Microdroplet transportation and mixing are indispensable functions in lab-on-chip applications. Additional components to conventional microfluidic platforms have solved the problem but with the big increase in the complexity of system integration. Here we propose an EWOD (Electrowetting on Dielectrics) design of driving electrode with a micro-barrier structure that enables the droplet mixing simultaneously along with the unidirectional transportation controlled by only two signals. The nesting asymmetrical electrodes not only provide the unidirectional driving pressure to the droplets, but also enhance the mixing of droplets by the specific micro-barrier structure through the curvilinear and fluctuating movement of the droplets. This design demonstrates a new approach to functional integration of EWOD microfluidic chips, which is of great significance in bioanalysis, especially in POCT (Point of Care Technology).


A proposed an improved structure of a transmissive optical film can be used as a prism sheet, an external shock, to prevent damage and optical film back surface damage of the prism structure by vibration and friction, adhesion of foreign matter by tribostatic by preventing, it provides an optical film with excellent properties strongly damaged. A is a sheet made of a transparent polymeric material, having a structured first surface such that a plurality of three-dimensional structure is repeatedly formed, and the opposite side of the second surface of the first surface optical structure layer, and wherein formed on the second surface, made of a transparent polymeric material, damage prevention layer in which a plurality of spherical particles are dispersed consisting organic or inorganic, include city, the damage prevention layer to be formed by spherical particles of the organic or inorganic, and having a protruding surface protruding from the transparent polymeric material. .The 10


Two cases in which topical psoralen induced hypertrichosis in the depigmented patches of vitiligo are being reported. -The possible mechanisms for this hypertrichosis are briefly discussed.


Fuel cell bipolar plates with corrugated sheet metal. # Distinguished fundamentally because the bipolar plates (4, 7) are formed by thin metal foils are corrugated to configure fluid distribution channels on the electrodes (6).


Moiré fringe is a traditional subdivision technique in precision displacement measurement. In general, use photodiode as a four-segment sensor. In this paper, we'll introduce a new system for grating subdivision of moiré fringe. The system consists of light source, condenser lens, grating, microscope tube, and CMOS image sensors. Different ways with the traditional image acquisition, there is an angle θ between grating stripe and the optical axis of the microscope system. Therefore, the stripe image which output by the CMOS image sensor becomes oblique. With different method of our previous study, a virtual moiré will form by the oblique stripes superimposed with the CMOS image array, which using digital image processing. The same as traditional method, the movement direction of the virtual moiré fringe is vertical with the direction movement of grating in this system. The virtual moiré fringe will move a space with grating period, the magnification has a relationship with the angle θ. Compare with early study, the largest increase for this system is the average effect of grating measurement system will be fully utilized by virtual moiré formed by CMOS image array. For the subdivision technique use the CMOS image array, system resolution will be large increased too. In this paper, the details of system components will be introduced, the magnification relationship of grating period and tilt angle will be discussed. It can be concluded that virtual moiré subdivision system performs better resolution and precision from experiment results.


X-ray reflection spectra are an important component in the X-ray spectra of many active galactic nuclei and Galactic black hole candidates. It is likely that reflection takes place from highly ionized surfaces of the accretion disc in some cases. This can lead to strong Comptonization of the emergent iron, and other absorption and emission features. We present such reflection spectra here, computed in a self-consistent manner with the method described by Ross & Fabian. In particular we emphasize the range where the ionization parameter (the flux to density ratio) ξ is around and above 104. Such spectra may be relevant to the observed spectral features found in black hole candidates such as Cygnus X-1 in the low/hard state.


To the Editor:— On page 236 ofThe Journal, September 28, is a statement to the effect that there are no Anopheles mosquitoes in Ceylon. A casual perusal of Fauna of British India, Diptera, volume IV Anophelini, by Christophers, reveals twenty-six species of Anopheles in Ceylon. There probably are more known by this time, because Christophers' book was published in 1933.


For typical stress levels encountered in engineering and in much of geophysics, rock is a highly nonelastic brittle material, in which stress induced microcracks are principally responsible for the nonelastic behavior. When loading occurs beyond the previous peak differential stress (sigma/sub 1/-sigma/sub 3/), brittle rock behaves like an elastic-plastic material. At lower stress levels, brittle rock is more appropriately described as a para-elastic material. In the para-elastic regime, cyclic loading produces large hysteresis in strain and rock typically exhibits discrete memory. In this paper, a continuum model derived from the mechanics of microcracks is presented which describes the deformation of brittle rock under constant (creep) and cyclicly varying loads. The model employs the assumption that time and stress dependent microcrack growth is responsible for the plastic deformation. Because the rock matrix is essentially elastic, a quasi-elastic formalism is adopted in which the crack behavior is included as an internal state variable. Evolution of the crack density function is specified by generalizing the experimentally determined behavior of single cracks to that of a random ensemble of microcracks. Stress corrosion is assumed to be the dominant mechanism of time-dependent crack growth. In the para-elastic regime, the crack density is unchanging, however, themore » cracks open and close in response to varying stress levels producing hysteresis in strain and a memory of stress reversal points. By formulating the microcrack models into a continuum framework, a constitutive law is produced which describes both the elastic-plastic and para-elastic deformation regimes.« less


Among the 13 new genes identified in this genome-wide association study, 4 have never before been linked to lung function.


In the present study, attempts were made to examine the effects of plant SH‐protease on human polymorphonuclear leukocyte granule elastase. S‐2484 amidolytic activity in extracted solution using 0.1% Triton X‐100 was remarkably higher than in the solution without Triton X‐100. The authors confirmed the possibility that the presence of solvents such as Triton X‐100 might be required for extraction of elastase from the granule membrane. It was also confirmed that ficin and papain inhibited extraction of elastase from the granule membrane by Triton X‐100, and that SH‐protease can inhibit S‐2484 amidolytic and Congo red‐elastinolytic activities of the released elastase. However, it is not clear whether SH‐protease inhibits the release of proelastase from the granule membrane or inhibits activation of released proelastase to elastase. The authors assume that there may be competitive inhibition between SH‐protease and elastase against the substrate.


OBJECTIVE
To review the latest research progress of fixation techniques of ankle arthrodesis.

METHODS
The literature concerning the research of fixation techniques of ankle arthrodesis in recent years was reviewed. Then the characteristics and new research progress of different internal and external fixation techniques were analysed and compared.

RESULTS
There are plenty of different types of internal and external fixation devices, each with distinct characteristics. Now it is widely considered that internal fixation is the first choice for end-stage ankle arthropathy. However, under the circumstances that patients with serious bone defect, chronic active infection, or extensive soft tissue damage are not suitable for internal fixation, ankle arthrodesis with external fixation is still a safe and effective method.

CONCLUSION
For severe or end-stage ankle arthropathy, ankle arthrodesis is a mature therapeutic way with exact effect. Researches on these two aspects, expansion of indications of internal fixation and comparison and combination of internal and external fixation techniques, need to be deepened, which is of great significance for choosing a better fixation method and acquiring a better therapeutic effect.


Both the optimal inflation target and the optimal degree of output stabilization are found to be conditional on the prevailing wage bargaining structure. If monopolistic wage setters act as strategic leaders of the monetary policy game, an explicit inflation targeting regime removes inflation bias from monetary policy, but does not remove the trade-off related to average level of output and output stabilization. In contrast to usual results on inflation targeting, appointing a central banker who is more conservative than the government leads to welfare gains for society. If centralization within the national labor markets increases in the common monetary policy area, the monetary policy game with regard to the European Central Bank might be conducted under the strategic leadership of trade union confederations. This leads to a Pareto loss.


The study was conducted at Fuji Seal Vietnam Co., Ltd. to examine the exposure and health risks of workers working in the printing and ink phase area when exposed to solvent vapor through the respiratory apparatus Toluene, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, Ethyl Acetate, Isopropyl Acohol. The results show that: During the monitoring period from July to November 2016, the amount of solvent vapor in the printing area and ink phase is quite high, at the highest Toluene printing area, it was 2.63 times higher than the standard equal to the health risk HQ male is 2.61 and HQ female is 3.37; Ethyl Acetate exceeded the highest of 4.34 times equal to the male HQ risk ratio of 4.29 and female HQ equal to 5.53; MEK exceeds 8.43 times equal to the health risk HQ male is 8.36 and HQ female is 10.79; Isopropyl Acohol exceeds 8.4 times equal to the health risk HQ male is 8.33 and HQ female is 10.75; At the inking area, MEK exceeds 8.43 times equal to the health risk HQ male is 8.36 and HQ female is 10.79. From the calculated data - analysis, found that the health of workers working in the printing and inking areas had high risks, the ability of workers suffering from diseases such as headache, dizziness, skin damage,... and especially respiratory failure.


