Discrete potentials can describe properly the liquid vapour boundary that is necessary to model the adsorption of gas molecules in mesoporous systems with computer simulations. Although there are some works in this subject, the simulations are still highly time-consuming. Here we show that an efficient alternative is to use the three-dimensional Ising model, which allows one to model large systems, with geometries as complex as required that accurately represent the liquid vapour boundary. In particular, we report molecular simulations of cylindrical pores of two different geometries, using a discrete potential. The effect of the length of the pore in the hysteresis loop for a finite pore and infinite one is studied in detail. Lastly, we compare our predictions with experimental results and find excellent agreement between the area of the hysteresis loop predicted for the finite pore and that found in adsorption/desorption experiments.


Five years ago, responding to a consultation by (the then) Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency – now the Animal and Plant Health Agency – on plans to reform veterinary scanning surveillance in England and Wales, BVA expressed concern that many of the proposed changes seemed to be financially driven rather than focused on maintaining viable scanning surveillance.

The AHVLA/APHA went ahead with its 'Surveillance 2014' reforms, but BVA's concerns remain. In a newly published position statement on veterinary scanning surveillance in the UK, BVA recognises the financial constraints facing government surveillance networks and the restructuring that has taken place, but makes clear that 'fundamentally BVA would oppose any further reduction in the current …


The current limiting switch (S) has a rated current for recording (I¶N¶) certain arc-resistant contact arrangement (K¶1¶) a first switching point (S¶1¶) and two parallel to the first switching point (S¶1¶) connected commutation paths (P¶1¶ and P¶2¶) on. The first commutation path (P¶1¶) includes in series, a contact arrangement (K¶T¶) of a second switching point (S¶T¶) and an electronic power switching apparatus (T). The second commutation path (P¶2¶) includes in series, a switching device (S¶A¶) and a current limiting element (R¶B¶). The contact arrangements (K¶1¶ and K¶t¶) are arranged koaxialsymmetrisch formed and in a pressure-resistant housing (G). Both switching points have very rapid opening and closing electrodynamic drives. DOLLAR A Thanks to the extremely space-saving, coaxial arrangement of the contact arrangements can be avoided unwanted stray inductances. This allows a very fast switching on and off of the current-limiting switch.


In this study, interpersonal conflict was experienced by kindergarten students Rasyidul Jannah in daily learning. The purpose of this study is to determine the use of role-playing in resolving interpersonal conflicts in kindergarten students in Bandar Lampung. The research design is descriptive quantitative. Subjects studied were obtained from the recommendation of kindergarten teachers. Data collection is conducted using questionnaires, interviews, observation, and documentation. Based on the findings, the researcher found positive results after applying the role-play method. In the last meeting, students were able to manage their interpersonal conflicts. It can be concluded that the use of the role play is successful, and it can be used as one of the methods in resolving interpersonal disputes among students in Bandar Lampung.


Artist-critic Clive James said: "Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. Those who lack humor are without judgment and should be trusted with nothing."


Two novel approaches are presented in which no spare cells are used. They are based on the full processing utilization of fault-free cells by exploiting the single-product-step of a systolic array. This results in a reconfigured array with no degradation of computational speed. The basic principles of the time-redundancy technique are discussed, with particular emphasis on the selection and allocation processes for finding the reconfiguration-solution in real-time. The first approach is based on a distributed execution of the reconfiguration process. The immediate advantages of this approach are its simplicity of implementation and the fast execution time. The second approach is based on a more complex reconfiguration procedure that accounts for an iterative execution of the first approach. Appropriate conditions for its correct execution are presented.<<ETX>>


Machilus Thunberg,one of the broadleaf evergreen tree species in sub-tropical of China,grows well under the shading environment and often use for ecological and landscaping design.The seedling breeding experiment of Machilus thunbergii is discussed by the methods of sowing just after collecting and the transplanting of young seedlings in this article.The results show that the best period for keeping young seedlings in the nursery bed is 30 days after sowing and the seedlings must be transplanted in 3 hours after digging up.And the suitable size of a tray with 50 holes for producing young seedlings of Machilus thunbergii is 54 cm×27 cm×9 cm.The series techniques of seed collecting,sowing,and transplanting of young seedlings for Machilus thunbergii is also summarized in this article.


implicit answers to questions is virtually never recognized. For example, the statement that water boils at 100 degrees centigrade is an answer to the question "At what temperature centigrade does water boil?" Every declarative statement in the textbook is an answer to a question. Every textbook could be rewritten in the interrogative mode by translating every statement into a question. To our knowledge this has never been done. That it has not is testimony to the privileged status of answers over questions in instruction and the misunderstanding of teachers about the significance of questions in the learning (and thinking) process. Instruction at all levels now keeps most questions buried in a torrent of obscured "answers."


The causes of failure are central to entrepreneurship research. This study extends agency and resource‐based logic to explain how established franchisors affect franchisee failure. Analysis of 88 restaurant chains shows that franchisors reduce franchisee failure through contract design and by building strategic resources. Thus, franchisors' resource management and contractual policies play a key role in franchisees' survival.


This paper unfolds the philosophical thought of Jacques Derrida regarding his hermeneutical consideration about the concept of text (written word). The matter initially addressed is related to his criticism concerning Plato's metaphysical position, which appears in the spoken word (the dialogue), as the proper form of unfolding the truth. As a criticism towards him, Derrida uses the concept of writing, providing a few characteristics under the term Pharmakon, as well as emphasizing its anti-metaphysical nature, relaying on the qualities it consists of, such as, transendentality, autonomy, and its particular condition such as differance. In a more thorough hermeneutical review, the author proposes that writing should not be perceived as a simple physical material sign, under the example of presence, on which the metaphysics lies, but as differance expressed through the concept of trace. As a result, the constant hermeneutical nature of the trace and its meaning, depending on the existential experience of the interpreting subject, outlines yet another particular relationship with the understanding and the truth which the text expresses. This truth unfolds as fully dinamyc, and by not being materialized in the graphyc sign of the text, it gains its meaning from the interpreting subject's experience itself.


We report the case of a patient with heterozygous sickle cell trait presenting with massive gross hematuria. Ureteroscopy revealed bleeding from the tip of papilla of the inferior calica and allowed us to tamponade the bleeding with a balloon ureteral dilator set (Cook® Urology). We show the value of the endourological approach in the conservative management of these patients at high risk of recurrent hematuria.


The invention provides an intelligent adjusting platform for a fire control trajectory. The intelligent adjusting platform comprises a shell, a driving mechanism, a laser emitter, a laser receiver and an inclination angle sensor, wherein the driving mechanism is arranged in the shell, and is used for receiving a command from an MCU (Microprogrammed Control Unit) arranged in the shell to adjust the height of the shell; the laser emitter and the laser receiver are used for measuring distances; the inclination angle sensor is used for providing an inclination angle signal of the shell to the MCU; a storage for storing trajectory curve data information is arranged in the shell, and is communicated with the MCU; the bottom surface of the back end of the shell is provided with a rolling shaft which can be used for rotating the shell along the transverse direction; and the top end of the shell is provided with a clamp for fixing a sighting telescope. In the self-adjusting platform for the trajectory, the elevation angle of the sighting telescope is adjusted automatically by using the internally-stored trajectory curve data under the action of the command of the MCU according to information acquired by using a range finder and the inclination angle sensor, so that automatic adjustment of the aiming cross of an aiming mechanism is realized, and the problems of large errors, high requirement on shooting performance and long training period caused by judgment and adjustment dependent on the experience of shooting personnel are solved.


Bluetongue (BT) is a viral disease causing morbidity and mortality in sheep, cattle and wild ruminants, including deer, sambar and bluebull. In this study we present the internal gene of outer coat protein, VP2 of bluetongue virus serotype 1 of Indian isolate was amplified from cDNA synthesized through RT-PCR using total RNA with specific forward and reverse primers. The PCR product was cloned to pBKS cloning vector and sequenced. It was found that 880bp VP2 gene was 87% homology to Australian BTV VP2 and 85% homology to BTV serotype 1. The VP2 gene was released from pBKS cloning vector and sub cloned into expression vector pET32a and expressed protein of size 32.89 KDa was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis further the expressed antigen could be used for diagnosis of BT without cross reaction and for vaccination once the antigen evaluated through clinical trials.


