Although approximately one half of the global population lives in rural areas, these people are served by only 38% of the total nursing workforce and by less than a quarter of the total physicians' workforce. At the country level, imbalances in the distribution of health workers are even more prominent, in both developed and developing countries.1,2 Without local access to well trained and motivated health workers, it is unlikely that communities will have access to important primary health care services to respond to priority health needs and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.3–5

Health workers have always tended to move in search of better living and working conditions, improved salaries and opportunities for professional development, be it within their own country, from rural to urban areas, or from public to private sector; or from one country to another.6 The effect of these movements can be devastating in countries or settings where there is an absolute shortage of health workers.4 Moreover, when developed countries recruit health workers from developing countries to fill vacant positions in their own rural areas, the situation is exacerbated.7

While the international recruitment of health workers can be addressed through non-binding legal instruments, such as codes of practice or bilateral agreements, for the intra-country migration of health workers there are other types of policy instruments that countries can use to retain health workers where they are most needed. Several calls for action have further highlighted the importance of this issue and the necessity to address the inequitable distribution of health workers within countries.2,6–9

In this context, WHO has recently launched a programme of work to support countries to increase access to health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention.10 The programme consists of three strategic pillars: building the evidence base, supporting countries to implement and evaluate effective strategies, and producing evidence-based recommendations to improve retention of health workers in remote and rural areas. An important part of this programme is the work on expanding the knowledge base and the evidence on effective strategies and policies that countries can use to address the issue of inequitable distribution of health workers in remote and rural areas.

Much is known already about the factors that influence health workers' choices of location and their decisions to go to, stay in or leave these areas.8,11–13 However, there is very little evidence on specific operational solutions and recommendations that countries can adapt to their specific context in responding to this challenge; in particular evidence is lacking on the design, implementation and evaluation of these strategies.9

Broadly speaking, countries have put in place four main types of strategies to address this issue: educational interventions, such as the "rural pipeline" (targeted recruitment from rural areas), or continuous professional development support; regulatory interventions, such as loan repayment schemes, compulsory service requirements; financial incentives, such as salary increases, or different types of allowances; and interventions that address the working and living environment, such as supportive supervision, improved human resources management systems, reducing social isolation through tele-health, professional networks and wider rural development schemes.10

Often the various retention schemes are proposed without a baseline study to understand the factors that influence health workers' decisions to go to, stay in or leave remote or rural areas. Sustainability is another critical element that needs to be considered, both from a financial and a time perspective. Many interventions start as pilot experiments in a region or district, frequently driven by specific donor initiatives, with little capacity for scaling up or for sustaining the interventions for the longer term. The most effective interventions do not work in isolation, hence the need for a combined or "bundled" approach that addresses the multiple aspects of education, recruitment and management. And finally, evaluations of impact and effectiveness of different strategies are still lacking.

In this context, authors are invited to submit articles as a contribution to a special theme issue that will explore the challenges of health worker retention in remote and rural areas. Papers should aim at filling the gaps in the current knowledge on costs of implementing rural retention strategies and incentive schemes, and the extent to which context influences the design, implementation and the impact of various strategies. Innovative methodological papers that examine the monitoring and impact evaluation of various strategies are also encouraged, in particular with a view to understanding the long-term effects and sustainability of retention strategies.

Manuscripts on any of the above topics should be submitted to: http://submit.bwho.org by 1 October 2009. ■


To the Editor. —Dr Gentilello and colleagues1focus on a major public health problem, alcohol-related injuries. Alcohol is the third leading cause of death in the United States, most often the result of alcohol-related trauma. Survivors of alcohol-related injuries are common in community hospitals and trauma centers. Few health care institutions screen patients for alcohol, and many reasons and excuses are offered. Today these beliefs and attitudes must be addressed in each hospital considering starting to screen for alcohol. With that in mind, and as a direct result of American Medical Association (AMA) Resolution 190,2which states that the AMA encourages the development of alcohol screening programs for injured patients admitted to hospitals, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment developed a treatment improvement protocol (TIP) entitled "Alcohol and Other Drug Screening of Hospitalized Trauma Patients." A TIP is a series of documents the goals of which are to


Twelve women were seen with multiple transverse bands on the nail plates of the great toes. The bands were separated by normal nail, and had the same contour as the distal edge of the lunula. This disorder, which is usually bilateral, results from pressure on the free edge of the nail plate when it is not trimmed short.


A novel motion compensation algorithm for the coding of 3D image sequences is presented. The temporal correlation existing between two successive in time 3D data sets is exploited using a 3D cube matching algorithm (CMA). In order to cope with more complex motions and to adapt compensation to the high activity regions, a 3D warping based motion estimation technique is introduced. Simulation results are given for the 3D medical image sequence "Beating Heart".


This article deals with the current state of the Theology of Liberation. It starts explaining the double sense of the expression Liberation Theology (theological praxistheological theory) and the "central intuitions" which internally characterize and structure it (primacy of praxis and the perspective of the poor/oppressed). Then, it is contrasted with the current issues facing this Theology (presence, visibility, relevance, appropriateness). Finally, the text presents its most important and fundamental challenges: God's partiality regarding the poor, faith as the realization of God's will, the problems of mediation, the theologicalprophetical character of popular struggles, and the relation between theory and praxis.


Distribution characteristics of wave occurrence probability influence long-term prediction results that have estimated by using short-term ship responses and a wave scattering table. Because the observation volume of data and methods of analyzing wave data in each scattering table of significant wave height and mean wave period are different, long-term prediction results depend on the scattering table to apply. Especially, the difference of the frequency count of higher wave height in the scattering table strongly affects the results. When a ship encounters a severe wave condition, the ship speed decreases (nominal speed loss). When the wave condition becomes more severe, the captain judges the deceleration and the change of the course to avoid the danger of the damage of the ship. A long-term prediction method that has modeled the nominal speed loss and the ship handling is necessary to obtain a realistic prediction value. In this paper, the characteristics of a higher wave height for variety of scattering tables are investigated. Additionally, this paper proposes a long-term prediction method that models a situation when a ship is operated in such a way so as to avoid higher waves. Finally, this paper investigates the influence on a long-term prediction when the occurrence probability of a higher wave height is changed. Language: ja


This thesis uses a hermeneutic text analysis from a queer perspective to analyse Suzanne Collins The hunger games and the religious text Book of Ruth. This has been done to examine if the texts can ...


This study considers the effects of dimple imperfections, i.e. imperfections caused by local accidents, on the ability of a plate assembly to resist compressive loads. Several different parameters for the plate were used, so that a relationship between these and the effect of the dimple imperfection could be developed. One such parameter was the position of the dimple imperfection on the plate. The study was based on finite element calculations. The results obtained were compared with the ones for the same panels without the dimple imperfections. It was found that the effect of the dimple imperfection is higher when positioned near the unloaded edge of the plate. It was also found that the effect on the collapse strength of this type of imperfection depends upon its amplitude and on the slenderness of the plate.


BACKGROUND
A majority of published studies indicate that farmers have an elevated risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) compared to other workers.

METHODS
We evaluated accidental exposure to pesticides, the use of personal protective equipment, and exposure to animals among male farm residents in a Canadian population-based, multi-centre, NHL-control questionnaire study.

RESULTS
In a multivariate model, the following variables had statistically significant adjusted odds ratios (OR) using 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) (a) higher risk: having more than 13 head of swine, raising bison, elk or ostriches, a personal history of cancer, > 4 and < or = 15 years of farm residence and occupational exposure to diesel fuel and exhaust; (b) lower risk: raising cattle and a personal history of measles.

CONCLUSIONS
Future multidisciplinary studies of NHL should include a comprehensive review of exposure to animals in sufficient detail to assess etiological mechanisms to explain the putative associations between exposure to farm animals and NHL.


The mating disruptive effect of the synthetic sex pheromone diamolure on Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) was examined in lettuce fields. The number of adult males attracted to sex pheromone traps in treated fields was less than those in the non-treated fields. In addition, the number of mated females and injured lettuce plants in the treated fields were both lower than those in the non-treated fields. Accordingly, diamolure was effective as a mating disruptive agent for H. armigera.


Encapsulation of PC12 cells (neural cell model) in alginate hydrogels with a protective coating of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) was achieved in the present study using co-axial electrospinning. Co-axial electrospinning consists of two concentric capillaries compared to only one capillary in conventional electrospinning. This allows for the processing of two liquid solutions simultaneously. Neural cells suspended in hydrogels were injected in the inner capillary, while the carbon nanotubes (added for conductivity) suspended in PLGA were injected in the outer capillary at controlled flow rates. On the application of a high voltage, a compound jet formed at the capillary exits and resulted in a co-electrospun fiber of nerve cells encapsulated in PLGA with carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes were included to make the outer shell conductive to stimulate the PC12 cells. In this study, the voltage varied from 0 to 15 kV and various flow rates were tested to achieve a stable cone-jet mode in electrospinning. The cell density in the media varied from 0.5 to5 million cells/ml and the polymer solution (PLGA) concentration varied from 1 to 10 mg/ml. This resulted in a three dimensional conductive scaffold with nano-features (due to carbon nanotubes) on the polymer surface, which were collected on the grounded substrate. PC12 cells were found to be viable inside microspheres after 3 days. The size of the microspheres was quite uniform and less than 200 μm. This technique may be very useful for the development of cell encapsulated scaffolds which mimic natural body tissue organization for tissue engineering applications such as nervous system regeneration.


