One of the hallmarks of integrated resource planning (IRP) is the consideration of the environmental consequences of water resource decisions (Jordan, 1995). Any least-cost analysis of a water program must include a recognition that the costs and benefits of any project go beyond the direct costs to a utility. In fact, integrated resource planning attempts to consider all direct and indirect costs and the benefits of demand side management, supply side management, and supply augmentation. In short, what an IRP process requires is the consideration of the externalities of any water resource program.


Using data from a sample survey and follow-up surveys,"Well-being of the elderly in Anhui Province",conducted in 2001,2003,2006,and 2009 respectively,by the Institute for Population and Development Studies of Xi'an Jiaotong University in Chaohu city,Anhui province,this study conducted an empirical research on the mutual effect of support activities for elderly parents among adult children in family support in rural China based on filial piety notion systematically.The results reveal that adult child will give more economic support,household chores and life care,if more of his/her siblings share responsibilities.The results also show that old parents will benefit from more adult children sharing filial responsibilities.Therefore,it is proved that the filial piety demonstration effect exist among adult children siblings in providing intergenerational support for their old parents.


In special cases partially encased composite beams are used without concrete slabs. In such cases the beam may fail by lateral torsional buckling. No information is available whether or not it is allowed to take into account the torsional stiffness of the concrete and if so to what amount. 22 full scale tests were carried out on beams loaded by a point load. The test results were evaluated using different assumptions which lead to a new design proposal.


An adapted immuning algorithm is presented which uses both the gauss mutation and the clone scale control.The proposed algorithm is applied to null steering of linear array by controlling only the current phases.The premature phenomenon is overcome effectively because the diversity of gene colony which on account of disperse and separation of this algorithm.Numerical results indicate that nulls can impose both at the specified directions in the sidelobe region and in the nerghbourhood of the main beam and alse at symmetric locations with respect to the main beam.The null depth levels obtained are lower than those repored in the literatures.


Objective To investigate the effect of establishing sub-specialty group model for emergency nursing on improving nurses′ comprehensive quality and patients′ rescue success rate,satisfaction degree,and on promoting discipline development of emergency nursing.Methods The sub-specialty groups for emergency nursing were established and the sub-specialty group leaders were selected.Under group leader accountability,within-group training and examination and between-group training in rotation were conducted.Last,each sub-specialty group and all the staffs of the department before and after grouping were assessed in turn.Results After grouping,the emergency nurses′ comprehensive clinical nursing capacity score was higher than that before grouping,the patients′ rescue success rate increased from 89% to 97%,random satisfaction survey of 200 patients and their family members showed that the satisfaction degree increased from 87% to 96%,there were significant differences(all P 0.05).Conclusion The sub-specialty group model for emergency nursing can effectively improve nurses′ comprehensive quality and patients′ rescue success rate and satisfaction degree,thereby is an effective model suitable for the development needs of sub-specialty and for the promotion of discipline development of emergency nursing.


The study on comprehensive risk assessment of gravity-wharf structural failure is of great significance in engineering application. In this paper, the main economic, social and environmental risks caused by the failure of gravity wharf are identified by using the fishbone diagram method, and the main failure consequences of gravity-wharf structure such as life loss, economic loss, social and environmental impact are quantified, and AHP method is used to determine the weight. The linear weighted sum method is used to construct the comprehensive assessment coefficient of consequences and the assessment standard of failure risk level of gravity-wharf structure is established based on ALARP principle. Combined with the overall failure probability analysis of gravity-wharf serial system based on Rosenblueth method, the comprehensive assessment system of the economic, social and environmental risks of gravity-wharf structural failure which is established in this paper, can realize the comprehensive assessment of the economic, social and environmental risks of gravity-wharf structural failure. The study of caisson wharf structure shows that the comprehensive risk level caused by its failure is negligible risk, which can be acceptable.


In this paper, we describe an DSP based implemented QPSK receiver prototype for 25kHz carrier frequency and 5 kHz symbol rate with excess bandwidth 0.35, and its test results at the very shallow water of the South Sea of Korea. The implemented digital receiver prototype for underwater communication is composed of analog and digital signal processing parts. The analog part, composed of an implemented omni-directional acoustic sensor and a bi-directional deriving unit, is in charge of acquiring the acoustic signal and of converting the acoustic signal into an electric signal. The sampled passband signal should be converted into a baseband signal and then the baseband signal is further processed to enhance the signal quality and reduce decision error by synchronizer, equalizer, and Viterbi decoder. The joint synchronizer detects the packet synchronization and estimates the coarse symbol timing and phase offset at the same time. After synchronization, the received baseband signal is decimated to take 4 samples per symbol which is the input of channel equalizer. The channel equalizer improves the quality of signal by reducing the multipath interference and tracking the phase and frequency offsets. The Viterbi decoder decides the transmitted information using the output of equalizer. The implemented QPSK receiver prototype is tested the BER performance by transmitting 160pixel*100pixel*8bit/pixel images with horizontal transmission distances of 1km, 2km and 3km at the very shallow water (approximately 25m water depth). Test result shows that BER is 0, 2.3×10−5, and 1.8×10−3 for the 1km, 2km and 3km transmission distance, respectively.


We constrain the average episodic quasar lifetime (as in steady-state accretion) using two statistics of quasars that are recently turned off (i.e., dimmed by a large factor): (1) the fraction of turned-off quasars in a statistical sample photometrically observed over an extended period (e.g., Δt = 20 yr) and (2) the fraction of massive galaxies that show "orphan" broad Mg ii emission, argued to be short-lived echoes of recently turned-off quasars. The two statistics constrain the average episodic quasar lifetime to be hundreds to thousands of years. Much longer (or shorter) episodic lifetimes are strongly disfavored by these observations. This average episodic lifetime is broadly consistent with the infall timescale (viscous time) in the standard accretion-disk model for quasars, suggesting that quasar episodes are governed by accretion-disk physics rather than by the gas supply on much larger scales. Compared with the cumulative quasar lifetime of ∼106−108 yr constrained from quasar clustering and massive black hole demographics, our results suggest that there are ∼103−105 episodes of quasar accretion during the assembly history of the supermassive black hole. Such short episodes should be clustered over intervals of ∼104 yr to account for the sizes of ionized narrow-line regions in quasars. Our statistical argument also dictates that there will always be a small fraction of extreme variability quasars caught in "state transitions" over multiyear observing windows, despite the much longer episodic lifetime. These transitions could occur in a rather abrupt fashion during non-steady accretion.


Rice is the staple food of more than 60% of the world population and there is urgent need to increase productivity and production to meet the food demands of the consistently growing population (Fageria 2007). It is grown in India over an area of 44 m ha with total production of 105 m tones, amounting to 40% of the total food grain (Economic Survey 2015-16). Productivity of rice is low in the country and among different constraints, weeds pose a major Indian Journal of Weed Science 50(4): 333–339, 2018


French President Emmanuel Macron is two years into his term of office, which he embarked on with the aim of making crucial reforms in the land of the Gallic rooster. It is well known that the third-largest European economy does indeed need structural reforms. After a rocket-fast start, however, President Macron encountered - quintessentially French - vocal opposition from the public. This article sums up Macron's reform steps and his response to the mass street protests, putting them into the context of the economic situation not only in France, but in advanced economies in general. Although it is too early to assess their impacts, the reforms seem to be heading in the right direction.


Formation of a body-centered cubic (BCC) structure and grain growth process triggered by segregation-power jump on a temperature drop was studied by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), rheology, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-alt-propylene) (SEP) was dissolved in tridecyl-2,2,4-trimethyl hexanoate (salacos913) that was a practically neutral good solvent for both of polystyrene (PS) and PEP block chains at temperature above 84 °C (Tsol), while it was highly selective (good for PEP) below Tsol. Spherical microdomains in a short-range liquid-like order were formed above Tsol; the system was in the so-called "lattice disordered state", designated as disordered sphere. The solution was annealed at a temperature (130 °C) above Tsol for 10 min and successively subjected to a temperature drop across Tsol. The system stayed in the lattice-disordered state for a certain induction period. During this induction period, stronger segregation power at the lower temperature ...


In this report, we propose an architecture for emergency networking services, which is based on overlay routing technologies. We propose the improvement of existing overlay routing algorithm in terms of the amount of overhead in measuring reachability and exchanging informations between overlay nodes, and overlay-routing mechanism especially against the large-scale network failure caused by disasters, terrorism, routing software bugs, and so on. Through numerical examples with the actual AS-level network topology of the current Internet, we show that our approach can reduce the overhead in exchanging routing information up to 1/1000, and improve the network connectivity by up to 9 times.


T WOULD BE SURPRISING if Federico Garcia Lorca had not shown a predilection for the guitar in his life and work: the instrument plays an essential role in the world of Andalusian music and folklore, in which the poet was immersed from an early age. His enchantment with the guitar might be said to have obeyed a racial and family inclination. One of his father's ancestors, a certain Frasquito Garcia, was a professional guitarist who emigrated to Paris, married and died there.' Lorca's father had the custom of organizing flamenco sessions at his son's natal house


Human life is progressing with advancements in technology such as laptops, smart phones, high speed communication networks etc., which helps us by reducing load in doing our daily activities. For instance, one can chat, talk, make video calls with his/her friends instantly using social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, WhatsApp etc. LinkedIn, Indeed, etc., connects employees with potential employers. The number of people using these applications are increasing day-by-day, and so is the amount of data generated from these applications. Processing such vast amounts of data, may require new techniques for gaining valuable insights. Network theory concepts form the core of such techniques that are designed to uncover valuable insights from large social network datasets. Many interesting problems such as ranking top-K nodes and top-K communities that can effectively diffuse any given message into the network, restaurant recommendations, friendship recommendations on social networking websites, etc., can be addressed by using the concepts of network centrality. Network centrality measures such as In-degree centrality, Out-degree centrality, Eigenvector centrality, Katz Broadcast centrality, Katz Receive centrality, and PageRank centrality etc., comes handy in solving these problems. In this thesis, we propose different formulae for computing the strength for identifying top-K nodes and communities that can spread viral marketing messages into the network. The strength formulae are based on Katz Broadcast centrality, Resolvent matrix measure and Personalized PageRank measure. Moreover, the effects of intercommunity and intracommunity connectivity in ranking top-K communities are studied. Top-K nodes for spreading any message effectively into the network are determined by using Katz Broadcast centrality measure. Results obtained through this technique are compared with the top-K nodes obtained by using Degree centrality measure. We also studied the effects of varying α on the number of nodes in search space. In Algorithms 2 and 3, top-K communities are obtained by using Resolvent matrix and Personalized PageRank measure. Algorithm 2 results were studied by varying the parameter α.


