Summary Direct quantitative measurements of both basic ventricular threshold and ventricular fibrillary threshold were made in dogs prior to and during progressive immersion hypothermia. No change in basic ventricular threshold was observed as rectal temperature fell from 38°C to 22°C. At the same time, ventricular fibrillary threshold showed a 5-fold decrease. Neither maintenance of a normal serum pH during cooling nor prolonged cold exposure prior to the hypothermic episode altered the decrease in ventricular fibrillary threshold.


In this paper, sensing characteristics of the FET-type gas sensor having WS2 nanoparticles as a sensing layer deposited using ink-jet printer are analyzed with various measurement conditions. In case of using DC measurement method, the transfer curve has a large hysteresis gap due to charge trapping in the sensing layer. For this reason, we adopt a pulse measurement. Transient response of the FET-type gas sensor is measured with NO2 concentrations using DC and pulse measurement methods. Through adopting pulse measurement, drift characteristics of the gas sensor are suppressed and recovery characteristics are improved. As NO2 concentration increases, response rate of the gas sensor increases. As a result, the gas sensing characteristics of the FET-type sensor having WS2 sensing layer are improved effectively by using pulse measurement method.


Extended networks of nanosized semiconductor particles permeated with an electrolyte display unique electrochemical behaviors. We report on a general investigation of the electrochemical properties of nanoporous electrodes by means of cyclic voltammetry. Models have been developed accounting for the fundamental characteristics of these electrodes:  charge accumulation, charge transport, and interfacial charge transfer. These characteristics can be translated into simple electrical equivalents, which allow us to identify and classify the major features of voltammetry response according to the competition of the different processes during a voltammetric scan. A key point for describing the experimental observations is the potential dependence of the intrinsic film capacitance. The physical meaning of this capacitance is discussed in terms of the distribution of electronic states. We describe in detail the numerical simulation methods, and despite the simplicity of our approach, we show that these methods al...


The protection of companies' confidential information and documents submitted to the Competition Commission and Competition Tribunal is extremely important. Companies are often called upon to provide confidential information relating to their strategic operations, which they would not want in the hands of the public or competitors. This is particularly relevant in the case of applications by companies for immunity for cartel conduct in terms of the Commission's corporate leniency policy.


A Transaction Specification and Management Environment (TSME) is a transaction processing system toolkit that supports the definition and construction of application-specific extended transaction models (ETMs). The TSME provides a transaction specification language that allows a transaction model designer to create implementation-independent specifications of extended transactions. In addition, the TSME provides a programmable transaction management mechanism that assembles and configures a run-time environment to support specified ETMs. The authors discuss the TSME in the context of a distributed object management system (DOMS), and describe specifications of extended transactions and corresponding configurations of transaction management mechanisms.<<ETX>>


【Objective】The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of transgene Cry1Ab on carbon metabolism characteristics in rice.【Method】Transgenic Bt(Cry1Ab) rice KMD1 and its parent Xiushui 11,as well as three pairs of Bt and non-Bt rice near-isogenic lines which were derived from the progeny of crosses and continuous backcrosses between the KMD1 and Minghui 63,R3027 and 99Ya162,respectively,were field grown and measured for the content of chlorophyll and soluble sugar,the activity of RuBPCase,sucrose synthetase and sucrose phosphate synthase in leaves,the dry weight and organic carbon accumulation per plant at different developmental stages.【Result】At tillering stage,KMD 1 had significant lower contents of chlorophyll a,chlorophyll b and soluble sugar,lower activities of sucrose synthetase and sucrose phosphate synthase,and lower dry weight and organic carbon accumulation than those of Xiushui 11,but no significant differences between other 3 pairs of Bt and non-Bt rice lines were observed in all physiological indexes tested.At full heading stage,the activity of sucrose phosphate synthase of KMD1 was significantly higher than that of Xiushui 11,although its dry weight and organic carbon accumulation were significantly lower,while Bt R3027 showed a significant lower sucrose synthetase activity and Bt 99Ya162 showed significant higher soluble sugar content and sucrose phosphate synthase activity than the non-Bt type,respectively.At maturity stage,no significant differences were found in dry weight and organic carbon accumulation in four pairs of Bt and non-Bt rice lines.【Conclusion】Significant change of most physiological indexes related to carbon metabolism in transgenic rice KMD 1 was resulted from somaclonal variations,while the effect of Cry1Ab gene on individual index in other 3 pairs of Bt and non-Bt rice near-isogenic lines was transitory and related to the genetic background of Bt gene incorporation.


Hydroxyapatite (HAp, Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) and magnesium substituted HAp scaffolds were hydrothermally synthesised from the cuttlefish bone. The compositional and morphological properties of the scaffold were studied by means of X-ray powder diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy. Total conversion of aragonite to HAp was confirmed while original highly porous interconnected structure was preserved. The HAp structure was refined with Rietveld refinement and used as initial structure for magnesium substituted samples. As HAp can incorporate only a limited amount of Mg2+ into structure, whitlockite (WH, Ca18Mg2(HPO4)2(PO4)12) is formed from the Mg2+ excess. As analysis confirmed formation of nonstoichiometric AB-type carbonated HPO42substituted HAp, main component of natural bone, and formation of magnesium rich WH phase, found in human body, synthesised scaffolds should have improved biological properties compared to synthetic stoichiometric HAp.


Fears have been voiced that excessive tissue heating could occur in the event that first, a surface coil is placed with its axis parallel to the transmitting rffield leading to a maximal coupling of the two coils and second, the decoupling circuit of the surface coil breaks down. To avoid an rf coupling of the transmitting body coil to the receive‐only surface coil, conventionally applied surface coils are equipped with an active electronic rf decoupling circuit. In extensive worst‐case experiments on phantoms we have shown that no tissue heating occurs for surface coils which are equipped with semiconductor varicap diodes for tuning and matching. These coils should be safe for patient applications even if the decoupling circuit fails. Surface coils equipped with mechanically variable capacitors are generally passively decoupled. To simulate the worst‐case situation phantom experiments were performed in which a surface coil of this type having no passive decoupling circuit was coupled to the transmitter coil by its geometric position. Theoretical calculations, in agreement with the experimental results achieved during a 15‐min measurement in a 1.5‐T MRI whole‐body imager, show that a significant rfpower deposition in the tissue underneath the coil wire occurs, leading typically to a local specific absorption rate of 24 W /kg and a local temperature rise of 52°C. © 1989 Academic Press, Inc.


Objective:To compare the application of multi-micrological techniques in detecting apoptosis. Methods: Herceptin was used to induce the apoptosis of breast cancer cells SKBR-3.Then the apoptosis was detected under light microscope with Gieamsa staining, fluorescence microscope with EB or Hoechst staining, laser confocal microscope (LCM) with Annexin V/PI staining, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Results: With the treatment of Herceptin, the various apoptotic characters of breast cancer cells SKBR-3 were clearly observed under fluorescence microscope with Hoechst staining, LCM, SEM and TEM. Conclusion: The different kinds of micrological techniques have both the advantages and the disadvantages. The various kinds of detecting techniques should be used to detect the apoptosis availably.


Congenital neural tube defects (NTDs) are the most common central nervous system congenital defect and among the most common congenital malformations of all organ systems. NTDs are the leading cause of neonatal and infant mortality and childhood disability. The objective was to develop risk groups for having children with NTDs among reproductive-age women based on the detection of endogenous and exogenous risk factors and …


Under Law No. 20 Year 2003 on National Education System states that learners should develop the potential for him to represent the spiritual power of religion, self-control, personality, intelligence, noble character, and skills needed him, society, nation and state. To achieve these points, the government made education curriculum guiding the learning process. In third grade elementary school curriculum, there is material on object motion. The material is part of the Natural Science subjects in second semester. The existence of interactive multimedia learning (MPI) can help teachers to design learning creatively. With the creative design of learning expected learning process into an innovative, exciting, more iteractive, more effective, the quality of student learning can be enhanced learning, teaching and learning can be done any where and at any time, and the attitude and interest in students learning can be improved.


