Retinal laser photocoagulation has been used for a decade, but no real improvement in results has been observed. The sim ulator described in this paper, by separating actual practice from apprenticeship, allows one both to learn how to rmmipulate the equipment and to train oneself to make a diagnosis and to operate. An ac tual slit-lamp is supplied with sensors measuring all the degrees of freedom of the system. The images are calculated by a PC and are displayed on a miniature screen located inside the binocular. The purpose of this article is to describe the graphical part of the simulator, i.e. the modeling of the lens and the eye, the visualization algorithm and a real-time depth of field simulation. The goal is to synthesize images as close as possible to the actual view.


This paper deals with consensus control of a class nonlinear systems with Lipschitz nonlinearities. Certain features of the Laplacian matrix are further explored to identify conditions for global consensus control. Under the identified conditions, consensus control and stability of the proposed control are analyzed in time-domain through Lyapunov functions. The proposed control uses relative state information of the system. A simulation study is included to demonstrate the proposed control designs with some simulation results shown.


Degeneration of the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) and cortical cholinergic dysfunction are hallmarks of Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD). There is no effective therapy for PDD. Deep brain stimulation of the NBM (NBM‐DBS) has been trialed as a potential treatment.


Objective To study the PTTG mRNA expression in various types of human pituitary adenomas and the role of PTTG in pituitary tumor oncogenesis.Methods Tumor samples were obtained from 20 patients who underwent surgical resection of pituitary adenomas. The type of pituitary adenomas was determined according to serum hormone levels and clinical features. Expression of PTTG mRNA was studied by RT-PCR method.Results The adenomas consisted of 6 lactotropic adenomas, 6 somatotropic adenomas and 8 clinically non-functioning adenomas. PTTG mRNA was expressed in all lactotropic, somatotropic and non-functioning adenomas. There were no significant differences in PTTG mRNA levels between lactotropic,somatotropic,and non-functioning adenomas. PTTG mRNA levels increased with advancing tumor stages and grades(P0.01).Conclusion The expression of PTTG in pituitary adenomas and PTTG mRNA level increase along with advancing tumor invasion,indicating that PTTG plays an important role in pituitary tumor oncogenesis and development.


DNA is a widely used biopolymer for the construction of nanometer‐scale objects due to its programmability and structural predictability. One long‐standing goal of the DNA nanotechnology field has been the construction of three‐dimensional DNA crystals. We previously determined the X‐ray crystal structure of a DNA 13‐mer that forms a continuously hydrogen bonded three‐dimensional lattice through Watson‐Crick and non‐canonical base pairs. Our current study sets out to understand how the sequence of the Watson‐Crick duplex region influences crystallization of this 13‐mer. We screened all possible self‐complementary sequences in the hexameric duplex region and found 21 oligonucleotides that crystallized. Sequence analysis showed that one specific Watson‐Crick pair influenced the crystallization propensity and the speed of crystal self‐assembly. We determined X‐ray crystal structures for 13 of these oligonucleotides and found sequence‐specific structural changes that suggests that this base pair may serve as a structural anchor during crystal assembly. Finally, we explored the crystal self‐assembly and nucleation process. Solution studies indicated that these oligonucleotides do not form base pairs in the absence of cations, but that the addition of divalent cations leads to rapid self‐assembly to higher molecular weight complexes. We further demonstrate that crystals grown from mixtures of two different oligonucleotide sequences contain both oligonucleotides. These results suggest that crystal self‐assembly is nucleated by the formation of the Watson‐Crick duplexes initiated by a simple chemical trigger. This study provides new insight into the role of sequence for the assembly of periodic DNA structures. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 103: 618–626, 2015.


Design Ethnography is a set of data collection and analysis perspectives, assumptions and skills that can be used effectively and efficiently to understand a particular environment, or domain, of people for the express purposes of designing new technology products. Working from the data one forms models of the environment explicitly considering the peoples' relationship to other people, space, time, artifacts, activities and nature. The models, graphically represented, are used explicitly to derive and test product concepts.


With the methods of observation on spot and mathematical statistics,the attack and defense techniques of the top four women handball teams-PLA Team, Shanghai Team,Anhui Team and Guangdong Team-are comparatively researched.The results show that the rate of successful shot,the rate of break through for shot and the rate of defense and goalkeepers' block of the top teams are higher than those of the bottom teams.There are obvious differences between them,which hints that each team should bring out its strengths to make up for its weaknesses in training and promote the handball level of our country as soon as possible.


ABSTRACT Enterococci are a group of significant disease-causing bacteria, which have developed resistance to several conventionally used antibiotics. Of the 67 confirmed Enterococcus species from Kidd's Beach, 40 (59.7%) were E. faecium, 19 (28.4%) were E. faecalis. The highest level of resistance was observed against rifampicin (83.6%) followed by erythromycin (64.2%), tetracycline (52.2%), linezolid (46.3%), tetracycline (46.3%), and vancomycin (32.8%). Ninety-six per cent of the Enterococcus spp. was found to be multi-drug resistant. MAR indices vary from 0.3 to 0.9. Two virulence determinants (ace and gelE) were detected and six resistance determinants were identified as follows: ermB (19%), tetM (30%), tetL (19%), gyrA (13%), ampC (1.5%) and Van C2/3 (4.5%). The presence of enterococci (E. faecium and E. faecalis) in Kidd's Beach waters harbouring virulence genes that facilitate multiple antibiotic resistance signifies a possible health threat for beach goers.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the accuracy and safety of thoracoscopy for the evaluation of pleural disease.

DESIGN
Prospective evaluation of patients referred for thoracoscopy.

SETTING
University hospital specializing in chest diseases.

PATIENTS
We studied 102 patients with pleural disease, the cause of which had not been determined after initial investigation, including thoracentesis and needle biopsy. Eighty-six patients had pleural effusion, 11 had pleural mass, and 5 had pleural effusion in association with a known primary lung carcinoma.

INTERVENTION
All patients had thoracoscopy under local anesthesia with mild sedation. Visually directed biopsies were done of parietal pleura.

MEASUREMENTS
We recorded clinical characteristics, laboratory data, findings and duration of thoracoscopy, and any complications associated with the procedure. Hospital and clinic follow-up records were reviewed, and patients were contacted by telephone 12 and 24 months after thoracoscopy to assess their health status.

MAIN RESULTS
One hundred and four thoracoscopies were done in 102 patients. A definitive diagnosis was established in 95 patients: 42 had malignant pleural disease and 53 had benign pleural disease. A diagnosis of benign pleural disease using thoracoscopy could not be confirmed in the remaining 7 patients because of insufficient follow-up information. Overall, thoracoscopy was 96% accurate with a sensitivity of 91%, a specificity of 100% and a negative predictive value of 93% for the diagnosis of pleural malignancy. Thoracoscopy was well tolerated under local anesthesia and entailed hospitalization for less than 24 hours in most cases. No deaths occurred, although 1.9% of patients had major complications, and 5.5% had minor complications.

CONCLUSIONS
Among patients with pleural disease remaining undiagnosed after usual initial investigation, thoracoscopy done under local anesthesia is a rapid, safe, and well-tolerated procedure with an excellent diagnostic yield that is equivalent to that of thoracotomy.


LGD(Loss Given Default) is one of the main element in credit risk management.Under the framework of the structure credit risk model,we develop a LGD analytic expression,in which the corporate value drift rate is replaced by risk free rate.The distribution,the association with PD(Probability of Default) and the factors which influence LGD are investigated,including term of loan,corporate asset-liability ratio,risk free rate,and loan size.With Sichuan large size non-perform loans data,the results are empirically tested on aggregate level.


A summer session of ten and a half weeks will be offered at Law rence to enable men to accelerate ; their college course, according to ( an announcement made ir. convoca tion this morning by President Thomas N. Barrows. This, he indi1 cated. is one part of the college's new program in support of the war effort. Students attendin'? this session may earn twelve hours credit, mak ing possible an acceleration of forty percent in the rate of progress to ward completion of college work. Thus present freshmen may be graduated one full year ahead of their present anticipation, and soph omores and juniors may accelerate proportionately. National Conference .,5 President Barrows reported on the National Conference of College and University Presidents on High•r Education and the War, held at Baltimore two weeks ago which pras attended by representatives of the national government, the war navy departments, and other governmental agencies. "Out oi 5 4hese meetings," said President J&irrow'*, "cum* c clear-cut pro gram involving two major aspects Of our problem: the immediate and the long-range. It was clearly indi* cated by all speakers and by a let ter from President Roosevelt that in the times ahead both during and • ite r the war this nation will need men with college training." President Barrows pointed out that colleges are well fitted to proi Vide opportunities for attaining physical fitness; for developing f trained minds; for providing basic t training in mathematics, sciences, | languages and other fields contrib uting directly to immediate needs; for cultivating qualities oi charac ter essential to both the immediate and long-rtmge programs; and for providing leadership in civilian morale. New Courses In addition to the accelerated program, President Barrows an nounced the immediate offering of some new courses and the probable c' ange in emphasis in others. He warned against rumors and urged careful deliberation and the seeking of advice from parents and officers of the college. "Thus far you have shown fine qualities of level-hcadedness," he said, "I assure you we are not un  mindful of your great desire to serve in this national effort. We shall turn our entire energies to ward making your capacities and interests serve to the utmost in this emergency. There is a tremendous job to be done. Together we shall write a noble and glorious chap ter in the history of this college, os a part of the national effort."


This thesis aims to establish a new strategy for a
Brazilian IT service company to leverage the operation of its
prepaid business unit in Brazil and overseas. The work starts using
the Delta Model to segment the customers, defining the
correspondent value proposition and identifying the capabilities
required by the company to execute its mission. Further, frameworks
for internationalization are applied to define a pathway for the
company global strategy. Finally, a strategic agenda is proposed
with the steps that the company should undertake to implement the
new strategy.


