...............................................................................................................4 Chapter 1: Introduction.......................................................................................5-9 Chapter 2: Methods and Procedures..................................................................10-12 Chapter 3: Literature Review...............................................................................13-24 Chapter 4: Results and Discussion.......................................................................24-26 References..............................................................................................................27-28 Appendix A: Article Grid.......................................................................................29-38


In the USA, Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) is embarking on a US$229.8 toll system replacement (TSR) programme to improve efficiency and ease of use. Improvements include new or upgraded in-lane hardware and software, plaza hardware and software, transaction host hardware and software, a digital CCTV system, an online maintenance management system and a new audit system. The new system will include open-road tolling technology and automatic payment machines. The existing enforcement system will be replaced. The background to the upgrade and its procurement is outlined. Five teams of FTE experts were formed to develop the various components of the specification for the new toll collections system. The procurement phase started in 2006, with Raytheon selected as top-ranked bidder. A 10-year contract was negotiated for the TSR services. The contract includes seven delivery phases, with completion by 31 December 2010. More than 800 lanes will be modified with new equipment. To reduce complexity, the new system will incorporate a uniform lane configuration, a single-message format and standardised lane hardware and software.


ABS TRACT A 57-ye ar-old wo man pre sen ted with the comp la int of chro nic co ugh. She had no his tory of he mopt ysis, night swe ats, ano re xi a, dyspha gi a, vo mi ting or epi gas tric pa in. Com pu ted to mog raphy sho wed mul tip le me di as ti nal lymph no des (LNs). The bronc hos co pic exa mi na ti on sho wed no en dob ronc hi al le si ons. En dos co pic ul tra so nog raphy ea sily vi su a li zed the me di as ti nal LNs, and en dos co pic ul tra so nog raphy-gu i ded fi ne ne ed le as pi ra ti on of sub ca ri nal lymph no de provi ded tis su e di ag no sis of a mu ci no us ade no car ci no ma con sis tent with gas tro in tes ti nal ori gin. Alt ho ugh the pa ti ent de ni ed any stomach comp la ints, sub se qu ent gas tros copy re ve a led a pri mary gas tric ma lig nancy. The cur rent ca se is uni qu e in that a pul mo nary symptom was the pre sen ting sign of an unk nown pri mary car ci no ma. In con trast to pre vi o usly re por ted ca ses, the pa ti ent had no gas tro in tes ti nal or syste mic symptoms. Manifestation of me tas ta tic di se a se pro cess as me di as ti nal LNs was also unusual. En dos co pic ul tra so nog raphy-gu i ded fi ne ne ed le as pi ra ti on enab led the di ag no sis of mu ci no us ade no car ci no ma, le a ding to dis co very of the pri mary gas tric ma lig nancy.


being M. eleuchea pellenis (Godart). Marpesia eleuchea is widespread across Jamaica but is generally uncommon (Brown & Heineman, 1972; Smith et al., 1994). On January 31, 2016, a single specimen of M. chiron was observed at Rio Bueno, north-central Jamaica. This specimen was in excellent condition, and appeared to be fresh (Fig. 2). One week later, February 7, the species was again observed. As many as three individuals were observed at any one time, but the number was clearly greater than this as several individuals seen flying alone could be distinguished by distinct wing marks. No fresh specimens were observed on this second visit, instead, all had significant wing wear – a varying number of wing chips, loss of tails, and even significant loss of the hind wing. Interestingly, Rio Bueno was the site of the 1951 record. The repeated records from Rio Bueno, and the fresh specimen on January 31, suggests the possibility of a breeding population. The suggestion by Brown & Heineman (1972) that "a breeding colony should be sought by resident collectors" seems even more applicable at this time to this location. A rapid survey of the area revealed the presence of species of Ficus (potential hosts plants, Srygley et al., 2014), but no larvae were found. The occurrence of potential host plants makes the establishment of breeding populations highly plausible. Srygley et al. (2014) noted that this species feeds on several members of the family Moraceae, including some species non-native to the Neotropics. Adams (1970) recorded 17 species in 9 genera in that family of plants occurring on Jamaica, including some species of known host plants of M. chiron, such as Artocarpus het19 MURPHY ET AL.: Marpesia chiron in Jamaica TROP. LEPID. RES., 27(1): 19-20, 2017


Purpose: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) become hypofunctional, although the mechanisms are not clear. Our goal was to generate a model of human tumor-induced TIL hypofunction to study mechanisms and to test anti-human therapeutics. Experimental Design: We transduced human T cells with a published, optimized T-cell receptor (TCR) that is directed to a peptide within the cancer testis antigen, NY-ESO-1. After demonstrating antigen-specific in vitro activity, these cells were used to target a human lung cancer line that expressed NY-ESO-1 in the appropriate HLA context growing in immunodeficient mice. The ability of anti-PD1 antibody to augment efficacy was tested. Results: Injection of transgenic T cells had some antitumor activity, but did not eliminate the tumors. The injected T cells became profoundly hypofunctional accompanied by upregulation of PD1, Tim3, and Lag3 with coexpression of multiple inhibitory receptors in a high percentage of cells. This model allowed us to test reagents targeted specifically to human T cells. We found that injections of an anti-PD1 antibody in combination with T cells led to decreased TIL hypofunction and augmented the efficacy of the adoptively transferred T cells. Conclusions: This model offers a platform for preclinical testing of adjuvant immunotherapeutics targeted to human T cells prior to transition to the bedside. Because the model employs engineering of human T cells with a TCR clone instead of a CAR, it allows for study of the biology of tumor-reactive TILs that signal through an endogenous TCR. The lessons learned from TCR-engineered TILs can thus be applied to tumor-reactive TILs. Clin Cancer Res; 22(2); 436–47. ©2015 AACR. See related commentary by Yang, p. 275


Rites of Shengti (the way to slaughter, display and eat sacrifice according to aristocrats' status or power) not only had the significance of distinguishing from the auspicious and the inauspicious, the honorable and the humble, the senior and the junior, but also symbolized an idea that strengthen the cohesion of ethics of patriarchal society expounded and propagated by governors of the Zhou dynasty on the base of hierarchy. Moreover, it also represented the brilliant idea of administration.


Following the positive phase of a blast comes a period where the pressure falls below atmospheric pressure known as the negative phase. Whilst the positive phase of the blast is well understood, validation of the negative phase is rare in the literature, and as such it is often incorrectly treated or neglected altogether. Herein, existing methods of approximating the negative phase are summarised and recommendations of which form to use are made based on experimental validation. Also, through numerical simulations, the impact of incorrectly modelling the negative phase has been shown and its implications discussed.


Using survey data on informal firms in Myanmar, a number of issues related to firm-size, productivity, business environment, gender disparity and registration costs and benefits are discussed. The findings suggest that informal firms in Myanmar are less productive than formal sector firms but compare favorably with informal firms elsewhere. The education level of the manager is positively correlated with firm productivity but firm-size is not. Access to finance is the most commonly chosen top obstacle, especially by the relatively smaller firms. Few firms find any benefits from registration and particularly so in the relatively smaller cities outside Yangon.


Photocurrent enhancements in a dye sensitized photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) with a Cu/p-CuI/M-C18 photoelectrode and a dye sensitized solid state photovoltaic cell (DSSC) with Cu/n-Cu2O/M-C18/p-CuI are studied by controlling the formation of dye aggregates of M-C18 Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films on the p-CuI layer. LB films of M-C18 are deposited under biasing conditions during the LB deposition process on Cu/p-CuI, Cu/n-Cu2O/p-CuI and conductive glass plates with the three-electrode configuration setup coupling to the LB trough. LB films prepared under positive biasing conditions enhance the photocurrent quantum efficiencies for both PECs and DSSCs controlling and minimizing the formation of dye aggregates. The electrolyte used for LB deposition and photocurrent measurements is (10−2 M) Fe2+ + Fe3+ (10−2 M) and (10−2 M) NaH2PO4–Na2HPO4, pH = 6 buffer solution. Maximum photocurrent quantum efficiencies (Фmax%) obtained are ≈22% for PEC and ≈20% for DSSCs, where the M-C18 LB film deposition applied potentials +0.3 V versus Ag/AgCl. The mechanism of the photocurrent enhancement is discussed through the CAN's model equation, Ф = AD0–BD02, where A = k1k2/F, B = I k12 k2[2k6/F3 + k2k4/k32 X2F2], F = k2 + k5Y + k7 + k1 I [1 + k2/k3 X], presented from our previous study [1]. Experimental evidence for the formation of the aggregates of M-C18 LB films for the negative applied potentials and suppression of the aggregates with positive applied potentials are presented from absorption spectra, AFM pictures and fluorescence measurements of the samples. Conversion efficiency obtained is ≈2.5%, Voc ≈750 mV and Isc ≈ 5.8 mA cm−2 for DSSC fabricated with +0.3 V versus Ag/AgCl applied deposition potential of M-C18 LB films.


AbstractKelvin–Helmholtz waves were observed by the Twin Lakes, Oklahoma (KTLX), Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D); the Norman, Oklahoma (KOUN), polarimetric WSR-88D; and the polarimetric Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) radars on 30 November 2006 during a winter storm in central Oklahoma. The life cycle and structure of the waves are analyzed from the radar data, and the nearby atmospheric conditions are examined. The initial perturbations associated with the waves are first evident only in the radars' radial velocity fields. As the waves mature, perturbations become discernable in the reflectivity factor Z and spectrum width (SW) fields of both radars, and in the differential reflectivity Zdr and, to a lesser extent, the cross-correlation coefficient ρhv fields of KOUN. As the waves break and begin to dissipate, the perturbations subside.A dual-Doppler analysis is synthesized to examine the kinematic structure of the waves and to relate the polarimetric observation...


