normative universality" other contributors also consider a dangerous political formalism, but her conclusion that this fantasy works "according to three logics: the appearance of white maleness, the possession of property, and the capacity to feel pain" hardly needs to be stated once again (168). This recognition alone is not enough to bring This content downloaded from 18.104.22.168 on Mon, 26 Sep 2016 06:07:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms WHAT'S THE MATTER? 483 about Berlant's tacit appeal for coalitions among the people victimized by such heteronormativity: "women, people of color, queers, and workers whose bodies are deemed expendable" (170). Indeed, the political problem today is perhaps expressed precisely in the degree to which these very groups recognize their respective exploitation by such an ideology but repudiate their common cause with each other. How can such coalitions be forged? Lisa Duggan's "The New Homonormativity: The Sexual Politics of Neoliberalism" takes Berlant's argument a step further by criticizing the neoliberalism of the Independent Gay Forum (IGF). Although valuable for its careful definition and history of neoliberalism, Duggan's essay also attacks an easy target and collapses the purposes of the IGF into the prevailing politics of gay activism. Although Duggan is certainly right in her assessment of the IGF's conservative interests in developing "homonormativity" acceptable to mainstream U.S. society, she unwittingly raises an important issue for the entire volume. The coeditors and contributors endorse "dissensus" as the basis for new democratic processes, but their ideal of perpetual debate and disagreement among constantly changing groups rarely makes room for genuine dissent from outside their own group. The democratic alternatives offered in seven essays are ways of challenging and in some cases refuting my criticism of this volume's tendency to defend an idea of social "dissensus" that differs little from that generally claimed by the Left. A significant number of these essays present genuine social options through literary and other imaginative revisions of U.S. democracy. Read together the contributions by Russ Castronovo, Dana Nelson, Wai Chee Dimock, Kevin Gaines, and Christopher Newfield offer an intriguing theory of literature as imaginative sociology and political science. What Castronovo calls "the pedagogy of democratic citizenship," Nelson terms "countersymbolic representation," Dimock describes as "nonabsolute space," and Gaines interprets as imaginative "internationalism" are complementary terms, each developed out of specific literary examples that offer practical alternatives to the dominant ideology. Castronovo interprets Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) as political theory, in order first to criticize formalist conceptions of democracy, especially as they worked through the literally dematerialized figures of nineteenth-century Spiritualism. Making a convincing case for Jacobs's knowledge of and response to This content downloaded from 18.104.22.168 on Mon, 26 Sep 2016 06:07:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 484 AMERICAN QUARTERLY Spiritualism in Incidents, Castronovo argues that she successfully rehistoricizes and thereby re-embodies "spirit" by linking it specifically with abolitionist politics and personal experiences of African American oppression. Nelson reads Rebecca Harding Davis's forgotten novel Waiting for the Verdict (1867) as a political and aesthetic alternative to Emerson's classic Representative Men (1850). Emerson's work typifies, of course, an important aspect of formalist democracy: its reliance on representative figures to organize an imaginary civil society that in reality is an unimaginable heterotopia. Davis's narrative rejects "representivity" and aims for the "disunity" of democratic experience. It is a compelling argument, even though Nelson doesn't address the inherently representative qualities of literary form, especially as they apply to Davis's work. Equally intriguing is Wai Chee Dimock's effort to recast nineteenthcentury literary regionalism, especially that of Mary Wilkins Freeman, in relation to post-Newtonian scientific and post-Kantian philosophical ideas of space and time. Relying on literature's ability to reflect on what Kant, following Aristotle, considered the a priori forms for human consciousness, Dimock suggests that Freeman's "local color" develops new conceptions of space and time as modem as William James's, Charles Sanders Peirce's, and Albert Einstein's. I am not convinced that Dimock's literary example, Freeman's "A New England Nun," is quite up to these interdisciplinary demands, but Dimock's approach opens up literary regionalism to interesting political, legal, and scientific connections worthy of further study. Kevin Gaines's "From Center to Margin: Internationalism and the Origins of Black Feminism" recovers a neglected source of black feminism in black women's literature from the 1950s, especially by Gwendolyn Brooks, Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, and Paule Marshall. His specific contribution to the efforts by recent scholars to pay more attention to black women writers of the 1950s is his discussion of how internationalism in the U.S. and in Ghana influenced these black women writers to reject the U.S. nationalism so prevalent in the Cold War era and anticipated subsequent criticism of black nationalism and the U.S. exceptionalism of the Black Arts movement. Gaines's essay reminds us how historical recovery work is itself political, insofar as what and how we teach can challenge social conventions and accepted historical accounts. Christopher Newfield's "Democratic Passions: Reconstructing Individual Agency" is not primarily about literary culture, but it draws on This content downloaded from 188.8.131.52 on Mon, 26 Sep 2016 06:07:08 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms WHAT'S THE MATTER? 485 the novelist Samuel Delany's Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999) and its critique of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's "redevelopment" of New York City to develop a political theory of personal agency that is truly social and civil rather than primarily determined by economic forces. Newfield's and Delany's "counter-culture," if the old population of Times Square could be ironically termed that, is certainly not very pretty in conventional literary terms, but it has a better chance of representing a livable democratic dissensus than many of the other alternatives proposed in this volume. Some of the social alternatives are satirical, as I think we must understand Chris Castiglia's "The Genealogy of the Democratic Crush." Castiglia argues that Monica Lewinsky's "crush" on President Clinton subverted the prevailing "national sentiment" and opened the political process of representative celebrity to critical scrutiny. Following her biographer Andrew Morton's suggestion that Lewinsky is a modem Hester Prynne, Castiglia pushes the politics of the "crush" and Lewinsky's public display of her "scarlet letter" (that stained dress) to the absolute limits of credible activism, but perhaps he does so to show us what extreme measures are required to challenge a culture of celebrity, sexual hysteria, and sentimentalism accepted by many Ameri-


Objective: To determine the frequency, cause and type of dental injury in patients reporting to Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry.
Study design: Cross-Sectional Survey.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Operative Dentistry Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from Sep 2021 to Sep 2022.
Methodology: A questionnaire was filled out for 357 patients reporting dental injury, including the extent of hard and soft tissue injuries. The cause and place of injury occurred; investigations, the treatment provided by the treating dentists ranging from restoration to root canal, type and duration of splint were also recorded.
Results: In the current study, 189(52.9%) out of 357 children got injury due to falls to the playground and other places. Maxillary incisors were mostly affected, and 163(45.7%) children had complicated crown fractures. Rigid splinting was done in 39(70.9%) of root fracture cases, while flexible splinting was done in 162(53.6%) patients with complicated crown fracture cases and 81(26.8%) complicated crown fracture cases. In 72(88.8%) cases of uncomplicated crown fracture, indirect pulp capping was done, and in 67(41.1%) cases of complicated crown fracture, root canal treatment were done. Apexification was done in 28(68.3%) of avulsion cases.
Conclusion: Our survey showed that most injuries occurred at school and the roadside. Maxillary incisors are primarily involved with complicated crown fractures, which are effectively managed.Keywords: Avulsion, Complicated crown fracture, Dental injury, Splinting.


-Cancer, a formidable adversary that has plagued humanity for centuries, remains one of the most complex and challenging diseases to comprehend and combat. Cancer is a complex disease that can develop and progress through different stages. These stages help medical professionals understand the extent of the disease.The Most commonly used staging system is the TNM system, which elaborates for Tumor, Nodes, and Metastasis.This project investigates the significance of assessed tumor markers in blood samples as a diagnostic tool for early cancer detection. The study explores the potential of these markers to identify malignancies at their nascent stages, contributing to improved prognoses and tailored treatment strategies. By analyzing a diverse cohort of patients, this research sheds light on the sensitivity and specificity of these markers, providing valuable insights into their role in modern oncology practices. In Conclusion, this study highligts the crucial role of tumor markers in blood samples for cancer diagnosis and management. The findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on tumor marker assessment and provide valuable insights for clinical practice. Ultimately, this research underscores the importance of multidisciplinary approach to cancer care, incorporating tumor marker assessment to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.


Turbulence in the plasma sheath around reentry vehicles is known to contribute to radio-communications blackout, but a practical laboratory model of that extreme environment remains elusive. Herein, we present a table-top plasma system with sustained, chaotic convection for that purpose. Strong sound waves exert acoustic radiation pressure on gradients within the plasma and are shown to drive sufficient convection to cause abrupt and chaotic variation in the plasma properties. The volume-averaged plasma conductivity and collision time are determined in real time by phase-sensitive detection of a microwave probe signal. The experiment provides unique opportunities to study transmission into plasma conditions that can inform detailed models of high-temperature turbulent flows.


In this brief response paper, we respond to the insightful commentaries that critically engage with our original article in this forum. First, we discuss whether Confucian culture is fundamental to Chinese geopolitics, emphasizing how and why culture is part of a wider epistemic resource. We also note that our model is not normative, but an analytic framework for understanding complex non-western situations. Second, we discuss the geographies and scales of our model, noting a core tension between geopolitics at the state level and in everyday life. Third, we address the 'gap' between theory and practice under our Confucian model, noting that there is often a strategic inclusion (or exclusion) of Confucianism in practice. We finish by emphasizing that our paper is part a longer journey to further decentralize the western hold upon geopolitics.


