This article presents a novel coupling of three state-of-the-art particle methods, capable of simulating heat transfer in multiphase flows with minimum error. The idea originates from increasing the robustness of the geometric features required to calculate physical quantities, such as the boundary conditions in the heat equation and the surface tension force in Navier-Stokes equations. The workability of this new approach for handling thermal effects in complex moving interfaces is examined with a numerical test case wherein multiple scenarios such as internal flow, bursting at free surface as well as bubble evolutionary motions occur. Performing a benchmark comparison with the reference model implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics®, a markedly improved mass conservation using the proposed particle-based solver is observed. This, in turn, results in a more realistic and accurate approximation of the temperature.


Loss of BAP1 has recently been described as a highly specific marker for distinguishing malignant mesotheliomas (MM) from benign mesothelial proliferations (BMP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of BAP1 in cytospin and cell block (CB) preparations.


Combat delivery transports originally designed in the 1950s, such as the C-130 Hercules (H model and older), were designed to require a four-position cockpit. This consisted of a captain (pilot), first officer (copilot), a navigator and a flight engineer. Newly designed commercial airliners and military transport aircraft are inherently designed for operation by a two-person flight deck crew. This reduction to a captain and first officer is made possible through recent advances in digital avionics integration. These advances provide increased automation, simpler crew interfaces, and improved situational awareness through data and sensor fusion. Military operators with restricted budgets are looking to extend the life of aircraft that are already in inventory. Interest has been shown in the possible redesign of legacy four-person cockpits to reduce the crew to a captain and first officer. The intent of this paper is to explore the possibility of retrofitting legacy military aircraft to allow migration to a two-person flight deck.


This paper shows that the theory that we know as the Theory Of Relativity is more accurately described as A Theory Of Information. Explained from an informational perspective and the conclusions that its author, Albert Einstein came to, come into question through the natural viewpoint as the entire theory being simply about the transfer of information between informational systems.


Thank you very much for reading john brown abolitionist the man who killed slavery sparked the civil war and seeded civil rights. As you may know, people have search numerous times for their favorite books like this john brown abolitionist the man who killed slavery sparked the civil war and seeded civil rights, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some infectious virus inside their laptop.


Boron-based crosslinking agents (LBC and HBC) having anion trapping boron moieties and ion conducting poly(ethylene glycol) have been synthesized and a series of semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) membranes containing boron-based crosslinking agents (LBC or HBC) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) with various composition were prepared by UV cross-linking to use as polymer matrix of gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) of lithium-ion batteries. Boron-based crosslinking agents were found to improve ionic conductivity due to low Tg, reduction in PVDF crystallinity, and hydrophilicity. Furthermore, anion-trapping boron moieties increase lithium transference number of the GPEs, leading to alleviate concentration polarization. As a result, the GPEs using boron-based crosslinking agents exhibit enhanced cycle performance compared to liquid electrolyte.


Using the Hirota's bilinear method and Development of homoclinic test,the new exact solutions which include two-periodic solution,periodic soliton solution and periodic soliton wave solution for the (2+1)-dimensional Boussinesq equation are obtained.


The new title compounds are prepared by solid state reactions of Co, Ni, Ga2S3 or Ga2Se3, Ln, and S or Se (1323 or 1373 K, 48 h) and characterized by single crystal XRD and magnetic measurements.


Prozac and the American Dream Since the publication of Listening to Prozac there have been many debates about how and why Prozac and other similar drugs are prescribed. The articles that follow take up debates about what conditions such drugs can and should address, questions about authenticity in using drugs for psychic well-being, and concerns about what means we morally endorse in projects of self-creation. The contributions from Carl Elliott, Peter Kramer, James Edwards, and David Healy derive from a project supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, "Enhancement Technologies and Human Identity." Let us start with cases. These come from an essay by the psychotherapist Maureen O'Hara and Walter Truett Anderson. The names have been changed, but the patients, they tell us, are real. 1) Jerry feels overwhelmed, anxious, fragmented, and confused. He disagrees with people he used to agree with and aligns himself with people he used to argue with. He questions his sense of reality and frequently asks himself what it all means. He has had all kinds of therapeutic and growth experiences: gestalt, rebirthing, Jungian analysis, holotropic breathwork, bioenergetics, the Course in Miracles, twelve-step recovery groups, Zen meditation, Ericksonian hypnosis. He has been to sweat lodges, to the Rajneesh ashram in Poona, to the Wicca festival in Devon. He is in analysis again, this time with a self-psychologist. Although he is endlessly on the lookout for new ideas and experiences, he keeps saying he wishes he could simplify his life. He talks about buying land in Oregon. He loved Dances with Wolves. 2) Alec is forty-two, single, and for most of his life has felt lonely and alienated. He's never cared much about politics, considers himself an agnostic, and has never found a hobby or interest he would want to pursue consistently. He says he doesn't think he really has a self at all. He's had two stints of psychotherapy; both ended inconclusively, leaving him still with chronic, low-grade depression. Nowadays he's feeling a little better about himself. He has started attending a local meeting of Adult Children of Alcoholics. People at the meetings seem to understand and validate his pain; he's making friends there and believes he "belongs" for the first time since he left the military. But he confesses to his therapist that he feels "sort of squirrelly" about it because he's not an adult child of an alcoholic. He is faking the pathological label in order to be accepted by the community, and he's not too sure he really buys into their twelve-step ideology either. 3) Beverly comes into therapy torn between two lifestyles and two identities. In the California city where she goes to college, she is a radical feminist; on visits to her midwestern home town she is a nice, sweet, square conservative girl. The therapist asks her when she feels most like herself. She says, "When I'm on the airplane."[1] Spiritual emptiness, the search for a sense of self, alienation in the midst of abundance: are there traits any more American than these? These are themes that characterize some of the most memorable American art of the middle and late twentieth century: in the poetry of T. S. Eliot and Sylvia Plath, in fiction from West and Salinger through Bellow and DeLillo, from the plays of Tennessee Williams to the documentary films of Ross McElwee, from the songs of Woody Guthrie to those of the Talking Heads. If we are to believe Tocqueville, this kind of spiritual restlessness has been with us since the early days of the republic. "In America I saw the freest and most enlightened men, placed in circumstances the happiest to be found in the world; yet it seemed to me as if a cloud habitually hung upon their brow, and I thought them serious and almost sad even in their pleasures."[2] In the decade or so since the development of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, many thoughtful (and some not so thoughtful) voices have urged caution, or at least a damper on our enthusiasm for the drugs, most notably in the debate prompted by Peter Kramer's splendid book, Listening to Prozac. …


To mechanistically study the mechanotransductive process by which cells transduce external physical signals into intracellular biochemical signals, a cell stretching device was designed to allow for quantitative control and real-time measurement of mechanical stimuli and cellular biomechanical responses. Our observations showed that the immediate response in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) was acute contraction to resist cell deformation, followed by an adaptive inelastic cytoskeletal reorganization in response to sustained cell stretch. Our investigation will help reduce the knowledge gap surrounding the mechanotransductive process in VSMCs and thus contribute to our understanding of stress-related vascular disease processes.


In order to improve vehicle lateral stability and handling stability, a novel integrated vehicle yaw stability control scheme is proposed in this manuscript which considers front steering wheel angle and additional yaw moment as control variables. The reference yaw rate is firstly determined according to Lyapunov's second law which is determined by keeping sideslip angle within a stable range. In the following, considering mechanical security constrains, nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) algorithm is utilized to make vehicle yaw rate follow the reference value. Finally, the performance of the proposed integrated controller is evaluated in critical vehicle running conditions, and the simulation results indicate that the proposed method is able to maintain vehicle lateral stability perfectly.


The invention (a) at least one flavonoid (flavonoid); to express the (b) an aqueous composition containing ferulic acid (ferulic acid), the flavonoid (a) and ferulic acid (b) has synergistic oxidation inhibitor activity to to provide a water-based composition which is characterized in that can be provided in a sufficient amount.


The goal of the paper is to present historical experience of orphan living arrangement in the pre-revolutionary Ufa province. The paper demonstrates the main stages and features of development of the orphan care and education system in the Ufa province in the context of development of children's charity in Russia till 1917. The authors describe the leading tendencies in development of orphan care in the specified ISSN 2074-1065 Рецензируемый, реферируемый научный журнал «Вестник АГУ». Выпуск 3 (143) 2014 — 27 — period, types of charitable institutions for orphans, features of teaching and educational process in them and the positive moments important for improvement of modern social protection of the childhood.


This paper presents refl ections on the relationship bet- ween theory and practice in historical preservation from the perspective of postmodern thought. Based a on a revision of the genesis of restoration theory, it explores three basic topics: the validity of the principle of authenticity, new prac- tices in the insertion of new architecture in historical con- texts and the role played by the public in new conservation practices. It opens a discussion of the effects of new defi ni- tions of culture and the validity of universal principles.


The electric power steering (EPS) was designed to improve the handling performance of vehicle and the brushless DC motor (BLDCM) had attracted much attentions for its advantages in EPS. In this paper, the mathematical models of BLDCM and pinion-type EPS were established and the co-simulation of P-EPS with BLDCM had been carried out with MATLAB/Simulink. The ARM7LPC2131 chipset was adopted as EPS controller core and the MC33034P120 integrated circuit was selected as driver for commutation decoding. The EPS controller hardware was designed and the control strategy was put forward to achieve steering torque assist, return-to-center, and damping control. In addition, the flowchart of main program was presented. Finally, the control system of EPS with BLDCM was installed in an experimental car. The results showed that the designed controller was well matched with the car based on parking steering test and slalom test. Steering portability and handling stability of the car were greatly improved.