IT is now commonplace among ever-increasing numbers of political theorists to query the state of the art of the sub-discipline, in particular the epistemological and ideal-type disposition of contemporary political philosophy. But it is less common to detail research agenda that attempt to redress the balance and reconnect political theory to the domain of politics. Prior to accomplishing that, a lacuna has to be identified—a gap that exists prominently between the main schools that currently occupy centre stage in the study of political thought. Political philosophy, the history of political thought and, more recently, what could be very loosely called 'post-structural' or 'continental' political theory have virtually monopolized the analysis of political thinking; yet, as I shall claim, they do not cover the field of what constitutes political thought. Political philosophy brings to the study of political theory an overriding concern with either or both of the following: the logical validity and argumentative coherence of the political philosophy in question, or the moral rightness of the prescriptions it contains. Many of its versions display a flight from the political, the crowding out of diversity and the shrinking of the political to an area of constructed consensus guided by a vision of the good life; while its methods rely heavily on thought experiments and frequently inapplicable modelling. The history of political thought brings to the study of political theory an overriding concern with the genealogy of arguments, with the conditions for their stability and the causes for their transformation, with contexts, reconstructions of intentions, and changing horizons of interpretation but, with a few notable exceptions, sacrifices synchrony for diachrony. Much post-structuralist thought regards politics as obfuscating reality through the articulation of illusions and false categories, while expressing deep distrust towards politics as it is, and is overridingly The Journal of Political Philosophy: Volume 13, Number 2, 2005, pp. 113–134


The following case is a remarkable instance of the mimicry of joint-disease in hysteria. For three years the patient was under the treatment of various surgeons for organic disease of the hip, and yet when the true nature of the affection was recognised she was cured in less than three months. The affection for more than two years was confined to one hip, and was considered to be certainly tubercular in nature, and the treatment adopted was the ordinary one for such a condition?absolute rest, with splint and extension. Moreover, repeated examination of the joint under an anaesthetic failed to reveal its true nature.


This essay is a study of another characteristic of the Pascal Triangle and the computing skills with the help of MATLAB,which discovered the relationship of the Pascal Triangle,found another characteristic of the Pascal Triangle,concluded the law of this characteristic and proved it true.Some special characteristics on solving Matrix's computing of MATLAB have been given,it is found that it's able to realize the Toss Value of the new characteristic with a very skillful way to run the high efficient computing on the lab of programming computing.It's far easier than it in language C and it can show the Toss Value of the new characteristic directly.


In this paper, we proposed a stacked non-local attention based variational autoencoder (VAE) for learned image compression. We use a non-local module to capture global correlations effectively that can't be offered by traditional convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Meanwhile, layer-wise self-attention mechanisms are widely used to activate/preserve important and challenging regions. We jointly take the hyperpriors and autoregressive priors for conditional probability estimation. For practical application, we have implemented a sparse non-local processing via maxpooling to greatly reduce the memory consumption, and masked 3D convolutions to support parallel processing for autoregressive priors based probability prediction. A post-processing network is then concatenated and trained with decoder jointly for quality enhancement. We have evaluated our model using public CLIC2019 validation and test dataset, offering averaged 0.9753 and 0.9733 respectively when evaluated using multi-scale structural similarity (MSSSIM) with bit rate less than 0.15 bits per pixel (bpp).


Waste pickers provide solid waste collection in various cities around the world and sustain their livelihoods by reselling or making personal use of recyclable materials. Waste pickers from the Global South and beyond include: people sifting through garbage in search of food, clothing, and other basic daily needs; informal private collectors of recyclable materials who sell to middlemen or businesses; or even collectors/sorters of recyclable materials who are organized into unions, cooperatives, or associations. Despite circulating in various public spaces, waste pickers are largely invisible and stigmatized. The environmental and economic contributions of these informal workers to local governments, local communities, and value chains in many ways are unrecognized.


Objective: To determine major adverse outcomes, including the risk of mediastinal reexploration, death, stroke and myocardial infarction, associated with continuing antiplatelet therapy in patients undergoing surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Design: A meta-analysis of parallel randomized, controlled trials published in English. Setting: A university-based electronic search. Participants: Patients undergoing surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Intervention: Continuing antiplatelet therapy versus stopping antiplatelet therapy before the surgery. Measurements and Main Results: A search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE(R), and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Twelve studies were retained for analysis. Continuing antiplatelet drugs for CPB increases the rate of reexploration by a


Scant serious criticism of German queer - lesbian and gay male — film has been pursued. This article traces the narrative and political evolution of queer German 'coming-out' films through the four-stage cycle typical of genre films. This analysis is sketched in the context of New German Cinema - as auteur film, as response to the mistrust inculcated by Hitler-era propaganda film making, and as affected by the terrorist paranoia of 1970s West German society. The four stages of genre films — primitive, classical, revisionist and parodic — are examined through examples taken from both gay male and lesbian film makers.


New thermoelectric materials with superior transport properties at high temperatures have been discovered. These materials are part of the large family of skutterudites, a class of compounds which have shown a good potential for thermoelectric applications. The composition of these novel materials, called filled skutterudites, is derived from the skutterudite crystal structure and can be represented by the formula LnT/sub 4/Pn/sub 12/ (Ln=rare earth, Th; T=Fe, Rn, Os, Co, Rh, Ir; Pn=P, As, Sb). In these compounds, the empty octants of the skutterudite structure which are formed in the TPn/sub 3/ (/spl sim/T/sub 4/Pn/sub 12/) framework are filled with a rare earth element. Some of these compositions, based on CeFe/sub 4/Sb/sub 12/, have been prepared by a combination of melting and powder metallurgy techniques and have shown exceptional thermoelectric properties in the 350-700/spl deg/C temperature range. At room temperature, CeFe/sub 4/Sb/sub 12/ behaves as a p-type semimetal, but with a low thermal conductivity and surprisingly large Seebeck coefficient. These results are consistent with some recent band structure calculations on these compounds. Replacing Fe with Co in CeFe/sub 4/Sb/sub 12/ and increasing the Co:Fe atomic ratio resulted in an increase in the Seebeck coefficient values. The possibility of obtaining n-type conductivity filled skutterudites for Co:Fe values higher than 1:3 is currently being investigated. Measurements on bulk samples with a CeFe/sub 3.5/Co/sub 0.5/Sb/sub 12/ atomic composition and p-type conductivity resulted in dimensionless figure of merit ZT values of 1.4 at 600/spl deg/C.


Abstract Microsporogenesis in Impatiens parviflora was studied with special attention to the mode of exine deposition and tapetum development. Our results are based on light, scanning electron and transmission electron microscopic observations of developing anthers of I. parviflora, from the microspore mother cell stage to anther dehiscence. In I. parviflora, the secretory tapetal cell layer is extended into the sporogenous tissue forming protrusions. The tapetal cytoplasm undergoes considerable changes during all stages of microsporogenesis such as fluctuations in volume densities of endoplasmic reticulum and plastids, occasional presence of two nuclei and the occurrence of a single very pronounced lipid droplet, which are indications that the tapetal cells are subject to cycles of different metabolic activity. Microsporogenesis in I. parviflora is simultaneous. Mature pollen is oblate, medium sized, 4-colpate, with a duplicolumellate reticulate sexine ornamentation. Anther dehiscence of I. parviflora involves accumulation of raphides in septal cells and the formation of a network of threads that retains and stabilises the pollen mass. The extreme sensitivity of Impatiens pollen to acetolysis can be explained by the loosely organised, tubular architecture of the intermingled foot layer/endexine.


As the most important problem for crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) insulated power cable, the nature of water treeing has been studied with great efforts. And recently, some insulating materials to be watertree resistive have been proposed. However, the substantial mechanism of water treeing has been left still unclarified in spite of the importance of complete suppression of water treeing. In this paper, the nature and morphology of XLPE with o r without water tree were examined by means of analytical instruments tnd the influence of contack with certain fluids on water treeing without water was investigated. A theoretical mechanism on water treeing will also be discussed.


Today, many e-government projects are of large scale. They can be considered as sociotechnical ecosystems in which citizens, authorities, and enterprises collaborate through information systems. Several of these e-government projects are characterized as partial or total failures, because they could not master the high complexity resulting from a large number of actor classes, nontransparent collaboration processes, and heterogeneous IT landscapes. In an intra-organizational context, architectural thinking supports decisionmaking by providing continuous transparency on social and technical elements and their relations. This paper extends architectural thinking to the ecosystem level and positions it as an approach that both scholars and project managers can use to deal with the increasing complexity of e-government projects. By conducting a multiple case study of e-government projects, we identify seven areas of architectural concerns and develop a corresponding ecosystem architecture meta-model as the first steps towards leveraging architectural thinking for e-government projects.


Among various modern active building blocks, the recently introduced 'current differencing transconductance amplifier' (CDTA) is emerging as a very flexible and versatile building block for analog circuit design and has been used earlier for realizing a variety of functions. In this paper, a new application of the CDTA in realising a Single Resistance Controlled Sinusoidal Oscillator has been introduced. The proposed circuit employs only a single CDTA alongwith a bare minimum of only four passive components and yet offers the advantages of (i) independent control of condition of oscillation and frequency of oscillation and (ii) low active and passive sensitivities. The workability of the proposed configuration has been demonstrated by experimental results. Key-Words: Current Differencing Transconductance Amplifier, Sinusoidal oscillator, Current-mode circuits.


Reynolds time-averaged N-S equations,standard k-e turbulent model,three-dimensional non-structural tetrahedral mesh,and multiple reference frame model were used to calculate the three-dimensional turbulent flow of nuclear model pumps with two different diffusers under the design condition.The static pressure distribution in interior flow field was obtained.Continual increased trend of static pressure from impeller inlet to spherical shell and unsymmetrical character in the diffuser were discovered.Streamlines of the two model pumps were compared and analyzed.The results can be used to study the interior flow field characteristics of the nuclear model pump,and will provide some useful references for hydraulic optimized design.


The characterization of inorganic submicrometer size particles by sedimentation field flow fractionation (SdFFF) with organic instead of aqueous liquids is described. The difference between particle and liquid densities can be varied with different organic liquids and thus is advantageous in controlling retention times needed to effect the separation as compared with aqueous systems. The retention of inorganic silica particles is compared in both aqueous and nonaqueous systems.