Objective To explore the effect of esmolol on attenuating the cardiovascular response to tracheal extubation in old patients.Methods Thirty old patients(aged of over 60)were randomly divided into two groups.Patients in group A received esmolol 0.1 mg/kg intravenously before extubation.Patients in group B received saline.SP,DP,HR were monitored and recorded before induction(baseline),before and after extubation,and 3,5,10 min after extubation in all patients.Results SP,DP,HR increased significantly after extubation in group B.SP,DP,HR kept stable after extubation in group A.Conclusion Esmolol can inhibit the cardiovascular response to tracheal extubation in old patients.


Abstract The oil cake from argan, an available raw material in Morocco, was explored for biodiesel production. The residual lipids of roasted and unroasted argan cakes were transesterified under alkaline conditions. The best biodiesel yield (94%) was obtained after transesterification of residual lipids from roasted argan cake using a methanol:lipid ratio of 6:1 with 0.6 g of KOH per g of oil at 65 °C. Physicochemical characteristics of the oils and biodiesels, such as density, acid number, iodine, saponification and calorific value, were determined. These measured values were similar to those found with standard biodiesel and petro-diesel. Fatty acid compositions of the residual lipids and biodiesels were determined via gas chromatography, revealing 85% unsaturated fatty acid, mainly represented by oleic and linoleic acids, in these two products.


This paper analyses information on the electricity consumed by a site of an experimental Grid infrastructure and its correlations with users' resource reservation requests. The power consumption of all servers of this site was monitored for a period of six months, the data was gathered to enable studies on approaches for reducing the energy footprint of Grids and Clouds.


A 55-year-old man presented complaining of recurrent prolonged and sleep-related painful erections (SRPEs) developing over 3 years, but which improved during the day. His history showed ischaemic cardiopathy and hypertension controlled with medication (diltiazem). There was no background of previous priapism and a physical examination was normal. He was hospitalized for 3 nights to obtain a nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) test (RigiScan) and seven erection episodes were recorded with > 70% rigidity each night. Despite normal values of plasma testosterone, he was treated with cyproterone acetate (50 mg/day) for 11 months. Because there was no response to antiandrogen treatment an anxiolytic drug (lorazepam 1 mg before sleeping) was given for 18 months, with a partial response (completing 5 h of sleep).


In this autobiography Patten writes, frankly and directly, and for the first time, about his experiences as governor, about why he adopted the stance that he did, and about how he fought his battles.


Objective To study the effect of stereotactic biopsy under MRI-guide on intracerebral multiple lesions in histopathology.Method With combining of MRI-guid and stereotactic technique,25 cases of brain lesion biopsy were performed.Result 24 of 25 cases were pathologically diagnosed.The diagnostic rate was 96%,4 cases had complications,and no patient died.Conclusion Stereotactic biopsy under MRI-guide of intracerebral multiple lesion is a safe,reliable method,which can be used to efficiently diagnose intracerebral multiple lesions of some complicated cases.


Histamine (HA) is a major allergic response mediator as well as a neuromodulatory neurotransmitter and a blood-brain barrier (BBB) regulator. Consequently, dysregulation of the central histaminergic system could offset brain homeostasis and function. Indeed, mood and behavioral disorders are often comorbid with conditions that elevate systemic HA, such as mastocytosis and allergy. We have previously shown elevated levels of brain HA and its receptor subtype H3 (H3R) in a mouse model of cow's milk allergy (CMA). Additionally, neuroinflammation and cortical demyelination were observed in association with depression-like behavior in CMA mice. However, whether the elevated HA and H3R were responsible for the development of these cellular and behavioral pathologies is unknown. We hypothesized that the elevated brain HA leads to central histaminergic dysfunction through H3R, ultimately resulting in cortical demyelination and aberrant behaviors. To investigate the role of H3R, CMA mice were treated daily with thioperamide, a selective BBB-permeable H3R antagonist, to block the action of HA through this receptor. Despite the production of allergen-specific IgE, thioperamide prevented depression-like behavior. Thioperamide also ameliorated CMA-associated cortical demyelination and axonal loss compared to saline-treated mice. Our findings strongly suggested that H3R signaling contributed to cortical demyelination and the development of depression-like behaviors in our CMA mice. Targeting HA production or signaling may provide a therapeutic strategy to reduce the risk of neurodegeneration and associated brain dysfunction in susceptible individuals.
 Supported by grants from NIH (1R01AI168563-01, P20GM113123-06, and P20GM103442).


A role for laparoscopy in the management of selected trauma patients is now possible. We report a case of a patient with a stab wound and a bowel perforation who underwent diagnostic and laparoscopic treatment.


An unidirectional three-phase AC/DC converter is proposed to obtain leading power factor, sinusoidal line current and to keep DC-bus voltage constant without DC link capacitor. Two active switches and two power diodes are used in each converter leg which is different from conventional AC/DC and three level converters. The scheme is adopted with simple commutation procedure to reduce the complexity of control to ensure effective power transformation. Conventional AC/DC converter and three level converters usually have large value of capacitor at the DC side with neutral balancing which will increase the structural complexity. This paper encloses a converter topology with simple commutation procedure to have good voltage transfer ratio capacity, leading power factor and pure sine wave with only higher order harmonics in the line side. By providing small LC filter on the line side even this harmonics can be eliminated. Switches in each leg of same phase will turn on and turn off at zero current. Theoretical analyses and simulation results are provided to verify its performance.


A novel structure meander line antenna is investigated in this paper for anatomically realistic human head phantom of implantable Brain Machine Interference (BMI) applications. Head phantoms imitating electrical properties of brain tissues and their anatomical configuration are highly requisited for verification of numerous biomedical devices. To approve the analysis of implantable antennas more accurately, simulation is examined using anatomical realistic human head phantom. The main integrity of this antenna specifies to its subtle dimension, flexibility and subordinate thickness that makes it perfectly applicable for implementing inside human head phantom operating ultra-wideband frequency spectrum. Meander line technique is imposed in implantable scenarios. Dimension of the antenna structure is (15.2 * 8.8 * 0.8) mm3, where Roger RO3035 is selected as the substrate material. Copper is selected for Patch material. And the antenna is encapsulated by silicon material for maintaining biocompatibility. Crucial parameters are analyzed such as S11 parameter, Radiation pattern, VSWR, Gain, Efficiency, Directivity, SAR values of the proposed antenna for anatomical realistic human head phantom. This improved design of MLA configuration reducing Specific absorption rate for safety concerns.


Based on the detailed study of the antigens that are recog-nized by alloantibodies, for example, polymorphisms on anumber of platelet receptors have been identified andclassified as Human Platelet Antigen (HPA)-systems (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ipd/hpa/index.html). In recent years experi-mental evidence was provided that at least some of thesepolymorphisms also have functional effects when studied


Properties of Schur functions on the Unit circle and asymptotic behaviour of corresponding Schur parameters are investigated. Connection between the Schur parameters and the reflection coefficients of a certain system of orthogonal polynomials on the Unit circle is Used.


We aim to explore model-based motion planning as a tool to aid in development of a three-link walking machine. The physical prototype is designed with regards to an existing dynamic model which ensures a rich variety of feasible walking gaits. This approach puts the emphasis of gait generation on motion planning instead of control action, allowing for more accurate analysis of such effects as perturbations of parameters, forces arising from unmodeled parts of dynamics and adding energy storing elements such as springs.


IntroductIon The 2018 Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COLD) has re-defined the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as a common, preventable, and treatable disease that is characterized by persistent respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation that is due to airway and/or alveolar abnormalities usually caused by significant exposure to noxious particles or gases.[1] According to the estimations by the Burden of Obstructive Lung Diseases and other large scale epidemiological studies, there were a total of 384 million patients with COPD in 2010, with a prevalence of Effects of the Clearing the Lung and Dissipating Phlegm Method in the Treatment of Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis


The Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Germany, is operating the user experiments for microtomography at the beamlines P05 and P07 using synchrotron radiation produced in the storage ring PETRA III at DESY, Hamburg, Germany. In recent years the software pipeline, sample changing hardware for performing high throughput experiments were developed. In this talk the current status of the beamlines will be given. Furthermore, optimisation and automatisation of scanning techniques, will be presented. These are required to scan samples which are larger than the field of view defined by the X-ray beam. The integration into an optimized reconstruction pipeline will be shown.