In the kharif (wet season of) 1975 eight pre-emergence herbicides were tested at two dosages for weed control in upland direct seeded rice. Severe toxicity to rice seedlings was observed on the 14th day in the herbicide sprayed plots but not in others. The extent of toxicity to rice (complete death of seedlings) was 86 to 90% with dinitramine, 87 to 88% with butachlor (N-butoxymethyl-a-chloro-2', 6'-diethylacetanilide). 79 to 91% with C. 288(piperophos4-dimethametryn), 66 to 89% with benthiocarb (S-4-ChlorobenzyI diethylthiocarbamate), 43 to 52% with nitrofen (2, 4-dichloro-4'-nitrodiphenyl ether), and 38 to 62% with fluchloralin. The weed control efficiencies- with the above herbicides (calculated on the basis of dry weed weight in the treatment in comparison with that under handweeded plots at 14 days) were 74 to 76%, 83 to 89%, 81 to 93%, 69 to 78% 85 to 86% and 74 to 84% respectively. A rainfall of 136 mm received between 2 to 5 days after spraying of herbicides was suspected to be the cause for this toxicity to rice, because, in earlier years when no such high toxicity was noticed, the rainfall during a week after herbicide spray was much less. The study was repeated in Kharif, 1976 with five of the above herbicides under flooded and unflooded conditions using two varieties i.e. CR. 125-12-8 (which was used in 1975) and Annapurna. The results again showed severe toxicity in the case of dinitramine, piperophos-f dimethametryn (C. 288) and butachlor; moderate toxicity with nitrofen and low toxicity with benthiocarb though weeds were controlled efficiently in all cases. Further, the extent of toxicity to a particular herbicide varied with varieties.


Flexible epoxy matrices, having a good vibration damping capability, were nanoreinforced using an organoclay. The nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. The effect of matrix flexibility on the reinforcing effect was investigated. It was found that the reinforcing effect increased with an increase in flexibility of the matrix. The reinforcement is achieved without any sacrifice in flexibility and Tg. In addition, a reduction in solvent diffusion and flammability has been demonstrated. DMA study indicates that the height of the loss peak, decreases with incorporation of the clay because of the intercalation. Nevertheless, the nanocomposite samples having up to 10 wt% of the clay show a high damping capability as evident from the tan δmax values. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 46:1667–1673, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers


It would seem intuitive that for a brain disease, such as stroke, the examination of memory, thinking, and mood would be fundamental to the clinical assessment. Yet in contemporary stroke practice, we have tended to focus on the physical manifestations of stroke and neuropsychological aspects have received little, if any, attention.1 Thankfully the landscape is changing, and there is an increasing recognition of the importance of the psychological consequences of stroke and a growing evidence base and standardization around assessment.2–4 The stroke physician cannot be expected to take on the role of the neuropsychology specialist, and there will always be cases where expert input is required. However, a basic appreciation of how to approach cognitive and mood assessment should now be mandatory for all working in stroke care.

In this review, we discuss assessment of cognitive function and mood. We have drawn on evidence from recent research, particularly systematic review.3 We do not offer a comprehensive critique of all cognitive and mood assessment tools. Rather, we suggest a framework for assessment that emphasizes the need for differing approaches to testing at differing points in the stroke pathway (Figure 1).

Figure 1.
Neuropsychological assessment throughout the stroke pathway. Schematic illustrating a potential approach to neuropsychological assessment at various stages in the stroke pathway. The tests named are given as examples rather than recommendations. Note how all elements are used to inform the clinical diagnosis. Note also that the early assessments focus on prestroke cognition, delirium, and stroke impairments rather than detailed cognitive assessment. CAM-ICU indicates Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit; CES-D, Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression; E-ADL, Extended Activities of Daily Living; HR-QoL, Health-Related Quality of Life; IQCODE, Informant Questionnaire for Cognitive Decline in the Elderly; MoCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (mini-MoCA, short form of …


It has long been recognized that the liver bears some important relation to water metabolism (reviewed by Pick, 1929 and 1946; Ratnoff and Patek, 1942). In experimental liver damage (Adlersberg, 1934; Adlersberg and Fox, 1943) and in liver disease of man (Labby and Hoagland, 1947; Ralli et al., 1945; Leslie et al., 1948) water retention has been reported. The presence of antidiuretic substances in urine has been associated with liver dysfunction (Ralli et al., 1945; Leslie and Ralli, 1947; Hall, Frame and Drill, 1949). The suggestion has been made that this may be the well known neurohypophyseal antidiuretic hormone (ADH) appearing in the urine because it is not effectively inactivated by the damaged liver (Ralli et al. 1945). ADH is inactivated at some body site as judged by the small amounts excreted after injection (Heller and Urban, 1935; Ingram, Ladd and Benlbow, 1939) and the in vitro studies of Heller and Urban (1935) indicate that while kidney and blood inactivate ADH, liver tissue is more effective.


Underwater Gliders (UGs) are a type of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) that uses buoyancy engines, an energy efficient locomotion, primarily for oceanography. In this paper, control strategies for existing underwater gliders are reviewed. A total of 50 papers indexed by Scopus with keywords control and underwater gliders were reviewed from 1989 to 2014. The majority of gliders use classical controllers, which cannot dynamically compensate for un-modeled hydrodynamic forces and unknown variations in water current and wind. With increasing operational depths and larger payloads, control strategies will become an increasingly important aspect for these gliders. Control strategies implemented in underwater gliders were reviewed and alternative control strategies are proposed.


This paper presents a comparison of different machine learning techniques for classification of the unbalance and damage Niquel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) battery cells used in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and electric vehicles (EV). The implemented linear and non-linear classification algorithms used in this study are: logistic regression (LR), k-nearest neighbors (k-NN), kernel space vector machine (KSVM), Gaussian naive Bayes (GNB) and a neural network (NN); the classifiers in this work used the principal component analysis (PCA) in dual variables to reduce the high dimensional data set. To evaluate the performance of the classifiers, experimental results and a detailed analysis of the confusion matrix are used where the effectiveness of the algorithms are demonstrated.


FIELD: medicine, pharmaceutics. SUBSTANCE: invention refers to medicine, particularly to pharmacology and aspects of treating or preventing upper airway disorders, and describes an inhalable dry powder containing dry particles containing magnesium salt, as well as methods of treating a respiratory disease, treating a respiratory disease attack, treating or preventing an upper airway infection with the above methods involving administering an effective amount of the inhalable dry powder into the airway of the patient in need thereof. The particles according to the invention have high dispersive ability, no tendency for clustering despite its small size, and contain high concentrations of the active ingredient. EFFECT: invention is applicable for therapy of upper airway diseases, as well as for making a medicinal preparation for treating, preventing, diagnosing upper airway disorders and/or infections. 25 cl, 37 dwg, 40 tbl, 26 ex


Portable life support systems must be capable of performing thermal management in a wide variety of environments. Heat-actuated heat pumps may provide this flexibility, if they can be made small enough. Microchannel technologies represent a proven approach for reducing system volume and mass. The potential impact of adding a LiBr-H2O absorption cooler to increase the radiator temperature was considered. This study showed that such a heat pump can lift the radiator temperature from 15°C to 60°C with a coefficient of performance of 0.65 and that the radiator area can be reduced by up to 60%.


Objective To explore the difference of two-bottle blood culture positive and one-bottle blood culture positive in positive alarm time and constituent ratio of pathogenic bacteria,as well as the significance in pollution differentiation and clinical diagnosis. Methods The results of 434 blood culture positive specimens were retrospectively analyzed in 2012. Results There were 231 two-bottle positive cases( 53. 23%) and 185 one-bottle positive cases( 42. 63%) in 434 positive samples. The most frequent pathogen was Escherichia coli in two-bottle and multi-bottle blood culture positive samples( 31. 73%), while that was coagulase-negative staphylococcus in one-bottle blood culture positive samples( 30. 27%). Drug resistance rate of G-bacillus was lowest to carbapenem antibiotics( imipenem,meropenem,ertapenem),while that of G+staphylococcus was lowest to tigecycline,teicoplanin,vancomycin,linezolid,that of enterococcus was lowest to tigecycline and linezolid. Conclusion Two-bottle blood culture positive was of significance in differentiation of blood culture contamination in a sense,it can reduce contamination rate.


Purpose – Diversity management is gaining attention in the organisations. This study theorizes and tests a model linking efforts to support diversity and organizational value of diversity with job satisfaction and organizational identification and proposes that these relationships are mediated by an organization's diversity climate. Design/methodology/approach – Employee survey was used to collect data from employees at an Australian manufacturing organisation. Structural equation modelling in AMOS was performed for the proposed model, controlling for age and gender. Findings – The mediating role of diversity climate in the relationship of organizational value of diversity and outcomes (job satisfaction and organizational identification) is significant. We discuss theoretical, research, and practical contributions. Originality – The present study extends the literature by testing a mediation model derived from signaling theory and social exchange theory. Keywords: Diversity climate, efforts to support diversity, organizational value of diversity, job satisfaction, organizational identification


The final shape of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) materials is usually given by machining. However, machining FRP materials is complex and difficult. Appropriate cutting tools and cutting parameters should be determined to overcome these difficulties. In this work, glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) materials with 60% and 68% fiber ratio, produced by pultrusion method, were machined. End of the milling, surface roughness (Ra), delamination damage factor (Fdd), sound and vibration results were analyzed. Experiments were carried out with Taguchi L[Formula: see text] mixed design and the results were analyzed by Taguchi, ANOVA and Pareto charts. In Taguchi and Pareto analyses, the most effective parameter for surface roughness and delamination damage factor was the feed rate, and the cutting velocity for sound and vibration. Different regression models have been tried. Linear regression was found as most suitable. The significance values of the regression models are 92.04% for surface roughness, 87.12% for delamination damage factor, 98.64% for sound and 73.27% for vibration.


