This study considers the possibility of utilizing agri-byproducts as energy sources via pelletization and torrefaction. Pellets were placed in a capsule and torrefied in an electrical furnace. Subsequently, they were cooled for 30 min, and their mass loss was measured. To investigate the resulting changes in fuel characteristics, ultimate and proximate analyses were performed, and calorific values were measured. To estimate the water absorption of the pellets, hygroscopicity evaluations were conducted. Based on the experimental results, the energy yield, lower heating value, and exergy were calculated to determine the optimum conditions for torrefaction. The calculation was performed by utilizing the useful exergy and standards applied to biomass power plants. We determined that torrefaction for agro-pellets should be conducted under low-to-intermediate temperatures (210–250 °C) within a period of 50 min. Under these conditions, 7–55% mass reductions were observed, the higher heating value increased from 4110 to 6880 kcal kg−1, and the lower heating value changed from 3780 to 6520 kcal kg−1 owing to reduced hygroscopicity. So, Agro-byproducts can contribute to the practical application by improving the heating value through torrefaction as an alternative to wood pellets.


The invention relates to a water overflow arrangement having a Uberstromschwelle and a rake. Here, it is provided that these are arranged in a siphon.


Chemotherapy of Pharyngostomum infection in Dogs and Domestic Cats HIROYUKI SUGANO (Practitioner, 507-3 Asoda-cho, Matsuyama-shi 790) SUMMARY Ten dogs and 31 domestic cats were infected with Pharyngostomum cordatum. The infected animals were mostly suffering from chronic diarrhea. Three anthelmintics, bithionol, bromfenofos, and bis (2-hydroxy-3-nitro-5-chlorophenyl) sulfide, were administered to the animals. The last of them was effective. Its oral dose of 30 to 45 mg/kg once daily for 2 or 3 consecutive days improved the symptoms. Eggs in feces began to decrease in number 7 to 13 days and disappeared 24 to 31 days after administration. Four artificially infected kittens were autopsied 4, 6, 8, and 12 months, respectively, after infection. One of them harbored only one fluke. Transitory vomiting was observed in a few cats treated.


A preliminary yet realistic feasibility study has revealed that there are no extraordinary technical or environmental problems associated with the conceived Virginia coal slurry pipelines. Both hydraulic transport and cost characteristics appear to indicate a general agreement with previously reported trends.


In this research, friction stir processing (FSP) was applied for fabricating nanosized particles of Al2O3 as a surface composite layer on nickel‐aluminum bronze alloy. In addition, the effect of nanosized Al2O3 on the microstructure, hardness, and corrosion resistance of the alloy surface was investigated. To study the microstructure of the FSP treated surface, optical and scanning electron microscopy were used. Moreover, the static immersion and electrochemically corrosion tests were employed to investigate the corrosion resistance of the FSP‐treated surface. The results indicated that using nanoparticles of Al2O3 to produce the surface nanocomposite layer led to fewer amounts of β transformation products. Furthermore, dynamic re‐crystallized sub‐grains were formed in α grains in the stir zone during severe plastic deformation. In addition, a significant improvement in the corrosion resistance of the alloy surface was observed in the friction stir processed nanocomposite sample in comparison to the one without nanoparticles.


Tounderstand the effect of generalized infection processes, we suggest and study the core contact process (CCP) on complex networks. In CCP an uninfected node is infectedwhen at least k different infected neighbors of the node select the node for the infection. The healing process is the same as that of the normal CP. It is analytically and numerically shown that discontinuous transitions occur in CCPon randomnetworks and scale-free networks depending on infection rate and initial density of infected nodes. The discontinuous transitions include hybrid transitionswith β=1/2 and β=1. The asymptotic behavior of the phase boundary related to the initial density is found analytically and numerically. Themapping betweenCCPwith k and static (k+1)-core percolation is supposed from the (k+1)-core structure in the active phase and the hybrid transitionwith β=1/2. From these properties of CCP one can see that CCP is one of the dynamical processes for the k-core structure on real networks.


A conceptualization of workflow formalization is proposed that helps reconcile the contrasting assessments of bureaucracy as alienating to employees or as enabling them to perform their tasks better. Interpreting formalization as an organizational technology, recent research on the design of equipment technology is used to identify 2 types of formalization - enabling and coercive. Whether the impact of formalization on employees' attitudes is positive or negative is a function of whether that formalization enables employees better to master their tasks or functions as a means by which management attempts to coerce employees' effort and compliance. Some forces are identified that tend to discourage the enabling orientation to the benefit of the coercive orientation, as well as some persistent countertendencies that encourage the enabling orientation.


Patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) suffer from inabilities such as weakness and muscle fatigue due to the demyelination. The inabilities may result in some disorders in walking. The present study is a clinical trial research conducted on 84 participants in two groups of experimental and control who were randomly selected. The results showed that people with MS apply more force on the ground during the three examined component of stance phase of gait cycle in comparison with those without the disease. Also, the maximum difference was found between the two groups at the mid-stance component that was the only stage in the stance phase in which, the difference between the groups was statistically significant. It can be concluded that the largest amount of pressure and force applied on the limbs of people with MS lies in the mid-stance component of stance phase. According to the results of the study, the lowest amount of force absorption occurs in that stage. The obtained results can be employed in order to design shoes of type suitable for people with MS that are capable to absorb extra vertical reaction force and thus, prevent skeletal-muscle damages.


Condensation of 17β-acetoxy-2α-bromo-5α-androstan-3-one with unsubstituted and substituted amino-pyridines, gives the corresponding 17β-acetoxy-5α-androstanimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines. Treatment of 16α-bromo-3-aza-A-homo-4α-androsten-4,17-dione with 2-aminopyridine or methyl-2-aminopyridine produces the corresponding 3-aza-A-homo-4α-androsten[16,17:2′,3′]imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines. Similarly, from 2α-bromo-17β-acetamido-5α-androstan-3-one and methylaminopyridine the 17β-acetamido-5α-androstan[2,3:2′,3′]imidazo[1,2-a]methylpyridine has been obtained.

The structure of the compounds was apparent from their chemical properties and spectral data (ir, uv and nmr).


Recently, multicast transmission in wireless LAN is increasing. On the other hand, due to wide diffusion of smartphones and tablet computers as well as laptop ones, electric power saving of STAs (wireless stations) becomes more important. However, when a few STAs which can use only a low transmission rate exist in multicast group, the AP (Access Point) needs to transmit packets to all STAs at the low rate. As a result, the power consumption of all the STAs extremely increases by extending operating period of transceiver. In this paper, to reduce total power consumption of STAs in multicast group, we propose multi-rate parallel transmission where packets are transmitted multiple times at high and low rates. This reduces power consumption of STAs on which a high transmission rate is available because packet reception at the high rate decreases operating period of transceiver and sleep period can be inserted. In other words, power consumption required for packet communication processing itself is reduced. This differs from existing power saving method in which STAs sleep only when there are no packets to communicate. Finally, we show the effectiveness of the proposed method by computer simulation.


This paper concerns the problem of delay-dependent robust H∞ control for uncertain singular time-delay systems. Based on delay decomposition approach, a state-feedback controller, which guarantees that, for all admissible uncertainties, the resultant closed-loop system is regular, impulse free, and stable with disturbance attenuation level γ. The idea of delay decomposition approach is that employing new Lyapunov-krasovskii functionals, which decomposed the whole delay interval into multiple subintervals and defines a different energy function on each subintervals. Some numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness and less conservatism of the proposed method.


A new initiative led by the federal government will pay 500 participating primary care practices a $20 monthly per-patient care-management fee – and in many cases more.


Objective: This study was aimed to characterize three different cattle breeds based on the morphometrics.

Methods: Five (5) morphometrics which include body length (BL), chest girth (CG), withers height (WH), rump length (RL) and chest depth (CD) were measured in each animal. A total of 119 cows belonging to White Fulani (40 heads), Muturu (40 heads) and Pasundan (39 heads) were used in this study. The age of animal study was 20.93±1.62 months (White Fulani), 21.63±1.75 months (Muturu) and 20.46±2.99 months (Pasundan). Hence, two statistical methods of canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) methods were computed in this study to characterize of animals based on their morphometrics using SPSS 16.0 package.

Results: Mostly the morphometrics of White Fulani and Pasundan cows are similar while those of Muturu are significantly lower than the two other breeds. Four morphometric measurements of CG, RL, BL and WH were identified as a discriminator variables in animal study based on the CDA method. The CDA of morphometrics able to classify 85% (White Fulani), 100% (Muturu) and 74.4% (Pasundan) of the animal into their original breed group.

Conclusions: The closeness between observations from White Fulani and Pasundan might be due to them being both Zebu (Bos indicus) unlike the Muturu with a type breed of Bos bracycheros.


Dongba Dance Table is a book in which Naxi people in Yunnan recorded dongba dance with hieroglyph.This paper makes primary research on dongba dance and dongba dance table in four aspects:when dongba dance and dongba dance table came into being,the relationship between dongba dance and dongba religion,characteristics of dongba dance and dongba dance table,how to inherit and preserve dongba dance and dongba dance table.


Synchrotron-radiation excited ion mass spectrometry has been used to study the 3s3${\mathit{p}}^{6}$np(n\ensuremath{\ge}4) resonances in argon at 25.0\char21{}29.3 eV. It is shown using a time-independent resonant scattering approach that the Fano parametrization may be applied to overlapping resonances. For the Dubau-Seaton profile an exact expression of the closed-channel phase shift is obtained. We find that regarding the window character of the Ar 3s series the Fano parameters calculated using the multichannel multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock method are in good agreement with those derived from fitting a convoluted Fano function to the measured n=4 autoionizing resonance. The Fano parameters are also derived from perfect fits to the 5\ensuremath{\le}n\ensuremath{\le}8 resonances which tests the validity of this parametrization to overlapping members of an inner-valence electron resonance series. In contrast, a parametrization of the entire series based upon the Dubau-Seaton formula did not result in a good fit without modifications. Using the same value of the shape parameter we find, however, that the n=4 resonance can be accurately represented by both the Fano and Dubau-Seaton profiles.