Financial sciences have begun with the classical theories; passed through the behavioral finance; and reached the neurofinance. At this stage, the medical and psychological sciences are used; moreover, the physical structure of human body and his environmental experiences are applied. In fact, this aspect of finance is tested based on the changes occurring in human's body affecting decision-making process. It could be mentioned that it completes the behavioral finance. The financial science is associated with the physician and the psychologist. Since it is based on the changes that occur in human's body, it affects human's decisions and characteristics, leads to changes in the capital market, and explains investors' behavioral biases. This new branch of finance discusses modeling financial market processes via investigating physiological processes in human's brain. Therefore, the cognition of human's behavior and how he deals with different issues in different conditions are the necessities of neurofinance. The present paper studies the process of financial schools


Whereas moments of miscommunication stud the collection Jump, this article proposes to read five such misfiring encounters between whites and non-whites, in "What Were You Dreaming?" "Comrades," "Keeping Fit," "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off," and "Spoils," through a close examination of the spatial configurations where a confrontation can happen (and fail). In all five short stories the situation of racial inequality is mediated through banal elements: the car, food/drink, and the delivering of a testimony. I will connect these elements to the unresolved opposition cast by Agamben between bios, the political life, and zoe, the biological life. I argue that in these confrontation scenes the "others" are excluded through their very inclusion, but that they are also recognized as a political presence in the privileged site of vehicles functioning in the text as correlatives of what Agamben describes as a "void" in social spaces.


THE PROBLEM dustries in the MDSs face stronger competition Since the 1964 United Nations Conference on from those imports that are less costly to produce in other countries. For U.S. growers of winter vegeTrade and Development, less developed countries For U.S. growers of winter vege(LDCs) have been united in expressing concern tables, this competition has become intense. Several over their trade problems and long-run balance of vegetables produced in Mexico compete with payment deficits. The LDCs feel that the more Florida's in the U.S. winter market developed countries (MDCs) discriminate against This paper concentrates on the cucumbers, a their products by use of tariffs. Tariff relief sought product of considerable economic significance to by LDCs includes reduction of tariff rates as well Florida's vegetable industry. Cucumbers accounted as effective rates applied to raw materials and for $11.1 million or 4 per cent of Florida growers' semiprocessed products.' vegetable crop receipts in 1970-1971. The retail Tariff relief for LDCs means that domestic invalue of Florida-grown cucumbers was $32.7 mil-


Three bacterium strains with a high frequency,viz.Njh,Njt and Njw,have been isolated from the xylem of a wilted black pine( Pinus thuntergii )tree caused by pine wood nematodes and from the surface of the nematodes.These bacteria have been identified as Pseudomonas fluorescens biotype I, Pseudomonas fluorescens biotype II and a species of the genus Pantoea respectively.Bacteria were cultured in liquid media through rocking.The liquid was directly used in the treatment of the callus of black pine and ability of each kind of bacterium to produce toxin was measured.As compared with control(viz.blank liquid media),the original culture liquid from three kinds of bacteria had an obvious effect on wilting of the materials used in bioassay.Strains Njh and Njt were stronger than Njw in pathogenicity.Part of calluses turn yellow browning 48 hours after the original liquid containing toxin was added.5 days after bioassay all of the callus masses were black browning and died on account of the original liquid containing the toxin from strains Njh and Njt added.There was no big change in color of the callus to which the liquid containing the toxin from the strain Njw was added,but it's darker than the control.It has been proved that there was a great quantity of wilt related toxins existing in strains Njh and Njt


Abstract Important semidiurnal internal tides with a maximum displacement of isotherms of about 30 m were observed on the continental shelf, near the submarine canyon Trou-Sans-Fond off Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is proposed from a two-layer submarine canyon model experiment that the observed internal tides could have been generated by an interaction between the bottom topography of the submarine canyon and oscillatory longshore tidal currents and have propagated away on both sides of the canyon. The estimated wavelength and phase speed of the M2 internal tides of the region were respectively 22 km and 0.5 m s−1. The asymmetric profiles of isotherms and baroclinic currents were explained in terms of the nonlinear effects of the internal waves.


Couples in which a partner experienced child abuse often have exceptional relational stresses, most notably, the difficulty of adult survivors trusting their partners. Power imbalances between partners can accentuate distrust, thereby posing even greater challenges in the relationship. Clinical processes centered in theory guided by relational feminism can be helpful. The author introduces relational trust theory, which articulates how the intermingling of gendered power interactions and adult-survivor power responses negatively impact relational connection. This theory draws on relational ethics and Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy, which addresses gendered power processes, to help clinicians cultivate mutuality and trust between partners. Case composites show how this theory has been applied in couple therapy.


Supercomputing technologies are used in almost all fields of science today, and determine the competitiveness of science and industry among national entities. USA, Europe, China, and Japan are investing billions in the development of supercomputing technologies, promoting national programs for the development of this field, and these programs will determine the success of future developments. The underestimation of the value of supercomputing technologies has led Russia to fall behind in global trends, and squanders the enormous potential of Russian specialists in computer science. Russia needs a comprehensive supercomputer program, and cannot delay its enactment.


This paper is concerned with branch and bound technique for the global solution of bilinear matrix inequality (BMI) problem. In this paper, more strict estimation method of lower bound of objective function and new bounding operation are proposed. The effectiveness of proposed method is confirmed in computational experiments.


Decoration is one of the important parts in costume, among the various dress cultures of all nations in the world, the phenomenon of body as decoration is the most special one. Making a study on body damage and decorative behaviours of the ethnic minorities, we can learn the original living conditions of people, and understand the aesthetic standards and cultural connotations, and comprehend the gender differences in contemporary ethnic identity. In the view of Gender and Sociology, with the research method of literature analysis, this paper clarified the connotations through the female "pain" decoration actions, and analyzed the role and status of women in ethnic group and modern society.


&NA; The purpose of this study was to assess the perceived needs of relatives living with head‐injured individuals and the helpfulness of family support groups in meeting these needs. Questionnaires were distributed at five separate support meetings. The respondents were mostly mothers of head‐injured males. Situational influences perceived as being most stressful to family members were behavior changes, decreased memory, and decision‐making problems of the head‐injured person. Most of the mothers reported that their largest concern was what would happen to their injured sons if something happened to them. Educational needs of the subjects were identified as information on the effects of head injuries, community resources and financial assistance, and honest answers to questions. Psychological needs expressed were to feel that there was hope, to know what the future held, to have emotional support, and to talk about feelings. Support groups were helpful in meeting these needs. Areas for future development of family support groups were identified.


There is an urgent demand in the industry for the development of compact, fl exible, and sustainable power sources for self-powered internet of things (IoT) micro/nano devices. One of the most promising routes is to harness environmental energy through piezoelectric nanogenerators (PNGs). A novel, self-assembled, highly porous perovskite/polymer (polyvinylidene fl uoride (PVDF) in this case) composite fi lm was developed for fabricating high-performance piezoelectric nanogenerators (PNGs). The macroscopic porous structure can signi fi cantly enlarge the bulk strain of the piezoelectric composite fi lm, which leads to a z 5-fold enhancement in the strain-induced piezo potential. In addition, the novel hybrid halide perovskites (HHP) – formamidinium lead bromine iodine (FAPbBr 2 I) material can improve the conductivity of the fi nal composite fi lm due to its enhanced permittivity, providing a z 15-fold ampli fi cation of the output current. Using these highly-e ffi cient perovskite/polymer PNGs (P-PNGs), a peak output power density of 10 m W cm (cid:1) 2 (across a resistance of 7 M U ) was obtained to run a self-powered integrated wireless electronic node (SIWEN). The P-PNG application was then extended to real-life scenarios including wireless data communication between the nanogenerators and personal electronics, e ffi cient energy harvesting from automobile vibrations and also from biomechanical motion. This P-PNG based on a low-temperature full-solution synthesis approach, may initiate a paradigm shift by opening the realms of fl exible PNGs as sustainable power sources.


Oxygen {ital K}-edge absorption spectra of carefully characterized La{sub 2{minus}{ital x}}Sr{sub {ital x}}CuO{sub 4+{delta}} samples were measured using a bulk-sensitive fluoresence-yield-detection method. They reveal two distinct pre-edge peaks which evolve systematically as a function of Sr concentration. The measured spectra are quantitatively described by calculations based on the Hubbard model, including local Coulomb interactions and core-hole excitonic correlations. The absorption data are consistent with a description of electronic states based on a doped charge-transfer insulator.


The article deals with the issues related to the usage of current procedure of local government performance assessment. It is concluded that not all criteria allow assessing local government performance objectively. Taking into account the stated disadvantages, the author proposes a set of actions on improvement of the legislation on local government performance assessment.


: We present the recent result in [3] concerning the existence of Cantor families of small amplitude, linearly stable, time quasi-periodic standing water wave solutions – i


Abstract HISTORICAL The rapid initial settlement in this State caused the haphazard occupation of land and issue of title. In 1820 Commissioner Bigge found that 324,251 acres had been granted but thousands of blocks in the country and nearly four-fifths of the houses in Parramatta and Sydney were held without title. The settlers had preceded the surveyors. Through lapse of control and sheer neglect, the survey and land branches of the Government had been allowed to run down into a state of chaos.


