rare species in NW Germany. To contribute to the knowledge of the distribution of this species, new finds from Lower Saxony are described. Surprisingly, these are characterized by the occurrence of inner and outer ventrolateral tubercles up to sizes of several cm, which make them differ from the north American populations of the Western Interior Seaway. P. germari seems to occur preferably in or close to swell settings together with a diverse associated in- vertebrate fauna. Time-equivalent beds in intra-shelf depressions are depleted of macrofauna.


This study demonstrates that a commonly used type of factor analysis, principle components analysis, contributes to the amount of error in statistical analysis. In the study, which concerns email use, factor analyses were performed using several different factor analysis methods. The results show that using factors derived via principle components analysis as dependent variables substantially increased the amount of error in regression analyses, and in several cases reduced the amount of explained variance.


ABSTRACT This research aims to investigate the influences of demographic factors, computer self efficacy, and computer anxiety upon usage of computer-based accounting system information on employee performance in Bappeda Provinsi Aceh. This research used questionnaire as a tool to collect informations needed from respondents. Probability sampling method with simple random sampling technic was used to determine the respondents. There were 61 respondents who were choosen by using Slovin's formula. Testing instrument used was multiple linear regression. The results showed that simultaneously, demographic factors, computer self efficacy, and computer anxiety were significantly influence employee performance. Partially, demographic factors and computer self efficacy were positively significant influence employee performance while computer anxiety negatively significant influence employee performance. Keywords : employee performance, demographic factors, computer self efficacy, computer anxiety ABSTRAK Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menyelidiki pengaruh faktor demografi, computer self efficacy, dan computer anxiety dalam penggunaan sistem informasi akuntansi berbasis komputer terhadap kinerja karyawan pada Bappeda Provinsi Aceh. Penelitian ini menggunakan kuesioner untuk mengumpulkan informasi dari responden. Teknik pemilihan responden menggunakan metode probability sampling dengan teknik simple random sampling. Jumlah responden yaitu sebanyak 61 responden yang diperoleh dengan menggunakan rumus Slovin. Alat uji yang digunakan yaitu regresi linier berganda. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa secara simultan, faktor demografi, computer self efficacy, dan computer anxiety berpengaruh signifikan terhadap kinerja karyawan. Secara parsial, faktor demografi dan computer self efficacy berpengaruh secara positif signifikan terhadap kinerja karyawan sementara computer anxiety berpengaruh secara negatif signifikan terhadap kinerja karyawan. Kata Kunci : kinerja karyawan, faktor demografi, computer self efficacy, computer anxiety


The crisis is characterized by an unusually big decline in prices of agricultural products. The causes of this decline were: overproduction, lower consumption, weak demand on the world market for raw materials, etc. In Northern Transylvania, at the confluence of the Somes Rivers, prices fared a little different. The cereals situation was more difficult for farmers, earning less than the national average. Romanian agriculture was affected both by lower prices and poor harvest of wheat. In addition to the agriculture disaster that is among the causes the world economic crisis, there were also several causes of national characteristics, which have adversely affected the economic life of Romania. Between them can be cited: high rates of CFR, disorganization and lack of credit, high export taxes, turnover tax, multiple tax bills, law speculation, reference interest of the National Bank, taxes and, especially, they collection, etc.


There is little doubt that France's tumultuous political history has cast a long shadow over the modern world, providing a human drama that politicians and intellectuals repeatedly felt inclined to...


The article discusses the position of female in traditional society from the angle of marriage,regards that the unegual position of female is determined by thinking that women being inferior to men and respection for seniority.


The Final Technical Report covering the period from 15 Aug. 1989 to 14 Aug. 1991 is presented. Areas of research included Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) high resolution studies and modeling of closely interacting galaxies; galaxy collisions: infrared observations and analysis of numerical models; and UV spectroscopy of massive young stellar populations in interacting galaxies. Both observational studies and theoretical modelling of interacting galaxies are covered. As a consequence the report is divided into two parts, one on each aspect of the overall project.


This has been a quiet but constructive quarter in cross-Strait relations. Taipei and Beijing were focused on ratifying and beginning implementation of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). With Beijing"s agreement, Singapore and Taipei announced that they would consider negotiating a WTO-consistent economic cooperation agreement. This important flexibility by Beijing allows President Ma to show that ECFA has opened the door at least slightly to Taiwan"s involvement in regional trade liberalization. Despite Washington"s approval of small commercial arms sales, Beijing indicated a willingness to resume military exchanges with Washington. Nevertheless, arms sales to Taiwan remain a threat to US-China relations.


We employ a microscopic approach that examines the impact of isospin dynamics on the process of low energy nuclear fusion along an isotope chain and dependence on deformation. Our method utilizes the density constrained time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory (DC-TDHF), where isoscalar and isovector characteristics of the energy density functional (EDF) are examined in turn. This approach is applied to a series of fusion interactions of $^{176}$Yb with increasingly neutron rich isotopes of Calcium. By evaluating the contributions from the isoscalar and isovector components of the EDF, we look to quantify the influence of isospin composition on the conditions under which fusion is most likely to take place. Our findings reveal that, in non-symmetric systems, the isovector dynamics play a significant role. It's typical effect is a reduction in the potential barrier, which turns into enhancement for neutron-rich systems.


