In recent years because of increasing energy demand in our country and the rest of the world and supplying this energy demand by fossi l fuels like coal, oil and natural gas cause an increase in carbondioxide emission. Increasing c arbondioxide amount and other pollutants released from fosil fuel combustion (met hane, nitrogen oxides, hydroflorocarbons, sulfurhexaflor and ozone) absorb the rays coming fr om sun, partially prevent turn-back to atmosphere and cause warming of atmosphere. Besides causing environmental pollution and global climate change, fosil fuels increase the dep endence of energy to foreign countries. By the way Turkey should change her direction to renew able energy sources and when evaluating the national fosil fuel resources it bec omes inevitable to take necessary precautions to prevent environmantal pollution. Today going alo ng the barrel price of oil's above 105 $, rising price of natural gas and difficulties in it' s procurement makes it necessary to take precautions such as evaluating the national sources , using the clean energy Technologies supplying energy effiency, energy economy and versa tility of sources. On the other hand dependance of our energy supply to abroad reaches to 73% and while overcoming this disadvantage by using our native energy source, lig nite, we should use the technologies to control the SO2 emissions and CO 2 release. In this study Turkey's energy statistics and energy demand estimates are investigated. Research results , about the renewable and clean energy potentials of Turkey, are given. Finally according to these potentials, recommended Turkey's energy policies are discussed. As emerging clean t chnologies, hydrogen energy, biofuel and underground coal gasification processes are demonst rated. Bülent D.ÇİFT ; Hasancan OKUTAN 82 TÜRK İYE'N İN ENERJİ BAKI Ş AÇISI, TEM İZ ENERJİ TEKNOLOJ İLERİ VE UYGUN ENERJİ POLİTİKASINA KARAR VERME


The utility model relates to an energy recovery device of a pre-treatment system for sludge pyrohydrolysis. The energy recovery device comprises an energy recovery device main body as a container for recovering energy, wherein water sealing liquid is contained in the main body; a plurality of heat source pipelines communicated with the energy recovery device main body and a steam generating part of the pre-treatment system for sludge pyrohydrolysis, wherein parts of the heat source pipelines are located in the energy recovery device main body and are provided with a plurality of holes under the water sealing liquid to transfer heat energy in steam to the water sealing liquid; a water sealing liquid control system which comprises a water supplementing pipeline, a water conveying pipeline and a water sealing liquid level control assembly, wherein one end of the water supplementing pipeline and one end of the water conveying pipeline are respectively connected with the energy recovery device main body for respectively supplementing the water sealing liquid and discharging and using the water sealing liquid which has already absorbed heat energy, and the water sealing liquid level control assembly is arranged on the energy recovery device main body for controlling the water sealing liquid in a predetermined liquid level.


A man aged 55 was admitted to Barrow Hospital in November, 1950, in a state of agitation. Depressive episodes had occurred before and had necessitated at least four periods in various hospitals and nursing-homes. TQgether with the agitation and depression he showed a mixed type of aphasia, mainly motor, with almost complete agraphia. He was unable to find words to express. his needs, although by gesture he usually made himself understood. He was also able to respond by actions to commands, whether given verbally or in writing. There was no clouding of consciousness. Perseveration in speech was marked, and it was quite clear that the inability to write his requirements occasioned him great upset,-and after a few attempts he usually lay back in bed, the picture of tearful misery and distress. He was of athletic habitus, with good nutrition, showing marked peripheral arteriosclerosis and a retinopathy of about Grade 1I significance (Wagner and Keith). Serial bloodpressure readings showed a mean of 150/95. On investigation the urine was normal, and the W.R. and Kahn tests were negative. Radiographs showed that the heart was slightly enlarged in its transverse diameter, and that there was considerable calcification of cerebral vessels. Electrocardiograms revealed left axis deviation only. A blood count showed: Hb, 12.5 g. (80% Sahli); red cells, 4,210,000 per c.mm.; white cells, 10,400 per c.mm. (differential count normal). Electroencephalograms did not reveal any focal signs. Lumbar puncture showed a pressure of 180 c.mm. H20; no ventricular or spinal block. The fluid was clear and colourless, with 1 lymphocyte per c.mm. Globulin was normal; protein, 40 mg. per 100 ml. Lange, normal. W.R. negative. Psychological examination showed that he was probably a man of superior previous intelligence, with learning and memory failure; the perseverative quality and complete failure to improve suggested an organic origin. Because of the above symptoms, signs, and investigation results, he was regarded as a case of organic brain change with aphasia due to cerebral arteriosclerosis, but with no evidence of a focal lesion.


The study deals with code switching by the teacher of English subject in SMP Negeri 1 Air Putih. The purposes of the study were to find out types, function and the reason of teacher's code switching. The research was conducted by using descriptive qualitative design. The data were the teachers utterances which contained the code switching. The source of the data were three of English teacher of SMP Negeri 1 Air Putih collected by recording and interviewing.The result showed that there were three types of teacher's code swithcing namely extra-sentential code switching, inter-sentential code switching, and intra-sentential code switching. There were six functions of teacher's code switching, the first was to organize the classroom, second was to provide explanation of difficult word and important concept, third was to reassure the student, fourth was to praise the student, fifth was to remind the student, and the last was to encourage the student involvement. The reason why teacher switched the code in English teaching process was student's English ability. Based on this finding it is suggested to other researcher to conduct the research about the code switching deeply.


In this paper we compare the three methods as the Self-Organizing Map (SOM), Matrix Reordering (MR) and Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) to analyze and visualize multidimensional data. As a case study the survey of Estonian emotion concepts is analyzed by the three methods and the results are compared. We assess what are the common elements of the results of the analyses, how the methods complement each other and how the knowledge gained by different methods help us to interpret the results.


Many researchers have been concerned with classifier combination techniques for complex pattern recognition problems such as digit recognition. Several combination approaches are compared with respect to achieving very high accuracy digit recognition. Both nonadaptive and adaptive combining schemes were considered. Non adaptive combiners studied included: majority voting, highest confidence, Borda count, and vector addition. Adaptive combination schemes investigated included: four different neural net combiners and weighted voting optimized with a genetic algorithm. These different schemes were tested on the task of combining three neural network digit classifiers, identical in architecture but trained using different training sets. Significant increases in recognition performance on blind test sets containing non digit blobs are reported in the region of very high accuracy (0.2% to. 1.0% error) for the neural network and genetic algorithm approaches on a database of digits extracted from financial documents.


Objective To study the application value of modified retrograde tracheal intubation in patients with respiratory failure.Methods Total 30 patients with respiratory failure and difficult airway who were rescued by modified retrograde tracheal intubation in our hospital from March 2011 to August 2012 were selected as observation group,and 30 patients who were rescued by traditional retrograde tracheal intubation at the same time were selected as control group,then the intubation time,success rate of intubation at first,second and third time,incidence of complications,hemodynamics indexes before and during intubation of two groups were compared.Results The intubation time of observation group was shorter than those of control group,success rate of intubation at first time was higher than those of control group,incidence of complications was lower than those of control group,SBP,DBP,HR and MAP during intubation were all lower than those of control group,all P0.05,there were all significant differences.Conclusion The comprehensive application value of modified retrograde tracheal intubation in patients with respiratory failure is higher,and the bad stimulation for the patients is smaller.


Polyurethane prepolymers were prepared in ethylacetate from TDI and poly(oxypropilene)glicols) (PE-PU) or poly(tetramethyleneglycoladipate)diols (PES-PU) of different molecular weights (M). Homogeneous membranes were prepared by spreading the pre-polymer solution added with a three, four or pentafunctional crosslinking agent, in the presence of stannous octoate as a catalyst. On increasing M, the PUs Tg decreases regularly in the range +30 to −47°C. PU's are amorphous with the exception of PES-PU obtained from highest M polyester diols. Permeability P, diffusivity D, solubility coefficient S of N2, O2, CO2, CH4, CO were measured at T=35°C (>Tg).P, D, S do not depend on the crosslinker functionality, but mainly on M. P and D in PE-PU are linear function of T-Tg while in PES-PU the function is not linear. Gas solubility fulfills in general the regular solution theory. P, D, S of water vapor is also given. Permeability decreases in the order H2O>CO2 > O2 > CH4 > CO > N2. Some practical application based on particular selectivities is suggested.


This article presents a technique for detecting atrial fibrillation (AF). The technique employs electrocardiographic interbeat interval (IBI) alteration. The IBI is the time interval between individual beats of electrocardiogram. Two statistical, mean and standard deviation of IBI are examined. For the classification a support vector machine (SVM) with RBF function is applied. We have examined this technique using clinical electrocardiogram of patients with AF. The examination shows that the detection which utilizes mean and standard deviation of two consecutive segments provide the performance of 95.17%.


A core aspect of agile governance is effectively managing communications between a government and its citizens. However, doing so during an emergency?particularly a pandemic?is often complex and challenging. In this article, we examine how various levels of the Chinese government (central, provincial, and municipal) communicated with the public in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzing government social media posts during the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan (?text as data?), we conduct topic modeling analysis and identify four strategies that characterize Chinese governments? responses to a variety of issues at the ground level, which we label instructing information, adjusting information, advocacy, and bolstering. The results show that local government agencies predominantly used the first two strategies, whereas the central government mainly relied on the last two. These strategies explain how various levels of government engaged in agile governance through their communication with citizens, highlight the coordination and control work undertaken by governments at all levels, and demonstrate how these methods shielded the central government from blame for the pandemic.


