Results of a recently completed project in the San Antonio district show that an overlay with Permeable Friction Course (PFC) can dramatically improve the performance of a Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP). This project is the first of it's kind in Texas. However, this practice has gained widespread acceptance in Arizona. As a result of their previous successes, the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) recently launched a campaign to use PFC to overlay most, if not all, existing CRCP in the greater Phoenix area. Results from the Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT)'s project in San Antonio show that an overlay of only 1.5 inches of PFC: • improved the ride quality of the existing CRCP by approximately 61% • improved the skid resistance by over 200% • reduced the noise levels by an average of 14 decibels (dB).


Following the second world war, Japanese mountain villages have been experiencing depopulation and decline of basic industries such as agriculture and forestry. Consequently, local governments have been attempting to introduce enterprizes such as manufacturing plants in order to revitalize such areas. In addition, in recent years, regional revitalization projects (Machi-zukuri or Mura-okoshi) have been initiated by local residents.In human geography, much research has been conducted on the theme of the regional revitalization of mountain villages. Few studies, however, are available which take the viewpoint of the theory of endogenous development. The main focus of such studies of endogenous development is the arena of local public finance. In the present study, the author examines Nichinan-cho, which is located in the Chugoku Mountainous District. To attain regional revitalization, the residents of Nichinan-cho established the Yukinko-mura project in 1994 in order to attract tourists. The author analyzes the case of the regional revitalization of Nichinan-cho, especially in terms of the process of the construction of Yukinko-mura, from the viewpoint of the theory of endogenous development. The author uses four check points proposed by Hobo (1996)-(1) long-term plan, (2) funds and capital, (3) existence of leadership and (4) resident consciousness towards the project, but places especial emphasis in his analysis on the latter two.There are 25 leaders in charge of regional revitalization consisting of individuals such as a manager of a construction company, landowners, former local government staff, and so on. Although they have a respectively different commitment toward regional revitalization, they can be divided into two categories of main-leaders and sub-leaders. The main leaders have especially acted to generally enlighten regional residents and have motivated them to revitalize Nichinan-cho through personal and community relations.Of the four check points, resident consciousness seems to be critical. (1) Whether residents are in favor of or against regional revitalization, they are likely to demonstrate their interest in or show indifference to the project. (2) Interest for Yukinko-mura is also related to the degree of consciousness for the issues of Nichinan-cho. Residents who embrace a deep attachment to their living place tend to be more concerned about the Yukinko-mura project. (3) Younger generation residents under 34 years of age do not show much concern for the project. (4) Housewives tend to share the same opinion as their husbands. This is probably because Japan's traditional family system is still operative in mountain villages.In conclusion, the author presents a model of endogenous development processes in a depopulated mountain village (Nichinan-cho). This model depicts the current understanding that leaders play a central role in the general enlightenment of regional residents and in executing these kinds of projects in order to arrest the vicious circle of depopulation in mountain villages. The author also presents his view that the theory of endogenous development is not defined as a theory of policy but should be developed as the practice of residents' organization.


Author information: Hanan Badr is affiliated at Cairo University and the Gulf University for Sciences and Technology. Her work focuses on journalism, inequalities, and comparative media systems. Arab Uprisings and media have been a focus of her research. Adopting a critical lens, she seeks to understand how political and digital transformations change journalism and media systems worldwide. She held positions at Freie Universität Berlin and the Orient-Institut Beirut, Max Weber Foundation. Hanan won awards including the Kluge Fellowship at the Library of Congress. She was elected as a Vice-Chair for the ICA interest group Activism, Communication and Social Change. For more information: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3372-211X Email: email@example.com


A 3.73 kW stationary, constant speed CI engine was tested on six selected ethanol-ethyl acetate-diesel microemulsions viz. 2000-10/9/81, 2000-15/9.5/75.5, 2000-20/10/70, 1900-10/22/68, 1900-15/25/60 and 1900-20/29/51. The performance of the engine was evaluated in terms of brake power, fuel consumption, brake specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency, emissions of carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbon, nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide, exhaust gas and lubricating oil temperature. All the engine and emission parameters were determined at no load, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 110 percent load. The observed parameters were compared to assess the compatibility of microemulsions as CI engine fuel. The study showed that the engine developed almost similar brake power on emulsion fuels. The brake specific fuel consumption of the engine at rated load was found as 302, 345, 338, 341, 339, 308 and 348g/kW-h on diesel and microemulsion specified above respectively. The brake thermal efficiency of the engine was 25.4 percent on diesel. However, on microemulsions it was 22.8, 24.7, 25.0, 25.4, 30.1 and 28.1 percent on the microemulsion at the rated load respectively. A reduction of 1.4 to 44.4 percent of CO on emulsified fuels was observed as compared to diesel. The emission of unburnt hydrocarbon was found marginally higher on the microemulsions but was comparable. A highest reduction of 24 percent in the emission of nitric oxide was found on the 1900-20/29/51 microemulsion prepared using 1900 proof ethanol. The emission of nitrogen dioxide was lower on microemulsions for most of the brake load conditions in the comparison to that of diesel. NO2 was further reduced on microemulsions prepared using 1900 proof aqueous ethanol.


OBJECTIVE: To establish the population pharmacokinetics (PK) model of sirolimus in Chinese renal transplantation patients, and to provide theory support for personalized drug use. METHODS: 47 renal transplantation patients, who were orally administrated with sirolimus+prednisone+ciclosporin or tacrolimus or mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) after transplantation, were enrolled in this study. Total 101 steady-state trough blood concentrations of sirolimus and related laboratory test results were retrospectively collected. Effects of weight, age, gender, drug dose, drug combination, creatinine clearance rate. on pharmacokinetic parameter were analyzed by NONMEM. Jackknife method was used for the validation of final model. RESULTS: A one-compartment model with first-order elimination pharmacokinetics without lag time provided the best fitting. In all fixed effects,combined use of MMF and weight influenced the clearance of sirolimus. The final population PK model for sirolimus was listed below:CL/F(L·h-1)=11.01×0.14MMF+0.089×W. Typical value of CL/F and Vd/F was 11.01 L·h-1 and 3 616 L, inter-patient variability in CL/F and Vd/F was 62.82% and 85.07%, respectively. The residual variability (SD) and relationship coefficient (r) between observed value and model-predicted value was 1.0 ng·mL-1 and 0.94. respectively. CONCLUSION: The established model could estimate individual and population pharmacokinetic parameters of renal transplantation patients, and it is of great significance for the personalized drug use.


In a recent work, we proposed the coupled Painleve VI system with A (1)n+1 - symmetry, which is a higher order generalization of the sixth Painleve equation (PVI). In this article, we present its particular solution expressed in terms of the hypergeometric function n+1Fn. We also discuss a degeneration structure of the Painleve system derived from the confluence of n+1Fn.


The paper is about the stable solution of possibly ill-conditioned bordered linear systems. Given stable solvers for matrix A and for A T , we prove that the Govaerts Mixed Block Elimination (BEM) method constitutes a stable solver for the matrix consisting of A or A T with a border of width 1, and hence by recursion for a border of any width. We express the algorithm in an efficient, iterative, form. We analyse its operation count, and verify the theory by extensive numerical experiments


: In this note we study soliton, breather and shockwave solutions in certain two dimensional field theories. These include: (i) Heisenberg's model suggested origi-nally to describe the scattering of high energy nucleons (ii) T ¯ T deformations of certain canonical scalar field theories with a potential. We find explicit soliton solutions of these models with sine-Gordon and Higgs-type potentials. We prove that the T ¯ T deformation of a theory of a given potential does not correct the mass of the soliton of the undeformed one. We further conjecture the form of breather solutions of these models. We show that certain T ¯ T deformed actions admit shockwave solutions that generalize those of Heisenberg's Lagrangian.


Captive breeding and ex situ conservation have become important tools in species conservation programmes. The effectiveness of the management of captive populations can be hampered by the absence of pedigree data, but molecular markers can be used to inform conservation objectives and reduce inbreeding in the captive population. Using microsatellite markers, we examined the genetic diversity and relatedness among wild‐caught individuals of three critically endangered Asian vulture species, Gyps bengalensis, Gyps indicus and Gyps tenuirostris, populations established for captive breeding. Estimates of the inbreeding coefficient (f) were low, indicating that populations of all three species do not appear to be inbred. Moreover, the data show that a large proportion of wild‐taken birds were unrelated individuals (94.6, 87.1 and 85.3% in G. bengalensis, G. indicus and G. tenuirostris, respectively). No significant genetic differentiation (FST) was observed between historic and 2000/2001 populations of G. bengalensis in Pakistan and India. However, the more recent sampling (2002–2006) in Pakistan showed a significant difference from India. A genetic signal of a demographic bottleneck in all three species was found in some (M‐ratio test), but not all, tests (heterozygote excess and mode shift in allele frequencies). Levels of genetic diversity in G. bengalensis and G. indicus populations were comparable to levels prior to or soon after the start of their decline, respectively, suggesting that adequate numbers of birds exist in captivity for these two species and reflect neutral diversity levels observed in the wild. The genetic data obtained from this study allow us to minimize the loss of neutral genetic diversity in small wild and captive populations and to identify related pairs to avoid inbreeding depression.