The effect of the intravenous laser blood (ELB) treatment on the sensitivity of blood components with respect to drugs was studied in patients with nonspecific reactive hepatitis and chronic hepatitis. An ELB course reduced the functional activity of thrombocytes in the presence of fibrinogen and adrenaline hydrochloride (collagen inductors), which must be taken into account when these drugs are used as hemostatic agents.


"ESCAPE Stroke" (Enhancement, Segmentation and Characterization of Atheroma PlaquE for Stroke Prevention) is a multidisciplinary project that aims to develop a new software tool to obtain maximum information about carotid atherosclerosis, through the (semi)automatic analysis of the morphological characteristics of the carotid plaque. We present the first results for evaluating this software.

 For the morphological analysis of the characteristics of the atheroma plaques, a database of 117 carotid ultrasound images was used. The extracted morphological features refer to the degree of echogenicity, texture and the surface of the atheroma plaque.
 Regarding to echogenicity of the atheroma plaques, the implemented software algorithm divides the plaques into four classes as follows:
 • Anechogenic A type, the echogenic areas representing less than 25% of the plaque. The 117 plaques subjected to computerized analysis were classified as: 54 Type E plaques, 57 Type E / 2 plaques, 6 Type A / 2 plaques and no Type A plaques
 • A / 2 type: predominantly anechogenic, anechogenic areas accounting for more than 50% of the plaque but less than 75%;
 • Type E / 2: predominantly echogenic, echogenic areas accounting for more than 50% of the plaque but less than 75%;
 • Type E: echogenic, an-echogenic areas representing less than 25% of the plaque; (Figure 1)
 On the subject of texture of atheroma plaques, the implemented software algorithm studies the homogeneity. In order to quantify the degree of homogeneity of the atheroma plaques, from the Spatial Gray Level Dependency Matrix, a number of functions have been calculated that have become the homogeneity-classification parameters. The 117 plaques were divided into three different classes (Figure 1) as follows:
 • 28 plaques type 1, with uniform consistency regardless of their echogenicity;
 • 51 plaques type 2, with an average non-uniform consistency, the distribution of gray levels in the atheroma plaque varies but does not go through the entire interval from hypo-echogenic zones to hyper-echogenic zones;
 • 38 plaques type 3, with high non-uniform consistency, with hypo-echogenic and hyper-echogenic zones.
 With regard to the surface of the atheroma plaques, it is defined as smooth and regular, slightly irregular or ulcerated (Figure 1). Using different contour parameters, the 117 atheroma plaques subjected to computerized analysis were classified as follows:
 • 48 plaques with smooth and regular surface;
 • 55 plaques with slightly irregular surface;
 • 14 plaques with ulcerative surface; The overall agreement between software analysis and "eyeball" assessment made by 2 independent physicians was 69% for echogenicity, 58% for homogeneity and 74% for plaque surface evaluation.

 Our automatic/semiautomatic method for plaque characterization could add important information in atheroma plaque assessment and further research is needed in order to confirm its value.
 Abstract P832 Figure1


Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) is a complex heterogeneous disease that currently affects approximately 3 million in the US and accounts for 60% of all heart failure hospitalizations. HFpEF is associated with significant morbidity, mortality and healthcare expenditures. At present, there are no FDA approved therapies for reducing mortality and hospitalization in HFpEF patients. The lack of approved therapies is due in part to a lack of preclinical models that faithfully mimic the clinical presentation of HFpEF.


To explore the carrier status of Streptococcus suis in healthy pigs in different area of our country,248 samples of tonsils were collected from 20 slaughter houses in different areas of China and the type identification of S.suis was assayed by PCR after the amplification of genomic DNA in the isolates and it was further identified by serum agglutination test.Finally,the genetic relationships of isolates were investigated by multi-locus sequence typing(MLST).It was found that 14 strains of S.suis were isolated from 248 tonsil samples with a detection rate of 5.65 %,in which 3 strains were proved to be type 2,2 strains were type 7;one strain was type 9 and 8 strains were un-typeable.To these typeable strains,virulence factors,such as mrp,epf,sly,orf2,fbps,gapdh,were detected and 5 genotypes of virulence factor could be detected;they were A1,A2,A3,A4 and A5,in which the A1 and A2 genotype isolates were proved to be weak virulent strains,while the virulences of other genotypes were difficult to determine.As determined by MLST analysis,3 strains of S.suis type 2 belonged to ST1 type;one strain of S.suis type 7 belonged to ST29 and one strain of S.suis type 9 was proved to be a new ST type which was not reported previously and submitted to the MLST database of S.suis(http//ssuis.mlst.net)assigned as ST128 type.


Nuclear state density was calculated for the nuclear reaction inside the core of three different main- sequence stars namely, Sun, Sirius and Vega. The selected nuclei for present calculation were H 4 , C 12 , N 14 , and O 16 ; and the state density of Fe 54 nucleus was also included for comparison. The state density was calculated based on the exciton theory of nuclear reaction from Ericson, Williams and pairing formulae. The results confirmed that any change in the configuration will result different values of state density and the results showed that the dependence on energy is not linear, and higher densities were found at higher energies, but the change was less.


We present theoretical and experimental results on the effect of additive noise on vibrational resonance (VR), occurring in a bistable system excited by two periodic forces with very different frequencies. In the noiseless case, the phenomenon shows up as a parametric amplification of the low-frequency (LF) signal near the onset of bistability controlled by the additional high-frequency modulation. The presence of noise leads to the diminution of the gain factor (G) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the LF signal which obey scaling laws depending on the noise intensity. At the same time both G and SNR are always higher than the ones which could be obtained in the same conditions through the use of stochastic resonance (SR). As a consequence, VR can be used for the effective nonfeedback control of SR in noisy bistable systems. The experimental results obtained in a bistable vertical cavity surface emitting laser are compared with the theory showing a good agreement.


Tumor heterogeneity is known to drive breast cancer progression and metastasis. Current therapies target mostly inter-tumor heterogeneity (different patients) without taking into consideration intratumor heterogeneity (individual tumor). Hypoxia is a hallmark of aggressive tumors that is known to select for intratumor cells that are prone for metastasis. Here we show that knockdown of a ROS scavenging enzyme, Glutathione Peroxidase 2, in the PyMT mammary tumor model results in highly hypoxic and metastatic tumors. Single cell RNA-seq on both GPx2 knockdown and control tumors revealed a high degree of intratumor heterogeneity resulting in several clusters that were either of luminal/epithelial or basal-like/mesenchymal type shared by both tumors. Interestingly, GPx2 loss caused increases in a mesenchymal-like/quiescent and a highly proliferative luminal population, implying that GPx2 loss might drive a cancer stem-like population that is conducive of metastasis. Metascape pathway analysis of differentially expressed genes identified pathways that were significantly overrepresented in GPx2 knockdown tumors involving mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and response to hypoxia, consistent with the high levels of reactive oxygen species in these tumors. Finally, differential gene expression analysis on mesenchymal and luminal subpopulations predicts novel candidate gene signatures stimulated by GPx2 loss, that might be used to identify or target metastatic cells in tumors. In sum, our data imply that oxidative stress conveys a metastatic phenotype via effects on tumor cell heterogeneity. Citation Format: Zuen Ren, Malindrie Dharmaratne, Ameya Kulkarni, Atefeh Taherian Fard, Jessica Mar, Phillip M. Galbo, Yang Liu, Deyou Zheng, Huizhi Liang, Outhiriaradjou Benard, Kimita Suyama, Michael B. Prystowsky, Larry Norton, Rachel B. Hazan. Redox regulation of tumor cell heterogeneity in the PyMT mammary tumor model revealed by single cell RNA sequencing [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 4426.


The Prime Numbers are well-known for their paradoxical stand regarding Benford's Law. On one hand they adamantly refuse to obey the law of Benford in the usual sense, namely that of a normal density of the proportion of primes with d as the leading digit, yet on the other hand, the Dirichlet density for the subset of all primes with d as the leading digit is indeed LOG(1 + 1/d). In this article the superficiality of the Dirichlet density result is demonstrated and explained in terms of other well-known and established results in the discipline of Benford's Law, conceptually concluding that prime numbers cannot be considered Benford at all, in spite of the Dirichlet density result. In addition, a detailed examination of the digital behavior of prime numbers is outlined, showing a distinct digital development pattern, from a slight preference for low digits at the start for small primes, to a complete digital equality for large primes in the limit as the prime number sequence goes to infinity. Finally an exact analytical expression for the density of the logarithms of primes is derived and shown to be always on the rise at the macro level, an observation that is also confirmed empirically.


The R&D—level white—LED single—lamp luminous efficacy has reached levels as high as 152 lumens/watt at low currents, which greatly exceeds the bare—bulb incandescent lamp efficacy of 17 lumens/watt. Commercial—based white LED lamp fixtures are typically much lower, in the region of 64 lm/W, due to several issues associated with scaling up to higher currents, heat, and optical losses. These issues will be solved by employing higher light extraction, better optical designs, new chip designs, and better heat sinking. The long lifetime of LEDs (100,000 hours) and their higher efficiencies could lead to considerable maintenance and energy—saving benefits for consumers.