Purpose: To evaluate the Frequency and Pattern of Retinitis pigmentosa in Retina Clinic of a Tertiary Care Hospital Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal. Introduction:Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) comprises a group of hereditary eye diseases characterized by progressive degeneration of retinal photoreceptors that may result in progressive visual loss leading to legal or total blindness. Materials and methods: Data was collected for all the patients diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. Complete ocular examination and Fundus photographs were taken. Results: of 749 patients attending retina clinic 67 cases were diagnosed with RP over a period of 3 years. Majority was males (68.65%). 28 were typical RP, 4 inverse RP and 1 case of retinitis punctataalbescens. Majority of the cases presented at late stage, of the 134 eyes 61 are socially blind. Conclusion : Rehabilitation services need to focused for improving social productivity. A thorough genetic pedigree, often with the aid of a genetic counselor, is essential in determining risk of future generations acquiring the disease.


ABSTRACT This article presents the history of Arabic-Islamic studies in Norway, within the wider framework of Scandinavia and Europe. While Semitic studies reach well back into the sixteenth century in Sweden and Denmark, it was only in the early nineteenth century that the study of Arabic was introduced into Norway with the establishment of a university in 1811. From their inception, Arabic and Semitic studies were instrumental in reaching out into the world as well as in defining the national self-identity. I discuss these developments and the role and function philology played in various studies, programmes and disciplines, taking into account the shifting historical and sociocultural contexts. Issues of relevance and utility value as well as diverse political and economic concerns have throughout history formed the structural frameworks. Simultaneously, however, I demonstrate how individual motivation and impetus have continued to be of vital importance to the development of the fields. Finally, I discuss some of the current challenges and prospects for philological studies, and argue for the continued relevance for these methodological approaches.


A new study offers the "largest dataset ever published from a randomized, placebo-controlled study on the effect of probiotics on bowel function," says Chr. Hansen.


It is a challenging task for Ad hoc networks to design routing protocols which is used to efficiently find a path between two communicating nodes due to its node mobility, thus stability of selected path is of prime importance. In this paper, a path stability based routing algorithm PSB_DSR is proposed. PSB_DSR selects a stable path while minimizing hop counts instead of selecting shortest path used by DSR. Link stability factor (LSF) and path stability factor (PSF) are defined and used in route discovery process. Simulation results show the proposed PSB_DSR can select a stable path and avoid frequent link breaks, thus reduce rerouting operations and gain an improvement in packet delivery ratio and ETE delay.


This article covers highlights of a lecture delivered by Professor Eigen demonstrating how a glass-bead game can be used to study molecular and cellular behavior.


USING A YARDSTICK TO MEASURE A METER: GROWTH, PROJECTION, AND VALUE-ADDED MODELS IN THE CONTEXT OF SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY Michael Joseph Weiss


Background This paper explores the everyday experiences and research rationale of clinical doctors within a purposefully selected single institution, a Thai group of private hospitals. An article search for research conducted by clinical doctors revealed that little is written about their experiences or their engagement in research practices using qualitative software that justifiably lead to pragmatic research solutions related to clinically identified problems or issues underpinned by hospital research policy. Methods The paper utilises a qualitative approach, targeting a Thai private hospital general medical department, using a small semi-structured questionnaire creating a focused element of context and flexibility. 12 doctors were randomly chosen from 22 that were available and willing to share their needs and experiences and a focus group was used as the data-collecting vehicle. This paper addresses issues raised when doctors use qualitative software to assist in their research process while conducting research at a private hospital in Bangkok. ResultsThe 3 developed research questions were mapped to 9 major themes, and underpinned by 27 sub-themes. The presented qualitative data outcomes highlight the various experiences, perspectives, opportunities and challenges that Thai clinical doctors perceive they face. Together, these illustrate the diversity of research practice opinion of a small group of Thai clinical doctors, when engaging more effectively in qualitative related evidence-based research practices using QDAS software. Conclusions The impact of this research suggests that the perceived complexities of qualitative software can be mitigated with appropriate training and specialist guidance and an appropriate hospital management engagement in building equitable research capacity. This will also give greater support to clinical doctors engaging in qualitative evidence-based research leading to more effective primary care solutions.


ABSTRACT The edge detection is a pre-processing of such as image segmentation, image recognition, etc, and many related studies are being conducted both in domestic and abroad. Representative edge detection methods are Sobel, Prewitt, Laplacian, Roberts and Canny edge detectors. Such existing methods are possible for superb detections of edges if edges are detected from videos without noises. However, for video degraded by the salt-and-pepper noise, the edge detection characteristic is shown to be insufficient due to the noise influence. Therefore, in this study, the area is separated as the top, down, left and right from the mask's center pixel first to acquire a superb edge detection characteristic from the video damaged by the salt-and-pepper noise. And the algorithm that detects the final edge by applying the directional mask on the assumed factor of mask that is obtained according to the result of determination for the noise status of representative pixel value of each area. 키워드 :


Using the mathematical model of longitudinal vibration of drill string,the characteristics of the axial stress amplitude distribution curve and the maximum axial stress amplitude-frequency curve for drill string were analysed.The impacts of drilling fluid viscosity,bit displacement and shock absorber's installation position on the maximum axial stress amplitude in drill pipe were investigated.The analysis shows that: the axial stress amplitude along the drill string is wavelike distributed and the point of the maximum axial stress amplitude is at the bottom of drill string or in drill pipe;the rotary speed-dependent curve of the maximum axial stress amplitude in drill pipe is in the form of at least one pit,and the speed range should be chosen to locate between the ends of the pits when drilling;the variation trend of the maximum axial stress amplitude in drill pipe with rotary speed is somewhat different from that at the bottom of drill string,and the former but not the latter should be looked as the target for resonance judging and rotary speed optimizing;the maximum axial stress amplitude in drill pipe varies roughly in direct proportion with the bit displacement;the higher the viscosity of drilling fluid is,the smaller the maximum axial stress amplitude in drill pipe is;a shock absorber can change the natural frequency of drill string,and the shock absorber should be fixed close to the bit when drilling with low rotary speed and kept a certain distance apart from the bit when drilling with high rotary speed to protect the drilling tools more effectively;optimizing the make-up of drill string and the rotary speed can prevent drilling tool failure effectively.


The increasing competition in digital advertising induced a proliferation of media agencies playing the role of intermediaries between advertisers and platforms selling ad slots. When a group of competing advertisers is managed by a common agency, many forms of collusion, such as bid rigging, can be implemented by coordinating bidding strategies, dramatically increasing advertisers' value. We study the problem of finding bids and monetary transfers maximizing the utility of a group of colluders, under GSP and VCG mechanisms. First, we introduce an abstract bid optimization problem---called weighted utility problem (WUP)---, which is useful in proving our results. We show that the utilities of bidding strategies are related to the length of paths in a directed acyclic weighted graph, whose structure and weights depend on the mechanism under study. This allows us to solve WUP in polynomial time by finding a shortest path of the graph. Next, we switch to our original problem, focusing on two settings that differ for the incentives they allow for. Incentive constraints ensure that colluders do not leave the agency, and they can be enforced by implementing monetary transfers between the agency and the advertisers. In particular, we study the arbitrary transfers setting, where any kind of monetary transfer to and from the advertisers is allowed, and the more realistic limited liability setting, in which no advertiser can be paid by the agency.

 In the former, we cast the problem as a WUP instance and solve it by our graph-based algorithm, while, in the latter, we formulate it as a linear program with exponentially-many variables efficiently solvable by applying the ellipsoid algorithm to its dual. This requires to solve a suitable separation problem in polynomial time, which can be done by reducing it to the weighted utility problem a WUP instance.


Scottish local authorities have been accused of sectarianism in hiring policies because the proportion of workers who declare their religion as Catholic falls below the Catholic proportion of the population as a whole. This rejoinder points out the methodological flaw of drawing conclusions from such incomplete data and presents an alternative way of interpreting the partial statistics. It also notes that, with the high proportion of Labour councillors who are Catholic and the Labour party's history of council control, such discrimination is highly unlikely. Finally, it draws on classic liberalism to defend workers' refusal to declare their religion.


ABSTRACT The subfamily Leporinae probably had its origin from the Archaeolaginae in the North American Clarendonian (late Miocene) and include the following genera and species from late Miocene Clarendonian to latest Pliocene Blancan: Alilepus hibbardi, sp. nov., A. vagus, A. wilsoni, sp. nov., Pratilepus kansasensis, Aluralagus bensonensis, A. virginiae, Nekrolagus progressas, Aztlanolagus agilis, Sylvilagus hibbardi, Lepus, cf. L. californiens, Pronotolagus apachensis, gen. nov., Notolagus velox, N. lepusculus, and Paranotolagus complicatus. Two specimens of Hypolagus parviplicatus from the late Barstovian of Saskatchewan have two shallow grooves in the enamel of the lingual side of P3 that may be incipient anterointernal and posterointernal reentrants, suggesting a precursor to the ancestry of the Leporinae.