In Type I insulating systems the presence of partial discharge (PD) leads to the fast degradation of the insulating system dielectric characteristics. This could result in the short-medium term, to a total breakdown discharge provoking the failure of the system. A predictive diagnostic system is advisable to prevent the failure of the motor. This kind of diagnostic system should be non-invasive and economically feasible. For these reasons different types of antenna sensors have been employed and evaluated. The captured irradiated partial discharge signals are then processed with different filters and amplifiers. This study has been conducted on suitable twisted pairs specimens subjected to PWM-like waveforms typical of electronic variable speed drive supplies. A comparison between measuring sytems based on the detection of conducted or irradiated PD signals have been performed. The peculiarities and potentiality of both systems have been assessed and evidenced.


In this paper, a novel loop coil structure for synthesized magnetic field focusing (SMF) technology and two current distribution calculating algorithms in the structure are proposed. The proposed structure enables field focusing in two-dimensional (2-D) space for the first time. The loop coil structure with a rectangular formation is adopted for a 2-D SMF system to minimize the volume and weight of the transmitting (Tx) coil array considering that conventional SMF systems inevitably have a volumetric design due to their dipole-based structure. Two algorithms to calculate the current distribution so as to focus the magnetic field at the target point are proposed. The first algorithm applies the Biot–Savart law to a loop-coil-based 2-D SMF system to calculate the distribution. The second algorithm utilizes a time-efficient synthesis method which reduces the matrix dimensions used in current distribution calculation. The second algorithm shows synthesis results with similar synthesis resolution compared with the first algorithm. Although the magnetic field distribution with the second algorithm has a little difference with that of first algorithm, its synthesis result focuses the magnetic field on the target point successfully, and it becomes more powerful as the number of coils increases. Synthesis results using two algorithms were compared with a finite-element method simulation with 100 Tx coils and 25 receiving (Rx) points. The synthesis resolution, as determined by –3 dB points, was enhanced by 4.45 times and 6.15 times for the first and the second algorithm, respectively, when compared to nonfocused case. An experimental prototype with 36 Tx coils and 9 Rx points with each coil 10 × 10 cm in size was built to demonstrate field focusing with current distributions calculated by the second algorithm at a frequency of 145 kHz. The experimental results were in good agreement with the simulated results, including a case in which the magnetic field was focused at Rx point other than center.


In the European Union about 84,000 reinforced and prestressed concrete bridges need to be maintained, repaired and strengthened at an annual cost of £215 M, while in the USA, about 27% of highway bridges require repair or replacement [4]. Due to the high cost associated with reconstruction of the damaged elements, repair and strengthening techniques have become a priority in the recent years due to its much lower cost.


Recent automotive systems require various data, including data from on-board sensors and external sources to recognize environmental conditions. As the amount of sensor data used in automotive systems increases, processes that use such data become increasingly complicated. In addition, similar data processing can be duplicated over multiple applications. To address these issues, a data stream management system (DSMS) for automotive systems based on a data integration architecture has been developed. However, hard real-time deadlines cannot be guaranteed due to unpredictable load changes caused by data streams. For example, the arrival time and CPU utilization requested by data streams from vehicle-to-vehicle communications change rapidly depending on environmental conditions. We propose the reservation-based operator path earliest deadline first (ROP-EDF) scheduling algorithm for an automotive DSMS under overload conditions. The proposed algorithm reserves processor time preferentially for hard real-time tasks so that tasks can meet deadlines under overload conditions. ROP-EDF can be used for load testing on a single processor system. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm compared with existing algorithms relative to the deadline miss ratio under overload conditions.


CASE MANAGEMENT PHYSIOTHERAPY KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS DEXTRA MODALITIES WITH TENS AND TERAPILATIHAN IN HOSPITAL SUKOHARJO
(Istimufidhah Dian Rela Agustin, 2015, 51 pages)

Abstract

Background: Osteoarthritis is a disorder of the joints moving. This disease is chronic, slowly progressive running, not inflamed and marked by the deterioration and erosion of cartilage and the formation of new bone at the joint surface. Physiotherapy modalities used are TENS to reduce pain. And therapy is done with the method of free active exercise, active resisted exercise, and hoald relax, beneficial to reduce pain, increase range of motion, increase muscle around the joints.

Objective: To mengetahuai TENS effect on reducing pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, to know the effect of exercise therapy to increase range of motion (LGS), know the effect of exercise therapy to increase muscle strength around the knee joint, know the effect of exercise therapy to increase the ability of functional activity based scale Jette.
Results: After treatment as 6kali in getting research results pain, tenderness silent T1: 2 to T6: 1, painful motion T1: 5 to T6: 4, T1 flexor muscle strength: 4- become T6: 4+, extensor muscle strength T1 : 4- become T6: 4+, increase range of motion active movement T1: S 0-0-125 be T6: S-0-0-135, passive range of motion movements T1: S 0-0-130 be T6: S 0-0-135, anthropometric increase at the start of the umbilicus - lateral malleolus: 60 cm to T1: 60 cm to T6: 60 cm, SIAS - the medial malleolus: 60 cm to T1: 60 cm to T6: 60cm, increase the functional capability of the position stands sitting, pain T1: 1 to T6 1, difficulty T1: 2 to T6: 2, dependence T1: 1 to T6: 1, walk 15 meters, pain T1: 2 to T6: 1, difficulty T1: 2 to T6: 1, dependence T1: 1 to T6: 1, go up the stairs three traps, pain T1: 2 to T6: 2, difficulty T1: 2 to T6: 2, dependence T1: 1 to T6: 1.
Conclusions:Transutaneus Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) can reduce pain, exercise therapy is free of active exercise, active resisted exercise, and hoald relax, beneficial to reduce pain, increase range of motion, meiningkatkan muscles around the joint.
Keywords: Osteoarthritis dekstra, Transcutaneus Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS), free active exercise, active resisted hoald exercise and relax.


242,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed annually, rendering it the most common noncutaneous cancer and the second highest cause of cancer death among men [1]. However, the majority of prostate cancers are indolent in progression, and the risk of cancer-specific mortality is just 3.7% [1,2]. The incidence and mortality of prostate cancer are largely inconsistent, and the advent of PSA screening has contributed to overdiagnosis and overtreatment [3,4]. Overdiagnosis can be defined as the detection of prostate cancer during screening that would not have been clinically diagnosed throughout a man's lifetime in the absence of screening [5]. PSA testing can identify disease 6 to 13 years before it presents clinically, and therefore overdiagnosis is a substantial consequence, especially because prostate cancer is generally diagnosed in older men [2,5,6]. 10-56% of tumors never lead to clinical symptoms, and detection of prostate cancer during autopsy studies has been reported as high as 60-70% [7,8].


The purpose of this study was to examine the existing state of the art with regard to the selection of a roadway cross-section for a suburban arterial road. The goal was to develop guidelines to choose between alternative treatments in different situations with respect to land use, traffic volume, travel speed, etc. The primary focus of this research was on arterial highways in developing suburban areas, and two alternative treatments -- nontraversable medians and two-way left-turn lanes (TWLTLs). Several mathematical models were examined, but were found to be not universally applicable. The following investigations were performed to gain additional information: (1) a survey of highway design engineers of different state departments of transportation to identify their experience and preference; (2) an analysis of accidents on Tennessee highways with TWLTLs and medians, respectively; and (3) an analysis of traffic delay on road segments with a TWLTL and a median, respectively, using the simulation model known as NETSIM.


Observation on molluscs on western coastal zone of Lembeh Strait waters, Bitung City was conducted on April 2008 and March 2009. Western coastal zone of Lembeh Strait waters has environmental degradation. Molluscs as one of occupier marine live in this area. The observation was aimed to find out an idea on the condition of molluscs at western coastal zone of Lembeh Strait waters. It was made at 5 stations. Molluscs samples in quadrant transect line were counted and identify. Trachycardium flavum (Cardiidae) class of Pelecypoda were the common and widely distributed molluscs. Molluscs community on western coastal zone of Lembeh Strait waters on medium diversity. The highest diversity index (H) (1.149) was found at Station 4 and the lowest (1.180) was found at Station 3. An evenness index (J) was 0.842 to 0.973 and richness index (D) was 43.62 to 68.82.


Capacity maturity model(CMM) is a model which stresses the process appraisal.Based on the theory and method of CMM and in combination with the characteristics of safety economic activity process,the safety economic capacity maturity model(SE-CMM) is constructed.SE-CMM is used to estimate the capacity of the enterprise safety economy and to help the enterprise manage the key activity and improve the quality,and to provide a better method to transform the management of the enterprise from single management to synthetic management.At the end this paper takes a mining oil factory as an example and its the result shows that SE-CMM provides the standard and quality control points for enterprise safety production.


Publisher Summary This chapter discusses that the consumers are usually unaware of the technical details of food processing and certainly most consumers are unaware of the use of enzymes. However, consumers may form attitudes to food processing technologies, including the use of enzymes, when they are confronted with information about them. The chapter deals with how consumers form attitudes to novel enzyme technologies and with the effects the attitudes may have on the consumers' intentions of buying foods that are processed using the technologies. The central issue is how attitudes toward novel enzyme technologies are formed. The chapter presents a description of the theoretical approach to studying the consumer attitudes toward new technologies in the food industry, and the design and results of two major studies investigating the issues are reported. It also discusses the implications and future trends. Enzymes have been a natural part of food production for centuries; however, novel technologies are opening up new possibilities for using enzymes to enhance the structural properties of food products. Enzyme extraction from plants or microbes for use in large-scale food processing usually requires the use of gene technology. Therefore, it is in the interest of scientists, food producers, and regulators to know how consumers form attitudes toward the use of novel enzyme technologies in food processing. Although it is still not clear how the labelling of enzymes from genetically modified (GM) systems will be regulated in the future, consumers will sooner or later be confronted by the existence of the technologies in food processing.