Where η is viscosity; is the deviatoric strain rate tensors. Glacial flow is treated as a non-Newtonian fluid Abstract U-shaped valleys are widely found in ordinary glaciers. There are a few huge ice caves in which ice body extends nearly 1km and becomes a glacier in the cave. Can glacier in an ice cave cut the cave and form a U-shaped valley? We use numerical simulation method to study the possibility if a U-shaped valley could exist or not in an ice cave before carrying out costly field work. Our calculation does simulate the formation of U-shaped valley in ordinary glaciers, but the ice cave glacier is too small in size, so that it is not likely to form U-shaped valleys in the lifetime of the cave. Water erosion is the decisive factor in producing the cave.


A novel technique for scanning near‐field optical microscopy capable of point‐contact current‐sensing was developed in order to investigate the nanometre‐scale optical and electrical properties of electrochromic materials. An apertureless bent‐metal probe was fabricated in order to detect optical and current signals at a local point on the electrochromic films. The near‐field optical properties could be observed using the local field enhancement effect generated at the edge of the metal probe under p‐polarized laser illumination. With regard to electrical properties, current signal could be detected with the metal probe connected to a high‐sensitive current amplifier. Using the current‐sensing scanning near‐field optical microscopy, the surface topography, optical and current images of coloured WO3 thin films were observed simultaneously. Furthermore, nanometre‐scale electrochromic modification of local bleaching could be performed using the current‐sensing scanning near‐field optical microscopy. The current‐sensing scanning near‐field optical microscopy has potential use in various fields of nanometre‐scale optoelectronics.


The fretting fatigue strength of a low strength medium carbon steel (JIS S45C) under two-step block loading was examined by using contact pads of the same material. The linear cumulative damage rule did not always hold for fretting fatigue under two-step block loading, while it held for plain fatigue. when the number of cycles in the block were large enough and the number of blocks to failure were smaller than 5 or 6, tow-step block loading reduced the fretting fatigue life by a factor of five to ten. The coefficient of friction and the relative slip amplitude reached constant values within a few hundred cycles after changing the stress level. Prediction of fatigue life was made on the basis of the analysis proposed in a previous paper, where the frictional force between the fretting pad and the specimen was taken into consideration. The predicted lives were in good agreement with the experimental results.


Luminal breast cancers account for ˜75% of cases and are positive for progesterone receptor (PR) and estrogen receptor (ER) expression. PR is a classical ER-target gene and is used as a biomarker of ER activity; however, a growing body of evidence supports the role of PR as an important modifier of ER actions and a key driver of luminal breast cancer progression. Progesterone signaling is mediated by two PR isoforms: full-length PR-B and truncated PR-A, which lacks the N-terminal 164 amino acids. Little is known about PR isoform-specific actions in PR-expressing breast tumors, given that total PR expression is measured clinically. Herein, we sought to identify phenotypic differences in luminal breast cancer cells (T47D) overexpressing PR-A (T47D-YA) or PR-B (T47D-YB). We demonstrate that PR-B expression is required for anchorage-independent colony formation, while PR-A expressing cells fail to proliferate in soft agar. PR-B driven proliferation has been mapped to PR phosphorylation events, which include MAPK or CDK consensus sites such as Ser294. We demonstrate that in contrast to previous reports, PR-A is well phosphorylated at Ser294 in response to progestins (e.g. R5020) using our custom phospho-PR (Ser294) polyclonal antibody. Interestingly, Ser294 phosphorylation of PR-A occurs more rapidly and robustly following hormone treatment compared to PR-B expressing cells. Our findings indicate that PR-A is a dominant driver of stem-like expansion in breast cancer cells. PR-A tumorspheres exhibited enriched ALDH+ and CD44+/CD24- populations compared to PR-B and promoted heightened gene expression of stem-like genes (e.g. FOXO1). We demonstrate that the PR target gene and co-activator FOXO1 promotes both PR-A and PR-B phosphorylation at Ser294 and augments tumorsphere formation. Direct inhibition of FOXO1 levels abrogates phospho-PR (Ser294) levels and tumorsphere formation in PR expressing cells. Finally, we show that Ser294 is required for PR-A induced expression of stem-like genes (e.g. FOXO1) and stem-like behavior as measured by ALDH+/CD44+ tumorspheres. Taken together, our data reveal unique functions of PR isoforms as modulators of distinct and opposing pathways (i.e. proliferation versus stem-like expansion) in luminal breast cancer models. A clear understanding of PR isoform-specific actions, phosphorylation events, and the role of co-factors such as FOXO1 may lead to novel biomarkers of advanced tumor behavior and reveal new approaches to pharmacologically target PR isoforms in luminal breast cancers. Citation Format: Truong TH, Dwyer AR, Diep CH, Lange CA. Progesterone receptor (PR) isoform-specific expansion of breast cancer stem-like cells occurs through a phospho-PR/FOXO1 driven signaling axis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-05-06.


Tourism is incredibly prevalent, with people travelling further afield and more often than ever before. The quest for souvenirs while sightseeing is something we're all familiar with. 'Japan Local Souvenir Design' illustrates some of the most interesting, quirky and unique souvenirs to be found in the various regions of Japan. Included are local foodstuffs and drinks, badges, bags and t-shirts, each specific to, promoting, and celebrating, a specific region. Text in English & Japanese.


Removal by the Constitutional Court ruling of a non-constitutional law or other legal act from the legal system may result in appearance of gaps in legal regulation, as well as in other undesirable consequences. Avoiding the problems related with changes in the legal system that occur after elimination of nonconstitutional provisions, various measures are being applied in practise of constitutional courts of foreign countries. The postponement of the term when non-constitutional legal acts lose their force is prevailing. In this article one surveys substantial peculiarities of the practise of constitutional courts of foreign countries as well as of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania applying the institution of postponement. One also discusses basic arguments by means of which the constitutional courts of various countries justify their decisions to postpone the elimination of non-constitutional provisions from the legal system. Some theoretical and practical aspects of the legal consequences of such decisions are being discussed as well. The constitutions and/or the laws of a number of countries provide constitutional courts, after they recognise a law of other legal act as being in conflict with the Constitution, with the discretion to postpone the term when this legal act loses its force. After the decision of a constitutional court, prolonging to a particular term the application of non-constitutional provisions in order to avoid gaps in legal regulation until respective amendments are adopted, comes into force, the legislator is under a legal obligation to implement this decision and to amend the non-constitutional legal regulation until the defined term. The substantial axiological argument that justifies a temporary keeping of non-constitutional provisions in the legal system is an attempt to avoid consequences that can violate constitutional values even more than the ones that could be caused by a temporary application of non-constitutional provisions. The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania does not directly provide for any legal instruments that could allow avoiding a legal vacuum or other undesirable consequences that could originate from a sudden elimination of non-constitutional provisions from the legal system. Therefore it was the Constitutional Court that had to find a solution to this problem. Considering that, according to Paragraph 1 of Article 107 of the Constitution, a law or any other legal act may not be applied from the day of official promulgation of the decision of the Constitutional Court that the act in question is inconsistent with the Constitution, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania decided to postpone the official publishing and coming into force of its ruling instead of postponing the term when deficient legal norms lose their force which is practised by the constitutional courts of a number of countries. The reason for that was to provide for a period necessary for the legislator to eliminate the gaps in law that could emerge if the ruling of the Constitutional Court had been officially published immediately after its public announcement in the hearing of the Constitutional Court. It is stressed in this article that the given variant of postponement is in some aspects a more acceptable legal measure than prolongation of validity of the legal norms recognised as non-constitutional that may cause not only theoretical incertitude but also certain practical dilemmas. Alongside, attention is drawn to the fact that the ruling of the Constitutional Court that has not yet come into force in a formal legal sense does not oblige the legislator to undertake respective legislative actions. Therefore the effectiveness of the variant of postponement chosen by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania will basically depend only upon the responsible attitude of the Seimas towards its constitutional obligations and its good will.


The study sought to establish the level of awareness about Motor Third Party Insurance amongst motorists in Uganda and how it affected their claims. A quantitative and cross-sectional survey was adopted and data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Findings from the study indicate that most motorists are not aware of the procedures of motor third party insurance and very few of them seek for compensation from insurance companies. This could be because of the perception among some individuals that insurance is a form of tax and a luxury. Reasons which were given for low claim rates were; the general lack of insurance knowledge amongst the populace and the cumbersome procedures for seeking compensation. With regards to perception towards insurance, the study confirmed that there was a general negative perception towards motor third party insurance. It is recommended that education on insurance be increased, government's supervision of insurance operations be strengthened, and that insurance companies improve their client orientation about the use of motor third party insurance so as to redeem the negative perceptions that majority of the motorists have towards this type of insurance.


