The Rambouillet process sought to re-establish autonomous governance andhuman rights for Kosovo, under the protection of the international community. However, the Kosovo authorities had committed themselves to outright independence while the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia consistently rejected any international interest in the affairs of Kosovo, which it considered an entirely domestic matter. To reconcile these irreconcilable views, an initial attempt was made to establish self-governance for Kosovo for an interim period, without touching upon the issue of the status of that territory.

As the Rambouillet conference progressed, the Contact Group moved significantly towards the FRY/Serb demand of expressly confirming its continued sovereignty and territorial integrity over Kosovo. While this and other concessions did not help to engage the FRY in the negotiating process, itjeopardized the acceptance of the agreement by Kosovo. The negotiations werebacked by the threat of the use of force, which could only be innovatively justified by reference to the doctrine of humanitarian intervention, inasmuch as there existed no formal Security Council mandate. However, the credibility of that threat was initially undermined by splits within the Contact Group during the actual negotiations, which also extended to implementation of the agreementupon acceptance by NATO. Moreover, the negotiations were hampered by thefact that one of the three principal international negotiators openly sided withone of the parties and essentially represented it. Encouraged by these divisions, Belgrade manoeuvred itself into a position of direct confrontation with NATO, which could now genuinely argue that the grave humanitarian emergency in Kosovo could only be addressed through acceptance of the Rambouilletaccord by Yugoslavia, even if sustained military attacks were required to achieve that end.


There is increasing evidence that rising emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other radiatively active gases will lead to an increase in the average surface temperature of the Earth. In addition to changes in global temperature there will be changes in precipitation. The rate and magnitude of these climatic changes is such that they could have a significant impact on agricultural potential in many parts of the world. The nature and extent of such changes will vary regionally and are dependent upon the level of climatic change in each region, the agricultural and management practices used at present, and the ability of agricultural systems to adapt to change.


The educational curriculum of Public High School (SMAN) is a benchmark to see the development of students which has been regulated by the government through the National Education Law. SMAN Darussholah Singojuruh is a collaboration school between public school which is under the responsibility of National Education and pesantren which is under the responsibility of Ministry of Religion, which has a national curriculum model combined with the curriculum of pesantren. The combination of these two curriculums raises a problem, so that the role of the headmaster in deciding the applicable curriculum becomes important. This condition can bring up the headmaster's power in determining the subjects in the collaboration school's curriculum plan. The research is conducted in the form of qualitative descriptive, the data were probed by using the theory of power to see the role of headmasters in determining the policy in collaborative schools. Data collection is done through observation using audio visual and in-depth interview. Then, it was analyzed by using triangulation data analysis to obtain data accuracy. The role of headmaster in determining the collaborative curriculum shows that there are deviations in curriculum development, resulting in changes in the subjects that have been determined previously by the government through Government Regulation No. 13 Year 2014.


Ground Penetrating Radar(GPR),which has been developed in recent years,is a new and advanced non-destructive testing technology,with a number of advantages of faster speed,no harm,powerful penetrability,deeper penetration,and higher resolution.It was concluded and emphasized that GPR was used in concrete structural engineering for the research on image feature,application and dielectric properties of concrete,and bar diameter and corrosion,in order to promote its application in practice,and to offer technical support for engineering quality control and academic reference for further studies.


Here9s a simple idea you may have heard for improving food security: Eat less meat. The logic goes like this. People in the developed world eat a huge amount of animal protein. And consumption of meat, eggs, and milk is already growing globally as people in poorer nations get richer and shift their diets. That9s a problem because animals are eating a growing share of the world9s grain harvests—and already directly or indirectly utilize up to 80% of the world9s agricultural land. Yet they supply just 15% of all calories. So, the argument goes, if we just ate less meat, we could free up a lot of plants to feed billions of hungry people and gain a lot of good farmland. Some food-security researchers, however, are skeptical. Although cutting back on meat has many potential benefits, they say the complexities of global markets and human food traditions could also produce some counterintuitive—and possibly counterproductive—results.


Clergy are political elites. This much is clear. However, direct evidence linking clergy behavior to political belief and action by religious publics has been elusive. This is actually not surprising given that clergy are often situated in complex institutional contexts with myriad group and interpersonal pressures to navigate on a regular basis. As the clergy politics literature moves away from reliance on the overly broad religious tradition framework, new opportunities to gain unprecedented insight on how previously under-emphasized causal factors and research methods may enhance our understanding of clergy as political elites become apparent. We use this paper to advance three familiar, but underutilized, tools to explain clergy political opinion formation. The first is application of the clergy professional fatigue literature to an inherently political outcome. The second is the use of experimental design in the study of clergy politics. The third is the location of our investigation among clergy in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Our results confirm findings from a growing trend of clergy scholarship that emphasizes the influence of personal and institutional factors beyond political preferences in explaining clergy political opinion.


Lower back and neck pain is now considered the top neurological disorder affecting over 540 million people worldwide, yet one that has no definitive treatments. The incidence of back pain increases with age, is higher in women than in men, and almost 80% people have at least one episode of back pain in their lives.1 While lower back pain is a multifactorial disorder, it is closely associated with intervertebral disc dysfunction.2 One of the strategies to treat back pain is to restore the structure and function of the intervertebral disc, which requires further research for a better understanding of these mechanisms.3–5 The gap in research directions that could enhance our fundamental understanding of the intervertebral disc, as well need for research funding was highlighted by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases with a Roundtable on the Role of Disc Degeneration in Neck and Back Pain.6 To advance research in different areas related to intervertebral disc and spine, scientists from around the globe gathered at the 4th International Orthopaedic Research Society and Philadelphia Spine Research Symposium (ORS/PSRS) was held at Lake Harmony, PA, USA from Oct 23rd to 27th, 2017.7 The Symposium was a 3.5 day meeting that included scientific presentations by internationally recognized spine and intervertebral disc scientists and open presentations in topic areas including: disc development and biology; disc pathology and pain; tissue engineering of the disc; disc mechanobiology; and animal models/ translational/ pre-clinical studies. This ORS/PSRS Symposium provided a platform to learn about recent scientific advances, to discuss future research directions, and to foster collaborations aimed to advance disc related research


Cooperative behaviors are common in humans, and they are the fundamental basis of our society. We focused on multilevel selection, one of the theoretical frameworks used to study the evolution of cooperation. The evolution of cooperation by multilevel selection requires that the continual assortment between cooperators and noncooperators is generated, thus, humans may have acquired mechanisms that ensure assortment, e.g., migration between groups. However, human migration involves taking risks, because migrators cannot know whether they should join new groups. In a similar way, it is also too risky to interact with newcomers for existing members. This study aims to investigate this migration behavior that may generate the assortment between cooperators and noncooperators in a less restrictive environment. Especially, we explore how humans resolve the migration risks. Therefore, we research social interaction between newcomers (migrators) and existing group members in a social network game (SNG), wherein players can behave more freely compared to the environments used in previous studies. Our result suggests that migration which generated assortment between cooperators and noncooperators may have not been probably risky in human society. Moreover, we found interesting differences between newcomers and existing group members in social interaction.


After the success of the Project for the Pan American Games in Peru, the mechanisms adopted by the organization to achieve the objectives proposed in the Project were made known to society. This research is based on adopting the NEC collaborative methodology mainly in the management of Stakeholders. For this reason, it is proposed to solve the problem of lack of communication and integration of Involved in Multifamily building projects, from the information collected about Collaborative Management NEC is made: (1) Analysis and evaluation of Involved. (2) Characteristics and strategies are proposed to manage Stakeholders. Likewise, (3) an analysis of the Dispute Resolution Board (DAB) is carried out and (4) the application of the ICE meetings tool is proposed to guarantee the correct flow of information in the project.


Increasing problems with chemical control of cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glov., in vegetable crops necessitate development of a biological control programme. An endoparasitoid of cotton aphid, Aphidius colemani Vier., is one of the candidate control agents. Data on longevity, reproduction, and development of A. colemani with A. gossypii as host are presented in this paper. The parasitoid has a fecundity of 302 eggs per female at 20°C and 388 eggs per female at 25°C, a developmental period of 12.7 days at 20°C and 10.0 days at 25°C, and an immature mortality of 14.1 % at 20°C and 27.8 % at 25°C. The intrinsic rate of increase of the parasitoid is both at 20 and at 25°C comparable to the intrinsic rate of increase of the cotton aphid. Aphidius colemani seems, therefore, a promising candidate for biological control of cotton aphid.


CITATION: Treurnicht, N. & Stanley, L. A. 2014. Analysis of a time based and corrective maintenance system for a sugar producing company. In SAIIE26 Proceedings, 14–16 July 2014, Muldersdrift, South Africa.


We give the first examples of (non-amenable group) amenable actions on stably finite simple C*-algebras. More precisely, we give such actions for any countable group in an explicit way. The main ingredients of our construction are the full Fock space of the regular representation and a trace-scaling automorphism.


Generally, cardiovascular adaptations that occur in increase transport capacity and oxygen consumption in muscle during exercise in the horse are: increase of cardiac output (CO) by increasing heart rate (HR) and less systolic ejection volume (SV), redistribution of blood flow from inactive to the active territories, associated with increased venous return through muscle and respiratory pumps, increase the capacity of blood oxygen transporting with improved extraction and its retention in the muscles. A standard way of sport horses to respond to physical exercise is to increase cardiac output, possibly by increasing the HR and SV. The present paper analyzes the heart rate evolution and dynamic at 15 sport horses, during 3 periods of training. Assessment of heart rate was effectively executed indirectly (via stethoscope). Appreciated immediately after exercise heart rate increased in all 3 months of training proportional to speed, reaching a maximum of 81,86±1,14 cardiac movements / minute in the third month, at a speed of 550 m / minute and decreased at 10 minutes after effort, in all 3 months of training, reaching a minimum of 53,40±0,74 cardiac beats / minute in the third month at speed of 350 m / minute. Statistically the differences were insignificant in most cases were traced.