Teineite from the new locality, Kawazu mine, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, is described and its relation to an associating but unidentified copper-tellurium sulphide is discussed. Teineite, CuTeO3・2H20, a rare secondary mineral only known from the origiRal locality, Teine mine, Hokkaido (Yoshimura (1936)), was found from the Kawazu (Rendaiji) mine, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan. The ore deposits of the Kawazu (Rendaiji) mine consist of epi thermal veins cutting altered Neogene pyroclastic rocks (Kato, Shibata and Nakamoto (1933)), and had been worked for gold and silver till 1963. The veins are classified into two kinds according to the nature of ores, that is, one gold-silver-tellurium-bearing quartz vein and some gold-silver-copper-zinc-lead-bearing quartz veins with a very small amount of tellurium in which the studied material was found. From the former, the occurrences of tellurium (Watanabe (1936)), rickardite 286 The Occurrence of Teineite from the Kawazu Mine (Watanabe(1934)), hessite, enpressite and stuetzite (Takasu(1965)), tellurite (Kato, Shibata and Nakamoto (1933)), paratellurite (Sakurai and Kato (1965a)) and spiroffite (Sakurai and Kato (1965b)) are known, and those of chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, electrum, argentite and tetrahedrite (Kato, Shibata and Nakamoto(1933)), an unnamed coppertellurium-sulphide mineral (cubic, a0=1026A, with tetrahedrite-type X-ray powder pattem), inesite (Kato (1930)), and johansenite (Saku rai and Kato (unpublished)) from the latter. The specimen studied was collected by the second author about thirty years ago. It is a very small piece of gray-black ore with drusy parts surrounded by minute rock crystals on which an azure-blue bundle of teineite up to about 1×1×2mm. in size is present. The gray black part consists of minute aggregate of pyrite, the above-mentioned copper-telluriumsulphide mineral and quartz. The drusy parts are locally rimmed by light green colour due to dissemination of very minute brochantite grains, which form in places tiny mammilary aggregates less than O.5mm. in diameter. The teineite bundle is isolated from these ag gregates and composed of aggregates of long to short prismatic crystals Uvith rugged faces. Part of the prisms is superficially covered with a blue green undeterminable alteration product. Since the amount of specimen available for the determination was very small, the X-ray powder and fluorescent studies were made. The X-ray powder data are virtually identical with those by Manda rino (1964), and Uetani, Kato and Imayoshi (1965), except a few unindexed diffraction lines (d=4.53, 3.81 and 1.547A) probably due to the contaminative alteration product, which could not be identified by the A. S. T. M. Card File (Table 1). From the indexing, the unit cell constants are calculated as a0=6.631A, b0=9.601A, c0=7.430A. The X-ray fluorescent analysis gave the presence of copper and tellurium as the major constituents. It is worth mentioning that teineite from the original locality is found in druses of tellurium-barite ore virtually void of significant A. KATO and K. SAKURAI 287 Table 1. X-ray powder data for teineites from the Teine mine, Hokkaido and the Kawazu (Rendaiji) mine, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan 288 The Occurrence of Teineite from the Kawazu Mine A.KATO and K. SAKURAI 289 1. Teineite. Teine mine, Hokkaido, Japan. Cu/Ni radiation. Intensities were measured on diffractometer scale. After Uetani, Kato and Ima yoshi (1965). 2. Teineite. Kawazu mine, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan. Cu/Ni radiation, Camera diam. 114.59mm. Intensities were estimated visually. b=broad. copper mineral. Hence, the copper is considered to have been derived from other sources somewhat distant from the site of its formation. While for the present specimen, the presence of a copper-tellurium mineral close to it suggests itself to be the direct source of copper and tellurium provided that this teineite is of secondary origin. Though we have not succeeded to accumulate much material to explain the rarity of this mineral, the present study suggests that the copper-tellurium-sulphide mineral may be the direct source of 290 The Occurrence of Teineite from the Kawazu Mine this teineite under such an appropriate condition as copper behaves as divalent copper ion and tellurium takes the form of TeO93-2 ion. This work was done while one of the authors (A. K.) was at the Division of Mineralogy, Smithsonian Institution, U. S. National Museum as a Postdoctoral Research Associate sponsored by the National Re search Council, U. S. A. REFERENCES KATO, T. (1930). J. Geol. Soc. Japan. 37, 35-38 (in Japanese). KATo, T., SHIBATA, H. & NAKAMOTO, A. (1933). J. Geol. Soc. Japan, 40, 233241 (in Japanese). MANDARINO, J. A. (1964). Amer. Min., 49, 1461-1485. SAKLRAI, K. & KATO, A. (1965a). J. Miner. Soc. Japan, 7, 346-348 (in Ja panese). SAKURAI, K. &KATO, A. (1965b). J. Miner. Soc. Japan, 7, 348-350 (in Ja panese). TAKASU, S. (1965). J. Miner. Soc. Japan, 7, 350-355 (in Japanese). UETANI, K, KATO, A.& IMAYOSHI, T. (1965). Bull. Nat. Sci. Mus. Tokyo, 8, 95-97. WATANABE, M. (1934). J. Jap. Assoc. Miner. Petro. Econ. Geol., 12, 89-96 (in Japanese). WATANABE, T. (1936). J. Fac. Sci. Hokkaido Univ. Ser. IV, 3, 101-111. YOSHIMURA, T. (1936). J. Jap. Assoc. Miner. Petro. Econ. Geol., 16, 225-234 (in Japanese). Manuscript received 13 December 1967.


Organosolv pulping of fungally pretreated samples of Pinus radiata was evaluated. A screening study using five white-rot fungi indicated that Ceriporiopsis subvermisopora and Punctularia artropurpurascens were the most selective ones for lignin degradation. These fungi were further cultured in bioreactors containing 2.5 kg of wood chips. Fungally-pretreated samples were delignified by formic acid/acetone (7:3) at 150°C. Pulping kinetics and strength properties of the resulting unbleached pulps were evaluated. Delignification rates and xylan solubilization rates were higher for the decayed samples than for the undecayed control, except for the sample biotreated with P. artropurpurascens for 30 days. C. subvermispora proved appropriate for treating the wood samples before organosolv pulping, since pretreatment with this fungus resulted in faster wood delignification and pulps with lower residual lignin. Increases in tensile index ranging from 3% to 22% were observed for most pulps prepared from biotreated samples, independently both of the fungal species used in the pretreatment and of the extent of the wood biodegradation expressed as wood weight loss. However, tear and burst indexes and brightness were lower than or similar to those of pulps prepared from the undecayed control.


A distributed workflow manage system based on P2P is proposed.Because both the data and control management are in distributed structure,the functions are fulfilled through the direct communication among the equal nodes.It has no performance bottleneck,with the features of stronger adaptability,scalability and better user support.


The aim of this study was to examine students' performance calibration in physical education. One hundred fifth and sixth grade students provided estimations regarding their performance in a dribbling test after practicing dribbling for 16 minutes under different self-regulatory conditions (i.e., receiving feedback, setting goals, self-recording). Two calibration indices, calibration bias and calibration accuracy, were calculated. The results showed that students who practiced dribbling under different self-regulatory conditions (i.e., receiving feedback, setting goals) did not differ in calibration bias and accuracy. Regardless of the group, students were overconfident. Moreover, sixth grade students were more accurate compared to fifth grade students. These results were discussed with reference to the development of performance calibration and self-regulated learning in physical education.


The interaction between shock waves and turbulent boundary layers (SBLI) is a common phenomenon in transonic and supersonic aircraft wings. In this study, we simulated the SBLI of a classical NACA0012 wing at an angle of attack (AOA) of 1.4° and Mach number (Ma) of 0.78 using the open-source software OpenFOAM. Our results show that an air-jet vortex generator can effectively reduce the length of the separation zone and improve the lift coefficient of the airfoil. The vortex structure generated by the jet vortex generator significantly reduces the separation caused by SBLI. We conducted simulations with jet angles of 30°, 45°, and 60° and found that the larger the jet angle, the stronger the vortex and the greater the improvement in the lift coefficient. When the jet angle was 60°, the vortex structure generated by the jet vortex generator transformed the normal shock wave into a λ shock wave, resulting in a maximum increase in the lift coefficient of 2.35%. The simulations focused on exploring the effect of the jet angle and determined that that optimal jet parameters that effectively reduce SBLI damage and improve the lift coefficient of the airfoil.


Many geological and geochemical records suggest a reducing Archean atmosphere. Revealing Archean atmospheric composition is important proxy for the understanding of the origin and evolution of life. The discovery and explanation of sulfur mass-independent fractionation (S-MIF) signatures in Archean sedimentary rocks possess as a key to unravel Archean atmospheric composition. Our SO2 photochemical experiments generated large S-MIF (ΔS > +5‰) and reproduced basic character of the Archean S-MIF signature (ΔS/ΔS = −1) under a specific condition for the first time (Endo et al. 2016). Self-shielding of SO2 photodissociation and intersystem crossing (ISC) form singlet SO2 to triplet SO2 are shown as key mechanisms. Next, we simulated large S-MIF signature (ΔS > +5‰) in our box numerical model, and we showed that Archean S-MIF trend (ΔS/ΔS = −1) can be explained when there are several ppm level of SO2 (like the plume of volcanic gas) and 2% (2 kPa) CO or 3% (3 kPa) CH4 in the atmosphere. But box model's calculation is not completely correct because photochemical reaction rate and fractionation factor (such as self-shielding) strongly depends on the altitude. Then we need to develop 1-D atmospheric model. Our group's new 1-D model which focuses on UV spectra because reactions and fractionation factor (such as self-shielding) change delicately as a function of irradiative photon flux. Fractionation factor of photodissociation can be calculated by isotopologue cross-section and irradiative photon flux. Then in order to develop 1-D atmospheric model including sulfur isotopes, SO2 isotopologue cross-sections ( 32/33/34/36SO2) are necessary. Although SO2 isotopologue cross-section have been measured, they are too low-resolution to estimate self-shielding (Danielache et al. 2008, Endo et al. 2015). Here, we report preliminary results of high resolution (~1cm) 32/33/34/36SO2 absorption cross-sections and estimation of fractionation factor including self-shielding effect.


The monocyte chemotactic activity elaborated by soluble dental plaque material and by various fractions of the plaque material was studied in vitro with the modified Boyden chamber technique. Monocytes were harvested from the peritoneal cavity of rabbits after intraperitoneal injection of a 1 % suspension of hydrolysed starch. The plaque material was separated in Sephadex gel columns (G-25 and G-20Q). Three fractions differing from each other in molecular size were selected from the protein peaks in the chromatograms.

The results showed that dental plaque material contains factors with a chemotactic effect on monocytes. Examination of various fractions of dental plaque material revealed that the major part of the monocyte chemotactic activity resided in a fraction with an appoximate molecular size of 10,000–70,000.


