Following the dwindled academic performance of first-year undergraduate students in the universities as observed by the researchers and confirmed by the literature, the study problematised Supplemental Instruction (SI) mechanism as a tool to enhance students' performance. Supplemental Instruction, according to this study, is the kind of supplementary academic supports rendered to students to enhance their performance.  In order to achieve this, this study explored the challenges with the use of Supplemental Instruction along with the possible solutions to the problems. Social constructivism was used to theorise the study. Participatory Research (PR) was adopted as a methodology for the study because it involved the coming together of the concerned people to participate in problem definition, problem assessment, implementation, and evaluation. Unstructured interviews were used to generate data from the participants who were facilitators and students as co-researchers with the use of audiotape recorder. The participants for the study included first-year students at the selected university, the SI coordinator, two tutors for various modules and their lecturers.  Thematic analysis was adopted to categorise, interpret, and analyse the generated data because it involved the reflection of categorised objectives. The study found out among others that; inadequate planning and lack of collaborative engagement were the major challenges while training and retraining of SI personnel and collaborative engagement were the suggestible solutions to ameliorate the problems. However, the study, in its conclusion, significantly enhances the university's reputation and increases the quality of its outputs in terms of students' academic performance through the use of SI. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.5.13


Recently, hydrogen storage and transportation are being studied all over the world as the key technology to establish clean and renewable energy systems for a sustainable society. In the case of an on−board application for a vehicle, hydrogen should be stored in a compact, light, safe, and reasonable vessel. Hydrogen storage materials can safely store higher density of hydrogen compared to the gaseous and liquid hydrogen storage systems. Therefore, the systems using hydrogen storage materials are considered as the most suitable technique (Akiba, 1999, Grochala & Edwards, 2004, Sandrock, 1999, Schlapbach & Zuttel, 2001, Zuttel, 2007). Particularly, much attention has been paid to materials based on the light elements because these materials are expected to realize high gravimetric and volumetric densities of hydrogen (Orimo & Nakamori et al., 2007, Schuth & Bogdanovic et al., 2004, Zuttel, 2004). Carbon is one of the attractive light elements because of abundant resource and low cost. Therefore, a lot of carbon based materials have been investigated as a hydrogen storage material since Dillon et al. reported on single−walled carbon nano−tubes in 1997 (Dillon & Jones et al., 1997). Among the carbon based materials, the hydrogenated nano−structural graphite (CnanoHx) can stably store large amount of hydrogen. The hydrogen ab/desorption properties of CnanoHx have been investigated so far (Chen et al., 2003, Ichikawa et al., 2004, Majer et al., 2003, Miyaoka et al., 2010, Orimo et al., 1999, Orimo et al., 2001, Stanik et al., 2005). CnanoHx is synthesized from graphite by ball−milling method under hydrogen atmosphere. With respect to the hydrogen absorption site in this product, the hydrogen atoms are chemisorbed as the stable C−H bonds at the graphene edges and defects induced by ball−milling (Fukunaga & Itoh et al., 2004, Itoh & Miyahara et al., 2003, Ogita & Yamamoto et al., 2004, Smith & Miyaoka et al., 2009). On the other hand, this product needs a high temperature of more than 700 °C to release the hydrogen, and desorbs a considerable amount of hydrocarbons, such as methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6), together with hydrogen. Furthermore, it is quite difficult to recharge this product with hydrogen under moderate conditions of pressure and temperature for the on−board application. In order to improve the hydrogen absorption and desorption properties of CnanoHx, Ichikawa et al. have paid attention to the chemical reaction between NH3 and LiH, which is one of the elementary reactions in the Li−N−H system (Ichikawa & Hanada et al., 2004). This reaction proceeds even at room temperature and the hydrogen is released, indicating that the stable ionic crystal of LiH is


OBJECTIVE This work evaluaties diversity of retrograde perfusion (RP) with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) for protection of vital organs in operation for aortic dissection. METHODS Surgical Treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysm with DHCA on thirty five cases from January 2000 to October 2002. Twenty seven were male and female eight cases, ages ranged from twenty seven to seventy one years with the mean of 42.3 years. The perfusion in accordance with different operation was by total body retrograde perfusion (TBRP) in nine cases and superior vena cava retrograde cerebral perfusion (SVC RCP) in twenty one cases and superior with inferior vena cava retrograde perfusion (SIVC RCP) in five cases. Vital organ protection was evaluated. RESULTS The duration of cardiopulmonary bypass ranged from 97 to 286 minutes, DHCA time ranged from 18 to 56 minutes, retrograde perfusion time ranged from 18 to 53 minutes. Cardiac spontaneous defibrillation in 35 cases occured at temperature 28 to 30℃. No operative death, respiratory insufficiency occurred in 1 case. No psychosis and cerebral complication occured. No paralysis and kidney failure. CONCLUSIONS The adoption diversity retrograde perfusion with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest is safe and effective in vital organ protection, safe DHCA time is protracted.


[Abstract] This article probes into a new comprehensive teaching pattern of practicing professional knowledge, English learning and computer skills. It introduces the Virtual Policing in English (VPIE) program for students of a police academy to simulate real police work on the Internet. The VPIE program employed the concept of Virtual Enterprise (VE). By comparison of VE and study of current circumstances in police academies, the article expounds on the components and activities of VPIE, concluding that it's feasible and advantageous to apply VPIE in police academy teaching. [Keywords] Virtual policing in English (VPIE); internet-based simulation; Virtual Enterprise; VE; policy academy training model Introduction Virtual Policing in English (VPIE) is a technology-driven policing simulation English program in which students of police academies conceive, develop and manage police organizations that fulfill their duties and services on a global basis utilizing English and various web-based technologies. The inspiration of VPIE came from the concept of Virtual Enterprise (VE), which has a venerable educational history and background and dates back to at least the 17th century. Scholars or organizations provide various VE definitions. I found the definition provided by the Institute for Virtual Enterprise is the most closest to the VIPE program. "A Virtual Enterprise (VE) is a program of study which requires students to learn and apply concepts of business through a reality-based simulation of an actual business." The VE movement has taken on global proportions during the past decade with more than 2,800 Virtual Enterprises in Europe, America and Asia. Nowadays, all the police academies in China have online computer classrooms and multimedia online sound labs for English teaching. Moreover, the promotion of English learning based on computers has been set as the reform objectives by the Ministry of Education of China in 2007. As for the software, most of the college English textbooks now present viewing, listening and speaking materials in which students can view English learning programs and play roles to practice English, and most of the universities in China are adopting online English learning platforms through which students can study English on multimedia disks and the Internet. Roles of VPIE The ultimate goal of English learning pattern reform is to promote the comprehensive ability of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating. To improve the practical application ability of English, most police academies have set up English courses for corresponding majors, but the teaching material is limited to textbooks only. Every police academy student must intern approximately a half year in the different police organizations before he\she graduates. But the student has no opportunity to experience real police work while he\she is studying except during summer or winter vacations. Some of the needed skills can be trained under simulated circumstances, like the police documents writing and communication skills with foreigners. The application of VPIE can train these two abilities simultaneously. Students often do not see the connection between what they are learning and why they should learn it. Created to bridge the gulf between the classroom and the workplace, VPIE provides police academy students with the necessary skills and experience needed to become readily employable in today's police organs of different level. Using this approach, no matter when the student chooses to enter the work force, he or she will have a sense of what that real world is all about, and be better positioned to succeed. These students will be given a level of responsibility higher than what would be given through an internship or apprenticeship, as well as the assurance that mistakes will not end their careers, but provide a valuable learning opportunity. Although the organization (VPIE) is virtual, the skills acquired are real, because the simulations are based on real-world problems. …


ENDOCRINOLOGICAL STUDY OF PROSTATIC CARCINOMA : EFFECTS OF ANTI-ANDROGENIC TREATMENTS ON URINARY 17-KETOSTEROID AND ITS FRACTIONATION Kinya Nakano From the Department of Urology, Niigata University School of Medicine (Director: Prof. H. Takayasu) Daily outputs of urinary 17-ketosteroid and its fractionation were determined on sixteen cases of prostatic carcinoma. changes of 17-KS and its fractionation were investigated in course of several kinds of the antiandrogenic treatments. Tie results are as follows (1) Levels of urinary 17-KS in 12 cases of untreated prostatic carcinoma and in 5 cases of prostatic hypertrophy were within normal limits. Increased outputs of 17-KS were observed in some patients with prostatic arcinoma, but they were statistically insignificant. No significant differences were found between normal adults, cases of prostatic arcinoma and cases of prostatic hypertrophy. (2) Following total prostatectomy which was done on 2 cases urinary 17-KS outputs were decreased for the first 2-3 days but the preoperative levels were regained on the 4th day. Thereafter the level was unchanged in one, another the level decreased again. In 17-KS fractionation a case


SiC/SiC composite has been regarded as a candidate for the construction material for future fusion reactors because of its high temperature stability and low activation. Typical fabrication processes for the SiC/SiC composites are chemical vapor infiltration (CVI), precursor impregnation and pyrolysis (PIP), hot pressing (HP), reaction sintering (RS) and their hybrid processes. The reaction sintering process realizes full density and near net shape capabilities of the large and complex shape parts. However, the residual silicon phase is retained in the RS-SiC matrix during the reaction-sintering process, and could affect the radiation response and creep behavior. The processing approach to reduce residual silicon phase and the effect of raw material composition (C/SiC) as well as the size on the residual silicon content in final material is presented.


ABSTRACf Simulation modelling is a general purpose tool that may be used to provide decision support in a number of application areas. It may be used to analyze, design or "optimize" manufacturing, materials handling, management, commercial and a wide variety of other systems. This paper will report on the design of a prototype decision support tool, based on a simulation model of a vehicle fleet availability problem. The primary purpose of the model is to serve as a tool for the evaluation of the availability of equipment under different conditions and to perform sensitivity analysis.


