A high stable and high solid content (as high as 50%) poly (methyl methacrylate/butyl acrylate/2-ethylhexyl acrylate) [P(MMA/BA/EHA)] soap-free emulsion was synthesized by pre-emulsified and semi-continuous adding method with small quantities of the self-made polymerizable emulsifier M-OP10. Effects of the reaction temperature, reaction time and amount of the polymerizable emulsifier on the synthesis were discussed. In addition, the performances of emulsions with different amount of the polymerizable emulsifier and their dried films were studied. The results showed that the soap-free emulsion had good properties for reaction temperature 80 ℃, adding time 1h, holding time 1h and polymerizable emulsifier amount 0.4% of weight of total monomers.


A novel full-vectorial meshfree finite cloud mode solver is proposed for analysis of fused optic-fiber couplers, in which the curvilinear coordinate mapping technique is used to map a cloud with curved interface onto a unit square. Numerical results are compared with prior analysis using the finite difference method, showing the validity and utility of the proposed method.


The fatigue assessment of metallic structural components under uniaxial cyclic loading is traditionally tackled through experimental methods such as the S-N curve approach. For more complex variable stress states, such as multiaxial stress histories, the fatigue safety can be analysed by employing a physics-based damage mechanics approach. On the other hand, fatigue failure can be recognized as the result of a stable crack propagation up to a critical condition and, in this context, the availability of suitable laws to properly describe and quantify the crack propagation is a crucial aspect. In the present paper, a fatigue crack propagation law for both short (Low-CycleFatigue) and long crack regime (High-Cycle-Fatigue) is discussed based on damage mechanics concepts. Fatigue crack growth law and damage mechanics approach are compared in order to determine both the damage value according to a given fatigue crack growth (FCG) law and the crack length associated to a given mechanical damage of the fatigued material. Such two methods are shown to be different formulations of the same physics-based approach to fatigue phenomena.


: This study describes the features of the image of the Ruptures Brain Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) based on films of Multislide Computed Tomography (MSCT) at Bach Mai Hospital. The study used descriptive cross-sectional, prospective and retrospective method to analyze the MSCTs of 40 patients at the Center of Radiology, Bach Mai Hospital, from March 2019 to March 2020. The results show that the common age of the patients was <40 years old and the average age was 33.88 ± 16.27; the ratio of female/male was ≈ 1.11/1; 70% of the patients suffered from headache. On admission, 52.5% of the patients were conscious (glassgow 15 points), 30% of them lost consciousness (glassgow <13 points) and 17.5% were comatose; 47.5% had a syndrome of increased intracranial pressure; 22.5% with detected cerebral AVM but never treated; 77.5% with ruptured cerebral AVM in the upper floor of the cerebellum and 57.5% had it in the highly functional area; 67.5% with cerebral AVM ≤ 3cm in size. Feeding artery ≤ 3 stalks accounted for 85%, of which 1 stem accounted for the majority. Attached aneurysm accounted for 42.5%, mainly in AVM drive aneurysm (32.5%). Pure shallow drainage veins accounted for 50%. Brain parenchymal hemorrhage alone accounted for 60%. Brain parenchymal with ventricular and subarachnoid hemorrhage accounted for 37.5%. The small size hemorrhage volume ratio (<30 mm) and the average size (30-60 mm) accounted for the same percentage of 45%. According to the Spetzler Martin classification, the cerebral ruptured venous malformation drive with low resolution (I-III) accounted for 85%. Overall, MSCT provides information to help guide the treatment of cerebral hemorrhage caused by cerebral AVM.


Erlangji gauging station in Shashi City is one of the most important control stations in the middle Yangtze River.The water level-discharge relation influenced by fluctuations of flood,erosion and aggradations of cross-section and backwater is complex.Combining with water level data of auxiliary stations,we adopt 13-year hydrologic data including water level and measured discharge from 1997 to 2009.By analyzing optimized values of fall exponent and parameters,we determine computational formula for corrected discharge.The comprehensive fall exponent method is used for uniformization of water level-discharge relation.The results show that the processing error is small and meets the correlative standard and the discharge measurement can be significantly simplified.


The actuator has a space provided in a pressure piston which is arranged on the pressure side of a pump. He works under application by a project funded by the pump medium to the lock. DOLLAR A To the actuating means form so that the lock is operating properly in a wide temperature range, opens into the pressure chamber a line in which a temperature-dependent choke is located and which is connected to a tank for the pressure medium. The temperature-dependent choke ensures that the aperture cross-section in dependence on the temperature of the printing medium is changed. DOLLAR A The actuating device is suitable as Reibschlussperre for a differential gear of a vehicle.


The study appraised the degree of necessity and usage of material management methods adopted by small-scale construction firms in Abuja and Lagos State, Nigeria. It identified and examined the factors affecting material management practices, and assessed material management-related factors influencing cost variance. Eighty (80) structured questionnaires was administered on sites supervisor/manager through purposive sampling. Data obtained were analyzed using frequency, percentages, Mean score and relative severity index. The study revealed the most important material management method as site planning and organization (4.95), while employment of security (4.88) was often adopted for effective material management. The study found the most severe factors affecting material management as poor site organization, non-availability of material on sites, material not delivered as per schedule with severity index of (0.958), (0.948) and (0.928) respectively. Inadequate storage facilities (3.69), damaged materials (3.65), Loss of material (3.54), were found as material management factors most influencing cost variance. The study therefore recommends that; proper site organization should be carried out on construction site; materials should be made available on-site with required quantities and delivered as at when due with adequate stacking and storage facilities. More so, there should be adequate storage facilities on construction sites, material damage/ loss of material should be reduced to the barest minimum. The service of a good estimator should be engaged by the firms to mitigate against inaccurate/poor estimation of materials.


For a heterogeneous SDM network that includes different types of SDM fibers, we have proposed a flexible optical switch using an LCOS-based spatial light modulator (LCOS-SLM) for heterogeneous SDM fiber networks. Previously, the principle of core-selective switching or inter-core switching has been experimentally demonstrated. In this paper, we investigate the mode conversion for connecting among single-mode/few-mode fibers by the proposed flexible optical switch. In the experiment, we confirm that four linear polarization (LP) modes (LP01, LP11, LP21, and LP02) can be converted from fundamental mode (LP01) by measuring the intensity profile with the InGaAs camera.


In this paper we investigate some properties of the harmonic Bergman spaces A p p σ q on a q -homogeneous tree, where q ě 2 , 1 ď p ă 8 , and σ is a finite measure on the tree with radial decreasing density, hence nondoubling. These spaces were introduced by J. Cohen, F. Colonna, M. Picardello and D. Singman. When p " 2 they are reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces and we compute explicitely their reproducing kernel. We then study the boundedness properties of the Bergman projector on L p p σ q for 1 ă p ă 8 and their weak type (1,1) boundedness for suitable exponentially decreasing measures on the tree. The weak type (1,1) boundedness is a consequence of a Calderón-Zygmund decomposition adapted to this setting and the fact that the Bergman kernel satisfies an appropriate integral Hörmander type condition. A 2 p σ q . The core of this contribution is devoted to proving


The paper is divided into three parts. In the first part I discuss ethnographic accounts from the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries which concern the tribal Kurumbas of the Nilgiri Hills in South India. In the second part I present a brief profile of the Naiken, one of the Kurumba sub-groups with whom I conducted anthropological fieldwork between September 1978 and October 1979. The name Naiken is used by the people themselves and their immediate neighbours. In the literature they are often referred to as Jenu Kurumbas. In the final part of the paper, I critically re-examine the literature in the light of my field material and experience. Prior to my work none of the Nilgiri Kurumba groups have been subjected to intensive anthropological studies, although there are references to them, and in particular to their role visà-vis the other Nilgiri tribes in numerous accounts, including such seminal works as The Toda by W. H. R. Rivers (1906) and 'Culture Change among the Nilgiri Tribes' by Mandelbaum (1941). I suggest that the much-criticized early accounts by 'amateur' travellers, administrators, and planters may be more accurate than has been thought and perhaps even more revealing than the subsequent references up to the present offered by 'professional' anthropologists.


Purpose: The investigation of cartilage lesions in knee joints after knock injuries with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) over a time period of six months. Materials and Methods: A controlled force form a drop-tower was applied to one knee of 12 normal adult beagle dogs to produce a subchondral bone bruise and soft tissue compression without visible bone fracture. MR images of both knees were acquired at a magnetic field strength of 1.5 T immediately after this defined knock-trauma and again after six months. The images were based on sagittal T1-weighted spin-echo sequence, a T2-weighted turbo-spin-echo sequence with spectral fat-suppression, and a fat suppressed 3D spoiled gradient echo sequence (FLASH®, SPGR). The traumatized joints underwent an arthroscopy immediately after the second MR examination and biopsies of the cartilage were performed. The biopsies were scored histologically (Mankin score of degenerative cartilage lesions). Results: Six months after trauma, ten out of the twelve canines had circumscribed cartilage lesions in the traumatized area of the affected knee joint and nearly all dogs had joint effusions in the affected knee joints. Furthermore, the knees with the most extending bone marrow edema developed high-grad cartilage lesions. All control scans and cartilage biopsies of the contralateral knee joints showed normal findings. Conclusion: Joint trauma causes focal cartilage defects. The described animal model supports the hypothesis that subchondral traumatic lesions such as bone bruises are an important risk factor for early development of osteoarthritis in (knee) joints. Within a few months, severe osteoarthritis could be induced by subchondral bone bruises. Potential etiogenic mechanisms are the damage of subchondral nutrition of hyaline cartilage or changes in the biochemical composition or biomechanic properties of the cartilage.


