In the most recent decade, because of ongoing difficulties for administration, a rising stream of scholarly examinations has concentrated on authority types established in moral, star social or individuals focused practices, and specifically on worker initiative (van Dierendock, 2011). Servant authority is described by an emphasis on supporters' development and strengthening, and on pioneers' benevolence, sympathy, feeling of morals and network stewardship. Worker authority examine is still in its beginning periods and to pick up authenticity as a standard administration hypothesis, inquire about must clear up the procedures clarifying how an initiative style with such an express spotlight on adherents' needs and actuating positive individual results can help accomplish authoritative goals (Chiniara & Bentein, 2016). The birthplace of hireling authority idea was built by the first conceptualized of worker administration by Robert Greenleaf and the authentic figures of Jesus Christ. Robert Greenleaf put the "incredible" meaning of initiative by worker administration through serves first, not lead (Dierendonck, 2011). Pioneer who put the word chief as their status will regard his representative as a worker and he doesn't realize how to manage that. It is diverse with individuals who act as a pioneer (Andre & Lantu, 2015). From the right on time of worker initiative idea being presented by and by and the scholarly world, there some improvement of the hypothesis itself. A few papers endeavored to understand the separation the idea of worker authority and the other administration idea, the other specialist attempted to analyzing how to gauge the hireling initiative trademark (Dierendonck, 2011). Hireling initiatives imply that sort of administration which acts like the worker who serves the majority of the Abstract: In the most recent decade, because of ongoing difficulties for administration, a rising stream of scholarly examinations has concentrated on authority types established in moral, star social or individuals focused practices, and specifically on worker initiative. There are a few examinations led in different nations that appear about worker initiative. There is some examination that demonstrates to us the relationship Servant Leader can impact adherents and gives fundamental help to its focal introduce, that Servant Leadership does in reality impact authoritative results by the way toward fulfilling devotees. . Our goal was to examine in a representative working environment, how servant leadership has its impact on Employee Engagement, Burnout and Job Satisfaction and correlation from each variable to another. Leadership continues to be an exciting focus of research given that leaders bear the responsibility for influencing their employees' adoption of evolving organizational values, attitudes and goals. In this study, we approach from Servant Leadership. Yet with the increase in distrust in leaders in our political and corporate worlds, it is timely and stimulating to focus on a form of leadership that is not power-driven and self-serving, especially in this case that use PT Pertamina MOR VI as a case study.


Objective To learn the toxoplasma infection among pregnant women in Jilin Area.Methods Toxoplasma IgG and IgM in serum from 196 cases of pregnant women,whose pregnancy were between eight weeks and seven months,were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Results There was significant difference in the positive rates of TO IgG and IgM between the group of pregnant women who fed a cat or a dog and those who didn't(P0.01).No significant difference between the pregnant women in the town and those in the village was seen.However,there was significant difference in infection between the women in pregnancy for the first time and those for the second or more times(P0.05).Conclusion Pregnant women frequent contacting with the cat or dog is an important factor for toxoplasma infection.


Objective: To determine the effectiveness of probiotics in addition to traditional therapy for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) using a systematic review. Methods: PubMed and Cochrane Library databases were queried to evaluate patient clinical trials within the past five years using the search terms probiotics and ulcerative colitis. Results: Three trials met inclusion criteria. Two of three studies found no significant improvement in their primary endpoint with probiotics. Yoshimatsu, et al. found that after one year 56.6% of the placebo group remained in remission, whereas 69.5% of the probiotic group remained in remission (p>0.05).9 Tursi, et al. found no significant difference (p= 0.069) in UC remission after 8 weeks of using probiotics.10 Palumbo, et al. did find a significant difference (p <0.05) in the UC disease activity index (UCDAI), stool frequency, intestinal mucosa, and rectal bleeding after two years of using a probiotic blend.11 Conclusion: This systematic review did not show strong evidence in support of probiotic supplementation in UC patients. However, due to trial design and limited number of patients, a potential benefit to probiotics may exist. While it appears that probiotics do not pose any additional risk to individuals with UC, until large randomized trials are performed, we cannot recommend or discourage the use of probiotics.


Graphdiyne (GDY) as a new carbon allotrope, possessing both sp- and sp 2- hybridized carbon atoms, has attracted extensive attention due to great application potentials in various fields. To realize fundamental understanding of the intrinsic properties of GDY, the controllable synthesis of ultrathin and high crystalline GDY is necessary and challenging. We reported herein a confined interfacial synthesis strategy towards high crystalline ultrathin GDY at water/oil/organogel interface with greatly improved control over GDY structures. The morphology and chemical composition of GDY was characterized accordingly. After loading with Au, the as-prepared hydrophobic Au/GDY system showed excellent performances in nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), reaching highest yield of 4.15 μg·cm -2 ·h -1 with FE achieving 1.95% .


We are presenting five cases of atrial myxomas which presented in our unit since 1993, with different clinical features like shotness of breath, congestive cardiac failure, constitutional symptoms of fatigue, fever arthralgia and loss of weight. All cases were confirmed by echocardiography. Out of five patients, two left against medical advice after having been investigated and prepared for operation, three underwent excision of myxoma. One patient developed post operative jaundice on third post operative day which deteriorated to hepatic coma and died on 21st post operative day. when diagnosed a cardiac myxoma should be removed promptly to reduce cardiac and embolic complications.


Objective: Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between the expression of PD-1 as an inhibitory novel marker on CD8+ T cells and hepatitis C virus (HCV) viral replication and disease progression in chronic HCV-infected Egyptian patients. Background: Tight correlation between host circulating CD8+ T-cell-mediated immune response and control of viral replication is a classic characteristic of long-term HCV infection. Patients and methods: This study included 28 chronic hepatitis C patients without cirrhosis (17 male and 11 female), 25 chronic hepatitis C patients with cirrhosis (14 male and 11 female), and 15 healthy controls (10 male and five female). Laboratory investigations such as complete blood picture, liver function tests, evaluation of hepatitis viral markers (HBsAg and anti-HCV Ab), and HCV RNA PCR were performed on all participants. The level of PD-1 on CD8+ T cells was assessed using flow cytometry. Results: The data revealed a higher percentage of PD-1 on CD8+ T cells in HCV-infected patients compared with healthy controls. Our results also indicated a significant correlation between PD-1/CD8 level and HCV viral load in the studied groups. Conclusion: Our results suggested that PD-1 level on peripheral CD8+ was highly correlated with HCV viral load in chronic HCV-infected patients, which made PD-1 a novel indicator to evaluate the impairment and dysfunction of host CD8+ T-cell immunity as well as HCV viral persistence.


Informal lending is one of the Philippines ' most common sources of funding for households. The study described the perception of vendors towards informal lending in terms of cost, discretion, patience, humanity or sympathy, and reliability. Survey questionnaire was used in the study. The researcher used likert-scale type questionnaire and analyzed it through statistical data treatment such as mean and weighted mean.The findings of the study are as follows: in terms of cost, informal lending adds investment to business; in terms of discretion, informal lending greatly helps the business; in terms of patience, payment usually is given on the agreed date; in terms of sympathy or humanity, apology seems to be effective in not meeting the agreed date; and in terms of reliability, the ease of access to informal lending. Keywords— Informal Lending, Perception, Cost, Patience, Sympathy or Humanity, Discretion, Business, Reliability.


A bayesian-Gaussian Neural Network(BGNN)is put forward in this paper to predict the static and transient performance of Circulating Fluidized Bed(CFB) boilers.The advantages of this network over Back-Propagation Neural Networks(BPNNs),easier determination of topology,simpler and time saving in training process as well as self-organizing bility,make this network more practical in on-line performance prediction for complicatied processes,Simulation shows that this network is comparable to the BPNNs in predicting the performance of CFB boilers.Good and practical on-line performance predictions are essential for operation guide and model predictive control of CFB boilers,which are under research by the authors.


The US West has more and better engineered dams, reservoirs, canals, pipelines, and water treatment plants than have ever existed in history. People in this region, however, continually worry about a water shortage, because of the West is desert. The giant public works program brings water where it is needed, resulting in the West being the fastest growing region this century. The people are overdrafting aquifers. The rivers and streams are drying up. For example, the Colorado river draining 20% of the West, but it not longer reaches the sea because its water is diverted to urban and agricultural water projects. The West is also experiencing erosion and desertification, loss of wetlands and riparian habitat and wildlife, water pollution, crop failures, and drought and water shortages. Irrigation of marginal lands brings million of tons of salt into the river systems. Bureau of Reclamation water projects are contaminating surrounding areas. Not enough water exists in the West to sustain the current pace of development. Farmers remove enough water from the Ogallala aquifer each year that its level falls 4-6 feet each year, but nature restores only a level of 0.5 inches. A 6-year drought in California has resulted in forced strict water rationing in Los Angeles and San Diego. A wave of new immigrants forces the West to learn either to use less water, to redistribute existing supplies, or to block further population growth. Denver, Colorado, has installed water meters and forces residents to install efficient toilets and shower heads, to replace lawns with artificial grass, and to implement billing systems that discourage excessive water use. Other areas are also starting conservation efforts. Cities, farmers, Indian tribes, the US Forest Service, and environmental groups are fighting over water rights, increasing the price of water. Endangered fish, loss of wetlands and riparian habitat, erosion of river banks, and water pollution are factors limiting economic growth in the US West.


The problem of designing a decision support system for choosing a sequence of technological operations is considered. The use of a neural network to select a new route from a known set of optimal routes is discussed. It is proposed to use analytics, real-time data, and measurements of the state of the cutting and drilling tools when building a model of the tool state. As a model for estimating the resource of a tool, it is proposed to use a multilayer perceptron, at the input of which technological parameters are specified that determine the mode of operation of the tool. Information from the model output is stored in a database and is used when searching for a new route.