Question In age-related macular degeneration (AMD), do antioxidant vitamin or mineral supplements reduce risk for progression? Review scope Included studies compared antioxidant vitamins or minerals (vitamins C or E, carotenoids including lutein and zeaxanthin, selenium, or zinc), alone or in combination, with placebo or no intervention in patients with AMD. Outcomes included progression to late AMD (neovascular AMD or geographic atrophy), vision loss, and adverse effects. Review methods MEDLINE, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, AMED, OpenGrey, and electronic trial registries to Mar 2017; Science Citation Index; and reference lists were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). 19 RCTs (n =11162, mean age 65 to 75 y, median 55% to 57% women, follow-up 6 mo to 7 y) met the inclusion criteria and evaluated 1 multivitamin or mineral. Most data were obtained from 2 large RCTs (n =7843). 9 RCTs evaluated multivitamins; 6 zinc; 5 lutein (including 2 of lutein plus zeaxanthin), 10 or 20 mg/d; and 1 vitamin E, 400 IU/d. Multivitamin ingredients and daily multivitamin and zinc doses varied across trials. 2 RCTs compared multivitamins with no intervention; all other RCTs included a placebo control. 12 RCTs had adequate allocation concealment, 13 blinded patients and study personnel, 12 blinded outcome assessors for visual acuity, 14 blinded outcome assessors for AMD progression, and 8 had adequate completeness of data. Main results The main results are in the Table. Adverse effects were not consistently reported. Conclusion In age-related macular degeneration, antioxidant multivitamins and zinc each decrease progression. Antioxidant vitamin and/or mineral supplements vs placebo or no intervention (control) for age-related macular degeneration (AMD)* Supplement Outcomes Number of trials (n) Risk group Weighted event rates At a mean 6.3 y (based on largest trial in analyses) Supplement Control OR (95% CI) NNT (CI) Multivitamins and minerals Late AMD 3 (2445) Low 1.1% 1.5% 0.72 (0.58 to 0.90) 250 (167 to 1000) High 35% 43% 13 (8 to 39) Vision loss 1 (1791) Low 1.2% 1.5% 0.77 (0.62 to 0.96) 334 (167 to 1000) High 37% 43% 16 (10 to 100) Zinc Late AMD 3 (3790) Low 1.2% 1.5% 0.83 (0.70 to 0.98) High 39% 43% 23 (12 to 200) Vision loss 2 (3791) Low 1.3% 1.5% 0.87 (0.75 to 1.00) NS High 40% 43% NS Event rates** RRR (CI) at mean 5 y Lutein + zeaxanthin Late AMD 1 (6891) All 27% 29% 6% (1 to 13) NS Vision loss 1 (6656) All 30% 31% 2% (5 to 9) NS RRI (CI) at mean 4 y Vitamin E Late AMD 1 (998) All 0.81% 0.60% 36% (69 to 505) NS Vision loss 1 (1179) All 10% 9.6% 4% (26 to 47) NS *AREDS = Age-Related Eye Disease Study; NS = not significant; OR = odds ratio; other abbreviations defined in Glossary. RRR, RRI, and CI calculated from risk ratios in article using a fixed-effect model. NNT and CI calculated from control and supplement event rates and CIs in Summary of Findings tables in the article. Some studies analyzed outcomes by patient and some by eye. Low risk = AREDS category 2; high-risk = AREDS category 4. Control group rates for low- and high-risk patients were estimated in the article from rates in the largest trial in the meta-analysis (AREDS); supplement group rates were based on control group rates and the relative effect of supplements. Loss of 3 lines on logMAR chart or loss 9 or 15 letters of acuity. Risk difference =0.3% (95% CI 0% to 0.4%). **Event rates calculated from numbers of events and patients in each group. Commentary AMD is a common cause of adult blindness in developed countries (1). Could a simple intervention, such as a daily vitamin or mineral supplement, prevent disease or delay the progression of existing disease? The reviews by Evans and colleagues address these questions and are important for several reasons. First, health care professionals are often confronted with questions from well-read patients about the use of vitamins and mineral supplements to reduce, avoid, or slow disease progression. Second, patients are continually bombarded with medical information through the media, both print and electronic (e.g., use of pop-up ads based on Web-browsing history, e-mail offers), and through industry-sponsored television commercials that promote both prescription and nonprescription medications for existing or potential diseases. Not all of this information is accurate or supported by evidence, and health care professionals can use the results of the reviews by Evans and colleagues to put this information in context and help individual patients discern the risks and benefits of interventions for AMD. Third, questions about preventing disease and delaying disease progression address 2 different things. What should patients take or avoid if they do not want to develop AMD? What should they take or avoid to arrest progression of existing AMD? RCTs included in the review about prevention were methodologically sound, comparing vitamins, multivitamins and minerals, and -carotene with placebo. None of the supplements prevented or delayed the onset of AMD, and their use for this purpose should be avoided. Multivitamins may slightly increase risk for any AMD but not late AMD. In the review evaluating treatments to delay progression of AMD, RCTs compared antioxidant vitamin or mineral supplements with placebo or no intervention and found that multivitamins decreased progression of neovascular disease and late AMD, although the benefits were based mainly on the results of 1 large trial. The apparent contradiction in the value of multivitamins for AMD is confusing to patients and providers alike. How should we counsel patients who are asking about prevention of AMD? First, we need to inform our patients that the sum of evidence to date shows no clear treatment benefit for AMD prevention. In addition, based on observational studies, we can promote a strategy to encourage patients to reduce risk by adopting a healthy lifestyle, including diet, maintaining a healthy body mass index, exercise, and not smoking (2), and avoiding long periods of sunlight exposure (3). For patients with AMD, it would be reasonable to advise considering antioxidant vitamin and zinc supplements as tested by the large Age-Related Eye Disease Study Research Group trials that dominated the Cochrane meta-analysis of treatment. Further studies in high-risk subgroups, such as patients with diabetes, would be worthwhile. The risk reduction with multivitamins for AMD progression may be larger in a population already at risk for vision decline.


We investigated the transmission of terahertz (THz) wave through periodically arranged split-rectangle resonators with different aspect ratios by using THz time domain spectroscopy. It was found that a narrow resonant mode with a Q factor as large as ∼20 could be achieved at a low frequency of ∼0.22 THz in U-shaped resonators with a large aspect ratio of 9. Numerical simulations based on finite-difference time-domain technique revealed that the electric field of the incident THz wave could be strongly localized on the oscillation edges of the U-shaped resonators, leading to an enhancement factor as large as ∼105.


The complement system plays a major role in humoral innate immunity. Upon activation, complement proteins trigger a cascade of enzymatic events leading to the production of inflammatory mediators and membrane attack complexes. Tight regulation of complement proteins is essential for immune homeostasis due to their potency and abundance in fluid phase. Complement Regulatory Proteins (CRPs) that are membrane-bound (e.g., CD59), or in fluid phase (e.g., Factor H), prevent aberrant activation of complement pathways against self and mitigate autoimmunity. The importance of CRPs is underscored by the finding that genetic variations in the CRPs can lead to autoimmune diseases such as paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) characterized by the lysis of host red blood cells from dysregulated complement system.
 Systemic complement inhibition via anti-C5 antibody has clinically been shown to benefit some patients with complement-mediated disorders, but the therapy requires a high, frequent dosing scheme and supplemental vaccinations to compensate for systemic immunosuppression. In addition, other diseases such as C3 glomerulopathy affect specific tissues and involve pathways beyond C5, limiting treatment options. To this end, local immunomodulation through targeted delivery of CRPs to specific tissues is an attractive strategy to restore homeostasis in complement-mediated autoimmune diseases while circumventing the need for high dose systemic inhibition of complement factors. Here, we present a proof-of-concept study for the design, generation, and evaluation of tissue-tethering antibodies fused with CRPs. Also, we demonstrate the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of tissue-targeting CRP fusions in mouse models.


Square-planar platinum(II) complexes containing N,C,N terdentate coordinating, anionic 'pincer' ligands reversibly bind gaseous SO2 in the solid state by Pt–S bond formation and cleavage giving five-coordinate adducts. When the starting material is crystalline, exposure to this gas leads to quantitative adduct formation with the unique feature that the product is also crystalline, although the crystal structures of the adduct and the SO2 free complex are significantly different from each other and are both non-porous. Remarkably, the reverse reaction, i.e. the release of SO2 gas, modifies but does not destroy the crystalline ordering in the arylplatinum assemblies. These processes include repetitive expansion and reduction of the crystal lattice without any loss of crystallinity of the material. Variation of the ligand framework revealed that the presence of intermolecular interactions such as α- or β-type networks is not an essential prerequisite for these crystalline transformations. Consequently, this class of supermolecules provides access to sensitive crystalline switches with 'on' and 'off' positions which are a direct response to the gaseous environment.


Bros., 1949. Pp. xiv+476. $4.50. DANIELS, JOHN C. Teachers' Handbook of Test Construction, Marking and Records. London S.W. 7: Crosby Lockwood & Son, Ltd., 1949. Pp. 8o. DAVIS, FRANK G., and NORRIS, PEARLE S. Guidance Handbook for Teachers. McGraw-Hill Series in Education. New York 18: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1949. Pp. x+344. $350o. FLAGG, MARION. Musical Learning: A Guide to Child Growth. Boston: C. C. Birchard &


The famous Black-Scholes (BS) model used in the option pricing theory
contains two parameters - a volatility and an interest rate. Both
parameters should be determined before the price evaluation p ...


Vector-autoregressive models are used to decompose housing returns in 18 OECD countries into cash ?ow (rent) news and discount rate (return) news. Only for two countries - Germany and Ireland - do changing expectations of future rents play a dominating role in explaining housing return volatility. For the majority of countries news about future returns is the main driver, and both real interest rates and risk premia play an important role in accounting for housing market volatility. Bivariate cross-country correlations and principal components analyses indicate that part of the return movements have a common factor among the majority of countries. However, in a minority of countries (Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands) return movements have been basically unrelated to return movements in other countries.


Abstract Background: Previous studies have investigated the prognostic role of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in patients with neuroblastoma, while the results are still controversial. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to clarify the relationship between the expression of PD-L1 and the prognosis of neuroblastoma. Methods: Search electronic databases include PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science, and the search time is set to build the database until January 2021. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to analyze the included results. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 15.0 software. Results: This review will be disseminated in print by peer-review. Conclusion: The study will provide updated evidence for the evaluation of whether the expression of PD-L1 is associated with poor prognosis in patients with neuroblastoma. Ethics and dissemination: The private information from individuals will not be published. This systematic review also should not damage participants' rights. Ethical approval is not available. The results may be published in a peer-reviewed journal or disseminated in relevant conferences OSF Registration number: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/FBCY6.