The winds derived from the Seasat-A Satellite Scatterometer (SASS) measurements have been the subject of great interest since the 1978 mission, because of the promise of radically improved wind observations over the world ocean. Due to the early end of the mission, only a few of the planned ground truth validation experiments could be made, and the subsequent lack of sufficient high quality independent wind data for comparison has limited the ability to resolve critical issues regarding the scatterometer's performance and the correct interpretation of its signal. Operational weather observations were made of ocean winds independent of Seasat mission plans during the Seasat mission period; the results are reported of a comparison study using such observations. Previous verification with in situ winds has been primarily in middle latitudes (GOASEX, JASIN, and NDBO buoys); winds observed from nine tropical Pacific islands are compared with nearly contemporaneous measurements taken by SASS during overpasses of the islands.


One kind of rivers, natural wave output method and the kinetic energy of the flow force turbine hinge. Can be built in the fast-flowing river section does not affect the natural shipping, no closure dam will be able to power large, medium and small power plants; use of wave power can be built in a large shallow water or shallow water at the edge of the continental shelf of the island, medium and small power station.


Instruction in grammar has been an important feature of language education, yet it has remained a site for curriculum and pedagogical controversy that involves community members and government authorities as well as teachers and students. In spite of research that has continually questioned the efficacy and value of grammar instruction (Braddock, Lloyd-Jones & Schoer, 1963; Hillocks, 1986), and of the effects of the creative writing, process writing and other movements of the last generation, grammar has remained part of the language arts curriculum in classrooms (Hillocks & Smith, 1991; Noguchi, 1991). Many theories of grammar have also been developed in the latter half of the twentieth century, including classroom applications of Chomsky's transformational generative grammar and of the systemic functional linguistics of Halliday. These developments have contributed further to debate surrounding grammar instruction (Dixon, 1969; Christie, 1988).


FIELD: medicine. SUBSTANCE: group of inventions relates to surgery and can be used in cholecystectomy, appendectomy, stomach resection, hemicolectomy, fundoplication. Method of creating hemostasis with possibility of recovering blood flow in tubular elastic structures of organism is realised by means of a clip. Clip is delivered to the place of its application by means of manipulator holder. Manipulator mechanically holds clip by ear in mechanical contact with working surfaces of, at least, one Peltier element, which is placed in distal ends of manipulator-holder branches. Deformation of tubular elastic structure of organism is carried out under impact of pressure from moving towards each other working surfaces of clip branches. Branches are preliminarily brought apart at temperature lower than temperature of beginning of martensitic transformation in material of clip ear. EFFECT: creation of reliable artificial hemostasis in hollow tubular organs with preservation of intactness of their internal structures without excessive formation of thrombi and possibility of further recovery of blood flow in hollow tubular organs subjected to artificial hemostasis. 33 cl, 9 dwg


On the basis of anlaysising bypass system of steam turbine for M701F gas-steam combined cycle unit and the pressure control mode of bypass valve,the countermeasures in control under special operation conditions,such as the start-up sitation of unit doesn't match with the situation of waste heat boiler,HP-and MP-steam pressure before start-up of unit are higher than the set value of minimum pressure,as well as unsmooth jamming of the bypass valve during start-up of unit,have been put forward,thereby ensuring safe operation of the unit.


the "field of values" of A. In [1, 2, 4] 1 the H -stable matrices were characterized. (A matrix A EM II (C) is called H -stable if AECT (HA) implies Re(A) > 0 for all H * = H > 0.) The simplest version of the characterization is that A is H-stable if and only if A is nonsingular and AEF (A) implies Re(A) > 0 or A = O. In this note we give a simple characterization of those AECT (HA) for some H * = H > 0 and the theorem on H -stability, for example, is an easy corollary. The characterization is constructive in that a specific class of positive definite matrices H for which AECT (H A) is produced. Let L == {H EM il (C) :H* = H > O} . We first make two observations: (I) OECT (HA) for some H E'i if and only if Ow' (KA) for all KE'i if and only if OECT (A);


Customer assets held by a Futures Commission Merchant must be protected in a specially-designed "customer segregated" account at a custodial bank pursuant to the Commodity Exchange Act and various CFTC regulations. When the FCM fails, in the absence of a criminal act, the futures customers of the failed FCM should receive all of their assets back. This article analyzes a recent 7th Circuit decision involving Sentinel Management Group, a failed FCM which commingled futures customer assets with non-futures customer assets and incurred trading losses accordingly. The article examines all of the various issues raised before the 7th Circuit. The 7th Circuit had overturned Judge Zagel's district court decision and ruled that approximately $300 million, which had been returned back to the futures customers of Sentinel pursuant to another court order, were not subject to the claw-back provisions under the US Bankruptcy Code.