We present a doubly-attentive multimodal machine translation model. Our model learns to attend to source language and spatial-preserving CONV5,4 visual features as separate attention mechanisms in a neural translation model. In image description translation experiments (Task 1), we find an improvement of 2.3 Meteor points compared to initialising the hidden state of the decoder with only the FC7 features and 2.9 Meteor points compared to a text-only neural machine translation baseline, confirming the useful nature of attending to the CONV5,4 features.


Humor seems uniquely human, but it has deep biological roots. Laughter, the best evidence suggests, derives from the ritualized breathing and open-mouth display common in animal play. Play evolved as training for the unexpected, in creatures putting themselves at risk of losing balance or dominance so that they learn to recover. Humor in turn involves play with the expectations we share-whether innate or acquired-in order to catch one another off guard in ways that simulate risk and stimulate recovery. An evolutionary approach to three great literary humorists, Shakespeare, Nabokov and Beckett, shows that a species-wide explanation not only cuts deeper but in no way diminishes individual difference.


The7th regulation of the several regulations about the civilaction evidence says,"the people's court can define the proof responsibility according to fair and trustworthy principle,considering the ability of producing proof synthetically while no laws regulate specifically,and being unable to confirm the proof responsibility bearing depending on the regulation and other judicial explanation."The distribution of the proof responsibility is an extremely important legal problem.Different distribution methods may cause the different lawsuit results completely.This requires court make corresponding procedures to reduce the confusions brought by the idea that allows the judge to determine the distribution of putting to proof responsibility to the maximum extent.


The discoveries of both steady and bursting X-ray sources in globular clusters have made them as interesting for high energy astrophysics and X-ray astronomy as they were for unlocking galactic structure in Shapley's day. Globular clusters are massive (~105 M⊙) spherical clusters of primarily low mass (⪝0.8 M⊙) evolved stars and may be the oldest systems in the Galaxy. Thus when several globular clusters were tentatively identified as containing X-ray sources (Giacconi et al. 1974), it was apparent that either dynamical or evolutionary processes must be occurring among the ancient stars in globular clusters to produce the relatively short-lived X-ray sources. The existence of these X-ray sources has prompted considerable discussion as to their origin, since they exist with ~100 times the probability per unit mass in globular clusters as in the Galaxy as a whole (Katz 1975; Clark 1975). They may be yet another example of X-ray binaries (e. g., Clark 1975; Fabian et al. 1975) or be due to accretion onto a single collapsed object (black hole) at the center of the cluster (Bahcall and Ostriker 1975; Silk and Arons 1975). At present both of these classes of models are possible and generally consistent with the data, though each has its particular difficulties. We shall review the observational data and then the models in an effort to point out the present balance of evidence for the binary vs. black hole models as well as the most promising directions for future work. Given the possibly high incidence of X-ray bursters in globular clusters, our discussion will refer to both observations and recent models for bursters. While this review will primarily address the X-ray sources in globular clusters, it is obvious that their eventual understanding will contribute much to studies of globular clusters in general and will prompt future studies in particular areas.


For assessment purposes the total range of relevant wavelengths for differential settlements is split up into a number of wavebands in accordance with vehicle response characteristics to deformations in the track geometry and the potential of maintenance machines to correct the track geometry. The measurement signals produced by recording cars are analyzed by calculating the standard deviation per waveband and detecting the exceedence of particular threshold levels. The major problem in analyzing and interpreting these signals is how the results of individual signals should be combined to one overall result. The best practical solution is to normalize the standard deviations and take the largest one as the decisive one. This is purely an empirical approach in which a theoretical basis is lacking. The one solution to combining the different geometrical components is via vehicle response. This approach is discussed.<<ETX>>


Objective:  To address whether switch of depression into hypomania or mania or cycle acceleration in patients with bipolar disorder is caused by antidepressants or whether this phenomenon is attributable to the natural history of bipolar disorder itself.


Objective:To optimize ultrasonic-assisted extraction technology of total flavonoids from Penthorum chinense and evaluate its in vitro antioxidant activity.Method:With yield of total flavonoids as index,the concentration of ethanol,extraction time,liquid-material ratio were optimized by response surface methodology based on single-factor tests,and its in vitro antioxidant activity were evaluated by multi-test systems.Result:Optimal extraction technology conditions were:extracted 20 min with 26 times the amount of 60% ethanol at 50 ℃.Under these conditions,yield of total flavonoids reached 4.14%,which was agreed with model predictions.In vitro antioxidant activities results showed that total flavonoids from P.chinense had good antioxidant activities of scavenging DPPH free radical and hydroxyl free radical,but also had strong reducing power and total antioxidant capability.Conclusion:Optimized ultrasonic-assisted extraction technology was simple,rapid and efficient.Total flavonoids from P.chinense had good antioxidant activity which was worth of further study.


BACKGROUND
The scholarship on the impact of the source of the donated kidney (living donor = LD or deceased donor = DD) and the ethnoreligious background on the quality of life post-transplantation has received little scientific attention. The purpose of the present research is to evaluate health related quality of life and psychological feelings among kidney transplant (KT) recipients.

METHODS
262 renal recipients completed the Health Related Quality Of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire and answered the Transplant Effects Questionnaire (TxEQ) questionnaire assessing their post-transplantation emotional and psychological responses.

RESULTS
KT Recipients reported medium levels of physical, psychological, social, and environmental dimensions of HRQOL. Muslim recipients reported significantly higher levels of physical, psychological, and social dimensions of HRQOL than Jews. Recipients of kidneys from LD reported higher levels of HRQOL. Recipients of kidney from a LD reported significantly higher levels of guilt and responsibility to be healthy.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings indicate that receiving a graft from a LD contributes to the HRQOL in the physical, psychological, and environmental dimensions. Hence, donations from LD should be encouraged, by investing efforts in promoting public awareness of the importance of donating kidneys by LDs. Muslim kidney recipients enjoy better physical, social, and psychological HRQOL; this difference can be explained by the supportive and embracing familial and social networks characterizing traditional Arab communities. Post-transplantation support programs should be designed in order to provide further support and improve emotional and psychological responses to postoperative reality.


During the 1990s and early 2000s, the idea of "DIY" street culture was redefined. This emerging movement was rooted in the popular graffiti and street art of previous decades, but was characterized by a group of young, interdisciplinary artists that lacked formal training, and self-identified as social outcasts. These artists, who included Barry McGee, Mark Gonzales, Ed Templeton, Mike Mills, Spike Jonze, Thomas Campbell, Jo Jackson, Shepard Fairey, Chris Johanson, Margaret Kilgallen, and Harmony Korine, found a platform at the Alleged Gallery in New York, where they were able to collaborate, deface, and create in a singular space. Unfortunately, the Alleged Gallery closed in 2002, and the street art movement developed by these creators was largely left uncharacterized and unrecognized by the art world. However, in 2004, the founder of the Alleged Gallery, Aaron Rose, was given the opportunity to curate an international, touring exhibition, entitled Beautiful Losers, which helped to group these artists into a singular, cohesive movement, while also providing them with a new level of exposure and formal museum recognition. The goal of my paper is to explore the accessibility and impact of street art through the example of the Beautiful Losers exhibition. In particular, I will examine themes of public versus private exhibition spaces, the commodification of art through corporate partnerships, and the idea of "selling out" as an artist.


International advertisers up to now continue to be confronted with the question of whether to standardize or adapt their commercial messages. This debate over the standardization versus adaptation issue has involved both advertising practitioners and academicians interested in transnational advertising issues for at least the past four decades. There are three schools of thought regarding international advertising: standardization, adaptation, and the contingency perspective. Aims to review and contrast the perspectives of practitioners (ad agencies as well as clients) and academicians to this problem over the past 40 years. Observes interesting differences over this time frame, both within each of the two groups and between them. Finds practitioners to have alternated between the adaptation and standardization approaches over the four decades with a trend towards standardization, while academicians have mostly advocated the adaptation approach over the 40 years examined.


The economy of scale, long in practice in bulk and crude oil shipping, has proved in recent years also to be very true for container transport. Container ships of about 5,000 TEU are presently in service, 6,000 TEU are being ordered and 8,000 TEU vessels are now at the design stage. The required propulsion power, respectively the maximum output of one diesel engine, had also to be increased to comply with this demand on larger single screw ships. The engine manufacturers quickly responded by bringing two strocke diesel engines with a bore not far from one metre on the market. The maximum output delivery by a single engine has risen from the present level of around , KW with an additional 20,000 KW.


The electromagnetic articulography (EMA) is a relatively exact and efficient method used in study on speech production physiology. It allows to precisely estimate movement trajectories of speech articulators like tongue, lips, jaw etc. by tracking position of sensors fixed to the articulators. This paper presents results of EMA research on Polish oral and nasalised vowels in orthography represented by the graphemes <e>, <o>, <ę>, <ą>. Inter-individual variability of tongue and lips position in X-axis direction during realization of the same phoneme has been estimated. Differences between oral and nasalised vowels in terms of movement of articulators in X-axis direction have been assessed too.


