The phase behavior of methylcellulose-poly(acrylic acid) mixtures was studied in aqueous solution. It was shown that the complexation between the two polymers decreases considerably the cloud-point of methylcellulose. The addition of inorganic salts shifts the critical pH values toward a higher pH region. Films were prepared based on methylcellulose-poly(acrylic acid) blends and were analyzed by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, scanning electron microscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis. The miscibility between the two polymers in the films was shown. It was found that the thermal treatment of the films leads to their cross-linking with the formation of materials swellable both in water and ethanol.

© 2003 Society of Chemical Industry


Among the inhabitants of Amami-Islands, mass-survey of leprosy was carried out in peoples of 77,500, who lived in Kikai-Island, Setouchi-Town, Tokunoshima-Town and Okierabu-Island (Wadomari-and China-Town). This survey was put into practice at each hamlet in conjunction with the survey of tuberculosis in order to investigate all inhabitants as many as possible. The rate of examination was different in examined areas, as shown in 89.3 to 98.6%. Many unexamined cases were found in Setouchi-Town, where the communication each other had to be due to sea-route, but this rate was more than 96% in the other towns. Therefore, it seems to be better that this examination puts into practice in conjunction with the mass-survey of tuberculosis on all inhabitants, as well as the author's method. In these examined areas, total numbers of leprosy patients were 343(4.64 per 1,000 of population), and hospitalized cases were 257 and unhospitalized cases were 86 in these patients. The incidence of leprosy in examined areas was highest in Setouchi-Town, secondarily in Tokunoshima-Town or Kikai-Town, and this prevalence was lowest in Okierabu-Island, and many unhospitalized patients were found in town where there were many hospitalized patients. Unhospitalized patients of 86 cases corresponded to 1.16 per 1,000 of population and this rate was 46 times higher than the average in Japan. However, 72% of these unhospitalized patients was TN-type of leprosy and the other cases were L-type or TM-type of leprosy who would become the infectious sources. Unhospitalized patients who were found newly by these examinations were three times higher than those who were registered already. This fact suggests that mass-survey of leprosy will be very important in areas where many hospitalized patients were found already. However, leprosy patients with the age of less than 19 years were found in 3% to all patients and these cases were already hospitalized. This phenomenon may show the tendency that the prevalence of leprosy will be decreasing gradually in Amami-Islands.


Evaluation of noise pollution load and its mitigation is a big challenge towards a sustainable environmental. The present study is an attempt to assess the noise pollution load of the study area and address the impacts of the noisy environment in brick kiln areas. An extensive noise level monitoring study was conducted at 12 pre-identified brick kiln cluster. The recorded data were interpreted and compared with the prescribed standard of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to evaluate the ambient noise quality status around the study area. A structured questionnaire was prepared to collect noise related compliance from a brick kiln worker. The noise sources were identified and their levels at different brick kiln cluster during peak working hours between 09:30 AM – 04:30 PM were measured. The study results showed that the noise level in most of the brick kilns areas exceeded the acceptable level 75 dB in on-site sampling. However, brick kiln workers were not well aware of such types of occupational hazard and noise related compliance issue.


The Digital Signal Processing in Radio Astronomy (DSPIRA) program is an NSF funded RET site which provides high school teachers with hands on experience using high quality open source software development tools, in both research engineering and educational settings. The goals of the program are to: (1) Prepare teachers to implement DSP projects with their students, exposing them to exciting STEM career opportunities; (2) Inspire high school students to pursue careers in STEM disciplines through building radio astronomy telescopes and using them for observation; (3) Broaden the reach of the DSP activities developed through DSPIRA, and (4) Develop the communication / pedagogical skills of the teachers, project staff, graduate and undergraduate students.


If Bradford is to successfully challenge the impacts of the current recession on social cohesion and changing regeneration priorities, a robust evidence base is needed to support policy guidance. With the recent slow down in new housing development and affordable housing, reduced subsidies from property developers, difficulties in delivering s106 agreements on infrastructure, and cuts in public sector spending the regeneration plans for Bradford City have been reviewed and amended. There is a risk that there will be pressures to approve poor quality schemes with short-term benefits, but reduced long-term benefits such as social cohesion.
The main aim of the research is to provide practical support to the city and people of Bradford by identifying evidence-based policy recommendations which help to strengthen community relationships and cohesion in Bradford during and after the current recession, focusing on the longer-term social implications of recession. Whilst the physical quality of a neighbourhood and social cohesion are inextricably interwoven, the extent to which this relationship is particularly affected in Bradford during the recession is unknown. Once this relationship is understood, there needs to be guidance for practitioners to translate and implement the evidence to urban development projects. This needs to be addressed as a step change in current knowledge, practice and policy development.


A slightly more general orthogonality relation for the Hahn polynomials of a continuous variable than the recent one given by Atakishiyev and Suslov, (1985), is given here.


Based on the statistic data of agricultural input and output in Xingwen county from 2003 to 2010,and the current characteristics of carbon sink/source in farmland ecosystem were analyzed.The result showed that(ⅰ) The amounts of carbon absorption in farmland ecosystem in Xingwen kept stable increase since 2003.The amounts of carbon absorption were 183487.22 t in 2010,increasing by 8.76 % than that in 2003.(ⅱ) The amounts of carbon emission in farmland ecosystem in Xingwen totally kept the increasing trend,which increased from 10443.06 tons in 2003 to 11955.70 tons in 2010,and the inputs of fertilizer were the main way of carbon loss.(ⅲ) as carbon absorption was higher than carbon emission,farmland ecosystem had strong capability of carbon sink,but there still existed pressure to increasing carbon sink in farmland ecosystem in Xingwen because the growth rate of carbon emission was higher than that of carbon absorption.


This paper considers the effects of user interface adaptation based on regional eye tracker accuracy to improve user performance and satisfaction in an eye-gaze-guided application. We objectively and subjectively evaluated the differences between an adaptive interface, in which navigational elements were placed in regions of highest accuracy, and its inverted counterpart, in which navigational elements were placed in regions of lowest accuracy. The results indicate that by accounting for regional accuracy the adaptive interface was able to provide a significant improvement in user performance, though this effect had little bearing on user satisfaction.


Background: Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) is recommended by guidelines to distinguish between true-severe and pseudo-severe aortic stenosis (AS) in patients with low-gradients and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <50%. However, DSE has mostly been tested in the setting of LVEF<35% and determination of AS severity has mostly been based on outcome data and surgeon's evaluation. The purpose of this study was to examine the diagnostic accuracy of guideline recommendations for DSE, in patents with low-gradient severe AS with a wide range of LVEF and to examine the interaction between the diagnostic accuracy of DSE and LVEF. Furthermore, we wanted to study the safety and feasibility of DSE in patients with LVEF>50%. Methods: Patients with aortic mean gradient <40 mmHg, AVA <1.0 cm2, and stroke volume index [≤] 35 mL/m2 undergoing DSE and Cardiac Computer Tomography (C-CT) were identified from three prospectively collected patient cohorts, and stratified according to LVEF; LVEF <35%, LVEF 35-50% & LVEF >50%. Severe AS was defined as AVC score [≥] 2000 AU among men, and [≥] 1200 AU for women on C-CT. Results: Two hundred twenty-one patients were included in the study. Seventy-eight (35%) presented with LVEF <35%, 67 (30%) with LVEF 35-50%, and 76 (34%) with LVEF >50%. DSE was performed without adverse symptoms or significant arrhythmias in 215 (96%) patients and stroke volume increased uniformly with no significant differences between groups (p=0.28). Mean gradient and Vmax during DSE showed significantly diagnostic heterogeneity between LVEF groups, being most precise when LVEF <35% (both AUC=0.90), albeit with optimal thresholds of 30 mmHg & 377 cm/s, and a limited diagnostic yield in patients with LVEF[≥] 35% (AUC=0.67 in LVEF 35-50% and AUC 0.65 in LVEF[≥] 35%). Using guideline thresholds led to a sensitivity and specificity of 49%/84% for all patients with LVEF <50%. Conclusion: While DSE is safe and leads to a uniform increase in stroke volume in patients with low gradient AS regardless of baseline LVEF, the association between DSE gradients and AS severity assessed by C-CT demonstrates important heterogeneity depending on LVEF, with highest accuracy in patients with LVEF <35%.


Controversy about sex education programs has hampered sustained actin or curricular extension in Mexico beyond programs directly related to demographic policies. The 1st sex education in Mexico perhaps dated back to 1908 when physicians and other health professionals, inspired by the eugenics movement, offered sex education to prevent venereal diseases and maternal and/infant mortality. A 2nd attempt occurred in 1916 in the context of the women's suffrage movement. The 2 perspectives were integrated in a sex education project in 1933, as part of the program of "revolutionary education" legitimized by the progressive and modernizing government of the time. Conservative groups including some parents' associations and religious organizations insisted on their exclusive right to provide sex education, and in following decades they opposed social programs related to primary health care and women's rights. In the 1960, the introduction to Mexico of modern contraceptives and the questioning by young people of virginity and the double standard of sexual morality were not aided by any formal program of sex education in Mexico. In the early 1970s, the need to transform fertility patterns led to establishment of formal sex education programs at the national level. The focus was on reproduction and demographic aspects. Most students were exposed to classes and textbooks covering puberty, human reproduction, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases. The intense activity of the early years did not continue in the subsequent program, but currently, the threat of AIDS and economic and social pressures are prompting a new political will in favor of sex education. Sex education is seen as the main strategy for AIDS prevention programs. Homosexual groups are demonstrating a new political pressure as civil organizations integrated into a new sector demanding sex education. At the same time, population policies are assuming a predominant position in official discourse as a means of facing social and economic needs. New programs are under study for the rural populations and adolescents who are not well covered by existing family planning programs. A national sex survey found that there had been some advances in sex education, with almost half of respondents stating they had received information on sexuality and contraception from teachers or written materials. Curriculum adjustments are being made in sex education at the basic and intermediate levels within the program of Educational modernization. Content covering development of affective and personal relations and prevention of AIDS is being added. A new unit on Adolescent Sexuality is also planned to cover sexual identity and expression and the control and abuse of sexual impulses.


