Treating bull sperm with cholesterol-loaded cyclodextrins (CLCs) improves post-thaw motility and viability (Purdy and Graham 2004 Biol. Reprod. 71, 522–527). Unpublished research in our laboratory demonstrated similar improvements for cryosurvival of CLC-treated sex-sorted bull sperm. Our objective was to determine the effects of CLCs on the dilauroylphosphatidylcholine (PC12)-induced acrosome reaction of flow-sorted and non-sorted (control), frozen/thawed bull sperm. Sperm concentrations (3 ejaculates, 4 bulls) were adjusted to 200 × 106 sperm mL–1 with TALP without Ca++. Sperm for sorting were stained (63 μm Hoechst 33342, 34.5°C, 45 min), and then incubated an additional 15 min with 2.5 mg CLC in TALP (+CLC) or an equivalent volume of TALP without CLCs (–CLC), adjusted to 100 × 106 sperm mL–1 with 4% egg yolk TALP containing 0.002% food dye, filtered, and 'bulk' sorted (Schenk et al. 1999 Theriogenology 52, 1375–1391) into 2.0 mL aliquots of 20% egg yolk Tris buffer. Controls were extended in 20% egg yolk Tris A to result in a final concentration of 21 × 106 sperm mL–1. All samples were cooled to 5°C over 90 min, and Tris buffer with (controls) or without (flow-sorted) egg yolk (12% glycerol) was added (v/v). Sorted samples were centrifuged (850g, 20 min), and pellets were suspended in 20% egg yolk/6% glycerol Tris, resulting in 21 × 106 sperm mL–1. Sperm were loaded into 0.25-mL straws and frozen over LN2 vapor. Straws were subsequently thawed (30 s, 37°C), and 25 million sperm/treatment were centrifuged through 60% Percoll® to remove egg yolk. Pellets were adjusted to 20 × 106 sperm mL–1 with TALP containing 2.0 mm Ca++. Aliquots (30 μL) were stained with propidium iodide (PI) and fluorescein isothiocyanate–peanut agglutinin (FITC-PNA); treated with 0, 25, or 35 μL PC12; and brought to a constant volume (300 μL) with TALP. TALP (30 μL) containing 42 mm Ca++ was added, resulting in final concentrations of 0, 68, and 95 μm PC12 and 6 mm Ca++. Following incubation (38°C, 35–40 min) 50 000 sperm were analyzed on an SX MoFlo® (Dako, Fort Collins, CO, USA) to determine the percentage of live acrosome-reacted sperm/live sperm(PI –ve, FITC +ve). There were no differences between CLC-treated and non-treated sorted or non-sorted sperm (Table 1) suggesting that, as previously shown for non-sorted sperm (Purdy and Graham 2004), treatment of flow-sorted sperm with CLCs does not interfere with the progression of the acrosome reaction. Table 1. Effect of treatment with CLCs on % live acrosome-reacted (mean ± SEM) non-sorted and flow-sorted cryopreserved bull spermatozoa


A number of benign bone tumours can be treated with curettage and packing with either bone cement or graft. It is essential that the radiologist be familiar with both the normal and abnormal post‐operative imaging appearance of these treated tumours. Through the use of numerous imaging examples, we aim to provide a pictorial review of the expected post‐operative appearance of benign bone tumours treated with curettage and packing, as well as the imaging features of recurrence, the most common potential complication.


Theoretical study of optical scattering shows that transparent layers deposited on a rough surface can possess an antiscattering effect. Experiment confirms these predictions in the case of titanium oxide, but the deposition conditions must be exceptionally stable. This leads to a method of studying the effects of discontinuities during the evaporation of this material.


The quantum efficiency of organic light emitting diodes (OLED) is an extraordinary factor of device's luminescence performance. Here, quantum efficiency can be defined by the proportion of the number of photons (exports from device) to the number of electrons (imports into device) per second. On account of enhancing OLED's quantum efficiency, a measurement system must be the basic precondition which can be imposed to measure device's quantum efficiency accurately, therefore, we have designed and established an measurement system (with vacuum unit and measurement unit) which can accurately measure the OLED's quantum efficiency. This measurement system is mainly composed by a series of components which produced by Keithley Corporation. Placing the sample device on the silicon photodiodes before measurement, then the measurement room can be vacuumized (Vacuum environment can improve the device's stability and lifetime). In measuring, the measurement software simultaneously controls Keithley2400 Source Meter and Keithley485 Picoammeter which can get devicecurrent value and photocurrent value respectively via dataacquisition board, then transfers devicecurrent value and photocurrent value into the number of electrons and the number of photons, finally the quantum efficiency value can be concluded. At the same time, the computer can finish plotting the device's performance curves (such as : VoltageCurrent Curve, VoltagePhotocurrent Curve and Quantum EfficiencyCurrent Density Curve) according to the above values. Furthermore, in order to prove the availability of this measurement system, we have applied the system in measuring a sample device which contains MEHPPV with orange light emitting. This sample device's quantum efficiency value can reach 039% under 17V.


This research is based on the low level of students' mathematical skills in elementary schools, including conceptual understanding and adaptive reasoning. So it takes learning that emphasizes the conceptual understanding and adaptive reasoning is learning problem posing. This study uses Quasi Eksperimen. In the experimental group used problem posing learning with winger application, while in the control class used STAD learning assisted wingeom application. The results showed that learning posing problems with wingeom application support can improve conceptual understanding and thinking in adaptive reasoning in solving various mathematical problems, especially geometric math problems. Keywords—Problem posing; mathematical skills; geometry


Seven elliptic curves of the form y2 = x3 + B x and having rank at least 8 are presented. To find them we use the double descent method of Tate. In particular we prove that the curve with B = 14752493461692 has rank exactly 8


As a step towards understanding the workings of the tylenchid feeding pump, directions of closing stresses (induced in the thickened pump lining when it is opened by the radial muscles) have been determined for Ditylenchus dipsaci by an indirect photoelastic method, using Perspex models. The stress pattern is complex and symmetrical; compressive stresses run parallel to the surface on the convex side of the "hinges" as they open, and tensile stresses on the concave side. A point of maximum bending moment lies within each hinge, and points of minimum moment occur midway between the hinges. The cuticle of both hing regions is thought to act as integral springs to close the pump lining. Young's elastic modulus E was estimated as 3 X 108 dynes/cm2 and lining material is compared with other resilient animal materials; some tanned ligaments of bivalve molluscs are similar in elastic behaviour and function to the spring hinges of the pump lining. The lining cuticle may also be tanned, and has a fibrous fine structure.


s:The Ancient Collected Calligraphy Cards of Bao Xian Hall is a large calligraphy cards collection of the Ming and Jin Dynasties in the history of Shanxi.It holds an important position in China′s history of calligraphy cards.Its rubbings from stone inscriptions of the Ming Dynasty are rare.Based on the comparison with other collections,this article is to prove that in the extant rubbings from stone inscriptions,those of the Ming Dynasty collected in Shanxi University Library have been preserved mostly intact.They have an extremely important value in the study of historical relics and ancient art.


Emissions of odour, gases and particulate matter from animal and crop production systems are an expected by-product of day to day operations. With the decrease in traditional buffers, increasing community expectations and increasingly stringent air quality regulations, agricultural operations both in Australia and overseas have had to rethink traditional operating procedures. A part of this involves quantification of emissions from the operations. Hydrogen sulphide emission rates were determined at two American beef cattle feedlots by back calculating emission rates using the Lagrangian WindTrax model and the Gaussian plume model, AUSPLUME. Both models were run using the same data set and default dispersion settings to provide a comparison of the models as used with default values. Between 24 and 33 points were modelled at each site, providing an average emission rate over time. Each data point consisted of upwind and downwind concentrations, wind speed, wind direction and atmospheric stability data. The models compared very well for the data sets. For Feedlot A, the relationship between the models was y = 0.9x - 0.1, r2 = 0.98 for the pond, and y = 0.9x - 1, r2 = 0.99 for the pens. A similar relationship was observed for Feedlot C with y = 1.2x - 0.8, r2 = 0.99 being observed for the pond data. As shown by the similarity of the gradients, the average emission rate and standard deviation of the predicted concentrations were similar. Differences in the modelled predictions were identified as a function of distance from the source to the measurement point and subtle differences in the models. The results show that the WindTrax and AUSPLUME (ISC) models provided very similar emission rates for three real world data sets. This indicates that emission rates derived using one model can be used within other models with a reasonable degree of confidence.


Data prefetching is one paradigm to hide the memory latency in modern computer systems. Prefetch completeness requires that a prefetching mechanism achieves high coverage of the program would-be misses with high prefetching accuracy and timeliness. Achieving prefetch completeness has been successful for memory accesses associated with regular data structures like arrays because of the spatial regularity of these memory accesses. Modern applications that use Linked Data Structures (LDS) exhibit a lesser degree of spatial regularity in their theory accesses. Thus, other characteristics of the memory accesses associated with LDS leave been exploited by previous prefetching mechanisms. Unfortunately limited success has been reported for prefetching LDS, therefore a significant opportunity remains to improve the performance of modern computer systems by improving prefetch completeness for LDS memory accesses.
This dissertation proposes a coordinated approach consisting of three components to improve prefetch completeness for LDS. These components are: (1) a rigorous approach that offers metrics to quantify the exploitable characteristics of the memory accesses, (2) a coordinated software and hardware approach that benefits from the static characteristics facilitated by the global view of the compiler combined with the dynamic characteristics accessible via profiling and runtime monitoring, and (3) simultaneous coordination of several mechanisms that exploit different characteristics of the LDS memory accesses.
The proposed coordinated approach is illustrated in this dissertation by extending the understanding of three exploitable characteristics of LDS memory accesses: spatial regularity, temporal regularity, and topology. Metrics are offered to enable the identification of these characteristics, and prefetching mechanisms to exploit them are designed in a coordinated fashion to benefit from the offered metrics.
Simulation results indicate that the proposed approach can improve prefetch completeness by improving prefetch coverage for would-be misses of the program memory accesses using accurate and timely prefetches.