Small swards of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) cv. Haifa were grown in solution culture in a controlled environment at 24 °C day/18 °C night and receiving 500 μE m-2 S−1 PAR during a 14-h photoperiod. The swards were cut either frequently (10-d regrowth periods) or infrequently (40-d regrowth) over 40 d before being cut to 2 cm in height. Half of the swards received high levels of nitrate (2–6 mM N in solution every 2 d) after defoliation while the others received none. Changes in d. wt, leaf area and growing point numbers were recorded over the following 10 d. CO2 exchange was measured independently on shoots and roots and nitrogenase-linked respiration was estimated by measuring nodulated root respiration at 21% and 3% oxygen in the root atmosphere. There was a general pattern in all treatments consisting of an initial d. wt loss from roots and stubble and reallocation to new leaves, followed by a period of total d. wt gain and recovery, to a greater or lesser extent, of weight in non-photosynthetic parts. Frequently cut swards had a smaller proportion of their shoot d. wt. removed by cutting and had a greater shoot d. wt, growing point number and leaf area at the start of the regrowth period. As a result of these differences, and also because of differences in relative growth rates, frequently cut swards made more regrowth than infrequently cut. Initial photosynthetic rates were higher in frequently cut swards, although the lamina area index was very low, and it was concluded that stolons and cut petioles made a significant contribution to carbon uptake during the first few d. Infrequently cut swards continued to allocate carbon to new and thinner leaves at the expense of roots and stubble for longer than frequently cut swards and as a result achieved a similar lamina area index after 10 d. Nitrogenase-linked respiration was low in all treatments immediately after cutting: frequently cut swards receiving no nitrate maintained high nitrogenase activity, whereas recovery took at least 5 d in infrequently cut swards. Swards which received nitrate after cutting maintained only low rates of nitrogenase-linked respiration and their total nodulated root respiration over the period was lower than those receiving no nitrogen: greater regrowth in nitrate fed swards over the 10 d compared to N2-fixing swards was in proportion to this lower respiratory burden.


The new uranyl complex UO2(NO3)2[PhN(CH3)C(O)(CH3)NPh]2 was synthesized and its crystal structure has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Crystal data: C30H32N6O10U, triclinic, space group P with a = 7.772(1), b = 9.267(1), c = 12.644(1) ? a = 68.246(8), b = 73.871(9), g = 84.99(1)o, V = 812.4(2) ?, Mr = 874.65, Z = 1, Dc = 1.788 g/cm3, F(000) = 426, m = 5.062 mm-1, the final R = 0.022 and wR = 0.059 for 3571 observed reflections (I 2s(I)). The central uranyl ion is coordinated by six oxygen atoms, two from the carbonyl groups of N,N-dimethyl-N,N-dibenzenyl-urea molecules and the other four from two nitrate groups.


This research examines two different applications of the Genetic Algorithms (GA) in portfolio management. GA is adopted to determine the optimized parameter settings of different technical indicators and portfolio weighting. Different algorithms and the usage of different number of technical indicators are evaluated in different economic situation and GA shows its optimization power over different tasks in portfolio management.


In order to reduce the Yellow River dam shore root stone survey labor intensity, the research manufactures electrically operated root-stone-survey-machine,the utilization mechanical and electrical integration substitution manual control surveys root stone,reduced the labor intensity,enhanced the work efficiency,filled the Chinese machinery survey root dam shore stone blank.This article introduces the process of study and extends of electrically operated root-stone-survey-machine,and analyzes the economic reasoning about electrically operated root-stone-survey-machine.


We introduce a novel approach to multi-hop routing in wireless networks. Instead of the usual graph description we characterize the network by the packet delivery ratio matrix whose entries represent the probability that a given node decodes the packet transmitted by any other node. The model lends itself naturally to the formulation of stochastic routing protocols in which packets are randomly routed to neighboring nodes; and routing algorithms search for a matrix of routing probabilities according to properly defined optimality criteria. The goal of the paper is to show that this novel framework offers a useful model to aid in the design of optimal routing algorithms. In particular, it is established that: (i) performance is improved with respect to graph descriptions; and (ii) optimal routes can be obtained as the solution of optimization problems, many of which turn out to be convex and can thus be solved in polynomial time using interior point methods.


ty agreements that fail to provide a time or geographic limit or concern information that, although "confidential," does not qualify as a trade secret. Confidentiality, or "nondisclosure," agreements are differ? ent from covenants not to compete, in that they do not pur? port to dictate where or in what field employees work after their current employment. Under standard confidentiality agreements, employees are free to work in locations and fields of their choosing, so long as they do not disclose or use confidential information learned from previous employers.1


Patient-initiated and entirely elective, cosmetic surgery of the face is fundamentally different than medically necessary surgery. Therefore, patients have unique expectations about both the results of cosmetic surgery and the visible traces that a procedure has been performed, such as incisional scarring.


The human erythroleukemia (K562) cell line is induced to differentiate into megakaryocytic cells by treatment with the tumor promoter phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). PMA-induced differentiation is characterized by (1) almost complete cessation of cellular proliferation, (2) expression of the megakaryocytic cell surface marker glycoprotein Ilb/nia (gpHIa), (3) increased secretion of granulocyte/macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and (4) increased secretion of interleukin-6 (TL-6). PMA-induced differentiation is dose-dependent with maximal activity seen at 10 nM PMA. In contrast, bryostatin (bryo), a structurally distinct protein kinase C (PKC) activator, fails to induce megakaryocytic differentiation or growth arrest at the concentrations tested (0.01-100 nM). Rather, bryo inhibits PMA-induced growth arrest and megakaryocytic differentiation in a dose-dependent fashion (full inhibition at 100 nM). The divergent biological effects of PMA and bryo correspond to the differential activation and translo-cation of PKC isotypes in K562 cells. PKC isotype analysis demonstrates that undifferentiated cells express both a and fa PKC but no detectable ft, y o r f PKC. Treatment of cells with either PMA or bryo leads to rapid translocation of both a and fa PKC from the cytosol to the non-nuclear particulate fraction. However , bryo also induces selective translocation of fa PKC to the nuclear membrane. Nuclear fa PKC is functionally active as evidenced by the time-dependent phos-phorylation of lamin B, a previously identified nuclear PKC substrate. These data indicate that the divergent effects of PMA and bryo on erythroleukemia cell proliferation and differentiation correspond to differential activation of fa PKC at the nuclear membrane. Nuclear activation of fa PKC by bryo appears to generate a dominant, proliferative signal that overrides the PMA-induced differentiation signal. Therefore, the a and fa PKC isotypes exhibit distinct translocation and activation profiles during megakaryocytic differentiation and proliferation, indicating that they play distinct roles in these cellular processes.


The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) is a focal plane instrument of the ASTRO-F satellite, and is designed primarily to achieve far-infrared all sky survey with four photometric bands in wavelength range of 50 - 200um. Compared to IRAS, the FIS has higher sensitivity, higher spatial resolution, and longer wavelength coverage. The FIS also has spectroscopic capability with a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). In order to assemble these two kinds of instrument into a small and light body, we have developed new compact detector arrays and adopt the unique optical design. In the first half year of the ASTRO-F mission, the all sky survey is performed intensively, and is completed in the following half year. In addition to this survey, the telescope can be kept to a specific direction during 10 minutes for pointing observations. In pointing observations, we can take deep photometric images by using the photometric mode, or can take spectra by using the FTS. According to the laboratory calibration, it is expected that the detection limit of the all sky survey is almost one order of magnitude better than the IRAS one. The FTS could take spectra with full spectral resolution for about two orders of magnitude brighter sources than the detection limit of the all sky survey for one pointing observation. Due to the imaging FTS, the observing efficiency is much improved for the extended sources. The FIS will provide us unique and valuable observational data in the far-infrared wavelength region.


The machining processes model is commonly used by manufacturing industries in order to produce precision component and very intricate products in a short time. These machining processes model include large number of process parameters which may affect the quality and cost of the components. Optimum machining parameters Selection in such machining processes is very significant to satisfy all the contradictory objectives of the process. There are two ways to select the optimal cutting parameters for a given financial objective. The primary one is apprehensive with the need of a machine expert that manually chooses the machining parameters on the basis of its own skill and by means of a proper machining handbook. That way creates many worries and drawbacks in terms of efficiency of solutions and cost / time requirements. As a substitute to the above mentioned approach, many research efforts have been done to state a pervasive mathematical model of a turning process that, in practice, mentions a set of cutting constraints to be handled. Machining optimization problems become delicate whenever a given objective function must be optimized in accordance to a large number of constraints. Good surface finish not only ensures quality, but also brings down the manufacturing cost. Surface finish is an essential parameter with respect to tolerances; it brings down the assembly time and eliminates the need for secondary operation, thus minimizes the operating time and paves way to overall reduction in cost. It is very essential to chose optimum parameters in metal cutting operations. Conventionally, the knowledge of the operator plays a vital role in the selection of optimum machining conditions. However, acquiring optimum values every time by even a skilled operator is nearly impossible. The non-linear nature of the machining process has forced engineers to look for more productive methods to reach optimization. The main objective of the present paper is to build a model to facilitate optimization problems in manufacturing processes. Due to improvement in the machining processes, a special concentration has been given on the life of a tool. To achieve that, the best way is to coat the tool with PVD and CVD techniques. By doing so an optimized machining condition under coated tool can be obtained to improvise the output parameters like tool life, surface finish etc.


place periods. Cutting their load during off-peak periods forces them to sell less power when their profit mar-gin is the greatest. This act reduces their revenues significantly with- ABSTRACT The impact of photovoltaic power generation on the electric itv's load shaDe under suDDiv-side Deak load management conditions is explored. Results show thit some utilities employing battery storage for peak load shaving might benefit from use of photovoltaic (PV) power, the extent of its usefulness being dependent on the specific load shapes as well as the photovoltaic array orientations. Typical utility load shapes both in the eastern and in the western parts of the U.S are examined for this purpose. While photovoltaic power generation seems to present a bigger impact on the load of the western utility, both utilities will experience considerable savings on the size of the battery system required to shave the peak loads and also in the night-time base capacity required to charge the battery. Results show These problems lead to the general belief that a combined PV and energy storage system set up with an objective of reshaping the peak demand curve might prove to be an attractive option for the util- ity. Photovoltaics, in conjunction with a battery under the peak load management scheme, would have a unique application in utility peak load restructuring. Whereas, PV power combined with energy storage in stand-alone mode attempts to supply all of the load, the central station application of PVlenergy storage combination attempts to shave the peak load where the most fuel savings can be earned by the ,.--I.:....A -....I--southwestern utility will experience net cost savings when the PV-battery hybrid system is employed for load management. On the other hand, becaues of lesser availability of solar energy, the south- eastern utility shows adverse economics for such a system.