Different intensities of magnetic field treated water were used to treat the seeds of Raphnaus satirus L.and Sinapis alba L.Boissier,so as to observe the effects of different intensities of the magnetic field treated water on germination and growth of the seeds of Brassicaceae.A control group(CK) was set up.Statistics were made on germination rate,root length and root weight in the seventh day,and the relative electrical conductivity was tested.The results showed that the germination and root growth of Raphnaus satirus L.and Sinapis alba L.Boissier treated by 0.08T and 0.10T magnetic field treated water were better than the CK(P0.05).And,the relative electrical conductivities of the seedlings treated by 0.08T and 0.10T magnetic field treated water were lower than the CK,indicating that magnetic field treated water had definite effect on the germination and growth of the seeds of Brassicaceae,whose growth was related to the density of magnetism.


While two-view mammography taking both mediolateral-oblique (MLO) and cranio-caudual (CC) views is the current standard method of examination in breast cancer screening, single-view mammography is still being performed in some countries on women of specific ages. The rate of cancer detection is lower with single-view mammography than for two-view mammography, due to the lack of available image information. The goal of this work is to improve single-view mammography's ability to detect breast cancer by providing two-view mammograms from single projections. The synthesis of novel-view images from single-view data has recently been achieved using generative adversarial networks (GANs). Here, we apply complete representation GAN (CR-GAN), a novel-view image synthesis model, aiming to produce CC-view mammograms from MLO views. Additionally, we incorporate two adaptations—the progressive growing (PG) technique and feature matching loss—into CR-GAN. Our results show that use of the PG technique reduces the training time, while the synthesized image quality is improved when using feature matching loss, compared with the method using only CR-GAN. Using the proposed method with the two adaptations, CC views similar to real views are successfully synthesized for some cases, but not all cases; in particular, image synthesis is rarely successful when calcifications are present. Even though the image resolution and quality are still far from clinically acceptable levels, our findings establish a foundation for further improvements in clinical applications. As the first report applying novel-view synthesis in medical imaging, this work contributes by offering a methodology for two-view mammogram synthesis.


A circular monopole antenna fed by co-planar waveguide(CPW) for ultra wideband application is described in this article. The usage of a co-planar ground plane help to increase bandwidth for a frequency range 5G frequency spectrum's mid band. The proposed antenna is designed to operate from 4.8GHz to 14.10GHz. With this proposed antenna, a suitable omnidirectional radiation pattern can be created. Comparison of fractional bandwidth value for various gap between the ground plane and the patch for satisfying the criteria for UWB has been analysed here.


Many theories based on the institution of property rights fail to adequately explain how the institution came into existence in the first place. The question we address in this paper is whether or not the cooperative behavior found in public goods experiments can explain the emergence of public institutions such as the government. We build upon the work of Fehr and Gachter (2000a) by setting up a public goods experiment with the option to punish fellow subjects. Our experiment also integrates the use of digital photographs. Our results suggest that subject anonymity can (1) enhance the amount that individuals are willing to contribute to the public good and (2) generate a greater willingness to enforce cooperative behavior by punishing more. This result suggests that public institutions may emerge because they can serve as better mechanisms for encouraging and ensuring that individuals behave cooperatively.


A feeding experiment was carried out to determine the effect of supplementing the existing diet for dairy cows on a semi-government owned farm in Eritrea (Elabered Estate), with varying amounts of fishmeal that was locally produced by sun-drying and grinding. The experiment consisted of a two-week pre-experimental period followed by 90 days of experimental period. Forty primiparous Holstein cows, which had been milking for an average of 77 days, were placed into four groups of 10 each Group I to IV). The basal diet consisted of fresh alfalfa, grass hay, fodder maize, wheat middlings, wheat bran and wet brewer's grains to make23.2,19.9,14.9,15.8,15.4 and 10.8% by weight on dry matter basis. This diet was offered throughout the experiment to cows in Group IVas the control diet and to all groups in the pre-experimental period. Cows in Groups I, II, and III received the same basal diet supplemented with 100, 200' and 300 g of fishmeal, respectively, in the experimental period. The cows were fed in a restricted manner. Crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF), ether extract (EE), Ca, and P, given as % of dry matter, and ME (MJ/kg dry matter) of the control diet was 13.7, 23.1,2.7, 0.62, 0.47 and 9.72, respectively. With fishmeal supplementation, the CP content of the diets fed to cows in Groups I, II, and III increased to 14.0, 14.2 and 14.5%, respectively. Milk yield of cows after adjusting for the pre-experimental milk yield were 13.84, 13.32, 13.29 and 12.98 kg/day for cows in Groups I, II, III and IV, respectively. Supplementation with 100 g of fishmeal per cow per day resulted in the highest milk yield compared to the control (P=0.055). The 200 and 300 g of fishmeal supplementation did not increase the milk yield further, possibly due to the high protein content of the control diet. Keywords: Dairy cows, fishmeal, supplementation, milk yield Tanzania J. Agric.Sc. (2007) Vol. 8 No.1, 39 - 50


The investigation comprises 337 children who in 1935-1939 had been treated a t Kronprinsessan Lovisa's Children's Hospital in Stockholm, and who were subjected to a follow-up examination in the autum of 1941. Proceeding from the particular syniptom for which the child had been sent to hospital, different symptom groups were drawn up. The material was divided into two main groups, namely (1) children showing behaviour problems and (2) children wit,h organic neuroses.


In children, adolescents, and young adults (AYA), osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common type of bone cancer and ~35% patients relapse following frontline cytotoxic therapy. Thus, there is a critical need to identify therapies targeting specific molecular signatures in OS. Hyperactivation of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) has been identified by us and others as a top actionable marker in OS. CDK4/6 binds to cyclin D resulting in a complex that mediates RB phosphorylation leading to cell cycle progression. While CDK4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) have shown promise clinically, one drawback is that CDK4/6i induces cell cycle arrest rather than cell death. Furthermore, prolonged CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy can confer therapeutic resistance in RB1-proficient (RB+) tumors where compensatory pathways such as PI3K/mTOR are activated. To mitigate such CDK4/6i resistance in OS, we hypothesized that dual inhibition of CDK4/6 and PI3K pathways will promote cytotoxicity in hyperactivated CDK4/6 OS models. RB+ OS cell lines and a TT2-77 xenoline were evaluated in vitro. Combination index and Bliss independence analyses indicated that inhibition of OS growth by exposure to CDK4/6i (Palbociclib or Abemaciclib) and PI3K/mTOR inhibitor (PI3K/mTORi-Voxtalisib or LY3023414) was additive-to-synergistic and lead to increased apoptosis at clinically relevant concentrations. Short-term pharmacodynamic study of vehicle- versus Palbociclib-treated TT2-77 patient-derived xenograft (PDX) was analyzed by global/phospho-proteomics and kinome profiling. RB1 and MKI67 phosphopeptides as well as the total protein levels of CDK1 were reduced by Palbociclib, thus, confirming modulation of the cell cycle. Kinome profiling analysis of PDX from Palbociclib-treated mice indicated increased activity of AXL, a receptor tyrosine kinase linked to PI3K pathway activation. Increased activity of the autophagy marker PIK3C3 was also evident. OS PDX models TT2-77 and HT96 (RB+, CDKN2Anull, CCND3 amplified) were treated with Palbociclib (50 mg/kg), Voxtalisib (50 mg/kg) or Palbociclib + Voxtalisib. In TT2-77 PDXs treated for four weeks, tumor growth was significantly reduced in single-agent and combo groups compared to vehicle (p<0.05, Two-way ANOVA; Holm-Sidak). We observed a trend that the combo was more efficacious than single agent, but statistical differences were not evident. Increasing the dosing timeline to six weeks may be beneficial. In HT96 PDXs, tumor growth was significantly decreased in single-agent and combo groups compared to vehicle. Notably, Palbociclib + Voxtalisib was more efficacious than single-agent (p<0.05, Two-way ANOVA; Holm-Sidak). These data highlight the need to optimize CDK4/6i+PI3K/mTORi dosing schedules and provide evidence that Palbociclib + Voxtalisib therapy is safe, efficacious, and can decrease CDK4/6i resistance in aggressive PDX models of OS.
 Citation Format: Farinaz Barghi, Pankita H Pandya, M. Reza Saadatzadeh, Khadijeh Bijangi-Vishehsaraei, Barbara J. Bailey, Erika A. Dobrota, Courtney Young, Melissa A. Trowbridge, Kathryn L. Coy, Henry Mang, Reagan K. Wohlford, Anthony L. Sinn, Emily C. Sims, Matt J. Repass, Nuri Damayanti, Niknam Riyahi, Harlan E. Shannon, Steve P Angus, Michael J Ferguson, Jamie L. Renbarger, Karen E. Pollok. Targeting CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance in relapsed RB-proficient osteosarcoma patient-derived xenografts via PI3 Kinase/mTOR inhibition [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2011.