The Upper Silurian mainly occurs in marginal marine embayments of the South China paleoplate,and its records in the interior of the Yangtze platform are few.Based on newly discovered microfossils(including phytodebris microfossils)from the Xiaoxi Formation in the Zhangjiajie-Sangzhi area,northwestern Hunan Province,the occurrence of Ludlow-Pridoli strata in the interior of the Yangtze Platform is verified.The original Xiaoxi Formation(also known as the Xiaoxiyu Formation)is subdivided into two parts:the upper part being the Xiaoxi Formation(sensu stricto),and the lower part being the Huixingshao Formation.The redefined Xiaoxi Formation was originally named after strata in the Ruitabu area,Sangzhi,but is best developed in the Wentang area,Zhangjiajie.It consists of yellow-green clastic sediments with plenty of trace fossils.The Huixingshao Formation is commonly referred to as the upper red beds with an age of late Telychian,Llandovery.The latest Telychian,Wenlock and early Ludlow is represented by a parallel unconformity between the Xiaoxi and Huixingshao formations.It is suggested that,after the "Yangtze Uplift",the Yangtze Platform was flooded by shallow seawater in the Late Silurian.


The utility model relates to a light-emitting diode (LED) with high current extraction efficiency. The LED comprises a substrate, a metal thin film layer, a SiO2 layer, an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer and a metal electrode, wherein the substrate is positioned on a bottom layer; the metal thin film layer is deposited above the substrate; the SiO2 layer is covered on the metal thin film layer; the ITO layer and the metal electrode are deposited above the SiO2 layer; and the substrate is a P-GaN layer. A metal thin film such as a silver thin film, a copper thin film and a rhodium thin film with the surface deposition reflectivity of over 70 percent is deposited on the surface of an epitaxial wafer, and is manufactured to form a structure similar to a current blocking layer (CBL), the SiO2 layer with the function of the CBL is deposited and covered on the metal thin film, then the ITO layer and the metal electrode are deposited. Due to the adoption of the technical scheme, most of light emitted to the electrode can be reflected back into an LED body by utilizing the high reflectivity of the metal thin film, and then is emitted from the LED body in other ways, so that luminous efficiency is improved.


In order to study the regulation of IgE antibody formation, isologous anti‐idiotypic antisera against the phosphoryl choline (PC)‐specific BALB/c myeloma proteins T15 and M167 were passively administered to BALB/c mice in the course of an anti‐PC IgE response. Isologous anti‐T 15 antiserum had a long‐lasting suppressive effect on the formation of IgE antibodies with PC specificity, whereas administration of anti‐ M167 antiserum had no or only little effect, similar to that of normal BALB/c serum. This indicates that anti‐PC IgE antibodies consist mainly of the T15 idiotype or of cross‐reacting idiotypes, and that IgE response is accessible to regulation with anti‐ idiotypic antibodies. This murine model may permit the study of regulation of an IgE response largely restricted to few defined idiotypes characterized as tumor proteins.


The utility model discloses a matched measuring apparatus of an overhead and gantry crane arching factor measuring method. The apparatus is mainly composed of a laser range finder, a level, a graduated scale and tripods. The laser range finder and the level are installed on holders of the tripods, the upper end of the graduated scale is fixed on the housing at one side of the laser range finder, the lower end of the graduated scale is fixed on the holder of one of the tripods, the level and the tripod of the level are placed in the stadia measuring scope of the laser range finder, and scales of the graduated scale can be observed through the ocular lens of the level. The apparatus provided by the utility model is convenient to operate, measuring personnel does not have to assemble test equipment in a field and can finish measurement staying on the ground, an erected instrument is less restricted to ground floor space and light, the range finding scope is 1 m to 50 m, the measuring precision is +/-1 mm, the structure is simple, the equipment is quite cheap and highly portable, and accurate measurement can be realized. Therefore, the apparatus provided by the utility model has quite good popularization and application prospect.


The research was about "Potential of Liquid Waste of Tempe Microbiologically as the alternative of Biogas Producer" had been conducted from July to September 2013 with the purpose of finding out of liquid waste of tempe microbiologically as the alternative of biogas producer and finding out the best concentration in media of liquid waste of tempe producer biogas and finding the best time for fermentation in producing biogas. The research method used is experimental which designed in the form of Complete Random Design (RAL), comprising 6 treatments and 3 times repetition. The research result shows that all treatment can produce biogas. The highest biogas volume is the treatment P5 (50% : 50%) which was as 128.10cm3. The best fermentation time occured on the third day (72 hours) up to the fourth day (96 hours) of fermentation. Keywords: Liquid Waste of Tempe, Microbiology and Biogas.


Background Tofacitinib is an oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor that targets JAK1 and JAK3, and thus regulates immune response. Therefore, tofacitinib is used to treat immune-mediated inflammatory diseases such as chronic plaque psoriasis. The objective of this study was to systematically assess the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib in treating chronic plaque psoriasis. Objective To systematically review the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib in the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib in patients with chronic plaque psoriasis. Methods Databases including PubMed, Embase, and The Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trials about the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib in treating chronic plaque psoriasis from inception to August 2017 (PROSPERO Code No: CRD42017076587). Results Six articles (seven randomized controlled trial studies) involving 3743 patients were included. The meta-analysis results showed that for efficacy, tofacitinib (5 mg or 10 mg) compared with placebo can significantly improve the Physician's Global Assessment response, PASI75, and PASI90 after treatment. For safety, the incidence of adverse reactions was statistically significantly higher for tofacitinib compared with placebo. Conclusion Treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis with tofacitinib is effective, but there may be more adverse reactions.


This article gives a detailed account of one of the topical issues of modern integrative linguistic stylistics, i.e., substantiation of the content of the latest concepts that are formed within the interrelated disciplines. Attention is specifically paid to the terms media stylistics, verbal and linguocultural content of the media. The author elaborates on the concept of linguocultural content of the media text interpreting it as linguistic and aesthetic signs of culture, components of linguistic and informational pictures of the world, i.e., a value-content meaning of the mass media which unfolds and concretizes the general and nationally marked concepts, and as a regular manifestation of the language norm. The data of the magazine A Woman shows that the verbal content is a significant, specific segment of the functioning of the modern Ukrainian literary language in the media space. It reflects the universal stratification of the language of national professional, social, every day, and artistic culture, the synergy of its mediatopes and media genres, broadcasts a hierarchy of social (socio-political, gender), psychological and economic stereotypes, and human needs. They are all united by the Ukrainian-centric linguocultural platform which consists of both value-semantic signs of culture and structural-level units of the literary-linguistic continuum. In terms of media stylistics, the language of Ukrainian-language media is analyzed in two complementary perspectives: 1) via metaphorical-associative field structures with specific core nominations; 2) via the principles of realization of the media structural-level norm in the mass media. Keywords: media stylistics, verbal content, linguocultural indicator of value, metaphorical-associative field, language norm, sign of culture.


The Eucharistie Communion and the World. By John D. Zizioulas. Edited by Luke Ben Talion. London: T&T Clark, 2011. xv + 186 pp. $130 (cloth), $34.95 (paper).John Zizioulas is one of the most important ecumenical figures of contemporary Orthodox theology. His Trinitarian grounding of the eucharistie communion of the church has had a profound impact on both Eastern and Western theology and has been an important reference point for Anglican liturgical theology. While his writings have met with some criticism, he remains a very important theological voice in the ecumenical world and many still consider him one of the best interpreters of patristic theology of the eucharist.So, it is a great delight to have this collection of essays edited by Luke Ben Talion in The Eucharistie Communion and the World. While many of the essays that form the chapters of this book have been published previously, nearly all of them appeared in smaller, obscure journals or magazines difficult to obtain today. Moreover, for students and scholars who do not read French, Talion has produced two fine translations of previously untranslated pieces (chapters 1 and 6), and chapter 7 is published in print here for the first time. The only drawback with this collection is that it reproduces three essays published in an earlier collection: chapters 3 through 5 of the present volume are in Zizioulas s The One and the Many: Studies on God, Man, the Church, and the World Today, edited by Fr. Gregory Edwards (2010). It would have been helpful to have included other related articles, such as the short but important essay "The Eucharistie Prayer and Life" (Emmanuel 81 (1975): 462-70) or any of those from Zizioulas s recent Eucharistias Exemplarion (2006 in Greek, reissued in 2011). Also, while the final two essays on the ecological crisis (chapters 7 and 8) briefly touch on the eucharist, they are somewhat out of place in relation to the other essays.The Eucharistie Communion and the World contains eight essays. The themes that reappear in each - the eschatological nature of the eucharist in Scripture and the fathers, the relation between Christology, Pneumatology, and ecclesiology, the significance of the structure of the eucharist for a proper theology of the church - will not be new to Zizioulas students. However, as Talion notes in his introduction, the purpose of the volume is to "provide a description of the concrete Eucharist that Zizioulas assumes as the context of his more well-known teaching regarding personhood, communion and otherness" (p. viii). He thus hopes that providing this "concrete" context will also address what he considers wrong-headed assessments of Zizioulas s theology as "denigrating creation" or being "unconcerned with human action" (p. …


Michel Marulle. Hymnes naturels. Ed. Jacques Chomarat. (Travaux d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 296.) Geneva: Droz, 1995. 299 pp. Jacques Chomarat's annotated French translation oiHymni naturales in four books by Marullus (ca. 1453-1500) takes as its point of departure the critical edition by Alessandro Perosa (Michaelis Marulli Carmina, Zurich: Thesaurus mundi, 1951). Most of Marullus's poems were known in France through the members of the Pliiade, and some of his works (for instance, several epigrams and hymns) were imitated by Ronsard. Chomarat shows that, after a period of some poetic glory, Marullus's works have lapsed into oblivion, perhaps due to "the difficulties of Marullus's Latin and to a word order even freer than that of Horace's Odes" (7). Composing pagan hymns in the fifteenth century, Chomarat says in his introduction, could well be a literary exercise or an erudite game; but for Marullus it was a form of expressing a perpetual nostalgia for a Greece that he had never known. Born in Ragusa of parents who had left Constantinople shortly before the tragedy of 1453, Marullus lived his mature years in Italy, moving in the literary circles of Naples and Florence (8). Yet Greece is present in his hymns not only through her gods (to whom the poems are dedicated) but also through her cities, rivers, mountains, and temples. Chomarat's introduction discusses the two major themes of the hymn cycle: one is the transcendent world of the supreme Deity, whose multiple aspects are embodied in as many gods; this world is spiritual and eternal. The other theme centers around the immanent world of the spheres and elements; this world is material and perishable (11). The celestial bodies are enumerated in the "Egyptian" order adopted by Plato in Timaeus: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Sun, and Moon. Chomarat insists that, in spite of Marullus's admiration for Lucretius, the former's vision of the world is not the representation found in De natura rgrum