Purpose: Showing the possibility of modern CMOS implementation of an analog-digital logical threshold element which can be trained to complex logical threshold functions, and finding the limits of its implementability. Methods: SPICE simulation of training the threshold element to complex threshold logical functions and of supporting its analog memory elements in the trained state. Results: It is shown that for threshold element training experiments, the most suitable threshold functions are those which can be represented like Horner scheme, as with their high complexity they have the shortest checking sequences. A threshold element manufactured in CMOS 0.18 micron technology can be trained to an arbitrary threshold function with a threshold not exceeding 144. All threshold logical functions of 11 variables satisfy this restriction, and many functions of a larger number of variables. Practical relevance: The designed trained threshold element has considerably extended functional possibilities. It can be used in logical pattern recognition systems and in new generations of neurochips.


This monograph includes illustrations, plans and photographs of projects undertaken by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates that reflect their concern to produce designs wi th cool, abstract and self-confident qualities. '


Reinforced concrete slabs are among the most common structural elements. In spite of the large number of slabs designed and built, the effect of their details on their behavior under impact loads are not always appreciated or properly taken into account. Based on finite element theory, the impact resistance performance of reinforced concrete slab was studied by utilizing LS-DYNA software. In the study, the material nonlinear and contact nonlinear were considered, and the parameterized modeling is established. The results show that the thicker the slab is, the larger the impact resistance of the slab is. The research of this paper provides some foundations and suggestions for the design of reinforced concrete slabs.


applications involving large databases with uncertain data require various techniques to rank queries. Ranking queries (often called as top-k) are useful in answering most important query answers in various domains such as web search, managing sensor data, location tracking, data mining tasks and multimedia. In this survey paper, we describe and classify different top-k processing techniques in probabilistic databases and their implications. Keywordsdatabase, ranking queries, sliding window, possible world, top-k query.


A stable and healthy growth of China's economy at macro level necessitates the acceleration of innovation in technology by businesses at the micro level. However, the over-competition currently prevailing in the domestic market in China is detrimental to technological innovation. At the initial stage of development of market economy, the core of strategy for promoting technological innovation is the formation of a market environment characterized by effective competition. This paper attempts to study the relation between the way in which business grows in scale and the promotion of technological innovation in China in the context of present organizational structure of China's industries.


In order to explore whether there are differences among the sensitivity to social information of three self-monitors,this study filtered self-directed subjects,other-directed subjects and high self-monitoring subjects.They are asked to memorize digit task assigned to others or themselves,their correct response and response time were recorded.The results showed that high self-monitor group and self-directed group have more correct response than other-directed group under two digit tasks.This implied that self-director and high self-monitor are more,other-director is less sensitivity to social information of others and their own information.


The article elaborated that reason for the high product cost of the traditional industry enterprise is that the loss of waste products is very high. The topic of this article is to discuss the main reason of the loss of waste products raising the economic performance.


It is shown that if a nonconstant entire function f(z) and its derivative f(k)(z), share two finite values (counting multiplicities), then f(z) = f(k)(z), where k is a positive integer.


1Department of Biophysics and Structural Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), Beijing, P. R. China 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Heze Municipal Hospital, Heze, P. R. China 3Department of Clinical Laboratory, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, CAMS & PUMC, Beijing, P. R. China 4Caoxian Gongfei Hospital, Caoxian, P. R. China


With the break down of this thesis,I intend to elaborate the significance of English atmosphere in English studying; in addition,the agenda for utilization in practice should hardly be ignored. Should the proposed assertion succeed in fulfilling,the authority and the whole society have responsibility for assistance to maintain English surrounding properly. Qualified teachers play an essential role in organizing mini English environment ideally concerning the same issue in terms of ability in language aspect and capacity in communication.


Apoptosis is a form of cell death leading to fragmentation of the DNA, shrinkage of the cytoplasm, membrane changes, and cell death without lysis or damage to neighboring cells. It might contribute to the low developmental rate of in vitro-produced (IVP) embryos, but apoptosis in porcine embryos is still unclear. This study investigated the effect of sucrose in the culture medium on the development of porcine NT and IVP embryos. Oocytes were aspirated from the follicles in ovaries collected from a local abattoir, and then matured in TCM-199 for 40-44 h. Fresh semen was diluted and equilibrated at 16°C. A final concentration of motile spermatozoa was adjusted to 5 × 105 cells/mL in fertilization medium. Fetal fibroblast cells were prepared from a 35-day-old porcine fetus and used as donor cells. Embryos were cultured in PZM-3 supplemented with 0.05 M sucrose for 2 days, and then cultured in the PZM-3 without sucrose for 4 days at 38.5°C under 5% CO2 in air. Apoptotic cell death was analyzed by using a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine 5-triphosphate nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay. All data were subjected to a generalized linear model procedure (PROC-GLM) of the statistical analysis system (SAS; SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC, USA). NT and IVF embryos cultured in the medium supplemented with sucrose showed a significantly higher blastocyst formation rate than those cultured with no addition (28.8 vs. 20% and 32.3 vs. 17.9%; P < 0.05, respectively). For apoptosis, both NT and IVF embryos cultured in the medium with sucrose showed significantly lower frequency of apoptosis compared to embryos cultured in the medium without sucrose (3.4 vs. 6.3% and 0.6 vs. 1.8%; P < 0.05, respectively). Finally, the number of nuclei in NT blastocysts cultured in the medium with sucrose was higher than that of NT blastocysts cultured without sucrose (30.8 vs. 25.5; P < 0.05, respectively). However, the number of nuclei in the IVF blastocysts was not significantly different between groups. These results indicate that sucrose addition may increase the development of porcine NT and IVF embryos to the blastocyst stage and decrease the rate of apoptotic cells.


The invention provides a manufacturing method for a wood texture mold. The manufacturing method for the wood texture mold comprises the following steps that (1) materials are blanked according to a drawing, and the wood is manufactured into the needed size and shape according to the drawing; (2) leveling and edge circling are carried out with a worktable according to the wood; (3) the wood is baked through a fire source;(4) the texture of the wood is smoothened through a metal brush; (5) surface treatment is carried out; and (6) the mold is manufactured by using the texture of the wood. The mold is manufactured through the natural wood texture and special treatment procedures, the mold manufactured through the manufacturing method for the wood texture mold is clear in texture, the pattern looks natural, the service life of the mold is prolonged, and the product quality is improved.


ABSTRACT The article elucidates the theatre-making methodology of Shyambazar Blind Opera House, Kolkata (SBO); a group theatre troupe made up of members of the visually impaired community. The initiative uses theatre as an experimental tool to facilitate personal, social, and cultural development, and is the first of its kind in Bengal. The composite theatrical structure used by the troupe not only empowers the community but also challenges power hierarchies. Thick description, participatory observation and interviews have been employed as ethnographic tools to understand the theatrical methodology employed by Blind Opera, and its application.


The radical reason that causes debt crisis is the institution. This paper deeply compares and analyzes the systematic foundation of governmental debt accumulation of China and America and builds the theoretical framework of "institution,governmental behaviors and debt accumulation"by learning from Buchanan's Public Selection Theory of "voting by hands"and "voting by feet"and North's thesis of "institution determines economic performance". The research finds that because of the Chinese political system of vertical concentration and the fiscal federalism with Chinese characteristics,the local government itself not only have the huge incentives to promote the development of local economy,but also "competitive championship"exists among the local governments,which makes high debt risk of the local governments. Because of American separation of powers system and fiscal federalism,the governmental officials are responsible to the electorate and the finance of the local governments is self-disciplined. As a result,the risks of American central government are significant. Therefore,when we defuse the risks of Chinese local debts,we should pay more attention to standardizing the behaviors of governmental officials by institutions and regulations,formulate good fiscal regulations and disciplines,build advanced debt market and give play to the decisive role of market.


Objective:The objective of this study was to explore the relations of quantitatively measures of serum alphaferoprotein(AFP)and prognosis in severe viral hepatitis.Methods:The level of blood serum AFP was determined by radioimmunassay in 368 cases with gravis type viral hepatitis,and its change was observed in a dynamic rate.Results:The abnormity rate of AFP was 71.19%,the abnormity rate of AFP in acute severe hepatitis patients was significantly less than that in sub-acute severe hepatitis and chronic severe hepatitis(p0.01),the death rate of patients with AFP20μg/L,AFP20-400μg/L and AFP400μg/L was 79.24%,45.84% and 34.054% respectively,the survival severe hepatitis patients were 170 cases with AFP(282.31±56.32)μg/L in 368 cases,198 cases with AFP(90.42土38.88)μg/L died(p0.01).Conclusion:The blood serum AFP determination in gravis type viral hepatitis can be used as a sensitive index for prognosis.A high level of AFP indicates that hepatitis cells regeneration is active and the prognosis is relatively better.


Conflicts over large-scale mining in Latin America have received growing scholarly attention. Whereas this scholarship has provided very valuable insights into the anatomies of these conflicts, the role of religious ideas and actors has received scant attention. This is remarkable, since the largest church of Latin America, the Catholic Church, seems to be in the midst of an ecological reorientation and increasingly emphasizes its image of the 'Church of the poor and the Earth'. This research aims to fill this gap and examines the role of Catholic ideas and organizations in mining conflicts. Combining document analysis and ethnographic research on a mining project in Ecuador, the paper argues that Catholic ideas and actors play a significant role in discourses regarding nature and the subsoil, and in configuring the power relations part of conflicts. However, when engaging a historical and gendered perspective, it becomes clear that this role is not without ambiguities and tensions. The paper particularly urges researchers to remain critical of the reinforcements of a patriarchal system of power as well as the essentialization of indigenous cosmologies that continue to undergird present-day discourses and interactions of Catholic organizations in mining conflicts.


