Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle) is a perennial herb native to Eurasia that has been introduced to temperate regions of the world where it is considered one of the serious weeds for arable and pastoral agriculture (Schröder et al. 1993). C. arvense reproduces both clonally and sexually. The weed is highly competitive, causes yield reductions in crops such as wheat, alfalfa, sugarbeet, and can reduce forage availability and production (Wilson 1981). Canada thistle is also a harbour for plant pathogens such as plant-parasitic nematodes (Tenuta et al. 2014). Sunflower broomrape (Orobanche cumana Wallr.) is a holoparasitic plant species with a restricted range of hosts both in the wild, where it mainly parasitizes a few species of the Asteraceae, and in agricultural fields, where it is exclusively found growing on sunflower (Fernández-Martínez et al. 2015). O. cumana infection can cause up to 80% of the yield loss in sunflower, which is a serious threat for sunflower production in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, China (Parker 2009). In July 2019, broomrape was observed parasitizing C. arvense in the greenhouse used for sunflower resistance identification (Shihezi, 86° 3' 36" E, 44° 18' 36" N, 500 m elevation) in Xinjiang, China. Fifty percent of the plants were parasitized by broomrape in the greenhouse and the host had an average of 1-2 broomrape shoots per plant. For molecular analysis, total genomic DNA was extracted from the flowers of broomrape and the rps2, rbcL, trnL-F genes, and ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were amplified by PCR using the primer pairs rps2F/rps2R, rbcLF/rbcLR, C/F, ITS1/ITS4, respectively (Park et al. 2007; Manen et al. 2004; Taberlet et al. 1991; Anderson et al. 2004). The ITS (659bp), rps2 (451 bp), trnL-F (914 bp), and rbcL (961 bp) gene sequences of the broomrape were deposited in GenBank, the accession numbers are MT856745, MW809407, MW809408, and MW809409. The results of BLAST analysis showed that ITS sequence shared 100% similarity with O. cumana (659/659 nucleotide identity, MK567978), the rps2 sequence shared 99% similarity with O. cumana (449/451 nucleotide identity, KT387722), trnL-F sequence shared 99% similarity with O. cumana (907/911 nucleotide identity, MT027325), rbcL sequence shared 99% similarity with O. cumana (956/964 nucleotide identity, MK577840). The morphological characteristics such as stem, inflorescence, corolla, bracts, calyx, stamens, gynoecium are consistent with O. cumana described by Pujadas-Salvá and Velasco (2000). Morphological and molecular identification strongly support that the broomrape parasitic on C. arvense belonged to the O. cumana. Greenhouse pot experiments were carried out to assess the parasitic relationship between sunflower broomrape and C. arvense (Fernández-Martínez et al. 2000). In January 2020, C. arvense roots were harvested from an extant field of C. arvense in the greenhouse at Shihezi University (Supplementary Figure S1A). The soil was dug to 30-40 cm depth and C. arvense roots were removed and carefully washed in water. The healthy and living C. arvense roots were selected and cut into 10-11 cm pieces. Four C. arvense root pieces were grown (buried at a depth of 10-12 cm) in 8-L pots containing a mixture of sand-vermiculite-compost (1:1:1 v:v:v) and O. cumana seeds (50 mg of O. cumana seeds per 1 kg of the substrate) with 5 replicates. Three non-infected plants were grown and evaluated in parallel. Approximately 80 days after planting, at the flowering stage of the O. cumana, C. arvense plants were uprooted from the soil. Compared to non-infected plants, the hosts' symptoms were slow growth, leaf wilting, and chlorosis, and similiar to the broomrape-infected C. arvense plants observed in the greenhouse field. The roots of C. arvense and broomrape were carefully washed in water and observed the parasitism of O. cumana. The infection was confirmed by observation of the attachment of the O. cumana to the C. arvense roots (Supplementary Figure S1D). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of O. cumana parasitizing C. arvense in Xinjiang, China. C. arvense as a new host of O. cumana indicates that sunflower broomrape can also propagate and survive in a host such as Canada thistle grown in sunflower fields. This finding suggests that it may be more difficult to control sunflower broomrape by rotation. In the next study, the contaminated area and the degree of parasitism of broomrape on C. arvense in the field will be investigated, and better-integrated control methods for controlling O. cumana will be designed. References: Schröder, D., et al. 1993. Weed. Res. 33:449-458. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3180.1993.tb01961.x Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar Wilson, R. G. 1981. Weed. Sci. 29:159-164. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043174500061725 Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar Tenuta, M., et al. 2014. J. Nematol. 46(4):376-384. Fernández-Martínez, J. M., et al. 2015. Page 129 in: Sunflower Oilseed: Chemistry, Production, Processing and Utilization. AOCS Press, Champaign, IL. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-893997-94-3.50011-8 Crossref, Google Scholar Parker, C. 2009. Pest Manag. Sci. 65:453-459. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.1713 Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar Park, J. M., et al. 2007. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 43: 974. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2006.10.011 Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar Manen, J. F., et al. 2004. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 33:482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2004.06.010 Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar Taberlet, P., et al. 1991. Plant Mol. Biol. 17:1105-1109. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00037152 Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar Anderson, I.C., et al. 2004. Environ. Microbiol. 6: 769. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2004.00675.x Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar Pujadas-Salvà, A. J., and Velasco, L. 2000. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 134:513-527. https://doi.org/10.1006/bojl.2000.0346 Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar Fernández-Martínez, J. M., et al. 2000. Crop. Sci. 40:550-555.   https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2000.402550x Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar.


Seven kinds of sorghum(Sorghum bicolor L.Moench) cytoplasmic-male sterility(CMS) have been identified by far,i.e.A_1,A_2,A_3,A_4,A_5,A_6 and 9E.The mechanic studies of CMS was mainly centered on A_1(milo).A_2/B_2V4 was used in our program to study the chromosomal meiotic behaviors during pollen mother cell development in A_2 CMS.The results demonstrated that the abnormal chromosomal behaviors occurred in A_2 CMS meiosis starting from anaphaseⅠ;Homologous chromosomes delayed to move to opposite poles at anaphaseⅠ or sister chromosomes didn't divide at anaphaseⅡ;Chromosomes multipolidized;Unequal chromosomal separation;Several nuclei or nucleoli in one cell;etc.All of the abnormal behaviors lead to the failed microspores development.


During a time of distrust towards some Member States, the position of fundamental rights when executing a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) has been strengthened. The article considers whether the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is now 'taking rights seriously' as regards the EAW. To this end, it employs a theoretical and contextual approach that supports a comprehensive analysis of case‐law. First, the article borrows from a theory of rights as trumps and observes that rights are no longer treated as norms with no special force that are in the way of cooperation interests. Second, the article offers a contextual exegesis of this trajectory, by mapping drivers of distrust and evaluating their impact on the position of rights. Through contextualisation, it is argued that distrust, although limited by its circumstances, has offered a compelling opportunity for the ECJ to take rights seriously, paving the way forward for future case‐law.


Over the last two decades, the use of advanced scientific and data-driven statistical methods has been continuously evolving to reduce the frequency and severity of crashes on our roadways. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Highway Safety Manual (HSM) was first released in 2010. The manual is considered as a significant milestone in the advancement of the practices of roadway safety analyses. As a part of the 2010 HSM, safety performance functions (SPFs) are detailed as statistical models utilized to predict the expected number of crashes per year for a certain roadway facility as a function of traffic, roadway characteristics, and weather conditions. To better manage roadway safety, SPFs are used in: 1) assessing how safe or unsafe are specific roadway segments, intersections, special facilities, etc., and 2) evaluating how much safety has changed because of specific countermeasures or operational or design interventions. SPFs are commonly broken down into two main categories: simple and full. Simple SPFs typically utilize traffic volumes while full SPFs consider additional factors such as roadway geometry, driver characteristics, or weather conditions. Part C of the 2010 HSM, Predictive Methods, details the calibration procedure for jurisdiction specific SPFs. The primary limitation of the HSM Part C is that the developed SPFs for various road facilities were developed using data from only a few states in the United States, putting their validity and reliability into question as various states or regions are characterized by differing geographic features, weather conditions, and demographics. The primary purpose of this report is to examine the suitability and transferability of the 2010 HSM's SPFs to Wyomingspecific conditions.


The invention-specific epitope and that of the antibody which recognizes them, reveal a specific epitope on lung cancer in CD66c antibody which recognizes this, the cell lines and lung using the same to produce it cancer or lung cancer, for preventing or treating lung cancer of CD66c It is for the purpose. The CD66c epitope as specific for lung cancer cells, an antibody or antibody fragment thereof, which recognizes it may be useful as a composition for diagnosing or treating or preventing this, a lung cancer cell.


Conformational conversion of the cellular prion protein, PrPC, into the abnormally folded isoform, PrPSc, is a key pathogenic event in prion diseases. However, the exact conversion mechanism remains largely unknown. Transgenic mice expressing PrP with a deletion of the central residues 91–106 were generated in the absence of endogenous PrPC, designated Tg(PrP∆91–106)/Prnp0/0 mice and intracerebrally inoculated with various prions. Tg(PrP∆91–106)/Prnp0/0 mice were resistant to RML, 22L and FK-1 prions, neither producing PrPSc∆91–106 or prions in the brain nor developing disease after inoculation. However, they remained marginally susceptible to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions, developing disease after elongated incubation times and accumulating PrPSc∆91–106 and prions in the brain after inoculation with BSE prions. Recombinant PrP∆91-104 converted into PrPSc∆91–104 after incubation with BSE-PrPSc-prions but not with RML- and 22L–PrPSc-prions, in a protein misfolding cyclic amplification assay. However, digitonin and heparin stimulated the conversion of PrP∆91–104 into PrPSc∆91–104 even after incubation with RML- and 22L-PrPSc-prions. These results suggest that residues 91–106 or 91–104 of PrPC are crucially involved in prion pathogenesis in a strain-dependent manner and may play a similar role to digitonin and heparin in the conversion of PrPC into PrPSc.