The synthesis and characterization of polyoxovanadate-intercalated MgAl hydrotalcite-like layered double hydroxides (LDH) is described. Seven different methods have been used to intercalate the vanadate anion. These include exchange of the initial carbonate or terephthalate anions, as well as reconstruction of the layered structure from the carbonate form previously calcined at 550 o C-the reconstruction being either directly to the vanadate or indirectly via a terephthalate intermediate. Preswelling with glycerol was also used in some cases


Apparently Dzanelidze (1937) described a case of habitual dislocation of the elbow, but the paper is unobtainable. In the case described in this paper the original injury was most likely a posterior dislocation of the elbow with fracture of the coronoid process. This is not an uncommon injury and in Wilson's large series occurred seven times in 350 cases of fractures and dislocations near the elbow-joint. After the patient's first accident the arm was only kept in a sling for four days. It seems possible that the fragmenred tip of the coronoid process united therefore by fibrous tissue only and so permitted further dislocations because of the shallowness of the trochlear notch. The laxity of the capsule appeared to be a secondary development because of the frequent stretching during dislocations. The appearance of the inferior surface of the humerus suggested that recurrent impingement of the coronoid process during dislocations produced changes in the inferior part of the trochlea resembling ostochondritis dissecans. When the patient was first seen the articles in the literature were not available. Three methods of treatment were considered-namely, capsulotomy, bone-grafting to increase the size of the coronoid process, and transplantation of the biceps tendon into the ulna. Capsulotomy has generally been discarded as a most unsatisfactory treatment for any joint condition. The employment of a bone-graft seemed needlessly complicated and it was feared that limitation of flexion might result. The transplantation of the biceps tendon appeared to be the method of choice as the stability of a joint depends on the strength of the muscles acting upon it. Furthermore, as the causative injury in this patient was always a fall on the outstretched hand, it was thought that the automatically contracting biceps would, by its pull, prevent any displacement of the ulna during such an accident. To give added stability the biceps tendon was transplanted in front of the elbow-joint behind the brachialis muscle. The operation had the advantage of simplicity and was nearly completely bloodless thanks to A. I<. Henry's excellent approach. Although it is impossible to say with certainty that the patient will be free of any recurrence, so far there has been no further dislocation and the man is back on full duty with the army.


This article, aiming at the digital transformation of WuYi combined station, adopt the control configuration software, describes the production process of the station, control of the station system, as well as the design and the application of the configuration software, through the configuration software Group state of software applications enable the digital management station, To the production of unmanned, reduces the working strength of staff.


: This paper is concerned with the simulation studies for three large-scale physical distribution systems for airports which are stochastic transient simulations with the arrival process of objectives. The authors present the idea to make simulation models separately for the arrival process and for the equipment motion. Then the antithetic variate method which is one kind of the variance reduction method, is examined especially how to apply the method for multivariable simulation experiments. Moreover, a guideline for the optimum number of vehicles in a large scale AGV system is also presented.


The question of this article is the generalization of the historical experience in training of military specialists, the improvement methods of the military training and education in the Russian Army. Conclusions on Russian psychological and pedagogic empiric knowledge are made. The article examines a problem of personal development and the basic trends of the person's professional development research within the limits of the person stimulating approach. Basic statements which characterize the military training and education system. The author draws conclusions about a system of the military psychology-pedagogic empirical knowledge in our country and adduces the principal propositionsdescribing the system of military training and education. In this connection, the author concludes that for the quality, improvement of the military specialist's training of the structural elements of the person's psychical organization must be thoroughly studied and the correlative mechanism of their intercommunication and the situations of the development must be revealed. Moreover, the psychological and pedagogic influences, which are realized in the process of the military men's education and training, will be interpreted trough their internal characteristics, and the effect of any reaction even on the separate stimulus will be determined by the systematic behaviour mechanism of the officers-to-be. The author acquaints us as well with the list of the basic officer's professional important characteristics such as steadiness and readiness for the selfless actions, the ability to keep the presence of mind, to operate cleverly and confidently under pressure of the different factors in the tactical situation.


1,2-bis( methylthio) maleonitrile was synthesized from disodium salt of dithiomaleonitrile. Then octakis( methylthio) porphyrazine metal complexes were synthesized by magnesium template reaction method. All complex were characterized by1H NMR,GC-MS,and Maldi-TOF. The most proper axial ligand proportion with pyridine was researched based on metal porphyrazines.


Volubilis in northern Morocco is famous for the impressive remains of its Roman city, but it was also an important early Islamic town and is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Teams from Morocco and the Institute of Archaeology recently began a joint project there, focused on the investigation of the Islamic occupation and the conservation and presentation of the site to the public.


For the first time, a series of novel 1′-homo-N-2′-deoxy-α-nucleosides containing natural nucleobases as well as 5-fluoro and 5-iodopyrimidine analogs have been synthesized in an efficient manner. Additionally, a high yield protocol for the assembly of a dimeric scaffold containing two sugar moieties linked to the N-1 and N-3 positions of a single pyrimidine base has been accomplished. The structures of the novel homonucleosides were established by a single crystal X-ray structure of 1′-homo-N-2′-deoxy-α-adenosine and NMR studies. The biological activity of these 1′-homo-N-2′-deoxy-α-nucleosides as antiviral (HIV-1 and HBV) and cytotoxic studies was measured in multiple cell systems. The unique structure and easy accessibility of these compounds may allow their use in the design of new nucleoside analogs with potential biological activity and as a scaffold for combinatorial chemistry.


This presentacion shows the innovations in scientific communication. Specially, it is focused on a new way to disseminate the science: the blockchain.


The luminescenceofundoped GD a-Si d i sp lays a t shor t times an exponential decay. I n t h i s a r t i c l e , we show t h a t t h e eecay time constant decreases with increas ing e x c i t a t i o n densi ty. The power law-decay a t longer times i s a l s o , bu t only weakly changed by increased e x c i t a t i o n densi ty. Doping, however, has a pronounced and remarkable e f f e c t i n t h i s time domain which is expla ine l with the exis tence of c?efect s t a t e s induced by t h e doping. Introduction.Time resolved photoluminescencehasbeen observed i n t h e p a s t by sever a l groups [1][2][3][4]. I n t h i s contr ibut ion we consider e x c i t a t i o n dens i ty e f f e c t s a s well a s t h e dependence of the decay behaviour on n-type doping. We use glow discharge a-Si samples containing about 5% hydrogen. The deposi t ion temperature i s gener a l l y 550K. I n these measurements, t h e samples were immersed i n l i q u i d ni t rogen and exci ted by a pulsed, ni t rogen pumped dye l a s e r (Sopra, type G03A) s e t a t an energyof 2.16 eV. A s mentioned i n our e a r l i e r publ ica t ions [1:[2] we observe a t zero delay a luminescence spectrum containing a f a s t decaying peak a t 1.45 eV and a slow decaying peak a t 1.35 eV. The f a c t t h a t o ther authors [3][4] do not observe t h e f a s t decaying peak i s ?robably r e l a t e d t o d i f fe rences i n t h e time reso lu t ion , s ince already a f t e r 10 ns delay t h e i n t e n s i t y of the f a s t decaying peak i s reduced d r a s t i c a l l y . I n our measurements we use a s de tec t ing e l e c t r o n i c s a P h i l i p s P M 3400 sampling osci l loscope with 200 p s r i s e time. A d e t a i l e d ana lys i s of t h e s igna l which i s l imi ted i n resolut i o n by t h e dye-laser pu lse shape and t h e response of t h e photomult ipl ier , shows t h a t down t o a delay of 1 t o 2 ns from t h e luminescence maximum we observe t h e t r u e luminescence decay of t h e sample. For a l l decay measurements, t h e luminescence has been detected a t 1 .3 eV, which is 0.05 eV below t h e slow decaying maximum t o reduce in te r fe rence with the f a s t decaying peak. Excitaeion dens i ty e f f e c t s . We f i r s t consider t h e exponential decay a t s h o r t times a s displayed i n t h e i n s e r t of Fig. 1 f o r a n-type doped sample. This decay is basic a l l y the same a s reported e a r l i e r [1][21[5] f o r undoped samples. Since t h e samples were immersed i n l i q u i d ni t rogen, we expect heat ing e f f e c t s t o be low. I n f a c t , t h e r e s u l t s of our experinents , although performed a t 77K, correspond t o t h e low temper a t u r e l i m i t defined i n E5J. For t h e change of t h e luminescence decay with increas ing temperature t h e theory of Ref.[5] i s appl icable . I n Fig. 2 we show t h e change of t h e exponential decay time constant with e x c i t a t i o n densi ty f o r an undoped sample a s compared with t h e luminescence response a t zero delay. Even i n t h e range of l i n e a r response, one observes a s t rong increase of t h e time constant with decreasing exc i ta t ion . We do not consider t h e nonlinear response region s ince sample,heat ing i n t h i s range cannot be excluded. The absolute e x c i t a t i o n densi ty s c a l e is bel ieved t o be cor rec t t o within a f a c t o r of two. The values seem t o be i n reasonable agreement with the observat ions of Shah e t a l . f 4 1 . With t h e authors of Ref. 4, we assume an i n i t i a l c a r r i e r concentrat ion no of about 1 0 ~ * c m ~ f o r an e x c i t a t i o n dens i ty of 3 p~/cm2. I n t h e range of l i n e a r response, (no depends l i n e a r l y on the exc i ta t ion densi ty) ~ ~ f f can be decomposed t o y i e l d Article published online by EDP Sciences and available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/jphyscol:19814117


Methionine is one of the essential amino acids to mammalian,but excessive intake of methionine can promote atherosclerosis,which has no clear mechanism.There are some hypothesis such as raise of plasma homocysteine and DNA methylation about it.However,with the progress of studies and research deepening on methionine metabolism,it seems that S-adenosylhomocysteine appears more critical in the promotion of atherosclerosis by high methionine intake.


Let G be the group SU(2, 1) of complex unimodular (3 χ 3)-matrices preserving the Hermitian form Iz j l 2 + l z 2 l 2 I-Z 31. All irreducible unitary representations of this group are described in [1] (there is also a bibliography). In addition to the representations of the principal continuous series, the complementary continuous series, and the discrete series and the identity representation, G has countably many representations that do not appear in the Plancherel formula and are (like the identity representation) non-isolated points in the representation space that lie in the closure of the complementary continuous series. Some of these representations (similarly to the case of the group SU(1, 1)) form the set of "limits" of the representations of the discrete series; the formulae both for these representations and for their characters [2] are analogous to the corresponding formulae for the representations in the holomorphic or anti-holomorphic discrete series. In this note we discuss the restrictions to the subgroup SU(1, 1) and the tensor products of another collection of limit irreducible unitary representations in the complementary series, namely, "limits" of representations that are unitary in an indefinite metric. These irreducible unitary representations are constructed as follows. Let U = S(U(2) χ U(i)) » « U(2) be the maximal compact subgroup of G, and Γ the subgroup of diagonal matrices 7 in U with 711 = Ύ33· Lt G — VAN be an Iwasawa decomposition of G; for u e U and j £ G we set ug = anv, where a e A, n e Ν, υ e U, and we denote the element υ by ug. Let ρ and q be integers,


The author presents his theory of American political behaviour for all students of political science. Drawn together in this text are the outlines of several major themes and concepts essential to Elazar's understanding of the way the US political system works: American pluralism, historical change, federalism, urbanization and the metropolitan shift and the forces of political culture.