In this paper the estimations of the parameters and coefficient of contamination in the linear regression model are studied when the response variables are contaminated by another random variable sequence. We discuss its interval estimation and parameter estimation on coefficient of contamination by using the Bayes' inference,and give the point estimation of the model parameters.


This article suggests ways in which a spatial perspective is relevant to questions of African economic history prior to formal colonization. Aspects of spatial analysis can help to identify and compare economically dynamic centres and subregions and to understand the qualities of regional and inter-regional systems. Spatial analysis can also illuminate various economic relationships between Africa and Europe; thus it is relevant to such issues as African adaptation to 'legitimate' trade and economic dependency. Among the main concepts discussed are central place theory, 'growth centres', port gateways, and dendritic marketing systems. The article focuses upon the Sierra Leone–Guinea plain and the larger Sierra Leone–Guinea inter-regional commercial system during the second half of the nineteenth century. Brief comparisons are made with other areas.


Objective. To examine disparities in disease prevalence related to age and race/ethnicity. Study design. Retrospective observational study. Methods. Eligible population included enrollees with largest insurer in Hawai'i. Chronic diseases were identified from claims data (1999–2009) based on algorithms including diagnostic codes and pharmaceutical utilization. Relative risk of heart disease and its risk factors were calculated for Native Hawaiians and Asian sub-groups by age. Results. Prevalence of heart disease and its risk factors differed substantially by age and race/ethnicity. Native Hawaiians and Filipinos had higher rates of hypertension and diabetes; Asians had highest rates of hyperlipidemia. Whites had the lowest prevalence of risk factors yet their risk of heart disease equaled other groups. Conclusion. Prevalence curves began diverging at age 30 for risk factors and age 40 for heart disease. This suggests approaches to reduce the burden of disease for vulnerable groups need to begin in early adulthood if not sooner.


City-scale events, such as festivals, sport events, concerts gather thousands of people in different areas of a city. By installing large area Wi-Fi routers which record the presence of people using devices such as smartphones and tables, the density and the movements of the crowds can be estimated and classified. Analysis of crowd data collected during such events leads to valuable insights and feedback both for the parties involved and for city planners and advertisers. In this paper we present a analysis and visualization system for improved understanding of density and movement information. We discuss real datasets constraints, data clean-up techniques and methods for estimating and classifying the crowd movements. These methods are implemented inside a framework that allows easy integration and analysis of mobility datasets. As proof of concept we present the analysis of a real dataset collected during a city-scale experiment in Arnhem, the Netherlands.


INTRODUCTION
3D printing for non‐weight‐bearing upper extremity prostheses is becoming increasingly popular as a method of fabrication.1 Some clinics in North America have begun using 3D printing to fabricate lower extremity diagnostic sockets (Figure 1). The strength requirements for upper extremity prostheses are not as rigorous as the strength requirements for lower extremity prostheses. Therefore, strength testing on 3D-printed lower extremity sockets is one of the first steps that needs to be conducted to ensure patient safety. 3D-printed prosthetic sockets are becoming an alternative option to traditional methods because it is possible to customize different parameters to create a strong structure. Infill percentage is an important parameter to research as this can have an influence on the strength of 3D printed sockets.2 As both prosthetists and healthcare professionals, there is a need to become more involved in the process of designing and testing 3D printed sockets. The purpose of this study is to test how changing the infill percentage affects the ultimate strength of a 3D printed transtibial socket during initial contact.
Abstract PDF  Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cpoj/article/view/32038/24453
How to cite: Campbell L, Lau A, Pousett B, Janzen E, Raschke S.U.  HOW INFILL PERCENTAGE AFFECTS THE ULTIMATE STRENGTH OF A 3D-PRINTED TRANSTIBIAL SOCKET. CANADIAN PROSTHETICS & ORTHOTICS JOURNAL, VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2, 2018; ABSTRACT, POSTER PRESENTATION AT THE AOPA'S 101ST NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, SEPT. 26-29, VANCOUVER, CANADA, 2018.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v1i2.32038
Abstracts were Peer-reviewed by the American Orthotic Prosthetic Association (AOPA) 101st National Assembly Scientific Committee.
http://www.aopanet.org/


The late Abbasid era witnessed a successful political experience, culminating in the restoration of the Abbasid Caliphate institution's prestige that disappeared for a long time. The caliphs of this era were keen to keep that achievement. They restored the ceremonies that used to be performed during the days of the Caliphate's Golden Age. One of those ceremonies was the reception of distinguished visitors such as sultans, princes and messengers who arrived to Dar Al-Khilafah. Those ceremonies followed a regular pattern and were under the supervision of an institution associated with Diwan Al-Khilafah known as Dar Atashreefat (House of Ceremonies). Reception ceremonies began from the moment of the arrival of the Caliph's guests to the outskirts of Baghdad, where the Caliphal procession stood waiting to receive those guests, then accompanied them to Dar Al-Khilafah. At the same time, Dar Atashreefat arranged everything related to the visit; preparing the house for residency, the guest's visit to Dar Al-Khilafah to be honored by the meeting of the Caliph, concluding the visit and bidding farewell to the guest.


The invention discloses a device for improving water quality of laminated mixed oxygenated water. The device comprises an elevating cylinder, an aerating chamber, a gas storing chamber, an air releasing pipe, a guide plate, a perforated plate, a micro-pore aerator, a powerless automatic switching device and an anchoring pier, wherein the elevating cylinder is vertically arranged in water; the aerating chamber and the gas storing chamber are formed at the middle position of a reservoir; the micro-pore aerator is arranged at a position close to the bottom of the reservoir; a full-layer mixed oxygenation function and an isothermal layer mixed oxygenation function are integrated organically; and a telescopic cylinder for adjusting the height of the device is arranged between the aerating chamber and the micro-pore aerator, so that the stability of the entire device is improved. Through improvements on a multifunctional water pumping aerator, full-layer mixed oxygenation and isothermal layer mixed oxygenation are performed respectively by using the device for improving water quality of laminated mixed oxygenated water according to the water quality improving requirement, so that the problem of water quality pollution in the reservoir can be solved at lower energy consumption, and the aim of organically unifying two functions, the water quality improving benefit and the economic benefit is fulfilled.


Severe haemorrhage leads to a reflex bradycardia and hypotension. This is thought to be protective, but is attenuated by both concomitant musculoskeletal injury and exogenous morphine. The aim of this study was to determine whether the injury‐induced attenuation of the response to severe haemorrhage could be blocked by naloxone. Male Wistar rats, terminally anaesthetized with alphadolone/alphaxalone (19–20 mg kg−1 h−1i.v.), were randomly allocated to one of four groups. In groups I and IV, haemorrhage was simple [40% of estimated total blood volume (BV)], while in groups II and III it was initiated 10 min after the onset of bilateral hindlimb ischaemia (a model of musculoskeletal injury). Groups I and II received 20 μl of 0.9% saline intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) immediately before haemorrhage, while groups III and IV received 20 μg of naloxone i.c.v., in the same volume. In group I, the bradycardia reached its peak after the loss of 32.8 ± 0.3% BV (mean ±s.e.m.). Blood pressure did not fall significantly until the loss of 15.0 ± 3.0% BV. The response in group IV was not significantly different from group I. By contrast, the bradycardia was absent after similar blood losses in groups II and III, while hypotension was attenuated. These results indicate that naloxone, at a dose known to be effective in blocking μ‐opioid receptors and preventing other aspects of the response to injury, does not prevent the injury‐induced attenuation of the response to severe haemorrhage. Thus the attenuation of the response to blood loss by injury is unlikely to be mediated via the μ‐opioid receptors.


As the Internet has grown in size and diversity of applications, the next generation is designed to accommodate flows that span over multiple domains with quality of service guarantees, and in particular bandwidth. In that context, a problem emerges when destinations for inter-domain traffic may be reachable through multiple egress routers. Selecting different egress routers for traffic flows can have diverse effects on network resource utilization. In this paper, we address a critical provisioning issue of how to select an egress router that satisfies the customer end-to-end bandwidth requirement while minimizing the total bandwidth consumption in the network.


When IPv6 were defined, it was assumed that the local link would consist of mutually trusting nodes. Even though the actual link may still be somewhat protected with layer2 security, some of the nodes on the link may be untrustworthy because of leading to various kinds of access stealing, DoS, and traffic snooping attacks. In this paper we suggest comparisons analysis of security vulnerabilities for security enforcement in IPv4 and IPv6


The invention belongs to medicine technology field, relates to new scutellarin compound and the application of the new scutellarin. The invention precisely relates to the new scutellarin compound for treating the cardiocerebral vascular diseases. The general formula of the hydroxyethyl (hydroxypropyl or hydroxybutyl) scutellarin compound in the invention is (I), in which R4 is H or Alkyl; R1, R2 and R3 are hydroxyethyl (hydroxypropyl or hydroxybutyl) or H, among which at least one of R1, R2 and R3 is the hydroxyethyl (hydroxypropyl or hydroxybutyl). The compound is substantially used in the prevention and treatment of the cardiocerebral vascular diseases, Alzheimer diseases, cerebral infarction, cerebral ischemia and other varied diseases caused by the cerebral ischemia and so on.


In this paper, we describe the development of automatic drafting functions for men's and women's pants, which have three new features for educational purposes: (1) step mode for explaining the drafting order; (2) guidance for displaying drafting details and usage procedures; and (3) mechanism for displaying class references. The slopers are well-adapted to many different sizes since their dimensions are determined with reference to 1D and 3D body measurements of 28 third-year university students. We have made experimental use of the slopers for beginner level students (straight pants), intermediate level students (wide pants) and advanced level students (originally-designed pants). The feasibility and effectiveness of these newly developed automatic drafting functions have been proven on the basis of drafting results and evaluations submitted by the beginner level and intermediate level students, and drafting results, fitting and corrections by the advanced level students.