It is believed by the comprehensive approach that translation is endowed both with scientificalness and with artisticness. In this paper, the author tries to argue that literary should be more artistic than scientific, which is proved by the comprehensiveness, social functions of literary works and the speciality of poetry translation.


The widespread network of Alpine towns is a cultural heritage whose enhancement is of fundamental importance for a large area in the center of Europe. This paper outlines some results of the international project Interreg AlpStone, describing studies and guidelines developed for the survey and the representation of traditional urban settlements in the territory between Italy (Ossola Valley) and Switzerland (Tessin). The proposed methodology combines established approaches and innovative techniques to produce multi-thematic and multi-scale surveys (territorial, urban and building scale).


In the environmental monitoring analytical methods,The Benzols is determined by packed column gas chromatography.in this paper,the Benzols is determined by capillary column and packed column gas chromatography.The results shows that the capillary column analysis is superior to packed column in precision,sensitivity and accuracy,and can substitute the packed column GC.


Property Location When you stay at Cristal Resort in Paje, you'll be on the beach and convenient to Paje Beach and Kite Centre Zanzibar. This beach hotel is within the region of Jambiani Beach and Jozani Forest Reserve.Rooms Make yourself at home in one..


Through hosting and facilitating writing workshops which work to produce the publication of fictional and non-fictional books,FEMRITE has, since its inauguration in 1996, been behind the emergence of women's literature in Uganda in recent years. At thecore of FEMRITE's socio- literary project is the ―the promotion of [women's'] literature and literacy inside Uganda rather than in anyother African country‖3. However, FEMRITE has also become synonymous with household names in Ugandan literature such asDoreen Baingana, Monica Arac de Nyeko, Beatrice Lamwaka and others who have won globally recognized literary prizes. Whileseveral of these writers may not have learned their trade exclusively through FEMRITE, it has nonetheless become a signpost thatdirects the exchange of various forms of capital – symbolic, social, cultural, and economic – in the global and local literary market. It isat this conjuncture, the site of contested ‗regimes of value', between FEMRITE's role in promoting women's literature in Uganda andhow it functions as a sign of symbolic consecration in the global literary sphere, that FEMRITE's teleological ambiguity begins tosurface. This paper seeks, through metacritical analysis, to elucidate on the doubly nature of FEMRITE and other literary NGOs withregards to their purported aims of creating new avenues f or local literary production while engendering new globally recognizedliterary traditions and forms - and thus a new canon'.


Epidemic protocols have been heralded as appropriate for wireless sensor networks. The nodes in such networks have limited battery resources. In this paper we investigate the use of power in three styles of epidemic protocols: basic epidemics, neighborhood flooding epidemics, and hierarchical epidemics. Basic epidemics turn out to be highly power hungry, and are not appropriate for power-aware applications. Both neighborhood and hierarchical epidemics can be made to use power judiciously, but a trade-off exists between scalability and latency.


ABSTRACT Self-compassion is essential for psychological well-being. It is also an important starting point for chaplains and carers of the aged or of anyone in a dependent relationship. Mindful self-compassion is a "3rd wave" cognitive behavioural therapy that does not try to change symptoms but encourages a shift in attitudes—in this case with ourselves. The work of Kristen Neff is outlined with her three principles to achieve self-compassion. The psychoanalytic concept of "hate in the counter-transference" illustrates the difficulties of being a carer in a dependent relationship. Theological implications are discussed with a consideration of whether God actually likes us.


Andre Breton is a forerunner of French modernism in 20th century, his surrealist theory and practice contain profound and complex connotations, which have already attraced the attention of the academic circles. By analyses and discussion on his thoughts about "spiritual revolution", its origin, and his literary practice, this paper tries to further understand "the absurd images" in his works, to demonstrate the dialectic relationship between reality and "surreality" under his plum, and to further recognize French modernism.


The works of Philo of Alexandria team with the terminology of the games and with the picture of the Agon of virtue. The recurrence of the traditional features and themes of the Cynic-Stoic picture of the Agon of virtue are not difficult to find in Philo. The close relationship between the athletic and military imagery in Philo is seen at its clearest in the passages in which he mixes the two metaphors. The spirit of competition, the cult of the beautiful-including the beauty of the naked form -and the structure of hellenistic education in which the exercise of the body played a dominant role, are all without parallel in the life and language of the Old Testament people. The Fourth Book of Maccabees, like Philo, clearly shows a good knowledge of Stoic philosophy.Keywords: Agon; athletic imagery; Cynic-Stoic picture; hellenistic education; Maccabees; military imagery; Old Testament