Inference efficiency is the predominant design consideration for modern machine learning accelerators. The ability of executing multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) significantly impacts the throughput and energy consumption during inference. However, MAC operation suffers from significant ineffectual computations that severely undermines the inference efficiency and must be appropriately handled by the accelerator. The ineffectual computations are manifested in two ways: first, zero values as the input operands of the multiplier, waste time and energy but contribute nothing to the model inference; second, zero bits in nonzero values occupy a large portion of multiplication time but are useless to the final result. In this article, we propose an ineffectual-free yet cost-effective computing architecture, called split-and-accumulate (SAC) with two essential bit detection mechanisms to address these intractable problems in tandem. It replaces the conventional MAC operation in the accelerator by only manipulating the essential bits in the parameters (weights) to accomplish the partial sum computation. Besides, it also eliminates multiplications without any accuracy loss, and supports a wide range of precision configurations. Based on SAC, we propose an accelerator family called Tetris and demonstrate its application in accelerating state-of-the-art deep learning models. Tetris includes two implementations designed for either high performance (i.e., cloud applications) or low power consumption (i.e., edge devices), respectively, contingent to its built-in essential bit detection mechanism. We evaluate our design with Vivado HLS platform and achieve up to $6.96\times $ performance enhancement, and up to $55.1\times $ energy efficiency improvement over conventional accelerator designs.


Abstract  -  Management of environment is an obligation that  must  be  done  and  also  a  responsibility  for  those initiators  of  any  activities  and  also  the  society.  It  is because within the process of industrialization, it will not cause  or  trigger  an  environmental  pollution,  which  in this  case  is  disposal  of  wastes  that  do  not  meet  quality standards. To solve  that problem there will be  needed  for managing the  provisions of  the legislation  and  licensing requirements  associated  with  pollution.  Basically, managing the  provisions of  the legislation  and  licensing requirements  are  done  ever  since  the  industries  are opened.  however,  in  fact,  many  of  industries  are  still disobedient. This  classification  of  obedience  and disobedience  industries  application  aims  to  help environment agency to clssified obedient industries and those  which  are  not,  in  Semarang  regency,  this application  is  built  to  show  industrial  classification  of obedient  industries,  disobedient  industries,  location detection  to  detects  the  objet  by  using  Google  services, and direction to guide the user from his/her place to the location  of  industry.  This  application  is  shown  in  the form  of  WebGis  based  thematic  map  by  using  Google Map Api. Keywords : Classification, Obedience, Disobedience,


The study examined glycaemic control and pain perception in patients using NovoPen® 3 with or without PenMateTM, an automatic injection device, in an open, cross-over trial. Patients (n=57), who had been injecting insulin for at least 12 months and who had been using Novo Pen®3 for at least six weeks prior to the study, were randomised to use Novo Pen®3 with or without Pen MateTM for six weeks, before crossing over to the alternate system for a further six weeks. Pain perception was recorded night and morning on a 100mm visual analogue scale (VAS). Glycaemic control was monitored by HbA1c measurements and by 4-point blood glucose profiles. Pain perception was significantly lower with PenMateTM (p=0.005). No statistical difference in HbA1c, blood glucose profiles or adverse events were found between the two systems. Patients found PenMateTM easy to use and 84% said they would recommend the device to a person who is uncomfortable with needles.


In this talk we present a outer estimate of the parametric AE solution set by right-preconditioning of the parametric matrix. The obtained outer estimate is in the form of a parallepiped, called skew box. A right-preconditioning version of the parametric Bauer-Skeel method for outer estimation of the parametric AE solution set will be presented. In the special case of parametric united solution set a right-preconditioning version of the parametric fixed-point iteration will be outlined. The properties and the usefulness of the new outer estimation will be discussed on a number of numerical examples.


Political accountability is a crucial element of any democracy since it is a safeguard against power abuse and corruption, both urgent problems of many political systems in Southeast Asia. Based on social science theories, the author analyses from a comparative perspective the ways institutional engineering concerning different dimensions of political accountability influenced the quality of democracy in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. By highlighting the successes and shortcomings, this book evaluates the degree these institutional reforms resulted in the deepening, stagnation, or regression of the respective democratization processes in these three Southeast Asian countries.


This study examined the current coffee production and processing system in Costa Rica in order to maximize its sustainability through cost and risk reductions and identification of new opportunities. A two-year field investigation was carried out, assessing resource, energy and water uses, characterizing by-products, and evaluating training, management and industry structure, with the aim of identifying opportunities for the implementation of cleaner production and industrial ecology strategies. It was observed that the application of industrial ecology and cleaner production strategies have been implemented in piecemeal and have not been widely accepted by the industry at large. The coffee production system in Costa Rica does not encourage the practice of environmentally sustainable methods within production or processing, and does not encourage the exploration of niche markets that rewards higher-valued coffee in terms of quality or socio-environmental consciousness. Changes in industry throughput, operational design, and management attitudes are needed to ensure sustainability within the industry. A number of opportunities for maximizing the sustainability of the coffee industry exist through: (a) strategic application of cleaner production, (b) effective use of resources, (c) alternative use of by-products, (d) efficient operational design, (e) training, (f) application of environmental management systems, (g) changes to industry structure, (h) a thorough understanding of stakeholder concerns, and (i) understanding the perceived barriers to sustainability.


This article differentiates press barons from `classic' press owners and defines press baronage as a specific type of newspaper ownership. It constructs an ideal-typical figure of the press baron along two axes. From an economic point of view, they were prepared to invest capital in the press, they made profits out of journalism and they built press conglomerates. From a journalistic perspective, they were journalists of great experience and skill and, in some cases, the inventors and developers of discursive strategies and journalistic practices still in use today. The article then goes on, through a comparative historical analysis of the press in the United States, Great Britain and France between 1830 and 1930, to show that the press baron was primarily an Anglo-American phenomenon and it adduces a range of economic, political and cultural factors to explain this.


Interest of school students in science subjects, nowadays, is reducing leading to their having poor technical skills, presumably due to lack of motivation, training, insufficient infrastructure in schools, resistance to adopting new technologies and high cost of training etc. So a study has been conducted to find ways to improve technical skills as well as arouse interest in science and technical subjects in school students. Survey conducted indicated that the interest in science subjects can be aroused by giving them hands-on experience with project based teaching. In this connection it is seen that pocket-sized, single board computers which have flooded the market in the last one decade could be very effectively used at the school level for giving hands-on experience to students. Project based teaching always attracts students, arouse interest in them to learn basic science subjects thus attaining technical skills which are required for making them practical hands. So in this paper, capabilities of various single board computers have been studied and suitable projects, are suggested which school children can undertake easily to promote creativity, inculcate technological skills and arouse interest in science and technical subjects in them.


The purpose of this study is to survey and analyze the operating state and characteristics of domestic and foreign green care, prioritize the facilities and programs for green care introduction through expert survey of importance, and thereby to provide a basic material for introducing green care in facilities in Rural Development Project districts, including domestic rural experience facilities. Domestic and foreign literature was analyzed in order to classify the necessary facilities programs, of green care, and the analysis results were modified and supplemented through Expert Delphi Survey. Based on the results, AHP based importance survey was conducted. In terms of the facilities and programs for green care introduction, necessary facilities (H/W) were categorized into four types (accommodation facility, resting facility, experience facility, therapy facility) and S/W programs into three types (learning experience type, therapy type, and care type). To verify the reliability of the AHP based importance survey, Consistency Index (C.I.) was analyzed. As a result, the C.I. value of nine respondents ranged from 0.000 to 0.083 so that the survey was found to have high consistency. The importance of S/W programs was 0.627, and that of H/W facilities was 0.373. For green care introduction, programs were found to be more important. Regarding the categories of necessary facilities, therapy facility had the highest value, or 0.348; experience facility 0.253; accommodation facility 0.211; resting facility 0.188. Therefore, therapy facility and experience facility were found to be important. In case of S/W programs, therapy type had the highest value, or 0.499, and learning experience type (0.255) and care type (0.246) were similarly important. Generally, the categories that had high importance values tended to show a remarkable difference in importance of their sub categories. In particular, facilities or therapy programs using natural ecology and forests were found to be highly important. In conclusion, it is required to actively review the introduction of active programs using resources, such as existing experience facilities and accommodation facilities and villages forests, and programs making the body and soul comfortable, such as natural ecology experience, Green Shower, and horticulture activity.


With the emergency of Bring Your Own Device (BOYD) and Internet of Things (IoT) in enterprises, there has been an increase in the use of wireless networks through mobile devices and tablet computers. However, as a negative effect, such increase has also led to increased security threat in wireless networks and thus, the importance of wireless network security has increased. As a way to cope with such threat, many enterprises have introduced wireless intrusion prevention system (WIPS) solution, which consists of WIPS sensors and a centralized WIPS server. By monitoring the radio signal in wireless local area networks (LAN), WIPS solution shuts off access by an unauthorized wireless device and prevents an rogue Access Point (AP). In this paper, we propose an implementation framework for WIPS solution that ananlzes the received signal strength (RSS) values collected from multiple WIPS sensors. By overcoming the performance (including accuracy and F-measure) decrease in the wireless environment with much noise, the proposed WIPS solution shows the high performance even under the wireless environment with low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). For this purpose, the proposed WIPS solution analyzes the RSS values collected from multiple WIPS sensors by using a dynamic random forest (DRF) algorithm. By adding trees that are the most suitable to forest, the DRF algorithm can improve the performance of the WIPS solution. From the experimental results, it is observed that the proposed WIPS solution combined with the DRF algorithm shows the good-enough performance under various SNR and attack distance.


Cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco, L) fruits contains seeds that can produce an edible oil. The goals of this study were to measure the physical chemical properties of the seeds and seed oil and to analyze the oil by 1H and 13C{1H}-NMR to identify the types of fats, as well as the whole seeds by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) linked to atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) to quantify the metals. In addition, the fatty acyl composition of the oil was determined by gas chromatography (GC) after hydrolyzing the triacylglycerides in the oil and esterifying the fatty acids produced. The density, refractive index, iodine index and saponification number for cocoplum seed oil were 0.9278 g•mL-1, 1.508, 107 gI2•100 g-1 and 180 mg KOH•g-1, respectively. The seeds contained potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc and copper at concentrations of 340, 93.4, 30, 173, 2.9, 0.8, 0.8 and 0.67 mg•g-1, respectively. They also contained 24.9 g•100 g-1 of total carbohydrates. This included 19.8 and 0.07 g•100 g-1 of insoluble and soluble fiber. The seed oil was found to contain triacylglycerides with a large amount of unsaturated fats, including conjugated linoleic fatty acyls. GC analysis of the hydrolyzed fats indicated the presence of palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids in the hydrolysate.https://doi.org/10.21423/jrs-v05n02p015 (DOI assigned 3/11/2019)


Reconstruction of point spread function (PSF) using information from the wavefront sensor is a classic problem in adaptive optics. Here we present an alternative solution which does not require any extra information from the wavefront sensor, nor does it rely on knowledge of the turbulence profile; the method requires merely a sequence of images .


Objective To retrospective analyze the clinical outcome of staged combined posterior-anterior approach for ossification of ligamentum flavum(OLF) accompanied with posterior longitudinal ligament(OPLL) complicated with cervical spondylotic myelopathy.Methods 18 patients with OLF accompanied with OPLL complicated with cervical spondylotic myelopathy who undernent posterior laminoplasty,anterior decompression,bone graft and internal fixation between June 2009 and June2011 were reviewed retrospectively.Ventral compression of ossifications still presented on radiograph in 6 to 9 months after surgery in all cases,anterior corpectomy and dissection of OPLL as well as bone graft was then conducted.JOA,RR and cervical lordosis was used to evaluate the pre-and post-operation score and follow-up outcome.Results 1 cases presented C5 nerve root paralysis after posterior approach,3 cases were complicated with CSF leakage which resolved by conservative treatment.The mean follow-up time was 26.3 months.The preoperative mean scores of JOA was 7.2 ± 1.3,cervical lordosis was(5.7 ±4.1) °and JOA was(12.6 ± 3.8) for posterior approach with the mean improvement ratio of(51.6 ± 19.3) %,cervical lordosis was(9.3 ± 3.8) °.The mean JOA scores after anterior decompression was 1 4.8 ± 1.6 with the mean improvement ratio of(72.7 ±13.4) % compared with preoperation,cervical lordosis was(15.5 ±3.2) °.Conclusion Patient with OLF accompanied with OPLL complicated with cervical spondylotic myelopathy undergoing posterior decompression have good clinical outcome after anterior approach operation if still presenting ventral compression.Staged combined posterior-anterior approach is a better method for patient with OLF accompanied with OPLL complicated with cervical spondylotic myelopathy.


Post Russian invasion of Ukraine, questions about conscription have come into focus, prompting questions about military readiness and the value of such a policy. In analyzing the policy, international relations theories can act as a useful framework, and help elucidate conflict dynamics. In particular, Realism and Liberalism have contrasting depictions of the world, with the former characterizing it as an anarchic system in which states compete for power and security and the latter as a system in which states allay tensions through cooperation. This research draws upon these theories as it uses hypothesis testing—t-tests, ANOVA, and chi-squared statistics—to investigate the different attributes of countries as they relate to conscription policies. A wide range of variables were chosen including military expenditure, imports and exports, the Human Development Index, and the EIU Democracy Index in order to test statistically significant differences through the aforementioned tools. Overall, this research finds that both realist and liberal theories have explanatory power and provide insight into how desire for hard and soft power may impact decisions to enact and maintain conscription policies. Data and graphs were interpreted alongside such concepts in order to reach this conclusion.


Although individually rare, inborn errors of metabolism represent a potentially preventable cause of death and disability. Screening for phenylketonuria (birth prevalence 10 per 100 000) was introduced in the United Kingdom over 30 years ago. It has proved successful in preventing severe mental retardation. The development of tandem mass spectrometry enables a wide variety of additional compounds to be assayed on the dried blood spots routinely collected from newborn infants.1 The combined birth prevalence of disorders, excluding phenylketonuria, which could be detected by screening is about 20 per 100 000. Of these, medium chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency is one of the most important. However, despite experience of screening over a million infants, many questions about screening for this disorder remain unanswered.

In the United Kingdom between 5 and 11 per 100 000 live born infants have medium chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, which is about 35 to 70 children each year.2 This recessively inherited disorder classically presents during infancy and early childhood with a severe illness characterised by encephalopathy and hypoglycaemia. This is usually precipitated by a minor febrile illness, particularly gastroenteritis, and fasting. Of those presenting clinically, up to a quarter will die and about a third of survivors will have irreversible neurological damage. 3 4 In a significant proportion there is a history of previous sudden unexplained death or encephalopathy in a sibling.4 However, the presentation varies widely, with some individuals not presenting until they are adults …


The phenomena of self-pulsation, oscillation chaos, and frequency shift in selfpumped photorefractive BaTiO3 crystal have been recently studied.1,2 In this paper we present the pulsation and chaotic phenomena in self-pumped BaTiO3 for both divergent and convergent beams focused at various locations near the crystal surfaces. An argon laser (Innva model 70) operating at 488 nm pumps a 6- × 3- × 6-mm BaTiO3 crystal which was mounted on a translation stage to control the incident beam focusing location. The front c-face of the crystal was taken as the reference plane with the top right corner coordinate defined as (x, y) = (0,0). The convergent and divergent beams (within the crystal) are defined by focal points at (3, 6) and (3, –6) mm, respectively, where the c-axis is along the 6-mm length. A focal length f = 200 mm was used to keep the incident beam the same spot size of 1 mm on the crystal surfaces for both convergent and divergent cases.


This research aims to identify and analyze repressive ideologies unconsciously approved by the society reflected in Upton Sinclair's The Flivver King: A Story of Ford America and to reveal Sinclair's ideology in the novel. To answer the objectives of the research, the researcher used the theory of ideology by Karl Marx which is discussed in Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide Book by Lois Tyson.
 This research employed a descriptive-qualitative method using content analysis technique. The main source of the research was a novel entitled The Flivver King: A Story of Ford America by Upton Sinclair which was published in 1999 by Charles H. Kerr. The data were some words, phrases, clauses, sentences and expressions related to the research topic. The data were analyzed through six steps: identifying, reading and re-reading, categorizing, sorting the data, analyzing and evaluating the data, and making an interpretation of the findings. The trustworthiness of the data was achieved through reading and re-reading the data, providing rich and thick description and conducting triangulation via investigators.
 The findings of the research show that there are three repressive ideologies that are internalized in the minds of society; American Dream, commodification and consumerism, which lead to unfavorable social and economical conditions. From the analysis, it can be concluded that Sinclair's ideology is on the side of the proletariat. By displaying the negative roles of the repressive socioeconomic ideologies, positive images of the proletariat,and anti-capitalist behaviors. Sinclair wants the readers to blame the system and reject capitalism.


Water breakthrough is inevitable in bottom water reservoir in mid-late production stage,and will result in rapid production decline and poor development response if no rational water control measures are adopted.This paper analyzes the current development status and production performance in Hongnan reservoir,proposed comprehensive treatment plan and commingled production of oil and water.The effectiveness of this method has been seen.This study creates a new idea for comprehensive treatment of water-bearing oilfield.


In this paper, we propose a new transceiver architecture for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The proposed scheme borrows ideas from the multilayered space-time coding (MLSTC) and threaded space-time coding (TSTC) schemes in an effort to maximize the diversity order while maintaining a low complexity detection. Specifically, the proposed scheme has a structure similar to that of the MLSTC while it employs a spatial interleaver (SI) in front of the MLSTC encoder. We also consider a low-complexity decoder that is based on the minimum mean squared error (MMSE) criterion and the QR decomposition (QRD). We provide analytical and simulation results through which we demonstrate that the proposed scheme provides improved diversity-multiplexing gain trade-off, as well as improved performance, all relative to the MLSTC scheme. In addition, with the proposed scheme, all layers achieve the same performance, which makes it attractive in multiuser environments.


Coral reefs are suffering a major decline due to the environmental constraints imposed by climate change. Over the last 20 years, three major coral bleaching events occurred in concomitance of anomalous heat waves, provoking a severe loss of coral cover worldwide. The conservation strategies for preserving reefs, as they are implemented now, cannot cope with global climatic shifts. Consequently, researchers are advocating the set-up of preservation frameworks to reinforce coral adaptive potential. However, the main obstacle to this implementation is that studies on coral adaption are usually hard to generalize at the scale of a reef system.Here, we study the relationships between frequencies of genetic markers with that of environmental characteristics of the sea (seascape genomics), in combination with connectivity analysis, to investigate the adaptive potential of a flagship coral species of the Ryukyu Archipelago (Japan). By associating genotype frequencies with descriptors of historical environmental conditions, we discovered six genomic regions hosting polymorphisms that might promote resistance against thermal stress. Remarkably, annotations of genes in these regions were consistent with molecular roles associated with heat responses. Furthermore, we combined information on genetic and spatial distances between reefs to predict connectivity at a regional scale.The combination between the results of these analyses portrayed the adaptive potential of this population: we were able to identify reefs carrying potential adaptive genotypes and to understand how they disperse to neighbouring reefs. This information was summarized by objective, quantifiable, and mappable indices covering the whole region, which can be extremely useful for future prioritization of reefs in conservation planning. This framework is transferable to any coral species on any reef system, and therefore represents a valuable tool for empowering preservation efforts dedicated to the protection of coral reef in warming oceans.