In the context of the great fluctuation of the global financial market, it is particularly important to forecast the changing futures market. Inspired by the utilization of the Heterogeneous Autoregressive model of the Realized Volatility (HAR-RV) model in price volatility forecasting, the parameters in this model could be a fair indicator of trading activities in the market. To test this hypothesis, this HAR-RV model is applied to analyze some representative commodities futures in China. The HAR-RV model is created to forecast the future volatility patterns using existed fluctuations. We used the least square method to do the regression analysis and used the volatility of a day, a week, and a month as the variables to get the degree of influence of each variable on the future volatility, namely. Thus, we can tell whether the price of a futures commodity is more affected by short-term fluctuations or long-term fluctuations by comparing different. Preliminary results show different patterns between iron ore and soybean meal futures models, pinpointing the trading frequencies in the corresponding markets. The price of iron ore futures is largely influenced by weekly volatility, while the price of soybean meal futures is affected significantly by monthly fluctuation.


The arlisotropy of angle illusion is already established . If the MOIIer−Lyer illusion is caused by angle illusion, it should be possible to observe the anisotropy of the MUIIer −Lyer illusion. The apparent length of the shaft lines of the MUller−Lyer figures(obliques −in, H −shape , and obliques −out figures)and the control 血gure , were estimated by twenty −two university students , when the orientation of each 且gure was varied in eight steps :0 ° ,22.5 ° ,45 ° ,67.5 ° ,90 ° , 112.5D,135 ° ,157.5 ° counterclockwise from the horizontal , The anisotropy Qf the apparent length of the shaft line of each ngure was observed , and these regression curves became quadratic functions. But the anisotropy of the M 田 ler−Lyer illusion was not observed , It was concluded that the relationship between angle illusion theory and the MUIIer−Lyer illusion was


Cell culture is an important technology platform in life science and medical research.The establishment and management of an open laboratory poses a new challenge for the staff in the laboratory.Based on the experience of opening management of the laboratory for years,this paper discussed the new pattern of open management in hardware construction,teaching staff training,rules and regulations establishment,acess registration,and biosafety etc.


Early detection of lung cancer through chest radiography is a widely used method due to its relatively affordable cost. In this paper, an approach to improve lung nodule visualization on chest radiographs is presented. The approach makes use of linear phase high-frequency emphasis filter for digital filtering and histogram equalization for contrast enhancement to achieve improvements. Results obtained indicate that a filtered image can reveal sharper edges and provide more details. Also, contrast enhancement offers a way to further enhance the global (or local) visualization by equalizing the histogram of the pixel values within the whole image (or a region of interest). The work aims to improve lung nodule visualization of chest radiographs to aid detection of lung cancer which is currently the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Keywords—Chest radiographs, Contrast enhancement, Digital filtering, Lung nodule detection


The invention discloses a system for measuring pipe network outside source invasion via a volume method, which comprises: an invasion pipeline, a water tank, an observation tube, a liquid level sensor and a pressure sensor, wherein the invasion pipeline is communicated with the main pipe of a pipe network and provided with an invasion opening; the water tank is used for storing water flow output from the invasion pipeline; the observation pipe is communicated with the water tank and used for observing the variation of a water level; the liquid level sensor is installed in the water tank to measure the variation of the water level so as to calculate the actual value of the pipe network outside source invasion; the pressure sensor is installed in the main pipe, used for measuring the hydraulic pressure change in the main pipe, and combined with the pressure change data measured by the liquid level sensor to calculate the theoretical value of the pipe network outside source invasion; the invention also discloses a method for measuring pipe network outside source invasion via a volume method; by means of comparing the actual value with the theoretical value, the system for measuring the pipe network outside source invasion via the volume method amends the theoretical value, improves the measurement accuracy, and is also provided with the water tank for stabilizing the hydraulic pressure and the liquid level sensor that replaces a video cassette recorder to record the variation of the water level of the observation tube, so that the experiment operation is simpler, the data accuracy is higher, and the data processing is more convenient.


We dispute the claim that economic efficiency entails complementarity between endowed talent and human capital investment, absent credit constraints. Complementarity means that parents invest more in highly endowed children. We show that even in a minimal, value-free, model in which marginal benefits of human capital are optimized, endowments and human capital investment are substitutes as well as complements. Depending on the level of marginal costs of human capital, this argues that human capital investment in less endowed children cannot be dismissed in a demand and supply model. Though our attempt here is basic to the point of simplicity, it begins to provide salient sufficient conditions for substitution and complementarity of those attributes based on marginal costs and the demand for human capital.


TO THE EDITOR: Since the first successful insertion of a metallic prosthesis in 1990 (1), self-expanding metallic stents (SEMS) are increasingly being used for palliation of dysphagia caused by upper gastrointestinal malignancy. Ease of insertion, low procedure-related mortality, and rapid improvement in dysphagia make metal stents a logical choice over plastic ones. Compared to the semirigid plastic prostheses, their safety profile is excellent (2). Tumor ingrowth/overgrowth and stent migration are common, but perforation and procedure related-mortality are exceedingly rare (2, 3). We report a case of refractory ventricular fibrillation after placement of a SEMS. Investigation of dysphagia and weight loss in a 73-yr-old man revealed a stricturing 5-cm tumor at the gastroesophageal junction. Bougie dilation with Savary-Guilliard dilators was performed and biopsies were taken at the time of the initial endoscopy. Histology revealed the tumor to be an adenocarcinoma. The patient had a past history of ischemic heart disease and had been on treatment with amiodarone for episodes of ventricular tachycardia, which had to be discontinued 3 months earlier because of development of side effects. He had not been prescribed any alternative antiarrhythmic since stopping the amiodarone. Computed tomography (CT) of the chest showed local infiltration from the tumor and spread to the regional lymph nodes. In view of his past medical history and CT scan result, surgical treatment was considered inappropriate and he was referred for palliation with a SEMS. Endoscopy was performed under conscious sedation with a combination of midazolam 5 mg and pethidine 25 mg. During the procedure he received supplemental oxygen, and his oxygen saturation was monitored by pulse oximetry. After dilation to 12.8 mm, a size 18-10, Esophacoil stent (Medtronic Instent; Medtronic, Eden Prairie) with a variable release handle, was placed in the lower esophagus and cardia, under fluoroscopy. The prosthesis is constructed from nitinol (nickel-titanium alloy), which is in the form of a tightly wound, coiled spring that shortens and widens on release. Satisfactory position was confirmed at re-endoscopy after placement of the stent. While the endoscope was being withdrawn, the patient's oxygen saturation dropped, and he became cyanosed and started fitting. As no pulse was palpable, cardiopulmonary resuscitation was commenced. The patient was found to be in ventricular fibrillation (VF). Attempts at resuscitation, including repeated DC shocks, were unsuccessful, and the VF could not be terminated. We believe that, although our patient had underlying risk factors in the form of ischemic heart disease and previous episodes of ventricular tachycardia, the sudden, forceful expansion of the Instent Esophacoil contributed to the development of the VF. Cardiopulmonary complications of sedation, including respiratory depression and arrythmias, are the most common causes of death associated with upper gastrointestinal endoscopies (4, 5). The satisfactory oxygen saturation during the procedure in our patient makes respiratory complication of sedation an unlikely factor. The timing of the VF, on the other hand, suggests that the expansion of the coil prosthesis initiated the fatal arrhythmia by jolting the diseased myocardium. Experience with nitinol coil prostheses is limited, and there have been very few reports in the literature about its complications. Previously it has been reported that the expansion of the Esophacoil may lead to severe pain, necessitating its removal (6), but our report suggests that, very rarely, it may have more serious and unfortunate consequences.


This paper describes a multi-touchpad based human computer interaction (HCI) system called MGesture, which uses tactile gestures as input to perform common keyboard and mouse control. MGesture interface expands the ability of the multi-touchpad to incorporate an advanced tactile gesture recognition engine and a fully customizable command processor. Users with physical disabilities can define their own gesture sets by providing training samples and associating them with corresponding computer commands. This application is equipped with two gesture recognition algorithms: recurrent neural networks and support vector machines based recognition. Preliminary experiments show the effectiveness of the gesture recognition interface and its usage within the multi-touchapd framework for users with disabilities.


Over the recent years, in order to compensate current harmonics and reactive power in three power systems, active filtering is used increasingly often. The reference current extraction method and the PWM technique used in the control of active power filter have an important role, because any inaccuracy yields to incorrect compensation. This paper presents a new adaptive hysteresis band controller for three phase shunt active power filters implemented using the Fuzzy logic. The simulations were carried using Matlab SimPowerSystems and Fuzzy logic toolboxes under two load configurations, balanced and unbalanced. The results are found quite satisfactory in order to keep the switching frequency constant, and to compensate the current harmonics, unbalance and reactive power in three phase electrical systems.


There is a dearth of information available in the literature and published engineering texts addressing the impacts of pyrite expansion in buildings. The texts have largely been silent, and the intersection of engineering geology, geotechnical engineering and foundation design has been lacking, with the exception of limited investigations related to highway engineering. Typically pyrite has been associated with shale materials when used as fill. Granite, as well as other rocks and soil can also contain sufficient pyrite to initiate the destructive forces associated with pyrite oxidation. In this case study paper, the insidious and destructive forces of pyrite expansion are presented. The investigation offered the opportunity to study the fill material manufactured and placed in 1998 in both an unaffected, or pristine condition, along with material subjected to varying states of sulfation. The long-term implications to the facilities, and strategies for remediation of the buildings are considered.