Effects of ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation on a polymer dry etching process have been investigated with the use of a low-energy mass-selected ion beam system. The effective etched depth of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) by CF3+ ion beam injection and/or UV light irradiation was evaluated from the decrement of PMMA film weight measured by a quartz crystal microbalance. A significant enhancement of the etched depth of PMMA was observed when a CF3+ ion beam was injected to PMMA substrate with UV light irradiation. The etched depth of PMMA during simultaneous irradiation of CF3+ ion beams and UV light was greater than the sum of those obtained from separate CF3+ ion beam or UV light irradiation processes.


In West European countries natural habitats are often fragmented. In those countries fragmentation is both characterized by an increase in the number of habitat fragments and a decrease in their size, leading to animal population isolation. The geometry of linear infrastructures (e.g., roads, railways) is not so much a cause of destruction of animal habitats, but rather it acts more as a barrier between fragments. If we consider linear infrastructure as a barrier in landscapes, it is important to study biological fluxes between landscape features before deciding the final route of such infrastructures. OptiFlux development is based on the "resistance concept," developed by G. Pain for his Ph.D. (2001) for SCETAUROUTE and the French Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Transport. OptiFlux is an automatic GIS space analysis device. It is designed for the prediction and identification of the effects of linear infrastructure on the territorial occupation and viability of the animal populations concerned. OptiFlux can also be used to assess the relevance of fauna passages and, consequently, to optimize their final location and quantities. OptiFlux is crossing land use and environmental data, correlated with the ecological requirements of the species studied. OptiFlux is based on a population viability analysis, applying the SCETAUROUTE Arc View GIS standard. The innovative aspect of OptiFlux is its automated diagnostic approach, with the cross-relation of space and biological data. There are three direct applications for the tool: • Identification of routes having least impact on wild animal population flows • Optimization of the number/location of fauna passages for the benefit of wild animals • Simulation of the positive effect of the fauna passages proposed OptiFlux provides a preliminary approach for a quick identification of the critical areas to be taken into account for design and estimation of the infrastructure. However, it does not eliminate the need for expertise and verification of the results obtained by a field biologist. OptiFlux is a project optimization instrument, helping with the decision making process, concerning the necessity and relevance of the improvements retained. It is also a tool that provides images of future scenarios once the project is realized. OptiFlux has been tested on many species, such as Mustela lutreola, Osmoderma eremita, species of major importance in terms of the European wildlife heritage (threatened species), and Capreolus capreolus, Cervus elaphus, Sus scrofa, species encountered in the majority of projects. Several organizations have already expressed interest in this tool, such as the ONCFS (French National Hunting and Wildlife Authority), various French motorway companies, the IAURIF (Ile de France Regional Urban Planning and Development Institute), and the Direction Regionale de l'Equipement du Nord Pas de Calais.


Tatyana Mamonova's objective in publishing this collection of essays written between 1984 and 1987 is to make Russian women's history and situation better known in the west. By this means, she hopes to further links between women's movements inside and outside the USSR and to advance Soviet "neofeminism." Its broad range with sections on women in history, the arts and sciences, classical Russian authors, recent developments, and the cold war and peace serves the first purpose well. While specialists may find much of the material familiar, there are fascinating flashes of insider knowledge. For me, an interesting reflection on exile emerged. Historically, we learn of a close intellectual, emotional and political relationship between "the two Catherines" Catherine the Great, who seized power from her husband in 1762 to reign as Autocrat until her death in 1796, and "Catherine thelittle" Dashkova, who was rewarded for her loyalty to her sovereign with the directorships of the Academies of both Arts and Sciences. Self-educated in Enlightenment authors, the aristocrat Dashkova travelled to Europe where she favourably impressed Voltaire and Diderot (the latter thought she should be prime minister!), investigated university education and discovered Angelica Kaufman's painting for Russian audiences. In the nineteenth and twentieth cen-


A this year's president of the Eastern Cardiothoracic Surgical Society (ECTSS), I am very excited to announce that Innovations: Technology and Techniques in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery has become the official journal for our Society. This Society has a very rich history. It was founded in 1962 as the Pennsylvania Association for Thoracic Surgery as a venue for cardiothoracic surgeons to gather together and increase their negotiation power with insurance companies to receive proper payment for emerging thoracic procedures. Since then, the Society has been characterized by exemplary collegiality among its members. In addition, the annual meetings have served as the initial forum for many medical students, residents, and cardiothoracic residents to present their first basic science and clinical research endeavors. In 2012, our board approved a motion to change our Society's name to the ECTSS, and our members later approved this motion during the 50th Annual Meeting. The name change wasdone to extendourmembership to a broader geographical area. Since then, ourmembership has significantly grown, including new members from New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, and North Carolina, among others. As our Society continues to grow, a next natural step was to establish a formal affiliation with a cardiothoracic journal. We really appreciate that Ralph J.Damiano, Jr,MD, and theBoard ofDirectors of the International Society forMinimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery accepted our request. We encourage our members and presenters to the annual meeting to submit their work to Innovations. I invite other readers of Innovations to consider joining our Society and to attend our 52nd Annual Meeting of the ECTSS, October 8 to 11, at the Four Seasons in Palm Beach, FL USA. We look forward to a fruitful and collaborative relationship with Innovations for many years to come.


Y2O3 films grown with a new liquid Y precursor, (iPrCp)2Y(iPr-amd), have been investigated in terms of the chemical properties of the precursor, atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, and material characterization of the deposited film, as well as its non-volatile resistive switching behavior has been investigated. A heteroleptic (iPrCp)2Y(iPr-amd) has been synthesized because it exists in a liquid phase at room temperature. A vapor pressure of 1 Torr is obtained at 168 °C, and thermal evaporation and decomposition begins from 250 °C and 425 °C, respectively. The Y2O3 film is fabricated by ALD technique using (iPrCp)2Y(iPr-amd) and water as the precursors. The growth of the Y2O3 films is self-limited with an ALD window from 350 °C to 450 °C and a growth rate of 0.06 nm per cycle. The deposited Y2O3 film shows a polycrystalline cubic structure, higher refractive index of over 1.8 at 632.8 nm, and a high dielectric constant of 24. The as-deposited Y2O3 film is highly stoichiometric and constant in terms of Y and O through the depth, and it also includes small –OH bonds in the film without any additional processes. The Ru/Y2O3/Ru resistor shows resistance switching between the low and high resistance states with voltage sweeping, and the resistance ratio between the two states is more than 1000 times, which is preferable for non-volatile memory operation.


176 Background: Assessment of financial toxicity (FTox) is recommended as a component of comprehensive supportive care for patients with metastatic cancer. FTox is common in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and is associated with poor quality of life. Available data suggest many patients with cancer have faced financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We evaluated FTox using the COmprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST) measure in patients with MBC at Johns Hopkins clinical sites. Respondents were patients with MBC who completed the COST measure as part of the baseline assessment for one of two IRB-approved quality improvement projects initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic: 1) a pilot project evaluating incorporation of patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures into routine care (RC), and 2) a needs assessment prior to attending a multi-disciplinary clinic (MultiD-C) focusing on supportive care. COST scores range from 0-44 with higher scores indicating better financial well-being. FTox was graded as: Grade 0 (G0): >26, Grade 1 (G1): >14-26, Grade 2 (G2): >0-14 and Grade 3 (G3): 0. Results: 40 patients with MBC completed the COST measure May 2020 through April 2021 as a component of RC and 17 patients with MBC completed the COST measure September 2020 through May 2021 in advance of anticipated attendance at the MultiD-C. Median age (range) for RC and MultiD-C respondents was 64 (36-85) and 55 (37-75) years, respectively. 4 (10%) and 4 (24%) of RC and MultiD-C respondents respectively reported household income < $50,000. The majority of respondents in both groups were White [RC: 28 (70%), MultiD-C: 14 (82%)], non-Hispanic [RC: 36 (90%), MultiD-C: 16 (94%)], had more than high school education [RC: 37 (93%), MultiD-C: 17 (100%)] and all were insured. 27 (68%) of RC respondents and 11 (65%) of MultiD-C respondents were receiving oral cancer therapies. COST scores and grading are shown in the Table. Approximately half of the respondents in each group reported their illness has been at least "a little bit" of a financial hardship [RC: 22 (55%), Multi-D: 8 (47%)]. Conclusions: Patients with MBC receiving care during the COVID-19 pandemic frequently report FTox. Implementation of routine assessment for FTox via PRO measures and identification of strategies to support patients with MBC experiencing FTox are priorities both during the pandemic and beyond.[Table: see text]


The commutativity degree, defined as the probability that two randomly selected elements of a group commute, plays a very important role in determining the abelianness of a group. In this research, the commutativity degree is extended by finding the probability that a group element fixes a set. This probability is computed under two group actions on the set namely, the conjugate action and the regular action. The set under study consists of all commuting elements of order two of metacyclic 2-groups and dihedral groups of even order. The probabilities found turned out to depend on the cardinality of the set. The results which were obtained from the probability are then linked to graph theory, more precisely to orbit graph and generalized conjugacy class graph. It is found that the orbit graph and the generalized conjugacy class graph consist of complete graphs, empty graphs or null graphs. Moreover, some graph properties including the chromatic number, clique number, dominating number and independent number are found. In addition, the necessary condition for the orbit graph and generalized conjugacy class graph to be a null graph is examined. Furthermore, two new graphs are introduced, namely the generalized commuting graph and the generalized non-commuting graph. The generalized commuting graph of all groups in the scope of this research turns out to be a union of complete graphs or null graphs, while the generalized non-commuting graph consists of regular graphs, empty graphs or null graphs.