Examination of soil and bed rock samples of pegmatites and metabasalts has helped in identifying an auriferous zone in Guntipalli-Atkur area. The samples analysed anomalous gold values ranging from 0.025 to 4.25 ppm.


Copy management information is recorded along with ordinary data on a record medium such as optical disc 2 so that copying of certain types of data on the medium is prevented. Data identification information from a table of contents on the medium is combined with copy management information, associated with the data to be protected, to produce a reproduction prohibition signal PBINH which operates a switch 31.


BACKGROUND
Historically, academic success has been a major outcome for evaluating the effectiveness of pharmacy education programs and admission criteria. In other words, students' overall grades and/or specific course grades have determined academic success. However, there is a disconnection between students' grades and their performance during practicums or in practice. It was postulated that professionalism might be an alternative outcome for measuring graduates' abilities.

OBJECTIVE
To construct an objective measure of professional attitudes and behaviours for recently graduated pharmacists.

METHODS
A self-report instrument was developed using the American Board of Internal Medicine's 6-tenet definition of professionalism. Four months after completing the doctor of pharmacy degree (PharmD), pharmacists were asked to complete an online version of the professionalism instrument. The Rasch Measurement Model (Winsteps, Chicago, Illinois) was used to construct a measure from the responses. Using data that fit the model, the Rasch Measurement Model can build the interval-level measurements needed for future inferential statistical interpretations of ordinal-level data gathered with this instrument.

RESULTS
Twenty-seven PharmD graduates completed the 15-item instrument. The Rasch Measurement Model was used to construct continuous, linear measures of pharmacist professionalism from these instrument rating scale data. Most of the scales functioned without modification, but 2 of the scales functioned only after being collapsed. One person and one item "misfit" the Rasch Measurement Model and were omitted from the analysis. After these adjustments, the data fit the model well. As a measurement tool, this instrument was overwhelmingly unidimensional; the linear model explained 99.9% of the variation in the data using principal contrast analysis. Item separation was 3.64 logits, person separation was 2.31 logits, and reliability was 0.93 by Cronbach's α.

CONCLUSION
The Rasch Measurement Model was used to construct an objective measure of pharmacists' professionalism. The results of this pilot project suggest a promising outcome measure for evaluating pharmacy graduates soon after completion of university.


The present invention discloses a mist coagulant and its application, are industrial paint-containing wastewater treatment technology. The mist coagulant used in conjunction with agents include A, B and C agents agents, A agent is a linear polymer formed by the reaction of melamine with aldehydes, B agent is 8-10 million molecular weight anionic polyacrylamide by complex an aqueous solution of the sodium salt obtained by modifying, C agent is an aqueous solution of a basic inorganic compound, the compound is a mixture of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfate and ammonium bicarbonate. The paint mist coagulant-containing wastewater treatment efficiency up to 95% of its wastewater treatment price is about 1.5 yuan / ton of waste than current commercially available price mist cohesion agent for treating wastewater of 2-3 yuan / ton waste , a lot cheaper, the price advantage is obvious.


Background: The gold standard for auricle reconstruction is currently performed with autologous costal cartilage. This process is done at about nine years of age, but it leads to thoracic deformity, reported in up to 70% of the patients using aComputed Tomography (CT) scanner. Objective: The present study aims to determine if this deformity has functional implications for the patients. Methods: 54 patients were clinically evaluated and subjected to spirometry at least one year after the surgery. Results: Four cases had moderate pulmonary restriction, while seven had mild lung restriction. A total of 20.3% of the patients showed pulmonary restriction. The new results are particularly crucial for patients with preoperative (pre-op) ventilatory disease. Conclusion: In patients with thoracic deformity diagnosed by clinic exploration, spirometric abnormalities occur in up to 20.3%; when stratifying the risk by gender, the risk is only significant for women older than 15 years old.


The quantitative modeling of a gas evolution oscillator requires an understanding of procedures by which dissolved gas escapes a solution either as molecules or in bubbles. A simple method has been developed to measure the rate at which molecules escape from the surface of a stirred solution. That rate is a function of stirring rate, but the data can be extrapolated to determine the rate of equilibration between the gas and a surface maintained at the same composition as the bulk solution. Such measurements indicate that at 25/sup 0/C only about one of 2 x 10/sup 8/ gas molecules of N/sub 2/ or of CO will dissolve upon striking a surface of concentrated sulfuric acid. Escape of bubbles can be modeled by use of data from previous hydrodynamic studies. If the critical concentration for homogeneous nucleations has been measured, the modeling of this process is virtually unaffected even by very large variations in the values assigned the parameters in the Volmer equation. Further experimental and computational work will be needed before it will be possible to make a truly quantitative test of our explanation of gas evolution oscillators, but such a test should be possible without the use of anymore » disposable parameters. 18 references, 1 figure.« less


A rtificial bee Colony algorithm (ABC) is a population based heuristic search technique used for optimization problems. ABC is a very effective optimization technique for continuous optimization problem. Crossover operators have a better exploration property so crossover operators are added to the ABC. This paper presents ABC with different types of real coded crossover operator and its application to Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP). Each crossover operator is applied to two randomly selected parents from current swarm. Two off-springs generated from crossover and worst parent is replaced by best offspring, other parent remains same. ABC with real coded crossover operator applied to travelling salesman problem. The experimental result shows that our proposed algorithm performs better than the ABC without crossover in terms of efficiency and accuracy. ∗Jagannath University, Jaipur, India †Jagannath University, Jaipur, India Shailesh Pandey and Sandeep Kumar Enhanced Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm and It's Application to Travelling Salesman Problem. Page 137 HCTL Open Int. J. of Technology Innovations and Research HCTL Open IJTIR, Volume 2, March 2013 e-ISSN: 2321-1814 ISBN (Print): 978-1-62776-111-6


Discussions of the global warming problem too often proceed as if there were no economically or operationally feasible substitutes for fossil fuels--other than nuclear energy, which of course has environmental problems of its own. However there is a flourishing engineering-economics literature in such substitutes, primarily renewables, and significant public and private R&D activity. This paper presents the results of a simulation study into the costs of substituting non-net-carbon emitting energy sources for fossil fuels, assuming regulatory constraints or taxes are imposed on carbon emissions. The approach taken is to postulate a feasible investment path in what are termed non-carbon or backstop technologies for two regional groupings--the industrial countries, including Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, and the developing countries--and to estimate the costs to each grouping. The carbon taxes or regulations required to bring the substitutions about can then be imputed from the results. Copyright 1992 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd


Read more and get great! That's what the book enPDFd hypertension in the elderly pocketbook will give for every reader to read this book. This is an on-line book provided in this website. Even this book becomes a choice of someone to read, many in the world also loves it so much. As what we talk, when you read more every page of this hypertension in the elderly pocketbook, what you will obtain is something great.


The strategy of hydrogen generation from sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 ) hydrolysis has obtained extensive attention in the past decade, but it is restrained by the high cost and limited abundance for the used noble metal catalysts. Herein, we prepare noble-metal-free Co–Fe–B catalysts on Cu sheet, which can reduce the cost to satisfy the demand of practical application. The as-synthesized high-performance Co–Fe–B catalysts show filamentous structure by optimizing pH value to 12.0, providing more contact areas and active sites on reaction interface. Compared with the binary Co–B and Fe–B materials, the ternary Co–Fe–B nanofilaments exhibit good catalytic performance for dehydrogenation from the NaBH 4 hydrolysis. The catalyzed hydrogen generation rate (HGR) of Co–Fe–B can achieve 9,408.9 mL min –1 g –1 at 25°C. The HGR value is 1.5 times higher than Co–B and 2.6 times higher than Fe–B under the same condition. Moreover, the result suggests that NaBH 4 hydrolysis process is independent of the amount of added catalysts, which means that it is a zero-order reaction. This work sheds light on the vital role of the cooperative action between different elements and the unique microstructure for designing high-performance catalysts.


The purpose of this paper is to examine how the revised Planning and Building Act (SFS 2010:900) have influenced the comprehensive planning in Swedish municipalities. A focus is directed at examini ...


For each pixel, the pixel expansion index value (E '(p)) to the step of obtaining by low-pass filtering the luminance values of the pixels colored in his area neighboring the pixel brightness-enhancement value (Y


This article gives an overview of geometrical optics and includes the most important formulas as well as a few optical systems of general interest.

It describes the main optical components such as lenses, mirrors, plane plates, prisms, fibers, and thin films and their influence on light beams as light propagation and polarization. The principles of reflection and refraction are discussed as well as the optical imaging based on first-order optics. The basic formulas are given.

The discussion on plano-optics considers the spectral properties of filters and prisms, the change of image orientation by a single prism and prism systems, beam splitting, and polarization effects due to birefringence of crystal components. Total internal reflection can guide light in optical fibers. Different fiber types are described.

Besides single components as best-form lenses and doublets, only multielement optical systems can meet the requirements of different imaging applications. Therefore, a selection of well-known optical systems considering their main properties is described. This includes camera lenses, microscopes, and more sophisticated optical systems as well as a short side-glance on the requirements of interferometers that cannot be described by the geometrical optics approach.

Furthermore, a section on optical bench systems summarizes the necessary support of optics by mechanical components. This includes bench profiles and structural systems using the micro bench.