We assess through a variational optimization approach the optimal gain-loss profile for a non-uniform PT-symmetric coupler allowing the realization of a binary transfer function and minimizing the deviation of the total traveling light intensity as compared to that holding in a conservative system. We bring evidence that the gain-loss profile fulfilling this requirement corresponds to a non-conventional situation when light intensity is conserved in every point along the propagation distance in the PT-symmetric system. Furthermore, the optimal profile thus found corresponds to a practically important case of optical switching operation achieved with a minimal amount of amplification level. We show that switching architectures using such type of gain-loss profiles are very substantially advantageous as compared to conventional uniform PT-symmetric couplers. Furthermore, this type of optimal profile turns out to be robust with respect to fabrication imperfections. This opens new prospects for functional applications of PT-symmetric devices in photonics.


The invention relates to a method for computer-assisted learning of a regulation and / or control of a technical system (T), wherein the technical system for a plurality of time points by a respective state (Z Here, hidden states (NN) are Subsequently (CP) with a learned learning and / or optimization method to the hidden states (s According to the invention, a discretization of the hidden states (s In this way, a good modeling of the technical system is achieved by discrete states. Here can rugged discrete reinforcement learning process in the subsequent learning of the action selection rule such. As dynamic programming, are used. The inventive method can, for. B. be used for learning of a regulation or control of a gas turbine or wind turbine.


Abu Talib favorite ibn Salamah bin Asim Kufi, of language, as scientists in the third century AH, however, and in spite of his fame does not have a scientific study dealing with his views and private choices as in care, and this research doing the job.


An alternative form of the monopole mass analyser is proposed and field calculations are performed to determine the optimum relative dimensions to give the closest approximation to a hyperbolic field in the active region. These are shown to be slightly different from those of the conventional instrument.


The nrma recently carried out a survey of vehicles stopped in "no stopping" zones in Sydney, the results of which are summarised in this report. Even though the use of "no stopping" zones is reserved for locations where capacity or safety are critical, the survey showed that at least one vehicle was stopped in 118 (6 per cent) of the 1857 zones observed. The locations where "no stopping" zones were most often disregarded were at city roadworks sites where 45 per cent of zones had at least one vehicle stopped in them, city building construction sites (17 per cent) and traffic signals (21 per cent). The frequency of disregard for "no stopping" zones in the vicinity of marked pedestrian crossings was of particular concern from a road safety point of view - 6 per cent of these zones had a vehicle stopped in them. In many areas where "no stopping" zones were disregarded, parking space was available a short distance away. Enforcement and education programmes should be considered to improve the observance of "no stopping" zones (a).


Higher plants reorient their growth direction by sensing the organ tilt relative to the direction of gravity (gravitropism). Historically famous "the starch statolith hypothesis" has explained how plants sense their organ tilt, that is, starch accumulating amyloplasts with high density sink like stones along the gravity vector in the cell, and then trigger subsequent signalings. Recent molecular genetic studies suggest that the sedimentation of amyloplasts is not a spontaneous event but is controlled by actin filaments and vacuolar membranes. This review mainly focuses on the mechanisms of gravity perception involving the amyloplasts movement and following signaling events during gravitropism.


The paper presents the results of an extensive geophysical survey conducted in Crikvenica and in Podsilo Bay (Lopar, island of Rab). The survey was performed in the framework of the project RED - Roman Economy in Dalmatia [HRZZ, IP-11-2013-3973]. During the survey Mala Geoscience/ABEM ground – penetrating radar system was used, with the application of bimodal screened transmitting antenna, with a nominal frequency of 470 MHz, while both sites were also surveyed by a Bartington Grad601 gradiometer. In Crikvenica's case, the main aim was to identify the extension of the Roman pottery workshop discovered in 1983 to the north of the modern town, on the site Igraliste (playground). Systematic excavation carried out from 2006 to 2015 by the Institute of Archaeology from Zagreb allowed the reconstruction of the complex's layout and many production features. The excavations were concentrated within an area of ca 1, 800 m², allowing an estimation that the uncovered area could represent 1/3 to 1/2 of the complex's actual extension, which must have stretched further south, below today's football field. An extensive geophysical survey was carried out in the area covered by the modern playground. Magnetic and GPR measurements revealed a number of anomalies that can be associated with anthropogenic activity at different periods, both in modern and ancient times, also revealing, in the north-western part, a concentration of anomalies that can very likely be interpreted as the remains of pottery kilns. In 2017, selected areas of Podsilo Bay located in Lopar, on the island of Rab, were geophysically surveyed. The main aim was to document the existence of Roman architecture in two areas of the bay's hinterland, previously identified on the basis of surface finds. The geophysical survey revealed the presence of underground remains of ancient structures, probably connected with a ceramic production centre discovered near the present seashore. One of the most interesting discoveries is the location of another Roman pottery kiln, nearby the one excavated in 2009.


This paper presents the preliminary work is a part of a research focusing on close range photogrammetry for landslide monitoring.The main objective of this paper is to present the Close Range Photogrammetry (CRP) technique, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) will provide a platform to monitor the surface area This method was applied using the capabilities and power of Gatewing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for data capturing with respect to UAV tracking conducted in UTP, Tronoh, Perak, on 15th March 2012 at 150m height. The Gatewing is designed for rapid terrain mapping with fully automated image processing. The result proves that data processing were conducted by Srecthout Software. Flight planning was carried out on site, where the areas to be observed are situated inside the UTP campus. The paper focus on final production of an orthomosaic. In conclusion, it is demonstrated that Gatewing, UAV is the best, fast and powerful mapping vehicle for close range photogrammetry application in future works. It shows highly excellent performance compared to other UAVs already established in the market today. Keywords: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV); Close Range Photogrammetry (CRP); Gatewing; orthomosaic; terrain.


In this study, the microscopic changes in the small intestine after administration of the pollen addition in rats, were evaluated. The experimental animals were divided into two experimental and one control group of ten rats (5 males and 5 females). Experimental group A was given the addition of pollen in concentration of 0,2 % and group B was fed diet containing 0,5 % of pollen for 90 days. Using quantitative morphometrical methods, we have found statistically significant increase in the relative volume of epithelial tissue and decrease in the mucosa tissue volume of the small intestine in experimental group B as compared to control.


suggest that for a significant number of The results also suggest that The temporal sequence of suggests of isolates colonized patients; in a significant minority, the reverse is true. The results of this study provide the framework for a strategy for more definitive testing of the origins of Candida albicans strains responsible for nosocomial


We present a Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) study of the 1D Kondo lattice at non-integer filling, i.e. a one-dimensional version of a Heavy Fermion metal. For this special system the minus-sign problem turns out to be greatly reduced, so that accurate QMC simulations for temperatures as low as 1% of the conduction electron bandwidth are feasible. The single particle Green's function shows and intricate network of low-energy bands at low temperature, with a Fermi surface volume that comprises both c and f -electrons. As the temperature increases the system evolves through two distinct crossover temperatures into a very simple band structure with one free c-electron band and a disconnected upper and lower Hubbard band for f -electrons. The f electrons thus drop out of the Fermi surface volume as the temperature increases.


Simple Summary Island environments of the Southwest Pacific, like New Caledonia, generally present poorly diversified bee fauna. Thus, they are particularly prone to the establishment of introduced bee species. These exotic species may compete with native bees for plant resources, disrupt pollination of native plants, and enhance the reproduction of exotic ones. To conserve local plant–pollinator interactions, it is essential to assess the factors favoring the presence and the activity of exotic bees. Here, we focused on the effects of urbanization on plant–pollinator interactions. We set up experimental plant communities composed of four exotic species in two contrasted habitats—a natural environment vs. an urban environment—and observed plant–pollinator interactions. We showed that the urban environment was largely dominated by exotic bees. We also showed that some exotic bee species can interact preferentially with a single exotic ornamental plant species. Overall, our results indicate that Nouméa is an entry point for exotic bees, which should encourage local authorities to maintain biosecurity measures to effectively limit the arrival of exogenous bees. Lastly, the use of exotic horticultural plants in green public spaces should be questioned regarding their potential attractiveness to exotic bees. Abstract Land-use changes through urbanization and biological invasions both threaten plant-pollinator networks. Urban areas host modified bee communities and are characterized by high proportions of exotic plants. Exotic species, either animals or plants, may compete with native species and disrupt plant–pollinator interactions. These threats are heightened in insular systems of the Southwest Pacific, where the bee fauna is generally poor and ecological networks are simplified. However, the impacts of these factors have seldom been studied in tropical contexts. To explore those questions, we installed experimental exotic plant communities in urban and natural contexts in New Caledonia, a plant diversity hotspot. For four weeks, we observed plant–pollinator interactions between local pollinators and our experimental exotic plant communities. We found a significantly higher foraging activity of exotic wild bees within the city, together with a strong plant–pollinator association between two exotic species. However, contrary to our expectations, the landscape context (urban vs. natural) had no effect on the activity of native bees. These results raise issues concerning how species introduced in plant–pollinator networks will impact the reproductive success of both native and exotic plants. Furthermore, the urban system could act as a springboard for alien species to disperse in natural systems and even invade them, leading to conservation concerns.