The task assigned to the Mission Planning and Analysis Division for FY89 was to produce a video tape depicting the assembly of a Mars Piloted Vehicle at a man tended vehicle assembly platform, co-orbiting with Space Station Freedom. This request was made by the Transportation Node Integration Agent of the Lunar/Mars Exploration Office. Along with the request, a data package was provided which contained the latest technical briefings by the Transportation Node and Space Transportation Integration Agents. This information was used as the basis of a conceptual study performed using kinematic manipulator simulations.


Bewitched Again: Supernaturally Powerful Women on Television, 1996-2011 Julie D. O'Reilly. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013.With just the twitch of her nose, Samantha Stevens, from television's Bewitched, introduced American audiences to a world in which the feminine fused with the supernatural. In Bewitched Again, Julie O'Reilly examines the long lasting influence this iconic television show has had on the portrayal of supernaturally powerful female characters more than three decades later. O'Reilly's analysis focuses on the time period from 1996 to 2011 and divides these years into two eras: the gilded age and the post-gilded age of supernaturally powerful women on television. While the genre enjoyed great popularity with a visible increase in the number of programs from 1996 to 2006 and produced such long running shows as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed, She argues that this period is anything but a golden age of television for such female characters. She terms the period "the gilded age" due to the lack of empowered portrayals and asks, "Can these female characters truly be considered powerful, much less super-powerful, if they do not have the opportunity to embrace, develop, or utilize their abilities fully and/or freely?" (3-4). The author then argues that programs such as Medium and Ghost Whisperer which aired during the 2006-2011 years are descriptive of a post-gilded age as they demonstrate some, albeit limited, element of choice and agency.Supernatur ally powerful women on television may be immortal, possess the gift of clairvoyance, exhibit superhuman strength, or even be able to stop time but they cannot avoid the legacy of Bewitched. O'Reilly makes a convincing argument that Samantha Stevens's supernatural successors conform to the same traditional expectations of femininity and beauty that she did and deal with same challenges and obstacles that she faced in 1964. Supernaturally powerful women are often subject to the watchful eye of a male authority figure and live with the fear of being found out and labeled as freaks by others. They also feel pressure to use their powers to help others but not themselves. In stark contrast, sup er naturally powerful male characters found on programs such as Smallville and The Dead 2one do not experience these same constraints.O'Reilly's sample is not limited by program format, network broadcast, or target audience, and she even includes children's programs such as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and My Life as a Teenage Robot in her analysis. …


With the advent and popularity of social networking sites, the boundaries of the relationship between the employer and employee/prospective employee have stretched well beyond the workplace and working hours. Predictably, this relationship expansion has led to uncharted adversarial scenarios between the respective parties. Unfortunately, in this new, vibrant cyber world, employment law is struggling for deference and attention. Notwithstanding this ostensible indifference, each phase of the relationship is heavily impacted by social network media. Applicant recruitment, information gathering and applicant selection stand to be impacted by the social network communications made by employees or prospective employees. This article examines whether present and proposed law protects job applicants from potential, unlawful discrimination resulting from the employer's use of social media in its applicant recruitment, information-gathering and applicant selection processes.


This paper investigates some properties of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy Hopfield neural networks. First, we prove that there exists a unique solution of the T-S fuzzy Hopfield neural network. Second, we determine a condition for input-to-state stability (ISS) of the T-S fuzzy Hopfield neural network. These results will be useful to analyze dynamic behavior of fuzzy neural networks.


This paper,based on appeal theories,is a study and appreciation of appeals applied in the English pop song Hotel California.By revealing the process of how the song Hotel California turns a series of solid and scary themes in it into a very classic pop song,the paper discloses the deep meaning of the song and the key to its success,providing a brand new perspective to comprehend and appreciate pop songs as well as some valuable inspiration and guides to both art of language use and language performance.


The invention discloses a unified online shopping settlement method and a device. The method comprises steps that a first identification step, adding to-be-purchased virtual commodity to a shopping cart carried out by a user is identified; a second identification step, adding physical commodity to the shopping cart carried out by the user is identified; a settlement step, unified settlement of unified payment sum of the user for the virtual commodity and the physical commodity is carried out. According to the method, the purchased virtual commodity is put to the shopping cart, settlement is then carried out, a commodity settlement system of the shopping website can be simplified, developing a new settlement system for settlement of the virtual commodity is not needed, and labor force of background maintenance workers is greatly saved.


How to prevent and cure childhood asthma attack is a focus for pediatric disease research.According to the etiology and pathogenesis of asthma,Dr.YU Jingmao applies the treatment of "Fuzheng Guben and Neiwai Hezhi" .The treatment mainly including Herbal Paste and therapy through acupuncture points of traditional Chinese medicine.


Objective
To investigate the expression of forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) and glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) in advanced gastric cancer and to analyze their clinical value.

Methods
Immunohistochemical technique was used to detect the expression of FOXM1 and GRP78 proteins in cancerous and paracancerous tissues from 168 patients with advanced gastric cancer. χ2 test was used to analyze the correlation between the pathological features of advanced gastric cancer and the expression of FOXM1 and GRP78. Prognostic risk factors for advanced gastric cancer were analyzed by Cox single- and multiple-factor analyses.

Results
The positive rates of FOXM1 and GRP78 expression in advanced gastric cancer were 53.57% (90/168) and 67.26% (113/168), respectively. No or weak expression of FOXM1 and GRP78 was found in paracancerous tissues. The expression of FOXM1 was positively related to expression of GRP78 in gastric cancer tissues (r=0.41, P<0.001). The expression of FOXM1 protein was correlated with cancer embolus (P<0.001), lymph node metastasis (P<0.001), T stage (P<0.001), TNM stage (P<0.001), and tumor differentiation (P<0.001). The expression of GRP78 protein was correlated with cancer embolus (P=0.003), lymph node metastasis (P=0.002), and tumor differentiation (P<0.001). The overall survival of patients with positive expression of both FOXM1 and GRP78 was shorter than those with negative expression of both proteins (χ2=35.1189, P<0.001). FOXM1 and T stage were independent prognostic factors for advanced gastric cancer.

Conclusion
FOXM1 and GRP78 may be involved in the development and progression of gastric cancer, and they might become new targets for clinical therapy for advanced gastric cancer.

Key words:
Advanced gastric cancer; Forkhead box M1; Glucose-regulated protein 78


Measuring double‐selective and single‐selective proton relaxation rates has been shown to provide directly the dipolar cross‐relaxation rate of any pair of protons in a ligand molecule. The same measurements for a ligand exchanging between a free and a macromolecule‐bound state yield the cross‐relaxation rate of the bound ligand provided that the rate of exchange is relatively fast, thus allowing one to obtain dynamic and conformational features of the bound ligand. As an example, rigid binding of sulphisomidine to bovine serum albumin has been demonstrated.


Although the logically-centralized perspective is offered in Software-Defined Networking (SDN), the data plane is still distributed. Update commands sent by the centralized controller are executed asynchronously and independently in each switch. The timed SDN enables synchronous and coordinated update operations as each update command can be triggered by a pre-defined timestamp. Prior work on timed update mainly focuses on producing a congestion-free update sequence, whereas finding a congestion-free timed update sequence may prolong the update time. Even worse, such an update order may not exist. In this paper, we propose Chronus+, a novel timed update system that utilizes the switch buffer to shorten the update time while minimizing the switch buffer during updates. First, we formulate the Minimum Switch Buffer Problem (MSBP) as an integer linear programming and show its hardness. Then, we propose a set of efficient algorithms to solve the problem in polynomial time. Extensive evaluations in Mininet and large-scale simulations show that Chronus+ can reduce the update time by at least 17% and the switch buffer size by at least 27% compared with state-of-the-art approaches.


Objectives: To evaluate outcomes following endoscopic Zenker's diverticulotomy using a carbon dioxide (CO2) laser or stapler-assisted technique. Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis of retrospective studies comparing CO2 laser and stapler-assisted endoscopic Zenker's diverticulotomy were performed. PubMed, Scopus (Embase), and United States and United Kingdom clinical trial registries were searched. References were cross-checked. Results: No randomized controlled trials were identified. Six studies were included: 2 retrospective reviews of consecutive patients, 3 retrospective reviews with unknown consecutive status, and 1 case series totaling 379 procedures (219 laser, 160 stapler). Individual study outcomes favoring the stapler technique included a shorter duration of nil per os (NPO) status and hospital stay (4 studies), as well as fewer postoperative fevers and abnormal chest x-rays (1 study). Individual study outcomes favoring the laser technique included greater improvement in postoperative dysphagia and regurgitation scores and a lower revision rate (1 study). Random effects meta-analysis of 2 appropriate studies demonstrated a greater duration of NPO status (weighted mean difference (WMD): 1.14, 95% confidence interval [0.46-1.81]) and hospital stay (WMD: 2.84 [2.10-3.58]) for the laser technique. Mantel-Haenzel fixed effects meta-analysis of all studies suggested a greater rate of non-dental complications (odds ratio (OR): 2.32 [0.87-6.20]) and revision surgery (OR: 1.27 [0.68-2.36]) for the laser technique, but differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions: The stapler-assisted technique may shorten duration of NPO status and hospital stay, while decreasing complication and revision rates compared to the laser technique for endoscopic Zenker's diverticulotomy; however, the best available evidence is Level 4.


We report a case of giant teratoma on the anterior surface of the neck that required simultaneous removal of the thyroid and parathyroid glands in a newborn. We provided the description of clinical manifestations, surgery (performed on day 2 after birth), differential diagnosis, and comprehensive treatment. Several healthcare professionals were involved the management of this patient, including neonatologists, a maxillofacial surgeon, an otorhinolaryngologist, a pediatric surgeon, an endocrinologist, and an oncologist. Key words: neck tumor, immature teratoma, hypothyroidism, hypoparathyroidism


Overflowing with strategies that teachers have really used--and that really work--this book teaches how to build positive relationships through school activities, model good listening skills, promote a sense of community, and more.