We prove new relations on zeta function at even arguments and Dirichlet L function at odd. The key idea is to make use of Taylor series and partial fraction decomposition of cotangent and secant functions as we discuss in calculus and complex analysis.


Treatment of anhydrous YbCl3 with LiN(SiMe3)2 followed by reaction with 1 equivalent of 1,1,3,3,5,5-hexaphenyl-1,3,5-trisiloxanediol afforded the first mono(trisiloxanediolate) complex of a rare earth element. The compound [Ph2Si(OSiPh2O)2]Yb(THF)(μ-Cl)3Li2(THF)3 (1) was isolated in the form of colorless crystals in very high yield (93%). A single-crystal X-ray diffraction study confirmed the presence of an eight-membered inorganic ring system containing ytterbium. Coordination of one THF ligand and retention of two equivalents of lithium chloride lead to formation of an "ate" complex.


The pulsed plasma thruster (PPT), has attracted attention again as a micro thruster because of its compactness, lightweight and comparatively low power consumption. On the other hand, for a conventional Teflon PPT, propellant utilization efficiency is relatively low among electric propulsion device because the propellant originated from late-time ablation produces negligible thrust. The liquid propellant PPT (LP-PPT), where water or ethanol was fed with an injector, was proposed to overcome the difficulties. Thrust measurement has shown that LP-PPT provided higher specific impulses than the conventional PPT. However, water requires temperature management for propellant storage owing to relatively high freezing point. Moreover, even if ethanol, which has sufficiently low freezing point, was used as propellant, pressurant is necessary as well as water because the vapor pressures are deficient for self-pressurization. In this study, we have proposed to use dimethyl ether (DME) as propellant. DME, which has a freezing point of 131 K at 1 atm and a vapor pressure of 6 atm at 298 K, is storable in tanks as a liquid and requires no feeding pressurant. We have designed a DME pulsed plasma thruster to evaluate the performance. Thrust measurement yielded a specific impulse of 430 s for coaxial type at a capacitor stored energy of 13 J.


This brief commentary reports on a study (Videla and Gaedicke, 2004) that focused on Portland blast-furnace slag cement high performance concrete (HPC), with specified 28-day compressive strengths of 60-110 MPa. The study showed it is possible to develop a general compressive strength model combining a hyperbolic equation for strength evolution and an exponential equation for mixture design parameters. In this commentary, Luther contends that the major cementitious component used in the study could not have been an ASTM C 595 Type IS Portland blast-furnace slag cement. Type IS cement, by definition, contains from 25 to 75% slag. The major-component cement used in the study was reported as containing 20% slag. A brief author's closure is appended to this commentary. In the closure, the authors reiterate that the cement used in the study was blended cement with a slag content of 20%. The authors agree with the commentary author that the cement used in the study should have been called slag-modified Portland cement, Type I (SM), according to ASTM C 595.


The formation of the renewed FRS monetary policy model during two first decades of 21st century is considered in the article. The interest rate managing policy is estimated as a tool again inflation. The destination of low interest rates policy is exclaimed as a tool of choice for financial investments in stock market instead of banks. The mechanism of Quantity Easing is described. Dodd-Frank Act is mentioned as a tool of banking regulation. Attention is attracted to the FRS struggle against LIBOR as a popular rate in world financial market. Attention is attracted to problems of money theory important for FRS successful work.


Urban agglomeration plays an important role in China's urbanization pattern, and it is also the main population inflow place in the period of rapid urbanization. This paper focuses on the five urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and Chengdu-Chongqing. Using the census and dynamic monitoring survey data of floating population, this paper analyzes the spatial pattern of population inflow in urban agglomerations from the multi-dimensional aspects of inflow population distribution pattern, flow range and source, and discusses the development trend of spatial pattern and its impact on inflow and outflow from the perspective of spatial differences in residence and settlement willingness. The study found that the inflow population of urban agglomerations continued to concentrate in the key cities, and the level and spatial distribution pattern were generally stable; the scope of flow has been expanded, and the growth rate of flow within the province is generally higher than that between provinces; the population attraction range of coastal urban agglomeration is large, but it still obeys the law of distance attenuation. There are differences in the preference of urban agglomeration from different oringins. In the inflow area, the key cities of coastal urban agglomerations face the continuous challenge of floating population management services, and the attraction of key cities and general cities of inland urban agglomerations coexist; in the outflow areas, the equal and open supply of high-quality public services is an important way to attract population return, and the population loss in a few areas may become a long-term phenomenon.


Consumer Law refers to social, political, economic, cultural and technological transformations that our societies have undergone and experienced as a consequence of the consolidation of the consumption society. Consumption as a social practice arises together with modern society, providing individuals ways of distinguishing each other from other groups of different social levels. The society of consumers refers to consumer satisfaction in the most basic and superficial ways. The effects of the "society of consumers" put consumers in a situation of structural vulnerability in their relationships with suppliers of goods and services. That is the reason why Consumer Law emerges as a system of principles of public order, constitutional source, with a third-generation perspective of human rights, transversal, essentially protective of consumers and users in consumer relations.


The invention relates to a process for producing cyclopropanecarbaldehyde of formula (I) comprising: a) halogenating a tetrahydrofuran formula (II) to obtain a 1, 2, 4 TRIHALOGENOBUTILETER of formula (III); B) treating the compound of formula (III) with a solution bisulfite TO PRODUCE A bisulfite adduct of formula (IV) and c) reacting the compound of formula (IV) with a thiolate of formula (V), in the presence of BASE FOR cyclizing the compound of formula (IV) and get a cyclopropanecarbaldehyde of formula (I); DESCRIBE method steps A), B) and c) and combinations of steps A) + B) YB) + C) AND IS NEW Intermediates of formula (III) and (IV). BEING; R1 C1 to 4 or benzyl; R (squared) C1 to 10, cycloalkoxy C3 to 6 REPLACED THROUGH halogen, C1 to 4 O C1 to 4 or phenyl or benzyl, SUBTITUIDOS THROUGH halogen, C1 to 4 alkoxy C1 to 4, nitro, cyano; X halogen; And one equivalent of a cation or alkaline ION YZ IV.


The MLLA single inclusive distribution inside one high energy (gluon) jet at small x is estimated by the steepest descent method. Its analytical expression is obtained outside the ``limiting spectrum''. It is then used to evaluate 2-particle correlations at the same level of generality. The dependence of both observables on the ratio between the infrared cutoff Q0 and ΛQCD is studied. Fong & Webber's results for correlations are recovered at the limits when this ratio goes to 1 and when one stays close to the peak of the single inclusive distribution.


The paper considers the full-range (FR) model of cellular neural networks (CNNs) with ideal hard-limiter non-linearities that limit the allowable range of the neuron state variables. It is also supposed that there is a concentrated delay (D) in the neuron interconnections. Due to the presence of multivalued nonlinearities the D-FRCNN model is mathematically described by a retarded differential inclusion. The main result is a rigorous proof that, in the case of nonsymmetric cooperative (nonnegative) interconnections, and delayed interconnections, the semiflow generated by D-FRCNNs is monotone, and that monotonicity implies some basic restrictions on the long-term behavior of the solutions. The result is compared with recent results in the literature on semiflows generated by cooperative standard CNNs, with and without delays.


Arm-manipulator coordination is a new and attractive use of robotic manipulators in unstructured environments. In this paper, we propose a reflexive motion control as a coordination mechanism for the manipulator to share the load with the arm. Reflexive motion is an inspiration of biological systems. The motion is formulated in a manner which assists the manipulator to comprehend the intention of the human arm. It reduces the strain on the arm which is due to the weight of the object. In addition, the speed of manipulation on the object is improved significantly. The effects of the reflexive behavior on stability and load sharing of the system are investigated. Experimental results are presented to prove the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.


The 'departmental' select committees of the Commons established from 1979 onwards are often represented as a radical and distinctive departure in the history of parliamentary scrutiny, and a clear improvement on the arrangements of previous decades. The article argues that this view needs to be revised, in light of a substantial shift in thinking about select committee scrutiny from the 1960s. Whereas select committees in 1960 were seen as primarily restricted to financial matters, politicians and others later began successfully to promote committee interventions in wider questions of policy and administration. The introduction of departmental committees should therefore be seen as part of a broader long-term process of committee development.


This chapter presents a critical discussion of the symbiosis between media and politics in Israel. Theoretically, the Israeli media operate in a pluralistic, democratic, and advanced sociopolitical climate, but in fact most of the media suffer from fragmentation, economic instability, and heavy political pressures. These elements are reflected, for example, in homogeneous news supply, massive cross-ownership, and recently by increasing governmental intervention. These elements have rapidly invaded social and online media as well. The first section of this chapter offers an overview of the structural, political, and economic characteristics of the Israeli news media. The second part outlines characteristics of the Israeli media coverage of political news, election campaigns, and political satire, such as framing, mediatization, negativity, personalization, and political bias.


Everyone agrees that fire has played an important part in the history of the genus Homo. However, because of the sometimes ephemeral and ambiguous nature of the evidence for fire in the Paleolithic record, establishing when and how hominins actively interacted with fire has been difficult. Over the past several decades, multiple techniques have been developed and employed in the search for the origins of human use of fire. Because fire is a natural phenomenon, the identification of burned remains at an archaeological site is generally not considered to be, on its own, convincing evidence for human use of fire. Rather, much of the difficulty of identifying early evidence for fire use has hinged on the question of how to establish a more direct link between burned materials and human activity. Here, we advocate for an approach to the investigation of the history of hominin use of fire that emphasizes an integration of multiple techniques. In particular, we argue that a contextualized study conducted at the microscopic scale—what we call a microcontextual approach—shows the most promise for establishing a behavioral connection between hominins and fire in the archaeological record.