The work described here covers some aspects of generating or otherwise choosing good separation processes. First is a review of the literature dealing with the synthesis of both separation schemes and heat exchange networks. The latter is included because it illustrates the problems encountered and reveals that the most recent and effective methods for heat exchange network synthesis have no parallel in the separations literature. The next section deals with a rriethod of using novel criteria for selectively generating flowsheets for general separation processes. The intention is that promising designs produced by this preliminary effort will be subjected to further, more stringent screening. The results of this exercise led to a consideration of the numbers of both separator types and separation units required to fulfill a given separation task. Manual methods are presented for determining the minimum values for each of these quantities. Examples from the literature reveal that the number of separation units in a flowsheet is not a good guide to the cost of a process, unlike the analogous measure in heat exchange networks. This discovery led to a comprehensive investigation of ternary distillation schemes. This work shows, perhaps unsurprisingly, that cost is closely correlated with energy use, but no simple evaluation function which can be used instead of cost was found. Analysis of results for 4and 5-component distillation systems reveals that energy use in turn is governed largely by the quantity of material taken as overhead product. This observation leads to a simple screening method for distillation systems. The method is especially effective for systems where one component is in large excess and where that component is not the least or next to least volatile. Other features of distillation systems are also considered but without any immediate benefit. Costs of ternary distillation sequences generated in the course of this work are compared with the results of other workers' studies in an appendix.


The Labor Contract Law, which came into effect on Jan. 1st, 2008, is an important law concerning labor relations exerting a powerful influence on the parties concerned including the employees, employers, labor unions, and labor administrative departments. Based on analyzing the impact of Labor Contract Law on graduates' employment, the paper puts forward the countermeasures to deal with its negative impact with the statistical data on the graduates' employment in recent two years illustrated as the case study.


A modified steepest-descents optimization method is applied to solve the Ginzburg-Landau equations for inhomogeneous superconductors. The method is based on an approximate analytical solution to (fictitious) time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations. Calculations are performed of the condensation energy as a function of temperature for a Pb-Sn multilayer system in the absence of a magnetic field and the critical field as a function of temperature for a Nb-Ta multilayer system with parallel magnetic field. Rapid convergence of the residuals is achieved in both cases. Comparison is made with experimental results. These calculations are viewed as a step towards building a capability to study more complex systems, such as the mixed state in a layered material.


This work presents results of a comparative study conducted on breakdown voltage measurements in a glass insulators string containing several units with broken glass part. String with 16 insulator units were tested simulating a transmission line of 230 kV. Two arrangements have been adopted: (i) seven good insulators and nine broken units and, (ii) six good insulators and ten broken units. The electrical breakdown voltage measurements have been carried out in dry and without pollution, in five different configurations. The experimental works have been conducted in industrial frequency and with switching impulse with positive and negative polarities. As a result, depend on the distribution and localization of the good insulators in the chain, the breakdown voltage values of the chain with six good insulators was higher than the chain with seven good insulators. A string with six good insulators in configuration #4 showed higher value of the electrical breakdown voltage than a string with seven good insulators in configurations #1 and #2.


0 96 mmol/l (2 9 mg/100 ml), alkaline phosphatase 150 IU/l, and urea 3 8 mmol/I (23 mg/lO0 ml). Serum immunoassayable parathyroid hormone (iPTH) concentration was 13-1 ,ug/l (normal 0-8 ,ug/l). Skeletal radiographs showed subperiosteal erosions of the phalanges and a "rugger-jersey" spine. These findings indicated primary hyperparathyroidism. In March 1977 his neck was explored. A large, encapsulated, tan-coloured tumour (2-5 cm x 2 cm x 2 cm) was found in the left lower position. Three other normal-sized nodes were thought to be recognised clinically, but biopsies were not done. The tumour was composed of chief cells and, although the cells had a regular appearance, occasional mitoses were seen, suggesting the possibility of parathyroid carcinoma. He made an uneventful recovery, and the serum calcium and iPTH concentrations returned to normal. He remained well until June 1978, when he again developed backache. The serum calcium concentration was now raised (3 8 mmol/l), as was the serum iPTH (5 4 ,ug/l). He was readmitted. The hypercalcaemia was confirmed but while an inpatient his serum calcium concentration fell spontaneously to normal. This change was accompanied by decreases in the serum iPTH and in the urinary nephrogenic cyclic AMP' and by an increase in the renal tubular reabsorption of phosphate (figure). This remission persisted for


Open to all European cancer centers, all cancer patients, and all cancer types, the Oncology Data Network (ODN) aims to create an extensive infrastructure of real‐world cancer care information. This article describes the ODN's methodological approaches, challenges, and achievements to date.


In the article the group work at German schools as a form and as a method is carried out. The authors also marks out the peculiarities of using of group forms and main methods of social specialists' work at different kinds of middle schools in Germany. Special attention is paid in the article to the describing of project method.


Drawing on theories of social network and knowledge absorption, this paper examines the direct influence of returnee faculty members (RFMs) over college research performance (CRP) from three aspects, namely, the intensity of cooperative relationship (ICR), research influence (RI), and acquisition capability of heterogeneous knowledge (ACHK). In addition, the authors tested the regulating effect of ICR. The results show that RI of RFMs has a significant positive effect on CRP, ACHK has no significant effect on CRP, and ICR has a significant negative effect and a major regulating effect on CRP.


The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in high morbidity and mortality worldwide since December 2019. Recent studies showed that patients with previous heart disease, especially heart failure (HF), whose plasma Natriuretic Peptides (NPs) concentrations are higher, were more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed single-center case series of 91 patients with COVID-19 in China. 46 (50.5%) patients exhibited cardiac dysfunction as indicated by elevated Natriuretic Peptides B (BNP) levels. Moreover, the results indicate that patients with cardiac dysfunction had higher mortality than those without cardiac dysfunction. Nonetheless, it remains unclear as to how the virus infects the heart, especially in HF patients and why a higher level of BNP in the heart dampen inflammation. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the critical host cellular receptor of SARS-CoV-2, expresses in different organs. Still, its cellular distribution in the human heart, especially in patients with HF remains unclear. Thus, we investigated ACE2 gene expression pattern in single-cell RNA sequence (scRNA-seq) data of hearts from normal adults versus patients with HF. Our results indicate that ACE2 is predominantly enriched in cardiomyocytes (CMs), endothelial cells, fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells in normal heart. Not only ACE2+ CMs, but also expression of ACE2 are significantly boosted in CMs of patients with HF. Also, genes related to virus entry, virus replication and suppression of IFN-{gamma} signaling besides ACE2 were up-regulated in HF patient, mainly in CMs, indicating the higher susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Interestingly, NPs are significantly up-regulated in ACE2-postive (ACE2+) ventricular myocytes and share the upstream transcription factor. ACE2 and NPs can form a negative feedback loop with protective effects. But it maybe turns into a positive feedback loop by virus and ineffective NPs, which lead to severe prognosis. In summary, the increased expression of ACE2, NPs during HF predisposes to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Modulating the levels of ACE2, NPs therefore may potentially be a novel therapeutic target to prevent the SARS-CoV-2 infection.


An Ethnographic Study of Buddhist Education, Based on Burgess' Social Science Method at an American University and a Private Buddhist Organization By Lu, Wan-Ming October, 2006 The literature shows that there are many studies about Buddhism in the United States and religion on college campuses, but few studies specifically about Buddhism in American universities. The purpose of this study is to explore how American college students approach and learn about Buddhism. A qualitative research study of clinical ethnography was applied to conduct this study at the Florida International University (FIU) and Florida Buddhist Association (FBA). FBA was chosen to compare with FIU so that the features of Buddhist education at FIU would be clearer. Eight students and four teachers (instructors) were interviewed at FIU; and two teachers and four members of the Buddhist association were interviewed at FBA. The researcher attended all possible scheduled lectures and activities over several weeks at FIU and FBA. Trustworthiness, which can be specified into confirmability, credibility, dependability, and transferability, was utilized to explain the validity and reliability in this qualitative study. The findings were presented with eight themes: (1) aim, (2) teacher, (3) student, (4) content, (5) environment, (6) evaluation, (7) experience of Buddhism, and (8) points of view. The study examines how people in American universities evaluate their Buddhism-learning situations and environments, and how they think about topics related to Buddhism. A quantitative study should be conducted with a larger sample, to expand the various viewpoints of other Buddhism learners. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, I give all the honor and glory to the Three Treasures of Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dharma, and Sangha. They are my life guiders and mentors. Without their guidance and empowerment, I would have no opportunities to study for a Ph.D. at Lynn University and finish this dissertation. Many times, when I felt distressed, lost, and impatient in my study and dissertation, I recited the Amitabha Buddha and prayed to the Three Treasures to give me the power, direction, and patience. In addition, this dissertation would not be completed without appreciating the wonderful, kind, people sheltering and encouraging me through the process. They made great contributions to my graduate education and the completion of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. The individuals include family, Buddhists/temples, participants in this research, and my doctoral committee. My mom is like a Bodhisattva, always being concerned about me and giving support both materially and mentally. She is so important to my life. My aunts supported my study in several dimensions, especially helping to take care of my mom so that I did not need to worry about her so much. Paul Lin, a Buddhist living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida allowed me to stay in his house when I was studying at Lynn University. The Venerable Ru-Wu, the President of Yuan Kuang Buddhist College in Taiwan, gave strong support for my study in the United States. He helped relieve the financial worry which allowed me to focus on my study. Thanks to all of you. Professor Wu, Kuang-hsi at Florida International University (FIU), a sincere Buddhist, facilitated my research very much. Dr. Christine Gudorf, the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies in FIU, also assisted me in conducting interviews at her institution. The eighteen people I interviewed at FIU and FBA, became my teachers or mentors, and helped me to better understand Buddhism in America and at the university. I appreciate them so much for giving me the wonderfkl experience of doing interviews. Finally, a very special thank you should be extended to the members of my doctoral committee for their contributions to the development of my professional role and completion of this dissertation. First to Dr. William Leary, for spending so much time on my dissertation, and your patience to work with me. To Dr. John Cipolla, for your knowledge about Buddhism in America and very good suggestions for my study. To Dr. Carole Warshaw, for your guidance on conducting qualitative research and having confidence in me. All of you helped me get through some difficulties and troubles during the conducting of this research. I appreciate all of you very much. Eventually, I believe this dissertation can make some positive contributions to Buddhism in America. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract Acknowledgements List of Tables List of Figures CHAPTER