Abstract
Introduction: Intradural extramedullary (IDEM) tumors are benign neoplasms arising in the spinal canal about two-thirds of primary spinal tumors and 15% of tumors affecting the Central Nervous System. Spinal en-plaque meningioma is a type that grows in a sheet-like or collar-like, and incidence in the literature only ranging from 0.1% to 3.1%. Pain is the most clinical symptom, weakness and sensory changes also occur frequently. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the standard modality for the radiologic diagnosis of meningioma.
Case Report: A patient, 35 years old man with a diagnosis of intradural extramedullary spinal meningioma (IDEM) en-plaque with calcification, confirmed by the symptoms, workups such as spinal MRI, and intra-operative findings. The patient was successfully treated surgically with laminectomy and total tumor resection with a posterior approach.
Discussion: Spinal en-plaque meningioma is a type that grows in a sheet-like or collar-like manner around the spinal cord can involve dura extensively with significant neurological deficits. Patient was with lower limb weakness, and had a history of back pain radiating to the right limb for the last 1 year.  Spinal meningiomas are primarily found in the Intradural Extramedullary, and the tumor diagnosis is typically fairly straight forward based on radiologic findings. Meningiomas are most commonly found in the thoracic region of the spine.  In this case from MRI Imaging was revealed a mass in  thoracic region of the spine pressing the spinal cord anteriorly. The management of spinal en-plaque meningioma is tumor resection surgery. A retrospective study suggested a significant improvement in neurological deficit post-tumor resection on patients with spinal IDEM tumor.
Conclusion: Spinal meningioma is a reasonably frequently found case of a spinal tumor but spinal en-plaque meningiomas are rarely found. MRI scan is the radiological  gold standar diagnose spinal en-plaque meningiomas. Patient was successfully treated by total tumor resection using the laminectomy method and tumor resection with a posterior approach without any postoperative complications observed.


Abstract This study aims to reveal the scientific structure of the "urban sprawl" issue by bibliometric analysis. Urban sprawl has become an actual problem with population growth, population mobility and urbanization in recent years. 575 publications in journals covered by SSCI, SCI-Expanded and A&HCI indexes accessed via the Web of Science database were included in this analysis. Descriptive and bibliometric analysis methods were used to analyze the publications within the scope of the research. The distributions of the publications by years, countries, journals, and authors were examined. Visual maps were created by analyzing coauthor, co-citation, and keyword patterns with the VOSviewer software. The countries, journals, authors that contributed the most to the literature are of western origins, principally the USA. The most co-cited researchers study in the fields such as health, city and regional planning, geography, environmental sciences, economics, remote sensing, and GIS. Hereof, it has been comprehended that the urban sprawl issue has been expanded to a scientific topic by researchers from different fields, especially after the 2000s. This study provides a scientific literature map of the urban sprawling issue and aims to offer scientists ideas for future research problems.


This study aims to assess the internal factors and external factors determine the development of the informal sector and development strategy informal sector in Medan. This study uses primary data collected directly from the informal sector workers in Medan and analyzed using quantitative SWOT analysis. Internal factors that influence the development of the informal sector in the city of Medan is: Expertise (HR), Working Capital, Labor, Technology, Availability of Raw Materials, Raw Materials Price, Facilities and Infrastructure, Work Experience, and Promotion. As for the external factors that influence the development of the informal sector in the city of Medan is: Rental Costs, Training, Opportunity, soft Lending, Loans, Partnership, Competition, Economic Conditions are not stable, Law, Policy Development, and the existence of the Formal Sector. Based on the SWOT analysis of the informal sector, development strategy in Medan is developing the informal sector by providing loans to actors in the informal sector activities, provide additional capital to develop the informal sector, providing raw materials through the existence of a partnership. Keyword: Informal Sector, Strategy Development, SWOT, Internal Factors, External Factors


This bulletin provides an overview of the demographic profiles, patterns of festival attendance and drug use, policing experiences and help-seeking behaviours of 5,155 Australian music festival attendees surveyed in late 2018. Specifically, it outlines:1. Demographics (age, sex, residence, education, employment, criminal history)2. Frequency and nature of festival attendance within and outside Australia3. Frequency of illicit drug use and typical quantities consumed4. Likelihood and nature of police encounters5. Emergency Medical Treatment (EMT) seeking and level of interest in reducing drug use


With the effect of σ‐modification in adaptive control systems, robustness is achieved at the potential expense of destroying some of the convergence properties. This paper proposes a qualitative analysis method for the situations where the σ‐modification may lead to perfect tracking and also, given the prior knowledge of system parameters, may allow proper modification of the adaptive algorithm. The applicability of the proposed analysis method is illustrated by two examples, where the system control gains that lead to global asymptotic convergence are given explicitly. Further, simulations are performed to verify the qualitative analysis results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This paper deals with the warriors' equipment which has been found close to the cult house in Uppdkra. Such equipment has been found all over the site but there is a striking concentration close to the house. Much of the equipment has been destroyed and deposited in a manner not unlike what has been documented in the famous bog finds, especially well known from Denmark. The finds from Uppakra were deposited on dry ground and this is a feature which is quite unique. The finds from Uppakra must be apprehended as offerings. They might further be interpreted as expressions of warfare, an institutionalized religion and a warriors' cult.


In order to make clear the controlling effect of Harmonias axyridis Pallas on aphids usually damaging apple trees,Aphis citricola Von der Goot and Myzus malisuctus Matsumura,predatory functional response of adult and 4th instars of H.axyridis Pallas to the two kinds of aphids were studied in the laboratory of Qingdao Agricultural University,and selective efficiency of 4th instars of H.axyridis Pallas to the two kinds of aphids was studied at the same time.The result showed that the predatory functional response of adult and 4th instars of H.axyridis Pallas to two kinds of aphids all belonged to Holling Ⅱ.The largest amounts of caught per day of the adult of H.axyridis Pallas to A.citricola Von der Goot and M.malisuctus Matsumura were 123.91 and 180.98 per day respectively,and the moment attack parameters were 1.029 1 and 1.335 7 respectively;and the Namax of 4th instars of H.axyridis Pallas to A.citricola Von der Goot and M.malisuctus Matsumura were 128.88 and 187.29 respectively,and the moment attack parameters were 1.156 0 and 1.163 4 per day respectively.In the mixed population of the two kinds of aphids,selective efficiency of 4th instars of H.axyridis Pallas to M.malisuctus Matsumura was a little higher than that to A.citricola Von der Goot,but the difference of selective efficiency between the two kinds of aphids was not significant.


SummaryPaclobutrazol was applied to cider apple cv Michelin as a single high-volume foliar spray (2000 mg a.i. l−1; c. 4.0 g a.i. per tree) in 1981, and to cv Sweet Coppin as four high-volume foliar sprays in early summer 1983 (250 mg a.i. l−1; c. 0.25 g a.i. per tree per spray), as recommended (ICI) for tree growth control, and as one such spray in 1984, before inoculation. Using the length of internal staining as a measure of the growth of Chondrostereum purpureum inoculated into branches of both cvs in early spring 1984, colonization of the fungus was reduced in paclobutrazol-treated trees sampled after 15 and 12 weeks respectively.


The invention discloses a terahertz helical antenna utilizing coplanar waveguide feed, which comprises a helical line and a coplanar waveguide feed line, wherein the coplanar waveguide feed line comprises a substrate, a signal line and a grounding plane, the grounding plane and the signal line are respectively etched on one surface of the substrate, the grounding plane is arranged on two sides of the signal line, one end of the signal line is connected with the helical line, and the other end of the signal line is connected with an external application system. The MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) process is adopted for manufacturing, and the terahertz helical antenna has the advantages of simple structure, low cost, wider operating bandwidth, single-chip integration and the like.


Recently, optical spatial modulation (OSM) has been proposed for indoor optical wireless communications (OWC), which is considered as a feasible complementary solution for high data rate transmission. This paper investigates the constellation optimization problem for OSM based OWC. An OWC system with multiple transmitters and multiple receivers is considered. By using OSM, only a single transmitter is active at each time instance. Considering the non-negativity and the peak optical intensity constraints, the constellation space for OSM based OWC system is established. By exploiting the channel state information at the transmitter, this paper designs the multi-dimensional constellations by maximizing the minimum Euclidean distance between the received constellation points. Two feasible algorithms are proposed to solve the optimization problem. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms, the symbol error rate is also derived. Simulation results show that the derived constellations using the proposed two algorithms outperform the existing uniformly distributed constellations.


The phonon density of states (DOS) of bulk and surface iron was calculated using molecular dynamics simulations based on a recently constructed embedded atom potential. This potential showed a good agreement with experimental and first-principles data for both the fitted and predicted properties of BCC and FCC structures. For bulk Fe we have computed the DOS for both the BCC and FCC structure. Our results are compared to experimental data available in the literature and satisfactory agreements are obtained. Furthermore, we have evaluated the surface and adatom phonon DOS. The impact of the surface on the phonon DOS of nanocrystalline iron is briefly discussed.


Theoretical analyses were performed of neutron-induced reactions on {sup 235}U, {sup 238}U, {sup 237}Np, and {sup 239}Pu between 0.01 and 20 MeV in order to calculate neutron emission cross sections and spectra for ENDF/B-VI evaluations. Coupled-channel optical model potentials were obtained for each target nucleus by fitting total, elastic, and inelastic scattering cross section data, as well as low-energy average resonance data. The resulting deformed optical model potentials were used to calculate direct (n,n{prime}) cross sections and transmission coefficients for use in Hauser-Feshbach statistical theory analyses. A fission model with multiple barrier representation, width fluctuation corrections, and preequilibrium corrections were included in the analyses. Direct cross sections for higher-lying vibrational states were calculated using DWBA theory, normalized using B(E{ell}) values determined from (d,d{prime}) and Coulomb excitation data, where available, and from systematics otherwise. Initial fission barrier parameters and transition state density enhancements appropriate to the compound systems involved were obtained from previous analyses, especially fits to charged-particle fission probability data. The parameters for the fission model were adjusted for each target system to obtain optimum agreement with direct (n,f) cross section measurements, taking account of the various multichance fission channels, that is, the different compound systems involved. The results frommore » these analyses were used to calculate most of the neutron (n,n), (n,n{prime}), and (n,xn) cross section data in the ENDF/B/VI evaluations for the above nuclei, and all of the energy-angle correlated spectra. The deformed optical model and fission model parameterizations are described. Comparisons are given between the results of these analyses and the previous ENDF/B-V evaluations as well as with the available experimental data. 14 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.« less