1 Noradrenaline (0.1‐3.0 μM) inhibited the twitch responses to single pulse field stimulation of the isolated vas deferens of the mouse. The higher concentrations of noradrenaline (ca. 0.3‐3.0 μM) were required to make the tissue contract. 2 Phentolamine (10 μM) abolished the contractor response to higher concentrations of noradrenaline and antagonized the inhibitory effect of lower concentrations on the twitch response. 3 Propranolol (10 μM) potentiated both the contractor and the inhibitory effect of noradrenaline on the twitch response. 4 Isoprenaline (0.1‐3.0 μM) and salbutamol (1.0‐3.0 μM) both inhibited the twitch response. Their effects were antagonized by propranolol (10 μM), but not by practolol (10 μM). 5 The effects of uptake1 and uptake2 blocking agents were determined. Cocaine (10 μM) reduced the size of the twitch response in 2 out of 4 experiments. Imipramine (0.18 μM) also reduced the size of the twitch, as did oestradiol (3.7 μM) and a combination of cocaine and oestradiol. 6 Contractor responses to exogenous noradrenaline showed tachyphylaxis, but when this was not very marked, the response could be shown to be potentiated by uptake blocking agents. 7 The inhibitory effect of noradrenaline on the twitch response was greatly potentiated by cocaine (10 μM) and much less so by oestradiol (3.7 μM). 8 It is concluded that the transmitter responsible for the twitch response is either an unknown substance released from the sympathetic neurone, or noradrenaline acting upon a receptor with none of the characteristics of known α‐ or β‐adrenoceptors. In either case, noradrenaline can inhibit the output, probably by stimulation of presynaptic α‐adrenoceptors.


Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) has been widely accepted for the planarization of multi-layer structures in semiconductor manufacturing. Micro-scratch is the typical defect made during the CMP process, which are produced mainly because of agglomeration of slurry. Defects like micro-scratch lead to severe circuit failure, and affects yield. In this study, we described approaches to a production-worthy CMP process to prevent impact of micro-scratches on product wafer and lead to yield improvement. We have studied the effects of slurry filtration, pad cut rate of pad conditioner disks, and pad grooving design of the hard pads. By optimizing the consumables and polishing conditions, the hard pad-pad process showed 80% improvement in defectivity compared to the stack-type pad process.


The syndrome of insidiously progressive spastic weakness of both legs occurs in a number of etiologically distinct disorders including hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), primary lateral sclerosis (PLS), and sometimes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This review summarizes the clinical and pathologic relationship between these disorders.


* Marcel Gordon is a recent Computer Science and Law graduate from the University of Wollongong, who is now working with the law firm Blake Dawson Waldron in Sydney. He expresses sincere thanks to Dr Warwick Gullet for his enthusiasm and encouragement in preparing this paper. Maritime terrorism has become an increasingly important topic in both academic and political discourse over the last decade. The importance of international shipping to world trade makes it an attractive target for terrorists seeking to disrupt the global economy. A number of incidents around the world have highlighted the vulnerability of both ships and maritime installations to terrorist attacks. Recent initiatives aimed at protecting international shipping and preventing maritime proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) bring into sharp focus the tensions between the traditional maritime freedoms of the high seas and the development of effective responses to maritime terrorism.


In this research, we classified the various applications of Cloud Computing technologies in educational institutions. In addition, we identified the theoretical frameworks through which actual implementations can be evaluated. A case study was used to show the applicability of the theoretical frameworks. Upon completion of this research, a list of Critical Success Factors will be derived from both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings will provide support to planning and implementation of Cloud Computing technologies in educational institutions.


We present the sampling and decoding algorithm and the VLSI implementation of a high-speed UART (Universal Asynchronous ReceiverTransmitter) library cell to be used in custom or semi-custom VLSI chip designs. Our approach to data recovery, which is based on signal preprocessing and an innovative decoding algorithm, operates with as few as 2 samples per bit time, thus achieving a high communication rate. Using a clock of frequency f MHz, this UART can transmit and receive at a rate of up to f Mbits/s, without any internal multiplication of the clock frequency. The current design, that was submitted for fabrication operates at data rates up to 25 Mbits/s (ES2 1.5 μm CMOS standard cell technology), while extensive simulations for a higher performance technology (1 μm gatearray) verify that our cell operates at data rates up to 60 Mbits/s. We are currently performing post-fabrication testing, and some preliminary results show that the prototypes operate succesfully at the data rate of 20 MHz. The resulting cell is small and flexible, making it suitable to be used as a building block in chip designs. It can serve as an interface between serial asynchronous communication links, or as a building block for fast and inexpensive networks.


In gridded electrostatic thrusters, ions are produced by electron bombardment in the discharge chamber. In most of these thrusters, a single, centrally located hollow cathode supplies the ionizing electrons. An applied magnetic field in the discharge chamber restricts the electrons leaving the hollow cathode to a very narrow channel. In this channel, the high electron current density ionizes both propellant gas flowing from the hollow cathode, and other neutrals from the main propellant flow from the plenum. The processes that occur just past the hollow cathode exit are very important. In recent engine tests, several cases of discharge cathode orifice place and keeper erosion have been reported. In this paper we present results from a new 1-D, variable area model of the plasma processes in the magnetized channel just downstream of the hollow cathode keeper. The model predicts plasma densities, and temperatures consistent with those reported in the literature for the NSTAR engine, and preliminary results from the model show a potential maximum just downstream of the cathode.


This article discusses Western narrative paintings composed in different eras by four artists and relates them to the contemporary situation in a very different place, that is to say, the Middle East. My selected examples are Masaccio's The Tribute Money (1426–1427); Pieter Brueghel's The Parable of the Blind (1568); Jacques-Louis David's The Oath of the Horatti (1784) and Thomas Couture's The Romans of the Decadence (1847). What these four paintings have in common is indirect narrative. The artists use many facets of meaning which I shall relate to social, economic, moral and political aspects in the Middle East. The Middle East has been living through one of the worst and weakest eras in its history. Its cultures, religions, traditions, ancient civilisations and educational system are found questionable by many Western politicians. 1 In the twenty-first century, freedom of expression is celebrated everywhere except in the Middle East where people cannot speak out. I add my voice to Masaccio's, Brueghel's, David's and Couture's in order to communicate locally with my people by sending them the same messages that were indirectly sent to different peoples centuries ago. Because of religious and political restrictions in the past, some Western artists had also to convey their personal opinions indirectly. Re-reading these selected paintings today may remind Middle Eastern people of their economic, political and ethical weakness, offer reasons for it and suggest thinking of solutions. Arabs are walking 'backwards' for many reasons: one is that institutional corruption infects people and augments their idleness. Local media either present the history of past victories or junk entertainment, but nothing to build up creative confidence today; the result is stagnant citizens. Jawad Rachami declares that:


Abstract: The paper describes an automated information system to monitor children's health in the Tambov region developed at the department "Biomedical engineering" of Tambov State Technical University in 2011. The scheme of the system and developed software has been described. The results of the system are presented, which indicate a high efficacy of health monitoring. Systeme informatique automatise du monitoring de la sante des ecoliers: elaboration, experience de l'introduction, resultats Resume: Est examine le systeme informatique automatise du monitoring de la sante des enfants de la region de Tambov elabore au departement «Technique medicale» de l'Universite technique d'etat de Tambov en 2011. Sont decrits les schemas du systeme et le logitiel elabore. Sont presentes les resultats du fonctionnement du systeme qui parlent d'une grande efficacite du monitoring de la sante realise. Авторы: Фролов Сергей Владимирович – доктор технических наук профес-сор, заведующий кафедрой «Биомедицинская техника»;


Evidence-based medicine (EBM) uses the scientific method to organize and apply current data to improve healthcare decisions. Thus, the best available science is combined with the healthcare professional's clinical experience and the patient's values to arrive at the best medical decision for the patient. There are 5 main steps for applying EBM to clinical practice :


Experiments performed on model systems show that the contact angle of a liquid on a solid depends strongly on very small-sized chemical heterogeneities of the solid surface. The measurement of the maximum advancing and minimum receding contact angles of liquid Sn on Si-SiO 2 surfaces was performed by stretching and compressing a liquid bridge between two parallel plates. The shape and distribution of the micro-defects are controlled by fabricating model chemically-heterogeneous surfaces. The wetting hysteresis is found to depend on the linear density of the chemical defects as the chemical pinning of the triple line occurs in only one (advancing or receding) spreading direction. Moreover, the inversion of the chemistry of the substrate and the defect leads to different width of the hysteresis. These results agree fairly well with the recent theoretical descriptions of wetting phenomena.


This study presents a remote sensing approach for monitoring inland waters exemplified for the Mecklenburg Lake District, Germany. From airborne hyperspectral remote sensing data the relevant parameters Secchi depth, chlorophyll concentration, and phycocyanin concentration are derived. Based on 38 independent in situ reference measurements regression models are established, transferred to airborne data of three different dates, and validated with additional reference measurements. After this regional calibration the models can be used continuingly without the need of further water sampling. The remote sensing data for the first time supply a synoptic and spatial overview of the concentration distributions of the water parameters in the Mecklenburg Lake District. Therewith, an instrument is being provided to plan the more intensive in situ measurements more effectively over space and time.