Objective To compare the effectiveness and safety of linezolid with vancomycin for the treatment of people with Gram-positive bacteraemia. Methods We electronically searched The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2009), MEDLINE, EMbase, Current Controlled Trials, The National Research Register, CBM disc and CNKI. We also handsearched some relevant journals. The search time was up to March 10, 2009. Randomized controlled trials of linezolid versus vancomycin for treatment of Gram-positive bacteraemia were included. Meta-analyses were performed for the results of homogeneous studies using the Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5.0 software. Results A total of 8 randomized controlled trials involving 670 patients with Gram-positive bacteraemia were included. The results indicated that there was no signi cant difference between linezolid and vancomycin groups in treatment of Gram-positive bacteraemia [RR= 1.07, 95%CI (0.98,1.17), P= 0.15], MRSA bacteraemia [RR=1.22, 95%CI (0.97,1.53), P= 0.10] or catheter-related bacteraemia [RR= 1.01, 95%CI (0.86,1.19), P= 0.90]. There was no di erence between groups in the total adverse e ect (P=0.64). The rate of renal dysfunction was higher in vancomycin group(P=0.0003) and the rate of thrombopenia was higher in linezolid group (P=0.01). Conclusion Linezolid is associated with the outcomes that are not inferior to those of vancomycin in the patients with Gram-positive bacteraemia. More high-quality, large-scale randomized controlled trials exclusive for the bacteraemia are required.


Education is crucial in any type of society for the preservation of lives of its members and the maintenance of the social structure. It grows out of the environment and the method of teaching being directly related to the pattern of work in the society. The greater portion of Nigerian education before the colonial era was informal, and functional, but with the colonization of Nigeria by Britain, the system of education was changed from progressive education to essentialist education to enable the colonialists achieve their aim of colonization. The purpose of this write up is not only to reveal the pros and coin of colonial education, but to explore the impact of colonialism in Nigerian educational system and to proffer solutions that will lead to better education that will be progressive in nature for sustainable development. This paper highlighted on the pre-colonial education in Nigeria, the impact of colonization in Nigeria educational system, problems such as the failure of the 6-3-3-4 system of education in Nigeria, emphasis on examination results and paper qualification as inherited from the colonial masters among others were identified. Recommendations such as, the need for the re-implementation of the 6-3-3-4 System of education, and the use of E-learning among others to enhance functional education in Nigeria were given.


Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is an important index for the assessment of organic water pollution, which needs to be detected rapidly and sensitively. In this paper, a BOD biosensor has been developed based on the direct immobilization of microorganisms around carboxyl graphene (GN-COOH) modified ultramicroelectrode array (UMEA). UMEA is designed in ring shape and hexagon distribution, which shows nonlinear diffusion in electrochemical tests, indicating fast mass transfer. The modification of UMEA comprises the electrodeposition of GN-COOH and the covalent bonding bacteria immobilization. The potential and time for electrodeposition have been optimized. The deposited GN-COOH facilitates the electron transfer and increases the current responses. The response time of the detection has been shortened to 3 min. The proposed biosensor shows a linear range from 2 to 15 mg/L with the sensitivity of 3.04 nA/(mg/L), which is about 3-times to that of our previous study without GN-COOH.


This paper studies the effects of systematic distress and sectoral distress in the context of default/bankruptcy prediction using a large sample of U.S. public company default data from 1991 to 2009. I construct measures to proxy for economy-wide systematic distress and sectoral distress based on distance to default, which is a powerful proxy to evaluate a firm's credit risk. I find that including such distress factors as covariates can improve the intensity model's performance to predict defaults. Therefore the systematic and sectoral distress factors are important macroeconomic and industry-level covariates that are missing in the previous literature. I also examine the credit contagion effects using the Hawkes specification. Contrary to Lando and Nielson (2010), I find strong evidence that credit contagion effects do exist in the sample. After adding the systematic and sectoral distress factors to such model, the credit contagion effects are much less significant which indicates that these distress measures are able to capture the pre-default as well as post-default contagion effects.


The world health organization recommends that blood donation should in all cases be absolutely voluntary with an altruistic motive of helping the unknown recipients.1 However, only persons in good health should be accepted as donors of blood for therapeutic use.2 The suitability of prospective donors should be determined by a pre-donation assessment of his/her health status. A significant part of the assessment procedure usually takes the form of verbal screening with reliance on answers to simple standard questions relating to general health, past medical history, medications and simple general physical examination including the measurements of weight and blood pressure of the prospective donor.2 Persons who are between the ages of 18 and 65 years and have passed the pre-donation medical assessment with haemoglobin levels of more than 13.5 g/dl in males or 12.5 g/dl in females are acceptable as donors.2, 3 However, pregnant and lactating women are not accepted for homologous blood donation.2, 3 Healthy persons can donate up to 450ml of blood without any deleterious effect on their body, and with only a temporary effect on their circulatory system from which recovery is rapid.2, 3 Nonetheless, syncopal episodes do occur among blood donors with an incidence of between 2% to 5% of all donors in the United Kingdom, being especially common in first-time donors due to nervousness and vasovagal reactions resulting from anxiety.3 The risk of vasovagal attacks is higher among donors who weigh less than 50kg, since the standard donation of a pint of blood represents a greater proportion of their total blood volume. 3 In this report we evaluated the incidence and pattern of risk factors for post-donation syncope as seen in Nigerian blood donors at the blood bank of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri, North East Nigeria. All cases of post-donations syncope at the blood bank of University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital were routinely investigated. The investigation usually took the form of a medical examination and re-assessment of the donor medical and drug history with the aim of determining the cause of the syncope in each case. This study is conducted by retrospective appraisal of the result of such investigations carried out during a 5-year period from 2002 to 2006. During the period under review, a total of 10, 124 donors were bled at the blood bank. Out of these 10, 124 donors only 51 had post-donation syncope. Therefore the incidence rate of syncope among our donors was 0.5%. All cases of syncope were seen in first-time donors and occurred immediately within fifteen to thirty minutes after the completion of blood donation as they get out of the donation coach getting ready to go home. The weight of the affected donors ranged from 5976kg. The documented risk factors for syncope included donor medication with alpha methyldopa in 22 (43%) cases, propranolol in 8 (16%) cases and amitriptyline 8 (16%) cases. Anxiety was identified as the risk factor for syncope in 13 (25%) cases as shown on Table 1.