Opening of the ICODP'93 conference welcome speech of the president of the Technical University of Berlin message from the Berlin senate of economics and technology message from the German institute for standards. Part 1 Tutorials: reference model of open distributed processing - a tutorial, K.A. Raymond an ODP-oriented framework for European services in telemedicine, D. Lutzeback and B. Mahr. Part 2 Invited presentation: ODP-trader, M.Y. Bearman does midware provide an adequate distributed application environment?, J. Slonim et al medical applications of ODP, H. Hansen and R.D. Kutsche data oriented approach to business information modelling, R. Hotaka and M. Bjorn service engineering in RACE and its relation to ODP, M. Campolargo the challenges of CSCW for open distributed processing, G.S. Blair and T. Rodden. Part 3 Reviewed papers - session on trader: object trading in open systems, A. Goscinski and Y. Ni broadening the user environment with implicit trading, L. Kutvonen and P. Kutvonen a type management system for an ODP trader, J. Indulska et al contexts, views and rules - an integrated approach to trader contexts, K.A. Raymond and M.Y. Bearman. Part 4 Session on distributed systems: HARNESS - an evolving standard for distributed processing, A. Balis et al a distributed object-oriented platform based on DCE and C(++), P.G. Bosco et al is DCE a support environment for ODP?, A.D. Beitz et al. Part 5 Session on multimedia and quality of service: distributed application performance metrics and management, J.A. Rolia a language for the specification of interactive and distributed multimedia applications, P.F. Pinto and P.F. Linington distributed multimedia systems quality of service in ODP framework of abstraction - a first study, L. Fedaoui et al. Part 6 Session on distributed applications: home automation systems - ODP in the kitchen?, A. Munro federating expert systems in an ODP environment, N. Sharma ODP - a framework for defining service management reference configurations, L. Strick et al. Part 7 Session on design and modelling: new economic-driven aspects of the ODP enterprise specification and related quality of service issues, Z. Milosevic et al co-operation support for an open service market, M. Merz and W. Lamersdorf an object-oriented approach to the formal specification of ODP trader, J.S. Dong and R. Duke an improved model for transactional operations in RM-ODP, A. Berry and K.A. Raymond. Part 8 Workshops: architectural semantics in ODP, chair - C.A. Vissers the role of ODP in medical applications, chair - M. Gerenth and B. Mahr object management architecture, chair - J. Slitz.


The study examined the impact of school climate on student academic achievement in Edo State public secondary schools. The concept of school climate is explained as the psychological environment or atmosphere that characterizes a particular organization or work place. The descriptive design was adopted for the study, the population of the study consist of one hundred and forty (140) schools in Edo South Senatorial district. The multistage random sampling technique was used in selecting the schools, the sample size consist of twenty-eight (28) schools representing 20 % of the population. The school was stratified according to local government areas. Two research instruments were used for the study; a questionnaire titled School Climate Questionnaire (SCQ) and a Checklist to assess students' academic achievement. The data obtained was collated with the use of descriptive and inferential statistical methods, mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions while pearson product moment correlation and t-test was used for analysing the research hypotheses. It was concluded that the situation of school climate and students' academic achievement are not the same in rural and urban schools, mixed and single schools, large and small school and old and new schools in Edo state public secondary schools. Recommendations such as principal and staff must work together as a team to create a good learning environment.


Understanding of the potassium (K) nutrient cycle and its microbial transformation of unavailable forms of soil K to plant-available K is crucial in any agroecosystem for strategic nutrient management through inorganic fertilizer, crop residue (CR), and microbial applications. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of crop residue and K management practices on crop productivity, K mobilization from native soil K-pool, and crop assimilation of K under a zero-till maize–wheat cropping system. The experiment consisted of four residue levels (0, 2, 4, and 6 Mg ha−1) and five K levels (0, 50%, 100%, 150% RDK [recommended dose of K] and 50% RDK + potassium solubilizing bacteria, KSB). Results showed that CR retention at 6.0 Mg ha−1 significantly improved grain yield (of maize by 10.17%; wheat by 9.87%), dry matter accumulation, K uptake and redistribution in native soil K pools (water soluble K (WSK), exchangeable K (EK) and non-exchangeable K (NEK)) at 30 and 60 days after sowing and at harvest as compared to no CR. Among the K management, 50% RDK+KSB reported significantly higher grain yield (of maize by 26.22%; wheat by 24.70%), dry matter accumulation, K uptake, and native K pools (WSK, EK, and NEK) at different growth stages compared to no K. Total K did not differ significantly due to residue and K management. The highest actual change of K reported with 6.0 Mg ha−1 CR (51 kg ha−1) and 50% RDK+KSB (59 kg ha−1) over control. Significant (p ≤ 0.01) positive correlation was found among grain yield, dry matter accumulation, K uptake, the actual change in K and different native K pools. It can be concluded that retention of 6 Mg ha−1 CR and supply of 50% K through inorganic fertilizer along with seed inoculation of KSB biofertilizers, improved crop growth, productivity by enhancing K assimilation as a consequence of the release of non-exchangeable K and through the application of CR and K treatments under a zero tillage maize–wheat system.


Adaptive modulation is a powerful technique to improve the energy efficiency and increases the data rate over a fading channel. The ground station transmitter and the satellite receiver adapt the modulation scheme and the transmitter power to the state of the channel. In this paper, we study adaptive multi-level quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) schemes for LEO satellite over a Rayleigh fading channel using discrete rate adaptation strategy. This adaptation strategy maximises the capacity of the system. Results show that rate adaptation is the key top increasing system performance in term of average bit error rate assuming perfect knowledge of the channel.


Diffusivity is generally measured on small sample under laboratory conditions where each side of the specimen is accessible, but one-side measurement may be necessary in such applications requiring in situ inspection. Experimental results are reported applying a thermoelectric unit in contact with the sample, acting alternatively as heat source and sink and generating thermal waves on the specimen. The read out of temperature is done on the same side, laterally to the source. This allows estimating the diffusivity of the material along the stimulated surface from the peaks displacement velocity or waves phase shifting measurement. Simple formulas coming from an adiabatic model furnish diffusivity values that overestimate the real one with the increase of the harmonic stimulus period. A procedure to extract the real value of diffusivity is proposed.


In order to simplify the experimental procedure and the interpretation of results, coal char rather than coal was used to study steam gasification of a Wyoming sub-bituminous coal with alkali metal salts as catalysts. Coal/catalyst contacting was accomplished by aqueous impregnation of the coal with catalyst. Gasification rates and gas production rates were measured as a function of catalyst type, catalyst loading, and reactor temperature. Steam partial pressure was maintained constant at one half of an atmosphere. Temperature was varied from 600 to 900/sup 0/C. Initial catalyst screening studies indicated that K/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ and KOH gave identical results and that both were superior to alkali chlorides in enhancing gasification rates. K/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ was then used exclusively in all subsequent studies. The following major conclusions can be drawn: Enhancement in the gasification rate results from increased catalyst loading and decreased thermal aging; activation energies decrease with increasing catalyst loading and have values of 39.1, 44.8, and 49.1 Kcal/mole for 10, 5, and 0 percent loadings of potassium, respectively; increasing temperature causes carbon monoxide to be formed in preference to carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and enhances the rate of methane production; and increasing catalyst loading causes carbon monoxide to bemore » formed in preference to carbon dioxide and hydrogen, but diminishes the rate of methane production.« less


Determination methods of small amounts of lead and bismuth, contained in molybdenum trioxide briquette which is charged into the steelmaking furnace as a substitute for the ferromolybdenum, have been studied. Crashed and powdered sample are dissolved in aqua regia and organic matters present are decomposed completely by the addition of perchloric acid. After being cooled, the molybdenum acid anhydride deposited is dissolved either with ammonia water in the presence of tartric acid or with sodium hydroxide. Lead is extracted with dithizone-tetrachloride solution in advance from the solution of pH 10, containing tartarate and cyanide, and then, separated from bismuth by shaking with 0.05 N nitric acid. Finally, lead is extracted and measured as dithizonate in dithizone-benzene solution. Bismuth is extracted and determined photometrically as diethyldithio carbamate in the carbon tetrachloride solution, after being separated and concentrated according to the ferric hydroxide coprecipitation procedure. In the use of the spectrographic detection, conbined with the dithizonate extraction, it is confirmed that the samples do not contain any amount of thallium, which is interfered with the determination of lead and bismuth. Analytical results some commercial briquettes and ferromolybdenums are shown in Tables I and II.


Objective To compare half effective dose(ED50) of different ropivacaine for sciatic nerve block.Methods Thirty patients scheduled for foot or ankle surgery under the sciatic nerve block were randomly divided into the following two groups, one was high concentration group(group H,n=15), the other was low concentration group(group L,n=15).Both groups of the patients were received the parasacal sciatic nerve block withthe aid of nerve stimulator.The initial dose of both groups were 14 mL in the first patient and the ratio betweenthe 2 successive doses was 1.2.The ED50 and 95% confidence interva(lCI)of ropivacaine were calculated byProbit Regeression method.Results The ED50 and the 95% CI of 0.375%ropivacaine in patients of group Lwas 11 mL(9.46 mL~12.53 mL), while those of 0.5% ropivacaine in patients of the group H was 10.18 mL(8.67mL 1~1.17 mL). There were no significant difference between the two groups.(P 0.05).Conclusion The ED50 of 0.375% and 0.5% ropivacaine for sciatic nerve block has no significant difference..


There are international efforts to implement developmentally appropriate and youth‐oriented mental health services for emerging adults to increase treatment engagement and the success of early intervention. While significant progress has been made in developing community service models, limited research has focused on how to design psychiatric inpatient settings that promote the recovery of emerging adults. The present study attempts to address this knowledge gap through a qualitative exploration of hospital experiences that influence psychological need satisfaction and frustration, as defined by self‐determination theory (SDT).