This paper aims to discuss the popular housing that was produced under government programs, attempting to include it into the broader frame of urban housing provision. It analyses the actions undertaken in the Metropolitan Region of Belem (Northern Brazil) through Programa Minha Casa, Minha Vida (PMCMV – My House, My Life Program) and through Programa de Aceleracao do Crescimento – Habitacao (PAC – Accelerated Growth Program – Housing), in relation to the interests and strategies of social agents who make decisions and to the dwelling's characteristics, in order to verify implications for the fulfillment of the right to the city. The main conclusion is that the determinants of the PMCMV actions do not result in benefits and problems associated with State and market categories, as opposed to the standard of best locations due to the design of the PAC and the interests of the State.


Since land distribution to peasant household, especially since the mid and late 1990s, with the construction of state power, the penetration of the market economy, China's rural society has changed dramatically. Television began to enter every household in the countryside. As one kind of unprecedented modern technical appliance, television played an important role in the dramatic changes taking place in rural society. This paper intends to explore "de-collectivization" in rural communities, an important issue in the reform and opening-up policy, from the perspective of the relationship between the dramatic changes and television. Specifically, it covers rural governance, the nature of village and human relations in the illustration of such relationship. The discussion will mainly focus on the relationship between television and the rural community life as a whole, aiming to improve people's understanding of the internal relations between television and regional rural governance and rural life.


The dispatching of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) is essential for efficient horizontal transportation at automated container terminals. Effective planning of AGV transportation can reduce equipment energy consumption and shorten task completion time. Multiple AGVs transport containers between storage blocks and vessels, which can be regarded as the supply sides and demand points of containers. To meet the requirements of shipment in terms of timely and high-efficient delivery, multiple AGVs should be dispatched to deliver containers, which includes assigning tasks and selecting paths. A contract net protocol (CNP) is employed for task assignment in a multiagent system, while machine learning provides a logical alternative, such as Q-learning (QL), for complex path planning. In this study, mathematical models for multi-AGV dispatching are established, and a QL-CNP algorithm is proposed to tackle the multi-AGV dispatching problem (MADP). The distribution of traffic load is balanced for multiple AGVs performing tasks in the road network. The proposed model is validated using a Gurobi solver with a small experiment. Then, QL-CNP is used to conduct experiments with different sizes. The other algorithms, including Dijkstra, GA, and PSO, are also compared with the QL-CNP algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed QL-CNP when addressing the MADP.


A method of solving a class of conformal quantum field theory models in D-dimensional Euclidean space-time is proposed. Some of the models are determined by regularized field equations. The method allows us to obtain closed differential equations for each Green function of fundamental and composite fields, and also algebraic equations for scale dimensions of fields. Each D>2-model involves an analogue of the central charge, i.e., a special scalar field P of dimension dP=D−2. When D=2, this becomes a constant field. We also obtain a new class of D=2 models with broken infinite parameter symmetry. Closed differential equation for Green functions of these models are found.


A 50-day field study was carried out in a semi- natural, non-fertilized grassland in south-western Ontario, Canada during the late summer and early autumn of 2012. The purpose was to explore surface-atmosphere exchange processes of ammonia (NH3) with a focus on bi-directional fluxes between the soil and atmosphere. Measurements of soil pH and ammonium concentration ((NH + )) yielded the first direct quantification of soil emission potential (0soil = (NH + )/(H + )) for this land type, with values ranging from 35 to 1850 (an average of 290). The soil compensation point, the atmospheric NH3 mixing ratio below which net emission from the soil will occur, exhibited both a seasonal trend and diurnal trend. Higher daytime and August com- pensation points were attributed to higher soil temperature. Soil-atmosphere fluxes were estimated using NH 3 measure- ments from the Ambient Ion Monitor Ion Chromatograph (AIM-IC) and a simple resistance model. Vegetative effects were ignored due to the short canopy height and significant 0soil. Inferred fluxes were, on average, 2.6 ± 4.5 ng m 2 s 1 in August (i.e. net emission) and 5.8± 3.0 ng m 2 s 1 in September (i.e. net deposition). These results are in good agreement with the only other bi-directional exchange study in a semi-natural, non-fertilized grassland. A Lagrangian dispersion model (Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Inte- grated Trajectory - HYSPLIT) was used to calculate air par- cel back-trajectories throughout the campaign and revealed that NH3 mixing ratios had no directional bias through- out the campaign, unlike the other atmospheric constituents measured. This implies that soil-atmosphere exchange over a non-fertilized grassland can significantly moderate near- surface NH3 concentrations. In addition, we provide indirect evidence that dew and fog evaporation can cause a morning increase of (NH3)g. Implications of our findings on current NH3 bi-directional exchange modelling efforts are also dis- cussed.


The purpose of this article is to employ a user-perspective on prison drug treatment. Based on data from 32 in-depth qualitative interviews with inmates and three months of observational studies in three Danish prisons, the article examines how drug treatment in prison is experienced and strategically approached by enrolled inmates. The analysis shows the broad range of reasons for entering as well as staying in treatment during imprisonment, including how the prison setting influences and constrains inmates' experiences in different ways. By employing a user-perspective the article follows the research tradition, beginning in the 1990s, of including drug users' perspectives on treatment. It adds important information to the drug treatment literature on issues such as organization, social relations and output of drug treatment. Including a user-perspective, we were able to uncover aspects and experiences of treatment services that differ from other actors in the field, e.g. counsellors, medical doctors, nurses, politicians, and officers. A user-perspective also challenges our understanding of what is at play in drug treatment as well as treatment in prisons.


Globally, 2.6 million children died in the first month of life in 2016, most of which occurred in the first week, with about 1 million dying on the first day and close to 1 million dying within the next six days. The first 28 days are the most vulnerable time for a child's survival. Children face the highest risk of dying in their first month of life. Most newborn deaths occurred in two regions: Southern Asia (39%) and sub-Saharan Africa (38%). Five countries accounted for half of all new-born deaths: India (24%), Pakistan (10%), Nigeria (9%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (4%) and Ethiopia (3%). About a quarter of global neonatal deaths occur in India. Neonatal mortality is an important indicator of quality of healthcare of a country. Neonatal mortality is becoming increasingly important because the proportion of underfive deaths that occur during the neonatal period is increasing. However, the neonatal deaths have declined from 4.7 million in 1990 to 2.8 million in 2013.. ABSTRACT


The purpose of the article is to increase the efficiency of the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), when pointing it at high-speed and highly maneuverable targets, through the use of a combined method of creating control forces and moments, as well as the synthesis of an onboard stabilization system (UAV), based on a multidimensional nonlinear dynamic model. The combined control algorithm is based on a combination of aerodynamic and gas-dynamic methods of creating forces and moments. In this case, switching modes from aerodynamic to gas-dynamic control are taken into account, including the features of the synthesis of the stabilization system on the bases of the synergetic control theory and the processes of its dynamics. Simulated mathematical modeling of UAVs with a combined control method and a synthesized controller was carried out. The synthesis of the onboard stabilization system controller is based on the introduction of attractor states into the space, which ensure the formation of the necessary UAV properties. The synthesized controller implements the required technological tasks and the stability of the aircraft. The need to use the aerodynamic control method and synthesis of the stabilization system regulator is due to the growth of the tactical and technical characteristics of aerospace attack facilities, which will ensure high efficiency of UAV application for high-speed and highly maneuverable targets.


This paper focuses on the comparison of cloud amounts derived from an Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM), Satellite-observed clouds, and Ground-based cloud observations.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to closely investigate the antecedents affecting relationship quality and its consequences between life insurers and their customers. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from the customers of life insurers' customer relationship management centres and were analysed using in-depth interviews and questionnaires. A structural equation modelling approach is employed to test the hypotheses. Findings – The findings are generally consistent with the literature. This study supports all hypotheses. Finally, the findings of this study confirm that relationship quality mediates the effects of salesperson characteristics and relational selling behaviour on customer loyalty. Originality/value – To the authors knowledge, there is little published research that examines antecedents and consequences of relationship quality in life insurance industry in Taiwan. Therefore, in addition to developing high-quality services, life insurers need to establish and maintain long-...


Asbestos litigation is the single largest mass tort claim in U.S. history. The costs of asbestos litigation have left corporations without assets, plaintiffs without compensation, and attorneys with hearty bank accounts. While reforms have been proposed, they do not adequately solve the asbestos litigation.Recently, the Louisiana Supreme Court, in Rando v. Anco Insulations Inc., held that all mesothelioma claims must be litigated in the tort system as opposed to the Louisiana Workers' Compensation system and created the risk of greater asbestos litigation within its borders. This article attempts to craft a solution to Louisiana's impending asbestos litigation crisis by advocating a state-administered scheduled compensation system for asbestos injury claims based on the Fairness in Asbestos Recovery Act of 2006 and the Louisiana Medical Malpractice statute.


Mobility and number density of charge carriers are important parameters that influence the electrolyte conductivity. Therefore, knowing these parameters quantitatively is of great significance. In this work, solid polymer electrolytes have been prepared by solution casting technique using gellan gum complexes with lithium triflate (LiTf). The conductivity of the electrolyte increases from 3.35 × 10−8 S cm−1 (electrolyte with 10 wt% LiTf) to 5.38 × 10−4 S cm−1 (electrolyte with 40 wt% LiTf). The increase in conductivity was attributed to the increase in mobility and number density of charge carriers in the electrolyte from 6.63 × 10−9 cm2 V−1 s−1 to 1.25 × 10−6 cm2 V−1 s−1 and from 4.00 × 1020 cm−3 to 2.68 × 1021 cm−3, respectively. The electrolyte conductivity is seen to decrease as LiTf salts were added more than 40 wt% concentration due to the decrease of charge carrier mobility to 8.58 × 10−7 cm2 V−1 s−1. The variation of conductivity obtained in this work is dominantly influenced by the mobility of charge carriers in the electrolyte as proven from the Fourier transform infrared approach.