This article analyses the adherence of industrial taxonomies to the reality of the manufacture Brazilian, from the selection of indicators of innovative and technological efforts, labour qualification and productivity. This paper is based on the neoschumpeterian theoretical framework and it use of cluster analysis. The results suggest some adherence to taxonomies international, while other sectors do not. However, the petroleum refining activity presents high innovative activity, highly labour qualification and high productivity compared to other activities in Brazil or the world. In this way, this activity differs from the OECD classification in which it is referred to as medium-low technology. On the other hand, activities classified with greater technological intensity and based on science as of instruments, materials for medical, dental and optical use are far behind in Brazil when we mainly evaluate labour qualification and productivity.


Heart lipomatosis represents a group of diseases leading to fatty tissue changes and their accumula- tion in the heart. Though the morbidity is relatively low, fatty changes are believed to take part in many processes that can cause death, and in fact fatty tissue is a normal component in healthy human and animal hearts. Several diseases that produce fatty changes in human hearts may possibly cause the same syndromes in animals but many of these conditions remain undiscovered. The aim of this paper is to review the typical conditions leading to fatty changes in human hearts and to delineate their relationship with animal pathologies.


Although there is a substantial English literature on pre-Revolutionary Russian health care, particularly concerning professional and political organisation, the practicalities sun·ounding its delivery have attracted less attention. 1 This contribution examines health care provision under the post-1864 zemstvo systeln of local govenl1nent and the associated encounters between Inodern Inedicine and local populations. It combines research findings principally on two Russian provinces (gubernii), Olonets and Salnara, with an existing study of the Moscow guberniya and a selection of Russian-language studies and eye-witness accounts.


The paper offers a survey of the historical literature on the 19th and 20th century development of universal banking. It is basically a country-by-country survey with strong emphasis on Europe and the era of industrialization up to 1914. It concludes that universal banking, which can be interpreted as an efficient institutional response to problems of informational asymmetry, was a comparatively successful economic institution in the 19th century, less so in the 20th.


In light of a constantly growing interest and real-world applicability shown in social collaboration networks, we have gathered data from Fashion Model Directory, the largest fashion model database. As such, we model and analyze the network formed by female fashion models all around the world, which we call FMNet. Inspired by similar approaches in the actors and music industry, we compare our empirical results with Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus online friendship networks. As a first study of its kind in the fashion world, we create a network based on physical similarities, and by using centrality measures and network motifs, we prove that FMNet has all the properties of a social collaboration network. We discover and explain role of the most influential nodes (in terms of betweenness centrality) and communities (in terms of eigenvector centrality) in FMNet. The physical patterns found in this study offer a better understanding over the evolving trends in the fashion world.


In post-crisis era,it is a pressing issue to change the growth mode,adjust the economic structure,and promote industrial upgrading.It needs to explore new industry development mode which is situated to our country by changing the past trailing-type industrial structure upgrade mode and avoiding the vacuum of strategic emerging industry's structure upgrading.The military and civilian integration development mode of f strategic emerging industry is the actual need of "facing two kinds of demand,relying on two kinds of resources and working for two kinds of markets".According to the degree of specify and rely on the defense industry,the thesis concludes three military and civilian integration development modes of strategic emerging industry including new energy,new materials,new informational technology and high-end manufacturing industry,which are the relying mode,interactive mode and implant mode.Finally,it puts forward policies for the military and civilian integration development of strategic emerging industry.


This study examined the amount of time that different ability-level examinees spend on questions they answer correctly or incorrectly across different pretest item blocks presented on a fixed-length, time-restricted computerized adaptive testing (CAT). Results indicate that different ability-level examinees require different amounts of time to answer pretest items, that is, field-test items, embedded in different item locations. Also, guessing behaviors and test-taking effort (TTE), measured using detection indices developed from this study, varied across the pretest items embedded in different locations. With these indices, unique response time patterns (RTP) and guessing patterns (GP) were identified for six ability groups. These indices could also be used to monitor the amount of effort and the guessing behaviors of examinees taking a CAT. The degree of the detection consistency among these indices could be used as reliability evidence to evaluate how reliable the indices are in detecting unusual test-taking behaviors. Once reliable detection was confirmed, a warning sign prompted from the computer screen could either encourage the examinee to take appropriate TTE or stop guessing so that the examinees could receive more accurate estimates of their ability.


Selective
 catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with propene (C3H6-SCR) and propane (C3H8-SCR) over different levels
 of Cu(II) or Co(II) ion exchanged into ZSM-5 zeolite has been evaluated under flowing conditions with
 1500 ppm of NO + 4500 ppm of C3H6 or C3H8
+ 3 vol.% of oxygen in helium at a gas hourly space velocity
 of 20000 h−1s. increasing temperature. Cu-ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 15, Cu/Al = 0.46) shows its highest NO conversion
 at 440–500°C for C3H6-SCR and at 340–600°C for C3H8-SCR. However, Co-ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 14, Co/Al = 0.43) shows its
 highest NO conversion at 460°C for C3H6-SCR and at 550°C for C3H8-SCR. The conversion efficiency
 at the optimum reaction temperatures was 98% for C3H6-SCR over Cu-ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 15, Cu/Al = 0.46), 96%
 for C3H8-SCR over Cu-ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 15, Cu/Al = 0.46), 75% for C3H8-SCR over Co-ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 14, Co/Al = 0.43)
 and 31% for C3H6-SCR over Co-ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 14, Co/Al = 0.43). All NOx species adsorbed on the copper ion in ZSM-5
 are desorbed below 430°C and are not observed in the temperature range for the highest NO conversion
 for C3H6-SCR. However, in Co-ZSM-5, Co-(NO)2 species are observed up to 450°C by IR absorption. A reaction
 pathway at 450°C for C3H6-SCR over Cu-ZSM-5 is proposed based on Cu-allyl, Cu-allyl oxime, Cu-ethenyl isocyanate, Cu-primary amine and Cu-ethenyl reaction intermediates identified by IR absorption. A different pathway
 is proposed for C3H8-SCR over Cu-ZSM-5 at 250–340°C and for C3H8-SCR over Co-ZSM-5 at 230–550°C based on
 CH3NO2, HNCO, CO2, Al-NCO, Si-NCO and Co-NCO reaction intermediates identified by IR absorption.


The ameliorating effects of oxalate against aluminum toxicity for melonseedling were studied. This paper studied the extraneous source organic acid the alleviation effect which poisons to the melon seedling aluminum, the result indicated that, the 0.4 mmol/L aluminum solution can obviously increase the POD, SOD activities and the soluble protein, the proline, MDA content. In the aluminum solution joined the different density (0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2 mmol/L) after the oxalic acid, the above injures reduced.


Triptolide is one of the main active constituents in Tripterygium wilfordii. It is the main effective component of T. wilfordii preparations. Triptolide has the anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and immunomodulatory effects, which is a natural active drug attracting research focus. However, to a large extent, the side effects of triptolide limitted the clinical applications. The toxicities on the reproductive system and the antifertility effect are particularly obvious, especially the male reproductive system. In this paper, the information was collected and analyzed to summarize the damage mechanisms of triptolide on male testes, epididymis, sperm, and female reproductive system as well. Besides, the further studies should be carried out on the detoxification and enhancement action, so as to broaden and optimize the security window of triptolide, and to provide a powerful basis for its safety and effect on the clinical application.


A central subject in the philosophy of Ockham is his teaching on polenlia absolula and ordinala. The Venerabilis Incepior2 did not invent these theological concepts. But his writings on the concept of poleniia absolula made this a term widespread in theology, especially in the Via moderna. So it is not surprising that Hans Blumenberg took this prominent theme as an opportunity to criticize Ockham by identifying his teaching on God's omnipotence as "Willkùrfreiheil,"! arbitrary freedom. International research in recent decades has put considerable effort into discussing this negative view of Ockham and analyzing his impact on later theology.4 Some have stressed Ockham's conviction, expressed in the Quodlibela VI q.l, that there is nothing God can do "inordinale" (Deus nihil polesl faceré inordinate) .5 This


The purpose of this was to examine the differences of large whopper swan (Cygnus cygnus) in wintering habitat preference among bridge sections of the lower Nakdong River of the Nakdong River Estuary, the largest whopper swan's wintering habitat in Korea. This species is designated and protected as Natural Monument in Korea. The survey was conducted in six time-series during the 2018~2019 wintering season, and it found up to 500 whopper swans were wintering in the lower Nakdong River. For the survey, a seven sections were set up based on the bridges across the river. Whopper swans were rarely observed in five narrow sections where the distance between bridges was less than 2 ㎞. The stable population of the whopper swan was observed only in two broader sections where the distance between bridges was is over 4 ㎞. As these sections were relatively little affected by artificial interference, the distance from the mouth of the Nakdong River was not a factor. Securing a stable space is considered as one of the most important factors for wintering of whopper swans, which are an endangered species. The survey results indicate that the distance between bridges should be at least 4 ㎞ to secure the whopper swan's stable habitat. These results are expected to be a reference to the development or restoration of the river ecosystems, especially bridge construction.


Media-based modulation (MBM) is an attractive channel modulation scheme with rate, performance, and hardware advantages. In this paper, we are concerned with two important aspects of MBM. The first one is on the capacity of MBM and the other is on low-complexity detection of high-rate MBM signals using structured spare recovery techniques. We derive closed-form expression for the capacity of generalized MBM (GMBM). The main idea in the capacity analysis is to recognize that MBM uses two alphabets to convey information, namely, the source alphabet (e.g., QAM/PSK) and the channel alphabet (fade coefficients). This observation allows us to show that the capacity is achieved when the mutual information is maximized over the source-channel product alphabet. We then propose a greedy structured sparse recovery algorithm for the detection of GMBM signal vectors. The proposed algorithm is a two-stage algorithm in which support recovery is done in greedy manner first, followed by data detection in the nonzero positions. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves good performance at low complexity even when the system is highly underdetermined.