How should citizens and their government respond when non-citizens continue to migrate, settle, and integrate into communities after they withdraw authorization to do so? Nearly every political community responds to this question in part by limiting the scope of their obligations to existing members, and restricting access to membership and a share of the community's resources to non-citizens. But what are the normative reasons for doing so? What account of membership in the community, beyond mere legal status, justifies a limited and bounded community of claims and obligations? In keeping with the focus of this year's meeting on representation and renewal, it is important to consider whether the interests of all members of society are reflected in a polity's decisions to distribute scarce resources including immigration benefits. In this paper, I will develop the ideal of civic membership and obligation as rooted in relationships of reciprocity between the duties and contributions of citizens, and the entitlement to make claims on other members of society and the state. I will incorporate other features of civic membership, such as consent and identity. But the features of civic membership, defined in these ways, are not limited to citizens alone. As I develop the ideal of civic membership as reciprocity, I contend that non-citizens can contribute in ways that benefit their host societies, and that are associated with the highest forms of civic service in that particular community. This increases the burden of justification for defenses of immigration and nationality regulation and enforcement regimes that do not make provisions for recognizing the service of non-citizens to the community as the basis for a claim to inclusion within the political community. But boundaries on the community's membership and the state's obligations are still necessary to preserve the community's identity and the contributions that it values; including its ability to recognize and reward contributions through the distribution of its resources.


ABSTRACT The solutions sets to linear PDEs with constant coefficients are naturally parameterised by polynomial rows. In this note, introducing appropriate topologies, this parametrization is made a quotient map (continuous, in particular).


PURPOSE: A method of production of fermented rice beverage is provided to manufacture the fermented rice beverage having abundant organic acid, and to improve taste of the beverage by using rice koji as an enzyme agent. CONSTITUTION: A method of production of fermented rice beverage includes the following steps: soaking washed rice in water for 2 ~ 3 hours in 20°C; removing water of the rice and adding water again; saccharizing the rice for 5 ~ 10 hours in 50~65°C after inoculating rice koji of 25~50 weight%; and sterilizing the saccharized liquid; inoculating Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus kawachii into the rice after crushing. The rice koji is a mixture of RAO 70-90 weight% and RAK 30-10 weight%.


ANDRÉS, M. F. y ARIAS, M.: Patogenicidad del nematode» ectoparasite» Lengidorus profundorum en cereales y leguminosas. Bol. Serv. Plagas, 11: 37-43. A study on the pathogenicity of Longidorus profundorum on some cereal and leguminous species was carried out. The experiment consisted of growing the seed of wheat, barley, vetch and lentil in 5 cm. diameter, pots in sterilized sand, kept under controlled conditions (T=22° C, RH=60% and 1=3.000 lux). Every seedling was inoculated with 20 adult specimens of L. profundorum and after three weeks the effect of nematode feeding on their root was observed. Symptoms have been observed in the four different plants used in the experiment. These symptoms are the formation of apical galls because the nematode feeding. It has been statiscally proved that wheat is the most damage planta by the activity of L. profundorum. Finally an histopathological study of the apical galls have been carried out in order to evaluate the damage to the plants.


The report evaluates the adequacy of accident analyses in environmental impact statements for nuclear power plants. It reviews the regulations and policies governing nuclear accident analyses in EISs, surveys the accident analyses in 149 EISs in 10 years, assesses the legal and scientific foundations of NRC's accident analysis policy, discusses the legal and pragmatic reasons for fuller EIS accident analysis, and makes recommendations for improving the content of EIS accident analyses as well as for implementing them.


Decolonization does not end with the colonizing power being physically removed from the colonized nation. Centuries of cultural hegemony wreaks havoc on the fabric of a state to the point of being unrecognizable from its previous state of existence. The battle to reclaim a national identity post colonization is not an easy one, especially when it concerns a multicultural, multilingual, state like India. One of the most obvious manifestations of deliberate anti-colonial actions is the rejection of colonial rules of language. This becomes especially interesting when the said language is now the global lingua franca, inevitable to functioning in an increasingly globalized world.

Post-colonial writers offer much in the activism against colonial dictates of language. This paper looks at how a colonial language, one that is dominant in a post-colonial society, is encountered by writers. The paper focuses on the poetry of Meena Kandasamy in general as an anti-colonial , language-specific , dynamic narrative tool and specifically on the poem "Mulligatawny Dreams" . Her language deliberately subverts English language rules;  often foregoing punctuation, using words from her native Tamil without a footnote or an appendix, culturally specific references etc. All of these deliberate actions making a statement inviting the reader to research and make the effort to learn and understand the poetry and its references, much like the rest of the world and especially Indians have been taught through the centuries to understand British cultural references and history forsaking our own.


To the Editor—We read with great interest the recently updated US Public Health Service Guidelines for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) after occupational exposures. Key changes in the document, compared with previous 2005 guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are the recommendations to no longer conduct exposure risk stratification and to instead uniformly use a 3-drug regimen—preferably tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), emtricitabine (FTC), and raltegravir—in exposed persons. The rationale provided for these changes was 4-fold and included (1) the superior antiviral activity of 3 drugs versus 2 for the treatment of chronic HIV infection, (2) concerns about potential HIV drug resistance in source patients, (3) improved safety and tolerability of newer drugs, and (4) potential for improved adherence with regimens of lower toxicity. We wish to raise several issues for institutions to consider when reviewing their occupational PEP protocol in light of these guidelines. First, while we agree that raltegravir is an excellent potential third agent for PEP whose tolerability is supported by published literature, it is noteworthy that tolerability and adherence data for this and other TDF/FTC-based regimens described in the guidelines that would justify their relative positions as preferred or alternative options are not discussed in the document. In particular, it remains unclear whether any potential adherence advantages of raltegravir related to tolerability might be offset by the disadvantage of twice daily dosing. We recendy reviewed available data from our infectious diseases clinic for patients initiating TDF/FTC with lopinavir/ritonavir as either occupational or nonoccupational PEP between January 11, 2011, and May 31, 2013. Preliminary findings along with those from other published reports using a TDF/FTC backbone are summarized in Table 1 and suggest roughly comparable outcomes." Further, while we agree that raltegravir-based PEP regimens would limit concerns regarding drug interactions, our data suggest that significant polypharmacy is uncommon in most PEP users. We suggest that additional data on clinically relevant outcomes— such as regimen completion, tolerability, and PEP failures— be systematically reported by large PEP programs wherever possible in order to inform future practice in a more evidence-based fashion. The results of ongoing clinical trials (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov) examining lopinavir/ritonavir,


The application of the direct colony thin-layer chromatography for the identification of phytopathogenic bacteria was conducted. One-loopful bacterial colony was pasted directly to the origin on silica gel TLC plate and dried completely. This plate was developed at 25°C for 10 min until the solvent front will reach 6 cm line from the origin spots with chloroform-methanol (CM, 2:1, v/v) . After drying, bacterial cells were scraped out from the plate. Then, the plate was developed at the same direction with chloroform-methanol-1.25-5M ammonia (CMA, 60-80:25:4, v/v/v) or chloroform-methanol-water (CMW, 60:25:4, v/v/v) for ca. 1-1.5hr. After drying for more than 30 min, the spots were visualized by ninhydrin-spraying with successive heating at 100°C for 10 min. The chromatogram was recorded by a photograph or photocopy. Ideal chromatogram was obtained with chloroform-methanol-1.25M ammonia (60:25:4, v/v/v) or chloroform-methanol-water (60:25:4, v/v/v) as the second developing solvent-systems. Well reproducibility of chromatogram was observed when the conditions of TLC and culture age of the sample bacteria were kept steadfastly. Distinct differences among the chromatograms were observed at generic level. Especially, the difference between Clavibacter sp. (gram positive) and others (gram negative) was obvious. This method will be practically useful for a rapid identification of phytopathogenic bacteria.


The epilating device comprises a series of parallel disks 2 fixed to a hub 3 driven in rotation by an electric motor and blades 9 arranged between the disks and the rods 10 to cause said blades 9 in contact with the periphery 2a discs 2 of. the hub 3 comprises between the discs 2 a series of notches 11 each holding one end of a plate 9, each rod 10 having a series of notches 12 open toward the recesses 11 the hub, each notch 12 of a rod 10 holding a portion of a blade 9. the notches 11, 12 are shaped so as to permit pivotal movement of the blades 9, between an open position of the discs 2 and a position in contact 2a with the periphery thereof. Using depilatory skin.


Applications using dielectric electro-active polymers (DE-EAP) tend to grow quickly due to their most interesting feature: when activated, displacements can reach ranges as high as 200-300%. How interesting this may be, the voltage to be applied is very high - 5 kV - and therefore difficult to handle and manage. Inductive contactless power transfer (ICPT) systems are elegant solutions to completely insulate the components subject to high voltage and therefore make them totally safe. Furthermore, as ICPT's use transformers, the needed high voltages can be reached easily choosing the right turn number ratio. In this paper, two main topologies are designed, measured and compared.