Coleman and Mazur ask whether the Eigencurve has any "holes". We answer their question in the negative for the 2-adic Eigencurve of tame level one.


declined. Communication and party management remain crucial, however. The demands put on an opposition leader are different from those facing a prime minister. The latter must constantly take decisions that have immediate impact and importance on domestic policy or world events. In contrast, opposition leaders can only talk. That is one reason why political communication skills are so important in opposition: a leader has to convince voters that s/he could do things better than the prime minister. The need for internal unity ensures that party management looms large for an opposition leader. However, it is clear from the chapters in this book that the demands of party management have varied considerably between different opposition leaders. Some have had to hold together warring factions, in the way of Foot and Hague, but what emerges is that leaders who paper over the cracks of internal divisions are rarely successful. Other leaders decided to confront rival factions in the manner of Gaitskell and Kinnock. The latter is an interesting case because, although voters rarely saw him as a credible prime minister-in-waiting, he was one of the few people who could have led Labour in the 1980s. He came from the party's dominant left-wing, but took on and defeated the far-left. It was a prerequisite for making Labour electable again, although Kinnock was never fully trusted by the electorate and it was Blair who was the eventual beneficiary. In his concluding chapter, Heppell observes how the role of opposition leader has changed. The rise of valence politics, with its emphasis on competence, has brought leaders to the fore as the personal embodiments of their parties. Leaders have become noticeably younger and less experienced, as parties look to signal to voters their freshness. They have been given more power to achieve party goals through the process of intra-party centralisation. However, the other side of the coin is a reduced tolerance of electoral failure: if voters do not warm to an opposition leader, their parties will be more ruthless in dispatching him/her. This volume makes a good attempt to assess the post of opposition leader and its holders, and the criteria it deploys are reasonable ones. But it would have been interesting to know why post-war British opposition leaders have not, on the whole, been particularly impressive. Tim Bale is probably right that Cameron was one of the best (p. 222), but given that he failed to win the 2010 election outright, it does suggest a general ineffectiveness to the post. On the other hand, great prime ministers need not have excelled in opposition: Thatcher dominated in high office but she was a mediocre opposition leader. This curiosity might also have been developed more fully in Leaders of the Opposition. However, those are minor criticisms of what is, overall, a lucid and fascinating volume.


A problem of screening of electron–electron interaction by LO phonons is investigated for bound two-electron systems in bulk semiconductors and semiconductor quantum dots. We consider a D− centre and a two-electron quantum dot and obtain the effective LO-phonon-induced interaction between the electrons, i.e., Veff(r12)∼e2/[εeff(r12)r12], where r12 is the interelectron distance and εeff(r12) is the effective phonon dielectric function. The calculated phonon dielectric function rapidly increases for small r12 starting from the high-frequency dielectric constant, , and reaches some constant value, , at relatively small interelectron distances. We have found that—in most cases— is less than the static dielectric constant, εs. Only in the weakly ionic compounds, like GaAs, . We argue that—in the bound few-electron systems— better approximates the average LO-phonon-induced screening than the commonly used εs. We have also shown that the coupling with LO phonons leads to the increase of the binding energy of the two-electron system confined in the quantum dot.


Purpose: Transporting children in cardiac arrest with ongoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) between hospitals is a potentially life-saving endeavor if it enables patients with out-of-hospital arrest or witnessed arrest at a community hospital to access tertiary care resources such as extracorporeal support. However, these transports may risk personnel safety given the limited options for safe delivery of manual CPR and lack of approved pediatric mechanical compressor devices. Furthermore, we are unaware of any literature on the feasibility of high-quality CPR during pediatric interhospital …


Approximately 30% of the elderly population (> 65 years) experience frequent falls which negatively impacts their physical well-being. This problem is even more pronounced in elderly women who exhibit chronic conditions such as osteoarthritis. As a result, there is a continuous need for non-invasive programs aimed at the improvement of balance, flexibility and strength. The purpose of this research was to examine if proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitated (PNF) stretching exercises enhanced flexibility, sstrength, static balance, and postural adaptations in three elderly women with osteoarthritis in their lower extremities. Three females (M = 64.3, SD = 3.85) completed a pre-test, 12 stretching sessions (3 per week for four weeks), a post-test, and a retention test. Static balance in standing was measured on a force place and was inferred from center of pressure (COP) path length (cm) whereas COP sway area (cm2) was used to examine changes in postural adaptations. The flexibility was inferred from range of motion of the hip, knee, and ankle joints measured with a goniometer, whereas a sit to stand test was used to capture the changes in strength. Descriptive results showed that all three participants experienced an increase in strength, but even more importantly clinically relevant changes in ROM were evident in the majority of the muscle groups targeted. Static balance remained unaffected, but as expected, the ability to generate dynamic postural adaptations was enhanced, which may have an important impact on overall prevention of falling and staggering. Although the sample size was small, the findings appear to be robust across the participants thus confirming the usefulness of PNF stretching on different aspects of gross motor function in women with osteoarthritis. Sports Injuries & Medicine Przysucha E and Klarner T. Sports Injr Med: 5: 173. www.doi.org/10.29011/2576-9596.100073 www.gavinpublishers.com


Abstract Bitumen is used as binder for asphalted roads worldwide. However the service life of asphalt roads is limited due to the viscoelastic properties of bitumen. The lack of yield stress and the flow behavior at high temperatures as well as the stiffness of bitumen at lower temperatures results in the main failure sources of asphalt roads. Many polymers have been used in industry to improve the rheological behavior of bitumen and consequently, service life of roads. The polymers are commonly added to hot bitumen under stirring in order to achieve a stable dispersion. However, most polymers show little to no miscibility in bitumen, which requires long dispersion times and may lead to oxidation of bitumen and degradation of the polymers. Poor miscibility of the dispersed polymer and the bitumen matrix can result in phase separation during transport of molten bitumen, leading to a heterogeneous binder and further failure of the paved road, which is a common problem in the paving industry. Rubber pre-treating leads to a faster mixing process without compromising dispersion quality and stability. Bitumen was modified with SBS, ground rubber and chopped fibers of polymers. These fibers, which showed good stability, can be considered for the future as bitumen modifiers. To evaluate the stability of the modified bitumen, we propose a stability index.


It was Sunday, Apr. 13. My turn to do a shift on the SARS ward at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre. I remember feeling little apprehension as I stepped into the car. Just the day before, a close friend had recounted the story of an internist in Singapore who died of SARS despite


This case study discusses the Andorran Government's diplomatic response to ensure the country's international competitiveness and continuity in the European regional economic bloc throughout the recent financial crisis imperatives and external threats that led to their immediate economic and political environment after 2009. After a short revision of the commercial diplomacy literature, we briefly describe the characteristics of micro-states, particularly of Andorra. This section is followed by an explanation of the extremely critical situation in Andorra in 2009. We have analysed the country's diplomatic and governmental responses. During the two years following 2009, Andorra saw an unprecedented acceleration of international policy signing, which included over 18 bilateral agreements to exchange tax information. These agreements ensured Andorra's ability to maintain its position in the international economic arena as well as its most important commodity, full sovereignty as a normalised country. Simultaneously, Andorra substantially changed its internal tax structure and has prepared future negotiations with the EU to join in the coming years the European Economic Area. All these actions were adopted in the face of threats and unprecedented international pressures from neighbouring countries and international organisations.


Introduction: Melasma is an acquired hypermelanosis of sun-exposed areas. Melasma is much more common in women than in men. Women are affected in 90% of cases. The patient usually presents with tan to brown patches. Multiple factors have been postulated to involve in the etiology and pathogenesis of melasma including pregnancy, oral contraceptives, genetics, sun exposure, cosmetics and race. Objectives: The objectives of the present studies are to study the demographic details of the melasma patients visiting the Manipal Teaching Hospital (MTH), to study the drugs used in management of melasma and to estimate the treatment cost to the patients. Materials and methods: We went through the records of the patient at MTH and found out the number of patients suffering from melasma and other related data from 25th November 2005 to 30th November 2007. The data obtained were analyzed as per the study objectives. Results: Altogether 107 patient files were included in the study. There were 75 (70.09%) females and 32 (29.90%) males (the total is 107). More than 50% of the patients were above the age 20 years. Most common site of occurrence of pigmentation was forehead accounting for 56.45% (n= 70) of the total case followed by cheeks 12.09% (n=15). Altogether 290 drugs were used in the patients with a Mean  SD of 2.71  0.89 drugs per patient. The Mean  SD cost of medications was NRs 458  251.36. Conclusion: The present study analyzed the clinical profile and treatment pattern of the melasma patients visiting MTH. Majority of the patients were of child bearing age. Sun screens were the most commonly employed medications followed by antioxidants 20 (6.89%) and antibiotics 18 (6.2%).


High level face recognition system is capable of matching the two dimensional face images with the images having different pose and varied facial expressions from a dataset of face models. In such process, identifying the original images involves many strategic key functions. This process involves the extraction of the related image surface, key points and depth which compared with the dataset to retrieve the original image. In this paper, we have proposed a novel technique of extracting the image components based on a Fractional Distributor Principal Component Analysis (FDPCA) method, and combining the features of cumulative integration before matching. This new technique gives improvement in accuracy when compared to the conventional method where the PCA is applied as a whole on the picture.