Diderot's Le Neveu de Rameau is a famously enigmatic text: at the level of its genesis, its idiosyncratic genre and its dizzying array of open-ended themes – little can be pinned down with certainty. Of the many thematic strands running through the dialogue, however, one major element has received relatively little critical attention, despite its dominating presence in the text: prostitution. The text opens with a series of references to this theme: in particular, the highly suggestive Palais-Royal setting, and the provocative statement by the narrator 'Moi', that: 'J'abandonne mon esprit a tout son libertinage. Je le laisse maitre de suivre la premiere idee sage ou folle qui se presente, comme on voit dans l'allee de Foy nos jeunes dissolus marcher sur les pas d'une courtisane a l'air evente, au visage riant, a l'oeil vif, au nez retrousse, quitter celle-ci pour une autre, les attaquant toutes et ne s'attachant a aucune. Mes pensees, ce sont mes catins.' In its suggestion of the materiality of the thought process, driven by erotic desire rather than rationality, and subject to inconstancy and caprice – this comment frames the structure of the text as a whole, and immediately establishes the theme of prostitution as one which operates at a figurative as well as literal level.

It is these figurative and many-layered resonances which I will analyse in this article, drawing together the many episodes, anecdotes and observations in which courtisanes, pimps and prostitutes feature. Indeed, there are few scenarios in the dialogue that do not include some kind of reference to prostitution, and the text's concluding sections structurally reinforce its significance. The protean figure of the Neveu, 'Lui', who is associated successively with the figure of Diogenes, a court jester, and the Fool, is also aligned with that of a prostitute (as well as pimp), in his embodiment of a parasitic existence, in his idleness, fondness for pleasure and luxury, and in his status as performer. This article will explore the way in which the text's insistent references to and permeating metaphors of prostitution are used as a double (and doubly symbolic) reflection: on society and its values, and on the activity of prostitution itself.

1. 'I […] let my thoughts wander in complete abandon, leaving them free to follow the first wise or foolish idea that comes along, like those rakes we see in the Allee de Foy who run after a giddy-looking little piece with a laughing face, sparkling eye and tip-tilted nose, only to leave her for another, accosting them all, but sticking to none. In my case my thoughts are my wenches.' Rameau's Nephew, in Reameau's Nephew and D'Alembert's Dream, transl. by Leonard Tancock (Penguin Classics, 1966), p.33.


Based on actual development situations of domestic power industry,an introduction is being presented to the development status of domestic steam turbine manufacturing industry,while future development tendency of the industry forecasted,together with a discussion on features of market demand,power source structure adjustment,self-development and innovation of new technology,structure adjustment and technical level of product,management level of relevant manufacturers as well as corresponding service marketing etc.


Background: Hypertension is a major risk factor to coronary artery disease and stroke being its control a cornerstone on primary and secondary prevention. Catheter ablation of the renal sympathetic innervations is a new and promising therapy but data is still limited. We aimed to evaluate its effectiveness in a meta-analysis of the available clinical trials. Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases from 1966 through July 2012. The studied outcomes were 10% or higher reduction in blood pressure and reduction in the number of needed anti-hypertensive agents. We also evaluated renal function and procedure related complications. We performed fixed effect analysis when I 2 up to 40% and P at least


In the paper,the advantages of CANBUS and conception of PCIBUS are firstly introduced.The design and implement project of hardware and software for intelligent communication adapter are secondly emphasized.The PnP device driver based on PCI is designed in the end.Meanwhile,the implement of PCI configuration space is mentioned in the thesis.


Watercolour painting,as an introduction from the occident,with its individualized artistic language and style,combines its artistic individuality and fashion,which most people consider to be irrelevant to each other,together in a fantastic way.This means to add more fashion elements to the Watercolour painting,and to make the Watercolour painting have the access to consistency of the artistic representation,not only conforming to the trend of the times but also being of great research significance.


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Nurses and midwives are the frontline providers of health care and provide basic health care and specialty nursing care worldwide. Because they are knowledgeable about drug-related problems in many populations and regions they have unique opportunities to demonstrate what nurses can do in relation to the abuse of drugs and alcohol. This paper addresses some newer approaches to alcohol, tobacco and drug problems that nurses and midwives can readily learn and implement at generalist levels of care and in a range of specialised nursing roles. These activities will increase their visibility and can positively impact public health efforts in this area.


An investigation was undertaken to identify the best fermentation process parameters for the production of wine from reconstituted sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) juice and study the effect of storage period and temperature on sensory and optical attributes of wine. The extracted sweet potato juice was first treated with crude amylase solution at 5% v/v to hydrolyze the starch into fermentable sugar. It was further reconstituted by adding distilled water, 60% sucrose syrup and 0.1M oxalic acid at different concentrations to attain samples of final total soluble solids concentration (TSS) and pH in the range of 18 - 30oBrix and 4.0 - 5.5, respectively. All the samples were fermented at 20 - 35oC with inoculums size of 8 - 14% (v/v) till TSS and ethanol percentage remained constant for three consecutive days. The reconstituted juice with initial TSS content of 22 o Brix and pH of 4.5, fermentation process temperature of 25oC and inoculum size of 10% (v/v) for the fermentation period of 240 h produced wine with highest ethanol percentage of 9.6. The titratable acidity, total sugar, reducing sugar and TSS of the wine were 0.83 g/100 g, 1.84 g/100 g, 1.65 g/100 g and 3.15oBrix, respectively. Color of the wine was observed to be yellowish white with little transparency. The pH of the wine was 3.73 and it was slightly higher than the generally acceptable limit. Sensory evaluation revealed that the wine had a very good taste and aroma with good body. The wine also had acceptably good after-taste and color. The changes in total color difference (ΔE) and browning index of the wine were prominent during storage. The longer storage period at lower temperature resulted in the stability of changes in ΔE and browning index of the wine.


Rule 10b-6 is an anti-manipulative rule promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") under rulemaking authority granted pursuant to section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act").1 Subject to certain exceptions, the rule prohibits participants in a distribution and their "affiliated purchasers," as defined therein, from bidding for or purchasing, or inducing others to bid for or purchase, the security which is the subject of the distribution, or any related security, from the time such person becomes a participant in the distribution until the completion of that person's distribution. The Commission has taken the position that when Rule 10b-6 applies, its prohibitions are absolute.2 From that premise, the Commission has reasoned that inquiry into the state of mind of the alleged violator is irrelevant and that proof of scienter is not necessary to establish a violation of the rule.


Plasma charging damage in CMOS technology is reviewed. The gate-oxide thickness dependent sensitivity to charging damage is examined. Ultra thin gate-oxide can tolerate low to moderate charging stress at room temperature better than thicker oxide, but not at elevated temperature. When the charging stress level is high, gate-oxide reliability degradation will result regardless the stress temperature. When high-k dielectric replaces SiO/sub 2/ as gate-dielectric, plasma charging damage should become very severe again.


This paper presents a simple-structured Fuzzy-PID controller for pitch control of a linearized, full-scale, generic transport aircraft model. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is applied to oine optimize the Fuzzy-PID controller scaling gains as well as simultaneously optimize parameters within the rst order Takagi-Sugeno (TS) type inference system. The performance of the controller is tested against a baseline state feedback and ne-tuned PID (PSO-PID) controller. Numerical simulations are conducted comparing the Fuzzy-PID controller to the other linear controllers when linear and nonlinear models of uncertainty are added post-optimization. The results demonstrate the robustness of the proposed nonlinear, oine optimized Fuzzy-PID controller.


The invention discloses a cabinet door safety interlock device for a frequency converter cabinet. The device comprises a cabinet door lock, a state monitor used for detecting whether a frequency converter is electrified, and a locking device. The invention further discloses a cabinet door safety interlock method for the frequency converter cabinet. The method comprises the steps of electrification judgment, wherein whether the frequency converter is electrified is judged; locking, wherein a cabinet door is locked and can not be open if the frequency converter is electrified. By the adoption of the device, the cabinet door of the frequency converter can be locked when the frequency converter is electrified, an alarm can be given to far-end operation personnel when the cabinet door of the frequency converter is open, and then the safety performance of the frequency converter cabinet is improved greatly.


Old Comiskey Park includes essays and memories covering the history and evolution of the former home of the Chicago White Sox, as well as its importance to its surrounding neighbourhoods, and to the city of Chicago. Essays cover Charles Comiskey and the location of the ballpark; the neighbourhoods that surround the site; the dimensions and configurations of Old Comiskey Park; a summary of All-Star, World Series, and playoff games played there; Negro League baseball at Comiskey Park; Bill Veeck; the ballpark as host to events and sports other than White Sox baseball; and an analysis of the evolution of the famous "exploding scoreboard," the original model for today's modern sports stadium boards. Former players, White Sox personnel, and fans contributed memories, including substantial pieces by Roland Hemond and Nancy Faust.