ADDRESS: New York Hospital, 525 East 68th Street, New York 21, New York. age; children tinder 1 year of age developed complications at a rate three to five times higher than older children up to the age of 11 years. If these observations are confirmed at the end of the study, the size of the tuberculin reaction and age of the patient might serve in the future to establish indications for therapy. Thus, it appears that the answer to this problem might not be simply treat or not treat. Through analysis of the results of the Public Health Service investigation it may ultimately be possible to select the children who are most likely to develop complications and obviate the necessity of treating all children. How long shall we have to wait before


Part of the Clinical and Medical Social Work Commons, Clinical Psychology Commons, Community Health Commons, Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Community Psychology Commons, Counseling Psychology Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Health Policy Commons, Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling Commons, Multicultural Psychology Commons, Other Mental and Social Health Commons, Other Public Health Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons, Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy Commons, Public Health Education and Promotion Commons, Public Policy Commons, Social Policy Commons, Social Psychology Commons, Social Welfare Commons, Substance Abuse and Addiction Commons, Urban Studies Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons


The 17th National Congress of the CPC has mentioned the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics,that is the Deng Xiaoping Theory in broad sense,while the Deng Xiaoping Theory of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the Deng Xiaoping Theory in narrow sense.This paper elaborates these based on reviewing the historical forming traces of Deng Xiaoping Theory,and discusses six significances of it from the broad sense and narrow sense.


Growth pattern of selected tree species of the Indian region is studied in relation to its local environment. Growth-ring analysis is done for the samples of Teak from Western Ghats and Chir Pine from Nainital region. Ring-width data for the samples show a significant environmental signal. The tree-growth/environment relationship is studied using the response function analysis and multiple linear regression technique. The historical and climatological data on severe droughts in western U.P. hills is examined in relation to the ring-width index values for Chir from the region.


A Beginning Stitch It may be the case that anything is potentially art, but in order to be art, there is a requirement, first, of aesthetic intention or regard and secondly, of fashioning in some way—actively making special or imaginatively treating as special. (Dissanayake, 1995, 58-59) Educational Insights | Volume 11, Number 2, 2007 | Christine Schaufert | Seeking Companionship in the Playful Making: Reclaiming Ped... http://ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/publication/insights/v11n02/articles/schaufert... 2 of 21 As far back as I can remember I have loved words: reading words, listening to words, playing with words, looking up words in the dictionary, writing poems, making up stories, that sort of thing. I have also loved making things: crafts, costumes, cards, gifts, music, art, whatever, anything! Regardless of whether I, or others, deem myself to be doing a "good" or "clever" job of it hasn't mattered to me. (Well, maybe on the surface, but not deep down inside my heart.) What has mattered is that peace, escape, and happiness can come from complete immersion into this kind of creative process—of playing around with words and things all the while imagining everything as special. It's like paying a he/artfelt tribute to life's offerings. I believe it is very important to pay homage to the people I have had the fortune to know or meet, and to the life's unfolding events. The act of paying homage—making personally meaningful special things—therefore documents significant pedagogical moments: reflections of my lived experience, beliefs, understandings, wishes and thanks. I would like to continue by making several things clear. First, within this poetic essay and virtual quilt that I have imagined myself sewing together, I am only just beginning to thread my needle into the outermost surface of some very deep and varied fabrics of thought by many writers and educational theorists. I know that I have not read it all, and that there may very well be some threadbare spots as a result. Second, the impetus to begin stitching together various works of text and art was shaped by insight gained while reading John Dewey's "My Pedagogic Creed," written in 1897. Using Dewey's experiential perspective on education as the underlay for this virtual piece of cloth, I have also included a pedagogically oriented human science approach to lived experience and arts-based research theories and methodologies. Third, the creed Text/ure that emerges from the process of weaving words and images together is a morphing record of awareness: one that is in a constant cycle of unfinishedness. As well, the virtual quilt (which you will find at the end of this writing) is a sign of thanks paying homage to the highly memorable conversations shared by the cohort group of students and instructors with whom I studied over these last few years. Fourth, more important than recording and explicating my newly found or rediscovered beliefs in a succinctly prescriptive manner is the opportunity to unmask and even honour the contradictions in my teaching practice—dissonance between what I think, say and do—that have emerged as a result of a self-study action research project. To ignore the contradiction, the struggle, is to prevent myself the chance to grow, to improve my teaching (the reason why I began action research in the first place). Educational Insights | Volume 11, Number 2, 2007 | Christine Schaufert | Seeking Companionship in the Playful Making: Reclaiming Ped... http://ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/publication/insights/v11n02/articles/schaufert... 3 of 21 ...Whitehead understands the incentive for beginning a personal study to come from experiencing oneself as a 'living contradiction'; that is, feeling dissonance when we are not acting in accordance with our values and beliefs. (McNiff, Lomax & Whitehead, 1996, 59) Every word and image herein has been shaped by an interest in hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry—interpreting experience—with an appreciation for Van Manen's point of view: So a post-modern perspective alerts us to the mistaken tendency to confuse pedagogy with text or its reference, with process or content, with its medium or its end. Pedagogy is neither one nor the other; rather it constantly and powerfully operates in between. (1990, 146). Arts-based research for the artist/researcher/teacher—a/r/tography—has also strongly directed the representations of my understandings in this creation: ...the integration of text and image is an act of borderland pedagogy, a way of sharing a third space between knowing and ignorance. (Irwin, 2004, 33) The entire construction of this writing has equally been inspired by Dissayanake's soulful theme of "making special": In my view, the biological core of art, the stain that is deeply dyed in the behavioral marrow of humans everywhere, is something...called "making special" (2003, 42). To me, the addition of making special unearths an ecological and primordial nature in meaning making and expression without Artist/non artist labeling. It also helps, for me anyhow, to explicate how we are driven to molding our experiences with our bodies as a way of expressing and recording, subjectively, our values and feelings. So, to this end, I have also included poetic writing as an essential and sensual component of meaning making: ...it [poetic writing] is experimental, consciously manipulating semiotica in speech and writing for meaningful effects in an effort to say new things, old things in new ways, special things about Being-in-the-World. (Brady, 2004, 628) Combined, these processes—hermeneutic phenomenology, a/r/tography, making special, and poetic writing—all appear to effortlessly overlap, attract, and interact with each other. They seem to meet quite happily in a cozy in-between space by teasing out each other's inter/textual and inter/textural tendencies into a tension-filled dialogue. They also appreciate reflective Educational Insights | Volume 11, Number 2, 2007 | Christine Schaufert | Seeking Companionship in the Playful Making: Reclaiming Ped... http://ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/publication/insights/v11n02/articles/schaufert... 4 of 21 living inquiry into meaning, utilize a linguistic and semiotic orientation by relying on the arts to reveal what text alone cannot—and vice versa—and are experiential in nature. As well, the act of stitching seems to seamlessly weave its way through and bind them all together. In other words, where I am at a loss for words in traditional paragraph style, I am relying on the visuals and poetry to speak for me. At least, this is the notion I am hoping will be humoured as I proceed. ... a/r/tography is about each of us living a life of deep meaning enhanced through perceptual practices that reveal what was once hidden, create what has never been known, and imagine what we hope to achieve.(Irwin, 2004, 36) The Land Between Desert and Ocean Sands—Quilt image by Christine Schaufert My Pedagogic Creed: Text/ure I have chosen to play with the word texture as my creed's title for many reasons. There is the literal purpose that the definition supplies, but also I believe that pedagogy—specifically that of companionship—revolves around the capacity to play. And, I believe that the informal experience of 'quilting' with others (reading and responding to the authors' works cited within this space) relies on play in order to make varied pieces (thoughts and experiences) part of a greater whole. Therefore, I see an ornamental border in the shape of a quilting frame enclosing this space: a frame made from a kind of wood that is solid and deeply rooted in etymological curiosities and yet pliable to new rings of growth, understandings and change. My etymological reading of "text" includes the Latin word "textus," meaning "thing woven," and the Proto-Indo-European language base of "tek" meaning "to make." Combined with the definition of the suffix "ure," meaning "the act of," "text/ure" then means, for me, the act of making something woven and encourages both the weaving of text (thought into words) and textures (experience into artifacts). Overall, the title represents the metaphorical sense I had embraced in the making of Text/ure, my pedagogic creed: Educational Insights | Volume 11, Number 2, 2007 | Christine Schaufert | Seeking Companionship in the Playful Making: Reclaiming Ped... http://ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/publication/insights/v11n02/articles/schaufert... 5 of 21 An ancient metaphor: thought is a thread, and the raconteur is a spinner of yarns—but the true storyteller, the poet, is a weaver. The scribes made this old and audible abstraction into a new and visible fact. After long practice, their work took on such an even, flexible texture that they called the written page a textus, which means cloth.1 Why bother about pedagogy? Why have I spent this time making my own creed? Few educators have developed a written philosophy of education the likes of John Dewey's philosophical treatise 'My Pedagogic Creed,' written around the turn of the century...Yet it can be quite helpful to our research and development to record our beliefs... (Arhar, Holly & Kasten, 2001, 66) John Dewey, an American educational reformer and a psychologist, has written many documents that have had a large and long-term impact on the education system of today. The experiential perspective—education is based on the life experiences of the child—was founded on his philosophical and progressive educational beliefs. I have chosen to take a look at "My Pedagogic Creed," first published in 1897, because an embodied dissension of sorts signaled to me that it was imperative to revisit my pedagogical philosophy from an historical view point. Reading Dewey's creed felt like the invitation my heart and soul had been so desperately waiting for, and provided the impetus to start looking more closely at the yarns of thought I had spun during the past fifteen years of teaching. Most of us function with an implicit philosophy/ making this explicit enable