A comparative experimental study of extrudate swell from long slit and capillary dies is reported for rheologically characterized polystyrene and polypropylene melts. Generally extrudate swell from a slit is greater than that from a capillary die. At low die wall shear rates it goes to a value of about 1.2 as opposed to about 1.1 found for capillary dies. The onset and character of extrudate distortion have been studied. The experimental results are compared with theories of swell based on unconstrained recovery from Poiseuille flow in these geometries. A detailed analysis of such theories of extrudate swell based on the original work of Tanner has been carried out. The analysis is placed in a more general form which should be valid for a range of die cross-sections.


The repair philosophy in modern aircraft composite structures is steadily moving from bolted to bonded repairs. The conventional way to material removal is via manual mechanical machining. Very few attempts the last decade, have utilized pulsed lasers to a more automatic, more precise, less labor intensive process. In this paper, such a process is systematically investigated to the direction of identifying the influential parameters as well as optimize their values in a multi-objective optimization task that entails the maximization of the mechanical properties of the repair as well as the material removal rate simultaneously with the minimization of the Heat Affected Zone (HAZ). Quadratic response surface methodologies and Box-Behnken design are utilized to achieve this goal. The candidate influential parameters of the process are: the power of the laser (through pulse frequency control), laser head velocity and hatching distance. The measured responses/objectives of the process are the material removal rate (RR), the HAZ (in 3 different areas) and the shear strength (SS) of in-house manufactured CFRP single-lap bonded joints. The design of the experiments was done with the use of a Box-Behnken Design and the obtained results were analyzed using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) approach. determine the optimal parameter values of a multi-variable process such as the laser ablation of composites for repair purposes, in a multi-objective optimization scheme. The statistical tools that are employed to this direction are the classical Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) for the first objective and the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) through the Box-Behnken Design (BBD) for the second. The classic ANOVA method is a tool to assess the variations observed in a population and explain the variances. ANOVA answers the question whether or not the means of several groups are equal. The RSM approach is a tool frequently used in the optimization of industrial processes when a number of independent variables is involved and a reduction in the number of experiments need to be executed is pursued. RSM deals with statistical and mathematical techniques for designing experiments, evaluating the effects of variables, developing new processes, building models, optimizing performance and reaching optimum conditions for the variables with the purpose of predicting the anticipated responses. The BBD is considered as a nearly rotatable second-order design based on three-level incomplete factorial designs. BBD does not entail runs in which all the components of the including factors are at their highest or lowest levels simultaneously, an extreme case which often generates non-representative results. BBD is often employed when optimization is required since it models the response surfaces with quadratic functions and this is why it requires three levels of parameter values. The three-level, three-factorial BBD is employed to optimize the following objective functions/ measured responses: 1) CFRP material removal rate, 2) the Heat Affected Zones at three locations on the laser-treated surface and 3) the shear strength obtained after the material removal through the tensile test of a stepped-lap joint.


The task partition methods in real-time signal processing is presented, the constraints of minimizing communication delay in task allocation is proposed. The communication bottleneck in high speed real-time signal processing is resolved. The 2D space-time adaptive signal processing and real-time SAR imaging are implemented by a general purpose multiprocessor with hypercubic architecture. By means of all these proposed measures, the data communication delay can be decreased and the parallel efficiency and performance-price- radio is accordingly improved.


Interventional therapy has the advantage of short operation time,tiny wound,little syndrome and holding procreation function,etc,so it's the preferred method of curing refractory postpartum hemorrhage at present.Taking 19 interventional therapy cases of postpartum hemorrhage for analysing example,introduce the process of interventional therapy and the result after the operation,and discuss the related issue on interventional therapy integrated with the 19 cases.


Detection of phenolic compounds in beet sugar molasses was carried out by paper chromatography. Some of the phenolic compounds were identified with catechol, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, melilotic acid, salicylic acid, syringic acid, vanillin and vanillic acid and three other phenolic compounds were detected though they have not been identified.


In light of the proton radius puzzle, the discrepancy between measurements of the proton charge radius from muonic hydrogen and those from electronic hydrogen and electron–proton (e–p) scattering measurements, we re-examine the charge radius extractions from electron scattering measurements. We provide a recommended value for the proton root-mean-square charge radius, rE = 0.879 ± 0.011 fm, based on a global examination of elastic e–p scattering data. The uncertainties include contributions to account for tension between different data sets and inconsistencies between radii using different extraction procedures.


This paper summarizes the study of the effects of hydrogen on the low-cycle (LCF) and double-notch low cycle fatigue (DN-LCF) fracture characteristics of a microcast Ni-base superalloy PWA 1489. The LCF tests were conducted in fully reversed strain control mode, while DN-LCF tests were run using a stress controlled tension-tension cycle with R= 0.05. Hydrogen was found to significantly reduce the number of cycles to failure. Extensive fractography revealed that hydrogen enhanced cleavage on (100) planes during the early stage of crack propagation for both LCF and DN-LCF tests. Possible mechanisms regarding hydrogen-induced degradation of LCF life are proposed on the basis of the present findings and the known hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms for Ni-base superalloys. Superalloys 1992 Edited by S.D. Antolovich, R.W. Stusrud, R.A. MacKay, D.L. Anton, T. Khan, R.D. Kissinger, D.L. Klarstmm The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1992


Report on the background, objectives, methods of and lessons learned from the Hwy40 North demonstration project planning; includes updates 1-14.


This paper presents the description and analysis of a high power GTO current source power converter (CSC) supply. The proposed power supply provides input waveforms that are nearly sinusoidal, fast control of the DC load current, and feedforward unity power factor correction for different load conditions. In order to achieve these task, the programmed PWM patterns with selective harmonic elimination (SHE) of lower order harmonics in the source line currents are employed. Introduction of low switching frequency PWM gating patterns suitable for high power GTO switches and system analysis to get the unity power factor are discussed in detail. A systematic design procedure for the GTO-CSC and selection of SHE-PWM patterns for a variable load is presented. Finally, the computer simulation results are presented to verify the theoretical analysis.<<ETX>>


SUMMARY Using an indirect immunofluorescence technique liver membrane antibodies of IgG and IgA class have been demonstrated in a statistically significant proportion of sera from patients with alcoholic hepatitis and alcoholic cirrhosis. IgG and IgA class antibodies were found respectively in 23 and 25% of 48 patients with alcoholic hepatitis, in 27 and 33% of 84 with active cirrhosis, and 67 and 58% of 12 with inactive cirrhosis. These results provide evidence of a humoral immune response in alcoholic liver disease which is directed against, as yet undefined, liver-cell membrane antigens. Whereas the metabolic pathways associated with the hepatic metabolism been defined,' precise mechanisms alcohol hepatocellular injury are less clearly understood. the factors for the development hepatitis the to cirrhosis only a third of progress cirrhosis.2 host far clear.


Poor germination is one of the major culprits responsible for lower than potential green forage yield of cereals. A study was therefore conducted to evaluate the effects of different seed priming techniques on emergence, growth and yield of forage maize (Zea mays L.). The field trial was carried out at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan, during spring season of 2013. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) having three replications. Net plot size was 1.8 m × 7.0 m. Maize seeds were subjected to hydro-priming for 12 hours, on-farm priming and osmopriming with CaCl2 (1.25%), KCl (1.25%) and KNO (1.25%) solution for 12 hours. Non-primed seeds were also sown in control plots 3 for comparison. Results revealed that priming reduced time to start seed emergence by one day than non-primed seed. Least time taken to 50% emergence (6 days), mean emergence time (6.5 days) and highest final emergence count (30.3 m ) were recorded in plots sown with seed osmoprimed with KCl. The maximum plant height 2 (227.8 cm) was recorded by osmoprimed seed with CaCl Seed osmoprimed with CaCl recorded 40 and 38% 2. 2 higher green forage and dry matter yield, respectively as compared to non-primed seed. The highest crude protein contents were recorded by CaCl priming, while the highest crude fiber and ash contents were given by 2 KNO primed seed that were 77, 40 and 62%, respectively higher than control. It can be concluded from the 3 present study that seed priming with salts especially CaCl can be used to improve emergence, yield and quality 2 of fodder maize.


The invention relates to an intelligent light lamp which comprises a base, a lamp rod, a fixing plate, a power supply, a control panel, a relay module, a single chip microcomputer, an infrared induction device and a wireless communication module. The on-off of the night lamp is controlled through the infrared induction device and the wireless communication module, therefore, the intellectualization problem of the night lamp is solved; meanwhile, the defect that an optical control lamp can not go out in time is avoided, and the dependence of a sound controlled lamp on sound is avoided; the intelligent night lamp has the advantages of being low in cost, high in stability, high in safety and noise free; induction is conducted according to specific infrared rays of the human body, the on-off of the night lamp is controlled through the induction result, and therefore intelligent light lamp has the advantage of being high in accuracy.