To begin discussion on this topic, I will give a briefhistorical background of creatine. It was discovered almost 160 years ago, but there have been few studies published about it. After the publication of results of creatine supplementation in 1990, this whole subject area exploded and now everybody who works in sports knows of some athlete who has used creatine. It was not until ~ 992 that people started to study the effect of creatine supplementation in humans, although some minor experiments had been performed before this date. Why has creatine supplementation become so popular a subject? The total creatine pool in man is approximately between 121 and 150 g, most of it is in the phosphaterelated form. This is of interest because the maximal rate of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) generation is very high but the ATP stores are very low. So the question is, what happens if we try to increase the stores; would that induce changes in maximal rate? What other changes might we possibly observe? The daily requirement of creatine is about 2 g, either from diet or endogenous synthesis. In the diet, creatine is found in steak or milk and in some fish, and is stored in the tissues. There is also an endogenous synthesis of creatine in some of the organs in the body. At our institution in Stockholm, my colleagues and I have been using fairly physically fit subjects to study the effects of creatine supplementation in humans. Some of our subjects are less fit than others, which necessarily limits the conclusions we have made thus far. We used double-blind experiments in our study of creatine supplementation. We gave either creatine or placebo, for approximately 6 days, in amounts of20 to 30 g per day, which is approximately 10 times more than the daily requirement. We have observed that the greatest uptake is among the first few days of supplementation. The plateau is reached at approximately Day 4; we saw no further increase after Days 3 or 4. What is not taken up in the


Introduction. Part 1: Definitions, theories and hypotheses. 1. Communication. Language. Speech. 2. Language acquisition: The theories. 3. From sensations to concepts: Via different routes. 4. Cognitive styles and functions in autism. 5. Autistic culture? 6. What language are they speaking? Part 2: Language characteristics, learning styles and development in autism. 7. Language learning styles. 8. Speech and language development in non-autistic and autistic children. 9. Impairments of social communication and language peculiarities specific to autism. 10. Fluent speakers. So what's the problem? Part 3: Key strategies to enhance communication in autism. 11. Communication/language assessment strategies. Communication profile. 12. Communication environment and interaction styles. 13. Selecting communication systems. 14. Teaching communication. Conclusion. Glossary. References. Subject index. Author index.


The aim of this work is to systematize the knowledge resulting from research on the impact of the feature selection on the quality of diagnostic procedures in the diagnosis of nonlinear systems. Particular attention was devoted to the selection of appropriate comparative criteria and optimization algorithms necessary for the selection of defects in the studied nonlinear systems, so that the inclusion of the elements in the process of detection and location of single and multiple catastrophic failures is possible to the highest degree. Basing on the research and simulations results, the fast, "low-costs" method for feature selection using new data quality indexes was invented and tested on real circuits examples. Streszczenie. Celem pracy jest usystematyzowanie wiedzy wynikającej z badan realnego wplywu selekcji cech na jakośc procedur wykrywania uszkodzen w diagnostyce ukladow nieliniowych. Szczegolna uwaga zostala poświecona na dobor wlaściwych kryteriow porownawczych i algorytmow optymalizacyjnych niezbednych w procesie wyboru atrybutow uszkodzen badanych ukladow nieliniowych tak, aby w jak najwiekszym stopniu mozliwe bylo uwzglednienie tolerancji elementow w procesie detekcji i lokalizacji jednokrotnych i wielokrotnych uszkodzen katastroficznych. Opierając sie na wynikach analiz i symulacji opracowano i przetestowano na przykladach, szybki w dzialaniu algorytm selekcji cech wykorzystujący nowe indeksy oceny jakości zbioru danych. (Prosta optymalizacja procesu selekcji cech w diagnostyce ukladow analogowych). of classifiers using neural networks to the heuristic methods based on evolutionary techniques. The problem of assessing the quality of the results of feature selection is similar to the problem of assessing the quality of clustering results as part of the pattern recognition algorithms. Quality indicators of data clustering are generally divided into external (supervised), relative (relative) and internal (unsupervised) (9). The latter group of quality index is best suited for use in the evaluation of the required data sets of attributes for the comparison of measurement in the diagnosis of electronic systems. Many


Background The common &ggr; chain (&ggr;c) plays a critical role in regulating proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis of peripheral T‐cells. It was previously confirmed that blocking the &ggr;c signal can successfully induce transplant tolerance in a murine model. Here we investigated the potential mechanism. Methods Splenocytes from C57BL/6 mice were transfused into T‐cell deficient Balb/c nude mice that were reconstituted with syngeneic wild‐type T‐cells labeled with 5‐carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE). After 24 hours, recipients received i.p. injection of mixture of anti‐&ggr;c mAbs, or with isotype control IgG2a. The labeled T‐cells were harvested from recipient spleens after 12 and 48 hours. T‐cell proliferation and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry. Results T‐cell proliferation was markedly inhibited and apoptotic T cells could be detected at 12 hours after the mAbs injection. Proliferation was inhibited at 48 hours, but the proportion of apoptotic T‐cells was not more than at 12 hours. In the control group, however, T‐cells actively proliferated and no significant apoptosis was detected at either time point. Conclusions The results suggested that blockade of &ggr;c signals can synergize with donor splenocyte transfusion and lead to inhibition of antigen‐specific T‐cell proliferation and induction of apoptotic T‐cell death. This protocol may develop a novel approach to induce donor‐specific tolerance.


I am a staff nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital and am studying for my BSc in professional practice. I plan to devise an information booklet to be given to patients on discharge from intensive care to the ward. I want to include information on recovery from critical illness and the differences between intensive care and the ward environment. If you provide a similar booklet, I would be grateful to see a copy.


Over time, consumers have developed a strong knowledge and mistrust toward stimuli from various commercial sources: Advertising, salespersons, and more recently promotional pricing techniques supposed to reduce their everyday spending. Three experiments demonstrate that consumer skepticism toward sales promotions has a detrimental effect on promotion effectiveness through two mechanisms: The discounting of savings ("too good to be true") and the reduced purchase intention of promotional offers.


Previous studies have suggested that the decreased activity of TRPv1 receptor, a vanilloid receptor, plays a role in the development of an exaggerated exercise pressor reflex observed in the cardiomyopathic (CM) rat model. A requirement of TRPv1 activity is its localization to the cell membrane, which is mediated by the TrkA receptor. To determine if the translocation of TRPv1 is impaired in CM rats, we compared the levels of TRPv1 in the cell membranes of neurons from dorsal root ganglia (DRG) from normal and CM rats. Cells were stained for TRPv1 and fluorescence intensities of membrane and total cell were quantified. Localization of TRPv1 was evaluated in the presence or absence of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) stimulation, and with a TrkA inhibitor in the presence of NGF. NGF treated neurons from normal animals displayed an increased ratio of membrane to total cell (M:T) TRPv1 as compared to untreated control. The addition of a TrkA inhibitor returned M:T to the level of non‐stimulated neurons. In the neurons from CM rats, NGF failed to increase the M:T, and treatment with TrkA inhibitor also did not change M:T level. These results suggest that DRG from CM rats are defective in their ability to translocate TRPv1 to the membrane upon NGF stimulation and this occurs via the TrkA receptor pathway.


A cellulose derivative that even in the use as the base material film of a viewing angle enlarging film with a discotic liquid crystal layer, would inhibit any occurrence of crater defects in the discotic liquid crystal layer. The cellulose derivative is obtained from a pulp of 20 ppm or less calcium content. The pulp may be derived from wood. The calcium content of the pulp may be in the range of about 0.01 to 15 ppm. The cellulose derivative may consist of a cellulose ester containing at least an acetyl. The calcium content of the cellulose derivative may be 120 ppm or less. This cellulose derivative is suitable for use as the base material film of a viewing angle enlarging film with a discotic liquid crystal layer.


The present study aimed to identify the air pollutants associated with central nervous system (CNS) disturbances through a survey of indoor air pollutants and manifestation of CNS diseases, and to establish a risk assessment method and risk management measures for CNS disturbances caused by these pollutants. A patient cohort consisting of patients suffering from CNS diseases was selected and a health risk assessment was performed for fine dust (PM 2.5 ) and 17 heavy metals/ other elements in the indoor air of the residences of survey subjects. The study results showed statistically significant differences in fine dust concentrations according to the region in which the surveys were conducted.


Exploration of occupational justice in developed Asian societies. Journal of Occupational Science, 23 (3), 389–396. doi:10.1080/14427591.2015.1112231 Lynch, H., Hayes, N., & Ryan, S. (2016). Exploring socio-cultural influences on infant play occupations in Irish home environments. Journal of Occupational Science, 23(3), 352–369. doi:10.1080/ 14427591.2015.1080181 McGrath, M., & McGonagle, H. (2016). Exploring 'wicked problems' from an occupational perspective: The case of turf cutting in rural Ireland. Journal of Occupational Science, 23(3), 308–320. doi:10.1080/ 14427591.2016.1169437 Rushford, N., & Thomas, K. (2016). Occupational stewardship and collaborative engagement: Toward a social-ecological practice. Journal of Occupational Science, 23(3), 295–307. doi:10.1080/14427591.2016.1174954


It is planned to use silicon detectors for many applications at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, where they will be exposed to unprecedented particle fluences. After hadronic irradiation, such detectors exhibit macroscopic changes in their electrical characteristics which lead to a degradation in performance. It is shown that these changes can be explained at the microscopic level using a combination of defect kinetics, defect characterisation of irradiated devices and device models. New results include evidence for inter-centre charge transfer between clustered defects and indications of multi-interstitial and multi-vacancy related defects. Finally, the work of the ROSE Collaboration (CERN RD48), whose aim is to defect engineer more radiation tolerant detectors, is described.


BACKGROUND/AIM
Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) has been proven to be an effective antitumor drug for metastatic breast cancer, with less toxicity than conventional anthracycline. Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of PLD-based adjuvant chemotherapy compared to conventional chemotherapy for patients with stages I-III Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A total of 162 patients, histologically proven to have TNBC at stages I-III between 2003 and 2010, were enrolled to evaluate the impact of PLD- and non-PLD-based adjuvant chemotherapy by using the end-pint of overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS).

RESULTS
Forty-nine (30.2%) patients received PLD-based adjuvant chemotherapy and 113 (69.8%) a non-PLD regimen, including 84 (52%) patients receiving non-PLD anthracycline. The Kaplan-Meier calculation indicated no differences in RFS and OS between the PLD and non-PLD groups. Multivariate analysis adjusted for tumor size and lymph node status also revealed similar RFS (HR=0.86, 95% CI=0.43-1.73, p=0.678) and OS (HR=0.86, 95% CI=0.41-1.79, p=0.692) for PLD-based chemotherapy compared with non-PLD-based. Patients receiving PLD-based chemotherapy had a relatively lower incidence of grade 3-4 neutropenia (25% vs. 41.6%, respectively; p=0.054) and significantly higher incidence of hand-foot syndrome (16.3% vs. 4.4%, respectively; p=0.010).