Although impacts of alien plants on species richness are widely reported, it remains unclear how common such effects might be and whether they differ from those due to native species. To date, too few studies have examined the impacts of a wide enough spectrum of native and alien species to address the importance of geographic origin on the richness of plant communities. We investigated how total plant species richness, as well as its separate alien and native components, varied with the abundance of 115 alien and 146 native plant species across Banks Peninsula in New Zealand. Using null models, we tested whether significant correlations between the abundance of each focal species and species richness were more frequent than expected by chance. Examination of the differences in the relationships with species abundance found for native and alien richness can shed light as to whether alien species might be acting as drivers of biodiversity change or passengers responding to external environmental factors. Significant relationships were rarely found for total richness due to contrasting trends of native and alien richness with species abundance. In contrast to natives, an increase in the abundance of an alien species revealed more frequent negative relationships with native richness and positive correlations with alien richness. The relationship with species abundance found for native and alien components of richness differed between grasslands and woodlands. While we found putative support for negative impacts on native richness for several alien species in grasslands, the similar negative correlations in woodlands were more likely to reflect the shade intolerance of alien grasses where native species richness was high. Synthesis. Our analyses reveal that widespread alien and native species play different roles in the plant communities in which they co‐occur. Separately analysing the relationship with species abundance for alien and native components of richness can help distinguish between situations where aliens may be acting as the primary drivers in plant community changes or simply passengers. This is an essential first step in designing further experimental studies to determine the underlying ecological processes and potential ecosystem impacts of alien species.


Abstract : Approximately one in four Department of Defense production contracts are being carried in a delinquent status. These late deliveries have a value of several billion dollars, and eighty percent of the delinquent contracts are over ninety days late. The impact of these late deliveries effects many military organizations in a variety of ways. The causes of delinquency stem from actions of the Government and of the contractor. The Government attempts to use a number of incentives to motivate the contractor to provide timely delivery of the required items. It also utilizes a variety of procedures in an attempt to control and reduce the number of delinquent contracts. Yet a significant portion of the contracts are delinquent. The objective of this research effort was to provide a survey study of the delinquency problem, with a particular view of stimulating further in-depth research into its various aspects. (Author)


Acutely ill paediatric patients face an increased risk of hyponatraemia, as it affects 22-25% of hospitalised children (1). Moderate hyponatraemia, defined as a plasma sodium concentration (PNa) of less than 130 mmol/l, is found in 1% of children admitted to hospital. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


This study investigates the victimization of undocumented male migrant workers in a southern metropolitan area. Interview data from a sample of undocumented male workers indicate that these workers experience a high rate of victimization, yet they are unlikely to report the crimes or pursue criminal justice aid. Our findings suggest that their immigrant/undocumented status may make these workers particularly susceptible to victimization and limit reporting of victimization due to perceived deportation risk. The reluctance to involve law enforcement, however, may increase their suitability as targets, and ultimately serve to further increase their likelihood of victimization. The importance of recognizing the potential victimization of this population and policy implications for the criminal justice system are discussed.


The applicability of a novel approach to modeling the diffusion-coupled spin-lattice relaxation of magnetization in heterogeneous organic solids for resolving microdomain structure in solvent-swollen coals is examined. Three NMR selective-excitation experiments, one of them new, are considered. Methods based on existing theory for heat conduction in solids are outlined for analyzing the data obtained by these selective excitation techniques for particular two-phase systems in terms of the morphological and intrinsic relaxation properties of the separate phases. {sup 1}H NMR results for pyridine-swollen bituminous vitrinites show that these materials contain very small domains of solvent-destabilized and rigid-lattice molecular structures and that magnetization transfer between protons in these two phases is rapid compared to the intrinsic spin-lattice relaxation processes. 26 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs.


The paper have study on semi-hydrated gypsum add mica powder which is producted by a factory in Jingmen of Hubei province,include water cement ratio and time of coagulation and rupture strength and water absorption of gypsum which is effected by brucite fiber,finally found the disciplinarian between brucite fiber content and performance of gypsum products and confirmed the best content for optimum performance of the products.


ABSTRACT We introduce a method of rigorous analysis of complex singularities for nonlinear higher order partial differential equations (PDEs) with prescribed initial data. The method is applied to determine rigorously the asymptotic structure of singularities of the modified Harry–Dym equation for small time at the boundaries of the sector of analyticity. Previous work (Costin and Tanveer, 2000; submitted) shows existence, uniqueness, and Borel summability of solutions of general PDEs. It is shown that the solution to the above initial value problem is represented convergently by a series in a fractional power of t down to a small annular neighborhood of a singularity of the leading order equation. We deduce that the exact solution has a singularity nearby having, to leading order, the same type.


Objective:To investigate the efficacy and safty of autologous blood transfusion in splenic breakage surgery.Methods:75 cases of patients selected were divided into experimental group(36 cases) and control group(39 cases).Experimental group received autologous blood transfusion and the control group treated with allogeneic,then compare the amount of allogeneic blood transfusion,postoperative hemoglobin,platelet,serum electrolyte changes and the incidence of complications after blood transfusion.Results: The average input of blood transfusion in experimental group is(299.16±38.65)ml and the control group is(1050.28±72.57)ml.There were significant differences between two groups(P0.01),but the postoperative hemoglobin,platelet,electrolyte no significant differences(P0.05).There is not a case of complication in experimental group received only autologous blood transfusion.Conclusions: Splenic breakage surgery with autologous blood transfusion is safe and effective,decreasing the use of allogeneic blood,avoiding the blood transfusion complication.


The aim of this study was to investigate the phenotypic variations in birth and body weights at various ages of local sheep, total of 37 heads, born as singletons n =13, twins n = 19, triplets n =5. The lambs were reared at two locations Purwakarta and Jatinangor under extensive feeding system and grazing. All animals were weighed monthly till six months of age by hang scale (kg). Data analyzed by SAS (version 9.0). Means ± SE for the birth and body weights were performed. Analysis of variance GLM was done to examine the effects of sex, type of birth and location on the measured variables. Results shown that birth weight ranged between 1.50 to 3.50 kg, the overall means of the type of birth are: single, twins and triplets were 2.69±0.12, 2.24±0.11 and 1.96±0.20 respectively, male weight were 2.355±0.122, females were 2.220±0.126, also birth weight at Purwakarta is of 2.218±0.106 and Jatinangor is of 2.447±0.156. Males heavier than females but there are no significant differences among locations, sex, and interaction between them, however; the type of birth was significantly affected by birth weight. The logistic growth model is given highest correlation (R = 0.98) for the body weight–age relationship of local asheep and the inflexion point of growth was happening at the first month of age.


In the light of the formation and development of the historical materialism,this paper illustrates the global horizon of the historical materialism.And based on this theory,it analyzes the class struggle,economic globalization and cultural conflict of this age,and sets forth the significance of developing the global horizon of the historical materialism in practice.


A new sample pretreatment approach in CE was developed for concurrent biological sample clean‐up and the concentration of hydrophobic compounds based on the combination of ACN deproteinization with salting‐out extraction. Further enhancement in concentration detection sensitivity was achieved by coupling (offline) salting‐out extraction with an online CE sample enrichment technique known as "ACN stacking". By optimizing the pH of salting‐out extraction, a number of model compounds (hydrophobic porphyrins with clinical significances), i.e. zinc‐protoporphyrin, protoporphyrin, and coproporphyrin (CP) III and I, can be efficiently extracted from the aqueous sample into a smaller volume organic solvent (ACN) phase and an enrichment factor of ca. 100 can be obtained. The pressure injection of the enriched ACN phase (containing ca.1% NaCl) into the CE capillary at 10% capillary volume resulted in additional concentration of the various hydrophobic porphyrins, allowing for a combined enrichment factor of ca.1000 to be obtained. Calibration curves obtained for the determination of a pair of positional isomers with significant diagnostic value, urinary CPIII and CPI, were found to be linear between 10–300 ng/mL (with R2 = 0.999), and LODs (absorbance detection at 400 nm) were ca. 0.8 ng/mL (1.1 nmol/L of CPIII or CPI). Based on a single salting‐out extraction, intraday precisions (nine consecutive injections) for both CPIII and CPI (at spiked concentrations of 10–300 ng/mL into urine) in terms of migration time and peak area were found to be within the range of 0.2–0.5 and 0.8–2.9%, respectively.


The thermodynamic functions (ΔG⊖, ΔH⊖, and ΔS⊖) for the protonation of α-aminomalonic acid were determined in aqueous solution (25 °C, l= 0.1 mol dm–3 NaCl). The basicity constants and enthalpy changes were evaluated from potentiometric and calorimetric data for both the primary amino and the carboxylate groups. On the basis of the thermodynamic changes a closed structure is hypothesized with the protonated amino nitrogen hydrogen-bonded to both the carboxylate groups to form two five-membered rings. The protonation of the CO2– groups provokes opening of the rings. A relatively high stability constant for complexation with Cu2+ was determined, however in a narrow range of low pH. The co-ordination to the copper(II) occurs both with nitrogen and the two oxygen donor atoms, to form two five-membered chelate rings.