Rotating machineries are very common and widely used in the modern industrial world. A breakdown of the rotating machine may result in economic losses and even worse, in the damage of human beings. So it needs accurate and reliable prediction of its dynamic characteristic. The multiple fault identification algorithm developed in [1] identifies the bearing and coupling dynamic parameters along with residual unbalances in a rigid-rotor and flexible-bearing-coupling system has been validated experimentally in the present article. An indigenously developed test rig was used for the experimentation. After estimating multiple fault parameters the accuracy of estimated parameters has been checked by checking the consistency of the estimated parameters and by performing the standard impact test. It has been observed that with more number of measurements consistencies of the estimated parameters are very good.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Objective: The study was designed to estimate the prevailing percentage of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) using Boston Carpal tunnel syndrome questionnaire (BCTSQ) in the dexterous population and to assess its severity.
Study Design: This was a Cross-sectional survey.
Study Settings and Participants: The study setting was Karachi where 226 Dexterous workers including; musicians, typist, dentists, butchers office workers, working for more than 1 year were recruited using non-probability convenience sampling.
Outcome Measures: Boston Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Questionnaire.
Results: This study enrolled 226 participants, 140 (61.9%) of which were males and 86 (38.1%) were females with mean age of 34.05±10.93. Out of the total 25 were diagnosed with CTS in which, 10 (40%) were males and 15 (60%) were females with mean age of 37.60±14.41. Hence, the prevalence of CTS among dexterous population was found to be 11.06%.
Conclusion: The results of our study revealed that CTS is a prevalent neuromuscular disorder among dexterous population. The severity level varies among the population. More epidemiological studies are required to get the approximate value to promote ergonomic awareness.


The essential idea in this article focuses the fact that the teaching of languages has as the leading objective the development of communicative, interactive and sociocultural competence, through which it contributes in the students to the confirmation of the Latin American culture, identity and unity, if viewed from and for the Latin American context. This does not leave out, absolutely, the teaching from other cultures. The method of documental analysis has led to suggest the Interactive Didactics as the methodological background, experimented by the authors for years. This implies task-based learning, cooperative, reflective and interactive, among other resources. In this context, emphasis is made on the need that the content reflects the culture of Latin America in its broader sense, a fact that is frequently unknown by the students, while the elite culture from the development countries whose language they learn is focused.


We classify nonconstant entire local minimizers of the standard Ginzburg-Landau functional for maps in H 1 loc (R 3 ; R 3) satisfying a natural energy bound. Up to translations and rotations, such solutions of the Ginzburg-Landau system are given by an explicit solution equivariant under the action of the orthogonal group.


ABSTRACT A raft of recent music education research advocates fostering social awareness and engagement among tertiary music students. The evidence is compelling: a socially engaged tertiary education prepares students to play meaningful social roles, while also better meeting the aspirations and needs of music institutions, universities and society at large. As tertiary music institutions explore ways to increase the social orientation of their curricula, it is important that the student voice be present in research and scholarship. How do students themselves conceive of the notion of a 'socially engaged' musician? What social roles do they see for themselves as musicians? Exploring these questions, this article draws on qualitative survey and focus group data from a small-scale study at one Australian tertiary music institution. Findings indicate that students envisage their social roles as musicians in a gamut of ways, from believing it is 'wrong' for musicians to engage with contemporary social issues, to holding a sense of moral responsibility to act as social change agents. An understanding of the diverse ways in which students envisage their social roles and potential as musicians provides a necessary foundation for expanding relevant, effective, and targeted teaching and learning initiatives that develop social consciousness in students.


Practical knowledge constitutes a critical factor that affects the educational practice of teachers.However,the construction of one's practical knowledge demands the involvement of problem situation,research community and reflection of teachers.Educational design research,which requires a community made up of teachers with different academic backgrounds to research in routine teaching contexts by eliciting problems contexts,designing prototypes,applying and assessing for improvement in order to solve practical educational problems,can provide an environment for the construction of teachers' practical knowledge in addition to enhancing the development of curriculum,instruction and assessment.


In this paper, we present a new binaural synthesis external for Pure Data, allowing a real-time rendering of 3D sound scenes through headphones. While the synthesis method is based on well-known paradigms, the work that has been done should be considered as a technological transfer aiming at the PD community. It provides a user-friendly tool, that will be appreciated by musicians, artists, or sonor designer. Furthermore, it allows to control and to add many synthesis parameters, making possible its use as a baseline implementation used by researchers.


Identification of outliers or noise in a real data set is often quite difficult. A recently developed adaptive fuzzy leader clustering (AFLC) algorithm has been modified to separate the outliers from real data sets while finding the clusters within the data sets. The capability of this modified AFLC algorithm to identify the outliers in a number of real data sets indicates the potential strength of this algorithm in correct classification of noise real data.


This article discusses how the politics of South African identity-making continues to be spoiled by racialised and ethnicised identities cascading from colonialism and apartheid. These problematic identities continue to live on, raising sensitive issues of nativity versus settlerism as well as rights versus entitlement to resources. Identity issues cannot be understood without a clear historical analysis of politics of translating a geographical expression into a national identity that dates back to colonial encounters. The article unpacks complex nationalisms, namely Anglicisation, Afrikanerisation, and Africanisation, that operated as ID-ologies, i.e. identitarian quests for a shared identity, albeit mediated by notions of whiteness and blackness. These ID-ologies became sites of struggles mediated by vicissitudes of inclusions and exclusions. The question of who was the subject of liberation, who constitutes the 'authentic' subject of the nation, and who is entitled to resources such as land and mines remain contested. Whites use the constitution to claim rights and to maintain the status quo of privilege, whereas Africans try to mobilise notions of both rights and entitlements as part of the redress of past and present exclusions.


Abstract : In this thesis an expert vision system is proposed which infers, from the collection and evaluation of facial segments of a face, a set of possible identifies. Retrievals from a data store to accomplish this are facilitated by using the shape representations as keys to the records. The heuristic involves collecting the candidate identities in those sets by set intersection and a weighting scheme. Sensitivity and tolerance factors in this expert are adjustable in terms of range values. The value obtained during evaluation of a facial segment is accepted or tolerated relative to the range of values expected for that segment. A retrieval effects a subrange whose width is determined by sensitivity to be the center and some number of adjacent values above and below that center value. Expectation ranges can be tailored to incorporate system and environmental variables.


Three porphyrins 2, 3, and 4, related to Hans Fischer's octaethylporphyrin 1, but with unsubstituted pyrrole β-positions were synthesized via the biladiene pathway. The ring-closing reaction to form the porphyrin reveals a conformational control, called helical effect. These new porphyrins made possible an investigation of the regioselectivity of electrophilic aromatic substitutions at the porphyrin perimeter.


We studied posturography in the goiometry test (gravigoniometry test : G.G.T.) as well as in the static standing position. Slow angular velocity of 0.1°/sec-0.25°/sec was used in this gravigoniometric test. The examinations administered to subjects were declining-inclining-toward in four directions, (1) Forward down 10°- then reverse to 0°, (2) backward down 10°- then reverse to 0°, (3) to the left down 10°- then reverse to 0°, (4) to the right down 10°- then reverse to 0°, and each stage with eyes open and eyes closed was monitored.It was evident that in the forward-down direction, the patterns accompanied by degree of inclined plane included the three groups.These patterns were little influenced by the degree of angular velocity which was used. This was considered to provide information on the equilibrium control system, such as corresponded to the stimuli. When we compared the frequency anaylysis of body swaying to angular velocity change, the condition of the control system gradually changed with time.Frequency analysis of Y-axis component in these experiments revealed the sway of 0.8Hz to 0.9Hz on the base line.This phenomena corresponds to the frequency of walking movements in humans. Similar results were also observed in the sitting up position.


Graham Towl, Head of Forensic Psychology at Highpoint Prison, conducted a pilot survey in 1991 to establish what group-work is being undertaken and by whom. Twenty-seven prison psychology units covering 34 prisons in England and Wales were sent questionnaires; 25 replied.


Significance Guinea yam is an important staple tuber crop in West Africa, where it contributes to the sustenance and sociocultural lives of millions of people. Understanding the genetic diversity of Guinea yam and its relationships with wild relatives is important for improving this important crop using genomic information. A recent genomics study proposed that Guinea yam originated from a wild relative, the rainforest species Dioscorea praehensilis. Our results based on sequencing of 336 Guinea yam accessions do not support this notion; rather, our results indicate a hybrid origin of Dioscorea rotundata from crosses between the savannah species Dioscorea abyssinica and D. praehensilis. White Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata) is an important staple tuber crop in West Africa. However, its origin remains unclear. In this study, we resequenced 336 accessions of white Guinea yam and compared them with the sequences of wild Dioscorea species using an improved reference genome sequence of D. rotundata. In contrast to a previous study suggesting that D. rotundata originated from a subgroup of Dioscorea praehensilis, our results suggest a hybrid origin of white Guinea yam from crosses between the wild rainforest species D. praehensilis and the savannah-adapted species Dioscorea abyssinica. We identified a greater genomic contribution from D. abyssinica in the sex chromosome of Guinea yam and extensive introgression around the SWEETIE gene. Our findings point to a complex domestication scenario for Guinea yam and highlight the importance of wild species as gene donors for improving this crop through molecular breeding.


Photosynthetic characters of leaf, grain yield and quality on Wuyujing 3 and Shanyou 63 were investigated by water stress and levels of nitrogen during grain filling. The results showed that, Pn,chlorophyll content and leaf water potential were significantly reduced with increasing in water stress, and MDA content was enhanced; but Pn of flag leaf was increased and senescence of flag leaf was slower by increasing in nitrogen levels. The sensitivity of flag leaf on higher level of nitrogen levels was enhanced to water stress. Translocation of dry matter was accelerated by water stress of soil,but the effect by nitrogen was different. The effect of yield was greatly notable by interaction of soil moisture and nitrogen. In high nitrogen level, yield was increased by light water stress. The effect on grain qualities was significant by different soil moistures and levels of nitrogen.