Keywords:

geometrical optics;
technical optics;
optical components;
optical systems;
optical bench system;
lenses;
mirrors;
prisms;
polarizers;
optical fibers


A passive polarization converter has been realized in silicon oxynitride (SiON) technology. The device is a grating assisted codirectional coupler consisting of segments of asymmetrically etched ridge waveguides. By using a double-masking technique, the fabrication of the device is tolerant with respect to the alignment of the required masks. Conversion efficiencies up to 0.98 (TE/spl rarr/TM and TM/spl rarr/TE) and insertion losses of 3 dB/cm have been measured. Using 2-D beam propagation method simulations, an observed beat pattern in the converter could be explained as due to a leaky mode, which is captured in the grating structure.


Use of digital technology in education has a potential to influence children's learning experience and quality. In particular, integration of an appropriate technology tool plays an important role in learning environment and cognitive development. The primary objective of this study was to explore the dexterity performance outcome of children with dysgraphia in a technology-enhanced learning environment. The study participants were nine elementary school students in an age group of 5 to 10. They had writing difficulties (dysgraphia), according to the occupational therapists and clinical psychologists. An iOS application namely dexteria was used in this study. A pretest was conducted in them by paper-and-pencil method to know their current performance. After that they were introduced to the software dexteria in a tablet computer. This touch-based training software provides three sessions of activities - 'Tap it', 'Pinch it' and 'Write it'. The tap and pinch activities are intended to improve their fine motor skills and the 'Write it' is a letter tracing activity. Fifteen minutes were allotted for each activity per child per day for the training, so a total of 45 minutes spent by each participant in a day. Each participant received a total of 27 hours training on iPad to develop handwriting readiness. After the training a post-test was conducted. The results showed that these children have improved in their handwriting legibility and speed. The study concluded that the iPad-based training program focusing on visual motor skill training appeared to be effective in enhancing the handwriting readiness and time taken for completing the activity among children with dysgraphia. This pilot study is part of an ongoing research to design and develop a sophisticated technology tool for dysgraphic children.


It is proved that for any C~1 self-covering map f of a compact connected Riemann manifoldwithout boundary, if f satisfies both axiom A and the no-cycle property, and Ω(f) has (s-c-u.)structure, then the structure of its orbit space is topologically stable (semi-stable) underC~0 perturbation and structurally stable under C~1 perturbation. It seems very difficult to theauthors to extend the results of Robbinson and Nitecki to the case of self-maps. Such exten-sions were expected to be solved by Z. Nitecki. This paper may be regarded as a step for-ward in this direction.


Matrix metalloproteinases
 (MMPs) are a family of zinc-dependent proteases
 which are involved in the pathogenesis of demyelinating
 diseases like canine distemper, Theiler's murine
 encephalomyelitis (TME) or Multiple Sclerosis. In this work the following
 experiments have been carried out: 1.)  Microarray analysis of
 differentially expressed genes in the spinal cord of TMEV-infected compared
 with mock-infected SJL/J mice. 2.)  In vitro investigation of MMP-transcription
 in normal and TMEV-infected astrocytes and
 microglia from SJL/J mice. 3.)  Stereotaxic injection of 440 ng in vitro activated, recombinant murine MMP-3, -9 and -12 into the caudal cerebellar peduncle (CCP) of adult SJL/JOlaHsd mice (3-4 female mice per group; necropsy at 12,
 24, 72 and 168 hours post MMP-injection) to investigate the impact of MMP-3,
 -9 and -12 on demyelination, blood brain barrier
 leakage, and infiltration of inflammatory cells. 4.)  Intracerebral TMEV infection of Mmp3 and
 Mmp12 knock-out mice (in-house backcrossed over 10 generations on a
 SJL/JOlaHsd genetic background; 6-7 female mice per
 group, necropsy at 0, 1, 28 and 98 days post infection). Controls included
 mock-infected (medium only) knock-out animals as well as TMEV- and
 mock-infected SJL/JOlaHsd (wild type) mice. 5.)  First description of a spinal epidermoid cyst in a SJL/JOlaHsd
 mouse without associated clinical signs.
 Microarray analysis of
 transcriptional changes during TME in vivo revealed a marked and
 progressive upregulation of Mmp12. In
 addition, Mmp2, -3, -13, -14, -16 -19
 and Timp1, -2 were upregulated, while
 Mmp9, -17, -24, -28 and Timp4 were downregulated at various time points. Furthermore,
 investigations of astrocytes and microglia cells in
 vitro revealed a constitutive expression of Mmp2, -3, -9,
 -10, -12, -13, -14, -15, -24 and Timp2
 to -4. TMEV-infection of astrocytes in
 vitro induced a prominent upregulation of Mmp3,
 -9, -10, -12, and -13 as well as Timp1
 transcripts. To clarify whether these MMPs
 contribute essentially to demyelination in vivo,
 stereotaxic injection of in vitro
 activated, recombinant murine MMP-3, -9 and -12
 into the CCP of adult SJL/J was performed. This induced demyelination
 and loss of oligodendrocytes prior to the
 infiltration of inflammatory cells indicating a myelin- and/or oligodendrocyte-toxic mode of action of all three MMPs. Furthermore, following MMP-injection a BBB-leakage
 was observed, indicating a role of MMPs in the extravasation of inflammatory cells. To elucidate whether
 Mmp3 and/or Mmp12 are essential key molecules in the process of
 demyelination Mmp3 and Mmp12 knockout
 mice were intracerebrally infected with the BeAn strain of TMEV. Mmp12 knockout mice showed
 reduced demyelination, macrophage infiltration and
 motor deficits during TME compared with wild-type mice, whereas Mmp3
 knockout mice did not. In conclusion, MMP-12 plays an
 essential role in the pathogenesis of demyelinating
 diseases and the interruption of its cascade may be a suitable therapeutic
 approach to prevent chronic progressive demyelination
 or to ameliorate the disease process.


Embryonic developments of chicken microvascular network can now be observed microscopically by Taharas method, suggesting that the exposure to pure oxygen caused no observable effects on microvascular system of hatched chicken. Mr. Yutaka TAHARA, a well-known Japanese high school teacher (Oihama high school, Central ward, Chiba prefecture, Japan) has concentrated his teaching and research for the past 40 years, on the challenge of how to grow chick embryos to maturity in cultures and continuously observe their development, in eggs deprived of their shells. He selected this difficult task as the central plank in the biological training of his high school students. His life's work was directed to encouraging these students recognize with their own eyes in real time, and record how the microvascular, respiratory and skeletal systems were established at the beginning of avian life. To achieve this, the efforts of his students were focused on the hatching of small domestic birds in the school class room. During this endeavour he established a novel technique for hatching domestic chickens and quail from eggs that had been denuded of their shells. The hatchability of the chicks in these cultures is greater than 30% for quails and 67% for domestic chickens [1], at present. Furthermore after hatching, these chicks have grown into normal adult birds which lived full, uneventful lives, laid eggs and raised chicks of their own at the homes of their "breeder students". Tahara's successful methods and interesting observations are summarized below. A particularly interesting feature of the technique is that it involved culturing the embryos in pure, moistened oxygen which the embryos tolerated unharmed. Tahara's recent findings described below indicate that the main function of the eggshell is not to modulate the oxygen supply to embryos but to protect them from physical injuries caused by nesting and brooding movements of their parents and attack by predators, while avian embryos themselves are unaffected by hyperoxia.


This paper presents an integrated Ka-band 2×2 True-Time-Delay (TTD) phased array receiver using a 0.25 nm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology. Each phased array receiver channel is able to perform 20.5 ps variable delay as well as 6 dB variable gain. A mixer and buffer are integrated to down-convert the RF signal into a fixed IF1 at 11 GHz. Each receiver channel presents more than 20 dB RF-IF1 conversion gain for a wide input RF frequency range from 25 to 34 GHz. The in-band worst case delay variation is 1.23 ps, i.e. 6% of the total variable delay. Within 25-34 GHz, the measured single channel input P1dB and IIP3 are better than -24 dBm and -16 dBm, respectively. The complete phased array receiver consumes 244 mW power, and has a total chip area of 2.6×2.6 mm2.


Motion signals can arise for two reasons in the retina: due to self-motion or due to real motion in the environment. Prior studies on speed tuning always measured joint responses to real and retinal motion, and for some of the more recently identified human motion processing regions, speed tuning has not been examined in at all. We localized motion regions V3A, V6, V5/MT, MST and cingulate sulcus visual area (CSv) in 20 human participants, and then measured their responses to motion velocities from 1-24 degrees per second. Importantly, we used a pursuit paradigm that allowed us to quantify responses to objective and retinal motion separately. In order to provide optimal stimulation, we used stimuli with natural image statistics derived from Fourier scrambles of natural images. The results show that all regions increased responses with higher speeds for both, retinal and objective motion. V3A stood out in that it was the only region whose slope of the speed-response function for objective motion was higher than that for retinal motion. V6, V5/MT, MST and CSv did not differ in objective and retinal speed slopes, even though V5/MT and MST tended to respond more to objective motion at all speeds. These results reveal highly similar speed tuning functions for early and high-level motion regions, and support the view that human V3A encodes primarily objective rather than retinal motion signals.


@wiobyrne If you don't like the date/time stamp, perhaps something inconspicuous like a fleuron or a # with the link wrapped? It's smaller and out


The operating characteristics of capillary flow restrictors to control linear velocity and for transport analytes to gas phase analysis devices have been investigated for use in supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). Expansion of the fluid from too low a temperature can result in formation of a condensed solvent phase and problems in flow regulation. Fluid flow rates for expansions that avoid two-phase regions can be estimated to within approx.30%. The expansion process has been directly observed and solvent droplet size was found to be strongly dependent on fluid temperature, with average droplet size decreasing to under 0.2 ..mu..m above the critical temperature and being negligible for reduced temperatures >1.3. The source of detector noise with flame ionization detectors (FID) and the loss of less volatile compounds in SFC results from precipitation and collection of the analyte on the restrictor during expansion of the fluid. The transport of low volatility analytes is facilitated by heating the fluid prior to the restrictor or, less effectively, by heating in the restrictor. The successful transport and detection of nonvolatile compounds in FID with SFC are demonstrated.