ABSTRACT Although women make up more than one half of the population, research traditionally has been based on studies of the average adult male. In the last decade, however, it has become increasingly obvious that results from investigations focusing on males may not accurately be applied to women. As research efforts expand to include women, the practice of medicine must incorporate new knowledge about women's health needs and provide care that is comprehensive in scope and sensitive to women's unique health concerns. The Women's Health Track was established to provide internal medicine residents with the opportunity to develop clinical skills and expertise in aspects of health that are unique to women. Incorporated into an established internal medicine residency, this program combines areas of obstetrics, gynecology, psychiatry, and adolescent medicine into a multidisciplinary curriculum that prepares internists to provide a variety of routine health care and screening services to women. The program is...


This paper proposes a generalized version of control strategy that enables state synchronization among distributed subsystems without altering the natural dynamics that each separate system is supposed to show. To handle the general case of N-subsystem with heterogeneous dynamics, a method of dynamic scaling and ring type network topology are proposed. The associated stability bound is analyzed. We performed several experiments to show the validity of stability analysis and dynamic scaling


Abstract This r esearch was to describe the students' ability to analyze simple present sentence using tree diagrams. The researcher used the descriptive method and the population of this research was the third year students of FKIP, Bung Hatta University. The researcher used cluster random sampling to select the sample. The data of the research were students' scores in analyzing the sentences in the written test form. The test was tried out to the students out of sample (A class) since the instrument was categorized non-standard test. To know the reliability of the test, the researcher used Pearson Product Moment. The reliability of the test was 0.71 and it was categorized in high level. The test was reliable. In general, the students' ability in analyzing simple present sentence using tree diagrams was categorized in moderate ability because 20 (54%) of the students in range score ≤ 35.99 and ≥ 67.15. In specific, the result of analyzing the data showed that the ability of the third year students in analyzing positive, negative and interrogative verbal sentence in simple present using tree diagrams was categorized low ability because 35 ( 95%) of the students in range score ≤ 35.91. The students ability to analyze positive, negative and interrogative nominal sentence was categorized moderate because 15 (41%) of the student in range score ≥ 5. Therefore, by knowing students ability to analyze simple present sentence using tree diagram, the researcher expects that the students should increase their motivation and their interest in studying syntax material. Key Words: Ability, Simple Present, Tree Diagrams


The rapid growth of Internet based applications calls for design of a high speed wireless packet data communication system. The wireless operators have expressed a need for a system capable of providing higher data rate while achieving better system spectrum efficiency. In response to such need, 3GPP2 recently completed the standardization effort of the cdma2000 1/spl times/EV-DV (1/spl times/ evolution for data and voice) system [2002]. Unlike 1/spl times/EV-DO (1/spl times/ evolution for data only), which can support only data services on a single RF carrier, 1/spl times/EV-DV can support both data and voice services on the same carrier, and thus allows the wireless operators to manage the voice and data loading in their system more efficiently. This paper describes the forward and reverse link enhancements resulting in cdma2000 revision C and presents system level performance data under both the data only and mixed voice and data scenarios.


Fro Ce Ce Un Qu an OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of new-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) versus early-generation DES in women undergoing complex percutaneous coronary intervention (CPCI). BACKGROUND Whether the benefits of new-generation DES are preserved in women undergoing complex percutaneous revascularization is unknown. METHODS We pooled patient-level data from women enrolled in 26 randomized trials of DES. Study population was categorized according to the presence or absence of CPCI, which was defined as the composite of total stent length >30 mm, $2 stents implanted, $2 lesions treated, or bifurcation lesion as target vessel. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) defined as a composite of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, or target lesion revascularization at 3 years of follow-up. RESULTS Of 10,241 women included in the pooled database, 4,629 (45%) underwent CPCI. Compared with non-CPCI, women who underwent CPCI had a higher 3-year risk of MACE (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.45 to 1.83; p < 0.0001). In women who underwent CPCI, use of new-generation DES was associated with significantly lower 3-year risk of MACE (adjusted HR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.68 to 0.96), target lesion revascularization (adjusted HR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.57 to 0.95), and definite or probable stent thrombosis (ST) (adjusted HR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.30 to 0.83). The benefit of new-generation DES on efficacy and safety outcomes was uniform between CPCI and non-CPCI groups, without evidence of interaction. By landmark analysis, new-generation DES were associated with low rates (#0.4%) of very-late ST irrespective of procedural complexity. CONCLUSIONS Women undergoing CPCI remain at higher risk of adverse events. The long-term ischemic benefits of new-generation DES platforms are uniform among complex and non-complex percutaneous revascularization procedures in women. (J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2016;9:674–84) © 2016 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation. m The Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, Interventional Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Trials nter, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Division of Cardiology, Columbia University Medical nter, New York, New York; Cardiovascular Research Foundation, New York, New York; Division of Cardiology, Columbia iversity Medical Center, New York, New York; Division of Cardiology, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal, Montréal, ébec, Canada; Department of Cardiology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan; Division of Clinical d Interventional Cardiology, Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano,Milan, Italy; Département Hospitalo Universitaire Fibrose, AB BR E V I A T I O N S


An $n$-vertex graph is said to to be $(p,\beta)$-bijumbled if for any vertex sets $A,B\subseteq V(G)$, we have \[e(A,B)=p|A||B|\pm \beta \sqrt{|A||B|}.\] We prove that for any $3\leq r\in \mathbb{N}$ and $c>0$ there exists an $\varepsilon>0$ such that any $n$-vertex $(p,\beta)$-bijumbled graph with $n\in r \mathbb{N}$, $\delta(G)\geq cpn$ and $\beta \leq \varepsilon p^{r-1}n$, contains a $K_r$-factor. This implies a corresponding result for the stronger pseudorandom notion of $(n,d,\lambda)$-graphs. For the case of triangle factors, that is when $r=3$, this result resolves a conjecture of Krivelevich, Sudakov and Szab\'o from 2004 and it is tight due to a pseudorandom triangle-free construction of Alon. In fact, in this case even more is true: as a corollary to this result and a result of Han, Kohayakawa, Person and the author, we can conclude that the same condition of $\beta=o(p^2n)$ actually guarantees that a $(p,\beta)$-bijumbled graph $G$ contains every graph on $n$ vertices with maximum degree at most 2.


The first thing to appeal to your average GP is the size of this book. It is a small book, easy to pick up, whereas a large book on Neurology could be fairly off-putting. Despite its size, it contains an excellent review of everything from the neurological examination to tests used in neurology. The book is laid out in an easy-to-read format and the chapters are all headed under clinical symptoms such as \`Headaches', \`Dizziness', \`Memory Loss' etc. There are also sections on neurological emergencies, as well as an overview of the neurological examination. There are some sections that are so well written and so easily explained in terms of neuroanatomy that the book would also be excellent reading for medical students who are having their first attempt at neurology. For the busy GP, there is also a section at the end of each chapter called \`clinical pearls', which lists half a dozen important statements to remember in relation to the preceding chapter. There are some aspects that are not …


The increasing electricity demand has posed a dire challenge to the finite and rapidly depleting traditional energy resources. The use of these resources at the current rate is not sustainable and will eventually lead to an energy crisis. Renewable energy resources such as wind, hydro, solar, geothermal, and biomass provide an optimal solution to this challenge owing to their replenishable and environmentally friendly properties. Although all renewable energy sources are advantageous, wind energy is the most promising among them. It is cost-effective, has a lower environmental impact, and has a higher energy density. However, wind speed is volatile, and accurate predictions are required to ensure the efficient functioning of the grid. With accurate prediction models, changes in wind speed can be anticipated, and energy production can be adjusted accordingly. In this context, a hybrid model has been proposed in this study, which combines the strengths of three different methodologies, namely SARIMAX, RNN, and SVR, to enhance forecast accuracy and overcome the limitations of individual models. The seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average with exogenous variables (SARIMAX) captures the linear relationship between wind speed and relevant meteorological data. Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) capture long-term dependencies in wind speed data. Support vector regression (SVR) is used to enhance the predictions of the combined model further. By leveraging wind speed data from a small wind turbine in Karachi, Pakistan, the proposed hybrid model's performance is compared to that of the individual models of SARIMAX, RNN, and SVR. The experimental results presented in this study demonstrate that the proposed hybrid model outperforms the individual models regarding forecast accuracy. The proposed model's ability to enhance forecast accuracy can have far-reaching implications in improving the safety and dependability of power supply, reducing costs, and fostering the development of renewable energy sources


In view of some problems existing in the system of bridge engineering and management.This paper discusses the quality management for bridge engineering.This paper gives a brief introduction to impact factors of bridge quality and inspection of welding quality.It mainly discussed application of modern quality management methods and tools for quality management in welding project.It can predict welding quality. so this method has valuable in application.


The rates of Cr/sup 2+/ oxichtion by oxygen in salt and sulfuric acid solutions and in the presence of acetate were determined. The method based on preliminary recovery of U/sup 6+/ by Cr/sup 2+/ salts with subsequent oxidimetric determination was checked and verified, and the effects of a series of factors on the potentiometric uranium titration by chromium were studied. The chrometric method of U/sup 6+/ determination in the presence of vanadium concentration of U: V = 1: 1 was also checked and verified. (R.V.J.)


A field study at Nappan, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, was conducted over a 3-year period, 1969–71, to determine the optimum date of harvest for the lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait.). For each of the 3 years, from 70 to 80% of the fruits were ripe by August 10 and by August 30 more than 90% were ripe. The data obtained suggest that the total yield by number of ripe fruit would not appreciably be reduced, particularly in years with above-normal heat units, by advancing the season approximately 5 days earlier than has normally been done. Earlier picked fruit has tougher skin that would result in a greater number of whole fruits in processed products. Raking early would increase the percentage of green fruit and therefore increase cleaning costs slightly. Data were also collected during the years 1953–71 at Avondale, Newfoundland. These show a great variation between years in the maturity date of the fruit, but 80% are usually ripe in that province by mid-September.