Probiotics are microorganism that gives health care when consumed. Currently, the term probiotics is applied to ingested microorganisms associated with beneficial effects on humans and animals. Probiotic drinks are commonly milk-based drinks that are milk-like in consistency. They are eaten for gastrointestinal wellbeing. The addition of soymilk probiotics will improve the characteristics and benefits of multiple folds. The addition of apple extract offers improved sensory properties and primarily increases the shelf life of the beverage or drink. The overall motive of this research work is to develop a probiotic drink from soy milk and apple extract, to enhance the digestive properties among humans. The probiotic drink was prepared by blending soy milk, apple extract and digestive microbes. The different blends were inoculated by Lactobacillus, acetic acid bacteria, saccharomyces yeast and the apple extract fermentation time was optimized for 48 hours. For overall acceptability, the 65:35 mixing ratios of soy milk and fermented apple extract produced desirable results with the highest sensory ratings.


A special clamp for manufacturing collars and a use method thereof belong to the technical field of mechanical processing. The special clamp comprises a mandrel, wherein a positioning groove is formed in a positioning ring, and a baffle is fixedly arranged on the positioning ring outside the positioning groove. A right-handed rotation rectangular threaded groove is formed in the middle of the mandrel, and a handle is fixed on the positioning ring. The use method of the special clamp includes: bending one end of a flat wire to be at 90 degrees; placing the bend end of the flat wire in the positioning groove of the positioning ring and fixing the baffle on the positioning ring; placing the other end of the flat wire in the right-handed rotation rectangular threaded groove of the mandrel, penetrating the left end of the mandrel into a center hole of the positioning ring, and fixing the mandrel in the positioning ring through a locking screw; placing the right end of the mandrel in a sleeve, adjusting the position of a positioning block, placing the upper portion of the flat wire in a clamping groove of the positioning block, and fixing he positioning block on the sleeve; holding the sleeve tightly through one hand and holding the handle tightly and rotating it through the other hand to completely wind the flat wire on the mandrel; dismounting the baffle and processed parts.


An improved ac superimposed method for measuring the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) with high accuracy is proposed. Although high amplitude of the superimposed ac voltage provides a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), it causes the distortion in the EEDF. To correct the distortion, we used two different EEDFs measured by applying two different amplitudes. The distortion was accurately corrected over the entire electron energy region, and the corrected EEDF had the better SNR. The reliability of the corrected EEDF was proved by comparing the effective electron temperatures obtained from the measured EEDFs, and as a result, the corrected EEDF was very reliable.


We consider the problem of finding a local minimum of a binary quadratic function and show by an elementary construction that every descending local search algorithm takes exponential time in the worst case.


MORE than a year has passed since the announcement that the University of Chicago would undertake a systematic investigation of the educational methods, resources, and needs of the far East, particularly China. This inquiry was committed to Professor Ernest D. Burton, the head of the department of New Testament literature, and the editor-in-chief of the Biblical World, and Professor T. C. Chamberlin, the head of the department of geology, editor of the American Journal of Geology, and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Professor Burton, with his secretary, Dr. H. G. Reed, left New York on July I8, 19o8, and after some weeks spent in Great Britain in preliminary matters connected with the enterprise, proceeded to Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt. After inspecting the colleges and educational methods of these countries, especially at Constantinople, Beirut, Jerusalem, Cairo, and Asiut, Professor Burton left Port Said October 7, and reached Bombay October 16. In India Professor Burton visited Ahmednagar, Lahore, Simla, Delhi, Agra, Benares, Allahabad, Calcutta, Serampore, Ongole, Madras, Colombo, and Bangalore. At many of these places Professor Burton spoke, and at all he met and conferred with the educational leaders. His journeys in India aggregated more than 6,400 miles. Leaving Madras November 26 he visited Rangoon and Singapore, and on December 17 arrived in Hongkong. After spending Christmas at Canton, Professor Burton returned to Hongkong, and resumed his educational investigation. Leaving Hongkong January 12, i909, he visited Swatow, Amoy, and Foochow, and reached Shanghai January 20. On February 2, Professor Burton was joined at Shanghai by Professor Chamberlin, with his secretary, Dr. R. T. Chamberlin. On the same day, Professor Burton delivered the address at the dedication of a memorial tablet set up by the International Institute, the provincial viceroy, Tuan Fang, unveiling the tablet. February 8 to i1 were spent by the commissioners at Nanking, the provincial capital. On February 14, Professor Burton left Shanghai by steamer for Hankow, which was reached February 18. From Hankow Professor Burton and Dr. Reed proceeded by rail to Peking, where they met Professor Chamberlin and Dr. Chamberlin, who had come by way of Hongkong. The com-


Under the United Nations categorization, Tanzania is one of the 25 poorest countries in the world. The world community of nations has positively come to the aid of these nations. Tanzania is one of the poor countries with an effective alternative development strategy. For, aid is most effective where the recipient country has a defined area of need in order that foreign aid may become a proper supplement to national resources for the identified endeavours. Tanzania has committed herself to socialist construction with ingenious specificity. Her main goal is to reach self-reliance with foreign aid being accepted as a catalyst. Norway is among the many countries which have generously come to the aid of Tanzania. More exemplarily, Norway has even given a grant to Tanzania for Tanzanians to evaluate Norwegian aided projects in Tanzania. Most donor countries shy away from such a venture fearing exposures which could prove embarrassing! I had just returned horne from being an Assistant Professor of Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, U.S.A., in September 1976, when I was called upon to be field supervisor of the evaluation effort. Thus, this paper contains first hand experiences of the man on the scene.


Abstract : Since the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the U.S. Army has devoted increased attention to field studies aimed at identifying and understanding the critical "human dimensions" issues that can affect soldier health and well-being, morale, cohesion and performance. Army social psychologists have conducted human dimensions studies in several recent military operations in such places as Croatia, Somalia and Kuwait. This paper draws on these experiences to summarize the important methodological and practical considerations in doing such work. Future military human dimensions field research should benefit from this treatment of key issues in the design and execution of such studies.


Phase III trials for new tuberculosis treatment regimens require large numbers
of participants and can take over five years to complete. A surrogate marker
for poor outcome (failure at end of treatment or recurrence following successful
treatment), the established endpoint in such trials, could shorten trial
duration and reduce trial size. Culture results after two months of treatment
have shown the most promise but, prior to this research, no formal evaluation
had been performed.
In this thesis, culture results during treatment are evaluated as prognostic
and surrogate markers for poor outcome using data on 6974 patients from
twelve tuberculosis treatment randomised controlled multi-arm trials conducted
in East Africa and East Asia.
A strong association was found between culture results during treatment
and poor outcome. Nevertheless, culture results were not good patient-specific
predictors of poor outcome with low sensitivities and specificities.
Existing meta-analytic methods for evaluating surrogate markers are not
wholly suited to this setting of multi-arm trials with binary true and surrogate
endpoints. Extending these methods, the two month culture was found to be a
good surrogate marker using data from Hong Kong trials and the three month
culture was found to be a good surrogate marker using data from East African
trials. These results are an indication that cultures during treatment do capture
some of the treatment effect. Further work is needed in understanding
the differences between the Hong Kong and East African trials.
The meta-analytic methods for evaluating surrogate markers in this thesis
included a graphical representation that permitted a clear visual evaluation
of the surrogate. Methods developed in this thesis for modelling the relationship
between the treatment effects on the true and surrogate endpoints were
not satisfactory. The deficiencies were not overcome with the two extensions
proposed. Further work is needed in developing a more appropriate model.


AlXCrFeCoNiCu (x=0.5; 1; 3) high entropy alloys were investigated by SEM, EDX, XRD and DSC in the as cast condition and after 1000h long aging heat treatment at 700-850-1000°C in order to identify the equilibrium phases and evaluate the supposed configurational entropy contribution to solid solution stabilisation. Cu segregation, NiAl intermetallic and sigma phase have been largely detected. The microstructure has been explained according to ternary phase diagrams and solubility limits


In the context of life testing, when the objective is to estimate a parameter of the survival function, we wish to find a region R in k-dimensional Euclidean space such that P(θ ∈ R) = α and the maximum diameter of R ≤ 2d. This goal cannot be achieved by utilizing the accumulated data from a sample up to a fixed time t. Hence we will consider time-sequential procedure where we will observe the process up to a stopping time τ(≡ τ d ) and then construct the region R with maximum diameter 2d which includes θ with probability approximately equal to α


To solve the difficult problem of the island supply and transmission,according to the characteristics of ocean energy power generation,this paper proposes the program of multi-energy hybrid power generation.Adopting master-slave control strategy of independent micro-grid technology for the island supply system consist of a small gas turbines and marine energy generation devices,designing the control methods of power balance and voltage frequency and amplitude in power supply system.Simulating the mode of a single power source supply and the mode of multi-power source supply by MATLAB / Simulink software,the simulation results show that the rationality of the system control strategy,and a coordinated operation between the micro-power,meeting the requirements of the power quality in power supply system.


This paper provides an overview and analysis of the impact of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986's Title III provisions (SARA Title III or Title III) on community participation, risk communication, and other elements of effective emergency preparedness for response to accidental hazardous chemical releases. It employs the U.S. Army's Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) as a case study and applies conclusions from this case to other programs. The employment of SARA Title by CSEPP exemplifies recent efforts by emergency planners to integrate disaster research theory into the practice of emergency management. This integration has occurred in three specific areas: (1) disseminating risk information to the public; (2) enhancing intergovernmental coordination; and (3) identifying needed resources and legal reforms for ensuring that emergency response and recovery decisions can be made in a timely manner—free of postemergency litigation.