The tropical invasion weed Eichhornia crassipes was used as the donor plant to determine the influence of its aqueous extracts on the seed germination and the seedling growth of four kinds of common plants which grow in the tropical areas,and explore the biological activity of Eichhornia crassipes on other plants.The test result indicated that in supply concentrations,the aqueous extracts from Eichhornia crassipes inhibited the seed germination of Raphanus sativus,Brassica pekinensis and Amaranthus mangostanus L.,and the effect increased with concentrations.However,the aqueous extracts obviously promoted seedlings' growth of the three receptor plants,and the effect increased with concentrations,but exceeding certain concentration,the promotion effect starts to reduce.


In a queue with a Poisson arrival distribution, the probability distribution state of the queue at any time is independent of whether or not an arrival occurs at that time. In particular, in a stationary queue with Poisson arrivals, the stationary distribution of the number of waiting customers in the queue at an arbitrary time is equal to the stationary distribution of the number of customers waiting in the queue when a new customer arrives.


The invention relates to a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine having at least one exhaust port (4), which is formed by a cast-around from the cylinder head metal jacket (1). All the exhaust ports (4) and an exhaust manifold (5) by a cast in the cylinder head metal jacket (1) are formed. The invention further relates to a method for producing a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine, in which a one-piece sheet metal jacket (1) or individual shell parts (2, 3) of a sheet-metal casing (1) at least partially with a coating (8) and / or structure are provided first, are then placed in a mold and finally cast in forming of a cast material the cylinder head.


Our previous assessment of debt sustainability in developing Asia, conducted in 2011, found that the region's fiscal outlook was mostly benign. In this study we update the debt sustainability assessment, taking stock of the latest data and including a larger number of countries. With the benefit of hindsight, we assess the accuracy of our earlier debt ratio forecasts and the underlying macroeconomic assumptions. By and large, we find that standard debt sustainability analysis (DSA) represents a valid forecasting tool, able to predict debt ratios fairly accurately under reasonable assumptions and circumstances. Further, our fan chart analysis confirms the importance for stochastic analysis to integrate standard DSA, in order to capture heightened macroeconomic volatility, which we observe for some countries in the region. Looking forward to 2020, debt ratio projections confirm that the outlook remains benign for the region as a whole, country heterogeneity notwithstanding. On the issue of DSA methods and implementation, we emphasize the importance of macroeconomic forecast accuracy and suggest that volatility be captured by risk analysis tools that would optimally flank the standard DSA framework.


The early failure issue in electromigration (EM) has been an unresolved subject of study over the last several decades. A satisfying experimental approach for the detection and analysis of early failures has not been established yet. In this study, a technique utilizing large interconnect arrays in conjunction with the well-known Wheatstone Bridge is presented. A total of more than 20 000 interconnects were tested. The results indicate that the EM failure mechanism studied here follows lognormal behavior down to the four sigma level.


The assessment of academic programs considered the backbone of any internal quality system as it is crucial for determining how, and to what extent, quality improvement systems are effective in educational practices and outcomes. Therefore this paper aims to creating a tripledassessment model of academic program as it depends on three pillars; credibility, accountability and improvement. The tripled-assessment model will provide the departments, especially at Egyptian Universities which undergo a transformation period towards implementing its internal quality assurance systems, with a road map for the assessment of its different academic programs, furthermore help policy makers and program developers in taking proper improvement decisions as well.