ABSTRACT Twenty-seven well-characterized metallo-β-lactamase (MBL)-producing Pseudomonas strains from two distantly located hospitals were analyzed. The results revealed specific features defining the multilevel epidemiology of strains from each hospital in terms of species, clonality, predominance of high-risk clones, composition/diversity of integrons, and linkages of Tn402-related structures. Therefore, despite the global trends driving the epidemiology of MBL-producing Pseudomonas spp., the presence of local features has to be considered in order to understand this threat and implement proper control strategies.


Summary
1Nitrogen uptake in the terricolous bryophyte Hylocomium splendens (Hedw.) B.S.G. was studied in a boreal forest long-term N-treatment experiment including control plots, N-addition plots (50 kg N ha−1 year−1 for 8 years) and recovery plots (50 kg N ha−1 year−1 for 5 years and thereafter no N addition for 3 years).
2A main objective was to explore whether the N treatments changed bryophyte uptake of different inorganic and organic N forms. In addition, we estimated the contribution of N from throughfall precipitation to the bryophyte N supply.
3The results demonstrated that bryophyte N uptake was similar in all the long-term N-treatment plots. Hylocomium splendens took up more 15N labelled than or glycine when these N forms were applied in situ by the spraying of solutions with N concentrations similar to those in precipitation.
4Analysis of the precipitation collected beneath the closed tree canopy from late May to early October revealed that it contributed 2·0 kg N ha−1 during the period studied, distributed between (78%), amino acid N (17%) and (5%).
5The study highlights that, in addition to analyses of  and  (normally included in standard environmental monitoring of precipitation), analysis of amino acid N must be performed to account fully for the precipitation N input to bryophytes in boreal forest ecosystems.


We present a diffuse optical tomography algorithm based on the time-dependent parabolic simplified spherical harmonics equations and adjoint variables for reconstructing images of absorption and diffusion coefficient distributions.


Purpose: To report 2 patients with apocrine adenocarcinoma of the eyelid and review the literature. Design: Noncomparative, retrospective case series and review. Participants: Clinical data of 2 patients with histopathologic diagnoses of apocrine adenocarcinoma of the eyelid were obtained from medical records. The histopathology and immunohistochemistry data for the 2 cases were studied. A retrospective review was performed on all reported cases of eyelid apocrine carcinoma. Main Outcome Measures: Clinical features, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and clinical course following treatment are reported. The results of a retrospective review of clinical presentations, local and systemic spread, treatment method, and prognosis from published case reports on eyelid apocrine adenocarcinoma are discussed. Results: One patient had orbital invasion at presentation. This patient had radiotherapy alone and had no systemic or local recurrence at 2 years. One patient underwent a 4-mm margin wide surgical excision. This patient had no local or systemic recurrences at 1 year. A review of the literature suggests that the prognosis of adnexal apocrine tumors is indeterminate and variable. Most patients have successful outcomes following local surgical excision. Radiotherapy has been used as an adjunctive treatment for local metastatic disease. Conclusions: Apocrine adenocarcinoma is a rare adnexal tumor of the eyelid, which may present with orbital invasion.


A non-linear column model of an internally confined hollow (ICH) reinforced concrete (RC) column was suggested and column tests were performed. The suggested column model considered the confining effect and the material non-linearity of the concrete. To verify the suggested column model and to investigate the behaviour of an ICH RC column, quasi-static tests were performed for three different ICH RC columns and a solid RC column. The analysis results by the suggested model were agreeable with the test results, and they showed that it was reasonable to consider the confining effect of concrete. The test results showed that an ICH RC column has high strength, high energy-absorbing capacity, a normal damage index and acceptable ductility, which can be controlled by the thickness and the type of its internal tube.


302 THERE IS GROWING AMOUNT OF EVIDENCE THAT MEMORY CONSOLIDATION IS CONNECTED TO SLEEP. SLEEP DEPENDENT MEMORY CONSOLIDATION HAS been shown in humans for declarative as well as non-declarative material.1,2 It is less clear which sleep stages or electroencephalographic microstructures are relevant for different learning tasks.3-7 The relevant sleep structures have been studied mostly by indirect means. Some concepts are based on the observation of changes of the sleep structure after learning experiences. For example, for a procedural motor learning task a correlation between the performance improvement and the amount of stage 2 sleep was shown.2 The amount of REM sleep appears to be increased after a motor-learning task.8 Other studies have taken advantage of the uneven distribution of sleep stages over the 2 halves of a night. Declarative memory consolidation was associated with the first half of the night, when SWS is known to be most prominent. In contrast, procedural memory tasks were connected with the second half of the night when REM sleep dominates.9 The associations with the specific sleep stages were deduced from the experiment even though all sleep stages were present in both halves of the night, and therefore remain quite speculative. There have been contradictory findings on the verbal paired associates task,9 which tests declarative memory. Some results favor a connection with SWS,9-12 others a REM sleep dependency.13-15 One explanation is that small differences in the degree of difficulty or emotionality can have a large influence on the outcome.4,16 It is not only emotionality and difficulty that affect sleep-dependent memory consolidation; no task is process pure, meaning that all tasks have different explicit and implicit demands. This is presumably reflected by different sleep mechanisms being associated with memory consolidation. Small differences in test design can cause large discrepancies in the study results of the sleep dependence of memory processes. This may explain why some results are regularly found only by some groups. As a consequence, clear and consistent test design is even more important. It has also been found that REM sleep deprivation impairs consolidation of some procedural tasks but had no effect on declarative memory consolidation.4 A few more recent studies have utilized selective REM sleep deprivation (REMD).17,18 However, there have been no studies comparing SWS deprivation (SWSD) with REMD with respect to motor and declarative memory consolidation. Selective sleep deprivation has been criticized for evoking additional unspecific effects like arousal, emotional irritation, and concentration deficits. Therefore we chose 2 different deprivation conditions as additional controls and measured stress, concentration, and sleepiness throughout the experiment. Selective sleep deprivation appears to be the most direct method to investigate the impact of specific sleep stages on memory consolidation. Taken together, most experimental results suggest a connection between procedural memory and REM sleep; declarative memory appears to be dependent on SWS, even though numerous studies found no direct relationships between word-pair recall and SWS.19 The aim of the present study was to clarify the MeMory Consolidation


Objective: The research sought to identify the functions of photography in these periods, in Brazil, Chile and Argentina, in order to reinforce the need to understand the photographic document as a tool for justice and the development of collections organization instruments that guarantee the maintenance of the properties of this type of document.Methods: A survey of occurrences of terms related to photography was carried out in the reports produced by the project Brasil: Nunca Mais and by truth commissions of the countries studied and analyzed the transcripts of testimonies. In addition, other examples of the occurrence of photographs were inserted in the context analyzed to complement the list of functions, which was classified and presented as a non-exhaustive result of these occurrences.Results: The 26 functions identified demonstrate that photography was used as an administrative product, was a weapon of political and ideological opposition that reinforced the press's position, was a resource in the search and denunciation of organizations of relatives of victims, was used by militants to identify torturers and for the production of false documentation, has been and continues to be evidence presented in truth and trial commissions, recorded and records the work of human rights institutions and acts as a political and artistic tool.Conclusions: Photography is increasingly expected to be understood as an integral part of the collections that contribute to transitional justice processes.


Communication is a dynamic process and it happens in all organizations. As a manager in an organization the skill of communication is crucial because the ability to communicate
is a managerial necessity. Good managers are good communicators; poor managers are most often poor communicators. Therefore this quote summarizes the assumed
importance of the relationship between communication and management. On this note too manager's communication style will affect the workers' communication satisfaction. Therefore the objective of this survey is to identify the correlation between the managers' communication style towards the workers' communication satisfaction using stratified random sampling, a set of questionnaire consisting of 48 items has been distributed 100 respondents from a population of 133 workers at the Zoo Negara. Seven dimensions managerial communication has been chosen for this survey and seven hypotheses have also been constructed to be tested in this study. Analysis factor had been supplemented to discover which of the 8 factors that been used influence the satisfaction in communication among Zoo Negara's staff. As a result, only 5 factors had been
discovered to give an influence to the communication's satisfaction among them. From the 48 items that had been examined, only 30 items had found to lead on the satisfaction in communication among Zoo Negara's staff. Using Pearson Correlation r and the Mean Test, findings revealed that the entire four null hypotheses were rejected because there is a significant correlation between the managers' communication style towards the workers' communication satisfaction. It is hoped that this findings will give some insight to the administrators, programmed planners and trainers as to how effective managerial communication is, especially to the administrators at Zoo Negara in handling and interacting with their workers toward a better rapport between administrators and workers.


OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical application of several typing methods for an example of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. METHODS To analyze its biotype, antibioticgram, serotype, plasmidgram and their relationship combining the clinical test examination. RESULTS Eleven biotypes, 18 antibioticgrams, 9 serotypes and 18 plasmidgrams were detected in the 97 strains. In two outbreaks of P.aeruginosa infection, there were identity and complement to some degree in the above typing methods though the typing rate was different. CONCLUSIONS The above four typing methods are different from each other in complex and information capacity, when used in the epidemiologic investigation, their typing results may be combined with each other effectively in some cases for the bacterial test and nosocomial infection surveillance work.


FIELD: measurement; testing.SUBSTANCE: invention relates to methods for assessing the effectiveness of an asphaltene inhibitor / dispersant using crude oil. Method for assessing the effectiveness of an asphaltene inhibitor / dispersant in crude oil comprises: a) weighing a first coupon; immersing the first coupon or a portion thereof into a first sample for a first selected time period, the first sample comprising an aliquot of the crude oil; adding a precipitant to the first sample within the first selected time period; removing the first coupon from the first sample at the end of the first selected time period; and drying and weighing the first coupon; (b) weighing a second coupon; immersing the second coupon or a portion thereof into a second sample for a second selected time period, the second sample comprising an aliquot of the crude oil and an asphaltene inhibitor/dispersant; adding a precipitant to the second sample within the second selected time period; removing the second coupon from the second sample at the end of the second selected time period; and drying and weighing the second coupon; (c) determining the weight of asphaltenes deposited on the first coupon and the weight of asphaltenes deposited on the second coupon; and (d) determining the percentage of asphaltene deposition inhibition.EFFECT: technical result is rapid screening of a large number of samples, collection of a set of results in a short period of time, using the minimum volume of fluid per result.22 cl, 2 tbl, 1 dwg


BACKGROUND
This study aimed to compare remifentanil and ketamine-propofol in terms of hemodynamic response, duration of recovery and patient satisfaction in operative hysteroscopy cases who underwent monitored anaesthesia care in combination with paracervical block.

METHODS
Monitored anaesthesia care was used in 60 ASA I-II female patients. The patients were divided into two groups as remifentanil (Group R) and ketamine-propofol (Group K-P). The hemodynamic effects of remifentanil and ketamine-propofol, and duration of recovery were recorded and compared. The patient satisfaction was also recorded and the two groups were compared.

RESULTS
Age, body mass, ASA status, duration of anaesthesia and type of surgery were found to be similar between groups. The time of the Aldrete score reaching ≥ 9 was found to be shorter in Group R when compared with Group KP (Group R: 4.1 ± 1.9 min, Group K-P: 6.1 ± 2.6 min) (P< 0.05). The incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting was found to be significantly higher in the remifentanil group (P ≤ 0.05). When the groups were compared in terms of patient satisfaction, in both groups this was found to be similar.

CONCLUSION
Sedation with remifentanil combined with a paracervical block during monitored anaesthesia care provides early recovery with effective sedation and analgesia in hysteroscopy procedures.


Two spray coatings were prepared by thermal spray weld with two kinds of Ni-based alloy powders,named as Ni-A and Ni-B.XRD and SEM results show that the substrates of Ni-A and Ni-B spray coatings are both Ni and FeNi3,while there is few Cu in Ni-A substrate.Both in Ni-A and Ni-B coatings there are lots of secondary phases with a great proportion of Cr.Secondary phases in Ni-A have two appearances and there is about 20% Mo in them,but secondary phases in Ni-B contain no Mo.The results of high-temperature hardness test make it clear that the hardnesses of Ni-A and Ni-B are high and descend with increasing temperature.The hardness of Ni-A is higher than the relevant hardness of Ni-B because there is about 20% Mo in the secondary phases of Ni-A.


This study examines the agencies responsible for investigating when a member of the public is seriously injured, is killed or experiences other serious and potentially criminal actions at the hands of police officers in Canada. The article takes a comprehensive approach by examining all police oversight agencies that are responsible for responding to and investigating allegations of police criminality—eight organizations, across nine jurisdictions. The study integrates insights from public administration and police accountability literature and examines the structures and administration of the agencies. The study provides a critical assessment of the state of police oversight for serious incidents in Canada, it identifies agency outputs (including case substantiation), levels of independence, efforts at transparency, and considers the challenges in attempting to hold police accountable in Canada.


In this work, we exploit historical channel data via linear programming and machine learning tools to perform opportunistic scheduling for multiuser wireless systems under temporal fairness constraints. We first derive linear program-based scheduling (LPS) algorithms that compute the scheduling decisions from a window of past user metrics. The proposed linear program scheduling policies approach the optimal policy as the window size gets large. However, as demonstrated via simulations, even with a short window, the performance of the proposed policies can be very close to optimal. For stationary environments, we introduce a new interpretation of the scheduling problem that casts the resource allocation problem as one of statistical classification. We then propose a novel supervised classification-based scheduling (SCS) framework, which uses the LPS decisions to obtain labeled samples for training a multiclass classifier and obtaining optimal scheduling decision boundaries. In addition, as applications of the proposed classification framework, we devise efficient classification methods to learn the scheduling offsets for existing offset-driven scheduling policies.


The expediency of the use selective protection from ground short circuits in the electrical networks is substantiated. The possibility of providing with selective current protection by the neutral ground through a resistor is shown. The scheme is described and the characteristics of advanced current protection, promoting the increase of oil companies power supply reliability, are given.


A conceptual model is developed to evaluate the effect of Bt corn on risk. Results highlight the importance of distinguishing between marginal and aggregate risk effects and demonstrate that the effect of Bt corn on risk depends crucially on the price paid for the technology. Empirical results show that, depending on the price, Bt corn can be marginally risk increasing or decreasing and can either increase or decrease corn acreage. Also, depending on the price, Bt corn can provide a risk benefit to farmers, even when Bt corn is risk increasing. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.


Background: Although prediction of hospital readmissions has been studied in medical patients, it has received relatively little attention in surgical patient populations. Published predictors require information only available at the moment of discharge. The authors hypothesized that machine learning approaches can be leveraged to accurately predict readmissions in postoperative patients from the emergency department. Further, the authors hypothesize that these approaches can accurately predict the risk of readmission much sooner than hospital discharge. Methods: Using a cohort of surgical patients at a tertiary care academic medical center, surgical, demographic, lab, medication, care team, and current procedural terminology data were extracted from the electronic health record. The primary outcome was whether there existed a future hospital readmission originating from the emergency department within 30 days of surgery. Secondarily, the time interval from surgery to the prediction was analyzed at 0, 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 h. Different machine learning models for predicting the primary outcome were evaluated with respect to the area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve metric using different permutations of the available features. Results: Surgical hospital admissions (N = 34,532) from April 2013 to December 2016 were included in the analysis. Surgical and demographic features led to moderate discrimination for prediction after discharge (area under the curve: 0.74 to 0.76), whereas medication, consulting team, and current procedural terminology features did not improve the discrimination. Lab features improved discrimination, with gradient-boosted trees attaining the best performance (area under the curve: 0.866, SD 0.006). This performance was sustained during temporal validation with 2017 to 2018 data (area under the curve: 0.85 to 0.88). Lastly, the discrimination of the predictions calculated 36 h after surgery (area under the curve: 0.88 to 0.89) nearly matched those from time of discharge. Conclusions: A machine learning approach to predicting postoperative readmission can produce hospital-specific models for accurately predicting 30-day readmissions via the emergency department. Moreover, these predictions can be confidently calculated at 36 h after surgery without consideration of discharge-level data. Hospital-specific 30-day surgical readmission models using machine learning techniques provide clinically usable predictions when applied to future patients. A parsimonious approach limiting which data elements are considered performs as well as more comprehensive models. Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text.


Development of technologies for users with reading or symbol
disorder is neglected due to statistically inconsistent number
of users diagnosed across languages, or dependency of the
technology on specific language principles. We are developing
an application that will allow Czech speaking users with
reading disorders to access web information better, which also
mean easier socialization and access to education. For such
application, we need to determine what the problem in text is
for (not only diagnosed) dyslexic users and how we can find it.
Therefore, a simple formal methodology for identifying visual
similarity of letters is needed. The LAP algorithm introduced
in this paper will help to find possible similarity view as
users with reading disorders have. The application built upon
this will be used for allowing dyslexic users to better access
text information from web and also for users with temporary
neurological disorders in consequence with a disease, trauma or
operation.


Abstract In the present study, we have developed a code using Matlab software for solving a rectangular aluminum plate having void, notch, at different boundary conditions discretizing a two dimensional (2D) heat conduction equation by the finite difference technique. We have solved a 2D mixed boundary heat conduction problem analytically using Fourier integrals (Deb Nath et al., 2006; 2007; 2007; Deb Nath and Ahmed, 2008; Deb Nath, 2008; Deb Nath and Afsar, 2009; Deb Nath and Ahmed, 2009; 2009; Deb Nath et al., 2010; Deb Nath, 2013) and the same problem is also solved using the present code developed by the finite difference technique (Ahmed et al., 2005; Deb Nath, 2002; Deb Nath et al., 2008; Ahmed and Deb Nath, 2009; Deb Nath et al., 2011; Mohiuddin et al., 2012). To verify the soundness of the present heat conduction code results using the finite difference method, the distribution of temperature at some sections of a 2D heated plate obtained by the analytical method is compared with those of the plate obtained by the present finite difference method. Interpolation technique is used as an example when the boundary of the plate does not pass through the discretized grid points of the plate. Sometimes hot and cold fluids are passed through rectangular channels in industries and many types of technical equipment. The distribution of temperature of plates including notches, slots with different temperature boundary conditions are studied. Transient heat transfer in several pure metallic plates is also studied to find out the required time to reach equilibrium temperature. So, this study will help find design parameters of such structures.