The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of chemical (3% urea), biological (fungi, yeast and bacteria and their combinations) and biochemical treatment (combined biological + urea) on the nutritive value of sugarcane bagasse. The effect of treatments on chemical composition, cell wall constituents, scanning electron microscopy, in vitro DM and OM disappearance and in vivo nutrients digestibility of bagasse was studied along with Nutilization with lambs. The results showed that different treatments increased DM, CP, EE and ash, while decreased OM, CF and NFE. The increments in CP content were 305, 188 and 156% due to biochemical, chemical and biological treatments, respectively. The chemical, biological and biochemical treatments decreased NDF, ADF, hemicellulose and cellulose, while increased ADL content. The obvious change in the structure of cell parenchyma was observed in chemical, biological and biochemical treated bagasse. Values of in vitro dry matter and organic matter disappearance were significantly higher (P<0.01) for biochemical, chemical and biological treated bagasse, respectively, than untreated bagasse. The nutritive values and N-utilization recorded with lambs fed rations containing biological and biochemical treated sugarcane bagasse were greater than those containing untreated or urea treated ones. It was concluded that, different treatments improved chemical composition, cell wall constituents, IVDMD and IVOMD disappearance, almost nutrients digestibility, TDN and DCP values of sugarcane bagasse with the superiority of fungi or fungi + bacteria + urea treatments. [Fatma M. Salman; R. Salama; A. E. khattab; S. M. Soliman and Y. A. El-Nomeary Chemical, Biological and Biochemical Treatments to Improve the Nutritive Values of Sugarcane Bagasse (SCB): 1Chemical Composition, Scanning Electron Microscopy, In Vitro Evaluation, Nutrients Digestibility and Nitrogen Utilization of Untreated or Treated SCB] Life Science Journal,. 2011; 8(4):351-363] (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com.


The diagnosis of localized prostate cancer is carried out by standard core needle biopsies under guidance of transrectal ultrasound imaging of the prostate gland. This paper describes a 3D model supported virtual environment for prostate cancer diagnosis and biopsy design. A 3D deformable reconstruction algorithm is developed to define an object surface from digitally-imaged surgical specimens. A virtual environment with a multimodal visualization capability is integrated to simulate prostate biopsy protocols. The new system permits an accurate graphical modeling of the object of interest, the localization and quantification of tumors, and the definition of the pathways of biopsy needles. The technique allows the medical experts to probe and manipulate the data in 3D view space and to evaluate the performance of simulated biopsies subsequently optimize biopsy techniques. Results and analysis of our experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the individual modular components of the approach. We conclude with an application of the complete framework to a prostate biopsy simulation and evaluation task.


Description Package for a Bayesian multiple changepoint detection method to detect mean shifts in AR(1) time series. It accomodates metadta (if available) by letting metadata times have higher prior probabilities to be changepoints. The changepoint configuration with the highest posterior probability is the optimal model. Metropolis-Hastings algorithm is utilized for quick stochastic search of a potentially huge model space. This method is ideal for annual series, since it allows a linear trend component, but not yet monthly cycles.


Research on the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in language learning has ascertained heretofore various potentials ranging from metacognitive domain to skill-based practices. One area in which the potentials of ICT tools requires further exploration is self-regulated language learning, an active, constructive process in which learners take the initiative in their learning experiences. This paper reports on a study which aims to examine English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' use of ICT tools to self-regulate their language learning outside the formal instructional setting. A total of 777 university students attending an intensive English language preparatory program participated in the study. Analysis of the data collected through surveys showed that EFL learners were actively engaged in the use of ICT tools for self-regulated language learning, but there were variations both among the students and in aspects of regulating learning through the use


The present invention therefore relates to a method for transforming at least one polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and / or at least one alkylphenol in effluent and / or activated from urban and / or industrial sludges comprising a step of treatment with the fungus Pycnoporus cinnabarinus said effluent and / or said activated sludge.


Background: Intrauterine protein restriction in rodent models is associated with low bone mass which persists into adulthood. This study examined how early nutritional compromise affects the mechanical and structural properties of spinal tissues in sheep throughout the lifecourse. Methods: Lumbar spines were removed from 19 sheep; 5 control animals and 14 that received a restricted diet in-utero. Eight animals (2 control/6 diet) were sacrificed at a mean age of 2.7 years and eleven at a mean age of 4.4 yrs. Two motion segments from each spine were tested on a hydraulically-controlled materials testing machine to determine their mechanical properties. Vertebral bodies were assessed for a number of structural parameters including cortical thickness and area, and regional trabecular density. Results: Younger animals in the diet group showed a 25% reduction in forward bending stiffness (p Conclusions: These results suggest that early nutritional challenge can have detrimental effects on the mechanical and structural properties of spinal tissues in young animals but that adaptation occurs over the lifecourse to compensate for these differences in older animals. Conflicts of Interest: None Source of Funding: None


The moral risk in deposit insurance exists objectively.The legal system of deposit insurance that China is studying and constructing should be built by using for reference of the experience of advanced foreign countries so as to control the possible moral risk and protect the stability and development of financial system.


Abstract Background NO (nitric oxide) inhibition could be used for evaluating the drug's efficacy for NO-mediated inflammatory disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of L-NAME and melatonin on different NO production levels in RAW 264.7 cell line as an in vitro model for inflammatory diseases. Materials and methods RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line was used to compare the effects of L-NAME and melatonin on basal and Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced iNOS levels. The cells were treated using L-NAME and melatonin for 1 h, afterward incubated with/without LPS for 8 and 24 h. Finally, iNOS mRNA, protein, activity, and nitrite concentrations were evaluated. Results Inhibition rate of nitrite by 1 mM L-NAME compared with LPS control were 78% and 80% during 8 and 24 h, respectively. Real-time PCR showed that in the LPS-treated group, 1 mM L-NAME could result in 14% increase of iNOS-mRNA compared with the control group during 8 h. Dose-dependent activity of iNOS in LPS-induced cells from non-treated to 4 mM L-NAME showed 79% reduction while at the same concentrations of melatonin this decrease was 32% (p-value <0.05). Conclusion L-NAME showed lower iNOS expression modulating efficacy than melatonin. The result concluded lower potential of the NOS synthetic inhibitors rather than melatonin in the treatment of NO-related disorders.


Despite profound objective and subjective differences, the development of the educational systems of different countries takes place in a single direction – the search for the new values and aims of education. If we take a look at the modern school (educational) programs and books, we will observe the sudden increase of information volumes, first of all, through complication and enrichment of conceptual apparatus. This is a result of the wish of modern education to exclude any lagging behind development of the science, which, in its turn, facilitates and speeds up the development of production, and education. Such a rapid development of modern society leads to emerging of serious contradictions in the system of national education. These contradictions confirm that the extensive way of the education development can't be too long. As one of the instruments to modernize the education the mind-maps are viewed. The top priority in the development of modern humanitarian education and foreign languages lies in its communicative focus. All the members of the educational process are personally interested in the guaranteed high-quality results, which can be achieved through the technological approach during the high school classes. The necessity of the methodologic solution of the increasing results of educational process, conditioned by the requirements to the class, which have changed and the desire to overcome the contradictions mentioned above facilitated the choice of the topic: "The use of mindmaps for studying foreign languages at high school". The technology of creative multilevel information encoding (analogous to sign-and-symbol activities) is made up of method: mind mapping. Mind maps focus on structuring the contents of a text making use of the principles of information encoding to create a text gestalt by means of encoding verbal information in terms of images, specially designed abbreviations and shortenings. Mind maps can be used for pretty much any thinking or learning task, from studying a subject (such as a new language) to


We formulate and analyze and SEIR epidemic model with vertical transmission and vaccination. The basic reproduction number of this model was found. Through the study and analyze to the basic reproduction,we obtain the stability and persistence of the equilibrium.


The other-race effect is a collection of phenomena whereby individuals process faces of their own race differently from those of other races. Previous studies have revealed a paradoxical mirror pattern of an own-race advantage in face recognition and a other-race advantage in race-based categorization. With a well controlled design, we compared recognition and categorization of ownand other-race faces in both Caucasian and Chinese participants. Compared with own-race faces, other-race faces were less accurately and more slowly recognized, whereas they were more rapidly classified by race. This mirror pattern was confirmed by a unique negative correlation between the two effects with a hierarchical regression analysis, indicating an interaction between processing of face identity and category and a common underlying processing mechanism.


The exponential series density estimator is advantageous to the copula density estimation as it is strictly positive, explicitly defined on a bounded support, and largely mitigates the boundary bias problem. However, the selection of basis functions is challenging and can cause numerical difficulties, especially for high dimensional density estimations. To avoid the issues associated with basis function selection, we adopt the strategy of regularization by employing a relatively large basis and penalizing the roughness of the resulting model, which leads to a penalized maximum likelihood estimator. To further reduce the computational cost, we propose an approximate likelihood cross validation method for the selection of smoothing parameter. Our extensive Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed estimator for copula density estimations. ∗Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com. I gratefully acknowledge the Supercomputing Facility of the Texas A&M University where all computations in the study were performed.


Purpose: This study's goal was to examine how customer satisfaction at Jordanian five-star hotels served as a mediator between the effects of website quality and e-trust on customer loyalty.

Design/methodology/approach: Questionnaires were the primary method used in the study for gathering data. The survey was created using data from earlier research and given to visitors staying at several five-star hotels in Amman, the country's capital. A convenience sample of 401 people received questionnaires from the researchers. The valid data was examined using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and SPSS V.25 (AMOS V.20).

Findings: The study found a favorable relationship between website quality and customer loyalty as well as a positive correlation between e-trust and consumer satisfaction. Additionally, there is a direct correlation between customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Research implications: Hotels should take steps to gain the public's trust if they want their websites to be regularly preferred by visitors. The website should also show a relationship between its target audience and the information and images about the hotel by consistently updating both. It has been demonstrated that users of online hotel booking websites exhibit higher levels of trust in websites. When a customer sees what to expect when staying at the hotel, their sense of risk reduces.

Originality/value: In order to research the marketing function of hotel services, which today heavily rely on online hotel reservations, this study is a ground-breaking endeavor to improve the worldwide tourism industry. The results should spur Jordanian hotels to research the factors that influence customer loyalty for online reservations.