Virtual Reality (VR) system is an effective experimental study tool within the areas of cognitive psychology, neurosciences and psychophysiology. In this study, a new VR system, called panorama manifestation (PM) system, was developed and it was compared with a regular desktop (DT) system for two experimental way finding tasks in terms of success rate (SR), completion time (CT), difficulty index (DI), recalling accuracy (RA), and confidence index (CI). Results showed that although participants had similar SRs and gave similar DIs with these two systems, participants in PM system had less CT, more accurate route recalling and more confidence in judgment. The results indicate that the proposed PM system had higher fidelity for some spatial task experiments and could provide more support for participants' way finding tasks.


Jamming attacks can limit the availability of wireless networks and can lead to significant re-transmissions and increased power consumption. Over the past decades DSSS has been utilized to consolidate jamming-resistant communication. Such a system is relatively immune to jamming interference when the spreading sequence is unknown to the jammer. However, the cyclostationary behavior of the spreading sequence can be exploited by the jammer to identify the spreading sequence and hence completely jam the system. In this paper, a DSSS system using variable spreading sequence is proposed. The proposed system uses a shared secret key with appropriate ciphers like AES for selection of variable spreading sequence. Each bit is spread by a different spreading sequence resulting in jamming immunity. In addition, the proposed system uses a coarse time and date based plaintext after regular intervals to achieve synchronization between transmitter and receiver. Simulation results show the synchronization and bit error rate performance of the proposed system in the presence of different types of jammers.


Many studies have demonstrated that various agricultural managements can reduce soil carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission and intercropping systems is beneficial (such as higher production, effective nutrient acquisition, control of soil erosion, et al.). However, few studies have investigated whether intercropping systems can decrease soil CO 2 emission. We thus carried out a field experiment to compare such emissions produced by monocultural maize (M) and maize-legume intercropping systems (maize intercropped with Alfalfa (MA), and maize intercropped with Sweet Clover (MSC)) in 2010. Results showed that mean seasonal fluxes of CO 2 was greater for M than that for the intercropped plots. Cumulative CO 2 flux for MA was significantly reduced by 14% compared to M (6.83 t ha -1 ) (P<0.05). There were no signicant correlations between daily CO 2 emission and soil temperature or moisture during the observed period under dry environmental condition (P<0.05). Grain yield was slightly higher in M than that in MA and MSC but there was no difference (P<0.05). In summary, our result indicated that appropriate maize-legume intercropping pattern could significantly reduce soil CO 2 emission without grain yield loss.


The economic load dispatch is the planning of generators production levels such that the system load is sufficient at the lowest total cost of the fuel subject to the constraints of production and operation. It is also becoming multi-objective for combinatorial optimization, solving by both traditional and artificial intelligence techniques. With more integrated power grids, power utilities are trying to strike a sensitive equilibrium between credible power supply to customers and minimum operating costs. Therefore, due to its flexibility, adaptability, reduced implementation time and fast convergence, the Artificial Intelligent (AI) technique is preferred. In addition, this project solved the economic load dispatch using an efficient optimization technique based on genetic algorithm procedure. The simulation is conducted on a 315 MW, 330 MW, and 342 MW IEEE-30 bus system with 6 generators considering losses. In this paper, the results were then observed and compared between the operating costs. The fuel cost for the bus system at load demand 450 MW considering losses are compared. Both operating cost and power loss are important in the system framework in order to make the system more dependable and higher invalidity.


FIELD: food-processing industry, in particular, compositions providing immediate antimycotic action and methods of applying such compositions. SUBSTANCE: food composition comprises food material prone to decaying owing to growth of mold, fungi or yeast thereon, and natamicine material designed for people and made in the form of particles with average diameter of 10 micron or less, or with average particles surface area to weight ratio of at least 2 m 2 /g, said particles being dispersed onto surface or into perishable food product at concentrations of from 1 part of natamicine per million to 5 parts of natamicine per million. Method involves dispersing natamicine material so as to provide natamicine concentration of from 1 part of natamicine per million to 5 parts of natamicine per million, or dispersing bulk natamicine material including particles with average diameter of particles of 10 micron or less or with average particle surface area to weight ratio of at least 2 m 2 /g onto surface or inside perishable food product. EFFECT: increased antimycotic effect owing to use of natamicine material without deteriorating quality of perishable food product. 27 cl, 2 dwg, 6 tbl, 4 ex


Grid provides an infrastructure for sharing geograp hically distributed heterogeneous resources to process many applications and mainly used for solvi ng scientific problems that requires more computati on time. Problem statement: Grid is a dynamic environment, where the resources may join or leave the environment at any time and the jobs also arrives at different int ervals of time. To meet the demands and requirements of the dynamic environment, to maximize the resource utilization and to minimize the makespan an effective gr id scheduling technique is needed. Approach: We propose grid architecture as a collection of clu sters with multiple worker nodes in each cluster. We propose a new scheduling algorithm Novel Adaptive Decentralized Job Scheduling Algorithm (NADJSA) that applies both Divisible Load Theory (DLT) and Least Cost Method (LCM) and also considers the user demands. Results: The proposed Novel Adaptive Decentralized Job Scheduling Algorithm is compared with the Decentralized Hybrid Job Scheduling Algorithm. Conclusion: The proposed Novel Adaptive Decentralized Job Scheduling Algorithm minimizes the makespan, improves the resource utilization and satisfies the user demands and well suits for the grid environment.


Basic geophysical techniques were used to characterize two gold deposits that lie within tropical-to-subtropical climates. These two deposits are the Posse deposit, which lies within the Mara Rosa Greenstone Belt of central Brazil and the Syama Mine which lies within the Bago, Greenstone Belt of southeastern Mali. Both deposits were discovered by geo-chemical techniques but subsequent magnetic and induced polarization (IP) surveys were used to identify rock types and basic structures and contacts while VLF-EM was used to define more detailed structures associated with both ore deposits. The radiometric method was used at Syama to map the surface expression of sericitic alteration. The success of geophysics in both areas led to an extension of those surveys along strike. The results were used to assist in the ranking of geochemical anomalies. The desire for additional oxide reserves at Syama and the success of the ground geophysical surveys led to an airborne magnetic and radiometric survey over the mine. The results confirmed the usefulness of the two methods for mapping geology and structure in greenstone belts of West Africa. Additionally, the results were used to identify and rank prospective oxide reserve targets. Initial follow-up soil auguring was successful in identifying significant gold reserves but the success rate declined as the lesser-ranked targets were tested. Potassium concentrations unrelated to the subsurface geology in areas of transported laterite limited the success of the venture. Although both deposits are covered by a thick mantle of laterite, in neither case did this impede the ability of basic geophysical techniques to provide very useful information relating to lithologies, structure and alteration.


We describe the method of finite state machine induction using both genetic programming and model verification based on testing and model checking. The description of chromosome structure, of genetic algorithm, of cross-over and mutation operations is given. Experimental results for the induction of elevator doors control system are given.


Two kinds of chitosan derivatives, crosslinked chitosan and crosslinked chitosan condense with salilylaldehyde, supported palladium complexes (CL-CTS-Pd and CL-S-CTS-Pd) were synthesized and characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA), etc. These complexes are efficient catalysts for the Heck reaction under atmospheric conditions and can be easily recovered and reused. The detailed studies show that the catalyst CL-S-CTS-Pd is much more efficient than CL-CTS-Pd under the same conditions. CL-S-CTS-Pd keeps its catalytic activity in the Heck reaction of acrylic acid with iodobenzene even at a low temperature (60°C) or with tiny amounts of the catalyst (0.05 mol%Pd). Yields of making cinnamic acid were even as high as 75.3% in the Heck reaction of acrylic acid with iodobenzene using CL-S-CTS-Pd that was recovered 10 times. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


[Objective] The research aimed to study the effects of adding exogenous magnesium on the cation of strongly acidic purple.[Method]Strongly acidic purple soil in Chongqing region was taken as an object.Soil water ratio was 1∶5.With 10 cmol(+) /L MgSO4solution for exchanging the soil a few times in a row,the exchangeable solution which was swapped out of base cations and soil pH after exchange were measured.[Result] Under the experimental conditions,exogenous magnesium could quickly replace variety of base cations adsorbing on soil colloids,but the acid-induced ion(H+,Al3 +) was difficult to be replaced rapidly and completely.After five times exchange,the base saturation was increased from 46.6% to 72.4%,but the soil pH only increased 0.7 units.The exchange of Mg2 +,Ca2 +and Na+could respectively be fitted by exponent equation y = 14.998e- 1.484 9x(R2= 0.993 8) and quadratic equation y = 0.011 1x2- 0.100 5x + 0.233(R2= 0.986).In the late of exchangeable time of Mg2 +and K+,it was clearly demonstrated that the fixed K+in some soil secondary interlayer minerals was swapped out,which resulted in the increase of total content of exchangeable K+.[Conclusion]In the absence of acid-base neutralized conditions,exogenous magnesium could change the structure of base cations on the soil colloids.However,it was insignificant for the improvement of strongly acidic soils.On the contrary,excess exogenous magnesium would make other base ion loss in soils.


During martensitic transformation a high number of dislocations are created in the interfaces in an ordered arrangement as well as inside the martensitic phase. Both types of dislocations can be mobile for appropriate temperature or applied stress variation. Their mobility has been studied during and after in situ-transformations by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and the results are compared with internal friction measurements.