Proton conductivity (σ) and degree of hydration (λ) of poly(styrenesulfonate−methylbutylene) (PSS−PMB) block copolymers in contact with humid air were studied as a function of temperature under high-humidity conditions (relative humidity between 90 and 98%). The volume fraction of the hydrophilic PSS block in the dry state was 0.27 ± 0.01 in all of the samples, and the size of the hydrophilic channels was varied by varying the overall molecular weight of the samples. All of the samples have a lamellar structure in the dry state. The water uptake data were unremarkable, and a degree of hydration of 14 ± 2 H2O molecules per sulfonic acid group was obtained, regardless of temperature, thermal history, and hydrophilic channel size. In contrast, measured values of σ were highly dependent on thermal history and sample molecular weight. Equilibrated values of σ, obtained only after heating the samples to 90 °C for 48 h, were significantly lower than those obtained after initially hydrating the polymer films duri...


Teacher performance is entirely dependent on the teacher's efforts to provide the learning process in order to meet educational objectives. This study employing a quantitative investigation utilizing an associative technique involved 156 teachers who worked in 21 schools. A total of 112 participants were included in the research. Proportional random sampling was a sample strategy used in this study. The data was collected using measures were assessed for validity and reliability using moment product correlation and included situational leadership (15 questions), work atmosphere (20 items), job satisfaction (31 items), and teacher performance (14 items). This study's data was analyzed using Path Analysis method. The findings revealed that situational leadership and the work environment have an impact on teacher performance, either directly or indirectly, through job satisfaction.


Angiotensin II (Ang II) type 1 (AT1) receptor is the primary effector of the renin-angiotensin system and mediates many key physiological and pathological actions of Ang II through a complex orchestration of intracellular signaling molecules. As a G protein–coupled receptor, AT1 receptor activation induces the canonical Gq protein–dependent inositol phosphate turnover and intracellular calcium release pathway, as well as receptor phosphorylation by G protein–coupled receptor kinases and the recruitment of β-arrestin as a G protein–independent pathway to mediate the cellular effects of Ang II.1 Recent investigations have highlighted the importance of the AT1 receptor carboxyl-terminal domain that binds to a variety of intracellular proteins, such as G protein–coupled receptor kinases and β-arrestin, and plays a pivotal role on receptor internalization, desensitization, phosphorylation, and coupling to G proteins.1 A relatively new and potentially important player in this orchestra is the AT1 receptor–associated protein (ATRAP) that interacts with the carboxyl-terminal domain of the AT1 receptor. ATRAP was first identified and isolated by yeast 2-hybrid screening from the mouse kidney cDNA library in the Dzau laboratory.2

ATRAP is a relatively small 18-kDa protein with 1 potential N-glycosylation site, 1 potential phosphorylation site for protein kinase C, 1 potential phosphorylation site for casein kinase II, and 3 hydrophobic domains for potential transmembrane binding.2,3 ATRAP localizes in intracellular trafficking vesicles and plasma membrane, including endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi, and endocytic vesicles.3 ATRAP interacts selectively with the carboxyl-terminal domain of the AT1 receptor but not with those of Ang II type 2, m3 muscarinic acetylcholine, bradykinin B2, …


Professionalism is a focus for student learning in many disciplines. It is known, furthermore, that interpersonal interactions between staff and students constitute an informal curriculum that has a significant influence on students. But the origins of this informal curriculum are not fully apparent. This article offers a multiple case study that explores the genesis of tutors' facilitation practices in small group medical teaching. Facilitation practices were seen to develop in response to a wide-ranging set of social, professional and critical concerns, affecting notions of professionalism promoted to students. Most tutors exhibited a mode of reflexivity that was extended in time and reach, with tutors also progressing mutual actions through communal deliberation. We thus identify ways in which the informal curriculum is grounded in both the primary agency and the corporate agency of tutors. In looking to promote professionalism, it is essential that curricula are staff- as well as student-centred.


Microjet impingement cooling devices promise high heat removal rates for the development of advanced thermal management solutions. However, understanding of microjet hydrodynamics is needed to optimize cooling performance. In this paper, we combined experiments and modeling to obtain threedimensional (3-D) microjet flows. We fabricated single-jet and multi-jet arrays with 50 mm diameter orifices and used micron-resolution particle image velocimetry (mPIV) to capture two-dimensional (2-D) images of the flow field at different imaging planes. The data was subsequently used to obtain the outof-plane (z-component) velocities, which play an important role in enhancing heat transfer at the impingement surface. The results from the reconstruction of the 3-D flow field offers new insights into the impact region of a single jet and optimized design of microjet cooling devices. ! 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.


Samuel P. Huntington categorized Taiwan's path to democracy as "transformation," by which he meant that "the elites in power took the lead in bringing about democracy." The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) would agree with this explanation, although the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which was established in 1986 in defiance of martial law, would argue that Taiwan's liberalization and democratization was carried out through a process of transplacement, in which "democratization resulted largely from the joint action by government and opposition groups".


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the diagnostic criteria of mediastinal lymph node metastasis (MLNM) in esophageal carcinoma (EC) by comparing the lymph node sizes measured by computed tomography (CT) and obtained by postoperative pathological examination.

METHOD
A total of 305 EC patients were selected. MLNM location, shortest diameter and number were investigated one week before surgery, and then compared with their pathological findings.

RESULTS
The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that the minimum diameters of MLNM in the thoracic cavity was 8 mm (area under curve [AUC] = 0.766, Youden index = 0.424), 5 mm in supraclavicular fossa (AUC = 0.785, Youden index = 0.494), 6 mm in tracheoesophageal groove (AUC = 0.755, Youden index = 0.405); the sensitivity was increased significantly, and the Youden index was increased significantly when compared with 10 mm.

CONCLUSION
The shortest diameter of diagnostic criteria of lymph nodes in EC could be less than 10 mm on CT.


Background: Lentil is an oldest domesticated grain legume in the world. It is cultivated during winter season in India which is a major source of protein (28%) for human consumption. The present study was undertaken to study association analysis of grain yield with other quantitative traits and to estimate direct and indirect effects of various traits on grain yield.Methods: The experiment was carried out using 53 advance breeding lines of lentil in a Randomized Complete Block Design and replicated thrice.Result: The investigation revealed that days to 50% flowering, days to 75% maturity, plant height, pods/plant, biological yield/plant and grain yield/plant have significant differences and wide range of variations during both the year.Pods/plant exhibited high genotypic coefficient of variation, heritability and genetic advance signifying the effects of additive gene effect. Pods/plant and biological yield/plant showed positive and significant correlations with grain yield /plant and also have positive direct effects on grain yield. Therefore, this investigation suggested that pods/plant and biological yield/plant may be focused during selection for genetic gain in lentil.


Background - Iron deficiency is the commonest cause of microcytic hypochromic anaemia in India.Iron deficiency anemia (IDA), β thalassemia trait and anemia of chronic disease are common causes of microcytosis.Coexistence of α + and α 0 thalassaemia with abnormal HbS and E may modify the level of haemoglobin in blood.there is a paucity of studies  of alpha genes deletions & also it is an alteration with the coexistent IDA. It is preliminary report on the coexistence of alpha gene numbers and iron deficiency anemia in India Methodology - A total 416 IDA patients were evaluating . 10 ml. venus blood was collected from IDA patients. Hemogram, iron profiling and DNA analysis were performed in all subjects. Identification of α-deletions (3.7 kb, 4.2kb, SEA, SA) and triplication (Anti 3.7kb ) was performed by Gap-PCR. Result - Alpha thalassemia genotyping was performed in all subjects where 5.04% (21) subjects were presenting α–thal. genotype in hetrozugouse conditions. Twenty patients were presenting α -3.7kb genotype while one patient had α- 4.2kb deletions in heterozygous status Patients with α -deletions had lower haemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) levels, and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) than patients without α -deletions. Conclusion - Our data show that alpha chain deletion has worsen phenotype in   IDA and lowering red cell indices and iron profiles.


Integrated stock assessment models derive estimates of management quantities by fitting to indices of abundance and length and age compositions. For composition data, where a multinomial likelihood is often applied, weights are determined by input sample sizes, which can be an important contributor to model results. We used a generic bootstrap method, verified through simulation, to calculate year-specific maximum realized sample sizes from the observation error inherent in fishery biological data. Applying this method to length-composition observations for 47 groundfish species collected during a standardized trawl survey, we found maximum realized sample size to be related to both the number of hauls and individual fish sampled from those hauls. Sampling in excess of 20 fish from each haul produced little increase in most cases, with maximum realized sample size ranging from approximately 2 to 4 per haul sampled. Utilizing these maximum realized sample sizes as input values for stock assessment (analogo...