Preventing relapses of atopic dermatitis (AD) through the regular use of topical products to repair the skin barrier defect is an emerging concept. It is still unclear if some commonly used emollients exert a positive effect on the skin barrier.


The new factories that are sprinkled through the area reveal that the release of the farm labor force by the mechanization of the leading crop, and the concomitant growth of industry that has been attracted by that released labor force, have enabled eastern North Carolina to make the transition from an agricultural to a mixed economy... in less than a single human generation. John Fraser Hart and Ennis L. Chestang, 1978 Whereas much was made, in the early 1980s, of the supposed urban-rural shift in manufacturing industries; it is now far less clear how rural regions are to fare in the post-Fordist international economy. Terry Marsden, Philip Lowe, and Sarah Whatmore, 1990 In 1978, as changes swept eastern North Carolina, nothing less than a "rural revolution" was heralded. Two geographers, John Fraser Hart and Ennis L. Chestang, argued that mechanization of flue-cured tobacco production had "emancipated" a large labor force from agriculture and that this changeover was in turn attracting new factories (1978, 435). A signature of the transition to advanced capitalism has since been said to include the decentralization of manufacturing operations in North America and Europe (Knox and Agnew 1998). What became of the rural revolution in North Carolina? Did the reconfiguration into an industry-based economy continue after the 1970s? And is globalized manufacturing serving to reduce the competitive advantage of eastern North Carolina and other rural regions in the United States? EAST CAROLINA Interstate 95 traces a boundary of no mean significance across North Carolina. It marks the divide--physical, historical, cultural, and economic--between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont and Mountain regions of the state (Bascom, Carey, and Zonn 1996, 203). Thirty-eight of the forty-one counties in the Coastal Plain were designated as "rural" by the 1990 census, constituting the largest rural bloc in any single state along the eastern seaboard (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1992) (Figure 1). The region has nonetheless received more than its share of shocks, including an unprecedented blow in September 1999 when Hurricane Floyd inflicted an estimated regional damage of $6 billion (Associated Press 2000) (Figure 2). "Down East" has long been the "backwater" region of the state, its agrarian roots slow to die. "King Cotton" reigned here at the turn of the century. After the boll-weevil plague came tobacco. Vertically integrated chicken and hog operations were added to the landscape in the 1970s and 1980s (Hart and Chestang 1996a, 1996b; Hart and Mayda 1998). And cotton is now making a dramatic comeback (Chestang 1996; Lord 1996). Agricultural changes notwithstanding, 1967 was the crossover year, in which more eastern North Carolinians were employed in factories than in the fields. Clearly, the diminishing role of agriculture in rural America prompted a movement of industry from the city into the country. By 1970, improved transport and communication technologies had severely eroded distance as a barrier between big business and a supply of cheap labor, creating a "permissive" environment and the decentralization of production (Knox and Agnew 1989, 92). Small towns in rural areas competed for factories, offering infrastructure and sizable-perhaps at times extensive-tax breaks. Especially in the South, manufacturing came to be associated with branch plants in rural environments (Lonsdale and Browning 1971, 257). North Carolina's Coastal Plain was precisely such an area. A large, comparatively cheap labor force there was newly furloughed from agricultural employment yet still relatively untouched by union organizers. The 1970s witnessed dramatic industrial growth-a 34 percent increase in manufacturing jobs for the thirty-eight rural counties in the North Carolina Coastal Plain. Nonmetropolitan industrial growth appeared to have the brightest of futures (Seyler 1979; Summer and Selvik 1979). …


This paper describes the Innovation system for indoor navigation using a mobile phone. A tool such as this requires a method of storing building data and routing information on the phone, as well as the ability to automatically track phone location as users walk around. We describe two alternative approaches to mapping building data along with a routing database design that make the project viable despite the limited storage, processing power and battery life of the phone. In particular, we compare GUI building plan annotation on a desktop computer with pedometer-based mapping of a building using the accelerometer on a mobile phone. Experiments indicate that users found plan annotation usable and database size scaled well for large buildings. The accelerometer-based approach to mapping a building was not acceptable due to inaccurate distance estimates, however this was adequate for tracking and directing users through a building, since small imprecisions were easily accommodated by users - they appreciated that directions would not give exact distances and were able to follow instructions to their destination in all test cases.


The lethal effects of antibiotics which may be observed in rabbits and some rodent species are reviewed. A selection of antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents and their respective dosages are referred to, which may be used therapeutically in these animals. Suggestions are made for the treatment of enterocolitis induced by antibiotics in rabbits.


Phytophthora cinnamomi is the most devastating forest disease world wide. It is mostly an introduced pathogen as in southern Australia where it devastates native forests, woodlands and heaths, directly and indirectly affecting vegetation types from a wide range of families. P. cinnamomi has also been introduced into European and North American hardwood and softwood forests. The pathogen is now cosmopolitan in the horticultural industry and it is a particular problem in nurseries. The significance of this is that P. cinnamomi has the opportunity to interact with and the potential to evolve in association with a wide range of new hosts and in a wide range of ecosystems. Distribution of the pathogen at the local, national and international level is of concern to the management of forest, native vegetation and horticulture industries.


Park et al. question one out of seven findings from Hadzipasic et al.: whether TPX2 allosterically regulates the oldest Aurora. We had already addressed the two concerns raised—sparse sequence sampling and not forcing the gene to the species tree—before publication. Moreover, we believe their ancestral sequence reconstruction would be consistent with a nonallosteric common ancestor, and we show large sequence differences caused by species tree–enforced gene trees.


PURPOSE: To increase light collection efficiency of a scintillator with a radioactive image pick-up apparatus having the scintillator optically coupled to a light detector. CONSTITUTION: A dielectric layer 40 is provided preferably to above a radioactive incident face 34 around at least a side wall 38 of a scintillator element 32, and a light reflection layer 50 is provided on the dielectric layer 40. The dielectric layer 40 has a smaller refractive index than that of a scintillator material, and as a result photons generated in the scintillator are reflected on a border face between the scintillator and the dielectric layer 40 and the light reflection layer 50. Further, the radioactive incident face 34 of the scintillator element 32 is formed in a dome shape, and an end face 36 of the scintillator optically coupled to a light detector 22 is formed in an conugation shape, so that the number of photons receiving total reflection in the scintillator is reduced.


Due to the interaction between chromatic dispersion (CD) and direct detection, the CD induced power-fading effect has been considered as the key point to limit transmission rate and distance in intensity modulation direct-detection (IM/DD) systems. Besides, the performance of the IM/DD systems will be further affected by the bandwidth limitation and nonlinearity effect. In this paper, we propose a low complexity nonlinear equalizer (NLE) based on temporal convolutional neural network (TCNN) regression model which combines dilated convolutions with residual connections. Then, the performance of our proposed equalizer is experimentally demonstrated in 56-Gbit/s 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) intensity modulation direct-detection system. The results show that the receiver sensitivity with the help of our TCNN equalizer can be improved about 1.5 dB and 3.5 dB compared to 2D-CNN and 1D-CNN equalizer under 70-km single mode fiber (SMF) transmission. Furthermore, the proposed equalizer can extend maximum transmission distance to 100 km at bit error rate threshold of 3.8 × 10−3.


The invention provides an electronic device modal test system which comprises an excitation unit, a measurement unit and a signal processing unit. The excitation unit comprises a clamp which is used for fixing a tested electronic device and an exciter which is rigidly connected with the clamp. The measurement unit comprises a sensor which is arranged on a vibration test reference point and a laser vibration test device which is arranged along the excitation direction of the tested electronic device. The signal processing unit comprises a computer system which is connected with the sensor and the laser vibration test device. According to the test system, vibration is produced by the exciter and is transferred to the tested electronic device through the clamp; an additional stiffness effect caused by direct excitation can be avoided; the response of the vibration test reference point is used as the transfer function of each test point of excitation calculation; in the case of unknown excitation, an experimental modal analysis method can be used to identify modal parameters; false or missing modal problems can be avoided; and the calculation amount is small. The invention further provides an electronic device modal test method and a traveling wave tube slow wave structure modal test system.


The energy trade between the European Union and Russia is securitized due to a combination of factors. First, there are securitizing agents within the European Union. Second, the domestic consolidation of the energy sector under governmental control, the Gazprom monopoly on transportation networks linking Central Asian gas with European markets and the state imposed-limits on foreign direct investment may also raise concerns in the European Union. Finally, Russia is also securitizing the energy sphere by claiming that the EU is trying to impose its values on Russia (for example through the Energy Charter Treaty), which contradicts Russian interests. This article combines securitization theory and the English School of thought and argues that the creation of an Energy Security Society could help de-securitize energy trade between the European Union and Russia.