Massi fi cation, the pressures of accountability, competition to attract the best local and international students, worldwide quality rankings and dif fi culties in attracting and retaining and researchers are challenges faced by tertiary eduction sectors in many countries (Altbach et al . , 2012). The Italian tertiary education sector is no different. A consideration of some of the issues and challenges that the Italian tertiary education sector faces provides crucial context to a study on knowledge transfer and of elite professional mobility between Italy and Australia. Italy has a reputation for high-quality university training, and this renders its graduates attractive to universities and research institutes outside Italy. The USA, Australia and the United Kingdom are among the destinations preferred by Italian researchers. This paints the typical picture of brain-drain. It appears, however, that Italy has dif fi culties integrating quali fi ed academic researchers from abroad, as it suffers from a negative fl ow rate where the emigration of academics exceeds the immigration of academics (Beltrame, 2007; OECD, 2005; Dumont et al., 2010). This suggests that in addition to brain drain there is also the problem of a lack of brain circulation: it is dif fi cult for Italian expatriates to return to the Italian university system, (CENSIS, 2002). Policy responses that favour greater quality and international competitiveness of Italian universities could contribute to attracting both more academics (professors and researchers) and more talented students on the international level. Such policies would constitute an investment in knowledge transfer. These signi fi cant considerations are re fl ected in the research that this article presents. This research includes our own empirical research project which used a semi-structured questionnaire (Patton, 2002), and a sample of 82 Italian professors and researchers to elicit data in two funda-mental areas: (a) the reasons for academics to leave Italy; and (b) the problems in attracting talented academics from abroad. Based on the analysis of the responses, the project also proposes policies for improving the quality and attractiveness of Italian universities. Brain drain is dif fi cult and de fi ne. notes majority researchers


This paper analyzes the existing problems of school-enterprise cooperation in software engineering in two aspects of school and enterprise. Then, this paper puts forward the measures of deep integration about software engineering school-enterprise cooperation in three aspects of school, enterprise and government. In this paper, finally, these ideas and methods have achieved good results in the professional reform practice at colloge of information Science and Techology Taishan University. Keywords—school-enterprise cooperation; software engineering; deep integration


Pinus chiapensis for their growth characteristics and quality of the wood and its development is a species with high potential for management to generate goods and services without jeopardizing their existence but for its natural development in most agricultural soils, and competes unfavorably threatens genetic diversity, so in the present study an exploration of the variation in the cones of a natural population located in the municipality of Los Manueles Atzalan finding that there is variation not only between cones of a tree but also between trees indicating that there exist genetic diversity variation can be operated in use patterns and conservation of the population.


PurposeThis article investigated market knowledge capability' role in enhancing performance and the impact of networking competence on SMEs' performance.Method: The samples studied were 162 export-oriented furniture SMEs from Sukoharjo. The purposive sampling technique collected the data. Only 142 samples were declared complete and feasible to continue hypothesis testing. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was implemented to check the hypothesis model.Result: This study found that the market knowledge capability constructs positively and significantly affected SMEs' performance. Market knowledge positively influenced networking competence, while networking competence positively and significantly affected SMEs' performance.


A failed main wheel hub of an aircraft was forwarded to the laboratory for analysis. Examination revealed that the main wheel hub has failed by fatigue. Fatigue crack was found to have initiated at a corrosion pit at the fillet of the outer face rim flange. Corrosion pits were also observed at few other places along the fillet. Chemical analysis showed that the material of the wheel hub conforms to L-77 alloy specification. The microstructure of the wheel hub was found to be satisfactory and there were no evidences of metallurgical abnormalities.


Various system of medical diagnosing developed and used for to solve various diagnostic tasks does not take into account frequently the diverse diagnostic data received as a result of other methods of inspection of the patient. The present report deals with the questions of the application of the vector-modeling for the solving of problems of medical diagnosing.


an alternative, &dquo;coproduction&dquo; model. Based upon the concept of coproduction as developed by Whitaker, Rich and others,' the alternative suggested here would emphasize the conjoint responsibility of lay citizens and professional government agents for the delivery of public services. This coproduction model expands the citizen role from one of consuming and passing judgment upon public services to one that also involves responsibility for creation of public services. It expands the public official's role from


Background: The reported incidence of calcaneocuboid joint (CCJ) involvement in calcaneal fractures varies considerably. It is largely unknown to what extend CCJ involvement accounts for outcome in these fractures. Therefore, the goal of this study was to analyse the incidence and effects of CCJ involvement in calcaneal fractures. Patients and Methods: The clinical records of 106 patients, treated between 2001–2007, were reviewed for fracture classification, injury mechanism, surgical treatment and complications. In a prospective cross-sectional study 44 patients were assessed clinically (SF-36 score, AOFAS) and radiographically. Gait analysis was performed using dynamic pedography. Results: 68 % of all fractures had involvement of the CCJ. Fractures with CCJ involvement were caused by a more severe injury than fractures without CCJ involvement (Mann-Whitney-Test, p=0.03), this is reflected by a strong association between CCJ involvement and fracture classification (Spearman, p 2 -test p 2 -test p Conclusions: These results indicate that calcaneal fractures with involvement of the calcaneocuboid joint are associated with more severe trauma and worse outcome. Thus the CCJ should be given more credit during surgery and in our research efforts.


Nowadays, information disclosure is a noticeable topic to both practice and academy since it has significant effect on corporate governance and capital market operation. Open and transparent information disclosure can reduce the information asymmetry between insiders and outsiders. The main purpose of this study is to construct an information transparency evaluation model. In this paper, we used the information disclosure record obtained from the website of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE) as the level of listed companies information transparency and employed the support vector machine technique for building classification model. Experimental results demonstrate that the SVM has better performance than other methods and it is a considerable approach for information transparency research.


Four isolations of California encephalitis virus were made from tundra mosquitoes of the Aedes hexodontus-punctor group collected in the Keewatin District, Northwest Territories. The viral isolates...


"The vast body of empirical evidence on the origins, speed, and correlates of fertility declines in different historical and geographical settings shows more diversity than a simple theory of fertility change would predict," states Hirschmann (1994, p. 203). If one cannot expect a single theory to explain fertility and fertility changes, the picture gets even more complex in the context of international migration because different environments (at origin and destination) and the migration process itself may shape fertility behavior and attitudes not only of the migrants, but also of their relatives. The women and men who leave their region of origin and settle in a different region, i.e., the first generation of migrants, share the experience of the migration process. The migration takes place within the fertile lifespan and/or union-formation ages (or at older ages). The persons directly experience two societies when they move from one country to another, or two living environments in the case of internal migrants. The majority of studies on fertility of international migrants have been carried out on North America, where immigration has a longer history than in Europe. Therefore, research can investigate the demographic behavior of both recent immigrant groups, and of sub-populations that have resided there for several generations and have formed minority groups. Among recent immigrants, much attention has been given to the Hispanic population in the United States (Bean and Tienda 1990), who come from countries that have higher fertility levels than the United States, such as Mexico (Bean and Swicegood 1985; Frank and Heuveline 2005) and Puerto Rico (Landale and Hauan 1996). Other immigrant groups under study mainly come from Asia, such as the Chinese (Hwang and Saenz 1997), the Indochinese (Rumbaut and Weeks 1986), and the Japanese living in the United States (Goldscheider and Uhlenberg 1969). The minority group that has been mainly studied are black Americans (Goldscheider and Uhlenberg 1969; Sly 1970). Studies have also been carried out in other traditional immigrant countries, i.e.,


In this paper, a data pre-emphasis based retention reliability enhance scheme is proposed to overcome the high retention error rate issue of MLC NAND Flash memories. Retention errors in Nand Flash memories are mainly caused by floating gate electrons leakage. As in the scheme, a data pre-emphasis stage is adopt to induce slightly extra floating gate electron injection in highly stressed blocks. The extra electrons significantly suppress the sensitivity to floating gate electrons leakage and realize retention error rate reduction. In the paper, extra floating gate electron injection is realized by word line program disturbance (WPD). The proposed scheme is applied on 2X-nm MLC NAND Flash, and experiment results indicate 67% retention error rate reduction and 14% device endurance extension.


In the La–Co co-substituted magnetoplumbite-type strontium (Sr–La–Co) ferrite, the base materials of the high-performance hard ferrite magnet, Co tends to occupy more than two crystallographically inequivalent sites. To reveal the Co site preference and the function of each site, 59Co nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum was measured for the Sr–La–Co ferrites with various Co compositions. The intimate correlation between the anisotropy field and the relative intensity of the strongest NMR line clearly indicates that Co occupying the tetrahedrally coordinated 4f1 site is only responsible for the enhancement in the uniaxial anisotropy. In the samples with the Co concentrations much larger than commercial magnets, most Co selectively occupies the 4f1 site, indicating possible tuning of the magnetic performance with limited Co content in the future development. The close correlation between orbital moments and local strain is also demonstrated.


• Data from an administrative database with over 2 million patients from 2012 to 2017 shows that acute kidney injury (AKI) from contrast nephropathy is steadily increasing, is associated with death and complications, and costs $7,000 $9,000 per case. • Widespread recommendations to pre-hydrate patients and limit contrast dose have not stemmed the tide of AKI over the past decade. • Several technologies to reduce AKI have been developed but none have reached widespread use. Considering the human and financial cost of AKI, the interventional community should resolve to more aggressively develop and test new technologies.


Contents: Part I Differences in the Cognition of Time attributed to Society and Culture - Durkheim, Evans-Pritchard, Levi-Strauss, Leach, Time-Reversal in Umeda ritual, Cultural Relationism, Transcendental Temporal-Cultural Relativism, Bali: the 'Motionless' Present, Anti-Durkheimian Anti-Relativism, Contrasted Regimes, Psychological Evidence for the Universality of Time Cognition, Piagetian Developmental Psychology, Critique of the Piagetian Approach to Time-Cognition, Linguistic Arguments for the Cognitive Universality of Time, The Development of Time-Talk. Part II Time-maps and Cognition - Time in Philosophy: the A-series vs. the B-series, The B-series, The A-series, B-theory economics versus A-theory Economics, Chrono-geography, The Economics of Temporal Opportunity Costs, Opportunity Costs and the Fatefulness of Human Existence, Husserl's Model of Internal Time-Consciousness, The Temporal-Perceptual Cycle, The Modalization and Counterfactuality of Time-Maps. Part III Time and Practice - The Natural Attitude and the Theory of Practice, The Theory of Practice and the Timing of Exchanges, A-series: B-series :: gemeinschaft : gesellschaft :: Them : Us, Calendars and Consensual co-ordination, Calendars and Power


While investigating the ability of p38 MAP kinase to regulate cytarabine (Ara differentiation of erythroleukemia K562 cells, we observed effects that indicated that the imidazoline class of p38 MAP kinase inhibitors prevented nucleoside transport. Incubation of K562 cells with SB203580, SB203580-iodo or SB202474, an analogue of SB203580 that does not inhibit p38 MAPK activity, inhibited the uptake of [ 3 H]-Ara C or [ 3 H]-uridine and the differentiation of K562 cells. Consistent with the effects of these compounds on the nitrobenzylthioinosine (NBMPR)-sensitive equilibrative transporter (ENT1), incubation with SB203580 or SB203580-iodo eliminated the binding of [ 3 H]-NBMPR to K562 cells or membranes isolated from human erythrocytes. Furthermore, using a uridine-dependent cell type (G9c), we observed that SB203580 or SB203580-iodo efficiently inhibited the salvage synthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides in vivo. Thus these studies demonstrate that the NBMPR-sensitive equilibrative nucleoside transporters are novel and unexpected targets for the p38 MAP kinase inhibitors at concentrations typically used to inhibit protein kinases.