The paper presents the circle criteria for stability analysis of continuous fuzzy cotnrol systems(CFCS)and sampled-data fuzzy control systems(SDFCS).Furthermore it is discussed how the sampling perlod affects the system stability in SDFCS The simulation example is given to show that the criteria is useful and effec tive


Groundwater samples of bore wells (BW), were collected from different locations in Delhi city and were analyzed for their physicochemical characteristics. The samples were studied during pre-monsoon (June-July 2010) and post-monsoon (December 2010-January 2011) seasons from 15 locations across Delhi city. The present study was undertaken to characterize the physicochemical parameters such as temperature, pH, Chloride (Cl ), Calcium Hardness (CH), Total Hardness (TH), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Sulphate (SO ), - -4 2 Nitrate (NO ) and Fluoride (F ). Each parameter was compared with its standard permissible limit as prescribed 3- - by World Health Organization (WHO). The Water Quality Index (WQI) of the samples was also assessed. It reflected that almost all the 15 water samples were of poor quality especially samples collected post-monsoon. The Karl Pearson Correlation matrix has approved the influence of Calcium CH on TDS, TH on CH, Cl and CH with significantly positive correlation. Since, remediation of groundwater is very difficult, knowledge of the existing nature, magnitude and sources of the various pollution loads is a prerequisite to assessing groundwater quality.


Cardiovascular complications represent the predominant cause of death in patients in the terminal stage of renal failure. Increased concentrations of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) may be a valuable predictor of cardiac risk (1)(2). However, cardiac troponin I (cTnI), clinical symptoms, and electrocardiogram (ECG) indications may be absent in patients with a positive cTnT. This may be attributable to instability of the cTnI molecule (3) or dissimilar glomerular filtration of cTnT and cTnI (4). Positive cTnT values are of cardiac origin because the second generation of cTnT assays will not detect cTnT isoforms expressed in the skeletal muscle of hemodialysis patients (5). We therefore measured the cardiac troponins cTnT and cTnI in the plasma and urine of selected patients differing in their kidney function.

We examined 24 patients with increased plasma cTnT. Patients were grouped according to their basic disease and renal function as follows:

Group A included five patients (patients 1–5) who had suffered an acute myocardial infarction and three patients (patients 6–8) with cardiac damage as a result of heart surgery, all with normal or only slightly restricted glomerular filtration rate of >80 mL/min. All eight patients were male, with a mean (SD) age of 63 (11) years. Patients had clinically typical chest pain (with the exception of patient 8), and electrocardiography (ECG) showed signs of old myocardial infarction, signs of ST-segment reduction or elevation >0.1 mV with and without chest pain, or signs any arrhythmia of unknown origin.

Group B included two patients (patients 9 and 10) who had suffered an acute myocardial infarction and six patients (patients 11–16) with cardiac damage as a result of heart surgery; all had a substantially restricted glomerular filtration rate (only patient 9 had values for creatinine and creatinine clearance that were within the appropriate reference intervals). All patients in …


Potassium is the second most required element in amount per plant. In corn,
this nutrient is indispensable for good production in the most diverse regions of the
country. With the indiscriminate use of this, an electrical conductivity of the soil (EC) is
altered by means of a saline soil medium. The objective of this study was to investigate
the effect of potassium (K+) doses, via fertigation, on the production of irrigated corn,
and its correlation with an electric conduction of soil saturation extract, in the Cerrado
Maranhense region. A randomized complete block design, consisting of 4 treatments: 0,
100, 150, 200 (Kg ha-1) of K2O and 5 replicates, using potassium chloride as the source.
The experiment was conducted in the field of the Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences Center (CCAA), municipality of Chapadinha-MA, in the period from May to
July, using a cultivar BRS 5037 Cruzeta with a population of 10 plants m-2. The
evaluations were carried out before and after the 30, 45 and 60 days after an emergency,
consisting of the removal of soil samples at depths of 0-20 and 20-40 cm for the
determination of the electric conduction of the soil and plant sampling for dry matter
determination. After a harvest with avalanches as variables: plant height, stalk diameter,
dry matter, spike weight and without straw, grain weight, leaf area and yield. The use of
K+ in cover, using different doses, did not provide significant effects for the corn crop
production. There was a significant increase in the values of electrical conductivity
mainly in the superficial layer of the soil. With CEes varying linearly as a function of
the period of the applications, with a higher value at 60 DAE.


Objective To investigate the effects of bone marrow meseuchymal stromal cells( BMSCs)transplantation on cognitive function and expression of nitric oxide synthase( NOS) of vascular dementia( Va D) rat model. Methods The SD rats were divided into BMSCs group,medium injection group and sham operation group.The rat of BMSCs were injected with BMSCs,and the rats of medium injection group were injected with DMEM. At30 d after transplantation,learning and memory ability,enzyme activity of TNOS,i NOS and the content of NO in plasma and hippocampus,expression of NOS mRNA in blood,expression of NOS mRNA and protein in hippocampus were compared between three groups. Results Compared with sham operation group,the escape latent period and the time of first crossing the platform prolonged of BMSCs group and medium injection group were significantly prolonged( all P 0. 05),the number of crossing the platform of medium injection group were significantly increased( P 0. 05). Compared with medium injection group,the escape latent period and the time of first crossing the platform of BMSCs group were significantly shorten( all P 0. 05),and the number of crossing the platform of BMSCs group were significantly increased( P 0. 05). Enzymatic activity of t NOS,i NOS,and the content of NO in plasma and hippocampus of medium injection group and BMSCs group were significantly increased than those in sham operation group( all P 0. 05). The enzymatic activity of t NOS,i NOS,and the content of NO in plasma and hippocampus of BMSCs group were significantly decreased than those in medium injection group( all P 0. 05). Compared with sham operation group,the expression of NOS mRNA in plasma and hippocampus,the expression of NOS protein in hippocampus i NOS of medium injection group and BMSCs group were significantly increased( all P 0. 01). The expression of NOS mRNA in plasma and hippocampus,the expression of NOS protein in hippocampus i NOS of BMSCs group were significantly decreased than those in medium injection group( all P 0. 05). Conclusions BMSCs transplantation into lateral ventricle of Va D rats can reduce the level of NO,the enzymatic activity of t NOS,i NOS,so as to prevent the nerve from the injury. It can improve the cognitive impairment of the Va D rats.


To forecast the water quality at the definite range. Recurring to the common file, intersect the forecasting results and some geographic information by the powerful spatial analyses function of GIS, the methods and the flow of water forecasting are put forward by means of GIS. The research result indicates that the method is accurate and practicable, and has the highly extended value.


BACKGROUND
Diclofenac sodium (DS) injection is widely used in the management of acute or chronic pain and inflammatory diseases. It incorporates 20 % w/v Transcutol-P as a solubilizer to make the stable injectable formulation. However, the use of Transcutol-P in high concentration leads to adverse effects such as severe nephrotoxicity, etc. Some advancements resulted in the formulation of an aqueous based injectable but that too used benzyl alcohol reported to be toxic for human use.

OBJECTIVE
To develop an injectable self-micro emulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) as a novel carrier of DS for prompt release with better safety and efficacy.

METHODS
A solubility study was performed with different surfactants and co-surfactants. The conventional stirring method was employed for the formulation of SMEDDS. Detailed in vitro characterization was done for different quality control parameters. In vivo studies were performed using Wistar rats for pharmacokinetic evaluation, toxicological analysis, and analgesic activity.

RESULTS
The optimized formulation exhibited good physical stability, ideal globule size (156±0.4 nm), quick release, better therapeutics, and safety, increase in LD50 (221.9 mg/kg) to that of the commercial counterpart (109.9 mg/kg). Further, pre-treatment with optimized formulation reduced the carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema by 88±1.2 % after 4 h, compared to 77±1.6 % inhibition with commercial DS formulation. Moreover, optimized formulation significantly (p<0.05) inhibited the pain sensation in the acetic-acid induced writhing test in mice compared to its commercial equivalent with a better pharmacokinetic profile.

CONCLUSION
The above findings confirmed that liquid SMEDDS could be a successful carrier for the safe and effective delivery of DS.


Indicates that many universities are revisiting the issue of the development of an integrated teaching and research environment. Explores strategies which can be adopted to support the development of a research ethos in a teaching institution. These include: writing textbooks, publishable action learning materials and other publishable learning material; generating projects based on students' work; encouraging research students to publish; experimenting with and evaluating different teaching and learning approaches; and integrating data collection into student learning or assessment activities.


Using high-resolution optical spectra, we determine effective temperatures and gravities for a sample of very low-mass stellar and substellar PMS cluster objects. Masses and radii are then derived using known cluster distance and photometry; two of our targets seem to have planetary masses. Our results are independent of theoretical evolutionary tracks. While our results agree with the track predictions for hotter, higher mass objects, discrepancies appear for the coolest, lowest mass ones. This may be due to track uncertainties related to formation effects, and/or internal conditions, in these very young, ultra-low-mass objects.


Abstract Electron spin resonance and temperature-programmed desorption spectra of thin layers of DTBN (di- tert -butyl nitroxide) adsorbed on Au(111) and NiO(111)/Au(111) surfaces have been measured. The temperature-programmed desorption data show a weak chemisorption of the DTBN molecules in the monolayer on both surfaces. On Au(111) as well as on NiO(111)/Au(111), the ESR signal from monolayer coverages is totally suppressed. This suppression continues into the multilayer regime on both substrates. Disturbances of the substrate/adsorbate interface have a strong influence on the range of the signal suppression. Possible reasons for this behavior are discussed.