A key consideration in the application of FRP reinforcement in concrete is the mechanical and bond performance at elevated temperature. Tensile tests on FRP bars previously carried out at the University of Edinburgh have demonstrated that, whilst significant reductions in ultimate tensile strength were observed after the onset of decomposition of the polymer resin, FRPs' absolute tensile strength remained higher in comparison with steel reinforcing bars. It may therefore be reasonable to assume that the 'critical temperature' for FRP bars is above their glass transition temperature (Tg), provided that 'cold' anchorage zones can be assured. Thirty-two reinforced concrete (RC) beams were tested with either continuous or lap spliced FRP or steel reinforcement; tests were performed both at ambient temperature and under sustained load with transient localised heating. Glass and carbon FRP bars were both studied, as was conventional steel reinforcement. Cold anchorage of the reinforcement was maintained throughout testing. Minimum concrete cover ensured that FRP bar temperatures exceeded Tg during 90 minutes of heating. The results demonstrate that cold anchorage (i.e. maintained below Tg) of FRP bars is necessary to ensure their safe use as internal reinforcement in concrete, unless unrealistically deep concrete cover is provided. Where cold anchorage is provided, the performance of FRP bars is demonstrated – for the particular conditions of the current study – to be satisfactory under full service loads and at reinforcement temperatures exceeding 500°C.


This study investigated the use of anaerobic biodigestion as an ecological technique for treating organic waste in urban solid waste. Biogas production is carried out through the action of microorganisms, and the use of enzymatic hydrolysis can increase biogas production, although it presents economic challenges. The aim of the study was to pre-select microbiological groups and enzymes to optimize the process and increase biogas production using statistical tools. Organic waste from a restaurant and sludge from a sewage treatment plant in Brazil were used, and three bacterial strains and 12 groups of microorganisms, as well as commercial enzymes, were evaluated. The study was divided into four stages to reduce the number of independent variables and increase the accuracy of methane and biogas production results. The results indicated that careful selection of microbial groups had a significant positive impact on biogas and methane production. The interaction between pre-selected groups of microorganisms and enzymes resulted in significant positive effects on cumulative biogas and biometane production. The study concluded that careful selection of microbial groups is essential to maximize biogas production and the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion process. Further, a more detailed identification of microorganisms and their interactions is needed to further optimize biogas production. In general, the appropriate choice of microbial groups is fundamental to the success of anaerobic digestion and biogas production.


Aseismic base isolation is an effective method used to protect structures and their contents against earthquakes. An isolated structure may be designed to remain elastic throughout major ground motions as a result of the efficiency of the isolation systems. In this paper, the equations of motion of two‐dimensional elastic structures supported on a new base isolation system called the Sliding Concave Foundation (SCF) are presented and a procedure for their solution is suggested. The responses of a number of structures subjected to different earthquake records are evaluated and the results are compared with those of the same structures supported on two other famous isolation systems and also a fixed base condition. The results indicate the effectiveness of the SCF in protecting the supported structures even during very strong and/or long period earthquakes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The stationary nature of nodes in a mesh network has shifted the main design goal of routing protocols from maintaining connectivity between source and destination nodes to finding high-throughput paths between them. In recent years, numerous link-qualitybased routing metrics have been proposed for choosing high-throughput paths for unicast protocols. In this paper we study routing metrics for high-throughput tree or mesh construction in multicast protocols. We show that there is a fundamental difference between unicast and multicast routing in how data packets are transmitted at the link layer, and accordingly there is a difference in how the routing metrics for each of these primitives are designed. We adapt certain routing metrics for unicast for high-throughput multicast routing and propose news ones not previously used for high-throughput. We present simulations that show that using MTM yields an average total network throughput increase of 20% to 60%, depending on network density. In addition, by combining the MTM with a medium time fair MAC protocol, average total network throughput increases of 100% to 200% are obtained over traditional route selection and packet fairness techniques. IndexTerms – Wireless Networks, HiperLAN, Network Nodes


The aim of this thesis is to use social debate in political newspapers to study how Swedish national identity was constructed in the period between 1810 and 1831. Never before has the Swedish polit ...


The article discusses the definition of the concept of cost. In the process of research we have confirmed, that the concept of cost does not have a single definition. Because of this, we have given our definition of the cost. Also we identified the reasons of growth and the main reserves for reducing level at the construction industry enterprises. That is why, we analyzed the economic benefits of implementing an effective policy to reduce production costs. The features and the processes of cost management at the construction industry are considered. This problem is actualized in the conditions of the unstable economic environment of Ukraine. We confirmed the existence of the problem using statistical information for 20172018. We found out that the main rea - sons for cost growth are: using outdated equipment and technologies, using obsolete methods of production, lack of control, low productivity, high prices for raw materials, large losses from shortages. Because of this, we identified ways to reduce the cost of construction companies and have presented the steps for developing a cost management system. We developed a strategic cost management model for construction companies and proposed basic measures to optimize their level. The model is simple and does not require any financial resources. The main stages of this model are: defining a strategic goal, conducting SWOT – analysis, identifying competitors in the construction market, product development and cost analysis, developing a cost manage - ment strategy, evaluating the effectiveness of the strategy, creating and implementing a strategic cost management model and evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in a project. The main point is that the model is an informative and reliable basis for any company. But the important condition is that, when a company implements this model in production, it is important to take into account the scale of activity and specific features of the industry. As a result, the developed model of strategic cost management will provide efficient economic development for the construction company, help to achieve strategic goals and reinforce its competitive position in the construction market.


ABS TRACT The difference between the statistical approaches recommended in the "Statistical Evaluation on Establishing Bioavailability and Bioequivalence", an appendix of "The Regulation about Bioavailability and Bioequivalence of Pharmaceutical Preparations" which was published by the Ministry of Health of Turkey and the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was com pared and discussed. The evaluation suggested differences between the Regulation of the Ministry of Health of Turkey and the FDA Guidelines regarding the scope of the statistical evaluation. Al though the basic statistical description was included the Regulation of the Ministry of Health, the details about bioequivalence study was not denoted obviously and regularly.


Since the slavery and colonial eras, racism and ethnic issues, power and class relations between individuals, entities, communities and dominance have been the major issues in the world. Racism enacts superiority of a race over another, and this act affects people not only on interpersonal level but also through the broader structures of society most notably in the system of education, justice, media, policing, immigration and employment as well as through hate activities and government policies. This study portrays how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is able to manipulate her choice of words in describing the stigma that a society has attached to individuals because of their colour. Fairclough and Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis approaches guided the analyses. CDA is an indispensable tool for the analysis of any discourse that portrays social practices. The study concludes that discrimination is not only done by mainstream or the in-group members of a society but the out-group members also engage in this act of disassociation which is caused by the migration of people from one country to the other either for better opportunities or for educational purposes as portrayed in the novel.


When learning a new foreign language, a non-native speaker met more problems in using a word than in understanding the meaning of the word. The Monona system is a useful tool for learners of English that provides a user with many sample sentences containing a queried word. Monona builds a database of the high-quality articles that are available freely in the internet and an accompanied index. Since building the index is done automatically by programs, it is cheap to add more articles to the database. Finally, a user interface is built with the Java programming language that allows a user to enter queries. The results are presented in a web browser. keywords: composition, concordance, dictionary, word processing


A series of milling experiments with and without cutting fluid, arranged by uniform design method, were carried out on rotor material. The influence of cutting fluid on cutting force and surface roughness was explored and compared for the two kinds of conditions. The associated model was established between cutting force & surface roughness and cutting parameters according to the linear multivariable regression method. The results show that the cutting force deceases with the increase of the cutting speed or with the decrease of the feed per tooth and the cutting depth. Cutting fluid has little effect on cutting force, and for surface roughness, the influence of cutting fluid is uncertain.


Guiding by the national macro policy,Fuzhou government has promulgated a series of policies such as"Proposals for Speeding up the Development of Cultural Creative Industry in Fuzhou"to promote the development of cultural and creative industries.This article based on the present situation investigation of Fuzhou cultural and creative industries policy,pointed out the main problems that it existed,analyzed by means of the written records and obtained the data of questionnaires and interviews,put forward some countermeasures and suggestions.


Abstract Liquid‐liquid extraction studies of tetravalent hafnium from acidic chloride solutions have been carried out with bis(2,4,4‐trimethylpentyl) dithiophosphinic acid (Cyanex 301) as an extractant diluted in kerosene. Increase of acid concentration decreases the percentage extraction of metal. Plot of log D vs. log [HCl] gave a straight line with a negative slope of 2±0.1 indicating the exchange of two moles of hydrogen ions for every mole of Hf(IV) extractacted into the organic phase. Extraction of Hf(IV) increases with increase of extractant concentration. The plot of log D vs. log [HA] is linear with slope 2±0.1, indicating the association of two moles of extractant with the extracted metal species. The addition of sodium salts enhanced the percentage extraction of metal, and followed the order NaSCN>Na2SO4> NaNO3>NaCl. Stripping of metal from the loaded organic (LO) with HCl and H2SO4 indicated sulphuric acid as the best stripping agent. Increase of temperature increases the percentage extraction of metal indicating the process is endothermic. Regeneration and recycling capacity of Cyanex 301, extraction behavior of associated elements such as Zr(IV), Ti(IV), Al(III), Fe(III), and IR spectra of the Hf(IV)‐Cyanex 301 complex was studied.