Food security is the availability of food for all at every time. Now question is that our technology is sustainable enough? Have ability to meet the demand of burgeoning population without much affecting our natural economy? No doubt green revolution makes us self reliance, we have increased our food production many folds, but often a question isvery common at what extent green revolution is sustainable? In modern era agriculture, industries and urbanization are highly exploitative in nature. Modern crop production technology has considerably raised output but the natural resource base is degraded and diminished gradually simultaneously the quality of environment sustaining human life is adversely affected. We have created threats for our natural resources (soil, water, forest) and biodiversity (crop, fishes, and other plant and animal genetic resources). We have to believe in the fact "Nature is for our need not for our greed". The earth climate has been considered as till recently as a remarkably stable, renewable, taking care of all human misadventures and assaults on fragile biosphere. Even today if we reduce the anthropogenic activities the adverse effect of global warming will be managed. Now again question is, it is possible to combat the food demand with our traditional agriculture, without moving towards modern one? It never is possible, because our per capita demand growing and availability of land diminishing. Here each and every sector of management needs security. In that situation only agronomy has ability to answer these questions. The history of the world reveals that great civilizations (Nile, Harappa Mohan zodaro) flourished along the irrigation sources (river) and mis-management of these resources sawthe extinction of these civilizations. Agronomist can take initiative tolead the challenge of Future Food Security (FFS) by increasing per capita income and make self reliance to the farmer through Integrated Intensive Farming Systems (IIFSs). Since meeting the need of present generation without eroding the ecological assets of the future generation is receiving top priority by food and environment managers.


An adaptive array antenna adjusts its element weightings so as to null out interference signals while maintaining a beam in the desired signal direction. This process of nulling out interferers has a constraint represented by the limited degrees of freedom. This puts limits on the number of requirements an array can achieve at a particular time. For instance, an N-element antenna array has N-1 degrees of freedom in its pattern. So if there are more interferers we need an array with a large number of elements. But here, we stop thinking about interferers as individual spot sources and we take into consideration their space distribution, their positions as long as their relative strengths, this is accomplished by constructing a general interference pattern and then studying this pattern to determine the optimal null positions. Next, the neural networks technique is used to adjust the array weights with their optimal values, which will give a general array pattern to meet the specified requirements. The previous process is fully described and illustrative examples are introduced.


As the internet and accompanying technologies develop, so do the opportunities to help people affected by mental health challenges. The advances in communication technologies have coincided with the growing prominence of the mental health consumer voice prompted by the recovery movement. These emerging threads of change have led to a profound influence in the shaping of mental health services and the nature of assistance received by consumers. This exploratory article discusses how Barbara Myerhoff's (1986) definitional ceremonies can be used to better understand the social exchanges that take place within virtual internet communities to allow those with mental health challenges to proactively shape their recovery. We discuss how the online participants discussed in this article construct their narratives of recovery with peers. The article lays out some of the advantages and disadvantages of virtual communities for those struggling with mental health issues. Finally the article reflects on the role that ...


A controller for an electromechanical positioning actuator is synthesised. The different levels of intelligent behaviour of the resulting controller are analysed; the skill level, the rule level and the knowledge level. An analysis of the resulting system intelligent behaviour is presented, including its learning ability. A comparison between the expected behaviour (simulation) and the obtained (experimental) is also presented.


This research aims to find out the implementation of output-based learning (OBL) in increasing students' creative and innovative thinking skills in solving H-irregularity. The research method used in this research is mixed methods. Mixed methods is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative methods are used to obtain data related to the testing result on each indicator and the result of phase portrait while quantitative methods are used to analyze statistics using SPSS program. The research subject consists of two classes, which are 38 students of the control class and 40 students of the experimental class. Both classes are given different treatments. OBL methods are applied at the control and experimental classes, but only the experimental class that uses students' worksheets. The research result is that two homogeneous classes using the pretest result show the sig value 0.681>0.05 so that the average difference of both classes is not significant. The result of inferential statistics and independent sample t-test on the post-test result shows that the sig (2-tailed) value is 0.007 (p. 0.05) so that it is significant. The conclusion is that there is a significant effect from the implementation of OBL in increasing student's creative and innovative thinking skills in solving the H-irregularity problem.


The Delay-lDisruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) architecture has long been analyzed in terms of the Bundle Protocol (BP) and the Licklider Transmission Protocols (LTP) performance, when used in deep space environments. The research conducted so far focused mostly on the performance of specific protocols under simplified network conditions, thus missing some key aspects of real space communication operations. This paper tries to bridge this gap by providing a more exhaustive analysis of DTN performance in deep-space environments, and considers the interaction between routing and the overall data delivery delay achieved by thejoint use of the BP and LTP protocols. An extensive experiment campaign has been performed on a virtualized testbed based on ION software to collect results in complex scenarios and translate them into significant observations about space operations.


Abstract The structure of decision-making in the field of trade policy in Finland after World War I is analysed in this study, with the theory of public choice and the institutional theory of Douglass C. North as the premises. Dependent on her foreign trade, Finland was quickly forced by economic considerations to build up a trade policy of her own. One way to normalise the situation was to create corporative structures in which the private sector wielded direct influence. Typical of the Finnish system was the key role played by certain, relatively few, people especially in negotiations on trade agreements. This is interpreted as resulting from the administrative underdevelopment of Finland in the early years of independence, the country's small size, and the scarcity of persons classifiable as an economic elite. The political heritage of the 1918 civil war is also seen as a strong explanatory variable.


Kang, Hyunsook and Kyuchul Yoon. 2005. Tense/lax distinctions of English [s] in intervocalic position by Korean speakers: consonant/vowel ratio as a possible universal cue for consonant distinctions. Studies in phonetics, phonology and morphology 0.0. 00-000. Several experiments have investigated voicing judgments in Germanic Languages when the duration of the first/stressed vowel and the following fricative or stop closure are varied while other cues for voicing remain constant and ambiguous (cf. Denes 1955, Port & Dalby 1982, etc.), showing that consonant/vowel ratio serves an important role for voicing distinctions. This paper investigates whether a temporal relation like consonant/vowel ratio can also be a possible cue for the distinctions of other features of consonants in a language that employs a totally different phonological system from Germanic languages. Several experiments examine how English words with intervocalic [s] are perceived by the speakers of Korean in which there are two alveolar sibilant fricatives, tense [S*] and non-tense [s]. Experiment 1 investigates how a nonce word [bˆs\n] spoken by an English speaker is identified by Korean native speakers when the duration of the fricative and its preceding vowel varies in small steps. Experiment 2 investigates the effect of the vowel that follows the fricative on tensing judgment. The findings from these experiments show that a simple temporal cue like consonant/stressed vowel ratio also influences Koreans' tensing judgment, suggesting the possible nature of its universality in perception. (Hanyang University and The Ohio State University)


Zajonc's thesis that "mere exposure" enhances attitudes is both novel and intriguing. In its general form, this hypothesis seems to challenge the time-honored maxim of Familiarity breeds contempt, and rejects the traditional reinforcement theory whereby positive adient responses are established through conditioning and association. Zajonc presents two main lines of evidence in support of his hypothesis: one relates to the observation of an empirical correlation between the frequency of words in language and their positive affect; the other consists of data on the effect upon positive or negative affect of experimental manipulation of stimulus exposure. Let us see how this evidence bears upon Zajonc's hypothesis.


Previously studied fuzzy bipolar conditions of type "and if possible" are made of a mandatory condition c and an optional condition w. They allow expressing complex preferences of a conjunctive nature. We define in this paper, a new kind of fuzzy bipolar conditions of the form "or else" which express complex preferences of a disjunctive nature. We show that the "or else" form can be used as a negation operator of the "and if possible" form and vice versa. We also show that these both forms are compatible and, therefore, fuzzy bipolar conditions of both types can be used together in the same bipolar query.


The Purpose of this study was to investigate the defoaming activity of Simethicone formulated in the antacids commercially available in Thailand. Raw materials and finished products were both tested. Results indicated that poor quality of products was due to factors such as quantity of Simethicone in the formulation, standard of raw materials and manufacturing method. Key words: Defoaming activity, Simethicone, Antacids.


From the early 1990s, in the municipality of Alto Paraiso de Goias (GO) are being offered training courses for trekking and professionals of touristic and eco-touristic areas. The courses, addressing to the community as a development opportunity in line with the naturalistic vocation of the region, offer opportunities for empowerment and growth, provide cultural and technical tools for self-management and valorization of local resources and become exemplary initiatives of economically, environmentally and socially sustainable models.


This paper proposed an ameliorate adaptive genetic algorithm where the mutation and crossover rates are adapted dynamically based on the evaluation results of the respective offspring in the next generation, simultaneously, we combined this new algorithm with PD controllers to improve the stability of control systems. The experimental results show that comparing with other researchers' approaches in this field, the PD-GA method can also significantly accelerate the system response and induce lower overshoot as well.


Similarly to vitreous silica, irradiation of Sio2 films on silicon releases bond strain by creating network defects and a small increase in density and a decrease in polarizability. In contrast, the density of quartz crystal decreases and its polarizability increases during irradiation. These effects are due to the basic trend of maximizing ¿-bonding and minimizing bond strain in the Si-O network. From the irradiation-generated electron-hole pairs, the holes are trapped in narrow and localized ¿-bands at ~0.4 eV above the SiO2 valence band while the electrons move rather freely. This hole trapping is an intrinsic property of the Si-O bond. Hole trapping also occurs at the Si/SiO2 interface where interface states are generated. It is suggested that this process involves breaking surface Si-H bonds. Results obtained with various analytical techniques demonstrate that hydrogen present in various forms in the oxide film plays a crucial and complex role in the irradiation behavior of Si/SiO2 interface structures.