Liverworts from the genus Herbertus contain herbertane sesquiterpenoids, which are considered as chemical markers of the genus.1 The herbertanes are a small group of aromatic sesquiterpenes, isomeric to cuparanes, containing a sterically crowded 1-aryl-1,2,2-trimethylcyclopentane carbon framework incorporating two vicinal quaternary carbon atoms on a cyclopentane ring. Even though cuparene (1), isomeric to herbertene (2), has been known2 since 1958, the herbertane family of sesquiterpenes was reported only in the 1980s. The first member of the family, herbertene (2) was isolated in 1981 by Matsuo and coworkers from the ethyl acetate extract of the liverwort Herberta adunca (Dicks) S. Gray belonging to the family herbertaceae.3 Subsequently a few other phenolic herbertanes 3–9 were isolated from a variety of Herbertus sources (Figure 1).4 In 2000, Asakawa and co-workers reported5 the isolation of seven herbertenes, herberteneacetal (10), herbertene-1,14-diol (11), herbertene-1,15diol (12), herbertenones A and B (13 and 14), herbertene1,13-diol (15), and 12-methoxyherbertenediol (16) from the diethyl ether and ethyl acetate extracts of the Japanese liverwort Herbertus sakuraii. The herbertane sesquiterpenes, mainly the phenolic herbertanes, have been shown to possess interesting biological properties such as growth inhibiting activity and antilipid peroxidation activity.1,4


Why did Congress, roughly 50 years after its initial enactment, renew the Voting Rights Act? In terms of the 2006 renewal of the Act, I found that interest groups had the most sway over members' votes because of the number of interest groups involved in the fight to protect minority voting rights and the sheer magnitude of the coalition's successes. Both political parties and the President had a medium impact on legislators' votes. All members of the Democratic Party as well as most Republicans impacted the eventual renewal of the VRA by firmly standing behind the extension of the Act and voting in favor of the Act. However, some Republicans influenced the renewal of the Act by causing a rebellion and refusing to vote in favor of the VRA. The President also affected the 2006 extension of the VRA because he publicly stood behind the Act and encouraged Congress to act similarly. Finally, public outcry did not significantly impact the renewal of the Act because the level of vote dilution had declined dramatically since the creation of the Act and public outrage over vote dilution had simmered. Description Franklin and Marshall College Archives, Undergraduate Honors Thesis 2007 URI http://hdl.handle.net/11016/4286 Collections F&M Theses Collection [322]  ©2016 Franklin & Marshall College | 450 College Ave | PO Box 3003 | Lancaster, PA 17604 Contact Us | Send Feedback The Voting Rights Act: Factors that Influenced Its Creation and Most Recent Renewal 


Piezoceramic-based ultrasonic transducers have demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of functioning as smart aggregates (SAs) to detect damages for concrete structures in laboratory-sized structural members. The restriction of its further engineering application is the limited propagation distance due to the large energy loss during wave transmission. Aiming to reduce the energy loss of piezoceramic-based sensors, the authors proposed a high-performance piezoceramic-enabled SA based on acoustic impedance matching principle. The main contribution to the performance enhancement comes from the proposed surface treatment of the lead zirconate titanate patch and acoustic impedance matching layer. Comparative experiments with commercial SAs validate the improved performance. Besides, a field test with different wave propagation distances fully illustrates the perspective of the proposed superior transducer in large infrastructure engineering applications.


As the reservoir heterogeneity causes that the production accumulation of gas well has the large differences among gas wells and the gas production of a few wells decline fast, the 3D gas reservoir modeling is used for the reservoir heterogeneity characterization. By the 3D gas reservoir modeling of integrating the geological facies information into the facies modeling, a reasonable model of He8 and Shan1 formation was built, which includes the structural model, the facies model, and the reservoir properties model. Based on the model analysis, the gas sandstone belt distribution lies along the direction of from north to south. The gas sandstone in the 4, 5, 6 small layers of He8 and the 8 small layer of Shan1 is better than others. The horizontal well positions were proposed in the study area with better gas sandstone in the 3D gas reservoir model.


Since 1921, professors hanford, mohl, and others have told us much about the chronology and scope of Milton's reading in history and related subjects; but as yet we lack similarly detailed information regarding the time and nature of Milton's private studies in Greek and Roman literature. For at least a partial knowledge, however, of when and how Milton studied the Classics, source materials exist in annotations found in four of Milton's Greek texts: his Pindar, purchased in 1629, his Aratus, purchased in 1631, and his Lycophron and Euripides, both purchased in 1634. Here—and for the most part in his own hand—Milton has left us evidence of some of his Classical studies during his latter years at Cambridge and his later life; and an analysis of these annotations should supply us with information regarding Milton's intellectual history that we have hitherto lacked.


In this note I will describe some recent results, obtained jointly with R. Fefferman and J. Pipher [RF-K-P], on the Dirichlet problem for second-order, divergence form elliptic equations, and some work in progress with J. Pipher [K-P] on the corresponding results for the Neumann and regularity problems.


With our country development of the economy and the advancement of society,agricultural product logistics construction becomes the key factor of driving rural area to produce and improve and the agriculture economic effect with developing,The current situation the main body of a book is complied with analyzing our country agricultural product logistics has started off,has pointed out agricultural product logistics middle have problem,and has brought forward the countermeasure accelerating improvement and developing our country agricultural product logistics here on the basis.


Tomato was evaluated for its liver protective role against carbon tetrachloride (CCl ) induced liver 4 damage in Wister albino rats. Animals were orally treated with tomato pulp (20 and 40 mL/kg body weight) for seven days followed by intraperitoneal injection (2 ml/kg) of 50% v/v CC1 on the last day. The degree of 4 protection was determined by measuring levels of serum biochemical parameters such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin. A hepatotoxic dose of CCl (2 mL/kg) significantly raised (P<0.05) the serum AST, ALT, ALP and total bilirubin 4 levels to 345.8 ± 17 U/L, 243.0 ± 13 U/L, 814.0 ± 12 U/L and 1.75 ± 0.56 mg/dL (n = 5), respectively, compared to respective control values of 193.2 ± 15 U/L, 122.5 ± 16 U/L, 449.0 ± 50 U/L and 0.78 ± 0.20 mg/dL. Pretreatment of rats with tomato pulp (40 mL/kg) significantly (P<0.05) lowered the respective serum AST, ALT and ALP levels to 281.8 ± 15 U/L, 187.4 ± 6.2 U/L and 613.0 ± 42 U/L. In conclusion results revealed that tomato pulp significantly reduced the CCl induced hepatotoxicity. 4


Total hip arthroplasty is a common treatment for patients with arthritic conditions of the hip joint. Removal of the diseased femoral head is an essential part of this operative procedure. A subsequent pathological examination of the femoral head generally confirms the clinical diagnosis. Recently, however, primary sarcoma of the femoral head was discovered in the specimens from two patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty for presumed benign disease. Although neither patient had clinical evidence of a malignant tumor, both had risk factors for the development of sarcoma in their medical history.

Case 1. A forty-six-year-old woman presented with a two-week history of pain in the left hip and an inability to walk. She had a history of cervical cancer; treatment had included pelvic exenteration with adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy seventeen years prior to the onset of the hip symptoms. Plain radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging showed changes consistent with avascular necrosis and secondary degenerative joint disease (Fig. 1-A and Fig. 1-B). No abnormal masses were visible on these studies. The patient underwent a left total hip arthroplasty. Intraoperatively, the femoral head was noted to be soft, with areas of deterioration about the femoral neck. During dislocation of the femoral head, the femoral neck fractured. The remainder of the operation proceeded uneventfully, and postoperative radiographs showed the prosthesis to be in a good position.

Fig. 1-A:
Figs. 1-A and 1-B: Case 1.

Fig. 1-A: Anteroposterior plain radiograph of the pelvis, showing postoperative changes from the previous pelvic operation. Note the subtle radiodensity and the subchondral collapse of the femoral head.

Fig. 1-B:
Coronal T1-weighted magnetic resonance image of the pelvis, showing abnormal signal in the left femoral head with an appearance consistent with avascular necrosis.

Case 2. A seventy-five-year-old man with Paget disease presented with a ten-month history of pain in the left hip and an …


We formulate a problem that is a common generalization of the problems of Skolem and Langford. Necessary conditions on the parameters are derived and many (but not all) cases are solved.


Charge density is an important film characteristic that determines the quality of film surface passivation. In this study, a prediction model of charge density was constructed by using a neural network and generic algorithm. For a systematic modeling, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process of silicon nitride films was characterized by means of a statistical experimental design. Effects of parameters under various radio frequency (rf) powers were examined under various plasma conditions. An increase in charge density was observed with increasing rf power over the entire range of SiH4 flow rate as well as at lower N2 flow rates or pressures. The effect of SiH4 flow rate on charge density was opposite to that for N2 flow rate given rf powers. For the variations in N2 or SiH4 flow rate, charge density seemed to be strongly correlated to N/Si ratio. Under the variations in pressure or N2 flow rate, maintaining a lower pressure was beneficial in achieving a higher charge density. A pronounced rf power effect at smaller grain size was expected.


Of useful methods and materials are disclosed in the manufacture of semiconductor devices. In certain embodiments, it is methods for engineering the thermal polycrystalline aluminum nitride substrate to match with the other substances that bind to that is disclosed. For example, polycrystalline aluminum nitride substrate may be engineered to have a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) match to be as close to the thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) of the materials that may be used as a growth substrate for the semiconductor material and / or semiconductor material. The invention also encompasses devices that include a semiconductor material grown using these thermal engineered substrate and the thermal engineered substrate. The thermal engineered substrates are advantageous in overcoming the problems caused by the damage resulting from the thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between the component layers of the semiconductor manufacturing methods and materials.


—Time series classification is one of the very popular machine learning tasks. In this paper, we explore the application of Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for time series classification. We distinguish between two modes of HMM application. The first, in which a single model is built for each class. The second, in which one HMM is built for each time series. We then transfer both approaches for classifier construction to the domain of Fuzzy Cognitive Maps. The identified four models, HMM NN (HMM, one per series), HMM 1C (HMM, one per class), FCM NN, and FCM 1C are then studied in a series of experiments. We compare the performance of different models and investigate the impact of their hyperparameters on the time series classification accuracy. The empirical evaluation shows a clear advantage of the one-model-per-series approach. The results show that the choice between HMM and FCM should be dataset-dependent.


textabstractCivil servants and public services seem to suffer from a
rather negative image among citizens. In many countries,
stereotypes about bureaucrats and complaints about public
service delivery abound. It is generally taken for granted
that citizens' trust in the public sector is low in comparison
to other institut ions and that this trust has declined over
time. What is surprising, however, is that the 'proof' for
this observation comes from the odd opinion-poll or
scandal or a policy-maker's personal conviction. Decent
analysis, especially that comparing across countries or in
time, is relatively scarce.