We present OPERAS, a formal method that facilitates the development of biologically inspired multi-agent systems exhibiting emergent behaviour through self-organisation. We describe how a particular version of this method, namely OPERASXC, could employ and integrate the most prominent characteristics of finite state machines and biological computation systems, such as X-machines and P Systems respectively. We apply this method to formally model a system reported by NASA, which consists of autonomous spacecrafts in a mission for exploring asteroids.


Given observations on a set of n dichotomously scored test items representing certain skills or tasks, ordering theory attempts to identify a hierarchical organization among the n items. Using this basic framework, a directed graph representation for the empirically obtained hierarchy is discussed along with several assumptions that are necessary from a substantive point of view to justify the analysis that ordering theory provides. Furthermore, a permutation test procedure is introduced that allows a formal comparison of a postulated hierarchy among the n items to the hierarchy elicited from the available data set.


This paper describes basic components and principles for support of the normatively regulated organizational activities. These activities are characterized by precise objective or purpose, participation of actors as role-holders, and norms and rules that govern the performance of these activities. In order to perform normatively regulated activities efficiently and effectively, actors need proper information and documents, but also have to act in accordance to relevant norms and rules. This paper focuses on a particular aspect and modelling of the normatively regulated activities. Particular example of processing claim is described as the formal model. Some aspects of applicability of object view on normatively regulated activities are described as the improvement on the more complex case of procurement activity.


A 22-year-old man without any medical history developed fever three days after receiving the first dose of the Moderna vaccine (mRNA-1273; Moderna, Inc., Massachusetts, United States), but his symptom was naturally improved. On the 12th day after the second vaccination, he developed fever, headache, and redness in both eyes. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) polymerase chain reaction test result was negative, but his symptoms were gradually worsening. Blood examinations on admission (the 24th day after the second vaccination, Day1) showed an increasing of C-reactive protein and D-dimer. In addition, contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) revealed hepatosplenomegaly and a contrast-enhanced defective area in the kidney. Subsequently, his fever subsided, and he was discharged on Day23, but he was readmitted for chest pain on Day26. We diagnosed non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (MI), and coronary angiography (CAG) revealed total occlusion of the atrioventricular branch of the right coronary artery (RCA), and 90% stenotic lesions with >3 mm coronary ectasia in the left circumflex artery (LCx). The optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings showed blurring of vessel construction, intimal thickening, medial destruction, and thrombus in the RCA and LCx lesions. Based on the Brighton Collaboration Network definition, we diagnosed the condition as multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination (MIS-V), presenting with systemic vasculitis lesions. Following antithrombotic therapy with warfarin, aspirin, and prednisolone (60mg/day), his D-dimer levels and inflammatory response promptly improved. Furthermore, coronary artery irregularities, especially in the LCx lesion, showed improvement on CAG on Day43. Follow-up OCT showed resolution of the thrombus and healing of the medial destruction. The prednisolone dose was reduced, and the patient was discharged. Follow-up CAG and OCT after six months showed further improvements of initial findings. So, we decided to stop warfarin and prednisolone according to these results. His clinical course is very good without symptoms after that. This is the first report of MI due to MIS-V with longitudinal OCT findings.


This presentation covers the configuration and characteristics of the spacecraft, the multibeam communication system and antenna coverage, Ka-band transponder specification and some typical applications. The use of onboard switching in either baseband processor or microwave switch matrix mode is highlighted.


Thin films of polycrystalline boron phosphide (BP) are obtained by using conventional thermally activated chemical vapor deposition. BBr3 and PBr3 are used as reactants and BP is formed at 940°C in a H2 environment. A rough black layer is obtained on alumina substrates. All films are n-type with a high donor density. (Photo-) current-voltage curves are presented. The transient photocurrent response and the presence of a substantial photocurrent at subbandgap illumination strongly suggests the presence of a high density of surface states. Impedance spectra of the unilluminated electrode could be modelled adequately with an equivalent circuit. Numerical values of the space charge capacitance were obtained at anodic potentials. The flatband potential was determined from Mott-Schottky plots, and appeared to depend strongly on the electrolyte pH. The flatband potential of BP is (+0.182 – 0.073 pH) V vs. SHE. This value is not concordant with reported theoretical predictions based on atomic electronegativities.


The availability of electronic evidence in criminal proceedings depends on the protection of data integrity. Because the deterioration of data integrity of an electronic evidence would negatively affect its validity and may cause its proving function to perish. One of leading the situations that can cause an electronic data to be corrupted is that it has not been collected and preserved under appropriate conditions. In this regard, the fact that the electronic evidence has a sensitive feature in terms of its structure and that it is easily corruptible requires some basic principles should be followed during the collection of such evidence, some analysis must be conducted such as live analysis, image and hash value taking, time stamp and chain of custody during the collection of evidence and the collected electronic data is required to be kept under suitable conditions. In this study, we discussed the principles and the procedures to be followed during the collection and preservation of electronic evidence.


SUMMARY. Sodium pyruvate, glutathione, potassium cyanide, dextrose, sucrose, 3 nucleic acid derivatives, 11 B-vitamins, and 22 amino acids were tested for their ability to protect Astasia longa against the lethal damage induced by ultraviolet radiation. Compounds which protected when added to a cell suspension just before irradiation were cystine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, tyrosine, adenine, cytidylic acid, uracil, and sodium pyruvate. None of these compounds protected when added immediately after irradiation. Except for phenylalanine, solutions of these compounds afforded protection when used as filters between the ultraviolet source and the flagellates. Cysteine failed to protect when added just before irradiation, but gave good protection when cells were grown in its presence.


Measuring inundation over long timeframes is essential for understanding the responses of large floodplain wetlands on regulated rivers, such as the internationally Ramsar listed Macquarie Marshes (2000 km2) in central-eastern Australia. We used near-spring Landsat images (Multispectral Scanner (MSS) and Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery) over 28 years (1979–2006) and classified for inundation, integrating water and vegetation response using Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis (ISODATA) clustering. A spatially explicit inundation index showed that zones inundated with high frequency were mostly in the northern region. Change detection of inundation indices over three consecutive water management periods (period 1 (1979–1987), period 2 (1988–1996) and period 3 (1997–2006)) showed that zones inundated with high frequency across the Macquarie Marshes contracted, equating to the loss of three or more spring floods from each 9-year period, despite no corresponding change in annual catchment or local rainfall. Landsat represents the only effective available long-term information for analysing long-term changes in inundation patterns of floodplain wetlands.


This article introduced the incidence of nurses' occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens,concluded the risk factors of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens such as lack of self- protection awareness,unprotected operation,informal operational behaviors of nurses,and put forward protective measures in terms of strengthening occupational protection awareness,perfecting hosptial rules and regulations,managing medical wastes strictly and implementing standard precautions.


In contrast to commercial trigger databases, active databases support complex situation detection. In some active database applications, those situations are not restricted to transaction units, but may span the whole lifetime of the database application. As a consequence, the amount of process information cumulates within the system and may reach problematic dimensions. This paper introduces a method to restrict the amount of events and potential complex situations by deriving more and more precise constraints from significant context information during the collection of indicators for a complex situation.This zoom effect is a natural way to model the continuous narrowing of relevance, as known in cognitive science. Our approach extends the parameterization of events in related research. A combination with established restriction techniques significantly restricts both relevant basic events and complex situations. This leads to an efficient situation detection even for long running activities.


The recently introduced compactly supported wavelets of Daubechies have proven to be very useful in various aspects of signal processing, notably in image compression. The fundamental idea in the application to image compression was to take a digitized image and to use wavelets to provide a multiscale representation of it, and to then discard some information at some scales, and leave information more intact at other scales. The Daubechies wavelets have differentiability properties in addition to their compact support and orthogonality properties. A number of authors have used wavelet system for solving various problems in differential and integral equations. An additional point of view for approaching boundary value problems in partial differential equations were introduced, in which the boundary, the boundary data, and the unknown solution (of a boundary value problem) on the interior of a domain are all uniformly represented in terms of compactly supported wavelet functions in an extrinsic ambient Euclidean space. In this paper we describe multiscale representations of domains and their boundaries and obtain multiscale representations of some of the basic elements of geometric calculus (line integrals, surface measures, etc.) which are then in turn useful for specific numerical calculations in problems in approximate solutions of differential equations. This is similar to the spectral method in solving differential equations (essentially using an orthonormal expansion), but here we use the localization property of wavelets to extend this orthonormal representation to boundary data and geometric boundaries. In this paper we want to indicate how to carry this out.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.


The classification of Western art music is a complex area of knowledge organization, yet the reasons for those complexities have not been fully studied. This research dissects the concept of orthogonality, in particular regard to music classification. Orthogonality (antonym: dependency) means that one facet acts independently from another facet. Although orthogonality is an assumed quality of facets, it has attracted relatively little attention in knowledge organization discourse. This research utilizes bibliographic classification schemes, musicological writings, and musical works to analyze orthogonality in music classification. The relationships between the medium, form/genre, and function facets are unpicked and a strong dependency is found between these facets. Whether this orthogonality exists as a construct of faceted classification or stems from the domain knowledge is explored. Furthermore, the analysis initiates new thinking about the general concept of orthogonality. The idea of a spectrum of dependency is proposed. In addition, novel, orthogonality‐derived phenomena are discussed—"dynamic facets" and "meta‐dependency"—where the boundary between what is and is not a facet is blurred. The concluding model visualizes the chain of dependencies between music facets, ultimately showing how the lack of orthogonality plays a key role in the complexity and issues found in music classification.