Due to advances in healthcare and treatment options, there is a need for pharmacists with additional post‐graduate residency training. With the growing need for residency‐trained pharmacists, obtaining a post‐graduate pharmacy residency has become more competitive. The objective of this study was to capture the perspectives of post‐graduate year 1 residency programme directors (RPDs) in the United States (US) regarding aspects of a candidate's application and interview they found most important when selecting future residents.


Errors of structural parameters are one of the main factors causing uncertainty of Articulated Arm Coordinate Measuring Machines(AACMM),however,the accuracy of AACMMs can be improved efficiently by identifying structural parameters accurately.In this paper,the homogeneous transformation equations of 6-DOF AACMMs were established based on Denavit-Hartenberg model and a method to identify structural parameters with a cone-shape hole was analyzed.Then,a Modified Simulated Annealing Algorithm(MSAA) was presented to identify the structural parameters of the AACMMs.The MSAA can keep the best solution during search and can reduce the search range when the solution approaches to the global minimum,which improves the search efficiency and accuracy.The definition of single-point repeatability was deduced,and the structural parameters of AACMMs were identified by using single-point repeatability as the objective function based on the MSAA.A 6-DOF AACMM was used to carry out experimental tests to evaluate the efficiency of the presented method,the single-point results show that after identification,the repeatability and length measurement accuracy of the AACMM are improved by 7.87 and 5.59 times respectively.


A kraft pulp mill with a high degree of system closure has an increased accumulation of trace elements, and since the alternative bleaching methods used, such as peroxide and ozone bleaching, are sensitive to transition metals, there is a need for more efficient separation operations. An important aspect to establish is the influence of metal ion equilibria in pulp washing. In this investigation, the sorption equilibria of Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+ and Mn2+ were studied, both for each ion and for combinations of ions, including temperature dependence, at a constant pH and with no chelant added. It was found that the Langmuir isotherm gave a good correlation of the sorption of single ions. A model for the multi-ion sorption, based on the Langmuir model, was found to give an acceptable correlation. The ion charge was accounted for in different ways in the summation of the concentration: linear dependence on the charge in the liquor and no dependence in the fibre gave the best correlation, although the more plausible case with quadratic dependence in the liquor and linear in the fibre was nearly as good. The separation factor, the quota between two ion equilibrium ratios, showed that Na+ had a weaker bond to the fibres than Mg2+ and Ca2+, and that Mn2+ bound more strongly than Mg2+. A slight temperature dependence of the equilibria was observed.


A fetal external chest mass in association with nonimmune hydrops was visualized by ultrasound. Doppler velocimetry over the mass revealed low-resistance flow through cystic areas. The prenatal diagnosis of a cavernous hemangioma was confirmed after birth. Surgical excision of the mass resulted in a cure.


We describe the use of the double catheter technique for umbilical venous catheterisation. Such a technique has been described before for the cannulation of the umbilical arteries, but to our knowledge has not been described for umbilical venous catheter (UVC) insertion.


Surface nanobubbles have received extensive attention in the past decade due to their large contact angle and long-term stability which is inconsistent with macroscopic theories. [1-4] Potential applications like surface cleaning, water pollution recovering, promoting plant growth and mineral flotation have raised significant industrial interest. [5-8] However, the commonly used techniques like transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy cannot reveal the chemical composition of nanobubbles. Disputing about whether nanobubbles are indeed gas filled bubbles or other contaminations like oil droplets has caused a large confusion in the nanobubble community. Herein, synchrotron based scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) was used to investigate the gas composition inside nanobubbles and their behavior. Surface nanobubbles are produced on a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) coated silicon nitride surface with cold water method. This is a very simple and clean method to produce nanobubbles. [9] Produced interfacial nanobubbles could be imaged near O K edge by STXM with a resolution of 50nm. Surface nanobubbles which are immersed in water can be resolved at 540eV. It was also found that small nanobubbles are very stable under the x-ray irradiation while micron-sized bubbles are quite unstable and will grow larger with time. This phenomenon could be helpful to understand the superstability of surface nanobubbles. Further analysis of the near-edge spectra could provide valuable information about the chemical composition inside surface nanobubbles.


Hypotheses regarding the phylogenetic relationships between megapodes and other birds are reviewed, and it is concluded that the available evidence supports a sistergroup relationship between megapodes and all other galliforms. Current studies in this direction are discussed. The resolvement of intrafamilial relationships has gained less attention so far and the most probable hypothesis based on traditional characters is presented.


This special issue is dedicated to the 5th Duke Industry Statistics Symposium (DISS), which was organized by the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University School of Medicine, and co-sponsored by Amgen, Boehringer-Ingelheim, ICSA, Janssen, NC-ASA Chapter, PAREXEL, PPD, QuintilesIMS, and SAS. The symposium was held on September 6–8, 2017 at the Durham Hilton in Durham, North Carolina, with the theme of "Real World Experience and Randomized Clinical Trials". The speakers from the symposium were invited to submit their papers to this special issue. The papers were reviewed by anonymous referees. The papers in this special issue are organized by the topics of real-world experience, designs of randomized clinical trials, and analysis of randomized clinical trials. Lu, Xu, and Yue discuss good statistical practice in utilizing real-world data in a comparative study for premarket evaluation of medical devices. Wang, Bai, Pang, and George derive bias-adjusted Kaplan-Meier survival curves for marginal treatment effects in real-world evidence studies. Fu, Zhang, and Liu explore robust outcome weighted learning for optimal individualized treatment rules. Xue, Ivanova, and Foster describe a rapid enrollment design for finding the optimal dose in immunotherapy trials with ordered groups. Yan, Wages, Tait, Kindwall-Keller, and Dressler present a generalization of the timeto-event continual reassessment method to bivariate outcomes. Lin and Yuan develop a conditional approach to assess the relative efficiency of model-assisted designs. Lia, Zhang, Myers, and Bravata provide an analytical formula for power calculation in stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial with reduced intervention sustainability effects. Simon and Simon show how to find the intended use population for a new treatment. Joshi, Ivanova, Fine and Chu consider the estimation of the subgroup and testing for treatment effects in a clinical trial with a biomarker. Wiener, Ivanova, Li, Silverman, and Koch present a methodology for the randomization-based analysis of covariance for inference in the sequential parallel comparison design. Bai and Deng explain the differences between the 2-in-1 design and traditional sample size re-estimation methods. Finally, Cui, Huang, and Wang provide a commentary on the work of Bai and Deng. We thank the authors and referees for their contributions. In addition, we are grateful to Professor Shein-Chung Chow, the Journal's Editor-in-Chief, for the opportunity to publish this special issue and to Ms. Victoria Chang for her editorial guidance.


cytopenia. During the observation period, 2 patients were diagnosed with fatal secondary myelodysplastic syndrome/acute myeloid leukemia and 13 patients had reduced left ventricular shortening fraction. However, only 1 of them required cardiac medication. Longterm toxicity, mainly the risk of secondary solid tumors, cannot be fully judged yet because the median observation is still too short for reliable conclusions. Other toxicity such as infertility— a relevant problem after BEACOPP—was not consistently documented. Thus, upfront treatment intensification using BEACOPPescalated followed by a less intensive consolidation in early responders produced impressive results without unexpected acute toxicity in children and adolescents suffering from high-risk HL.2 This finding does not come as a surprise because a significant portion of patients included in this trial (48%) were adolescents aged 15 to 21 years. Adolescent HL patients (usually defined as those between 15 or 16 and 21 years of age) do not differ substantially from young adult HL patients (age up to 45 years) with regard to clinical presentation, distribution of histologic HL subtypes, and other general aspects and are thus candidates for treatment strategies developed for adults.6,7 An approach similar to the one reported by Kelly and colleagues was recently evaluated by Avigdor and coworkers in a group of 45 adult patients diagnosed with advanced HL.8 Patients received early interim PET after 2 cycles of BEACOPPescalated and those with a good response completed treatment with 4 cycles of ABVD. In the PET-negative early responders (31/45), 4-year progression-free survival rate was 87%, indicating that this strategy does not seem to compromise treatment results while side and late effects might be substantially reduced. However, the number of patients included in this analysis is too small for more general conclusions. In contrast to adolescents, young pediatric HL patients usually show differences in the distribution of histologic subtypes and other more general aspects that might argue for the use of protocols specifically developed for children. Examples include OEPA (vincristine, etoposide, prednisone, adriamycin) and ABVE-PC (adriamycin, bleomycin, vincristine, etoposide, prednisone, cyclophosphamide).9,10 In conclusion, the data reported by Kelly and coworkers suggest that BEACOPPescalated represents a viable treatment option in pediatric and adolescent high-risk HL patients. However, to prevent overtreatment, whenever possible, the use of this protocol should be combined with stratification strategies such as interim PET. Conflict-of-interest disclosure: The authors declare no competing financial interests. ■


In this paper, the local fuzzy fractal dimension (LFFD) is proposed to represent the feature of local image complexity. The definition of LFFD is an extension of the box-counting dimension of discrete sets by incorporating the fuzzy set. The relationship between LFFD and local intensity changing is investigated by experiments, which proves that LFFD is an important feature of edges and is insensitive to noises. Multifeature edge detection is implemented with the LFFD and the Sobel operator. The experimental results show that the incorporation of LFFD in edge detection improves the quality of edge detection results.