This research motivated by the fact that shows the student's lack of interest and ability in writing short stories. Writing short stories is considered as difficult by most of the student, especially on finding and expanding a topic into a whole stories. Therefore to apply a learning tehniques to write short stories in the form of Paraphrasing Tehniques with 180 Degrees Supposition. Formulation of problem in this research were: 1) how student's skill in writing short stories before and after the learning process by applying of Paraphrasing Tehniques with 180 Degrees Supposition in experiment class; 2) how student's skill in writing short stories before and after the learning process without applying of Paraphrasing Tehniques with 180 Degrees Supposition in control class?; are the any significant differences in student's skill in writing short stories in the experiment class and the control class? The purpose of this research itself is to describe the problems listed on the problems formulation. The type of this research is quasi-experiment using control group pretest-posttest design. The measuring instruments used during the research will be used as a success rate measurement of applying Paraphrasing Tehniques with 180 Degrees Supposition which is the result of the short stories written by the students. Population of this research are 8th grade students of SMP Negeri 15 Bandung with VIII-A students acting as the sample of experiment class and VIII-H acting as the sample of control class. Sample of each class consist of 33 students. Based on the result from hypothetical test by using SPSS 20.0, thitung score which taken from the average score gained from experiment class and control class is 7,175 > ttabel on significant level 95% and dk=64, it can be concluded that the result is 1,997. This result shows that the n-gain of experiment class and control class are significantly different from one and another. Therefore, it can be assumed that there are significant differences between the experiment class and control class after applying Paraphrasing Tehniques with 180 Degrees Supposition in learning to write short stories in experiment class.


Objective To observe the change of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene expression during 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation as well as other reference gene expressions.Methods The mRNA expressions of several common reference genes were detected by real time-PCR on day 0,1,3,5,and 7 of 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation.Western blot was used to confirm the protein expressions of three common reference genes.Results (1) GAPDH and transferrin receptor(TFRC) mRNA expressions were significantly increased during adipocyte differentiation.GAPDH mRNA level was increased by 5.7,7.6,22.0,and 24.5 folds on day 1,3,5,and 7 after induction of adipocyte differentiation,but no apparent changes of β-actin,α-tubulin,peptidylprolyl isomerase A (PIPA),and 18S mRNA expressions were detected.The expression changes of key transcript factors for adipocyte differentiation such as PPARγ2,C/EBPα,and C/EBPβ were under-estimated by real time-PCR if GAPDH was chosen as the reference gene.Western blotting results showed that the GAPDH protein level increased gradually during adipocyte differentiation,especially on day 5 and 7 after adipocyte differentiation.There were no obvious changes of β-actin and α-tubulin protein expressions.(2) Berberine significantly inhibited mRNA and protein expressions of GAPDH in the process of adipocyte differentiation.GAPDH mRNA levels were reduced by 68.1% and 66.3% on day 5 and 7 after induction of adipocyte differentiation,but with no significant change in other reference genes.Conclusion It is not suitable for GAPDH to be used as an endogenous reference gene during 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation.

Key words:
Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; Reference gene; Adipocyte differentiation; Berberine


OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of two kinds of skin disinfectants so as to explore the best skin disinfectants for the indwelling catheter of the children.METHODS The children aged from 2 months to 3 years old were recruited,and 500 cases were randomly extracted according to the order of indwelling catheterization and were divided into the observation group and the control group according to the table of random number;the two groups of children used the same indwelling needle and transparent applicators,which were 24 G safe indwelling needle of BD and the transparent applicator of 3 M.The skin disinfection of the observation group was carried out by using 2% chlorhexidine gluconate(CHG),while the control group was treated with compound iodine.RESULTS As compared with the related statistics between the observation group and the control group after using different skin disinfectants,the average disinfection stay dry time of the observation group was(14.64±1.31) seconds,the control group(58.93±4.82) seconds,(P 0.01);the success rate of the first time puncture was 88.4%,the control group 81.6%,the difference was statistically significant(P0.05);the loose rate of the transparent dressing of the observation group was 7.2%,the control group 25.6%,the difference was statistically significant(P0.01);the redness rate of the infusion site was 1.6% in the observation group and 4.8% in the control group,the difference was statistically significant(P0.05).CONCLUSION 2% chlorhexidine gluconate can be effectively used for the skin disinfection of clinical catheter indwelling of the children,with the disinfection stay dry time short,the success rate of the first time puncture high,the rate of loose transparent dressing low,and the redness rate of the puncture site low,it is worthy to be promoted in the hospital.


The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails. The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears … All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open Government.


The International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) assessment of silica as a probable human carcinogen rested on three evidentiary bases: (a) positive experimental rat model of pulmonary carcinogenesis via inhalation and injection; (b) elevated cancer (mostly lung) among silica-exposed workers; and (c) elevated pulmonary cancer risk among workers with extant silicosis, often diagnosed and recorded in conjunction with compensation registers (IARC, 1987). IARC indicated that the following epidemiology issues were of concern to the scientists on the Monograph writing committee 10 years ago. (1) Absence of dose-response findings; (2) Lack of adjustment for smoking; (3) Lack of adjustment for other possible confounding factors (i.e. radon, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, arsenic); and (4) Diagnostic bias of lung cancer among compensated silicotics. For these reasons, the evidence among humans was judged to be "limited".


Elections that take place regularly and provide for the orderly transition of power from one elected government to another are the cornerstone of democratic governance and political stability. During 2020–2021, the Covid-19 pandemic profoundly affected the conduct and integrity of elections worldwide. This paper notes a decline in clean elections across both democratic and non-democratic (hybrid and authoritarian) regimes that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. At the same time, there are important cases of electoral resilience displayed by democratic institutions and civil society. The paper offers policy recommendations for national governments, parliaments, electoral management bodies and international development organizations, and makes forward-looking conclusions.


Stable isotope labeling by SILAC‐based quantitative proteomics analysis provides an unprecedented tool for the study of mechanisms underlying the self‐renewal and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). While we recently reported a chemically defined SILAC culture system specific for a rare cell proteomic reactor (R. Tian et al., Mol. Cell. Proteomics 2011, 10, M110.000679), total hESC yield, prolonged self‐renewal capacity (i.e.<12 days), and laborious procedure remain substantial hurdles for its conventional application in hESC studies. Here, we devised an enhanced SILAC culture system consisting of a new chemically defined SILAC‐medium and a novel culture protocol. As a result, with much less culture maneuvers, approximately 40‐fold greater hESCs were produced than the system reported previously. Moreover, the enhanced SILAC culture system was sufficient to support the self‐renewal of hESCs for >60 days and was also highly reproducible. As such, it provides a new platform that can be readily adapted by general laboratory for further comprehensive SILAC‐based proteomics analysis of hESCs and induced pluripotent stem cells.


This document describes the applicability of the MPLS Transport
Profile (MPLS-TP) with use case studies and network design
considerations. The use cases include Metro Ethernet access and
aggregation transport, mobile backhaul, and packet optical transport.


Cyclosporin A and FK506, at concentrations that inhibited phosphatase activity of calcineurin in HL-60 cellular lysates, augmented the proliferation of leukemic HL-60 cells. These immunosuppressants did not affect Ia.25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(0H),D,]-induced monocytic differentiation of HL-60 cells, but did abrogate the 1,25(OH)zD3-induced inhibition of HL-60 cell growth. Treatment with 20 nrnol/L 1,25(OH)2D3 led to a progressive increase in calcineurin phosphatase activity in subcellular fractions from HL-60 cell extracts; the increase in this activity appeared to parallel the phenotypic and functional changes of HL-60 cells during monocytic differentiation induced by 1,25(OH),D3. lmmunoblot analysis indicated that increase in calcineurin activity was concor-


This paper introduces the practical investigation of the water fouling influence on condensers of steam turbines and the estimetion of the economic loss caused by the fouling. It states continuous self -clean and heat transmittance enhancement principles. By experiments,it is proved that the clean ability can meet requirements the condenser well. The enhancement ranges from 9% to 15%.After quite long continuous experimental operation, the condensers don't show any sign of wear and tear. After calculation and analysis, it is showed that using the technology can increase notably the degree of vacuum, output and efficiency.


A closed-circuit flotation flowsheet with one roughing,one scavenging and one cleaning was adopted for decarbonizing Fangshankou vanadium-bearing stone coal ore. With a total vanadium loss of 5. 82%,the V2O5 content was increased from 0. 95% to 1. 09%,and the calorific value for the decarbonized stone coal was reduced significantly from 2 404 kJ /kg to 239 kJ /kg,which are beneficial for the subsequent process. Furthermore,the carbon concentrate simultaneously prepared with a caloric value of 5 458 kJ /kg,can be used as fuel.


The South-Western area of Indian Ocean is standing with a complicated atmospheric circulation, known gradually by the european sailors. Firstly, they want to pass along the Mozambique Channel's coasts and afterwards, come by the East of Madagascar and the central archipelagoes. The main places of call are modified during several centuries and decline with the steamers and the Suez canal's opening. Nevertheless, the knowledge of sail routes, with their calls and shipwrecks'places is an international heritage, which can be valorized by many kinds of tourism, and an useful culture for a sustainable development.