This inception report and subsequent study are designed to respond to and meet the key objectives set out in the Terms of Reference,3 Study on the Interlinkages between the Development, Peace and Security, Human Rights and Humanitarian Pillars in North Africa. The goal of the proposed report is to produce a robust study report on the interlinkages between the development, peace and security, human rights and humanitarian pillars for the North Africa subregion4 aimed at promoting synergistic and complementary and joined-up implementation of interventions addressing peace and security, human rights, humanitarian and development situations in the subregion, and to contribute to effective and lasting solutions to conflict. Transboundary issues relevant to the study and transversal issues such as migration, displacement, as well as gender and youth issues which will inform the analysis to be carried out and will be incorporated into the study report. The report will focus on the interlinkages of the Pillars5: development6, peace and security7, human rights8 and humanitarian9 pillars with particular reference to the contexts in North Africa and with a wider set of linkages to the other subregions of the continent and related studies. The overall aim of this study is to address this knowledge gap by better understanding issues related to the four pillars as spelt out in the terms of reference for the present study with a view to identifying effective frameworks, mechanisms and eventual tools, e.g. for operational guidance, related to the complementary and synergistic implementation of interventions related to the four pillars for sustainable and lasting solutions to conflict at national and subregional levels, involving all relevant actors. In analyzing the interlinkages between the pillars and how they could inform solutions to conflict situations, the studies should explore how the existing normative frameworks could be implemented as part of the solutions.


Game music is an eclectic term, encompassing the many different musical genres that are used in video game scores. This chapter introduces readers to important game music history while seeking to define what musical characteristics are unique to game music. As composers found creative ways to work within the scope of this limited technology, unique challenges led to the conception of a new body of musical work that would later be referred to by the gaming world as "video game music," or just "game music" for short. This chapter explores the history and development of game music as a genre. It focuses on analyzing how the limitations of previous gaming systems influenced composers to make specific musical choices, while also seeking to define what aesthetic characteristics are unique to video game music and how interactivity has led to new musical forms.


A new species of the genus Petascelis belonging to the coreid tribe Petascelini is described from Tanzania under the name P. inconditus n.sp. Redescription of the genus, diagnoses for males and females as well as illustrations, new distributional records, and a key to all Petascelis taxa are provided.


This study aimed to identify the effectiveness of psychological, social, health and recreational services provided for the elderly in their own institutions from their point of view. The study sample consisted of 50 elderly of both sexes living in the "White family  Association"  and "the Association of Irbid for hosting the elderly" in Jordan has been designed scale by preparing a questionnaire consisting of four psychological, social, health and recreational paragraphs, and used the interview way to apply the scale on the sample data were analyzed and extraction of frequencies and percentages for answers to the study sample and paragraphs personnel questionnaire using statistical treatments through statistical packages program (spss), the results of the study have shown to exist over the average of the effectiveness of social services for the elderly and the presence of over a high level of effectiveness of psychological and health and recreational services provided for the elderly in the institutions them, and in the light of the objectives of the study and its results, the researchers recommended to encourage and educate the family to care for the elderly, better than social institutions because they feel the psychological and social comfort in the fact most of their family members, and the need to improve and develop the various services provided to the elderly in their own institutions. Keywords : the elderly, psychological and social services, care for the elderly, the Jordanian society.


As power system will operate more near voltage stability critical point,an OPF(Optimal Power Flow) model containing voltage stability constraints is established,which adds voltage stability margin constraints as the inequality constraints to the traditional model.By introducing the L index function,which correctly reflects current voltage stability of system,as the voltage stability constraints and adjusting their upper limits,the required voltage stability margin can be obtained.The primal-dual interior point method based on perturbed KKT(Karush-Kuhn-Tucker) condition is used to solve it.Simulation results on several IEEE test systems indicate the new model satisfies the demand of power systems for both security and economy;when voltage stability constraints work,the generation cost will increase along with the increasing voltage stability demand of system;the introduction of L index constraints has some effect on the regulation ability of system;and the algorithm can effectively deal with large quantities of equality and inequality constraints with good performance of convergence and robustness.


Abstract Clinical trials have demonstrated that antihypertensive treatment (AHT) in older adults is beneficial. Longitudinal studies, in contrast, have shown that low blood pressure is associated with higher all-cause mortality, especially in frail older adults. Despite the high quality of the available evidence, its translation into clinical guidance for the heterogeneous older population is challenging. To give a systematic overview of blood pressure targets for older adults recommended in clinical guidelines, we searched PubMed, Embase, Emcare, and five guideline databases. We selected guidelines with numerical thresholds for the initiation or the goal of non-disease-specific AHT (January 2008-October 2019). Guidelines with advices concerning AHT in older adults were analyzed. We appraised the guideline quality with the AGREEII-instrument. Of the 44 guidelines containing a numerical threshold for the initiation or the goal of AHT, 33 (75%) provided recommendations concerning AHT for older adults. Nineteen advised a higher target of systolic blood pressure (SBP) for older adults in comparison with the middle-aged population and 3 more recent advised a lower target. Over half (19/33) recommended to treat hypertension in the oldest old to a SBP <150 mmHg, while others advised intensive treatment to targets <120 mmHg. Although many guidelines mentioned frailty, only three gave specific thresholds and targets for frail older adults. The quality of the guidelines was not related with the recommended targets. Targets of AHT in older adults in international guidelines range from less strict to more intensive in comparison with the middle-aged and are set on chronological rather than biological age.


Numerous irradiation-induced gas bubbles are created in the nuclear fuel during irradiation, leading to the change of microstructure and the degradation of mechanical and thermal properties. The grain size of fuel is one of the important factors affecting bubble evolution. In current study, we first predict the thermodynamic behaviors of point defects as well as the interplay between vacancy and gas atom in both UO2 and U3Si2 according to ab initio approach. Then, we establish the irradiation-induced bubble phase-field model to investigate the formation and evolution of intra- and inter-granular gas bubbles. The effects of fission rate and temperature on the evolutions of bubble morphologies in UO2 and U3Si2 have been revealed. Especially, a comparison of porosities under different grain sizes is examined and analyzed. To understand the thermal conductivity as functions of grain size and porosity, the heat transfer capability of U3Si2 is evaluated.


To the Editor.— We recently saw a patient in congestive heart failure whose main complaint was wetting his face every time he urinated. This case report describes this unusual presentation. Report of a Case.— An 87-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of swelling of his legs and his urine hitting him in the face. The patient was aware of dyspnea on exertion for one month before his hospitalization. Four days before admission, he noted edema of his legs, scrotum, and penis. In fact, his penis had bent backward and was pointed toward his head. He denied any history of chest pains, hypertension, or diabetes and was not receiving any cardiac medications. His neck veins were distended and there were rales at the lung bases. Auscultation of the heart did not reveal any thrills, rubs, murmurs, or gallops. There was a moderate degree of ascites. The scrotum was edematous


A fast response relative humidity (RH) sensor with a fiber tip pentaerythritol tetraacrylate (PETA) based all-polymer microcavity is presented. The fiber tip all-polymer microcavity, with a maximum size of $99.27 \mu \mathrm{m}$, consists of a circular truncated cone on the fiber tip end surface and is manufactured by photopolymerization of PETA using two-photon polymerization technology, which is characterized by miniaturization and rapid manufacturing. It is a promising candidate for potential applications in chemical, medical and biological fields related to RH detection.


Recent proofs of the convergence of the linear delta expansion in zero and in one dimensions have been limited to the analogue of the vacuum generating functional in field theory. In zero dimensions it was shown that with an appropriate, $N$-dependent, choice of an optimizing parameter $\l$, which is an important feature of the method, the sequence of approximants $Z_N$ tends to $Z$ with an error proportional to ${\rm e}^{-cN}$. In the present paper we establish the convergence of the linear delta expansion for the connected vacuum function $W=\ln Z$. We show that with the same choice of $\l$ the corresponding sequence $W_N$ tends to $W$ with an error proportional to ${\rm e}^{-c\sqrt N}$. The rate of convergence of the latter sequence is governed by the positions of the zeros of $Z_N$.


The Emergency Power Supply (EPS) DG system is one of the most critical components in CANDU plant since it supplies power to operate the seismically qualified systems such as Emergency Water Supply (EWS), Emergency Core Coolant System (ECCS), control power for MSSVs, etc., in the case of loss of Class III and Class IV electric power including the failure of standby diesel generators. The EPS DG system comprises two fully independent and seismically qualified supply trains. Each train consists of a 4.16 kV medium voltage Diesel Generator (DG) set. The EPS DG set includes diesel generator, battery, battery charger, and fuel day tank. As part of the seismic risk analysis, the seismic capability of the EPS DG set is assessed. A seismic walkdown was conducted to evaluate the seismic capacities of the equipment in a CANDU 6 plant. The following components of the EPS DG set were identified for further seismic capability evaluation after the seismic walkdown. 1. EPS Diesel Generator 2. EPS DG Batteries 3. Battery Charger for EPS DG Starting Batteries 4. EPS DG Control Panel 5. EPS DG Fuel Day Tank The Seismic capacity of the EPS DG set is calculated as High Confidence of Low Probability of Failure (HCLPF) capacity. The HCLPF capacity could be calculated using either the Fragility Analysis (FA) method [1] or the Conservative Deterministic Failure Margin (CDFM) method [2]. The FA method is used in this paper to calculate the HCLPF capacity of the EPS DG set. Background for the FA methodology is given in this paper. The possible failure modes of the EPS components were identified and investigated. Fragility analyses for the asinstalled conditions were performed. The HCLPF values obtained for the EPS DG set indicate robustness of the Emergency Power Supply System in a CANDU 6 for earthquakes.