1 See Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods From the People's Republic of China: Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances and Postponement of Final Determination, 74 FR 59117 (November 17, 2009) (''Preliminary Determination''). 2 See Memorandum entitled ''Ministerial Error Memorandum, Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods from the People's Republic of China, Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value,'' dated December 3, 2009. 3 See Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods From the People's Republic of China: Notice of Amended Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 74 FR 69065 (December 30, 2009) (''Amended Preliminary Determination''). 4 See Memorandum regarding Resubmission of Comments on Surrogate Values by Jiangsu Changbao Steel Tube Co., Ltd. to the Department of Commerce, dated March 3, 2010. 5 See Memorandum regarding OCTG from the PRC: Tianjin Pipe (Group) Co. Affiliations, dated March 2, 2010 (''TPCO Affiliation Memo''). 6 See Memorandum regarding Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods from the People's Republic of China: Targeted Dumping – Jiangsu Changbao Steel Tube Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu Changbao Precision Steel Tube Co., Ltd. and Tianjin Pipe (Group) Co., dated March 2, 2010 (''Targeted Dumping Memo''). 7 See Memorandum regarding Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods from the People's Republic of China: Release of Customs and Border Patrol Data, dated March 9, 2010 (''Changbao CBP information''). Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Room 4014, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482–1009. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:


Temporal action proposal generation is an important and challenging task, aiming to localize the position where an action or event may occur in an untrimmed video. In this paper, we propose an efficient and end-to-end framework to generate temporal action proposals, named Phase-Sensitive Model (PSM), which fully understands all phases of temporal information. In particular, the PSM consists two modules: Boundary Phase Classification (BPC) and Action Phase Classification (APC). The BPC aims to provide two temporal boundary phase confidence maps by rich local information, while the APC is designed to generate an action phase confidence map by global features. Moreover, we introduce a new method boundary probability calculation to get the final score. Our experiments on ActivityNet-1.3 show a significant improvement with remarkable efficiency and generalizability.


We consider a wireless federated learning system where multiple data holder edge devices collaborate to train a global model via sharing their parameter updates with an honest-but-curious parameter server. We demonstrate that the inherent hardware-induced distortion perturbing the model updates of the edge devices can be exploited as a privacy-preserving mechanism. In particular, we model the distortion as power-dependent additive Gaussian noise and present a power allocation strategy that provides privacy guarantees within the framework of differential privacy. We conduct numerical experiments to evaluate the performance of the proposed power allocation scheme under different levels of hardware impairments.


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Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, Simone de Beauvoir, and Frantz Fanon use well-developed notions of the body that repudiate the contingency that fetters subordinated beings. They prescribe mitsein (i.e., being with), but they fail to address the intersection of oppressions such as race and gender. The stand-up performances of Jackie "Moms" Mabley, the first great black female stand-up comedian in the United States, provide insight into the mitseins accomplished by multiply oppressed entities. Sigmund Freud's descriptions of comedy and laughter paint them as moments free from contingency. Mabley's comedy presents bodies that vacillate between the particularistic and the universal and emancipation and subordination. In doing so, Mabley replaces the harsh imposition of contingency with a mitsein based on fluidity and social responsibility. The key to this mitsein is a praxis of care. It is the means through which bodies are pulled out of the stagnation of contingency and ushered into liberating mitsein.


We present new, wide-field, optical ($u'g'r'i'z'$) Dark Energy Camera observations covering $\sim21\,{\rm deg}^2$ centred on the nearby giant elliptical galaxy NGC5128 called "The Survey of Centaurus A's Baryonic Structures" (SCABS). The data reduction and analysis procedures are described including initial source detection, photometric and astrometric calibration, image stacking, and point-spread function modelling. We estimate 50 and 90 percent, field-dependent, point-source completeness limits of at least $u'=24.08$ and $23.62$ mag (AB), $g'=22.67$ and $22.27$ mag, $r'=22.46$ and $22.00$ mag, $i'=22.05$ and $21.63$ mag, and $z'=21.71$ and $21.34$ mag. Deeper imaging in the $u'$-, $i'$- and $z'$-bands provide the fainter limits for the inner $\sim3\,{\rm deg}^2$ of the survey, and we find very stable photometric sensitivity across the entire field of view. Source catalogues are released in all filters including spatial, photometric, and morphological information for a total of $\sim5\times10^5-1.5\times10^6$ detected sources (filter-dependent). We finish with a brief discussion of potential science applications for the data including, but not limited to, upcoming works by the SCABS team.


This paper presents methods for designing and recording optimal computer-generated diffractive optical elements. The design method is based on an analytic ray-tracing procedure for minimizing aberrations. The recording involves computer-generated masks and multiple lithographic processes in order to form reflective and transmissive multilevel, surface relief-phase, diffractive elements. As a result, the elements can have high diffraction efficiencies over a broad range of incidence angles. Even generalized diffractive elements that operate with highly uniform diffraction efficiency and polychromatic radiation can be designed and recorded by optimizing the shape and height of the relief gratings. To illustrate the effectiveness of the diffractive optical elements, they have been incorporated into a number of applications, involving visible as well as infra-red radiation. Some that deal with coordinate transformation, beam shaping, and polarization control are briefly reviewed.


The paper describes the training equipment used by the Air Force to train Strategic Air Command personnel in the handling procedures for installing a Titan II missile in an underground silo. Included are descriptions of the design parameters established to effect economies, detailed features of the training equipment and procedures used during training. This trainer illustrates how full-scale equipment can be reduced to the minimum necessary to accomplish effective training while considering both economy and utility.


The authors describe and analyse the way in which the Maori youth have contributed towards positive social change within a research project that looks at their health. Critical health issues were identified as part of the research project. These include high suicide rates and high rates of pregnancy among young people and form the basis of research aimed at finding positive solutions at both local community and national levels. The article examines the research project that encouraged the voice of rangatahi Maori (Maori youth) to be heard by allowing them to mould the shape of the research, which included the way in which the information would be collected, the research methods used and how the youth would be involved in the research process at every stage.


The blow-up for Laplace equation with dynamical boundary condition is considered . By the concavity method, the blow-up of the solution is proved under the condition that the boundary condition is semilinear parabolic type and the initial energy is negative.


In this paper, we address the problem of matched illumination waveforms design based on the prior knowledge of the target scattering center models. Firstly, the properties of the target scattering model are discussed. Then, based on these properties, matched waveforms design on the principles of minimizing minimum mean square error (MMSE) and maximizing signal-to-clutter-plus-noise ratio (SCNR) are investigated. Finally, simulation results are shown that the matched illumination waveform increase the output SCNR significantly.


The freight forwarder is an indispensable link in international trade. With their own advantage, freight forwarders have had some capacity of third-party logistics. So how to select the fright forwarder objectively to serve themselves has become an important problem to every consignor. This paper makes use of AHP and triangular fuzzy number with the experts' decisions to build an index system, and then uses the centre of gravity method for defuzzification, so that consignors can evaluate and select the best freight forwarder.


The study aims to analyze learning behavior, social interaction and spiritual level of UHN I Gusti Bagus Sugriwa students due to the pandemic Covid-19 in order to be able to prepare and do the right things in the era of adapting new habits. This study was quantitative research and used cross-sectional design. Samples that were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using online questionnaire. The impact of the covid-19 pandemic for students in college activities is     (1)the adjustment of online method, because some areas are constrained by internet signal, quotas, learning platforms, etc. (2) social communication in cyberspace has increased, as a result of not being able to meet face-to-face directly and (3) the spiritual level of students is in the good category. Students have more time to correct themselves to be better, more resilient, and take lessons from what happened


The invention discloses broiler brood time feed and a preparation method thereof. The broiler brood time feed is mainly obtained through mixing the following composition raw materials according to certain weight percentage: corn, wheat, wheat bran, soybean pulp, corn protein powder, mountain flour, phosphorus calcium, lysine, methionine, common salt, baking soda, choline, bean oil, phytase, betaine, multi-vitamin, organic selenium and pre-mixing materials. The broiler brood time feed does not contain any pigment, the nutrient content is high, the cost is low, the growth of broilers is fast, the taste is palatable, in addition, the preparation method provided by the invention is simple, and the operation is convenient.


In any logical algebraic structures, by using of different kinds of filters, one can construct various kinds of other logical algebraic structures. With this inspirations, in this paper by considering a hoop algebra or a hoop, that is introduced by Bosbach, the notion of co-filter on hoops is introduced and related properties are investigated. Then by using of co-filter, a congruence relation on hoops is defined, and the associated quotient structure is studied. Thus Brouwerian semilattices, Heyting algebras, Wajsberg hoops, Hilbert algebras and BL-algebras are obtained.


3D printed electronics employing direct‐ink‐writing methods are promising alternative manufacturing technologies for realizing structural electronics. The emerging demand for accessible, cost‐effective, and rapid writing calls for novel approaches to print functional components onto nonflat and 3D architectures. This study presents a novel air‐pressure‐assisted pen‐nib printing approach producing electrical and functional components with various material inks on flat and 3D surfaces. Based on the inks' rheological properties, the ejected ink's quantity through the nib is manipulated via air pressure; thus, the printed line width is controlled. This strategy also achieves the viscosity range extension of printable inks by enabling printing inks that cannot be used in general pen‐based printing. Three functional inks with different rheological properties—Ag catalyst ink for Cu electroless deposition, Ag‐PEDOT:PSS ink, and thermochromic pigment inks are designed. Several electrical and functional components, such as highly conductive Cu interconnects, Cu spiral coils for wireless power transfer receivers, flexible heaters, and matrix data codes based on temperature‐responsive color transitions are demonstrated. Furthermore, parallel printing with a multi‐nib print‐head is demonstrated for improving the printing speed and manufacturing scalability. The authors believe that this novel approach is promising as a manufacturing technique for realizing 3D printed electronics.