Background: Hypertensive disorders are an important medical problem of gestation. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are a significant cause for maternal and fetal morbidity as well as mortality. Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) commonly describes the condition of fetus whose size or growth is subnormal. IUGR fetus is frequently described as symmetrical and asymmetrical IUGR in term of their body proportions. Asymmetric growth retardation is typically linked to uteroplacental inadequacy. Hypertension is one of the maternal causes of placental insufficiency. Aim: To compare head circumference and abdominal circumference ratio in normotensive and patients with pregnancy induced hypertensive disorders after 28 weeks of gestation. Methodology: A cross sectional analytical study was carried on 113 pregnant females in which 57 women were normotensive and 56 women were hypertensive. All individuals were scanned by two- dimensional ultrasound following 28 weeks of pregnancy to evaluate sonographic parameters HC and AC. The HC/AC ratio was estimated by dividing head circumference with abdominal circumference. Results: Out of 57 normotensive patients 27 (36.48%) fetuses were diagnosed with IUGR having HC/AC ratio more than 1, while 30 had normal HC/AC ratio. In 56 hypertensive patients 47(63.51%) fetuses were diagnosed with IUGR having HC/AC ratio greater than 1, however 9(23.07%) fetuses had HC/AC ratio within normal range. So out of total 113 patients, 74 fetuses were found with IUGR while 39 fetuses had HC/AC ratio within normal ranges. Our study found that a cut off value of ≥ 1.0974 for HC/AC ratio could be used as diagnostic parameter in predicting IUGR. Conclusion: HC/AC ratio is a useful parameter for the detection of IUGR. Keywords: Head Circumference, Abdominal Circumference, Intra Uterine Growth Retardation


The effect of addition of aliphatic alcohols (methanol, ethanol, and isopropyl alcohol) on the dissolution characteristics of calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum, CaSO4·2H2O) in brines has been studi...


By means of ecological principles and inventory methods, structure of regional wildlife protection system is discussed. Structural framework and protection measures for regional wildlife protection system in Huangshan city in Anhui province as a case study are put forward.


The use of a single-bit quantizer in a wideband CT<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta \Sigma \text{M}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is attractive, as the quantizer can be implemented in a power and area-efficient manner. Unfortunately, 1-bit CT<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta \Sigma $ </tex-math></inline-formula>Ms are plagued by a host of difficulties. Clock jitter and quantizer metastability are particularly problematic, and the higher loop filter linearity needed to process the full-scale feedback waveform results in increased power dissipation. The use of a finite impulse response (FIR) feedback DAC is a power efficient way of addressing the challenges above. However, even this technique runs into difficulties at multi-GHz clock rates. This paper introduces the idea of time-interleaved (TI) FIR feedback to enhance the performance of a conventional FIR DAC. A single-bit CT<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta \Sigma \text{M}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> that uses a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> TI-FIR DAC achieves 67.6/68.8/76 dB SNDR/SNR/DR in a 60 MHz bandwidth. Designed in a low leakage 65 nm CMOS process, the modulator operates at 6 GHz and occupies only 0.07 mm2. Its Walden Figure of Merit is 56.5 fJ/lvl.


Involved in the forming process of the workpiece material is weak and relatively high accuracy requirements. After argumenting and considering the plan of process scheme and the production volume, determing to use punching and blanking composite production processes. Mold base parts selection of national standards. And strive to achieve the mold structure streamlined process lowcost and reliable implementation, to meet production needs.


Pressure gradient driven m = 1 internal kink mode destabilization that follows an L-H transition is observed in the operational region of the EAST tokamak, which manifests in periodic oscillations in soft x-ray (SXR) and Mirnov coil signals. Using tomography with the high resolution soft x-ray detection array, we find that the rotation direction of the 1/1 kink mode is in the ion diamagnetic drift direction in poloidal cross-section. A large displacement of the hot core is attributable to the shift of the 1/1 internal kink mode. In contrast to stationary oscillations with fixed frequency, various frequency chirping behavior is observed with this 1/1 kink mode. Furthermore, we also occasionally observe that a 2/1 neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) is triggered by a 1/1 internal kink mode via mode coupling in a high-performance plasma. The spatial structure of a 2/2 mode, which is the harmonic mode of the 1/1 kink mode, is also presented in this paper. Large amounts of medium-Z impurities accumulate in the cen...


Furans are produced by reactions of β-keto-esters, β-diketones, and β-keto-sulphones with allenic sulphonium salts. Procedures are simple and yields are high. 2,3,4-Trisubstituted furans are typically produced by this method, which thus complements synthesis of 2,3,5-trisubstituted furans from prop-2-ynyl halides and β-keto-esters. Mechanistic aspects of the synthesis are briefly discussed.


The octapeptide Lys-Gly-Asp-Glu-Glu-Ser-Leu-Ala, also called "beefy meaty peptide" (BMP), is supposed in the literature to play a key role in the taste of meat. A procedure allowing its detection in beef extract down to a level of 1 ppm was developed using sample enrichment by solid-phase extraction and on-line detection by electrospray LC/MS. It is shown that detectable levels of BMP do not occur naturally, in beef digests, or in cooked or grilled beef. Furthermore, a thorough sensory evaluation showed that BMP, when tasted in water, is described as having a strong acid and astringent taste. Tasting in beef stock, both with and without added NaCl or monosodium glutamate, revealed that the compound has little or no detectable flavor or flavor enhancing properties. Therefore, BMP cannot be considered as a flavor carrier or a potential flavor enhancer. Keywords: Peptide; flavor; meat; taste; monosodium glutamate; beefy meaty peptide; liquid chromatography; mass spectrometry


Lisovskii, appointed Metropolitan of the Uniate Church in Russia by Alexander I, stressed its Eastern character and co-operated fully with the Russian State. From this it has been concluded that Lisovskii's reforms were preparation for the unification of his Church with the Russian Orthodox. That conclusion proves unfounded. Lisovskii remained loyal to the union with Rome and worked hard to maintain the autonomy of his Church in the Russian Empire. His success at developing a self-governing Church seemed likely to offer the Russian Empire some advantages of religious pluralism until the State changed its policy and ended his Church's life.


Inbred mouse strains show characteristic susceptibility to S. typhimurium infections. The sensitivity of the same strains to endotoxin is not parallel. While C3H/He J and C57B1/6J mice were highly ...


Efficiency in farming productivity and optimum utilization of resources in the agriculture sector in developing countries is a challenge that can be addressed with technological advancement. There is also a strong need to work on the farming community's engagement to make better farming decisions. This study aims to create an expert knowledge-based system (KBS) in a mobile application to help Indian farmers improve their agricultural practices and increase crop productivity. A prototype mobile application, 'Farm-n-Pedia,' is designed and used to fulfill the farmers' informational and engagement needs. It provides a tool for agriculture management using a single platform. The expert KBS incorporates a crowdsourcing system as part of the knowledge base and interface design. The mobile application enables the users to access the worldwide information they want, get personalized expert guidance, interact with the local agrarian community, know about the latest farming techniques and technology, crowdsource data collection and increase agricultural productivity.


We appreciate the interest shown in our recent paper by the Chairman of the British Orthodontic Society. Mr. Lumsden very properly reminds us that all research is limited by the measurement instruments we have available. There has undoubtedly been controversy about the PAR Index, but we feel justified in the use we have made of it in our paper for the following reasons. Whatever the shortcomings of the PAR Index, a mean pre-treatment score for the sample of 22.7 9.9 is low in comparison with that found in similar studies elsewhere, e.g. in England and Wales. The Scottish sample also included a substantial proportion of cases with mild malocclusions—e.g. the mildest case had a pre-treatment score of 6 PAR points (which is well below the mean of the posttreatment scores). Nor did we rely wholly on the PAR Index. The two components of IOTN also suggested that treatment need was lower in this Scottish sample than in similar material from England and Wales. As we have pointed out repeatedly in recent papers, it is difficult to establish a measurable improvement due to treatment when initial scores are low. For example, a case canot be categorised as 'Greatly Improved', in PAR terms, unless the pre-treatment PAR score is above 21. Therefore, in order to appreciate the results achieved by specialist orthodotists in Scotland, it is necessary to be aware that the initial scores were generally lower than might be expected in a study of this type. That said, we concede that the material was gathered during 1993/4 and may not represent the current situation. Yours faithfully,


The utility model discloses a testing device for a puncture force of a medical needle. The testing device is characterized by comprising an actuating mechanism, a needle mounting base, a needle mounting clamp, a force measuring mechanism and a simulated skin clamp, wherein the needle mounting clamp is used for mounting the medical needle; the force measuring mechanism is mounted on the needle mounting base, and the needle mounting clamp is mounted on the force measuring mechanism; the actuating mechanism drives the needle mounting base, the force measuring mechanism and the needle mounting clamp to move towards the simulated skin clamp; the force measuring mechanism is used for measuring resistance applied on the medical needle to determine the size of the puncture force of the medical needle; the actuating mechanism comprises a driving mechanism and a transmission mechanism, the driving mechanism drives the needle mounting base, the force measuring mechanism and the needle mounting clamp to move towards the simulated skin clamp through the transmission mechanism; the driving mechanism is a servo motor. The testing device, for the puncture force of the medical needle, disclosed by the utility model has simple structure, precise control and small size, can avoid damage due to the overload of the force measuring mechanism, prolongs the mechanical life of the testing device for the puncture force of the medical needle, and further is convenient to operate and low in cost.


The article represents the research of economic aspects of state regulation of fees and payments, which air carriers pay to airports, in the context of the policy for sustainable development of the aviation industry on the basis of economic efficiency and competitiveness conditions on the market of air transportation services. The article researches the financial and economic conditions of airports-air carriers' relationships, states the role of the government in the regulation of tariffs for airports services payments, defines the main types of the procedure for calculation, setting and coordinating the tariffs. The article examines the experience of the European Union of harmonization of the tariff-setting procedures for airport services along the application of Common Aviation Area of the EU. The article proposes the three main approaches for tariff policy regulation and reveals their impact on the development of airports and the aviation industry as a whole.


A data-driven approach for forecasting returns of asset prices is introduced. Special emphasis is given to data-driven specification and to dimension reduction. Specification is performed by a modified AIC, BIC-based An-algorithm. Quasi-static principal component analysis, quasi-static factor models with idiosyncratic errors and reduced rank regression are considered. The forecasting results obtained are compared. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.