Due to lack of proper regulations in many areas of the world, consumers are not mandated to waste sorting at the origin of the source. Moreover, human sorting often suffers from human errors and low accuracy. In the intelligent detection system, it is attempted to break down a variety of household wastes including plastic bottles, glass, metals, paper bags, compact plastics, paper and disposable containers. In this paper, a real waste image system is investigated using the deep convolutional neural network and a remarkable accuracy of 92.76% was achieved.


In the fourteenth letter to Lucilius, Seneca explains how to avoid physical danger and discomfort: the worst threats to the body come not from nature but from men in power; therefore safety lies in not giving offence. Ad philosophiam confugiendum est (11): the study of philosophy incurs neither envy nor contempt, provided that the philosopher pursues it peacefully and without ostentation.


The kinetics and mechanism of reorientation of martensitic variants as well as the evolutional pathway under the continuous compressive stress along different directions in Ni-Mn-Ga alloys have been investigated by using phase-field method. The simulated results revealed that the final structures and the pathway of evolution were determined by the stress-applied direction: two variants, single variant and the complete parent corresponding to the [100], [110], and [111] directions, respectively. The related kinetics and the mechanism of the structural conversion and the phase transition will be proposed to explain the inner physical nature. The twinning or detwinning stress was calculated for different directions and also discussed from the effect of the interfacial dynamic factor and the shear modulus, which was close to the experimental measurements. The pseudo-elasticity related to the structural conversion as well as phase transition was also investigated. The reversibility of structural evolution betw...


The present invention provides a method of resuming operation of a wire saw ready, wherein the cutting process of a workpiece is interrupted due to a wire break and then resumed, wherein the operation comprises the following steps: application of an axial reciprocating movement on a wire, while a new wire line is fed from a feed side to a receiving side; downward and cutting the workpiece into wafers by relative movement of the workpiece to the workpiece against the back and to press reciprocating wire while the wire is a Schneidslurry is fed, the method comprising: Repairing the broken wire after interruption of the cutting process of the workpiece before the resumption of the cutting process of the workpiece; and preparing on the cutting process in such a manner that a diameter of the repaired wire to a position at which the workpiece to the diameter of the wire is adjusted immediately before the occurrence of the wire breakage to be cut. The method can prevent the formation of grooves in sliced wafers after the resumption of operation and reduce the production of inferior wafers, even if the cutting process is interrupted due to the wire breakage.


Abstract The synthesis of polymers characterized by a preferred helical screw sense (macromolecular asymmetry) is a subject of considerable experimental interest. Here, we summarize our efforts toward the preparation of optically active polychloral in which asymmetry at the macromolecular level is the only factor contributing to the polymer's chiroptical properties. Through the use of chiral initiating species, we have prepared optically active polychloral with specific rotations reaching 4500° at the sodium D-line. The results of this work and the prospects for further investigation are outlined.


In this issue readers will find articles from five new generation health law researchers following an initiative taken by Mme Duguet, a member of the Editorial Board of this Journal. In one way or the other the subjects of the articles all involve informational privacy issues: conditions for breach of medical confidentiality after death (Lisette Bongers, Janne Rothmar Herrmann), traceability of donor and recipient when advanced technologies are applied (Allane Madanamoothoo, Aurelie Mahalatchimy), and scope of the duty to reveal medical (genetic) information for the purpose of a private insurance contract (Sarah Defloor). Despite the common grounds for the protection of informational privacy in human rights instruments, European countries often deal in different ways with these and other health-related privacy protection issues. This, together with the rapid advances in information and communication technology, increased cross-border movements for healthcare purposes and related cross-border exchange of personal medical and other health-related information, were the reasons for choosing the actual situation in Europe concerning the protection of personal medical and health-related information as a theme for this editorial.1


We reply to the Comment by Farjam and Rafii-Tabar [Phys. Rev. B 80, 167401 (2009)] on our paper [Phys. Rev. B 78, 075435 (2008)]. We show that the gap opening found in our paper is due to the use of a small number of $k$ points in the calculation which prevents revealing the sharp contact of the two bands near $K$ or $R$. Once a large number of $k$ points is used, the density-functional theory (DFT) VASP codes give the same conclusion as obtained by Farjam and Rafii-Tabar by using the QUANTUM-ESPRESSO codes, namely, there is no gap opening in the band structure of graphene under small planar strain. We also point out that all other results in our paper remain correct, except for the conclusion of the gap opening. The results demonstrate the importance of using a large number of $k$ points for determining the gap width of the band structure of graphene under strain as well as the validity of the DFT VASP codes for the system.


Revision with unchanged content. Remittances (what migrants send back to their home countries) are important not only for the families who receive them but also for the poorest developing countries. This book develops an Overlapping Generations model of households with residences in two countries to explore how remittances may be saved for retirement, used to finance investment in housing, schooling, or for consumption. The book uses the estimation framework of Gruben and McLeod (1998), and Mody and Murshid (2002) to study the impact of remittances on Gross National Savings, Investment, and on school enrollments. The results appear to be consistent with the model as, for example, it is shown that Remittances positively—although differently—affect the primary and secondary school enrollment of boys and girls. The conclusion discusses the new ways of measuring remittances and explores how "social remittances" can have an impact in local community development. Students of development issues and policies will find the topic of remittances interesting and appealing; those interested in gender issues in developing countries will find the results presented in this book both encouraging and challenging.


By the method of field test, from the heating power, abandoned water, temperature of circulating water, flow of spray water altogether four aspects, to study the causes of scaling in cooling tower, and through the way of crosscheck in water quality analysis and scaling test, to find out the trend and degree of the influence of fouling rate, and through the analysis of the results, the rationalization proposal is put forward. KEYWORD: physical chemistry; valve cooling system; scale; contrastive analysise


Blood pressure measurements associated with malapplication of a finger cuff were compared with contemporaneous intra‐arterial pressure data in seven volunteers to determine the influence of cuff application on the accuracy of the Finapres 2300e. Systolic readings in all cuff positions differed from arterial line data by more than the recommended standard and tight and loose cuff applications under and over‐read respectively, in all subjects. The results show the Finapres to be sensitive to small degrees of finger cuff malapplication which contribute to the bias on direct arterial comparison and limit the reliability of the instrument in clinical practice.


A novel approach for improving estimations of existing group contribution methods is developed. Instead of fixed contributions, weighted contributions are optimized for each property estimation using a database. These weighting factors are calculated based on similarities between the compound whose properties are estimated and the other compounds in the database. By this approach, those components which are chemically more similar to the estimated one can systematically be given more weight in the estimation process, while sustaining the general nature of the group contribution methods. The new approach was applied to the Joback and Reid (1987), and the Marrero and Gani (2001) group contribution methods. The performances were demonstrated on Normal Boiling Point (NBP) predictions. The absolute average error of NBP estimations was reduced by 6.3 K for the Joback and Reid method and by 4 K for the Marrero and Gani method. Other physical properties such as critical pressure, volume, formation energies, melting temperature and fusion enthalpy were estimated by applying the new technique to Joback and Reid method.


ISCS is an intelligent driving assistant system that improve driving safety using velocity control or alert massage for decreasing a possibility of an accident danger at specific area such a school-zone, silver-zone or regions that has a speed limit. Like a navigation system; widely utilized as a convenience system on common vehicles, using position information data base, when vehicle enters into a specific region, it controls velocity of itself until limited speed, and using laser scanner, it grasps moving or fixed objects on around the moving path. Consequently, in an emergency, this system gives an urgency signal to driver.


The World Wide Web contains massive source of content. Fetching of relevant information from the WWW is a very typical task. Web crawler plays an important role to fetch the relevant content from the WWW and for indexing the web pages. To accommodate drastically increasing user requests, an efficient and optimized crawler is required. Content of the surface web pages are available to all users directly for access, but content of the deep web is not exposed to the users. The crawling of the hidden web is even more difficult. Authors have proposed algorithms for different web crawlers for fetching the information from the surface and deep web in an efficient and optimized manner. In this paper, we have reviewed different web crawlers and have classified them based on the information fetched by them. This paper provides a comparative analysis of web crawlers used for fetching the information based on URL, deep and surface web.


Demodex mites, D. folliculorum and D. brevis, are complex microorganisms ubiquitously present in the pilosebaceous units of adult human facial skin and form part of its normal microbiome. Although their potential for pathogenicity is not fully understood, an increased Demodex population is associated with some skin and ocular disorders such as rosacea, pityriasis folliculorum and blepharitis (1). Further in vitro/ex vivo studies would help to decipher their possible involvement in these conditions. However, as reviewed previously by our team, dermatologists/scientists face several challenges to study Demodex mites (2). Notably, practical difficulties in maintaining sufficient numbers of mites alive after removal from skin make it difficult to carry out experiments involving living mites in the laboratory setting. In order to prolong mite survival for ongoing experiments, we investigated the potential benefits of storing live mites in the laboratory at different temperatures. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Concentrator photovoltaic module with Fresnel lenses as primary optical elements and focons made of sheet aluminum as the secondary optical concentrators has been developed. To enhance the efficiency of conversion of solar energy into electrical the optimal focon design have been determined and the photoelectric characteristics of a module with such focons investigated. Implementation of focons in module design allowed to increase acceptance angle of the latter from ±0.45% (without focons) up to ±0.85% (with focons) and to increase the efficiency from 29% to 32.8%.