There is now a vast literature on testing purchasing power parity (PPP). Any test is conditional on a particular econometric specification that embodies a set of auxiliary assumptions. This paper reviews the issues involved in econometric specification and estimation in the time series and panel models used to test PPP. The others start from a general model and then systematically examine the implicit restrictions that are imposed to obtain the standard procedures and discuss the implications of these procedures for estimation and inference. The issues are illustrated on data for a panel of thirty-one developing countries, 1966-90. Copyright 1999 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd and The Victoria University of Manchester


Recently, we isolated a triacrylonitrile-utilizing fungus, Fusarium merismoides TG-1.3) The fungus could also grow on medium containing dinitriles as the nitrogen source. This report describes the identification of the degradation products of glutaronitrile and diacryloni trile by F. merismoides TG-1. The materials and methods used in this report were the same as described elsewhere.1•`3) The degradation product of glutaronitrile was isolated from the culture filtrate of F. merismoides TG-1. Cultivation was carried out for 4 days on the basal medium2) containing 0.3% glutaronitrile and 2.5% glyce rol, Six liters of the culture filtrate was mixed with 200 ml of Amberlite IR-120B (H+). The unabsorbed fraction was applied onto an Amberlite IRA-410 (OH-) column


The invention relates to a light-emitting device and a projection display system. The light-emitting device comprises a light source; an imaging unit which is used for receiving light emitted by the light source to form a rectangular intermediate image; a polarizing light splitting device which is used for receiving emergent light beams of the intermediate image and transmitting light with a first polarization state in the emergent light beams in a transmission way so as to form transmission light beams and reflecting light with a second polarization state orthogonal with the first polarization state in the emergent light beams so as to form reflecting light beams; a reflecting device which is used for receiving second light beams and reflecting the second light beams along a direction approximately parallel to the first light beams; and a polarization conversion device which is used for converting the transmission light beams into the first light beams with the second polarization state and/or converting the reflecting light beams into the second light beams with the first polarization state. The light-emitting device has advantages that increasing of optical extension can be reduced and utilization rate of light can be enhanced; and the projection display system applies the light-emitting device so that light waste can be reduced and the projection effect is great.


The presence of a malignant tumor is said to influence the resting energy expenditure (REE) of the host. This study assesses the hypothesis that different tumor types exert differing effects on REE. REE was measured using indirect calorimetric in 84 cancer patients. Fifty‐one patients had colorectal cancer, 22 had gastric cancer, and 11 had non‐small cell bronchial cancer. For each tumor type, REE correlated significantly with body weight and lean body mass (LBM). The slope of the regression line for the bronchial cancer patients was significantly different from the colorectal (P < 0.02) and gastric (P < 0.02) cancer patients when REE was related to LBM. When related to body weight, the slope of the line of the bronchial cancer patients was significantly different from that of the gastric cancer patients only (P 0.05). The bronchial cancer patients had a significantly higher REE than the colorectal (P < 0.005) and gastric (P < 0.02) cancer patients when REE was expressed in terms of body weight. However, when corrected for LBM, no significant differences in REE were found between the groups. The presence of hepatic metastases did not influence REE in any of the tumor groups. Differing relationships between REE and indices of body size have been detected in differing tumor types. Consequently, the use of heterogeneous cancer groups may be inappropriate in studies of REE and cancer.


Objective To explore the effect of atorvastatin on the expression of Kruppel-like factor 2 in apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene knockout mice. Methods ApoE gene knockout (ApoE-/-) mice were randomized into intervention group and control group. Atorvastatin [10 mg/(kg·d)] was applied as the interventional drug. After 8 weeks of intervention, KLF2 gene and its protein expression were measured by semiquantitative real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot. HE staining was used to caculat the relative area of palque. Results The expression of KLF2 in intervention group was higher than control group on different levels [mRNA (0.85±0.01) vs (0.48±0.02), protein (1.84±0.11) vs (1.45±0.14) and histology (0.40±0.06) vs (0.26±0.09), all P0.05], and the relative plague area of intervention group was significantly less than that of control group [(0.26±0.09) vs (0.41±0.04), P0.01]. Conclusion Atorvastatin can up-regulat KLF2 in aorta of ApoE-/- mice.


The adaptive integral method (AIM) is used to accelerate the iterative method-of-moments (MOM) solution of the frequency-domain surface-volume electric-field integral equation pertinent to the analysis of antennas near realistic human models. The iterative solution convergence is improved by using a block diagonal preconditioner: One block of the preconditioner contains the full inverse of the surface-tested portion of the MOM impedance matrix; the other block contains the diagonal inverse of the volume-tested portion. Various antenna-body configurations are simulated.


When an ordinary Merchant ship, afloat on deep still water under no wind condition, is proceeding ahead by her own inertia only, her propellers having been completely stopped and her speed length ratio K/√ (where K is speed in knots and L is L. P. P. in feet) is less than 0.4, resistances acting upon the ship are principally skin resistance and the resistance of stopped propellers dragging through the water, as the wave making resistance is practically negligible. The present paper deals with the above mentioned dragging resistance of stopped propellers of a ship longer than 400 feet, proceeding at a speed from 8 to 3 knots.The loss of kinetic energy in ft. tons of a ship of W tons displacement, in the course of an interval between the instant when her velocity was v1 ft. pre sec. and the instantwhen her velocity became v2 ft. per sec., can be calculated as follow:-


The combination of a neuromorphic architecture and photonic computing may open up a new era for computational systems owing to the possibility of attaining high bandwidths and the low‐computation‐power requirements. Here, the demonstration of photonic neuromorphic devices based on amorphous oxide semiconductors (AOSs) that mimic major synaptic functions, such as short‐term memory/long‐term memory, spike‐timing‐dependent plasticity, and neural facilitation, is reported. The synaptic functions are successfully emulated using the inherent persistent photoconductivity (PPC) characteristic of AOSs. Systematic analysis of the dynamics of photogenerated carriers for various AOSs is carried out to understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying the photoinduced carrier‐generation and relaxation behaviors, and to search for a proper channel material for photonic neuromorphic devices. It is found that the activation energy for the neutralization of ionized oxygen vacancies has a significant influence on the photocarrier‐generation and time‐variant recovery behaviors of AOSs, affecting the PPC behavior.


A compact microstrip patch antenna (RMPA) using shorting pin is based on the introducing rectangular slot in the ground plane is proposed for useful current miniaturized wireless communication system and designed in this paper. This modified antenna to have characteristics of wideband operation, enhance bandwidth, along with reducing the size and improved gain. A meandered probe-fed rectangular shaped slot coupled with horizontal slots on a ground layer with a dimension of 18 × 21 × 1.6 mm3 having dielectric material substrate (εr=4.4). The main purpose of this work is to propose a wideband and improved gain antenna for mobile WiMAX, Wi-Fi/WLAN as well as military applications. The simulated results show that, the proposed antenna has achieved wider bandwidth with satisfactory gain by introducing probe fed with shorting pin in the assistant of partial ground plane.


The hydrodynamic performance of propeller-rudder-rudder ball system was calculated in order to study the effect of geometric parameters of rudder ball.Hyperbolical quadrilateral panels are used to avoid gap between panels,and grids at rudder ball are refined.On surface of propeller blades,panels along the span direction and the chord direction were both arranged by the cosine method.An iterative calculation method was used to derive the interaction between the propeller,rudder and rudder ball system.Both induce velocities of propeller to rudder and rudder to propeller were circumferentially-averaged,and the unsteady problem was translated to steady state.Comparisons between the calculated results and experimental data indicate that the present method is reliable.The variable scales of rudder ball were investigated,and the calculation results show that there is an optimal matching between propeller diameter and rudder ball diameter,and the rudder ball critical length exist.


In recent years the Iowa Department of Transportation has shifted emphasis from the construction of new roads to the maintenance and preservation of existing highways. A need has developed for evaluating pavements structurally to select the correct rehabilitation strategy and to properly design a pavement overlay if necessary. Road Rater non-destructive testing has fulfilled this need and has been used successfully to evaluate pavement and subgrade conditions and to design asphaltic concrete overlays and portland cement concrete overlays. The Iowa Road Rater Design Method has been simplified so that it may be easily understood and used by various individuals who are involved in pavement restoration and management. Road Rater evaluation techniques have worked well to date and have been verified by pavement coring, soils sampling and testing. Void detection testing has also been performed, and results indicate that the Road Rater can be used to locate pavement voids and that Road Rater evaluation techniques are reasonably accurate. The success of Road Rater research and development has made dynamic deflection test data an important pavement management input.


Traumatic sternoclavicular (SC) joint injuries account for <3% of all traumatic joint injuries. Instability of the SC joint (SCJ) is a difficult problem to treat and can present with gross limitations in activities. Prompt diagnosis and intervention are imperative in the management of these fracture dislocations. We present three cases of posttraumatic SCJ dislocation treated conservatively and two cases treated with open reduction and internal fixation with reconstruction plate and its functional outcome and discuss the various modes of management of these dislocations.