Phase velocities of ultrasound are used for characterizing elastic properties of solids. One of the basic requirements is that the sample area should be much larger than the size of the transducer so that plane wave approximation will hold. This geometric requirement may not be possible to realize for some materials that can only be made in very small size. Using poled and unpoled lead zirconate titanate (PZT-5H) ceramics as examples, we have analyzed experimentally the sample size influence to the ultrasonic measurements. The smallest dimension that is in contact with the transducer is only 14% of the diameter of the transducer. We found that the phase velocity increases when the contact area becomes smaller. The velocity increase is 1.4% and 0.9%, respectively, in the unpoled and poled PZT-5H for the smallest dimension sample compared to bulk values.


A review of literature that exists on the vibrations of shells shows that damped motions of shell roofs have not yet received much attention. To fill this gap, the authors have attempted to use an eight noded shell bending element for analyzing damped forced motions of cylindrical shell roofs. Sanders'strain displacement relationships, mass matrix including rotatory inertia and damping matrix developed using Rayleigh's approach are used. Damping ratios and transient load cases are varied for obtaining the dynamic magnification factors for deflections and other important critical shell actions. The results are examined meticulously to identify the significant conclusions.


The utility model provides a laser and infrared combined acupuncture and moxibustion therapeutic instrument which comprises a control machine unit and an output treatment lamp head; the control machine unit comprises a power supply circuit, a pulse generation and adjustment circuit, a laser control and drive circuit, and an infrared control and feedback circuit; the pulse generation and adjustment circuit generates a signal to directly control the output of an infrared tube, and also generates a signal to control the output of the laser control and drive circuit; the infrared control and feedback circuit controls the infrared output according to the skin temperature rise feedback stem from infrared irradiation; a laser tube component, a pored heat isolation layer and an infrared tube component are sequentially mounted in the output treatment lamp head from the innermost side and the output port; the output end of the lamp head is provided with an infrared light transmission glass cover, and a temperature sensor is arranged on the infrared light transmission glass cover. The acupuncture and moxibustion functions of the laser and infrared combined therapeutic instrument can be used at the same time or independently, and the laser and infrared combined therapeutic instrument is applicable to the irradiation treatment of acupoints and lesions.


This is a condensed version of Salter and Tarko (2018), presented at the Austrian Economics in the 21st Century conference in Rosario, Argentina. I argue that current perspectives on banking and financial regulation, including newly popular proposals for macroprudential regulation, cannot achieve their objective. Admittedly banking and financial systems need to be governed, to overcome collective action problems that can hinder the stability of the system. But this stability can be an endogenous feature of self-regulation. I contend that the governance institutions in historical free banking systems succeeded in making those systems resilient. These institutions permit us to classify free banking systems as polycentric systems for banking and financial governance.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the current transformation occurring in the global workforce due to changing demands from employees and how they stay engaged in the workplace. Companies realize that appealing to talent with benefits and good pay is no longer enough, and it is time to embrace new tactics to attract and retain personnel.

Design/methodology/approach

CEO Brynne Herbert of MOVE Guides, a leading company in relocation management, looks at how companies have leveraged talent mobility to engage employees and the fragmented, manual processes they use that are no longer suitable for global organizations looking to streamline relocation and offer employees a simpler, more powerful approach.

Findings

The author explores how companies can use technology, like Software as a Service (SaaS), to take aim at optimizing their talent mobility programs and eradicate their inefficient and time-consuming manual operations. Using survey data, a case study from international bank Societe Generale and other findings, Brynne discusses how the financial juggernaut was able to implement a cloud-based SaaS platform that updated their HR, finance and payroll and management.

Originality/value

Leveraging technology to attract and engage talent will be ever important in today and tomorrow's global landscape. Therefore, the companies that move the fastest – and the most strategically – to get the right talent to the right place at the right time will have the competitive edge.


Somatic and neurocognitive symptoms of depression may overlap with the physical symptoms of stroke, and thus make the diagnosis of post‐stroke depression difficult.


The authors show that the epistemological problems of the notion knowledge are more complicated than it seems to ordinary consciousness beyond the philosophy of science. Numerous characteristics of knowledge can be summed up in its definition as a reasonable, universally valid, intersubjective system of signs. However, the philosophical theory of knowledge considers knowledge from wider point of view, which goes beyond the philosophy of science. There is a problem of knowledge attitude to the outside world or to human activity. Therefore, absolutely epistemological analysis of knowledge, from the authors' point of view, is not sufficient; it must include social-philosophical and cultural-anthropological aspects.


Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is an important indicator to measure a country's economic operation in a certain period. By understanding the speed and quality of economic development, it plays a guiding role in policy formulation and infrastructure planning. This article selects sample data of fixed asset investment in various regions from 1990 to 2017, per capita years of education in each region from 1990 to 2017, and GDP of each region from 1990 to 2019 to predict the GDP of each region from 2020 to 2050. The modeling ideas are as follows: firstly, through the cointegration test, it is judged that the regional GDP model with fixed asset investment and per capita education years as explanatory variables has a long-term equilibrium relationship. Secondly, the ECM is established, and the ARIMA model is used to fit the predictive values of the explanatory variables. Finally, the predictive value of the explanatory variables is used to calculate the GDP of each region. Result: the GDP of all regions is on the rise, and GDP maintains stable and rapid development; the average years of education per capita has become an influencing factor for economic growth, and investment in fixed assets is still an important means of stimulating the economy. Conclusion: the government should properly adjust the investment structure of fixed assets, cultivate scientific and technological innovation talents, develop knowledge-based economy and promote better economic development.


Background Drug‐eluting stents are replacing bare‐metal stents, but in‐stent restenosis (ISR) remains a problem. Reactive hyperemia index (RHI) assessed by peripheral arterial tonometry evaluates endothelial function noninvasively. We prospectively assessed the prognostic value of RHI in predicting ISR after percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods and Results RHI was measured before percutaneous coronary intervention and at follow‐up (F/U) angiography (F/U RHI; 6 and 9 months post bare‐metal stents– and drug‐eluting stents– percutaneous coronary intervention, respectively) in 249 consecutive patients. At F/U, ISR (stenosis >50% of diameter) was seen in 68 patients (27.3%). F/U natural logarithm (RHI) was significantly lower in patients with ISR than in those without (0.52±0.23 versus 0.65±0.27, P<0.01); no between‐group difference in initial natural logarithm (RHI) (0.60±0.26 versus 0.62±0.25, P=0.56) was seen. By multivariate logistic regression analysis, even after adjusting for other significant parameters in univariate analysis, F/U natural logarithm (RHI) independently predicted ISR (odds ratio: 0.13; 95% CI: 0.04–0.48; P=0.002). In receiver operating‐characteristic analysis, F/U RHI was the strongest predictor of ISR (area under the curve: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.60–0.75; P<0.01; RHI <1.73 had 67.6% sensitivity, 64.1% specificity); area under the curve significantly improved from 0.62 to 0.70 when RHI was added to traditional ISR risk factors (P=0.02). Net reclassification index was significant after addition of RHI (26.5%, P=0.002). Conclusions Impaired RHI at F/U angiography independently correlated with ISR, adding incremental prognostic value to the ISR‐risk stratification following percutaneous coronary intervention. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT02131935.


In the sixty-one years since its publication, the first volume of Roman Imperial Coinage, by H. Mattingly and E. A. Sydenham, and its successors (by the same and, later, other authors) have proved to be an indispensable series, the standard reference work for historians and archaeologists, quite apart from numismatists themselves. The volumes have been reprinted on numerous occasions; rather sadly so in the case of some of the earlier volumes, which have been showing their age for some time now. Volume 1, which was the first, and so partly experimental, part of the series, is a case in point; a new up-to-date edition is an event of some importance, particularly when the author is no less an authority than Humphrey Sutherland, for long the doyen of Julio-Claudian studies. Critics of the first edition complained of the lack of illustration and of indications of rarity; both aspects have now been remedied, although the non-specialist might perhaps have been provided with even more illustration, particularly as the plates are not over-filled. More important, however, is the distillation of 60 years of numismatic research which Sutherland has made available; the most significant studies which Sutherland has used are Kraay on Galba, MacDowall on Nero and his own numerous works on Augustus. As a result the three most chaotic reigns of the first edition have now been reduced to good order. Finally a growing awareness of the nature of ancient forgery has enabled Sutherland to cut out a good deal of the misleading dead wood of the first edition, much of which comprised ancient imitations or hybrids. All these improvements have been made within the scope of the original volume. It was probably sensible for a revised edition to stick to the concepts of two generations ago, although some of Sutherland's minor changes of scope give grounds for some criticism. For instance, Sutherland has included the six (or rather five) main aes coinages of Augustus, as defined by Grant, and included the SC bronzes minted in Antioch. Yet it is odd that the contemporary silver tetradrachms are excluded (no doubt because they have Greek legends), and odder still that the Latin SC bronze of subsequent emperors finds no place. This sort of criticism could be applied elsewhere, and it is true to say that the weakest part of the new RIC, like its predecessor, is its treatment of the eastern part of the Empire. Apart from the scope, it is inevitable that a book which treats the coinage of such an interesting period will need minor modifications before very long. Hardly had the volume appeared than other new studies of parts of the period also appeared, for instance, articles on Nero and Augustus' eastern aes by Clay and Howgego, or monographs on Tiberius and Caligula by Szaivert and on the mint of Lugdunum by Giard. These and other future studies will no doubt necessitate changes in the detailed listings of coins and, no doubt, on some more fundamental questions, such as the transfer of the gold mint from Lyon to Rome. Yet RIC I (revised edition) will long remain a constant tool for all students of the period. Its publication is a fitting culmination of many years of illuminating work by Sutherland, work which, even as one writes, shows no sign of diminishing in output.