Abstract Knowledge of platelet count and function is key to ensuring appropriate hemostatic management. We hypothesized that the novel, portable TEG®6s coagulation assessment system could evaluate the contribution of both platelet count and function to clot formation. Whole-blood samples with variable platelet counts were prepared from healthy volunteers. Platelet function was adjusted using seven concentrations of abciximab and evaluated by light transmission aggregometry (LTA) with TRAP agonist. Maximum amplitude (MA), reaction time (R) and activated clotting time (ACT) were assessed in citrated kaolin (CK), CK with heparinase (CKH), citrated RapidTEG® (CRT), and citrated functional fibrinogen (CFF) assays. Positive correlations were observed between platelet count and CK.MA, CKH.MA, and CRT.MA (p < .0001), and CK.R, CKH.R, and CRT.ACT (p < .05). Platelet count could be accurately quantified in the range 28–91 k/μL, 28–86 k/μL and 28–74 k/μL for CK.MA, CKH.MA, and CRT.MA, respectively. CK.MA, CKH.MA, and CRT.MA showed significant negative relationships with abciximab concentration (p < .001). Platelet function inhibition was detected by all three assays at >68% measured by LTA and quantified in the range 68.4–82% (CK), 69.4–88% (CKH), and 69.7–76% (CRT). This demonstrates the TEG®6s analyzer can accurately evaluate platelet count and function at the site-of-care.


A general catalytic methodology for 1,2-RF/Y-difunctionalization of conjugated alkenes is reported. Diverse functionalized carbon radicals (RF•), which are generated through copper(I)-initiated sel...


Squalene hydrosilylation by a number of organohydrosilanes R3SiH and Me3GeH, including a mixture of α- and β-isomers of adducts of vinyltrimethylsilane addition to tetramethyldisiloxane: HSi(Me2)O(Me2)Si-C(Me)-SiMe3 and HSi(Me2)O(Me2)Si-(CH2)2-SiMe3, formed both according to Markovnikov's rule and against it, is discussed. We pay attention to the mismatch of values between the electronegativities of carbon, silicon, germanium and hydrogen atoms and the reactivity of C-H, Si-H, and Ge-H bonds. A spectral study of a mixture of α- and β-isomers was carried out. The effect of substituents at elements on its reactivity is discussed: hydrosilanes with chlorine atoms, alkyl and alkoxy groups on silicon are not active in the squalene hydrosilylation. In contrast to them, the α- and β-adducts and their mixture add well to squalene with an unambiguously unknown regioselectivity. The results obtained indicate the special behavior of squalene in electrophilic addition reactions catalyzed by metal complexes, in contrast to substituted ethylenes.


The "gamification" of science has gained a lot of traction in recent years, and games that convey scientific concepts or themes are increasingly popular. While a number of existing games touch on microbiology, very few consider the beneficial (as opposed to the detrimental) aspects of microbes. We designed a board game called "Gut Check: The Microbiome Game" to fill this gap. The game is meant to be both educational as well as challenging and fun. Here we discuss the development of the game, some of the logistics of game development in this context, and offer suggestions for others thinking of similar projects.


This chapter introduces the reproducible fabrication methods of cell-laden hydrogel modules with a controllable design and the characteristics of the modules. It provides an overview of handling techniques of the modules in microfluidic devices. The chapter talks about applications of the modules for transplantation and bottom-up tissue engineering. Combined with cell assay microfluidic systems and cell-laden hydrogel modules, microtissues with extracellular matrices (ECMs) are useful for analyses of cell functions and cell-cell interactions because microtissues can easily be handled, arrayed, and retrieved in microfluidic systems. Furthermore, the cell-laden hydrogel modules can be used as building units for reconstructing 3D cell structures. Therefore, the cell-laden hydrogel modules produced by microfluidic devices have a great potential to create miniaturized tissues for human implantation and for treatment of diseases.


A correlation between increases in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration of vascular endothelial cells and release of endothelium-dependent relaxing factors was first reported decades ago by Luckhoff et al.1 In agreement with these formative observations, subsequent studies demonstrated that Ca2+-sensitive biosynthetic pathways, such as endothelial nitric oxide synthase, as well as small and intermediate conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels (KCa2.3 and KCa3.1) are primary drivers of endothelium-dependent vasodilation. Because endothelial dysfunction and loss of vasodilatory capacity are a common hallmark of cardiovascular diseases, the underlying Ca2+ signaling mechanisms are of considerable interest. Technological advances, including the development of high-affinity fluorescent Ca2+ indicator dyes, transgenic mice expressing genetically encoded Ca2+ indicator proteins selectively in the endothelium,2 high-speed, high-resolution confocal Ca2+ imaging, and total internal reflection fluorescent microscopy allow the Ca2+ signals controlling endothelium-dependent vasodilation to be probed in ever increasing detail. Application of these methods has revealed that Ca2+ mobilization pathways in the endothelium are unexpectedly complex, dynamic, and diverse. For example, spreading intracellular and intercellular Ca2+ waves are stimulated by the well-characterized endothelium-dependent vasodilator acetylcholine in many vascular beds.2 These propagating Ca2+ events may be critically important for conducted vasodilatory responses.3 Another type of Ca2+ signal was reported by Ledoux et al,4 who demonstrated that in mouse mesenteric arteries, acetylcholine enhances localized release of Ca2+ from the endoplasmic reticulum through inositol trisphosphate receptors (IP3R). These subcellular Ca2+ signals, referred to as Ca2+ pulsars, are localized to membrane domains that project through the internal elastic lamina separating the endothelium from underlying vascular smooth muscle cells. Ca2+ pulsar sites colocalize with areas densely expressing KCa3.1 channels, suggesting that Ca2+ pulsars may …


Twenty‐one western United States rivers are governed by interstate compacts. This paper examines the issue of compliance with interstate river compacts in the western United States and some of the factors influencing compact compliance. Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence presented in this paper suggest that upper basin states governed by interstate compacts with percentage delivery rules are more likely to comply with compact requirements than states whose rivers are governed by fixed delivery rules. Evidence indicates that both the frequency and level of noncompliance tend to be larger under a fixed allocation rule. Under such a rule the upper basin state bears a greater share of a shortage and experiences greater variability so it would have a greater incentive to cheat. A comparative study of the South Platte and La Plata Rivers is consistent with this hypothesis. Given the large demands imposed on many western United States rivers, our analysis suggests that compliance analysis is likely to be an important component of interstate negotiations and that administration of interstate compacts will become increasingly important.


With the development of e-commerce industry and the arrival of the new retail era, traditional retail enterprises have to step into the field of e-commerce, change the sales model and redesign the complete new supply chain. This paper mainly introduces the market competition environment and internal reform pressure faced by traditional retail enterprises, taking Ruentex-Mart as an example, analyzes the advantages and problems of supply chain reform, and puts forward corresponding solutions for other traditional retail enterprises.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Repeat fractures after percutaneous vertebroplasty can be seen in patients with osteoporotic compression fractures. The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of patients with new fractures after vertebroplasty. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-five consecutive patients were treated with vertebroplasty for painful osteoporotic compression fractures at our institution. The charts and radiographic studies of all patients were retrospectively reviewed. Special attention was paid to patient age and sex, imaging studies, long-term use of steroid medication, and treatment for osteoporosis. We used logistic regression analysis and the Fisher exact test for statistical evaluation. RESULTS: Thirty-five patients were treated with vertebroplasty at one time and did not develop new fractures, whereas 20 patients returned with new fractures. Sixteen of 55 patients had been on steroid medication. The incidence of subsequent vertebral compression fractures after vertebroplasty in patients on long-term steroid therapy was 69% (11/16), compared with 23% (9/39) in those with primary osteoporosis (ie, those who were not on steroid therapy). There was a statistically significant association between use of steroids and new fractures (P < .01). No statistically significant difference was noted in patient age, sex, and medication for osteoporosis. CONCLUSION: Patients who are on long-term steroid medication have an elevated risk of developing new fractures after vertebroplasty.


Estimation of design flood for a desired return period is of prime importance for safe design of hydraulic structures such as dams, spillways, bridges, culverts, urban drainage systems and flood plain zoning. Frequency analysis enables estimation of the probability of occurrence of a certain hydrological event of practical importance by fitting a probability distribution to one that is empirically obtained from recorded annual maximum discharge (AMD) data. This study deals with the fitting of Extreme Value Type-1, Gamma, 2-parameter Lognormal (LN2) and Log Pearson Type-3 (LP3) distributions to the AMD data; and examines the use of goodness-of-fit tests and diagnostic analysis in assessing the adequacy of suitable probability distribution for estimation of design flood. Results of the study showed that LN2 distribution is better suited for modelling flood data for Tapi at Burhanpur, Girna at Dapuri and Bori at Malkheda sites; and LP3 is the best for Purna at Lakhpuri.


This volume of the new complete translation of Soren Kierkegaard's Skrifter (for my review of earlier volumes, see The European Legacy 17.2 and 19.4), includes the journals and notebooks archived as NB15 to NB20, written throughout 1850. As with previous volumes, this edition features a translation of the journals in a two-column format, in order to best represent the multiple alterations and drafting Kierkegaard made to his own personal documents. These are followed by a "Critical Account of the Text" (discussing both the physical appearance and chronological information of each notebook), and "Explanatory Notes" by the editors. These notes include maps of the cities and areas that Kierkegaard discusses, the calendar for the year he followed (particularly pertinent in this edition, given the number of reflections on holy feast days Kierkegaard reflects on in NB15), and any illustrations that he refers to in his writing.


We extend the classical Perron-Frobenius theorem for positive quasipolynomial matrices associated with homogeneous difference equations. Finally, the result obtained is applied to derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the stability of positive system.