Manuscript 1035; Received 19 May 2003; Finally accepted 9 January 2004; © Zoo Outreach Organisation 1444 On 20th August 2001, a colourful frog was found in the kitchen garden at the staff residence of the Agricultural University Campus, Anand, Gujarat. It was a small sized frog with squat round body, and, short and thick hind feet. Body colour was dark gray with red colour lateral stripes on both sides. Fingers were long without webs and tips were swollen as adhesive pads. Belly was light gray with black colour. The sub-articular tubercles were distinct and present on fingers and toes. Shovelshaped metatarsal tubercles were present, inner larger than the outer ones. Tibio-tarsal articulation reached the shoulder when hind limbs were extended and bent. The frog was identified as a Painted Frog (Kaloula pulchra) after carefully examining it with the help of the field guide of Daniel (1963a,b, 1975). The first author also collected a specimen of the species from Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuary, Panchmahal District (now Dahod Dist.) during a herpetofauna survey. Both the specimens are deposited in museum of Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai (BNHS 4187 and 4186, respectively) and their morphometric measurements are given in Table 1. Recently the first author received a colour photograph of a frog from Mr. Snehal S. Patel (President, Surat Nature Club, Surat) for identification. The photograph (Fig. 1w) was identified to be that of Kaloula pulchra and was recorded outside Surat City.


Abstract A new species of Phaeoceros, P. delicatus, is described from material collected in New Zealand. It is dioicous and is characterised by a costa with elongated cells, marginal gemmae, and spore ornamentation consisting of simple papillae on the proximal face and simple or multiple papillae on the distal face.


In China's energy structure, coal still accounts for the most important part. China's demand for coal remains high. With the development of economy, such energy structure gradually shows irrationality. In order to deal with energy supply, safety and environmental issues, China should further adjust the energy structure in the future, making it more high-quality, more reasonable. Energy and economic growth have a mutually reinforcing role. In order to achieve sustained, stable and rapid economic development, we should give full consideration to the impact of energy.


The statistical relationships characterizing the concentrations of minor elements in the organic part and mineral impurities in fossil coals are allocated. The confidence ranges for these concentrations are calculated. The concentrations of minor elements within the confidence ranges relate to the clarke distributions; those exceeding the upper boundary of the confidence level, to extremely high values.


Consumers or administrators of small business networks usually cannot directly configure the link which connects their network to their Internet provider. The link setup often provides a sub-optimal configuration for end users' traffic patterns and, at best, favors bulk transfers. We introduce a method of imposing desired active queue management behavior on an upstream queue without requiring administrative control over the queue. We achieve this by observing various externally measurable characteristics of the queue's behavior and then manipulating congestion-controlled traffic through standard feedback channels such as packet drops or ECN notifications. This technique can be directly applied to improve the quality of VoIP connections sharing a bottleneck link with multiple TCP connections. Our approach performs comparably to a RED policy applied on the remote queue, without dropping VoIP packets. The complexity of our approach is independent of the number of connections, and hence it can be implemented on a network gateway without adding noticeable processing overhead.


In image processing, image de-noising has become an essential task for many researchers. Mainly ultrasound images contain speckle noise which degrades the quality of the images. Eliminating such kind of noise is an important preprocessing task. A wavelet based thresholding scheme for noise suppression in images by using statistical method is purposed in this paper. Our method helps to find out the optimum threshold value by analyzing the statistical parameters of the wavelet sub-band coefficients like standard deviation, arithmetic mean and geometrical mean. The noisy image is decomposed into 2 levels to obtain the different frequency bands. Then consequently soft thresholding method is applied to remove the noisy coefficients, by calculating the optimum threshold by the purposed method. Experimental results on several test images by using the proposed method show that, the proposed method yields significantly better image quality and better Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR). Quantitative and qualitative comparisons of the results obtained by the proposed method with the results achieved from the other speckle noise reduction techniques demonstrate its better performance for speckle reduction.


The Trade Policy Review (TPR) is an important document for small open economies like Malaysia. It provides an outsider perspective of its trade policies and implementation. In this paper we provide an update of the Malaysian economy emphasising the degree of competitiveness vis-a-vis other Asian counterparts. We also discuss the issue of regional and bilateral trading agreements involving Malaysia with a focus on the services sector. Finally, we briefly consider the issue of tariff protection - an issue raised by many commentators of the TPR. Copyright 2007 The Authors Journal compilation 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd .


: Hyperspectral remote sensing techniques is considered as robust techniques for the identification and delineation of altered mineral deposits. The purpose of this study is to compare the classified map of hydrothermally altered rocks in Jahazpur area, Rajasthan, India using spectral feature fitting (SFF) and spectral angle mapper (SAM) algorithms. The method is based on the comparison of absorption features in the image with the reference spectra. The Jahazpur belt is dominated by the occurrence of phyllite, dolomite, quartzite, limonite/goethite in folded sequence and affected by low grade greenschist facies of metamorphism. Hydrothermal alteration zones are delineated based on Airborne Visible/Infrared imaging spectrometer- Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) remote sensing data. In the first stage, atmospheric correction was performed followed by minimum noise fraction, pixel purity index. Spectral signature of different minerals such as Kaosmec, Talc, Kaolinite, Dolomite and montmorillonite were derived in SWIR (Shortwave infrared) region while Iron oxides such as Goethite and limonite were distinguished in the VNIR (Visible and Near Infrared) region of electromagnetic spectrum. Then image classification techniques such as spectral angle mapper (SAM) and spectral feature fitting (SFF) methods were used. SAM algorithm used for the surface mineral mapping with reference mineral spectra using USGS spectral library. The threshold values for talc, mixture of iron and talc, kaosmec, limonite/goethite are 0.08, 0.07, 0.08, 0.08 radians respectively. The classified image successfully shows the occurrence of these minerals in distribution map. SFF algorithm classified the same minerals and mapped at the default threshold (30 for all) value. The SFF distribution map shows the occurrence of clay minerals such as kaolinite, talc, and goethite. Comparatively, SFF shows better result for the mapping of clay mineral in river channel and shows cluster of pixels at the talc deposit whereas SAM shows clear distinct boundary around talc deposit. Therefore, it is concluded that spectral angle mapper produces better classified map of altered minerals than spectral feature fitting for AVIRIR-NG data.


Numerous scholars have explored the notion that our relationship with nature is essential to our well-being, and some have suggested that we have an evolved inclination to affiliate with nature. A substantial body of research supports these hypotheses, and demonstrates both the restorative and additive capacity of affiliating with nature. This article posits that experiences with the natural environment play a fundamentally important role in addressing the 6 existential anxieties of identity, happiness, isolation, meaning in life, freedom, and death—a perspective that we call Eco-Existential Positive Psychology. Moreover, we propose that affiliating with nature affords us the opportunity to be fully flourishing human beings. This article provides supporting evidence for Eco-Existential Positive Psychology via an interdisciplinary literature review.


This study aims to analyze Ann-Marie MacDonald's method of rewriting two of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, Othello and Romeo and Juliet. MacDonald converts two tragedies into an exuberant comedy, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet). This play not only revisits two narratives but also subverts their original genres by defusing the tragic elements and substituting them with comical ones. Pointing out that the reality is too contradictory to be fitted into the one-sided seriousness of tragedy, MacDonald presents as humorously inappropriate what these two tragedies has just represented as serious and consequential. Erasing the boundaries between tragedy and comedy, MacDonald uncovers and displays a broader spectrum of gender behavior. She highlights the synonymousness of idealized womanhood with passivity and makes obvious the performative and ideological limitations of that construct. MacDonald's Desdemona is not like the one we're used to. She is not a doomed and helpless victim but an adventurous, aggressive and even bloodthirsty Amazon encouraging Constance's transformation from "a Mouse" to a self-confident, strong, independent woman. MacDonald's Juliet is randy and adventurous, hardly the emblem of purity and innocence we're accustomed to. With this extremely erotic Juliet, Constance fully embraces her own sexuality. In addition, MacDonald questions the assumption that heterosexuality is the norm by rendering both Romeo and Juliet fall in love with Constance with both in error about her gender. In this story of a timid "Mouse" reclaiming the authorship of her own life, Macdonald appropriates the plots, characters, and very lines of Shakespeare making them her own. Her new story goes beyond the deconstruction of the texts that make up our cultural history to create new texts in which the old stories are re-imagined and reinterpreted from formerly excluded perspectives. It is Macdonald herself that claims "I'm the author!" declaring her independence form the Bard.


Abstract The purpose of this paper is the construction of invariant regions in which we establish the global existence of solutions for reaction-diffusion systems with a general full matrix of diffusion coefficients without balance law'condition (𝑓 + 𝑔 ≡ 0) and with nonhomogeneous boundary conditions. Our techniques are based on invariant regions and Lyapunov functional methods. The nonlinear reaction term has been supposed to be of polynomial growth.