Abstract The distribution of molybdenum between matte and slag was investigated at 1300°C under conditions of silica saturation. Distribution coefficients were determined as functions of matte grade in the system slag/matte/copper under inert argon atmosphere, and under controlled atmospheres at P O2 = 5 × 10−11 atm and at P SO2 = 0.1 and 0.01 atm. The ratio mass % Mo in slag to mass % Mo in matte increased with increasing -matte grade. The results were interpreted in terms of equilibria involving a molybdenum oxide in the slag phase and a molybdenum sulphide in the matte phase controlled by the activity of iron sulphide in the matte, subject to the various constraints applied to the system. The extraction of molybdenum from a slag into an iron sulphide matte was studied with a view to molybdenum recovery from slag. Resume La distribution du molybdene au sein de la matte et du laiter a 1300°C, sous saturation en silice, a ete etudiee. Les coefficients de distribution ont ete determines en fonction du grad...


Despite a growing literature on the helpfulness of individual reviews, scant attention has been paid to the helpfulness of a set of reviews. Moreover, it is generally assumed that the helpfulness of a review set can be derived from averaging the individual reviews' helpfulness evaluations. Drawing on bounded rationality theories, we hypothesize that this assumption may not always be valid, and that consumers' helpfulness perception of a review set is also determined by inter-review consistency. A carefully designed experiment revealed that the whole differs from the sum of its parts when the reviews are consistent with each other or are contradicting each other, but does not differ when the reviews contain mixed, non-contradicting opinions. These findings deepen our understanding of inconsistency in online reviews and have a potential to change how reviews should be presented to the consumers.


The new diagnosis of somatic symptom disorder seems to confirm that psychiatry will stick a diagnostic label on anything that appears in any way deviant.1

Dimsdale argues that the new disorder will correct the patient unfriendly DSM-IV ( Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , third edition) notion of "medically unexplained …


The specifics of bank lending in the conditions of the modern economy of Ukraine have been studied, the actual problems that restrain the development of bank lending are investigated. The tendency of granting of credit funds according to the sectors of economy is considered and the dynamics of loans issued according to maturities is analyzed. The problematic issues of relations between banking institutions and borrowers and ways of their solution are determined. The method of analytical alignment was used to predict the risks of non-repayment of credit funds by economic entities of different branches. The basic types of economic and mathematical models in the field of lending are determined.


Delivering gas to final header storage tanks or end user locations require the use of pipelines and a means of transporting the gas through the lines. A gas compressor is employed satisfactorily to such needs. Gas compressor types vary (from the dynamic type to the positive displacement type) and which to apply for a particular service requirement will depend on the process conditions. For high pressure delivery, and low gas flow volume process conditions, the positive displacement type of reciprocating compressors is often the choice. Matching the compressor equipment manufacturer's available equipment designs to the various process conditions involves several parameters and requires a detailed selection process conducted by the Engineer. A computer program in Microsoft Excel TM to handle the selection process is described here, with the


The harmonic components is caused by the output of voltage and current of VVVF,which greatly impacts on the load. Aiming to solve the problem,the voltage current dual-loop control strategy of a novel matrix converter is introduced. The voltage and current harmonics are analyzed,which overcomes the obstacles of traditional converter,such as lager bulk capacitor and inductor. The voltage current dualloop control system is presented. The simulation results show that the novel matrix is effective in eliminating harmonics of matrix converter,which has better performance than contraditional converter and can overcome the influence of the grid harmonic disturbance.


Following the enlargement of the Council of Europe during the 1990s, the workload of the European Court of Human Rights multiplied, with thousands of cases coming from the new Member States. The Court has been dealing with mass litigation arising out of diverse structural and complex problems in the Contracting States for nearly two decades. These human rights deficiencies in the Contracting States give rise to constantly increasing numbers of applications to the Court. The Court has developed new remedial powers and mechanisms that significantly change the architecture of the Convention system regarding the implementation of the Court's judgments. A relatively new competence for the Court is to initiate a pilot and quasi-pilot judgment procedure. The main category of judgments referring to Article 46 of the Convention is composed of pilot judgments. For the present days, the distinction between pilot and quasi-pilot judgment is not really clear. The Court is overloaded with cases, mostly of a repetitive nature and in order to maintain the system's effectiveness, Member States have been urged to execute judgments more rapidly. The pilot judgments procedure was a response to the structural human rights problems in Contracting States triggering repetitive applications and to several Contracting States' reluctance to solve those problems on the national level.


Advances in existing information technology make companies required to be able to further develop human resources in the company. To support the improvement of employee performance, having a leadership style is very important for a leader. as a result of this, it is necessary to create comfort in the work environment. This research is intended to analyze the influence of leadership style, work environment and work stress on employee performance. The sample in this study was 40 respondents. The sampling technique in this study used a saturated sampling technique. Data collection was carried out online using a google form where there was a questionnaire that was distributed to respondents. Data analysis uses classical assumption tests, multiple linear regression analysis, coefficient of determination tests, hypothesis tests, t tests, and f tests. The results of the analysis show that leadership style, work environment, and work stress have a significant positive effect on employee performance.


The characteristics of discharge and heat transfer of the continuum and slip choked flows through a narrow parallel-plate channel with uniform heat flux wall are studied by means of experiment, numerical simulation and analytical solution. The numerical results of the discharge coefficient Cd and wall surface temperature distributions agree with the experimental data. The decrease of Cd caused by the heating effect can be correlated with the dimensionless heat input. The analytical expressions of the Nusselt numbers for the developed incompressible slip flow including the viscous-heating are obtained. The Nusselt number based on the adiabatic wall temperature cooperated with the increase of local total temperature for heated wall is proposed, which is free of the viscous heating effect and proved to consistent with the common Nusselt number for low speed internal flow.


The article intends to study the dialectical relationship between the words and the artistic conceptions based on the connotation of the artistic conception,the contradiction and the overtone between the words and the conception as well as the blending of setting and feelings.It also tries to explore the mystery and profound embodied in artistic conceptions and to appreciate the artistic level of "finite words but indefinite connotation" via such arts as poem,carving,painting and photography.


In the last decades, the increasing potential of Information technology revolutionized data and information management, in particular, the data acquisition, data processing, and predictions. The effort has been truly interdisciplinary, where, image processing techniques, and AI based model implementation have played their roles. The latest technology innovations have enabled the researchers to execute computational experiments which would had never been possible if would have tried using the conventional methods. This survey paper provides study of various methodologies for object detection. This paper provides systematic analysis of various existing object detection techniques with precise and arranged representation. We have backed up the study with the merits and demerits of existing methods and the future scope in this area.


Describes a device (100) for communication with the RFID tag, the device (100) comprises (a) an antenna unit, the antenna unit comprises a first antenna (110; 200) and second (120; 200 ), and (b) connected to the controller (130) of antenna elements. Said controller (130) is adapted to sequentially feed different polling signals to the antenna elements, such that the first antenna (110; 200) and second (120; 200) each and independently simultaneously radiated signal corresponding. Also described is a household appliance comprising the device (100). Further, by the method described for antenna units in communication with the RFID tag, the antenna comprising a first antenna element (110; 200) and second (120; 200). The method comprises sequentially feeding different polling signals to the antenna elements, such that the first antenna (110; 200) and second (120; 200) independently of each corresponding radiation signal.


The situation of wind speed and temperature is analyzed by utilizing the observational meteorology data from the Beijing 325-m meteorology tower of the Institute of Atmospheric Physic of Chinese Academy of Sciences.The analysis indicates that the relative wind speed is in decrease,and at lower levels the decrease is even more apparent.The vertical increasing rate of wind speed,calculated by making a linear fitting of the wind speed profile,shows an increase trend at both the lower levels under 100 m and the levels above.The vertical decreasing rate of temperature,which is generated from the temperature profile,is in increase over those years,indicating the urbanization influence on the thermodynamic structure of boundary layer.By utilizing the wind speed profile in a nearly neutral stratification,the aerodynamic parameters of the boundary layer are calculated based on the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory,showing an apparent increasing trend of the roughness length and zero-plane displacement.The analysis also shows that the relationship between friction wind speed and average wind speed is linear,and the increasing trend of friction wind speed with the average wind speed increases becomes more and more apparent.The results of this paper can be referenced by the researches of urbanization and urban environment,and can also provide potential parameterization for the boundary layer model as well as the regional climate model.