The purpose of this study is to review the reliability of the CFD. To perform this study, CFD simulations were compared with experimental results based on the performance results of the diffuser line. The results of this study are as follows. 1) Looking at the results of indoor air distribution measurements, Air distribution of indoor through Air of diffuser could judge to be distributed of indoor air evenly. 2) It compared actual data of Cooling experimental and heating experimental with the CFD analysis results. the average error rate of Cooling was 6% and the average error rate of Heating was 6.9%. In air flow case, the air velocity is some different to 0m/s ~ 0.178m/s. Looking at the air flow and the air velocity, two results could judge to be similar to pattern. As a result, the predictions of the indoor thermal and airflow environment through CFD simulation are considered possible.


1. Introduction .—As is well known, diverging boundaries in a passage conveying a fluid tend to unsteadiness of flow with consequent loss of head in eddy formation, the energy loss in such a pipe being greater than in a parallel pipe with the same mean velocity of flow. Converging boundaries, on the other hand, have an opposite tendency, and the present investigation, which was commenced in the engineering laboratories of the Manchester University, and has been completed in the engineering department of University College, Dundee, was undertaken with a view of determining: (1) how this loss depends upon the angle of divergence of opposite sides of a circular pipe with uniformly diverging boundaries; (2) the relative values of the losses in a circular and a square pipe having the same angle of divergence, or increasing in area between the same initial and final limits, in the same length; (3) the effect of a divergence in the one pair of sides of a rectangular pipe, the second pair being parallel; (4) the effect of a variable, as opposed to a regular, rate of divergence of the sides; (5) the loss of head and, if possible, the critical velocity in a circular pipe with uniformly converging boundaries. Twenty-five pipes in all were constructed for use in the experiments. These were very carefully made of wood, finished off with a coating of shellac varnish. They may be divided into three sets. Twenty-five pipes in all were constructed for use in the experiments. These were very carefully made of wood, finished off with a coating of shellac varnish. They may be divided into three sets.


Changing demographics in the veterinary profession mean that more people are taking career breaks. This year, the BVA is hosting a series of refresher days to help those returning to practice get back up to speed


Despite the recent decline in estimated malaria cases and deaths 655.000 deaths among more than 200 million clinical cases worldwide registered in 2010 by World Health Organization (WHO) [1] malaria remains so far an alarming emergency in developing countries, including Africa and South-East Asia. Thus, it appears urgent to identify new affordable markers for early diagnosis of malaria complications and new targets for primary and adjuvant therapy.


The discussion about the concept and connotation of corporate governance are always a front edge research of corporate gover- nance field.In this article,we will review the evolution of modem corporate institution,classify the problem of corporate governance as the blight of corporate revolution,and then a new concept arose——corporate governance is the governance of the corporate institution;the self security system of the evolving corporate institution.Based on this view,it was thought that corporate governance has the characters of dynamic,expansibility, and defensive.The acquaintanceship about these characters makes a contribution to correct and unify many argumentations in corporate gover- nance theory.


The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have introduced the Medicare Spending per Beneficiary demonstration to bring more accountability to patient care by focusing hospitals on lowering spending across the continuum of care. This metric reflects consensus from policy-makers and health care professionals that hospitals and health systems should be held accountable for spending and outcomes that occur after discharge.

From a health system's perspective, the following 3 levers can reduce per capita spending on health care: decreasing the volume of services, lowering the price of each service, and/or substituting lower-cost treatments or services (eg, generic pharmaceuticals). In this issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, Das and colleagues1 note that only 3% of total Medicare spending per beneficiary relates to preadmission costs, leaving inpatient hospital and postacute care costs as the only vehicles for reducing costs. Because hospital reimbursement rates are based on prospective payments by diagnosis related group and because hospitals' ability to decrease inpatient length of stay without increasing adverse outcomes is being reached, opportunities for inpatient savings are also limited.

Therefore, hospitals must focus on postacute care as the most viable lever for reducing spending. Some of this focus requires greater preoperative planning for elective admissions to reduce risks of readmission and to speed recovery. However, the greatest opportunity is during the postacute care period. Savings can be achieved in any or all of 3 ways. First, change patients' discharge location to a less costly service (eg, from an inpatient rehabilitation facility to a skilled nursing facility or from a skilled nursing facility to a home health agency). Second, reduce the amount and duration of postacute care services provided. Third, narrow the network of choices (ie, preferred provider networks within a given type) to lower-cost agencies with higher levels of performance.

Postacute care has been one of the fastest-growing components of Medicare spending in the past decade. From 2001 to 2013, annual Medicare spending increased from $12 to $29 billion (7.6% annual growth) for care in skilled nursing facilities, from $9 billion to $18 billion (5.9% annual growth) for home health agency care, and from $4.5 billion to $6.8 billion (3.5% annual growth) for care in inpatient rehabilitation facilities. More than 40% of all patients in Medicare fee-for-service plans who were discharged from acute care hospitals received postacute care. As Das and colleagues1 note, postacute care expenditures represent a growing share of all 90-day episode costs, which is one reason why the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services added the spending metric to the hospital value-based purchasing program.1 Indeed, the finding by Das et al that patients served by hospitals with high per-beneficiary spending levels spent $4691 on postacute care services vs $2450 by those with low per beneficiary spending levels reinforces the importance of controlling postacute care expenditures. Furthermore, that temporal changes in per-beneficiary spending levels between hospitals with higher and lower levels of spending were mostly owing to reductions in skilled nursing facility and readmission costs reinforces the point.

Under the bundled payment program, hospitals can achieve reductions in spending levels by reducing the use of costly postacute care services. Changing the acuity mix of patients by targeting a younger patient population in select service lines facilitates deflection of patients to home health agencies or directly home rather than to skilled nursing facilities as suggested by Jubelt and colleagues2 in this issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. This change in patient case mix makes achievement of lower per beneficiary spending possible while reducing the rate of rehospitalizations. This solution is not sustainable or generalizable. Nonetheless, it highlights policymakers' challenges in designing case-mix adjustment models and quality metrics sensitive to changes in acuity of patient care.

Previous research on relationships between hospital and postacute care facilities and the effect of these relationships on rehospitalization3–5 shows that, since 2000, after the introduction of prospective payment for skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies, the 30-day rehospitalization rates from skilled nursing facilities did not increase as much in those areas that lost fewer hospital-based facilities compared with those areas that lost more such facilities. Because hospitals with their own nursing facilities discharge more than 45% of their patients to them, greater integration between hospitals and free-standing nursing facilities can be reasoned to reduce errors and rates of rehospitalization.5 Testing of this assumption found that hospitals that concentrated their discharges in fewer skilled nursing facilities experienced lower rates of rehospitalization after controlling for geographic, hospital, and facility characteristics and patient characteristics and selection.3 Finally, the choice of skilled nursing facilities matters because they vary widely in their rehospitalization rates. Patients discharged to skilled nursing facilities with historically lower readmission rates are less likely to return to the hospital regardless of the rehospitalization rate of the hospital that discharged them.6 This evidence suggests that some hospitals identify and preferentially discharge their patients to better-performing facilities. Hospitals can also work to improve the transfer of patients to select skilled nursing facilities regardless of their historic readmission rate and, in turn, improve the performance of the skilled nursing facilities. Whether this pattern of findings would apply to home health agencies, which also have considerable variation in their 30-day rates of rehospitalization, remains to be seen.

This pattern of findings with respect to rehospitalization from skilled nursing facilities suggests the following recommendations:

First, to meet the challenge of fiscal and clinical responsibility that new reimbursement models impose, hospitals should develop preferred provider networks that can mimic a virtual hospital-based skilled nursing facility with rapid exchange of medical record information, constancy of care paths across settings, and active control of the discharge and admission processes, perhaps even with shared staff. Whether this development is accomplished by ownership of the facility or via contractual arrangements should be locally determined because no universal solutions are available and the quality of local facilities varies.7

Second, appropriate financial arrangements will be necessary, including shared risk between the hospital and skilled nursing facility, because these business relations take time to evolve. Premature switching to another partner can be costly given the level of investment necessary to achieve smooth clinical and administrative communication processes.

Third, the competitiveness of the local hospital market, the influence of Medicare Advantage plans in the area, and the level of adoption of the operating principles of accountable care organizations should greatly influence hospitals' strategies, namely, building a preferred postacute care provider network.

Regardless of how a network is constructed, hospitals and their postacute care partners should be expected to deliver value to the patients in exchange for effectively restricting their choices. One cost-reduction solution is to reduce the use of skilled nursing facilities among patients who could safely receive postacute care at home, but patients want—and tend to trust—hospitals' advice on which postacute care provider to use, as witnessed by the high rate of loyalty of patients to hospital-owned postacute care services. That implicit trust must be rewarded by hospitals' assuming ongoing responsibility long after the arbitrary 30-day rehospitalization period ends. Indeed, consistent evidence suggests that transfer to a poor-quality skilled nursing facility increases the likelihood that patients will inadvertently become permanent residents—something that is a particular problem for Medicare beneficiaries who are dually eligible for Medicaid.4

In the face of rapidly evolving Medicare reimbursement models, including increases in Medicare Advantage membership, accountable care organizations, and bundled payments, not to mention the penalties exacted for rehospitalizations, hospitals face a bewildering choice of options. However, all of the options require that hospitals embrace the postacute care experience of their patients by assuming responsibility directly or jointly with trusted partners. During the next decade, hospitals' reputations and measured quality may be based as much on patients' experience after discharge as during a hospital stay.