Actual Problems of Native Language Teaching
Grammar is a central issue in teaching and learning of languages. It is also one of the most difficult aspects in language acquisition.
Many people, including language teachers, hear the word "grammar" and think of a fixed set of word forms and rules of usage. They associate "good" grammar with the prestige forms of the language, such as those used in writing and in formal oral presentations, and "bad" or "no" grammar with the language used in everyday conversation or used by speakers of non prestige forms.
Language teachers who adopt this definition focus on grammar as a set of forms and rules. They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and then drilling students on them. This results in bored, disaffected students who can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently make errors when they try to use the language in context.
Other language teachers, influenced by recent theoretical work about the difference between language learning and language acquisition, tend not to teach grammar at all. They assume that students will absorb grammar rules as they hear, read, and use the language in communication activities. This approach does not allow students to use one of the major tools they have as learners: their active understanding of what grammar is and how it works in the language they already know.
The communicative competence model balances these extremes. The model recognizes that overt grammar instruction helps students acquire the language more efficiently, but it incorporates grammar teaching and learning into the larger context of teaching students to use the language. Instructors using this model teach students the grammar they need to know to accomplish defined communication tasks.


Abstract A central function of democratic institutions is to protect vulnerable populations. The stability and success of these institutions depends, in part, on popular support. Times of crisis can introduce novel dynamics that alter popular support for protective institutions, particularly among those who do not benefit from those protections. We explore this possibility in the context of Title IX's gender equality requirements and infrastructure to address sexual harassment in college sports. We conduct a large survey of college student-athletes to study their attitudes on these issues in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and concomitant financial challenges affecting college sports. We find that male student-athletes and those with sexist attitudes exhibit alarmingly low levels of support for ensuring the maintenance of equality and sexual harassment policy under Title IX during the COVID-19 crisis and eventual recovery. The results accentuate the vulnerability of certain populations during crises and the importance of maintaining strong institutional policy support during such times.


A HISTORY OF ISRAELITE RELIGION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD 1: FROM THE BEGINNINGS TO THE END OF THE MONARCHY. By Rainer Albertz. Translated from the German by John Bowden. Louisville: Westminster/Knox, 1994. Pp. xvi + 367. $33. "History of Israelite religion" is one of the two broad approaches to the Old Testament as a whole over the last two centuries, especially in Germany. The other is "Old Testament theology." In the 1930s W. Eichrodt successfully challenged the dominance of Religionsgeschichte with his Theology of the Old Testament built around the concept of covenant conceived historically. Eichrodt's work was partially eclipsed in the 1950s by a work that came to dominate the field, G. von Rad's Old Testament Theology. It attempted to integrate theology with history by redefining biblical theology as the study of Israelite confessions and the great literary works that grew from them. Though much less popular than OT theology over the last three quarters of a century (by a factor of three books to one, according to Albertz), "history of Israelite religion" never entirely disappeared, witness G. Fohrer's much used History of Israelite Religion (1970). Fohrer is now superseded by the volume under review, ably translated from the German, which, by its scope, breadth, methodological precision, and general competence, is now the standard work. It begins with the ancestors in Genesis and ends with the Maccabees. Albertz differs somewhat from earlier authors. His habilitationschrift, Personliche Frommigkeit und offtzielle Religion: ReligionsinternerPluralismus in Israel undBabylon (1978), prompted him to write a history of religion that integrated a social history of Israel. He is sensitive to seminal distinctions—official, local, and family religion; religion in the North and in the South; individual and family religion, diaspora and Judaean religion. Another virtue is that he makes a persistent effort to avoid a pure history of ideas; as much as possible he roots concepts in institutions. One can get some idea of the work by looking at his understanding of religion in important stages in biblical history: the ever-problematic "patriarchal period," the exodus, the rise of monarchy, and the Deuteronomic reform. Following E. Blum and others, for whom the Genesis stories of the ancestors do not pre-date the time of David and the time of Jeroboam I, A. believes the palpable difference between the religious world of Genesis and of Yahwism cries out for an explanation, and the explanation is largely sociological: the religion of the ancestors is family piety. "Thus 'patriarchal religion* can largely be understood as a form of personal piety, as a typical family piety" (29). The "piety of early Israelite families projected on to the patriarchs is not yet the


If a structural system has to be subjected to high loads and large geometry changes, according to the state of the art, articulated systems with discrete actuators are used, with the articulated systems consisting of stiff members connected by hinges. As an alternative, smart structures technologies can supply solutions based on the deliberate use of structural flexibility and on distributed actuation. In order to assess the advantages, which can be expected from such solutions, a thorough comparison must be made between the properties of compliant mechanisms and the conventional ones. A crucial aspect of this comparison, on which this contribution is focused, is the impact on the system's structural weight. The first part of the paper deals with the relevance of weight penalty effects in shape-adaptable systems, with a special focus on airfoil shape control. A quantitative analysis of weight penalty effects in pin-jointed articulated structures follows. The criterion on which this analysis is based allows a characterization of general validity, not restricted to a particular example, and can be applied to other mechanisms or hinge architectures, providing a sound way of assessing the lightweight potential of a given concept and allowing a consistent comparison between different design philosophies. An extension to weight penalty effects in compliant systems shows a higher degree of complexity and could not be addressed in the same detail in this study. Anyway, some peculiar aspects are discussed in the final part of the paper, which can serve as a basis for future developments in this sense. In particular, the dependence of weight penalty effects on the system's range of motion as well as on the load-dependence of the mechanism's kinematics is addressed. Even if the presented results can be of direct significance to the designer of conventional articulated mechanisms, the primary relevance of this work is to be seen in the long term. Its main target is to provide a basis for the analysis of the potential offered by the compliant mechanisms and smart materials for the realization of light shape-adaptable structures and to give an impulse to research efforts aiming at developing suitable optimization procedures as well as formulating proper design rules for such kind of systems.


Transvestites in Joyce? As a cardinal project of high modernist art, Joyce"s Ulysses, and "Circe" in particular, offer a series of changes of clothes which translate the experience of transvestism as one of Joyce"s obsessions. This paper traces the narratological, historical, and ideological implications of cross-dressing in Joyce"s novel with an eye to elucidating male and female cross-dressing in "Circe." The purpose is to arrive at the function of cross-dressing, not only in "Circe"s" costumed-characters, but also in its language and style. As the episode"s representations of crossdressing metamorphose through various linguistic inflections and tonalities, clothing becomes the distorting filter through which we see all the characters in the episode. I show how Joyce refashions crossdressing deliberately into a powerful diagnosis of Ireland"s social, political, and cultural institutions through transvestism.


The effects of various processes, metal contaminants and contaminant-process interactions on the performance of terrestrial silicon solar cells were investigated. A variety of aspects including thermal treatments, crystal growth rate, base doping concentration (low resistivity), base doping type (n vs. p), grain boundary structure, and carbon/oxygen-metal interactions (float zone vs Czochralski growth) were studied. The effects of various metallic impurities were studied, introduced singly or in combination into Czochralski, float zone and polycrystalline silicon ingots and into silicon ribbons grown by the dendritic web process. The totality of the solar cell data (comprising over 4000 cells) indicate that impurity-induced performance loss is primarily due to reduction in base diffusion length. Based on this assumption an analytical model has been developed which predicts cell performance as a function of metal impurity content. The model has now been verified for p-base material by correlating the projected and measured performance of solar cells made on 19 ingots bearing multiple impurities.


of the Dissertation Low Power Division and Square Root by Alberto Nannarelli Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering University of California, Irvine, 1999 Professor Tomás Lang, Chair The general objective of our work is to develop methods to reduce the energy consumption of arithmetic modules while maintaining the delay unchanged and keeping the increase in the area to a minimum. Here, we present techniques for dividers and square root units realized in CMOS technology. The energy dissipation reduction is carried out at different levels of abstraction: from the algorithm level down to the implementation, or gate, level. We describe the use of techniques such as switching-off not active blocks, retiming, dual voltage, and equalizing the paths to reduce glitches. Also, we describe modifications in the on-the-fly conversion and rounding algorithm and in the redundant representation of the residual in order to reduce the energy dissipation. The techniques and modifications mentioned above are applied to several division and square root schemes, realized with static CMOS standard cells, for which a reduction in the energy dissipation of about 40 percent is obtained with respect to the standard implementation optimized for minimum delay. This reduction is expected to be even larger if low-voltage gates, for dual voltage implementation, are available.


argue it, and sometimes even the statement of the position is either too brief or too vague to be helpful to anyone but presumably an expert in the field. This is in no way to underestimate the breadth of R.'s erudition, but simply to suggest that his work would gain in persuasiveness if it were more sharply focused and thus less encyclopedic in scope. No consensus position on theological method, therefore, seems to emerge from the comparison of these three books. O. and R., to be sure, both admit their dependence on Schleiermacher for the division of the content of theology into three broad areas: historical/exegetical, theoret ical/systematic, and practical. But their further understanding of those contents differs considerably. R., e.g., adopts a cultural/linguistic ap proach to systematics; O. favors a more traditional metaphysical ap proach. The authors of The Science of Theology content themselves with noting broad shifts in theological methodology from one historical epoch to another (e.g., from medieval scholasticism to Reformation theology). Yet all three books provide matter for reflection in coming to a personal standpoint on method in theology.