To solve the problem of feeding the masses is a major event of the Party's first generation of central collective leadership with Mao Ze-dong at its core,in relation to the people's livelihood and the stability.Mao Ze-dong presented that China has to rely on the socialist system,implement mechanization and cooperation of agricultural,purchase and sale of food,both production and conservation measures to preserve its national food security,guaranteed something to eat.The KMT lost power for military personnel and the progressive aristocratic of supporting the reform in Tibet,social widows and the needy,lost the ability to impose hardship and other special groups in using special policies and measures to ensure their livelihood security.


College students' " physical retardation" has seriously hindered the healthy development of individual and society. It's urgent to seek effective means and methods to improve this phenomenon which has become the major social problems. This paper use the methods of literature,questionnaire and mathematical statistics to research and analyze 5724 college students' sports consumption and the quantity of physical activity. The results showed that: the differences of Students' Sports Consumption structure have a relevent relaction with the quantity of physical activity as well as the increasing of sports consumption shows an trend of increasing physical activity. It's visible to see sports consumption has a significant effect on increasing the amount of physical activity and the sports consumption is the material basis and spiritual protection to improve students' physical health.


The purpose of this work is to stimulate a neural network with non-linear activation functions. The non-linear functions are simulated in Microsoft Visual Studio C++ 6.0 to observe the precision and to implement on the programmable logic devices. This network is realized to accept very small input values. The multiplication between input values and weight values is realized with the add-logarithm and exponential functions. One approximates all the non-linear functions with linear functions using shift-add blocks.


The analysis of the structure of the employed population of Russia according to the level of education is presented, the average level of education employed by the number of years of study is calculated and the differentiation of the regions of Russia by this indicator is analyzed. It is noted that the value of this indicator is significantly shorter than the time for obtaining higher professional education and there is a slight regional differentiation of employment according to the level of education. In most regions with a minimum average level of education, the employment rate of the population is lower than the average Russian level.


The GMT-Consortium Large Earth Finder (G-CLEF) is a fiber-fed, optical echelle spectrograph selected as the first light instrument for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) now under construction at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. G-CLEF has been designed to be a general-purpose echelle spectrograph with precision radial velocity (PRV) capability for exoplanet detection. The radial velocity (RV) precision goal of G-CLEF is 10 cm/sec, necessary for detection of Earth-sized exoplanets. This goal imposes challenging stability requirements on the optical mounts and the overall spectrograph support structures especially when considering the instrument's operational environment. The accuracy of G-CLEF's PRV measurements will be influenced by minute changes in temperature and ambient air pressure as well as vibrations and micro gravity-vector variations caused by normal telescope slewing. For these reasons we have chosen to enclose G-CLEF's spectrograph in a well-insulated, vibration isolated vacuum chamber in a gravity invariant location on GMT's azimuth platform. Additional design constraints posed by the GMT telescope include: a limited space envelope, a thermal emission ceiling, and a maximum weight allowance. Other factors, such as manufacturability, serviceability, available technology and budget are also significant design drivers. All of the above considerations must be managed while ensuring performance requirements are achieved. In this paper, we discuss the design of G-CLEF's optical mounts and support structures including the choice of a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) carbon-fiber optical bench to minimize the system's sensitivity to thermal soaks and gradients. We discuss design choices made to the vacuum chamber geared towards minimize the influence of daily ambient pressure variations on image motion during observation. We discuss the design of G-CLEF's insulated enclosure and thermal control systems which will maintain the spectrograph at milli-Kelvin level stability while simultaneously limiting thermal emissions into the telescope dome. Also discussed are micro gravity-vector variations caused by normal telescope slewing, their uncorrected influence on image motion, and how they are dealt with in the design. Finally, we discuss G-CLEF's front-end assembly and fiber-feed system as well as other interface challenges presented by the telescope, enclosure and neighboring instrumentation.


Summary In this study we introduced modifications of QuEChERS (Quick Easy Cheap Effective Rugged and Safe) method in terms of type of solvent (acetone, acetonitrile, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane), extraction temperature (25°C, 6°C, –18°C), extraction time (1–30 minutes) and way of extracting (by hand and using Heidolph Multi Reax shaker). The aim of the experiment was to investigate the influence of modifications on the pesticide residues extraction efficiency from the plant material. A mixture of 33 pesticides was quantitatively recovered from spiked tomato samples and determined using gas chromatography with nitrogen phosphorus detector and electron capture detector (GC–NPD/ECD). For each condition there were three replicates. Extraction by acetonitrile, ethyl acetate and dichloromethane gave good results (recoveries above 70% for almost all compounds). Ethyl acetate and dichloromethane were found to be more suitable solvents for QuEChERS extraction than acetonitrile. However, use of dichloromethane and ethyl acetate resulted in larger impact of interfering compounds than use of acetone and acetonitrile. In the presence of acetone recoveries of most compounds were below 70%. Shaking time and intensity were less important in condition of chilled and frozen samples (recoveries above 80%). Storage at room temperature and shaking with Heidolph decreased extraction efficiency with the length of shaking. 1 minute shaking by hand and 5 minutes shaking using Heidolph seemed sufficient for more than 70% yields under all temperature conditions.


This article analyzes how a credit guarantee confers private benefits to creditors and proposes reform policies and related assessment measures in order to make credit guarantee a socially beneficial intermediation instrument. Analysis indicates that the necessary and sufficient conditions for credit guarantee to have positive economic value to creditors include sufficiency of collateral and creditor's risk aversion. Findings also suggest that guarantee programs have a limited reach, implying a need for continuing subsidies.


Purpose: We hypothesized that axitinib is active with an improved safety profile in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Experimental Design: We evaluated axitinib in preclinical models of NPC and studied its efficacy in a phase II clinical trial in recurrent or metastatic NPC patients who progressed after at least one line of prior platinum-based chemotherapy. We excluded patients with local recurrence or vascular invasion. Axitinib was started at 5 mg twice daily in continuous 4-week cycles. Primary endpoint was clinical benefit rate (CBR), defined as the percentage of patients achieving complete response, partial response, or stable disease by RECIST criteria for more than 3 months. Results: We recruited 40 patients, who received a median of 3 lines of prior chemotherapy. Axitinib was administered for a mean of 5.6 cycles, with 16 patients (40%) receiving ≥6 cycles. Of 37 patients evaluable for response, CBR was 78.4% (95% CI, 65.6%–91.2%) at 3 months and 43.2% (30.4%–56.1%) at 6 months. Grade 3/4 toxicities were uncommon, including hypertension (8%), diarrhea (5%), weight loss (5%), and pain (5%). All hemorrhagic events were grade 1 (15%) or grade 2 (3%). Elevated diastolic blood pressure during the first 3 months of axitinib treatment was significantly associated with improved overall survival (HR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.13–0.64, P = 0.0012). Patient-reported fatigue symptom was associated with hypothyroidism (P = 0.039). Axitinib PK parameters (Cmax and AUC(0-t)) were significantly correlated with tumor response, toxicity, and serum thyroid-stimulating hormone changes. Conclusions: Axitinib achieved durable disease control with a favorable safety profile in heavily pretreated NPC patients. Clin Cancer Res; 24(5); 1030–7. ©2018 AACR.


A glasshouse pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of two species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus intraradices and Acaulospora laevis) and Pseudomonas fluorescens under three levels of superphosphate fertilizer (half dose, 40 kg/ha; recommended dose, 80 kg/ha; and double dose, 160 g/ha) on the growth and yield of broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica). There was negligible colonization of broccoli roots by the mycorrhizal fungi, demonstrating that they have no role in the growth of this plant. However, the strain of P. fluorescens used (MTCC No. 103) was found to have a potential role in enhancing the growth, phosphatase activity, chlorophyll content, nutrient uptake and yield of broccoli when combined with the recommended dose of fertilizer. By contrast, P. fluorescens combined with a half or double dose of fertilizer led to poor growth and delayed head formation. This suggests that root inoculation with P. fluorescens (MTCC No. 103) will improve plant growth, nutrient uptake and yield of broccoli when combined with the recommended dose of superphosphate fertilizer.


As the active site models of [NiFe]hydrogenases, three types of dichalcogenido E (E = S, Se)-bridged NiFe complexes (dppb)Ni[μ-E(CH2)3E-μ]Fe(CO)3 (dppb = bis(1,2-diphenylphosphino)benzene, 2a, E = S; 2b, E = Se), {(dppb)Ni[μ-E(CH2)3E-μ](μ-H)Fe(CO)3}BF4 (3a, E = S; 3b, E = Se), and {(dppb)Ni[μ-E(CH2)3E-μ](μ-D)Fe(CO)3}BF4 (4a, E = S; 4b, E = Se) were prepared by starting from the precursors (dppb)Ni[μ-E(CH2)3E-μ] (1a, E = S; 1b, E = Se) in satisfactory yields. While coordinations of 1a,b with Fe2(CO)9 gave the first-type dichalcogenido-bridged models 2a,b, the protonations of 2a,b with HBF4·Et2O afforded the second-type dichalcogenido-bridged μ-hydride models 3a,b the oxidative additions of 2a,b with DCl followed by anionic exchanges of the resulting intermediates with NaBF4 produced the third-type dichalcogenido-bridged μ-deuteride models 4a,b. Models 2a,b–4a,b were all fully characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography, and the H/D exchange reactions of μ-hydrides 3a,b with...


OBJECTIVE
To detect the genetic variant of a child with cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) and to find out the causation of the illness.