In the course of screening for new herbicidal antibiotics using Euglena gracilis, Streptomyces sp. K93-5305 was found to produce a new antibiotic, which was named hydranthomycin. This communication describes the fermentation, isolation, physico-chemical properties and biological activity of hydranthomycin (Fig. 1). Strain K93-5305 was isolated from a soil sample collected at Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan. The spores and mycelia of this strain were inoculated into test tubes (i.d. 2.0x20cm) containing 10ml of a seed


Phase change materials (PCMs) have been widely used for passive thermal management and energy storage due to the high latent heat capacity near phase transition points. However, the low thermal conductivity and leakage issue are two long-standing bottlenecks in PCM-based heat-related applications. Although the state of the art can address one or both of these issues by synthesizing phase change composites (PCCs), it remains challenging to achieve high-performance PCCs with simultaneously superior thermal and mechanical properties and phase change behaviors. In this work, a new method is reported to prepare highly thermally conductive, flexible and leakage-proof PCCs by constructing dual polymer and graphite nanoplatelet networks as the functional matrix of PCMs. In the composites, paraffin wax serves as the PCM, the macromolecular olefin block copolymer (OBC) forms a cross-linked polymer network to enclose the molten PCM and endow the composite film with flexibility, and expanded graphite (EG) with a long-chain structure forms an aligned and interconnected graphite nanoplatelet percolation network to enable the high thermal conductivity of PCCs. The radial thermal conductivities reach 4.2–32.8 W m−1 K−1 at EG loadings of 5–40 wt%. The resultant flexible composite film shows efficient and reliable thermal management performance by lowering the working temperature of a commercial lithium-ion battery by more than 12 °C at high discharge rates. Our work provides an efficient and cost-effective route to synthesizing high-performance PCCs for various heat-related applications including the thermal harvesting of renewable energy, building energy management, thermal management of electronics, etc.


Recently a 31-year-old healthy man was referred to the University Hospital of Leyden for surgical removal of a 5 month old tumor at the edge of the left jaw. Carotid angiography performed elsewhere, indicared possible chemodectoma, with which we agreed (Fig. 2). On admittance the physical examination confirrned the tumor at the edge of the lefr jaw, freely movable from rhe substratum, firm, elastic and non-pulsating. Souffles were not found; further physical examination showed no other abnormalities. The family history revealed a tumor in the neck of both his farher and his brother. Endocrinological, neurological and E.N.T. examinations proved negative, nor were any laboratory findings abnormal. On routine chest-films a spherical shadow with a diameter of about 5 cm was seen, projecting paravertebrally on the right side at the level of Th. 5 (Fig. 1). From tomography this tumor appeared sniooth siirfaced and unconnected to the vertebral column. Thoracic and abdominal aortography showed the only abnormal vascularizat~on ro be of the thoracic paravertebral tumor. No other tiimors were found. The details of the vascularization of the tumor were visualized by selective angiography of the sixth right intercostal artery. The supplying artery was slightly enlarged and in rhe tumor a reticle of vessels was evident with a non-homogeneous staining in the capillary phase (Fig. 3). These findings correlated with the diagnosis chemodectoma (1, 2). Both tuinors were rcmoved nr one operatioii. Microscopy of tlie specimens demonstrared an alveolar Pattern of round to oval celles with minute nucleus polymorphy. Areas of these cells were encapsulnred in a network of vesscls. No infiltration of the capsule or initoses was seen. Conclusion of the microscopy: chemodectoma, histologicnlly nonmalignant. Electron-microscopy confirmed the diagnosis.


The SI unit of temperature will soon be redefined in terms of a fixed value of the Boltzmann constant k derived from an ensemble of measurements worldwide. We report on a new determination of k using acoustic thermometry of helium-4 gas in a 3 l volume quasi-spherical resonator. The method is based on the accurate determination of acoustic and microwave resonances to measure the speed of sound at different pressures. We find for the universal gas constant R  =  8.314 4614(50) J·mol−1·K−1. Using the current best available value of the Avogadro constant, we obtain k  =  1.380 648 78(83)  ×  10−23 J·K−1 with u(k)/k  =  0.60  ×  10−6, where the uncertainty u is one standard uncertainty corresponding to a 68% confidence level. This value is consistent with our previous determinations and with that of the 2014 CODATA adjustment of the fundamental constants (Mohr et al 2016 Rev. Mod. Phys. 88 035009), within the standard uncertainties. We combined the present values of k and u(k) with earlier values that were measured at LNE. Assuming the maximum possible correlations between the measurements, (kpresent/〈k〉  −  1)  =  0.07  ×  10−6 and the combined ur(k) is reduced to 0.56  ×  10−6. Assuming minimum correlations, (kpresent/〈k〉  −  1)  =  0.10  ×  10−6 and the combined ur(k) is reduced to 0.48  ×  10−6.