Abstract We present a new determination of the solar nitrogen abundance making use of 3D hydrodynamical modelling of the solar photosphere, which is more physically motivated than traditional static 1D models. We selected suitable atomic spectral lines, relying on equivalent width measurements already existing in the literature. For atmospheric modelling we used the co 5 bold 3D radiation hydrodynamics code. We investigated the influence of both deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE effects) and photospheric inhomogeneities (granulation effects) on the resulting abundance. We also compared several atlases of solar flux and centre-disc intensity presently available. As a result of our analysis, the photospheric solar nitrogen abundance is A(N) = 7.86 ± 0.12.


Strengthen the Basic Work of Accounting, Improve the Standard and Standardization Level Wei Liu China Railway Shanghai Bureau Group Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 200071, China Abstract Combined with the current management system of China's housing construction enterprises, in order to further improve the development strength and operation quality of the overall enterprise, it must be established from the perspective of capital cost to implement comprehensive control, so the importance of the accounting work itself has been highlighted, and at the same time, it also needs to conduct standardization and standardization construction. The paper conducts research from the perspective of basic accounting work, analyzes the importance of implementing basic accounting work management to the development of the enterprise, establishes it from the perspective of housing construction, and conducts a comprehensive analysis from the perspectives of management concepts, collaborative optimization, and innovation systems, aims to further strengthen the quality of the basic work of housing construction finance and accounting, and lay a good economic benefit foundation for the development of enterprises and projects.


What can life stories reveal about political dissenters who were once on the margins but have moved centrewards? This journey is one that many activist autobiographers have taken, from the academic Karla Jay (formerly in the lesbian rights group Lavender Menace) to the spectacular example of President Obama after writing his memoir Dreams From My Father. Do life stories help us to understand patterns of dissent and consent? Can they indeed balance judgements about insiders, outsiders and traitors to the cause? I will argue that they can, particularly when illuminated by theories of social movement cycles and the life course. I will also reflect upon my own life story work with feminist 'veterans' to open a space for thinking about the subtle relation between consent and dissent, especially when we take the long view of activism by ageing and aged subjects.


Feedforward networks employing the backward propagating delta rule for error correction were tested utilizing simulated target signatures and noise to provide insight into the network learning process. Network training histories and weight evolutions were studied for alternating signal and noise input vectors for two network architectures. Contour plots of the input‐to‐hidden layer weights clearly indicate the relationship between the evolving features of the network weights as they respond to the input signatures during the learning process. Singular value decomposition of the input‐to‐hidden layer transfer matrix provides insight into the similarities of a trained neural network and a classical matched filter.


Abstract Social-distance policy of most governments and the pandemic impact of corona virus (COVID-19) on human health are expected to shutter international investment and business environment. However, there is little or no study to show the early empirical evidence on this relationship, most especially its impacts on FDI flows in the economies. This note provides a preliminary evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on FDI outflows. Our data cover cross-sectional first quarter, average data; between 1 January – 31 March, 2020 from 43 countries. Using Ordinary least square (OLS) and Quantile regressions, we document that there is a positive relationship between COVID-19 confirmed cases and FDI outflows. In addition, there is a positive impact of COVID-19 related confirmed deaths on FDI outflows across all quartiles estimations. This means that COVID-19 pandemic fuels the foreign direct investment outflows. The major causes could be the reduction in the ability of firms to invest due to a shortage in the number of skilled employees because they care for their health safety, a decline in corporate profits and increase in cost of finance. In addition, the propensities to invest have been widely affected negatively in most economies. These factors also become obvious when most economies experience a very high level of risk perception in financial market.


This proceeding demonstrates a calibration procedure for a light sectioning sensor consisting of a line laser and a miniaturized "NanEye2D" camera. The main focus of the proposed calibration method lies in its applicability for sensors with different, object-specific illumination optics. Therefore, after a thorough photogrammetric characterization, the camera is used as a calibration tool for the whole sensor system. A complete calibration is shown and quantitatively assessed.


The use of automated accounting programs in agricultural enterprises makes it possible to ensure the efficiency of accounting of business operations occurring at the enterprise. The speed of registration of business transactions depends on how quickly the primary accounting documentation is processed by the employees of the accounting department of the enterprise. Traditional paper accounting documentation in operation creates certain difficulties for the enterprise associated with the costs of its delivery to the contractors of the enterprise and the need to store it for some time in accordance with current legislation. This causes the associated additional costs of the enterprise. One of the ways out of this situation, in our opinion, may be the reengineering of document management at an agricultural enterprise based on the use of an electronic document management system. Electronic document management makes it possible to make document management more transparent and significantly speed it up. The integration of an electronic document management system and an accounting program will improve the efficiency of accounting and management accounting at an agricultural enterprise.


The impact of climate change on the coastal zones of Taiwan not only affects the marine environment, ecology, and human communities whose economies rely heavily on marine activities, but also the sustainable development of national economics. The southwest coast is known as the area most vulnerable to climate change; therefore, this study aims to develop indicators to assess social vulnerability in this area of Taiwan using the three dimensions of susceptibility, resistance, and resilience. The modified Delphi method was used to develop nine criteria and 26 indexes in the evaluation, and the analytic hierarchy process method was employed to evaluate the weight of each indicator based on the perspectives of experts collected through questionnaire surveys. The results provide important information pertaining to the vulnerability of the most susceptive regions, the lowest-resistance areas, and the least resilient townships on the southwest coast. The most socially vulnerable areas are plotted based on the present analysis. Experts can consider the vulnerability map provided here when developing adaptation policies. It should be kept in mind that improving the capacities of resistance and resilience is more important than reducing susceptibility in Taiwan.


Highly transparent and conductive thin films ITO have been prepared on glass substrate using spray pyrolysis method. The ITO deposited at substrate temperature 4000 C their thickness was approximately (150 nm), and at different doping ratios(5,10,15,20) of Sn Wt.% annealed at ( 500-550 )0C for one hour . The structural, optical and electrical properties for all films were studied. X-ray diffraction data showed that all films have polycrystalline nature cubic for ITOwith major reflex along (222) plane .The absorbance and transmittance spectra data for the films were recorded at room temperature in the wavelength range (200-1100nm), which were used to determine the optical properties of the films. All films are highly transparent (greater than 91%) in visible region of electromagnetic spectrum, the direct band gap was in the range (3.6-3.88 ) eV.


Three new thiourea ligands (2-methyl-N-[(2-pyridine-2-yl-ethy)carbamothioyl] benzamide, 02; 4-methyl-N-[(4-methylpyridin-2-yl)carbamothioy]benzamide, P1; and 4-methyl-N-[(2-pyridine-2-yl-ethyl)carbamothioyl]benzamide, P2) were synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic and analytical techniques viz., NMR ('H and 1C), FTIR and elemental analysis. Molecular structure of three thiourea derivatives were established through single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. The ligands 02, P and P2 were immobilized using chloropropyltriethoxysilane (CPTES) as the anchoring agent onto rice husk ash (RHA).
The resultant catalysts were designated as RHACO2, RHACPI and RHACP2. Spectroscopic characterisation confirmed the successful immobilization of the organic ligands on the silica framework. The 2Si MAS NMR of RHACP1 and RHACP2 showed the presence of T', T, Q and Qwhile the T?, T, Qand Q were present in RHACO2. The C MAS NMR showed the chemical shifts of -CH:CHCH;-moiety. RHACO2 had chemical shifts at 24.97, 41.72 and 62.82 ppm while RHACP1 and RHACP2 had chemical shifts at 23.52, 40.17, 60.40 ppm, 26.68, 47.86 and 63.02 ppm respectively. The C MAS NMR demonstrated that all the catalysts have a series of chemical shifts which is compatible with the existence of pyridine ring and aromatic benzene ring. In this study, these catalysts have been used in the oxidation of limonene. The main product obtained was limonene epoxide (LO) with many side products. Limonene epoxide which is the principle compound would be vital as intermediates for organic synthesis for various uses such as in pharmaceutical products, food additives, and scents. Based on the optimum parameters, the order of the catalyst's reactivity was found to be: RHACP1> RHACO2> RHACP2. The higher steric effect of P2 seems to be the reasons for the low reactivity of RHACP2 compared to RHACP1. The yield of LO obtained for RHACO2, RHACP1 and RHACP2 were 40.02 %, 63.20 % and 25.65 % respectively. PI ligand was complexed with iron (1I). The potential to utilize iron in this chemical processes is due to its low cost and eco-friendlyness. The resulting metal complex was immobilized onto RHA silica to produce a new catalyst, RHACPIFe. It was characterized and used in the oxidation of limonene. The main product was limonene epoxide while the side products were limited only to carvone and carveol. It was found that the incorporation of the iron(11) resulted in the drastic reduction of the number of side products (carvone and carveol). The yield of LO was found to be 46.23 % with 69.00 % of limonene conversion and 67.00 % of LO selectivity. Filtration can be used to efficiently recover these catalysts. These catalysts are reused
for a minimum of three times without considerable loss in its catalytic action.


The experimental stand created is made for charging, testing and monitoring the processes that take place at a drone, in a static and also dynamic manner. On this platform we have developed, created and tested various kinds of sensors, and charging methods, rechargeable batteries, multicopper drones, automatically without disconnecting or disassembling them from the drones they serve. Also, at this level we fitted a flat zone, that is polarized where the drone will land, in a controlled manner and after a preliminary testing of polarity and of tension level, the charging will begin, as its parameters will carefully monitored.