Abstract Samples of nickel-supported alumina were prepared from sol–gel and non-sol–gel alumina by impregnation of aqueous solution of nickel formate and the decomposition behavior of the nickel formate on alumina was then followed by combined thermal analysis and infrared spectroscopy. The decomposition products were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary-ion mass- spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The surface areas and pore distributions were measured by BET. Nickel formate was found to decompose over a wide temperature range owing to its interaction with the alumina. The surface area of the sol–gel alumina after nickel loading increased whereas the non-sol–gel alumina remained unchanged. The products were amorphous, and they had a pore distribution in the mesoporous region. The nickel species existed as nickel aluminate, unsupported nickel oxide, stoichiometric nickel oxide, and metallic nickel. The nickel species were uniformly distributed on the surface. The particles agglomerated at the submicron level; no nickel species was found on the surface.


The greatest enlightenment thinker Rousseau,who contributes the most in the construction of human new children's view,creates his natural education thoughts from a new point of view to see,research,appreciate children to focus them in the education process and raise the child issue to be a worldwide attractive subject.On the basis of the current existing problems in the family education,analyzing from Rousseau's education thought,some enlightenment and ways to solve the problems are to be got.


The immediate and long-term results of surgical treatment of 79 patients with peptic ulcers after surgery on the stomach were studied. Reconstructive gastric resection in the modification of Roux is the operation of choice in surgical treatment of peptic ulcers of the stomach operated on non-hormonal etiology, as it eliminates the major pathogenetic factors of its occurrence, and technically most appropriate when the reconstruction of the gastrointestinal anastomosis after various surgical interventions on the stomach.


In this article, we discuss the inkjet printing of silver nanoparticle ink and PEDOT: PSS (poly (3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate for indium tin oxide-free organic solar cells. We observed that the significant parameters for the printing of silver nanoparticle ink and PEDOT: PSS are waveform parameters voltage and time, substrate temperature, drop spacing and annealing temperature. Organic solar cells were fabricated over grids with three different line spacing (1 mm, 2 mm and 3 mm) and better performance was observed for grids with 2 mm spacing. The figure of limit, which is the ratio between the optical transmission and sheet resistance, was used as a tool to evaluate the performance of the current collecting grid. The figure of limit was high for grids with 2 mm spacing ( 21.11 × 10 − 3 Ω − 1 ), which confirmed the experimental results.


A bilevel program is an optimization problem whose constraints involve another optimization problem. This paper studies bilevel polynomial programs (BPPs), i.e., all the functions are polynomials. We reformulate BPPs equivalently as semi-infinite polynomial programs (SIPPs), using Fritz John conditions and Jacobian representations. Combining the exchange technique and Lasserre type semidefinite relaxations, we propose numerical methods for solving both simple and general BPPs. For simple BPPs, we prove the convergence to global optimal solutions. Numerical experiments are presented to show the efficiency of proposed algorithms.


Identification of closed-loop MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) linear systems given noisy input-output measurements is considered. It is assumed that the various disturbances/noise processes affecting the system are zero-mean stationary Gaussian, whereas the closed-loop system operates under an external non-Gaussian input which is not measured. Noisy measurements of the (direct) input and output of the plant are assumed to be available. Explicit parametric modeling of the various noise sequences affecting the system is not needed. In this paper a recently reported approach for SISO systems is extended to MIMO systems. First the open-loop MIMO transfer function is estimated using integrated polyspectrum and cross-polyspectrum, of the time-domain input-output measurements. Then two existing techniques for parametric system identification given consistent estimates of the underlying transfer function, are exploited. The parameter estimators are strongly consistent under certain (mild) sufficient conditions. A computer simulation example is presented to illustrate the proposed approach.


The Tridactyloidea of Southern Africa (Orthoptera, Caelifera

The African Tridactyloidea, especially from the southern parts of this continent (Madagascar included), are studied and revised with taxonomical and faunistical point of view. 41 species are found out. They belong to 6 genera: Tridactylus (3), Asiotridactylusgen. n. (2), Afrotridactylus (7), Xya (23), Paratridactylus (1) and Bruntridactylus (5). The genus Asiotridactylusgen. n., 11 species (Tridactylus angustussp. n., Asiotridactylus aethiopicussp. n., Bruntridactylus katangensissp. n., Xya albiantennatasp. n., albigenatasp. n., X. atrasp. n., X. aurantipessp. n., X. pronotovirgatasp. n., X. elytromaculatasp. n., X. tumbaensissp. n., X. uamensissp. n., X. univenatasp. n.) and a subspecies (Xya capensis albilobatassp. n.) are described new to science. Diagnoses with illustrations and keys for the determination of all african species are included. Supplementary redescriptions are added to several species hitherto known incompletely. Southern to the 15th degree of latitude S are recorded 4 genera and 16 species only: Tridactylus (2), Afrotridactylus (4), Xya (9) and Bruntridactylus (1). Many contributions to the distribution of the species are given.


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Laser surface cladding and remelting provides a route to synthesize functional microstructures on the surface of structurally important materials. Alloys containing fine soft particles embedded uniformly in a hard matrix find applications as bearing materials with low friction coefficient. Elemental powder mixtures are used to clad Al + 10wt%Cu + 10wt%Bi on the surface of aluminium base metal in both single and multi-track mode at two different cladding speeds. The clad layers are remelted at speeds varying from 500 mm/min to 2500 mm/min to simulate different solidification speeds. Microstructure evolution during the process is studied by measuring particle size distribution and alignment to identify optimum processing conditions. Pin on disc experiments show a low friction coefficient of 0.22 for the samples remelted at 2500 mm/min.


The advent of smart materials such as the piezo-impedance transducer (lead zirconate titanate, PZT) and optical fiber (FBG) has ushered in a new era in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM) based on non-destructive evaluation (NDE). So far, successful research and investigations conducted on the electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique employing a piezo-impedance transducer are often laboratory based and mainly theoretical. Real-life application of the technique, especially under harsh environments, has frequently been questioned. In this research project, investigative studies were conducted to evaluate the problems involved in real-life applications of the EMI technique, attempting to reduce the gap between theory and application. This two-part paper presents a series of experimentation (part I) and numerical verification (part II) on various issues related to real-life application, including the durability of PZT transducers, and the effects of bonding and temperature under conceivable nominal construction site conditions. The repeatability of electrical admittance signatures acquired from the PZT patches surface bonded on aluminum structures was found to be excellent up to a period of one and a half years. Experimental investigations revealed that the bonding thickness should preferably be thinner than one-third of the patch to avoid any adverse effect caused by the PZT patch's resonance on the admittance signatures which reflect the host structural behavior. On the other hand, the effect of temperature on the admittance signatures was found to be closely related to the thickness of bonding, as an increase in temperature would reduce the stiffness of the bonding layer, thus affecting strain transfer. It was concluded that PZT patches with thick bonding thickness and high frequency of excitation are undesirable, especially at elevated temperatures.


The crystal structure of tellurium hexafluoride in its low temperature phase has been solved from neutron powder diffraction measurements. At both 15 K and 190 K the structure is orthorhombic, space group Pnma, Z = 4. Molecules in the crystal are deformed very little from their structures in the vapour phase. A molecular packing analysis gives results in good agreement with the observed crystal structure. It suggests that the structure is determined primarily by steric interactions, with the ionic character of the interatomic contacts playing only a minor role. In previous electron diffraction studies on cold clusters of TeF6 a third phase interpreted as a monoclinic structure has been observed. Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics calculations on clusters also yield this phase, but suggest that it is metastable with respect to the orthorhombic structure in the low temperature phase regime of TeF6. The orthorhombic structure appears to be adopted preferentially when the inter- and intra-F-F distances are al...


The dejection and helplessness of pensioners waiting to be paid pension benefit under very frustrating verification process occasioned by impunity in pension fund administration led to the Pension Act of 2004.  This ushered in the Contributory Pension Scheme that replaced the Defined Benefit Pension Scheme with attendant review in 2014 to check mismanagement. This paper critically examines the contributory pensions scheme; identifies its inadequacies and also highlight the lapses of the old defined Benefit pension scheme.  Information was obtained from secondary source and personal encountered with pensioners.  In course of this study it was discovered that the contributory pension scheme was selectively implemented, not including all the Government Parastatals, there is a wide financial disparity between the old and new pension scheme, absent of life span annuity and also discovered is the current mode of diversion of pension assets.;  This paper recommend the wholestic implementation of the policy by the Government, the financial disparity in the pensioner take home should be bridged up by increased financial involvement by the Government and to fore-stall financial misappropriation, interests and commissions accruable to pension fund asset should be disclosed on regularly.  The Contributory Pension Scheme is a welcome idea which when properly implemented will eradicate the pensioners harsh life thereby making their dream a reality.


Geoffrey Richard Charles Campion ("Geoff") trained at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and the London Hospital Medical College. After house jobs at the London, he served in the Royal Navy as a surgeon-lieutenant on minesweepers in the North Atlantic and South Africa.

He …


Pebble mosaics convey images through an irregular tiling of rounded pebbles. Past work used relatively uniform tile sizes. We show how to create detailed representations of input photographs in a pebble mosaic style; we first create pebble shapes through a variant of k-means, then compute sub-pebble detail with textured, two-tone pebbles. We use a custom distance function to ensure that pebble sizes adapt to local detail and orient to local feature directions, for an overall effect of high fidelity to the input photograph despite the constraints of the pebble style.