Polycapillary optics are shaped arrays of tiny hollow tubes through which x rays are guided by total external reflection at grazing incidence. In previous work, it has been demonstrated that a small prototype optic can provide nearly total scatter rejection at mammographic energies with simultaneous resolution enhancement due to geometrical-blur- free magnification. Recent measurements on straight capillaries and lenses show that capillary optics could possibly be applied to higher energy imaging applications, such as angiography and chest radiography. Transmission efficiency for straight bundles was measured to be fairly flat out to 60 keV and in excess of 30% at 80 keV. Extensive simulations and measurements have been performed for prototype capillary optics at photon energies from 20 to 100 keV. Transmission of the central part (0.5 mm diameter) of a 166 mm long prototype tapered lens was as high as 60% near 30 keV and in excess of 40% up to 70 keV. The reduction of transmission at high energies was found to be caused by optic profile defects: surface waviness and centerline bending. Absorption and scatter rejection measurements indicate that almost total scatter rejection is achievable at high energies. Scatter transmission of the tapered borosilicate glass lens is around 5% at 60 keV. Even better scatter rejection could be achieved by using lead glass capillaries. By estimating the contrast improvement factor and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) with the scaled up lenses, this paper demonstrates the potential for polycapillary optics in various medical x-ray imaging applications.


Spatially resolved atomic and ionic emission has been measured
in a FAPES source at radiofrequency (rf) powers ranging between
10 and 100 W. The degree of ionization was spatially dependent, with
maxima adjacent to the centre electrode and graphite cuvette wall. Temporally
resolved atomic and ionic emission have also been measured in a newly designed
FAPES source, and the temporal ionization behaviour of Mg, Cd, Fe, Zn and
Cr was derived from these measurements.


Abstract Little is known about citizen aid initiatives originating in Norway, and they are not recognised as part of the official Norwegian development aid. Citizen aid initiatives are personal and small, and by themselves they do not raise large sums of money, nor do they individually have a large-scale development impact. But collectively, their influence on sponsors in Norway and on aid beneficiaries in the Global South might be substantial. Through qualitative interviews, this study explores the motivations of Norwegian founders of citizen aid initiatives, who run small development projects in The Gambia. The study finds that they are motivated by the very characteristics of these citizen aid initiatives which set them apart from formal development organisations. These include the initiatives' small size, which allows for a personal closeness to and control over the projects. These features are often interconnected with motivations stemming from the founders' personal experiences. The study finds that, inasmuch as the founders see the need for beneficiaries to be supported, they also experience a need to help themselves. The founders' identities, as helpers and givers, are both formed and continually reinforced by their personal involvement in this specific type of aid work.


In comparison to the terrains on planes, where wind follows a conventional profile. On interaction with a raised terrain like a hill or a mountain, the wind gets an added component of velocity in the vertical direction. This added vertical component gives air parcel a couple like moment, that causes the wind to twist. This twisted wind, alters the flow conditions, especially at the pedestrian level, and demands investigation. The authors in this research have developed a set of conditions, to recreate the complete 3D flow field of a twisted wind profile, on interaction with an isolated building using commercial CFD code FLUENT, to make it suitable for faster adoption by industry. The conditions are derived to ensure horizontal homogeneity in the domain. Lateral wind speed along altitude is applied in the computational domain to sustain the twist throughout the empty domain and subsequently with the structure within the domain. The results are validated with the wind tunel experiments of Tse et al. [5] for validation and comparison. The results suggest twisted wind alters pedestrian wind profile in comparison to conventional wind profile by shifting the high-pressure zones along the vertical twist angle, indicating lower intensity eddies in the wake on the structure, with possible negative effect on thermal comfort.


In the two papers @1‐2#, Kuwahara et al. investigated thermal dispersion in convective flow in porous media by using a twodimensional periodic model of porous structure. In their study, a macroscopically uniform flow is assumed to pass through a collection of square rods placed regularly in an infinite space, where a macroscopic temperature gradient is imposed perpendicularly and in parallel to the macroscopic flow direction, respectively. Due to the periodicity of the model, only one structure unit is taken for a calculation domain to resolve an entire domain of porous medium. Exhaustive numerical computations were conducted for thermal dispersion conductivity. The transverse thermal dispersion conductivity results were correlated as the following expression @1#: ~ k dis! yy


The author reviews theoretical approaches to prediction of possible economic consequences from devolution of fiscal policy and formation of federal relations. Theoretical models built on the theory of public choice are suggested in order to explain merits of fiscal federalism, existence of its varieties with limitations peculiar to them as well as to justify the objectives of regional policy.


A systematic research of steady state for the dynamic job shop scheduling problem with jobs releasing continuously over time has been conducted in this article. A simulation scheduling test for the purpose of factor analysis is designed and carried out first and then another simulation scheduling test for the purposes of disciplinarian investigation is conducted. The heuristic dispatching rule algorithm is adopted in the simulation scheduling. The test data are processed and analyzed using SPSS13.0. The results indicated that the dominant factor that can characterize the shop steady state is the shop utilization level. Besides, the relationship between the number of jobs arrived at the shop and the steady state of the shop can be described by a quadratic curve preferably. Results obtained in this article make significant sense for the study of simulation scheduling of dynamic job shop scheduling problem and also for the optimum design of the shop system.


In this paper, a water-based frequency selective rasorber (FSR) with a transparent window at microwave band is proposed, which can realize a broadband absorption behind the transmission band. The FSR adopts a combination of a frequency selective surface (FSS) and a water-substrate, where the water is placed in a resin container to maintain its shape. The numerical simulation results show that the FSR can achieve broadband absorption with the efficiency more than 90% from 8.9 to 14.9 GHz and have a transmission band in the frequency range of 5 GHz-6.6 GHz, wherein the minimum insertion loss of 1.1 dB at 5.8 GHz. The FSR shows its good transmission--absorption performance under different angles of incidence wave. According to the dispersion characteristics of water, the FSR exhibits a well thermally tunable with its absorption performance for the temperature range from 0 to 100°C.


Digital watermarking is a process to provide authenticity by hiding a data into an image or audio or document. Hiding of data in an image can be done in frequency domain. Since frequency domain based techniques are more robust against signal processing and geometric attacks than time domain based techniques and watermark can also be extracted with(non blind) and without(blind) original cover image. In this paper we proposed a blind image watermarking technique which embeds watermark into image in frequency domain using discrete wavelet transform, singular value decomposition and torus automorphism techniques. This technique extracts watermark without cover image and also proved that this method is robust against different signal and non signal processing attacks.


Abstrac t : The objectives of this research one : 1. To analyze internalfactors that become students preference to SMP Santa Mari Pekanbaru. 2. To analyze the external factors that become the students preference to SMP Santa Mari Pekanbaru. 3. To know category of internal preference. 4. To know category of external preference. The method that has been used in this research was random sampling. The results of this research are: 1. The internal factors that become the students preference to SMP is the students want to continue to SMA and suitable with the interest 93,79%. 2. The internal factor that became the students preference to SMP based of the knowledge have been learnt in SD 89,66%. 3. Category of internal preference that high is 49,7%, medium is 44,1% and low is 6,2%. 4. Category of eksternal preference that high is 60,7%, medium 24% dan low is 14,5%. Keywords : Preferences


In this paper I argue that most comparisons of the unemployment dynamics in the United States and Europe since the war incorrectly neglect the role of technological catch-up in Europe up to the late 1960s and the contribution of the different growth experiences in the two continents. Growth has a big impact on unemployment in econometric estimation. I use established estimates to calculate the effect of catch-up and growth on unemploymen


Aiming at interferometric inverse synthetic aperture radar (InISAR) imaging on squint model, a new method based on respective reference range selection (RRRS) and squint iteration improvement (SII) is proposed in this study. The influence of squint model mainly includes two aspects, namely accessional phase and image distortion. The three-dimensional (3D) imaging results are degraded greatly with the increment of squint angle by using traditional InISAR imaging algorithm. On the basis of the RRRS, the image registration is well achieved. Then, after a few times of SII and distortion correction, the performance of 3D reconstruction was improved. Simulation results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method.


This paper investigates the collective impact of passive and active investment on stock price efficiency using a quasi-natural experiment. The empirical result shows an efficiency improvement, specifically in stocks widely held by active mutual funds, due to an exogenous increase in passive fund investment. Further analysis documents an increase in analyst following and a decrease in analyst forecast dispersion as the economic channels of the efficiency improvement. Overall, this paper highlights the complementary role of passive and active mutual fund investment on stock price efficiency, consistent with the symbiotic nature of their existence. JEL classification: G10, G14, G23


Through applying negative feedback system theory to daily teaching practice of Chinese materia medica commodity to establish and perfect teaching system of Chinese materia medica commodity science.