ABSTRACT: This study was based on Euaresta bullans (Wiedemann, 1830) (Diptera: Tephritidae) specimens collected from seven different provinces of Turkey (Amasya, Çorum, Kahramanmaraş, Kayseri, Samsun, Sinop and Yozgat). Euaresta bullans is monophage on Xanthium spinosum L. and were swept from over the host, which is a highly invasive plant in agricultural areas. Xanthium spinosum originated from South America and has spread throughout the world as well as in Turkey. In this study, we investigated population structure of E. bullans based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene data. We evaluated 105 adult specimens, 79 successful samples from sequence products were analysed, and 17 haplotypes were identified. Calculated nucleotide ratios of E. bullans populations (C: 16.7%; T: 38.93%; A: 29.05% and G: 15.8%), revealed that the base compounds were directed towards Adenine and Thymine (67, 98%). As a result of the study, the genetic distance between populations was found to be 0.09% - 0.046%. This showed that genetic variation among individuals of the E. bullans specimens is very low. According to the neutrality test (Tajima's D and Fu's Fs), result was p<0.05, it was determined that the populations showed a strong spread. Although E. bullans specimens have spread in different habitat characteristics and different geographic regions, they show a similar rate between populations. In particular, the high dependence of the host and the presence of the host in different habitats provide wide tolerance for this species in terms of environmental differences. Finally, it was found that gene flow continued between E. bullans populations and was not affected by any geographic and ecological barrier. Euaresta bullans have high populations on the host plant and results of this study support that it can be an effective biological control agent on X. spinosum in different regions.


Commonly speaking a 'sensor' is a device that produces an output signal quantitatively related to a certain physical phenomenon; if the output signal is provided in a digital form, it is referred in terms of 'digital sensor'. As is known, these devices are produced in the order of million/week and are widely used for the management of "smart systems" now commonplace in everyday life, such as automotive, domotics, smart-industry, cooperative robotics ("cobots"), robotic assisted surgery, as well as for advanced monitoring of infrastructures and ecosystems; moreover, digital sensors are the foundation of the "digital twins" technology development, and support the actualization of the "Digital Earth" purposes. However, in many cases, since these sensors manage interaction processes with humans (e.g., driver assistant control, physiological data, remote surgery, environmental hazard…), their technological performance must be actually recognized as safe and trustworthy. Recently, both manufacturers and end users have begun to question the actual reliability of sensors used in particularly complex applications, and see value in traceable chain to calibration and accreditation national laboratories. Indeed, the methods applied for metrological calibration of measuring instruments, against primary or secondary standards, can allow to accurately quantify the performance of these sensors, with respect to traceable physical quantities, providing certified statements of the effective 'sensitivity' (and related uncertainties), as the ratio between the digital output (reaction) and the physical input (stimulus). In that meaning, once calibrated, a digital sensor can be properly considered as a physical-digital sensor, i.e. a device, interfacing the physical world, sensitive to a specific variation of a known physical quantity, and able to convert it into a digital signal output (with known accuracy, precision and reliability), readable for an observer, exploitable by interconnected instruments, and for actuators control. Currently, although no pertinent Standards are yet available for the calibration of 'physical-digital sensors', some National Metrology Institutes are putting into practice appropriate calibration procedures and methods to fill this important lack, as described in this paper.


The Air Force Academy's latest satellite endeavor, FalconSAT-3, is a 50 kg microsatellite being developed by faculty and cadets, and is the Air Force Academy's first attempt at achieving three axis attitude determination and control (ADCS). FalconSAT-3 carries three payloads to conduct DoD research. The attitude requirements for FalconSAT-3 include pointing the satellite within +/- five degrees of ram direction, as well as attitude knowledge to within one degree. This work explains the development and testing of a Simulink and Matlab based simulation that demonstrates the ability of FalconSAT-3 ADCS hardware to meet design requirements. The satellite includes a magnetometer and sun sensors, and actuators include magnetorquers, a reaction wheel, and passive attitude control from a gravity gradient boom. Implementation of attitude conventions, satellite dynamic equations, and FalconSAT-3 design characteristics are presented. Attitude estimation using linear and extended Kalman filters is explained and included in the simulation. Control laws during delibration and operational attitude maintenance for magnetorquers and a reaction wheel are also discussed. A model of probable disturbance torques in the FalconSAT-3 orbital environment, including magnetic moment, atmospheric drag, and solar pressure is also incorporated in the simulation. Attitude control of FalconSAT-3 is shown from tip-off to a Y-Thomson spin attitude. A boom deployment sequence is then simulated, and delibration of the satellite is shown using magnetorquers and a reaction wheel. Finally, operational phase attitude maintenance is shown, with FalconSAT-3 meeting all operational attitude design requirements.


Review(s) of: Chinese Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957-) (CD-ROM), edited by the Editorial Board of the Chinese Anti-Rightist Campaign CD-ROM Database, Hong Kong: Universities Service Centre for China Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. US$1,300.


The aim of the present paper is to investigate the Hyers-Ulam stability and generalized Hyers-Ulam stability of a new class of fractional integro- dierential equation with nonlocal initial conditions.


Development approach from centralization to decentralization implies the implementation of education decentralization. The purpose of this writing is to discuss problems related to the objective of education, the authority relation of district/city, the limits of authority, and the support of independency and interdependency. Such problems influence the school in ensuring the quality of education and imply the need for human as well as financial resources. It seems that education decentralization needs to be redefined. Empowering the school can be done through strengthening the curriculum to guarantee the relevance and the accountability of the education, improving the school-based management, self financing, and establishing networks between the school and government, community, and stakeholders.


This newly released monograph analyzes the current status of Chinese dialects in contemporary China, paying special attention to Cantonese and Putonghua (or Standard Mandarin) in a Southern Chinese metropolis, Guangzhou. As an applied linguist living in Guangzhou for approximately a year, I read the book with great interest. China is a vast multilingual nation where there are more than 2,000 more or less distinct dialects and subdialects spoken in different regions (Li 2006). Southern dialects are generally not intelligible to speakers of a Mandarin dialect or among themselves. That being the case, the promotion of Putonghua nationwide has been considered a key component in China's language policy. From the outset, the Chinese government had no intention to replace local dialects with Putonghua. But the considerable progress of promoting Putonghua has worried many local people, who are afraid that their dialects are regarded as inferior and may disappear in the future. Adding to the complexity, mass intranational migration brings to the fore the issue of identity. Based on Liang's doctoral fieldwork from 2009 to 2010, this book provides a critical account of language use, language attitudes, and identities in China, taking the multidialectal city Guangzhou (also known as Canton) as an example. The book consists of five parts with the last two chapters (chapters 12 and 13) as appendices. Part I introduces the sociocultural and sociolinguistic background of the book. Chapter 1 is a very engaging chapter that recounts critical incidents caused by the controversies regarding the promotion of Putonghua in Guangzhou. A few socially significant events relating to the implementation of and contestation over language policies promoting Putonghua between 2010 and 2014 are also


Abstract In a recent article in this journal Max Travers advanced the view that criminal justice evaluation is boring, biased and beset with methodological problems. As evidence of this he cited (among other things) an evaluation of the NSW Drug Court carried out by the present author and several of his colleagues. This article offers a brief response to Travers' claims.


The advantages and disadvantages of existing map-matching algorithm were analyzed,and an improved weight-based map-matching algorithm was proposed.The algorithm applied multi-attribute decision theory to selecting matching section,and overcame the shortcomings of the original algorithm.Thus,the accuracy of the map matching was improved.


Abstract Writing in the late 1950s, Barata deplores the ongoing neglect of the study of black sculpture in Brazil, despite earlier publications, notably those by Raimundo Nina Rodrigues and Manuel Querino. He highlights the stylistic diversities and various influences perceived in Brazilian sculpture. He raises questions about the development of artistic production in relation to the changes that occurred in Afro-Brazilian religions. He further reflects on the historical connections between Brazil and Nigeria, the slave trade and the trade of goods in order to draw attention to the difficulty of distinguishing between African sculptures from those made in Brazil by Africans and their descendants.


Objective: To investigate the relation of sterilization and depression in association with Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and to analyze whether preoperative BDI scores have predictive value on satisfaction. Methods: One hundred sixty-two women who had laparoscopic surgical sterilization were recruited into the study. Patients identified to have an intra-abdominal disease such as pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis or adnexial lesions, myoma uteri and previous cesarean delivery were excluded from the study. Women were administered the BDI 1 week prior to the operation and 1 year after the procedure, and patients were asked if they were satisfied with their new state of fertility. Results: Mean BDI scores were 10.1F2.7 and 12.9F4.0, preoperatively and postoperatively, respectively (pb.001). The difference between preoperative and postoperative BDI scores was affected by age and satisfaction status; younger patients had significantly increased postoperative scores. Dissatisfied women had higher pre- and postoperative BDI scores (pb.001). The difference between pre- and postoperative scores was increased significantly in the dissatisfied group. Preoperative BDI score was found to be a significant predictor of satisfaction status 1 year after the operation. Conclusion: Preoperative application of BDI can identify women who are at greater risk for regret and dissatisfaction.