Blau and Manske substituted radioactive selenium-75 for sulfur in methionine and demonstrated that about 6 per cent of a dose of this compound could be demonstrated in the pancreas two hours after administration. The concentration of Se75 selenomethionine under these conditions was 8 or 9 times that found in the liver (1). Recently Blau, Manske and Bender reported in an abstract (2) that they had developed a method of administration of this compound to humans that insured maximum concentration in the human pancreas satisfactory for scintillation scanning. We wish to report the application of this technique to humans with suspected pancreatic disease.


The author comments on the dynamics of Moscow's effort to reconcile its pursuit of control over Eastern Europe with its interest in a viable Eastern Europe, one that is stable and capable of self-sustaining development. Although Moscow has always exercised control in military matters, it allowed some Eastern Europeans economic independence in the 1970s. Changing circumstances in the 1980s, however, have caused the Kremlin to rethink its relationships with its Eastern European "satallies"— half satellites, half allies. Moscow faces dilemmas in areas such as energy, agriculture, the Eastern European states' relations with the West, economic reforms occurring in Eastern Europe, and integration within COMECON. How Moscow resolves these dilemmas lies at the core of its future relationships with Eastern Europe. Other important factors include the lessons learned from Poland, East Germany's evolving relationship with the Federal Republic of Germany, and China's growing economic and political initiatives vis-à-vis Eastern Europe.


The toxicity of squills is in all probability due to the presence of at least two active principles.

1. A glucosidal substance very easily soluble in water, and resembling in many respects the water soluble strophanthin. This substance has been isolated in an approximately pure form but so far has not been crystallised. The minimum lethal dose of the product is 0.03 mg. for a frog of about 25 grams weight, death being produced by the stopping of the heart in systole.

2. A resinous product very slightly soluble in water, readily soluble in alcohol and not precipitated by ether from its alcoholic solution. The m. l. d. of this product is 0.06 to 0.07 mg. per frog.

From the alcoholic extract of the squill bulb a small quantity of caffeine was isolated. The base is present only in very small quantity (0.01 per cent of the dry bulb).


HPCC provides an overall understanding of performance of supercomputer systems.But actually,HPCC is not very popular now,which mostly can be attributed to its multiple performance parameters and lack of a unique and clear evaluation mark.In the paper,the authors perform HPCC benchmark suits on two supercomputers,and provide an simple and easy to perform method to analyze the result,by which an easy to understand result is obtained.The result can reflect advantage and disadvantage of each system clearly,and compare the two platforms according to the results.


The NUMPRESS System has been developed in IPPT PAN as a result of a project financially supported by European Regional Development Fund (within the Innovative Economy Programme) and is dedicated to small and middle enterprises dealing with sheet metal forming. The program consists of (i) an analytical module for analysis of forming processes with the finite element method, (ii) an optimization module controlling execution of the analytical module and performing optimization with respect to selected process parameters, in both deterministic and robust formulation, (iii) a reliability analysis module controlling execution of the analytical module to assess how random distribution of design parameters affects forming results, and (iv) a graphical user interface enabling communication between modules and easy definition of design parameters and optimization criteria. The analytical module consists of two independent programs up to the user's choice: NUMPRESS-Flow, a faster and less accurate program for implicit quasi-static analysis of rigid-viscoplastic shells (based on the flow approach) and NUMPRESS-Explicit, a program for explicit dynamical analysis of elastic-plastic and elastic-viscoplastic shells. Both programs are interfaced to a well-known commercial graphical preand postprocessor GiD. Fundamentals of formulations employed in the system and numerical examples are presented in the paper.


Abstract : A remote sensing survey of selected areas in coastal Central Louisiana was conducted for the Office of Naval Research. Program objectives were to evaluate and compare the acquired conventional and nonconventional aerial photography and 8 to 14 micron infrared imagery as to their utility in detecting and delineating landforms, land/water contacts, vegetation types, and surface expressions of subsurface structure and features in a deltaic region. The survey areas are characterized by large expanses of marsh and swamp of Recent age dissected or bordered by relict streams flanked with firm, tillable levees; tidal bayous; man-made canals; and beaches and marsh-stranded beaches (i.e., cheniers). Pleistocene exposures, in the form of coastal terraces and upthrust salt-dome islands, also are present. Night coverage of the survey areas with an RS-7 infrared(IR) mapping system was obtained in addition to simultaneous IR and photographic coverage during daytime periods. Photographic films used in this program were: aerial panchromatic (standard black and white)/W12 filter; infrared aero (black and white IR)/W88A filter; aerial Ektachrome (standard color)/HF3 and 4 filters; and Ektachrome infrared aero (camouflage detection)/W12 filters. The RS-7 was filtered to detect only 8 to 14 micron wavelength radiation. Ground data was collected subsequent to the airborne operations to aid imagery analysis and feature identification. (Author)


Global tourism has witnessed a significant positive implication on the development of developing economies. Despite the positive implication of tourism, it imposes a serious environmental cost such as environmental pollution. Brazil receives a large number of tourists each year that potentially affects economic growth and development. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of tourism on GDP and CO2 emissions in Brazil. We used a nonlinear ARDL approach to examine the nexus between tourism, economic growth, and CO2 emissions in Brazil for the period 1995–2018. The outcomes of this study reveal both short-run and long-run associations between tourism, GDP per capita, and CO2 emissions in Brazil. Nevertheless, both tourism and economic growth cause significant deterioration of the environment quality in Brazil. These findings suggest that the policymakers shall look for more sustainable and eco-friendly economic growth and tourism policies to preserve the environmental quality in Brazil.


Most of Algorithms base on Huffman Coding. This Coding has good practicability, high efficiency, quick operation, and flexible implement, so it has an extensive application. Today we use this in a limited power node of wireless sensor network. Its aim is monitoring greensward in Golf course by the temperature sensor and humidity sensor to aid managers. In order to reduce redundancy, we discussed static and adaptive Huffman data compression algorithm. After analyzing their shortages, the paper showed a modified data compression algorithm by introducing NYT list and updating point B. The algorithm gained good effect on data compression application.


The direction-of-arrival resolution of the towed linear array is an important performance index, which is restricted by the array aperture of the towed linear array. Aming at this problem, this paper has raised out the ETAM method based on the line-spectrum features of the ship noise. This method uses the stable part of the line-spectrum of the ship noise in the low frequency band, and uses the ETAM passive synthetic aperture algorithm to expand the aperture of the towed array. Thus the direction-of-arrival resolution can be improved greatly. If the integral time of the ETAM is smaller than the time correlative length of the ocean acoustic channel, it can expand the equivalent aperture of the towed array to any length, which is smaller than the space correlative length of the ocean acoustic channel. Proven by simulation, this method is useful and practical, and the algorithm is also easy and simple to carry out. It is a high-resolution direction-of-arrival estimation, which has a very good appliance perspective.


Abstract in Undetermined A method is described for assessing occupational exposures to chromium aerosols; it involves four procedures. The first, proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE), measures the total chromium,. The second, electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA), measures the oxidation state of the particle surfaces, and the third, which uses sym-diphenylcarbazide (DPC), measures the proportion of water-soluble chromium VI. The fourth, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), provides information about the size and shape of the particles and guides the interpretation of the ESCA-data. The multielemental nature of PIXE-analysis is advantageous in eliminating the possibility of interference in the DPC-method and in eliminating chromium compounds from the tentative list of existing health hazards in the smoke. These methods were applied to the analysis of samples of fume produced in welding, and information was obtained for the amounts of soluble and insoluble chromium (III and VI) in samples of different aerosols. (Less)


An automatic intelligent system is developed to diagnose shaft fault types. Features related to shaft faults are extracted from vibration signals to effectively identify the corresponding fault condition. Feature extraction is accomplished using Fourier Transform, empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and multi-scale entropy (MSE). Through the EMD method, the model uses characteristics of intrinsic mode functions (such as zero-crossing rate and energy, to represent shaft condition features. MSE is used to calculate the entropy of multi-scale of the signal. At a larger MSE scale, the MSE result can be used to clearly identify some shaft defect types. The conventional approach to monitoring of a machine's health online based on linear time-frequency analysis is subject to limitations, as the mechanical vibration signal is nonlinear and non-stationary in nature. Thus this research develops a diagnostic system based on the implementation of Fourier, EMD and MSE-based methods. In the buildup stage a knowledgeware is created from a database of existing defect types. Finally, the automatic intelligent monitoring system is implemented in a machine tool manufacturing company to verify its performance.


Innovative education in colleges is a practical activity to cultivate students' innovative consciousness,spirit and ability.Therefore,in order to strengthen such education,many vocational colleges hold varieties of innovative competitions.The paper takes one college as a case study to analyze innovative education and argues based on the investigation that innovative education needs to spread students' innovative consciousness,encourage their innovative spirit and intensify their innovative practice.


Recent literature has reported that urothelial carcinoma (UC) is with continuously rising of incidence worldwide. Among UC, bladder cancer is the most common cancer. The incidence of age have tended to be olderer. Currently side effects of cancer treatment of a relatively small targeted therapy other treatments.mTOR is important role in PI3K/AKTmTOR pathway. That mTOR inhibitor (Everolimus) could inhibit the growth of idiopathic bladder cancer.However,the effect is limited of mTOR inhibitor for bladder cancer. This study examined everolimus for the heterogeneous mechanisms of bladder cancer need to be clarified. The T24, HT1376 and HT1197 cells after treatment with everolimus, mTOR, NFκB, MMP and p-GSK were decreased,whereas T24,HT1376 and HT1197 cells treated with Y27632 (Ras/ROCK inhibitor) Ras/ROCK is not be inhibited, Y27632 attenuated the Ras and related proteins of TSGH cells,but not in T24, HT1376, HT1197 cells. Using Transwell assay, the T24, HT1376, HT1197 cells amount of migration exposed to Everolimus and TSGH cells migrated numbers treated with Y27632 were dose-dependently decreased respectively. Using ECIS assay, the T24, HT1376, HT1197 cells amount of wound healing exposed to Everolimus and TSGH cells wound healing exposed treated with Y27632 were dose-dependently decreased respectively. Our study revealed that four different cell lines from human urothelial cell carcinoma (UCC) are regulated by different signaling pathways. In the future, the target therapy through confirming the molecular change of cancer cell firstly might increase to suit the medicine to the illness in patients.