A 12-year-old female with JIA on biologic medication (IV abatacept every three weeks) presented with a first generalised tonic-clonic seizure on background of preceding headache and fatigue. The seizure self-terminated but disorientation and encephalopathy ensued. MRI brain demonstrated lesions with high signal intensity in the left periventricular and right occipital regions. The clinical picture and radiological imaging suggested a broad differential diagnosis including CNS infection, JC virus associated progressive multifocal leucoencephalomalacia (PML), acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and Anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAr) encephalitis. She was commenced on IV ceftriaxone, acyclovir and clarithromycin. All bloods including inflammatory markers and infection serology were unremarkable. CSF was acellular and JC virus PCR negative. NMDAr encephalitis was initially considered unlikely (pre-existing immunosuppression, abnormal MRI brain and no evidence of ovarian teratoma on abdominal MRI pelvis). However more classical clinical features developed including further seizures, significant movement disorder, cognitive dysfunction, sleep and speech dysfunction. Anti-NMDAr antibodies in both serum and CSF were positive. She made a good recovery following IV steroids, plasmapheresis and rituximab and was discharged home after a 10-week admission. NMDAr encephalitis developed three years after commencing abatacept treatment. Previous immune modulating treatment included methotrexate (since age 2 years), Etanercept (age 5-8 years) and Tocilizumab (aged 8-10 years). Flares of disease following a period of control necessitated the changes in therapy.

 A literature review was conducted to explore the relationship between NMDAr encephalitis and biologic medication. A yellow card report and information request to abatacept manufacturer were also submitted.

 No previous cases of NMDAr encephalitis in patients on abatacept or paediatric cases related to biologic therapy are described. There are reports of adults developing NMDAr encephalitis on Adalumimab for Crohn's disease and etanercept for rheumatoid arthritis. NMDAr encephalitis has also been described in patients on immune checkpoint inhibitors for malignant melanoma (nivolumab and ipilimumab). Known triggers of production of anti-NMDA receptor antibodies include tumours (ovarian teratoma; rarely associated in patients under 12 years) and viral infections. Developing autoimmune disorders on biologic medication is well reported, most notably psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease. In relation to abatacept specifically, the development of anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) and psoriasis have been described. However, patients with autoimmune disorders are known to be of increased risk for additional immune disease. A new cohort of patients are emerging who have received multiple biologic medications and the development of autoimmune conditions despite immunosuppression needs to be considered.

 We describe the first case of NMDAr encephalitis occurring in a child on abatacept therapy, and the first case in JIA. We are unable to determine what contribution a history of autoimmune disease or immunomodulating therapy has made on its development in this case.

 R. Close: None. P. Bale: None. K. Gallagher: None. G. Ambegaonkar: None. T. Rossor: None. N. Abbassi: None. K. Armon: None.


The discovery of the Graptolite facies within the Lower Ordovician in the Świety Krzyz (Holy Cross) Mts. The locality Brzeziny in the southern part of the Świety Krzyz Mts. (Checiny range near Kielce) has . been investigated by Gurich. He gave us information about its Ordovician in his paper published in 1889(1). His observations were based on materials collected during search for iron ore carried out in Brzeziny. Besides a brief hint as to two Obolus species and some doubts as to whether the discovered forms belonged to the Lower Ordovician, Gurich gave, however, no other details which would define more precisely the place of their occurrence nor any information as to the relation of the Ordovician to other formations in the Brzeziny neighbourhood. I have defined again the location of the Ordovician in Brzeziny during the mapping of that area in 1925. It is marked on the map, sheet Kielce, in the scale 1:100.000. According to these data the Ordovician is situated in the NE part of Brzeziny village at a place called Ścieginy within the core of the Checiny anticline which is built up from the Lower Cambrian formations (olive coloured shales with thin intercalations of greywackes and quarzites).


A fully relativistic restricted active space configuration-interaction method is employed to compute the $P$-odd electron-nucleus interaction constant ${W}_{\text{A}}$ for the ground $({^{2}\ensuremath{\Sigma}}_{1/2})$ state of BaF, which yields the result of ${W}_{\text{A}}=160\text{ }\text{Hz}$. Our present estimated result of the $P$-odd interaction constant ${W}_{\text{A}}$ is in reasonable agreement with previous calculations. This result will be useful for the interpretation of the nuclear-spin-dependent parity-nonconservation experiment on BaF.


In response to international calls for fostering sustainable development, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development promulgated the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, which set forth principles and standards for the responsible conduct of multinational corporations. Specifically, these guidelines provide guidance on human rights, employment, industrial relations, and environmental protection concerns. While the Guidelines have a mechanism for assuring compliance, they are discretionary in nature, and therefore lack in effectiveness. This Article discusses the Guidelines' provisions for sustainable development and assesses their impact on the global exploitation and extraction of natural resources. Recognizing that the Guidelines lack a strong enforcement mechanism, it then articulates strategies for enhancing their effectiveness.


A 24-year-old woman developed hand eczema after 6 months of full-time cleaning of hospital operating theatres, using a surface disinfectant (Microbac® forte). The skin lesions healed during sick leave and application of topical corticosteroids, but recurred after she had returned to work, and then spread to the face. She was finally dismissed after 12 months, and her dermatitis cleared. She suffered from hay fever for years, but had never had any skin problems. She was patch tested with the baseline series, a series of disinfectants (including benzalkonium chloride), and fragrances, as recommended by the German Contact Dermatitis Group. Microbac forte 0.4% and 0.04% aq. Fig. 1. Patch test reactions to N-(3-aminopropyl)-N-dodecylpropane-1,3-diamine 0.1% aq. (above) and Microbac® forte 0.4% aq. (below) at D3.


Abstract : L-and D-Amino acids: D-Glutamic acid (I), D-valine, and D-tyro sine were prepared by enzymic or alkaloid resolutions. Difficulties encountered with the enzymic procedure necessitated the alkaloid preparation of D-ornithine, I, and D-serine. Peptides: Tripeptides were synthesized without racemization by coupling Z. Ala.OH with H.Ala-Ala.OBz. The synthesis of hydrocholrides of pentapeptide and decapeptide corresonding to Gramiciden-S are reported.


Data anonymity, as an effective privacy protection method, has been widely used in real applications. High performance data anonymity algorithm is especially attractive for those massive data applications. In this paper, the authors propose a novel and efficient Datafly based data anonymity Divide-Datafly algorithm and the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is not only more efficient than Datafly and Incognito, but also information loss less than KACA. Moreover, in order to improve the security of anonymous data, L-Divide-Datafly is presented that it combines Divide-Datafly and efficient distance based clustering. Experimental results show that L-Divide-Datafly achieves great performance both in execution time and Information loss.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of variations in the day care environment on linguistic and social-emotional development of pre-school children in Singapore after home background has been taken into account. This study examined differences in the environment of 16 day care centres. Characteristics of the environment were assessed by the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, ECERS (Harms & Clifford, 1980) and the Target Child Method of Observation, TCM (Sylva, Roy & Painter, 1980). The ECERS measured the physical and programmatic features of day care centres and produced a total 'quality' score and seven subscale scores. These consisted of assessments of personal care and routines, furnishing and display, language-reasoning experiences,fine and gross motor activities, creative activities, social development and adult needs provided in day care centres. This rating scale was validated in Singapore and discnminant validity was established. Reliability was also obtained before proceeding with the assessment of the day care environments. The TCM investigated the interactive features of day care centres and consisted of typical activities and social interactions experienced by children. Inter-observer reliability was established and child behaviours were systematically observed and coded for 12,800 thirty-second intervals. Day care effects were investigated by assessing children at two time points. A pre-test, consisting of linguistic and social-emotional assessments, was conducted on 122 pre-school aged children at the beginning of the year and a post-test administered towards the end of the year. Data analysis was conducted by regressing these outcomes on the ECERS measure of the day care environment. T-test analyses were also conducted to investigate differences in typical child behaviours (as nasured by the TCM) between 'high' progress centres and 'low' progress centres. Child characteristics and home background variables were included in the analyses to control for possible confounding of the effects of the day care environment on children's outcomes. This study found that total centre 'quality' and specific subscales on the ECERS were related to some aspects of linguistic and social emotional development of children. Results also suggested that certain child activities and social interaction were associated with higher progress in language development.