Biomaterials offer great potential for enhancing the performance of humidity sensors, which play a critical role in controlling moisture levels across different applications. By utilizing environmentally friendly, sustainable, and cost-effective biomaterials, we can improve the manufacturing process of these sensors while reducing our environmental impact. In this study, we present a high-performance humidity sensor that utilizes purple sweet potato peel (PSPP) as both the substrate and sensing layer. The PSPP is chosen for its polar hydrophilic functional groups, as well as its environmentally friendly nature, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness. Remarkably, this humidity sensor does not require an external substrate. It exhibits a wide detection range of 0 to 85% relative humidity at various operating frequencies (100 Hz, 1 kHz, and 10 kHz) in ambient temperature, demonstrating its effectiveness in responding to different humidity levels. The sensor achieves a high sensitivity value of 183.23 pF/%RH and minimal hysteresis of only 5% at 10 kHz under ambient conditions. It also boasts rapid response and recovery times of 1 and 2 s, respectively, making it suitable for use in high-end electronic devices. Moreover, the sensor's applications extend beyond environmental monitoring. It has proven effective in monitoring mouth and nasal breathing, indicating its potential for respiratory monitoring and noncontact proximity response. These findings suggest that sweet potato peel material holds great promise as a highly stable, non-toxic, biodegradable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly option for various domains, including healthcare monitoring.


Saussurea yilingii, a new species from Muli county, Sichuan province of China, is described and illustrated. It is similar to the species of snow lotus in habit, odour, and dark brown phyllaries but is lacking membranous colourful upper leaves which are typical for Saussurea subgen. Amphilaena. The new species is assessed as Critically Endangered (CR) according to IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.


Biofouling in reverse osmosis (RO) occurs when bacteria settle in the elements and start building a biofilm. This paper highlights the performance of a new generation of fouling-resistant RO element, the newly developed FilmTec™ SW30XFR-400/34 seawater fouling-resistant mem- brane element in terms of its biofouling resistance. Additionally, this paper presents a validation of the product at a realistic scenario: the Middle East Red Sea. The validation trials proved the robust performance that this new membrane element shows under harsh biofouling conditions. This membrane element is able to offer 34% lower pressure drop than previous generations with a stable performance in terms of normalized permeate flow and salt rejection. In the validation trials this feature led to a significant reduction of the chemical cleanings (CIP) caused by biofouling; more than 33% reduction of the annual CIP frequency. Additionally, thanks to the membrane chemistry robustness, one of the FilmTec™ brand essence attributes, the product is able to offer advantaged chemical resistance when chemical cleanings are performed. Under the same conditions, where an element from another membrane manufacturer is experiencing 85% increase in salt passage, FilmTec™ SW30XFR-400/34 shows stable performance.


In today's cyberspace, everyone stores data in a cloud, whether it be images, personal documents, or any other, and it all accesses a remote system by using the applications/technology. With the use of cloud networks in the infrastructure, the information uploaded should be maintained secure. The spread of cloud storages helps in strengthening the recent technological developments, and it is expanding the limits of the infrastructure as well. The organizations are slowly shifting their base to the cloud systems, and some service providers help in creating space in the existing storages. Cryptography is a critical tool for preventing this from happening. It protects information and communications by enforcing a set of rules, that enable only those who are supposed to receive the information, to access and handle it. It can protect crucial cloud data while without interfering with data transmission. Thus, a need to improve the current security standards and protocols used in cloud storage and make it much safer for the user, has been noticed. The goal of this research is to provide a reliable cloud service that secures data such that integrity is maintained and is safe from external threats.


Calculation of the state of the arc furnace, and more particularly, to a method for the calculation of the height of the foam slag (15) in the arc furnace. In this method, at least one electrical sensor supplying energy to the arc furnace (13a, 13b, 13c) determined using a furnace body sound measured in the form of vibration in the arc furnace, at least one state variable, especially the height of the foam slag in arc furnaces, is calculated using the measured vibration, the evaluation of the words furnace body sounds, the transfer function determined by the evaluation of the measurement data of at least one electrical sensor. The state of the height of the foam slag recognized in this way reliable, monitored over time. The height of the foam slag is critical to energy injection efficiency in the arc furnace. Furthermore, by in foamy slag covering the arc (18), it can reduce the loss due to radiation. This measurement method allows automatic control or regulation reliable foam slag height.


The present investigation was conducted using sixteen flax genotypes, thirteen local lines and three commercial varieties (Giza 8, Sakha 1 and Sakha 3) as check. These sixteen genotypes were evaluated in two successive seasons (2012/2013 and 2013/14) at two locations viz: Giza Exp. Station, Giza Governorate (normal soil) and Ismailia Exp. Station, Ismailia Governorate (sandy soil). The experimental design was randomized complete block with three replications per each of the four environments (combination of locations x years).
Mean squares due to genotypes (G) showed highly significant for all characters, indicating the presence of genetic variability among the tested genotypes for all traits under study. Mean squares due to locations (L) differed highly significantly for all traits except no. of seeds per capsule, indicating a wide range of variation between the two locations under study. Mean squares due to GL interaction were comparable in magnitude to those of GY for straw, long fiber yields per fad, plant height, technical stem length, seed yield per fad, oil yield per fad, 1000-seed weight and no. of capsules per plant, indicating that location had the major effect on the relative genotypic potential of these treats. This means that for reliable evaluation of the previous traits it would certainly be necessary to test genotypes in more than multi-location testing. Interaction components variances (σ2gl, σ2gy and σ2gly) were less than the genotypic variance (σ2g) for all characters. This means that genotypes differ in their genetic potential for these traits. This was reflected in high heritability in broad sense and low discrepancy between phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variability specially for long fiber percentage, plant height, technical stem length, 1000-seed weight, no. of capsules per plant and oil percentage. These results indicating the possibility of using both of plant height and technical stem length as selection indices for improving straw weight per plant and using both of 1000-seed weight and no. of capsules per plant for improving seed weight per plant.
S.541-D/10 and S.541-C/3 proved maximum mean performance for straw, long fiber yields per fed, plant height and technical stem length as well as long fiber percentage when compared with the three check varieties, Giza 8, Sakha 1 and Sakha 3. Also, S.541-C/3 and S.541-D/10 exhibited high tolerance to sandy soil conditions for both straw yield per fed and fiber yield per fad. Therefore the two promising lines, S.541-C/3 and S.541-D/10 may be consider good substitutes for the low yielding ones, Giza 8, Sakha 1 and Sakha 3 in future as a new Egyptian flax cultivars for both straw and fiber yields. Also, S.541-C/3, S.541-D/10 and Sakha1 exhibited highest values for seed yield per fad, oil yield per fad, seed weight per plant and 1000-seed weight than other genotypes. It can be concluded that, S.541-D/10 gave high yielding ability for seed yield/fad, oil yield per fad, seed weight per plant and oil percentage with moderate tolerant to drought. Although, the promising flax line S.541-C/3 gave high mean performance for seed yield per fad, oil yield per fad, seed weight per plant and oil percentage but exhibited low tolerant to sandy soil conditions.


A new fully double-tail comparator using positive feedback with lesser power consumption and high speed is proposed. The proposed topology is based on placing two cross coupled control transistors along the input side of the double-tail comparator. This cross coupled control transistors strengthens the positive feedback which reduces the delay time. Addition to that switching transistor is added to reduce the power dissipation. Circuit simulation has been designed in standard 0.18µm CMOS technology. As a result, circuit shows up to 40% low power consumption.


WHII,~ the hyperfine structure of the arc spectrum of mercury has been satisfactorily interpreted on the basis of nuclear spin and isotope shift, analysis of the spark lines has not progressed possibly because most of the significant lines lie in the ultra-violet region. Schtiler and his collaborators 1 and lV[urakawa 2 have computed the even isotope shift in the level 5d 9 6s 2D5/~, and the lat ter author has given a tentative level scheme for A 3984X. In the cases of thallium and lead it has been found that the spark line analysis gives g(I) values agreeing with those obtained from a study of the arc lines. The present paper is concerned with the hyperfine structure study of some prominent mercury spark lines in the ultra-violet. Experimental The source employed for the study of A 39847~ is a low density long column arc about 70 cms. long with a current density of about 2 amps. per sq.cm. The axial radiation from the lamp gives the line 2 3984 X intensely, and neither its structure nor the relative intensity of the components is affected in the long column radiation due to the possible complications arising from self-reversal : this fact has been specially established by a study of the photograms of the structure patterns of the line emitted from both the long colunm and the thin layer arcs. The lines ~ 2847 7~ and A 2262 7~ are examined in a hollow cathode of molybdenum with a discharge current of 100 ma. at 1000 v. in alx atmosphere of helium at a pressure of about 2 rams. of mercury. Under these conditions, the hyperfine components of t tgI A 4078 i come out sharp with correct relative intensities ; this test ensures the absence of self-reversal and widening of the satellites in the source. The Hilger :El Quartz spectrograph is used for the preliminary dispersion. A Fabry-Perot etalon (made by Herr Lesche of Potsdam) with interchangeable invar distance pieces is employed in the study of A 3984 X ; a


Isobaric vapor liquid equilibrium at atmospheric pressure has been determined for binary mixtures of (–) α-pinene, (+)-limonene and 1, 8-cineole. The Margules and Var Laar equations as well as the models proposed by Wilson, by Renon and Prausnitz (NRTL) and by Abrams and Prausnitz (UNIQUAC) were used to correlate the experimental data. The corresponding parameters for two binaries are reported here.

Des mesures isobares de l'equilibre liquide-vapeur pour des melanges binaires de (–) α-pinene, (+)-limonene et 1, 8-cineole ont ete realisees a la pression atmospherique. Les resultats experimentaux ont ete correles par des equations appropriees: Margules, van Laar, Wilson, Renon-Prausnitz (NRTL) et Abrams-Prausnitz (UNIQUAC). Les parametres obtenus sont ici presentes.