Photonic crystals and photonic bandgap structures are subject of intensive research since their first proposal. Although they were invented with the aim at modifying spontaneous light-emitting properties of matter, their strongly dispersive and wavelength-selective properties are of considerable interest also in other technical disciplines like microwave antenna design, optical communications. One of the modelling tasks formulated by our group concerns the behavior of a high refractive-index contrast thin-film planar optical waveguide containing a 2D periodic structure of "holes" in its plane as well as the behavior of an embedded optical micorcavity in the periodic structure. In this contribution, the influence of higher-order waveguide modes on the spectral behavior of the simplest waveguide PBG device is studied using a bi-directional mode expansion (BME) and the transfer matrix methods (TMM). The stability of the microcavity is performed using the FDTD calculations, special interest is given to the microcavity response against frequency. A very simple condition for constructing nearly-perfect planar waveguide PBG structures is formulated and its validity for the high-contrast waveguide grating device is verified using the developed methods.


of the ' Book of the Dead' in their grave. It illustrated in chronological order the path of the deceased from his funeral to the netherworld, and his 'life' there. The author outlines what the book describes and analyses the different rituals and activities involving the dead. The Egyptians called this book the ' (Book of) Going into the Day'. They believed that at night the sun god Re travelled shining his light through the netherworld, and that the dead followed him in this journey in bright daylight, rising again with him daily. The reviewer would like to add that the Babylonians and the Assyrians shared the same image of the sun, and located the gate of the netherworld in the West as well. For them the sun god was the judge of the dead. They, however, conceived the netherworld as dark and gloomy, and did not believe in resurrection. In the second article Th. P. J. van den Hout discusses the Hittites' beliefs concerning death and after life. The written sources are very scarce and limited to the royal family. He centres, therefore, his discussion on a text describing royal funerary ritual that went on for two weeks of symbolic activities. In addition the writer discusses occasional references to death in various texts, as well as the terminology, metaphors and euphemisms for death, soul and spirit. The material is complemented by rich archaeological evidence and analogies to the classical world. Ancient Israel is treated by N. van Uchelen in the third article. The writer rightly comments on the difficulties inherent in the biblical sources: the books underwent several redactions which adapted them to theological speculations current at the period of revision, and none of them focuses on death as a theme. Consequently, the scholar is forced to use incidental references of different periods scattered through the books. However, the writer fails to take advantage of the fact that the biblical books are not completely harmonized, and that when combined with archaeological data and parallel Mesopotamian and West Semitic sources, they give a fairly good picture of the practices and beliefs prevalent in ancient Israel. Therefore, it is regrettable that the author has hardly used the ample sources. His assertion that there were no Mesopotamian influences on ancient Israel is simply incorrect. Although the myths and epics of the Israelites did not survive independently, traces of Mesopotamian traditions can be found in the Bible. A relevant parallel is the tradition about the creation of man from clay mixed with flesh and divine blood (see: W. G. Lambert and A. R. Millard, Atra-Hasis: the Babylonian story of the Flood, 1969, lines 208-30). The notion that blood is life can be found in Lev. 17:11, and compare Genesis 9:3. Furthermore, the ' return to clay' is a common Akkadian metaphor for death. We find a striking parallel to Genesis 6:3 in an Akkadian text according to which the life span of mankind is 120 years. This source from Emar is based on an early second millennium text from Nippur (see now: J. Klein, 'The bane of humanity', ASJ, 12, 1990, 57-70).


WHAT'S IN A TEST? ESL and English Placement Tests in California's Community Colleges and Implications for US-‐ Educated Language Minority Students Lorena Llosa and George C. Bunch January 2011 Report prepared for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation


A new method was proposed for the experimental determination of the mode III stress intensity factor of a longitudinal surface crack on a twisted bar, based on the combination of the membrane analogy method and the out-of-plane displacement Moire method. The membrane was replaced by a thin polymer sheet instead of soap or rubber film or liquids-interface in conventional methods, and the membrane displacement was frozen. By using simple equations, the stress intensity factor was obtained with the extrapolation method, and the accuracy of the results by this method proved itself quite satisfactory for analysis of the KIII stress intensity factors, in comparison with the theoretical solution.


Stalk borers are notorious for killing or stunting corn rows next to fences, grassed waterways, and conservation terraces. This insect can be most troublesome in nonBt corn, which of course could include the Bt refuge acres. To stop this damage, fields must be scouted and an insecticide applied on a timely basis before the larvae have an opportunity to tunnel into the growing point of the young plants.


This paper is focused on the transient dynamics of an adiabatic nano‐electromechanical system (NEMS), consisting of a nano‐mechanical oscillator coupled to a quantum dot. By numerically solving the nonlinear stochastic differential equation governing the oscillator, the time evolution of the oscillator position, of the dot occupation number and of the current are studied. Different parameter settings are studied where the system exhibits bi‐stable, tri‐stable or mono‐stable behavior on a finite‐time horizon. It is shown that, after a typically long transient, the system under investigation exhibits no hysteretic behavior and that a unique steady state is reached, independently of the initial conditions. The transient dynamics is marked out by one or two well separated characteristic times, depending on the considered case (i.e., mono‐ or multi‐stable). These times are evaluated for a dot on‐resonance or off‐resonance. It turns out that the characteristic time scales are long in comparison to the period of the uncoupled oscillator, particularly at low bias, suggesting that the predicted transient dynamics may be observed in state‐of‐the‐art experimental setups.


Rubidium?strontium and strontium isotope data for eight whole?rock samples of granite varieties from the Encounter Bay area, South Australia, yield an isochron age of 487 ± 37 m.y. Two specimens of albitised granite, formed as a result of late?stage metasomatic alteration of original megacrystic granite, conform to this isochron. These data support a genetic relation between granites and late?stage metasomatic alteration as suspected from field, petrographical and geochemical studies. Eight samples from contiguous Kanmantoo Group metasedimentary rocks have an isochron age of 487 ± 60 m.y. Thus this metamorphic event is coincident with emplacement of the Encounter Bay Granite. The initial Sr87Sr86 ratio for the Encounter Bay Granite (0.719) is significantly higher than initial ratios for the Palmer (0.709) and Anabama (0.705) Granites from the same region and can be attributed to either remobilisation or incorporation of strontium from older crustal material in the intrusion. The apparent initial Sr87/Sr86 ratio for the Kanmantoo Group metasedimentary rocks (0.722) can not be distinguished from that for the Encounter Bay Granite within the analytical uncertainties. Compatability of ages and high initial Sr87Sr86 ratios suggest that the granites formed by remobilisation of associated crustal rock.


The distribution of the eigenvalues of the correlation matrices of stochastic processes is addressed. A filtering view of the eigenproblem of the correlation matrices is given. It is shown that eigenvectors of a correlation matrix may be thought of as the coefficients of a set of optimum finite-impulse-response (FIR) filters that may be designed through an optimization procedure. It is shown that the eigenvalues of the correlation matrix of a transversal filter may be obtained by averaging its output power when the complex conjugate of its corresponding eigenvectors is used as its tap-gain vector. This results in an effective mathematical tool that may be readily used for estimation of the eigenvalues of the correlation matrices under many conditions of interest.<<ETX>>


A one-pot procedure for the high yield preparation of title compounds is reported. The key features involve the conversion of the fatty acid into the corresponding mixed anhydride by reaction with ethyl chloroformate, followed by reaction with aniline, using acetonitrile as solvent to ensure homogeneous reaction mixtures and keeping reaction times short to avoid the formation of undesirable side products.


New series of thiazole based amides, namely, 1e [N-(thiazol-2-yl)pentadecamide] to 1h [N-(thiazol-2-yl)stearamide], 2e [N-(4-methylthiazol-yl)pentadecamide] to 2h [N-(4-methylthiazol-yl)stearamide], 3e [N-(5-methylthiazol-yl)pentadecamide] to 3h [N-(5-methylthiazol-yl)stearamide] were synthesized, characterized and investigated for their gelation properties. Interestingly, out of three series of thiazole amides synthesized, two (1e–1h and 3e–3h) had displayed odd–even effect on gelation property with an increase in the methylene functional group of alkyl chain attached with thiazole moiety. The gelation–non-gelation of solvents was found to be more significant for the series of compounds 1e–1h, whereas a subtle effect was observed in the series of compounds 3e–3h. A single crystal study of non-gelator (2d) highlighted the crucial role of the methyl group and its position on the thiazole moiety in bringing about a change in supramolecular synthon from a robust cyclic N–H⋯N interaction to the combination of N–H⋯N and N–H⋯O interactions. Self-assembly of four molecules of 2d led to the formation of a zero-dimensional (0-D) hydrogen bonded network instead of a one-dimensional hydrogen bonded network observed in gelling compounds mediated by (methyl)C–H⋯N, C–H⋯O and van der Waals interaction. Various gelling agents (3e–3h) were used for the synthesis of nearly spherical silver and ZnO nanoparticles using a sol–gel method, through encapsulation and stabilization of nanoparticles in the gel network. Interestingly, the alkyl chain lengths of thiazole amides were found to affect the size of synthesized Ag and ZnO nanoparticles.


Objective:To study the role of MR imaging in diagnosing neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy(HIE) and the correlation with clinic.Methods:Sixty two cases of asphyxial perinatal neonates,who were diagnosed HIE by clinic and performed MR imaging,were collected.Results: T 1 weighted images and T 2 weighted images with fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence were significantly superior in T 2 weighted images with SE sequence in the detection of HIE ( P 0.05).HIE was mostly located in periventricular white matter,subependymal,basal ganglia areas in prematures.In full term neonate,however,HIE mostly lay in cerebral cortex and temporal and parietal lobe.There was a partial correlation between Apgar scores and grading of brain damage on MR images in early HIE and sequela,but not completely correlative each other.And it is also correlative with ages.Conclusion:MR imaging is highly sensitive in detecting early HIE.There are different MRI findings with different ages,and so is the different sequela with different regions of the lesion.


Folic acid supplementation during pregnancy has been widely advocated for the prevention of neural tube defects in developing countries. The author of this letter, however, argues that such a strategy is unwarranted and a misuse of scarce resources. Folic acid deficiency is not the primary cause of neural tube defects and the incidence of this defect is similar in developed and developing countries. It has been estimated that folic acid fortification of cereal-based products--an exceedingly difficult, expensive intervention--would prevent only about 1000 neural tube defect cases per year. Moreover, additional folic acid can prevent neural tube defects only if consumed during the periconceptional period. Although women at risk of neural tube defect recurrence are advised to take 4 mg of folic acid per day when they plan to become pregnant, the recommendation for the vast majority of women in developing countries is increased consumption of beans, oranges, and green leafy vegetables.