Entrepreneurial ventures need frequently to adapt. Yet their adaptive capacity is often limited by the legacies of imprinted founding characteristics. The question then arises whether it is possible to explain and manage the imprinting process so that the capacity to adapt is enhanced, rather than diminished. I address this question by developing a model of the microfoundations of imprinting based in collective memory. I argue that entrepreneurial founding teams naturally develop transactive autobiographical memory systems. By partially managing the design and imprinting of these memory systems, I argue that founders may improve their venture's long–term capacity to adapt.


The mobility of the aged and disabled in third world nations is really a formidable humanitarian, technological, biological, psychological, sociological, and medical challenge. Nearly 10 percent are handicapped due to one reason or the other. The affluence ranges from 10 to 15 percent. About 80 percent live in the rural areas of these nations. The indoor and outdoor mobility aspects deserve priority attention. Committed and dedicated innovative interdisciplinary teamwork is needed to provide low to moderate cost mobility aids. A need based, application oriented, realistic, and feasible approach is required to improve the situation. Added to the disabled, the higher longevity has further aggravated an already formidable task. All through, voluntary agencies have played and continue to play a very vital role in the rehabilitation of millions of handicapped. The socioeconomic and cultural aspects deserve consideration while developing mobility aids and appliances. Added to all these factors, natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, and epidemics frequent these nations every year.


The objective of this work was preparation of inclusion complexes of amlodipine base and its besylate and maleate salts with hydroxy propyl s -cyclodextrin to improve the dissolution and to investigate the stereospecific dissolution of amlodipine enantiomers.
Different techniques like physicl mixing, kneading and solvent evaporation were tried to prepare the inclusion complexes of amlodipine base and its besylate and maleate salts with hydroxy propyl β-cyclodextrin (HPBC). Dissolution of prepared inclusion complexes was performed using USP type II apparatus in 0.1 N HCl at 75 rpm with temperature being maintained at 37±0.5 o C. Chromatographic separation of amlodipine enantiomers was performed on a Shimadzu HPLC System (Japan) equipped with UV-Visible detector using Chiral AGP column (100 x 4.6 mm I.D., 5μ particle size).
Improvement in the dissolution was found with racemic amlodipine base where as no improvement was found with amlodipine besylate and maleate salts (p>0.05). This indicates the formation of inclusion complexes with only racemic amlodipine base (p< 0.05) which was also supported by their FTIR and DSC spectra.
In case of physical mixing no inclusion complexes were formed even with enantiomers of amlodipine base (p>0.05). Stereospecific dissolution was observed with pure enantiomers of amlodipine base when its inclusion complexes were prepared by solvent evaporation method with l:1 & 1:2 molar ratios but not with 1:3 molar ratio.


Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) are the best standard candles known today. At high redshift ($z\sim1$) SNe Ia are used to determine the Cosmological Constant Lambda with great success. However the most serious concern is raised by thepossible luminosity evolution of the SNe Ia explosion itself, i.e., that their intrinsic luminosity might vary with the look-back time. It is unknown to which extent high-redshift SNe Ia can directly be compared to near SNe Ia in order to determine Lambda. A possibility to circumvent this problem is to restrict the analysis to nearby SNe Ia situated preferably in E/S0 galaxies. Since the signal will be much smaller, we have to consider an substantial sample. As there are not enough data yet available, we conducted our analysis based on 200 synthetic SNe Ia with a luminosity scatter $\sigma_{\mathrm{m}}=0.^{\mathrm{m}}12$ (derived from observations) assuming a homogeneous space distribution and a limiting distance of $z\leq0.16$. We show that this kind of data, which we expect from future observations, will allow us to distinguish between a matter dominated or Lambda-dominated ($\Omega_{\mathrm{M}}=0.3$, $\Omega_{\mathrm{\Lambda}}=0.7$) universe with a significance of up to 2-3 sigma.


The finite one-loop parts of the Rarita-Schwinger self-energy in the gauge ..cap alpha gamma..xpsi+(1-..cap alpha..)..gamma../sup a/delta/sup ..mu..//sub a/psi/sub ..mu../ satisfy the transversality Ward identity in the new regularization scheme by dimensional reduction but not in conventional dimensional regularization. Diagonalizing and then omitting the nonpropagating Lorentz ghosts, new vertices in the non-Lorentz ghost sectors do contribute. The criteria for deriving Ward identities involving tracelessness of structure constants are shown to be equivalent to the unit Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin Jacobian provided the gauge algebra closes.


The equations for two‐dimensional Hartmann flow through ducts of rectangular cross section are solved numerically by the Peaceman–Rachford alternating direction implicit method for boundary conditions appropriate to those encountered in a Faraday magnetohydrodynamic generator. Cross‐stream variation in fluid electrical condictivity as well as variable conductivity of the electrode walls are considered and quantities such as velocity distribution, current streamline distribution, volume flow rate, and conversion efficiency are obtained for a range of Hartmann numbers up to M=100. Results show that decreasing the electrical conductivity in a continuous manner from a high value near the walls to a minimum along the duct axis leads to a high velocity region near the duct axis, a result differing from the essential slug flow character found for Hartmann flows of constant conductivity fluids at high M. The known one‐dimensional Hartmann flow solutions are found to give excellent agreement with the two‐dimensional results for constant conductivity fluids whenever the product of the duct aspect ratio and the square root of the Hartmann number is greater than about ten.


The purpose of this study is to develop a readiness program which will be an aid in eliminating many failures in reading and to help the children be happy while learning to read.


Probably the most striking feature of developed turbulence is its intermittent spatial and temporal behavior. The structures that arise in a random flow manifest themselves as high peaks at random places and at random times. The intervals between them are characterized by a low intensity and a large size. Rare high peaks are responsible for PDF tails while the regions of low intensity contribute PDF near zero. That physical picture prompts an attempt to describe intermittency at the level of a single-point PDF by two complementary approaches. The first approach was recently introduced to describe rare strong fluctuations as optimal fluctuations realizing probability extrema [1–5]. Called an instanton approach, this formalism is based upon a path-integral representation of conditional probability with optimal fluctuations being saddle points in the integral. A counterpart to the instanton approach is suggested here for the description of gradient PDF at small values, the approach is just an adiabatics when high-order spatial derivatives are consistently neglected. The center anomaly and tails of the gradient PDF are two sides of the same coin called intermittency which is the main target in modern turbulence studies. It this Letter, we demonstrate how both methods applied together give a consistent description of the gradient PDF. Note that the intermediate part of the PDF (which is beyond our approaches) where the matching of the asymptotics occurs is not that interesting because it is nonuniversal i.e. depends on the particular form of the pumping correlation function. The central peak and the tail are robust, their form provides the main information on the probability of both main body of the events and strong fluctuations. Let us show how such a description can be developed by using, probably, the simplest (yet nontrivial) turbulent problem of a passive scalar �(x,t) advected by onedimensional random flowv(x,t) which is smooth in space and white in time (this is a compressible version [6] of a well-known Kraichnan model [7]):


We perform ab initio density functional theory calculations to investigate the hydrogen storage capacity in the Fe-decorated, OH-functionalized isoreticular metal organic framework 16. The hydroxyl group (OH) is used as an anchor to hold an Fe atom firmly on the metal organic framework, and the hydrogen molecules are bound to the Fe atom through hybridization with Fe d orbitals. We show that each Fe atom in this modified MOF can bind up to four H2 molecules with an adequate binding energy for room-temperature storage (∼29 kJ/mol). The transition from the high-spin to the low-spin configuration is found to be crucial in enhancing the number of bound H2 as well as the binding energy. Equilibrium thermodynamics calculations accompanied with grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations give a very promising result, namely, a reversibly usable gravimetric storage density of 6.0 wt % at 298 K and 100 atm.


The malfunction of a digital circuit has been investigated from the viewpoint of the IC as its constituent. However, little has been reported from the viewpoint of electrical contact which is one of the principal causes of the malfunction. In the research reported here, simple automatic measurement equipment has been developed which counts the malfunctions of a digital circuit. Measurement has been done with this equipment under various circuit conditions. As a result, it was found that malfunctions of digital circuits not only increase with the load circuit current, but may decrease when the circuit current exceeds a certain value depending on the parallel capacitance between contacts. As the parallel capacitance between contacts increases, the region in which malfunctions are likely to occur shifts toward a larger current side. It was found that these elements are related closely to the region of showering arc generation which is one of the discharge modes at the time electrical contacts open. Also, since the parallel capacitance between contacts is larger, the 0 percent malfunction rate is approached while the wiring spacing between the inductive and induced wires is closer. For this characteristic, the frequency spectrum of the dielectric breakdown region of the showering arc voltage waveform has been derived.


Patients suffering from chronic non-healing wounds must deal with long-term physical pain, emotional distress, and financial burden. Monitoring of wound-exudate from chronic wounds could improve the efficacy of patient care, leading to improved treatment outcomes. We present a flexible bandage sized multi-site wound monitoring system with an on-board wireless embedded system consisting of four potentiostat analog front ends and a temperature sensor. This embedded system interfaces with four flexible electrochemical sensors screen-printed onto wound dressings for uric acid sensing; a biomarker for monitoring wound healing. This system measures uric acid levels at multiple sites of a single wound, allowing for spatial resolution when evaluating healing of large wounds. This work demonstrates the ability of this system to measure uric acid in-vitro. The system transmits potentiostat data to a remote data aggregator such as a tablet or smartphone, and can operate for up to 10 days powered by the on-board 350 mAh lithium polymer battery.


Background: Lymphatic Filariasis commonly known as elephantiasis is a painful and profoundly disfiguring
disease that has a major social and economic impact. Mass Drug Administration (MDA) programme for the
elimination Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) has been implemented globally since 1997 and the MDA campaign
launched in India during 2004 to interrupt the transmission of Lymphatic Filariasis
Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted from 13th to16th June, 2019 in
Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. The three rural and one urban area of Vizianagaram district were
selected using multistage cluster sampling technique Clusters of 30 houses from one village of each PHC
and one ward of urban area with a total of 120 households were selected for the study.
Results: A total of 120 households covering 456 population were surveyed out of which 47.1% were male
and rest 52.9 % were females. Overall drug distribution coverage is 94% and effective coverage rate is 88%.
Conclusions: There is a pressing need to promote operational research on possible transmission from nearby
districts and confirmatory mapping of uncertain areas. Further qualitative comprehensive studies with more
diverse participants are needed to ascertain the causal relationship.