We propose an antenna designed to generate monochromatic electromagnetic knots and other "unusual electromagnetic disturbances" in the microwave domain. Our antenna is a spherical array of radiating dipolar elements configured to approximate the desired electromagnetic field near its centre. We show numerically that a specific embodiment of the antenna with a radius of 61.2cm and only 20 element pairs driven at a frequency of 2.45GHz can yield linked and torus-knotted electric and magnetic field lines approximating those of an "electromagnetic tangle": a monochromatic electromagnetic knot closely related to the well-known Rañada-Hopf type electromagnetic knots but simpler in its construction. The antenna could be used to locally excite plasmas.


Objective: Evidence that clinical treatment reduces suicide risk in major depressive disorder (MDD) is limited and inconsistent. Since lithium shows major antisuicidal effects in bipolar disorders and in heterogeneous mood disorder samples, we evaluated evidence of antisuicidal effects of lithium in patients with recurrent MDD. Data Sources: We searched MEDLINE (January 1966 to April 2006; search terms: lithium , suicide, affective disorder, depression, major depression , and mood disorder ) for studies reporting suicides or suicide attempts during treatment with and without lithium in recurrent MDD patients, and we added data for 78 new subjects, provided from the Lucio Bini Mood Disorders Research Center in Sardinia, Italy. Suicide rates were pooled and analyzed by use of incidence-rate ratios (IRRs) and meta-analytic methods. Data Synthesis: Eight studies involved 329 MDD patients and exposure for 4.56 years (1149 person-years) with, and 6.27 years (1285 person-years) without, lithium. Overall


The utility model also provides an integrated cooker and disinfection cabinet drawer with three slide rails or four slide rails. The drawer includes a drawer body which is slidingly connected at the inner side surface of a matched cabinet body, the drawer body is slidingly connected with the inner side surface of the cabinet body through the left and right slide rail devices, and a bottom slide rail device is arranged under the drawer body. The drawer provided is provided with the left and right slide rail devices and the bottom slide rail device as well. Because the guide rails are arranged at the lower part, the drawer is free of bearing shearing forces and deforming, is stable while being pulled out and pushed in, and has the advantages of simple structure and stable running.


The mycotoxin content of fresh and dried autochthonous varieties of white and dark figs Petrovaca Bijela and Saraguja were determined by an LC–MS/MS "dilute and shoot" method for the determination of 295 fungal and bacterial metabolites. Figs were dried in a pilot plant cabinet dryer using different pre-treatments to preserve the dried fruit: immersion in 0.5% citric acid solution, 0.5% ascorbic acid solution, 0.3% L–cysteine solution and 0.2% chestnut extract solution, respectively. Nine different mycotoxins were determined in concentrations above LOD: Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), Ochratoxin A (OTA), Ochratoxin alpha (OTα), Kojic acid (KA), Emodin (EMO), Altenuene (ALT), Aletrenriol monomethyl ether (AME), Brevianamide F (BAF) and Tryptophol (TRY). Selected treatments showed best antiaflatoxigenic effects, while no effect or even increased synthesis of mycotoxins was shown with other mycotoxins. Overall best antimycotoxigenic effect was determined by using L-cistein while ascorbic acid had best mycotoxin inducing effect.


Objective To detect the apoptosis and the intensity of proliferation in different types of renal pathology in children with lupus nephritis (LN), analyzed the relationship between apoptosis and proliferation in LN. Methods Twenty - seven children (aged 7-16 years old, 21 type IV and 6 type V ) with biopsy- proven LN and nine as controls were included in the study. Apoptosis was detected by in situ nick- end labeling techniques (TUNEL) in renal biopsy samples. Immunohistochemistry was employed to detect the proliferating cells identified by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and detect the expressions of proteins of apoptosis associated gene PDCD5 and Caspase - 3 in these patients. Results 1. Compared to type V LN, the patients with type IV LN had more apoptolic cells,more PCNA positive cells and higher ratios of PCNA/apoptosis (P/A) in glomeruli. 2. There were no difference in expression of PDCD5 in glomeruli in type IV LN compared with those in type V LN. Numbers of apoptotic cells were observed in glomeruli. The expression of Caspase- 3 in type IV LN increased in glomeruli compared with that in type V LN. Conclusions The up- regulation of mechanism of apoptosis in type IV LN was less than that of type V LN. Caspase- 3 participated in the apoptosis of glomeruli of LN, but PDCD5 did not play a role during apoptosis of glomeruli of LN or the effect of PDCD5 promoting apoptosis was depressed.


The dynamics of Skyrmions in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate are numerically investigated in the mean-field theory. When two Skyrmions collide with each other, they are first united and then scattered into various states. For head-on collisions, Skyrmions with unit winding number are scattered. The collision dynamics with an impact parameter are shown to depend on the relative phase. These dynamic processes are characterized by integer winding numbers.


Supplementing reasons for an administrative act means that an administrative body explains and analyzes the legal basis, facts and basis for discretion upon which the administrative act rests further in judicial review. This system embodies the inner requirement of administrative efficiency and development of public welfare. It is supplementation to principle of limited judicial review.


Practicing ophthalmologists, as well as ophthalmologists-in-training, are increasingly under pressure to diagnose a patient's eye complaints and problems in a timely, cost-effective manner. To initiate the proper treatment, the correct assessment is essential, but the right answer is not always obvious or readily apparent. In a single volume, Diagnostic Problems in Clinical Ophthalmology assembles reasonably brief descriptions of commonly encountered clinical problems. This text helps to make the "best fit" diagnosis easier and should relieve some of the problems of clinical diagnosis. Each of the 105 chapters, authored by 125 contributors, commences with a paragraph outlining the chapter's purpose and includes a description of the clinical problem and definitions of relative terms. The differential diagnostic possibilities are reviewed, and at the end of each chapter there is a cogent and useful section titled "Diagnostic Pitfalls." In addition, all the chapters (except "Disorders of Ocular Motility") conclude with a helpful and


Introduction: Imatinib definitively contribute to improve prognosis for high-risk or unresectable GISTs. Due to therapeutic efficacy is limited by imatinib chemoresistance and toxicity, the exploration of predictive markers of imatinib therapeutic efficacy that early enable patients to utilize more effective therapeutic strategies remains urgent. Here, we evaluate that the ability of FBXW7 acts as a predictor of imatinib therapeutic effect in preclinical models, and the potential of FBXW7-MCL1 axis promote imatinib-induced apoptosis response.
 Methods: The cellular and in vivo correlation between FBXW7 and imatinib chemoresistance via FBXW7-MCL1 axis were evaluated by detecting IC50 value, apoptosis assay, and GIST xenograft studies. The clinical significance of FBXW7 as a predictor of imatinib treatment efficacy was examined in 140 high-risk patients with GISTs by immunohistochemical staining and multivariate analyses.
 Results: FBXW7 affects imatinib chemoresistance through regulating cellular apoptosis in GIST-T1 cells. FBXW7 targets MCL1 to regulate cellular apoptosis. MCL1 involves in the regulation of imatinib chemoresistance through inhibiting apoptosis of GIST-T1 cells. FBXW7 regulates imatinib chemoresistance via down-regulating MCL1 for enhancing imatinib-induced apoptosis in vitro. FBXW7 regulates imatinib sensitivity of GIST cells via targeting MCL1 to predict therapeutic efficacy of imatinib treatment in vivo. Through 5-year RFS rates analysis and multivariate analysis, the ability of FBXW7 predicting therapeutic efficacy of high-risk GIST patients with adjuvant imatinib was proved.
 Conclusions: FBXW7 regulates imatinib chemoresistance through inhibiting MCL1 for enhancing imatinib-induced apoptosis in GIST and acted as a reliable predictor of imatinib treatment efficacy in high-risk GIST patients treated imatinib.
 Citation Format: Xiyu Wu, Masaaki Iwatsuki, Meiyue Lou, Takatsugu Ishimoto, Yoshifumi Baba, Yuji Miyamoto, Hideo Baba. FBXW7 regulates imatinib chemoresistance through targeting MCL1 for apoptotic regulation in gastrointestinal stromal tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 956.


Our series of interviews with renowned historians of Ibero-America has not included, to date, any scholar from the Iberian peninsula itself. It is a great satisfaction to remedy that omission by presenting here a conversation with don Antonio Dominguez Ortiz, whom many would rank as Spain's senior practicing historian of any period, and to whom all would point as the leading exponent in Spanish of his country's early modern history. Dr. Dominguez Ortiz's career is a heartening testimony to the power of the written word in the intellectual affairs of a society. He has exercised his influence on the practice of history in Spain very largely through his books and articles, not having proceeded, as this interview makes clear, along the conventional paths of university teaching, and so not having had the conventional opportunities to shape young historians during their graduate apprenticeships. Indeed, most of his teaching has taken place in secondary schools: fortunate colegiales, though one may wonder whether that is the best use a society can make of its finest historical talent. On the other hand, his own eminence may be read to suggest that closely organized supervision is perhaps, in some cases, not the best way of preparing historians. Dr. Dominguez Ortiz stresses here that he is largely a selftaught scholar. One might reason from his example that, as students' ability increases, so their need for formal training declines; and that the very best will most fully realize their potential if they are left to their own explorations. The nature of Dr. Dominguez Ortiz's career qualifies him particularly well to make comments and criticisms about the teaching of history in primary and secondary schools, and in general to speak of the historian's role in society at large. Such discussion is an unusual and valuable component


Initiated by the Ministry of Education, the reform of college English teaching is underway in China. In accordance with the requirements of the reform as well as their own conditions, institutions of higher learning are formulating their own new syllabuses and teaching modes for college English. As the reform is aimed at enhancing the students' comprehensive ability in applying English, especially their listening and speaking skills, the teaching of listening and speaking is worth serious attention.