CONCLUSION
PLD-based adjuvant chemotherapy was as effective as conventional chemotherapy for patients with TNBC. PLD is an alternative for patients with TNBC when conventional anthracycline is inappropriate.


Combustion of polydispersed aluminium air-suspension is modeled taking into account kinetics of interaction of suboxide AlO molecules with particle surface.


A simple, rapid, economical, and efficient one-pot synthetic method for preparation of O,O-dialkyl, N,N-dialkylphosphoramidates (DADAPs) and phosphates has been developed.


Cryptographic protocols cannot guarantee the secure operations by merely using state-of-the-art cryptographic mechanisms. Validation of such protocols is done by using formal methods. Various specialized tools have been developed for this purpose and are being used to validate real life cryptographic protocols. These tools give feedback to the designers of protocols in terms of loops and attacks in protocols to improve security. In this paper, we discuss the brief history of formal methods and tools that are useful for the formal verification of the cryptographic protocols


The conformational state of voltage‐gated sodium channels is an important determinant for the efficacy of both local anesthesia and electrical neuromodulation techniques. This study investigated the role of subthreshold preconditioning ramp currents on axonal nerve excitability parameters in the presence of sodium channel blockers in myelinated A and unmyelinated C fibers.


In this paper, we explore a new type of automatic emotion recognition task - distinguishing genuine and deceptive emotions from video clips. For this task, it is not enough only using static images clipped from the video data, as there's only subtle differences between two types of emotions, which makes it even harder for automatic analysis. To utilize the temporal information, we introduce temporal attention gated model for this emotion recognition task. Compared to texture features which describe the whole face area, the facial landmark sequences may also indicate the temporal changes of the face, thus we utilize them by encoding feature sequence unsupervisedly.


AbstractThis study aims to forecast air passenger and cargo demand of the Indian aviation industry using the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and Bayesian structural time series (BS...


When the semiconductor sensors are applied to the power transformer oil chromatography online monitoring system, the error of the traditional linear fitting calibration method exceeds the limit value. Therefore, this paper carries out the research of improving the calibration method of oil chromatography online monitoring system, by calibrating the online monitoring values of seven dissolved gases in reference oil samples using linear function, quadratic function and power function models, respectively. Besides, by evaluating the fitting effect, it is confirmed that the quadratic function fitting result has better correlation and lower fitting error, which is expected to be used to improve the field calibration method of the oil chromatography online monitoring system.


Nowadays, Semi-custom design based on the standard cells is the mainstream design method for digital IC chip. In this thesis, the standard cell library is built and verified based on the SMIC 130nm technology, especially the optimization of a 1-bit full adder cell, during which the structure and layout of the full adder in the SMIC library is analyzed. As a result, the structure and size of the adder cell are improved better, which is simulated by H-spice. The comparison shows that the optimized adder is not only smaller in area, with width decreased by 0.82μm, but also have advantages in power consumption and timing, with energy delay product reduced by 7.7% .In the end, the s298 circuit in ISCAS Benchmark89 is used as the benchmark to complete the verification method of the standard cell library.


Due to COVID-19, ordering food through online shopping increased. Accordingly, the use of logistics and delivery services is also increasing. As the number of parcels to be delivered gets bigger, the efficiency of the delivery mechanism and battery efficiency becomes important. The problem of finding the route traveling several destinations at once is called as Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). There are several algorithms suggested to solve it in polynomial time. Among them, this paper experimented to compare the performance of two algorithms, the greedy algorithm, and the branch-and-bound algorithm. We used the Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO) program to test the vehicle running based on the calculated route by two algorithms. The average running time and charging time are recorded to evaluate the performance. Through this experiment, we found out that the branch-and-bound algorithm provides in a faster route selection and consumes less battery than the greedy algorithm.


From several experiments on oxidative radiolysis of cystine in aircontaining aqueous solution a scheme of radiolytic mechanism was proposed as follows : Chromatographic behaviors of these intermediate products and the radiolytic process were described


A plurality of test patterns generated by the test pattern generating circuit are outputted from the first memory chip to test the second memory chip heterologous mounted in the same package as the first memory chip. Thus, when mounted in the same package, the memory chip of a heterogeneous, that is, even if the terminals of the memory chip is not connected to an external terminal in the system can test the memory chip. Since it is necessary to form external terminals unnecessary for the system does not, it is possible to reduce the system cost. Because it is a test apparatus for generating a complex test patterns required, it is possible to reduce the test cost. Test pattern generation circuit because it is constructed using a non-volatile logic, without having to prepare the test pattern, it is possible to conduct a test. For this reason, the user is also tested to buy the first and second memory chips can be easily carried out to configure the system.


Current password authentication system was proven not secure enough to protect the information from intruders. A number of researches have been done for the past 25 years, with various methods been used. However, various researches have its own method of collection data and analysis the data. The False Reject Rate and False Accept Rate can be high up to 30 % but overall averages have around 5%. One of the methods suggests is enhancing the current system using keystroke dynamics. Keystroke dynamics is a type of biometric authentication that not requires any special hardware. Beside it is easy to use, as the same routine as normal password authentication. Furthermore, keystroke dynamic has a great potential to replace the existing password system as it doesn't require any major changes at the current system, with only add in some more fields for the system and have supported software to use capture and match the user's typing patterns. Therefore, this research proposed an authentication system using keystroke dynamics in order to prevent the system from intruders. A system is developed that consist of two parts which are enrollment and verification. In enrollment part, the user will register into the system by typing necessary information including username, password and the standard phrase. In this part, the user typing time is recorded and a reference template is created. Then, the verification part will take placed in which the match of the similarity between the login and the reference template will be verified based on the threshold set in order to grant the user accessing the system. The proposed system is utilized the Microsoft.NET framework, keyboard and Microsoft IIS. A prototype is developed that consists of 3 main modules, namely Enrollment, Client/Server Connection and, Verification and Retraining. In Enrollment module, the user's typing data will be collected during the user registration process. The Client/Server Connection module provides a communication medium between the client program and also the system server. Then the user will be identified in the Verification and Retraining Module by comparing the login data with reference template. Any successful login data into reference data is recorded to increase the efficiency of the system. Based on the testing, the system proved that keystroke dynamic authentication system were able to implement in client/server environment. In future, the system can be improved by enhancing the security, performance, and user interface.


The reliability and economical operation of marine power plants depend upon the design quality, capability and skill of the technical staff that operate the plant. The normal breakdowns of marine machinery and the frequency of planned maintenance are based mainly on the subjective judgement of the operators who ensure that such breakdowns are minimised. To achieve such objectives and optimum maintenance goal must be adopted using various type of computer software for expert system with high processing speed which have been developed to aid fault or failure diagnosis. Such systems are at different stages of application. In this paper, a typical expert system for condition monitoring, budgeting and spare part management to enhance optimum management of marine power plant are presented. Using this technique with known models will substantially reduce downtime and fully utilise the technical crew onboard and ashore. From the authors experience in the management of ferries, there is an optimum amount of maintenance effort for any given condition.


The spectral distribution of the open-circuit voltage and the spectral responsivity over the range (1.0-5.0 /spl mu/m) for InAs photoelectromagnetic (PEM) near-infrared (NIR) detector at 300 K are presented. The correlation between material parameters, geometrical dimensions and the detector performance is discussed. The surface recombination velocity (10/sup 2/-9/spl times/10/sup 3/ cm/s) at the active surface is also considered.


In this research was done to one of the companies that play a role in selling or store in sukabumi smartphone .At the system sales ranging from product promotion to the management of the stocks and the sales report was still doing conventionally like traditional shops .Especially at the product promotion and are still continuing in distributing brochures shaped in the form of a file or hard physical to the crowd that aims to draw attention to the community and it is certainly contrary to the appeal to the government not to break clustered covid 19 chain for the transmission of the virus .It becomes a obstacles or impediments that experienced by the company or the smartphone sales to support achieve the target of any brand owned by the shops .Facts resulted in limited range marketing smartphone in a shop or the company. This is the general objectives of the study to ease the process of promotion and e-commerce transactions by providing a smartphone in order to obtain information easily and can be transact out digitally or online without have to visit store or store in face to face .The experimental work on this is the uses the method sdlc ( system development life cycle ) with waterfall modeling .


T nHE railway network of Britain, created under conditions of near transport monopoly to satisfy the economic demands of the Victorian period, now faces not only the competition of newer and more flexible forms of transport but also changed patterns of economic activity. Such a situation can be met in part by technical adaptation of the existing network, by re-equipment and electrification, but it has led inevitably to the increasing redundancy of large parts of the railway system. The problem is not, of course, unique to Britain, but a direct comparison with conditions in the United States is precluded by differences not only of history, geography, and technical form but also of the fundamental structure of organization and regulation.


While African governments have developed information and communication technologies (ICTs) policies, there is still missing historical insights on how contextual issues shaped the formulation process in the context of developing countries. This paper analysed the formulation for national ICT policy of Malawi between 2001 and 2012. Historical approach was used where archival data was used to understand key events, contextual issues, and activities that shaped the formulation of the policy. The findings showed that there were external influences leading to the formulation of the national ICT policy. The local needs of stakeholders were not articulated adequately to come up with realistic policy objectives. Further, there were more pressing local issues that led to the policy being not prioritised and endorsed by the government administrations leading to the delays in policy formulation. The study offers insights that can assist for policymakers and practitioners when developing similar policies such as the national broadband policy and national cyber-security policy.