ABSTRACT This paper examines the public dialogues used in the wilderness designation effort on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington state, USA, to either support or negate the designation. Conflict in the concept of wilderness sprouts from incompatible philosophies of broader human–nature relationships. The concept of "wilderness" in the USA, as embedded in the 1964 Wilderness Act, reflects how the pro-designation community interprets humankind's relationship to nature and the physical landscapes protected under the Wilderness Act are managed to reflect that community's' understanding of nature. Conflicts arise when other communities perceive their own understandings of nature to be threatened by the concept of wilderness and the constraints it places on activities in the protected area. Using this case study of Wilderness Area designation on the Olympic Peninsula, this paper demonstrates how different sides of a conflict over wilderness legislation use cultural narratives to dominate the public dialogues surrounding wilderness. Actors in the debate seek to create a story of powerlessness and use this as a tool to legitimize their claim that nature and heritage are at risk. The case study is placed within the broader literature on political ecology and the complex role wilderness plays in American identity and heritage.


In this paper, we analyze the temporal performance of multi-robot system which are performing a foraging object task. The coordination between different robotic agents was inspired by the ant colony optimization algorithms (ACO). The objective was to prospect about parameters influence on foraging objects time. In this work, we consider three possible influencing parameters including robotic group size, objects distribution configuration and evaporation pheromone rate. The analysis of parameters impact on temporal performance is done by Analysis of Variance method (ANOVA).


This study investigated language learner strategy use reported by 567 Taiwanese EFL learners through a questionnaire and the relationships of strategy use to language performance in the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT)-Listening and Reading, at the intermediate level. Statistical analyses were employed to explore the complex relationships between test-takers' cognitive and metacognitive strategy use and L2 test performance. Major findings include: Learners used more metacogntive strategies than cognitive strategies in general. Some strategies were found to be significant predictors of test performance, accounting for 14% of the variance. Variations in the effect of learner strategy use may be associated with L2 proficiency and the language skill (listening vs. reading) assessed in the test being investigated. Some strategies were used more frequently by the higher achievers, which suggests that particular strategies are useful for EFL learners. Despite the limitations, the findings have a number of implications for pedagogy and future research.


Oil-in-water type emulsions of bis trichloromethyl sul fone which can be made from dimethyl sulfide and sodium hypochlorite. Emulsification is achieved by using the by-product aqueous brine solution from the formation reaction thereby avoiding the ecological problem of brine waste disposal and resulting in a sim ple one-pot type emulsion preparation procedure. The technique is also particularly well adapted to making mixed biocide concentrate formulations containing emulsified bis trichloromethyl sulfone.


Significance Mammalian sperm possess a Golgi-derived exocytotic organelle, the acrosome, located on the apical region of the head. Proper biogenesis of the acrosome is essential for the fertilization process because the aberrant acrosome formation results in the sterility or subfertility of males. Here, we show that the acrosome formation is governed by two forms of proacrosin-binding protein ACRBP, wild-type ACRBP-W and variant ACRBP-V5, which are generated by pre-mRNA alternative splicing of Acrbp. ACRBP-V5 is involved in the formation and configuration of the acrosomal granule during early spermiogenesis, whereas the inactive status of proacrosin in the acrosome is maintained by ACRBP-W until acrosomal exocytosis. Proper biogenesis of a sperm-specific organelle, the acrosome, is essential for gamete interaction. An acrosomal matrix protein, ACRBP, is known as a proacrosin-binding protein. In mice, two forms of ACRBP, wild-type ACRBP-W and variant ACRBP-V5, are generated by pre-mRNA alternative splicing of Acrbp. Here, we demonstrate the functional roles of these two ACRBP proteins. ACRBP-null male mice lacking both proteins showed a severely reduced fertility, because of malformation of the acrosome. Notably, ACRBP-null spermatids failed to form a large acrosomal granule, leading to the fragmented structure of the acrosome. The acrosome malformation was rescued by transgenic expression of ACRBP-V5 in ACRBP-null spermatids. Moreover, exogenously expressed ACRBP-W blocked autoactivation of proacrosin in the acrosome. Thus, ACRBP-V5 functions in the formation and configuration of the acrosomal granule during early spermiogenesis. The major function of ACRBP-W is to retain the inactive status of proacrosin in the acrosome until acrosomal exocytosis.


Although Richard Hurd's Letters on Chivalry and Romance (1762) is a well-known document in the history of English criticism, there is, curiously enough, only one modern edition of this work, and there exists as yet no study of Hurd's total accomplishment as a critic. Miss Morley's Introduction to her edition of the Letters has been described as "valuable," but she has done little more than summarize the contents of the book and reprint Hurd's own notes uncritically.


This paper analysed the present situation of talent training mode reformation in colleges and universities,and illustrated the importance of compound talent training.According to the actual situation of software engineering and background major in East China Jiaotong university,the paper described the course design and the construction of experimental area for compound software talent training.The paper can be the reference for talents training.


Background: Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is reported to possess wide array of biological activities. Herbal Medicament (HM) is a standardized hexane-soluble fraction of C. longa and is well known for its neuroprotective effect. Objective: In this study, we attempted to synthesize a novel chemically modified bioactive fraction from HM (NCCL) along with isolation and characterization of a novel marker compound (I). Materials and Methods: NCCL was prepared from HM. The chemical structure of the marker compound isolated from NCCL was determined from 1D/2D nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared. The compound so isolated was subjected to in silico and in vitro screenings to test its inhibitory effect on estrogen receptors. Results: Molecular docking studies revealed that the binding poses of the compound I was energetically favorable. Among NCCL and compound I taken for in vitro studies, NCCL had exhibited good anti-cancer activity over compound I against MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, DU-145, and PC-3 cells. Conclusion: This is the first study about the synthesis of a chemically modified bioactive fraction which used a standardized extract since the preparation of the HM. It may be concluded that NCCL fraction having residual components induce more cell death than compound I alone. Thus, NCCL may be used as a potent therapeutic drug.


Angiotensin-(1-7) [Ang-(1-7)] is an endogenous peptide-hormone of the renin-angiotensin system. Ang-(1-7), angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and MAS receptor constitute ACE2-Ang-(1-7)-Mas axis, which antagonizes the ACE-AngⅡ-AngⅡ type 1 receptor axis. Recent studies indicate that Ang-(1-7) has certain effects on treating tumors, including inhibition of angiogenesis, anti-cell proliferation and inhibition of tumor fibrosis. Researches on the roles and mechanisms of Ang-(1-7) can provide new target for treatment and prevention of cancer.

Key words:
Neoplasms; Angiotensin-(1-7)


The author reviews migratory flows from Portugal to Brazil from the sixteenth century to the present. The focus is on the effect on each country's economic development, social characteristics, and demographic profile. (SUMMARY IN ENG)


1033 VOLUME 50__NOVEMBER 15, 2013 About 65% of children with newly diagnosed epilepsy achieve sustained freedom from seizures with the initially prescribed antiepileptic drug (AED). An additional 1520% become seizure free with subsequently prescribed AEDs, while the remainder cannot achieve seizure control with available medications. There is an unmet need for efficacious AED with good safety profile in this group, and there is a continued research in this field for an ideal AED. After the introduction of sodium valproate in 1967, there was hiatus of two decades after which ten new AEDs were launched during the so called "decade of Brains". These expanded the armamentarium of therapeutics for intractable epilepsy.


Symptomatic potato plants were found to be infected with Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) during the studies in potato growing areas in Hatay province in 2009 and 2010. Suspected plant samples were taken from different potato cultivars and weeds in 2014-2015 due to determine of the presence and prevalence of AMV and its other hosts in the fields. Potential vector species as Aphis fabae Scopoli, A. gossypii Glover, A. solanella Theobald, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) and Rhopalosiphum padi L. were intensively found on weeds in the potato fields. Potato leaf samples showing yellow spots and patterns, and then severe chlorosis were detected by serological (DAS ELISA: Double antibody sandwich-Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) and biological indexing methods. AMV was detected in Physalis angulata by the rate of 15.3% in 2014. Although, AMV infection was found in low levels in symptomatic potato plants in 2014 and 2015 (5.4% and 4.6%), AMV is important in Amik plain due to the virus can be transmitted by vector aphids to weeds and other crops mainly growing in Amik plain such as alfalfa, tomato and pepper or from these sources to potatoes. AMV infection began to be affected potatoes grown in Hatay during the last few years. Seed tubers infected by AMV are thought to be the source of the virus infection of potatoes growing in Hatay-Turkey. For monitoring of the status of the virus in potato fields over the years, the studies on AMV infection on potatoes, weeds and other hosts are in progress.


In this paper we propose a simple method for low-level navigation for autonomous mobile robots, employing an artificial neural network. Both corridor following and obstacle avoidance in indoor environments are managed by the same network. Raw grayscale images of size 32 × 23 p ixels are processed on e at a time by a feed-forward neural network. The output signals from the network directly c ontrol t he motor control system of t he robot. The feed-forward n etwork is trained u sing the RPROP algorithm. Experiments in bo th familiar and unfamiliar environments are reported.


Resisting Hate member in America speaks out against Donald Trump This is the reality. Far right extremists pose a far greater risk to our ...