Objectives: Distinguishing between language mixing and language fusion is a non-trivial task, particularly in situations of long-standing bilingualism. The main goal of this paper is thus to propose and test a methodology for discerning language fusion from conventionalized mixing. In addition, we examine the hypothesis that the fusion of unbound elements evolves from alternational mixing. Design: The paper addresses the goals through a distributional analysis of a vernacular variety of Kildin Saami, a seriously endangered East Saamic (Uralic) language spoken on the Kola Peninsula in Northwest Russia, as a partially fused lect due to contact with Russian. Data and Analysis: A one-hour recording of an informal group conversation with three native speakers, comprising some 10,000 word tokens, was transcribed and annotated for Russian-origin items. For comparison, other available speech samples, documenting the earlier stages of the language development, as well as the few existing grammatical descriptions and dictionaries were referred to. Findings: The paper develops and showcases three diagnostic criteria indicative of language fusion: (a) regularization of the donor language items' usage patterns in the mixed variety; (b) functional reduction, or functional extension, of the donor language element, and/or of its inherited native equivalent; (c) the introduction of new constructions involving the donor language grammatical elements by way of loan translation. Finally, we report multiple parallels existing between the distribution of Russian-origin items in vernacular Kildin Saami and alternational mixing. Originality: This paper is the first to propose and systematically test diagnostic criteria indicative of language fusion in a situation of long-term bilingualism. Significance: The proposed criteria may reliably be employed as indicators of fusion in future studies of contact varieties with little, or undocumented, linguistic histories. Furthermore, in contrast to the mainstream assumption, this study also provides evidence for the claim that alternational mixing can be a starting point for the emergence of a fused lect.


In recent years, the idea of research of sensorimotor integration has become increasingly explicated as a key component of the alternative therapy in children with multiple disabilities. The effects of the influence on the development, training, emotions and behavior of these children in a specially organized multy-sensory environment are explored.
The article provides an overview of sensory based interventions, among which the most important consideration is the sensory room as a physical space to overcome sensory-integrative dysfunction. The theory of sensorimotor integration is presented and different variants of disabiliies are described. The age criterion for effective utilization of multy-sensory space is derived


The equivalence problem for languages accepted by deterministic pushdown automata is shown to be decidable if and only if the strong equivalence problem for monadic recursion schemes is decidable. The proof is obtained through a series of reductions, and several different classes of acceptors are introduced.


One of the central arguments about fieldwork is the problem of the relation between the investigator and the subject. Not constrained to the sphere of ethics, this problem extends even to that of the methodological and the epistemological.This paper presents "citizens' research" as a way to find socially meaningful practice from fieldwork, which is essentially polysemous. "Citizens' research" is also necessary in volunteer activities. Citizens' research is not a simplified version of professional research but in itself possesses original features and meanings. From ordinary people's perspective, it selects and combines various types of methodology with the objective to identify problems and find concrete solutions, whereas professional research is based on strict methodology and aims to contribute to a specific discipline. This paper also discusses what kind of social institution and mechanism should be created to make citizens' research become a socially powerful tool.


The effect of substitution, by tertiary phosphines, of the CO groups on the stability of the Mo–Mo bond in the compound [π-C5H5(CO)3Mo]2 has been studied. Three types of derivative are formed: (i) compounds in which one CO is replaced, viz., C5H5(CO)3Mo–Mo(CO)2LC5H5, e.g., where L = PPh3 or P(Cyclohexyl)3; (ii) those in which two CO groups are replaced symmetrically, viz., C5H5(CO)2L Mo–Mo L(CO)2C5H5, e.g., where L = P(OBu)3 and P(OPh)3; (iii) substances with salt-like structures, viz., [π-C5H5L2(CO)2Mo][π-C5H5(CO)3Mo], e.g., where L = excess of PPh3, PEt3, PBu3, and Ph2P·CH2·CH2·PPh2. The conditions for obtaining these different derivatives are discussed.


Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) has been the most disease that recorded high number in Iraqi population, Interleukin-4 (IL-4) have been reported to associate with pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA); which it is role of IL-4 genetic polymorphisms in RA. Method: A total of 50 unrelated IRAQ patients with RA and 40 healthy Iraqi volunteers with no family histories of any autoimmune diseases were recruited. The promoter IL-4-590 C/T  polymorphisms were genotyped gene polymorphism implemented used RFLP technique. Result:The results show The genotype distributions and allele frequencies of IL-4-590 C/T  polymorphisms in RA patients were significantly different from healthy Statistically significant differences were observed in genotypes for IL-4-590 .The frequencies of the T allele on the IL- 4-590 were significantly increased in RA patients. Conclusion. The IL-4-590  promoter polymorphisms may be associated with increased risk of RA and could be used as genetic marker for assessing the susceptibility and severity of RA in Iraqi.


The invention relates to a weak signal detection device based on time frequency conversion, which comprises a signal channel unit, an analog-digital conversion unit and a processor. A modulated signal to be tested is inputted into the signal channel unit for amplification and filtering by the signal channel unit; the analog-digital conversion unit outputs a quantized signal after sampling the analog signal outputted by the signal channel unit; the processor receives the quantized signal outputted by the analog-digital conversion unit and converts the quantized signal into a frequency domain signal for power spectral analysis, thereby obtaining the measuring results. The small signal detection device adopts the processor which converts the time domain signal into the frequency domain signal to detect the weak signal in the frequency domain and obtain the measuring results without a device producing a specific reference signal, thereby bringing about simple hardware structure and low cost.


Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry is one of the fastest growing technique for measuring concentrations of trace element. ICP-MS provides many advantages,including very low detection limits,wide dynamic range,good control of interferences,high precision,multi-element,fast analysis,etc. ICP-MS can be combined with other separation technology and sample pretreatment methods. Because of its inherent advantages,ICP-MS has made great progress. In this paper,the basic principle and structure of ICP-MS were introduced. The comparisons of ICP-MS and other analytic techniques were introduced. The development trend of ICP-MS was introduced. The application and research progress of ICP-MS in environmental monitoring area and environmental science were introduced in detail.


Digital works of art are often created using some kind of modeling software, like Cinema4D. Usually they are presented in a non-interactive form, like large Diasecs, and can thus only be experienced by passive viewing. To explore alternative, more captivating presentation channels, we investigate the use of a CAVE Virtual Reality (VR) system as an immersive and interactive presentation platform in this paper. To this end, in a collaboration with an artist, we built an interactive VR experience from one of his existing works. We provide details on our design and report on the results of a qualitative user study.


The invention discloses a surface roughen processing method for laser rollers with irregular deflected focus light spots. In the method, the pulse laser beam output from a high-power pulsed laser is incident to an acousto-optic deflection device in a paseudorandom audio-optical deflection system, generates a small angle of two-dimensional random irregular deflection through the acousto-optic deflection device controlled by a paseudorandom electrical signal, and in above process, a focusing mechanism arranged at the front part or the back part of the acousto-optic deflection device is utilized to focus the pulse laser beam incident or emitted from the acousto-optic deflection device to form a series of focus light spots which irregularly scan along the rotating roller surface so as to carry out roughen processing on the roller surface and form random irregular distribution of the roughen spots on the surface of the rollers. When the roller processed by the method of the invention rolls the steel plate, the irregular roughen spot distribution can be formed, various profiles can be provided, and the rolling quality of the steel plate can be improved.


A 46-year-old patient consulted a cardiologist complaining of discomfort behind the sternum, which manifested itself in 3 weeks after a mild COVID-19 recovery and had been persisting for about 4 months by the time she consulted the doctor. Echocardiography did not reveal any disturbances in regional and global contractility. It was thickening and hyperechogenicity of the pericardium of the lower-lateral, and lateral areas of the left ventricle without any signs of pathological exudation that attracted attention. A chest X-ray and a test with physical activity were performed. Blood tests did not reveal any abnormality, an increase in C-reactive protein was observed. The patient was diagnosed with chronic non-exudative form of pericarditis associated with COVID-19. A successful treatment was carried out: colchicine 0.5 mg/day, ibuprofen 600 mg 3 times a day. Next time the patient consulted a doctor 3 months later. Against the background of ARVI, typical episodes of low-intensity chest pain repullulated. Echocardiography showed regional exudation and initial signs of impaired diastolic function. A compulsory vaccination with Gam-COVID-Vac was carried out in 4 weeks. The post-vaccination period was accompanied by low-grade pyrexia for 2 days, after which the patient noted the complete disappearance of the heart pain. Echocardiography recorded pericardial layers separation and some improvement in diastolic function. The treatment was not carried out for various reasons. Over the next months, cardialgia did not recur. Check study 3 months after showed no visible exudation into the pericardial cavity, a decrease in hyperechogenicity compared to the records of previous studies was noted. In 8 months after vaccination, the patient suffered another mild COVID-19 with exudative pericarditis recurrence and the involvement of the pleura. Blood tests taken during the 1st week of the disease revealed a characteristic cellular shift (lymphocytosis 38%), as well as an increase in ERS up to 26 mm/h, D-dimer up to 1166 μg/l. CRP was normal. Additional analysis for cardiolipin antibodies, antinuclear factor, rheumatoid factor, cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies, b2 glycoprotein I antibodies did not reveal any pathology. Transient low-grade pyrexia had been persisting for 3 weeks in evening hours, in spite of the fact that she kept taking 800 mg of ibuprofen per day. By now, the patient continues receiving colchicine according to the planned 6-months course of administration.