According to the trend of global manufacturing portfolio, more and more corporations come into outsoucing the process without core-ability activities.It seems to be the main-tide for business to provide the competitiveness. Outsourcing is not only an prerequisite consideration to reduce cost, but also assist to improve organizational efficiency. It may recapture innovation for the business model , moreover than being an important factor to keep developing an continued advantageous position in the future. Therefore, from the proprietors' view, it's insufficient to manage internal resources. How to manage the suppliers is as important as well. The formation of the business model impacts the core competence doubtlessly. It's worthly to further analyze the situation for the outsourcing strategy, internal organizational process and how to strengthen and enhance the competitive advantage. By using the way of depth interview in the three case studies. It reveals the case's business model and how the outsourcing strategy was performed with different kind of organization structure. Also it finds out the value chain as a reference for the practioners. The main findings are as following: 1.The outsourcing way was considered only for the cost in the past, but new finding is that it may also improve the organizational operation through the learning and knowledge interaction. The innovation for the operation management brings more corporation value and improves the competitiveness. 2.When planning an outsourcing strategy , it's better to establish an organization with an independence department as the contact window. Muli-functional group can make communication smoothly and keep a stable relationship with suppliers. It also will facilitate an efficient performance to manage the suppliers.


The article is devoted to the problemof howWałbrzych's landscape and social life are presented in reportages published in the Polish weeklies "Odra" and "NoweSygnały" in the years 1945–1960.On thebasis of selected texts author shows the stereotypes and literary images specific for afterwar journalistic representation of this post-German industrial city e.g., "puzzle", "waiting-room", "cultural desert", and "French disease". The article analyzes the non-fiction works by Jerzy Bajdor, Henryk Cierniak, Zdzisław Hierowski, Halina Lipowicz, Irena Osińska, Eugeniusz Paukszta, StefanPogoda-Kalicki,Marian Trzaskalski, Lech Turawa, and Tadeusz Zelenay.


Reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial dysfunction and excessive vasoconstriction are important contributors to chronic hypoxia (CH)-induced neonatal pulmonary hypertension. Based on evidence that PKCβ and mitochondrial oxidative stress are involved in several cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, we hypothesized that PKCβ and mitochondrial-derived ROS (mitoROS) signaling contribute to enhanced pulmonary vasoconstriction in neonatal rats exposed to CH. To test this hypothesis, we examined effects of the PKCβ inhibitor, LY-333,531, the ROS scavenger, TEMPOL, or the mitochondrial antioxidants, MitoQ and mitoTEMPO, on vasoconstrictor responses in saline-perfused lungs (in situ) or pressurized pulmonary arteries from 2-wk-old control and CH (12 day exposure, 0.5 atm) rats. Lungs from CH rats exhibited greater basal tone and vasoconstrictor sensitivity to U-46619. LY-333,531 and TEMPOL attenuated these effects of CH, while having no effect in lungs from control animals. Basal tone was similarly elevated in isolated pulmonary arteries from neonatal CH rats compared to controls, which was inhibited by both LY-333,531 and mitochondrial-targeted antioxidants. Additional experiments assessing mitoROS generation using the mitochondrial-targeted ROS indicator, MitoSOX, revealed that a PKCβ-mitochondrial oxidant signaling pathway can be pharmacologically stimulated by the PKC activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) in primary cultures of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) from control neonates. Finally, we found that neonatal CH increased mitochondrial-localized PKCβ in pulmonary arteries as assessed by western blotting of subcellular fractions. We conclude that PKCβ activation leads to mitoROS production in PASMCs from neonatal rats. Furthermore, this signaling axis may account for enhanced pulmonary vasoconstrictor sensitivity following CH exposure.


As China entered WTO,Chinese enterprises will encounter more powerful opponents while there will be a lot of business chances.As an important component of economic management,enterprise accounting should be transformed so as to meet requirement of WTO.First,our accounting principles should meet international practices so that they could be a kind of business language in the field of international trade;second,our accounting computerization should be developed into accounting information by which our enterprises improve management so that they make their profits in the international competition;third, our accounting talents have to be more international to meet the require of international business.


The Upper Cretaceous Chalk Group is renowned as a major aquifer, but the development of secondary porosity due to karstic conduits is poorly understood. Hydrogeological data and evidence from boreholes, sections, and tracer tests indicate that dissolutional conduits occur throughout the Chalk aquifer. Here, we assess the evidence for Chalk karst, and combine it with theoretical models of dissolution and cave formation to produce a conceptual model for the development of karstic conduits. Dissolution due to the mixing of saturated waters of contrasting chemistry along key lithostratigraphical inception horizons form extensive but isolated conduit networks. These form a significant proportion of the secondary porosity and enhance permeability. They prime the aquifer for the development of more integrated conduit networks formed by focussed recharge of unsaturated surface derived water. However, the porous, well-fractured nature of the Chalk means that the time needed to form large integrated cave systems is often longer than timescales of landscape change. Continued landscape evolution and water table lowering halts conduit development before they can enlarge into cave systems except where geological and geomorphological settings are favourable. Groundwater models need to consider the formation of secondary karst permeability as this has a major influence on groundwater flow.


We propose a scheme to ensure traceable calibrations of light pipe based temperature probes. We investigate experimentally and theoretically the properties of a device consisting of a sapphire tube with a tungsten filament at the bottom, filled with an inert gas and sealed to avoid contamination of the filament. The device is used as a contact probe, where the temperature is deduced based on detection and quantification of the Planckian radiation from the filament. The Sakuma–Hattori equation is used to approximate the Planck radiation as a function of temperature, and its parameters are fitted using a small number of calibration points. The impact of a small, temperature dependent emissivity on both the calibration and the interpolation errors is explored, and we find that a dual-band detection scheme is required to reduce the sensitivity to variation in the use conditions.


We presented a case of chronic recurrent hepatic encephalopathy occurring in a liver cirrhosis patient (Child Pugh A) with a large gastrorenal shunt and a review of the literature focusing on diagnosis and management. Computed tomography (CT) demonstrated an atrophic liver, splenomegaly, varices at the gastric fundic and the splenic hilum, and a highly tortuous shunt vessel between the gastric fundic varices and the left renal vein. Ultrasonography revealed the portal vein diameter was 0.8 cm; and portal vein blood flow velocity was 17.6 mL/s. In practice, the clinician need to ascertain the existence of the large portosystemic shunt when the patients presenting hepatic encephalopathy recurrent or refractory to standard medical treatments.


We introduce, define, and elaborate on agile development methods and how quality information systems are created via the values and practices of people using agile approaches. Key differences among agile methods, the SDLC, and other development methodologies are covered and suggestions for improving quality in IS through agile methods are given. We recommend adopting the principles of agile methods, encouraging more education about the values of agile approaches, including more types of people in the IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING This paper appears in the publication, Measuring Information Systems Delivery Quality edited by Evan Duggan and Johannes Reichgelt © 2006, Idea Group Inc. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com ITB12929 202 Kendall, Kendall, and Kong Copyright © 2006, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. development of agile systems; adopting agile methods for a variety of organizational cultures; and renaming agile methods to signify the value system inherent in the approach.


Society 5.0 is a new term used to indicate the future world. This society is based on ubiquity, learning machines, the internet of things, big data, cloud computing, cryptography, and biometrics. All these technologies will be merged to create a new mode of life. The new way of life will inevitably influence human beings' values, concepts, and conduct. The result of these changes will consequently bring challenges to many legal areas. This paper addresses the challenges that brought society 5.0 to legal norms. It utilises the analytical approach to examine the capability of pre-existing legal norms to cope with new realities created by society 5.0. The paper analyses the legal implications of society 5.0 in their sociological context. It presents a jurisprudential vision to establish legal norms compatible with the new society. Three fundamental principles should be considered to establish new legal. First, social facts that trigger legal regulation can simultaneously occur in multiple places. Secondly, what the study called duality of legal rules will not survive in society 5.0 era. Third, the paper turns the spotlight on new intelligent systems which may introduce new law addressees.


Evidence is put forward to show that eggs of helminth parasites are being constantly re-introduced to land and transferred from one pasture to another. In this way land which has not previously carried poultry for years may yet carry viable eggs which can, and do infect chickens when they are introduced to such runs. The starling and rook are probably important transmitting agents as these congregate among poultry at feeding times. Rabbits and other small rodents may also be carriers but no evidence for this has been looked for yet. Young poultry stock may also become infected with helminths which are normally parasites of wild birds but such parasites, except one Acanthocephalan, have not yet been recovered from or transmitted to older birds experimentally.


Background : Some of invasive plants, which were introduced from foreign countries, have caused problems in Korea. Invasion of these invasive plants in the ecosystem threatens the habitat of endemic species, reducing biodiversity, and causing a disturbance in the ecological system. Hypochaeris radicata L. (Asteraceae), the most invasive plants in Korea, particularly in Jeju Island, invade farmland, and autochthonous forest, establishing monocultures and modifying the ecosystem structure. This invasive species has become a serious environmental problem because they displace the indigenous plant species. This study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidantive effects of ethanolic extracts from different parts (root, stem, seed and leaf) of the invasive exotic species Hypochaeris radicata L. Methods and Results : The aim of present study was to estimate the total phenolic and flavonoid contents and to investigate in vitro antioxidant potential of ethanolic leaf, root, seed, and stem extracts of the Hypochaeris radicata. Antioxidant activity was assessed by using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assay, reducing power activity, [2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid)] ABTS+ assay and ferrous ion chelating activity. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents were also determined and expressed in gallic acid and quercetin equivalent respectively. The results of the study indicate that the ethanolic extracts of the leaf, root, seed, and stem of H. radicata posses significant scavenging activity against DPPH (21.25% for leaf, 34.98% for root, 60.76% for seed and 45.25% for stem at 250 μg/ml each) and ABTS+ radical scavenging activity (14.85% for leaf, 17.40% for root, 35.91% for seed and 24.70% for stem at 250 μg/ml each), reducing power activity (0.178 absorbance at 300 μg/ml for leaf, 0.211 absorbance at 300 μg/ml for root, 0.447 absorbance at 300 μg/ml for seed, 0.276 absorbance at 300 μg/ml for stem). The free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities may be attributed to the presence of adequate phenolic (gallic acid content is 361.92.98 μg/g in leaf, 356.59μg/g in root, 719.72 μg/g in seed and 512.08 μg/g stem) and flavonoid compounds (219.52 μg/g in leaf, 75.67μg/g in root, 281.39 μg/g in seed and 215.66 μg/g stem). This study revealed that the ethanolic extracts of both leaf, root, seed and stem of H. radicata has demonstrated significant antioxidant activity. Conclusion : In conclusion, the present study has demonstrated that Hypochaeris radicata seed ethanol extracts are rich in phenolics and have a strong antioxidant activity and a radical-scavenging action in all of the tested methods. This suggests that Hypochaeris radicata is a good source of natural antioxidants.