METHODS
Gene variant was identified by the second generation targeted sequencing and Sanger sequencing.

RESULTS
The gene sequencing revealed that the RUNX2 gene had c.196C>T(p.Glu66*) nonsense variant, which was predicted to be a pathogenic variant according to the ACMG guidelines(PVS1+PS2).

CONCLUSION
The variant of c.196C > T in the RUNX2 gene may be the cause of the child with CCD, and the novel variant enriches the RUNX2 gene variant spectrum.


In a short private member's bill the infamous rule in market overt has been abolished — Sale of Goods (Amendment) Act 1994 which simply states that: 1. Section 22 (relating to the sale of goods in market overt) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979) is hereby repealed. This was one of the proposals in the Department of Trade and Industry's consultation document 'Transfer of Title: Sections 21 to 26 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979' (January 1994). This document which looked as if it had been put together in a civil service lunch hour has been widely criticised and as yet the Government show no sign of introducing a coherent lending and security act based on the proposals of the Crowther Committee on Consumer Credit (Cmnd 4596 Part VI 1971 — see Government response 'Reform of the Law of Consumer Credit 1973 Cmnd 5427 rejecting a proposed Lending and Security Act) and the Diamond Report 'A Review of Security Interests in Property' (DTI 1989).


On the basis of carrying out an investigation of Zhelin Lake pollution source status,referring to domestic and foreign lake pollution load estimation methods,survey coefficient method was adopted for estimation of Zhelin Lake non-point source nitrogen and phosphorus load into the lake.The results showed that aquiculture,planting loss,rural life and pollution from livestock and poultry breeding are main sources for Zhelin Lake non-point source nitrogen,accounting to 48%,30%,16% and 6 %,respectively.Aquiculture pollution is the main source for phosphorus,accounting to 64%,following by livestock and poultry breeding,rural life and planting loss with 17%,10% and 9%,respectively.


The utility model provides a discharge barrel of an injection molding device, which comprises a barrel, the inner hole of the barrel is divided into two sections which are respectively a feed section and a discharge section from the front end to the tail end, the inner diameter of the feed section is smaller than the inner diameter of the discharge section, the tail end of the barrel is provided with a feed hole in the radial direction, the front end of the barrel is provided with a discharge hole in the axial direction, the discharge section is internally provided with a seal rubber ring for sealing an inner holes, one side of the seal rubber ring, which is close to the discharge hole, is connected with a gluing head, and one side of the gluing head, which is close to the discharge hole, is partitioned into a storage area. With the utility model, the first-in first-out of raw material can be ensured, the raw material can be prevented from deteriorating due to long stay time, and the reverse flow of raw material can be reduced, and the control of the weight of the raw material product and the ejected raw material weight can be more precise.


In this paper a closed form expression for the intermodulation output power from a semiconductor diode driven by an arbitrary number of "small-level" input signals is obtained. The effect of the intrinsic resistance of the diode material is taken into consideration through the use of the modified exponential function for the diode characteristic. It has been found that the relative harmonic distortion depends on the bias voltage, which agrees with the experimental observations. This dependence would not have been obtained had the intrinsic resistance been neglected. Also, the calculated intermodulation output power shows good agreement, for small input signal, with the published experimental results.


Duan Yucai discussed the Sytactic,Semantic and Pragmatic of the sentence in interpreting words on Shuo Wen Jie Zi Zhu.These are surmounting predecessors news opinons,and show Duan Yucai's grammar concept.


This report describes an easily computable model of the relation between cigarette prices and cigarette consumption in the United States. The model is used to predict the revenue impacts of Federal excise tax hikes ranging from $0.45 to $1.76 per pack.


Importance of the field: EGFR is an established therapeutic target in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The EGFR-targeting monoclonal antibody cetuximab (Erbitux™, Imclone Systems, Inc., Branchburg, USA) was FDA-approved for use in HNSCC in 2006. The molecular basis for the efficacy of an antibody approach compared with inhibition of EGFR tyrosine kinase function using small-molecule inhibitors, or downregulation of protein expression via antisense strategies, remains incompletely understood. Areas covered in this review: A literature search was performed to identify studies elucidating mechanisms of action of several approaches to targeting EGFR in HNSCC (monoclonal antibodies, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, antisense approaches, and ligand–toxin conjugates). What the reader will gain: Monoclonal antibodies decrease tumor growth via receptor endocytosis and recruitment of host immune defenses. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors bind to the ATP binding pocket of the tyrosine kinase domain, inhibiting signaling. Antisense approaches decrease EGFR expression with high specificity, though drug delivery remains problematic. Ligand–toxin conjugates facilitate the entry of toxin and the ADP-ribosylation of the ribosome, thereby inhibiting translation. Take home message: Elucidation mechanisms by which these different strategies inhibit EGFR function may enhance the development of more effective treatments for HNSCC and enable prospective identification of individuals who will benefit from EGFR inhibition.


Vitamin D de fi ciency may have an important role in the development of Type-2 diabetes (1,2) . Low vitamin D concentration has broad-ranging effects that are both directly (by activation of the vitamin D receptor) and indirectly (by modulation of intracellular calcium concentration) related to impaired pancreatic β -cell function and insulin resistance (3) . The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on insulin resistance and glycaemic control in participants with prediabetes. A systematic search of the available evidence was conducted using the ISI Web of Knowledge and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (January 2006 - May 2020). We included randomized intervention trials assessing the effects of vitamin D3 supplementation (with or without calcium), compared to placebo, in adults with prediabetes. Included studies needed to report at least one of the co-primary outcomes of interest: fasting plasma glucose (FPG); 2-hour plasma glucose after an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT); haemoglobin A1C (HbA1c); insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and insulin sensitivity and secretion (IG Index). Study results were extracted, and methodological quality was assessed. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Seventeen studies were included in the systematic review. The meta-analysis was performed on ten studies and showed a modest reduction in FPG (Weighted Mean Difference (WMD) (random) = -0.09 mmol/l (95% CI -0.17, -0.00) P = 0.05 I 2 = 52%) compared to control after vitamin D3 supplementation. However, there was no effect on any other primary outcomes (P > 0.05). In the studies that included a calcium supplement, there was a statistically signi fi cant reduction in HbA1c (WMD (random)= -0.06% (95% CI -0.11, -0.00, P = 0.03). The mixed effects meta-regression revealed that as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D increased by 10 nmol/L, FPG decreased by 0.10 mmol/L (estimate(SE) for 1 nmol/l 25(OH)D increase = -0.01(0.005), P = 0.046, I2 = 33.9%, R2 = 42 .4%). We report a modest reduction of FPG after vitamin D3 supplementation in subjects with prediabetes, albeit with signi fi cant het-erogeneity between studies. However, there was no effect on other indices of insulin resistance and glycaemic control. Studies were of relatively short duration and small sample size. Study participants were not always vitamin D de fi cient. Larger and longer randomized clinical trials, that accurately measure serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and record patient important outcomes, are now needed to further investigate the role of vitamin D in the development of Type-2 diabetes, especially in patients with vitamin D de fi ciency.


Due to the 'Year 2007 problem' (2007 is the beginning year when the baby-boomers reach the age of retirement), the need to plan for skill succession is now widely recognized in Japan. [1] [2] In addition, merge and acquisition (M&A) and overseas manufacturing are accelerating a necessity of enterprise knowledge management with "Common Language". We are studying an intelligent information platform in the realm of production, named "SKIP" (Self Knowledge & Information Expansion). This paper shows overview of the "SKIP" and represents its semantic model-based repository as a fundamental part of production knowledge share. The issue on the enterprise information management for knowledge sharing can't be effectively addressed by single solution acting alone, but by combination of the possible technology and methodology. Consequently, SKIP is also our experimental station for intelligent manufacturing. Case study is on the implementation of SKIP and analysis of production reports in a metal press factory.


Juno is a PI-led mission to Jupiter, the second mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. The 3625-kg spacecraft spins at 2 rpm and is powered by three 9-meter-long solar arrays that provide ∼500 watts in orbit about Jupiter. Juno carries eight science instruments that perform nine science investigations (radio science utilizes the communications antenna). Juno's science objectives target Jupiter's origin, interior, and atmosphere, and include an investigation of Jupiter's polar magnetosphere and luminous aurora.


Since 2017, many US cities have implemented taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages to decrease consumption of sugary beverages and raise revenue. We analyze household receipt data to examine the impact of taxes on households' beverage purchases in the four largest US cities with such taxes: Philadelphia, PA; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; and Oakland, CA. We compare changes in monthly household purchases in the treatment cities with changes in two comparison groups: (1) areas adjacent to the treatment cities or (2) a matched set of households nationally. An increase in the tax rate of 1 cent per ounce decreases household purchases of taxed beverages by 53.0 ounces per month (12.2%). This impact is consistent with a reduction in individual consumption of 5 calories per day per household member and eventual reduction in weight of 0.5 pounds. However, the decline was concentrated in Philadelphia, where the tax decreased purchases by 27.7%. There was no change in purchases of taxed beverages in the other three cities combined.


The invention discloses intelligent traffic dispatching and commanding and information service method and system based on dynamic information. The method comprises the following steps of: collecting basic traffic data; normalizing the time, the space and the attributes of the basic traffic data; periodically evaluating and predicting the traffic state of the entire road network; periodically comparing the traffic state evaluation results and the historical data of the road network, and sending a warning prompt to a commander in case of exceeding a certain threshold; responding to a confirmed warning prompt, and creating a breakdown lorry dispatching scheme; and responding to the confirmed warning prompt and the evaluated and predicted road network traffic state, judging whether a serious traffic jam occurs, and creating and releasing abnormal traffic information or normal traffic information. The invention can increase the utilization ratio of the basic traffic data, can enhance the contact between the urban traffic command center and the 110 command center, and can improve the working efficiency of personnel in the command centers and the travelling efficiency of travelers.