Christmas bird counts and other data suggest that some black vulture (Coragyps atratus) and turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) populations have declined in the last 50 years (Houston 1971; Stevenson 1974, 1978; Tate 1975; Brown 1976; Tate and Tate 1982). The observational nature of these data, however, precludes confirmation or refutation of apparent changes (Fuller and Mosher 1981, Wilbur 1983). Although Wilbur (1983) recommended that vulture populations be monitored, suitable techniques heretofore have been unavailable. Monitoring population changes in raptorial birds is often difficult because raptors tend to be sparsely distributed and to move rapidly over large areas (Fuller and Mosher 1981). The result is that many hours of field effort over extensive study areas often yield a small number of observations. The communal roosting habits of black and turkey vultures (Rabenold 1983) provide opportunities to count many birds in a localized area. Using these counts to make inferences about population trends, however, requires knowledge of the normal daily and seasonal fluctuations in roost size and the relationship among roosts to be counted. This paper reports daily and seasonal dynamics of roosting vultures in southwest Virginia, movements among roosts, and methods for monitoring vulture populations.


Current research indicates that violence against youth contributes to adverse psychological outcomes but has yet to focus on violence against youth while living in foster care and the associated psychosomatic changes over time. Multilevel modeling regression was used to analyze self-reported depression for a sample of 354 youth living in foster care from one Midwestern state. The present study found that changes in depression levels over time among the foster care youth who experienced polyvictimization, compared to the youth who experienced child maltreatment alone, were conditional upon gender and varied significantly by race. Policy implications are discussed.


This paper focuses on recent changes in the drug market and in patterns of use in Atlanta, Georgia. Participant observation was conducted in four neighborhoods and in‐depth interviews were conducted with 40 female active drug users. Field notes and interview data were logged in a textual database and QSR Nu'dist was used for data management. Main changes included the growing prevalence of crack cocaine injection and the increasing heroin availability. The data showed that few central individuals could drive such changes and that the dissemination of new use patterns typically involved informal processes. A reduction in HIV risk was found among individuals who shifted from heroin injection to smoking. Specialized use settings formed a barrier against connections between both drug scenes. Most changes involved an increase in HIV risk taking. Changes in drug‐use patterns were driven by individual choices and larger community forces.


Foreword T. Walde. Preface. Introduction. About the author. 1. International aspects of petroleum promotion and licensing. 2. Government policy in the Petroleum Sector. 3. Government institutions in licensing in the petroleum sector. 4. The Definition of Acreage for Licensing. 5. The Bid/Tender Process. 6. The Call for Tenders, an official government document. 7. The Promotion of the Investment Opportunity. 8. Evaluation of the IOC tenders. 9. Announcement of Bid Qualified IOCs, negotiations commence. 10. Bringing negotiations to a successful conclusion. Appendices. Index.


Abstract Fuzzy rule-based systems (FRBSs) are proficient in dealing with cognitive uncertainties like vagueness and ambiguity imperative to real-world decision-making situations. Fuzzy classification rules (FCRs) based on fuzzy logic provide a framework for a flexible human-like reasoning involving linguistic variables. Appropriate membership functions (MFs) and suitable number of linguistic terms – according to actual distribution of data – are useful to strengthen the knowledge base (rule base [RB]+ data base [DB]) of FRBSs. An RB is expected to be accurate and interpretable, and a DB must contain appropriate fuzzy constructs (type of MFs, number of linguistic terms, and positioning of parameters of MFs) for the success of any FRBS. Moreover, it would be fascinating to know how a system behaves in some rare/exceptional circumstances and what action ought to be taken in situations where generalized rules cease to work. In this article, we propose a three-phased approach for discovery of FCRs augmented with intra- and inter-class exceptions. A pre-processing algorithm is suggested to tune DB in terms of the MFs and number of linguistic terms for each attribute of a data set in the first phase. The second phase discovers FCRs employing a genetic algorithm approach. Subsequently, intra- and inter-class exceptions are incorporated in the rules in the third phase. The proposed approach is illustrated on an example data set and further validated on six UCI machine learning repository data sets. The results show that the approach has been able to discover more accurate, interpretable, and interesting rules. The rules with intra-class exceptions tell us about the unique objects of a category, and rules with inter-class exceptions enable us to take a right decision in the exceptional circumstances.


Physical realizability is a structural property of (classical) flat inputs for state space systems which originate from higher order differential equations. These state space systems contain a derivative array, i.e., an integrator chain. Flat input injections into this array, however, structurally prevents from the reversal of the order reduction. Using a generalized flat input definition, we demonstrate how physical realizability can be achieved.


Abstract The Oligocene Vicksburg Formation of South Texas was deposited as a coarse clastic shelf-deltaic system formed on the fringe of the uplifted Sierra Madre. Deposition within the Vicksburg is considered to have been in a combination of both shelfal and deltaic environments. Shelf-delta growth was by a complex series of syndepositional growth faults initially oriented NE-SW. For much of the Vicksburg the shelf-delta was detached from the underlying Eocene and crept seaward 'en-masse' with shelf and deltaic sediments to in-filling depressions formed by faults. An alteration in tectonic control in Middle Vicksburg caused uplift, erosion and a change in structural style. The NW-SE ridges began forming in conjunction with significant N-S oriented en echelon counter-regional growth faults. Wrench fault movement in the basement is thought to form the ridges that later became the focus of hydrocarbon accumulations. The N-S oriented counter-regional growth faults formed as a result of deeper detachment within the Eocene. The key to the successful exploitation of the Vicksburg is being able to unravel the extensive low angle discontinuous fault sets that dominate the structure in the majority of rotated fault blocks. These faults formed during the growth and rotation of the individual slump structures. Faulting occurred when the curvature on the listric fault plane was reduced as the slump rotated to a horizontal position. When rotation was complete, all the curvature from the base of the slump was transposed to the upper surface and the subsequent low angle faults dissected the crest of the slumps.


Strictly diagonally dominant tridiagonal and periodic tridiagonal matrices play vital roles in the theory and practical applications especially,it is very important for studying the boundary value problems by finite difference methods,interpolation by cubic splines,three-term difference equations and so on.In this paper,we give the estimates for the upper and lower bounds on the inverse elements of strictly diagonally dominant periodic tridiagonal matrices,and improve the latest findings.


PURPOSE. To evaluate the association between the C677T mutation in the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase
(MTHFR) gene and deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in young people.
METHODS. The prevalence of the C677T mutation in the MTHFR gene was investigated in a population of 97 consecutive and
unrelated patients with an objectively documented first episode of DVT under 40 years old and in a control group of 100
healthy subjects, using DNA analysis.
FINDINGS. The frequency of genotypes amongst patients was 0.10 TT, 0.44 CT and 0.46 CC and in the control group the
results were respectively 0.11, 0.40 and 0.49. The odds ratio (OR) for homozygous genotype 677TT was 1.0 (95% CI: 0.4-
2.6), which was not statistically significant (p=0.86).
CONCLUSION. In this study, the C677T mutation in the MTHFR gene, including the homozygous mutant genotype, was not
associated with an increased risk of deep venous thrombosis in young people.


Abstract : Time to maximum supercooling is a parameter that can be easily measured during experiments on the dynamic, nonequilibrium stage of frazil ice formation. Mercier has determined an analytical expression for the time to maximum supercooling that depends only on the four basic system parameters: the rates of heat loss, seeding, turbulent dissipation and secondary nucleation. Mercier's analytical expression is applied to a number of experiments, the heat loss rate and turbulent dissipation rate were reported or could be determined from the experiment description. The secondary nucleation was set at the value of 4x10 to the 10th power nuclei/erg suggested by Mercier, and the seeding rate optimized to reproduce the experimental results, An inverse relationship was found between the coldroom temperature at which, the experiment was conducted and the seeding rate. The optimized seeding rates varied from 2.7. to 7.5x.00001 crystals/sq cm s. The implications for frazil ice formation in rivers and streams are discussed.


Objective To investigate the clinical effects and safety for treating the hiatal hernia through laparoscopic surgery with antireflux procedure. Methods A total of 50 cases of patients in our hospital with hiatal hernia from January 2009 to January 2012 were remedied through laparoscopic surgery combined with antireflux surgery,And gastroesophageal reflux symptoms were evaluated with visual analogue integrator, which was recorded by specialized personnel. Results In 13 cases of Toupet therapy,11 cases of N issen therapy and 26 cases of Dor therapy,the average time of surgery in patients were 123 minutes and the length of stay were 4 days after operation.It was found there were three patients in the postoperative recurrence of symptoms during the 6-24 months after surgery.In the visual analog integration,the evaluation score was 5 before surgery and it was 1 during operation. Conclusion The laparoscopic surgery with antireflux procedure can reach the outstanding clinical effects and is worth popularizing.


Objectives This study aimed to determine the factors that in�uence the lower lip pro�le during Class III lower total arch distalization camou�age treatment. Materials and Methods The cohort included 45 patients diagnosed with skeletal Class III malocclusion. These patients underwent camou�age orthodontic treatment with lower arch total distalization. Lateral cephalograms at the pre-treatment stage and post-treatment stage were taken. Cephalometric measurements were analyzed to uncover the in�uencing factors of the lower lip pro�le. This study de�ned new variables; i.e., CK and CKA, for detailed soft tissue analysis. Results Novel soft tissue measurements presented in this study showed statistically signi�cant changes after treatment. The CK angle and L1 to A Pog, L1 to NB, and IMPA were statistically correlated. Simple regression analysis was conducted between variables. The formulas were ΔCKA = 0.79(Δ L1 to NB) -1.6 and multiple regression resulted in ΔCKA = 0.5(Δ L1 to NB) – 0.42 ('LL to Eline', before treatment)


We thank the authors for their successful presentation (1). However, even after excluding relevant cardiovascular or pulmonary diseases, there is still a group of patients remaining who experience relevant complaints. In fact, the associated nervous tension often leads to relapses, which can in turn lead to numerous admissions to the hospital. Therefore, and based on my experience, additional support is required. Attention should be paid to the causes of frequent musculoskeletal pain in terms of functional disorders of the skeletal and locomotor systems. Research has revealed that about half of these patients have problems in the areas of the shoulder, neck, thoracic spine, or sternocostal compound joints (2). At least one-quarter of the patients had symptoms of fibromyalgia or true inflammatory joint disease (2). Additionally, herpes zoster in its initial stage should be considered (3). In some cases, pseudo–angina pectoris pain can be attributed to disc herniation, even in the lower cervical spine (4). Unusual pathologies, such as arthritis of the sternoclavicular joint, are rarely the basis for non-cardiac chest pain. After excluding life-threatening diseases, I believe that a strong collaboration with orthopedic pain specialists is necessary to achieve a good treatment outcome and to provide the patients with explanations for their complaints and treatment approaches.