American or Australian readers will not be surprised, at least at first glance, that a province should have kept a bicameral system for so long as Quebec since in their own country all but one of the states has a second legislative chamber. For other readers, and Canadians particularly, the survival of a Legislative Council poses a whole series of problems which, for the most part, are explained by the economic and social evolution of Quebec. Why has Quebec maintained an upper chamber for so long when the other Canadian provinces have never had one or have abolished it a long time ago? The facts here presented confirm on several counts the classical theories about bicameralism, and add to them certain points arising specifically from Quebec's unique socio-cultural context: the overrepresentation of privileged social classes, irrespective of partisan attachment; or the representation in the Legislative Council of the English-speaking minority whose spokesmen were, however, closely tied to the French-speaking members by a community of economic interests. It was during the last century that the Legislative Council exhibited most energy; it frequently interfered with the most progressive projects of the different Liberal governments. In the twentieth century, however, it was thought wiser to adapt itself to the changing mood, and it gradually became more self-effacing with respect to the elected chamber. Therefore its reasons for existence became doubtful as it either adopted without question all the proposals of the Legislative Assembly (and so provoked the accusation that it did nothing), or if it did object to anything in any way, it was accused of going against the wishes of the elected representatives of the people. Groups which had supported it finally decided that the council had become obsolete and their representatives have allied themselves with the enemies of the council to vote out of existence the last provincial upper chamber in Canada.


As the editors point out, since the first edition of this Book was published five years ago, the law of sport has continued to develop "significantly". They further comment as follows: "While sport may still not be more important than religion, for many it occupies more of their time and interest. As a result, sport continues to develop into an extremely valuable commercial sector." In fact, sport accounts for more than 3% of world trade and more than 2% of the combined GNP of the twenty-seven Member States of the European Union (EU). Thus, there is so much to play for both on and off the field of play. And this gives rise, therefore, to an ever increasing range of legal issues.


Introduction The disruption of minimal Self is believed to be a core element of Schizophrenia and intimately connected to a disruption of bodily self, which in turn leads to impairments in intersubjectivity dimension. Motor abnormalities have been associated to Schizophrenia since the early conceptualization of the disorder, as well as inefficient body-related multisensory integration processes are considered nowadays a plausible origin of disembodied Self. In particular, there is evidence for significant abnormalities in Peripersonal Space (PPS) extension in Schizophrenia patients. PPS is the plastic sector of space immediately surrounding our body, whose coherent representation is based on efficient body-related multisensory integration processes. With a specific experimental task based on multisensory integration processing, we estimated PPS size and PPS boundary's demarcation in 27 Schizophrenia patients, confirming a narrower PPS size and weaker bodily boundary in patients, thus paving the way for a deeper investigation of the mechanisms underlying the disruption of bodily self (Ferroni et al., Schziophr.Bull.2022, 5 1085-1093). We suggest that disembodiment might be responsible for the loss of the immediate linkage between Self and others ("intercorporeality"), so linking the disruption of the corporeal dimension to specific anomalies of intersubjectivity in Schizophrenia patients. Since language is one of the most important instrument through which intersubjectivity unfolds, it is intriguing to hypothesize a connection between language and multi-sensory processing. Objectives Therefore, the present study was aimed at investigating possible correlations between patients' motor impairments in multi-sensory integration processes and their alterations in language and communicative interactions. Methods Twenty-five outpatients were recruited in an experimental task investigating PPS extension; they were administered the Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language and Communication (TLC) and the Clinical Language Disorder Rating Scale (CLANG). Results Our data showed significant correlations between TLC and CLANG total scores and PPS size, with narrower PPS size for more severe formal thought disorders and higher language and communication impairments. Conclusions Our preliminary results seem to confirm the presence of a link between language impairment and multi-sensory processing, suggesting that bodily and linguistic disorganization may have a common origin which has yet to be explored in depth. Future research is needed to identify linguistic and motor endophenotypic patterns, potentially intertwined with each other, capable of early predicting Schizophrenia development and thus usable as early diagnostic tools. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


= Abstract = The ultrastructure of the proliferative vitreoretinal membranes in various eye conditions such as peripheral uveitis, penetrating eye injury, aphakic retinal detachment, and traction retinal detachment were studied in human, and experimental study was performed in 27 pigmented rabbits to investigate the origin of cells participating in healing process of retinal injuries. The experimental rabbits were divided into two groups according to the degree of retinal injury; mild injury and severe injury groups. The retinal injury was made on avascular retina two disc diameters below the optic disc by gentle touch with a 21 gauge needle tip inserted through pars plana of rabbit eyes. The mild injury revealed a faint scratch line on the retinal surface. The severe injury was made in the same way but retinal scratch was so deep that choroidal damage and visible retinal hemorrhage were complicated. The following conclusions were obtained. 1. The proliferative vitreoretinal membranes of various eye conditions were composed mainly of fibrocyte-like cells and glial cells, and the retinal pigment epithelial cells were not found in the membranes formed without retinal break. 2. In the mild injury group of experimental animal, only the glial proliferation was noted in the case of the mechanical injury confined to the inner layer of the retina, and the retinal pigment epithelial cells were found to proliferate and migrate into the inner layer when the retinal damage extended to the outer retinal layer. 3. In the severe injury group, the proliferation of the choroidal fibroblast was noted. On the basis of the above findings, it is suggested that the fibrocyte-like cells found at the vitreoretinal membranes in eyes with nonrhegmatogenous retinal detachment or without retinal detachment, are not derived from the retinal pigment epithelial cells.


LiMn2-xCoxO4(x=0,0.05,0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4 and 0.5) cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries were synthesized by a simple co-precipitation method using Li2CO3,Mn(Ac)2·4 H2O and Co(Ac)2·4H2O as raw materials,and the effects of the Cobalt-doped concentration of LiMn2-xCoxO4 on the physical properties and electrochemical performance of the prepared cathode materials were investigated by X-ray diffraction(XRD),Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR),scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and electrochemical tests.The results show that LiMn1.9Co0.1O4 has the highest discharge capacity and best cycle performance amongst all the LiMn2-xCoxO4(x=0,0.05,0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4,0.5) samples.LiMn1.9Co0.1O4 exhibits 121.4 mAh·g-1 of discharge capacity at 0.5 C and remains discharge capacity of 119 mAh·g-1 at 0.5 C after 30 cycles.


In this paper we prove monotonicity of some ratios of $q$--Kummer confluent hypergeometric and $q$--hypergeometric functions. The results are also closely connected with Tur\'an type inequalities. In order to obtain main results we apply methods developed earlier by the authors for the case of classical Kummer and Gauss hypergeometric functions.


A 24-yr-old female student born of apparently normal, unrelated parents presented with severe abdominal pain and muscle cramps at the age of 20 yr. She had also noticed increasing hirsutism and well-developed muscles in her limbs despite making no special effort to exercise beyond her normal activities. These symptoms dated from about the age of 11 yr when she had attained menarche. Her menstrual periods were regular. On physical examination she was tall (179.5 cm) and weighed 74.9 kg with a BMl of 24.0 kg / m2. Her supine blood pressure was 130180 mmHg. She was muscular with welldeveloped leg muscles (Fig. l), large hands (Fig. 2) and feet, wide shoulders, and a prominent mandible with widely separate teeth giving her an appearance reminiscent of acromegaly. She had a normal amount of subcutaneous fat on her face, abdomen, and chest, but had excessive fat around her neck (Fig. 3) with very little subcutaneous fat on the arms and legs. Acanthosis nigricans was noted in both axillae and groins (Fig. 4). She also had moderate facial hirsutism and a male escutcheon, but no clitoromegaly or temporal hairline recession. An ultrasound scan of her abdomen showed the left ovary to be 4.5 X 3.9 X 3.1 cm and the right ovary to be 7.4 X 4.9 X 5 cm. In both abnormal multiple small cysts were present. The results of selected laboratory investigations are shown on Table 1. She had marked hypertriglyceridemia. Furthermore, her sex-hormone-binding globulin levels were low and therefore, despite normal total testosterone levels, her free androgen index was high. The serum electrolyte (Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg'+) concentrations were normal.


Using whey as the culture medium, the effect of different carbon sources and nitrogen sources were discussed by single factor tests. By orthogonal experiment, it was found that optimal medium for Lactobacillus bulgaricus proliferation consisted of 60 g whey power, 10 g glucose, 15 g corn-steep liquor, 4 g K2HPO4, 5 g yeast extract, 60 ml tomato juice, 0.28 g MgSO4 and 0.19 g MnSO4·H2O. Under the optimized conditions, the L. bulgaricus biomass in the liquid-core capsules reached 9.96 lg (cfu/g).


In this paper, a stochastic failure model for a system with two dependent failures is proposed and a maintenance policy for such system is studied. The system can fail due to two causes of failure: the failure due to accumulated wear and that due to the catastrophic failure. We analyze the dependence structure of the two competing failure modes. Based on these properties, we develop a maintenance strategy for such system and study the optimal maintenance policy which minimizes the long-run average cost rate.


A possible point of departure (albeit as a negative print of sorts) for the present essay is a long prevailing analogy whereby cinema is summarily reduced, by none other than G. Agamben for instance (admittedly, within the highly specific context of Debordian and Godardian approaches to film), to a form of continued indeterminacy between image and meaning (65–76), the way Valéry once defined poetry as a prolonged wavering between sound and meaning (637). More importantly, however, its general purpose is to lay the groundwork for a hopefully viable theoretical alternative to the allegedly unilateral, ''translational'' process of screen adaptation, which tends to postulate a predatory, quasivampiric or phagocytic, bond between literature and film. A recent and almost randomly selected example offers an interesting and unintentionally ironic reiteration of this topos insofar as it is based on Olivier Assayas's Irma Vep (1996), a film whose unique feature is precisely to thematize and problematize issues of remaking, intertextuality, and mise-en-abı̂me in specifically cinematic terms (Irma Vep is the anagrammatic name of the female protagonist of a 1915 Louis Feuillade serial, Les Vampires): ''cinema fell upon its prey [read: literature] with immense rapacity, and to the moment largely subsists upon the body of its unfortunate victim.''