ABSTRACT Mice and humans share many features of internal organs. Therefore, mice are often used in experimental models of human diseases. Although this is commonplace in medicine, there is an avenue to go to explore it in computational pathology, where digital whole-slide images (WSIs) are the main objects of investigation. Considering the absence of research about knowledge transfer between mice and humans in machine learning modelling, we propose investigating the possibility of segmenting glomeruli in human WSIs by training deep learning models on mouse data only. A set of semantic segmenters were evaluated, which had their performance assessed on two data sets comprised of 18 mouse WSIs, and 42 human WSIs. Results demonstrated that U-Net 3+ achieved superior results on intra-data set: On the mouse data set, it reached the highest average score on HE-stained images, while on the human data set, this network achieved the highest average on all stains. U-Net 3+ also obtained the best results after being trained only on the mouse data set and predicting on the entire (train and test) human data set. Although all networks proved to be capable of segmenting intra-stain images, it was not possible to confirm the same results on inter-stain ones.


The engagement of CD8 on NK cell surface by either surface or soluble HLA class I (sHLA‐I) molecules induces synthesis and secretion of IFN‐γ. HLA‐I‐mediated effects were inhibited by the covering of CD8 with specific anti‐CD8 monoclonal antibodies, indicating a direct interaction of HLA‐I and CD8. That CD8 ligation induces IFN‐γ production was further supported by the finding that cross‐linking of CD8 led to release of IFN‐γ at similar levels to those obtained with HLA‐I. The sHLA‐I‐induced IFN‐γ production via CD8 was strongly down‐regulated by the engagement of the inhibitory isoforms of either CD94/NKG2 complex by sHLA‐I‐non‐(A,B,C,G) (putative sHLA‐E) or CD158b by sHLA‐I‐Cw3 allele. Ligation of CD8 did not elicit, different from other activating NK cell surface molecules such as CD16 or CD69, triggering of NK cell‐mediated cytolysis. Cyclosporin A, but not concanamycin A, an H+‐ATPase vacuolar inhibitor which affects perforin and granzyme release, strongly reduced the sHLA‐I‐mediated CD8‐dependent IFN‐γ production but did not affect cytolytic activity of NK cells, suggesting that different biochemical pathways are involved. Altogether, these findings indicate that CD8 engagement by sHLA‐I activates a cyclosporin A‐dependent pathway leading to production and secretion of IFN‐γ which may play a role in the regulation of innate immune responses in humans.


The system of constructive definitions for formalized understanding a shooter-weapon system is modeled as multilink biotechnical self-regulating man-machine system. Design concepts of required evaluation of man-machine system are distinguished.


The study aims to develop personality coaching program to be utilized by the parents for preventing child maltreatment. Further, the purpose of the research centers around building a practical coaching program for parents to be able to use at the home in order to promote parents-children relationship and to protect children's dignity and rights. Collecting national and international resources on the parent personality education was done to apply the concepts into developing parent personality coaching training program. The developed program is comprised of 12 sessions which add up to be total 20 hours. The sessions are based on the c-plus coaching theory and active-coaching conversation model. Details of the program include the following: Fundamentals of parent coaching (understanding self as a parent, understanding the concepts of parent personality coaching and child abuse), theory and development for parent personality coaching (development phase, parenting theory, and parenting coaching concepts), techniques of parent coaching (coaching and conversation model, capability strengthening training), nature of parent personality coaching (interactions of parent personality coaching), resolution of the parent personality coaching (resolution and pledge).


During this time the two great powers of the twentieth-century industrial civilization have been preoccupied with the presence of each other in this world. History has nonetheless run on long enough to take a new turn. Abruptly, the great powers have concluded an agreement to suspend the testing of nuclear weapons aboveground. This is a modest enough achievement. It does not halt the arms race, nor does it settle any outstanding political issue. In signing the agreement, however, the great powers have had to acknowledge the presence of other powers-not only the numerous large and small, old and new nations that joined them in the test ban but, even more notably, the powers that abstained. At this moment of depolarization in world tensions, it becomes possible to consider the underlying causes of contemporary international conflict. These are to be found, without doubt, in the power vacuum of the poverty-stricken regions of the world and in the gathering revolution against poverty. As any look at the sites where the great powers have confronted each other will show-Greece, Korea, Iraq, Laos, the Congo, Vietnam, Cuba-the causes and cure of war are to be sought in the causes and cure of poverty. The revolution against poverty is, in full historical perspective, an extension and continuation of the two-hundred-year-old industrial revolution that has created the historical novelty of the rich nation in which the entire population shares in increasing material well-being. Most members of the human species still live outside the pale of industrial civilization. They live in pre-industrial agricultural civilization much as their forebears did and in the same Malthusian equilibrium with want. Their poverty is being mobilized politically, the new nations of the poor holding a commanding majority in the Assembly of the United Nations. The political mobilization of poverty is further amplified by urbanization; more than 40 of the 65 cities with populations of a million or more are in the poor countries. In village as well as city, revolution becomes everywhere more inevitable, as infants survive in increasing numbers to become adults with unsatisfied needs.


In the trial,the effects of organic selenium source on lamb′s growth performance and antixidative activities were investigated. 30 lambs with body weight of 20 kg were randomly divided into three groups,the control group wasn't supplemented any selenium,but selenium-enriched yeast and sodium selenite respectively was added up to two test groups at the dosage of 0.1 mg/kg. The results indicated that selenium-enriched yeast couldn′t improve lamb′s growth performance. At 30 and 60 day ages,superoxidedismutase (SOD)activity and GPx activity in the two test group both were higher than that of the control group,the difference was significant (P 0.05),but malonaldehyde (MDA) level of serum was lower than that of control with marked difference (P 0.01). In conclusion,antixidative activities of organic selenium were better than that of inorganic selenium.


INTRODUCTION:- Leprosy is one of the major health problems in Nepal, caused by Mycobacterium leprae. Histopathological examination is considered as important tool for proper classification of the disease. This study was carried out to study the histopathological features of leprosy in skin biopsies and classify based on microscopy, bacterial index to correlate with clinical presentations.
MATERIAL AND METHODS:- A retrospective observational study was done at Department of Pathology of Universal College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) Bhairahawa for 2 years from 1st November 2015 to 31stOctober 2017 and total 68 cases were analysed. Cases in which histopathological diagnosis of leprosy was made or considered differential diagnosis were selected for study. Ridley and Jopling classification was used histologically to make diagnosis of leprosy. Copies of issued histopathology reports, that are preserved in the department routinely were used to obtain data pertaining to age, sex, clinical information and histopathological findings.
RESULTS:- This study included 68 patients diagnosed histologically as leprosy. Histopathological examination of the skin biopsies of 68 patients revealed that, the maximum histopathological cases 28 (41.17%) are BT followed by 15 cases (22.05%) of IL (15) and 9 (13.23%) of TT. Complete parity between clinical diagnosis and histopathology was observed in 55.88 % and disparity was seen in 44.12%.
CONCLUSION:- For proper classification of Leprosy, correlation of clinical and histopathological features along with bacterial index is more useful than considering any of the single parameter.


Having a microporous bulk (or staggered) laminated with the printed circuit board circuit layer, and a method of manufacturing the printed circuit board. Aspects of embodiments of the invention are intended to have a Z-axis or microporous interconnecting a printed circuit board, which was used without plating a microporous and / or protrusions without the plating flattening, which may utilize one or two lamination cycles for producing and / by having a conductive carrier or to a microporous support (a substrate or to the substrate) are connected, each well was filled with conductive material in the Z-axis (e.g., an electrically conductive paste). In one embodiment, a single lamination cycle may be utilized to produce a printed circuit board having a plurality of circuit layers at least one of the Z-axis interconnect.


Objective
To establish a level three class A hospital diabetes specialist nurse training modes and methods, in order to create specialist nurse training new model positioning in the different of national (provincial) diabetes specialist nurses and diabetes care team contact nurses, and provide a new method and thought for college talent team construction.

Methods
Union Hospital Tongji Medical College Huazhong University of Science and Technology started diabetes specialist nurse training program in 2013, and 36 nurses was registered for these first program, then after the assessment, 21 people was participated in training. They carried out a 8 full-time comprehensive theory and clinical practice training, the training plan and assessment scheme formulated by the diabetes specialist nursing team.

Results
In the process of training, attendance rate was 98.5%, and the theory and specialized operation achievement qualified rate was 90.48% and 100.00%. The non endocrine specialist carried out individualized diabetes education for more than 1 100 times in 2014 after the training, organized medical lectures 23 times, compiled a diabetes specialist nursing guideline, organized 12 times special quality control of the ward, and carried out more than 60 lectures in diabetes patients; the process of diabetes care consultation between departments was improved and nursing consultation more than 70 person-time. It published 5 diabetes related papers in 2014, successful applied for 2 research subjects, organized 4 teaching activities for diabetes, applied and carried out report and extension services 11 projects.

Conclusions
This training cultivates many specialized nurses overall understanding of diabetes related knowledge, can implement nursing and health education for high blood glucose patients in the hospital, and improve the specialized nursing and scientific research ability.

Key words:
Diabetes; Specialist nurses; Training in hospital


Link adaptation (LA) can significantly increase the spectral efficiency and render various levels of services, both of which are highly desirable for today's high-speed communication systems. Although optimality can be ensured through careful designing for a fixed link configuration, due to changes of available power, data rate, and especially channel statistics, it is better to adapt the adaptation scheme per se in real time. We term this technique adaptive link adaptation (ALA). Based on our previous work on a general optimal link adaptation scheme for a certain configuration, we continue to investigate the problem of adapting the adaptation scheme online. This paper first recapitulates that general optimal link adaptation scheme, then gives the theoretic basis of ALA, and finally presents a simple yet working implementation of the update algorithm for ALA. Both theoretical and simulation results indicate the viability of ALA and an 18 dB gain can be achieved for the investigated simple scenario. With low complexity, optimality, and generality, the proposed ALA provides a promising technique to substantially increase the spectral efficiency of practical communication systems.