United States Geological Survey, St. Petersburg, Florida. Chief Scientist: Richard Poore. Data collection cruise. data of field activity 11CEV01 (P-01-11-GM) in Gulf of Mexico from 01/20/2011 to 01/21/2011, http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/p/p0111gm/html/p-01-11-gm.meta.html.


Motivated by recent findings on the cyclical movement of both health and health spending, we construct a general equilibrium model that distinguishes health care demand from the demand for other goods. Using this model, we are able to generate inflation dynamics and cyclicality of health that match the US data. When the model is subjected to an expansionary monetary policy shock, it yields different output and inflation responses compared with a two-sector model with homogeneous demand. We show that the trade-off between leisure and health spending plays an important role in model dynamics. The model further predicts different degrees of inflation stabilization across sectors when a shift in the monetary policy occurs.


Segmentation of retinal blood vessels allows a quantitative analysis of vessels, hence it helps to diagnose several cardiovascular and ophthalmologic diseases. Manual segmentation is time-consuming, therefore, an automatic method is needed. Dilated convolutions have been recently adopted for semantic segmentation task and higher performances have been achieved. In this paper, we investigate the use of dilated convolutions for retinal vessel segmentation. The proposed architectures are evaluated in the DRIVE dataset. The context information provided by dilated convolutions demonstrated to be valuable for the presented task, leading to more accurate segmentations. Our best model achieves accuracy, specificity and sensitivity of 0.9567, 0.9813 and 0.7903, respectively.


In this article, the authors designed and implemented an efficient gender recognition system with high classification accuracy. In this regard, they proposed a novel local binary descriptor capable of extracting more informative and discriminative local features for the purpose of gender classification. Traditional Local binary patterns include information about the relationship between a central pixel value and those of its neighboring pixels in a very compact manner. In the proposed method the authors incorporate into the descriptor more information from the neighborhood by using extra patterns. They have evaluated their approach on the standard FERET and CAS-PEAL databases and the experiments show that the proposed approach offers superior results compared to techniques using state-of-the-art descriptors such as LBP, LDP and HoG. The results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed system with 98.33% classification accuracy.


Abundant experimental material on the fragmentation of nuclei was accumulated from the moment of its discovery up to the present; however it does not provide the clear understanding of this phenomenon. A number of studies [1-5] stated conformity of the experimental results expected from the statistical model. According to this model nucleons in a nucleus have the momentum distribution ~ exp (P2/2σ0) [6]. P – Nucleon momentum in a nucleus, momentum distribution dispersion. Value of σ0 is estimated either by the Fermi momentum РF: σ0=PF/51/2, or by a nucleus radius (R=r0A1/3): σ0=(9π)1/3ħ/(2r051/2) [7]. For a fragment with the mass number AF momentum distribution dispersion is represented by 2 F σ =σ02AF (A – AF)/(A– 1) [6]. For isotropic momentum distribution of a fragment in a nucleus, dispersion of its momentum projection onto any orthogonal axis will be equal to [6].


The aim of this thesis is to determine the attitudes of medical personnel on the subject of euthanasia and palliative care. Theoretical part discusses euthanasia and palliative care, gives these two phenomena in context, it represents the experience of foreign countries that have legalized euthanasia. It also deals with the philosophical and historical background of the topic of euthanasia and palliative care. The practical part through a questionnaire investigates attitudes of doctors, nurses and medical students. Topics are adequate palliative care physician competence in relation to euthanasia and more. Questionnaire asks professional attitudes and personal attitudes.


While cancer mortality is on the decline in the U.S., Pacific Islanders continue to experience high rates of cancer incidence, prevalence, and mortality due to the lack of appropriate, understandable, and accessible prevention, early detection, and treatment/survivorship information and services. California is home to the second-largest populations of Pacific Islanders, including Chamorros, Marshallese, Native Hawaiians, Samoans, and Tongans. In 2005 community and university researchers formed a multicommunity collaboration for cancer prevention and control called WINCART: Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training. Using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, this collaboration developed decision-making processes, protocols, and MOUs that prioritized community benefits in the design and implementation of studies spanning the cancer control continuum including tobacco cessation, nutrition and physical activity promotion, colorectal screening, breast screening, Pap testing, cancer survivorship, and biospecimen collection. Specifically, this presentation will cover the elements that contributed to WINCART9s successful CBPR collaborations, provide examples from selected studies, and share lessons learned for researchers interested in initiating or sustaining community-university partnerships in the future. Citation Format: Sora Park Tanjasiri, Paula Healani Palmer. Not showing up empty-handed: A multicommunity collaboration for cancer prevention and control [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr IA31.


Objective:To establish rapid 、specific and sensitive diagnostic technique for the human T. gondii infection with renal transplantation and discuss its clinical significance.Methods:68 patients of renal transplantation were detected with ELISA and PCR.Results:Among 68 recipients of renal transplantation , 4 were positive for T. gondii antigen, 5 were positive based on the PCR . The positive rate were 5.91% and 7.35% in the ELISA and PCR screening respectively. 20 healthy people (anti-Toxo antibody negative) were also tested with ELISA and PCR.Conclusion:PCR is an accurate, relatively rapid, sensitive and specific method for detecting SAG3 gene of T. gondii, and can be considered a valuable additional tool for identification of T.gondii infections.


Background and Objectives: Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated chronic right ventricular (RV) pacing induced left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony and LV systolic dysfunction in patients with permanent pacemaker. However, only a limited number of studies have focused on RV dysfunction. We sought to determine the prevalence and identify the clinical predictors of RV dysfunction in patients with chronic RV pacing. Subjects and Methods: We enrolled 72 patients (mean age 72.7±11.1 years, men 36.1%) who underwent permanent pacemaker implantation without RV dysfunction in baseline examination. Baseline clinical characteristics, laboratory data, echocardiographic parameters and pacing profiles were assessed. Follow up 2-dimentional echocardiography was used to identify the presence of RV dysfunction. Results: We divided patients based on the criteria of either presence or absence of RV dysfunction, where RV dysfunction is defined as decreased tricuspid annulus systolic velocity (<11 cm/sec) in tissue Doppler image. Sixteen patients (22.2%) in our study showed meaningful RV dysfunction. Patients with RV dysfunction had lower LV ejection fraction (57.5±10.8% versus 64.6±9.1%, p<0.05) and higher B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels (700.3±152.9 pg/mL versus 329.4±332.4 pg/mL, p<0.05) compared to patients without RV dysfunction. Implantation of VVI type pacemaker was associated with presence of RV dysfunction (81.3% versus 33.3%, p<0.05). Higher cumulative ratio of total RV pacing was associated with increased tendency for RV dysfunction. No statistically significant correlation was observed between the groups (70.7±13.2% in RV dysfunction group, 61.7±38.3% in non-RV dysfunction group, p=0.094). Conclusion: In this study, meaningful proportion of patients showed chronic RV pacing induced RV dysfunction. RV dysfunction was associated with lower LV systolic function, higher BNP level and VVI type pacemaker.


This study seeks to understand the capacity of adolescent-friendly reproductive health services (AFRHS) in promoting sexual reproductive health (SRP) among adolescents in Bindura Urban of Zimbabwe. The data collection methods used allowed the researcher to get insight on adolescents' experience and the factors associated with their accessing SRH services from AFRHS, the meaning of AFRHS for adolescents, healthcare providers' attitudes towards adolescents seeking SRH services, and community perceptions and readiness to accept AFRHS. The findings showed that both socio-cultural and health facility factors influence utilisation of SRH services. Many of these factors stem from the moral framework encapsulated in socio-cultural norms and values related to the sexual health of adolescents and healthcare providers' poor value clarification. This study provides an empirical understanding of the reasons and factors associated with SRH service utilisation, which goes much deeper than program provision of AFRHS in Zimbabwe.


We introduce a formal semantics of P4 for the HOL4 interactive theorem prover. We exploit properties of the language, like the absence of call by reference and the copy-in/copy-out mechanism, to define a heapless small-step semantics that is abstract enough to simplify verification, but that covers the main aspects of the language: interaction with the architecture via externs, table match, and parsers. Our formalization is written in the Ott metalanguage, which allows us to export definitions to multiple interactive theorem provers. The exported HOL4 semantics allows us to establish machine-checkable proofs regarding the semantics, properties of P4 programs, and soundness of analysis tools.


Impression taking procedure from prosthetic area in case of constructing implant supported prostheses is one of the most important steps in the process of patient rehabilitation especially in producing long span structures. Quality of the impression could affect the precision and passive fit of the prosthesis to the implants therefore the overall quality of the work.
Obtaining digital impressions of edentulous jaws with a different number of implants using intraoral devices is still an unresolved problem in full. The ergonomics of the process of obtaining an impression is not easy due to the need to place both scan abutments in the oral cavity and manipulate the working part of the intraoral scanner around them. The accuracy of digital impressions obtained from edentulous jaws for obtaining full-arch implant supported prostheses does not exceed that when obtaining a classic impression, and according to a number of researchers, it is even lower.
The aim of this study was to construct implant impression convertible trays with increased to the optimum levels of rigidity, with simple disassemble process and having an easy access to the adapters, and also to digitally compare the rigidity of the author's impression trays.
The method of assessment was digital technology of analysing structural resistance and inherent stresses and deformations using SolidWorks software. We performed analysis of the resistance of the structure to external loads.
We have developed and created the customised copyrighted versions of the upper and lower impression trays made of rigid titanium alloy by 3D printing using DMLM technology on a Concept Laser device made of titanium Ti6-Al4-V. Modeling was carried out in the Mimics Medical 21 program (Materialize, Germany) along the contours on the data of cone-beam computed tomography.
Performed digital tests reveal the underlying advantages of the designed by authors impression trays.