Background: The aim of this paper is to present and analyze a new method of the logistics disaster management and concentrates particularly on terrori st attacks of CBRN type (C - chemical attack/weapon, B - biological attack/weapon, R - radiological attack/weapon, N - nuclear attack/weapon) at the airports. Each of the aforementioned is an issue of great importance and high priority for the airport communication. Methods: The research of a ROIT project (Realtime Observation , Identification and Tracking from dangerous people in airports) has been conducted in a way that enables the application of the three-step computer system. The program has been configured to identify, observe and protect fr om undesired actions of people suspected of involve ment in CBRN. Results: The main results of applying the device in differe nt scenarios are: enabling reliable automatic ident ification and classification of potentially hazardous materials a nd substances, association of the materials with th eir owners or distributors. Conclusion: Simultaneous passing information to the airport se curity guards, police and expert team guarantees th at further purposes involve the independent opportunit y to observe in real time the CBRN suspects as well as to eliminate them secretly and quickly from the rest of airport passengers after thorough and credible identificati on.


The number of germinal and leydig cells revealed a significant difference in the experimental group compared to the placebo and control groups (P<0.01). Amongst the other parameters, no significant differences were observed in all groups. Conclusion: Injection of salep tuber extract could significantly be effective on spermatogenesis and concentration of LH and testosterone hormones.


Two patients are described with large stones in the common bile duct. Standard ERCP was not possible. Both patients were successfully treated with percutaneous access and use of the ureteroscope with the holmium laser.


L.B>L.~ KINETIC MODEL BUILDING USING ADVANCE*' NUCLEA1* MEDICINE TECHNIQUES - THE KINETICS OF CHROMIUM(III) IN THE HUMAN BODY Tek H. Lim Donner Laboratory and the Department of Nuclear Engineering o University of California^ Berkeley Chromium is a recently discovered essential trace element which, in rats, ,is re- quired as a component of a dietary factor necessary for optimal glucose/utiliza tion . A dietary deficiency of chromium(III) produces,a loss of control' of glucose metabolism, and a severe deficiency in rats produces symptoms similar to diabetes man nutrition, and several authors believe it is a nutritional requirement ' ' ' ' ' ' " However the question -whether low chromium status can be determined in humans from in vitro analyses,' has never been demonstrated with satisfaction. Investi gation of chromium concentration in blood'plasma, hair, etc. have illustrated 2 major problems, namely the accuracy of the analytical measurements and the correct interpretatic-n of analytical data. Most recent investigations of chromium concen tration in human tissues have shown that previous values have to be revised down ward, probably resulting in revisions of previous experimental findings. The un certain results combined with the difficulties in the interpretation of analytical data, make it difficult, at least at the present time, to establish a valid index of chromium nutritional status in humans through in vitro analysis. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a valid index of chromium (III) nutritional status can be determined with satisfaction through in vivo kinetic analysis. Three normal subjects and three patients suffering from hemochromatosis were periodically scanned with the Donner Laboratory computerized whole body scanners, starting seconds after radiochromium(III) was administered intravenously, up to a period of 84 days. The activity in the liver, adipose and muscle tissues, spleen and bone was quantitated and corrected, by subtraction of the blood circu lation activity in that organ? the major concentration was found in the liver and


To facilitate the deployment of digital twins in Metaverse, the paradigm with semantic awareness has been proposed as a means for enabling accurate and task-oriented information extraction with inherent intelligence. However, this framework requires all devices in the Metaverse environment to be directly linked with the semantic model to enable faithful interpretation of messages. In contrast, this article introduces the digital twin frame-work, considering a smart industrial application, which enables semantic communication in conjugation with the Metaverse enabling technologies. The fundamentals of this framework are demonstrated on an industrial shopfloor management use case with a digital twin so as to improve its performance through semantic communication. An overview of semantic communication, Metaverse, and digital twins is presented. Integration of these technologies with the basic architecture as well as the impact on future industrial applications is also presented. Overall, this article showcases how semantic awareness can be an effective candidate in the implementation of digital twins for Metaverse applications.


The current main problem of environmental law is their lack of effectiveness, clear deficiencies exist to achieve its goals and objectives, and also in its implementation and sustained and recurring compliance. Due to this problem, this academic paper aims to clarify the main root causes of ineffectiveness of environmental law, analyzing its effects and consequences, and also explore possible solutions to enable it to exit the current state of theatricality and reach full effectiveness and efficiency, and thereby satisfy the main goal of conservation and rational, sustainable, equitable use of environmental goods and services.


Category: Other Introduction/Purpose: There is little consensus on the effects of vitamin D on fracture healing. This review aims to clarify that effect in addition to determining trends in the classification of deficiency and supplementation. Methods: This systematic review searched Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science for manuscripts related to vitamin D status/deficiency and fracture healing. Two independent reviewers screened articles, graded evidence quality, and extracted data. A total of 38 human studies, 11 in vivo studies and 14 systematic reviews were analyzed. Results: The median vitamin D deficiency prevalence reported amongst the human studies was 41.2% which is comparable to subset of patients with deficiency defined as <20 ng/mL, 43.3%. Amongst the 9 human studies reporting vitamin D supplementation, the exact dosage varied greatly. No RCTs reported any radiographic evidence of increased fracture union with any form of supplementation. Several RCTs reported reduction in pain with smaller daily supplementation compared to placebo or single large boluses. Animal studies reported mixed results, with some showing no significant effects of vitamin D status on the biomechanical properties of bone, while others demonstrated a correlation between supplementation improved biomechanical stiffness. Furthermore, the metabolite 24,25D may be a mediator in Vitamin D's probable osteoprotective effects. Conclusion: While the role of vitamin D in fracture healing appears to be osteoprotective in animal models, the degree and significance of its effects on human fracture healing and prevention remains inconclusive. We recommend standardizing the definitions for vitamin D deficiency to be <20 ng/mL for deficiency and >30 ng/mL for sufficiency. Although there is no radiographic evidence, daily smaller doses of vitamin D supplementation seem to have a stronger impact on clinical fracture healing than large boluses.


Social media platforms have opened new dimensions within the information retrieval domain leading to a novel concept known as Social Information Retrieval. We argue that the concept of Social Information Retrieval can be extended by augmenting the huge amount of content on the traditional Web with the ever-growing rich Social Web content to increase the information richness of today's search engines. This paper proposes a subjectivity detection framework which can lead towards a proposed emotion-aware search engine interface. Our proposed method differs from previous subjectivity analysis approaches in that it is the first method that takes into account social features of social media platforms for the subjectivity classification task. Through experimental evaluations, we observe the accuracy of the proposed method to be 86.21% which demonstrates a promising outcome for large-scale application of our proposed subjectivity analysis technique.


Abstract : Integrated support and services responsibilities are presented as they apply to the site activation tasks at the Minuteman Hardened and Dispersed Wing VI.


AbstractThis paper proposes an equation to decompose the dynamic stability (DS) and its controlling criterion of an asphalt surface course into DS of the asphalt mixture layer. Wheel tracking tests...


This paper introduces Malmquist index into mutual funds evaluation to depict their portfolio management efficiency's dynamic movement in different environment.DEA static evaluation finds that stock funds' and bonds funds' management efficiency changes a lot in course of bear market converting to bull market.While Malmquist index decomposition finds the management efficiency is optimizing,the main reason of that is products operation innovation,management system innovation and t scale efficiency elevation.


Auerbach demonstrated that inflation can lead to inter asset distortions, with the negative effects of higher inflation unambiguously declining with asset life in the case of geometric economic and tax depreciation. We show that, when tax depreciation is straight-line, higher inflation can have the opposite effect, discouraging investment in long-lived assets. Also, we present several examples showing that, under historically relevant U.S. tax rules, higher inflation can sometimes favor relatively short-lived equipment, although the bias is always small.


The TV Food Network (TVFN) is 1 of cable industry's most successful networks because it illustrates the rhetorical relationship between food and living a leisure-filled and excessive "good life." Consistent with the political economy approach to the study of mass media, in this article I argue that TVFN promotes a powerful good life science that promotes excessivism, waste, and dependence (cultural "feeding"). Lost in the good life science of TVFN is the simplicity of food and nature. What is expounded on is the excessive consumption of food and nature, and the promotion of an anthropocentric attitude toward nature. I profile good life science by discussing it with reference to Burke's (1984) rhetorical and critical theory of identification. The remainder of the article draws some critical implications based on this analysis.