A heuristic neural network (HNN) algorithm is proposed for pattern recognition. To achieve faster convergence and to promote the recognition accuracy, the proposed neural network is trained by adjusting the weighting values between layers, bias values of neurons and the learning rate according to the classification error. The whole architecture includes the image capturing by CCD camera, image pre-processing, neural network constructing and the developed heuristic algorithm. To verify the effectiveness and performance of the proposed method, a total of 36 patterns are collected as samples, 0 to 9 and A to Z respectively. From the experimental results, the proposed method has faster convergence and better recognition accuracy compared with the conventional back-propagation momentum neural network.


Microwave surface resistivity of a number of metal and other sample materials was measured at X-band, approximately 8400 MHz. The method of measurement uses a TE sub 011 mode circular waveguide cavity resonator wherein the sample is used as one end of the cavity. This method has been used previously in JPL work with good results. Microwave reflection loss and noise arising from the dissipative loss are given, for materials having negligible transmission leakage.


Objective To present our experience on the surgical management of BPH and bladder Tumor syn-chronously.Methods The clinical data of 12 patients with bladder transitional cell carcinoma combined with BPH were retrospectively reviewed.All the patients had simultaneously undergone TUVBt and TUVP.Results Among the 12 cases followed up from 6 months to eighteen months,No cases had tumor recurrence and No tumor cell implantation at prostate pit,posterior urethra and incision was noted.Conclusions TUVBt combined with TUVP for bladder transitional carcinoma with BPH is a sound treatment of choice.


SHEFEX is a DLR-led series of missions for scienti c experiments and reentry technology development. SHEFEX-2 was successfully launched from Norway (Andoya Rocket Range) in June 2012. To go on with the e ort to increase the technological level for real space missions, a new challenge in the next years with the development of SHEFEX-3 arises. SHEFEX-3, foreseen to be launched in 2016, will be more complex than SHEFEX-2 in virtue of the presence of a real guided re-entry phase, while for SHEFEX-2 an autonomous Guidance and Control phase was only partially foreseen. As a consequence, the mission will be ambitious, especially in the development of the GNC subsystem. DLR GNC Systems Department will be responsible for the development of Guidance and Navigation modules, while Control will be developed by Airbus Defense and Space, in cooperation with DLR. In this work the development of the nominal entry guidance, based on the use of PseudoSpectral Methods, is discussed. This feedforward control is then coupled with a Gain-Scheduled LQR tracking controller to reduce the error on the terminal points of the mission. Results show that the proposed approach meets the requirements on the physical constraints and the terminal states, satisfying at the same time the strong limitations coming from the need to have a highly-constrained angle of attack pro le.


Aim and methods:To investigate the effect of adrenomedullin(Adm),calcitonin generelated peptide(CGRP)AND Ctype natriuretic peptide(CNP) on proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMC)stimulated by basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF) and their mechanism.Results:VSMC amplification induced by bFGF increased by 2.1fold after 24h incubation (P0.01),protein phosphorylation,PKC and MAPK activity in VSMC augmented by 1.4,1.5 and 2.5 times,respectively(P0.01).Adm,CGRP and CNP had no significant influence on both growth and intracellular protein phosphorylation,PKC and MAPK activities in quiescent VSMC. 10 -8 ,10 -9 and 10 -10 mol/L Adm,CGRP and CNP decreased bFGFstimulated VSMC proliferation(P0.01),lowered PKC and MAPK activitities in VSMC(P0.01), and decreased protein phosphorylation in VSMC stimulated by bFGF(P0.01) in a dosedependent way.Conclusion:Adm,CGRP and CNP may have an antagonistic role against VSMC proliferation caused by bFGF, which mechanism has a close relationship with inhibition of intracellular protein phosphorylation, PKC and MAPK activities stimulated by bFGF.


The slow negative and positive potentials recorded at the cord dorsum and at an adjacent dorsal root in response to a dorsal root volley were relatively insensitive to mephenesin, morphine, Dial, N...


During the debate of revolutionary literature,MAO Dun clearly reflected the thought "writing for the petty bourgeoisie".His novels imply some negative,pessimistic mood of a part of the petty bourgeois after the failure of revolution and express his self-examination about the revolution,which mirror the development and changes in his thinking.In the late controversy about revolutionary literary,MAO Dun's creative perspective did not rigidly adhere to the petty bourgeoisie but to the workers,peasants and national capitalists,so his works show more extensive and rich themes of the times.


Sex determination is one of the essential prerequisites for identification of an individual. The skull is probably the second best area of the skeleton for determining sex following pelvis. Diverse techniques for sexing crania are based either on visually determinable descriptive features of the cranium or on exact measurements of various parts of cranium and their ratios. Inferring from observations based on morphological indicators depends largely upon the experience of the observer. In the present study, skulls of 60 individuals of known sex (30 of either) of Indian Punjab region were studied. A series of three non metric traits of supraorbital region (glabella development, superciliary ridge development, zygomatic trigone development) were taken for the study and their significance in sex determination was established. The statistical method used in the present study is Logit and Probit regression methods.After applying this method 91.5% of the skulls were correctly classified.


Studying and carrying out the spirit of the document of the advice of the central committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on further strengthing and improving the education of the university students' thoughts plays a very important advisable role to further strengthen and improve the education of the university students' thoughts. Aiming at the feature and contributing factor of the contemporary university students' thoughts the writer puts forward some advice on the ways and methods to strengthen and improve the university students' thoughts.


This report is the second in a series of five reports that will provide critical reviews and summaries of computer programs that can be used to analyze the potential performance of a high-level radioactive waste repository. The computer programs identified address the following areas: radionuclide source term, radiation shielding, airborne transport, surface water transport, dose to man, and health effects. The report identifies 242 computer codes for use in analyzing radiological assessment issues and provides a summary description of 17 computer programs. These 17 computer programs are being used by the US Department of Energy, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or the US Environmental Protection Agency to analyze high-level waste management or reactor effluent releases.


Two commercial activated carbon were functionalized with nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and ethylenediamine to induce the modification of their surface functional groups and facilitate the stability of corresponding AC-supported iron catalysts (Fe/AC-f). Synthetized Fe/AC-f catalysts were characterized to determine bulk and surface composition (elemental analysis, emission spectroscopy, XPS), textural (N2 isotherms), and structural characteristics (XRD). All the Fe/AC-f catalysts were evaluated in the degradation of phenol in ultrapure water matrix by catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO). Complete pollutant removal at short reaction times (30–60 min) and high TOC reduction (XTOC = 80 % at ≤ 120 min) were always achieved at the conditions tested (500 mg·L−1 catalyst loading, 100 mg·L−1 phenol concentration, stoichiometric H2O2 dose, pH 3, 50 °C and 200 rpm), improving the results found with bare activated carbon supports. The lability of the interactions of iron with functionalized carbon support jeopardizes the stability of some catalysts. This fact could be associated to modifications of the induced surface chemistry after functionalization as a consequence of the iron immobilization procedure. The reusability was demonstrated by four consecutive CWPO cycles where the activity decreased from 1st to 3rd, to become recovered in the 4th run. Fe/AC-f catalysts were applied to treat two real water matrices: the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant with a membrane biological reactor (WWTP-MBR) and a landfill leachate, opening the opportunity to extend the use of these Fe/AC-f catalysts for complex wastewater matrices remediation. The degradation of phenol spiked WWTP-MBR effluent by CWPO using Fe/AC-f catalysts revealed pH of the reaction medium as a critical parameter to obtain complete elimination of the pollutant, only reached at pH 3. On the contrary, significant TOC removal, naturally found in complex landfill leachate, was obtained at natural pH 9 and half stoichiometric H2O2 dose. This highlights the importance of the water matrix in the optimization of the CWPO operating conditions.