Background: Anti-HER2 therapies are beneficial for patients with HER2+ gastric or breast cancer (BC). [Fam-] trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd; formerly DS-8201a) is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) composed of an anti-HER2 antibody (Ab) conjugated by a peptide-based cleavable linker to a novel exatecan-derived topoisomerase I inhibitor (MAAA-1181a). The phase 1 study (NCT02564900) of T-DXd conducted at study sites in the US and Japan showed a manageable safety profile at the recommended doses for expansion (5.4 and 6.4 mg/kg) and a confirmed objective response rate (ORR) of 59.5% in subjects with HER2+ BC; however, safety and pharmacokinetic (PK) analyses from other Asian populations are lacking. Methods: This is a phase 1, open-label study (NCT03368196) conducted at 2 sites in Taiwan. Eligible HER2+ BC subjects were ≥ 20 years of age and received T-DXd 6.4 mg/kg intravenously once every 3 weeks until unacceptable toxicity, progressive disease (PD), or withdrawal from the study. The primary objective was to assess the safety and tolerability of T-DXd. Secondary objectives included assessment of PK and efficacy and incidence of anti-drug Abs (ADA) against T-DXd. Results: All subjects (N = 12) were Asian and female with HER2+ BC (11 IHC3+; 1 IHC2+); median age was 55 y (range, 36-69 y). Prior HER2-directed treatments included trastuzumab (100%), pertuzumab (50%), T-DM1 (33%), and lapatinib (8.3%). At data cutoff (Sept 14, 2018), the median treatment duration was 20 wk (range, 12-24 wk), and treatment was ongoing in all 12 subjects. The ORR (complete response [CR] + partial response [PR]) among 11 evaluable subjects was 36.4% (95% CI, 10.9%-69.2%; all PR); the disease control rate (CR + PR + SD) was 100% (95% CI, 71.5%-100.0%). By data cutoff, all subjects experienced ≥ 1 treatment-emergent adverse event (TEAE; grade ≥ 3, 58.3%), none of which led to discontinuation. The most common TEAEs were nausea (58%), decreased platelet count (58%), increased aspartate aminotransferase (50%), decreased white blood cell count (42%), decreased appetite (33%), anemia (33%), and fatigue (25%). One drug-related serious AE (febrile neutropenia) occurred, and 2 TEAEs led to dose reductions (grade 3 febrile neutropenia and grade 4 decreased platelet count). One AE of special interest occurred (grade 1 LVEF decrease). No events of pulmonary toxicity occurred and no deaths were reported. At cycle 1, the mean maximum concentration (Cmax) and area under the curve (AUCtau) of T-DXd were 157 µg/mL (SD, 19.1) and 631 day•µg/mL (SD, 173), respectively; for MAAA-1181a, the Cmax was 11.9 ng/mL (3.79) and the AUC was 36.1 day•µg/mL (9.71). PK parameters of total anti-HER2 Ab were similar to those of T-DXd. Some accumulation of T-DXd (57%) was seen at cycle 3 (Cmax, 163 µg/mL [SD, 19.5]; AUCtau, 991 day•µg/mL [SD, 109]). These PK results were similar to those of T-DXd, total HER2 Ab, and MAAA-1181a reported in other studies in HER2+ BC. All subjects were negative for ADA at all assessments. Conclusions: This is the first report of the efficacy, safety, and PK of T-DXd in Taiwan; T-DXd showed a manageable safety profile with no new safety signals. Despite the small number of subjects, results were similar to those previously reported and provide additional evidence of the clinical benefit of T-DXd in subjects with HER2+ tumors. Citation Format: Dwan-Ying Chang, Chia-Chi Lin, Tom Wei-Wu Chen, Ching-Hung Lin, Jih-Hsiang Lee, Ta-Chung Chao, Chun-Yu Liu, Issei Achiwa, Emi Kamiyama, Yasuyuki Okuda, Caleb Lee, Yee Chao. Safety and pharmacokinetic results from a phase 1, multicenter, open-label study of [fam-] trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd; DS-8201a) in subjects with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2019 Oct 26-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2019;18(12 Suppl):Abstract nr C041. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.TARG-19-C041


Abstract The soluble transcobalamin receptor (sCD320) is present in cerebrospinal fluid and correlates with the dementia-related biomarkers phospho-tau and total-tau. Here we present data on the relation of sCD320 to Alzheimer's disease and scores of cognitive tests. Lumbar cerebrospinal fluid samples from 42 pathologically-confirmed cases of Alzheimer's disease and 25 non-demented controls were analyzed for sCD320 employing an in-house ELISA. The participants' cognitive functions were tested using the Cambridge Cognition Examination (CAMCOG) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). There was no significant difference in the median CSF sCD320 concentration between patients and controls. The median (2.5–97.5 percentiles) sCD320 for all participants (n = 67) was 15 (3–29) pmol/L. We observed a non-linear correlation between sCD320 and cognitive scores. Spearman's correlation between sCD320 and total CAMCOG scores was 0.627 (n = 16, p = .009) for CAMCOG scores ≤27, and −0.293 (n = 39, p = .071) for CAMCOG scores ≥68. Spearman's correlation between sCD320 and both the low (≤9) and high (≥16) total MMSE scores was 0.274, −0.363 (n = 18, 44), p = .272, .016, respectively. In conclusion, sCD320 cannot be employed as a biomarker for differentiating Alzheimer dementia patients from controls. Further studies are warranted to explore the non-linear correlations between sCD320 and scores of cognitive function.


This article is a unique attempt to discover the impact of exile on the most basic human necessity, food entitlement. We argue that exile from society followed by reintegration attempts cause mental and physical trauma, emotional distress, cultural shock, depletion of technical skills, political oppression, loss of social cohesion and articulation. We use survey data randomized on levels of conflict and propensity of migration from 312 rural households in 22 Liberian villages from Loma, Nimba, and Grand Bassa counties. Our findings suggest that accounting for household demographics, farm size, attributes, and income; duration of exile increases the probability of food entitlement failure.


In a previous paper we had presented experimental results on mercury segregation due to cataphoresis in direct current operated low-pressure argon–mercury gas discharges. In this paper, we present our model to describe cataphoretic segregation in argon (or another noble gas)–mercury discharges. The model is based on the balance equations for mass and momentum and includes electrophoresis effects of electrons on mercury. Good agreement is found between the experimental results and model calculations. The model confirms our experimental observation that the mercury vapour pressure gradient depends on the local mercury vapour pressure. Furthermore, the model predicts the reversal of the direction of the transport of mercury under certain conditions (the phenomenon known as retrograde cataphoresis).


Transportation decisions of ship liners are crucial for policy formulation in ports and shipping lines. Ship liners' port selection depends on the location characteristic of port. With network theory based, we empirically investigated determinants of global ship liners' port selection focused on major trade ports in China and Korea during 1995-2007. We present a detailed discussion on the related literatures about port selection, and develop hypothesis using network-based view. With conditional logit model, empirical results show that global liners select globally positioned ports rather than domestic oriented ones. Global ship liners select ports which have intra national network centrality, global ship network centrality and global network linkage.


The invention provides a novel self-heat-preserving system of a heat preserving and insulating coating and composite heat-preserving building block combined wall body. The system is characterized in that a column, a shear wall, a beam and a floor slab are organically combined with a self-heat-preserving wall body, wherein the self-heat-preserving wall body is formed by building composite heat-preserving building blocks; after the whole wall body is leveled and rendered, the heat preserving and insulating coatings are coated on the outer side surfaces or the inner side surfaces of the column, the shear wall, the beam, a secondary cast-in-place wall body, and the parts in which the column and the shear wall are in junction with the composite heat-preserving building block type self-heat-preserving wall body; the heat preserving and insulating coating is also coated on the outer side surface of the floor slab. The wall body self-heat-preserving system has the outstanding advantages that the energy saving effect is high, the construction is convenient, the fireproof performance is high, and the crack resistance, water resistance and water penetration resistance are outstanding; the critical defects of poor fireproof performance, poor durability, low rainwater leakage resistance, and easy cracking of the wall body of most of the current heat preserving wall bodies can be overcome; the economic benefit and social benefit can be increased by the popularization and application of the technical system.


A new method is devised for the calculation of pressures and aerodynamic influence-coefficients on nonplanar lifting-surface configurations oscillating in a supersonic freestream. The method is an extension of the meth- odology introduced in the planar supersonic doublet-point scheme, which is based upon the concept of concen- trated lift forces and uses the acceleration potential doublet as an elementary solution of the wave equation. These features make the method capable of being incorporated in a unified code for both subsonic and supersonic speeds, as well as amenable to rapid aeroelastic calculations. Results on various lifting-surface configurations are in agreement with other supersonic oscillatory methods, validating the doublet-point approximation in nonplanar supersonic applications. OR studying the aeroelastic characteristics and aeroser- voelastic interactions of modern supersonic aircraft, an efficient method of predicting the unsteady supersonic aero- dynamics of practical lifting configurations is required. The unsteady aerodynamic loads due to a general motion of the structure can be derived from those arising out of simple harmonic motion, by using analytic continuation in the La- place domain. Hence, an oscillatory supersonic lifting-surface theory becomes necessary. The supersonic counterpart of the subsonic doublet-lattice method,1 which is well established for its amenability to aeroelastic calculations, has been sought in the past2 without much success. Nevertheless, motivation for a supersonic scheme with enough commonality with the subsonic doublet-lattice method to have a unified code for both the speed regimes, has persisted. Garrick and Rubinow3 presented an integral equation for the supersonic velocity potential source-strength. The most common velocity potential solution procedure is the Mach box method introduced by Pines et al., 4 and further refined by several authors.5"9 Difficulties with the Mach box method include the necessity to evaluate velocity potential in dia- phragm regions off the lifting surface and the dependence of the grid on Mach number. The refinements suggested to al- leviate these difficulties add complexity to the method. An- other velocity potential approach is the extension of Eward's10 steady-state theory to the oscillatory case by Burkhart.11 This scheme eliminates the need for diaphragm regions, but is limited to planar applications. Jones and Appa12 proposed the potential-gradient method. They used a series expansion of the kernel function, which made the scheme less accurate at high frequencies. Hounjet13 avoided the series expansion by using an integration scheme similar to that of the subsonic doublet-lattice method1 for directly downstream receiving points. Chen and Liu14 applied another approach to avoid the series expansion by using a parabolic curve-fit for the exponential part of the integrand, in order to integrate the dipole spanwise singularity of the planar kernel. The schemes of Refs. 12-14 needed to consider the wake region between lifting surfaces. Also, the compu-


Horn antennas that support balanced hybrid-modes are desirable in satellite communication applications due to their polarization-independent patterns and low cross-polarization over a wide frequency bandwidth [1]. Besides corrugated horns which utilize an electromagnetically soft lining, dielectric loaded horns can provide an alternative realization of hybrid-mode horns with either soft or hard wall boundary conditions [2]-[4]. Recently, homogeneous metamaterial liners have been used to realize hybrid-mode horn designs [5]. With the availability of metamaterials that exhibit a dielectric constant of less than unity over a reasonably wide bandwidth, use as a liner allows the removal of the standard dielectric core. This metamaterial liner can improve the bandwidth and significantly reduce the weight of the antenna compared to its dielectric loaded counterpart, all while maintaining the performance of a hybrid-mode horn. In this paper, we show a broadband metasurface satisfying the balanced hybrid condition and its use as a liner to implement hybrid-mode horns. The design approach combines a nature-inspired optimization technique and an efficient full-wave electromagnetic solver, making it possible to realize metamaterials or metasurfaces with customized dispersive properties. With regard to surface impedances, the metasurface is found to be equivalent to a homogeneous metamaterial slab backed by a PEC ground plane. Therefore, we will consider the results of a numerical study of a conical horn antenna with a homogeneous metamaterial liner. The far-field radiation patterns and aperture field distribution confirm hybrid-mode operation over a wide bandwidth, validating the metasurface design methodology.