A new model for dislocation motion appropriate for crystals having high Peierls stress is presented. The model makes use of dragging points on the dislocation which restrict the free motion of kinks on the line. It predicts a dislocation velocity with an exponential dependence inverse in the stress and an activation energy appropriate to kink nucleation. In extensive Appendixes, kink theory is used to develop explicit formulas for the stress dependence of the kink nucleation energy and to work out the statistical details of the nucleation rate. Also, a detailed theory of kink collisions is developed when the kink population is high. Finally, the experiments of Kabler described in the previous paper of this journal are interpreted in terms of the model with appropriate parameters for Ge.


Surplus labor in the public sector--a characteristic of many developing countries--is viewed in this paper as the consequence of rent-seeking behavior. A theory is presented of a segmented labor market with endogenous government hiring in response to unemployment. A simple computable general equilibrium model is used to illustrate how this can give rise to dynamic social costs and to quantify them. Fiscal resources are diverted to support the unproductive "sink." The effect of surplus labor on economic growth is shown to be substantial, while the government's attempt to reduce unemployment is shown to be futile. Copyright 1991 by Royal Economic Society.


In the post-Foucauldian era, the innocence of all discourse is suspect, especially patriarchal, racist, and colonial western discourse. Western discourse desires the feminization of space—pacification, domestication, and containment of both women and space within bounded male horizons. Ever since the Renaissance, colonies have been denoted as mappable entities—a colony is a woman, very definitely discovered. The colonial encounter can be portrayed in terms of a brutal rape metaphor—Africa as the docile and willing prey of the male colonist, the master rapist. Sexual and colonial relationships thus become analogous. Riches promised by the colony signify both joys of the female body and its status as a legitimate object of male possession. Africa-as-colony-as-woman thus provides both the pleasure and the comfort of feminized space. Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe's portrayal of tribal Igbo culture reflects the intrusiveness of the colonial gaze and its inability to comprehend what it seeks to codify; Achebe shows the colonial anthropologist-administrator's fantasized rape of tribal Igbo culture and his phallic inadequacy to do so.


There are lots of chemical laboratories in high-rise R&D buildings. Large amounts of hazardous chemicals were stored in them. Once a fire breaks out in high-rise R&D buildings, its severity will be much greater than that of high-rise residential building fire. Inflammable chemicals, explosive chemicals, toxic chemicals are usually get involved in hazardous chemical fire. FDS software is usually used for numerical simulation of hazardous chemical fire. Then, the impact of hazardous chemicals fire in high-rise R&D buildings can be analyzed under different fire conditions. This paper collected the hazardous chemicals stocks of 69 companies in the R&D buildings and screened the storage data of hazardous chemicals. Typical hazardous chemicals were selected as fire simulation objects. The consequences of hazardous chemical fires can be analyzed by simulation results. The difference between hazardous chemical fire in R&D high-rise buildings and residential building fire can be found out. At the same time, relevant performance indexes will be proposed for the evacuation of high-rise R&D hazardous chemical fire.


Tt-m John B. Semple Mexican Expedition of 1939 collected a few specimens in the Federal District and in the States of Mexico and Puebla while en route to and from Las Vigas, Veracruz. Near the village of Tizayuca, on the main highway forty miles north of Mexico City, they spent half an hour on March 30. At Mexico City proper, where they spent the night of March 30, and April 5, 6 and 7, they were able to do but little bird work. But on the pine-covered mountains between Mexico City and Puebla they spent several hours on March 31, centering their activities at a point five miles west of the village of Rio Frio at an elevation of about 11,000 feet; and on April 6 they morored thirty miles southwest of Mexico City, collecting for two hours about the marshes at Lerma, and pausing for a brief reconnaissance of the spruce forest near the village of Las Cruces, at about 10,000 feet elevation, on their return that afternoon. In the State of Puebla only three brief stops were made-one at the city of Puebla, March 31, where few birds were seen because of a sudden dust storm; and two near the Veracruz state-line, in the vicinity of the Laguna Alchichica and town of the same name, April 5. The following list of forty-six forms is primarily of birds actually collected at the above-mentioned localities; but there are also a few


Switzerland is known not only for its snow covered mountains and for its chocolate but also for its liberal legislation with regard to assisted suicide. If no selfish motive is involved, suicide assistance—for example, by providing the necessary drugs—is legal even by non-doctors. Active euthanasia, however, remains illegal under all circumstances.circumstances.

Figure 1

Suicide assistance is largely offered by three organisations in Switzerland: EXIT for German speaking Switzerland; EXIT for French speaking Switzerland, also known as EXIT ADMD; and Dignitas. Unlike Dignitas, which also caters for non-residents and has prompted much debate about suicide tourism, both EXIT associations offer their services to Swiss residents only.

Filmmaker Fernand Melgar was first confronted with an incidence of assisted suicide while watching a news report a few years ago. "The report did somewhat shake me up, although I never questioned the choice of the suicide candidate," he recalls. "It was more the suicide assistant's perspective that bewildered me—what would motivate someone to take on such a responsibility?"

Melgar contacted EXIT ADMD with the idea of making a documentary film. In view of the delicacy of the subject, the society's president, Dr Jerome Sobel, initially hesitated to agree to the project. "Then again, we had nothing to hide," he says. Melgar was eventually given the opportunity film virtually all of the society's activities over a year.

The result of this experiment is astounding. EXIT, as the film has been named, is basically a compilation of typical scenes from the society's daily life. Perhaps in an attempt to let the viewer make their own decisions, Melgar does not impose his own interpretation—Melgar merely takes the role of the passive observer. There is no narrative to guide you nor is there a journalist interviewing anyone and summarising things for you. Instead the film builds on the intimate conversations between its characters, including suicide candidates, other members of EXIT, relatives, friends, accompanying volunteer workers, secretaries, and others.

Little by little, the viewer learns about the motivations of candidates for suicide, their ups and downs, and about their feelings for their loved ones. We learn how difficult it is to be an accompanying volunteer worker. "This is not something you can do as regularly as clockwork. It's an exceptional act every single time. I'm exhausted after every assisted suicide," Dr Sobel says.

Ultimately, the film shows how peaceful the process of an assisted suicide can be. They simply drink a glass of "magic potion" and fade in the company of their loved ones.


Dendrimers with enediynes at the core and a benzyl ether-type dendron at the surrounding periphery were prepared as pure cis- and trans-isomers. Intramolecular energy-transfer efficiency and emissi...


e23515 Background: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are mesenchymal malignancies representing 1-2% of all gastrointestinal cancers. There is a general shortage of reported data on GISTs from the Republic of Armenia (RA). This paper aims to conduct a national assessment of the epidemiological, diagnostic, and treatment approaches of the GISTs in RA. Methods: The study utilizes a cross-sectional design. Five-year retrospective data on patients with the moderate and high-risk group has been analyzed (from August 31, 2016, up to February 01, 2023). Data has been obtained through medical records. It was feasible to apply census sampling since each GIST patient receives Imatinib in the Hematology Center after prof. Yeolyan free of charge and all the medical records are centered in this facility. Descriptive analysis has been done to demonstrate patients' demographic characteristics, the spread of the disease, pathological and genetic features of the tumor, and performed treatment. Results: In total 69 moderate and high-risk patients have been targeted. That counts for about 1% of all GI tumors diagnosed in Armenia in 2021. The mortality rate was 10%. The male-to-female ratio was 1.56:1. Age range was 30-81 years (median 58). Advanced disease was observed in 31.9% of cases. The primary site of the tumor (gastric vs non-gastric) was not significantly associated with the disease stage (p-value: 0.192). Expression of CD34, CD117, and DOG1 was positive in 97.3%, 100%, and 96.7% of cases respectively. However, it is worth mentioning that data on immunohistochemical (IHC) features are lacking due to the incompleteness of medical records and the absence of a joint e-health system in Armenia. Furthermore, significant under-testing of the tumor genetic profile was observed. Only 3 patients were tested for KiT mutation (positive in all cases) and no one for PDGFRA mutation. Under-testing is caused by the high cost of genetic profiling which is covered out-of-pocket in RA. All patients received first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). Adjuvant or palliative radiation therapy (RT) was not applied. The majority of patients (95%) underwent tumor resection for curative or palliative purposes. Conclusions: Demographic and epidemiological profile of GISTs in RA is similar to the reported international data. In contrast, the rate of advanced diseases is higher in RA, possibly due to diagnosis delays. [Table: see text]


This work presents a distributed model predictive control strategy for generating collision-free point-to-point motions for a formation of multiple vehicles. It extends a synchronous distributed model predictive control (DMPC) scheme presented in earlier work that allows violations of the formation requirement when necessary, for example to avoid suddenly appearing obstacles or to move through narrow passages. In order to obtain safe motion trajectories during these violations, the current paper presents an approach for including inter-vehicle collision avoidance constraints in the DMPC scheme. The collision avoidance is achieved by separating each pair of vehicles by a shared hyperplane and two methods are proposed for updating the separating hyperplane over the DMPC cycles. Simulations with formations of holonomic vehicles demonstrate the capability of the presented strategy.


a substantial proportion of HIV-infected patients are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), or both. How best to


Through using the method of literature review and two-dimension video-tape analysis and two video-image software systems named Peak Motus 9.0 and Dartfish 4.0,this paper makes video research on the result of 14.90m of Xie Li-mei who is a women elite triple jump athlete and her result has broken the Asian women triple jump record.The result showed that:1.the length of last two strides was 2.14m and 2.35m.the average speed was 9.30 m/s of the last stride,the maximal approach velocity was 9.43m/s.2.the horizontal speed of three jumps were 8.39m/s,7.45m/s and 6.67m/s,the vertical speed were 2.59m/s,1.73m/s and 2.15m/s,three take-off angles were 17°,13°and 17.8°.3.the proportion of the three stages of jump were 38.7%,27.7% and 33.6%.