The Arabian Boundaries set is one of the foundation stones of Cambridge Archive Editions' Middle East collection. The original set, Arabian Boundaries 1853-1960, set out clearly to trace the creation and subsequent changes to the boundaries of the Gulf and peninsula states using primary documents researched from the British Government archives. Regular release of the Government material means that updates to the status of the boundaries examined become available and we have already produced Arabian Boundaries 1961-1965. A further 10-year period of files has become available. The new material is of particular interest covering, as it does, the intense period of diplomatic activity engendered by the announcement of the British Government, in 1968, of their intention to withdraw from the Gulf States by 1971. The material will be arranged boundary by boundary, in the same order as the previous collection and will consist of approximately 11000 pages.


When the fulcrum moves, the down hung object is to swing.If the swings beyond some extent, itwill cause unfavorable influence and danger will occur. Linking the practice of carrying heavy goods by helicopters,the paper analyzes the movement of down-hung object when the fulcrum moves horizontally, using methods ofanalytical mechanics and finite elements. Meanwhile, it gives a preliminary discussion on the influential factorsand controlling measures to the movement,puts forward some suggestions and points out the significance of theresearch.


Abstract In this account of how lesbian and gay male couples practise domestic labour, I demonstrate how the queer home figures as a safe space for the enactment of 'outlaw' sexuality and non-normative gender identity. If doing domestic labour is a way of doing femininity, then how these couples engage with it can be seen to illustrate their subversion of gendered norms. Although the 'privacy' of home is often seen as a guarantee of freedom from surveillance, the queer home is scrutinised by family, friends, neighbours, and the couples themselves, in relation to their homemaking practices and ways of doing 'family'. I argue that what may appear as somewhat conservative ways of living and making identities—couple households doing domestic labour—become radically subversive when done by gay men and lesbians, making the queer home a crucial site for the construction and expression of queer identities, and the largely positive engagement with those identities of other social groups.


Moving Objects Databases have become an important research issue in recent years. For modeling and querying moving objects, there exists a comprehensive framework of abstract data types to describe objects moving freely in the 2D plane, providing data types such as moving point or moving region. However, in many applications people or vehicles move along transportation networks. It makes a lot of sense to model the network explicitly and to describe movements relative to the network rather than unconstrained space, because then it is much easier to formulate in queries relationships between moving objects and the network. Moreover, such models can be better supported in indexing and query processing. In this paper, we extend the ADT approach by modeling networks explicitly and providing data types for static and moving network positions and regions. In a highway network, example entities corresponding to these data types are motels, construction areas, cars, and traffic jams. The network model is not too simplistic; it allows one to distinguish simple roads and divided highways and to describe the possible traversals of junctions precisely. The new types and operations are integrated seamlessly into the ADT framework to achieve a relatively simple, consistent and powerful overall model and query language for constrained and unconstrained movement.


Aim. To compare self-care competencies in the physical, cognitive and emotional and motivational dimensions of patients with diabetes mellitus before and after participation in an educational programme. Background. Diabetes mellitus is mainly characterised by a dysfunction of glucose metabolism. The growth of diabetes mellitus as a chronic condition requires continuous management and requires health services to implement care strategies. Diabetes education and self-care competence have been recognised over the last few decades as essential for patients with diabetes mellitus to achieve positive treatment results. Design. A prospective, comparative study was used. Methods. A total of patients with 43 diabetes mellitus participated in this study, before and after a four-month educational


Rooting is an important step in clonal plant micropropagation and typically indolyl - 3 -acetic acid (IAA) or its analogs are used for this process induction as well as hormone -free culture media with reduced macro - , and micronutrients. In the overwhelming majority of published works on clonal micropropagation, the fact of the root presence is stated and some of their quantitative and qualitative features are determined. Therefore, the objective of the present investigation was to determine the structure and functionality of roots, obtained in vitro using two models of rhizogenesis: 1) from callus 2) and leaf explant petioles. Aseptic Arabidopsis thaliana Col- 0 plants were grown from seeds on modified Murashige -Skoog n utrient medium (MS) without growth regulators. Callusogenesis was induced on the modified MS medium containing 2.4 - D and kinetin at 1 mg/l and 0.05 mg/l, respectively. De novo in vitro root formation on leaf explant petioles and callus was initiated on one tenth strength MS medium, and on the same medium supplemented with indolyl - 3 - butyric acid (IBA) (2 mg/l). An in vitro root anatomy and ultrastructure investigation was carried out according to generally accepted methods. The determination of the total, active and inactive root surface was performed according to the Sabinin and Kolosov method with modifications. In our study, the root formation in vitro from callus was observed on 1/10 MS medium with IBA and without this growth regulator. Morphological analysis showed the presence of roots of various thicknesses, while their branching during cultivation for more than 2 weeks was noted on the medium with IBA. According to histological analysis, roots were formed de novo in vitro from meristematic loci along t he periphery of the callus. Anatomically, fasciated roots with a root cap and root growth zones were determined, as well as roots with a decreased meristem zone. On the leaf explant petioles cultivated on the 1/10 MS medium, the roots formed from loci that arose during cell division in the vascular bundle, and had all growth zones. For this type of roots, a reliable increase of the meristem zone was noted, in comparison with those roots formed from the seed, while at the ultrastructure level, their complete cell differentiation was shown. It was noted that the roots obtained from the callus and leaf explant petioles were characterized by a decrease in the percentage of the active root system surface and an increase in the inactive one. So, it was found that the roots obtained from callus were characterized by an altered structure, while from the leaf explant petioles were similar to those roots obtained from seeds. The functionality of roots in vitro was reduced in both investigated models in comparison with seedlings.


Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are tracers of dynamical evolution in globular clusters. A significant sample has been found by the relatively shallow \Halpha surveys conducted with HST thus far in just three globulars: NGC 6397 (3), NGC 6752 (2), and $\omega$-Cen (2). These are identified with the low luminosity x-ray sources discovered in these globulars with similarly moderate-depth ROSAT surveys. Follow-up spectroscopy of the initial 3 CV candidates in NGC 6397 with the FOS on HST suggests they may be magnetic CVs of the intermediate polar (IP) type, and follow-up deep imaging with both HST and ROSAT yield a 4th confirmed and 5th strong candidate CV near the center of this collapsed core cluster. The optical vs. x-ray properties of the 4 confirmed IP candidates in NGC 6397 are compared with disk IPs, and arguments for and against this interpretation are presented. The possible strong excess of magnetic CVs in globulars will be tested with much deeper HST/AXAF surveys.


Context and setting Clinical skills development has increasingly become a leading objective of pre-clerkship medical education. Authentic patient care experiences foster desired clinical competencies, generate enthusiasm about learning, and facilitate passage into clerkships. At our institution, an integrated, problem-orientated curriculum includes doctoring and clinical skills threads woven across the first 2 years. Within this context, we describe 2 innovative paediatrics clinical skills workshops designed to expose Year 1 and 2 medical students to clinical education objectives in a practice-based environment. Why the idea was necessary Pre-clerkship education offers medical students limited opportunities to observe or practise patient care in a clinical environment. However, students need to be situated in a clinical context to comprehend the complexity of competencies applied in patient care. The workshops in paediatric clinical care were designed to overcome the limitations of pre-clinical education and explicitly address clinical education objectives. What was done The workshops introduced students to essential skills of paediatric clinical care and provided opportunities for:


In this study, water distribution inside a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was measured experimentally. Water distribution is non-uniform because of vigorous chemical reaction and mass transport and has been difficult to measure experimentally. Therefore, much research relied on indirect measuring methods or numerical simulations. In this study, several mini temperature-humidity sensors were installed at the channel for measuring temperature and humidity of the flowing gas throughout the channel. Only one of two electrode channels was humidified externally, and the humidity distribution on the other side was measured, enabling the observation of water transport characteristics under various conditions. Diffusion through the membrane became more vigorous as the temperature of the humidifier rose, but at high current density, electro-osmotic drag became more effective than diffusion.