Evidence is scarce regarding the optimal aspirin dose for preventing cardiovascular events. These investigators performed a post hoc analysis of the


In this paper, we introduced m-dimensional quadratic functional equation of the form ∑1≤i<j<k<l≤mφ(si+sj+sk+sl)=(m2−5m+62)∑i=1;i≠jmφ(si+sj)−(m3−6m2+11m−63)∑i=1m(φ(si)+φ(−si)2) here m is a non-negative integer with N — {0,1,2.3}. Moreover, we derive its general solution and established Hyers-Ulam stability results in fuzzy normed space through direct and fixed point methods.


keep patients under excretion, secretion, and blood precautions until a response to treatment withan ll drugs has been observed, as they feel that a dual infection is unlikely. We are less confident, and in any case it is poor practice to assume that patients with malaria will not have a communicable disease even if it is unlikely to be Lassa fever. The message we hoped our paper would convey to most ofour readers is that current DHSS guidelines (which are not exclusively for St Thomas's) are unsatisfactory and that publication of the revised memorandum is overdue, that malaria must be excluded as rapidly as possible, and that accommodation for patients with infectious diseases and training in this discipline need improvement. Finally, although we have no objection to our "expertise" being questioned, we feel it important to point out that we established our policy with the advice of those who have had considerable experience with exotic infections; there are such people to be found in places other than the Hospital for Tropical Diseases. AN'msA TILZEY MARGARET WEBSTER J E BANArvA Dqertmnt ofVirolo, St Thomas's Hospitl, London SE1 7EH


The introduction of changes in the type approval testing procedures for vehicles is also a matter of reducing the problem of exceeding the limits specified in standards. The previous laboratory studies of vehicles' emission did not contain information on the actual engine operating conditions. Particular attention was paid to the comparative study of engines with spark and compression ignition in the context of nitrogen oxides emissions. The reason for this consideration was a significant discrepancy in the size of the engines for vehicles with a similar curb weight. The article presents the assessment of the vehicles' ecological indicators in real traffic conditions according to the latest proposals for Real Driving Emissions testing. It has been shown that despite the compliance of the vehicles with emissions approval limits in terms of nitrogen oxides performed in the study on a chassis dynamometer, they are – especially for vehicles equipped with compression ignition engines – exceeded in actual operation. It proves that special attention should be paid to compression ignition engines, which pose a threat in terms of nitrogen oxides emissions.


This article reports on the collaborative initiative of two primary school teachers who created and implemented innovative pedagogy in order to foster a culture of thinking in their classrooms. The paper outlines teaching strategies that were used with the intent of making students mindful of themselves as learners and thinkers. A 'Toolbox', inspired by 'Habits of Mind' and the Visible Thinking approach to teaching and learning, is described in narrative form by one of the teachers. The Toolbox aims to equip students with the thinking tools to make their thinking visible to themselves, their peers and their teachers.


Modified van Hoof structures containing GaInNAs(Sb) quantum wells (QWs) with indium content varying from 8% to 32% have been investigated using contactless electroreflectance (CER) spectroscopy. In CER spectra, both the QW transitions and GaAs-related Franz–Keldysh oscillations (FKOs) have been clearly observed. The band gap discontinuity at the GaInNAs(Sb)/GaAs interface has been determined by analyzing the QW transitions. The built-in electric field in the GaAs cap layer has been extracted from the FKO periodicity. The Fermi level position in the GaInNAs(Sb) QW has been determined through knowledge of the electric field in the GaAs cap layer and band gap discontinuity in the GaInNAs(Sb)/GaAs QW. It has been found that the Fermi level is pinned for all samples at the same energy, ∼4.7 eV below the vacuum level. The Fermi level is located very close to the Fermi level stabilization energy, ∼4.9 eV below the vacuum level. A high concentration of native point defects in the as-grown material is the reason f...


1Independent Education Consultant, 2Research Associate, School of Education and Social Work, University of Sussex, 3School of Education, University at Albany, State University of New York, 4Spectacle Learning Media, 5International Education Program, The George Washington University, 6S. Garnett Russell, George Clement Bond Center for African Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 7UNESCO Chair in International Education for Development, The George Washington University


Abstract : On 1 April 1945, the U.S. ground forces stormed ashore on the Japanese held island of Okinawa. This amphibious assault and the campaign that followed marked not only the largest campaign conducted in the Pacific during World War II, but also the culmination of the lessons learned during over three years of amphibious warfare. As the final joint campaign of the war, it incorporated the principles and techniques which had proven successful during previous operations. Despite interservice differences and continued friction concerning the best means to pursue war aims, the American commanders were veterans. They understood how to synchronize the operations of joint and combined forces to achieve the greatest effect, focused toward single objective - seizure of the island of Okinawa. This case study will examine how joint service coordination and cooperation were exercised among the U.S. ground, air, and sea forces which participated in the campaign. Conversely, an occasional comparison with Japanese deficiencies in joint operations will be drawn. With U. S. military forces being increasingly oriented toward contingency missions, the lessons of this campaign are increasingly relevant.


ABSTRACT This paper qualitatively analyzes tweets sent by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and responses to the tweets in the month leading up to his May 2019 electoral win. Several dominant rhetorical themes emerged from the analysis of the data, including Modi as omnipresent and Modi as an advocate for democracy who encourages voters to vote. The dominant theme that emerged from his supporter's responses was Modi as a leader who supports Hindu nationalism or Hindutva. Both Modi and his supporters presented him as a strong leader who could stand up to Islamic terrorism and one who would invest in national security and India's army. The author concludes that India's democracy, under Modi's leadership, is akin to what Argentinian political scientist Guillermo O'Donnell has termed delegative democracy. Delegative democracy is marked by extreme individualism of the leader, majoritarian politics, and minimal emphasis on democratic institutional building. In both Modi's and his supporter's Twitter rhetoric, there was no commitment to inclusive representation within or strengthening of democratic institutions, and while allowing for effective contestation in the form of elections, there was no evidence of respecting India's traditional constitutional norms, such as secularism and respect for minority rights.


With recent Lyman-alpha forest data from BOSS and XQ-100, some studies suggested that the lower mass limit on the fuzzy dark matter (FDM) particles is lifted up to $10^{-21}$ eV. However, such a limit was obtained by $\Lambda$CDM simulations with the FDM initial condition and the quantum pressure (QP) was not taken into account which could have generated non-trivial effects in large scales structures. We investigate the QP effects in cosmological simulations systematically, and find that QP leads to further suppression of the matter power spectrum at small scales. Furthermore, we estimate the flux power spectrum of Lyman-alpha forest, and compare it with data from BOSS and XQ-100 to set the lower bound on the FDM particle mass to $10^{-23}$ eV. We carefully estimate the uncertainty in the calculation of one-dimensional flux power spectrum due to the temperature of the hydrogen gas, and conclude that unless the effect of QP and the uncertainties of the temperature of the hydrogen gas are properly taken into account, one cannot exclude the FDM of mass larger than $10^{-22}$ eV at statistically significant levels.


This document describes methods for RADIUS servers to communicate
optional extended abilities to RADIUS clients. The abilities described
provide for exchange of RADIUS packets where total packet length
exceeds 4096 bytes.


On the basis of the compressed data and to display a three-dimensional form at a high speed. Based on at least one surface a three-dimensional shape data (2) define a three-dimensional form as, and determines a division pattern of the surfaces constituting the three-dimensional shape (step S2). At the same time, it determines the curved surface shape of the surface based on the normal direction at the position of the peak of the pre-defined in the three-dimensional shape data (2) surface with its apex (step S3). Next, the division by a predetermined curved shape to the determined division pattern, and generating a plurality of side along the curved surface (step S4). Then, it displays a three-dimensional shape consisting of the generated plurality of surfaces (step S5). Mock-up, the three-dimensional shape, splitting, surface, scale


English thesis writing and tutoring process is traditionally loose and open-ended. Both students and teachers enjoy much liberty in the maneuver of different steps in the whole process, which, as it were, may cause a series of problems and dissatisfactions, consequently undermining the quality and significance. This paper is intended to explore a streamlined and systematic procedure to ensure both the students and teachers are doing their bit and make due contribution to the thesis perfection.


T he way to a more adequate understanding and treatment of medical data would be opened up if all records, articles and even abstracts gave, besides averages, the numbers of observations and the variation, properly expressed . . ." So wrote Donald Mainland,' of Dalhousie University, Halifax, 55 years ago, when introducing the concept of random sampling variation. In a subsequent article Mainland, Du Bilier and Stewart2 used the example of repeated differential leukocyte counts on the same specimen to show that even after allowing for technical errors sample means varied from batch to batch. A scan of a run of any medical journal since 1935 will show that clinical researchers were slow to follow Mainland's advice, even if we allow for the fact that many research questions of the earlier era were expressed in descriptive rather than quantitative terms. During the 1940s p values began to appear, and with the efflorescence of. computers and the proliferation of databases p values threatened to overwhelm the data. Almost every row and column of data would be compared statistically with its near neighbours or distant relatives. This exercise went beyond hypothesis testing: it was a ruthless search for significance, whose success (almost always based on the magic value of p < 0.05) would "validate" the hypothesis, and whose failure would prepare the way for a slightly different study. As the editors of the new book Statistics with Confidence,3 produced by statistical consultants for the British Medical Journal, put it:


ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is the most common type of stroke. Inflammation is the primary factor in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Use of immature granulocytes (IGs) has been recommended as a new indicator of systemic inflammation. However, data on the association between echocardiographic epicardial fat tissue thickness (EFT) and IGs in patients with AIS are limited. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between the presences of IGs, epicardial fat tissue and AIS. DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective study in a tertiary-care university hospital in Antalya, Turkey. METHODS: Our study included 53 AIS patients and 41 healthy controls with age and gender compatibility. Blood samples and transthoracic echocardiography of all participants were compared. RESULTS: IG levels were significantly higher in patients with AIS than in controls (0.62 ± 0.36 versus 0.28 ± 0.02, P < 0.001). The mean EFT was 3.74 ± 0.61 mm in the control group and 6.33 ± 1.47 mm in the AIS patient group. EFT was significantly greater in AIS patients than in controls (P < 0.001). For the optimum cut-off value for IG (0.95), the area under the curve (AUC) was determined to be 0.840; sensitivity was determined to be 81.1% and specificity, 92.5%. For the optimum cut-off value for EFT (4.95 mm), the AUC was determined to be 0.953; sensitivity was determined to be 90.6% and specificity, 90%. CONCLUSIONS: IG and echocardiographic EFT are clinical markers that can be used to predict AIS risk.