University of Florida (UF) researchers used airborne laser swath mapping (ALSM) to map the height of vegetation, relative to the surface of sheet flow water, in the Everglades. In less than three hours of flying, ALSM provided sub-decimeter precision measurements of the height and slope of the water surface over an area greater than 50 square kilometers. The RMS scatter of the measurements about the best fitting slope along a 14 kilometer transect was less than 4 cm. Two features of the UF ALSM system were of particular advantage in this project: coverage of the nadir provided by the oscillating mirror scanner, and intensity values of the return signals. Openings in the grasses allowed a small percentage of laser shots, at the nadir of the aircraft, to be reflected from the calm surface of the slowly flowing water. These nearly specular reflections produced intensity values five to ten times as strong as the diffuse reflections from the grasses. The ALSM observations had to be carefully calibrated for the unusually strong return signals, but once this was done the signal-to-noise ratio was excellent and the geometry could not have been better for determining the height of the water surface. This project demonstrated the unique capabilities of ALSM to quickly and accurately map remote wildlife habitats, in this case that of the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow, an endangered species that builds nests within 15 cm of the surface of the water. Managers hope to use such measurements to plan and control the release of water in order to avoid inundating nests, hopefully helping the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow to avoid extinction. BACKGROUND The conceptual basis for Airborne Laser Swath Mapping (ALSM), which is also referred to as LIDAR (light detection and ranging), LADAR (laser detection and ranging), and airborne laser altimetry, has existed for at least two decades. However, until a few years ago only federal agencies such as the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration could afford to build and operate the large, heavy, power demanding early generation instrumentation. The development of compact energy efficient diode pumped Nd:YAG lasers, Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) composed of fiber optic gyroscopes and solid state accelerometers, and high performance personal computers during the mid 1990's suddenly made it possible to build ALSM units that could be operated from light dual, or even single, engine aircraft. The attendant order-of-magnitude drop in operating costs for the first time allowed academic researchers access to this powerful technology, setting off a remarkable growth in studies of Earth's topography, bridging such traditional specialties as geodesy, geophysics, hydrology, civil engineering and biology (Gutelius et. al., 1998; Carter et. al., 1998: Shrestha, et. al., 1998)


The present invention provides scale and generated ZnO seed can be suppressed when hot, excellent oxidation resistance, cold resistance and also excellent in hot steel sheet and a method of manufacturing a hot-pressed part of the hot steel sheet. Species hot steel sheet, comprising successively with containing 10 to 25 mass% of Ni in the steel sheet surface, the balance Zn and inevitable impurities, and a deposition amount of 10 ~ 90g / m of the coating, and solids lubricating layer of the lubricant.


This paper suggests a solution of the wireless video server based on the ADI special digital signal processing (DSP) chip ADSP-BF561. The hardware design adopt the video chip SAA7113 to complete the analog/digital (A/D) conversion of the video input. This solution adopt the H.264 video code standard, the G729 audio code standard, and the code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless network based on the CDMA1X wireless network technology as the transmit approach of the audio and video data. Results show the fine stability and realization of the solution.


We all need help finding our way around the American administrative state. An important guidebook has now arrived. The publication of Cass Sunstein's After the Rights Revolution is a significant event for those interested in administrative law and regulation, as well as for those concerned with the theory of legal interpretation. The book has two primary aims. First, Professor Sunstein identifies the different types of regulation and develops a theoretical defense for government regulation based on fifty years of post-New Deal history. Second, he exhaustively describes various approaches to statutory interpretation, criticizing those based on misguided assumptions about regulation. Through this analysis, Sunstein endeavors to bring interpretive practice into line with regulatory experience by offering a collection of "background norms" that courts should


Land surface albedo plays a key role in the surface-atmosphere interaction, because it greatly influences the shortwave radiation absorbed by the surface. Surface albedo depends on soil characteristics and vegetation types. Error in the specification of albedos of soil and vegetation may cause biases in the computation of ground temperature and surface fluxes, therefore accurate albedo estimates are essential for an accurate simulation of the Earth's climate. The study demonstrates the importance of MODIS data in assessing and improving albedo parameterization in weather forecast and climate models as well as the remote sensing retrieval of surface solar fluxes through a series of three papers. First, the NCAR Community Climate System Model (CCSM2) albedo (including monthly-averaged albedo, direct albedo at local noon, and the solar zenith angle dependence of albedo) is evaluated using the MODIS Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and albedo data. The model and MODIS albedo differences are related to the deficiencies in the model simulation of snow cover and soil moisture and in the model's specification of leaf and stem area indexes. They are also partially caused by the deficiency of the two-stream method that does not consider the three-dimensional structure of vegetation. Second, motivated by these analyses, a new formulation for surface albedo is developed. Over desert, most land models assume that the bare soil albedo is a function of soil color and soil moisture but independent of solar zenith angle (SZA). However, the analysis of MODIS BRDF/albedo data and in situ data indicates that bare soil albedo does vary with SZA. Furthermore this SZA dependence is found to affect the surface energy fluxes and temperature in offline land surface model sensitivity tests. Finally, the MODIS BRDF algorithm is reformulated to derive a new


Combined with the engineering example,the paper describes the construction technology and the operation points of the low-temperature hot water floor radiant heating,introduces the quality requirement and the quality control target,and puts forward the safety control measures,points out that the low-temperature hot water floor radiant heating can equably radiate heat,to achieve the goal of adjusting the indoor temperature.


The current study investigates Ireland's approach to satisfying labour and skills demand through migration in the period 2004- 2010. The emphasis is on non-EU economic immigration but information is also provided on EU immigration where relevant. Policy information and data is provided on economic migrants, where relevant divided into highly skilled, skilled and low skilled workers. Ireland's policy on labour migration is to meet all labour and skills needs from within the enlarged EEA as far as is possible, and to limit non-EEA labour migration to that of the most highly skilled and hard to find workers. Data from the Quarterly National Household Survey show that the proportion of non-Irish nationals is lowest in the high occupational skill grouping. Within the non-Irish groups highly skilled occupations have been dominated by nationals from other EU15 States and by migrants from outside the EU. In skilled and low skilled occupations nationals from the enlarged EU (EU10/12) clearly dominate. The Irish employment permits system is described and assessed. It is shown that the system is lightly regulated and employer-led and that it functioned well during the boom in sourcing the workers required. With rising unemployment there are now only very limited skills shortages in Ireland. Recent changes to the economic permits system in light of the economic downturn are discussed. Employment permit data show that the percentage of employment permits refused more than doubled between 2008 and 2009 while the number of new permits issued fell by 54 per cent in the same period.


Programs to certify "green" or sustainable tourism standards are rapidly growing, and it is possible that certification might change in function and effect from awarding excellence to becoming de facto requirements to trade. Because certification often relies on governmental support, it could be perceived as an anti-competitive barrier to trade in the context of international practice such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services, which could reduce the appeal of standards as a self-regulatory method. This paper provides a prosustainability standards reading of the agreement and related World Trade Organization documents to discuss what policies and practices might be criticized as trade-restrictive and provides arguments against such criticisms.


Damages to concrete silos require exact appraisal and careful selection of repair methods. Repairs should be preceded and controlled by tests because, due to the large surfaces of these structures, errors in repair methods can be costly. Som testing methods are presented that are specifically for structures like silos and tanks, while others are similar to methods for concrete shell structures. General descriptions are illustrated by examples of effective rehabilitations of large concrete silos.


While school leaders have commonly functioned as school managers, the urgency for improving learning outcomes highlights the need for school leaders to function more as instructional leaders. However, a number of barriers exist in exercising instructional leadership in the developing country context. School leaders often lack capacity for instructional leadership and operate under significant constraints, such as chronic shortage of materials, operating funds, and staff development resources. Knowledge about cultural and organizational factors influencing school leadership behaviors can inform conditions for strengthening instructional leadership. This discussion essay provides a framework for expanding comparative and international inquiry into the challenges of instructional leadership in terms of the principal–agent problem, school leader sense of self-efficacy, and the integration of teacher incentives.


Objective To explore the relation between anxiety and depression of hysterectomy patients and social support and countermeasures. Methods Depression, anxiety and social support of 200 hysterectomy patients were investigated by questionnaire in order to analyze their relations. Results The scores of anxiety, depression and social support were significant higher than those of norm (P0.01) and social support was negatively related to anxiety and depression(P0.01). Conclusion It is necessary to emphasize and utilize the effects of social support system on mental status of hysterectomy patients.


The purpose of our study is to examine the financial reporting complexity of listed firms in Indonesia and the association between the financial reporting complexity and the accounting expertise of boards (Board of Directors/BOD and Board of Commissioners/BOC) and audit committee members. We use samples of listed firms in Indonesia over the period from 2013 to 2019. We find that financial reporting complexity is negatively associated with the accounting expertise of the BOD, BOC, and audit committee. These results indicate that companies do not try to engage in higher accounting expertise to mitigate the unfavourable impact of financial reporting complexity and that companies tend to use the financial reporting complexity to obfuscate the financial reporting. The novelty of our study is developing an aggregate measure of the financial reporting complexity that has not been used in extant studies. We also have not found any previous studies examining this issue in emerging countries, including Indonesia. The previous study has examined similar issues in the USA, where the USA is a developed country with a high level of investor protection. The varying levels of investor protection may affect the results.


Electronic commerce is growing rapidly with on-line sales already heading for hundreds of billion dollars per year. Due to the huge amount of money transferred everyday, an increased security level is required. In this work we present the architecture of an intelligent speaker verification system, which is able to accurately verify the registered users of an e-commerce service using only their voices as an input. According to the proposed architecture, a transaction-based e-commerce application should be complemented by a biometric server where customer's unique set of speech models (voiceprint) is stored. The verification procedure requests from the user to pronounce a personalized sequence of digits and after capturing speech and extracting voice features at the client side are sent back to the biometric server. The biometric server uses pattern recognition to decide whether the received features match the stored voiceprint of the customer who claims to be, and accordingly grants verification. The proposed architecture can provide e-commerce applications with a higher degree of certainty regarding the identity of a customer, and prevent impostors to execute fraudulent transactions. Keywords—Speaker Recognition, Biometrics, E-commerce security.