We study the formation of tetrahydrofuran (THF) clathrate hydrate from polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) aqueous solution as a function of growth rate V and adsorbed PVP concentration c using the unidirectional growth technique. This study aims to propose a simple method for evaluating the performance of kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) for the clathrate hydrate–aqueous solution system. The degree of super cooling ΔT calculated from the growth-induced interface shift under steady-state conditions was used for evaluating the KHIs performance. ΔT at c = 0 wt%, denoted ΔT0, gradually increased with increasing V. This result suggests that the growth of THF hydrate in solution is limited by the inherent kinetics of the process on the crystal surface. Thus, when evaluating KHIs for an inhibiting effect, the effect of increasing ΔT0 must be offset by using the formula ΔT − ΔT0. The dependence of ΔT − ΔT0 on c at lower growth rates is qualitatively consistent with the theory of Raymond and Devries. However, the trend in the results at a higher growth rate does not agree with the theory. This discrepancy suggests that the crystal grain boundaries trap PVP and complicate the apparent distribution coefficient in the higher growth rate region. Using this method, a single experimental run can be completed within 3.5 h of the compulsory nucleation by setting V = 5 μm s−1. We believe this method is useful for screening various KHIs and clarifying the inhibition mechanism of KHIs.


Mechanics.- Mechanical Work.- Mechanics of Gases.- Basic Thermodynamics.- Heat Transfer.- Thermodynamics.- Mixtures and Chemical Thermodynamics.- Mixtures and Solutions.- Chemical Reactions and Gibbs Free Energy.- Gibbs Free Energy and Chemical Equilibria.- Ionic Properties and Electrochemistry.- Ions.- Electrochemistry.- Kinetics.- Kinetics.- Structure of Matter: Molecular Spectroscopy.- The Structure of Matter.- Interaction of Light and Matter.


than with other large published series. On other hand, the EVA-3S and the SPACE trials also have been criticized for relatively loose credentialing requirements for physicians performing the percutaneous interventions and the limited use of distal protection devices. The results of these clinical trials allow for only limited conclusions regarding the efficacy of CAS. Namely, CAS may be as good as, or not quite as good as, surgical endarterectomy. On the basis of these current publications, however, the short-term results of CAS are not superior to CEA. So what are we to recommend for our patients? The EVA-3S and the SPACE trials both failed to show a noninferiority of carotid stenting versus endarterectomy; but for most vascular and endovascular surgeons, perhaps they did not have to. We can and should recommend CEA for most patients with symptomatic and nonsymptomatic severe carotid stenosis as an excellent and durable procedure. For those patients who are deemed by the surgeon to be at high risk, CAS is a reasonable alternative. (The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services actually set some reasonable coverage restrictions!) Unless CREST (Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy versus Stent Trial) and other more definitive trials show that CAS is significantly superior to CEA, it is likely that our practice pattern will remain fairly similar. This review by Dr Mansour provides a brief summary of 2 recently published clinical trials, comparing carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS) with carotid endarterectomy (CEA). The North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial (NASCET), European Carotid Surgery Trial (ECST), Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis Study (ACAS), and Asymptomatic Carotid Surgery Trial (ACST) already have shown that CEA is effective in reducing the risk for primary and secondary cerebrovascular events, when compared with best medical therapy alone. Carotid artery stenting is still relatively early in its evolution, as are the clinical trials that describe its effectiveness. Prior to the Endarterectomy Versus Angioplasty in Patients With Severe Carotid Stenosis Study (EVA-3S) and Stent-Protected Percutaneous Angioplasty of the Carotid Versus Endarterectomy (SPACE) trials, there were smaller nonrandomized studies and Stenting and Angioplasty With Protection in Patients at High-Risk for Endarterectomy (SAPPHIRE). The SAPPHIRE trial certainly had its share of criticism, including a large number of patients who were never randomized, the inclusion of potentially silent myocardial infarction as an end point, and a nonhomogenous group of symptomatic and nonsymptomatic patients. In SAPPHIRE, the 30-day risk of stroke or death with CEA also was greater Commentary on "Carotid Artery Stenting in the SPACE and EVA-3S Trials: Analysis and Update"


According to the Federal Aviation Administration's Civil Airmen Statistics, the number of women who hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) Certificate remains low. The numbers of Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other minoritized individuals remain challenging to identify. Given these numbers, the response on the part of the aviation industry has been to leverage marketing campaigns, particularly around the affinity months of February, March, and June (Black History, Women's History, and Pride month) to perform their support with articles and initiatives like "the first all LGBTQ flight crew," or the first "Black female captain." Despite this work, aviation remains a challenging industry to enter. This position paper asserts that in order for the aviation industry to truly move forward in its diversity and inclusion efforts, then conscientious reflection on the experiences of minoritized individuals is necessary. To do that, we can look to Black feminist and anti-racist scholarship to better understand the ways in which it is imperative that aviation move beyond representation; towards the kind of transformational change that would enhance the industry.


With an increase in the production of advanced technological devices and appliances nowadays, there is a rapid growth of electronic waste (e-waste) across the world. E-waste has a toxic environmental and economic impact on our society. Fifty million metric tons of e-waste are disposed of, and this data continues to rise. As a result, waste management has become outdated in many parts of the world, especially in North America. Current disposal methods such as landfilling, incinerating, and recycling are analyzed; however, the consequences of such methods outweigh the benefits. These environmentally unfriendly methods cause significant harm to the human body and release dangerous chemicals into the water and land that people live in. New and potential procedures are then analyzed, which mainly include strengthening disposing of, collection, and recycling infrastructure and implementing new federal legislation. Through countries' governments, Extended Producer Responsibility, as well as Right to Repair, are taken apart to disclose the findings of its effectiveness.


The Editors and Publisher of Journal of Sports Sciences have retracted the following article: Liam J. Hughes, Jeremiah J. Peiffer and Brendan R. Scott. Load–velocity relationship 1RM predictions: A comparison of Smith machine and free-weight exercise. Journal of Sport Sciences, 38(22), 2020, 2562-2568, doi: 10.1080/02640414. 2020.1794235. The reason for retraction is data fabrication by the first author as concluded following investigation by the authors' institution, Murdoch University. The institution investigation confirmed that the first author acted alone and without the knowledge of the other authors. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE) guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as 'Retracted'. JOURNAL OF SPORTS SCIENCES 2021, VOL. 39, NO. 16, 1910 https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2021.1902603


This article analyzes the way in which hospitable reception or deliberate hostility were figured in three works by Seneca, a Roman Stoic philosopher of the 1st century AD. It is an important topic, capable of revealing social elements and political orientations expected of a good princeps. We propose the study of a Menippean satire against Emperor Claudius; a philosophical treatise on the virtue of clemency; and a mythological tragedy involving Thyestes and Atreus, descendants of Tantalus. Regardless of the discursive genre, there is an orderly appeal according to the precepts of Stoicism, so that the absence of hospitality can represent the insanity of a tyrant; the impropriety of an apotheosis; a reproach against vice.


Phased array is a new type of data transmission antenna for remote sensing satellite. The antenna scans its beam to keep the advantage of wide area coverage and high gain to get large EIRP. According to the general requirements of data transmission subsystem employed for earth observing satellite, the relationship of the parameters subject to the phased array data transmission is analyzed. A design of data transmission system suitable for engineering application and a demonstration antenna array is presented in this paper.


The article deals with Kaluga's provincial environment as depicted by the writer Gleb Uspensky. As a young boy, he lived for a time at his grandfather's in Kaluga. Uspensky's memories about that period provided the material for his vignette Mikhalych. But it is his stories written during Uspensky's brief six-month tenure as an officer of the Ryazhsk-Vyazma Railroad administration that stand out: A Checkbook [Knizhka chekov], Tax Dodgers [Neplatelshchiki], Whether You Want It Or Not[Khochesh-ne-khochesh], People of a Mediocre Mind [Lyudi srednego obraza mysley], The Truth Will Out[Shila v meshke ne utaish], The Guard Booth [Budka], etc. Kaluga gets a critical look, providing the subject for definition of 'the physiognomy of a modern provincial town'. Examining the reasons for Uspensky's short career in the railways, the article quotes from Uspensky's letters, as well as from the memoirs of A. Ivanchin-Pisarev, an active figure in the Narodniks movement and the writer's close friend. The article focuses on this selected period of Uspensky's life and its significance for Kaluga, and sets out to clarify certain details of the writer's biography, helping his name back into the collective mental map.


Bacterial blight is a major disease in pomegranate (Punica granatum) cultivation in India threatening the export potential of this important fruit crop. The disease is caused by a yellow pigmented, Gram negative, rod shaped bacterium, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. punicae. We developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based detection technique for this blight pathogen using primers designed from gyrB gene. A primer set KKM5 and KKM6 was synthesized based on sequence alignment of 530 nucleotides of C-terminus region in the gyrB genes from 15 different bacterial strains. The primer set was validated for amplification of 491 bp of gyrB gene. No amplification was observed in other phytopathogenic Xanthomonads including Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. mangiferaeindicae, Xanthomonas campestris pv. manihotis, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. axonopodis and Pantoea agglomerans. The developed technique could detect the pathogen in infected pomegranate plant samples including leaf, fruit and stem within 3 h, at a detection limit 0.1 ng µl -1 template DNA.


J o u r n a l o f t h e A m e r i c a n P h a r m a c i s t s A s s o c i a t i o n w w w.ph a r m a c i s t.c om • 47:3 • JAPhA • 311 P h a r m a c i s t s are the medication experts, a fact that is learned in pharmacy schools and trumpeted by professional organizations. But what have pharmacists done to tell others? How do patients know? Pharmacists tell them and that makes it so, right? Unfortunately, it is not that easy. Pharmacists must first interact with their patients. This means you, the pharmacist, are asking questions and listening—and don't forget to introduce yourself. I feel the pharmacist needs to develop a relationship with patients first; subsequent events are dependent on that relationship. Pharmacists should respect their patient's level of understanding of their medication. Pharmacists should always answer truthfully and not be afraid to verify answers using respected resources. Many opportunities for pharmacists to educate the public exist. Here are some avenues you can take to increase public awareness of the pharmacist as the medication expert.