Permanganate oxidation of uracil-4-C14 and 5-nitrouracil-4~14 indicates that in the two compounds ring cleavage occurs both between ca.rbons 4 and 5 and carbons 5 and 6o


Precipitation is a phase transformation process in metallic materials that significantlyaffects properties. The precipitation process that includes nucleation, growth andcoarsening of small particl ...


Abstract : Ungrounded surface materials on the exterior of low-to-medium altitude and medium-to-high inclination satellites can become charged in the auroral electron environment at high latitudes. The orientation of such surfaces will present different aspects relative to the satellite sun line and the satellite velocity vector. Such surfaces can be both in shadow and in the satellite wake at the same time, which enhances the chances of charging in the dusk to pre-noon sector of the auroral oval, depending on plasma density and lighting conditions at file satellite altitude and inclination. It is recommended that all surfaces be conductors if surface charging and associated electrostatic discharge (ESD) are to be avoided. Otherwise, the satellite system should be designed to tolerate the surface ESD that will occur.


1. This paper introduces key messages from a number of papers emanating from the Second International Symposium on Riverine Landscapes held in August 2004 in Sweden, focusing on river restoration. ...


(cid:633)(cid:633) Purpose (cid:639) We experienced 10 cases of ossification of the ligamentum flavum (cid:674) OLF (cid:675) and report the neuroradiologic and pathologic findings. The pathogenesis of OLF is discussed, and a literature review is provided. (cid:633)(cid:633) Materials and Methods (cid:639) We treated 10 cases of thoracic OLF between 2010 and 2016. Neuro-logic symptoms and the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (cid:674) JOA (cid:675) score were evaluated. The postoperative recovery rate and JOA score (cid:674) RR% (cid:675) were calculated and compared with the preoperative results. Computed tomography (cid:674) CT (cid:675) and magnetic resonance imaging (cid:674) MRI (cid:675) were performed, and all 10 cases underwent laminectomy. Pathologic findings were evaluated. (cid:633)(cid:633) Results (cid:639) The age range of patients was 34 (cid:514) 82 years, with 8 male and 2 female patients. All 10 cases developed myelopathy at the thoracic cord level. CT showed beak (cid:514) like ossification extending to the intervertebral foramen. Pathologic findings demonstrated laminar ossification in the ligamentum flavum. Preoperative JOA scores ranged from 3 to 19 (cid:674) mean (cid:639) 9.3 (cid:694) 5.1 (cid:675) . One (cid:514) year postoperative JOA scores ranged from 17 to 29 (cid:674) mean (cid:639) 23.4 (cid:694) 4.7 (cid:675) , and the RR% increased from 53.8 to 100 (cid:674) mean: 71.3 (cid:694) 11.5 (cid:675) . Pathologic findings demonstrated laminar deposition of calcium phosphate in the intervertebral foramen. Chondrocytes enclosed by calcification and laminar hyaline cartilage were observed. Osteoblasts were observed in deposits of calcium phosphate. (cid:633)(cid:633) Conclusions


The fault is the important passage of hydrocarbon migration and the fault closure also is the important type of oil trap.After analysis and study the fault clay,the impermeable matter of fault(the pitch, the cement matter),the faulted contact ground and the fault dip,the strain of the fault inlier plane,fault activity,the fault of"pump of earthquake",the pass of fault inlier plane,the migration of fault set strike,the migration from fault to stored land.As mentioned above,we proposed that the two problem are still need be reinforced study:the hydrocarbon migration mechanism follow the fault set strike;the rift of grit mudstone spatial distribution pattern of the cracks in sedimentation basin effect closing a function.


Hidden Markov models (HMMs) and Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) are the two most common types of acoustic models used in statistical parametric approaches for generating low-level speech waveforms from high-level symbolic inputs via intermediate acoustic feature sequences. However, these models have their limitations in representing complex, nonlinear relationships between the speech generation inputs and the acoustic features. Inspired by the intrinsically hierarchical process of human speech production and by the successful application of deep neural networks (DNNs) to automatic speech recognition (ASR), deep learning techniques have also been applied successfully to speech generation, as reported in recent literature. This article systematically reviews these emerging speech generation approaches, with the dual goal of helping readers gain a better understanding of the existing techniques as well as stimulating new work in the burgeoning area of deep learning for parametric speech generation.


In this letter, a novel fourth order filter using dual mode open loop resonators is proposed. Dual mode open loop resonators are performed by using capacitive loading element. The main advantage of this loading element is that it controls the passband frequency and bandwidth, sensitively. Also, use of the dual mode open loop resonator provides a compact and narrowband bandpass filter. In order to demonstrate the validity the filter is designed, simulated and fabricated. Measured result shows good agreement with simulated frequency response.


A novel ESD protection circuit, which first combines the advantages of complementary low-voltage-trigger SCR devices and the gate-couple technique, is proposed to more effectively protect the thinner gate oxide of deep submicron CMOS ICs without adding an extra ESD-implant mask. Experimental results have verified its excellent ESD-protection capability.


The main objective of this paper is to analyze various hydraulic oils and the effect of additives like nanomaterials in order to increase lubricity, counter friction, reduce wear, etc. A detailed list of additives is focused in this review which will enhance the performance and working of the hydraulic fluid by enhancing lubrication, modifying viscosity and cleaning engine deposits. Mineral oils or Synthetic hydrocarbon blends are used to derive lubricants. Although they lack properties of their own to fulfill the requirements set by the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). By using nanomaterials in mineral oils various advantages can be obtained. Various nanomaterials such as metal chalcogenides, soft metals, carbon-based materials, etc. are available which via mechanisms such as the rolling effect, protective film effect, etc., can change the various properties of hydraulic oils as required. Similarly, additives are added to hydraulic oils like viscosity index improvers, anti-wear agents which will improve the properties of the hydraulic oil by eliminating negative properties and improving the life of the fluid. These additives play a crucial role in sustainability of hydraulic oils and their size can be optimized to get better tribological characteristics. The increasing usage of these high performance additives in the country is projected to register a compound annual growth rate (CARG) of more than 1.5% during the forecast period (2021-2026). The review focusses on the improved performance of these nanomaterials and additives when added to the Hydraulic Fluid and will serve as a reference for future developments in the application of additives and nanotechnology in hydraulic oils.


The normative model formalizes the arbitrage conditions that exist for corruption of a socially efficient and equitable market for justice.


The theoretical potential of solar energy is enormous, far beyond what the world could ever require. With Photovoltaic Module (PV) efficiencies, solar energy from desert regions would be more than enough to meet all the electricity demand in both industrialized and developing countries. In this project report, three kinds of silicon-based PV modules namely mono-crystalline silicon (sc-Si), multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) and amorphous silicon (a-Si) are being discussed. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was performed on decision-making of which PV module is suitable to be installed in a very large scale PV system. Four major criterion are importantly highlighted in this study; the cost, the energy requirement, the CO2 emissions and the energy pay-back time. The judgments of each criterion is obtained then put in matrix form to implement the iteration process to meet the demands of accuracy, simplicity and consistency. Once the weight of the criterion is obtained, the process in AHP method is furthered done to pairwise between the weight of criterion and the alternatives. From the AHP results, a conclusion that sc-Si is the optimum option for very large scale photovoltaic power generation which to be installed in the desert. From the analysis procedure, the AHP method provided an analyzed tool effectively for the decision-making on PV module.


In this paper, a novel discrete differential evolution (DDE) algorithm is proposed to solve the vehicle routing problems (VRP) in B2C e-commerce, in which VRP is modeled by the incomplete graph based on the actual urban road system. First, a variant of classical VRP is described and a mathematical programming model for the variant is given. Second, the DDE is presented, where individuals are represented as the sequential encoding scheme, and a novel reparation operator is employed to repair the infeasible solutions. Furthermore, a FLOYD operator for dealing with the shortest route is embedded in the proposed DDE. Finally, an extensive computational study is carried out in comparison with the predatory search algorithm and genetic algorithm, and the results show that the proposed DDE is an effective algorithm for VRP in B2C e-commerce.


Ronald Toby's accomplishments and contributions to Japanese studies are so intimidatingly abundant, it would be all but impossible either to enumerate or to digest them all. There is little doubt that his debunking of the sakoku myth will be his most readily remembered legacy, for thereby he placed a country previously regarded as peculiarly aloof and isolationist squarely within the sweep of early modern world history. Each of the contributors to this volume has been influenced by particular aspects of his work. In my own case, I have found his virtuosic use of (for lack of a better term) "non-verbal" sources (e.g., woodblock prints, pictorial encyclopediae, maps, etc.) to be particularly instructive and inspiring. Utilizing materials that had previously been the exclusive domain of art historians, aesthetes, and connoisseurs, Professor Toby has taught us many lessons about how Japanese of various social categories imagined themselves in relation to their immediate neighbors in East Asia and myriad peoples in more distant lands. His example made it seem all the more feasible for me to pursue research on Japanese notions of identity by using musical evidence. In much the same way that Professor Toby has mixed traditional historical methods with anthropological theories and fieldwork (including personal observations of festivals in which participants masqueraded as early modern Koreans), the essay that follows employs an eclectic evidentiary base to understand how Japanese imagine themselves in relation to their fellow


Advanced mobile applications are the predominant driver for semiconductor technology innovations both at the leading edge and at the mature nodes. The short life-cycles of mobile products and the need for SoC level differentiation imposes significant challenges on technology architecture and time-to-volume. We foresee a move towards much closer collaboration, in fact a virtual IDM-like model, on both technical and business levels. With daunting technical challenges like 3D stacking, 450mm fabs, new transistor architectures, multi-patterning, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, collaboration - early, often and deep - is really the only practical approach given the cost and complexities involved. Early eco-system enablement with accurate models and silicon proven IP ensures first pass design success, which is an important step for faster Time-to-volume (TTV). We refer to this close collaborative model as Foundry 2.0.