Observations made by spacecraft in the Mariner and Venera series have provided considerable knowledge of the structure of the ionospheres and atmospheres of Mars and Venus. This paper begins with brief but complete discussions of these measurements and their interpretations. Specifically, we summarize the characteristics and use of UV radiometry, magnetometers, and ion probes for determining solar wind properties near planets, as well as the application of the occultation experiment. Some of the significant results were the very small, perhaps zero, magnetic moment of Venus and the possibly small but nonzero magnetic moment of Mars (Mars 2 and Mars 3 spacecraft); observation of daytime ionospheres on both Mars and Venus with peak number densities of 105 and 6 × 105 cm−3, respectively; observation of the top side scale heights for both planets; observation of a ledge of ionization with a large scale height and the anemopause above Venus; revelation by the two-frequency radar occultation experiment carried by Mariner 5 of the existence of a nighttime Venusian ionosphere with a peak number density of 10³ cm−3 and a very large plasma scale height above the peak; and measurement by Mariner 6, 7, and 9 and Mars 2 and 3 of EUV radiation intensities (scattered solar radiation and dayglow emission), which yielded data for reasonably precise estimates of the concentration profiles of CO2, CO, O, C, and H as well as the thermospheric temperature (350°K for Mariner 6 and 7) on Mars. Corresponding observations by Mariner 5 and Venera spacecraft have not yielded as much information about Venus; Mariner 5 did measure the atomic hydrogen profile, whereas Venera 4 established an upper limit on atomic oxygen on the night side. The structure of the neutral atmosphere at high altitudes is of key significance to ionospheric structure. Although CO2 is the major constituent up to and including the main layer of the ionosphere, lighter gases such as O, He, and H probably play important roles at heights between the main layer and the anemopause. The occurrence of these gases, their high-altitude profiles, and the closely related problem of the photolytic stability of the Martian and Venusian atmospheres are discussed in considerable detail. The anemopause also has an important bearing on the structure of the upper ionosphere. Unlike the earth the solar wind impinges directly on the ionospheres of Mars and Venus, thus acting as a possible heat source. However, no adequate theory has yet been developed to predict details of the interaction. The crude method of computing the day side boundary is discussed: it requires the balancing of the solar wind dynamic pressure by the ionospheric static pressure. The 'downwind' side of the boundary is also discussed, but mainly from the standpoint of our ignorance of the wake structure. The principles for constructing models of ionospheres are presented from the standpoint of mass, momentum, and energy conservation. The relevant ion chemistry is presented, and the meaning and use of plasma scale heights are discussed. The general principles in varying degrees of simplification have been employed by several investigators to model the upper ionospheres of Mars and Venus. The models discussed are the model of Cloutier and co-workers, who suggested that direct hydrodynamic pressure of the solar wind on the top side Martian ionosphere depresses the ionospheric scale height to a value equal to the neutral atmosphere scale height; the models of Banks and Axford, of Whitten, and of Herman and co-workers, who attempted to account for the ionospheric ledge above the main layer of the Venusian ionosphere by proposing the ionization of light constituents; the model developed by McElroy and Strobel to account for the nighttime ionosphere of Venus; and the models developed by a number of investigators for the thermal structure of the Martian and Venusian ionospheres. In presenting the essentials of each model, their strengths and weaknesses are also discussed. The paper concludes with a summary of current knowledge of the upper ionospheres of Mars and Venus and the information needed to understand fully their structures.


Objective To explore the relationship between subclinical hypothyroidism and chronic kidney disease in patients with type2 diabetes.Methods The clinical data were respectively analyzed in 991 patients with type 2 diabetes at admission from Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from January 2012 to January 2013.Patients with normal levels of free triiodothyronine and free thyroxine,but an increased level of thyroid stimulating hormone( TSH)( 5.00 m U / L),were diagnosed with subclinical hypothyroidism.The prevalence of chronic kidney disease was observed and compared between euthyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism.Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between subclinical hypothyroidism and chronic kidney disease.Results Of 991 patients,126( 12.7%) had subclinical hypothyroidism.Patients with subclinical hypothyroidism had no significant difference from euthyroid patients with regard to prevalence of chronic kidney disease( P 0.05).The prevalence of chronic kidney disease was significantly higher in patients with TSH≥10 m U / L than in patients with lower TSH of 0.35-0.99 m U / L( P 0.05).The logistic regression analysis showed that the severe SCH was a high risk factor for CKD( OR 1.842,95% CI 1.120-3.029,P = 0.016).Conclusion In type 2 diabetic patients,the incidence of chronic kidney disease is higher in patients with severe subclinical hypothyroidism than those in mild subclinical hypothyroidism and euthyroidism.


Development of campus network is one of the most important issues in universities.The situations are different from university to university,and hence the development schemes can not be the same.The development scheme of high speed campus network of Nanjing architectural and civil engineering institute is introduced in this paper with emphasis on the topological structure of network,selection of network equipment,network security and so on.It has been shown in practice that the campus network set up according to this scheme has both high performance and low cost effect.


Densities of water + tetrahydrofuran mixtures were measured at 5 K intervals of temperature from 288.15 to 308.15 K. Excess thermal expansion coefficients and partial molar excess thermal expansivities at 298.15 K over the whole mole fraction range were derived from the results. The significance of the expansivities is discussed in terms of the structural changes accompanying the formation of the mixture.


The authors analyse the contemporary problems in the study of acupuncture to search for possible reasons why there are such problems,and further discuss the important subjects and how to improve the clinical effect of acupuncture.The authors believe the centre of meridian doctrine is the relation problem between channel points and ZangFu-Organs.At the same time,the authors state the scientific attitude to the ancient theory of channels attitude.To the ancient theory of channels and collaterals and provide some study assumptions in future.


This study aimed to characterize the elderly receiving outpatient care in Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, concerning their demographic and socio...


We have investigated if the application of microsecond length pulses of ultrasound and laser light for AO sensing could result in an improvement of the detection of changes of local absorbances in tissue-mimicking phantoms. An Intralipid-based phantom model, which mimics a blood vessel in human tissue, was used. The detection technique was based on homodyne parallel speckle detection and subsequent image contrast processing. This approach has proved that a spatial resolution of the system of a few millimeters can be obtained and thus, smaller changes in the absorber concentration can be measured. Based on a comparison of experimental data and Monte- Carlo simulations, the quantitative correlation between local absorbances of the phantom and the measured signal has been shown.


Efficient radical cyclization of alkyl iodides to various aromatic systems including pyrrole, indole, isoquinolone, pyridone, and benzene, mediated by dicumyl peroxide, is described. The methodology was used to provide access to 5,6,8,9,10,11-hexahydroindolo[2,1-a]isoquinoline derivatives.


The extraction of power line plays a key role in power line inspection by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). While it is challenging to extract power lines in aerial images because of the weak targets and the complex background. In this paper, a novel power line extraction method is proposed. First of all, we create a line segment candidate pool which contains power line segments and large amount of other line segments. Secondly, we construct the irregular graph model with these line segments as nodes. Then a novel object-based Markov random field with anisotropic weighted penalty (OMRF-AWP) method is proposed. It defines a new neighborhood system based on the irregular graph model and builds a new potential function by considering the region angle information. With the OMRF-AWP method, we can distinguish between the power line segments and other line segments. Finally, an envelope-based piecewise fitting (EPF) method is proposed to fit the power lines. Experimental results show that the proposed method has good performance in multiple scenes with complex background.


We report the one-pot synthesis of N-CF3 heteroaryl amides (NTFMHA) from heteroaryl carboxylic acids and sterically hindered isothiocyanates, including various amino acid analogues, in the presence of AgF. The key to this reaction is the utilization of free heteroaryl acyl chlorides, rather than their corresponding hydrochloride salts. This method represents a complementary method of our previous work and enables modification to a variety of previously inaccessible structures, including α-tertiary amines and N-CF3-modified pharmaceuticals.


NASA is offering media a glimpse of astronaut training at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Tuesday, Feb. 25, before the application process opens March 2 for the next class of Artemis Generation astronauts.


This article has recommended a new technical research in preparation of cryolite from silicfluoric acid-by-product of a phosphate fertilizer factory,hydrogen ammonium of carbonic acid as ammonia agent,can be made in accord with GB10571-89 silicon dioxide and the fluorine ammonia solution.Fluorine ammonia solution can be used to react with sulphuric acid sodium and aluminium sulfate and be produced cryolite,which can be fit first class product in accord with GB/T4291-1999,at every step reaction in mild condition,there are not waste gas,sewage,waste residue that are discharged,the process is feasible,turn waste into wealth,utilize resources synthetically,protect the environment,benefit society,a project of benefitting the nation and the people.


The Multicultural movement has gained much strength over the past decade and has moved from being an obscure idea to being a force in the field of counseling. Because of the ideas that multiculturalism proposes, our theories, especially those in the area of family counseling need to be examined to see if they can account for cultural differences. Four prominent family therapies will be examined; Strategic Family Therapy, Structural Family Therapy, Systems Therapy and Symbolic-Experiential Therapy. The scope of these theories will be compared to a model of human development proposed by Bronfenbrenner, which is widely used in the multicultural field.


aries were poorly demarcated, the nuclei were oval and uniform, and mitotic figures were scant, but apoptotic cells were frequently identified. Granularity of the cytoplasm was clearly visible with periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and Luxol fast blue. In the PAS staining, the granules were diastase resistant. Immunohistological stainings were performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections with a standard kit (Dako Lsab kit; Dako) based on a peroxidase-labelled streptavidin-biotin method. Tumour cells expressed protein S-100, vimentin and neuron-specific enolase, but gave a negative immunoreaction with antibodies against cytokeratins, smooth muscle-specific actin and desmin. Ultrastructurally, the tumour cells were surrounded by abundant fibrillary collagen. The nuclei were generally oval and chromatin was condensed on the nuclear membrane. The cytoplasms were filled so much with granules of apparent lysosome-origin, that they displaced the nucleus peripherally (Fig 2b). The granules were mainly round or oval and were situated in small clusters. Other cell organelles were scant, but occasional small mitochondria were visible. On the basis of these findings, the masses were identified as equine pulmonary granular cell tumours. The age and sex of the horse reported here are in agreement with previous reports of granular cell tumours. Horses with pulmonary granular cell tumours usually have a prolonged history of coughing, exercise intolerance, dyspnea and weight loss (Scarratt and Crisman 1998). In the present case, the mare had a relatively short course of clinical signs, and the main complaints on admission were hard swellings on the distal forelimbs and weight loss. Unlike most reported cases of primary pulmonary neoplasia or hypertrophic osteopathy, this mare was in relatively good condition, had managed light riding exercise and was not judged to be in pain. In addition, hypertrophic osteopathy also involved only the forelimbs. The metacarpal and phalangeal regions are the typical sites for periosteal proliferations (Scarratt and Crisman 1998) and usually both foreand hindlimbs are affected (Mair and others 1996). The lung tumours were relatively large at the time of presentation and both lungs were affected. Of 17 previously reported cases, the granular cell tumour was bilateral in only two cases (Anderson and others 1992, Kelley and others 1995). A large solitary mass or several smaller soft tissue opacities are usually seen radiographically in primary lung tumours (Scarratt and Crisman 1998). In the present case, the size of the opacities varied greatly and, in the dorsocaudal lung field, the overlapping lesions gave an impression of a larger opacity. Although granular cell tumour is a frequently reported primary pulmonary tumour in the horse, it has rarely been reported with hypertrophic osteopathy (Scarratt and Crisman 1998). It has been suggested that a Schwann cell is the cell of origin (Bouchard and others 1995, Kelley and others 1995). The histological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural observations in the present case are in agreement with such findings.