There is a continuing need to measure and communicate reliably the UVA protection offered by commercial sunscreens. To that end, the COLIPA (European Cosmetics Trade Association) 'In Vitro Sun Protection Methods' group has developed a new in vitro method for measuring UVA protection in a standardized, reproducible manner. The method is based on in vitro UV substrate spectrophotometry and convolution of resulting absorbance data with the action spectrum for the in vivo Persistent Pigment Darkening (PPD) endpoint to provide an in vitro UVA protection factor (UVAPF) which is correlated with an in vivo measure. This method has been published as a COLIPA guideline, used currently in European geographies for testing and labelling sunscreen products.


There are several data warehouse lifecycle for Relational database. However, most design modeling agrees on Conceptual schema, Logical schema, and Physical schema. This paper presents an approach to generating test cases for data warehouse design tests, including the level of conceptual, logical, and physical. The test cases contain SQL statements for verifying some certain predefined aspects. The minimum edit distance component is also available for correcting the garbled terms found in the SQL. The implemented system would enhance the quality of target data as well as lessen the rework. In particular, the presented approach would reduce the number of defects injected in detailed designed prior to entering the ETL phase. This leads to less rework for preprocessing target data at the ETL phase.


The utility model relates to a self-lubrication joint bearing, which is used for the fields of hydraulic pressure open-close machines, hydraulic arc gates, plane gates, oil field machinery, metallurgy machinery and lifting machinery, comprising a bearing inner race, a sealing ring, a bearing outer race and a friction reducing layer, the friction reducing layer with solid lubricant and inlayed cylindrical solid lubricant is compounded on the internal surface of the outer ring. The utility model is characterized in that a layer of pre-lubrication film is coated on the sphere of the bearing inner race to reduce the static friction coefficient of the bearing working surface, avoid the crawling phenomenon in the running starting stage, reduce the abrasion and prolong the service life of the bearing.


COVID-19 is a sickness brought about by coronavirus responsible for causing simple to extreme complications in people. COVID-19 first case was seen in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on December, 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) to pronounce it as a worldwide pandemic on March 11, 2020, as the pandemic has spread quickly all through the world. Regardless of extensive endeavors made to contain the infection, the infection has proceeded with its pervasiveness in numerous nations with changing levels of clinical signs. Henceforth, in this report, we discuss the various strategies, for example, serological and nucleic acid-based procedures which are accessible for the determination and successful counteraction of coronavirus. With expanding the rate of coronavirus cases, the precise and early identification of the COVID-19 is the need of great importance for viable avoidance with treatment and just as to check its spread. Reverse transcriptase-real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) measures are viewed as the highest quality level for the early identification of infection. This diagnostic technique is being utilized worldwide with recommendations from WHO and Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Reverse transcriptase real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) is being done compulsory before any medical procedures and major surgeries for early detection, prevention, and management in due time course. Rapid antigen test is also a screening test used widely in hospitals for screening of COVID-19 and before the admission in hospitals. Other nucleic acid amplification test widely done for the detection of COVID-19 are RT-qPCR, next-generation sequencing, clustered regularly interspaced short pallindromic repeats, reverse transcription -loop-mediated isothermal amplification, droplet digital PCR. Some immunological tests are lateral flow, ELISA.


Abstract Aim Assessing the efficacy of cocoa bean husk extract (CBHE) particles with different vehicles as a mouthrinse in children aged 7–12 years in comparison to chlorhexidine (CHX) and sodium fluoride (NaF) mouthrinse. Materials and methods A total of 80 children aged 7–12 years residing at a residential school/orphanage in Bengaluru city were selected and randomly allocated into five groups—group I: 0.1% CBHE with distilled water (DW); group II: 0.1% CBHE with Ringer's lactate (RL); group III: 0.12% CHX; group IV: 0.1% CBHE with normal saline (NS); and group V: 0.05% NaF. A Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) was recorded, salivary pH was assessed, and unstimulated saliva samples were collected at baseline (BL) after 30 minutes of rinsing on day 7 and day 14. These saliva samples were subjected to microbiological analysis, and all the data from five groups at four different time intervals was tabulated and statistically evaluated. Results Nearly 0.1% CBHE with NS as vehicle showed maximum antibacterial properties among all the groups at all time intervals. The addition of RL to CBHE provided better anti-plaque efficacy than 0.1% CBHE with DW and 0.12% CHX mouthwash. All three combinations of 0.1% CBHE and 0.12% CHX mouthwash proved to be better anti-plaque agents than 0.05% NaF. Improving the preparation of CBHE mouthwash by using NS, RL, and with the addition of saccharin sodium also improved the patient's compliance. Conclusion Thus, preparing chocolate/CBHE mouthwash with NS or RL instead of plain DW increased the salivary pH, anti-plaque efficacy, and antibacterial property by reducing Streptococcus mutans growth. Clinical significance Cocoa bean husk extract (CBHE) mouthwash is a better anticariogenic and nonalcoholic mouthwash compared to CHX and NaF, which can be safely used in children as a routine oral rinse and also for those with gingivitis and high-risk of caries. How to cite this article Kibriya S, Srinivasan I, Setty JV, et al. Characterization of Cocoa Bean Husk Extract Particles and its Comparison as a Mouthrinse with Different Vehicles in Children aged 7–12 Years. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2023;16(1):54-59.


On 29 September 2013, the NDRC announced that it had conducted a nationwide investigation into pricing conduct in the tourism industry this year. The NDRC, together with its local authorities…


A longstanding debate in Beowulf criticism concerns the spiritual status of the poem's pagan heroes. Since mainstream theologians in the early medieval period maintained unequivocally that there was no salvation outside of the church, several influential critics have argued that the expression of an alternative view in Beowulf would have fallen outside the realm of historical possibility. For these critics, the hero's ignorance of the Christian revelation ensures his damnation, regardless of his behavior. Yet other critics have argued that the Beowulf poet's perspective was not narrowly constrained by mainstream orthodoxy. These critics point to a number of passages that suggest that the souls of virtuous pagans could find their way to heaven (e.g., ll. 26–7, 2469b, 3105b–9, 3155b). One such passage, which has been particularly controversial, occurs when the hero, speaking to his kinsman Wiglaf, delivers his final words:


Background: University students are the developers of their nations' future and make up a significant number of young people. The number of students is increasing as universities and higher education centers develop. Hence, paying attention to student's physical and mental health is among the most important issues. The aim of the present analytical cross-sectional study was to determine the epidemiological pattern of loneliness and related factors among Maragheh University of Medical Sciences students.

Methods: The research was an analytical cross-sectional study, in which 323 Maragheh University of Medical Sciences students were selected by means of applying the inclusion criteria with a convenience sampling method. Then, the required data were collected through demographic profile questionnaire and Russell's revised UCLA loneliness scale. The data were analyzed using the Chi square test.

Results: The prevalence of moderate and severe loneliness was reported to be 50.5% and 31.6%, respectively. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between loneliness of the participants and their gender (P < 0.001), birth order (P = 0.004), birth place (P < 0.001), and semester of study (P = 0.001).

Conclusions: The results of the present study accentuate the necessity of paying attention to the state of loneliness in students, exploring situations and reasons that intensify the feeling in this age group, and identifying intervention plans that could reduce it.


An experimental study was conducted to investigate the thermal performance of a heat pipe having two dissimilar condenser sections which were subject to different boundary conditions. The first condenser dissipates heat to the surrounding air through annu l r fins by natural convection, while the second on e is cooled by a liquid by forced convection at differen t temperatures. The container and the wick were mad e of stainless steel and the working fluid was DowthermA for medium-temperature applications. The diameter and length of the heat pipe were 25.4 mm and 1 m, r espectively. The maximum thermal load was 1 kW and the operating temperature of the heat pipe was arou nd 250°C. The liquid fill charge was adjusted so that the first condenser section may work as an evaporator w hen the original evaporator was inactive in a verti cal configuration. The experimental results were analyz ed in terms of thermal resistance and effective the rmal conductance against input heat flux and operating t emperature.


Plants are a major source of food stuff, medicine and industry. However it is an important and difficult task to recognize species of crop on earth. Therefore it is pertinent to design an appropriate recognition system of crops. As the frontier of space technology is progressed rapidly, remote sensing provides very convenient resource for development in agriculture. In this paper, we proposed a new method for crop classification from satellite imagery. In this method, first of all, we assembled satellite imagery database of different crops and then extract Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) features from each crop and then classify them by different individual classifiers. At the end we described analysis of different classifiers that which classifier performed best. Various techniques have been compared against our proposed model for determining the supremacy of our model and results have shown significant improvement in accuracy and reliability.


Aim: To evaluate the effects of whole-body vibration (WBV) on ergospirometric variables in the elderly. Methods: A total of 31 elderly people were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 groups—resistance, WBV, WBV + resistance—training twice per week, 3 months, evaluating ventilatory thresholds by ergospirometry and peripheral strength. Results: WBV groups increased O2 after training when compared to the resistance group (25.2 ± 1.6 in WBV with P < .001 and 25.2 ± 3.2 in WBV + resistance with P < .001), as the percentage heart rate reserve (resistance = 27%; WBV = 48.4%; and WBV + resistance = 49.9%). Conclusions: In the elderly, WBV increased strength and O2max, combining into a single program both aerobic and resistance workouts.