Two-dimensional (2D) materials have exhibited potential for infrared detection at room temperature, yet their low light absorption impedes their widespread application. In addition, micromechanical cleavage, which is the main method by which high-quality 2D layers are achieved, typically leads to small-area flakes, hampering their application as photodetectors. In this work, we designed a hybrid plasmonic structure, comprising a metallic bull's eye grating and optical nanoantennas, to collect and concentrate light into a piece of single-layer graphene with sub-wavelength lateral extent. This boosts the interaction between the graphene and light, thereby improving its photodetection performance in the technologically important long-wave infrared (LWIR) region. Finite-difference time-domain electromagnetic simulations were performed to this end. The plasmonic structure we present is predicted to enhance the absorption of light by the graphene by ∼558 times, which in turn is predicted to enhance the detectiv...


It is a controversial question whether petition right on property could apply to extinguishing limitation in different countries.Different from property right,petition right on property at different stages presents an ideal or actual situation.And it also differs from creditor's right claim.So in petition right on property,except estate restitution,removal of interference right and elimination of risk right are not restricted by extinguishing limitation.To avoid the conflict between lawsuit limitation and acquisition of extinguishing limitation,some scholars claim that petition right on property applying to lawsuit limitation would destroy the Civil Law system.Law making practice and law theory study should be deepened when it is about coordination of the Civil Law system,especially the whole limitation system.


The digital-to-analog conversion apparatus operates to convert an digital input into a corresponding analog output. A digital filter is provided for oversampling the digital input having a varying value represented in the form of multiple bits. A delta-sigma modulator operates to effect delta-sigma modulation of the oversampled digital input to reduce a number of the multiple bits for requantizing the oversampled digital input with a certain S/N ratio. A low-pass filter is provided for converting the requantized digital input into an analog output. A level detecting circuit is provided for detecting when the value of the digital input falls below a predetermined level. A shifting circuit is disposed upstream of the delta-sigma modulator and is responsive to the detected results for increasing the value of the digital input so as to improve the S/N ratio in the delta-sigma modulator. An attenuator is disposed downstream of the delta-sigma modulator and is responsive to the detected results for effecting decreasing compensation for the increased value of the digital input while substantially maintaining the improved S/N ratio so as to produce an analog output corresponding to the digital input.


Rational design of efficient, stable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts is necessary for widespread adoption of electrochemical energy storage technologies. Achieving this goal requires elucidation of fundamental relationships between surface structure and reaction mechanism. Here we address this issue using ab initio computations to determine the surface structure and OER mechanism for LaNiO3, a perovksite oxide that exhibits high activity but low stability. We find a new OER mechanism in which lattice oxygen participation via reversible formation of surface oxygen vacancies is critical. We show that this mechanism has a lower reaction barrier compared to the generally proposed mechanism, leading to improved agreement with experimental data. Extending the study to La1–xSrxBO3 (B = transition metal), we demonstrate a transition to the lattice oxygen-mediated mechanism with decreasing catalyst stability. Our results suggest new approaches for next-generation catalysts design.


The semi-structured research interview is often criticized for not producing reliable and valid results due to 1) interviewer bias, and 2) non-commitment on the part of the informants, and 3) for being an expensive information gathering tool. By applying a CA perspective in the analysis of semi-structured interview data it is shown, however, that in the present case both interviewers and informants were very much concerned with producing true, accurate and valid responses. It is shown that among the interactive resources they have at their disposal, some of them are especially suited to ensure validity and are often recurred to by both parts. They concern e.g. question-response managment, the management of pauses, and repair organization. That the semi-struc tured research interview is an expensive information gathering tool cannot be denied. However, and all other things being equal, if validity is secured, it may turn out be a more safe research instrument than the structured interview.


The details are given of 3 public transportation cases in Asia, Africa and South America, and brief descriptions are given of 5 cases from other parts of the developing world. An attempt is also made to summarize these cases particularly highlighting the administrative, financial and regulatory features. The vehicles, ownership, procurement and use are described, as well as the operation and income of the motorized tricycle rickshaws of Karachi. Similar details are given of the public service transport of passengers on St. Lucia, West Indies, as well as the intercity taxis of Egypt. The Carros por puesto of Venezuela, the jeepneys of the Philippines, the kia-kias of Nigeria, the colectiros of Ecuador, and the Sherutin of Israel are also described. The key features of all these highly successful services are flexibility and responsiveness. They are all the projects of private enterprise. However, certain concerns which appear to be common to these systems are also listed.


Composite sol has been synthesized utilizing both silica sol with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the precursor and modified by 3-chloropropyltriethoxysilane (CPTES) and AgCl sol with silver nitrate (AgNO3) as the precursor. The SiO2-AgCl composite films have been fabricated on PET samples through dip-coating method. The effect of Silane-coupling-agent concentration on surface properties has been investigated by using SEM,FTIR,Folding machinery,contact angle test,method of oven drying quality and so on. The results indicated that the composite films with n(CPTES)∶n(TEOS)=1 of the mol ratio possess uniform surface topography,good adhesion strength,hydrophobicity,resistance to water and antibiosis.


Domestic Violence is one of five volumes in a series entitled The Family, Law, and Society. Each volume aims to present an overview of the contemporary academic literature on an aspect of family law. The articles in this volume are presented with little editorial introduction. They are divided into nine sections: 'Definition', 'Research and Violence Against Women', 'The Justice Response', 'The Criminal Law', 'A Human Rights Question', 'Coping, Staying, Leaving', 'Mediation and other Forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution', 'And Children', and 'Ethnic Minority Victims'. The scope is broad, with many articles reporting on research studies, and others focusing on a specific point of law or a theoretical issue. The editor aims to provide an international perspective, although there is a weighting towards literature regarding the United Kingdom and the United States. The structure of the collection provides a 'snapshot' of the contemporary literature. It is notable that there has been a reasonable amount of research into domestic violence (a relatively recent development). It is, however, clear that many of the studies completed to date use very small sample groups and have greatly varying methodologies. Throughout this volume there is reference to the disparities in research findings regarding domestic abuse, for example, the different conclusions found in studies of the effect of policing policies such as routine arrest of domestic abuse perpetrators (discussed, for example, by Lewis et al. in Chapter 8). Many of the authors note the need for further research. I was interested to note the degree of consensus between most authors included on the conceptualisation of domestic abuse, which I think indicates a trend in the wider literature. Firstly, despite the choice of the term 'domestic violence' in the title, this is agreed to refer not to a series of violent acts by a partner, but to a pattern of violent and other behaviour aimed to gain and maintain power. This indicates that the 'incident-specific and injury-based' analysis of domestic abuse so well critiqued by Stark (2007, 10) is losing favour, although Stark's nuanced conceptualisation of 'coercive control' is unfortunately absent (Stark 2007, 5). Secondly, it is noteworthy that throughout this volume PRACTICE: SOCIAL WORK IN ACTION VOLUME 23 NUMBER 3 (JUNE 2011)


Myocardial infarction (MI) is a dynamic process that leads to ventricular remodeling (VR) and heart failure (HF). Previous studies established that Galectin‐3 (Gal‐3), is increased during infarction and it is a prognostic marker of HF. Here, we aimed to study the effects of genetic mutation of Gal3 on macrophages infiltration, fibrosis and MMP‐2 as well as VR after MI in mice. Adult male C57 and Gal3KO mice were subjected to permanent coronary artery ligature and sham. After 1 week (w) post‐MI, echocardiography was performed. LV end‐diastolic diameter (LVEDD) was measured and ejection fraction (EF%) calculated. Then, animals were euthanized. Body (BW) and heart weight (HW), tibial length (TL) and lung wet weight (LW) were measured. Hearts were harvested, snap frozen and storage at −80°C. Infarct size and fibrosis in MI area were quantified in cardiac slices stained with Masson's Trichrome and Picrosirius Red. Myocyte cross sectional area (MCSA) was also measured in slices labeled with wheat germ agglutinin–rhodamine. At 1w post‐MI macrophages (F4/80+ cells) were quantified by flow cytometry and MMP‐2 activity was studied by zymography, both in the MI area.


We present a first version of the Svalbard ice‐free topography (SVIFT1.0) using a mass conserving approach for mapping glacier ice thickness. SVIFT1.0 is informed by more than 1 million point measurements, totalling more than 8,700 km of thickness profiles. SVIFT1.0 is publicly available and represents the geometric state around the year 2010. Our estimate for the total ice volume is 6,199 km3, equivalent to 1.5‐cm sea level rise. The thickness map suggests that 13% of the glacierized area is grounded below sea level. A complementary map of error estimates comprises uncertainties in the thickness surveys as well as in other input variables. Aggregated error estimates are used to define a likely ice‐volume range of 5,200–7,300 km3. The ice front thickness of marine‐terminating glaciers is a key quantity for ice loss attribution because it controls the potential ice discharge by iceberg calving into the ocean. We find a mean ice front thickness of 135 m for the archipelago (likely range 123–158 m).


This guide provides documentation for creating and managing electronic resource collections in the knowledge base (KB) in Collection Manager. The knowledge base is accessible in Collection Manager through both the Metadata and Licenses tabs.


The college financial work plays an important role in normal operation of school teaching,scientific research and daily administrative management.Based on the analysis of the characteristics of college financial service and the existing problems,new ideas to improve college financial service satisfaction are put forward.


The sustainable development strategy is a fundamental change of human development strategy. Water resource is briefly analyzed based on sustainable development in this paper. Besides, Water pollutant control system program is also discussed, and some suggestions that concern water pollutant control system program are considered.