Background The drug survival rate of tofacitinib in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) has not been reported so far. Objectives To determine the tofacitinib drug survival rate and the factors that may affect it in patients with RA from a single rheumatology clinic. Methods We have retrospectively analysed the track records of RA patients to whom tofacitinib was prescribed between June 2014 to December 2017. Descriptive analysis includes sex, duration of disease, autoantibody association, smoking, major trauma exposure, initiation in DMARD/Anti-TNF resistant patients, monotherapy/use in combination with DMARD. According to the duration of the disease, the patients were grouped as early (0–4 year), established (5–10 year), and late RA (>10 year). Drug survival was estimated using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and the independent variables that may affect the discontinuation were investigated by log-rank test and modelled by Backward Stepwise Cox regression analysis. Tofacitinib was prescribed to patients who were resistant to at least three different types of csDMARDs. Low- dose Steroid (below 10 mg) and NSAID drugs were used as needed. Results During the study period, 192 (163 F, 85%) patients were prescribed tofacitinib in our clinic. Median age was 5621–81 years, the median age at onset was 456–72 years, and median disease duration was 101–40 years. In this study, the ratio of RF and anti-CCP positivity were 63% and 60%, respectively. 33% of patients were seronegative. The patients with a smoking history were 26%, and exposure to major trauma was 16%. 15% of patients were early, 31% established, and 54% late Ra. Tofacitinib was prescribed in 92 (48%) bio-naive and 100 (52%) bio-experienced patients. It was used as monotherapy in 112 (58%) and in combination with csDMARDs 80 (42%). The drug survival rates in Kaplan Meier analysis were 77% at 3rd, 69% at 6th, 62% at 12th, 54% at 18th and 49% at 24th, 49% at 30th months. Tofacitinib was discontinued in 51 (27%) patients due to no response and in 22 (11%) patients due to side effects. None of the independent variables in regression analysis showed a relationship to tofacitinib discontinuation (p>0.05). During the follow-up period, one patient had breast cancer, and one had recurrent pneumonia. There were no tuberculosis or shingles cases reported. Two patients died from pulmonary thromboembolism. Conclusions We found that drug survival rates of tofacitinib in RA patients were 77% at 3rd month, 69% at 6th month, 62% at 12thmonth, 54% at 18th month and 49% at 24th month, 49% at 30th months. The main cause of discontinuation of the drug was inefficiency and the loss of efficiency. We could not find any link between the predetermined independent variables and the drug discontinuation. This result raises questions about why the drug loses its efficacy in some patients in time, and how this could be preventable. Acknowledgements One of the theories of autoimmunity is that Damage -Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMPs) may give rise to autoimmune inflammation. We were curious about how many of patients suffered from major trauma, which was defined as accidents terminated with fractures and dislocations or falls from a height of at least three metres. Disclosure of Interest None declared


As the workplace becomes increasingly virtual in nature, schools are under pressure to provide their students with new types of experiences and skills. Online communication technologies are vital tools in support of knowledge management functions within organizations. These tools can be very expensive for businesses and are often too expensive for schools to acquire. Schools can, however, take an alternative approach to the preparation of their students that will make preparation for the virtual workplace possible, while at the same time creating new opportunities for employers. Employers will gain workers that are ready to take their place in virtual workplaces and have an opportunity to consider more efficient and effective tools to support the virtual activities of their organizations. AbstrAct


Silicon nanowire (SiNW)/Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) Schottky junctions have shown great promise as high efficiency, cost effective solar cells. Here, hybrid SiNWs/PEDOT:PSS blended graphene oxide (GO) solar cells are prepared and investigated. The SiNWs/PEDOT:PSS blended GO cells show enhanced light trapping and a large junction area when compared to pure PEDOT:PSS structures. SiNWs combined with GO solar cells show energy conversion efficiencies of up to 9.57% under the AM 1.5G condition, opening the possibility of using semiconductor/graphene oxide in photovoltaic applications.


Although auditory acuity experiments in animals are valuable, this is not how animals typically encounter real world sounds. It is also important to know how animals respond to stimuli at more ''realistic'' intensities. The perception of above‐threshold level sounds has been well documented in humans, but is much less studied in animals, where acoustic communication is important for survival. In humans, equal loudness contours are used to show that loudness does not increase with intensity equally at all frequencies. Loudness is a subjective experience, however, and much harder to measure in animals. Reaction time is one untrained response that can be used to gauge how different or similar two stimuli are: high intensities yield short and low intensities yield long reaction times. Comparing reaction times across frequencies (equal latency contours) in birds and mammals show results that are similar to equal loudness contours obtained in humans. At low SPLs equal‐latency contours closely parallel threshold curves, while at high SPLs the contours flatten and all frequencies are perceived as being about the same loudness. These results in animals should be considered when thinking about aspects of acoustic communication such as sound transmission, vocal signals designs, and sound‐attenuating properties of the environment.


Background Interstitial lung disease (ILD) evaluation is challenging, given the low sensitivity of X-ray and pulmonary function tests, and limited accessibility and radiation linked to repetitive HRCT. Lung Ultrasound (US) has shown potential in the evaluation of ILD of autoimmune diseases including systemic sclerosis. Objectives To define and asses the reliability of definitions of US-detected findings in ILD. Methods A taskforce (TF) within the OMERACT US WG performed a literature review (LR) to identify US lesions in ILD, a Delphi exercise to define these lesions and a web-based exercise to test the reliability of these definitions by using either intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) or kappa statistics. Prior to the Delphi exercise all participants received training files and were subsequently asked to provide clips on BL, PLI and normal findings. Based on the results of the LR, which identified B-lines (BL) and pleural line irregularity (PLI) as main US findings in ILD, the Delphi exercise contained statements on US definitions on BL and PLI. After reaching agreement (> 75%) on the above mentioned items, a set of 80 high-quality clips (30 for PLI, 50 for BL), was selected and distributed to the TF members in order to score them (semiquantitatively, 0-2 for PLI and total number for BL) Results The 3 Delphi rounds and the web-based exercise were completed by 24 and 22 sonographers, respectively. Final definitions are reported in Table I. The web-based exercise showed moderate inter-reader reliability for both BL (ICC=0.61) and PLI (kappa=0.69). Table I: definitions of PLI and BL Pleural line irregularity (PLI ): a loss of regularity that may be associated with an increase in thickness, focal, diffuse, or nodular B-line (BL ): a vertical hyperechoic reverberation artifacts that arise from the pleural line, extend to the bottom of the screen without fading, and move synchronously with lung sliding Conclusion US is a candidate imaging modality to identify and monitor ILD in rheumatic diseases; US consensus based definitions of main US findings were defined and endorsed. Further development is planned for validating US as an outcome measurement instrument for ILD. Disclosure of Interests Andrea Delle Sedie Speakers bureau: Abbvie, UCB, Celgene, MSD, Lene Terslev Speakers bureau: Speakers fee from : Roche, Novartis, Pfizer, MSD, BMS, Celgene, George Bruyn : None declared, Tomás Cazenave: None declared, stavros chrysidis: None declared, Mario Diaz: None declared, Marco Di Carlo: None declared, Marilena Frigato: None declared, Luna Gargani: None declared, Marwin Gutierrez: None declared, ALOJZIJA HOCEVAR: None declared, Annamaria Iagnocco: None declared, Aaron Juche: None declared, Peter Mandl: None declared, Esperanza Naredo Consultant for: Abbvie, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, UCB, Lilly, Novartis, Janssen, and Celgene GmbH, Mohammed A Mortada: None declared, Carlos Pineda: None declared, Francesco Porta: None declared, Viviana Ravagnani: None declared, Carlo Alberto Scirè: None declared, Teodora Serban: None declared, Kate Smith: None declared, Maria Stoenoiu Grant/research support from: Abbvie, Roche, Wyeth, Marika Tardella: None declared, Karina Torralba: None declared, Richard Wakefield: None declared, Maria-Antonietta d'Agostino: None declared


The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI), tourism revenues and financial development on the quality of the environment on the E-7 countries for the period 1995-2016. In this study, sustainability and homogeneity test were performed to select the correct model. Sustainability and homogeneity have proven that sustainability and homogeneity analysis models can be used. The multifaceted relationship between variables is estimated by the westerlund cointegration test, cointegration coefficients CCE estimator and causality by causality analysis. According to the findings of the analysis, a long-lasting relationship between environmental quality, FDI, tourism and financial development has been determined and it has been found that FDI has reduced the quality of the environment, but tourism development and financial development have increased the quality of the environment. According to the findings of causality analysis, it is concluded that there are two-way causality between environmental quality and FDI, tourism and financial development.


The assembly of placing and separate the tissue, including tissue separation device extending along the shaft, and the shaft having a distal shaft portion. Tissue separation device comprises a movable tip separation portion between the operating state of outwardly extending spaced apart from the stored state and the distal shaft portion facing the distal shaft portion to the tip shaft portion. Tissue disposed assembly has an expandable end portion in a radial direction. With elongated coupler, the tissue disposed assembly can be docked to the tissue separator.


Ende, an Austronesian language of eastern Indonesia, is classified as a Bima-Sumba language by Esser (1938) in the Central MalayoPolynesian (CMP) subgroup (Blust 1993). With very little linguistic research in the CMP languages and almost no linguistic research on Ende, I have taken a preliminary look at the possessive system of Ende, specifically focusing on one of the possessive structures; namely, the structure of the ghi '3SG.POSS' and ghu '2SG.POSS', which appear to have many adnominal and clausal properties.