Mexico conducts continuous regional explorations and detailed evaluations of its Pacific metallogenic provinces. Efforts of the past few years have resulted in 300,000 mi2 (775,900 km2) of Landsat imagery coverage, photogeology, surface and subsurface geology, surface and aerial magnetometry, geochemistry and diamond drilling, plus underground mining methods of exploration. Isotope geochronologic determinations were performed on 719 rock samples, mostly from the Sierras of the Pacific provinces. Economic geologic investigations resulted in the discovery of 183 polymetallic deposits, many of which are already in operation. La Minita, eastern State of Michoacan (Ag, Ba, Zn, Pb; 2000 t/d), is a notable example. Fourteen important nonmetallic orebodies were also found, some of which are already in production. One of these is Teliztlahuaca in the State of Oaxaca, where reserves of crystalline graphite, estimated at more than 2 MMt, assay at 4.25% and are processed by a 600 t/d plant. The total reserves of in-situ metallics amount to 124 MMt, with a value of US$8,680 MM. They include Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn, As, Bi, W, Fe, etc. The total volume of in-situ nonmetallics is 78 MMt, valued at US$3,600 MM. The most important of these are barite, borates, gypsum, marble, anthracite, and magnesite. Geologic and geophysical maps show the locations of outstanding deposits. End_of_Article - Last_Page 982------------


The Geneva settlement of the Indo-China War was a genuine compromise which, assuming good will and good sense on both sides, can bring great benefits to everyone concerned. This is obvious enough as far as the Vietnamese are concerned. Not only do they get peace after eight years of the cruelest kind of war; in addition, they are promised the unity of their country in terms which it would be hard for the French to circumvent even if they should be so foolish as to try.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


Self-concept literature supports the notion that how individuals perceive themselves can impact all phases of their lives. Mathematics attitudes and associated anxiety have been known to plague those with all socio-economic and diverse types of backgrounds. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of math attitudes on pre-service elementary school teachers' global self-concept. It was hypothesized that global self-concept will be enhanced as students' attitudes toward mathematics improve. The treatment consisted of participation in the one semester course, "Teaching Mathematics in the Elementary School," highlighting the use of manipulatives, problem solving and cooperative learning to understand mathematics teaching methods. The results of the study indicate that after completing the course, the attitude toward mathematics among the eighty-eight (88) subjects did improve as measured on the Aiken Revised Math Attitude Scale. Global self-concept, however, as measured on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, was not affected by one of its facets on the Shavelson et. al model, academic self-concept, and remained stable. Introduction In today's fast paced world where individuals deal with information generated from computers and calculators to that of mental estimations of daily purchases, it is imperative that students become proficient in mathematics. Not only must learners deal with a wide range of operational skills, such as computing decimals, percents and fractions to accomplish tasks, they must also understand underlying numerical concepts in order to succeed in a variety of day-to-day commercial and work place situations. At the same time, to deal effectively with these tasks, citizens must develop self efficacy, feel positive about themselves and accept that they are accountable for their actions. Mathematics Attitudes and Self-concept Issues Unfortunately, many students are not confident about their mathematical ability to solve problems. A poor attitude toward the discipline is thought to plague learners at every level of schooling. The fear of both answering mathematical questions in class and/or taking mathematical tests has been studied by Tobias (1978), Kelly and Tomhave (1985) and Stodolsky (1985) and often escalates to a level termed mathematics anxiety. Individuals with poor attitudes toward mathematics are often reported to have a low self-concept and feelings of incompetence. These attitudes are manifested as self-deprecating remarks and a perpetual lack of success in mathematics (Tobias, 1978) even though "self evaluation and anxiety levels are not realistic assessments of their ability" (Gourgey, 1984, p. 15). Self-concept is an important feature to be considered in the realm of achievement and self-evaluation of one's abilities. According to Wylie (1979), academic success and achievement may have a causal role in determining global self-concept. Self-concept theory has a variety of dimensions, variables, processes, and influences and is presumed to be multifaceted and constructed hierarchically (Marsh, Parker & Barnes, 1985). Shavelson, Hubner & Stanton (1976) developed a model which depicts various facets of self-concept structure. While a great deal of research has been conducted on the construct of self-concept, the literature suggests that using a skills development approach is to contend that enhancement or development of skills in a given area can lead to success in that area, and thereby enhance self-concept (Purkey, Raheim & Cage, 1983; Rosenberg, 1979). More specifically, Wadlington, Austin and Bitner (1983) suggest that global self-concept is related to low mathematics self-concept in that a poor self-concept in a specific subject may produce anxiety in performance in that area, thereby also affecting global self-concept. Updates on the model by Shavelson and Bolus, (1982) and Marsh, (1986) discovered an even more significant relationship between subject-specific self-concepts and performance in the particular subject. …


achievements and challenges. The EaP's fifth summit will take place in Brussels on 24 November 2017 and bring together representatives of the six EaP states (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) with those of the EU institutions and member states. The summit will assess the state of play of EaP, set future priorities and look for new ways to deliver tangible benefits for citizens.


Overdrive technique is mandatory for liquid crystal display (LCD) to mitigate the motion blur phenomenon. As the display resolution increases, the image data should be highly compressed to reduce the usages of frame memory and bandwidth. Since current high quality compression algorithms inevitably require large embedded memory (line buffer) and complex computations, a low complexity line-buffer-free edge-preserved compression algorithm is proposed in this paper to reserve the edge information for overdrive technique of LCD. Performance evaluations show that the proposed edge-preserved compression achieves above 20% PSNR improvements as compared to the conventional DPCM compression up to 6:1 compression ratio.


SUMMARY 1)Seventeen patients with tuberculous empyema complicating artificial pneumothorax were treated with PAS. 2)The effect of aminacyl on closed empyemata can be generally considered as satisfactory, although it differs in degree from one case to another. 3)Complete cure, through resorption of the effusion occurred in a small percentage (4 in 11 cases), but more rapidly than through the usual therapeutic methods. 4)The effect on fistulae is not satisfactory judging from our three cases. 5)Better results may be obtainable when the drug is available for larger and more frequent doses.


Induction motor is one type of electric motor that is most often applied in the industrial world, especially the three phase induction motor. Induction motors have several advantages compared to other types of motors, such as construction that is very simple, price and low maintenance. But the problem is that when the motor is activated directly, the motor will draw a current of five to seven times the nominal current.[2] The high start current can cause voltage drop and disrupt the system from the installation. To resolved these high current, a soft starting device will be designed, namely by regulating the motor slip by regulating the input voltage in the motor gradually so that the problem of starting three phase induction motor can be resolved. This system consists of a three phase induction motor which is supplied from a three phase source through three TRIACs in each phase which functions to regulate the voltage entering the motor gradually. In this system it also detects the current entering the motor in each phase so that it can determine the exact ignition angle of each TRIAC used. The sensor also detects the starting current which starts to drop when the motor speed will reach nominal so that when it detects it, the ignition angle on TRIAC will be adjusted until the voltage reaches nominal. So the control system will reduce the start current in the three phase induction motor by setting the right ignition angle for each TRIAC used.


The article indroduced the system of ore mixing of sintering based on data mining. Appled the method of cluster to the saved history data of the sintering process to classfy the history data into three category. Every new sample should be put into the Corresponding cluster by the distance of Eucliden, at the meantime, find the nearest proportioning ore case, and the quality index of the new sample is same with the nearest case. The method is more useful and easy.


IoT devices offer insufficient protections against exploitation of critical programming errors (such as buffer overflows) it is therefore paramount to sufficiently test IoT software before deployment. A central source of these errors is the implementations of stateful network protocols used in the IoT (e.g., MQTT-SN). Unfortunately, comprehensive automated testing of such protocol implementations is challenging due to their large state space. Furthermore, prior work on automated testing of protocol implementations focuses on conventional desktop systems and does thus not address challenges specific to the IoT domain (e.g., handling of peripheral interactions). In this publication, we leverage symbolic execution (an automated software testing technique) for testing stateful network protocol implementation in the IoT domain. To mitigate issues regarding the state-space explosion, we propose a novel symbolic execution approach which is based on created protocol state and message format specifications and specifically tailored to the IoT domain. We employ our specification-based symbolic execution approach to test protocol implementations provided by two popular IoT operating systems. Our experiments indicate that a significant increase in code coverage can be achieved using our automated software testing approach. We were further able to discover three critical and previously unknown bugs in network protocol implementations provided by the RIOT operating system.


In order to elucidate the origin of SiC electrical degradation from thermal oxidation, 4H-SiC substrates were thermally oxidized under different conditions of time and pressure. Results from nuclear reaction analyses were correlated to those from electrical measurements. Although the increase in the flatband voltage shift and in the film thickness were related to the oxidation parameters, the results exclude the thickness of the SiO2/4H-SiC interfacial region and the amount of residual oxygen compounds present on the SiC surface as the main cause of the electrical degradation from the SiC oxidation.


The invention relates to a capacitive touch panel and a manufacturing method thereof. The capacitive touch panel comprises a substrate and at least three electrode groups, wherein each of the electrode group is respectively provided with a plurality of electrode serials, each of the electrode serials is provided with a plurality of electrodes, and any two adjacent electrodes are electrically connected with each other; and the electrode serials with the same electrode group are arranged on the substrate in the same axial direction, and the axial directions of the electrode serials of differentelectrode groups are staggered with each other. By virtue of the design of the electrode serials with multiple axial directions, the invention can realize the functions of identification and trackingat multiple points.


Tight insulating sleeves may be fitted to connectors, splices, multipleconductor cables, etc., by using Alphlex Shrinkable Tubing, manufactured by the Alpha Wire Corporation, 200 Varick Street, New York 14. When heated with a burner, a soldering iron, or a match, this tubing shrinks in a few seconds to a predetermined size, gripping tightly any enclosed object of greater diameter. Alpha No. FIT-275-10, for example, is supplied with an inside diameter of .191 in. and shrinks to a diameter of .112 in. This size grips the shank of a Nuway snap. The standard package is 25 four-foot lengths and sells for less than $30. Most sizes are available in black, red, white, and yellow.


We consider lossy counter machines, i.e. counter machines with counters whose contents can spontaneously decrease at any time. They are not Turing-powerful, since reachability is decidable for them, but they still have interesting undecidable properties: For a lossy counter machine it is undecidable if there exists an initial connguration s.t. there is an innnite run. Lossy counter machines can be used as a general tool to show the undecidability of many problems for lossy and non-lossy systems, e.g. veriication of lossy FIFO-channel systems, model checking lossy Petri nets, problems for reset and transfer Petri nets, and parametric problems like fairness of broadcast communication protocols.