An ultrathin double-focusing lens, capable of simultaneously generating a plasmonic focus in the near-field region and a Fresnel-z one-plate based diffraction-limited focal spot in the far-field region, was designed using three-dimensional topological insulator (Sb2Te3). Our innovative double-focusing flat lens opens new opportunities for future compact devices with versatile functionalities, with potential applications ranging from optical imaging and information technology to biological sensing and medical diagnosis.


The design of gated spillways followed by a hydraulic jump stilling basin is a very usual project condition. In such cases, special attention is paid to high flow discharges, situations in which the most critical hydrodynamically conditions are usually present on the stilling basin or towards downstream. When the spillway must discharge low flows, the ideal operation from the hydraulic point of view is given by the symmetrical and uniform operation of all its gates, which is not always reflected in practice. In fact, there are specific antecedents of asymmetric or non-uniform operations of gates that led to the formation of vertical axis vortices and separation zones, both on the downstream faces of spillway piles and on dissipation elements such as chute blocks, baffle piers and dentated sill. These processes increase the levels of hydrodynamic solicitations and the risks of cavitation to more severe limits than those resulting from the uniform operation of the spillway for its maximum design flow. The aforementioned comments express the need to establish clear operation rules of the spillway and, in parallel, quantify the possible effects derived from eventual asymmetric operations, which are not recommended but would eventually happen during the operation of the works.


The authors present the Rational Reasoning System (RRS), which integrates hierarchical planning with decision theory in order to make rational decisions in time-dependent situations. RRS controls a robot in a simulated hazardous environment and allows it to address time-dependent emergencies of various urgencies. RRS uses decision theory to constrain and focus the hierarchical construction of plans, introducing computationally practical meta-reasoning methods that factor costs of planning into an overall optimal reasoning and acting behavior. The authors illustrate RRS's capabilities in a simulated nuclear power plant. The authors propose that decision theory should be a basis for any truly autonomous rational robotic system.<<ETX>>


Surface roughness is an important index to evaluate the quality of a machined surface. In order to accurately predict the surface roughness for slow tool servo (STS) turning, taking toric surface as an example, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to perform the process test. The second-order response surface prediction model was established and the variance analysis and reliability test were carried out. The results showed that the average prediction error was 7.6%. In order to obtain the best process parameters, standard particle swarm optimization (PSO) was used. The results showed that the global optimization ability of standard PSO was poor. In order to solve the problem, compression factor was introduced and particle swarm optimization with compression factor (WCF-PSO) was constructed, which enhanced the convergence of PSO effectively. WCF-PSO was used to optimize the process parameters and the results obtained were R t = 0.87mm , a f = 0.01mm/r , a p = 0.05mm , Δθ= 8.70° , with a corresponding surface roughness of Ra= 0.0486 μm . The results of the verification test showed that the actual value was Ra= 0.0520 μm , and the error was only 7.0%, indicating that WCF-PSO had a better optimization effect.


The title compounds are prepared by solution combustion synthesis from aqueous solutions of stoichiometric amounts of M(NO3)2 (M: Ni, Co, Mn), NaNO3, NH4H2PO4, and glycine (200—300 °C, 10 min), followed by calcination of the foamy product (400—700 °C, 3 h).


Erectile dysfunction (ED) and cardiovascular disease often coexist and endothelial dysfunction is the common denominator. ED is frequent; it increases with age, affecting 5–10% of men aged 40 years and 40–60% of men aged 70 years [1]. Although the aging process accounts for many cases of ED, patients with the disorder also show a variety of common cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, cigarette smoking, and the metabolic syndrome. An extensive body of evidence shows that ED is related to the prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD): (a) it is frequent in patients with established CAD, with prevalence rates ranging between 50 and 75% [2]; and (b) it coexists with occult CAD (almost one out of five ED patients suffer from clinically silent obstructive CAD) [3].


Objective
To investigate the effects of single-chamber balloon combined with dinoprostone suppository on the progestation of the cervix in full-term maternal delivery.

Methods
From January 2017 to December 2018, 120 cases of full-term maternal women admitted to the Central Hospital of Yiwu were selected.According to the random number table method, all women were divided into control group (60 cases) and observation group (60 cases). The control group was given a single-cavity balloon to promote cervical ripening.The observation group received single-chamber balloon combined with dinoprostone to promote cervical ripening.The effects of maternal cervical ripening were observed.

Results
The total effective rate of maternal cervical ripening in the observation group (95.00%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (81.67%), and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=6.135, P 0.05). The total maternal labor [(5.8±2.1)h] in the observation group was significantly shorter than that in the control group [(7.6±2.5)h], the difference was statistically significant (t=3.126, P 0.05). After the balloon and balloon combination were taken out, the Bishop score of the maternal cervix[(8.6±1.5)points] in the observation group was higher than that in the control group [(7.2±1.3)points], and the difference was statistically significant (t=4.354, P<0.05). The incidence of adverse reaction of the observation group (6.67%) was lower than that of the control group (13.33%), the difference was statistically significant between the groups(χ2=3.821, P<0.05).

Conclusion
Compared with simple single-chamber balloon, single-chamber balloon combined with dinoprostone suppository has more significant effect on the maternal ripening of the cervix, it can improve the vaginal delivery rate and maternal cervical Bishop scores, effectively reduce the maternal total labor, and reduce the incidence of maternal adverse reactions.

Key words:
Pregnancy trimester, third; Cervical ripening; Pregnancy outcome; Single-lumen balloon; Double balloon; Dinoprostone suppository


The invention discloses a furnace bar type natural gas cupola carbon heat exchange bed which comprises a furnace body, wherein a water-cooling furnace bar is arranged in a lower-middle in the furnace body, a heat exchange bed body is arranged above the water-cooling furnace bar and is a mixture of carbon blocks and refractory ceramic balls; a plurality of air supply outlets are arranged in the furnace wall of the upper part of the water-cooling bar, a metal furnace material is arranged above the heat exchange bed, and a plurality of layers of coke are arranged in the metal furnace material. The furnace bar type natural gas cupola carbon heat exchange bed has the beneficial effects that the carbon material is used as a heat exchange material to develop a role of the carbon material to molten iron, the chemical heat loss is reduced, the heat supply of the heat exchange heat bed is enhanced, and the purposes of recarburizing the molten iron, reducing alloy burning loss, improving quality of the molten iron, simplifying the structure of a combustion chamber of a natural gas cupola and improving the melting property of the natural gas cupola are achieved; and the proportion of the carbon heat exchange material to the heat exchange material can be regulated according to the metallurgy requirement of the furnace material and the processing temperature requirement of the molten iron, and the resource reasonable utilization and comprehensive utilization are realized.


The key characteristics of policy have become rather well-defined over time, and some are pertinent to our discussion today: (a) The Congress typically has the paramount role in agriculture policy making, as embodied in the periodic farm bills. Generally, an administration is able only to tilt the direction a bit one way or another or to prevail only on a few very specific issues. An administration almost never dominates the policy debate. Comprehensive farm bill proposals submitted by administrations in 1977, 1981, and 1985 attracted very little serious attention and scarcely resembled the legislation that finally became law.


INTRODUCTION Th is article is part of the on-going series, Frequently Asked Questions, with a focus on gastrointestinal (GI) conditions and diseases in the older adult. Aft er a review of the magnitude of fecal incontinence (FI) in various care settings, the article focuses on changes in physiology and health in the older patient and how continence is aff ected. We consider the impact of common geriatric diseases that can impair continence and then guide the reader through an algorithm for evaluation. Th e article closes with medical, surgical, and behavioral techniques to treat FI, highlighting geriatric-specifi c data from published papers.


This paper addresses difficulties in mapping blocks onto cloud storage and proposes a novel cost-aware log-structured block I/O management over one of the commercial cloud storage, Amazon S3. The proposed scheme is imbedded in the virtual USB drive architecture that replaces the NAND flash of the USB memory with the capacity-free network storage. The key of the proposed scheme is to perform onto the cloud storage log-structured writes with the optimal number of data blocks that adaptively changes with I/O characteristics (the number of I/O operations and storage size) and cloud storage pricing policy. The proposed scheme also efficiently manages associate metadata by using well-organized data structures and layouts both in the memory and on the cloud storage. Performance analysis shows that the proposed scheme can reduce the total I/O costs significantly up to 54%, as compared with a simple one-to-one mapping scheme.


To satisfy the demand of high speed wideband radio frequency sampling and signal synthesizing in airborne frontend equipment and also solve transceiver isolation with signal processing and limit of transmission bandwidth of traditional solutions,a novel multi-channel wideband transceiver solution is provided. High speed digital-to-analog converter( DAC) and analog-to-digital converter( ADC) working at 500 Msample / s are used. Perfect recovery of data signal at receiver-end is realized through receiving and simulating channel logic interface design. Inter-FPGA data communication between transceiver and signal processor is transferred at 10 Gb / s at most. The true multi-channel wideband transceiver function is realized and it will find wide applications in high speed wideband communications.


Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are common liver diseases that lead to death in Egypt, especially in men. The current study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic sensitivity of arginase (ARG) activity, alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT), and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in the sera of patients with HCV (with & without viremia) and HCC. A total of 190 men classified as 40 healthy used as control (G1), 100 infected with HCV (subdivided into 50 with viremia (G2) and 50 without viremia (G3), and 50 with HCC (G4). The activity of ARG significantly decreased in HCV and HCC groups along with significant elevation in the level of AAT and AFP as compared with the control. Although a non-significant variation was scored in AST/ALT, significant differences were observed among AST/ARG and ARG/ALT in the pathogenic groups as compared with the healthy group. Moreover, significant variations in ARG, AAT, AFP, AST/ARG, and ARG/ALT were observed between viremia and non-viremia. Although AFP scored significant change among the viremia and HCC, the rest parameters scored non-significant changes between both groups. Furthermore, a receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) showed the diagnostic ability for the selected parameters with high sensitivity and multiple linear regressions exhibited good associations between those parameters. These findings suggest the using possibility of ARG, AAT, and AFP in the diagnosis and/or follow-up of patients with HCV or HCC.


Plants have evolved novel microtubule (MT) arrays to regulate cell division and cell expansion. How these MT arrangements are managed has been a question of long-standing interest to plant cell biologists. Do plants have unique ways of regulating MTs or have they co-opted mechanisms that are familiar to us from studies in animal and fungal cells? This Update focuses on the MT plus-end-tracking proteins ( 1 TIPs), a rela-tively recent addition to the repertoire of MT regulatory proteins. Although the study of 1 TIPs in plants is just beginning, the emerging data indicate that some, but not all, 1 TIPs are conserved in the green lineage and that plants have at least one family of 1 TIPs that is unique. Plants, it seems, organize their MT arrays via a combination of novel and phylogenetically conserved mechanisms.


Urumqi River originates in northern slope of the Tianger Range of Tianshan Mountains. Many previous studies pay more attention to the river runoff of Urumqi River rather than the impacts of the change of 0 ℃ isotherm height in summer on runoff. Therefore, based on the observed materials of daily 0 ℃ isotherm height in summer from meteorological stations and the average daily streamflow materials during 1985-2006 from three hydrological observation stations in the headwater of Urumqi River, the paper has analyzed the 0 ℃ isotherm height change and average daily runoff variety trend and its correlation with statistical methods. The results show that: 1) Streamflow of Glacier No.1 hydrological observation station, Ice-free Cirque hydrological observation station and Master Control hydrological observation station kept increasing during 1985-2006, and the trend rates of them are 0.007m 3 /(s · a), 0.005m 3 /(s · a) and 0.011m 3 /(s · a) respectively. At the same time, the average height of 0 ℃ isotherm increased by 7.917m/a. Besides, the average daily streamflow presents different change trends at the three stations; 2) The correlation between 0 ℃ isotherm height and average daily streamflow at Glacier No.1 hydrological observation station is the best, but the change of the latter is lagging behind that of the former; Master Control hydrological observation station and Ice-free Cirque hydrological observation station respectively have the second and the worst correlation; 3) The correlation coefficient between the average daily streamflow and 0 ℃ isotherm height accumulated value under the condition of 2~3 days ahead and 3~4 days'continuing is the largest; 4) The best regression models are gained by using the time series of the 0 ℃ isotherm height and the average daily streamflow of the Urumqi River, and they present a relation of exponent function.


In their article on music and empathy, Greenberg, Rentfrow and Baron-Cohen propose to employ the Emphasizing–Systemizing (E-S) theory as a framework for analyzing the intrapersonal and social psychological processes that underlie the capacity of music to promote empathy. In particular, the authors consider the implications of E-S theory for autism, and speculate about which types of music might be most effective for increasing empathy in individuals with autistic spectrum conditions (ASC). The main premise of the article is that different personality types, characterized as empathizers versus systemizers, prefer different types of music, and that the key for increasing empathy with music is to choose the type of music that is most associated with empathizers. This commentary attempts to shift the focus of analysis from the type of music, to the more fundamental mechanisms by which music in general may promote empathy. From this alternative perspective E-S theory leads to surprising theoretical predictions about music, empathy, and ASC.


Abstract A web-based Decision Support System, named FLIRE DSS, for combined forest fire control and planning as well as flood risk management, has been developed and is presented in this paper. State of the art tools and models have been used in order to enable Civil Protection agencies and local stakeholders to take advantage of the web based DSS without the need of local installation of complex software and their maintenance. Civil protection agencies can predict the behavior of a fire event using real time data and in such a way plan its efficient elimination. Also, during dry periods, agencies can implement "what-if" scenarios for areas that are prone to fire and thus have available plans for forest fire management in case such scenarios occur. Flood services include flood maps and flood-related warnings and become available to relevant authorities for visualization and further analysis on a daily basis. When flood warnings are issued, relevant authorities may proceed to efficient evacuation planning for the areas that are likely to flood and thus save human lives. Real-time weather data from ground stations provide the necessary inputs for the calculation of the fire model in real-time, and a high resolution weather forecast grid supports flood modeling as well as the development of "what-if" scenarios for the fire modeling. All these can be accessed by various computer sources including PC, laptop, Smartphone and tablet either by normal network connection or by using 3G and 4G cellular network. The latter is important for the accessibility of the FLIRE DSS during firefighting or rescue operations during flood events. All these methods and tools provide the end users with the necessary information to design an operational plan for the elimination of the fire events and the efficient management of the flood events in almost real time. Concluding, the FLIRE DSS can be easily transferred to other areas with similar characteristics due to its robust architecture and its flexibility.


To determine the possible effects of climatic parameters on sugarbeet seed yield, the correlation between seed yield and different meteorological parameters during 1955-2002 was determined and the parameters which had significant correlation with seed yield were fitted by multivariate models. To scrutinize the effective climatic factors, the growth period of sugarbeet seed-bearing plants (from early-April to late-July) was divided into fifteen-day intervals during plantingbolting, bolting-blooming, blooming-full bloom, full bloom-maturity and total growth period. Then, simple correlation coefficients of each period with seed yield were estimated and finally multiple regression model was fitted. The results showed that the seed yield significantly correlated with mean temperature during the first half of May (-0.591*) and first half of July (-0.584*), mean sunny hours during the first half of May (-0.544*) and first half of June (-0.550*), total precipitation during the second half of April (0.565*) and first half of June (0.624**) and total received growing degree days (GDDs) during the first half of May (-0.505*) and first half of July (-0.584*). On the other hand, sugarbeet seed yield had significant correlation with total precipitation (0.574*) during the planting-bolting period, sunny hours (-0.511*) during the bolting-blooming period and precipitation (0.526*) during the growth period.


The goal of the article is to describe the main characteristics of the children's rights discourse in the United Kingdom. To achieve the said goal, the author provides a description and definition of discourse, institutional discourse, legal discourse, and children's rights discourse while also applying the characteristics of the said discourses to determine the main characteristics of the children rights discourse in the United Kingdom. Children's rights discourse in the United Kingdom is an institutional subordination system defined by legislation (primary and secondary acts), and this legislation is the source of special lexis used in the discourse. Participants of the discourse are government institutions, children and family members, nongovernmental organisations, mass media, and the general public. All participants of the children's rights discourse in the United Kingdom can have an effect on the discourse, which in turn might affect the special-use lexis of the discourse.


Because of the presence of the physiologically active alkaloids in the Hyoscyamtrs species, a number of them are used as sources of such alkaloids which are used in the manufacture of some pharmaceutical preparations. The genus Hyoscyamus is represented in Egypt by: H. muticus L., H. albus L., H. reticulatus L., H. desertorum T a c k h., H. aureus L., H. pusillus L. and H. boveanus D u n . ( T a c k h o l m 1955 and M u s h l e r 1912). A literature survey has revealed that all the previous publications have been focussed on H. niger (S r e p e 1 1956), H. muticus (S. P. 1949, I. P. 1951 and E. P. 1953), H. albus (K h a f a g y et al. 1964) and H. reticulatus, while nothing is mentioned regarding the chemical constituents or the anatomical characters of the other species. This encouraged us to continue the phytochemical investigation of these Hyoscyamus species with a view to study them and to find out the possibility of using them as other official solanaceous drugs which are used as natural source of medriatic alkaloids. The present work deals with the phytochemical investigation of H. desertorum T a c k h. in order to determine qualitatively as well as quantitatively the alkaloids present in the different organs of the plant a t their different stages of development with a view t o find out the value of the plant as a source of tropane alkaloids ' and to find the richest organ and the best time for its collection.


An exactly solvable problem for the finite‐difference Schrodinger equation in the relativistic configurational space is considered. The appropriate finite‐difference generalization of the factorization method is developed. The theory of new special functions ''the relativistic Hermite polynomials,'' in which the solutions are expressed, is constructed.


Background. Thumb and finger sucking is one of the oral habit that often found in children under 4 years old. Thumb and finger sucking can act as carrier of numerous microorganisms from extra oral environment into the oral cavity. Escherichia coli is one of the microorganism from Enterobactericeae which has great number in environment. When E.coli entered and penetrating the body, it can become pathogenic and furthermore lead into several infection. Purpose. The aim of this study is to determine if there is a growth of E.coli colony in saliva in children with thumb and finger sucking habit. Method. Whole saliva is taken from 10 children with thumb and finger sucking habit and 10 children without thumb and finger sucking habit by dispossable plastic pippete. They were grown on Mac Conkey agar plate and incubated at 37oc. After 2 days, the presence of E.coli was identified by the characteristic of its colony. Result. There is no significant differences of the growth of Escherichia coli's colony in children with and without thumb and finger sucking. Conclusion. The growth of Escherichia coli in children with and without thumb and finger sucking habit is the same, and it could be influenced by E.coli had already eliminated by the oral cavity's normal flora before the saliva was taken.