Background Kidney involvement is seen frequently in COVID-19 patients and is essential to the prognosis. This study is undertaken to describe the clinical presentation of renal involvement in COVID-19 patients concerning acute kidney injury (AKI), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and urinary abnormalities and to correlate with the severity of COVID-19 illness and its outcome.
Material and Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study reviewed the medical records of patients admitted with COVID-19 infection who had pre-existing renal conditions or renal manifestations in the form of deranged renal function tests or abnormal urinary findings. All the relevant clinical and laboratory parameters, including the treatment details and outcome, were noted, and statistical analysis was done.
Results A total of 72 out of 1,544 patients satisfied the inclusion criteria. Hypertension (72%) and Diabetes (62%) were the commonest co-morbidities noted. CKD was seen in 51 (70%) patients, and 21 patients (29%) were on maintenance dialysis. 39 (76%) patients with CKD were diagnosed with severe COVID-19, 25 (49%) of the patients developed acute worsening of CKD, and 45% had mortality. AKI was seen in 19 patients (26%). Urinary abnormality was seen in 34 (47%) patients, out of which 27 (37%) had proteinuria of more than 1+. Haematuria was seen in 27 (37.5%) patients, of which 12(17%) had gross haematuria. Dialysis was required in 24 patients (33%) additionally. Mechanical ventilation was required in 32(44%) patients, and inotropes in 41(56%). 21 (29%) patients developed acute respiratory distress syndrome, 39 (54%) had sepsis, with six patients developing multiorgan dysfunction syndrome. 62.5% of patients had mortality. The presence of other comorbid conditions, thrombocytopenia, coagulopathy, abnormality in arterial blood gases, and usage of inotropes were found to be significantly associated with adverse outcomes.
Conclusions Most cases had severe renal system involvement, with an AKI prevalence rate of 1.2% and a case-specific mortality rate of 62.5%.


The present invention is based on a glass substrate to provide an improved an improved glass substrate, a TFT display, especially for manufacturing purposes. For this purpose, the invention is flat glass substrate, and in particular has at least 3.6m Flat glass plates, flat screen, TFT, plasma, subsequent processing, edge


Shui scripts preserve many features of "character infancy".Much cultural information can be detected through the compatible "assortment" of pictograms,hieroglyphs and abstract characters.


This paper explains the pathogenesis and treatment of coronary heart disease complicated with diabetes mellitus,combing ancient physicians treatment for coronary heart disease and diabetes awareness,to show the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine in the prevention of the disease,provide an effective reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment.


TECHNOLOGY has turned the tables in favour of consumers, enabling them to find goods and services faster and access more choices. Companies now compete more intensely to capture consumers' mindshare and scour for ways to keep their products relevant. But every coin has two sides. While technology has empowered consumers with choice, it has also offered companies a plethora of data to understand consumers better. This puts the odds in favour of companies that can leverage on data to gain consumer insights and meet their business objectives.


The invention relates to a method for predictive determination of a parameter value of a of a vehicle (1) drivable surface (2) and providing the parameter value to at least one driver assistance system (100) of the vehicle by detecting a total surface area (2, 2.1, B1, B2), which for driving the vehicle (1) is provided, wherein determining a partial area (2, 2.1, B1) within the total surface area (2, 2.1, B1, B2), which is actually suitable for transit of the vehicle takes place, and further a determining the parameter value is carried out only for the partial area (2, 2.1, B1). Furthermore, the invention relates to a control device (10) for performing the method.


This paper reviews the basic economic concepts relevant to international public goods production and applies them to the case of security and peace in southern Africa. To this end, it extracts from the literature a set of fundamental features that help determine the likelihood of success of any collective action and applies these features to the current southern African context.


The author`s approach to the theme of the artificle is focused on the research of the dialogical relationship between scientific practice and its philosophical and methodological awareness, which is subordinated to the main requirement of clear awareness of the prerequisites of the philosophical and methodological solution and constructions. The object of the research: the phenomena of scientific practice of economists and sociologists who make the intellectual environment extremely unfriendly in their mutual relations of economic science and sociology for interdisciplinary research and who receive in their discussions the term "economic imperialism" and "sociological imperialism". The object-fild of premise is distinguished in the areas of economic and sociological knowledge. The purpose of the research: explication of the metaphors "economic imperialism" and "sociological imperialism", which would allow to identify inefficient attitudes that oppose the dialogue of sociologists. Setting five tasks and determining the sequence in solving them help to achieve the goal. From the author`s point of view, the confrontational metaphors of "economic imperialism" and "sociological imperialism" have to replaced by the productive metaphor of inseparable and non-existent coexistence of economics and sociology, which is explicated to realistic methodological recommendations that can be used in the practice of scientific interdisciplinary social research.


The purpose of this research is to find out the existence of the influence of marketing mix; product, price, promotion dan place on the increase of sales in Sharia Financial Services Cooperative in Kendal District. The research was conducted on Cooperative Management; Chief of Cooperation/ Cooperative Secretary/ Country Lower, Cooperative Employees or Cooperative Members of the 8 Sharia Financial services Cooperative in  Kendal District. Method used on this research is quantitative research. This research used data in form questionnaires given to 33 respondents. Data analysis used validity test and questionnaire reliability. The result  tested using the double regression analysis with parameter test, model precision test and classic assumption. The validity and and reliability test stated that given questionnaires are valid and reliable. Data analysis result shown that product variable gave positive score to the increase of sales in Sharia Financial Services Cooperative in  Kendal District. The effect of product  is 5,616.   Price variable gave positive score to the increase of sales in Sharia Financial Services Cooperative in Kendal District. The effect of price is 5,701.  Promotion variable gave positive score to the increase of sales in Sharia Financial Services Cooperative in Kendal District.  The effect of promotion is 6,633. Mean while place  variable also gave positive to the increase of sales in Sharia Financial Services Cooperative in Kendal District. The effect of place is 4,665. The F-test and T-test state that marketing mix; product, price, promotion, and place variable have a significant and positive impact to the increase of sales in Sharia Financial Services Cooperative in Kendal District.  From the result of analysis, it can be concluded that product, price, promotion, and place have a positive and significant impact to the increase of sales in Sharia Financial Services Cooperative in Kendal District.  Really explained that on the four  variables  is  94,2% and the other 5,8% is explained by other variable out of this research.


A radar absorbing structure shielding a metal plane in the form of a ferrite layer with a dielectric layer containing grids of resistive squares is considered. The problem of diffraction of a plane electromagnetic wave, normally incident on the structure, is solved. On the basis of the solution of the optimization problem, it is shown that in comparison with a simple ferrite layer, which is low-reflective only in the decimeter and meter wavelength ranges, the combined structure with a total thickness of less than 5 cm provides a small reflection in the region of centimeter waves.


Ethanol treatment increases the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lowers antioxidant levels, thereby enhancing oxidative stress in many tissues. ROS are capable of initiating lipid peroxidation and lead to the release of reactive aldehydes with potent pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic properties. Various pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNFα, IL-1, IL-8 and others have been proposed to play a major role in alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH). Serum concentrations TNF and of various TNF-inducible cytokines such as IL-1 and IL-8 are increased in patients with acute ASH. Several studies in rats, mice and tissue culture focused on the role of cytokines, especially TNF, in experimental models of alcoholic liver disease. Studies neutralizing other pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1 or IL-8 are currently not available. Furthermore, alcohol-associated liver injury is inhibited when the animals are treated with poorly absorbed oral antibiotics or lactobacillus to decrease endotoxaemia, supporting the hypothesis that gut-derived bacterial products such as endotoxin might be important in activation of Kupffer cells and/or other cell types in the liver. This fits with the observation that chronic ethanol feeding causes more severe liver injury in wild-type mice than in CD14 knockouts. These results further support that gut-derived endotoxin acting via its cellular receptor CD14 plays a major role in the development of alcohol-induced liver injury. In experimental models and isolated hepatocytes, alcohol has been shown to induce liver cell apoptosis. Evidence from rat studies indicates that ethanol-induced gut leakiness and endotoxemia precedes liver inflammation, suggesting that indeed ethanol-induced gut damage come firs. Even though cytokine dysregulations in ASH may constitute secondary phenomena, blockade of these highly pro-inflammatory molecules remains a potential treatment concept.

# S05.2 HEPATOPROTECTION AND IMMUNE RESPONSE TOWARDS MONOTHERAPY AND COMBINATION THERAPY WITH ANTIBODIES TO TNFα IN EXPERIMENTAL ALCOHOLIC STEATOHEPATITIS {#article-title-2}

The activation of TNFα, the key pro-inflammatory cytokine, plays an important role in alcoholic liver disease. TNFα mediates inflammatory process and accelerates lipid accumulation in the liver under alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH). Therapy with anti-TNFα antibodies is mainly in use in the clinics for acute alcoholic hepatitis but not for ASH. In the study that we carried out, the monoclonal anti-TNFα antibodies remicade (REM; 1 and 10 mg/kg, i.p) administered during 10 days decreased necrotic foci and lymphocytic infiltration but unaffected steatosis in the liver of rats with ASH induced by feeding of the Lieber-DeCarli ethanol-containing diet (LCD). Only the high dose of REM lowered liver triglyceride content and serum alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity. Both REM doses raised phagocytic index and circulating immune complexes and normalized complement activity. As the treatment of ASH with REM rather benefits inflammatory signs, we used REM in combinations with promising hepatoprotectors to improve steatosis. We administered REM simultaneously with i.g. administration of sesamine (500 mg/kg), pioglytasone (10 mg/kg), betaine (100 mg/kg) or metformine (50 mg/kg). The combinations of REM with betaine and sesamine were more effective than REM alone in decreasing serum AP activity, square of sudanophylic staining and triglyceride content in the liver. All combinations did not disturb immunomodulatory properties of REM. These experimental studies suggest that anti-TNFα antibodies combined with the hepatoprotectors (sesamine, betaine) are effective in necrosis, inflammation and steatosis in the experimental model of ASH induced by LCD feeding.