"Sea-island" structure silver/polyaniline (Ag/PANI) nanocomposites were synthesized through sonication of an aqueous solution with silver nitrate and aniline at the temperature of 20 ± 1°C under nitrogen atmosphere. The nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectrometry, respectively. Furthermore, Ag/PANI nanocomposites were immobilized on the surface of glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and electroactivity behavior was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. The obtained sea-island structured Ag/PANI nanocomposite-modified GCE showed high electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of l-tyrosine.


Spin-polarized electron photoemission has been studied for GaAs∕GaAs1−xPx strained superlattice cathodes grown by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy. The superlattice structural parameters are systematically varied to optimize the photoemission characteristics. The heavy-hole and light-hole transitions are reproducibly observed in quantum efficiency spectra, enabling direct measurement of the band energies and the energy splitting. Electron-spin polarization as high as 86% with over 1% quantum efficiency has been observed.


In this paper, we present a robust, model-predictive control scheme for the general class of uncertain and constrained discrete-time nonlinear systems subject to noisy measurements. The relationships between the system's dynamics, uncertainties, disturbances and the measurement noise are nonlinear and not necessarily additive. In particular, the disturbance is the output of an uncertain system with an unknown input. This study serves the threefold ultimate objective of ensuring robust satisfaction of the state constraints, recursive feasibility and stability. To satisfy state constraints, the proposed algorithms adopt a constraints tightening approach using the restricted constraint sets computed online. Several bounds on the prediction level and rate are derived and the size of the terminal region is maximized using polytopic linear differential inclusions (PLDI). An explicit bound on the maximum allowable disturbance for recursive feasibility is also derived based on optimization of the one-step ahead controllable set to the terminal region. The disturbance and uncertainties are non-vanishing and therefore only Input-to-state practical stability (ISpS) can be ensured. A simulation example demonstrates the efficacy of the mathematical framework and algorithms developed in this work.


Objective To observe effects of volume treatment on haemorrhagic rabbits body temperature changes, and effects of the temperature change on rabbits coagulation and fibriniolysis funtion. Methods Twenty-four rabbits were divided randomly into room temperature group(n=12) and volume treatment groups(n=12). Body temperature was recorded every five-min. Blood samples was drawn before bleeding,bled for a hour and volume treatment for a hour in each groups, then their PT, APTT, TT, Fib, AT-Ⅲ and D-dimer were detected. Results Volume treatment worsen body temperature decreasing in haemorrhagic rabbits, this degree of body temperature decreasing inhibited rabbits coagulation significiently, but hardly had any effects on fibrinnolysis system. Conclusion It should be prevented body temperature decreasing in volume treatment of clinically analogical patients, reducing bleeding volume.


In several of the few available studies of the "natural history" of obsessional illness the follow-up period is short, and the results may be unreliable since the patients were not in all cases personally re-examined by the authors. In the present study 91 in-patients with a diagnosis of phobic and/or obsessional illness (neurosis), admitted to the University Psychiatric Clinic, Oslo, have been followed up for 13-20 years after first admission. Most of the patients were re-examined by the author, usually by visiting their homes. The investigation confirms earlier works, that obsessional traits and obsessional illness are found in significant concentration in the families of obsessionals. The study further seems to support the view expressed in some modern textbooks that obsessionals received a strict and purifsmical upbringing, with much insistence on rectitude, obedience, and cleanliness. 8ixty-five of the patients (83 per cent) suffered from a variety of nervous troubles as children, Although most of them displayed obsesdona1 traits prior to their main illness, it is noted that twenty-five (28 per cent) had no obsessive traits before their breakdown. Half of &he sample developed their illness before the age of twenty and nearly one-fifth had obsessional symptoms in childhood. The mean age at first admission is 34 for males and 36 for females, Ireflecting the long time between the onset of illness and hospitalization. Most of the patients had symptoms other than phobic and obsessional symptoms at admission. Usually obsessive thoughts, obsessive acts, -4 phobiaa are all found together in the same patient.


ABSTRACT This paper investigates how test-based, standardized accountability is impacting on urban school leaders' everyday work in Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. This critical policy analysis draws on theories of new public management and governmentality to document the experiences of school leaders as they enact and navigate test-based accountability policies. The data for this empirical study was collected from semi-structured interviews with 18 school leaders in 4 high schools from two cities: Toronto and Vancouver. As a result of different education policy contexts in Ontario and British Columbia, findings reveal that there were both similarities and differences between the experiences of school leaders therein. In Ontario, school leaders face tremendous pressure to provide evidence of improved test scores as part of an accountability regime that is high-stakes. In both provincial contexts, the mediatization of test scores places new demands on school leaders who act as entrepreneurs, marketing and selling their schools. Ultimately, the research highlights the unintended consequences of test-based accountability systems as contributing to the marketization of education in Canada with deleterious consequences for marginalized communities and the practice of social justice leadership in schools. There is a need to identify democratic and holistic measures of accountability.


Multiple myeloma (MM) is a hematologic malignancy in which plasma cells proliferate in the bone marrow, leading to osteolytic bone destruction. Bone involvement is present in up to 90% of patients with MM and is associated with pain and skeletal-related complications, such as pathologic vertebral compression fractures (VCFs). [1] MM-associated VCFs cause spinal instability, back pain, spinal kyphosis, neurologic dysfunction, and subsequent respiratory complications, which markedly decrease the quality of life of affected patients. Patients with MM-associated VCFs without neurological involvement can undergo vertebral augmentation, including percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) and percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP). [2] In recent years, preliminary studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of PVP or PKP in controlling the pain and improving the quality of life of patients with MM-associated VCFs. [2] However, these studies have shortcomings of small sample sizes (24 – 108 patients) and short follow-up time (3 – 36 months). Most of these studies focused on clinical function, but few studies focused on complications and the incidence of long-term subsequent fractures after vertebral augmentation. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the longterm clinical outcomes and complications of PVP combined with chemotherapy for MM-associated VCFs without neurological involvement. This


The objective of this study is to produce realistic mathematics learning models through traditional games, secondly to preserve a culture that has been largely abandoned and replaced with modern games. This study explores a learning model consisting of; students, traditional-games, and learning materials. It starts by analyzing the needs of students about a subject matter of learning that is less than the standard of competences, specifically identifying and designing traditional games that correspond to the subject matter to be developed The results of this study are expected to be an alternative for students to get to know culture while learning and reduce student dependence on console games to foster student social enthusiasm. The results of this study in the form of research products include; 1) guidebook and supporting media, 2) learning tools and 3) teaching materials.


Abstract In this study, we have mainly discussed the dewatering and devolatilizing extrusion behavior of synthetic elastomers using intermeshed twin screw extruders. For these purposes, we utilized various twin screw extruders with long segmented barrels having several slitted sections and venting ports. Furthermore, we selected the optimum operational conditions using either the intermeshed co- or counter-rotation twin screw extruder depending on experimental purposes and raw materials. Some results obtained were compared between the co- and counter-rotation twin screw extruder.


workshop will provide a forum for the presentation of original research in computer vision and photogrammetry including the generation, processing and analysis of 3D point clouds. Topics will include: feature extraction, matching and sensor orientation; structure from motion and SLAM; stereo (multi-view) and surface reconstruction; 3D point cloud processing, segmentation and classification; multitemporal analysis, dynamic scene understanding; and scene analysis and semantic segmentation. PCV19 is organised by ISPRS Commission 2 (Photogrammetry). EarthVision 2019 is a joint IEEE/ISPRS Commission 2 (Photogrammetry) Workshop on large-scale computer vision for remote sensing imagery. It aims to foster collaboration between the computer vision and earth observation communities to boost automated interpretation of remotely sensed data and to raise awareness inside the vision community for this highly challenging and quickly evolving field of research with a big impact on human society, economy, industry and the planet. Both the PCV19 Workshop and EarthVision 2019 will be held in conjunction with the 2019 Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR 2019). Dates: 16th to 17th June 2019; Location: Long Beach, California, USA; Contacts: PCV19: email@example.com EarthVision 2019: email@example.com; Websites: PCV19: https://sites.google.com/view/pcv19/home EarthVision 2019: https://www.grss-ieee.org/earthvision2019/


We shall present in this paper some ergodic properties of the stepping stone model. The model has been proposed by M. Kimura [2], to describe the evolution of a genetical population with mating and geographical structures. It has been investigated and developed by M. Kimura and G. H. Weiss [3], G. H. Weiss and M. Kimura [6], W. Fleming and C. -H. Su [1], S. Sawyer [5], and others. The model is assumed to have infinitely many colonies, which are discretely distributed, and each of which has individuals of the same number N. We also assume that migrations take place from colony to colony, that genes are subject to mutation, and that random sampling of individuals occurs within a colony. Here the random sampling means that pairs of genes are sampled from the gene pool of sufficiently large numbers. We shall consider the spatial distributions of gene frequencies introduced on the colony space and discuss the time evolution of the distributions by using a Markov chain. S. Sawyer [5] investigated the time evolution of the stepping stone model and obtained the convergence properties of the probability of that any two individuals randomly chosen from different colonies are always genetically identical in the τι-th generation. In this paper we are interested in the ergodic property of the stepping stone model which is more finer and stronger than S. Sawyer's results. In fact we shall show that under the assumption of the existence of mutation the probability measure of the distribution of the frequencies on the colony space converges to a limit measure, which is a unique


The tire-mechanics models have been developed for the study of wheel movement on the road or soil surface while these models are unlikely to describe the motion of wheels on uneven surfaces. Due to dynamical complexity of this phenomena and the importance of this subject for farm conditions and the wheel carrier devices, the present research aimed to investigate the effects of several parameters on the wheel passing the obstacle. The experiments were carried out using single wheel tester in soil bin condition. The results indicated a relatively linear relationship between the impact force applied on tire and forward speed of wheel and also the height of rectangular obstacle. The effect of inflation pressure was inversed in the range of complete formed tire's body on impact force and in low levels of tire inflation pressure; tire's body damps the maximum impact forces. The medium levels of pressure (about 150-200 kPa) resulted in less horizontal force that applied on the wheel for different levels of forward speed and obstacle's height. Tractive force for passing obstacle was increased by raising forward speed and the obstacle's height.