Muscular atrophy, defined as the loss of muscle tissue, is a serious issue for immobilized patients on Earth and in human spaceflight, where microgravity prevents normal muscle loading. A major factor in muscular atrophy is oxidative stress, which is amplified not only by muscle disuse, but also by the increased levels of ionizing radiation in spaceflight. Additionally, elevated radiation exposure can damage DNA, increasing cancer risk. To model oxidative stress and DNA damage generated by conditions on the International Space Station, murine C2C12 myoblasts were cultured in a rotary cell culture system irradiated by cesium-137. Changes due to the spaceflight model were characterized with fluorescent imaging, amino acid analysis, and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for heme oxygenase 1. Fluorescent imaging was performed to assess viability, lipid peroxidation, and DNA damage. Minor DNA damage was observed in cells exposed to 20 μCi cesium-137 for 15 days. No significant differences in viability or lipid peroxidation were noted. Exposure to radiation decreased intracellular heme oxygenase 1 and extracellular alanine, but did not affect branch chain amino acids. Investigation of stronger radiation sources and extended culture time is ongoing. We anticipate that radiation will exacerbate the atrophic effects of microgravity on muscle cells. Simulation of microgravity and spaceflight radiation will provide a valuable platform for drug discovery and an understanding of the progression from normal to disease state. Introduction Muscular atrophy due to disuse is a serious issue for individuals subject to bed rest or prolonged immobilization, as well as in human spaceflight, where microgravity prevents normal muscle loading. Atrophy affects cardiac muscle in addition to skeletal muscle, with a decrease in left ventricular mass of 8% and 12% following 6 weeks of bed rest and 10 days of spaceflight, respectively 1 . Preventing cardiac and skeletal muscle atrophy would preserve the strength and endurance of patients subject to extended bed rest and immobilized limbs, as well as enable longer duration space travel and exploration. A major factor in muscular atrophy is increased oxidative stress, where reactive oxygen species (ROS) induce degradation of muscle fibers 2 . As astronauts travel past the protection of the Earth's magnetic field, they experience increased radiation levels which generate ROS by the radiolysis of water 3 . Even after returning to Earth, ROS generated by microgravity and irradiation can continue to disrupt cellular systems. Developing countermeasures for atrophy and radiation in spaceflight will require extensive screening of promising pharmaceuticals for efficacy, safety, contraindications, and dosage schedule. Due to the cost of spaceflight and limited crew time aboard the International Space Station, high throughput screening of pharmaceuticals in actual microgravity conditions is not economically feasible. We propose a ground-based model, detailed herein, to mimic both microgravity and radiation and provide a low cost platform for drug discovery and testing. Anti-atrophy


The report presents the results of air temperature measurements from 2011 to 2019 at automatic weather stations Tigirek and Babiy Klyuch, located within the Tigirek strict reserve, and the results of phenological observations for 2003–2018.


Studies of seasonal changes in mixed communities are rare, particularly in Asian summer monsoon climate zones. In our present study, seasonal changes in the profile and coverage of and plants were investigated in 2009 in Haenam, Yeongdong and Cheorwon regions of South Korea (all at different latitudes). The aim was to estimate the impacts of temperature and sunshine duration on species composition and transition timing of the and plants. From our results, the number of plants was found to increase from early spring to mid-May, and then decrease again until September in the Haenam and Yeongdong regions, but continuously increase from early spring to September in the Cheorwon region under relatively low summer temperatures. On the other hand, the number of plants increased from June or July to September in all three regions. These seasonal changes in species number and ratio have a direct impact upon species diversity which is highest when there are no dominant species. The relative coverage and relative summed dominance ratio (SDR`) of the plants decreased from spring to autumn, but increased for the plants during this time in an exponential fashion with increasing accumulated temperature and sunshine duration. The transition timing from to plants occurred when the sum of sunshine duration for the days with daily mean temperature above was 1017 hrs for the SDR`.


As education for library and information science (LIS) professionals has become more international in scope and as graduates of LIS education programs have expanded their interests in job opportunities beyond the boundaries of their home country or region, the question of appropriate measures for assessing and comparing the quality of LIS professional educational programs in this era of digital information and education delivered electronically on the internet, the question of whether it is possible to develop measures to assess the quality of such programs that would permit an international system of assessment that would provide reciprocal recognition of the quality of professional degrees in LIS becomes ever more pressing. Some countries or regions have their own quality assessment programs, such as the accreditation of LIS programs in the USA and Canada and the certification of courses of study by CILIP in the U.K.
This paper reviews the history of IFLA's involvement in the quality assessment of LIS Professional educational programs and examines as a case study the involvement of IFLA's Section on Education and Training in the development of Standards for Education Programs for Library and Information Professionals. The challenges involved in this process are analyzed.


Volatile organic components (VOC) are commonly emitted from chemical processes, ranging from dilute to concentrated streams. Membrane separation techniques are gaining increasing interest and acceptance for the recovery of VOCs. Various thin film composite membranes were experimentally assessed for the separation of gases and vapours. The membranes were used in a flat sheet configuration with a dense elastomeric silicone as the top layer on a porous polyether-imide (PEI) or polyvinylidene-fluoride (PVDF) support. Experimental results for pure substances and for binary mixtures were used to determine the permeability as a function of temperature and to calculate the selectivity towards nitrogen. Different models are available in the literature to predict the permeability of hydrocarbons and in this paper the free-volume model is evaluated. The predictions from this model overestimate the experimental permeabilities, even after corrections through integrating the concentration polarisation and resistance of the porous support. A design method is developed to calculate the necessary surface area of the membrane separation module for a given flow rate, concentration, operating temperature and pressure, and the characteristic (experimental) permeability and selectivity of the membrane. This design is applied as an example to a butane-air system. Finally, current industrial applications are briefly reviewed.


Building a socialist harmonious society,our party made a major strategic task.Economic and social development of the ethnic areas of Guangdong province is closel linked with the construction harmonious society,is the harmonious society's important component.The minority should develop,the ethnic areas should progress,they must comply with the development of times,take road of the scientific development,take road of the Chinese nation's great Rejuvenation.


Information derived from studies with vitamin B12 has to some extent revised the premises on which the experiments now reported were based. Determinations of the potency of liver extracts and of the maintenance dose of vitamin B12 lead to the conclusion that our group of patients under treatment for pernicious anaemia was not, in fact, especially resistant to treatment (Girdwood and Carmichael, 1950; Mollin, 1950). The possibility that vitamin B12 may not be a complete therapy for pernicious anaemia still remains, but there is no evidence that such imperfections as have been reported can be corrected by P.G.A. (Beard, Mcllvanie, and Nataro, 1950). During the course of these experiments, therefore, our interest has shifted to the more general problem of the metabolism of P.G.A. in health and in the megaloblastic anaemias, and this paper represents our preliminary observations in this field. The excretion test used was necessarily not sensitive, and interpretation of the results is complicated by uncontrolled factors such as abnormalities of renal function. Nevertheless, the results enable one to speculate a little further on the abnormality of folic acid metabolism in patients with macrocytic anaemia ; and the later findings, referred to above, have helped to eliminate some of the uncertainties. Folic acid probably exerts its therapeutic effect because the patients either have a deficiency of the substance or are unable to utilize it properly. Our results favour a deficiency. This could be absolute, due to deficient intake, deficient absorption, or increased excretion; or it could be relative, arising from increased need or increased destruction. Our results do not help in choosing between these possibilities except by excluding an increased excretion of folic acid. They merely indicate that in some patients with macrocytic anaemia the tissues have a great avidity for folic acid. In steatorrhoea, this could be due to an absolute deficiency, while in pernicious anaemia it might be the result of a relative or conditioned deficiency.


The patterns of kerosene-based ferrofluid films in applied parallel and perpendicular magnetic fields were studied. The time dependence of quasiperiodic chains in a parallel magnetic field, the perfect hexagonal crystal structure in a weaker perpendicular field, and the labyrinthine pattern in a stronger perpendicular field were observed. The Fe3O4 kerosene-based ferrofluids that we used in this study were synthesized by the coprecipitation method. As the parallel external magnetic field was applied to a ferrofluid film, the ordered quasiperiodic chains were obtained. On the other hand, the initial nonequilibrium disordered quantum columns were formed in an applied perpendicular magnetic field, and an equilibrium hexagonal structure with columns occupying its vortices was formed after two hours. The distance between these columns decreases as the strength of the applied magnetic field increases, and hence, the patterns change gradually from the hexagonal structure to a labyrinthine pattern with the streng...


The feasibility of applying the superjunction (SJ) concept to a thick-SOI LDMOS transistor for base station applications is studied in this paper. An extensive comparison with conventional RF LDMOS structures is performed in terms of breakdown voltage (VBR) versus drift resistance (Rdr) values. Unlike conventional LDMOS structures, the Rdr value in SJ LDMOS structures not only depends on the doping concentration but especially on the characteristics of P and N pillars. The charge compensation due to inter-diffusion between adjacent pillars is responsible for the observed Rdr increase. In order to accomplish an optimum pillar formation with the minimum possible transition between P and N pillars with inherent net doping reduction, high energy multi-implantations and a small thermal budget must be used. Moreover, the distance between P and N pillar implantation windows must be properly set to alleviate the doping inter-diffusion effect. The VBR/Rdr ratio value is a good indicator to evaluate the SJ LDMOS feasibility for RF applications.