A distributor able to evenly supply influent two-phase refrigerant flowing in by various flow states to different pipes with an extremely small pressure loss, that is, a distributor of a gas-liquid two-phase fluid distributing a gas-liquid two-phase fluid flowing in from an inlet pipe into a plurality of distribution pipes, provided with a cylindrical vessel with a cylindrical upper part, an inlet pipe connected in a tangential direction with respect to a circular cross section of the upper portion of the cylindrical vessel, and distribution pipes connected to a lower portion of the cylindrical vessel.


The demand for clean, non-fossil based electricity is growing; therefore, the world needs to develop new nuclear reactors with higher thermal efficiency in order to increase electricity generation and decrease the detrimental effects on the environment. The current fleet of nuclear power plants is classified as Generation III or less. However, these models are not as energy efficient as they should be because the operating temperatures are relatively low. Currently, a group of countries have initiated an international collaboration to develop the next generation of nuclear reactors called Generation IV. The ultimate goal of developing such reactors is to increase the thermal efficiency from what currently is in the range of 30 35% to 45 50%. This increase in thermal efficiency would result in a higher production of electricity compared to current Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) or Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) technologies.


A monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) low-noise amplifier (LNA) is incorporated in a passive antenna for noninvasive deep tissue thermometry using a near-field microwave radiometer. An internally impedance-matched high-gain (30 dB) MMIC LNA with 1-dB noise figure (NF) is integrated on the ground plane of a multilayered microstrip patch antenna with a 1.27-mm-thick superstrate. The antenna design parameters were optimized for noninvasive power reception with a sensing depth of 40 mm, return loss of ${\ge }30$ dB at 1.3 GHz, and a −10-dB bandwidth of 200 MHz. A 1.3-GHz switch-circulator single reference Dicke radiometer with 200-MHz bandwidth was implemented to assess the performance of the active antenna. Microwave circuit simulations were used to optimize the scattering parameters, gain, and NF of the radiometer for unconditional stability. The fabricated microwave radiometer has 38 dB gain, 2.6 dB NF, and input and output port return loss greater than 15 dB over 1.2–1.4 GHz. Radiometer measurements of temperature-controlled tissue phantom indicate improved measurement accuracy with a sensitivity of ±0.18 °C for the proposed active antenna. Enhanced performance observed with the integration of MMIC LNA in the passive antenna is expected to improve noninvasive detection of deep-tissue temperature.


A reproducible precision polyethylene long counter for measuring fast neutron flux is described. A diagram of the final model, which was developed after two earlier models were built and tested, is included. Design and testing of all models are described. (J.R.D.)


This article analyzed the cause of the subject-orientation of the Vocational Education Curriculum by using the origin and genre of the conflict theory.


This paper describes an innovative web based Project Management System that adds to the set of established tools of project management. The system is designed to handle a number of very large projects. It is based on robust open source systems and frameworks. In addition to the basic features such as Network Diagram, Critical Path Method (CPM), Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Gantt Chart etc., the system integrates with Geographical Information System (GIS.) This integration enables the system to record activities of the project in graphic detail on GIS map with geo-coded images and to create a digital representation of the entire project roll-out. This digital representation becomes a valuable resource for operation and maintenance on completion of the project. As the project rolls out, the progress can be seen on an intuitive GIS based dashboard. The system provides multiple methods of data entry: web interface, spreadsheet and mobile application. The system has been found to successfully operate with a number of projects and several hundred thousand tasks.


Digital Internet-distributed audiobooks are a surprising game changer in digital publishing. In recent years, audiobooks have moved from being a peripheral by-product of the printed book into the centre of digital publishing and reading, but are typically still ignored in publishing studies. This article raises the voice of the audiobook by giving it a privileged status in the current transformations of book publishing caused by digitization. We present an original model of the digital audiobook circuit, which is based on interviews and knowledge from the Danish market as part of a global industry, which makes it possible to reflect and adjust according to national variations. The model is framed by theoretical discussions of values and dynamics within the digital audiobook circuit in general.


Patterned semiconducting polycrystalline diamond films have been synthesized by hot‐filament CVD using in situ doping by pure boron powder. P‐type conduction was confirmed by both Hall and Seebeck effects. The quality of deposited films, as determined by SEM and Raman spectroscopy, was unaffected by the doping. The resistivity and Hall mobility measured by the Van der Pauw method were in the range of 20–100 Ω cm and 2–32 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively. The dopant activation energies, as computed from the resistivity versus temperature curves (up to 300 °C), were in the range of 0.38–0.30 eV corresponding to Hall concentration in the range of 9×1015–2×1017 cm−3 and boron concentration in the range of 1017–1021 cm−3. The estimated impurity concentration is consistent with SIMS results.


The companies in India are mandated to perform social and environmental practices. Due to the mandate the companies are increasing using annual reports and specifically corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability reports to their stakeholders and public about their CSR and environmental practices. The authors use company's annual reports of various Indian companies to find the common topics and thus the most common CSR tasks and practices described in these reports. This paper applies the natural language processing (NLP) as a technique towards CSR and sustainability research. Analysis of these reports led to 5 primary areas of common concern. The text classification models based on machine learning is used to identify the topics of primary focus in the text. The text data is classified with the help of the classifier label which enables us to create a supervised machine learning model The objective of the research is to find the efficient text classification model to effectively identify theme of the given text data.


In this study we used the electroencephalograph(EEG)dipole tracing method to analyze the visual and emotional evoked potentials (VEEPs)triggered by emotional stimuli induced by pictures of fear, sadness and happiness selected from the International Affective Picture System. We hypothesized that if we used the emotional pictures as triggers for averaging the EEG, we could determine VEEPs, and dipoles could be estimated in the visual cortex as well as in the areas related to the picture-induced emotions. We found the VEEP components elicited by fearful and sad stimuli were quite similar and there were no differences in the root mean square values of the positive waves, P1 and P2, in these two stimuli. However, the VEEP elicited by the happy stimulus had a signi cantly different amplitude compared to the fearful and sad stimuli. Different amplitude components of VEEPs between negative and positive emotions might be caused by differences in the processing of activations. The negative emotions of fear and sadness activated the amygdala in parallel with the visual cortex immediately after the stimuli ; and at a later time period the anterior cingulate cortex was activated for conscious awareness of the negative emotions. A simple happy stimulus does not need parallel activation of the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex, along with activation of the visual cortex. We suggest that parallel processing in the visual cortex and amygdala might serve to rapidly evaluate stimuli, in readiness for the conscious awareness of negative emotions.


Detailed neutron diffraction experiments performed on MnSe2 at various temperatures show the existence of a first‐order transition at T*≂48.5 K. At this temperature, a transition takes place from the previously reported magnetic structure described in a (3a, a, a) cell with moments aligned along [100] to two independent sinusoidally modulated magnetic structures of comparable amplitudes and propagation vectors ‖kα‖=1/3a and ‖kβ‖=1/a aligned along [100]. The transition to paramagnetism takes place at a higher temperature T≂53 K. High‐precision susceptibility measurements confirm the first‐order character of the transition taking place at T*.


Thymomas are rare and demonstrate indolent growth (1). Because all thymoma are considered malignant due to local invasion or dissemination, wide surgical excision, such as total thymectomy without biopsy is the treatment of choice for both diagnosis and therapy (1-3).


In this paper, a novel texture feature GMACM, is presented according to the statistics of gradient angle cooccurrence in color images. Based on three different types of gradients defined in the RGB space, the corresponding GMACMs are introduced. With some well-designed color image classification experiments, it is shown that GMACMs outperform GLCM and Gabor filters significantly in efficiency and accuracy. It could be concluded that GMACM is powerful in classifying and understand color images.


In this paper we discuss integration technologies for next generation broadband optical access networks, in the context of different passive optical network architectures and the role they play to alleviate various technical and economic hurdles.


This study presents a stability index based analytical technique for the optimal siting and sizing of different types of Distributed Generator (DG) unit in the distribution networks (DNs) with the objective to reduce line losses, improve voltage profile, and decrease pollution level. In order to identify the most appropriate location for DG placement, Voltage Stability Index (VSI) is utilized. A new formula is developed for the purpose of converting the multi-objective functions into a single-objective that is then minimized using the proposed analytical approach to obtain the optimal rating of DG. Furthermore, with an aim to judge the technical and environmental impact of DG, innovative and unique formulas are developed in this paper. Depending upon the reactive power absorption or generation ability, DG is classified into three types and using the proposed methods, optimal allocation is conducted separately for each type at different loading conditions. In addition, an analysis is executed based on their optimal performances to identify the most suitable type of DG for integrating into the power system.


With the integration of cyber-physical system and cloud computing, virtual machine (VM) placement has been of great importance to the performance of cyber-physical cloud system (CPCS). This paper proposes a stochastic VM placement algorithm that takes into account the uncertainty of resource requirements while minimizing the total energy consumption in a CPCS. Different from existing approaches that use deterministic values to represent the resource demands, the proposed stochastic VM placement algorithm models the uncertainty of resource requirements as random variables, and further formulates the uncertainty-affected VM placement problem as a stochastic optimization model. The optimization objective is to minimize the total energy consumed by all servers under the constraint of a user-specified overflow probability (i.e., the probability of demanded resources exceeding the capacity of the server). To solve the formulated stochastic optimization problem, we further propose an efficient metaheuristic algorithm to search for an energy-efficient VM placement solution that can tolerate resource requirement variations. Experimental results demonstrate that, compared with traditional deterministic VM placement algorithms, the stochastic method considering uncertain resource requirements can achieve more energy-efficient placement solutions while providing guaranteed service level.