BACKGROUND
Previous studies have documented a marked variation in transfusion practice for total hip replacement (THR) surgery.

OBJECTIVE
To audit red cell product utilisation for THR at two Western Cape tertiary referral hospitals (HY and HG).

METHODS
The folders of 207 consecutive patients undergoing elective THR surgery from January 2013 to December 2013 were reviewed. Information relating to age, sex, clinical observations, indications for surgery, pre- and postoperative haemoglobin (Hb) values, comorbidities, length of hospital stay and transfusion history was recorded.

RESULTS
The transfusion rate at HY (41.6%) was significantly higher than that at HG (10.0%). The mean postoperative Hb in the transfused patients at HG was 8.3 g/dL v. 9.1 g/dL at HY. Females had a significantly higher transfusion rate (33.0%) than males (15.0%) (p<0.05), and the mean age of transfused patients was significantly greater than that of untransfused patients (p<0.005). Although patients with comorbidities had a higher transfusion rate than those without, this did not reach statistical significance. Of 120 patients with complete data, 113 (94.2%) had a blood bank order, of which the vast majority, 102/113 (90.3%), were group-and-screen (G&S) requests; 29/113 (25.7%) were converted to a full crossmatch.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, the transfusion rate for both hospitals was 25.8%, which is well within published rates. A guideline Hb trigger of 8.0 g/dL is recommended as per published guidelines, with the caveat that the clinical judgement of the attending clinician whether a transfusion is indicated is paramount. Causes of preoperative anaemia should be investigated and treated. Routine cross-matching preoperatively is unnecessary, and a G&S order is sufficient.


retinocephalic vascular malformation syndrome (BonnetDechaume-Blanc Syndrome or Wyburn-Mason Syndrome): review of the literature. Surv Ophthalmol 2008; 53: 227–248. 5 Schmidt D, Agostini H, Schumacher M. Twenty-seven years follow-up of a patient with congenital retinocephalofacial vascular malformation syndrome and additional congenital malformations (Bonnet-Dechaume-Blanc syndrome or Wyburn-Mason syndrome). Eur J Med Res 2010; 15: 89–91. 6 Bhattacharya JJ, Luo CB, Suh DC, Alvarez H, Rodesch G, Lasjaunias P. Wyburn-Mason or Bonnet-Dechaume-Blanc as cerebrofacial arteriovenous metameric syndromes (CAMS). A new concept and a new classification. Interv Neuroradiol 2001; 7: 5–17.


It was whispered to me in the archives of the New Haven Colony Historical Society that Lillie Devereux Blake was a lady of the night. "A lady of the night?" I whispered back. "You mean...?" Yes, the whisperer nodded firmly, "a lady of the night." The Lillie Devereux Blake I thought I knew had grown up in New Haven and bad been a well-known and highly respected figure in nineteenth-century America. In April 1874, when Susan B. Anthony read aloud to her ailing mother, the book she chose was Lillie Blake's new novel, Fettered For Life. [1] Blake made the suppression of female voices the central ideological issue of her writing. Her lost novel, erased from our tradition, is itself about loss, about lost voices and erased stories. In Fettered For Life the burning of a woman's manuscripts by her husband becomes a metaphor both for the erasure of women's attempts to write their own lives and for the suppression of women's literary traditions. What I would like to suggest is that the demolition by Yale University of Blake's childhood home, Maple Cottage, is a parallel metaphor. Blake, who lived for eighty years, from 1833 to 1913, was a fiction writer, journalist, and essayist, a cultural critic who for over half a century commented on a wide range of social conventions, especially those regarding women. Lillie Blake was once so well known that the New York Times kept a vigil at her deathbed, reporting her condition each day. In 1889, Woman's Illustrated World published a profile of Blake that concluded with high praise and a call for future generations to remember her contributions on behalf of women: [W]hen the victory is won; when all laws subversive of woman's liberty are erased from the statute books...let it be remembered that this glorious consummation is in great part the result of the twenty years patient work and unflinching heroism of Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake. (Moore) However, Blake did not survive the turn-of-the-century canonical purges of women writers. Nor were her contributions to the woman's movement remembered. She was lost twice: first as a writer of popular fiction and then as a prominent figure in the suffrage movement. But she has been found again and her recovery has been sponsored by two National Endowment for the Humanities grants: a Summer Stipend for the recovery of her Civil War fiction and a year-long Senior Fellowship for a book about her life and work, Re-Tracing a Life Erased. The Feminist Press, the pioneer press in the movement to recover lost women writers, has republished Blake's novel, Fettered For Life; Legacy has published a biographical essay; an essay on Blake will appear in American Women Prose Writers; and she is being anthologized. [2] Blake was a gifted writer who published in such journals as the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and North American Review, but, as with so many women writers of her era, her life circumstances forced her into the mass market of popular magazines and story papers. There, attuned to the attitudes and expectations of her readership, she developed strategies for satisfying her audience while articulating radical revisions of the status quo. Hers was a prose of disguise, layered with carefully hidden agendas that undercut commonly held perceptions regarding women. During the Civil War, she contracted with major New York and Philadelphia papers to serve as a Washington-based correspondent. By the 1870s, Lillie Blake had become a highly successful lecturer and political organizer for the suffrage movement and later still a popular speaker for the labor movement. During her career in New York State, Blake organized legislative action which proved instrumental in modifying many laws that discriminated against women. Throu gh her efforts, Civil War nurses became eligible for pension benefits, women became eligible for civil service positions, mothers were made joint guardians of their own children, and for the first time women could serve on school boards and work in all public institutions where women were incarcerated. …


Activation services that aim at re-employment of jobseekers often suffer from 'creaming', i.e. selecting those who have the best qualifications to re-enter the labour market. New ways of delivery, such as co-production, are supposed to be less subject to selection mechanisms. To analyse whether co-produced activation programmes suffer from selection biases, participants in a local innovative activation programme (n = 60) were compared to non-participants (n = 18). Participants are more motivated in general and showed higher levels of generalized, municipal and interpersonal trust. Moreover, high general motivation relates to high levels of trust and perceived control. This indicates that there is indeed a selection bias within co-produced activation programmes. Therefore, it remains uncertain whether co-production is more successful in dealing with creaming than common types of service delivery. Points for practitioners Public services, in the field of activation policies for instance, are increasingly delivered in a fashion that requires more responsibility and effort from users. This study shows that such demands elicit a selection of users. Professionals dealing with co-produced services should be aware that when they choose clients they are likely to leave out vulnerable individuals. In particular, when intrinsic motivation is an important selection criterion, those who have low levels of trust and perceived control will not be involved. Consequently, seemingly inclusive strategies could in fact lead to exclusion.


The function and use of a new type of high sensitive magneto-resistance sensor for measuring the attitude of flying objects are introduced.According to the principle that a coil cutting the magnetic line of a geomagnetic field will induce electromotive force,a calculating method for testing the attitude of flying objects is derived;also an attitude measurement system based on the magneto-resistive sensor is designed and experimental data obtained from it is analyzed and processed.


The role of coffee in southwest Ethiopia's production systems and the forecasted impact of certification projects. Southwest Ethiopia, the genetic cradle of Arabica coffee, is characterized by the progressive transformation of its forests, based on an enrichment of the last on coffee plants and on a lightening and speciesbased modification of the tree strata. The gathering and/or production of coffee, which is almost always combined with cereal cultivation with yoke in open fields and hand tool-based gardening in houses nearby within the very complex local production systems, is nowadays promoted as "forest coffee" or "wild coffee", appellations that are nowadays used in some certification projects. Also, as a part of the current policies of development of this original product and protection of the forested areas, government allocates big forestry concessions to national and foreign investors. The aim of this communication is to analyse the role of coffee within the diversified production systems of southwest Ethiopia, and the possible effects of "forest coffee" certification projects on farmers' practices, income and socioeconomic differentiation evolution. Forestry concessions evolving into more and more of a capitalistic farming model – based on employment of precarious daily workers – this research work also poses the problem of the absence of fairness in this type of development. It also underlines the risks of the certification process cited above, which includes in the same chain value very different ways of producing coffee – both in terms of the production process and the associated social and production relations – and, in that sense, could create some confusion and, at the same time, could deprive the Ethiopian peasantry of a part of its patrimony.


The control system for Cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converter is proposed in this paper. The converter output voltage is controlled using a Space-Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SV-PWM). The DC-link voltages are controlled by appropriate choice of H-Bridges, used to output voltage generation. The simulation researches of two multilevel CHB rectifiers are presented. These rectifiers were utilized to coupling of two AC grids. Proposed control strategy allows to good voltage stabilization on the DC-link capacitors.