According to the original information for industrial historical buildings,the paper analyzes the influential factors for the adaptive reuse of the industrial historical buildings,and points out the respective design methods with factual technique,so as to provide the new ideas for protecting and reconstructing the industrial historical buildings.


The quality of modern democracy rests upon an active participation of citizens in political decision-making process. Globalization development in public policy manifested itself in decentralisation process: the restructuring of civil public – political public power relationships and the domination of subnational political in community. Scientific researches that assess new forms of civil participation do not give enough attention to the revelation of new media relation to social and institutional structure. Communication researches of changed political power relations reveal electronic participation involvement. The article offers the analysis of the results of qualitative research conducted in 2016. The research reveals the socio-political experience of local authority about civil participation and the platform of social network "Facebook" specifics, development local authority and civil dialog in Lithuanian local governance. Ieva Aurylaitė – Kauno technologijos universiteto Socialinių, humanitarinių mokslų ir menų fakulteto Viešosios politikos ir administravimo instituto politikos mokslų doktorantė. E. paštas: firstname.lastname@example.com. Ieva Aurylaitė – PhD candidate in Political science at the Institute of Public Policy and Administration, Faculty of Social Science, Arts and Humanities, Kaunas University of Technology. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. Straipsnis įteiktas redakcijai 2016 m. gruodžio mėn.; recenzuotas; parengtas spaudai 2017 m. vasario mėn.


For a compact smooth manifold with corners (or finite CW-complex) $X$, we can prescribe a finite set of spin or spin$^h$ manifolds (possibly with boundary) mapping into it so that every real vector bundle over $X$ is determined, up to stable equivalence, by the Dirac indices of the real vector bundle when pulled-back onto those prescribed spin or spin$^h$ manifolds.


An efficient terahertz (THz) photoconductive antenna (PCA) are proposed in this paper. The antenna is designed for continuous wave (CW) applications in the frequency range of 0.5-3 THz. The overall optical-to-THz efficiency of the proposed PCA is improved by enhancing the optical-to-electrical and radiation efficiencies. For the presented PCA, three types of excitation gap are investigated numerically and are compared. To enhance the excited photocurrent, plasmonic excitation is applied to amplify the electric field distribution in the structure. Owing to plasmonic excitation, the optical-to-electrical efficiency of photomixer is increased by a factor of 100. Moreover, the substrates of the proposed PCA is reshaped to improve the radiation efficiency, directivity and side lobe level (SLL). Finally, the radiation characteristics of the proposed PCA is compared with conventional extended-hemispherical lens antenna. The comparison shows a 4-fold reduction in size achieved by the proposed antenna compared to those with similar radiation features.


If chemical alarm pheromones warn individuals of nearby predation on conspecifics, then individuals should avoid areas where alarm pheromone is present. This hypothesis was tested in a natural stream habitat by exposing fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) to minnow traps that had been marked with either conspecific alarm pheromone or with a control substance (glass-distilled water). The minnows exhibited significant avoidance of traps marked with the alarm pheromone: less than 4% of the minnows that were captured were found in the experimental traps. There was a nonsignificant tendency for minnows in control traps to be larger than those caught in experimental traps, suggesting a possible role of experience or developmental factors in determining the response to alarm pheromone. There was no apparent difference in overall body condition (i.e., length-specific mass) between the minnows that were caught in control versus experimental traps. Detection of the alarm pheromone may allow receivers to avoid are...


ABSTRACT This article aims to make a brief summary of the legal and regulatory developments in maritime law Based on the view that the Law of the Sea , in essence , was forged in customary practices dating back from time immemorial, is studied , the training process right from the usual, as these customs emerged and promoted in aeons to influence the use of modern conceptions and water traffic . It will highlight the eminent influence that the Law of the Sea had for the formation of the present political, economic and legal on a global scale. KEYWORDS: Law of the Sea; Legal and regulatory developments; Modern conceptions . RESUMO O presente artigo objetiva fazer uma breve sintese da evolucao juridico-normativa do Direito do Mar. Partindo da concepcao de que o Direito do Mar, por essencia, foi forjado em praticas costumeiras que remontam desde tempos imemoriais, estudara-se o processo de formacao do direito a partir do costume, como estes costumes surgiram e se fomentaram nos aeons ate influenciar as modernas concepcoes de uso e trafego das aguas. Destacar-se-a a eminente influencia que o Direito do Mar teve para a formacao da presente conjuntura politica, economica e juridica a uma escala global. PALAVRAS-CHAVES: Direito do Mar; Evolucao juridico-normativa; Concepcoes modernas.


Compensation paid to financial advisors often is difficult for a client to assess. Different forms of compensation within the financial advice industry may contribute to this complexity. This article investigates whether clients are able to estimate accurately how much compensation they pay to their primary financial advisor. It uses a series of surveys collected by a financial consulting company called Advisor Impact. The data were collected from the United States (2014, 2012), and Canada (2011, 2012). The data were collected from clients in multiple financial planning companies. Clients were asked to estimate the amount of fees they paid to their advisors in the previous 12 months. The data for the U.S. show that around 17% of clients do not know how their primary financial advisors charge for their services and that 32% of clients do not know how much they paid in the last 12 months. For the other two thirds of respondents who think they know how much they paid, 80% gave an estimate well below the industry standard. The probability that a client is unaware of the exact fees paid becomes even higher when compensation is a blend of fees and commissions. Similar results can be found in the data from Canada. A lack of awareness of the fees paid could not be explained by education level or marital status. Clients with a longer tenure with their primary financial advisors have a greater likelihood of ignoring fees. The results suggest that the shrouded nature of advisor fees leads to the underestimation of the amount paid for financial advice.


This paper examines the apparent paradox involved in shipping lines responding to increasing cargo flows from Britain to mainland Europe by moving to shorter routes. Analysis shows, however, this move to be a logical and valuable defensive response by shipping lines but at a cost to the transport consumer.


of newly registered patients at 2 outpatient facilities in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) of age 18–65 years with a DSM-IV-defined major depressive disorder of mild to moderate severity. SPSP involves an open patient-therapist dialogue that uses supportive and insight-facilitating techniques to address the emotional background of depression and was delivered in 16 sessions of 45 min within a 24-week period. In the combined condition, antidepressants were provided for 24 weeks according to a protocol with several steps in case of intolerance or inefficacy: first venlafaxine, followed by fluoxetine, and finally nortriptyline. Sixteen depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline and after 24 weeks with the depression subscale of the Symptom Checklist-90. Analyses were conducted in a sample consisting of all patients who started with the treatment they were allotted to (psychotherapy, n = 103; combined therapy, n = 83; see the online suppl. material for the sample characteristics; for all online suppl. material, see www.karger.com/doi/10.1159/000486793) and the last outcome carried forward method was applied. First, we focused on the relative efficacy of psychotherapy versus combined therapy by using individual symptoms as effect parameters and, then, differentiated between direct and indirect effects by taking into account symptom interrelatedness in a network model. Symptom-specific efficacy of psychotherapy versus combined therapy was investigated using independent sample t tests with change scores (postminus pre-treatment) of depressive symptoms as dependent variables. Combined therapy was significantly more effective than psychotherapy in decreasing the symptoms feeling entrapped (Cohen's d = 0.55, p < 0.001), emotional lability (Cohen's d = 0.47, p = 0.002), worry (Cohen's d = 0.44, p = 0.003), hopelessness (Cohen's d = 0.41, p = 0.006), obsessive thoughts (Cohen's d = 0.34, p = 0.02), blue mood (Cohen's d = 0.32, p = 0.03), and low in energy (Cohen's d = 0.31, p = 0.04). The remaining 9 symptoms showed similar responses to psychotherapy and combined therapy (Fig. 1). Then, we took into account symptom interrelatedness to differentiate between the direct and indirect effects of the addition of pharmacotherapy to psychotherapy. An L1-regularized partial correlation network of treatment type and change scores of all depressive symptoms was estimated (the network estimation procedure and tests for parameter estimate accuracy are described in the online suppl. material). Figure 1 shows that changes in depressive symptoms during treatment were strongly related. The strongest association was found between thoughts of death and thoughts of suicide (partial correlation = 0.49), indicating that persons with an improvement in thoughts of death during treatment were more likely to experience an improvement in thoughts of suicide as well. Treatment type showed the strongest direct connections to feeling entrapped (partial correlation = 0.16) and emotional lability (partial correlation = 0.11), and was weakly connected to worry (partial correlation = 0.04), low in energy (partial correlation = 0.01), and hopelessness (partial correlation = 0.01). All connections were in A number of studies have reported that adding pharmacotherapy to psychotherapy has no or only small advantages in the treatment of mild to moderate depression [1–3]. These studies have used sum scores of depression rating scales as effect parameters [1–3]. However, as individual items on these scales have recently been shown to respond differentially to pharmacotherapy compared to placebo [4], the effects of an addition of pharmacotherapy to psychotherapy may only be detectable by focusing on individual depressive symptoms. Previous studies investigating treatment responses of individual depressive symptoms (e.g., Hieronymus et al. [4]) did not take into account the potential interrelatedness of these symptoms. For example, patients who become less self-blaming in response to treatment may also be more likely to experience reductions in feelings of worthlessness or blue mood. Tools to consider symptom interrelatedness are offered by the network approach, which conceptualizes depression as a system of associated symptoms [5]. Earlier network studies have demonstrated that depressive symptoms are differentially related to one another [5–7]; however, it remains unknown if similar association patterns exist among changes in these symptoms during treatment. Taking into account these relations in a network structure provides the opportunity to determine the effects of adjunctive pharmacotherapy on specific symptoms while adjusting for responses of other symptoms. This enables a differentiation between direct symptom-specific effects (i.e., those independent of changes in other symptoms) and indirect symptom-specific effects (i.e., those mediated by changes in other symptoms). This is the first study to determine the relative efficacy of psychotherapy versus combined therapy on individual depressive symptoms. Data were derived from a randomized controlled trial comparing short-term psychodynamic supportive psychotherapy (SPSP) and this therapy combined with pharmacotherapy in patients with mild to moderate depression [1]. Participants consisted Received: June 15, 2017 Accepted after revision: December 16, 2017 Published online: March 1, 2018