List of Figures List of Maps List of Tables Notes on the Contributors Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Travelling in Time and Space on the Winds of the Transition M.Kelemen & M.Kostera PART I: STORIES OF CHANGE: ORGANIZING IDENTITIES Geographical Space, Banking Knowledge, and Transformation H.Kalthoff Accounting for Change: Accounting, Finance, and Changing Methods of Economic Regulation in Postsocialist Eastern Europe E.C.Dunn From Social Movements to Identity Transformation: Comparison of Estonian and Finnish Management Students' Values I.Aaltio-Marjosola, L.Turnpuu & M.Kooskora PART II: STORIES OF THE PAST: LIST AND FOUND IDENTITIES Socioeconomic Conditions and Discursive Construction of Women's Identities in Post-Soviet Countries A.Pavlenko Control: Accounting for the Lost Innocence M.Kostera Powerful Accounts: Identities, Principals and Agents K.S.Nilsson Re-inventing the Past: Stories about Communism and the Transition to a Market Economy in Romania M.Kelemen The Impact of Societal Transformation on Czech Managers: A Study of Post-Communist Careers A.Soulsby PART III: MANAGING THE TRANSITION: CROSSOVERS IN PRACTICE AND REPRESENTATION Local Problems and Foreign Solutions: Issues of Management Training in Russia and NIS B.Grancelli Cross-Cultural Comparison Between Hungarians and Expatriates H.Primecz When Reality Fails: Science and the Fall of Communism in Poland J.Kociatkiewicz & M.Kostera Endnotes Index


We propose a unified, universal, natural, and very intuitive way how to obtain new multivariate and tool wear extensions of univariate process capability indices by means of projection pursuit. We also illustrate the methodology in detail of the popular precision and accuracy indices, generalize the latter in a few different ways in the same spirit, add some personal insight, discuss the computational issues involved, and demonstrate the advantages of our approach in a small data example.


The effect of interface between ground rock and support on the arch settlement by means of the Lagrange multiplier contact algorithm.The value and rule of arch settlements at different excavation stage,resulted from measurement,FEM on account of interface effect,FEM with no account of interface effect are compared.The conclusion is confirmed by measured arch settlement and comprehensive observation and analysis in construction site.


Coaxing indigenous soil microorganisms to munch on toxics may prove the only permanent, cost-effective, and safe technique for cleanup of noxious pollutants like selenium, a widespread environmental contaminant in the western United States. The process from innovation in the laboratory to application in the field has taken more than bioremediation know-how. Media exposure and political and bureaucratic support have been necessary partners with sound science to bring Se cleanup technology as far along as it is today. Before describing their patented Se bioremediation process and chronicling the events that led to environmental cleanup in California, the authors give some background about Se, its geochemistry, and its biochemical and environmental behavior. The bioremediation process optimizes field conditions that allow soil fungi to methylate toxic Se compound to dimethylselenide, a non-toxic gas.


А. Hutsol, PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Tourism, Hotel and Restaurant Business, State institute Luhans Taras Shevchenko National University ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6409-5991 E. Todierishko, Postgraduate student of the Department of Economics and Finance, Mukachevo State University ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3055-0244 K. Shafranova, PhD in Economics, Associate Professor, Director, Zhytomyr Economic and Humanitarian Institute of the University "Ukraine" ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9118-8795 Yu. Perehuda, PhD in Geography, Associate Professor of the Department of International Relations of the Institute of International Relations and Social Sciences of Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, Associate Professor of the Department of Global Economics of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1434-2509


A xylan-decomposing bacterium, HY-20, was isolated from the gut of a honeybee, Apis mellifera, and identified as Bacillus sp. The extracellular GH11 xylanase (XylP) gene (687-bp) of strain HY-20 encoded a protein of 228 amino acids with a deduced molecular mass of 25,522 Da and a calculated pI of 9.33. The primary structure of XylP was 97% identical to that of B. pumilus xylanase (GenBank accession no.: AY526092) that has not been characterized yet. The recombinant His-tagged enzyme (rXylP) overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 harboring pET-28a(+)/xylP was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by cation exchange and gel permeation chromatographies. The purified enzyme exhibited the highest catalytic activity toward birchwood xylan at pH 6.5 and and retained approximately 50% of its original activity when pre-incubated at for 15 min. The recombinant enzyme was completely inactivated by (1 mM) and N-bromosuccinimide (5 mM), while its activity was slightly stimulated by approximately 10% in the presence of (1 mM), (1 mM), and sodium azide (5 mM). rXylP was able to efficiently degrade various polymeric xylose-based substrates but PNP-sugar derivatives and glucose-based polymers were not susceptible to the enzyme.


The paper by Frost and Wise in this edition of the Journal on this subject is timely. As many intensive care units (ICUs) in Australia and New Zealand (NZ) are increasing in size, this issue has exercised individual units and those writing Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (JFICM) regulations for specialist training. Some ICUs roster their senior registrars on a 12 hour rotating residential roster, but very few have senior staff present on site almost all the time. For many years, some ICUs in Australia and NZ have had the specialist of the day stay on site until the late evening hours before going home and being on call from there. The issue of resident consultants comes on the background of major changes in the way junior staff are employed. Shifts are becoming shorter and so are total hours worked (in many cases down to an average of between 40 and 50 hours per week) and with these changes there has been a need for more junior staff. Issues of shorter shifts and working hours for junior staff include: 1. continuity of care and adequacy of transfer of information, 2. ability to train specialists to an adequate level in traditional time frames, and 3. productivity of junior staff. The trend to shorter hours is being driven by industrial and safety issues, although the latter is supported by very little scientific evidence when applied to local conditions. It is important to realise that much of the debate on work practices, while relevant to the United States of America, is not all that useful in Australia and NZ. Landrigan et al, showed a reduction in error rates in staff during their first and second year postgraduate years working shorter shifts than traditional shifts. However, the current NZ and Australian patterns of rostering are generally shorter than even the "interventional schedule" in their study (i.e. the shorter hours group where errors were reduced). Furthermore, the preventable adverse effects for neither the interns nor the unit-wide staff were statistically different between the traditional schedule (long hours) and the intervention schedule (shorter hours). It is not credible to apply these results obtained from junior medical staff in the United States of America to experienced consultants who move between home and work in NZ and Australia. However, whatever the science, the shortening junior staff working times alters the consultant work load. Consultants are doing work that would have previously been done by competent juniors. Some junior staff are excellent, but it takes them longer to become so, and there are often more inexperienced staff in the mix. This necessitates increased monitoring, teaching, consultant procedures and involvement in triage and discharge. Consultants are becoming increasingly nervous for the wellbeing of their patients in the face of changed work practices for junior staff and this is one of the legitimate drivers to have consultants or at least senior registrars continually on site. The JFICM Board recently surveyed Australian and NZ ICUs and most still use the traditional mode of consultant call from home. The amount of time on a total "shift" (home plus call) varies from 24 hours to over 72 hours during weekends. Many work for a whole week with some of the nights off duty, but covering all the days. It is clear that while the rosters may be variable, that consultants are now the staff who offer the main continuity of care for patients and continuity of communication to relatives and other specialists. The JFICM Board now requires trainees to have 6 months as a senior registrar where they offer continuity of care in a supervised "acting consultant position", for periods longer than a traditional junior staff shift time. The aim is to facilitate the change to a normal consultant experience, and we have had much positive feedback from trainees and new Fellows to this initiative. However, we have also had critical feedback from some very large units, saying that the work is so continually intense and complex, that it makes sense to have senior registrars on 12 13 hour shifts at all times. Two questions arise. Does the fact that senior registrars are never on duty more than 12 13 hours prevent them from learning about continuity of care? Furthermore, if a consultant is always on site, do any of the registrars learn to take independent decisions, as they will be required to do on becoming a Fellow? The Cardiff unit admits 1500 patients into 24 beds. They have 8 full time and 2 half time consultants who work a mixture of 13, 6 and 8 hour days (all start at 0930 hr), and 13 hour nights (i.e. 2130 1030 hr). On Saturdays they have two staff doing an 8 hour shift and 24 hour shift (both start at 0930), switching on Sunday. They have leave breaks of about 7 days about every 2 weeks (personal communication). They seem to have overcome some continuity issues by the way they have rostered themselves with most of their shifts occurring in continuous blocks of time, and several consultants starting at the same time. Care in transfer of information, and a team who is working well together,