In order to minimize ground inductance in RFICs, we have developed a high-aspect ratio, through-wafer interconnect (or substrate via) in silicon that features a silicon nitride barrier liner and completely filled Cu core. We have fabricated vias with a nominal aspect ratio of 30 and verified the integrity of the insulating liner in vias with an aspect ratio of eight. The inductance of vias with nominal aspect ratios between three and 30 approach the theoretically expected values. This interconnect technology was exploited in a novel Faraday cage structure for substrate crosstalk suppression in system-on-chip applications. The isolation structure consists of a ring of grounded vias that surrounds sensitive or noisy portions of a chip. This Faraday cage structure has shown noise suppression of 30 dB at 10 GHz and 16 dB at 50 GHz at a distance of 100 /spl mu/m when compared to the reference structure.


The field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has developed exponentially in the last decade and is consistently getting to be a worldwide slant. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a worldwide matter around the world that comes about an expanding number of studies on CSR universally as well as in Malaysia. Furthermore, the importance of CSR practices was emphasized by companies in order to ensure its sustainability in corporate world which are focused on (a) environment, (b) social dimension sustainability, (c) economic advancement, (d) stakeholder behaviour and (e) ethical evolution of society. In this manner, this paper gives a concept of CSR writing that has been conducted in Malaysia to assess the execution of CSR among organizations in Malaysia. It is presently anticipated that organizations expressly take into consideration all perspectives of their execution, not as it were their money related comes about, but moreover their social and commerce environment. Subsequently, most of organizations are presently locked in genuine endeavours to characterize and coordinated CSR into all perspectives of their businesses and exhibitions. The point of our think about is to get it this slant in Malaysia and particularly to explore (i) the status of CSR in Malaysia; (ii) different CSR practices in Malaysia; and (iii) future dissemination of CSR in Malaysia. Finally, over the last few decades, Malaysia has been gradually improving its alignment with global management practices such as quality management and ISO 9002.


A synthetic agent requires the coordinated use of multiple sensory and effector modalities in order to achieve a social human-robot interaction (HRI). While systems in which such a concatenation of multiple modalities exist, the issue of information coordination across modalities to identify relevant context information remains problematic. A system-wide information formalism is typically used to address the issue, which requires a re-encoding of all information into the system ontology. We propose a general approach to this information coordination issue, focussing particularly on a potential application to a dialogue strategy learning and selection system embedded within a wider architecture for social HRI. Rather than making use of a common system ontology, we rather emphasise a sub-symbolic association-driven architecture which has the capacity to influence the 'internal' processing of all individual system modalities, without requiring the explicit processing or interpretation of modality-specific information.


Promotion of social innovation has been identified as one of the EU priorities because it contributes to the improvement of the quality of life of citizens and national competitiveness. In Latvia, concrete ways to promote social innovation remain not defined yet, therefore the study focused on elaboration of alternative scenarios of social innovation development that would enhance the growth of the economy of Latvia: self-initiative scenario, enterprise initiated development scenario and public participation scenario. The authors defined the aim of the research to evaluate social innovation scenarios for the development of the economy of Latvia. The scenarios were evaluated based on the analytic hierarchy process, which led to the conclusion that the most appropriate scenario for the promotion of social innovation in Latvia is the development of public participation scenario. This scenario emphasizes the need to create an appropriate legislative framework for promoting social innovation and the development of financial and information support tools for social innovation promoters and implementers in Latvia.


Cell-associated herpesvirus related to Marek's disease (MD) was isolated from the direct culture of kidney cells of naturally infected chickens at Taoyuan or by inoculation of clinical specimens to chick kidney (CK) and chick embryo fibroblast cells. The virus isolates replicated in CK or chick embryo kidney cell cultures were identified to be MD by the fluorescent-antibody technique.


This work considers the problem of control of nonlinear process systems subject to input constraints and sensor faults (complete failure or intermittent unavailability of measurements). To clearly illustrate the importance of accounting for the presence of input constraints, we first consider the problem of sensor faults that necessitate sensor recovery to maintain closed-loop stability. We address the problem of determining, based on stability region characterizations for the candidate control configurations, which control configuration should be activated (reactivating the primary control configuration may not preserve stability) after the sensor is rectified. We then consider the problem of asynchronous measurements, i.e., of intermittent unavailability of measurements. To address this problem, the stability region (that is, the set of initial conditions starting from where closed-loop stabilization under continuous availability of measurements is guaranteed) as well as the maximum allowable data loss rate which preserves closed-loop stability for the primary and the candidate backup configurations are computed. This characterization is utilized in identifying the occurrence of a destabilizing sensor fault and in activating a suitable backup configuration that preserves closed-loop stability. The proposed method is illustrated using a chemical process example


Abstract : The delta was studied to determine the time scale and mechanisms by which river sand was incorporated into the longshore transport regime. The results are pertinent to sediment management on coasts with Mediterranean type climates and drainages. On such coasts, generally, rivers supply most of the littoral sand yet the bulk of this supply accompanies large infrequent floods. In contrast, the nearshore transport processes operate with much greater continuity and regularity. The delta studied was built by a 30-year return period flood at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River. The peak discharge at the river mouth during this flood was about 1,100 cu m/sec. The river drains an area of 357 sq km on the northern shore of Montertey Bay. There, most wave energy arrives as swell from the northwest and, except during brief flood periods, it dominates the river outflow. As a result, the San Lorenzo delta is an ephermeral feature. The study extended two years: in both years the river's supply of sand and gravel was about 300,000 cu m ten times its mean annual supply and equivalent to almost twice the mean annual net longshore transport past the mouth. Methods of investigation included: surveys of nearshore topography, estimates of the river's littoral sediment yield using river flow data and river channel surveys, and estimates of the longshore variation in longshore-transport potential using a wave refraction program. The surveyed sand level changes provided a means of tracing bulk sand movements. The longshore transport predictions were used to confirm the direction of sand movement.


Mergers and acquisitions are driven by the same motive: synergy creation and realization of larger value by combining companies. However, numerous merger and acquisition efforts show a lack of critical success elements: attention directed towards integration of employees and work processes. In this research, I focus on analysis of the meaning of post-transactional integration of mergers and acquisitions as a determinant to the business deal success, with particular emphasis on the Republic of Macedonia. The success of the merger i.e. acquisition act depends on how the deal is conducted, i.e. on the success of the integration process, which I demonstrate through a field research across several Macedonian enterprises.


The effect of parathyroid extract (PTE) on phosphate transport was studied by perfusing everted duodenal loops of rats in vitro. It was found that PTE had no effect on the membrane potential or on ...


Abstract : The military drawdown and budget cutbacks have created a greater emphasis on shorter, faster, and cheaper ways to do the mission. Modulation simulators have become a critical component in the evaluation and testing, and integration of new network, communications, and comrnand and control technologies and applications. This thesis evaluates five current commercial off the shelf products: OPNET Modeler by MIL 3 Inc.; COMNET 'I designed by CACI Products Company ; Extend by Imagine That Inc.; Workbench created by Scientific Engineering Software Inc.; and G2 from the Gensym Corporation. Each of the products is evaluated using twenty-five primary evaluation criteria. The evaluations include current costs, completeness, user interface and post analysis support methods, and they describe the basic features and distinctive characteristics of each product. The capabilities of the products are compared, providing the reader with the knowledge to make an informed product selection based on the user's needs. A matrix of the products and the evaluation criteria provides a quick overview of the analysis.


We have started a systematic scientific study of folklore medicinal plants currently used as alternative medicine in Jamaican society. In this initial study, extracts of plants widely used by the islanders are studied for antibacterial activity against five common pathogens; Streptococcus group A, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli.


Human leucocytes were irradiated in vitro with different doses of X-rays(25γ to 200γ),then cultured according to Moorhead with some modifications.Chro- mosomal aberrations were scored at recta- phase.The coefficient of aberration pro- duction for total breakages obtained was 0.0027±0.0001/cell/γ.Spontaneous aberration rate was 0.003±0.0017/cell. Hence,the double dose for human leuco- cytes in Vitro was calculated out to be 1.11±0.64γ. It was demostrated that for purposes of biological dosimetry,the formula of regression for total chromosomal breakage rate appears to be more accurate than that of dicentrics and rings as suggested by Bender and Gooch.


The review of technologies of utilization of dangerous for environment poultry factories wastes such as poultry excrements is presented: composting, using as a forage addition for cattle, making solid fuel pellets, and anaerobic digestion with followed biogas utilization. The experimental results of poultry excrements methane digestion in the laboratory methanetank under the modified mesophilous temperature regime and substrate composition are presented. The important condition of successful loading of methane digestion is keeping balance Carbon:Nitrogen as 20:1. Increasing of gross biogas emission on 11,6% and enhanced methane production on 15,4% are registered as result of cattle excrements addition to digested substrate in amount of 15% and conducting of preliminary phase of digestion under temperature of 40°C. Recommendation for Agroindustrial manufacturing to anaerobic digestion of poultry droppings are proposed on a base of literature analysis and results of original experiment. Keywords: b iogas, poultry droppings , mesophilous digestion regime, hydrolytic phase, production of methane, balance of Carbon:Nitrogen.