Artificial synaptic devices are the essential hardware component in emerging neuromorphic computing systems by mimicking biological synapse and brain functions. When made from natural organic materials such as protein and carbohydrate, they have potential to improve sustainability and reduce electronic waste by enabling environmentally‐friendly disposal. In this paper, a new natural organic memristor based artificial synaptic device is reported with the memristive film processed by a honey and carbon nanotube (CNT) admixture, that is, honey‐CNT memristor. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and micro‐Raman spectroscopy are employed to analyze the morphology and chemical structure of the honey‐CNT film. The device demonstrates analog memristive potentiation and depression, with the mechanism governing these functions explained by the formation and dissolution of conductive paths due to the electrochemical metal filaments which are assisted by CNT clusters and bundles in the honey‐CNT film. The honey‐CNT memristor successfully emulates synaptic functionalities such as short‐term plasticity and its transition to long‐term plasticity for memory rehearsal, spatial summation, and shunting inhibition, and for the first time, the classical conditioning behavior for associative learning by mimicking the Pavlov's dog experiment. All these results testify that honey‐CNT memristor based artificial synaptic device is promising for energy‐efficient and eco‐friendly neuromorphic systems.


A challenge to an automated layout of analog IC starts with the insight into a high quality placement crafted by experts. It has been observed that such a placement comprises clusters corresponding to groups of matched devices and devices are placed faithfully to the drawn schema while the placement is still compacted. This paper proposes a novel device-level placement based on Sequence-Pair which includes an effective representation of clusters extracted from the schema. A key idea is to capture a topological structure of clusters in order to place clusters at as faithful positions to those in the schema. We represent this structure in terms of ABLR-relations which can be translated into Sequence-Pair. In experiments, we tested our algorithm for industrial instances and compared the results with those by manual. We showed that our results were better than manual results by, on average, 12.8% and 18.1% with respect to area and net-length.


Some achievements on multiport direct conversion receivers at microwave and optical frequencies are reported. Several sixport junctions with full UWB band (3.1-10.6 GHz) coverage will be presented and compared which, due to their low imbalances, allow to develop a six-port direct conversion receiver with analog I/Q recovery for the complete UWB band. On the optical side, six-port based receivers have found wide acceptance as coherent receivers for 100Gbit/s communications based in QPSK and higher order modulations. Results will be presented showing six-port and five-port, monolithically integrated coherent receivers. Six-port receivers are based in 90° hybrids with analog I/Q recovery, while five-port receivers are based in 120° couplers with digital I/Q regeneration, which can offer superior hardware compensation capabilities.


Objective To explore the prevalence of psychosomatic disorders and their personality disorders among university students before graduation and to provide basis for undergraduates' health education. Methods Four hundred and fifty-seven students were cluster sampled according to majors. The diagnosis criteria of psychosomatic disorder include both T score of one factor of CPSHS≥70 and T score of L70. Results Among 457 students, 62 (13.6%) were diagnosed as psychosomatic disorders. The prevalence for female students (20.13%) was twice as high as male (10.26%). The leading psychosomatic disorders were dermatosis (5.0%), respiratory system diseases (3.7%), nervous system (3.5%), anxiety(2.8%), digestive system diseases (2.6%), endocrine and generation (2.4%) and psychosis (2.4%). Scores of EPQ-P and EPQ-N for students with psychosomatic disorders were significantly higher than healthy control, but score in lie (EPQ-L) was lower than control (both P0.01). EPQ-N was positively correlated to anxiety, depression, psychiatric symptom, nervous system, genital and endocrine system, respiratory system and cardiovascular system(r=0.306-0.755). EPQ-P was positively correlated to psychiatric symptom, anxiety, genital and endocrine system, depression, respiratory system and digestive system (r=0.251-0.748). Introversion, extroversion and EPQ-L were negatively correlated to psychiatric symptom(r=-0.256,r=-0.424). Conclusion Female college students have more psychosomatic disorders than male before graduation. The college students with psychosomatic disorders have obvious personality deficiency. EPQ-P and EPQ-N are closely related to psychosomatic disorder.


A dual band PIFA antenna for portable devices is presented. It operates in the 450 LTE (449-461 MHz) and GSM 900 (876-922 MHz) frequency bands. The proposed antenna which has a very compact size of 7 (0.01λ0) × 7 × 70 (0.1λ0) mm3, consists of two branches and a metallic patch and is suitable to integrate in small envelopes. The low cost antenna offers high total efficiency and gain in both bands. Measured and simulated results are provided.


One significant feature of the first sudden lockdown (March 2020) was the immediate downward impact on attendance and engagement in the hastily convened online sessions that followed. This was noted both across the University as a whole and on the Foundation Year programme to which I am attached in a full-time capacity as a Learning Developer, providing embedded subject-specific development input to the whole cohort. As a course team with a relatively high student:staff ratio (approximately 1:25) and with 115 students, we were mindful of the impact that low levels of engagement could have on student achievement (Newman-Ford et al., 2008). We were concerned about the implications for the new 'hybrid' learning context launched in September 2020, with the likely prospect of further fully-online provision. With these issues in mind we designed a robust, researchinformed approach to fostering student engagement.


Sound reflecting panels are commonly used in concert and conference halls in order to transmit reflected sound to the audience and improve hearing conditions among musicians. The main problem is to design these elements properly. In this paper, the frequency limits of a useful sound transmission range and the efficiency of reflecting structures are theoretically estimated and experimentally verified.


The semiconductor composite structure parameter determination has been disclosed a single work functionally. For greater flexibility, while at the maximum consistency, according to the semiconductor composite structure (Tempos) determining the parameters of the invention having doped channel as nanoscale pores (VP) and constituted by an electrically insulating material , between the cladding apertures (VP) on the surface of the layer (EIL) of an electrically conductive material (ECM) is made of high resistance, wherein the resistance is formed, that support additional carriers semiconductor composite structure (PSC) vertical migration, however, the level of migration between the electrodes to prevent (o, w) of the same side. Function for semiconductor composite structure (Tempos) is adjusted substantially to a structure and parameters of the pore structure (VP) of electrically conductive material (ECM), wherein the semiconductor composite structure (Tempos) may further include a differential negative resistance (NERPOS). Preferred is the porosity (VP) can be produced by means of ionizing radiation subsequent etching, wherein the etching duration determines the pore diameter and the pore depth. Electrically conductive material (ECM) may preferably be formed of an electrically conductive nanoclusters (the DNC) or moisture-sensitive fullerene (MOSBIT). In applications involving digital and analog form of embodiment, electronic, optoelectronic, electronic and semiconductor components wet sensor, which has a semiconductor active and passive components, thermal, and, capacitive resistive frequency dependent, chemical and / or radiation resistant properties.


[1] Nezic D. Is it appropriate to use EuroSCORE II for prediction of 30-day mortality in cardiac surgery? Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2021;60:434. [2] Carino D, Denti P, Ascione G, Del Forno B, Lapenna E, Ruggeri S, et al. Is the EuroSCORE II reliable in surgical mitral valve repair? A single-centre validation study. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2020; doi:10.1093/ejcts/ ezaa403. [3] Siregar S, Groenwold R, de Mol B, Speekenbrink R, Versteegh M, Brandon Bravo Bruinsma G, et al. Evaluation of cardiac surgery mortality rates: 30-day mortality or longer follow-up? Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2013;44:875–883. [4] Mori M, Yousef S, Pichert M, Vinholo TF, Geirsson A. Elevated risk of death persists beyond 30 days after mitral valve surgery. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg Elsevier Inc. 2020;159:e171–3.


This paper discusses on the relation between the library and the quality educates,and points out that the library is the platform for carrying out the quality education,is the second classroom for cultivating the students' consciousness of the public ethics,and also is an important position for cultivating the students' cultural quality and psychological quality.


This paper addresses key issues in the implementation of a managed response to crime. Based on a major study of resource allocation decision‐making procedures in the British Police Service, it focuses on the "crime desk", both as an aid to management and as an operational centre for new forms of investigation. While the authors found a clear indication that crime desks brought benefits by alleviating the administrative burden imposed by the crime recording process, evidence that their potential as an investigative resource was less clear. However, they produce a strong argument that this could be amended if key issues are understood and addressed by the police service.


The efficient water resource management represents an always more modern and important theme. During last years, debates on water scarcity present on hearth have been quite heated, along with several considerations about the current water supply network inadequacy and obsolescence In fact, timeworn and often bad maintained infrastructures highly contribute to Non-Revenue Water (NWR) increasing. Various water consumption monitoring systems have been proposed taking advantage of the new ICT progresses, above all concerning sensors, connectivity and data processing. This paper covers the state of the art protocols and technologies for remote water metering and reading transmission, focusing on the typical Italian apartment building case study. Anyway, this case can be extended to a quite common context worldwide. Starting from the analysis and the obtained model, a software layer on top of this portion of water supply network is designed to allow third party software to access data and provide different services depending on the stakeholders (householders or water authority). This communication interface, often regarded as middleware, makes the whole monitoring system part of a wide informative network that could be assimilated to those technologies linked to the smart city subject. Finally, a possible smart application making advantage of water consumption dataset and other information and using classification algorithms is presented.


On the basis of application of the anti-misclosedown system in the substation,the application method of the anti-misclosedown system for the 220 kV substation of Beijing Capital Iron Steel Co.is introduced.The characteristics of the anti-misclosedown modes of interlock of electric circuit,5 protection systems of microcomputer and automation system are analyzed respectively.It points out that the factors such as management mode and operation custom should be taken into consideration when the anti-misclosedown system is selected.