A new solid-electrolyte oxygen sensor has been developed that eliminates the conventional oxygen reference in previous solid-electrolyte oxygen sensor designs and is, therefore, ideally suited as an insertion device for remote oxygen monitoring applications. It is constructed with two cells of stabilized zirconia sealed into a small unit using a new high-temperature platinum-zirconia seal. One electrochemical cell monitors the ratio of oxygen partial pressures inside and outside the sensor while the other solid-electrolyte cell is used for quantitative electrochemical pumping of oxygen. The internal oxygen reference is generated by initially pumping all oxygen out of the known internal volume of the sensor and then quantitatively pumping oxygen back in until oxygen partial pressures are equal inside and out. This information is used with the ideal gas law to calculate oxygen partial pressures. Tests were conducted from 400 to 1000/sup 0/C in mixtures of oxygen and nitrogen spanning approximately 0.2 to 21 percent oxygen concentration range. Sensors with sputtered platinum and porous platinum paste electrodes were compared.


This paper presents a CMOS wideband LNA topology operating under a 450 mV voltage supply in the analog TV white spaces frequency band from 54 MHz to 862 MHz. It could be used in a wideband RFID or energy harvesting communication network applications. The proposed circuit is self-biased, uses no inductors and it has a cascaded amplifier in the noise canceling branch for a better trade-off of noise figure (NF), S11 and IP3. The 450 mV operation is achieved by a proper choice of the basic amplifiers that compose the noise canceling topology. This paper demonstrates the use of low-VT PMOS transistors and zero-VT NMOS transistors in a RF circuit, in order to be self-biased in a 130 nm CMOS technology PDK from Global Foundries. The post-layout simulations included bondwire inductances and pad capacitances parasitics for more realistic results. Under such a low supply, the LNA circuit is capable of Voltage Gain > 17 dB, NF <; 6.2 dB and S11 <; -10.3 dB, in the 54 MHz - 862 MHz range. The overall LNA power consumption is only 2 mW.


In (ultra-)relativistic heavy-ion collisions, the strongly interactingmatter is predicted to undergo a phase transition into a plasma of deconfinedquarks and gluons (QGP) and quarkonia probe different aspects of this medium.However, the medium modification of quarkonium production includes also the contribution of cold nuclear matter effects (CNM), such as shadowing or nuclear break-up in addition to QGP effects. Proton--nucleus collisions, where no QGP is expected, are used to measure cold nuclear matter effects on quarkonium production. Vacuum production of quarkonia is modelled in proton--proton (pp) collisions, which are used as reference for both heavy-ion and proton--nucleus collisions. Besides serving as reference, results in pp collisions represent a benchmark test of QCD based models in both perturbative and non-perturbative regimes. The ALICE detector has unique capabilities at the LHC for measuring quarkonia down to zero transverse momentum. Measurements are carried out at both central and forward rapidity, in the dielectron and dimuon decay channel, respectively. In this contribution the latest quarkonium measurements for various energies and colliding systems, performed by the ALICE Collaboration during the LHC Run-2 period, will be discussed.


Resistive fault current limiters which consist of a YBCO film and a normal conducting film were constructed. The YBCO film was connected by indium wires to the normal conducting film in parallel at intervals of about 10 mm to increase the allowed voltage across the fault current limiter during the current-limiting operation. Current limiting experiments show that an allowed voltage across the fault current limiter during current-limiting operation of over 13 V/cm was achieved. Moreover, by combining in parallel 2 sets of 3 serially connected fault current limiters fabricated using 100 mm/spl times/10 mm YBCO film, a rated power of over 20 kVA is obtained.


Single-celled, symbiotic, dinoflagellate algae known as zooxanthellae form associations with many shallow-water tropical marine invertebrates. Local ecological factors, particularly light levels, are known to influence algal type and distribution within hosts. Here I investigate whether biogeographic factors are similarly important in a convenient model, the zoanthid Palythoa caesia (Dana, 1846). Algal genotypes from P. caesia specimens from the eastern and western Indian Ocean were determined by restriction analysis and sequencing of the small subunit RNA gene, following PCR amplification with algal-specific primers. RFLP results indicate 2 common algal genotypes in the east, but only a single genotype in the west. Results from sequencing suggest further geographic pat- terning, with restricted geographic distribution of clades from the Seychelles, Sulawesi and Thailand.


This paper examines the forecasting performance of multi-layer feed forward neural networks in modeling a particular foreign exchange rates, i.e. Japanese Yen/US Dollar. The effects of two learning methods, Back Propagation and Genetic Algorithm, in which the neural network topology and other parameters fixed, were investigated. The early results indicate that the application of this hybrid system seems to be well suited for the forecasting of foreign exchange rates. The Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithm were programmed using MATLAB®.


Applying atomic force microscopy in single string scanning mode, dependence of fluctuations of step shifts on KDP crystal faces on time was determined during crystallization from solution. It was shown that fluctuation amplitude grows proportionally to t 1/4 . On prism faces fluctuations at dissolving were bigger than at growth and bigger than on bipyramid faces. Amplitude of fluctuations was not dependent on distance between steps. Interpretation of experimental results and computation of elementary parameters of crystallization was done based on theory of V.V.Voronkov.


We have studied that the Tc depression and the superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) in molybdenum nitride (MoN) thin films. Thin films were fabricated by reactive DC magnetron sputtering method onto (100) MgO substrates in the mixture of Ar and N2 gases. Several dozen MoN thin films were prepared in the range of 3 nm < thickness d < 60 nm. The resistance was measured by a DC four-probe technique. It is found that Tc decreases from 6.6 K for thick films with increase of the normal state sheet resistance RsqN and experimental data were fitted to the Finkel'stein formula using the bulk superconducting transition temperature Tc0 = 6.45 K and the elastic scattering time of electron τ = 1.6 × 10−16 s. From this analysis the critical sheet resistance Rc is found about 2 kΩ, which is smaller than the quantum sheet resistance RQ. This value of Rc is almost the same as those for 2D NbN films. The value of τ for MoN films is also the similar value for NbN films 1.0 × 10−16 s, while Tc0 is different from that for NbN films 14.85 K. It is indicated that the mechanism of SIT for MoN films is similar to that of NbN films, while the mean free path ℓ for MoN films is larger than that for NbN films.


We have designed and synthesized two low bandgap conjugated copolymers containing alternating meta-fluoro-p-alkoxyphenyl- (m-FPO-) or p-fluoro-m-alkoxyphenyl- (p-FPO-) substituted benzodithiophenes-co-benzooxadiazole (BO), named PBO-m-FPO and PBO-p-FPO. The properties, including UV–vis absorption, charge mobility and photovoltaic performance of the two polymers have been intensively investigated. The results indicated that the introduction of fluorine atom at m, p positions of phenyl substituted benzodithiophene unit hardly affected their absorption spectra and highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level. However, the two polymers showed different photovoltaic properties. Power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) based on the device structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer:PC71BM/Ca/Al demonstrated a large distinction (5.9% for PBO-m-FPO vs 2.8% for PBO-p-FPO) at optimal weight ratio. When replacing the Ca layer with zirconium acetylacetonate (ZrAcac), using 3% 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) as the active layer additive...


Adult male Sceloporus undulatus erythrocheilus possess ventral color patches that are used to communicate social status. Three discrete color morphs occur in natural populations, two that are prevalent (orange and yellow morphs) and one that is rare (melanized morph). We sought to describe the cellular basis of bright ventral coloration. Contributions of each of three types of chromatophores (xanthophores, iridophores, and melanophores) to overall tissue color in orange, yellow, gray, and blue tissues were determined by transmission electron microscopy and thin-layer chromatography. Qualitative differences occurred among all three color morphs. Additionally, an integrated color change mechanism that accounts for both ontogenetic and seasonal color changes at the cellular level is hypothesized.


The NASA Langley Research Center is currently conducting a stall/spin research program to define fighter aerodynamics applicable during developed spins and to develop analytical methods to use such measured aerodynamics for theoretically calculating spin motions. Some static, forced-oscillation and continuous rotation aerodynamic data have been measured for several current fighter models at developed spin angles of attack. The paper discusses these aerodynamic data and illustrates both the extremely nonlinear dependence of such data on several variables and the correlation that exists between the three types of measured aerodynamics. The current analytical methods for using these aerodynamics to calculate spin motions are discussed and correlated with experimentally obtained spins.


Objective To observe the non-surgical result for correction of nipple inversion. Methods A special self-made suction apparatus was used to tract the nipples continuously for at least one month. Results 18 nipples in 20 cases of nipple inversion have been treated with this new method. Except for two cases, all others showed natural satisfactory results after 6~12 months following-up. Conclusion Compared with traditional non-surgical methods and surgical operation, this new method has many advantages.