Science and statistics inform us that large carnivores —lions, tigers, bears, and wolves—are on their way out. In most cases, the numbers of big cats, big dogs, and bears are teetering dangerously close to nil and their habitats have dwindled to less than 10% of historic ranges (Bradshaw 2017). There is hope, however. Nature has built in remarkable resilience, so that when hunting bans and conservation efforts are put into place, carnivores are able to have families and function with some sort of ancestral ease. Surprisingly, when toothed and clawed rebound, so do their prey. Ecologically, and logically, large carnivores bring landscapes back to health. William Ripple, Oregon State University, and his associates describe how, when gray wolves (Canis lupus) returned to Yellowstone National Park after a seventyyear absence, the entire ecosystem began to thrive (Ripple and Beschta 2006). In a few short years, wolf recovery brought on concomitant recovery of cottonwoods, alders, berry-producing shrubs, and passerines. By reinstating the top trophic dog, nature's pulse revived to its ancient rhythms. While some argue that such studies oversimplify complex ecosystem dynamics, the science and success of carnivore restoration provide living proof of the essential and critical roles that apex species play. One would think that in the age of the Anthropocene such successes would prompt widespread restoration of large carnivores. Indeed, there are many similar efforts around the world. Two sub-species cousins of the North American gray wolf, the Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus) and the Italian wolf (Canis lupus italicus) were close to extinction by the 1930s, but a ban on hunting brought back the species. Following these near-death revivals, however, comes an almost immediate killing response. This is showcased by the story of the American gray wolf. As in Europe, wolves were effectively eliminated from the coterminous U.S. by the 1930s. The last Oregon wolf was killed in 1946. In 1967, gray wolves were narrowly saved from extinction when they were listed under the Endangered Species Preservation Act, the precursor of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). By 1978, the gray wolf, including all its subspecies, were listed under the protective wing of the ESA. However, the new grace enjoyed by wolves was short lived. Twenty-five years later, in less than three wolf generations, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) ruled that gray wolves should be downlisted from their endangered status to threatened. This meant that wolves would become fair game for hunters. Federal courts countered by overruling the USFWS citing that the agency's proposal was "arbitrary and capricious." The USFWS was not daunted. Starting with the issuance of special exemption permits and delisting in certain regions, the USFWS continued to seek ways to side-step the courts' decisions and popular opinion that favor the wolf. Once again, the federal courts overruled the agency. However, victory was temporary. A series of legal blows and counterblows continued until 2011, when, for the first time ever, Congress delisted a species from the ESA. The gray wolf's fate is now left in the hands of individual states. Brenda Peterson, author of the new, fascinating, and comfortably-bound book, Wolf Nation, chronicles the history and fallout from these legal battles in various locales throughout the US including the sorry saga of Washington state's Profanity Peak wolf pack who are among the more than 5,000 wolves killed since ESA delisting. Not only have wolves had to contend with hostile state and federal wildlife agencies, some of their historically strongest advocates have literally joined in the kill. Recounted in the documentary, The Profanity Peak Pack: Set Up and Sold Out, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Defenders of Wildlife, Conservation Northwest, Wolf Haven International, other members of the Wolf Advisory Group (WAG), and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife voted to and did kill seven of twelve pack members on public land (Predator Defense, 2017). On top of the $53,000 to kill a wolf from the Huckleberry Pack in 2014 and the $76,000 to kill the entire Wedge Pack in 2012, the 2016


Purpose : to perform the condition and quality of the provision of Nephrology care for children's population of the Chernivtsi region, to identify the factors that should be considered when making management decisions aimed at improving the quality of care at the regional level. Materials and methods . The material for this study is reporting documentation about the condition of the nephrological service care for children's population of the Chernivtsi region in 2010-2015 and the data of The Center of medical statistics of Ministry of Health of Ukraine. Generalized results of the conducted preliminary studies, we used the sociological, analytical, and statistical methods. Results . To analyzed the effectiveness of pediatric Nephrology service in Chernivtsi region after the implementation of local protocols for providing medical care for children with nephrological diseases. Determined by the regional factors, as the evidence base that should be considered when making management decisions aimed at improving the quality of care at the regional level. Conclusion s. The study will permit reasoned therapeutic and rehabilitation activities at all stages of rendering of medical (Nephrology) care for children and to develop programmes aimed at improving health outcomes and prevention of this disease.


This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of microbial liquid manure (MLM) on growth and yield of two cultivars of leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Three treatments of 1,000 ㎎ㆍL?¹ MLM, 2,000 ㎎ㆍL?¹ MLM, and 1,000 ㎎ㆍL?¹ MLM+microbial 600 ㎏/10 a fermented compost (MFC) were employed. MLM was sprayed 3 times on leaves at 10, 20, and 40 days after transplanting and MFC was treated in the soil prior to transplanting. Leaf length of leaf lettuce were significantly increased with all microbial manure treatments at 60 days after transplanting. Number of leaves and chlorophyll contents were increased with 2,000 ㎎ㆍL?¹ MLM and 1,000 mg·L?¹ MLM + 600 ㎏/10 a MFC treatments compared to control. Leaf and root fresh weights were superior in order of 1,000 ㎎ㆍL?¹ MLM+600 ㎏/10 a MFC, 2,000 ㎎ㆍL?¹ MLM, and 1,000 ㎎ㆍL?¹ MLM treatments. According to cultivar, leaf fresh weight was 37% higher in 'Chungchima' (259.7 g) than in 'Juokchima' (189.4 g).


The effect of a kaolin-based particle film formulation on apple pests and their natural enemies was investigated in an experimental apple orchard in the Netherlands. Each plot chosen for the experiment was planted with 260 trees of 'Golden Delicious', 'James Grieve' and 'Cox's O.P'. Four 0.2-hectare plots were divided into two parts. One part was treated with kaolin particle film, while the other part served as the control. Kaolin was applied in the form of hydrophobic kaolin M96-018, which was applied at a rate of 45 kilograms per hectare in a suspension of 30 grams kaolin M96-018 and 40 ml methanol per liter of water. The treatments were applied about every ten days twelve times between March 25 and August 5. Beating-tray samples were collected nine times by tapping the entire canopies of ten trees per treatment. Data recorded included the number of aphid colonies, communal caterpillar webs, and leaf mines, and the population densities of Hoplocampa testudinea and Eriosoma lanigerum. All the samples were collected from the cultivar James Grieve. The kaolin treatment reduced the population density of Aphis pomi, Anthonomus pomorum, and Empoasca vitis, and the number of communal caterpillar webs. The proportion of fruits infested with H. testudinea was 9.31% on the treated plots and 35.7% on the control plots. On the other hand, there were more mines formed by Lyonetia clerkella, Phyllonorycter blancardella and Phytomyza heringiana on the treated plots than on the control plots. Kaolin particle films also increased the population density of Eriosoma lanigerum so that, by the end of the season, the treated plots were severely infested. In spite of the higher prey density, the numbers of the most important predators, Forficula auricularia, Allothrombiwm fuliginosum and Exochomus quadripustulatus, were significantly lower on the kaolin treated plots. This also was the case for the spiders.


The status of woman all over the world, particularly in India has been undergoing a rapid change in the recent decades. This phenomenon therefore has drawn the attention of literary artist, the artist and sociologists. The image of woman in Indo-English novel is based on the traditional ancient literature of India, which showed woman as a devoted wife or a devoted mother.


Objective To study the characteristics and risk factors of traffic injuries among the adolescents (0-19 years old) in the urban and rural areas of Chongqing and discuss the preventive strategy. Methods Data of road traffic crashes and injuries involving 0-19 years old adolescents over a seven-year period (2000-2006) in three districts of Chongqing was picked up from Road _Traffic Crashes and Injuries Database. Epidemiological characteristics of the traffic crashes and injuries among 0-19 years old adolescents were analyzed and differences between rural and urban areas were studied. Results From 2000 to 2006, both incidence rate and mortality rate peaked in the urban fringe area were 95.43/100 000 and 3.44/100 000 respectively. Traffic accidents in the suburbs and counties had the highest injury extent, with mortality rate of 9.06% and severe injury rate of 17.33%. Brain injuries were the primary cause of death. Among the victims, 62.7% were the pedestrians, of which 20.72% bore equal responsibility because of disobeying traffic signals, suddenly walking across roads and not walking along the sidewalk. Ninety percentage of the traffic accidents occurred in the sections with no traffic signals or traffic control system. Conclusion It is important to enhance the traffic safety consciousness of teenagers and children, strengthen preventive measures in fringe areas and rural areas and improve the emergency medical system in rural areas to provide the teenagers and children with a safety traffic environment.

Key words:
Accidents, traffic;  Adolescent;  Epidemiology


Summary. Blood viscosity and several of its determinants (packed cell volume, plasma viscosity, plasma fibrinogen and erythrocyte deformability) and several haemostatic variables (platelet count, serum fibrin degradation products and plasma soluble fibrin) were measured in 106 women during normal third‐trimester pregnancy, 12 patients with moderate pre‐eclampsia, nine patients with severe pre‐eclampsia and 16 patients with confirmed fetal growth retardation. Blood viscosity was measured at high and low shear rates (94.5 and 0.94 s−1), with and without correction to a standard packed cell volume of 0.45. In normal pregnancy low‐shear blood viscosity increased significantly towards term, associated with significant increases in packed cell volume and plasma viscosity (but not fibrinogen); there was no change in high‐shear blood viscosity at native packed cell volume and a decrease in viscosity after correction for packed cell volume, associated with a significant increase in erythrocyte deformability. Significant decrease in the platelet count and significant increases in serum fibrin degradation products and plasma soluble fibrin suggested a degree of haemostatic activation in normal third‐trimester pregnancy. In moderate pre‐eclampsia blood viscosity was significantly lower at low shear rate, due to a significantly lower packed cell volume and despite a significantly elevated plasma viscosity. In severe pre‐eclampsia high‐shear blood viscosity was significantly elevated after correction for packed cell volume, associated with a significantly reduced erythrocyte deformability; plasma fibrinogen levels were reduced, but other variables were not significantly abnormal. In fetal growth retardation blood viscosity was significantly increased at both shear rates, despite a reduced packed cell volume: this was also associated with a significant reduction in erythrocyte deformability. In general there was little correlation between blood viscosity factors and haemostatic variables, but in normal‐term pregnancy soluble fibrin levels correlated with blood viscosity at both shear rates. We suggest that increased blood viscosity and decreased erythrocyte deformability may play a role in the placental insufficiency of severe pre‐eclampsia and fetal growth retardation.