FIELD: engines and pumps. SUBSTANCE: combustion chamber comprises end cover, ignition chamber arranged there behind, atomisers fitted radially in end cover to include first and second subsets of atomisers. Combustion chamber comprises also the cap arranged around every atomiser of the second subset to extend behind said atomiser and into ignition chamber. At lower power output fuel fed into atomisers of the first subset is ignited while fuel feed to every atomiser of second subset is terminated. EFFECT: suppressed premature ignition and carbon dioxide emission. 13 cl, 9 dwg


The tempered microstructure and the creep behaviour were studied in an ultra low carbon 9%Cr martensitic creep resistant steel. The starting material was forged at 1050°C followed by air cooling and then tempered at a temperature of 750°C for 3 hours. This treatment resulted in the mean transverse lath size of about 240 nm; the dislocation density in lath interiors comprised 4 × 1014 m-2. The tempered martensite lath structure (TMLS) is characterised by homogeneous precipitation of numerous MX-type carbonitrides and a small amount of relatively coarse M23C6–type carbides. Three kinds of MX carbonitrides were observed in the tempered lath martensite structure. Those were plate-shaped particles with longitudinal size of about 15 nm and thickness of 3 nm; round-shaped particles of about 10 nm in diameter; and relatively large almost equiaxed particles with mean size of about 90 nm. The large MX particles were resulted from incomplete dissolution of such carbonitrides at 1050°C, while the nanoscale particles homogeneously precipitated during the tempering. The creep tests conducted at 650°C showed that the studied steel demonstrated superior creep resistance. Namely, the rupture time was about an order as long as that for P92-type creep resistant steel.


The paper covers the key legal characterisyics of the main types of non-fatal offences against a person by English criminal law. The provisions on distinguishing between an assault, and a battery, and a bodily injury are systemized with the reference to court decisions


Both sodium 6(+) and D(-) lactate stimulate insulin secretion from the isolated perfused rat pancreas; however the insulin secretory effect of the L(+) form is much superior to that of the D(-) form. Glucagon secretion is not modified by the two isomers.


This chapter demonstrates the story of Jesus' birth in a way which is designed to highlight its seemingly scandalous nature. It shows that the theme of a birth which apparently violates social norms also appears in the quranic retellings of the story of the infancy of Moses, and that the Qurʾan in fact connects these two stories. Mary first withdraws from her family to an unspecified place in the east. When her solitude is interrupted by the angel, her response hints at her apprehension that he intends to try to seduce or harm her. Fascinatingly, the birth of Jesus is not the only birth which is associated with scandal in the Qurʾan. When Mary's kin begin their reproaches by addressing her as "sister of Aaron," they inadvertently highlight the parallels between Jesus' birth and the story of Moses' infancy.Keywords: Aaron; Jesus' birth; Moses; Qurʾan


In order to improve the integrating accuracy and to elevate the serviceability of the KM(Korean Medicine) ontology constructed by the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, this research simplified the many-to-many corresponding relationship between groups of methods of treatment and groups of accompanied symptoms from disease ontology and categorized systematically the relationship. We first extracted the combinations of methods of treatment and accompanied symptoms from the KM ontology, then categorized the attributes of combinations that their frequencies were over 10 times by analyzing KM terms definition and the basic KM theory. We constructed the classification hierarchy having 14 kinds of classification in 4 steps and extracted 450 meaningful combinations. This research improved the integrating accuracy and elevated the serviceability of KM information by the classification system.


Polyester powder coatings have been used for many years on architectural products, such as aluminium window trim. This study investigates the degradation mechanism of naturally weathered coatings that have been exposed to aggressive climatic conditions, including high ultraviolet radiation and coastal atmospheres containing salt. These conditions provide a harsh test regime over a period of 10 years. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was useful for detecting the initial stages of coating degradation. The technique allows for the testing of new polymer coating materials under real conditions in much shorter time spans. The XPS study is supported by photoacoustic Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


To obtain the mechanical behavior response of the material under loading, a data-driven construction method of material mechanical behavior model is proposed, which is universal for predicting the mechanical behavior of any material under different loads. Based on the framework of artificial intelligence and finite element simulation, the method uses Python script to drive an Abaqus loop calculation to obtain data sets and performs artificial intelligence training on data sets to realize model construction. In this paper, taking the quasi-static tension of 9310 steel as an example, a material mechanical behavior model is constructed, and the accuracy of the prediction model is verified based on the experimental data. The results show that the simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The error between the simulation results and the experimental results is within 2%, indicating that the model constructed by this method can effectively predict the mechanical properties of materials.


This paper provides an overview of the impact the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic had on the schizophrenics and the course of their disease. We presented the factors increasing the risk of infection and mortality in these patients. We then focused on the means to reduce the risk of the relapse of schizophrenia, as well as on the assessment of stress level perceived in the study group. Furthermore, we analyzed the work-flow and organization of work in the institutionalized support facilities for patients suffering from schizophrenia. Additionally, we examined the pros and cons of using atypical drugs, clozapine in particular, in the schizophrenia treatment, and discussed the issue of telemedicine and long-distance medical advice, which proved vital in the times of the pandemic.


Weed interference is one of the main limiting factors in the cowpea yield. In this sense, we aimed to determine the periods of weed interference in the cowpea crop in the semi-arid region of Minas Gerais. The treatments were arranged in a 2 x 10 factorial scheme, with two factors: coexistence and control of weed and ten periods: 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56 and 63 days after emergence (DAE) subjected to control and coexistence. The evaluated characteristics were dry weight of weeds and the cowpea, weight of 100 grains and yield, which was fitted to the exponential model and the periods of interference of the weed community were determined. The period before interference (PBI) occurred up to 20 DAE, with weed control having to be performed up to 32 DAE. The critical period for weed control (CPWC) was from 21 to 32 days after emergence of the crop. The cowpea bean yield reduced 73.5% with the weed interactions during the whole cycle, under conditions of the semi-arid of Minas Gerais.


Near-road dispersion modeling with CAL3QHC has traditionally been accomplished by assuming vehicles are either idling in queue links or flowing freely in cruise links. With the introduction of the new mobile-source emissions model MOVES, second-by-second activity patterns can be used to produce emission factors (EFs) that vary by vehicular modal activity, that is, acceleration, deceleration, idle, and cruise. By using these EFs in unique modal links in CAL3QHC input files, the predicted concentration of pollutants near roadways can be modeled with greater precision in regard to real-world intersection vehicle behavior. It is noted that this work does not include any comparisons with real-world monitored data, and thus only the precision and not the accuracy of the proposed method is addressed. This work poses the question of how best to include modal links into near-road dispersion modeling. Specifically, it examines dividing acceleration and deceleration segments into multiple sublinks for greater resolution. It is shown that such an approach can produce much higher CO predictions at an intersection (up to 400% higher) compared with the current cruise-and-idle-links modeling approach. A method of dividing links by increments of speed change is suggested. The method relies upon obtaining EFs from standstill to various cruise speeds (or from cruise speed to stopped) and using those results to obtain position-specific acceleration (or deceleration) EFs needed for dispersion modeling inputs. Acceleration EFs (in g/mile) are an order of magnitude larger than cruise EFs; deceleration EFs are smaller than cruise EFs. The number of sublinks used to model one acceleration link makes a difference in the predicted concentrations. MOVES can produce erratic EFs when longer links are broken into smaller sublinks. Implications: MOVES now affords modelers the ability to account for the varying vehicle emissions that occur under various modal operations including acceleration, deceleration, idle, and cruise. These modal activities are dominant near large intersections, and can greatly affect the results of dispersion modeling to predict near-road concentrations of various pollutants. More accurate near-road dispersion modeling techniques are important to engineers and planners for determining which projects likely may cause exceedances of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The method described herein is also applicable to the modeling of PM2.5 and NOx, which is likely to be of more interest than CO in the near future.


Through the analysis of the main measures and typical cases of developing leisure sightseeing agriculture in Zhejiang Province,the advantages and disadvantages factors of developing leisure sightseeing agriculture in Xining City were pointed out,and Xining plateau leisure sightseeing agriculture development ideas and countermeasures were put forward from four aspects,including highlighting the plateau ecological environment and the humanities resources,excavating cultural connotation,with creative design prominent characteristic,and promoting the healthy and stable development of leisure sightseeing agriculture.


Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of manipulation along with local methylprednisolone acetate injection on the improvement of chronic coccydynia.
Methods: A randomized trial was designed. Thirty patients were recruited and divided randomly into two groups. The first group received three sessions of manual therapy based on Maigne and Thiele methods. The other group received manipulation with injection of methylprednisolone acetate around the coccyx and sacrococcygeal and intercoccygeal joints. Then, the patients were followed up for one day, a week, a month, and three months after the intervention. Severity of pain was assessed by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the Paris (functional coccydynia impact) Questionnaire during the follow-ups. Finally, the data were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) model.
Results: The mean duration of coccygeal pain was 23.3 ± 38.3 months. There were not any significant differences between the two groups regarding the age and duration of coccydynia. The results of repeated ANOVA indicated that the pain decreased during three months of the follow-up in both groups significantly (P < 0.0001). However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding the pain reduction (P = 0.691).
Conclusion: One episode of injection of methylprednisolone acetate can limit the treatment sessions of manipulation to just one session without additive effect on pain reduction.


Based on the sample of Chinese A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2012 to 2019, this paper focuses on the effect of institutional shareholding on the speed of enterprise internationalization. The empirical results show that the overall institutional investor ownership has a significant negative impact on the rapid international expansion, and the classified independent institutional investors and non-independent institutional investors have a significant inhibitory effect on the speed of corporate internationalization, and with the extension of the term of CEO, the negative relationship between institutional investor shareholding and the speed of enterprise internationalization has been alleviated. The research of this paper can be used as a reference for optimizing the investor structure of the capital market and improving the strategic decision-making efficiency of enterprise management.


Non classical effect of light in stimulated five-wave mixing optical process has been studied. It is found to be dependent on coupling constant "g" and phase values of the field amplitude with photon number of the fundamental field as well as of the harmonic mode under short time approximation.