Previous researchers have used the extent of isoleucine epimerisation and stable carbon, oxygen and nitrogen isotope ratios of ostrich ( Struthio ), emu ( Dromaius ) and Genyornis eggshells to provide geochronological control and palaeoenvironmental information on the Quaternary sequences from which these sample types are recovered. This thesis expanded this field of research by examining isoleucine epimerisation and the stable isotopes ratios of cassowary ( Casuarius ), megapode (principally the Australian brush-turkey, Alectura lathami ) and Aepyornis eggshells. The aims of the research were to (1) increase our understanding of the ancient habitats of Casuarius , megapodes and Aepyornis in order to provide information on how these ecosystems functioned, as well as the nature and timing of the environmental change they have experienced, and (2) to document the amino acid and stable isotope biogeochemistry of avian eggshells in novel contexts in order to better understand the processes that influence these attributes. , Aepyornis eggshells were heated at 143 and 160 These experiments were used to determine the temperature sensitivity of isoleucine epimerisation in these eggshell types, expressed in terms of Arrhenius parameters, and to characterise the thermal stability of amino acids. the stratified and Lisa to short-term high temperature heating events associated with campfires complicated interpretation of the extent of isoleucine epimerisation in Casuarius and megapode eggshells in terms of time and temperature. The extent of isoleucine epimerisation in Alectura lathami eggshells Hay Cave


The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of long-term treatment with a green tea decoction (GTD) with or without citrus juice (CJ; high ascorbic acid content) on liver steatosis and some plasma variables in the elderly rat. Twenty-eight male Wistar rats were used in the study. After an adjustment period of 1 week, rats were weighed and randomly assigned to four groups of seven animals with comparable body weights. During the experimental period (9 weeks) the rats were given a high-fat diet (30% animal fat + 1% cholesterol; HDF) to promote weight gain and liver steatosis. Group 1 received a normal-fat diet (NDF) + distilled water, group 2 received HDF + distilled water (CG2), group 3 received HDF + GTD and group 4 received HDF + a mixture of CJ (as a source of ascorbic acid) and GTD (CJGTD). At the end of the experimental period the rats were weighed and then killed. A fasting blood sample was withdrawn and plasma glucose, TAG and total cholesterol were determined. Fe, Cu and Zn status was also determined in whole blood and in the liver. Histological examination was carried out after treatment using light microscopy. The results were analysed by ANOVA.


Pneumonia is the leading cause of death all around the world. On average, it kills 700,000 children per year on average and affects 7% of the world's population. This condition is diagnosed mainly using X-rays. We have devised a novel Image processing-based Deep Learning approach to detect Pneumonia using the concept of Transfer Learning and Image Augmentation. We were able to achieve a recall score of 97.44% and an accuracy of 96.00%.


OBJECTIVES: Obesity is an established risk factor of erosive esophagitis, and metabolic unhealthiness has been implicated in the pathogenesis of erosive esophagitis. Yet, the risk of erosive esophagitis among obese individuals without obesity-related metabolic unhealthiness, a condition referred to as "metabolically healthy obese (MHO)", remains unclear. We examined the association between body mass index (BMI) categories and the development of erosive esophagitis in a cohort of metabolically healthy individuals. METHODS: We conducted a cohort study of 14,725 asymptomatic adults free of erosive esophagitis and metabolic abnormalities, who underwent repeated health checkups including screening endoscopy. A metabolically healthy state was defined as having no metabolic syndrome components and a homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance <2.5. The presence of erosive esophagitis was determined using endoscopy. RESULTS: During 81,385.2 person-years of follow-up, 1,865 participants developed erosive esophagitis (incidence rate, 22.9 per 1,000 person-years). The multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for incident erosive esophagitis comparing overweight (BMI 23.0–24.9) and obese (≥25) with normal-weight participants (18.5–22.9) were 1.12 (1.00–1.25) and 1.29 (1.14–1.47), respectively. In dose-response analyses, increasing BMI also showed positive association with overall and LA-B grade or higher. The association persisted in MHO individuals without central obesity. The association between waist circumference categories and the development of erosive esophagitis was also evident. DISCUSSION: In a large cohort of strictly defined metabolically healthy men and women, the MHO phenotype was associated with an increased incidence of erosive esophagitis, providing evidence that the MHO phenotype is not protective from gastroesophageal reflux disease.


In modern information and communication era, the technology of the smartphone application is one of the most advanced and rapidly developing areas. These applications and its technology in the field of medicine are advancing every day. This demonstrates how it can be used for medical treatment in the field of Ophthalmology. The first aim of this paper is to discuss how a smartphone and its technology can be used to diagnose loss of eye vision. Most recent smartphones have been equipped with a featured camera with high megapixels and advanced sensors which can be used to record fundus photographs through a slit lamp or record videos from an operating microscope and display images from optical coherence tomography systems and other high-tech devices. The ophthalmologists can share these images and analyze with their colleagues by the means of media sharing applications and make the optimal diagnostic and therapeutic results to diagnose the low vision of patients. At present, there are three widely used pocket-sized adapters that can improve the magnification and lighting of the camera, which enables the smartphones to capture high-quality images of the eye. These are the Portable Eye Examination Kit (PEEK), EyeGo, and D-Eye. These adaptors with smartphones have been widely accepted by the medical field for diagnosing low vision and eye-related infections. The second aim of this paper is to provide a meaningful utilization comparison between the smartphone adapters: D-Eye, EyeGo and Portable Eye Examination Kit (PEEK) to distinguish the most suited adapter for vision self-monitoring and


By using direct digital synthesizer(DDS) and direct analog synthesizer technology,the full 1~18GHz tuning range with a tuning step size of 10 Hz and tuning speed of less than 1μs is realized,and the technical requirement of low spurious(-50dBc) and low phase noise(-90dBc@ 1kHz) is satisfied.


The histological observations on the developmental gonad of triploid Pacific oyster, \%Crassostrea gigas\% were conducted. Compared with diploids, the development of gonad in triploids was synchronously and it was divided into five stages according to the cytological characteristics of the developing sexual cells and the relative amounts of sexual cells in the follicle: proliferating stage, growing stage, maturing stage, spawning stage, resting stage. But both male and female triploids produced less sex gametes than those diploids. Aneuploids, whose chromosome number was more than 20 but less than 30, were also found in this experiment. Otherwise, its gamete formation was absent, which resulted in sterile gonad. Hermaphroditism was frequently exist in the triploid population. Female and male gametes were either produced in the same follile or in different follicles. And the reproductive cells were formed from reproductive ridge.


Police officers are usually exposed to many negative emotions. Therefore, the existence of effective methods for measuring such emotional regulations Is necessary. The main objective is to investigate police officers' emotional conditions in Iran and to compare it with police officers' emotional conditions in Germany. Intelligence questionnaires are distributed among the participants who are 98 police officers in Iran and are then compared with police officers in Germany. The overall results showed that there aren't emotional differences between two groups. Some weaknesses including self-feeling, emotional physical and sensory perception were observed in both groups. Language: en


This comparative reading of the monumental oeuvres of the Alhambra and The Interior Castle by Teresa de Jesús is a theological and literary reverie that depicts these two texts as gardens of the soul, that is to say, as spaces where spiritual awareness and religious thought flourish and transcend borders. The profound differences that separate these two texts render them virtually unfit for a proper comparison, especially one in which the referential framework is theological. At first glance. These two texts may best be read individually, water and oil. Without aiming to undermine the distinctions that set them apart, or the religious and literary traditions that have canonized them separately, this article rehearses a comparative theology built upon these two texts, one that posits a clear relationship with the divine and understands the sublime in the gap between these spaces. With this reading, it will be possible to witness a boundless love for nature, and above all, for water and its divine properties of abundance and bounteousness, which can be read as a medium and channel of faith and hope. This love is protected by a vast landscape of flowers, fruits, trees, and other forms of natural and artistic flora in and out of the Nasrid palaces of the Alhambra, as well as inside and out of the mystical treatise by Teresa de Jesús. This love for the marvels of the gardens, for the supreme beauty, for the blessing of water, and for God-Allāh moves the comparative theology that prompts the writing of these pages.


Objectives: Many studies have indicated that there is a positive correlation between polypoid corditis and smoking. Previously, studies have mainly focused on the link between smoking and polypoid corditis from a qualitative standpoint and have not explored the quantitative nature of this relationship. This study carried out a quantitative analysis of the severity of polypoid corditis and its correlation with smoking. This study used the average number of cigarettes smoked per day, the number of smoking years and the Brinkman index as the smoking related factors. Methods: Retrospective analysis of data collected from July 2000 to May 2008 at the Tokyo Voice Center of IUHW was performed. A total of 171 patients (62 males and 109 females) were diagnosed as suffering from polypoid corditis. We used the classification method developed by Yonekawa to identify three different severities of edematous changes affecting the vocal folds that were associated with polypoid corditis. A statistical analysis of the clinical types of polypoid corditis and smoking related factors was then carried to identify the related factors. Results: One way ANOVA revealed that the average number of cigarettes smoked per day and the severity of polypoid corditis by the Yonekawa classification showed no significant relationship (F = 1.103; p = 0.334). Similarly, no significant relationship was found between the number of smoking years and the severity of polypoid corditis by the Yonekawa classification (F = 2.947; p = 0.055). However, when the relationship between the Brinkman index and the severity of polypoid corditis by the Yonekawa classification was examined, a significant relationship was identified (F = 3.278; p = 0.04). Conclusion: The Brinkman index is associated with the severity of polypoid corditis among smokers. In contrast, the average number of cigarettes smoked per day and the number of smoking years are not correlated with the severity of polypoid corditis.


Suggests a novel approach to generating marketing strategies and evaluating them. Identifies that the process often involves several people and that the different people may have different viewpoints. The approach is based on a computer‐assisted structured approach to identifying possible strategies and the use of the computer to enable decision makers to evaluate the strategic ideas generated.


ABSTRACT While Hegel's discussion of the 'speculative sentence' occurs in the 'Preface' to the Phenomenology of Spirit, commentators rarely link it to the larger program of this text. Instead, this discussion has typically been received as a guide to the Science of Logic's presentation, as an independent theory of judgment, or as a reflection on the constraints and capacities of language generally. In this paper I argue that the speculative sentence can and should be linked to the Phenomenology itself. Specifically, I show that Hegel's discussion both mirrors and supplements the 'Introduction's' explication of immanent phenomenological method. Establishing this parallel in turn allows us to identify a class of sentences throughout the Phenomenology as properly speculative and methodologically substantive. At the same time, this interpretation helps clarify several characteristics that Hegel ascribes to the speculative sentence, but which have gone unaddressed by commentators.