# S05.3 IRON METABOLISM AND ALCOHOLIC LIVER DISEASE {#article-title-3}

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is frequently associated with hepatic iron overload that contributes to liver injury and is considered as a risk factor for the development of liver fibrosis. Dietary iron absorption and body iron traffic are controlled by the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin, a liver-derived peptide that binds to the iron exporter ferroportin and promotes its internalization and degradation. This leads to retention of iron within ferroportin-expressing cells, including duodenal enterocytes, reticuloendothelial macrophages and hepatocytes. The expression of hepcidin is regulated transcriptionally in response to iron, inflammation and stress signals. Experiments in cells and mouse models demonstrated that ethanol suppresses hepcidin mRNA transcription by inhibiting the binding of the constitutive transcription factor C/EBPα within its promoter. Ethanol-dependent downregulation of hepcidin is associated with increased expression of the duodenal iron transporters DMT1 and ferroportin at the apical and basolateral membranes of enterocytes, respectively. These findings provide a framework to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying hepatic iron accumulation in ALD patients. To better characterize the role of iron in chemically induced liver fibrogenesis, hemojuvelin knockout (Hjv − /−) mice, a model of hemochromatosis, and wild-type controls were subjected to intoxication with CCl4. Hjv − /− mice developed earlier and more acute liver damage, reflected in dramatic levels of serum transaminases and ferritin and the development of severe coagulative necrosis and fibrosis. These responses were associated with an oxidative burst and early upregulation of mRNAs encoding α1-(I)-collagen, the profibrogenic cytokines TGF-β1, endothelin-1 and PDGF. Thus, hepatic iron overload potentiates the effects of chemical intoxication and triggers precocious profibrogenic gene expression. Although the CCl4 model may simulate pathophysiological responses of ALD, further experiments with ethanol intoxication are required to validate these data.

# S05.4 H2O2: A LINK BETWEEN INFLAMMATION AND IRON METABOLISM {#article-title-4}

Hepatitis of any kind is characterized by increased concentrations of reactive oxygen species. H2O2 is the main reactive oxygen intermediate derived from a multitude of cellular metabolic processes as well as from oxidative burst by granulocytes or macrophages. Due to its relatively long half-life time, there is growing evidence that H2O2 also acts as a signaling molecule. Iron metabolism can be influenced by H2O2 by activating the iron regulatory protein 1, which regulates intracellular iron metabolism but also by increasing transferrin receptor 1 that is responsible for cellular iron uptake. Both mechanisms lead to increased cellular iron uptake and decreased levels of circulating serum iron. Hepcidin, the systemic iron regulator, has not been linked to oxidative stress so far. New experiments, however, point out that H2O2 is able to increase hepcidin via STAT3 signaling, thus decreasing iron recycling by macrophages and iron resorption by the duodenum. This is a third mechanism to lower serum iron during increased oxidative stress and preventing toxic reactions between H2O2 and iron.


Spectral diffusion on a one-dimensional chain with a random distribution of interruptions is considered. An exact solution for the time decay of the initial excitation is computed. The solution exhibits an exponential behavior initially, diffusion (${t}^{\frac{\ensuremath{-}1}{2}}$) behavior at intermediate times, and a long time decay $\ensuremath{\sim}\mathrm{exp}[\ensuremath{-}{(\ensuremath{\lambda}t)}^{\frac{1}{3}}]$. The relationship of this problem to the vibrating chain with some infinite masses, and to a related band-structure problem, is discussed. The possibility of observing the predicted behavior in fluorescent-line-narrowing experiments is also discussed, and some limits on the relevant parameters are given.


The rotor performance is computed for the two modes of VTOL flight, hover and cruise. In the hover mode the rotor must provide sufficient thrust to support the whole aircraft weight, whereas in the cruise mode only a small fraction of the thrust is required. On the other hand, the flow through the rotor is relatively small in hover, but large in cruise. These different conditions in the two modes of operation demand variable blade geometry in terms of blade twist, as well as aerofoil camber. The high thrust in the hover mode must be obtained with a minimum of blade area to avoid excessive drag in the cruise mode. To achieve this a fairly high tip speed must be combined with high lift coefficients. In the cruise mode on the other hand, tip speed and lift coefficients must be reduced considerably. This leads to a high advance ratio.


Nanoscale temperature sensing is increasingly being explored to study physical-chemical processes at the nanoscale. Since direct contact thermometers, like thermistors, are usually not suitable for high spatial resolution applications, luminescence thermometry raises as an alternative. In this case, a nanoparticle can be used as a probe and the temperature measurement is done by analyzing the luminescence emission. One of the most exploited candidates as luminescence nanothermometer probes are dielectric nanoparticles doped with lanthanide ions (Ln3+). They offer a high photostability and the possibility of using non-cytotoxic host matrices, targeting biological applications. In a typical approach, one can measure the temperature from Ln3+-based systems by recording their emission luminescence spectrum and computing the Luminescence Intensity Ratio between two so-called thermally coupled levels [1], which should follow the Boltzmann distribution. Another great advantage of using Ln3+-doped systems is to exploit the upconversion (UC) process, being possible to excite the thermally coupled levels with light of lower energy. In this sense, codoped Yb3+/Er3+ systems are among the most efficient ones. In such cases, the electrons in the ground state of the Yb3+ ions can be excited with a laser near 980 nm. Depending on the Yb3+/Er3+ and Er3+ ions' proximity, the energy can be efficiently transferred from Yb3+ to Er3+ ions. Consecutive energy transfer (ET) steps can thus lead to the UC phenomena, populating higher-lying electronic states. In Er3+ ions, the thermally coupled levels, 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 need a two-step ET of 977 nm excitation. They decay radiatively to the ground state (4I15/2) resulting in luminescent bands in the green spectral region, with central wavelengths of $\sim 525$ nm and $\sim 550$ nm, respectively. Depending on the excitation power density, higher-order multiphoton absorption can also happen, therefore populating states above the thermally coupled ones.


This paper explores application of the L1 adaptive control architecture to a generic flexible Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV). Adaptive control has the potential to improve performance and enhance safety of space vehicles that often operate in very unforgiving and occasionally highly uncertain environments. NASA s development of the next generation space launch vehicles presents an opportunity for adaptive control to contribute to improved performance of this statically unstable vehicle with low damping and low bending frequency flexible dynamics. In this paper, we consider the L1 adaptive output feedback controller to control the low frequency structural modes and propose steps to validate the adaptive controller performance utilizing one of the experimental test flights for the CLV Ares-I Program.


The present invention relates to a technical field of organic semiconductor materials, organic semiconductor material containing provide triphenylamine and naphthalene, the molecular structure of the material of the general formula: wherein, R is a hydrogen atom or C1-C6 alkyl group. The present invention also provides a preparation method and application of an organic semiconductor material containing triphenylamine and naphthalene. Triphenylamine and naphthalene-containing materials have good hole transport property and stability.


SIR, – T. T. Farrell raises the issue of humane slaughter of birds during avian influenza outbreaks and cites adherence to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) standards as a means of achieving this ( VR , January 21, 2006, vol 158, p 108). The UK fully recognises the need to use humane


The potential of e-Participation mechanisms has significantly evolved over time. However, with governments, polit ical parties, corporations, and mass-media controlling th e communication channels, citizens who deliberate through e-Participation may have to contend with bias, censorship, and even eavesdropping. TownHall is intended to help manage this burden. As a platform-independent, peer-to-peer, "communications browser," TownHall enables small and large groups of citizens to securely create text-based discussion forums, share documents, and crawl/catalog informational websites. We present an overview of TownHall's technology and approach, discuss why we believe this eParticipation tool is viable, and consider theoretical imp lications of TownHall's use.


OBJECTIVE To establish the information system for detection of nosocomial infections,and study the related factors,outbreak region,and control measures for nosocomial infections so as to achieve the standardization of nosocomial infection detection.METHODS The system for detection of nosocomial infections was researched and developed by adopting B/S architecture,java,javascript,lotus and other technologies,and then was integrated into the hospital integrated information platform.Setting of project's standard,acquisition and input of data,and data analysis were performed mainly based on standards for disinfection and hygiene in hospital GB-15982-1995.RESULTS The information system involving surveillance report for nosocomial infections and surveillance system was established.The database was constructed which can realize statistical analysis of all of the data and can check up the dynamics of nosocomial infections at any time.CONCLUSION Information system for detection of nosocomial infection is an important component of control system for nosocomial infections.It can improve the efficiency of the detection of nosocomial infections and the health care quality management system.


Despite significant advances in the treatment of heart attacks over the last 40 years, they remain a major cause of death and disability worldwide. While large clinical trials form the backbone of medical practice guidelines, they have well-recognised limitations. Clinical registries provide an organised system of data collection on all patients with a particular condition or undergoing a particular procedure. They can therefore be a powerful complementary tool to understand how we practice cardiology and the quality of care that we deliver. In this thesis, I examine the role of clinical registries in improving outcomes for patients undergoing coronary stenting.


Purpose – The paper seeks to review recent developments in theory and research regarding the nature and role of relations and networks in business markets and to argue for a more dynamic, interactive and evolutionary view.Design/methodology/approach – Complexity theory, as well as theories of distributed cognition and control, is used to show that business markets, relations and networks are complex adaptive systems of interacting people, firms, activities, resources and ideas in which no one player is in control.Findings – The theoretical perspective described has profound implications for management practice, policymaking and research. In particular it leads to the concept of soft assembled strategies in which management and firms utilize the inherent response properties of the relations and networks in which they operate to extend what they can do, sense, know and think.Research limitations/implications – Relevant research methodologies for addressing the academic, management and policy issues arising ...