Bromley's Family Law remains the most authoritative textbook on the subject and has been used by generations of both students and practitioners as a reliable source of guidance. 2006 sees the publication of the tenth edition while 2007 marks the fiftieth anniversary of its original publication, and indeed the publication of the first textbook on family law. Both detailed and readable, this book offers the fullest consideration of new legislative and case law developments, and their impact on family law. The authors consider these developments alongside changes in practice, including the increasing emphasis placed on alternative dispute resolution, and the active involvement of children in legal proceedings affecting them. Particular attention is also paid to the influence of the European Union, which is becoming increasingly important for a full understanding of family law.


The paper describes the results obtained from a large-scale trial designed to assess the impact of the backfilling of waste mine burden in an exhausted pit on the quality of lake water. The trial aimed at understanding the interaction between groundwater and clay and silty sand soils composing the overburden material. The two main environmental concerns related to the turbidity of the water and the concentration of sulphate ions. Tests were designed to (I) assess the interaction between soil and water; (II) measure the turbidity of water, related to the amount of solid particles in suspension; (III) observe the sedimentation of fine particles; (IV) measure the concentration of sulphate ions during backfilling and water pumping operations; and (V) validate an analytical model for the prediction of sulphate quantity in water. The main results indicated that the basin was capable to retain particles with sizes in the order of diameters that were nearly 10 microns. The water pumping was responsible for a relevant motion of fine particles (diameter less than 2 μm); this effect impacted on the turbidity level observed at the outflow in a relevant way. On the other hand, the test indicated that the estimation of the release of sulphate ions in the water was heavily affected by a proper assumption of the average background values of the concentration of sulphate ions in the water before the dumping activity.


This paper evaluates the applicability of several concrete models to simulate the behavior of concrete elements under monotonic and cyclic loadings. Several robust constitutive models based on the combination of plasticity and continuum damage or plasticity and smeared crack approach are selected. The behavior of one concrete element is evaluated under different uniaxial compression, uniaxial tension, biaxial compression, biaxial tension, biaxial compression–tension, and triaxial compression loads. Then, the applicability of the concrete models is investigated for two flexural beams under cyclic loading. Five concrete models available in the versatile finite element‐based software LS‐DYNA are selected, including Winfrith, CSCM, RHT, KCC, and CDPM. The prepeak, peak, and postpeak behaviors of all selected models are presented, including initial stiffness, peak strength, strain at peak strength, postpeak stiffness, and failure strain.


The report identifies those holidays that show an increase in traffic fatalities and estimates the size of the increase for each national holiday. A procedure is presented that can be used to forecast the expected fatality count for each upcoming holiday period.


Abstract Recently, the authors proposed a new predictive model for pitting corrosion in underground pipelines. The model is based on field measurements of maximum pitting corrosion depth together with local soil and pipeline characteristics. The pitting corrosion data collection was conducted over a three-year period, for onshore buried pipelines operating in southern Mexico. This technical note contains a detailed description of the results of the field measurements, indicating the data entries classified as outlier observations and the textural soil class ascribed to each data entry.


Background: Code cloning - copying and reusing pieces of source code -- is a common phenomenon in software development in practice. There have been several empirical studies on the effects of cloning, but there are contradictory results regarding the connection of cloning and faults. Objective: Our aim is to clarify the relationship between code clones and faults. In particular, we focus on inconsistent (or type-3) clones in this work. Method: We conducted a case study with TWT GmbH where we detected the code clones in three Java systems, set them into relation to information from issue tracking and version control and interviewed three key developers. Results: Of the type-3 clones, 17 % contain faults. Developers modified most of the type-3 clones simultaneously and thereby fixed half of the faults in type-3 clones consistently. Type-2 clones with faults all evolved to fixed type-3 clones. Clone length is only weakly correlated with faultiness. Conclusion: There are indications that the developers in two cases have been aware of clones. It might be a reason for the weak relationship between type-3 clones and faults. Hence, it seems important to keep developers aware of clones, potentially with new tool support. Future studies need to investigate if the rate of faults in type-3 clones justifies using them as cues in defect detection.


A CASE OF INTRASCROTAL LYMPHANGIOMA Masami Takeyama, Eitetsu Koh, Nobuyuki Kondoh, Yasuhiro Doi, Takayuki Matsui and Hideki Fujioka Department of Urology, Osaka Central Hospital (Chief: H. Fujioka, M. D.) Yasuharu Tada Department of Urology, Osaka University Medical School (Director: Prof. T. Sonoda, M. D.) A 46-year-old man was seen with chief complaint of a painless mass in the right scrotum. The mass was independent from the testicle and from the spermatic cord. Total surgical excision of the mass was performed. The mass contained serous fluid of serum-like substance. Histological examination revealed that the mass was a lymphangioma consisted of several endothelial-lined cysts. Convalescense was uneventful. Four cases of lymphangioma in the scrotum including our case were collected from the Japanese literature and reviewed.


I have argued elsewhere that the ideal of democratization—the ideal of bringing government under the control of the gov erned—has two dimensions.1 It represents both the familiar ideal of giving people electoral control over government and the usu ally unarticulated ideal of giving them contestatory control as well: giving them the sort of control that comes from the ability to contest government decisions effectively. This essay approaches the two-dimensional conception of democracy from a new angle. I begin with some propositions about the normative role of democracy (section 1). I argue that democracy can play this role only so far as it operates in two dis tinct dimensions, electoral and contestatory (section 2). And then I try to show two things: first, that the institutions found in polities that we are happy to describe as democratic display those two dimensions (section 3); and, second, that the two-dimen sional conception can help us in thinking about how those insti tutions might be reformed so as to serve democracy better (sec tion 4). The first argument is an attempt to show that the two-di mensional conception is fairly true to established ways of conceiving of democracy; it does not represent a new-fangled idea. The second is a complementary attempt to show that never theless there is point to articulating that conception; it enables us


This chapter presents Rajab as one of the three holy months of pre-Islamic Arabia. The taboo on manslaughter during Rajab allowed safe travel, fairs, and the performance of the pilgrimage known as ʿumra. Rajab's sanctity survived the transition from Jahiliyya to Islam, but remained contested for centuries. Muslims commemorated it by fasting, ritual slaughter, supplications, iʿtikāf in mosques, and special sermons. Devotional works, written by Shiʿis and Sunnis from the ninth-century onwards, promise the remittance of sins and other great rewards, for rites performed in Rajab.


Medical science brings innovations in patient care at an astounding pace today - new chemotherapeutic agents, coated stents, and minimally invasive surgery are just few recent examples. For physicians, though, the specter of malpractice liability can overshadow the marvel of practicing in this era. Many physicians are working in a volatile liability environment; they face spiraling costs for malpractice insurance, have difficulties purchasing liability coverage at any price, and see record payouts in a growing number of claims against their colleagues. The American Medical Association (AMA) has declared that at least 20 states are currently in a malpractice "crisis," with another 24 states showing early signs of an impending crisis. There have been two comparable periods of instability in the last thirty years, but these predecessor crises differ from the current one in important ways. First, while physicians mainly experienced dwindling options for obtaining coverage in the mid-1970s (i.e., availability) and exorbitant prices in the mid-1980s (i.e., affordability), the current crisis appears to have elements of both availability and affordability.


We report on temperature scaling experiments on the integer quantum Hall effect plateau-to-plateau transitions as well as on the i = 1 plateau-to-insulating phase transitions in two-dimensional electron gas in In0.53Ga0.47As/InP modulation-doped heterostructures. We have measured the longitudinal ρxx and Hall ρxy resistivities as a function of magnetic field in the temperature range 40 mK - 4.2 K. It was found that for both types of transitions the scaling exponent has the same value κ ≈ 0.6-0.7. The scaling exponent obtained in our experiments is significantly greater than κ = 0.42, the value generally considered to be universal.


To improve performance of large-scale scientific applications, scientists or tuning experts make various empirical attempts to change compiler options, program parameters or even the syntactic structure of programs. Those attempts followed by performance evaluation are repeated until satisfactory results are obtained. The task of performance tuning requires a great deal of time and effort. On account of combinatorial explosion of possible attempts, scientists/tuning experts have a tendency to make decisions on what to be explored just based on their intuition or good sense of tuning. We advocate evidence-based performance tuning (EBT) that facilitates the use of database of facts extracted from tuning histories of applications to guide the exploration of the search space. However, in general, performance tuning is conducted as transient tasks without version control systems. Tuning histories may lack explicit facts about what kind of program transformation contributed to the better performance or even about the chronological order of the source code snapshots. For reconstructing the missing information, we employ a state-of-the-art fine-grained change pattern identification tool for inferring applied transformation patterns only from an unordered set of source code snapshots. The extracted facts are intended to be stored and queried for further data mining. This paper reports on experiments of tuning pattern identification followed by predictive model construction conducted for a few scientific applications tuned for the K supercomputer.