This paper presents the behaviour of fatigue damage extraction in fatigue strain histories of automotive components using the probabilistic approach. This is a consideration for the evaluation of fatigue damage extraction in automotive components under service loading that is vital in a reliability analysis. For the purpose of research work, two strain signals data are collected from a car coil spring during a road test. The fatigue strain signals are then extracted using the wavelet transform in order to extract the high amplitude segments that contribute to the fatigue damage. At this stage, the low amplitude segments are removed because of their minimal contribution to the fatigue damage. The fatigue damage based on all extracted segments is calculated using some significant strain-life models. Subsequently, the statistics-based Weibull distribution is applied to evaluate the fatigue damage extraction. It has been found that about 70% of the probability of failure occurs in the 1.0 x 10-5 to 1.0 x 10-4 damage range for both signals, while 90% of the probability of failure occurs in the 1.0 x 10-4 to 1.0 x 10-3 damage range. Lastly, it is suggested that the fatigue damage can be determined by the Weibull distribution analysis


There are many fiscal constraints facing those in the business of providing health care today Financial resources are becoming progressively scarcer and the . competition for funds is increasing. Policymakers have shifted their focus from the service availability and access they pushed during the last quarter century to cost containment. Both government and insurance companies have progressively tightened reimbursement systems and have shifted emphasis to outpatient and preventive health care and to homeand community-based health services. The resulting financial, organizational and professional arrangements could very well alter the boundaries and dimensions of future nursing practice. Other groups are positioning themselves to succeed in the marketplace, and nurses cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and react to the new systems being developed. They must help to create them.


Human suffering is a salient theme in psychology, but the construct itself remains undefined and opaque. Suffering, in psychology literature, is often difficult to tease apart from pathology. It is often assumed to be inherently bad, thus the emphasis on alleviating the suffering through various therapeutic and medicinal techniques. There is a wealth of literature, however, which indicates that people grow through the experience of suffering. Therefore, suffering, although painful, may prove to be beneficial to the sufferer in the end. I hope to provide a theoretical outline of how a radical relational approach in therapy may not only afford a unique understanding of suffering that may be unavailable from other therapeutic orientations but also influence the therapist's response to the sufferer in a transformative and healing way.


Trichogramma is an important egg parasitoid on lepidopterans and per cent parasitizing efficiency, egg desiccation, egg hatching, parasitoid emergence and per cent female ratio of seven Trichogramma species was studied against Plutella xylostella on cabbage, Helicoverpa armigera on tomato and Chilo partellus on maize in order to select appropriate Trichogramma species for each pest for determination of the dosage and frequency of release for effective suppression of above mentioned pests. The dosage and frequency of release were determined based on cost : benefit ratio (CBR). T. pretiosum (arrehenotokous) was selected for P. xylostella and H. armigera as it provided higher parasitism, i.e., 45.3 and 49.3 per cent, whereas T. chilonis gave an higher parasitism of 43.9 per cent against C. partellus. For suppression of P. xylostella and H. armigera, arrehenotokous form of T. pretiosum should be released @ 50,000/ha twice during the brood of the pest at weekly interval and for suppression of C. partellus, T. chilonis should be released @ 50,000 twice during the brood of pest at weekly interval. The CBR was higher 1:2.1 and 1:7.6 when T. pretiosum was released twice at @ 50,000/ha to control P. xylostella and H. armigera, respectively, whereas it was 1:3.5 when T. chilonis was released at @ 50,000/ha to control C. partellus, compared to 1 or 3 releases and also when released at higher rate, i.e., @ 100,000/ha, 1-3 times.


The Covid-19 pandemic is our era's most significant public health emergency. To aid in the Covid-19 affected ones detection of at the hospital, Rib Cage X-Rays have been a vital imaging technique to use. However, radiologists have to spend a lot of time interpreting them. Covid-19 can be diagnosed early and effectively triaged with the assistance of accurate machine learning-based computer systems. Deep feature Extraction which is tactic of Machine learning can be used in amalgamation with Rib Cage X-ray images to help detect the disease with greater accuracy and speed, which can aid assuage the problem of a dearth of detection kits during Covid wave. Persons sick with Covid-19 can be differentiated from hale and hearty ones using a Deep Feature Extraction-based approach proposed in this paper. 94.49% classification accuracy is achieved during experimentation, confirming the proposed mechanism's effectiveness.


Unhindered and smooth movement of emergency vehicles within a city is a crucial aspect of any intelligent transport system. It is common to observe emergency vehicles such as ambulances and fire engines obstructed by traffic snarls on Indian roads, especially in the proximity of busy intersections. Existing literature primarily advocates the deployment of RFID technology to terminate the round-robin sequence of the signal system and switch the signal to green in the required direction. However, this technology has proven to be susceptible to electromagnetic interferences and also the economic feasibility is questionable. This paper proposes a model that employs real time image processing and object detection using a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture called SSD Mobilenet. Unlike a few other architectures, SSD Mobilenet requires very limited computation, hence enabling swift detection. Furthermore, an acoustic signal (sound) processing (pitch detection) algorithm is employed to detect the sirens of emergency vehicles to nullify the potential false positives (e.g. an ambulance in a non-emergency scenario) that creep into object detection using image processing. Both algorithms work in unison, bolstering the accuracy of detection. Upon detection, the signal instantly switches to green, facilitating the expedited movement of emergency vehicles, even in high traffic conditions.


Many of the dynamic parameters of space manipulators cannot be verified or identified on ground because of the effect gravity has on the manipulator structure. The in-orbit testing of manipulators, on the other hand, has to be limited to a very short time compared to ground based experiments. The constraints of space experiments combined with the sluggishness of the space manipulators pose very strict requirements for optimization of the testing process. This paper discusses optimization of space experiments using modal parameter sensitivity. The procedure focuses on the optima1 kinematic configuration of the manipulators. The parameter identification procedure is centered on determination of the discrepancies between the nominal and the actual values of the structural dynamic parameters. The procedures are verified by numerical simulations.


While the school based practicum experience is a vital aspect of teacher education, a 'simulated' classroom can provide a less confrontational space for teacher education students to implement new teaching strategies and techniques. The project used actors to generate a series of short scenarios that dramatise classroom problems. The project employed the methodology of applied theatre in an educational setting.


Wireless sensor network has a wide area of application and in future their usage is much more. The main problem in wireless sensor network is its life time. To solve this problem we introduced soft and hard thresholding to LEACH that increases the performance even more. By using soft thresholding (ST) and hard thresholding (HT) in reactive heterogeneous network which consists of normal and advanced nodes which saves the energy of the node during data transmission. Heterogeneous network increases the lifetime by electing advanced node as cluster head (CH) and the thresholding has been used for the data transmission in the proposed protocol. Finally a brief performance analysis of leach, modified leach with soft thresholding (ST) and hard thresholding (HT) is undertaken considering metrics of throughput, network lifetime, dead node, alive nodes, packets to Base Station (BS) and cluster head (CH). Simulation has been done in MATLAB and simulation results shown that soft thresholding (ST) and hard thresholding (HT) are more efficient than LEACH protocol. Keywords---Reactive network, Heterogeneous network, Soft threshold, Hard threshold, Cluster head, Base station.


e17571 Background: Women diagnosed with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer (EC) have a poor prognosis, with a 5-year survival of only 15% to 17%. While a multi-modality approach is often used for newly diagnosed EC including platinum-based chemotherapy, there are no definitively approved standard treatment options for advanced or recurrent EC following prior systemic therapy (FPST). The real-world evidence surrounding the effectiveness of chemotherapies in this setting is not well characterized. We conducted a systematic literature review to attempt to fill this evidence gap. Methods: Systematic searches were run in Embase, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library to identify English-language publications from January 2000 to July 2020. Additional hand searches of 5 key conferences held from 2018 to 2020 were also conducted. The review included observational studies reporting the clinical effectiveness, safety, or treatment patterns of pharmacological treatments in adult women with advanced or recurrent EC. Results: Seventy-seven observational studies met the inclusion criteria, of these 63 studies reported on the effectiveness of chemotherapies. While 57 studies described adjuvant chemotherapy use, 6 described use of chemotherapies FPST, including 1 study in the second line or later. Only one of these 6 studies reported a sample size greater than 100 patients. Chemotherapy FPST included paclitaxel/carboplatin (3 studies), doxorubicin (2 studies), etoposide (1 study), or any platinum-based chemotherapy (1 study). Shorter median overall survival (OS) was observed in patients with treatment-free intervals (TFI) < 6 months from prior systemic therapy (5.5-11.3 months; 2 studies) compared to those with TFI > 6 months (13.0-27.0 months; 3 studies). Similarly, shorter median progression-free survival (PFS) was seen in patients with TFI < 6 months from prior systemic therapy (2.0-3.2 months; 2 studies) vs. those with TFI > 6 months (6.0-10.0 months; 3 studies). Conclusions: Women with advanced or recurrent EC have poor OS and PFS with current chemotherapy regimens, especially for those with TFI < 6 months. The time at recurrence from prior systemic therapy seems to correlate with the outcomes of subsequent treatment. Novel efficacious treatment strategies are required to improve patients' outcomes in the FPST setting. While extensive real-world evidence exists for patients with EC receiving adjuvant chemotherapy, real world data is limited for use of chemotherapy in advanced or recurrent setting, warranting further research in larger samples of patients.


The paper compares different types of staffing policies in multinational corporations. The general conclusion is that each prevalent type of staffing policy has several sources of morale problems - some inherent in its uniqueness, and others shared by the alternative staffing policies - irrespective of the personal qualifications of the managers.