Medical thermostat water bath cauldron is widely used in clinic,but its temperature control is not accurate.This paper presents a digitalized revolution on medical thermostat water bath cauldron.


is a difficult disease to treat. Many patients do not have a good quality of life and cannot maintain normal daily activity with currently prescribed treatments, so new treatments are called for. Three interventional studies have shown significant improvements by treating patients with a vegetarian diet. Patients experience an increase in well-being, a reduction in pain, and a reduction in cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity and total serum cholesterol. Plant-based diets have demonstrated efficacy for treating fibromyalgia while lowering cardiovascular risk factors and reducing exacerbating factors such high BMI and common comorbidities. Often the efficacy is as good and, in some cases, better than standard treatment. The plant-based diet has the advantage of having no side effects and no contraindications. This allows it to be easily integrated with other treatments.


Office dispensing in dermatology practices has long
been a controversial issue, yet physicians are finding that the trend has
grown tremendously


Le Tourisme, while focusing primarily on European tourism perspectives, also presents an international outlook for students who may be preparing for a diversity of French university geography exams. Published by SEDES, one of the most prestigious university presses in France, this text is one in a geography series that includes 62 books, ten dealing directly with tourism. Like other books in this series, Le Tourisme is written in concise, easily assimilated chapters. One of the most practical aspects of the book is its arrangement. Following the main text are two useful appendices. The Žrst appendix includes short case studies of various tourism destinations; the second includes 'ash cards' dealing with different tourism issues and international travel companies. Additionally, at the conclusion of each chapter is a summary of the major points in the chapter, as well as a brief, relevant bibliography. In the introduction, the authors state that one of their main goals is to provide essential and basic knowledge about the diversity of tourism spaces. Dewailly and Flament proceed to illustrate that the explosive growth of tourism has impacted different spaces in different manners, their examples ranging from coastal to urban spaces. Tucked in the Želd of geography, this fascinating book provides students and teachers with case studies that focus on relevant issues facing different types of tourist destinations. With the help of these case studies, students will be able to understand readily the spatial issues surrounding tourism development in Portugal, the tourism waterfront in Toronto, and the link between the growth of the airline industry and the expansion of tourism in Tunisia. Via the tourism case studies, students are challenged to examine the industry not only as an aspect of economic development, but also within the context of micro/macro scales of analysis. While reading about the airline industry, students can expand their perspectives from a speciŽc area on the waterfront in Toronto to a global view. Like many other books on the subject, Le Tourisme begins with a broad deŽnition of tourism but quickly moves into a geographical analysis of tourism. Initially dealing with the deŽnition and components of the


RD investment is one of the important ways to increase the total factor productivity,and different types of RD activities have different influences on productivity of one country. A theoretical model is built to reflect the relationship between basic research, applied research,experimental development and the productivity,and a panel data of 23 OECD countries from 1996 to 2010 is used to test the different influences of different types of RD investment. From the influence period,experimental development activities have a significant positive effect on total factor productivity in the current period,while the applied research and the basic research both have a lagged effect and the lagged time of basic research is longer. From the influence effect,the effect of basic research is stronger than that of the applied research and the effect of experimental development is the weakest but increasing rapidly. Therefore,relying on investment on applied research and experimental development is not an effective way to increase the total factor productivity of one country. The investment and accumulation on basic research should be paid attention to,so as to keep its core status and long- time effects in increasing total factor productivity.


Human Herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is often associated with asymptomatic infections, but in immunocompetent adults is relatively rare. A 24-years old pregnant woman at 16 weeks of gestation presented a meningoencephalitis caused by HHV-6, confirmed by MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sample. Acyclovir treatment (750 mg IV for 3 times/die) was started but after hours the patient started a spontaneous labor arose which determined a late miscarriage at 16+5 weeks of gestation without evidence of intra-amniotic infection or chorioamnionitis. The patient was discharged after 3 weeks in good health and without neurological sequalae. The exact role of HHV-6 in the development of late miscarriage and its incidence in late abortions is currently unknown.


Our goal is to promote scientific software into an identifiable, citable, and preservable object. We are focusing on the needs of two of the most important roles researchers play in the scholarly ecosystem: authors of scholarly manuscripts and developers of scientific software. We are building a technical framework and promoting a set of social practices that will help to manage some of the problems associated with software citations, which include software versions, release specific authorship, synonymous object identifiers, and best practices for journal references markup.


Various studies in recent years have pointed out large issues in the offline evaluation of recommender systems, making it difficult to assess whether true progress has been made. However, there has been little research into what set of practices should serve as a starting point during experimentation. In this paper, we examine four larger issues in recommender system research regarding uncertainty estimation, generalization, hyperparameter optimization and dataset pre-processing in more detail to arrive at a set of guidelines. We present a TrainRec, a lightweight and flexible toolkit for offline training and evaluation of recommender systems that implements these guidelines. Different from other frameworks, TrainRec is a toolkit that focuses on experimentation alone, offering flexible modules that can be can be used together or in isolation. Finally, we demonstrate TrainRec's usefulness by evaluating a diverse set of twelve baselines across ten datasets. Our results show that (i) many results on smaller datasets are likely not statistically significant, (ii) there are at least three baselines that perform well on most datasets and should be considered in future experiments, and (iii) improved uncertainty quantification (via nested CV and statistical testing) rules out some reported differences between linear and neural methods. Given these results, we advocate that future research should standardize evaluation using our suggested guidelines.


The Communications Research Centre (CRC) conducted field tests on a pilot local multipoint communications system (LMCS) at 28 GHz, in a major urban centre in September of 1997. The coverage of two of four operational cells was studied. This system was configured to broadcast digital video and audio programs originating from a satellite signal. Measurements were taken at 395 sites within a 5-km radius to evaluate the system's availability. The availability is highly dependent on terrain, path clearance, and transmitter/receiver antenna height. Another noteworthy point is that, for both cells, there were sites available outside the anticipated 5-km radius. Measurements were done within clusters consisting of three-by-three test sites, spaced at a distance equal to one residential house, to simulate a real LMCS implementation case. The purpose of this test was to confirm that no large variations of the signal power after down conversion (SPAD) within a small area existed where there were no major blockage. From the results it can be noted that the SPAD variations are only a few dB within a cluster and that all the measured SPAD match closely with the calculated SPAD curves assuming free space propagation.


In the paper we discuss the notion of "dispersing representation of a quiver" and give, in a natural special case, a criterion for the problem of classifying such representations to be tame. In proving the criterion we essentially use representations of bundles of semichains, introduced about fifteen years ago by the author.


Despite years of study there are still major unanswered questions concerning the shapes of medium and heavy nuclei and the nature of their intrinsic excitations. Some of these questions may profitably be addressed by exploiting the simplicities inherent in algebraic models. Examples, using the IBA, focusing on axial asymmetry, the nature of {beta} and {gamma} vibrations, and octupole correlations will be briefly discussed.


We analyze the issues related to the management of sessions in Web Applications running on Auto Scaling IaaS systems. We focus on the effect of scaling operations (i.e., dynamic addition/removal of virtual machines) on the Sticky Session paradigm provided by Web Servers. We propose two different solutions, namely Session Monitoring and Session Migration, and describe the implementation of the former in the Open Source Eucalyptus IaaS system.


The current climate, in which some politicians reject widely accepted scientific claims,
suggests that teaching the nature of science should be a significant aspect of science education.
This case study, of six English secondary teachers in a single science department, reports their
concerns about the marginalised role of the nature of science in the English key stage 4 curriculum
(ages 14–16). The teachers' comments suggest that curriculum statements related to the nature of
science can be interpreted in different ways and, therefore, more guidance is required to support
teachers' understanding of areas of consensus and controversy in the nature of science.


The author holds the view that arts education on college students should be studied and reflected from the perspective of establishing the social harmonious society.She contends that the arts quality is the foundation of the moral quality.Arts education is closely related to the students' manners,their careers,their personalities and the society,even the nation.Therefore,the author suggests that arts education should be the priority of moral education in universities,and that the ideological-political work should also involve it.


New dual-plane bandpass filters based on the coplanar-waveguide (CPW) square-ring resonators are proposed. In this study, the elevated metal air-bridges are used to suppress the parasitic coupled slotline mode and also to provide the shunt- capacitance perturbation. Moreover, the microstrip-to-CPW T- shaped transition is utilized as the feeding structure so that a large coupling may be achieved without using the surface-mount ceramic capacitors. By taking advantages of dual-plane layout capability, a wide bandwidth filter may be realized. Specifically, two filters with 3-dB fractional bandwidth of 20.85% and 31% are implemented and measured. Agreement between the measured and simulated results is also observed.


This study uses factorial analysis to investigate the sociability of sportsmen in different fields and to check whether a person's general level of sociability corresponds to the social profile of his (or her) sport. Are team players more sociable than solitary sportsmen ? Each individual's level of sociability is assessed by analysing how often he goes out and/or attends social gatherings, using factorial analysis. A graph of these two prime behavioural elements provides a pictorial representation of any given sportsman's statusIt seems that the presence or absence of a partner or adversary correlates poorly with a sportsman's level of sociability. Surprisingly, the milieu in which the sport is practised does appear to be a discriminatory factor. It emerges that out-door sportsmen are more sociable than those who practise their sport indoors.


We developed insect-resistant GM rice(Bt transgenic rice) by inserting the mCry1Ac1 a modified gene from the soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis. The Bt transgenic rice expressing the Bttoxin mCry1Ac1 was tested for the effects on survival of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus and Cyprinus carpio, commonly used as a model organism in ecotoxicological studies. M. anguillicaudatus and C. carpio fed 100% ground rice in suspension, using either Bt rice or non-GM counterpart rice(Nakdong). The Bt rice used for the test were confirmed to have the mCry1Ac1 gene expression by the immuno-strip and ELISA analysis. Feeding test showed that no significant differences in cumulative immobility and abnormal response of M. anguillicaudatus and C. carpio fed on between Bt rice and non-GM counterpart rice. The 96hr-LC50 values showed no difference between Bt rice(>1,000mg/L) and non-GM rice(>1,000mg/L). We concluded that there was no significant difference in toxicity for non-target organisms(M. anguillicaudatus and C. carpio) between Bt rice and non-GM counterparts.