High pension risks, measured by large pension funding shortfall and high pension beta (Jin, Merton, and Bodie, 2006) are associated with large corporate bond spreads. However, the effect of funding shortfall on credit spreads is completely subsumed by pension beta risk, suggesting that pension beta, not funding shortfall, is an important determinant of the cost of debt. Furthermore, the pension beta effect on credit spreads is approximately six times larger for financially distressed sponsors than for non-distressed sponsors, an indication that debt for distressed sponsors are traded with an equity-like beta. An improvement in pension information transparency increases the sensitivity of credit spreads to pension beta risk. Finally, the bond market reacts positively to the relief of pension risk overhang, as credit spreads decrease significantly when sponsors freeze or terminate their pension plans. Overall, our results are consistent with Robert Merton's (2006a, 2006b, 2007) contention that the biggest pension issue facing Corporate America and its investor is not shortfall, but the risk mismatch between pension assets and liabilities. JEL Classification: G31; G32


This article studies a mobile edge computing (MEC) with one edge node (EN), where multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) act as users which have some heavy tasks. As the users generally have limitations in both calculating and power supply, the EN can help calculate the tasks and meanwhile supply the power to the users through energy harvesting. We optimize the system by proposing a joint strategy to unpacking and energy harvesting. Specifically, a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm is implemented to provide a solution to the unpacking, while several analytical solutions are given to the power allocation of energy harvesting among multiple users. In particular, criterion I is the equivalent power allocation, criterion II is designed through equal data rate, while criterion III is based on the equivalent transmission delay. We finally give some results to verify the joint strategy for the UAV-aided multiuser MEC system with energy harvesting.


The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the degree of compensatory gain in finishing hogs when fed increasing levels of lysine during the re-alimentation period after being fed a restrictive 97% corn diet for 3 or 6 weeks. One hundred and forty mixed-sex pens (DNA Genetics, Columbus, NE) with a starting body weight of 73.5 ± 2.2 kg were blocked by starting bodyweight and assigned to a 2:3:1 factorial. Twenty replicates of seven treatments were comprised of 2 restriction lengths [3 weeks (3W) vs. 6 weeks (6W)], and 3 lysine inclusion levels at re-alimentation (Lys:ME: 100%, 110%, or 120% of the genetic margin over feed curve), and a control that remained nutrient unrestricted. Pen weight and feed disappearance were recorded at trial day zero and every 3-weeks until market. Whole pens were marketed when the average met 130 kg to evaluate the full re-alimentation period. Data were analyzed by pen (SAS 9.4, Cary, NC) with the fixed effects of restriction length and lysine level nested within restriction length. Control pigs were market weight (130 kg) on d 49 while pigs fed corn diets for 3 weeks or 6 weeks were significantly slower to market (57 and 69 d, respectively; P < 0.01). Overall average daily gain was significantly different between the control, 3W, and 6W groups (Control: 1.17, 3W: 0.99, 6W: 0.82; P < 0.01). Furthermore, overall average daily gain was significantly influenced by the lysine inclusion level during re-alimentation (Control: 1.17, 3W/100%: 0.98, 3W/110%: 0.99, 3W/120%: 1.01, 6W/100%: 0.81, 6W/110%: 0.83, and 6W/120%: 0.84 kg/d; P < 0.03). In conclusion, the use of 97% corn diets significantly reduced average daily gain and increased days to market. However, the use of diets in which the Lys:ME was greater than genetic recommendations after a period of nutrient restriction, resulted in increased compensatory growth.


Purpose: Perispinal core muscle strength has been theorized to be an important component in the pathogenesis of back pain. Recent research has demonstrated a strong association between preoperative perispinal musculature, adjusted for fatty infiltration and prospective outcomes and improvements in back pain in patients undergoing lumbar laminectomy without fusion. The purpose of this study is to determine if a similar relationship exists in patients undergoing elective posterior lumbar fusion and decompression (PLFD) surgery.Method: A retrospective observational study of prospectively collected outcomes data was conducted in which pre-operative function and patient variables of those undergoing PLFD were derived from a functional status questionnaire and medical records. ImageJ Digital Imaging Software was utilized to measure the total (CSA) and percentage of fatty infiltration of the psoas, multifidus, and erector spinae muscles in pre-operative L4 axial CT images. Pre-operative and post-operative latera...


The copolymer resin 4-HACF has been synthesized by the condensation of 4-hydroxyacetophenone (4-HA) and catechol (C) with formaldehyde (F) in 1:1:2 molar ratios in presence of 2M hydrochloric acid as catalyst. UVVisible, IR and proton NMR spectral studies have been carried out to elucidate the structure of the resin. Electrical conductivity measurements have been carried out to ascertain the semiconducting nature of the copolymer resin. The electrical properties of 4-HACF copolymer were measured over a wide range of temperature (313-428K), activation energy of electrical conduction has been evaluated and plot of log α vs 1000/T is found to be linear over a wide range of temperature, which can be ranked it as semiconductor. This remarkable property of this copolymer resin may be used to make a wide range of semiconducting and electronic devices such as transistors, light emitting diodes, solar cells and even lasers which can be manufactured by much simpler way than conventional inorganic semiconductors. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to determine the surface features of the resin.


To the Editor:

Milin and colleagues are to be commended for conducting "the first published prospective study of cannabis withdrawal in adolescents with cannabis dependence seeking treatment that is not confounded by other co-morbid substance use disorders" 1 (p. 178). The authors tested two hypotheses: 1) "a withdrawal syndrome with clinically significant and measureable symptoms will follow abrupt cessation of cannabis use;" and 2) "the intensity of the withdrawal syndrome will be dependent on the quantity of cannabis used, frequency of exposure, length of cannabis dependence, and/or age at onset of daily cannabis dependence and mental health status" 1 (p 175). Results showed that adolescents seeking treatment for cannabis dependence exhibit clinically significant withdrawal symptoms and concluded that cannabis-dependent adolescents may be particularly vulnerable to physiological symptoms that occur with cannabis withdrawal.

While these are important findings, the authors also concluded that their second hypothesis was not supported because "the intensity of the withdrawal syndrome was not related to the quantity of cannabis used, frequency of exposure, length of cannabis dependence, and age of onset of daily cannabis use" 1 (p. 178). This latter conclusion may be premature because there are several design considerations that may affect the interpretation of study results, and lead to further questions needing consideration in the future. In contrast to Milin's negative findings that may be the result of a design involving weekly assessments, other studies with adult cannabis users have found that cannabis withdrawal severity peaks between 3–7 days after initiating abstinence 2–4. Furthermore, preliminary findings from our laboratory indicate that adolescents who use cannabis heavily report increases in irritability, trouble concentrating, yawning, decreases in appetite, depression, trouble sleeping, runny eyes and nose, and muscle pains and achy joints during the first week of abstinence 5. Collectively, the findings from adult studies and our recent findings in adolescents indicate that the most severe cannabis withdrawal symptoms appear during the first week of intentional abstinence, for both adult and adolescent cannabis users. Therefore, the question is raised: Could Milin and colleagues have detected peak cannabis withdrawal severity as a function of cannabis use patterns (e.g., quantity, frequency, duration of cannabis use) if they had conducted more frequent assessments during the first week of abstinence, where others have noted the peak cannabis withdrawal syndrome occurs?

Also, the Milin study results may offer a conservative estimate of the clinical relevance of the cannabis withdrawal syndrome among adolescents. The issue of participant attrition is the bane of researchers and unfortunately endemic in research asking substance abusers to abstain from their drug of choice. Like many other studies, there was participant attrition in the Milin study, with the loss of 8 participants and retention of 13 adolescents who successfully completed the full 4-week study, a loss of 38 percent of participants. The question raised by this loss of participants is to what extent could a cannabis withdrawal syndrome contribute to the observed attrition, and had those participants been retained would the results have indicated a more severe withdrawal syndrome?

In conclusion, Milin and colleagues are to be praised for providing the first published prospective study of cannabis withdrawal in adolescents with cannabis dependence seeking treatment. However, the design used limited their ability to test their second hypothesis. Our goal is not to criticize Milin and colleagues' study unduly, but instead to raise the above methodological concerns that need to be addressed in future studies in order to more specifically determine the factors that predict severity of cannabis withdrawal and the clinical relevance of abstinence outcomes in cannabis-using adolescents.


Federated learning (FL) enables multiple clients to collaboratively train a model with the coordination of a central server. Although FL improves data privacy via keeping each client's training data locally, an attacker—e.g., an untrusted server— can still compromise the privacy of clients' local training data via various inference attacks. A de facto approach to preserving FL privacy is Differential Privacy (DP), which adds random noise during training. However, when applied to FL, DP suffers from a key limitation: it sacrifices the model accuracy substantially—which is even more severely than being applied to traditional centralized learning—to achieve a meaningful level of privacy. In this paper, we study the accuracy degradation cause of FL+DP and then design an approach to improve the accuracy. First, we propose that such accuracy degradation is partially because DP introduces additional heterogeneity among FL clients when adding different random noise with clipping bias during local training. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to associate DP in FL with client heterogeneity. Second, we design P RIVATE FL to learn accurate, differentially private models in FL with reduced heterogeneity. The key idea is to jointly learn a differentially private, personalized data transformation for each client during local training. The personalized data transformation shifts client's local data distribution to compensate the heterogeneity introduced by DP, thus improving FL model's accuracy. In the evaluation, we combine and compare P RIVATE FL with eight state-of-the-art differentially private FL methods on seven benchmark datasets, including six image and one non-image datasets. Our results show that P RIVATE FL learns accurate FL models with a small ε , e.g., 93.3% on CIFAR-10 with 100 clients under ( ε = 2, δ = 1 e − 3)-DP. Moreover, P RIVATE FL can be combined with prior works to reduce DP-induced heterogeneity