South East Queensland, in Eastern Australia, is a region naturally prone to flooding. While this intrinsic hydrologic characteristic of the area was well known to its aboriginal inhabitants, its urbanisation is less than two hundred years old and has proven greatly oblivious to the natural environment. In Brisbane, the capital city of the State of Queensland, the clash between natural processes of the namesake river, its numerous creeks and the sea, and the superimposed layer of the urban fabric has recurrently played out since the foundation of the colony, in 1824, with the last disastrous event occurring in 2011 at a tremendous human and material cost. This paper analyses the nature of this difficult relationship between water as a dynamic force and the city of Brisbane as a static, yet ever expanding, presence, from a historical, geographical and social point of view. The aim is to identify opportunities that lay dormant in this relationship since its prehistory and can be harnessed to make the future city resilient to its geographical and climatic context, by embracing urban planning and management approaches that are sensitive to, and compatible with the deep structure of the city and its territory. Based on findings of this multifaceted analysis the paper recommends the application of long-term, adaptable planning that is framed according to climate cycles and climate change forecasts, a multidisciplinary, integrated way of understanding flooding, and a coordinated and transparent decision-making process that includes all institutions and stakeholders beyond individual interests.


Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor, tyrosine receptor kinase (trk‐B), play important roles in neural plasticity, long‐term potentiation and memory formation. Sheep form a selective recognition memory for their lambs within 2 h of birth. Initially, this memory is exclusively based on olfactory cues; however, as it consolidates over a 12‐h recognition period it extends to incorporate visual cues. We investigated whether changes in BDNF and trk‐B mRNA expression occurred in both olfactory and visual processing systems at 4.5 h postpartum, 2–3 h after the behavioural manifestations of an olfactory recognition memory were found. Animals that formed a recognition memory showed increased BDNF mRNA expression in the inferior part of the temporal cortex, subfield CA1 of the hippocampus, the diagonal band, basolateral amygdala and the anterior cingulate, medial frontal, entorhinal and pyriform cortices. No increases were observed in either the olfactory bulbs or the dentate gyrus. Expression of trk‐B mRNA was significantly increased only in the medial temporal, entorhinal and pyriform cortices. These findings demonstrate that by 2–3 h following the initial formation of olfactory recognition memory there are BDNF/trk‐B‐mediated plasticity changes in brain areas involved in the consolidation of olfactory memory (the pyriform and entorhinal cortices). However, similar changes also occur in areas of the brain involved in visual memory, face and object recognition (the temporal cortex, entorhinal cortex, hippocampal subfield CA1 and basolateral amygdala), and in areas of the brain with integrative and attentional functions (the medial frontal and anterior cingulate cortices and diagonal band). This suggests that reorganization of neural circuits underlying the visual recognition of lambs or the integration of olfactory/visual information is occurring even at this time even though accurate behavioural recognition at this stage can only be made using olfactory cues.


An analogue of the notion of uniformly separated sequences, expressed in terms of extremal functions, yields a necessary and sufficient condition for interpolation in Lp spaces of holomorphic functions of Paley-Wiener-type when $0 < p \leq 1$, of Fock-type when $0 < p \leq 2$, and of Bergman-type when $0 < p < \infty$. Moreover, if a uniformly discrete sequence has a certain uniform non-uniqueness property with respect to any such Lp space ($0 < p < \infty$), then it is an interpolation sequence for that space. The proofs of these results are based on an approximation theorem for subharmonic functions, Beurling's results concerning compactwise limits of sequences, and the description of interpolation sequences in terms of Beurling-type densities. Details are carried out only for Fock spaces, which represent the most difficult case.


The examinations for criterion operation of peasant water users association include 8 respects: management organization's examination,the administrative staff examination,the management system examination,engineering management examination,water management examination,financial administration examination,file administration examination and participating-in management examination etc.The examination index system has set up 8 first-grade indexes and 29 second-grade indexes.After users the fuzzy treatment method in the contents examined by the index system,adopting the "hundred-mark" system,and users the level analytical methods,the parts or the whole water users association can be examined.


Incomplete data exist concerning complications of coronary arteriography. Specific characteristics of the angiographic dye or its rate of injection have been considered factors in the serious complications. Little attention has been directed to the problem of thromboembolism. Four cases of fatal thromboembolism are documented in this report. In each case coronary arteriography was performed in the face of severe coronary artery disease. In each case, mild shock or embolization was noted during or immediately after the procedure. Of the four deaths, fresh thrombi were present in one of the main coronary arteries in three, and in a major cerebral vessel in the fourth. Prior recognized mechanical complications of coronary arteriography, wedging and subintimai dissection, were insufficient to explain the occlusions. Factors affecting thrombogenesis, such as catheter stiffness, material, and coating, and the technical details of coronary arteriography are reviewed, and means of diminishing complications enumerated.


The mass flow of granular matter through orifices can be described by the well-known Beverloo law. It depends on particle and orifice sizes, interparticle and particle/container interaction forces, particles' surfaces - to name a few influences on the mass flow rate. We present an experimental study of the flow of a set of ready-to-press (RTP) hard metal powders through orifices of varying diameter. The obtained parameters of the Beverloo law are compared with angle of repose measurements. The interplay between attractive interparticle forces and gravitational forces are discussed for both types of experimental measurements and related to the difference between particle and orifice size.


. In fact, UML2 offers two related yet different definitions of associations. One is implicit in several explanatory sections of the Standard and belongs to UML folklore. It basically says that an association is a set of navigation paths/mappings between the participating classes. The other – official and formal – definition is explicitly fixed by the UML metamodel and shows that there is much more to associations than just mapping. Particularly, association ends can be owned by either participating classes or by the very association, be navigable or not, be unique or not, and may be optionally qualified. The paper presents a formal framework, based on sets and mappings, in which all notions involved in the both definitions can be accurately explained and formally expounded. Our formal model allows us to reconcile the two views of associations, to present the construct in a remarkably symmetric and unified way and, finally, to detect a few flaws in the association part of the UML2 metamodel. Associations are the glue that ties a system together. Without associations, there are nothing but isolated classes that don't work together.


Lexical approach plays a key role in vocabulary increase because students can combine different words in order to develop speaking skill by using collocations. The main objective of this investigation is to determine the influence of applying lexical approach in 8th graders at "Lenin School" Educative Unit to improve vocabulary learning. The instrument used in this investigation was a questionary used as pre-test and post-test. It consisted on twenty collocation items chose from students" book "Our Little world". Pre- test was applied to measure students" level of knowledge vocabulary….


Shark skin has been an inspiration for biomimetic materials and structures due to its role in reducing drag and enhancing thrust, properties believed to be due to the textured surface composed of ridges on the surface of individual tooth-like scales (denticles). Attempts to replicate the hydrodynamic performance of shark skin have involved manufacturing both engineered riblets and fabrics with textured surfaces. However, there are no studies that compare the surface ornamentation of shark denticles to bioinspired materials. Using three-dimensional surface profilometry we analyzed the cross-sectional profile of the surface of shark denticles at two locations on 17 species and compared these data to values obtained from engineered structures (e.g., riblets) and competition swimsuits that are often proposed as having a comparable surface texture to shark skin. Of the variables measured, crown aspect ratio (p = 0.007), ridge height, ridge spacing, ridge aspect ratio, and ridge bumpiness (all p < 0.001) differed among the three materials. Overall, engineered riblet surfaces were very different than biological shark skin. Some of the competition swimsuit materials were more shark-like, with the fabric texture having similar height variation, but with irregular ridge spacing. Cross-sectional profile, which includes pathlength and aspect ratio in addition to ridge spacing and height, is an important feature of the skin's surface, affecting water flow over the individual denticles, and future research will address these parameters. Quantitative 3D analysis of the surface of real shark denticle ridges enables the design of more biomimetic engineered shark skin surfaces.


Microfluidics has emerged as a valuable tool for the synthesis of microand nanostructures, through exploiting the manipulation of small amounts of fluids in micrometric platforms. Hydrodynamic focusing microfluidic devices have been widely investigated for the synthesis of liposomes towards varied nanomedicine applications. Here we describe the synthesis of stealth liposomes, conjugated with 1% of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-lipid, through microfluidic devices based on hydrodynamic focusing and increasing ionic strength by using phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). We were able to synthesize stealth liposomes of 130 nm in size, with low polydispersity index (PDI≤0.2) and positive zeta potential. When compared to the use of aqueous side streams, the proposed process with high ionic strength revealed to be an easy, feasible and reproducible strategy for the synthesis of monodisperse stealth liposomes with monomodal size distribution, for further drug and gene delivery applications.


Background Diabetes mellitus or type 2 diabetes, is becoming a major concern of health threats for the people globally. This is resulting in affecting kidneys and thus resulting in chronic kidney disease. The cases of chronic kidney disease due to diabetes are increasing globally. As far as the number of patients of type two diabetes in India is concerned, it has been named as the "diabetes capital of the world". Objective The main objective of the study is to analyze the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) amongst patients having type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in India. Methods An observational cross-sectional study was carried out in Dr PDMMC hospital, Amravati, Maharashtra, India during the period between September 2018 to April, 2019. One thousand four hundred fifty patients were taken into consideration for the scope of the study. Patients with a diagnosis of T1DM, acute kidney injury, symptomatic urinary tract infection, history of hematuria, known renal transplant, on maintenance dialysis, participation in any interventional study within past three months and pregnant women were excluded from the study. Results The mean age of the study population was found out to be around 53.5 years. The mean duration of T2DM was 102 months. In the course of data analysis, nearly 43% of the total participants were reported to be affected by dyslipidemia and hypertension. It was studied in the research that a very low percentage of the patients were affected by microvascular and macrovascular complications. Conclusion The study adds valuable literature that identifies the level of renal dysfunction in patients suffering from T2DM. It was also analyzed that the majority of the patients having T2DM suffered from chronic kidney


Objective
To investigate the relationship between preoperative serumhomocysteine (Hcy) level and acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac valve replacement surgery.