Much recent research is devoted to exploring tradeoffs between computational accuracy and energy efficiency at different levels of the system stack. Approximation at the floating point unit (FPU) allows saving energy by simply reducing the number of computed floating point bits in return for accuracy loss. Although, finding the most energy efficient approximation for various applications with minimal effort is the main challenge. To address this issue, we propose NEAT: a pin tool that helps users automatically explore the accuracy-energy tradeoff space induced by various floating point implementations. NEAT helps programmers explore the effects of simultaneously using multiple floating point implementations to achieve the lowest energy consumption for an accuracy constraint or vice versa. NEAT accepts one or more user-defined floating point implementations and programmable placement rules for where/when to apply them. NEAT then automatically replaces floating point operations with different implementations based on the user-specified rules during the runtime and explores the resulting tradeoff space to find the best use of approximate floating point implementations for the precision tuning throughout the program. We evaluate NEAT by enforcing combinations of 24/53 different floating point implementations with three sets of placement rules on a wide range of benchmarks. We find that heuristic precision tuning at the function level provides up to 22% and 48% energy savings at 1% and 10% accuracy loss comparing to applying a single implementation for the whole application. Also, NEAT is applicable to neural networks where it finds the optimal precision level for each layer considering an accuracy target for the model.


In the greenfield development process, one of the key questions that needs to be answered is, "What is the range of EUR for a particular development concept and the associated completion method based on the existing range of subsurface uncertainties?" The key challenge then is how can the team forecast a representative range of EUR efficiently to obtain a range of results that represent a probabilistic outcome.
 During the reservoir modelling process of this case study, a total of 405 static realizations had been run and then a STOIIP S-curve was generated. In the next step, 20 cases each of "High, Mid and Low" static models were selected based on the S-curve distribution for the next phase of dynamic simulation due to time and resources constraint. In terms of completion, the same development concept and completion method is assumed, where each dynamic case requires 8 horizontal producing wells with 200 metres of completion interval. Wells placement aside, each of the 60 dynamic models should not have the same fixed perforation depths and intervals due to the geological uncertainties with regards to facies distribution and they need to be selected based on the well effective k-h and hydrocarbon saturation along each well trajectory. Manual work could be used to analyse the best intervals for each of the planned wells, or in this case, this laborious process was replaced with an automated selection of the optimum completion interval workflow using Python script.
 This paper will show the workflow of how a scripted Python code is designed to provide an "automated moving window" to find the best intervals along a well trajectory. This workflow was executed in the pre-processor of the dynamic simulator which has a workflow window with Python-embedded capability. The Python code then generated the simulation keyword COMPDATMD, which contained the best perforation intervals for all the wells as an output. This automated workflow resulted in an optimization of the completion intervals in all the 60 dynamic model cases, while the ultimate recovery for this greenfield development in Peninsula Malaysia increased by 30% compared to EUR from previously "unoptimized runs". This approach is managed to cut down the run preparation time by at least two weeks compared to the manual solution. The improved range of EUR is also considered as a more representative outcome of the field development evaluation.
 Utilizing emerging technology breakthrough such as ability to customize specific features via a programming language is important towards a successful era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The results of this automated and customized workflow automation demonstrate a successful application of using machine learning for enhanced problem-solving in reservoir simulation.


Trauma is the leading cause of disability and mortality among children admitted to the emergency departments (EDs). Unfortunately, in developed countries, trauma is accounting for approximately 1/3 of all deaths in children (1,2). Prompt diagnosis and treatment in ED is warranted for accomplished outcomes; but defining risk factors is also essential to prevent the undesirable outcomes of trauma among children. The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics of Syrian immigrant children admitted to the ED with trauma with respect to their frequency, socio-demographic characteristics such as living conditions, education of family, not to going to go to kinder-garden and corresponding high-risk injury.


We focus on the stochastic description of stock price dynamics and concentrate on the Heston and Hull–White models. We derive the stationary probability density distribution of the variance of both models in the case of the zero correlation coefficient. These distributions are used to calculate solutions for the logarithmic returns of the stock price for short time lags. Furthermore, we compare the received results with numerical simulations. In addition, we apply the solutions of both models to tick-by-tick German Dax data. The data are from May 1996 to December 2001. We use the probability density distributions of the logarithmic returns calculated from the data and fit them to the theoretical distributions.


Abstract We derive the flow coupled switching equations for a chiral smectic C (Sm C*) liquid crystal device in a tilted layer geometry, using the established continuum theory. The effects on director profile of switching with and without flow coupled reorientation are considered for bipolar pulses. The predictions of reorientation are compared with experimental data for the optical response of a device.