Camellia oleifera fruits are randomly distributed in an orchard, and the fruits are easily blocked or covered by leaves. In addition, the colors of leaves and fruits are alike, and flowers and fruits grow at the same time, presenting many ambiguities. The large shock force will cause flowers to fall and affect the yield. As a result, accurate positioning becomes a difficult problem for robot picking. Therefore, studying target recognition and localization of Camellia oleifera fruits in complex environments has many difficulties. In this paper, a fusion method of deep learning based on visual perception and image processing is proposed to adaptively and actively locate fruit recognition and picking points for Camellia oleifera fruits. First, to adapt to the target classification and recognition of complex scenes in the field, the parameters of the You Only Live Once v7 (YOLOv7) model were optimized and selected to achieve Camellia oleifera fruits' detection and determine the center point of the fruit recognition frame. Then, image processing and a geometric algorithm are used to process the image, segment, and determine the morphology of the fruit, extract the centroid of the outline of Camellia oleifera fruit, and then analyze the position deviation of its centroid point and the center point in the YOLO recognition frame. The frontlighting, backlight, partial occlusion, and other test conditions for the perceptual recognition processing were validated with several experiments. The results demonstrate that the precision of YOLOv7 is close to that of YOLOv5s, and the mean average precision of YOLOv7 is higher than that of YOLOv5s. For some occluded Camellia oleifera fruits, the YOLOv7 algorithm is better than the YOLOv5s algorithm, which improves the detection accuracy of Camellia oleifera fruits. The contour of Camellia oleifera fruits can be extracted entirely via image processing. The average position deviation between the centroid point of the image extraction and the center point of the YOLO recognition frame is 2.86 pixels; thus, the center point of the YOLO recognition frame is approximately considered to be consistent with the centroid point of the image extraction.


Objective:To observe the combination therapy of acute eczema treatment.Methods:144 cases of acute eczema patients were randomly divided into treatment group(48 cases),the control group(48 cases),control group 2(48 cases).Treatment group(in the combination therapy group)were given dermatitis decoction and the control group(western group)were given oral mizolastine.Control 2(CMB)were given oral decoction.Three groups were in conjunction with 3% boric acid solution(hospital preparation),hydrocortisone ointment(compoundpreparations) for external use.Hydrocortisone ointment use was no more than a week.Consecutive treated for two weeks,after treatment line efficacy evaluation of patients were made.Results:The treatment group was 95.58%,89.58% in control group 1,control group 2 was 83.33%.Treatment group and control group 1 wasstatistically different(χ2=4.90,P0.01),treatment group and control group 2 was statistically significant(χ2=9.53,P0.01).Conclusion:The combination therapy of acute eczema significantly effective.


Introduction: Childhood obesity is a public health problem in Malaysia. Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) is associated with obesity in children. There is a lack of studies on factors associated with SSB consumption in Malaysia. This study aimed to determine the sociodemographic factors associated with SSB consumption among Malaysian adolescents. Methods: Data of 2,021 students, aged 10-17 years on sociodemographic, SSB intake and anthropometrics were drawn from the school-based Adolescent Nutrition Survey 2017. A multistage stratified cluster sampling was used to obtain a nationally representative sample of primary and secondary school students. Body mass index (BMI)-for-age status was determined based on calculated z-score using the World Health Organization 2007 reference. SSB consumption was obtained from a food frequency questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among Malaysian adolescents were 16.6% and 14.7%, respectively. Malaysian adolescents consumed 1.4 cups of SSB per day. Rural children had a significantly higher SSB intake (1.5 cups) than urban (1.3 cups) children, while males (1.5 cups) had a significantly higher intake than females (1.3 cups). There were no significant differences in SSB consumption between thin, normal, overweight and obese adolescents. Conclusion: Almost all Malaysian adolescents consumed SSB during one month prior to the survey and the average amount consumed was 1.4 cups per day. Rural locality and male were associated with higher SSB consumption. There were differences in SSB consumption between Chinese and Malays, between Chinese and Indians, and between Chinese and Bumiputra Sarawak. There were no differences in consumption between the different BMI-for-age categories.


This paper presents a new microelectromechanical hybrid gyroscope (MHG) with three equilibrium rings. This structure can eliminate the error caused by the double rotation frequency of the driving shaft successfully. The MHG kinematic equations with three equilibrium rings are derived in this paper. Meanwhile, a new digital design and simulation of the MHG closed-loop detection circuit are proposed based on FPGA. The noise interference is weakened by using differential mode signal detection and the resources of FPGA are decreased by the loop diode demodulation in this paper. The cross axis coupling of the decoupled system is about 2.4%. The phase margin is 70deg and the magnitude margin is 22db after correction. The transcient response simulation is tested when the inputs are sinusoidal functions. The bandwidth and scale factors of x-axis and y-axis closed loops are analyzed in the paper. The bandwidth can reach about 70Hz and the scale factors of x-axis and y-axis closed loops are 0.1467V/o/s and -0.1467V/o/s respectively.


This study is concerned with Turkish labor migration to Western Europe. Earlier and recent patterns of labor migration, characteristics of migrants by occupation, area of destination, and by geographical origins are discussed. Economic and demographic consequences of labor migration are also analyzed. It is estimated that Turkey's population will reach 73 million at the year 2000 with the present growth rate of 2.48% annually. Considering the efforts made to slow down the present high fertility rates and assuming that the decrease in labor force participation during 1970-1980 continues, the author concludes that the labor supply will increase with a growth rate of 2% annually for the next 13-15 years. Thus, the labor supply will reach 26.6 million people in the year 2000 from the 1980 level of 17.8 million. Assuming also that the income/employment elasticity of .25 which was observed throughout the period of 1960-1980 will not change until 2000, the annual growth rate of employment may be estimated as 1.5%. Thus, the number of people employed will reach 20 million in the year 1990 and 23.2 million in the year 2000. 8.8 million people will join the labor market as new entrants between 1980 and 2000. Only 6 million people out of 8.8 million will be employed. Thus, in the year 2000, it is estimated that 2.8 million new unemployed people will be added to the already open unemployment figure 1980 census data give the number of unemployed as .6 million people. Adding the 2.8 million new unemployed to this figure totals 3.4 million unemployed in 2000. The State Planning Organization's estimate of labor surplus for 1980 was 2.5 million people. When 2.8 million unemployed people are added to this figure, the labor surplus for the year 2000 reaches 5.3 million people.


In many ways, requesting an ethics consultation is like asking for any other clinical consultation. A physician recognizes a problem out of her or his area of expertise and requests help from a specialist. The question may be factual, such as whether an advance directive is valid. The request may be for a procedure, such as an evaluation of a patient's capacity to consent to a particular procedure. The query may be to "diagnose" the source of a patient's unexpected refusal of treatment. It may be to outline a clinical strategy, such as a plan to protect the unaware, at-risk spouse of an individual infected with the human immunodeficiency virus who is reluctant to reveal the diagnosis. And, perhaps most consistent with other types of clinical consultation, the ethics consultation may function simply to support the decision of the astute clinician who has identified an ethical issue, reasoned through the case, and formulated a solution to the dilemma.

Yet, the study by DuVal and colleagues demonstrates a different trigger for many ethics consults: conflict. The investigators administered a survey to a national sample of physicians practicing internal medicine, oncology, and critical care to evaluate whether they had requested an ethics consultation in the past 2 years and the reason for the consultation. This first-ever evaluation of ethics consultation in a nationally representative sample revealed that more than half of these physicians had requested an ethics consultation. The most common stimuli for ethics consultation were conflicts and other emotionally charged issues. Conflicts triggered more than one third of the consultations. Intimidation, fear, frustration, and other emotions prompted nearly one tenth of the consultations.

Previous research—focused on routine consultation for end-of-life issues—has shown that consultation is well received and may result in small improvements in health care resource use toward the end of life.1,2 DuVal and colleagues show that a wide variety of topics are targeted by ethics consultation and that much of the work of consultation is conflict resolution, mediation, and communication enhancement. These roles require the ethics consultant to possess special skills in addition to clinical ethics knowledge.3

The authors' study suggests that physicians should consider earlier consultation in solving cases presenting ethical issues. Early recognition of ethical issues and "preventive ethics" should be a central focus of ethics consultation. Recognizing the need for a surrogate decision maker, identifying possible cross-cultural conflicts, and acknowledging conflicts among health care providers before crises arise can lead to earlier and more effective ethics consultation that aims at optimal clinical care and teaching the clinician the skills to handle the next case. Patients need not be headed toward the "ethics ICU" before assistance in solving clinical ethics problems is requested.


An object-oriented formal specification workbench is proposed for defining the syntax and semantics of programming languages, using which the formal properties of different languages can be elaborated and analyzed. Our specification approach is an object-oriented representation, structured around a denotational semantics methodology which abstracts out various common details so that formal syntax and semantics can be defined elegantly. Specific details can be inherited and specialized in defining the semantics of various programming languages, and the reusability and modifiability of many programming language features can be manifested across language paradigms. Furthermore, prototype implementations for these languages may be automatically developed from the formal specifications, providing a mechanism for compiler/interpreter reuse at the specification level.


The present research aims to utilize the multi-stable mechanism to increase the energy conversion of the oscillating-body wave energy converter (WEC). Considering that a majority of WEC concepts are linear and single-stable, a nonlinear spring-damper model is proposed to achieve the multi-stable mechanism. The system is either monostable or bistable depending on the initial condition of the springs. The energy conversion of a heaving point-absorber with the nonlinear spring-damper model is investigated in the present research. First, a state-space dynamic model of the heaving point-absorber is developed. Then, the energy conversion at both the monostable mode and the bistable mode is simulated. The present research also illustrates the response feature at the two stable modes. It is found the nonlinear point-absorber behaves like a linear system in the monostable mode. The energy conversion is just increased slightly. Nevertheless, the energy absorption is increased substantially in the bistable mode. It is found that the velocity phase is adjusted in the bistable mode, leading to the enhancement of the energy conversion.