This paper embarks from the angle of the large-scale system.On the foundation of the sustainable development target system research,it establishes the water traffic safety appraisal index system of Xiangjiang River,using the PSR concept model.And carry on the dynamic evaluation and analysis to the safe condition of water transportation of Xiangjiang River from 2001 to 2006 with the comprehensive index method.


ABSTRACT This study investigated the effect of gamma irradiation on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contents in smoked guinea fowl meat. Guinea fowls were processed, smoked and irradiated at 0, 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 kGy. PAHs were extracted and their concentrations determined using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer. Health risk of the PAHs to humans was also estimated. Sixteen PAHs were detected in the smoked meat with concentrations ranging from 0.002 to 9.221 μg/kg. B[a]P recorded the highest value of 9.221 μg/kg (0 kGy) and the least value of 0.057 μg/kg for the meat samples. Irradiation significantly reduced the PAHs concentrations and their carcinogenic derivatives. Health risk estimation suggested that the levels of PAHs in the treated smoked meats pose no dietary intake risks. Gamma irradiation has the potential to minimize the toxicity of carcinogenic PAHs in smoked guinea fowl meat, thereby increasing export and enhancing the future economical marketing of this food product.


The Occupational Safety & Health Administration requires emergency eyewashes and showers to be made available to employees in locations where employees' eyes or body may be exposed to injuriously c...


The World Wide Web contains huge amount of dynamic, heterogeneous, and hyperlinked distributed documents. Many modern information retrieval systems are developed based on matching process, which is automated, but classification and query formulations are manual process. The approach taken in this paper is to add intelligence to Information Retrieval by way of Document Classification based on Vector Space Model using Inter-connected neurons with relevance feed back from the retrieved documents to the intelligent classifier as well as to the user query. The basic idea is to integrate three existing techniques: classification, query expansion and relevance feedback both to classified documents and user query to achieve a concept-based information search for the Web.


1. Introduction 2. Environmental Aspects of the Atlantic Slave Trade and CaribbeanPlantations 3. The Fur Trade in Canada 4. Hunting, Wildlife, and Imperialism in Southern Africa 5. Imperial Travellers 6. Sheep, Pastures, and Demography in Australia 7. Forests and Forestry in India 8. Water, Irrigation, and Agrarian Society in India and Egypt 9. Colonial Cities: Environment, Space, and Race 10. Plague and Urban Environments 11. Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis in East and Central Africa 12. Imperial Scientists, Ecology, and Conservation 13. Empire and the Visual Representation of Nature 14. Rubber and the Environment in Malaysia 15. Oil Extraction in the Middle East: the Kuwait Experience 16. Resistance to Colonial Conservation and Resource Management 17. National Parks and the Growth of Tourism 18. The Post-Imperial Urban Environment 19. Reassertion of Indigenous Environmental Rights and Knowledge


Advanced packaging technologies like wafer-level fan-out and 3D System-in-Packages (SIPs) are rapidly penetrating the market of electronic components. A recent trend to reduce cost is the extension of processes to large manufacturing formats, called Panel Level Packaging (PLP). In a consortium of German partners from industry and research advanced technologies for PLP are developed. The project aims for an integrated process flow for SIPs with chips embedded into an organic laminate matrix.
 At first dies with Cu pillar structures are placed into openings of a laminate frame layer with very low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). They are embedded by vacuum lamination of thin organic films, filling the very small gap down to 15 μm between chips and frame. The frame provides alignment marks for a local registration of following processes. The ridged frame limits die shift during embedding and gives a remarkable handling robustness. Developments are initially performed on a 305×256mm2 panel format, aiming for a final size of 610×615 mm2. On the top side of embedded chips, a 20μm dielectric film is applied. The goal is to avoid additional via formation and to realize a direct connection between the Cu pillar of the die and the RDL
 The RDL formation is based on semi-additive processing. Therefore a Ti or TiW barrier and Cu seed layer is sputtered. Subsequently a 7μm photoresist is applied and exposed by a newly developed Direct Imaging (DI) system. Lines and spaces of 4μm were achieved with high yield. In the following, Cu is simultaneously electroplated for the via contacts and interconnects traces.
 Finally, the photo resist is stripped and the TiW barrier and Cu seed layers are etched.
 The goal of the development is to provide a technology for a high-density RDL formation on large panel sizes.
 The paper will discuss the new developments in detail, e.g. the influence of most significant process parameters, like lithographical resolution, minimum via diameter and the placement and alignment accuracy on overall process yield.


If useful information can be extracted from telecom call record,it will aid management and decision-making of enterprise.In this paper data mining for telecom call record is presented with pretreatment.In order to know relationships between customers,a set is comprised of phone numbers communicating with every mobile phone,and semantic correlation algorithm based on fuzzy set is used to find out telephones with strong relationship.Experiment shows its validity.


In this paper, a water control project on the measurement of dam problems for data analysis, measurements from the Excel application design solution to the problem, and the use of test procedures are described.


Background Undernutrition among under �ve children in India is a major public health problem.Despite India's growth in the economy, the child mortality rate due to undernutrition is still high in both urban and rural areas.Studies that focus on urban slums are scarce. Hence the present study was carried out to assess the prevalence and determinants of undernutrition in children under �ve in Maharashtra, India. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in 16 randomly selected clusters in two districts of Maharashtra state, India. Data were collected through house to house survey by interviewing mothers of under �ve children. Total 2929 mothers and their 3,671 under �ve children were covered. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify the determinants of child nutritional status seperately in urban and rural areas. Results The mean age of the children was 2.38years (±SD 1.365) and mean age of mothers was 24.25(± SD6.37) years.Overall prevalence of stunting among children under �ve was 45.9 %, wasting was 17.1% and 35.4% children were underweight.Prevalence of wasting, stunting and underweight were more seen in an urban slum than a rural area.In the rural areas exclusive breast feeding(p<0.001) and acute diarrhea (p=0.001)in children under�ve were associated with wasting, children with birth order 2 or less than 2 were more affected by stunting and exclusive breast feeding (p<0.05) and low maternal education were associated with underweight.Whereas in the urban slums exclusive breast feeding(p<0.05) was associated with wasting, sex of the child (p<0.05) and type of family(p<0.05)were associated with stunting,and low income of the family(p<0.05) was associated with underweight. A cross-sectional study among This study was a part of the baseline survey conducted in 16 clusters located in two districts of western Maharashtra, India during cluster randomized control trial (CRCT) among children below �ve years of the rural area and urban slums. The trial was registered with clinical trial registry of India (CTRI) India. Study design: study. compared �ve 1 2 3 This study is unique in providing information about undernutrition and it's determinants at the community level. The data were collected by quali�ed and trained �eld supervisors and the quality checks for data collection was monitored by the site investigators from public health, community medicine and pediatrics specialty.


Abstract : Combat Active Replacement Factors, or CARFs, are logistics planning factors currently used by the U.S. Marine Corps as estimates of equipment losses in future conflicts. Adapted Army replacement factors are currently a prime source for CARF values, but verification of these values is difficult. This report examines two alternate means of estimating CARF values for comparative purposes. The first employs mean-time-to-loss estimates for various equipment types, and several scenario-oriented models are given for mapping these values into CARFs. Professional military judgement provides another way of estimating CARF values, and a procedure is given by which the judgment of many experts can be aggregated to provide CARF information. A demonstraction of the procedure is given, employing actual data from twenty-three judges who rated 'chance of loss' for twenty-one equipment types. Keywords: Replacement factor, combat losses, scaling.


The Internet opens new opportunities for conducting pre-purchase information search. Lower search costs have been found to affect use of the Internet for this purpose. Benefits in terms of the large amounts of information available and freedom from physical contact with sales staff have also been found to affect the use of the Internet for information search positively. In this paper, low costs and benefits are put together in a model. The model was tested by means of structural equation modeling on a sample of Danish Internet users (n = 233). The main result is that the amount of Internet use affects use of the Internet for pre-purchase information search more than perceived low search costs and perceived availability of information. Further, the test of the model did not support that pleasure in shopping and a preference for personal contact to sales staff affect the use of the Internet for information search.


Therapeutic ultrasound has been widely used to treat various diseases including chronic wounds. However, the mechanisms of the ultrasound effects in wound healing and the best regimen of treatment is still unclear. In this study, the authors used skin electrical impedance measurement during ultrasound treatment and detected a fall in local skin impedance under ultrasound while simultaneous temperature measurement did not show any rise. This result supports the non-thermal effects of the ultrasound and indicates that ultrasound may cause changes in permeability, intracellular electrolytes etc.


Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are particularly attractive as antibacterial agents owing to their ease of precise bacterial biofilmand cell-targeting in vivo by magnetic driving. The IONPs coated with watersoluble glycol chitosan (GC-IONPs) was synthesized by coprecipitation method, followed by characterization and evaluation of antibacterial activity. Characterization of IONPs by FTIR, XRD, TEM and VSM revealed both bare and GCcoated IONPs to be superparamagnetic belonging to magnetite, with a saturation magnetization value of 70.3 and 59.8 emu/g and average diameter 9 and 8 nm respectively. For antibacterial activity, both bare and GC-coated IONPs were more effective against E. coli ATCC 8739 and S. enteritidis SE 01 than the commercial antibiotics linezolid and cefaclor. But, for E. coli O157:H7 TWC 01 and S. aureus ATCC 10832, GC-IONPs showed higher potency than bare IONPs. The GC-coated IONPs could be a potential nanomaterial for in vivo applications in biomedical fields.


This paper proposes an accelerated High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) transcoder which can promptly provide downscaled video contents to various devices. The quadtree information is first extracted from the decoding process and is transformed for the target resolution. By utilizing the decoded depth information, the encoder can be accelerated by only searching the optimal depths in the quadtree, without losing the video quality. The encoder also adaptively changes the depth search ranges according to the picture order count (POC) for further optimization. Our proposed method shows a maximum encoding speedup of 2.18, with only 0.3% BD-rate increase in the best case.