EDMOND contains data for about 3060250 meteors (up to 31 December 2014). Processing of this data has yielded 210887 meteor orbits (after reduction by means of qualitative criteria). The source data from MetRec and UFO Tools do not only contain astrometric information. In that data we can also find information about meteor brightnesses. But, this brightness data (other than the absolute magnitude) is not used. This means that there are 3 million meteor lightcurves hidden in our database!


Rice is considered as the main food for about 140 million people in Bangladesh. Rice, as a food, does not only fulfill the protein or calorie intake of an average person, but also rice production plays a vital role in terms of rural employment and GDP of the country. However, the production of rice is hampered because of many diseases of rice leaves. The objective of this work is to develop a model which can predict those diseases so that farmers can take appropriate action. This work presents a CNN based model which provides 97.40% accurate results in predicting various diseases of rice leaves. Using a dataset of over 900 images of diseases and healthy leaves and following the technique of 10-fold cross validation, the model was trained to identify 4 common rice diseases. This is the highest accuracy gained for only rice disease prediction to the best of our understanding with such a large dataset covering at least 4 diseases. The results of the simulation represent the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed model.


A new combined maximum likelihood (ML) and decision feedback equalization(DFE) detection algorithm for the V-BLAST system is proposed based on nulling vector set searching.First the nulling vector set and corresponding signals of l levels are found with ML detection. Then the remnant signals of successive levels are gained level by level after removing the effect of first l levels.The analysis and simulation results show that,compared with the known combined ML and DFE detection based on the QR decomposition of the channel transmit matrix,this proposed algorithm can achieve the same detection performance but lower the computational complexity if the receive antennas number is smaller than the square of the maximum degree.


Effective personnel management creates a ripple effect of employee satisfaction or dissatisfaction from the top tiers of leadership through the levels of management, reaching to staff and finally to the client. If staff enjoy their work, colleagues, expectations, experiences and tasks and they have the tools and support needed from their managers and leaders to perform their tasks, they will wish to retain their employment and will also pass on positive attitudes to their clients. The purpose of this study was to determine the Emotional Quotient of a group of nursing managers at Entity X and to compare the results with an Employee Opinion Survey. The Emotional Quotient survey consisted of a nurse manager self evaluation, and a multi-rater evaluation performed by randomly selected direct report nursing staff. Emotional Quotient is a concept which is used to describe the ability of an individual to be aware of their feelings, moods and emotions, and to be able to manage them in a positive way. It also includes the ability to be aware of the feelings and emotions of others, and the ability to provide empathy, and skill in managing relationships and building foundations for rapport and communication. The tool used for the survey categorized the Emotional Quotient Competencies into the following groupings: Self Awareness, Self Management, Social Awareness and Relationship


This paper introduces the concept of automated intelligent tire design as basis,and then systemically presents the general framework of CAD 3-D digital tire model design platform.Its modules include the demand representation,demand preanalysis,product list generation,product list modeling,testing,tires knowledge-base and tire parts-base.The realizing process and key techniques of the product list modeling module are described,including calculation principle of groove section and groove modeling scheme,and so on.This paper also introduces an improved algorithm of calculating groove centerline.Finally CATIA platform and VBA toolkit-based tire design system is established under detailed demand representation type.


This paper examines the impact of PMGSY (hereafter, PMGSY) on pattern of migration in India. Roads are the main means of transport for the people who migrate for better opportunities. The PMGSY was a key step in ensuring all-weather road connectivity to all the villages. The literature has mostly documented the large influx of people from rural areas to urban centres because of fewer employment opportunities. While the rural to urban migration has captured the attention of the researchers, what has not been noted is the role that rural road construction has played in affecting the pattern of migration. Using the data from Census and PMGSY, during 2001 to 2011, we investigate the role PMGSY has played in migration. We first find that the construction of rural roads has led to an overall fall in the migration. Further, we separate the migration into two types, rural to urban migration and rural to rural migration. We note that rural to urban migration has witnessed a significant decline with the building of roads under PMGSY. However, the interesting point to note in our results is the pattern of rural to rural migration. We find a significant increase in the rural to rural migration caused by PMGSY. For robustness, we use a geography-based instrument 2SLS analysis as well. The results are still identical and statistically significant.


We propose and implement a content-based tampering detective steganography scheme using acoustic data with probative value in this paper. The purpose is to verify and identify malicious modification. Content-based hash function SHA-1 is adapted to detect tampering. After transforming data from time-domain to frequency domain using integer Discrete Cosine Transform (intDCT), the amplitude of the highest frequency domain is expanded to reserve embedding capacity which is necessary for hiding hash value and index table for hiding. Lossless embedding and extraction algorithm ensure this scheme a reversible alternative scheme to meet the requirements of acoustic media with probative value. Hash digest is applied to data units after the original data is divided to frames to detect tampering in frame unit and to ensure the reversibility of the rest data even tampering occurs partially. The numerical simulation experiments on detection precise and acoustic degradation indicate that the proposed scheme satisfied highly variability and reversibility, while the acoustic degradation of stego data is imperceptible on the basis of the ITU-R BS.1387 (PEAQ) standard.


The theory of the diffraction effects obsd. when light is incident on a cholesteric liq. crystal normal to the optic axis is discussed. The relative intensities of the diffraction max. for some typical values of the parameters involved are calcd. for zero-, 1st- and 2nd-order max. These illustrate the pronounced changes that can be seen in the intensity distribution under different exptl. conditions. [on SciFinder(R)]


The Internet threat landscape is fundamentally changing today. A major shift away from hobby hacking towards well-organized cyber crimes can be observed. The aim of these criminal organizations is the commercial exploitation of vulnerabilities in ICT infrastructures. Since attacks become more and more coordinated, we argue that counter measures must be properly coordinated too. Additionally, networks have grown to a scale and complexity, and have reached a degree of interconnectedness, that their protection can often only be guaranteed and financed as shared efforts. In this paper, we therefore introduce the concept of social cyber defense alliances. These alliances are shaped by social networks which connect information security stakeholders from various domains and facilitate the sharing of incident information. Some primary challenges include: 1) how to encourage participating stakeholders to contribute, and 2) how to ensure the quality and reliability of shared incident information. Here, we discuss an incentive model, which encourages information security stakeholders to share incident information. Furthermore, we highlight an architectural blueprint which is able to support the establishment of our proposed social cyber defense alliances in a real world context, and evaluate its applicability using agent-based simulations.


The fundamental solution of a variant of the three-dimensional wave equation known as "unidirectional pulse propagation equation" (UPPE) and its paraxial approximation is obtained. It is shown that the fundamental solution can be presented as a projection of a fundamental solution of the wave equation to some functional subspace. We discuss the degree of equivalence of the UPPE and the wave equation in this respect. In particular, we show that the UPPE, in contrast to the common belief, describes wave propagation in both longitudinal and temporal directions, and, thereby, its fundamental solution possesses a non-causal character.


Objective: We aimed to evaluate the paranasal sinuses inflammatory disease among patients referred for brain CT as an incidental finding. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross sectional study was conducted on 338 patients diagnosed of sinusitis on computed tomography (CT) brain over a period of four years. Data such as patterns of the pathology, sex and age were collected using data capture sheet. Radiological reports were evaluated. Results: out of 338 patient's records evaluated, 841 cases of sinusitis patterns of appearance on tomogram were identified. Out of 841 cases, 36.88% (n= 312) was mucosal thickening 30.26% (n = 256) was opacification and bony erosion was 15.96% (n = 130). Maxillary sinus was the most commonly affected 35.52% (n = 287) followed ethmoid 29.08% (n = 235). Age group 61 years and above was highest 35.43% (n = 298) and the least was 0 – 15 years 7.01% (n = 59). The male to female ratio was 1.4:1 with 57.4% (n = 194) male and 42.62 (n = 144) female. Out of the identified pathology patterns, 64.21% (n = 540) were found in male while 35.79% (n = 301) in female. Conclusion: Mucosal thickening and bony erosion were the most common and uncommon findings of patterns of sinusitis in this study respectively. Maxillary sinus was highly affected. Male preponderance was noted and young adults were commonly affected by the pathology.


In smart antenna downlink systems, the beamforming is severely affected by antenna gain and phase mismatch as well as mutual coupling effects. We propose an eigen-structure based approach to estimate the gain and phase of each antenna sensor and mutual coupling coefficients between antenna sensors. By preprocessing the transmission signal in base station with the estimated parameters, the gain and phase mismatch and mutual coupling effects are compensated. Simulation results with data collected from a smart antenna test bed show that the estimation error is less than 5% and correct beam pattern is obtained.