We present 12 mm Mopra observations of the dense (>10^3 cm^-3 ) molecular gas towards the north-east (NE) of the W28 supernova remnant (SNR). This cloud is spatially well-matched to the TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1801-233 and is known to be a SNR-molecular cloud interaction region. Shock-disruption is evident from broad NH3 (1,1) spectral line-widths in regions towards the W28 SNR, while strong detections of spatially-extended NH3(3,3), NH3(4,4) and NH3(6,6) inversion emission towards the cloud strengthen the case for the existence of high temperatures within the cloud. Velocity dispersion measurements and NH3(n,n)/(1,1) ratio maps, where n=2, 3, 4 and 6, indicate that the source of disruption is from the side of the cloud nearest to the W28 SNR, suggesting that it is the source of cloud-disruption. Towards part of the cloud, the ratio of ortho to para-NH3 is observed to exceed 2, suggesting gas-phase NH3 enrichment due to NH3 liberation from dust grain mantles. The measured NH3 abundance with respect to H2 is ~(1.2+/-0.5)*10^-9, which is not high, as might be expected for a hot, dense molecular cloud enriched by sublimated grain-surface molecules. The results are suggestive of NH3 sublimation and destruction in this molecular cloud, which is likely to be interacting with the W28 SNR shock.


Aiming at the actual model, with the help of the software fluentwith the application of Reynolds stress model ,discrete phase model, heat transfer model to simulate the cyclone preheater 's gas-solid flow; through the use of different wind conditions for the calculation, a different wind speed preheater efficiency of the filter, pressure loss, Particles stayespecially the heat transfer efficiency. Due to the result finding out the best wind speed range for the preheater. This study of Preheater has significance for the actual choice of wind speed and improving the performance of preheater 'heat transfer efficiency.


One of the most important phases in image storage is compression. Most current imagecompression methods are spatial. In this article, we present an image compression techniquebased on Multi-level Thresholding. The grayscale images are divided into groups based on thenet probabilistic division. To determine the grouping uncertainty, Shannon Entropy is used.Optimization methods have also been added to obtain more optimal settings. DifferentialEvolution is an optimization technique. Image histogram is a graph that depicts the distributionof pixel intensity values of an image. Image compression performance measurement wasmeasured using FSIM (Feature Similarity Index Measure) and SSIM (Structural Similarity IndexMeasure).


We propose a fiber-based surface plasmon sensor composed of an all-fiber acousto-optic band-pass filter and a thin metal film on a side-polished fiber. Spectral characteristics of devices are analyzed and well compared with the experiment.


Introduction * Questions relating to the problem of personal identity (PI) have been at the forefront of philosophical investigation almost since the commencement of the modern philosophical project. Questions such as " what is a self " , " what is it to be a self " and " what constitutes someone as being a self " have received much attention ever since Locke proposed that an individuals ability to remember past events was all that was required for them to be recognized as the self same over time (Locke, 2008). More recently much discussion has been centered on the possibility that selves are constructed through a process of narration, whereby human beings create selves by tying the various aspects of their life together into an all encompassing notion called " a self " (Dennet, 1991, Velleman, 2006). What I wish to propose is that these two approaches can be linked together, along with recently articulated theories relating to the relationship between cognition and the environment to create a new approach to understanding the problems associated with personal identity. In order to undertake the project proposed above it is first of all important that we come to a basic understanding of the problems associated with having an account of personal identity that lists memory as a criterion. What then is contained in this report is a preliminary overview of the possible relationship between memory and personal identity as discussed in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions. Specifically the report will focus on the implications of Sydney Shoemaker's " Quasi – Memory Criterion " for personal identity, as outlined in his 1970 paper Persons and the Pasts (Shoemaker, 1970; pp.269-285). I believe that Shoemaker's conclusions pose a series of intriguing problems for philosophers, the solutions to which may force us to reconsider what selves are, what part narrative has to play in the creation of selves and how the self is related to entities and phenomena that are external to the physical body. The main task of this report then is to identify why Shoemaker's arguments present us with the dilemmas it does and to get a sense of the theoretical directions we may want to explore in order to gain a fuller understanding of the problem of personal identity.


This paper addressed a study of bringing the simulated annealing algorithm into the particle swarms optimization algorithm,and changing strategy of decreasing inertia weight and limiting the update position to accel- erate the convergent speed.According to some optimization tests of the multi-modality function,it is found that this algorithm can overcome the local optimization,and has a stronger ability of global optimization and a fast con- vergent speed compared with adaptive particle swarms optimization algorithm.


Background: Hypothyroidism is a prevalent endocrine disorder among elderly individuals. Attaining an optimal level of self-care ability is a vital component of integral nursing management. Aim: Determine the effect of illness perception and medication adherence on self-care ability of elderly patients with hypothyroidism. Method: A descriptive correlational research design was used. This study was carried out in geriatric and endocrinology outpatient clinics at Specialized Medical Hospital, Mansoura University. A purposive sample of 239 elderly patients with hypothyroidism were enrolled in the study. Data was collected using; the mini-mental state examination scale, demographic and health-related data structured interview sheet, the brief illness perception questionnaire, the 8-item Morisky medication adherence scale, and the self-care ability scale for the elderly. Results: 88.3% of the studied elderly with hypothyroidism had low self-care ability (53.67± 6.57) while 53.6% had moderate illness perception (42.77±4.05), and 65.20% had low medication adherence level. Conclusion: Illness perception and medication adherence were significant predictors for self-care ability in elderly patients with hypothyroidism. Recommendation: Develop self-care programs aimed at improving the self-care practice of elderly patients with hypothyroidism taking into consideration the study associated factors.


Tunnel engineering,as a main fundamental course of geo- underground engineering direction in civil engineering,features strongly in theory,practice as well as application,and takes a wide scope of professional knowledge.To meet the requirement of training excellent engineers in the new situation,based on my teaching experiences in recent years,I discussed the existing problems in teaching and then presented some reform approaches in teaching methods,practical teaching idea,and research for teaching to improve the teaching quality.


The influence of reproductive capacity indicators on milk productivity of Ukrainian red-spotted dairy cows is investigated in the article.

Today, the reproduction of cows is an increasingly important issue. Regular calving promotes profitable milk production, and the annual production of calves allows for selection and breeding work at a high level and is a prerequisite for expanded reproduction of the herd. The question of the optimal duration of service and inter-period periods, which ensure a high level of productivity of animals, it is advisable to consider in the specific conditions of their use. Optimization of reproductive qualities of cows contributes to a fuller realization of their genetic potential in milk productivity. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of the interstitial period, the duration of the service period and the coefficient of reproductive capacity on the milk productivity of the first-born cows of the Ukrainian red-spotted dairy breed.

As a result of the conducted researches it is established that milk productivity depends on indicators of reproductive capacity. Hopes for the first lactation increased with the increase in the duration of the service period and the period between I and II calves, as well as with a decrease in the coefficient of reproductive capacity. The probable correlation between the indicators of milk productivity and the reproductive capacity of cows of the Ukrainian red-spotted dairy breed was determined.

Studies have shown that with increasing milk yield from 5,000 kg of milk to 7,000 kg and more, the duration between the interstitial period increased from 353,3 to 435 days (P<0,001), the service period – from 75,3 to 141,1 days (P<0,01, P<0,001), correlation coefficients from 0,138 to 0,822 (P<0,001).

The obtained results provide an opportunity to develop comprehensive measures to improve the reproduction of cows. In this farm it is recommended to use them when assessing the reproductive capacity of dairy cows.


The IEEE International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications is an annual event and it has been held four times since 2005, and this is its fifth annual conference, and also for the first time it is held in Africa. In this year's conference, the TPC has done a wonderful job in attracting quality submissions from different regions in the world. As a result, we have received an overwhelming response from both academia and industry in the world. We have received a very good number of submissions from different regions of the world, and this allows us to work out a very high quality technical program for this conference. Thanks for the dedication and effort by all TPC members of this conference, we have been very successful in carrying out all reviews in a very timely manner. We are proud of a very strong team-work spirit in the TPC which is the key to the success of this conference. Based on the review outcomes, we have been able to choose 63 papers to be accepted for this conference with acceptance rate of 30%. Therefore, as shown in the technical program, all the accepted papers have very high technical quality due to the respectable acceptance ratio of this conference, whose standard is comparable to any major international conferences around the world. Therefore, we would like to take this great opportunity to express our gratitude to all TPC members as well as all volunteer reviewers, who have been working very hard to finish all reviews in time, ensuring the great success of this conference. In addition, we should also thank the General Chair, Professor Abderrahim Benslimane, whose leadership has helped us to make sure the review process went smoothly. We would like also to thank all other organization committee members, and without their hard works the success of this conference is impossible.


Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr alloy cast ingot was prepared by vacuum smelting.As-obtained alloy ingot after solid solution treatment was aged at different temperature for different durations.The microstructure and medical performance of the aged alloy were examined.Results show that Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr alloy obtained by solid solution at 830 ℃ for 1.5 h consists of single supercooled metastable β phase,and α+β double phases are formed after heating.At the same aging time,higher aging temperature facilitated faster generation of precipitated phases,and the dispersion of the precipitated phases and the strength of the alloy were reduced.The alloy after aging treatment at 450 ℃ for 1 680 min had a tensile strength of 432 MPa and elastic modulus of 63 GPa which were similar to those of human bones,showing good medical performance.