Cultured soil bacteria have been an important source of biologically active, naturally occurring small molecules. Uncultured soil bacteria, which outnumber their cultured counterparts by at least two orders of magnitude, are likely to be an equally important source of such molecules. In an attempt to access the biosynthetic potential of uncultured soil bacteria, we have explored an approach that involves the cloning and heterologous expression of DNA extracted directly from environmental samples (environmental DNA, eDNA) into readily cultured bacteria. Earlier, we described the identification and characterization of small-molecule antibiotics from antibacterially active eDNA clones found using a high-throughput phenotypic screen. This approach directly couples the biosynthesis of each natural product that is found to a relatively small piece of cloned eDNA and therefore permits the characterization of both new natural products and their biosynthetic gene clusters simultaneously. Herein, we report the isolation and characterization of the isocyanide-containing eDNA-derived antibiotic 1, its biosynthetic genes (isnA and isnB), the origin of the isocyanide nitrogen atom, and the general outline of the biosynthesis of 1. CSLG18, the eDNA clone that produces 1, was found in a cosmid library constructed from blunt-ended gel-purified high-molecular-weight eDNA extracted directly from soil collected in Boston (MA, USA). The cosmid library was screened for antibacterially active clones by using a top agar overlay which contained Bacillus subtilis. Clones that produced a zone of growth inhibition in the overlayed B. subtilis lawn were recovered from the assay plates and tested for the production of extractable organic antibacterial activities. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the antibacterially active extract in ethyl acetate from cultures of CSLG18 led to the isolation of 1, an isocyanide-functionalized C3-substituted indole. The indole and trans olefin were readily inferred from standard 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic experiments. The triplet resonance observed at Dd= 107.4 ppm in the C NMR spectrum suggested the presence of the isocyanide functionality as C–N coupling between the nitrogen atom and the adjacent carbon atom of the isocyanide group results in a triplet resonance for the carbon atoms, which is a hallmark of this functional group. The proposed structure of 1 was subsequently confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (Figure 1). Although the cis isomer of 1 has been obtained from cultured bacteria, to the best of our knowledge 1 has never been reported as a natural product.


Bridge faults are caused by permanent circuit failures which result in two signal wires in a logic network becoming accidentally shorted. Such faults cannot be modeled as stuck-at faults. Some of them have the effect of transforming a combinational logic circuit into a sequential circuit.


This article presents a numeric comparative study of the inelastic structural response of base isolated buildings. The comparative study includes the following isolation systems: laminated rubber bearings, New Zealand one, pure friction and the frictional pendulum ones. The study is based on obtaining non‐linear response spectra for various design parameters using six earthquake records. Usually the base isolation of a new building seeks to maintain the structure in the linear elastic range. The response of old weak buildings or the response of new ones subjected to extreme earthquakes may not be, necessarily, in the aforementioned ideal elastic range. Consequently, it is important to characterize the response of isolated buildings responding inelastically. A conclusion from this research is that the isolators affect significantly the structural response of weak systems. Rubber isolators seem slightly less sensitive to plastification that may occur in the structure compared to friction isolators. Ductility demands in the structure are affected significantly by friction and neoprene protected systems, in particular sliding ones where larger demands are obtained. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Cytologic features of the fine needle aspiration of metastatic epithelioid sarcoma are presented. The patient was a 48 year-old male who had been sufferring from recurrent and metastatic tumors of the right upper extremity for 6 years. The aspirate from the axillary mass cytologically consisted of isolated large polygonal cells with abundant, cyanophilic, slightly granular cytoplasm. Eccentrically located large round nuclei showed finely dispersed chromatin, small nucleoli, occasional convolution and folding of nuclear membrane, and frequent binucleation. Although both histologic and cytologic similarity of epithelioid sarcoma to squamous cell carcinoma is well known, findings of cyanophilic granular cytoplasm, convoluted nuclei, and binucleation appeared to be the differential points.


Background: Pemphigus is a potentially life‐threatening autoimmune blistering skin disease usually treated with high‐dose corticosteroids in combination with immunosuppressive drugs. In a multicenter, prospectively randomized study we compared efficacy and side effects of a dexamethasone‐cyclophosphamide (D/C) pulse therapy with a methylprednisolone‐azathioprine (M/A) therapy in 22 patients with newly diagnosed pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus.


AIM: Trees need to avoid frost damage to their young leaves by leafing out after the occurrence of the last frost, yet they also need to start photosynthesis early in the season to achieve sufficient growth. This trade‐off leads to the hypothesis that 'safety margins' against spring frost should become shorter, the longer the winter duration, perhaps reaching an asymptotic limit where frost damage would occur in most years. Physiologically, shorter safety margins in high‐latitude ecotypes might be achieved by lower degree‐day requirements for leaf‐out, compared to low‐latitude ecotypes. LOCATION: Europe. TIME PERIOD: 1902–2009. MAJOR TAXA STUDIED: Temperate trees. METHODS: Using herbarium collections of Acer platanoides, Carpinus betulus, Fagus sylvatica and Prunus spinosa made over 108 years at 40° to 60° N latitude, we related historic leaf‐out dates to winter and spring temperatures (chilling and degree‐days), winter duration, and date of last frost occurrence in the relevant years and locations. RESULTS: In all species, frost safety margins decreased towards high‐latitude regions with long winters, with each day increase in winter duration reducing frost safety margins by 0.48 days in Fagus and 0.32–0.21 days in Prunus, Acer and Carpinus. These latitudinal differences correlate with northern ecotypes' shorter degree‐day requirements for leaf‐out. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: The decline in spring frost safety margins in regions with long winters supports the new hypothesis that species may reach their geographic range limit where they 'bump up' against experiencing regular frost injury to their young leaves. Larger datasets are necessary to further corroborate our hypothesis and future efforts should thus be directed toward increasing the latitudinal range of existing phenological databases.