Abstract The purpose of this study is to determine the literacy skill level of the adults who participated in the basic level literacy programs when they complete the program and to investigate the relation of the determined level of literacy skill with socio-economic features of adults. Research is a descriptive study using mixed-method design. Study is conducted in four different cities (i.e., Sanliurfa, Ankara, Istanbul, Diyarbakir). As a result of the study, 85% of course participants cannot reach desired reading level. Moreover, while it is expected that course participants read 90-100 words in two minutes, it is seen that only 13.4% of them reached this level. The rate of writing sufficiency is only 26.4%. As a whole, the literacy skill level of younger adults is higher. The achievement of participants who are working in an income generating job about reading and writing skills is higher than the others. Adults who have attended primary education were also more successful than the others. Another differential feature of successful adults is that they are more linked with the urban life. Having more literate adult around them and the usage of written communication could be effective for the development of their literacy levels. Key Words Literacy, Adult Literacy, Adult Literacy Education. According to the data provided by the National Ministry of Education (Milli Egitim Bakanligi [MEB], 2010), 385.356 adults had participated in 28.943 literacy courses in the academic year of 2008-2009. There are limited numbers of studies examining basic adult education. These programs have serious problems like shortage of time, lack of effective announcement, insufficient funds, teachers who do not have adequate knowledge on adult education, and high rates of dropouts (e.g. Bulbul, Kavak, & Gulbay, 1999; Gunes, 1990; Gunlu, 2004; Nohl & Sayilan, 2004; Yildiz, 2006). None of these limited numbers of studies deal with the levels of literacy skills among participants of the literacy courses. In determining the levels of literacy skills, it would be more comprehensive to examine these levels of the learners related with the individualcultural backgrounds and practices of everyday life. Since the literacy, as Sanders (1991, p. 11) told, is "a bunch of relations and structures, a dynamic system transferred to experiences by internalization" is more than words written on the papers. Instead of the traditional approaches that reduce literacy to a "technical skill," recently emerged approaches, namely "The New Literacy Studies," suggest handling literacy as a social practice (Barton, 1994; Baynham, 1995; Papen, 2005). Linguistic, social anthropological and psychological studies on the effects of literacy in different societies played a great role in the emergence of the new literacy studies in the 1980s (Papen, 2005). Most important of these studies are those by Heath in USA (1983), Scribner and Cole in Sierra Leone (1988), and Brian Street in Iran (1984). Furthermore, critical educators state that becoming literate is not only limited with how to learn to read and write; but also how to use literacy is related with socio-economic status, gender, educational history and the position of the individual in social life due to ethnicity (Auerbach, 1989; Freire, 1995; Freire & Macedo, 1998; Giroux & McLaren, 1992; Shore, 2003; Street, 1995). However, including the widespread literacy campaigns, all the literacy practices in Turkey define literacy merely as a "skill" in accordance with the behavioral perspectives. Thus, literacy is reduced to a technical matter with no relation to individual social experience (Nohl-Sayilan, 2004; Yildiz, 2006). Although this kind of perspective which limits learning literacy to gaining a technical skill, paid less attention to the socio-cultural context of literacy than it deserves, marginal and poor illiterate peasants or urban citizens, would only spend time on literacy if they believe that it would contribute to a better life as stated by Lind and Johnston (1996). …


This paper proposed an algorithm for automatic construction of software component behavior model from UML component and illustrated it by an example.The constructed model included states and transitions between states.The method was as transition label.The model presented possible component operation sequences.It could be a model based on which tests were to be generated.This algorithm is valuable for model-based software component testing which supplier and user carries and software component evaluation which the third party carries on.


Short-term studies of schizophrenia have uniformly found overall outcome better for females. The question is: 'Do females continue across time to exceed male levels of functioning?' If so, what are the possible buffers and protective mechanisms? If not, then why did females lose their advantage? Seven recent long-term studies of schizophrenia are reviewed. Outcome across all investigations was much better than expected, but the strong advantage for females seemed to have diminished across time to the trend level with males appearing to gain in strength. The long-term studies have suggested differences in genetic loadings, premorbid adjustment, age of onset, symptom presentation, social skills, structural brain anomalies and mortality causes and rates. The discussion revolves around normal and psychopathological biological differences (e.g. differential brain organization, hormonal effects, genetic sex linkages, and preferred cognitive mode), as well as social development which work for and against improve...


Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) of deformed and undeformed unconsolidated clay samples of Deccan Trap terrain from the ~2000-year-old palaeoearthquake site of Ther village, Maharashtra, India, was studied. Such deposits are rare in this region and give an exceptional opportunity to test the efficacy of AMS and other magneto petrofabric studies, which can have a bearing on magnetic granularity ellipsoids, inclination and declination directions impacting palaeomagnetic studies. The undeformed clay samples exhibit typical sedimentary fabric with an oblate AMS ellipsoid, whereas the deformed samples are tightly grouped in the inferred compression direction, probably effected by an earthquake, exhibiting prolate as well as oblate AMS ellipsoids. The temperaturedependent magnetic susceptibility revealed the occurrence of titanomagnetite and magnetite in both the deformed and undeformed samples signifying similar sediment material. The site mean ChRM direction for undeformed clay samples is D = 3 and I = 44.7 ( k = 92.7, α 95 = 4.5), whereas for deformed samples D = 336 and I = 39 ( k = 39, α 95 = 8). The present study reveals that sediments can be severely deformed without deflecting minimum susceptibility directions. AMS methodology can be effective in the DT region and can throw up new results to build the chronology of past earthquakes.


XinJiang is one of the most grievous areas suffered from gale disaster in China.The prevenient researches of gale disaster are made mainly in terms of natural science,for example,the main origin,geographical distribution, intensity and monitoring,in stead of the research made in terms of social science.This paper is about the situation of gale disaster occurred in Xinjiang from 2001 to 2003.The research is based on 15 areas,states and cities.It uses the principles of maneuverability,comparability and propagability to choose 3 factors to determine disaster degree index.In the research,the method of integrated judgment is used to calculate and quantitatively evaluate the disaster degree of gale disaster in these areas,states and cities.According to the subject principle,15 areas,states and cities are zoned as 3 districts of heavy gale disaster,4 districts of common gale disaster and 8 districts of light gale disaster.


Abstract In this paper, we study existence and properties of solutions for some nonlinear elliptic systems like The above Dirichlet problem is related to evolution systems connected with the mathematical study of partial differential equations models for chemotaxis and to systems connected with the mathematical analysis of models of flows in porous media.


Background: The cardiac electrophysiological characteristics differ significantly among mammalian species or among various disease processes. However, difficulties in the procedures for harvesting and isolating tissue have precluded studies using human cardiac specimens. Methods: The outward K + -currents were recorded in human atrial myocytes isolated from patients undergoing open heart surgery. The electrophysiological characteristics of the voltage-dependent outward currents were investigated using a whole-cell patchclamp technique. Results: Using depolarizing step pulses, the transient outward currents were activated within 10 msec, which slowly inactivated thereafter. After inactivation, the sustained components of the outward currents remained for up to 5.0 seconds of depolarizing step pulses. While the inactivating component was almost completely inactivated at potentials >+30 mV, the non-inactivating component showed only 10-15% inactivation. The non-inactivating component was highly sensitive to 4-AP and was inhibited by >80% at a concentration of 0.2 mM, while the inactivating component was inhibited by only 25%. The delayed rectifier potassium currents were not recorded. The ratios of the amplitudes of the inactivating and non-inactivating components varied. Conclusions: Two components of the voltage dependent outward K + currents in human cardiac tissue were identified, which could


Through consideration of some of the epistemological limitations of the concept of resilience, as well as that of family resilience, the article proposes the notion of eco-resilience in order to highlight the importance of relational factors beyond the strict limits of the family. The legitimacy of this notion is illustrated by applying it to the highly complex field of schizophrenia and, in particular, by relating it to the clinical profile of good prognosis with respect to this disorder; this is done by taking into account gender, family, social and cultural aspects, as well as the development of symptoms.We describe the case of an upper-class Ecuadorian woman, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and her only daughter, who is healthy and socially successful. Eco-resilience is revealed through both the relatively benign development of the disorder in the mother and the relational immunity of the daughter.


In today's MANET, whether single or multipath routing protocol, in single path create the situation of path fail or link break due to security issues and attacks, delay in reaching a message, energy loss and weakening in the link quality occur. These situations solve out using alternate path or multipath methodology. There can be delay in reaching a message to destination from source and so the challenge is to minimize this delay. Since nodes may not be stable in one place, weakening of the link occurs, so the challenge is to maintain the stability of the link. The objective of our research work is to improve the Quality of Services in both single and multipath routing protocol. For the first, author has used the reactive routing to ensure its efficient functioning. For the second, we have designed algorithms which ensure minimum delay, maximum packet receive ratio and high link stability between the nodes.


The importance of battling stigma and discrimination was a focus this year of World AIDS Day observed on 1 December. A commemoration at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City under the theme "Live and Let Live" highlighted one of the major issues raised by world leaders at the UN General Assembly High level Meeting on HIV/AIDS last September in a recorded message UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the people of the world to "tear down the walls of silence stigma and discrimination that surround the epidemic". The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) identifies the harmful effects of stigma and discrimination against people with the disease as serious obstacles to successful mobilization against the pandemic and as particularly threatening to those who are most vulnerable. Minorities the poor and the uneducated are primary targets and face the danger of deteriorating enjoyment of human rights and perpetuation of their marginalized status. Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson at the commemoration emphasized that "the pandemic is a major human rights crisis". (excerpt)


(57) Abstract: polymerizable composition comprising methyl styrene monomer, those described for optical products comprising a polymer comprising monomer units derived from methyl styrene monomer, and these polymers.


Some of the more recent developments in the study of tryptophan metabolism are reviewed with the intent of demonstrating that abnormalities associated with abnormal tryptophan metabolism may result from the influence of hormonal and nutritional factors upon the metabolic pathway. It has been shown that pregnancy and treatment with estrogens or estrogen-containing oral contraceptives (OCs) all produce elevated urinary excretion of tryptophan metabolites; administration of pyridoxine will normalize urinary levels. The effect of estrogens upon tryptophan oxygenase appears to be indirect mediated via the adrenals. The clinical significance of changes following OC use is unknown but evidence of an occult Vitamin-B6 deficiency is being sought. It is possible that OC/tryptophan-associated depression results when a patient lacks a compensatory biochemical mechanism that normally counters any reduction in the level of brain 5-hydroxytryptamine. In any event it is important to exclude all patients receiving estrogens from studies which attempt to demonstrate an association between abnormal tryptophan metabolism and a specific disease.