Grapevine training systems determine the suitability for grape varieties in a specific growing region. We evaluated the influence of three training systems, Single Guyot (SG), Spur-pruned Vertical Shoot-Positioned (VSP), and Four-Arm Kniffin (4AK), on the performance of grapes and vines of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon in the 2012 and 2013 growing seasons in a wet region of central China. 4AK was the most productive system in comparison to SG and VSP. SG and VSP had lower disease infections of leaves and berries, especially in the mid- and final stage of berry ripening. Three training systems had no impact on berry maturity. PLS-DA (Partial Least Squares-Discriminant) analysis showed that the relatively dry vintage could well discriminate three training systems, but the wet vintage was not. A wet vintage of 2013 had more accumulation of 3′5′-substituted and acylated anthocyanins, including malvidin-3-O-(6-O-acetyl)-glucoside, malvidin-3-O-glucoside, and petunidin-3-O-(cis-6-O-coumaryl)-glucoside, etc. With regard to the effect of training systems, 4AK grapes had the lowest concentrations of total anthocyanins and individual anthocyanins, SG and VSP differed according to the different vintages, and showed highest concentration of total individual anthocyanins in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Generally, VSP benefited the most, contributing to significantly highest levels of total individual anthocyanins, and major anthocyanin, including malvidin-3-O-glucoside and malvidin-3-O-(6-O-acetyl)-glucoside, and the grapes obtained from VSP presented significantly highest proportion of 3′5′-substituted anthocyanins. With regard to the ratios of 3′5′/3′-substituted, methoxylated/non-methoxylated and acylated/non-acylated anthocyanins, the significantly higher levels were also shown in VSP system. In summary, VSP was the best training system for Cabernet Sauvignon to accumulate relatively stable individual anthocyanins in this wet region of China and potentially in other rainy regions.


Maha Oya is one of the main rivers in Sri Lanka, very much used for drinking waterextraction. It flows through five important districts of Sri Lanka offering water throughfourteen water supply intakes, eight of which are located along the main river while othersare scattered along the tributaries. Only three of the associated plants offer conventionaltreatment for water. This river receives much organic waste from the upstream. Industrialdischarges and harmful anthropogenic activities are common in the final stretch of the river. This study aims to investigate the contamination of Maha Oya water around each intakepoints along the main river and to find causes. Samples were collected from water supplyintakes during both high and low flow rate conditions. Analysis was done on pH, turbidity,DO, COD, BOD, phosphate, Nitrate, Sulfate, Chloride, Fluoride, Coliform and heavy metalswhich were selected based on the drinking water quality requirements of the country. According to the results, Mawanella Intake records high BOD and Coliform counts due to themunicipal and house hold discharges from the townships, overflow of Soakage pit and septictanks of Mawanella town during rainy seasons. Waste load coming from three tributariesconfluences was attributed to high values of BOD, COD and coliform count while cultivationin the vicinity has increased the nutrient at the Hirwadunna intake. COD value of thesampling location at the Allawwa intake is very high. As it is located in the Allawwa town,waste from the town is disposed to the river directly and concentration is very high duringlow flow conditions. Girulla intake is polluted mainly from bank erosion due to theanthropogenic activities like cay mining. COD and BOD values are comparatively high dueto direct discharges. Pollution associated with Bamukuliya intake is due to the discharge ofMakandura IP. The effect is reduced when it comes to the Bambukuliya intake even though itexceeds the COD for drinking water with simple treatment. Sea intrusion has not affected theBambukuliya intake due to the salinity barrier at Bambukuliya. Heavy metal concentration ofall intakes are below the respective standards.


This article compares several different heat supply systems based on heat recovery from exhaust steam. Thermal and electrical parameters are compared among different heat-supply systems of 300MW Units such as traditional extraction condensing turbine system, small temperature difference heat-supply system and large temperature difference heat-supply system. When the large temperature difference heat-supply system is operating with 400t/h of extraction flow, the consumption rates of coal equivalent for power supply and heating are respectively 318.225g/(kW·h) and 27.899kg/GJ in the heat-supply period. The capacity of power supply and heating of large temperature difference system show a rise of 17.7MW and 317.1MW compared with that of traditional extraction condensing turbine system.


Using published data, we found a direct correlation between the incidence of rectal gonorrhea and HIV infection in MSM who were not using oral pre-exposure prophylaxis. HIV incidence was predicted using rectal gonorrhea incidence as the determinant in regression analysis. The observed correlations suggest the rectal gonorrhea incidence can potentially serve as a predictor of HIV incidence. If confirmed with additional data, a quantitative correlation for incidence of the two infections could be useful in active-controlled HIV prevention trials where low HIV incidence is expected. Widespread improvements in treatment as prevention and gonorrhea control can negatively impact the correlation and its utility.


Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the moderating effect of efficiency and non-market capability in the relationship between government involvement and resources to performance of water supply companies (PDAM) in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is explanatory in nature, i.e. it explains the relationship (causality) between the external environment variables (government involvement), internal environment variables (resources and non-market capabilities) and the performance of taps in Sulawesi through hypothesis testing. The research was conducted in six provinces in the northern peninsula of Sulawesi Island: North Sulawesi Province, Gorontalo Province, Central Sulawesi Province, Southeast Sulawesi Province, South Sulawesi Province and West Sulawesi Province. The research was undertaken from September 2011 to December 2011. The analysis unit in this research was PDAM, while the research population was the regional water company (PDAM) in Sulawesi. A quantitative approach was used for data analysis, i.e. variance-based inferential statistical analysis with structural equation modeling, known as partial least squares, with variable non-market capability acting as a moderating variable.

Findings

Government involvement has a significant and positive effect on the performance, indicating that the higher the government involvement, the higher the performance of a company. Efforts to reduce water loss level for PDAM is a strategic move, as they are associated with PDAM's stakeholders. Water loss will lead to poor customer service, low contribution to the acceptance of regional governments and failure to meet natural conservation programs. On the other hand, to reduce the water loss level, considerable capital is needed for investment, for example, to finance the installation and repair of pipelines, pumps, mains water meter, customer water meter, the cost of water treatment, fuel costs and the expansion of the water source. In general, PDAM in Sulawesi still has problems in terms of expansion because of the lack of funding sources; hence, the role of regional government as the owner is expected, both in the form of financial aid and the tariff adjustment. The government should be in favor of thorough development of drinking water, as embodied in the form of finance, budget commitment and the commitment to the development of PDAM.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations of this study are that the data used in this study are cross-sectional, so they only describe the condition at a particular time. Also, the sample was limited to Sulawesi taps; therefore, to generalize the findings, a larger sample needs to be considered.

Practical implications

The practical implications of this study are that development of water supply company cannot be separated from the government's involvement as one of the stakeholders to improve corporate performance, especially through financial assistance. In connection with it, a board of directors or management of PDAM in every department of a company constantly works on government involvement, especially financial aid to fund or investment fund sharing, to improve service to customers. Such activities run a company aimed at achieving efficiency with emphasis on the efficiency of production and distribution capacity by managing the leakage rate, the emphasis on labor costs by keeping the ratio of employees ideal, the emphasis on aspects of the supply and distribution through control of water resources and water meter mains and water customers and an emphasis on the use of raw materials or chemicals with attention to the quality of raw water.

Social implications

The social implications of this study are that government interventions are supported by the availability of resources according to the needs able to create efficiencies that have an impact on improving the performance of taps. Companies performing well can operate optimally in providing drinking water that meets health standards. In addition, the performance achieved allows the taps to embody the organization's mission as a creator of jobs and local revenue for local governments.

Originality/value

Originality for this paper shows the moderating effect of efficiency and non-market capability in the relationship between government involvement and resources to PDAM. The originality also includes the location of this study (six provinces in the northern peninsula of Sulawesi Island: North Sulawesi Province, Gorontalo Province, Central Sulawesi Province, Southeast Sulawesi Province, South Sulawesi Province and West Sulawesi Province) as no previous research has investigated this relationship in this geography.


In 10% of adult patients with hydrocephalus, the cause is because of aqueductal stenosis (AS), causing enlargement of the lateral and third ventricles. There are currently two alternate forms of surgical treatment for AS; shunt surgery and ventriculostomy. Shunt surgery is associated with high complication rates and many patients need revisions, but the effectiveness is high. Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV), re‐establishing a physiological route of CSF dynamics, has become the treatment of choice for AS in most neurosurgical centers. ETV has fewer complications and revisions are rare, but some patients need shunt surgery to improve despite a patent ventriculostomy. There are today no common criteria for patient selection to either ETV or ventriculo‐peritoneal shunt surgery.