Methods
The data of the inpatients who accepted cardiac valve replacement surgery, age ≥18 years, no renal replacement therapy before surgery, non-renal decompensation and preoperative serum creatinine (Scr)<178 μmol/L, survival within 48 h after surgery, and with preoperative serum Hcy data in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2017 was retrospectively analyzed. AKI was diagnosed in patients whose Scr increased more than 26.5 μmol/L (0.3 mg/dl) within 48 hours or 1.5 times higher than baseline within 7 days after surgery. According to this, patients were divided into AKI group and non-AKI group, and the affecting factors for AKI were compared between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the independent influencing factors of AKI. The relationship between serum Hcy level and AKI incidence was analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis. Whether the AKI occurred and serum Hcy levels were used as variables to map the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), and was used to assess the value of preoperative serum Hcy level for predicting AKI after cardiac valve replacement surgery.

Results
A total of 810 subjects were included in the study, including 375 males and 435 females. They were (50±11) years old (19-78 years old). Among them, 329 patients with AKI occurred within 7 days after heart valve replacement, and the incidence rate was 40.6% (male 45.9%, female 36.1%). The serum Hcy level in the AKI group was higher than that in the non-AKI group [(15.74±4.55) μmol/L vs (13.87±3.85) μmol/L, t=6.106, P 13.64 μmol/L) (OR=1.465, 95%CI 1.059-2.027, P=0.021) and moderate to severe hyperhomocystinemia (16≤Hcy≤100 μmol/L) [with normal HHcy (Hcy<10 μmol/L) as reference, OR=2.180, 95% CI 1.245-3.816, P=0.006] were independent influencing factors of AKI after cardiac valve replacement surgery. Spearman correlation analysis showed that the incidence of postoperative AKI increased with the increase of preoperative serum Hcy level (rs=0.927, P<0.001). The results of ROC curve showed that the area under the curve of the preoperative serum Hcy level predicting AKI after heart valve replacement was 0.701, and the cutoff value was 13.64 μmol/L, with the sensitivity 61.3%, specificity 70.9%.

Conclusions
Preoperative serum Hcy level is an influencing factor for AKI after cardiac valve replacement surgery. The higher the level of preoperative serum Hcy, the higher the incidence of AKI after cardiac valve replacement surgery. Patients with preoperative serum Hcy levels>13.64 μmol/L have an increased risk of AKI after cardiac valve replacement surgery.

Key words:
Heart valve prosthesis; Cysteine; Acute kidney injury; Cardiac valve replacement surgery; Homocysteine


Ten chronic enteric typhoid carriers treated with oral ampicillin have been followed for 4 to 9 years and no relapses have occurred. Patients are probably cured if relapse does not occur within 2 years.


For Multiple Resource Constrained Job-shop Scheduling Problem(MRCJSP),Multiple resource constrained programming model was established which considered resources' type changing and restraint influence in resources' available time and an optimizatoin scheduling approach was proposed based on ant colony algorithmOn the basis of the graphic definition of the Job-Shop problem,the rule of state-shift and pheromone update strategy and the working procedure time policy-making were designed and using the elitist strategy,the particular scheduling process was analyzed and realized.Simulation shows that ant colony algorithm performs well for MRCJSP.


A field study was carried out at the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana for two seasons to study the weed control in three canola gobhi sarson cutlivars and tolerance of these cultivars to different herbicides. Three canola gobhi sarson cultivars 'GSC 5 ', 'GSC 6 'and 'Hyola PAC 401 'in main plots and five weed control treatments-fluchloralin at 0.75 and 1.5 kg and trifluralin at 0.75 and 1.5 kg/ha and hand weedings in sub-plots were evaluated in a split plot design. Fluchloralin and trifluralin at 0.75 and 1.5 kg/ha recorded effective control of annual weeds and recorded canola seed yield similar to hand weeded control. All the three cultivars of canola gobhi sarson tolerated both the herbicides at 0.75 and 1.5 kg/ha. The study indicated that fluchloralin and trifluralin could safely be used to control weeds in canola gobhi sarson cultivars 'GSC 5 ', 'GSC 6 'and 'Hyola PAC 401 '.


Lymphangiomatous macroglossia, or giant tongue, usually presents within the first two years of life. The tongue enlarges to the point of protrusion from the mouth with resultant ulceration and frank necrosis of the tip. There may be associated malocclusion and prognathia produced by the enlargement of the tongue.


Abstract We give necessary conditions for an endomorphism of the interval not to be C2+α-approximated by endomorphisms having a link between critical points. We apply these techniques to show that on a C2+α-generic set of unimodal maps the endomorphisms are either Axiom A or there exists an ergodic measure with zero Lyapunov exponent. Applying this result we prove the formula conjectured by Eckmann and Ruelle for the rate of escape of the complement of the basin of the sinks. We add some remarks on the C2-stability conjecture.


In this paper,the author discusses the following delay partial difference equations A(m+1,n)+A(m,n+1)-CA(m,n)+P(m,n)A(m-k,n-1)=0 and obtains new results which are some sufficient conditions only concerning coefficients and deviate arguments for every solution oscillating.


Abstract This paper argues that recreation and leisure studies curricula too often fail to provide students with adequate knowledge to understand, critically analyze, and discuss leisure. By studying leisure from a humanist perspective—specifically philosophy, history, and literature—educators can respond to this problem. In so doing, educators will be able to further clarify what is unique about a recreation and leisure studies graduate, agree on the content of the core body of knowledge, and move the profession towards a resolution of the unique role that recreation and leisure play in society.


Sphenophorus levis (Vaurie) is an important soil pest of sugarcane crop, as it attacks the basal internodes of the plants and thus can reduce significantly the crop productivity. Its occurrence has been reported in the State of Sao Paulo since 1990, and more recently in its vicinity State of Minas Gerais. For the first time the occurrence of S. levis is recorded in sugarcane plantations in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. Larvae of this pest were found in sugarcane in Maracaju county through soil samples made during 2010. The probable origins of introduction and possibilities of this pest expansion in the region are discussed in this paper.


Construction projects suffer from diverse
uncertainties that hinder the key objectives' achievement. These
uncertainties represent risks that may appear through the project
life cycle. This paper introduces a quantitative model to estimate
and rank risks dynamically during the risk planning phase. Such
ranking would help decision-makers appropriately respond to
and/or control construction risks. The model provides proper risk
contingency reserves for both project time and cost that meet
decision-makers' selected confidence levels using Monte Carlo
Simulation (MCS). In order to quantify the project uncertainty,
severities of residual risks are determined and allocated at the
project's activities-level using a planning/scheduling spreadsheet
model and a MCS tool suitable for spreadsheets. The model is able
to calculate the contribution of each risk from the determined
contingency at both the project level for both the time and cost at
the decision-maker confidence level.The model represents a direct
implementation for a Risk Planning Contingency Model (RPCM);
which involves four modules as follows: (1) Risk Register (RR),
(2) Risk Allocator (RA), (3) Risk Simulator (RS), and (4)
Contingency Calculator (CC). These modules are hosted in a
critical path model scheduling spreadsheet to facilitate risk
management. In addition, a simulation engine add-in is used for
analyzing the probability distribution for the project time and cost
outcomes. In order to verify the proposed model, the process and
analysis have been applied to a case study project. The results
show that the RPCM is capable to rank and estimate the residual
risks in an easy, fast, and effective way.


Background: Primary aldosteronism (PA) may account for 5–10% of patients with hypertension. Recently, a family with florid PA and marked zona fasciculata (ZF) hyperplasia was reported to have a germ-line mutation within KCNJ5 (encodes a potassium channel) [1]. Somatic mutations were also identified in eight of 22 large, apparently sporadic aldosterone-producing adenomas (APAs) [1]. Methods and Results: Screening apparently sporadic APAs from UK (n = 46) and Australia (n = 27), we found somatic KCNJ5 mutations in 41% (30/73; 20 UK, 10 Australia). These included previously reported G151R (11 UK, 8 Australia) and L158R (8 UK, 2 Australia) mutations and a novel 3-base deletion (delI157; 1 UK). Expressed in Xenopus oocytes, the novel mutation (like previously reported mutations) caused a depolarising shift in channel reversal potential and increased sodium permeability. Mutation-bearing APAs were significantly larger than those without (1.58 ± 0.52 vs 0.99 ± 0.46 cm, P < 0.02) but with considerable overlap. Strikingly, of 26 Australian patients who underwent posture testing, all 10 with mutation-bearing APAs (but only 6/16 without; P < 0.001) lacked aldosterone responsiveness to upright posture. No germline KCNJ5 mutations were identified in affecteds from 26 pedigrees with familial hyperaldosteronism type II. Conclusions: Somatic KCNJ5 mutations are common, not restricted to large APAs (> 2 cm), and represent a potential molecular basis for the lack of posture responsiveness seen in the posture-unresponsive APA subtype. Reference:Choi M, Scholl UI, Yue P, et al. K+ channel mutations in adrenal aldosterone-producing adenomas and hereditary hypertension. Science 2011;331:685-6.


This paper responds to Brown et al. (1984), who propose an extended training program involving work without pay in integrated settings for adults with severe intellectual handicaps. While agreeing about the capability of persons with disabilities, the importance of integration, and the failings of typical services, we believe that their extended training proposal represents an unnecessary retreat from values that have guided development of exemplary school and community services for persons with severe handicaps. As an extended outcome of services, the proposed program needlessly sacrifices wages and other employment benefits, distorts the benefits of integration by looking only at the workplace, and tolerates unequal treatment of citizens with severe handicaps. Relying on unpaid work as a strategy for time-limited employment preparation creates the risk of overuse and of perpetual readiness programming, suggesting that professional effort could be better spent in development of supported employment opportunities. Current federally supported employment initiatives provide a framework for combining wages and integration and offer support for local program development.