What is the immunopathology of neutrophilic asthma, and how can it be recognised? These are important questions, because the answers may pave the way for targeted treatment in this key asthma subtype. Characterising the immunopathology of T2 eosinophilic asthma has led to important therapeutic advances with a range of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) available for therapy. The close association between sputum and blood eosinophils allows easy recognition of the T2-eosinophilic subtype. But what about the rest? We now know that non-eosinophilic asthma is heterogeneous [1] and so we need to characterise in detail the molecular and cellular nature of these non-T2 subtypes in order to progress development of new therapeutics. Bullone and co-workers show that neutrophilic asthma is a subtype in which the IL-17 pathway seems to be operational. It can be recognised by quantitative immunostaining of bronchial biopsy specimens and may be amenable to specific targeted therapies. http://bit.ly/2llj6Fr


The problem of power and energy consumption is becoming increasingly important in computer systems, and this paper discusses this problem in time-sharing operating systems. We first give a formula to compute the best energy-saving frequency, which is deduced using the best energy-saving condition defined based on our description of system performance and energy. Because of the discrete nature of system frequencies, an algorithm is then proposed to approximate the best energy-saving frequency. We have implemented the proposed approach as a frequency management module in Linux, and experimental results show its correctness, efficiency, and practicability with an extremely low overhead of less than 3.63%.


In my paper, I will research the notions of "communicability" and "sensus communis" within Kantian thinking. Communicability is one of the most important characteristics of the aesthetic according to Kant. (Bohme: 1997, 51) Through the aesthetic, people are able to express their feelings and as a consequence the aesthetic always assumes companionship, a community. Aesthetic judgement is communicable and supposes general agreement. This agreement can not be deducted from an abstract principle, but always starts from the particular encounter with the aesthetic. Connected to this communicability is Kants interpretation of "sensus communis". This shared sense is a subjective relationship between imagination and reason that every human being shares. The aesthetic judgement is not merely an individual opinion, but is shared by all others. Thus, Kant is talking about a 'subjective generality'. What is the relevance of this perspective in the contemporary globalised (art) world? How we can communicate about art, is a crucial problem within cultural sciences. On the one hand, there is the threat of universalism, where the aesthetic is judged starting from an abstract principle and every cultural artefact that does not meet these abstract standards is excluded. On the other hand, when the aesthetic is seen as merely a construct, there is danger of relativism. In both cases, talking and judging the aesthetic seems irrelevant as it is either already defined by universal standards or it is rejected entirely. I will demonstrate that Kant, through contemporary interpretations, can be of major importance to find a solution to this problem. On the one hand, Kant starts from the particular artwork and not from an abstract definition of art and communication on art. In this way, one point of view does not have to exclude other point of views. The concept of communicability on the other hand, ensures judging and talking about the aesthetic is possible and even necessary.


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The article discusses the process of automation of the formation of educational and methodological documents in a higher educational institution. The main problems arising in the development of educational and methodological documents that are faced by teachers of higher education are highlighted, and options for solving them are proposed. The stages, principles and advantages of automation are discussed. The components of the proposed approach are considered, in particular: the model of educational and methodological support in terms of essence-relationship; templates of basic teaching documents; integration with the curriculum; the need to reuse educational content; the possibilities of batch formation of training documents; quality control of educational and methodological documentation; experience of implementation and use, as well as problems and possible directions of development. The functionality of the UMKA software system is given. The directions of automation of educational and methodological activities in general are considered.


The effect of nonlinear medium and phase damping is investigated on an atom of three levels in different forms interacting with the SU(1,1) Lie algebra. The SU(1,1) system starts the interaction from the Perelomov coherent state, while the atom starts the interaction from excited-most state. The time dependent wave function is calculated by using the Schrödinger equation. The density matrix is obtained. The influences of damping, nonlinearity (Kerr-like medium), Perelomov coherent parameter and the Bargmann index on some non-classical properties, such as: revivals-collapses phenomenon, entanglement and atomic variables squeezing, are investigated.


For decades, liberal democracy has been extolled as the best system of governance to have emerged out of the long experience of history. Today, such a confident assertion is far from self–evident. Democracy, in crisis across the West, must prove itself. In Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century, Nicholas Berggruen and Nathan Gardels critically compare the West's liberal democracy and the East's meritocracy. Can we learn from both? Dennis Shen believes the book is a great read and an important critique of modern times.


This paper investigates online student attitudes towards ownership of collaboratively created online resources and explores whether a sense of community might influence such attitudes. Five participants were randomly selected as they represented a group working collaboratively to complete part of an online module aimed at postgraduate education professionals located in different parts of the world. Applying Rovai's framework (2001) to identify a sense of community, the work adopts a case-study methodology whilst utilizing a range of data collection methods including email, personal online journal postings and a short questionnaire. Data generated was coded to identify emergent themes with a colleague acting as critical friend to verify the findings and ensure validity of the research. The findings indicate that students believe jointly- created resources should be freely available to participants and to tutors who may request that they be given permission to reuse or repurpose such artefacts. The sense of belonging to a Community of Practice is key to this view although the subsequent question of making such materials freely available across the institution or through OERs requires further investigation. RECEIVED 8 March 2017, REVISED 11 April 2017, ACCEPTED 14 April 2017


Mining information or discovering knowledge from large databases has been identified as one of important research topics in database analysis and machine learning. The association rules are useful for determining the correlation between attributes in a relation. The problem of mining generalized association rules is to find all association rules from a set of items and a given taxonomy of items. The algorithm for finding generalized association rules is fixed for a taxonomy and does not suit the applications with different requirements. This paper examines the fuzzy proximity relations between the sets of attributes in databases, and shows that the extensional rules with proximity relations can be derived from the primitive association rules.


DDoS attacks are a critical threat to the Internet.In this paper,we present a new traceback mechanism for DDoS attacks that is based on entropy variations betw een normal and DDoS attack traffic,w hich is fundamentally different from commonly used packet marking techniques.In comparison to the existing DDoS traceback methods,the presented strategy possesses some advantagesit is memory nonintensive,efficiently scalable,robust against packet pollution,and independent of attack traffic patterns.Description and Analysis on DDoS attack traffic entropy variables based on the characteristics of the tracking mechanism modeling,then gives the corresponding DDoS attack detection and tracking IP backtracking algorithm.The results of extensive experimental and simulation studies demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the this method.


The invention relates to the field of network technology, and especially relates to a P2P network resource transmission method and a system for the same. The method comprises the following steps that: a server presets a node connection information table, wherein the node connection information table is built according to the node connection information fed back to the server by the network nodes, and is used for indicating the connection quality of the network nodes; the server receives a query request sent by the network nodes, the query request comprises the resource information requested to be downloaded; the server obtains the node having the corresponding resource according to the resource information contained in the query request, screens the node according to the preset node connection information, and returns back the node list, so as to make the network node transmitting the query request build a connection with the corresponding node according to the node address information in the node list when receiving the node list so as to perform resource transmission. By utilizing the method and the device, the list of the nodes with high network connection quality can be returned back to the network node preferentially, resource transmission efficiency of the network node is improved, and the transmission effect is promoted.


Foreword. Preface. Threshold of the New Millennium. TECHNOLOGIES FOR SOCIETY'S INFRASTRUCTURE. Structures and Devices. Systems and Management. Computers and Software. HUMAN APPLICATION TECHNOLOGIES. Communications. Entertainment. Medicine and Biology. Transportation. Exploration. ENGINEERING OUR PRIORITIES. The Environment. War and Peace. Preparing Engineers for Tomorrow. Appendix: The Fifty Technology Experts. About the Authors. About the Editor. Acknowledgments. Index.


The effect of different culture media on Bipolaris euphorbiae spore production, the effect of long-term storage on the viability of the spores and the potential of this inoculum as a bioherbicide for Euphorbia heterophylla were evaluated. The agar media tested were V8, cooked and ground rice, and pumpkin pulp, while the cereal grain were popcorn, sorghum, sunflower, rice, and the mixtures rice + sorghum, rice + popcorn, and sorghum + popcorn. Among the solid media tested, V8 juice-agar produced spores with greater quantity and viability. Among the cereal grain media, the best media consisted of rice, sorghum, or their mixture. The viability of the spores stored at 4°C decreased with time, following a quadratic trend. It was estimated that spore viability would decrease by 36% after one year of storage. Disease severity increased with the increase of spore concentration. However, in the conditions of the present study, only concentrations higher than 2x10 5 spores/ml produced good levels of disease on the plants. The damage caused by the pathogen increased with the age of the plants.


The engineering designer may not always be aware of the paramount importance of being able to sketch his ideas as a means of communicating his plans. An example illustrates the point that drawings, graphs or diagrams convey concepts more easily than a table of figures. Table I gives a series of X and Y values describing a well-known contour, but it is not easy to determine the shape except by plotting the points. One can appreciate at a glance at Fig. 1, however, that it is a well-known shape. Although the drawing is very graphic, the term graphic will also be taken to include alphabetical and numerical records for the purpose of this paper.


Most public Web APIs currently have no machine-readable documentation and are structurally rather diverse. Nonetheless, these APIs are often our best bet to access the valuable information they provide in a relatively structured manner. We introduce a tool which provides a web-based GUI to map any JSON-based REST-like API within minutes, and subsequently access the mapped APIs through a wrapper hypermedia API, and thus in a uniform manner. This enables even teams with very limited resources to keep track of dozens of Web APIs that frequently roll out new versions.


Heterosis and combining ability for three quality components, protein content, amylose content, alkali spreading value, and yield were studied in a diallel involving eight varieties of rice. Heterosis above the mid-parent was significant in five crosses for protein, in one cross for amylose content, and in three crosses for alkali spreading value. The average heterosis values were negative. Yield showed positive heterosis in most of the hybrids and eight of them were significantly high. The combining ability and component of vairance analysis indicated importance of both additive and non-additive gene action for alkali spreading value and predominant non-additive gene action for protein content and yield. The parent T '(N) 1', was the best general combiner for all characters followed by 'CRHP 8'. In. general, non-significant association was observed between protein, amylose content, and alkali spreading value; however, protein content showed a negative correlation with yield, although it was not significant.