The object of this communication is to report the results obtained in a study of experimental acidosis in animals. The chief interest lies in investigation of the relationship between acid-base equilibrium in the blood and a similar equilibrium in the cerebrospinal fluid. The study of such a relationship, namely, of certain conditions under which artificial acidosis in the blood reflects on the acid-base balance in the cerebrospinal fluid, was inspired by bibliographic data of twofold nature: ( a ) publications of the last few years attributing great significance to acidosis in mental disorders 1 and to acidosic treatment (with a ketogenic diet) in epilepsy, 2 and ( b ) reports contending that blood substances reach and affect the nerve tissues mainly through the intermediation of the cerebrospinal fluid. 3 TOPICS AND METHOD OF STUDY In the light of the observations that the acid-base equilibrium of the cerebrospinal fluid is markedly more stable than the


This study uses survival models to estimate attrition rates, probabilities, and predictions as well as identify which covariates influence attrition. The study adopts a retrospective explanatory research design. A sample of 149 in-force policies within 1 January 2018 to 30 June 2019 have been used in the analysis. Kaplan Meir curves have been used to show the distribution of survival/retention times.


There are many different types of interfaces between Database application and database,the newest one is the ADO technique.This text is mainly talk about the ADO Object Programme base on VB and SQL Server.


There is considerable variation in glucocorticoid (GC) baseline status and stress responses of individuals, yet the cause and consequence of this variation remains ambiguous. Attempts to relate GC levels to fitness and life-history trade-offs have yielded variable results. In this study, we evaluated whether baseline and poststressor GC hormone concentrations predicted migration strategy (i.e., resident or migrant) and successful seaward migration in a partially migrating population of juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta Linnaeus, 1758). Baseline (N = 99) or poststressor (N = 102) plasma cortisol concentrations were obtained from brown trout and they were tagged with passive integrated transponder (PIT) and released in a natural Danish stream. Subsequently, fish were tracked with PIT reader systems and the stream was resampled for resident individuals. GC levels were not found to be associated with recapture of resident individuals or migration propensity to our first tracking station (S1), but increased baseline (and not poststressor) GC levels were associated with increased passage from S1 to our second tracking station, which anecdotally was an area of high predation or challenge. Our study found no evidence to suggest that cortisol regulates the migration life history in juvenile brown trout, but intermediate increases in baseline GC (and not poststressor GC) levels may favor migration performance.


In a series of 113 patients receiving Hall-Kaster aortic valve prostheses intraoperative- and postoperative hemodynamic studies revealed favourable utilization of the valve orifice for transvalvar forward flow. Angiography demonstrated optimal disc opening and minor valvar regurgitation. A significant clinical improvement and improvement of left ventricular function were observed postoperatively.


Double electron ionisation process occurs when an intense laser pulse interacts with atoms or molecules. Exact {\it ab initio} numerical simulation of such a situation is extremely computer resources demanding, thus often one is forced to apply reduced dimensionality models to get insight into the physics of the process. The performance of several algorithms for simulating double electron ionization by strong femtosecond laser pulses are studied. The obtained ionization yields and the momentum distributions of the released electrons are compared, and the effects of the model dimensionality on the ionization dynamics discussed.


In response to challenges in liver occupancy such a variety of types and manifestations and difficulties in differentiating benign and malignant ones, this paper takes liver images of enhanced MRI scan as the research object, targets on the detection and identification of liver occupancy lesion areas and determining if it is benign or malignant. Accordingly, the paper proposes an auxiliary diagnosis method for liver image combining deep learning and MRI medical imaging. The first step is to establish a reusable standard dataset for MRI liver occupancy detection by pre-processing, image denoising, lesion annotation and data augmentation. Then it improves the classical region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) algorithm Faster R-CNN by incorporating CondenseNet feature extraction network, custom-designed anchor size and transfer learning pre-training. This is to further improve the detection accuracy and benign and malignant classification performance of liver occupancy. Experiments show that the improved model algorithm can effectively identify and localise liver occupancies in MRI images, and achieves a mean average precision (mAP) of 0.848 and an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.926 on the MRI standard dataset. This study has important research significance and application value for reducing manual misses and misdiagnosis and improving the early clinical diagnosis rate of liver cancer.


A quasiplanar 3 dB hybrid suitable for integration in millimetre-wave fin-line circuits is presented. The performance of the device is characterised by 0.5 dB insertion loss, less than 0.5 dB imbalance and 20?25 dB isolation over the entire Ka-band (26.5?40 GHz).


Part A : One-step preparation of PEG-coated poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticle for biomedical application A novel method was developed for the one-pot synthesis of ultrafine poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles (PLGA NPs), using an emulsion solvent evaporation formulation method. Using either cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or poly(ethylene glycol)-distearyl phosphoethanolamine (PEGPE) as an oily emulsifier during the emulsion process, produced PLGA particle sizes of less than 50 nm, constituting a breakthrough in emulsion formulation methods. The yield of ultrafine PLGA NPs increased with PEGPE/PLGA ratio, reaching a plateau at around 85%, when the PEGPE/PLGA ratio reached 3:1. The PEGPE–PLGA NPs exhibited high drug loading content, reduced burst release, good serum stability, and enhanced cell uptake rate compared with traditional PLGA NPs. Sub-50 nm diameter PEG-coated ultrafine PLGA NPs show great potential for in vivo drug delivery systems. Clarithromycin (CL), a semisynthetic macrolide antibiotic, is indicated for the treatment of various infectious diseases. Many dosage forms of CL, such as tablets, capsules, dry suspensions and intravenous injectable CL. However, the main problem associated with its use is that the intravenous injectable dosage form causes venous irritation which results in serious pain. For this reason, it is of great importance to develop a new formation form for CL with improved intravenous administration. Therefore, CL loaded with PEGPE-PLGA for physical property and pharmacokinetics was investigated in this study. Furthermore, PEGPE-PLGA is evaluated in many pharmaceutical applications such as drug and protein delivery systems in the future. Part B : Surface Deformation of Gold Nanorods-Loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) Nanoparticles After Near Infrared Irradiation: An Active and Controllable Drug Release System Gold nanorods (GNRs) with either phosphatidylethanolamine-rhodamine (PE-Rh) or bovine serum albumin (BSA) were co-loaded in poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles. PE-Rh or BSA was released from PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) after near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation (808 ± 3 nm) which made GNRs fragment and produce heat. This NIR-triggered release mechanism was investigated. Heating the PLGA NPs above PLGA's glass temperature could not induce similar release behavior, whereas deformation and property change on PLGA NPs surface was observed by atomic force microscope. The PLGA matrix might loosened, which was caused by the mechanical agitation of the GNRs fragmentation, resulting in an active controllable release of the entrapped molecules in PLGA NPs upon NIR irradiation. The NIR thus acts as a non-invasive external light source for active and controllable drug release from the PLGA/GNR composite NPs. This type of drug delivery system may be of value in in vivo target delivery in the future.


e15027 Background: The prognosis of locally advanced and metastatic gastric cancer remains dismal. Generally, gastric cancer is considered as systemic disease. The aim of this study is to investigate whether gastric cancer is systemic or regional disease through the exploration of the patterns of recurrence or metastasis of advanced gastric cancer and determination of the factors associated with survival, which may help in identifying effective treatment strategies and establishing future therapeutic prospects considering gastric cancer. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 349 patients with stage III and IV gastric cancer was performed. The relationships between recurrence or metastasis patterns and clinicopathological characteristics and overall survival were evaluated. Results: Peritoneal recurrence or metastasis was detected as any part of the metastasis/recurrence pattern in 219 patients, while distant sites were involved in 208 patients. The locoregional area was involved as any part of recurrence o...


A preliminary Voronoi polyhedron analysis of a random model has enabled an accurate fixing of the density of random close-packing. A wide variation (∼15 % of the density of closest regular packing) in local density is found, correlated with various topological types of polyhedra. The suspected predominance of 5-sided faces is verified, while the average number of faces per polyhedron, and the average number of sides per face, are a few per cent greater than the theoretical predictions of Coxeter. Much data remain still to be analyzed for both physical and computer models.


CONTEXT
A diagnosis of Addison's disease means lifelong dependence on daily glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid therapy and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality as well as a risk of unexpected adrenal crisis.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was to determine whether immunomodulatory therapy at an early stage of autoimmune Addison's disease could lead to preservation or improvement in adrenal steroidogenesis.

DESIGN AND INTERVENTION
This was an open-label, pilot study of B lymphocyte depletion therapy in new-onset idiopathic primary adrenal failure. Doses of iv rituximab (1 g) were given on d 1 and 15, after pretreatment with 125 mg iv methylprednisolone.

PATIENTS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Six patients (aged 17-47 yr; four females) were treated within 4 wk of the first diagnosis of idiopathic primary adrenal failure. Dynamic testing of adrenal function was performed every 3 months for at least 12 months.

RESULTS
Serum cortisol levels declined rapidly and were less than 100 nmol/liter (3.6 μg/dl) in all patients by 3 months after B lymphocyte depletion. Serum cortisol and aldosterone concentrations remained low in five of the six patients throughout the follow-up period. However, a single patient had sustained improvement in both serum cortisol [peak 434 nmol/liter (15.7 μg/dl)] and aldosterone [peak 434 pmol/liter (15.7 ng/dl)] secretion. This patient was able to discontinue steroid medications 15 months after therapy and remains well, with improving serum cortisol levels 27 months after therapy.

CONCLUSION
New-onset autoimmune Addison's disease should be considered as a potentially reversible condition in some patients. Future studies of immunomodulation in autoimmune Addison's disease may be warranted.


The analysis of ecological factors influencing on human health and life quality is provided. The role of doctor and pharmaceutical worker in the organization of providing by medicinal plants mixtures for the preventive help and treatment is shown.