In this Letter, a 16 channel 200 GHz wavelength tunable arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is designed and fabricated based on the silicon on insulator platform. Considering that the performance of the AWG, such as central wavelength and crosstalk, is sensitive to the dimension variation of waveguides, the error analysis of the AWG with width fluctuations is worked out using the transfer function method. A heater is designed to realize the wavelength tunability of the AWG based on the thermo-optic effect of silicon. The measured results show that the insertion loss of the AWG is about 6 dB, and the crosstalk is 7.5 dB. The wavelength tunability of 1.1 nm is achieved at 276 mW power consumption, and more wavelength shifts will gain at larger power consumption.


Purpose: Scientific temperament is very important for societal growth, rational thinking and innovations. For achieving sustainable development and equality in society, it is important that women are equally motivated to pursue science and contribute to the nation's growth. Women representation in the field of science has been very minimal in India. This paper attempts to explore the differences in some motivational components among gender, in students pursuing science courses at various levels in Mumbai, India. Design: This study is non-experimental, cross-sectional and quantitative in nature. Cluster sampling technique was followed. A survey method was used to obtain responses and a questionnaire was used as a survey instrument. 200 questionnaires were distributed of which 160 were returned yielding 80% response rate. Construct validity and reliability were established for the questionnaire and an independent-samples-t-test was used to analyse the data. Findings: There is a significant difference in intrinsic motivation and grade motivat ion components among gender, though effect sizes were small. Research Limitations: Geographical constraints can limit the generalizability of the result. Being a cross-sectional study it can lose the holistic context of the situation. Value: The study is an important contribution to the scarce research work that is done in the field of understanding motivation towards science in the Indian context. The results of the study can also help the business community, educational institutions and teachers plan interventions to encourage more girls into taking up science.


Research on population dynamics aspect of Glossamia wichmanni was conducted in January until November of 2006. Length frequency data analysis was done to estimate the growth parameter and fish population parameter with program package FiSAT. The research result of fish growth population was formulated according to Von Bertalanffy Growth Formula as Lt = 30.1 (1 - e ' 1(1 *0 1588)). recruitment pattern of fish stock showed a single of top recruitment, whereas the level exploitation stock fish in this time was E = 0.2896. The level exploitation value was still under the level of maximum exploitation (E = 0.468). Though mount the exploitation stock the fish still lower but management of original fish types potency in adjacent of Sentani lake waters shall be done to make sustainable yield by specifying fishery zones, make conservation area as specially indigenous species, lesser or negate all human activities be able to depressing of the original fish population be likely existence of introduction exotics fish types that were by introduction or not on purpose.


A novel active bypass approach for shaded photovoltaic panels embedded in a string is presented, which benefits from the low voltage drop across a bipolar transistor operated in saturation, whose activation is automatically handled by a circuit comprising a pair of MOS transistors only. The functioning principle of the proposed system is carefully discussed, and the improvement in comparison to the traditional diode-based scheme is clarified.


Nassi-Schneiderman (N-S) charts are similar to flowcharts, but are more concise and have built-in support for common operations like decisions and loops. It has simple structure elements, but its ability of describing algorithm need further study. In this paper the normalization analysis of N-S flowchart is discussed with its rules of hiberarchy, neighbour, connotation, and its extensibilities, including inclusive term, semantic planning, and specification, are presented. Experimental examples indicate that it has some advantages with N-S flowchart applications in algorithm description.


William Shakespeare(1564-1616),as Ben Jonson assured us,is "not of an age but for all time".Macbeth,one of William Shakespeare's most important plays,is much favored by critics for its representation of the female character Lady Macbeth who is usually regarded as the "fiend-like Queen" or a super witch by Goethe.Nevertheless,other critics like Christina Leon Alfar asserted in her article "Blood will have blood: Power,Performance,and the Trouble with Gender" believe that Lady Macbeth represented gender stereotyping.Therefore,in this essay,she is represented as a perfect wife,"The Angel in the House",and the "Other" in men's world______________。


This paper is concerned with the spatiotemporal heterogeneity in a modified Leslie–Gower predator–prey system with Beddington–DeAngelis functional response and prey-taxis. Using Crandall–Rabinowitz bifurcation theory, we investigate the steady-state bifurcation of the nonlinear system by choosing the prey-tactic sensitivity coefficient as a bifurcating parameter. It is rigorously proved that a branch of nonconstant solution exists near the positive equilibrium when the prey-tactic sensitivity is repulsive. Moreover, we study the existence, direction and stability of periodic orbits around the interior constant equilibrium by selecting the intrinsic growth rate of the prey as a bifurcating parameter. A priori estimates play a critical role in the verification procedure. Some numerical simulations are carried out to support our main theoretical results.


The present study attempts to explore the component factors of cross-cultural competence of Korean language instructors. Few research has ever been done to measure cross-cultural competence in the field of Korean language education as a secondary language for foreigners. Based on earlier studies of second language education, the study culled a number of factors to measure the instructor`s competence to communicate Korean language education to foreign cultures. Four factors were extracted based on the survey results: individual attitude towards foreign culture, competence to analyze and knowledge of foreign culture, openness, and the ability to adapt in a global environment. The results showed that the instructor`s teaching years would affect the instructor`s knowledge and ability to analyze a foreign culture positively. In addition, the instructor`s education level affected the instructor`s knowledge and ability to analyze a foreign culture positively. The result suggested that the four factors may provide a basic measurement tool to measure Korean language instructors` cross-cultural competence. Korean language education should be extended in the context of cross-cultural interaction between instructors and students beyond mere language education. The self-awareness of cross-cultural competence of individuals and teacher-education programs for improving cross-cultural competence are needed for effective teaching in a multi-cultural classroom. (Sogang University)


The STRADE package (System for Traffic Road Analysis by Digital Emulation) is a tool to estimate pollutants emissions due to vehicle traffic on a road network. The traffic volume on each road of the network is estimated by distribution mathematical models. Input data for these models are traffic volume counts collected on the most significanf roads and (if available) an origin-destination matrix. The pollutants emissions are estimated employing the COPERT II methodology. Input data for this methodology are traffic volumes, vehicle speeds and a vehicle fleet distribution. Traffic volumes and speeds data are estimated by the traffic estimation models. The vehicle fleet distribution has to be supplied by the user. For the covering abstract see ITRD E122175.


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 Few studies have prospectively addressed the role of physical activity, fitness and dietary fat type in the development of the metabolic syndrome (MS), a condition that markedly increases the risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. We examined the development of MS in 453 normoglycemic men participating in the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study who had no more than 2 features of MS at baseline. Leisure-time physical activity for the preceding 12 mo was measured at baseline with a validated questionnaire. Maximum oxygen uptake was measured directly during an exercise stress test. Long-term dietary fat composition was estimated from lipid-standardized proportions of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids measured from fasting whole serum. After 4 y 145 men had developed 3 or more features of MS as defined by the presence of impaired fasting glucose or diabetes (fasting blood glucose ≥5.6 mM), overweight or obesity (BMI ≥27 kg/m

 2

 ), waist-hip ratio ≥0.90, hypertension (blood pressure ≥140/90) or dyslipidemia (serum triglycerides ≥1.7 mM or HDL <0.9 mM). In logistic regression analyses adjusting for confounding factors, the serum palmitate proportion (OR 2.7, 95%CI 1.4-5.1 for upper vs lower third) and palmitate/linoleate ratio (OR 2.3, 95%CI 1.2-4.4 for upper vs lower third) was positively and the α-linolenate proportion (OR 0.44, 95%CI 0.23-0.84) negatively associated with development of MS. The serum linoleate proportion tended to protect against development of MS (OR 0.55, 95%CI 0.28-1.04). Cardiorespiratory fitness (OR 0.37, 95%CI 0.28-0.97 for highest vs lowest fourth) and at least 20 min vigorous exercise/wk (OR 0.53, 95%CI 0.28-1.00) protected against development of MS independently of confounding factors. Although genetic and other factors may also play a role, these findings underscore the importance of dietary fat modification and physical exercise for primary prevention of the metabolic syndrome and its consequences even in apparently low-risk middle-aged men.


We model subsidy competition for a foreign MNC's investment in two trading partners. Taking into account acquisitions as an alternative investment mode weakens the case for subsidising greenfield investment. Competition between countries results in welfare losses, which are reinforced by positive externalities from the MNC's presence and regional integration. The results also apply to situations where the acquisition price accounts for the possibility of subsidies and when governments use acquisition subsidies as an alternative to greenfield subsidies.


Abstract Sampling plans in which items that are put to test, to collect the life of the items in order to decide upon accepting or rejecting a submitted lot, are called reliability test plans. The basic probability model of the life of the product is specified as the well-known log-logistic distribution with a known shape parameter. For a given producer's risk, sample size, termination number, and waiting time to terminate the test plan are computed. The preferability of the test plan over similar plans existing in the literature is established with respect to cost and time of the experiment.


CONTENTS I. Introduction 453 II. Mechanism of nucleophilic reactions of an ethylenic bond activated by electron-acceptor groups 453 III. Orientation of nucleophilic attack at the double bond of the X–CH=CH–Y system 455


The article is devoted to the problem of determining the basic principles of the legal regulation of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in the Russian Federation, taking into account existing international
experience. It is substantiated that the development of national legislation in this area should include the legal
definition of PGD as one of the stages of using assisted reproductive technologies, as well as the establishment of
generally binding requirements for the procedure, conditions and features of the diagnosis, taking into account
the need to minimize the damage caused to the embryo. A comprehensive model for the development of domestic
legislation and law enforcement is proposed, the content of which includes state guarantees and restrictions
harmoniously complemented by ethical requirements developed by the professional community of specialists in
genetics, extending the content of the process of genetic counseling for PGD, interpretation of research results
and ensuring compliance with the principle of reproductive freedom in deciding on the results of diagnosis.