Two oxetanocin A derivatives have been synthesized stereospecifically. The crystal structures of both derivatives and a synthetic intermediate are reported on herein.


Lei Shen Accounting School, Tong Ling University, Tong Ling, 244000, Anhui China. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Fund project:The innovation project of university students in Anhui(No:AH20140383095) Abstract: Today, entrepreneurship is regarded as one of the best economic development strategies to develop the country's economic growth and sustain the country's competitiveness in facing the increasing trends of globalization The research is a study of the background in entrepreneurship research previously done and findings.


Background: Children with untreated dental caries tend to have a higher prevalence of early tooth loss, causing physical, psychosocial, and financial impacts on children and their families. The present study aims to understand the therapeutic itineraries of children with the early loss of primary teeth due to caries by analyzing the access to and integrality of care. Methods: This was a qualitative phenomenological study. Participants were caregivers, aged 18 years or older, of children up to 12 years of age who attended the University Dental Clinic of a Public University in Southern Brazil. Analysis of medical records and interviews were performed. The saturation criterion defined the sample size (n=44). Results: Public and private health services were accessed by families in the search for treatments for children's oral health conditions until they reached the University Dental Clinic. Children experiencing suffering and pain, who had had multiple extractions, and families affected financially and emotionally by the oral health condition of their children highlighted these itineraries. The resilience of these families in overcoming the challenges experienced and their continuous efforts to find solutions for the oral health care of their children were emphasized. Their relations with students and teachers at the University Dental Clinic were also discussed. Conclusion: The study showed a range of paths taken by children and their families and suggested weaknesses in ensuring the integrality of care for children in the Brazilian National Health System. Qualitative analysis of the therapeutic itineraries of children's families presented in this study is proposed as a complementary tool for health care. This study has the potential to contribute to the evaluation of health services in the country, strengthening children's oral health.


For the very first time, the correlation femtoscopy method is applied to a kinematically complete measurement of meson production in the collisions of hadrons. The shape of the two-proton correlation function derived for the pp → ppη reaction differs from that for the pp → pp(pions) and both do not show a peak structure opposite to results determined for inclusive measurements of heavy ion collisions.


The Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) is a key social‐economic regeneration instrument in the UK delivered through partnerships of cross‐ sectoral organisations with local communities. The article discusses recent research which found that women's needs and capabilities were largely ignored in SRB. The reasons stem from widespread "gender blindness" characterised by familiar gender‐neutral motifs which deny the salience of gender as a variable through which human life and inequality are experienced. Gender blindness was additionally supported by social processes and institutions which have emerged from shifts in public policy and political change since the 1980s. The gender blindness of the late 1990s is described as a new manifestation of discrimination and its curiousness is that it is evident in a policy context which gives high priority to combating social exclusion.


Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow: A Study of Its Conceptual Structure and of Rilke's Influence, by Charles Hohmann. New York: Peter Lang, 1986, 421 pp. $48.05.


In the emerging world of twisted bilayer structures, the possible configurations are limitless, which enables for a rich landscape of electronic properties. In this paper, we focus on twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and study its properties by means of an accurate \textit{ab initio} tight-binding model. We build structures with different angles and find that the so-called flatbands emerge when the twist angle is sufficiently small (around 7.3$^{\circ}$). Interestingly, the band gap can be tuned up to a 5\% (104 meV) when the twist angle varies from 21.8$^{\circ}$ to 0.8$^{\circ}$. Furthermore, when looking at local density of states we find that the band gap varies locally along the moire pattern due to the change in the coupling between layers at different sites. Finally, we also find that the system can suffer a transition from a semiconductor to a metal when a sufficiently strong electric field is applied. Our study can serve as a guide for the practical engineering of the TMDCs optoelectronic devices.


When the subject innovation is the water or the aqueous liquid to be filled into the cup, detects this through the sensor it sends a signal to drive the play apparatus built on the bottom of the cup, each species generated in accordance with the type of sensor and the functions and the material of the cup overcoming limitations and relates to a structural improvement on the sensor functioning way to maximize the function as seen cup and play module case mounting method. The configuration of the subject innovation according bonje is made the area for mounting the module to the lower end play to create a cup or a cup holder; Play module case, which is attached to the lower end space of the main body built-in sensor and playing module; A temperature sensor and a capacitive sensor incorporated in the case; Storing and reproducing apparatus of the sound source installed in the case; Button to select the most suitable sensors and sensor works according to the material of the sensor and the source record and playback microcontroller, cup to a high level of control over the device and so on installed in the case; If the time of mounting the play module in the cup, including but designed switch the power to be connected and for the power is cut off to be separated, it is to secure the play module case in cup no choice but to cause variation in the product specifications, such as ceramics also it characterized in that it comprises a silicon fixture designed for mounting in the correct position so that the errors occur in the sensor operation. A temperature sensor, a cup, a voice cup, holding device, per unit time, a temperature change, an electrostatic capacity proximity sensor, a silicon fixture, smart cup


The present invention relates to an exhaust gas fractionator ethylenediamine spray absorption method and apparatus. The method involved include: ethylene fractionator of the tail gas separation process to obtain condensable component and a non-condensable component, followed by the liquid ring vacuum pump of the noncondensable components of the media continues to be separated; the the liquid ring vacuum pump medium is an amino alcohol compound. An apparatus involved comprises a trap, a first pump and a first gas-liquid separator. Another apparatus comprises a spray absorber according to a second vacuum pump and the second gas-liquid separator. Scrubber ethylene fractionator of the present invention provides a method, performed in a Scrubber ethylene fractionator spray absorption system, so that a smooth operation of the rectification column.


Mammary blood flow (MBF) and milk yield are closely related in dairy ruminants, but little is known about the regulation of MBF in vivo. The local effects on MBF of injections or continuous infusions into the mammary artery of prostaglandins (PG) or indomethacin (an inhibitor of prostaglandins) respectively, were investigated in surgically prepared conscious goats. Prostacyclin (PGI2) was found to be a potent stimulator of MBF which increased linearly over the dose range 50-1000 ng. PGE2 was almost as potent as PGI2 at low doses, but tachyphylaxis occurred at doses at and above 100 ng. The response to repeated injections of PGE2 quickly declined depending on the dose. PGF2 alpha had no effect on MBF. During infusion of indomethacin into the mammary artery MBF was reduced markedly, showing that endogenous mammary prostaglandins are involved in the regulation of vasodilatation. The results indicate that PGI2 (and to a lesser extent PGE2) has an important role in the local regulation of vascular tone in the mammary gland.


To realize a simplified keratometer, we proposed a design proposal based on corneal reflex imaging. Six pointolites which arranged in a regular hexagon were used to emit parallel light to the surface of a cornea and were reflected by the cornea. Then the image was captured by a telecentric optical system in the object space to a CMOS camera. In order to obtain the corneal curvature, the distance between two pointolites located on the regular hexagonal diagonal in the corneal reflection images were calculated by using the center of gravity algorithm. The imaging quality, measuring range and measuring precision of the system were theoretically analyzed, and the Ziess's model eye and human eyes were used to conduct experiments to verify the theoretical analysis results. The experiment results have shown that the precision of the measurement error is ±0.02 mm and the measurement range is from 5.5 mm to 11.6 mm (30 m-1 to 60 m-1 in diopter of cornea). The research will provide technical supports for the design and optimization of automatic keratometer.


EPEXS is an expert system based on classification for evoked potentials analysis and interpretation (a medical examination performed in clinical neurophysiology laboratories), working from available clinical records and numerical data measured from the evoked potential traces. EPEXS integrates two formalisms of knowledge representation: rules and structured objects. The rules represent the elementary concepts (shallow knowledge) and include a model of possibility based on the Dubois and Prade's default reasoning and possibility theory. The structured objects (prototypes) are organized as hierarchical taxonomies (underlying knowledge). They allow the description of both the objects and their relationships. The heuristics used to interpret the knowledge are based on two hypothesis: the unicity of the pathological process leading to several symptoms, and the progression from the general to the specific, leading to decide between the presence or absence of a class of diagnosis. This avoids the problem of the differential diagnosis. These various knowledges are used in a dynamical way that could be described as a four step process: acquisition of clinical data in order to define the nosological frame of the pathology, production of hypothesis about the nature and topography of lesions, interpretation of data in accordance with these hypothesis and finally evaluation of their likelihood.


Purpose: The purpose of this bachelor's thesis is to investigate the safety culture among employees within the garment factory industry in Bangladesh. This is made in order to increase the understanding of the need for improvements and how these can be made. Methodology: This qualitative thesis has an abductive approach. The empirical findings are based on semi-structured interviews with 26 garment factory workers.Theoretical framework: The thesis deals with two theoretical areas. It addresses the concepts of safety culture and safety climate as well as their relation to organizational culture. Thereto it addresses theories on method implementations and changes in organizational culture.Results: Five recurring themes were found in the semi-structured interviews with factory workers: a new focus among management, training, risk and dangers at work, speaking about safety at work and wish for changes at work. It is hoped that the recurring themes reflect distinctive patterns within organizational and safety culture among garment factory workers in Bangladesh.Conclusions: In the aftermath of Rana Plaza the safety culture within the ready-made garment industry have seen major improvements. However, the safety culture still possesses several of shortcomings. In order for international initiatives to succeed in their objective of creating a safer and healthier ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh these shortcomings must be acknowledged. Thereto a bottom-up perspective must complement a top-down perspective in the ongoing implementation process of an organization culture which aim to empower factory workers and support factory owners to take responsibility for safety and health at work.


Zwanger-Pesiri has a unique approach to lowering dose: giving patients a dose information card after studies. Here's how the program is affecting business and radiation levels.